The Everyday Dish

What’s in my fridge and pantry

This week, I’m cooking with a fridge full of bright veggies, seafood, and a few homemade staples I’m excited about (yes, I am finally making my own tortillas!). It’s a mix of comfort food and lighter dishes — all built around ingredients I already had or planned for. Here’s a look at some of the ingredients I’m working with:

• Prawns
• Seafood mix
• Pork tenderloin
• Cod fillets
• Aubergines
• Courgettes
• Bell peppers (various colours)
• Turkey mince
• Tomatoes (fresh and tinned)
• Fresh herbs (thyme, parsley, dill, chives)
• Avocados
• Lemons and limes
• Garlic, onion, and celery
• Cabbage (white and red)
• Flour, butter, spices, broth, etc.

What I’m cooking this week

Here’s what I am planning to do with these fabulous ingredients:

1. Prawn tacos with homemade slaw and avocado dressing
2. Herb-crusted pork tenderloin with ratatouille
3. Tuscan seafood with crusty bread
4. Roasted aubergines and tomato pasta
5. Stuffed peppers with turkey mince and veg

Who doesn’t love tacos? These are lighter, made with juicy grilled prawns, a zingy, crunchy slaw, and a creamy avocado dressing. The homemade tortillas will make a huge difference (and they’re easier than you think).

I don’t eat pork often, but when I do, I opt for leaner cuts, such as the tenderloin. Covering it in herbs and spices gives it not only flavour, but also an elevated look (and we all know that we eat with our eyes first). I will be serving this with a rustic, delicious ratatouille, because courgettes and aubergines have just come into season, and this dish is a great celebration of their flavour. Leftover ratatouille is perfect for breakfast. Just spoon it on a piece of toast, top with a poached or soft-boiled egg, and finish with a sprinkle of feta.

The Tuscan seafood makes a great mid-week meal, as it requires minimal effort but fills you up with goodness and comfort. Bread is the best accompaniment for this dish, especially when you dip it in the delicious sauce at the bottom of the bowl. You can make your own if you want to be a bit extra (I sometimes do), but any crusty bread from your local bakery will work just as well.

The aubergine pasta and the stuffed peppers are perfect for the end of the week, because they’re what I call “whatever’s left” meals. You can add almost any leftover veggies and herbs to these dishes, so they’re great for using up odds and ends before the weekend.

I like to leave my weekend meals unplanned until later in the week, because they can be unpredictable (spontaneity is the spice of life, right?) and because I like to go for more elaborate meals when I have time. I’ll usually wait until Thursday/Friday, and if no plans have come up for the weekend, then I’ll go through my Pinterest boards and choose something new or fancy to try out. Or I might get inspired by whatever’s on offer at the local farmer’s market.

Final thoughts

This week feels like a nice balance between comfort food and fresh cooking, and – the best part – it’s all things I can realistically pull off, even on busy days. Cooking a few components ahead (like slaw, the base for the ratatouille or the stew, or filling for the bell peppers) makes the rest feel a lot easier.

I will be sharing some of these recipes in separate posts and on my Instagram and Pinterest pages (which are still empty as of yet). Let me know which recipe you’d like to see first.