Big Bowl of Love’s Cristina Ferrare helps to unlock our creative cooking energy on this episode of Pantry Raid! She brings along her best friend, Margaret, for the snack-fest. CF shares her pantry secrets and creates a few awesome snack treats that we all can make our OWN.
What’s on today’s menu?
- White Bean Hummus and Rosemary Vegetable
- Mediterranean Tuna Salad
- Lemon Pepper Parmesan Crackers
Who hasn’t had a memory of standing in from of their pantry just staring and seeing nothing of interest. Cristina and her friend Margaret help to turn our pantry into a canvas that gets us all thinking “what can I create?”. I got lots of tips out of this episode and a handy pantry list (which I note below). I look at the list more as a list of possible new entries into my OWN pantry. I definitely know that the next time I am standing and staring into my overstocked pantry, that I will see a lot more yummy possibilities.
Now for a few BBOL tips:
- Always have a well stocked pantry. Then will have what you need for a craving or last minute entertaining.
- Make a few extra cheese logs and place them in the freezer. Perfect time saver for the next time you crave this snack!
- Make sure your butter is cold so your dough is good and flaky.
- Don’t over mix your dough or it will become stiff.
- Wrap your dough in plastic wrap and pop it into the freezer for a bit. This will help shape the mixture.
- Try rolling your dough into bread sticks. Perfect for any table!
- Use rosemary stalk as skewers. It will infuse your vegetables with rosemary.
- Soak the rosemary stalk in water for couple hours to prevent them from smoking or burning on the grill.
- Be sure to strain your tuna so that it doesn’t get mushy.
- Caraway seeds are great to add to a dish when you want the feeling of having rye…without having rye. Very cool tip!
Here are some of Cristina’s well-stocked pantry items (link to list with recipes at bottom):
- Dried Ginger
- Cardamom
- Powdered Chipotle
- Smoked Paprika
- Canned baby clams
- Canned pumpkin
- Sweetened condensed milk
- Jar of Olives
- Anchovies
- Dried whole red peppers
Here are a couple of my OWN suggestions:
- Crackers are great for on top of soup!
- Don’t like tuna, then try chicken.
- Place a larger bowl of ice under your tuna salad bowl to ensure it is fresh for the whole party.
Here are a couple of my OWN suggestions for a well-stocked pantry:
- Box of Pasta
- Diced & stewed tomatoes
- Cannelloni beans
- Red pepper flakes
- Garlic
- Sesame Oil
- Agave
- Bread crumbs
Time to satisfy your munchies and be creative!
Links to recipes:
http://www.oprah.com/own-cristinas-big-bowl-of-love/Mediterranean-Tuna-Salad
http://www.oprah.com/own-cristinas-big-bowl-of-love/Lemon-Pepper-Parmesan-Crackers
http://www.oprah.com/own-cristinas-big-bowl-of-love/What-to-Keep-in-Your-Pantry_1/1
http://www.oprah.com/food/Cristina-Ferrares-Cooking-Blog-Pantry-Items/2