“Refrigrator Surprise” -A Free for all for the tastebuds?

I love spring and all the great vegetables and fruits that are available. Typically I eat several a day and always two for dinner and three at least in my lunch wrap. The thing with enjoying these delicacies is they go off. And boy do they! Travelling with my job becomes then a tricky maneuver. I have to try and eat these while they are still fresh before I can go buy more or I will open the vegetable bin to well why am I telling you, we have all had the “blech” vegetable bin experience at least once. And I am not particularly fond of  science experiments been there done that cleaned up the goo! So with the first day of summer one day behind us I thought best to clean the bin and save what I could before I set off to the market for more.

The fruit is no problem you see, I’m a runner and I enjoy a lot of smoothies especially in the HOT (and then times two) Texas summer. I can freeze the fruit and make a plethora (million dollar word to plump story) of yummy fruit smoothies etc. The vegetables I try and incorporate into something, and I can only realistically eat one big wrap a day. So I have “Refrigerator Surprise Night”, to cook off said vegetables and to test my culinary skills. Oh trust me, mostly it’s good and I haven’t killed anyone yet! Ha!

I have put a rabe recipe on this site, so you can refer to that if you need measurements, but with “Refrigerator Surprise” it’s a gamble, we have no “stinking” measurements, that’s half the fun and intrigue to it! So here I go, play along with me! First I found 3 cloves of peeled garlic and half a shallot in there from hmmm the ceviche? Would’ve started with that anyway but it adds to the adventure it was already in the bin. So chop garlic, and cut shallots into rings add to about 1-2 Tblsps. of EVOO (not sure on measurement because we are not sure how big this thing is gonna get!).          

Refrigerator Surprise Scallion and Garlic with Olive Oil

Oh yeah before you start that I decided to add some pasta to the dish so I started to boil some water with olive oil and a dash of salt. No Virginia pasta was not in the fridge, but I thought it would add nicely to the elements of surprise! To this I added two handfuls of whole wheat penne pasta (less if you are big meaty hand person). Enough about the pasta, I will throw that in at the end. I had a bunch of broccolini (Google it!) so I chopped that in about 1-1 1/2 inch pieces. Then I found a tomato (actually 3 but one good one), and quartered then halved that. And remembered I just watered on the patio and had some big ole (we talk like that in Texas) basil so I cut a handful of that and chopped it up. Then I spied a half a container of jalapeno pesto, aha my lucky day! So get ready here we go! I sauteed the shallot and garlic till almost translucent, then I added the brocollini, and sauteed that about 6 minutes on medium, stirring occasionally. I then added the tomatoes and sauteed about a minute, then a dash of salt and pepper (fake it I don’t know how much to taste whatever that means lol). Oh I almost forgot the clincher! I found these grilled artichokes from Monterey Farms that I eat on my wraps and added about a quarter cup of those and sauteed them a minute just to warm them.    

Refrigerator Surprise almost finished!

Already then, having fun yet? I turn off the heat, then I add the strained pasta, stir or flip it if you have those extra cool culinary skills in the skillet. Add the jalapeno pesto (half a container about 4-5 oz.) and add to a bowl. Sprinkle Parmesan on top and that big ole basil and shazzaam, Refrigerator surprise! And might I add, see for yourself but it was one fine tasty a** dish! Delish! Enjoy! Peg

One fine a** Refrigerator Surprise!