It's hard to believe with the amount of food I lug in every week that I could find myself totally out of tinned tomatoes. But that was what happened late this afternoon as I was about to add what is a somewhat vital ingredient into the bubbling pan of Chachouka (made with ordinary hens eggs and not duck eggs here.) I could have sworn I'd got at least two tins somewhere but evidently not! B*ggerations!!
I searched every shelf in the kitchen (just in case I'd erroneously stored a stray tin with the tinned fruit) and then I moved on to search everywhere else in the house that could possibly be hiding a tin of tomatoes (in the large wooden cupboard in the hall, both under and in the sideboard in the dining room - all places where tinned and packet foodstuffs can be found lurking due to lack of storage space in our teeny tiny kitchen.) Sadly, no tins of tomatoes came to light. At this point desperation was setting in and I knew it was time for some improvisation. I found I had two jars of pasta sauce - one specifically for bolognese and one claiming to have mediterranean vegetables. Having squinted to read the ingredients of both jars (do they have to print those things so damned small!), I opted for the veggie one as that only contained onions, peppers (also a vital ingredient in Chachouka) and courgettes.
Well, it worked OK-ish. I had to up the quantity of smoked paprika to try and mask the taste of basil but other than that it was alright. Come Monday morning, I shall be stocking up with at least half-a-dozen tins of chopped tomatoes from Aldi and checking what other vital ingredients I'm low on and adding those to my list too.
I had a wee spring clean recently and found 16 tins of chopped tomatoes!
Posted by: Maureen | 09/23/2012 at 06:37 AM
Having posted the above I had to write in the two words that appear in the box to prove I'm not a robot. One of them was "Scrupulum". Such a lovely word. It's now part of my vocabulary!
Posted by: Maureen | 09/23/2012 at 06:39 AM
I've never heard of that recipe - must try it sometime, it looks good.
Posted by: Caroline | 09/25/2012 at 08:44 AM