The Cheat's Pantry

Heaven is a kitchen with an elaborate meal to prepare, an audiobook and no other people. I'm happy here for hours on end, if not days. So the idea of pre-made pastes, packaged sauces or any recipe with 'Easy' in the title makes no sense at all to me. Why would you cheat yourself out of precious kitchen time? Well, seventeen years of parenthood and a partner who'd "quite like some help doing other shit around the house please" means I've had to compromise.

I'd still never use a jar of curry sauce or a sachet of chilli con carne seasoning (I'm not a fucking barbarian) but I will now lean on the likes of garlic granules, frozen parathas and crispy fried shallots.

And when it comes to transforming leftovers, the more tricks you have in your pantry, the more options you'll have for that cold sausage or stale loaf.

Garlic Granules

While not quite as potent as a really fresh firm bulb of garlic, garlic granules are a way better option than a rubbery old bulb that's been sitting in a cupboard for a month. And when you use as much garlic as I do (whatever the recipe says x4) it saves a lot of time and garlic-skin mess.

To rehydrate it add 2 tsp warm water to 1 tsp garlic granules and let it sit for 5 minutes. The water should be totally absorbed and the garlic will puff up to about twice its original volume. Now you can fry it just like you would with fresh garlic.

People on the internet will tell you that 1/8th tsp of dried garlic granules is the equivalent of one fresh clove. People on the internet are full of shit. An 1/8th tsp may be equivalent to one of those runty little cloves that's too tiny to be worth peeling, but if you're looking to replicate the power of a nice fat fresh clove, I'd recommend a 1/2 tsp.

Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

- Serves one -

My go-to pasta dish when I haven't been grocery shopping is Spaghetti Aglio e Olio. It is better with fresh garlic, but if you're making a working-from-home lunch for one, and you can't be arsed with the faff of peeling and chopping fresh garlic, granules are fine. Just use more of them.

Ingredients

1 tsp garlic granules, rehydrated

120 gm dried spaghetti

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

handful chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Salt to taste

Black pepper to taste

Parmesan to serve

Method

Fry the reheated garlic in the oil until it smells incredible.

Cook your spaghetti in salty, salty water.

Before you drain the pasta, scoop out a few tablespoons of the pasta water from the pot.

Drain the pasta, add it to the garlic oil with the pasta water, a good few grinds of black pepper (no, more than that) and the parsley.

Toss to combine over a low heat - and you're done.

Garlic Powder

The drying process mellows a little of garlic's heat and harshness, so you can add it towards the end of cooking without it dominating like a fart in an elevator. My Greek mates will disown me but I now prefer tzatziki made with garlic powder.

The fine powder is easily incorporated into sauces, stews and soups, and when mixed with a little olive oil, salt and black pepper, makes a very effective rub for BBQ or roast meats.

Onion Flakes

Onion flakes are another sneaky little time saver. Like garlic granules, you can rehydrate them at a ratio of about 1 tbsp onion flakes to 2 tbsp water and I'd say 40g of dried onion flakes is equivalent to a large onion when rehydrated.

While the flavour is slightly less sulphurous, they do have their own unique depth that develops in the drying process. I think they add a toasty warmth that you don't get with fresh onions. Saying that, once they've been rehydrated, fried in oil and simmered in a sauce for a few hours, you'd be hard-pushed to tell the difference.

I'd only ever use them in recipes where the onion gets to soften and breakdown, never as a replacement for fresh onion in say, a salad.

Onion Powder

I love a little sprinkle of onion powder, a splash of olive oil, salt, pepper and perhaps some oregano on a chicken thigh before baking. It works beautifully on BBQ meats too. The direct heat seems to neutralise the sulphurous stink and caramelise the powder to a sweet, savoury crust.

But, go easy if you're adding it to a sauce. There was a mature-age student on my course at university who had quite astonishing body odour. He was a lovely bloke and always had an interesting perspective to offer but oh that smell. I'd always love to hear his take on the world but our conversations were limited by the length of time I could hold my breath.

He was onion powder.

Fried Shallots

You can buy little bags or plastic jars of fried shallots from most supermarkets, but they're for those who dabble. We're pretty heavy users in our house so I head out to our local Asian supermarket for the industrial sized bags.

I throw handfuls on curries, stews, soups, fried rice, poached eggs and even pasta dishes as a finishing touch. They add an oniony crunch and they look real pretty.

While they're designed to be a garnish, I occasionally stir them into stews. Most store-bought fried shallots are prepared with cornflour, so as well as adding deep, rich, oniony flavour, they'll thicken your sauce - which is very nice of them.

Of course, you can fry your own crispy shallots. You can also pluck your own chickens and grind your own wheat.

MSG

As I wrote in a previous post, monosodium glutamate is an unfairly maligned additive. For decades, people have perpetuated the nonsense that MSG gives you headaches, rashes and high blood pressure, when in reality it's no more harmful than table salt. Well I'm here to set the record straight and FREE THE MSG! Get yourself a stash from your local Asian supermarket and start sprinkling. It'll up the umami in your savoury dishes and make everything taste a little more restauranty.

What does MSG taste like? Lick a little dab and you'll get a mild salty taste with a hint of chicken. It's when you add it to other food that the magic happens. It doesn't really add another flavour, it simply intensifies what's already there, like an amplifier; A yumplifier.

Add it during cooking as you would with salt and start off small. You'll soon get confident with it and you'll be slinging handfuls in everything.