More Kitchen Sink Dinners

By Lori Powell

All this week, Special Fork bloggers are revealing what’s in their pantry, with tips for using pantry staples. To celebrate Pantry Week, Special Fork has teamed up with Zojirushi, the Japanese maker of top-quality kitchen appliances, to offer a fabulous sweepstakes prize: the 5.5-cup capacity Zojirushi Micom Rice Cooker & Warmer ($192 MSRP), which not only cooks rice flawlessly, but also steams foods and bakes cakes. Menu settings include: white/sushi, mixed, porridge, sweet, brown, cake, steam and quick cooking. Enter to win!

We all have those nights when we don’t have time to stop at the market and grab something to make for dinner that night. Mine was last night but fortunately I keep a well-stocked larder and can probably live from pantry (fridge/freezer/kitchen cabinet) for at least one month, anyway. No joke!

I am a nut about having stuff on hand and it might just be the result of growing up in a large family of all boys. Four brothers! Second helpings – what is that? Never happened in our house and it was not until I started eating at friends’ houses that I was introduced to the term, leftovers, and what that was all about.

I’m a huge fan, as it turns out. Also I love putting together a meal from other people’s pantry. Kind of like my form of Discovery Channel.

My family is always saying to me, I have this of that in the freezer what would you like me to defrost? Or I have this or that in the fridge…any ideas? I love a challenge. But not every day.

I keep my pantry a bit on the overstocked side. Check out my previous post to see my list of what might be good to have around.

Back to last night, my fridge and freezer contained a head of two-month-old cabbage (stuff lasts forever if stored right), bag of frozen cheese- filled pierogies (staple in my freezer along with vegetarian meatballs, ravioli and dumplings), onions, organic chicken broth, olive oil and some vinegar (cupboard).

So my dinner fix, straight from the pantry, is a skillet dinner of caramelized onions and Savoy cabbage topped with browned pierogies. Another plus: minimal wash-up…win-win!

To get the recipe and shopping list on your smartphone (iPhone, BlackBerry, Android device) or PC, click here.

Skillet Pierogies with Cabbage and Caramelized Onions
Serves 1

3 cheese pierogies
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, sliced
1-1/2 cups sliced green or Savoy cabbage
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
Flaked sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons low-fat sour cream

1. Parboil pierogies in a large saucepan of boiling water, about 5 minutes. Drain and reserve.
2. Heat oil in a medium seasoned cast-iron skillet over moderate heat and cook pierogies until golden brown on both sides, about 4 minutes. Remove pierogies and keep warm.
3. Increase heat to moderately high and cook onion, stirring, until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Add cabbage and cook, stirring, until softened, about 6 minutes. Add broth and vinegar and cover until tender, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Transfer to a plate and top with pierogies and sour cream. EAT!

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