Cupboard cooking

 I haven't really had a proper food panic for a while. Supply has been fine round here, and I have to shop for my folks pretty often so I haven't developed an aversion to supermarkets. Though I do tend to shop way off peak, my working hours being greatly extended to allow for the odd hour trip to Sainsburys at, say, 9.50 today. Today was really busy at work and I could have done without the interruption, but if I was going, it definitely had to be off peak.

I live in a London postcode, but my nearest actual supermarket is just beside the edge of CR4, boundary of what the Post Office still thinks of as London, even though it goes miles further now if we're talking local government boundaries. (Which I do, incessantly.) I've never given CR4 a thought, apart from being glad I'm the right side of it in lockdown as various excellent food delivery companies only do London postcodes and won't travel the extra 800 yards. But now CR4 is one of the several places where the South African Variant has been detected, and there are additional requests (if not rules) to really, really stay at home we mean it, and eat what's in your cupboards while you wait to get tested etc.

So, you know. Pausing for thought. But I did in fact get tested last weekend. And among the frivolously non-essential food I needed to buy today was bread, milk, oil, potatoes, oranges and onions, and that lot alone is plenty heavy to lug back from other shopping options. I went. I left even more distance than usual. I completely stopped dead when an aggressive young unmasked bloke queuejumped everyone. I may have held my breath until he had got way past. Ridiculous. But the power of the Rules is great these days. And more resistant variants are not our friends, obvs. Even if they are probably all over by now.

I needed those onions, but otherwise tonight's supper is a good cupboard one. I was sure I'd blogged it, but I can't find it on search or keyword, so you get it again if so. It is improbably delicious, for how blatantly tins and jars it is, and I commend it to you if Cook From Your Cupboards turns into a national motto for a bit. By coincidence, I had pretty much everything spot on for this, but it's very forgiving about eg types of beans, cheese, tuna etc.

 

Tuna bean gratin

1 onion

Loads of garlic (6 cloves says the recipe)

1 tin of tuna (ideally posh tuna in olive oil, if not you will want to add some fat I'm afraid)

2 tins of white beans (except I only use one or this would last me all week)

Dash of milk, plus a lug of cream if you can - if not, definitely add oil as above

Grated strong cheese (weirdly, I had some practically #ArchivedIngredients Gruyere, which is right for the recipe, BBE December 2020 oops)

Breadcrumbs

Parsley

 Sweat off the onion lightly for about 5 minutes till it's softening. Then add loads of sliced garlic and cook for a while. I barely heated it this time (I was rushing to put this together before yoga) and it was... vibrant tonight. But still tasty. Stir the beans into the onion mix - if you're using 2 cans, drain one but include the other's juice, it helps to add richness). Officially, blend these together, but I often just mash them a bit. It's a forgiving recipe.

Now add the tuna - yes, with its oil - and milk/cream, plus half the grated cheese. It will be a beige blur. That's all right. 

 

Then into a gratin dish. Remaining cheese and breadcrumbs on top. Into an oven for 20 minutes at about 180deg till it's bubbling. 

 

This one bubbled less than often as it cooled down from the stovetop bit during yoga. I should probably have given it an extra 5 mins, but I was hungry.

 

Serve with something green, says the recipe. Which is absolutely right, but trust me, you'll work that out for yourself. It needs something to cut the richness, which is considerable, and which overwhelms any feeling this is beige cupboard food.