Organized pantry nets tomatoes, white beans meal
On a recent unbearably hot day (coupled with unusually bad air quality) I decided it was a good time to reorganize the pantry. It was a task that needed to be done — productivity! — and it would keep me in the confines of my air conditioned — comfortable! — house with its filtered air.
Being productive while staying comfortable and having a solid plan for dinner? That’s a win-win-win.
To be clear, my pantry is quite small. It’s a tiny nook under the stairs. Harry Potter’s Cupboard under the Stairs at 4 Privet Drive was bigger than my pantry. So this wasn’t an all-day process, but it did take a good chunk of the afternoon.
I started by pulling all the cans off the shelves. I wiped the dust off the cans and the shelves (dust and debris showers as people walk up and down the stairs are real) and got to sorting.
For the most part all that needed to be done was get my canned goods back in orderly rows — tomato products together, soups grouped by flavor, beans sorted by type — while checking use-by dates to put the oldest cans front and center. I also sorted the bottled stuff — ketchup, assorted hot sauces, barbecue sauce, corn syrup, chile sauce — and put them on a lower side shelf so that if one fell, it’d be less likely to break or land on my foot.
In the process I learned I had way too many cans of diced tomatoes and white beans. Some were even past their use-by dates by a month or so. To be clear: Canned goods that are past their use-by, best-by and sell-by dates are safe to eat as long as the cans are not showing any signs of damage or decay. However, the contents may not be at their best quality and it’s always best to use oldest stuff
first. First in, first out — FIFO. It’s much easier to follow FIFO if you keep your pantry organized (something I’m not always good at doing).
To lessen my glut of canned tomatoes, I made a big batch of the Roasted Heirloom Tomato Bisque I wrote about a few weeks ago and divvied it into freezer containers.
To use the beans, I turned to this recipe from Smitten Kitchen, a frequent source of inspiration lately.
The Smitten Kitchen version calls for adding fresh basil at the end, but I skipped the basil and added some fresh thyme while I roasted the tomatoes. Unlike most years at this point in the summer, the basil in my herb garden is struggling to grow, so I didn’t have enough.
The tomatoes and beans are delicious on their own or paired with crusty bread or crostini. If you have leftovers, they’re excellent tossed with a can of tuna — just let them come to room temperature enough to re-liquefy the olive oil — for a mayo-free tuna salad.
Roasted Tomatoes With White Beans
- 5 tablespoons olive oil, divided use
- 1 pound very ripe cherry tomatoes, halved
- 6 small cloves garlic, peeled
- Several sprigs fresh thyme, optional
- Salt and ground pepper, to taste
- 1 (15-ounce) can white beans such as cannellini or Great Northern, drained and rinsed
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves, loosely packed (I skipped this)
- Red pepper flakes, to taste
Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Add about 2 tablespoons of the olive oil to a 9-by-13inch (or similarly sized) baking dish — you want the dish to be big enough to hold the halved tomatoes in a snug single layer. Arrange the tomatoes in the dish, cut side up. Nestle in the garlic and thyme sprigs (if using). Drizzle with 2 more tablespoons of the olive oil, and sprinkle with 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt and a few generous grinds of black pepper.
Roast the tomatoes for 20 minutes or until everything is bubbly and juicy. Remove from the oven to heat-safe surface and discard the thyme sprigs and then use a fork to lightly mash the tomatoes (being careful of the squirting hot juice) and garlic. Add drained beans and stir to combine. Return to the oven for 5 to 10 minutes more or until beans are heated through. To serve, drizzle with remaining tablespoon olive oil, scatter with basil or more thyme and sprinkle with red pepper flakes.
Makes 2 to 4 servings.