Door-knock dinner

An old, OLD Food Network favorite of mine, "Door Knock Dinners" featured the slightly goofy and ever affable Gordon Elliot, invading strangers homes, and dragging a chef behind him.  While Gordon goofed around with the family, the chef was charged with making a gourmet dinner using only what was available in the kitchen.  I loved the concept, and I have challenged myself to a "door knock" dinner at least once or twice a month for many years.

Okay, I know.  It's my OWN kitchen.  And I shouldn't really have much trouble putting together a great dinner out of my own supplies.  So here's the gig --  I can't make anything that I have made before.  No recipes.  And any convenience food I use has to be used in a way I don't typically use it.  The rules force me to really root around in the pantry and the freezer, which means I find things I've forgotton I have.  And it forces me to look at familiar ingredients  in way I haven't used them before.  One example, from tonight's "door knock":

 

Haricort Verts with Cippolini and Almonds

I found some great frozen beans that I had forgotten about in the freezer, along with some slivered almonds, and a small bag of home made parmesan bread crumbs, already toasted.  (When I have a few slices of crusty bread left over, I often make them into seasoned bread crumbs and toss them in the freezer.)   I had a red cippolini onion in the pantry that I bought at Whole Foods, mainly because I hadn't seen red cippolini onions before.

So I sliced up the cippolini, and sauteed it to translucency in a bit of olive oil; while I did that, I toasted the almond silvers lightly in a dry saute pan.  

I added the beans to the softened onions, straight from the freezer, and continued to saute.  As the beans approached tender/crisp, I drizzled on balsamic vinegar flavored with lemon that I bought on a whim at Home Goods.  If I hadn't had that, I would have just used some balsamic, and maybe a bit of lemon zest from a lemon in the fridge.  Once the beans were tender, but still green, I sprinkled on the almonds and bread crumbs, and served.  15 minutes from start to finish.

I used some leftover frozen hashbrowns, a bechamel, a shallot, the last few ounces of a chunk of Comte cheese, a few grates of nutmeg, salt and pepper, to make a potato gratin.  Because the hash browns are shredded, a gratin will cook in  about 20 minutes.  Making the bechamel takes about 5-8 minutes.

I made garlic toast from good garlic baguette slices in the freezer,along with some good butter with a bit of lightly steamed garlic and salt in it. (Garlic hint:  if you want to mellow raw garlic a bit, toss it in the microwave on high for about 15 seconds.  It takes off that raw "edge" and makes it a snap to peel as well.)

I confess.  I cheated on the meat.  We had a great looking porterhouse in the freezer, and the temp hit 60 today, so we just tossed that on the grill seasoned with salt and pepper.  Hey.  I have a cold.  So I was lazy, and cheated a bit.  It was beautiful piece of meat, and it called to me while I was rooting around in the freezer.

Try your own "door knock" dinner -- It's a great way to get those odds and ends out of the pantry, fridge, and freezer in new and interesting ways.