Since I started asking people what was in their cupboards recently, as a way of helping to minimise the need to leave the house, and to offer reassurance and advice to those who may be wondering how to use what they have during a period of sporadic food shortages, some of the same things have come up again and again.
So I’ll be sharing some of the most common ideas here on Metro.co.uk.
In the spirit of my Lockdown Larder, all of the recipes will be based on queries that people have sent me on Twitter – so feel free to substitute ingredients for those that you have available or to hand. These ideas aren’t prescriptive, more suggestive, and I hope that they help.
Firstly: a query from a reader about what to make from just two ingredients: tinned sardines and capers.
Oh, how we guffawed at Jamie wheeling capers out as a storecupboard staple in his new show, but I am a secret fan of them myself. And it seems I’m not the only one, as a lot of readers have sent me pictures of their own jars of them over the last week, asking how they can best make use of them.
If you don’t have capers, you can use any kind of pickle, pickled gherkins, cornichons, pickled beetroot, even pickled onions, finely chopped, to impart the same tang and crunch that a caper would give here.
A comprehensive list of substitutions is given below the recipe – so if you don’t have something in, scroll down and see if there’s anything you can swap it for.
Makes one decent
sized jar
- 2 cans of sardines, in brine or oil
- 2 tbsp capers
- 1 tbsp oil or butter
- 1 tsp lemon juice or vinegar
- Plenty of black pepper
First open your cans of sardines, and tip them into a mixing bowl. Carefully remove any visible bones – this is just for your own peace of mind if you’re unfamiliar with them, as the bones are perfectly soft and edible and an excellent source of calcium and B12. Roughly mash the sardines with a fork, and add the oil or butter.
Finely chop the capers with a large, sharp knife, as small as you can get them, then transfer to the mixing bowl. Mix well to incorporate with the sardines and fat.
Add the lemon juice or vinegar, a drop at a time, to taste – the exact quantity depends on your penchant for tang, as well as whether your sardines were originally stored in brine or oil, and the piquancy of your capers.
When tangy to taste,
season generously with plenty of black pepper. Transfer to an airtight jar and
top with a little extra oil or melted butter to create a seal across the top.
Store in the fridge, unopened, for up to seven days, and use within three days
of opening.
You can spread this on hot toast, cold bread, crackers, toast fingers to dollop in soup.
Use a little in the base of a curry to give it depth and flavour, or a stew, pie filling, or casserole.
Toss it through warm pasta, or fold a spoonful through a veg risotto – or, my favourite, slather it thickly on bread, top with cheese, and another slice of bread, and make it into a deliciously savory grilled cheese toastie.
Substitutions:
- Sardines can be replaced with any canned fish, including tuna, mackerel, pilchards and roe
- Capers: Use any finely chopped pickle in lieu, including pickled onion, beetroot, cabbage, gherkins or cornichon
- Butter: Any cooking oil will work in place of butter here – light flavours like rapeseed, sunflower or vegetable are fine, as is olive. Fancier oils will also do the trick, if you have them knocking about the place.
- Lemon: Use light or mild vinegar, like white wine, white pickling, cider, or plain distilled. And as ever, bottled lemon or lime juice is absolutely fine.
MORE: This two-ingredient lockdown meringue dessert doesn’t need any eggs or flour
