When I was a student, back in the heady days of the 1990s, my parents gave me a little book called Store-Cupboard Cookery. The idea was that if you keep just a few staple ingredients in your kitchen, you should be able to rustle up a healthy meal. I found the book again as I was writing this first piece in my Kitchen Inspiration series. I noticed that the date written on the inside cover coincided with the year I spent living – and self catering! – in Spain. Maybe my parents were worried I wouldn’t survive without the college canteen…
The other book I found in my collection from student days is Cas Clarke’s Grub on a Grant. I wonder how many of my readers remember that book? Sometimes I take it down from the shelf and have a chuckle leafing through the dog-eared pages of simple recipes sprinkled with zany cartoons.
In a house that my daughter shared with a group of friends until recently, there was a whiteboard on the kitchen wall. Beside each girl’s name was written a ‘word for the year’. I love hearing about how those friends talked about their chosen words around the table at ‘house dinners’, because words can have many rich implications in our intellectual, emotional, and spiritual lives. My daughter has since relocated, but has kept up her ‘word for the year’ tradition. It’s quite infectious; this year I have chosen a word also. Or rather a word has chosen me.
Over Christmas and New Year we hosted lots of friends and family. There was quite a lot to juggle in terms of getting rooms ready, doing food shopping and cooking, as well as all the usual seasonal preparations. More than once I found myself getting a bit anxious that I would run out of some vital key ingredient, that I would not have sufficient quantities of a certain dish, or that I would not get everything finished in time to welcome our guests. But almost as soon as I started to worry, I discovered, to my surprise, that I had just enough of the resources that I needed for the purpose at hand.
Have you guessed my word yet? The word that seemed to follow me around from December into January? Yes – it’s the word ‘enough’! As the weeks go by, it is fascinating to discover the etymology of my word, and all the various meanings it can have. It’s been fun too thinking about the times it appears in songs, in poetry, and in Scripture. The first song that came to my mind was ‘Never Enough’ from the film The Greatest Showman …
There is a story in Scripture that I keep remembering too, about the Old Testament prophet Elijah and the widow, as told in 1 Kings 17. Elijah is instructed by God to hide near a ravine where he is kept alive by food brought to him by ravens every morning and evening, and by water from the stream. But then a famine comes, and God tells Elijah to move again, this time to the town of Zarephath, in modern day Lebanon. God tells Elijah that, when he gets to Zarephath, a widow will look after him. But when Elijah meets the widow, and asks her for a drink and a piece of bread, it becomes clear that she hasn’t got enough supplies in her store-cupboard to feed herself and her child, never mind a strange and uninvited visitor:
‘I promise you, before the Lord your God, that I have nothing but a handful of flour in a jar and a little bit of olive oil in a jug. I came here to gather a few pieces of wood for a fire to cook our last meal. My son and I will eat it and then die from hunger.’
1 Kings 17:12
Elijah isn’t to be put off. He tells the widow not to worry, but to go home and cook. And he gives her a remarkable promise:
‘The Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘That jar of flour will never be empty and the jug will always have oil in it. This will continue until the day the Lord sends rain to the land.’
1 Kings 17:14
I imagine the widow had her doubts. But she had very little to lose. She went back to her kitchen as Elijah suggested, and started to cook. Against all of her expectations, she discovered she had enough resources in her store-cupboard, not only to provide for that day’s needs, but for a long time afterwards.
‘Elijah, the woman, and her son had enough food for a long time. The jar of flour and the jug of oil were never empty. This happened just as the Lord said through Elijah.’
1 Kings 17:16
Somehow my Ulster psyche pictures the widow mixing up her last remaining store-cupboard ingredients into a simple batter and frying up a few pancakes on her stove. It’s Shrove Tuesday this week, or Máirt de hInide in Irish. According to The National Museum of Ireland, this feast in the Christian calendar was a way to use up supplies of eggs, butter and milk before the observance of Lent. We didn’t observe Lent growing up, but we almost always, as far as I can remember, had pancakes on Pancake Tuesday. Across Ireland, pancakes are still made on this day, as a special treat. Pancake Day is a favourite tradition; it brightens up a cold time of year that isn’t Winter exactly, but isn’t quite Springtime either.
My Mum makes pancakes all year round, and sends them home with people in bundles. The version she makes is sometimes called ‘Scotch Pancakes’, perhaps reflecting the Ulster Scots part of our heritage, and sometimes they are called ‘Drop Scones’, perhaps because the batter drops so easily onto the griddle. They taste great freshly made, with butter and jam, and they can be toasted for a comforting warm snack at any time of the day. I’m grateful to my Mum for sharing her tried and tested recipe:
Maureen’s Pancakes (makes about 24)
Ingredients
1lb soda bread flour
6oz caster sugar
2 eggs
1 pint buttermilk
Method
Whisk all of the ingredients together in a large bowl, making sure all of the flour is incorporated. The mix should be quite thick. Drop generous tablespoonfuls of the batter onto a lightly buttered heated pan or griddle, over a medium heat. When bubbles appear on the surface, turn over the pancake and cook the other side until each side is golden. Adjust the heat if necessary. Pile up your pancakes on baking paper and cover with a clean kitchen towel as you cook. Enjoy!
If you find yourself making or eating pancakes, remember with me the story of Elijah and the widow. Sometimes we fear that our store-cupboard provisions will run dry. Maybe the literal store-cupboards in our kitchens. Or maybe our emotional or spiritual store-cupboards. When the widow took the promise of God at face value, she discovered an astonishing abundance: she had all that she needed, and with more than enough to spare.
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Introducing Kitchen Inspiration
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