What's a delicious meal I can make with ONLY these ingredients?

June 8, 2023 6:28 AM

A friend is on a very restrictive diet while she tries to sort out some medical issues. She is going through a tough time, and I'm having her over for dinner. I would like to make something nice that she'll enjoy, including a main, a side dish, and a dessert, choosing ONLY from these ingredients which I will list after the jump ...

The main challenge is that the "glue" that makes some of these items into meals – such as salt, pepper, cooking oil, sugar, spices – is not allowed, so I can't use most recipes that I might find for the items on this list, and I think I'll basically have to make something up?

Fruit
- Bananas
- Grapefruits
- Lemons
- Pineapples
- Pears
- Grapes

Vegetables
- Carrots
- Cucumbers
- Onions
- Leeks
- Spring onions

Herbs/aromatics
- Garlic
- Parsley
- Thyme
- Basil
- Coriander
- Chives

Sweet things
- Honey
- Dates
- Cacao

Carbs
- Rice

Protein
- Salmon
- Halibut
- Prawns/shrimp
- Scallops
- Lobster
- Crab
- Tuna

Misc
- Hemp seed oil
- Hemp seeds
- Tea

She can't eat salt, pepper, sugar, any cooking oil, any dairy, any meat aside from the fish listed, etc. So basically, the list above is everything I have to work with. I have access to a market where I potentially can buy anything from the list, except maybe the lobster because it will be too expensive.

I would love some ideas, perhaps from people who have experience making do with a restrictive list like this?

posted by RubyScarlet to Food & Drink (33 answers total)

Ooh good challenge! I think this is what I would do...

Main: 1) salmon/halibut/tuna cooked en papillotte with lemon slices and herbs with 2) carrots (and onions?) roasted in leek ash (trim the leek tops, wash and dry, then oven on lowest setting til crisp and dark, then blitz to a powder) - keep the carrots whole, wash/peel as desired and then rub with ash and wrap in tin foil and roast and 3) boiled/steamed rice, tossed with spring onion and herbs (and shrimp if you're feeling fancy)

Side dish: cucumber and herb salad with lemon zest and honey hemp oil dressing

Dessert: griddled pineapple with a tea and honey glaze and banana ice cream (freeze the banana in chunks and then blend to an ice cream once frozen)
posted by london explorer girl at 6:41 AM on June 8, 2023

Shrimp, garlic, parsley over rice. Cut cucumbers on the side.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 6:42 AM on June 8, 2023

You can oven poach fish with no oil. Take portions of salmon or halibut, and lay them on sheets of aluminum foil then top with minced garlic, parsely, green onion, and lemon slices. Wrap up the foil to make a sealed 'boat': fold up the foil lengthwise and crimp the edges together, then roll and squeeze the open sides closed. Bake in a 425 oven for 20 minutes or until it's just opaque in the center. This is a fairly forgiving method of cooking, so the fish won't burn or dry out if you don't pull it out at just the right time.

While that's cooking, make some rice and jazz it up with some hemp seeds and green onion. Arrange some peel and sliced cucumber on the plate when you serve it.

Make a fruit salad drizzled with honey and chopped dates for dessert!
posted by ananci at 6:43 AM on June 8, 2023

I'd grill a nice piece of salmon, then right as it was finishing up, I'd glaze it with some honey, crushed garlic, and chives. Warm the honey a bit so it's easier to brush on, and this can also activate the garlic and chives. This will get served with some plain rice.

I'd cook up some of the herbs as a a green. This is not uncommon in Chinese traditional food. If coriander also means you can eat the plant (called cilantro in the US) that's a great steamed up and lightly dressed with lemon juice, a little hemp seed oil, and either a small amount of crushed garlic or minced chives. I'd briefly warm the garlic in the hemp seed oil, but don't fry in it. It's a fairly delicate oil. If you can't do cilantro, and can do an Asian basil, that would also be great. Chives and chive flower is also a good option here.

For dessert, freeze some fruit and then puree it into a sorbet with some honey and grap and basil. I'd love that with pears you softened first, but pineapple or grapefruit would also be great.
posted by advicepig at 6:44 AM on June 8, 2023

On preview I love the last suggestion but if that seems too intimidating here is a simpler menu:

Carrot soup: Boil carrots and leeks or onions in water and a pinch of coriander. Blend. Drizzle with hemp oil or seeds if you have it.

Main: Sear salmon without oil. Serve with a side of chopped cucumbers and spring onions with a squeeze of lemon.

Dessert: I would blend banana, a couple of dates, and a couple spoons of cocoa powder, then put in cups and refrigerate (like a mousse). You could even get fancy and roast the bananas, or add a date if they are on the green side.
posted by beyond_pink at 6:48 AM on June 8, 2023

You've got the makings of a veg stock here, so you could cook rice in stock.

If red onions are allowed, you could quick pickle them in lemon juice for some acid crunch with anything otherwise bland.

Roasted bananas with honey and lemon juice would make good dessert.
posted by quacks like a duck at 6:51 AM on June 8, 2023

I would make a pilaf by sauteeing the veggies and adding to the rice. And then follow some of the other advice here for cooking the fish.

This is the video that taught me how to sautee without oil.
posted by FencingGal at 6:52 AM on June 8, 2023

Steamed or panfried fish or scallops (no oil--just a hothothot pan; I like cast iron for this). Herby rice--a mix of herbs and chives or green onions. A salsa of pineapple, cucumber, and cilantro/parsley/basil

Rice bowl: steamed crab or fish or shrimp, a hemp oil/lemon juice/garlic dressing (touch of honey if needed), shredded carrot and cilantro salad, dry fried or grilled pineapple, dry fried or grilled green onion, chopped cucumber, top with hemp seeds, sliced green onions, cilantro

Dessert ideas:
jasmine/basmati rice with dates and pineapple mixed in and honey drizzled over
grilled/dry fried pineapple drizzled with honey
pears poached in tea and honey
green tea lemon honey granita (skip the ginger)
posted by carrioncomfort at 6:57 AM on June 8, 2023

Poached salmon over a salad of herbs, grapefruit, dates and honey.
posted by vunder at 7:31 AM on June 8, 2023

ChatGPT4 would be good for this purpose. Give it a list of ingredients, a list of any restrictions, and then ask it for recipe suggestions.
posted by alex1965 at 7:34 AM on June 8, 2023

All the above suggestions are great, and the only reason I am posting a link here is that I am not a fan of salmon, unless I can get wild salmon, and that is almost impossible here.

Shrimp and scallops en papilotte. The recipe has white wine, mustard and butter, but I rarely use butter or any other fats for this, and you can use a teaspoonful of lemon juice (in addition to the slice of lemon) in replacement for the wine, I do that every time I forget to buy wine. It will be a bit blander without the mustard, salt and pepper, but you can make up for that with half a crushed garlic clove in each little package.

FencingGal's idea for a pilaf is very interesting, I think it would work well with the shellfish.
posted by mumimor at 7:45 AM on June 8, 2023

Shredded carrots with cilantro & lemon sounds great as a starter.

Salmon is high in fat, so it can be baked on top of mostly-cooked rice, and the juices and fat with flavor the rice. I'd add sliced onions and/or leeks to the rice, with lots of roughly chopped parsley. Grilling the leeks and/or onions will deepen their flavor; you can use a hot pan with no oil.

Can you grill? Grilled pineapple is delicious.

If she's not on restricted calories, make extra so she can have the experience of abundance and maybe take some home. It's a lot of work cooking every meal from scratch with limited ingredients.
posted by theora55 at 7:57 AM on June 8, 2023

A couple quick questions: Can she eat either soy sauce or coconut milk? What about ginger? Avocado? Neither are on the OK list, but they don't really fall into anything on the prohibited list, either. Soy sauce is an easy way to make something taste saltier, and coconut milk is a really common cooking liquid that opens up a lot of options. Ginger is one of those ingredients like garlic that can liven up just about anything, and avocado would provide some of the fat that you're otherwise missing.

If not, I think some variation on the grilled or poached fish over lemon herb rice is going to be your best bet. The idea of cooking the rice in a veggie stock is a pretty good one.

For dessert, don't overthink it. Dip some dates in honey.
posted by kevinbelt at 8:04 AM on June 8, 2023

A couple quick questions: Can she eat either soy sauce or coconut milk? What about ginger? Avocado? Neither are on the OK list, but they don't really fall into anything on the prohibited list, either. Soy sauce is an easy way to make something taste saltier, and coconut milk is a really common cooking liquid that opens up a lot of options. Ginger is one of those ingredients like garlic that can liven up just about anything, and avocado would provide some of the fat that you're otherwise missing.

The prohibited list is not exhaustive, just some examples of things she can't have that would otherwise tie some of these disparate ingredients together. She can only have the items in the main list – so, no sauces, coconut milk, soy products, ginger, or avocado. The only processed foods she could have would be ones that only contain the listed ingredients, so maybe rice noodles, if rice was the only ingredient.

So many creative ideas in this thread and so quickly! I'm really excited to make some of these things!
posted by RubyScarlet at 8:13 AM on June 8, 2023

I would make a lemony rice with garlic, onion, and herbs - and I would make a seafood stock from one of the proteins/shells, for richness. Side of honeyed carrots (see here for technique, just don't use the stuff you can't use).

Very experimental thought: onion juice. Maybe use to dress smashed cucumbers along with lemon and hemp oil/seeds.

Any of the proteins can be prepared in almost any way - broiling (or air frying) would be my inclination here since there's no oil, and you should be able to get nice color without overcooking if you go high and fast. Steaming is also fair because you could use fruit and aromatics to impart flavor.

If you'd like to make a fun appetizer, you could use a slice of cucumber base with a little ball of rice and spring onion or chive bits, with a small shrimp or scallop on top.

Frozen banana ice cream with broiled fruit.
posted by Lyn Never at 8:16 AM on June 8, 2023

These are great recipe ideas. I'd also consider a fruit salad with herbs (basil specifically) and a squeeze of lemon, maybe some green onion if you want to turn it into a salsa to serve alongside fish. In general, onion and green onion can stand in where you would normally add salt, and lemon juice is good to add where you would do a dressing with oil and vinegar.
posted by Lady Li at 8:27 AM on June 8, 2023

Consider also laying out the finished results in an attractive "fancy-restaurant" style (eg: putting the cilantro in exactly the right place using tweezers). It sounds stupid but a lot of people it actually does make an impact on the perceived results, so it might be a nice gesture (sort of "you have a limited set of things but that doesn't mean it can't be fancy so let's enjoy!" type of thing)
posted by aramaic at 8:28 AM on June 8, 2023

Can you grill? Grilled pineapple is delicious.

I have an oven with a grill setting, but not a separate grill compartment. I live in an apartment, so I can't cook anything outside.
posted by RubyScarlet at 8:51 AM on June 8, 2023

Don't forget a fancy drink in a pretty glass/goblet. Ice water or fizzy water (if allowed) with a slice of fruit and a sprig of herb. Lemon/basil etc. or sprigs of thyme frozen in ice cubes.
posted by BoscosMom at 8:57 AM on June 8, 2023

Dessert-wise, I’d bake the bananas until they’re browned. Probably on parchment paper so you can get them off the pan. Not quite sure what form of cacao is okay, but if there’s a way to top the bananas with it that would work, that too.
posted by LizardBreath at 8:57 AM on June 8, 2023

I don't think grilling is optimal for this particular situation, for many reasons, but you should look into buying a stovetop griddle. It's not only useful for something adjacent to grilling indoors, but can also be used for keeping things in pots on a low steady heat, and if you get a flat one that is smooth on the other side, as a pizza iron.

One thing that might work for your dinner is an appetizer of grilled grapefruit and shrimp, garnished with cilantro.
posted by mumimor at 9:07 AM on June 8, 2023

The onion juice recommendation upthread reminded me of Food52's Genius Recipe for roasted onion cream, which they suggest as a replacement for dairy cream, such as, say, in risotto. Skip the oil and salt when roasting/creaming the onions. So: lobster risotto. Sweat the aromatics (onion, maybe also carrots and leeks) without oil making sure not to brown just cook until translucent, use lemon juice instead of white wine, lobster shell stock or water, finish with roasted onion cream and steamed lobster. Or, grapefruit risotto (same method, use water or a simple homemade veggie stock, finish with roasted onion cream). Season with thyme. Maybe also chives for the lobster risotto.

Oh, and grilled/seared grapefruit is also great with honey. And you can steep thyme in the honey to give it a different flavor.
posted by carrioncomfort at 9:11 AM on June 8, 2023

Side - cucumber salad. Dice cucumbers, carrots, and purple onion. If your budget allows, quick pickle the onion in lemon juice with coriander. Dress with a hemp oil and lemon juice vinaigrette with chopped chive and basil.

Extra side - tea infused rice.

Main - scallops with lemon, garlic, and parsley.

OR

Halibut with a seared grapefruit and pineapple chutney.

OR

Adapt shrimp scampi, swapping in rice noodles for the conventional pasta.

OR

Adapt a Spanish style salsa verde (note - does not involve tomatillo, unlike Mexican style) and serve over lightly seared tuna. Basically you take a bunch of bright green herbs, add some garlic, some acid, some oil, and blend.

Dessert - adapt this recipe. Swap hemp oil and hemp seeds in place of the called for oil and walnuts. Do a test run to make sure the texture holds up.
posted by Candleman at 9:28 AM on June 8, 2023

Vietnamese grapefruit salad with shrimp/scallop/crab, carrot, cucumber, herbs, lemon juice
Oil-free pesto with hemp seeds and lemon juice with seafood on rice or as a carrot dip
Tuna tartare with garlic, spring onions, chives
Puréed carrot with roasted garlic
Caramelized onions/leeks without oil
Hakka thunder tea rice without peanuts

Poached pears with honey and lemon zest
Cucumber sorbet with basil and honey
Stuffed dates with banana and cacao
Date caramel/syrup/sugar
posted by eyeball at 9:52 AM on June 8, 2023

For a fairly low-effort meal, maybe ochazuke? Sub one of the fish recipes suggested upthread for the salted salmon, add parsley/chives/green onions(?) and hemp seeds. You could make a dashi out of just dried skipjack tuna, if you have access to it, though you'd be missing out on the flavor and saltiness from the seaweed (which I don't have any great ideas on subs for)... alternatively, you shouldn't have any issues using green tea as the base.

Along the same simple fish-and-rice lines: poke? Or even ceviche, using the lemons (and maybe pineapples or grapefruits, for bonus flavor) as your acid.
posted by the tartare yolk at 10:11 AM on June 8, 2023

I would cook some garlic in the hempseed oil and then cook shrimp and/or scallops in that.

If grapes are OK, presumably raisins are as well? You can make a nice Afghan-style rice dish with shredded carrots and raisins.
posted by jordemort at 11:11 AM on June 8, 2023

If you can only have certain things, but you want to _delight_ someone, then sourcing well is your secret weapon. Get the freshest, best, most flavorful, most artisanal grapefruit or cucumber you can. Invite your friend over on a day when you've just been to a farmers' market, and feed her carrots and leeks that were in the ground hours ago, and basil that's so fresh and from such a sunny spot with such good soil that it tastes like no basil she's ever had before.

Roast the carrots (if you can't use oil, make a teepee out of 4-6 slender carrots so they can dry and roast without sticking), toss them with a little basil - amazing. Don't toss them with basil - amazing.

Rice? Try this heirloom rice from South Carolina, maybe with some farmers-market fresh parsley gently snipped with scissors directly on top. If she can eat wild rice, I highly recommend that - you can order some amazing wild rice from Minnesota, where it's kind of the state food.

Finally, here's a dessert idea I just came up with (so, test it before getting your friend's hopes up):

Slice a pear vertically through the center, and remove any seeds. Roast both halves, cut side up, in the oven (425 Fahrenheit?) until there is a bit of browning. Place each half on a plate and sprinkle lightly with coriander. See how it tastes. (After I try it I might report back!)
posted by amtho at 11:51 AM on June 8, 2023

Is any form of vinegar allowed? If so, a favourite salad in our house is very very finely sliced cucumber quickly pickled in white wine vinegar. If permitted, dill is delightful in it too. Normally we add sugar and salt but I think a teeny tiny quantity of honey (dissolved in the vinegar perhaps) would work, and I've done it without salt lots of times.
posted by In Your Shell Like at 12:24 PM on June 8, 2023

If she has space, she might enjoy having actual alive parsley, basil, chives, etc. growing at her home where she can snip them and eat them immediately. (Carrots and cucumbers take a while to bear fruit and probably wouldn't transplant well, otherwise I'd suggest those too.)

You could also put some store-bought garlic into the ground and eat the little green oniony things that grow out of the top.



When I was a kid, we had a garden with cucumbers. Sometimes I'd pick a cucumber in the morning and eat it while waiting for the bus. No cucumber has ever lived up to that.
posted by amtho at 1:39 PM on June 8, 2023

So many great ideas for mains (and dessert) !
I came into shill for our family favorite for potlucks - a fancy pineapple boat.
My mother started making these while living in Hawai'i in the 60's. They've been a feature of every summer of my life

1. Quarter an unpeeled pineapple. Try to include the greens & include them in each quarter
2. From each quarter, carefully cut off the peel & green tops in one piece (you will want this later)
3. Cut out the pineapple wedges and trim off the hard core.
4. Cut each wedge into sections and place them back onto the peels
5. Using long toothpicks - load a toothpick up with 2 chunks of any fruit and stick it back into a chunk of pineapple. Continue until all pineapple chunks are full.

I like to make these with as many different colorful fruits as possible - and I place the toothpicks in a fairly random way (ex. the colors of the top fruit cannot be the same on wedges that are near each other). But we've also made these in the manner that every toothpick looks the same like the google images show.


These search terms will show you a similar style ---pineapple boat toothpick --- but the images are woefully unoriginal with the extra fruits -- we load each toothpick with 2-3 different fruits before poking them back into the pineapple and it will look MUCH better than these search results, if you do the same)
While previewing, I tried a different search. These terms --pineapple fruit kebab -- give a better view of how the pieces will appear with a rainbow of colors. Though they are made with longer skewers

The same mix can be done to just make a pineapple salad. but this is not as much fun as taking a toothpick full of pineapple & fruit from a pineapple boat.

Fruit
- Pineapple
- Grapefruits, Pear and or Banana << cut into chunks depending on ripeness, banana may smush
- Grapes (Green/Red and or Black )-- cut into chunks
posted by gardenkatz at 3:31 PM on June 8, 2023

ChatGPT is actually pretty decent at suggesting dishes you can make from a list of ingredients. However you should then go look up a recipe for the suggested dish on a proper recipe site because ChatGPT doesn't always get the measurements or instructions right.

There's also phone apps like KitchenPal that you can input your pantry contents and get a list of recipes. You could utilize one of them for this.
posted by Jacqueline at 11:17 PM on June 8, 2023

Seafood congee or juk with garlic and spring onion - but bland without salt
Date caramel (fixed link)
posted by eyeball at 5:46 AM on June 9, 2023

Just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who contributed to this thread (my first Ask!). I was really overwhelmed by all the wonderful suggestions.

Here's what I ended up making ...

Drinks: Ice tea with lemon & honey

Sides:
- Pilaf-style rice with sauteed carrots, garlic and onions, drizzled with hemp oil and hemp seeds (thank you to FencingGal for this great suggestion and for linking me to the video that showed how to sautee with no oil – I watched, did what it said, and it turned out great!)
- Cucumber salad with coriander, spring onions, lemon zest, and a honey & hemp oil dressing (thank you london explorer girl for this creative suggestion – it turned out amazing!)

Main course: Prawns & scallops cooked en papillote with carrot, leeks, thyme, garlic, lemon juice and lemon slices (thanks a million mumimor – I followed the recipe you suggested with your suggested substitutions, and it came out even better than I hoped for!)

Dessert:
- Pears poached in tea & honey (thank you carrioncomfort and eyeball!)
- Fruit plate of pears, pineapple, grapes, bananas, dates and ruby grapefruit drizzled with honey & hemp oil glaze and sprinkled with hemp seeds, with extra tea & honey glaze on the side

All of us (me, my partner and my friend) loved the food, there was tonnes of variety, and it didn't feel like we were eating from such a restricted list of foods – it just felt like a great meal. And my friend was extremely touched.

I also loved all the suggestions for making the meal special – I tried to do as many as I could.

Thanks again, I'm so grateful to this community for contributing so crucially to what turned out to be a wonderful night! I'm actually going to copy the rest of the suggestions into a Word doc for her (I don't want to link it because I don't want her to see my comment history on here haha)
posted by RubyScarlet at 7:27 AM on June 9, 2023