Stretching a meal in a pinch

You invited six friends over for a buffet dinner, and one couple shows up with two out-of-town friends, another with their strapping teenage son. Help!

Make a beeline for the cupboard and pull out a box of pasta — it's your best bet as a filling meal stretcher. Dig around your pantry and look for a can of tomatoes or condensed soup. Boil the pasta while your friends mingle and snack, heating up the soup (undiluted) or tomatoes at the same time. Drain the cooked pasta, dump it into a large bowl and toss it with the soup or tomatoes and plenty of grated hard cheese, preferably Parmesan or Romano. (If you have no soup or tomatoes, toss the pasta with a little olive oil, butter and grated hard cheese — a surprisingly delicious combo.) Add the steaming bowl of pasta to the buffet table, and your guests will be delighted.

• Carrots add more nutrients and some vibrant colour to a simple pasta dish. Clean and peel the carrots, then use your peeler to shave wide carrot ribbons. Sauté the ribbons in butter and seasonings, such as ginger, black pepper and salt, then add to cooked and drained pasta. Forgo the red sauce and toss with Parmesan cheese.
• Before adding water to your pasta pot, coat the interior lightly with non-stick cooking spray. The water won't boil over, even when you add the pasta. If you have no spray on hand, add a teaspoon of olive oil to the water as it cooks. This trick works for boiled rice as well.
• Instead of boiling your rice in plain water, use chicken or beef stock, tomato juice, or even equal parts orange juice and water. Or just sprinkle dried oregano, cumin, turmeric and any other herb or spice into the water before adding the rice. You could also add minced onion, garlic, lemon or orange zest to turn rice from the same-old, same-old into a brand new dish each time it's set on the table.

Don't get caught unprepared. These simple and delicious meal extenders will save the day when unexpected guests show up for dinner.

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