Mark Moriarty on making the most out of your pantry staples

RTÉ News​

10-05-2025

Mark Moriarty: Cook Like a Chef airs Wednesdays, 14 May, at 8pm on RTÉ One.
Every year, between TV shows, cookbooks, columns, commercial work and special events, chef Mark Moriarty comes up with approximately 320 recipes.
Which is to say, he knows a thing or two about tackling the endless cycle of making lunches and dinners to suit a variety of tastebuds.
With his new show, Cook Like a Chef, he hopes to share his trade secrets and get the nation cooking smarter: "We're trying to treat the home kitchen like I would the restaurant kitchen".
Far from making dinner times an anxiety-filled circus à la The Bear, Moriarty says he will be showing people how to make cost-effective decisions and time-saving tricks the way a business would.
"Here's how you turn seven ingredients into three wildly different dishes, making sure we don't waste a cent of anything, which is what would have been drilled into me over years and years of working in kitchens."
Unlike some cookery shows, which may have you searching speciality stores for unusual seasonings, this series is all about using basics: potatoes, butter, cream, and the few bits and bobs in your spice rack.
Looking at the previous year's supermarket statistics, Mark uncovers the nation's most popular picks and uses them as inspiration for his recipes.
"It's chicken breasts, dry pasta, potatoes, carrots," he lists. "It means, no matter what I cook, I know that people actually have these ingredients in their fridge, so it's going to be relevant to everyone watching."
As well as using up pantry staples, Mark hopes to inspire viewers to use those often-bought but rarely-used well ingredients that lurk inside our kitchen cabinets.
"What makes restaurant foods so great is the little touches at the end - the dash of vinegar or lemon in the sauce or the grind of pepper on the meat," he adds.
With these simple recipes, that bottle of Dijon mustard or bottle of balsamic vinegar will finally be put to good use.
Each week's episode will feature two hearty main courses along with one smaller dish that aims to use up any leftovers that may otherwise end up in the bin.
"It's the kind of recipe that will use up that last chicken breast and the wilting herbs in the bottom of your fridge," he explains. "In the restaurant, that would always be turned into staff food because you just can't afford to waste anything."
The first episode, which airs on Wednesday, 14 May, will feature a speedy Mongolian stir-fried beef mince followed by flaky Argentinian-style empanadas, and a Tart pissaladière, layering savoury pastry with sweet caramelised onions, olives, and cheese.
As well as cutting down on food waste, Moriarty hopes that these recipes will help home cooks cut down on time in the kitchen.
"In the first episode, we fry off Mongolian stir-fried beef with rice that I throw into a steamer in a Pyrex bowl and then forget about it for 20-25 minutes. That's a good time-saving hack.
"Then, with the leftover mince, I grated some cheese into it and rolled it into puff pastry from the freezer and baked them off - little Argentenian empanandas - and then they went into the fridge because they can be used for lunches in the school box or going to work the next day."
"You're batch cooking the mince and getting two great meals out of it".
That's one very smart shop.