Canned sardines get a bad rap. But Danielle Alvarez shows how to turn the silvery fishes (and other pantry staples) into solid gold dinner favourites.
It is a universal truth that after the hardest day’s work, we seek solace in our food. These are the nights that a piece of toast or a boiled egg won’t cut it, the nights when your body is crying out for a steaming bowl of, well, comfort.
But these days of high intensity and nights of deep hunger can be hard to predict: you arrive home late and the last thing you want to do is think. Shopping is out of the question, as is too much time or labour. These are the nights I rely on my pantry to get me through.
A full pantry provides a feeling of security, of preparedness. Contrary to its sleepy appearance, a full pantry is the beating heart of your kitchen.
Of course, in a previous life, these ingredients were all alive and vibrant themselves: perfectly ripe tomatoes, sprightly herbs and sparkling little fish. These are the little gems that bring the fire, spice and umami to your cooking. They will be nestled alongside the pasta, rice, beans and lentils, humble workhorses that are affordable and long-lasting; and finally the sauces, vinegars and oils.
In that cupboard are all the ingredients necessary to warm your soul, patiently waiting to be brought back to life.
Some of my favourite home-cooked meals have been born from these late-night pantry raids. I remember one so excellent it immediately slid into my top 10 home-cooked dishes, and then, when I woke in the morning, it was gone. All attempts to recreate it in the daylight have fallen flat. It still haunts me. I know there was spaghetti and sizzled garlic; I remember tomato paste, a spoonful of fresh goat’s cheese and an egg yolk. It sounds odd, even to my ears, but the result that night was something very special. I just may never be able to recreate it!
On another occasion, a pasta dish came together in that fog of hunger and fatigue. Perhaps scarred by the former experience, I took notes and have happily made “my sardine pasta” many times since. It is so good it has been immortalised within the pages of my new book, Recipes for a Lifetime of Beautiful Cooking, which I have written with Libby Travers. I can now see the shades of a traditional “pasta con le sarde” – typically made with fresh sardine fillets, olive oil, onions, wild fennel and raisins – in the dish. Yet this was made with nothing “fresh”.
On that late night, I turned to canned sardines for my pasta, adding a lovely can I had been saving (I hoard special cans in the way many hoard precious wines), along with some sultanas and salted capers to play up the Sicilian sweet, salty and umami love affair. Garlic and onion went into the pan with lemons (these are three staples I always have on hand), alongside some anchovies, olive oil, a little dried oregano, and a hint of dried chilli. It was finished with toasted breadcrumbs, as on that night there was no cheese. There is a glow that comes from making something so good when the fridge is completely bare.
The idea for my latest book was born from that place of making do with what I had on hand, specifically during those early COVID days when grocery trips were limited, and many ingredients were unavailable. Within its pages, you will find dishes such as flatbreads made with baking powder and yoghurt instead of dried yeast, and a one-pot pasta made with lentil sugo instead of meat. In hindsight, I think the constraint bred some of my best recipes – creativity is funny like that. In a country where we can access almost anything at any time, it was actually inspiring to say, “What can I do with what I’ve got?”
As with everything in the kitchen, quality is important, and this is particularly true for the pantry. In Recipes for a Lifetime of Beautiful Cooking, Libby Travers and I discuss where you should really spend your money – olive oil, vinegars, dried pasta, tinned tomatoes, good anchovies – and where the cost is not always an indicator of quality – dried and tinned beans, salt, spices.
These are shopping decisions that may not break the budget – it might mean spending $4 on a can of tomatoes rather than $1 on the home-brand variety. But sometimes the ingredient’s age, rather than cost, is the most important consideration. Olive oil and spices will become stale or rancid, for example, and dried beans will become harder to digest (and take longer to cook).
In Australia, we have incredible culinary diversity. Some of the ingredients in our pantries will have travelled the world to be there. These are long-lasting and environmentally friendly travellers that bring not just their previous life, but also a taste of their previous home: dried peppers from Spain, artisan soy sauces from Japan. How amazing to be able to cook Indian food one day, Chinese the next, and following on, Italian. A well-stocked pantry enables this kind of kitchen escapism.
The world feels particularly fragile and precarious right now. The ability to feed ourselves well and economically is a skill that should be learned by all. I hope this book gives you a few tools and ideas to make cooking at home a bit easier, a bit less fussy and just that bit more beautiful.
Sardines, like anchovies, can get a bad rap. The problem is that fresh sardines are only good when they are spectacularly fresh – still stiff in rigor. This is very hard to find. On the other hand, you can find excellent tinned sardines, quite different to the fresh ones. This is the best example of how small tins and salted things can create something utterly delicious.
INGREDIENTS
To finish
METHOD
Serves 2
Note:
A ladle or two of pasta water is the magic ingredient in almost all pasta dishes. That starchy water has wizard-like properties: loosening the sauce, bringing a creaminess without cream and, perhaps most importantly, providing a bridge for the pasta to meet the sauce. Pulling out a mug of the cooking water before you drain the pasta is one of those culinary habits that will change your cooking forever. However, your new habit necessitates revisiting an old habit – the way you salt your pasta water. “As salty as the sea” is out – too much salt and you’ll send the seasoning for the whole dish over the edge; not enough, and the pasta will be insipid. So, to clarify, when I say “pot of salted water” for cooking pasta, I’m imagining about 1½ tablespoons of salt for 500g of pasta in a pot with just enough water to cover your pasta by 2-3cm. Less water equals more starchiness, which is the goal with pasta water, so don’t be too generous when you’re filling your pot.
Tomato to basil, salt to an egg, butter to anchovy, and tarragon to chicken – there are fireworks when these two get together. Here, the butter is smoothed under the skin, while a hard roast ensures crisp skin and juicy chicken. I like this served with buttery steamed white rice, but you can’t go wrong with roasted potatoes or steamed asparagus … or steamed potatoes and roasted asparagus, for that matter!
INGREDIENTS
Salsa verde butter
To serve
METHOD
Serves 4
A classic pastry-based pissaladiere was one of the first things I learned to make at Chez Panisse. The dish made several appearances throughout my time there – a rarity, as the menu changed every day. While I relished the seasonal spontaneity of cooking in that kitchen, I did love the opportunity to experiment by adding the thyme to the onions or on top of the tart (I preferred it on top because it kept the flavours cleaner); to cook at a consistently high temperature or not (I like a high temperature to start to help the pastry puff a little, before turning it down for a lengthy baking time, allowing maximum caramelisation).
My most recent revelation, regarding the humble yet ubiquitous onion, followed a trip to Nice. Rather than being caramelised before baking, these onions were stewed much more gently. The caramelisation, instead, happened only while the tart baked, resulting in a more unctuous, savoury and juicy layer of onions, rather than a thin, dried-out layer of sweetness. It’s another reminder of why the details and technique matter.
INGREDIENTS
METHOD
Makes 1 galette, enough for 8-10 slices
Note:
Make the flaky pastry a day ahead to give yourself a head start. It’s not necessary, but it’s helpful. If you’re making the dough on the day, prepare it an hour before starting this galette so it has time to rest in the fridge. You’ll need a 30cm round pizza tray and a pastry brush for this dish.
As an apero snack, I like to cut the pissaladiere into thin slices so people can eat this standing up with their hands. If you want to serve it as a simple lunch or dinner, I suggest a slice of pissaladiere with a green salad made with lots of raw, thinly sliced radish and dressed with a simple Dijon and French shallot vinaigrette.
This is the only flaky or shortcrust pastry recipe that I use: tarts, quiches, pies, flans, it does them all. The ratio of butter to flour is important, as is not overworking the dough and keeping everything as cold as possible while you work. The moisture in the butter steams as the dough cooks, lending the pastry a rich flavour and a delicate, slightly crumbly texture.
The only variable is the water needed. This depends on the flour you’re using (flours around the world are all so different) and the humidity in the air, thus the varying measurement. This recipe yields enough for one large galette, plus some trim, which can be frozen to be used later. I keep a collection of trim in my freezer, and when I have enough, I thaw it all and press it together to form a new galette. It works a treat.
INGREDIENTS
METHOD
Makes: Enough dough for 1 large galette
Notes:
To make a great flaky pastry, you want to see pieces of butter in the dough when you roll it out. If the butter is diced too small, the pastry becomes short and crumbly, rather than flaky. Layered pieces of butter become the pockets where steam expands and pushes the sheets upward, creating a puff-pastry- like quality.
Keeping everything – ingredients, bowl and your hands – as cold as possible while you work is crucial here. This is much easier in winter; in summer, you’ll need to work faster and move the ingredients and bowl in and out of the fridge or freezer throughout the process, right up until the pastry goes in the oven.
At first glance, this is grilled asparagus tossed in pesto, but by changing the traditional proportions of the pesto, increasing the amount of pine nuts and decreasing the amount of basil and olive oil, you get a delicious nutty salsa that works wonderfully well on asparagus.
Before you begin, heat your outdoor charcoal grill. If using an indoor grill pan, make sure it’s hot before grilling the asparagus.
INGREDIENTS
Pine nut salsa
METHOD
Seasonal adjustment: When asparagus is not in season, I love to toss this salsa through warm cooked butter beans (both tinned cannellini-style beans and the long, yellow beans that look like yellow green beans).
Serves 4 as a side dish
This is an edited extract from Recipes for a Lifetime of Beautiful Cooking by Danielle Alvarez with Libby Travers, photography by Alan Benson. Murdoch Books RRP $49.99. Buy now
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