COOKING WITH ‘ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS’
Quite often, friends come over for dinner or a small bite. It’s usually unexpected and unplanned. They are still wondering how I can cook using only a few ingredients I can find in my house. Well….right, my fridge is always filled with fresh fruit, vegetables, and fish, but I also have basic food (preserves, herbs, spices, olive oil, etc.) that I save in the storage room after all my trips back to my home-town in Italy. This stuff is what I call ‘ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS,’ always available for all my dishes. I list some examples which you could use as starting point for your ideal food storage.
BASIL
The ‘king of herbs’ featured in Italian cuisine is the basil.
Basil is most commonly used fresh in recipes. In general, I add it at the last moment, as cooking quickly destroys the flavor. However, in traditional Italian recipes, such as tomato sauce, it’s used cooked. The fresh herb can be kept for a short time in plastic bags in the refrigerator (try to remove from the bag all the air), or for a more extended period in the freezer, after being blanched quickly in boiling water. I have just this small plant in my apartment. Its color and its flavor make me happy. It just needs a bit of water every day and lots of sunlight.
SALT
Many foods we eat daily are already rich in salt. For this reason, it is enough to add a small amount to enrich a dish. I usually use big salt and fine salt: the first is added to the boiling water or used for dry salad or for cooking in meat and fish oven. The second one, directly on foods. Remember to add the salt always at the end of the cooking process.
Salt is born of the purest of parents: the sun and the sea.
P.S. I have noted that a lot of people do not use salt in the boiling water when cooking pasta. Please do it! Just a spoon of big salt in about 1 liter of water is enough. You can adjust it with as you prefer.
SUGAR
The sugar plays a central role as an additive in food production and food consumption all over the world. However, I do not use it often.
I always keep it in the house because it’s still useful when baking cakes or just to caramelize, such as sweet&sour onions and crème brûlée.
SALSA
The way to prepare tomato passata ‘SALSA in Italian’ is very ancient in my home-town of Puglia, Italy. We make salsa outdoor, generally in the streets close to the house. It is a ritual, slowly disappearing. Often it involves relatives, friends, and neighbors.
The tomato is an essential and indispensable element since it entered into the regional food habits. As the availability period of this plant was very short, new techniques to store it progressively developed. We usually prepare salsa in August, the perfect time to pick the tomatoes. The raw vegetables come exclusively from Puglia’s farmers. Homemade salsa has a particular taste; moreover, the recipe is handed down from one generation to another.
You can imagine why I MUST bring some of it also in the Netherland.
You know, when you get your first asparagus, or your first acorn squash, or your first really good tomato of the season, those are the moments that define the cook’s year. I get more excited by that than anything else.
EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL
The extra virgin olive oil, typically produced in my home-town, derived by pressing whole olives. I use it everywhere while cooking, and …..in significant quantities! My family owns several trees of different olives varieties. Generally, in November, we all go to help my dad and my uncle to pick the olives from the tree. Then, they will be pressed later on in the olive-oil mill in my home-town. Eating my olive oil here in Rotterdam makes me feel connected to my homeland with my heart, my mind, and my taste.
I always have Parmigiano-Reggiano, olive oil, and pasta at home. When people get sick, they want chicken soup; I want spaghetti with parmesan cheese, olive oil and a bit of lemon zest. It makes me feel better every time.
