Having recently left our home of six years, and while we continue to search for a new one, the thing I crave the most is my own kitchen space filled with my go-to ingredients and equipment. I like my home comforts and I can’t help but feel out of place cooking in the interim in kitchens where I don’t know if I have the right pot for the job, or whether two tins of tomatoes are lurking at the back of press waiting to be transformed into a soup, stew or sauce.
Often I get asked by people who have never cooked before how to start. Like a broken record, I repeat every time that having a store cupboard stocked with the basics is the first step. Ingredients such as tinned tomatoes, chickpeas, pulses, grains, vinegars, oils, mustards, sea salt and black pepper don’t make a meal but certainly can help add finesse to even the snappiest of suppers.
You can, of course, whip up a quick dinner if you don’t have core ingredients such as these, but having them in your cook’s arsenal means you can instantly push a basic meal over the line into something more interesting.
I’m not suggesting you create an ingredients’ graveyard, with presses teeming with packets where you can just about make out the best before date. (This is a trait which may or may not have been passed down through the generations of cooks in my family.) Instead, there should be a good turnover of ingredients you regularly use.
One of my favourite food outings is a visit to an Asian market, where you can stock up on sauces, spices, noodles, rice and more, all in bumper sizes, which, more often than not, are cheaper than in the supermarkets. The hot and spicy peanut butter noodles recipe here is my favourite store-cupboard supper, and it relies heavily on Asian ingredients. Soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil will happily sit for months on end awaiting an outing in a nutty noodle dish or an opportunity to liven up a stir-fry.
In addition to Asian staples, standard ingredients such as tinned tomatoes and butter beans can be transformed into a substantial family meal with some braised chicken thighs and a few herbs, while dried grains, a collection of spices and a tin of kidney beans can make a hearty vegetarian chilli.
While I look forward to stocking up my next kitchen, I hope these recipes will inspire you in yours.
Food photography: Donal Skehan Food styling: Erica Ryan
