Super Natural Every Day (2 page)

My Everyday Pantry

While my everyday cooking is most often dictated by seasonal produce, I need to keep a supporting cast of ingredients on hand so I can put that produce to work in a variety of ways. I went into a lot of detail about the minutiae of individual ingredients (and some of their nutritional benefits) in
Super Natural Cooking
—specifically, how to build a natural foods pantry. Instead of repeating that here, I thought I’d open my cupboards, look to my shelves and fridge, and tell you about what you are likely to find in my kitchen on a day like today.

Before we get started, just a few notes. I’m not going to call out “organic” in every instance throughout this book. I suspect that would get tedious and turn off some of you. What I will say is that I care about supporting producers and farmers who are using sustainable farming methods. Many of them are certified organic; some of them aren’t certified, but are farming using organic practices. I read a report that more than 72,600 tonnes of pesticides were sprayed in California in 2008, a statistic I find heartbreaking. I know we can do better, and I try to vote for that change with my grocery dollars. I buy dairy products from farmers who pasture-graze their growth hormone-free cows and I purchase eggs from farmers who keep small flocks of free-range hens.

This is in part because I want to support the people providing these ingredients, and in part because I don’t want to be in a supermarket at some point without a choice in the matter.

OILS AND FATS
I cook with a variety of oils and fats, and pick and choose which to use after considering a few things. Each fat and oil has its own flavour, scent, and mouthfeel—I think about how each of those elements might affect what I’m cooking. I look for cooking oils and fats made from good ingredients, which have been naturally pressed or produced without stripping them of their personality. Avoiding oils that have been processed with solvents, deodorisers, or heated to damaging temperatures is important. Then, once in my kitchen, I think about how each cooking oil stands up to heat differently, and take that into consideration, too.

I keep a few
extra-virgin olive oils
on hand. Of those, I typically have one that could be considered my day-to-day olive oil. I use this to sauté, roast, make sauces, and form the base of a variety of dressings and vinaigrettes. The other extra-virgin olive oils are more special (and costly), and I think about them as finishing oils. Some are spicy, some are grassy, but they’re all better enjoyed drizzled over soups, stews, or salads just before serving.

I like to cook and bake with butter, sometimes clarified, sometimes browned. You can make clarified
butter
yourself or buy it. Making it yourself is more economical. It has full, rich flavour and a substantially higher smoking point than olive oil. Certain curries really come to life when you use it to start things off, and you can combine it in a pan alongside olive oil to give the olive oil more range. I like to use
brown butter
in baking or for drizzling, as well as plain butter, both salted and unsalted.

Extra-virgin coconut oil
is fun to experiment with, although its assertive coconut scent limits what I use it for. It’s great for baking, and you can sometimes replace all, or a portion, of the butter in a recipe with coconut oil. I use it in the early stages of some Thai-style curries, and in just about any cooking that has coconut milk in it.

I use little whispers of
toasted sesame oil
in my cooking, but it can be devastatingly overpowering. To say I’m judicious with it is an understatement.

Cold-pressed nut oils are
nice to have on hand, particularly in the autumn and winter when the weather cools and heartier meals are in order. I look for cold-pressed, artisan pistachio nut oils, toasted pumpkin seed oils, hazelnut oils, as well as walnut oils. They should smell like an intense version of the nut or seed from which they were pressed. I don’t cook with the nut oils per se, but use them in various nut-based purees, dressings, and
picadas
. Gentle heat helps to release their scent, and they shine drizzled over dishes like warm farro salads and just-out-of-the oven casseroles. Buy nut oils in small quantities when you can, and store them in the refrigerator if they aren’t in high rotation in the kitchen. They tend to go rancid in a flash and are expensive to replace.

QUICK-COOKING GRAINS
Quinoa, burghul, millet,
and
rolled oats
are popular around here. There are other quick-cooking grains, but these are the ones I use most often. Wholemeal couscous, a tiny grain-shaped pasta, is great for quick salads and for stuffing vegetables such as tomatoes or zucchini (courgettes). You can find many of these, in organic versions, in the bin section of health food stores, and they tend to be very inexpensive.

LONGER-COOKING GRAINS
I keep a range of
wholegrain rices
on hand, as well as
farro, barley, wheat berries
, and
rye berries
. I think many people miss out on cooking with the larger grains because of the perception that they take forever to cook. This is only partly true. If you plan ahead a bit, it’s nearly effortless. So, for example, I’ll cook up a pot of farro on a Sunday afternoon, use it in that night’s dinner, reserve some for use throughout the week, and freeze the rest. If you were to glance in my freezer, you’d find bags of frozen brown rice, farro, and wheat berries. I might use the wheat berries in a soup tonight, the brown rice in a stirfry tomorrow, and the farro in a tart filling sometime later in the week. Again, most of these are available, in organic versions, in the bin section and are inexpensive. Farro tends to be pricier, but well worth it.

FLOURS
I counted twenty-two different flours at the natural food store the other day—a number that is both exciting and overwhelming. I use a small subset of those flours in my day-to-day cooking. I use a lot of
wholemeal flour
(if you can find it, I like to use wholemeal pastry flour) and
spelt flour
for baking. Both are capable of creating beautiful, tender baked goods. I do keep a bit of unbleached plain flour around because, as I’ve mentioned before, there are times, particularly in certain baked goods, when I’ve found that using a percentage of plain flour makes for a much better result. If I need a bit more structure and less tenderness from a dough, I use
strong wholemeal flour
, which is higher in gluten-forming protein—good for pizza dough and certain breads. Beyond that, I rotate through a number of what I consider supporting flours. I love
rye flour
for its rustic colour and subtle sweetness and
quinoa flour
for its nutritional profile and grassiness. I love to experiment with homemade wholegrain flour blends. For example, I use
oat flour,
rye flour, and wholemeal flour in my multigrain pancakes.

SWEETENERS
I’ve come across dozens of sweeteners produced by small producers over the past few years. The thing I find striking is how no two are alike. The Japanese rock sugar I found in Tokyo couldn’t be more different from the golden-hued natural (unrefined) cane sugar I use regularly, which is moist with heavy notes of vanilla and molasses. The Pohutukawa honey I tasted in New Zealand is an entirely different beast from the dark, smoky mango blossom honey Big Tree Farms harvests in Java. I keep a rotation of various sugars, honeys, and syrups on hand, preferring the ones that are minimally refined. Compared to white sugar, their flavour profiles are more interesting, and they can impart a depth and complexity to a recipe you can’t get otherwise. In my sweetener collection right now is a number of
honeys, brown rice syrup,
a few bottles of
maple syrup,
numerous
natural (unrefined) cane sugars,
and
unsulphured molasses.

There is a huge variety of granulated sugars available. They cover the colour spectrum from blinding white to deep coffee brown.

Broadly speaking, white sugars are more processed than dark—although there are certainly highly processed “false” brown sugars out there. Because there isn’t much standardisation with regard to labelling, finding a whole sugar can be confusing. Look for words like
unrefined
,
raw
,
natural
, and
whole
; seek out a fine grain (comparable to standard white or soft brown sugar); and opt for dark over light when it comes to colour.

The least processed and most whole granulated cane sugar available is dehydrated cane juice, but it often has an irregular consistency and dryness that keeps me from using it more often. My favourite substitute for white sugar is golden caster sugar, a fine-grain natural (unrefined) cane sugar that is minimally processed and fragrant; it’s a “real” brown sugar that tastes of vanilla with a deep kiss of molasses. I call for it in a number of the recipes in this book.

If you are having a hard time finding a comparable dark soft brown sugar, you can substitute any soft brown sugar or light muscovado sugar in these recipes. Just be sure to buy a fine-grain sugar and sift out any lumps. There are also lots of white sugars available that are labelled as natural cane sugar. These won’t break the recipes, but they won’t give you the exact results you are after, either. If you buy white sugar, look for a sustainably produced organic variety; there are a number that are widely distributed now.

NOODLES AND PASTA
I pick up a variety of dried noodles when I’m out and about. I use buckwheat-based
soba noodles
quite often, and beyond that, a variety of Italian pastas. Tiny, rice-shaped
wholemeal orzo
is fun. If you don’t think using 100 per cent wholemeal pasta is going to fly with your family, try a 50/50 blend of regular and wholegrain pasta to begin with. It takes a bit of experimenting to find brands of wholegrain noodles that aren’t overly heavy or texturally “off”.

Despite labeling, some noodles are made with 100 per cent wholegrain flours; others are blends of wholegrain flours and wheat flour (not wholemeal flour). Make a note of the ones you like, and then taste your way through that family of noodles. You’ll get a sense over time of where on the wholegrain noodle spectrum you like to be.

LENTILS, SPLIT PEAS, AND THE LITTLEST BEANS
I keep my pantry well stocked with a variety of lentils and split peas. They are relatively quick cooking, nutritious, protein-packed, and perfect for use in soups, stews, veggie burgers, dips, and salads. I have a particular fondness for
yellow split peas, tiny black Beluga lentils, Puy (tiny bluegreen) lentils,
and green split peas. All of these are pretty good about holding their shape as long as you don’t overcook them. I’m also going to throw
mung beans
in here. I use them quite a lot; and unlike the heirloom beans I talk about on
Dried Beans
, there is no need to soak them before cooking. Affordable, filling, bulging with protein, they provide a great backbone to any number of meals.

I store each type of dried pulse or bean in a separate large glass jar so I can see when I need to replenish the supply. Be sure to carefully pick over any lentils, beans, or grains before using them—little pebbles and dirt clots often can be found.

DRIED BEANS
A quick glance in the cupboard directly to the right of my stove reveals bags of dried beans—lots of them. Roughly once a week I’ll put 500 grams of them in a large water-filled pot to soak overnight. When I have time the following day, I cook them while I’m doing other things around the house. The specifics are outlined on
A Simple Pot of Beans
. It couldn’t be simpler.

I like to get to know each individual type of bean, and when I’m trying a new one, I prepare it simply so I can acquaint myself with its unique flavour, texture, and personality. This helps me develop a sense of what I might do the next time to highlight the uniqueness of the bean. Some beans are thin-skinned, some are thick, some lend themselves to a pureed soup, while some are better whole. Or, as I mentioned in
Super Natural Cooking
, one bean might pair with an assertive stock or sauce, while another might be perfect on its own with a drizzling of olive oil and a dusting of grated cheese. I drain and freeze left-over beans, flat, in a plastic freezer bag once they’ve cooled. They can go straight from the freezer into a hot pan on a whim.