I am just back from Spain and I am happy. Spain, you see, is home to some of the most amazing tinned seafood items in the world. I bought an extra duffle just to bring home all the tuna belly, sardines and anchovies (plus olive oil, sea salt, rice, paprika, sherry vinegar and cured ham)—there are so many incredible products you just don’t see anywhere else—and literally in almost every little shop. Rome also has an incredible assortment of tinned things in the markets and alimentari and I stock up on cans of legumes (the chickpeas and cannellini are just incredible here), along with tuna, anchovy, and sardines as well to keep on hand in the pantry. In every kitchen I navigate, the pantry is always filled with canned goods. This does bring back childhood memories of my post-depression era grandparents stocking pantry closets to the brim with every conceivable canned good imaginable—from soups to vegetables—just in case the crash came again, and this time, they would not go hungry. I remember driving around shopping with my father’s father when I was a kid chasing down the deals (sometimes just to save a dime per can) on canned goods. To me, this stuff always looked a little sad and not very appetizing, and this certainly tarnished my view of canned or tinned goods until I learned what Europe, particularly Italy, Spain and Portugal had to offer. Tinning in the European tradition is about preserving things of the best quality at the height of freshness, so only the best fish, or legume for that matter, finds their way into the can. The beauty of these items is that they do not need refrigeration, which means they are on hand when you need them after months, if not years of storage. That being said, these items rarely find themselves on my shelves for that long, but it is good to know they have legs. The real beauty in these tinned foods is their availability at a moment’s notice—a guarantee that a delicious meal or snack is not far off. This is particularly good when you get home from a late night or long trip to find an empty fridge.
Some pantry staples I always have around in my fridge and cupboard are: