Super Natural Every Day (3 page)

NUTS AND SEEDS
A peek into the nuts and seed drawer in my refrigerator uncovers
walnuts, hazelnuts, pepitas, sunflower seeds, pecans, poppy seeds, almonds, pine nuts,
and both
white and black sesame seeds.
The flavours, the crunch factor, and the uses are endless.

I like to use them whole, chopped, pureed with other ingredients into sauces, or ground into nut flours for baking.

SPICES, SPICE BLENDS, AND MUSTARDS
My spice drawer is the one section of my kitchen I’m powerless to keep under control. I keep a mad collection of
curry powders
and
spice blends
from various travels, as well as little jars of single herbs and spices. People always ask me if I have a favourite curry powder or brand, and the short answer is, there are many I like, but I’m loyal to none. Part of the fun is tasting through spices and various spice combinations, making note of what you like best.

While I like to make
curry pastes
from scratch on occasion, I also keep a variety of
curry pastes
in the refrigerator. They come in handy not only for on-the-fly curry pots, but also for boosts of flavour in everything from frittatas and scrambled eggs to asparagus or potato soup.

Edging out the curry pastes are the
mustards,
mainly dijon-style mustards—some I make (see
Wholegrain Mustard
), others I buy. You’ll see both smooth and wholegrain mustards get a lot of play in the recipes in this book.

SALT AND PEPPER
You’ll likely notice I don’t automatically season every one of my recipes with salt and pepper. Occasionally, the black pepper is missing. I like black pepper in some preparations, particularly in egg dishes or as a way to counterbalance a savoury-sweet sauce—for example in the
black pepper tempeh
. But other times I find it can be overpowering, and sometimes even harsh. I tend to prefer
chilli flakes
or
chilli powders
in much, but not all, of my cooking. When you do use black pepper, be sure to freshly grind it.

SOY SAUCE, SHOYU, AND TAMARI
Each of these ingredients brings rich, salty depth and umami to food. While much of the soy sauce you find is Chinese, I’ve come to enjoy Japanese variations of soy sauces, also known as shoyu. Shoyu is often more full-bodied than its Chinese counterparts, with a hint of sweetness. Tamari, another type of Japanese soy sauce worth seeking out, is more similar to Chinese soy sauce than shoyu. And wheat-free versions of tamari are available for people with wheat allergies.

Whether you are using shoyu, tamari, or soy sauce, look for naturally fermented versions made from whole ingredients using traditional methods. Chemically processed, fast-tracked soy sauce, often produced in a single day, is a harsh-tasting distant relative to the real thing.

INGREDIENTS IN TINS
I always have tins of
coconut milk
on hand—rich, luscious, full-bodied, and flavourful. It’s an incredibly versatile ingredient I use when I want all those aforementioned qualities to carry over into a soup, curry, or something I’m baking. It’s also a great ingredient to explore if you (or those you’re cooking for) follow a vegan or dairy-free diet. The other tinned good I keep close at hand is
crushed tomatoes.
It’s good in certain curries, Italian sauces, tart fillings, and quick soups.

DAIRY
I keep plenty of plain, unsweetened, full-fat yoghurt in the refrigerator—both regular and Greek style. I cook, bake, and make toppings with it. There is typically a small container of milk around, some homemade
crème fraîche
, my favourite locally produced
cottage cheese,
and a rotating cast of
hard cheeses
like parmesan or pecorino.

TEMPEH, TOFU, AND SEITAN (WHEAT GLUTEN)
Not that these three ingredients are the same thing, but I actually group them together in my mind. They all pack a generous protein punch, have the ability to bulk out a meal, and can help turn a side dish into a main dish when appropriate. Each has rich cultural significance and has long been part of the foodways of various Asian cultures. I try not to think of them as meat substitutes, and instead attempt to understand each as an ingredient on its own terms. All three can be cooked using a variety of techniques—sautéing, grilling, baking, steaming. And by experimenting with the form of the ingredient—crumbled, sliced, cubed, diced, grated—you have a broad palette to explore. Both tempeh and tofu take well to assertive marinades.

As far as purchasing goes, I look for the simplest versions—those produced with organic ingredients and without added flavourings and GMOs. It’s worth noting, many tempehs are sold steamed now, cutting out the extra step called for in older tempeh recipes.

EGGS
I eat an egg or two most days and am happy to pay a premium for good ones.

I love to use eggs from local farmers who allow their hens to roam around. The yolks are electric yellow, the flavour richer, and they’re known to be more nutritious and lower in cholesterol. The drawback?

Fresh eggs are difficult to peel. If I’m planning make an egg salad, I set aside some eggs for a few days to a week, but they rarely last that long.

VEGETABLE STOCK
Truth be told, I rarely make my own stock anymore. I will make it for certain stock-centric soups, or for those times when I’m after a very specific flavour profile, but I don’t often make big pots of stock to freeze for later use. My guess is that many of you don’t either. Instead, I keep a few boxes of all-natural vegetable stock cubes on hand and, unapologetically, love them. I’m quite partial to the Rapunzel brand vegetable stock with sea salt—it dissolves into a clean, bright, herby green vegetable stock that complements many of the other ingredients I use. I use the salted version at about half strength—one cube to 1–1.2 litres water—to control the salt levels in my recipes. There is also a version without salt, which allows you to completely control how much salt you’re using.

You may not be able to get that particular brand where you live, but I’d encourage you to seek out one you do like. The other option, beyond making your own stock or using stock cubes, is buying stock that comes in a tin or carton. I have yet to find one that I like, and much prefer to use water. Water is completely fine in many cases, and it gives you the latitude to season a dish to your liking later in the cooking process. If you use a bad-tasting stock, you are going to have a hard time getting rid of any off flavours.

CHOCOLATE
I rarely purchase chocolate chips anymore; I much prefer to hand-chop or shave bars of chocolate for use in cookies and cakes. I also use a good amount of
unsweetened cocoa powder
and good-quality
chocolate
when baking.

My Everyday Kitchen

My kitchen spans six paces in one direction and four in the other. There is ample counter space and a refrigerator recessed into a deep alcove in the wall. When I stand at the stove, a door to my right opens onto a small porch, and on occasion the cat from upstairs will come down to visit, or a flashy, green-backed hummingbird will do a quick ballet in the doorway.

I do my best to keep a relatively minimalist kitchen, treating it more like a studio space than anything else, I suppose. I try to keep the counters clear and store ingredients in see-through containers in each cupboard so I can view, at a glance, what I have to work with.

Old often wins out over new in this realm, and most of my bowls, plates, and platters have been chosen at flea markets and yard sales. My flour sifter, food processor, wooden spoons, and pressure cooker are all hand-me-downs from my dad. There is something deeply satisfying to me in using baking trays coated with a dark patina derived from hundreds of batches of cookies, or cradling a bowl older than I am in the crook of my arm when making a cake mixture.

I nearly always choose glass over plastic and keep a large supply of jars on hand to store everything from lentils, flours, and rices to sauces, vinaigrettes, and leftovers. Buying things one piece at a time, each with a story of its own, is a great way to stock a kitchen.

Though this is not intended to be an all-inclusive discussion, I thought it might be helpful if I outlined some of the kitchen equipment I can’t imagine doing without.

POTS AND PANS
Many people buy their
pots and pans
in sets. In the past, I’ve found I end up favouring one piece in the set and relegate the others to the back of a cupboard. Now I prefer to invest in good-quality, single pieces and have long since given away all of the pots and pans I rarely used. Here’s what I have (and use) now.

My 28 cm ovenproof
stainless steel frying pan
with lid is great for making everything from caramelised onions and frittatas to stir-fries and sautés. An extra-large
Le Creuset casserole
(Dutch oven) is great for soups and curries, cooking beans or rice, and baking casseroles. I use it on my stovetop and in the oven. A large
pasta pot/stockpot
takes up a lot of space, and I would get rid of it if it weren’t so useful, not only for making pasta, but also for boiling and steaming vegetables. It’s quite a bit deeper than the casserole. My
small saucepan
spends most of its working hours heating water for tea, but beyond that, I use it on occasion to heat stock or make sauce. Or, if I need to rig up a double boiler to melt chocolate, I’ll use it as the base.

I’ve done my best to phase out as much non-stick and plastic out of my kitchen as possible, in part because I’m concerned about increased exposure to chemicals leaching from those materials into my food. I prefer to use stainless steel, cast iron, or enamelled cast iron instead.

KNIVES, SPOONS, AND SPATULAS
I use an Aritsugu brand
santoku knife,
which I bought while travelling through Kyoto, Japan. It’s the most serious culinary tool I own, and while it might sound odd, I find myself striving to cook well enough to honour this particular knife. It pains me at times because it isn’t stainless steel, so if I even glance at it wrong, it starts to rust. But it holds an edge longer than any other knife I’ve owned, and the blade makes quick work out of whatever I put beneath it. Aside from that, I use a serrated knife to cut bread. I keep a few
chef’s knives
on hand for when there are guest cooks in the kitchen. And related to knives, a cutting board that’s not too big and not too small is key. Too big, it is unwieldy to wash; too small, things are always tumbling off the sides. My 30 cm x 40 cm wooden
cutting board
suits me nicely.

Like many cooks, I have favourite battle-scarred
wooden spoons,
each nick and burn with a story to tell. I also get a lot of use out of a
flat-edged wooden spatula.
It allows me to scrape across a large surface area when I’m stirring risottos or curries, helping me to ensure nothing gets stuck to the base. It is also kind to my cast-iron pan. Alternatively, I use a strong,flat-edged
metal spatula
for much of my stainless steel frying pan work; it allows me to scrape all those browned crispy bits of flavour off the base of the pan. I reach for a
rubber spatula
quite often, too—to get the last of a batter out of a mixing bowl, or to empty the last drops of soup into a jar to enjoy at a later time.

APPLIANCES
As far as appliances go, there are a small number that make my time in the kitchen more pleasurable. First in line is a
stick blender
; it makes quick work of pureeing soups. I use my standard blender so infrequently now that I moved it to the garage.

I use an
electric stand mixer
to whip egg whites and mix certain doughs. Then I have an ancient
food processor
for making certain pastes, purees, and tart pastry.

BAKEWARE
I probably have more
cake and tart tins
than I need—cookie cutters, too. I seem to pick them up wherever I go, and when I travel. As far as the tins go, I have them in standard sizes, but because I like to serve cakes, breads, and tarts in their baking tins, I’m always on the lookout for ones that can do the job but that also have a certain amount of visual appeal—perhaps an offbeat shape or interesting patina.

I keep
rimmed
and
unrimmed baking trays
on hand. The rimmed trays come in handy when you are roasting an ingredient that gives off liquid; the walled edges prevent the liquid from running onto the floor of the oven. I occasionally place rimmed trays below items in the oven if I’m at all nervous about the possibility of an overflow. I line baking trays with
unbleached baking paper
when I’m concerned about sticking, and have a simple
wire rack
I use with cookies, muffins, scones, and the like when they come out of the oven.

FAVOURITE TOOLS
There is nothing more helpful than a
kitchen scale
to make quick work of baking projects. It’s much quicker (and more accurate, particularly when baking) to weigh ingredients than measure by volume.

I use a small, heavy
mortar and pestle
to grind spices, crush salt, mash garlic, and to make various pastes.

I use my
Microplane grater
to shave chocolate, cheese, ginger, and a variety of fruits and vegetables.

I wish my
salad spinner
took up less space. It’s quite greedy in that regard; but when I need it, I really need it. Waterlogged lettuce will repel any oil-based dressing, resulting in puddles on plates instead of well-dressed salad greens. I occasionally use the spinner to dry herbs, spin the water off vegetables before roasting them in the oven, or spin extra moisture off beans or grains if I plan to freeze them.