By Laura Rancie.
Wedged between a book launch and being newly appointed as Culinary Director of the Sydney Opera House event venues, I managed to snag an interview with this brilliant farm-to-table Chef, author and all-round really lovely person, Danielle Alvarez…to take a sneak peek into what her non-negotiable, essential pantry items are. Read on if you’re curious, too:
Really, really good olive oil:
Now when a Chef repeats the words 'really, REALLY' I take notice and you should too. Danielle says: "I think most grocery stores stock a pretty good one. I don’t do the whole this is my fancy one for dressing and this is my cooking one. I find one that does both."
Sea salt:
While she doesn’t have different really, really good olive oils, she does have different sea salts. Danielle, who grew up in a childhood surrounded by really excellent female cooks with her Grandma and Mother training her as their little Sous Chef, says: "I use fine sea salt for cooking and flaky for tossing in salads or if I want crunch.”
Good soy sauce:
"I think that’s one that I definitely do talk about in my new book, 'Recipes For a Lifetime of Beautiful Cooking,' because a lot of people use a soy sauce (that shall remain nameless) which is mass-produced and isn’t the flavour of a really delicious soy sauce. So, it’s worth finding a good one.”
Tinned tomatoes:
"I really like San Marzano tomatoes if you can find them, but any will work. There are so many uses, an extension of that is tomato paste. I use a lot of that,” shares Danielle about the many ways tomatoes can be helpful in the kitchen.
Dried rice, dried beans, dried pasta:
Danielle explains: "I put them all in the same category, but they could be the foundation for thousands of meals.” This is true – think whether you use brown rice, sushi rice, arborio rice or long-grained rice, you’re essentially cooking with different countries and styles in mind. Pasta shells, spaghetti and lasagna sheets create comfort food where no two nights are the same and chickpeas, black beans or cannellini beans can be the source for dips and spreads or take you from Mexico to Italy."
Images and text from 'Recipes for a Lifetime of Beautiful Cooking' by Danielle Alvarez with Libby Travers, photography by Alan Benson. Murdoch Books RRP $49.99.
To read the full interview with Danielle, see here.
