I can't deny the excitement I feel that every day more people dare to try the products from our pantry section. It's not easy to explain why, but imagine there's some ingredient that is special to you and you use it in your cooking, and one day you tell a friend about it. Another day, unexpectedly, they come and say "By the way, that ingredient you mentioned, I saw it in a shop and I tried it, I loved it!". Can you imagine the joy that comment brings you? Something similar is what I feel every day when we receive reviews of the products from the Pantry. Many are products I have a special fondness for, items that help me in my everyday cooking or on special occasions, and seeing them enjoyed as much as I enjoy them warms my heart.
I've talked before about the Pantry. You'll know there are both products that will get you out of a jam the day you have an unexpected meal, and products that will help you give a different touch to an everyday dish without much fuss. But we've expanded the section with several ranges of products and I've been eager to share it.
The first ones I want to mention are the La Tourangelle oils. The success is so resounding that we've ended up incorporating practically their entire collection. These are oils different from those we usually have in our kitchens, made following traditional methods for 150 years now. What kind of oil is so special? I'm talking about nut oils, such as hazelnut, walnut, almond, or pistachio: delicious oils, sourced from very high-quality nuts, yielding 100% natural and healthy oil, very rich in Omega 3, antioxidants, and essential vitamins. These oils are ideal both for dressing a green or pasta salad and for preparing meats and fish on the grill or in the oven, while they also help enhance the flavor of cookies and sponge cakes, giving them a touch as delicate as it is delicious.
I'd say the nut oils are the ones most tried, but I'd also like to highlight the Thai special oil, which is phenomenal when you cook vegetables in a wok or on the grill, or dress salads; and also the pizza oil, with that spicy touch many of you enjoy. And I can't fail to mention sesame oil: perhaps it's the oil that is least talked about here, but its applications are diverse and you'll love them. It's an oil that has traditionally been used in Asian cookery: in Chinese and Korean cuisine it's the oil added to finish the flavor of dishes after cooking; or in Japanese cuisine, about 10% sesame oil is often added to the oil used for tempura or frying to create a rich, complete flavor. It's also used for making a sofrito, in salads or with meats and fish. Wherever you use it, it's healthy, mild and special.
Moving a little away from oils, I also wanted to tell you about the latest addition to the Pantry: the Olasagasti product range. Although it's a brand known for the quality of its canned fish (some of which you can find in the pantry), I'd like to highlight the quality of a range I love and to which they've given a clear and fun name: "Open and Gobble". That's right - you can open the package and eat it, just like that! You'll enjoy tuna loin with pisto, Sicilian-style, or tuna with piperade. You can serve any of them as-is, or as a side, for example, with a fish on the griddle; but I encourage you to mix them with pasta or rice: it will make an easy and very tasty salad.
In the same range you'll also find Donostiarra-style anchovies, prepared in the traditional garlic-fried way, ideal to serve as an appetizer... Or to make a delicious and energizing sandwich!
Finally, I also wanted to tell you about some small delights you'll love when preparing appetizers: for the more adventurous palates looking for intense flavors, I recommend the new black olive cream or the pepper cream; since cheese can't be missing from an appetizer but textures can vary, I invite you to see the assorted cheese mousses or the Parmegiano and truffle cream; and to give a touch of sea flavor, some toasts with Cantabrian cream will make you fall in love - tuna loin and anchovy cream, a real treat! And to accompany meats and fish, you can surprise with the very special mustards offered by Edmond Fallot: wine mustard and honey mustard.
Olasagasti black olive cream, Tartuflanghe Parmegiano and truffle cream, Olasagasti tuna and anchovy cream and special Edmond Fallot mustards
Turning that everyday cooked dish into something special can be very simple. Just change the dressing, give it a different flavor touch or accompany it with something different. I encourage you to browse our Pantry, and I hope the reviews you keep sending us continue to be just as good and surprising.
