Do you cook with Italian flavors and ingredients? If so, how do you stock your pantry? Here are 10 pantry favorites for Italian cooking, with some no-brainers (uh, pasta) and other more exotic picks (ancient Roman fish sauce, anyone?), and with links back to some of our favorite brands.
10 Favorite Ingredients for Italian Cooking
- Pasta - Oh, pasta, where would we be without you? My (Calabrian, originally) husband would riot if we didn't eat pasta at least once week. My new favorite pasta shape is these hand-stamped croxetti discs. I also love the (temporarily?) discontinued anelletti pasta rings from Trader Joe's, and the little orecchiette (pictured above). Try one of these 22 fast, fresh pasta dishes from our archives.
- Olive Oil - Olive oil is such a staple; it spans Italian food and more. But a good finishing oil is really essential, and an affordable luxury, too. Here's a look back at yesterday's roundup of all things olive oil.
- Canned Tomatoes and Tomato Paste - While we all love fresh tomatoes, canned tomatoes are a pantry staple in months when good tomatoes aren't available. Lately we've been concerned with finding BPA-free tomato packaging. Also, we love this tomato paste in a tube.
- Garlic - We use heads of garlic in our Italian cooking — the more the better! You can prep it mince it with a fork. Here's another way to way to peel it, and tips for mincing it the old-fashioned way.
- Parmesan and Grana Padano - Parmesan is another essential, of course; we love the really old stuff, all dry and crumbly. Similar cheeses that can add a new dimension to your pasta dishes include Piave Vecchio and Grana Padano.
- Fresh Basil - Basil! Fresh basil and other fresh herbs are what give many of our pasta dishes their best flavor.
- Pesto - All you need, on a busy weeknight, is a tub of fresh pesto and some pasta for an easy, vegetarian meal. Basic pesto is easy to make, and you can even use other greens for it — like in this spring greens pesto and this sage pesto.
- Pancetta and Prosciutto - Just a little pancetta in a pasta dish puts it over the top, and a plate of simple prosciutto with fresh bread, or wrapped around a slice of melon, is a great summer lunch.
- Mascarpone and Ricotta - Soft cheeses and mascarpone and fresh ricotta are indispensable; they make easy pasta toppings and add some creaminess to pasta casseroles like lasagna.
- Garam Coloratura - This sauce of fermented anchovies sounds a little intimidating, but it's so delicious. Sprinkle a tablespoon of it over a dish of hot, fresh pasta, and it flavors it beautifully. It's pricey, but you really can just substitute Thai fish sauce.
How do you stock your pantry for cooking Italian? Anything really important we left off this list? (I'm sure there is!) What are your favorite quick weeknight Italian meals?
Related: What's Your Favorite Pasta Shape?
(Images: Faith Durand; Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan; Faith Durand; Emma Christensen)
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#8 Doesn't really make much sense. Pancetta and Prosciutto are meats ... not cheeses.
Other than that - great list! I'd love to see more of these with even more specifics. Tuscan cooking vs. Northern Italian etc. Maybe featured dishes?
And thanks for some great new pasta ideas. Penne was getting a wee bit boring =)
Farro! I love it--add it to soups, use it in salads with tomatoes, peppers, parm and vinaigrette, also mix it with a parsley pesto and pecorino (Giada's Kitchen).
Whoops! That is fixed now.
garam actually comprised over a third of the roman's diet back around 100 bc! That makes it very "italian" I guess.
pizza dough and mozz cheese!
Salt-cured anchovies, salt-cured capers, canned tuna.
Yea, capers absolutely should be there. They work in most everything lol. Where's risotto?? You're leaving out one of the most popular dishes in Northern Italy aside from all the things you can do with arborio rice.
One more, at least from my incredibly Southern Italian mother's side of the family: Bay leaves.
I never saw my great grandmother, grandmother, mother or I make any Italian sauce without at least one good bay leaf in there. Quick google search showed me I'm not alone in that!
i agree with @ jmorri26 about the bay leaves, my Sicilian grandfather used them in almost everything and my mother and I use them a lot too.
I would add pine nuts, dried porcini and corn meal/polenta to the list.
Adding to the original list and what others included above: good balsamic vinegar and for when you want to add a little heat, crushed red pepper.
Olive oil, different grades for different purposes
Grated parm
Whole canned (by me) tomatoes
Garlic in vast quantities. Onions.
The usual array of dried seasonings – basil, parsley, oregano, pepper, thyme, sage, bay, etc. We also buy a blend from Tenuta’s in Kenosha. It’s worth the trip
Anchovies
Breadcrumbs
Kale or spinach in the freezer
Hot Italian sausage – klements outlet is right down the street. Sometimes we make our own.
Polenta! It should be in every cook’s arsenal after pasta and rice.
Beans – cannellini if I have them, or navy or other white beans. We always have a batch in the fridge to toss in salads, pasta or as a side by themselves. I make a big pot with some form of pork every few weeks.
Pork fat – belly/bacon/pancetta/guanciale/etc.
Balsamic vinegar – high enough quality that you can drink it all by itself.
Pickled things like giardiniera and pepperoncini and olives and the like.
Frozen peas and artichoke hearts.
Pine nuts and almonds.
I’m pretty passionate about a well-stocked larder. It makes it easier for husband to cook for me.
Risotto rice, saffron, dried porcini/chanterelles, artichoke hearts in oil
uhm... isn't garam an indian spice blend? surely you mean garum?
It looks like everyone has me beat on naming the not-to-be-missed ingredients, but my additions to the list look something like this:
Salted anchovies, canned tuna, polenta, risotto, pecorino and mozzarella, crushed red pepper, Italian sausage
Orecchiette is one of my favorite dried pastas to keep on hand as well. One of my favorite dishes is Orecchiette with Broccoli and Italian Sausage, which I made earlier this week.
Cannellini beans drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice with rosemary. Toss together and let it sit overnight.