May 15, 2020 | 05:00 by Renata Mesquita, O Estado de S.Paulo
Nobody usually brags about having them at home, but canned goods are almost always there, lurking on the shelf, ready for any emergency. A can of tuna for a dip as an appetizer, a quick sauce for pasta, a sardine or can of corn to spice up the rice left over in the fridge…
They are above all practical, a hand on the wheel when it comes to improvising and increasing everyday meals, especially in this time of social isolation, when trips to the markets must be less and less frequent.
King of the pantry. Canned tomatoes, in their various forms, are an indispensable item in the kitchen.
Our intention is not that you replace fresh food with canned food. None of that. The premise is to always consume fresh foods, preferably those that are in season, even better if they are organic. But throw the opener first if you don't have a can of peeled tomatoes in your pantry. Or even tuna or chickpeas. And since our mission is to make you go to the kitchen, if cans are an ally at these times, why not embrace them?
If we can't convince you of that, we turned to chefs from different restaurants in the city, who confessed to using them, yes, in the kitchen at home and, sometimes, in restaurants, without prejudice. We asked them to open their pantries and tell us which canned foods cannot be missing from the shopping list.
the king of the pantry
The peeled tomato is by far the most prized canned ingredient among chefs. Roberta Julião, from Da Feira ao Baile, delivers: “I prefer my tomato sauce made with peeled tomatoes than what I make with fresh tomatoes. Just because it's more practical is it worse?
Heloisa Bacellar, who is always around the kitchen testing new recipes to feed her website Na Cozinha da Helô, does not hide: “it is beautiful to make a tomato sauce from scratch – but it is not real life, besides being more expensive, it is a lot of work . I always have a can in the cupboard.”
One of Helô's latest experiments was to replace fresh cream – which is much more expensive and perishable – with the canned version in some recipes, such as potato gratin and stroganoff. In the first one, she hands it over, it was a bit cut due to the time in the oven, but the flavor remained as it was. Already in the stroganoff, the tip is to add the cream only at the end of the preparation. “Boil it, turn it off, it works fine and is much more practical and accessible.”
While we were talking for the story, she went to the pantry to take a look to see what else was there: chickpeas, sardines, condensed milk, olives, tuna and corn.
Hummus made with canned chickpeas by chef Heloisa Bacellar.
“These are wildcard ingredients that become a meal alongside other in natura foods”, says Helo. They come already pre-cooked and the good quality ones only have water and salt among the ingredients. Always worth that tip to read the labels before putting any product in the cart. Choose those that have the smallest list of components, the more natural, the better.
cob in the can
Canned corn is one of the great taboos in the universe of canned foods. “If we compare it with what was on the market ten years ago, it is a different product – before it was harder, salty.” The quality has changed and, today, the chef uses the ready-made version to even make a recipe that is a hit on her website, the blender corn cake.
Roberta also embraces canned corn in her kitchen at home. Her corn cream brulee recipe has been a success since the first time she made it. “I'm not going to make curau with the canned version, but this recipe only has advantages”.
Corn cream brulee by chef Roberta Julião
Another fan of canned corn is chef Fábio Vieira, from Micaela. A classic in your everyday kitchen is your corn cream. “I blend it in a blender with milk, pass it through a sieve, then mix it with a roux (butter and flour), add some spices (nutmeg, bay leaf) and it's done. Perfect to accompany the breaded chicken on weeknights with the kids.”
Chef Fellipe Zanuto also uses the canned version to make the corn cream that, incidentally, accompanies the chicken on the Hospedaria menu. “We even tried making it with corn on the cob, but it doesn't stay the same, maybe it's even a matter of affective memory.”
quick fix
If you like to post your culinary achievements on social media, but hide your tuna pasta, you can start to change that. The classic of practicality was mentioned by almost all chefs. For Zanuto, it's a tradition he brought with him from adolescence. “I call it 'beach noodles'. I saute a lot of garlic, onion, add the cooked pasta with a little of the cooking liquid, turn off the heat and add the tuna, lemon zest and a good cheese.”
In addition to pasta, canned tuna is a great staple for antipasti and snacks. Roberta and Zanuto usually change the mayonnaise for cream cheese when making the pastinha. It is also excellent for adding to salads, it can go straight from the can to the table, or combined with other ingredients, including canned. For the bean and tuna salad, just open the two cans – the cooked white bean and the tuna –, mix and season.
From the can. White bean and tuna salad
Speaking of canned beans, we are still not used to consuming them that way — unlike Europe, where it is very traditional — but there are some good options in the markets that can work well in your kitchen. “They tend to be well cooked and softer, which makes them perfect for making soups or even a last minute improvised cassoulet”, suggests chef Carlos Siffert, a teacher at the Wilma Kövesi school and a consultant at Casa Santa Luzia.
Were you wondering about the pea? Let's get straight to the point: if you can choose, leave the canned version aside in this case. Prefer the frozen pea.
