My Top Five (Underrated) Pantry Staples & What I Cooked Last Week

My Go-To Ingredients for Boosting Flavor (or Texture), Chopped Salad Tostadas with Avocado and Dill, Creamy Lemon Chicken with Spinach, Chicken Parm Sandwich

Hi everyone,

I hope your week’s going well! Doug and I just arrived in New York, where we’ll be spending May and June. We’ve been soaking up our first few days back and of course diving right into the restaurant scene. Here’s a snapshot from our first weekend. We had dinner at Chinta, our favorite local Thai spot, and Doug snapped this photo of me (hair braided with an oil mask in lol!).

Dinnie at Chinta!

The other day, I found myself thinking about those MVP pantry staples (beyond the basics) that bring big flavor, cut down on prep, and help keep your ingredient list short. Below, I’m sharing my top five go-to ingredients that are worth having on hand (if you’re not using them already), plus my favorite ways to work them into everyday meals. I’ve also included a recipe for the best chimichurri, featuring a surprise ingredient, and the secret to making the crispiest batter.

First, here’s a recipe for these phenomenal chopped salad tostadas with avocado and dill. Every bite is tangy and fresh, with a crunch from the tostada. I hope you give them a try and love them as much as I do.

What I Cooked Last Week! ↓

Chopped Salad Tostadas with Avocado and Dill

In my book, salad and tostadas were meant to be together. The avocado adds the perfect creaminess to balance all the crunch.

Chopped Salad Tostadas With Avocado And Dill

48.5KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

You can download the PDF recipe above and watch the video here :)

My Top Five (Underrated) Pantry Staples

These are the ingredients that take a dish from good to great. Some bring bold umami flavor while others add heat or help you achieve that perfect crispy texture. I’ve narrowed it down to five pantry staples I truly can’t live without.

Thai curry paste

Thai curry paste is a total time-saver and flavor bomb. Packed with aromatics and chilis, it adds deep, slow-building heat, and best of all, you can skip the garlic and ginger (and all the chopping!). I love both red and green curry pastes, and my go-to brand is Mae Ploy (though Maesri is great too). Since the saltiness and spice can vary, it’s a good idea to start with less and add more to your liking.

I use curry paste all the time for easy weeknight coconut curries with whatever protein I have: chicken, fish, shrimp, tofu. It’s also a delicious base for soups, like my dumpling soup with bok choy and bell pepper. I usually balance it out with coconut milk, chicken stock, fish sauce, and a touch of sugar. You can also add it to marinades for chicken satay or stir a spoonful into cooked rice before crisping it up in a skillet.

Fish sauce & anchovies

I’m grouping these together since fish sauce is made from anchovies, and both are amazing umami boosters. A lot of people shy away from them, worried they’ll taste overly fishy, but when used right and in small amounts, they barely taste like fish. Instead, they add a deep, savory note that ties everything together. I use fish sauce in curries, soups, stews, and in sweet-salty sauces like nuoc cham.

As for anchovies, one of my favorite ways to use them is in chimichurri. I never loved chimichurri until I tried a version that folds anchovies into the mix—a trick I picked up from a friend of a friend of my mom’s. They melt tight into the herbs and give the chimichurri a salty, rich depth that makes it so good.

Here’s the chimichurri recipe I can’t stop making:

The best chimichurri ever!!