Owner of Taim and Balaboosta, Einat Admony has a pantry filled with Middle Eastern and Mediterranean essentials. Like, tahini, for example—an ingredient she feels completes a meal. But there is one ingredient you absolutely won’t see on this list: truffle oil.
“For me personally, this ingredient is unnecessary and disgusting,” Admony says.
Many of the ingredients Admony loves in her pantry help elevate dishes by giving them a big boost of flavor.
Aside from being the chef and owner of Taim and Balaboosta, Admony is also one of the new Chef Ambassadors for the cookware brand All-Clad, and she recently created a new menu for Olive Tree Cafe at the Comedy Cellar, which is available now.
And with that, here are Einat Admony’s five pantry essentials.
Tahini
“There cannot be a meal without tahini or hummus, in my opinion. It finds its place in many different dishes and sauces.”
Harissa
“It’s my fixer. When something isn’t as tasty as it needs to be, a spoonful of harissa (good harissa) can change everything. It’s very versatile—sandwich spread, veg…”
Preserved Lemon
“I make sauce and cook it with my fish, I braise it with my meat, put it in my salad, add it to roasted vegetables and sometimes use it as a replacement for salt in certain dishes. This flavor elevates many different foods, and I love to incorporate it whenever I can.”
Fenugreek Leaves
“Both my mom and my dad, Yemenite and Iranian, would use this ingredient for very different things. Yemenite cuisine would use fenugreek leaves in bread or soups. In the Persian context, it’s called shanbalileh and finds its way into all of the stews.”
Amba
“This Iraqi fenugreek and mango chutney is amazing. I use it as a condiment or when I want to change flavors up in a dish. It works great with fish. I’ll use it to make aioli to spread around on a sandwich.”
Feature photo by Heidi Harris.
