Pantry Guide for Weekday Home Chefs

The only thing standing between an average Tuesday dinner and homemade bistro-transcendence is a £4 bottle of infused olive oil and shaking smoked paprika with reckless abandon. You still don’t know what "deglazing" is, but if your fridge has six types of pesto, that has to count for something, right?

Upgrading your pantry doesn’t mean getting a Wonga loan. (Don’t.)

Just the occasional swapping of your tomato purée for something in a glass bottle that whispers "Provençal." We don’t need 50,000 ingredient recipes.

We want a Tuesday dinner that takes less than 45 minutes. One Angela Hartnett would be proud of.

Pantry Upgrades That Do Too Much (in a good way)

1. Infused Olive Oils (Lemon, Chilli, Basil)
Drizzle like you’ve studied abroad.
You are now a person who calls it "finishing oil" while eating an entire focaccia alone.

Waitrose Lemon Infused Olive Oil – £4.50
Pairs well with: Pretending your Ainsley Harriott couscous is a Mediterranean small plate or a Green Summer Couscous.

2. Rose Harissa Paste
The girlboss of condiments. Floral, punchy, possibly too confident.
Turns plain roasted veg into an Ottolenghi audition tape.

Cook’s Ingredients Rose Harissa Paste — £2.50
Pairs well with: Weeknight traybakes and delusions of guest cheffing with the smug but very watchable bastard that is James Martin. Or on toast.

3. Black Garlic Paste
Mysterious. Rich. Gothic.
Add it to anything and say "it’s umami" like a seductive pasta-making witch.

Cooks’ Ingredients Black Garlic Paste – £5
Pairs well with: Pasta, burrata, risotto, your growing sense of self-worth.

4. Tomato Passata in a Glass Bottle
You know the one. Feels like it should come with a heritage certificate.
You hold it like a baby before pouring it into a frying pan with Essentials penne and pre-chopped frozen onion.

Duchy Organic Passata – £1.50
Pairs well with: A soundtrack of Luca Guadagnino films and weeping like the love of your life just drove away on a Vespa whilst you comfort munch on a tomato tart.

5. Smoked Paprika (The Good Kind)
If your food doesn’t taste smoky and mysterious, is it even dinner?
A dash in everything. Sprinkle with gumption.

Cook’s Ingredients Smoked Paprika – £1.70
Pairs well with: Literally everything. Like this chicken.

6. Yuzu Juice
Sharp, fragrant, and fundamentally unnecessary.
You’ll use it once in a salad dressing and then just bring it out when guests are over to say, "Oh, that? It’s yuzu."

Cooks’ Ingredients Yuzu Juice – £4.75
Pairs well with: Cold noodles. Mimoas. Basically anything that a lemon would also go with.

7. Umami Paste
Looks like grout. Tastes like depth.
Squeeze into anything beige and it becomes a "depth-forward dish" instead of a sad mash bowl.

Cook’s Ingredients Umami Paste – £2.00
Pairs well with: Risottos, broths, stews, pies, and character development.

8. Pomegranate Molasses
Sticky, sweet, syrupy drama.
Drizzle it over feta and say things like "just something I threw together."

Cook’s Ingredients Pomegranate Molasses – £3.60
Pairs well with: Roasted carrots, lamb, and illusions of being well-travelled.

9. Za’atar
Sprinkle this on anything and suddenly it’s small plates energy.
Basically edible personality.

Cooks’ Ingredients Za’atar – £3
Pairs well with: Flatbreads, eggs, halloumi, and a feeling of vague superiority.

10. Anchovies in a nice Tin
You don’t even like anchovies, but these look aspirational.

Waitrose Cantabrian Anchovy Fillets – £1.70
Pairs well with: Pasta, salads, butter beans, and your quiet inner need to impress.

11. ‘Ndjua
Smokey, meaty, and addictive.
You pronounce it correctly. No one cares. (It’s en-doo-jah btw.)

Cooks’ Ingredients ’Nduja Paste — £5.25
Pairs well with: Prawns, pasta, or fish. Emotional rebound meals.

12. Dried Porcini Mushrooms
They smell like a forest floor. You’ll forget you bought them, then feel thrilled when you find them again.

Cook’s Ingredients Dried Porcini – £3.10
Pairs well with: Risottos, the ultimate breakfast-for-dinner toastie, and dreams of being “earthy.”