Tinned Fish Is Life

And life's opportunities are endless

To love tinned fish is to love yourself.

One of the cardinal rules of having a “well-stocked pantry” is having things on hand to eat that just work with minimal thinking.

Enter tinned fish. Tuna, mackerel, anchovies, trout, sardines, and salmon—I love them all. The only types of tinned foods that I unfortunately don’t mess with are mollusks like oysters or octopuses due to an unfortunate food allergy I developed a few years ago. (Adult food allergies! They happen!!)

But back to tinned fish. Yes, tinned fish is having a moment—it’s on sweatshirts, jewelry, and candles. But also, tinned fish is unequivocally delicious and fool-proof easy.

Whenever I want something tasty that requires minimal work, I pull together a bunch of oddball stuff in the fridge with tinned fish. Like leftover veg, maybe some leftover rice, some pickled onions, a little lit of labneh or yogurt, and perhaps an avocado.

Just take this recent rice bowl I quite literally whipped up with the dregs of the fridge on a Sunday.

Buttered rice, smoked salmon, kimchi, sautéed broccolini and snap peas. I topped it with my favorite chili crisp and a spicy mayo made of sriracha and mayo.

Show me the leftovers

There are a million of combinations of things to make with leftover tinned fish. Regardless of whatever pantry-ish things you’ve got, you’ve got a meal or a least a tasty snack in a few minutes.

Think of the possibilities of tinned fish as less of a recipe and more as a blank slate to unleash your creativity.

Here are 2 other ideas:

1. Make a snack plate with soft-boiled eggs, anchovies, vegetables, and crackers.

2. Slather some crackers or toast with labneh, radishes, your tinned fish of choice, and herbs. I went with Greek yogurt on toast with snap peas, broccolini, and pickled onions.

Anything is toast if you think outside the box

How to buy tinned fish

These days, all you have to do to find great tinned fish is walk down an aisle in the grocery store. There are so many brands widely available like Tonnino, Minnow, and Ortiz that make excellent tinned fish.

The only way that you’re going to figure out what you like and don’t like is to try a few different brands and types of fish. Some are preserved with flavors from herbs and lemon—some are simply packed with olive oil.

However, there is one brand that I’ve fallen in love with: Fishwife.

I love their tins that come in tons of different fishes and flavors. Their tuna in particular is unmatched. But the smoked salmon packed in chili crisp is also truly next level.

The Holy Trinity

Plus, have you ever seen better branding?!?!

A sucker for great food packaging

My very sweet friend MaryAnn bought me Fishwife’s new cookbook for my birthday recently. Like—can you believe that there is entire cookbook solely about tinned fish?! I’m obsessed.

The cookbook is full of so many creative and fun ideas, and I want to make all of them. Like:

• Cherry tomato tartine with aioli and smoked salmon

• Caesar wedge salad with anchovy breadcrumbs

• Juicy summer tomatoes with sardines and caper aioli

• Niçoise salad sandwich

• Tuna with white bean salad, fennel, and preserved lemon vinaigrette

• Also, how good do these tuna melt eggrolls look??

Speaking of MaryAnn, I found and bought the cutest “al dente” onesie for her recent baby shower. Also obsessed.

Start ‘em young.

The cherry blossoms have popped and Brooklyn Botanical Garden is dreamy.

The crowds have descended.

Also dreamy? The drinks at Brooklyn Botanical Garden’s Yellow Magnolia Cafe.

Currently very into this combo of orange juice, cranberry juice, and ginger beer.

Half a second before she fell asleep.

Happy Spring!!!