Marcus Samuelsson’s Quarantine Cooking Hack: Canned Fish

 "I have cooked a lot more at home for my family during this pandemic," says Marcus Samuelsson, from his home kitchen, almost seven months after the event that led him to cook more often with his wife and young son, "it has been one of the Silver Linings, spending more time in the kitchen and eating together," adds the award-winning chef

Growing up on an island in Sweden, Samuelsson ate seafood four or five days a week, in every way, in every form - fresh, raw, cured, preserved, salted. "Everyone was involved in the seafood trade," he recalls. For him, seafood is personal: it evokes memories of entering his grandmother's house, throwing an apron and cooking some kind of fish.

"I have no memories playing with my grandmother. I have memories of eating, memories of cooking, as she tells me about the mortar and pestle hand, touching the dough with her hands, trying to a very specific taste.”

Now, Samuelsson can replicate that taste for himself and his family, even when we're all trapped inside. Particularly, he is interested in mackerel, a fish with which he grew up. "It's about the texture," he says. Prefer King Oscar mackerel fillets in olive oil, which can be used in a wide range of Mediterranean-style recipes. "Preserved ingredients can be super flavor enhancers," he says, noting that preserved lemons and Calabrian peppers are also fantastic additions to canned fish.

In addition to canned seafood, Samuelsson recommends storing good balsamic vinegar, fish sauce and piquillo peppers in a winter pantry, all of which can increase the flavors of cold weather. Pasta, of course, is another essential in Samuelsson's pandemic pantry, particularly the dried bucatini, which he likes for the texture, particularly with mackerel. Now, he has partnered with King Oscar to celebrate how the addition of premium seafood can easily elevate home cooking, sharing a recipe for bucatini with mackerel and Swiss chard, which anyone can make in minutes.