OK, we’re nearing the home stretch. Here goes:
- Tomato paste (can or tube)
- Cookies/Biscotti
- Glaces (reduced sauces to which you add water)
- Panko bread crumbs (check the Asian food aisle)
- BBQ Rub
- Sun dried tomatoes
- Roasted red peppers
- Pasta sauce
- Polenta, refrigerated
- Puff pastry, frozen
- Phyllo dough, frozen
- Lasagne noodles, NO-BOIL
- Oils, specialty (walnut, sesame et al)
- Mustards (Dijon, Ancienne, sweet/hot)
- Cornichon pickles
- Cream cheese
- Cheeses
- Toasts/Crackers
- Honey
- Anchovy paste (in a tube)
- Bacon (can keep in freezer ’til ready to thaw and use)
- Smoked salmon (freeze)
- Cocktail pumpernickel bread (freeze)
- White bread, thinly sliced (think Pepperidge Farm)
With the tomato paste if you always end up with half a six-ounce can moldering in the frig, buy a tube and squeeze out a tablespoon at a time.
Panko bread crumbs are great because they’re larger and irregular so give you a good coating. Light coating includes a swim in milk and dredge in seasoned flour. Heavy coating includes milk, then flour, then beaten egg, then bread crumbs. Wet hand/dry hand technique. I know, I always end up mired in the stuff.
Cheeses are a category all their own. Buy what you like. If you need a simple cheese tray for a dinner party for eight, choose the country of origin for your main dish and ask for a mild, medium and sharp cheese from that country (i.e. North America, I might do a farmhouse monterey jack, a sharp Canadian cheddar and a Maytag Blue).
Cooking with Dee 