Category Archives: Recommended Pantry Contents

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).

STAPLES

• Sugar, white and brown and confectioners
• Worcestershire sauce (its ancestor was Garum, from Apicius)
• Ketchup
• Coffee/Tea
• Olive oil, extra virgin, preferably green or novello
• oil for cooking, neutral like Canola
• Mayonnaise
• Salsa
• Marinades
• Sesame oil (roasted)
• Yeast
• Mushrooms (dried porcini)
• Oil spray for greasing pans
• Peanut butter
• Crackers, assorted
• Soy sauce
• BBQ Sauce (I like Stubbs)

Now Vinegars:

• Distilled white
• Apple cider, a must for cucumbers
• Balsamico, mechanically produced for everyday
• OK if you want to spend a fortune, get the balsamic aged syrup but only use it on fruit
• White wine and champagne vinegars
• Sherry vinegar from Jerez, Spain (remarkable flavor)

Please note that I don’t buy salsa in a jar. If my neighbors thought I did, I couldn’t live here any longer. Also marinades, like vinaigrettes, are made by hand and on the fly.

I prefer to buy yeast in industrial-sized boxes and share them with friends – always taking note of the perishable date. This way I don’t have to proof the yeast except for the first time.

Mushrooms are wonderful in a risotto. Take out a clean cooking paintbrush and clean every whole wonderful slice and brush it. Do not buy your cooking paintbrushes at Sur La Table, but at Home Depot or its equivalent! Do not let your spouse raid your kitchen drawer for paintbrushes or other paraphernalia!

This will be an interesting challenge to come up with recipes for you.

More on kitchen tools will follow.

Herbs and Spices

• salt
• pepper
• cayenne
• thyme
• oregano
• marjoram
• sage
• rosemary
• basil
• cumin
• chili powder
• garam masala (curry)
• crushed red pepper
• nutmeg (whole)
• vanilla

Salt has become an interesting commodity these days. Do you want Himalayan pink or Hawaiian black? For the first half of my life I used the pourable one with the girl with the umbrella. Since then I’ve used Kosher salt, which I keep in a bowl next to the stove. No, not in a $50 rosewood box from Mr. Napa Chic.

As to pepper, only whole peppercorns and get a good grinder on which you can change the grind from fine to coarse according to your needs.

Buy the smallest amounts possible of the herbs you use the least. If they turn yellow, throw them out and start again.

Buy a microplane. Use it to grate fresh nutmeg, plus many other kitchen uses.

Vanilla beans are a wonderful thing. Buy as you need them and place the used pods in sugar so you have vanilla sugar for coffee or other uses.

Saffron, I didn’t include this one because it’s so special. NEVER buy powdered saffron. If you’re making paella please buy 1/4 oz of the best saffron possible. You want individual stamens you can see.

Please see former list for bay leaves, which I prefer to buy fresh once a year, rinse, dry and freeze for soups et al.

Stay tuned for the next issue….

Fresh foods to always have on hand:

• eggs
• garlic
• onion
• carrot
• celery
• olives
• potatoes
• ginger
• lemons
• lettuce
• butter – unsalted
• parmigiano-reggiano
• sour cream
• bay leaves – buy fresh, wash and freeze in a zip bag

Grains:

• unbleached white flour (as of 2014 I only use Italian OO flour)
• wheat flour
• pasta (a variety)
• instant couscous
• converted rice
• brown rice
• Arborio rice for risotto
• instant Polenta
• cornstarch

Here’s a good one. Pitted Kalamata olives, I get them from the olive bar at our local grocery (fresher and less expensive than bottled olives). Limit the brine and fill a container of your choice.

Take them home and drain the brine. Place them in a bowl with whatever you want, crushed red pepper, fresh rosemary or thyme, sliced or crushed garlic, pepper (no salt because of the brine) then place back in the container and fill with extra virgin olive oil, you may have to switch to a mason jar with lid. Cover completely and let sit on your kitchen counter for at least a couple of days. After that it should go into the frig making sure it’s always covered. Thaw for a party with toothpicks, pissaladiere with caramelized onions and anchovies, or even sliced in a salad. PLEASE keep the flavored oil for your vinaigrettes. Dee

First off is canned goods.

• whole tomatoes
• anchovies in oil
• broth (boxed, low salt)
• white beans
• olives (bottled Kalamata)
• tuna (preferably Italian in olive oil)
• capers
• tomato paste (in a tube if you don’t use it much)

Whole tomatoes in a can are better than unripe tomatoes that have been shipped long distances. I use San Marzano tomatoes from Italy or Hunt’s from right here. The key is to use beefsteak tomatoes for eating and for burgers, and use plum tomatoes for sauces as there’s more “meat” on the tomato instead of juiciness.

One can buy salted anchovies at specialty stores but if you seldom use them, get the best quality canned anchovies possible and they’ll last a long time unopened.

Broth can be tricky. I normally do not buy vegetable broth because I haven’t found a brand I like. Organic chicken broth is in my frig, in a 1 qt. container because the dog has about 4 Tbsp per day and I steal for cooking. You can also buy the glace that you take out a Tbsp and add water for sauces. This is especially helpful if you’re living in a NYC apartment and have little frig space. Go for lower salt so you can control the taste you want to serve your family and guests.

White beans are a wonder in the kitchen because you can make a salad in no time. Or take boxed chicken broth and add veggies and a drained can of beans and you have a very quick soup.

Kalamatas made me love olives for the first time in my life. I buy a large container at the “olive bar” then drain them, put them back into the container and add rosemary, thyme, garlic and red pepper flakes and top it off with good olive oil. Let marinate a few days. Serve the olives, save the olive oil and use it.

Tuna is always a good can to have around. Salade Nicoise is a safe bet.

Tomato paste is a great ingredient. I hate to buy the 6 oz cans only to try to save it and it molds in the frig. So if you’re not cooking for an army, buy good tomato paste in a tube and keep it in the frig.

Keep cooking! Recipes to follow.