Basic Pantry

[RevDahlia]

I was reading Ensign Steve's thread and got to thinking about what supplies one must have in one's kitchen at all times for maximum readiness and versatility. Experienced cooks, whaddaya think -- what do you wish you'd known to have on hand when you first started cooking?

Here is my basic pantry. I'm leaving out the prepared stand-alone foods, like peanut butter and tortilla chips and shit, and sticking to ingredients for brevity's sake.

EVOO
Red wine vinegar (I disagree with everyone about balsamic, which I think is very nice but isn't as versatile or as cheap as good red wine vinegar)
Dijon mustard
Mayonnaise (I know, liv, I know)
Soy sauce
Hot sauce, Mexican and Asian
Pickles

Salt, pepper (whole peppercorns in grinder, natch)
Dried thyme, bay leaves, oregano, hot pepper flakes (IMO other herbs are better bought fresh or grown in a pot on the windowsill)
Cinnamon, chili powder, cumin

Cheese: hunk Parmesan, hunk sharp Cheddar, one other cheese depending on what looks good (it's usually something blue)
Eggs
Butter, unsalted

Mirepoix: onions, celery and carrots (baby carrots in a bag are nice for snacking)
Whole canned tomatoes
Canned beans (cannellini and black)
Canned chicken broth, low-salt
Potatoes (only a few at a time, so they don't grow creepy tendrils)
Garlic
Frozen peas, frozen corn
Italian flatleaf parsley

Rice, white and brown
Pasta -- one stubby, one long, say spaghetti and penne
Crackers

Lemons
Sugar
A teeny-tiny quantity of flour

Frozen chicken breasts
Ground beef
Bacon (I KNOW :P)
Anchovies (I'm aware that I'm probably the only person in America who considers anchovies a staple)
Tuna

We are usually out of several of these things.

Milk and bread are not staples in our house, because they usually go over before we can finish them. This may be because we don't have children. Milk is nice to have around for bechamel, though. Mesclun and baby spinach are good to have, but they don't keep.

I know I'm forgetting something crucial. Oh well.

[Petra]

Olive oil.


And I'm with you on the anchovies - I love 'em.

[RevDahlia]

Olive oil.
EVOO = extra-virgin olive oil.
And I'm with you on the anchovies - I love 'em.
Yeah, but you're a durned furriner. My homeland is full of inveterate anchovy-haters, and those who may not hate anchovies but who would never think to cook with them. Spaghetti with olive oil, garlic, parsley, pepper flakes and mooshed-up anchovies? Heaven.

[Petra]

Eye fillet steak on the barbecue cooked with mooshed anchovies smeared over it is mighty fine, too. Yummy.


I disagree about the red wine vinegar though - I find it too harsh. Balsamic and raspberry vinegars are my fave's.

I have discovered a bottle of champagne vinegar from Italy at the supermarket, too, so I'll try that with something soonish. (When I can next be bothered cooking. :wink: )

[xorbie]

I like almost all vinegars. I don't have a pantry as I'm still in dorms (getting an apartment next year, thankfully), but at home I usually use either balsamic or cider vinegar, depending on what I'm doing.

One of my favorite things to do is make some pasta, then add tuna with mayo and some vinegar.

[RevDahlia]

One of my favorite things to do is make some pasta, then add tuna with mayo and some vinegar.
That'd be fantastic with some chopped-up olives and parsley in it.

Shoot -- olives. Nicoise, green and Kalamata. Can't live without 'em.

[livius drusus]

Okay Rev. I'll go ahead and forgive you the mayo and bacon since you did me the courtesy of avoiding mention of the Kalifornia Kudzu. Besides, the rest of your list is killer.

I'd split out your Dijon category into country and classic because they're really quite different and I use them both in all kinds of ways. Also, horseradish. Gotta have the horse.

On the veggie side, I must add shallots to the list. They're such an underrated addition to pretty much any savory dish, make any plain oil and vinegar a spicey and delicious dressing, and when roasted turn to sugar. Seriously. Roasted shallots are like candy. Oh, and they cost like a nickel the dozen.

I also recommend three bread products:
Alvarado St. Sprouted Multigrain (http://www.alvaradostreetbakery.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=asb&Product_Code=10260&Category_Code=bread), the single most delicious sliced bread ever in the history of sliced bread, and it just happens to be whole grain and healthy to boot. Perfect for toast, sandwiches, or even as a fine Nutella delivery system when high. It'll keep in the fridge for ages.
Alvarado St. sprouted wheat pizza crusts (http://www.alvaradostreetbakery.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=asb&Product_Code=10440&Category_Code=pizza), just as tasty as the bread only in pizza form, and the perfect solution to the what can I make tonight in 10 minutes syndrome. Chop up some chicken sausage, garlic and mushrooms, toss on top with your cheese of choice and 5 minutes in the oven later, you've got a killer dinner.
Breadcrumbs, cracker or matzoh meal. Because sometimes, you're gonna have to coat something with them.

[RevDahlia]

Yeah, if I were to expand the list I'd include not only shallots but all the alliums -- chives, leeks, scallions etc. I just like my food pungent, I guess. Shallots are much more sophisticated-tasting than regular old onions and they don't grow green shoots as fast, but they're hell to peel.

Cilantro, though I am fond of it, is definitely not a staple in my house. It goes black and slimy too quick, for one; for two lots of people really hate it.

Pizza shells? That is a brainwave. Good call.

ETA: And sausage! Everybody needs sausage. My sausage wardrobe consists of Italian (boutique organic,) chorizo (not organic, in fact I don't even want to know what's in it) and turkey kielbasa.

[livius drusus]

Yeah, if I were to expand the list I'd include not only shallots but all the alliums -- chives, leeks, scallions etc. I just like my food pungent, I guess.

Amen. (A non-staple related aside: all the alliums have beautiful edible flowers, the perfect gorgeous edition to any salad.) But shallots are very definitely a staple in my fridge, mainly because my staple salad dressing is a garlic-shallot combo.

Pizza shells? That is a brainwave. Good call.

Danke. I have to underscore that before I encountered Alvarado St. Bakery (check your local Whole Foods for all ASB products), I never stocked pizza shells unless I had made them myself. I can't recommend any other brand, although I'm sure there's more commonly available stuff out there which doesn't suck.

ETA: And sausage! Everybody needs sausage. My sausage wardrobe consists of Italian (boutique organic,) chorizo (not organic, in fact I don't even want to know what's in it) and turkey kielbasa.

Italian chicken for me, and andouille for unbeatable flavor and ridiculously easy prep.

[Ensign Steve]

Thank you, you all are too good for me. I am excited about going shopping and then possible preparing food for myself like a real grown up, except for one problem. I DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY! :(:(:( I got paid today and I'm already in the hole. I don't get to buy anything again until the 15th. Who new brand new puppies were so expensive (I spent my last quarters on puppy chow today, good thing I quit smoking). So I'm going to be living on chicken breasts, mayo, salt and pepper for another two weeks. Oh, and dog chow if I get desparate. Oh wait, something to do with the thread. Hmmm, let's see...

Oh yeah! I freeze my bread and I still don't go through a loaf in half a year. I do go through milk, though, because I like cold cereal in the mornings.

[RevDahlia]

(A non-staple related aside: all the alliums have beautiful edible flowers, the perfect gorgeous edition to any salad.)
Oh goody, I get to post a recipe!

Allium Flowers for Enlivening Salads, Impressing Your Friends and Bringing the Pretty to the Kitchen

You need:
1 onion
2 bamboo skewers
a wineglass
a small terra-cotta flowerpot with saucer
Potting soil
a sunny windowsill, wide enough to accomodate the pot

You do:
Leave the onion somewhere warm and sunny until it gains a new lease on life and starts trying to find dirt. You will be able to discern its intent by the green shoots that emerge from it.

Stick two bamboo skewers through the onion crosswise, about halfway down its bulbous body. Place onion in wineglass, adjusting the skewers as necessary to keep it level. Fill glass with water to one-third of the way up onion bulb. Leave on a windowsill. Keep a casual eye on it and replenish the water as necessary.

When the onion begins to grow roots, transplant it into the pot. Place on the same windowsill and water frequently enough so that the soil stays dampish but not wet. Onions like sun.

Eventually your onion will sprout a long shoot covered with handsome white or light blue blossoms. Pinch them off and use as needed.

I never get sick of this -- it's like magic. I buy a thing in a supermarket for like a quarter, and it's alive! ALLLIIIVVEEEE! Though somehow I have never been charmed by the futile dirt-finding efforts of potatoes.
So I'm going to be living on chicken breasts, mayo, salt and pepper for another two weeks.
If you can spring for a lemon, some scallions and a little jar of capers, girl, you're made in the shade. You can subsist on an incredibly ladylike chicken salad for two weeks -- there are worse fates. Just heat some water until it isn't simmering but is thinking about it, poach the chicken in said water for about half an hour or until it's done but not dry, remove it, cut it up, and dress it with mayo and S&P cut with the juice of the lemon, a chopped scallion, and some well-drained capers. It will be delicious, even eaten on Saltines in front of "CSI". I promise.

PS: Do not fail to save the liquid you poached the chicken in. Throw a bouillon cube in there and you have an admirable broth that is useful for many things. If you don't need it right away, freeze it in a Zip-Loc.

[Ensign Steve]

Wow, Rev, you are like some kind of genius. :) :bow:

[RevDahlia]

Wow, Rev, you are like some kind of genius. :) :bow:
Aw. :blush: Idiot savant, maybe. I'm good at food and hopeless at (almost) everything else.

I highly, HIGHLY recommend that you go to your public library as soon as is humanly possible and check out Laurie Colwin's books Home Cooking and More Home Cooking. They will change your life. These aren't cookbooks; they're little literary forays into the realm of food and living, with decent recipes. You'll love them.

[viscousmemories]

Just yesterday I was thinking we oughta have a thread like this, then today I found this one during an unrelated search.

Good show, Rev. :thumbup:

[Clutch Munny]

NTS: Don't read food recipes at work in the morning. Suddenly I'm like Pavlov's pooch at a bell-choir concert.

[MooseIBe]

I don't really HAVE a basic pantry, but if I did it would be pasta, rice, noodles, canned tomatoes, chilli sauce .. erm, can't think of anything else. Mustard. Mayonnaise. Ketchup.

[curses]

I don't really HAVE a basic pantry, but if I did it would be pasta, rice, noodles, canned tomatoes, chilli sauce .. erm, can't think of anything else. Mustard. Mayonnaise. Ketchup...and crunchy peanut butter. :yum:

I guess boxed macaroni and cheese really shouldn't count on this list, so..*rereads thread to double check choices*

Frozen fruit, like strawberries and blueberries. You never know when you're going to have the desire for strawberries on top of your cheerios.

Tinned tomatoes, because sometimes the grocery store is just too far away.

Frozen cod fillets.