My minimalist pantry

A while ago captainecchi* suggested that if I was interested in a cooking blog, I should check out Stonesoup, written by a cool Australian lady named Jules Clancy concerning keeping a minimalist kitchen and producing delicious dishes in a minimalist fashion. I am very grateful to Lise for the suggestion, as reading this blog has provided me with lovely fascinating reading on one of my biggest interests. One of my favorite entries on Stonesoup is the one about what Jules keeps in her minimalist pantry-- the absolute essentials she keeps on hand at all times due to their importance in her cooking, plus the other, slightly less vital things that she still likes to have. I like this exercise, to figure out what is most important to your cooking and eating like that. So I thought I'd make a version of that list of my own.

I define a pantry essential as a thing you want to have on hand at all times because of the frequency with which you cook with it, the sort of thing you buy as soon as it runs out without having a specific dish in mind. On the secondary list, the nice-to-haves, are the ones that I like to keep around because I use them regularly, but not necessary all the time, so I wouldn't suffer immediately if I didn't replace them right away.

Here's what I have in my minimalist pantry.

The Must Haves:

1. Olive oil - The perfect cooking medium for practically anything you can name, plus the most delicious dressing I can think of. Extra virgin that is not too expensive is usually able to do double duty as both cooking fat and finishing touch. Still, it is nice to have a bottle of the really fine stuff on hand for dressing.

2. Butter - So versatile and delicious in cooking, baking, and plaing eating, so much is possible with good sweet butter.

3. Onions - I use these in just about everything I cook. The most versatile aromatic there is.

4. Garlic - Just love the flavor. Use it all the time.

5. Flour - Necessary for most baked goods of course, but also good for dredging meats so that they brown better.

6. Sugar - A dessert making necessity, and the most efficient sweetness delivery system there is.

7. Salt - Goes without saying. Things taste flat and dead without seasoning with salt.

8. Basil - Easily my favorite herb of all time. I prefer the fresh, but it doesn't keep long, so I always want to have the dry stuff around for seasoning purposes.

9. Chicken broth - Great as a base for sauce. Chicken broth is the most flexible flavor of broth and can work well with a wide variety of meats in addition to chicken.

10. Balsamic vinegar - God, I love balsamic. Good for sauce making as well as the other half of my favorite salad dressing. A middle-range bottle can perform for both, but having an expensive aged bottle for dressing means flavor incomparable.

11. Red wine - I don't drink, but it's one of my favorite flavorings in savory dishes; another fantastic base for sauce.

12. Milk - I probably shouldn't drink it due to lactose intolerance, but I love chai latte, and a shot of it improves all manner of cooked dishes and baked goods.

13. Eggs - Useful for so many culinary things, and a quick, high-protein meal all on its own in a pinch.

The Nice to Haves:

1. Vanilla - My favorite flavoring in baked goods, and I enjoy a little shot of it in my chai. But I do not bake desserts so frequently that I need it all the time.

2. Honey - I like to having it around, mostly for sweetening tea, but I don't use it for much else. I wish I liked it more.

3. Marsala - Not as versatile as red wine, but I love the flavor, and it's great in many of my favorite sauces as well as desserts.

4. Oregano - Another frequently used herb I like to have around in dry form for seasoning. I guess I could also include thyme and tarragon, which I also use more than most other herbs.

5. Cinnamon - My favorite and most frequently used spice. I mostly use it in baked goods but I also like it on roast squash and in my hot apple cider. But again, I don't bake all the time. Ginger is probably the only other spice I use with particular frequency.

6. Canned tomatoes - An easy addition to any number of dishes to add savory flavor. Not sure which variety I prefer, but probably diced is what I go with most often.

7. Brown sugar - I like to have it, because some things are better than if you use regular sugar, but more often I find I need the white kind.

8. Baking powder - There really isn't any subsitute for it in certain recipes for baked goods.

Things I Keep Around Because I Like to Eat Them:

1. Chai mix - A specialized luxury item, but my personal crack. Mix with milk, heat up, and you're in Heaven. Fragrant, sweet, spicy, rich, warming. Worth enduring the effects of my lactose intolerance.

2. High-quality tea - In addition to my spiced chai mix mentioned above, I also like to have a high-end chai of the sort one steeps in hot water. It's comforting, hydrating, low-calorie, and often I use it as an appetitue suppressant.

3. Lowfat yogurt - My breakfast pretty much every morning. I like vanilla, raspberry, and strawberry best.

4. Carrots - Great for healthy snacking, and a useful aromatic.

5. Apples - Also great for healthy snacking. I try not to let myself snack otherwise.

Things I Pointedly Do Not Keep Around:

1. Pasta - I try not to eat pasta. It's just starch and not good for the figure.

2. Potatoes - Ditto. I love them, but I just try to avoid them entirely.

3. Coke - If I have it, I will drink it. I love it so, empty sugar solution that it is. It's my one real nutritional pitfall.

4. Crackers - Another thing that I just keep eating until they're gone. Not healthy.

5. Nutella - I used to think that a spoonful of Nutella would be a nice, moderate little treat to reward a healthful day. Then I found out it's over two hundred calories a tablespoon. Fuck you, chocolate-hazelnut traitor.

6. Snacky anything, really - I have a tendency to eat food like this until it's totally gone if I have it just around. Not so much in a self-control department, you see.