My Pantry Staples

Following in Smitten Kitchen's footsteps, I thought it'd be fun to do an inventory of my pantry staples. As a general rule of thumb, I think any recipe you make more than three times a year deserves a stocked ingredient. Items in square brackets are those that I often have on hand, but don't necessarily replenish right away.

RICE AND GRAINS
Thai jasmine long grain rice
Japanese short grain rice
Wild rice mix
[Brown rice]
Rolled oats (for baking, not for oatmeal)
Steel-cut oats (for oatmeal)
[Quinoa]
[Couscous]
[Millet, for congee]

PASTA AND NOODLES
Italian pasta: angelhair, spaghetti/linguine, macaroni
Rice vermicelli
Wide bean noodles (for hot pot)
Japanese somen
[Egg noodles, for tuna casserole]

FLOURS
AP flour
Bread flour (for no-knead bread)
Wheat flour (a small amount kept in the freezer; sometimes I switch to rye)
Cornmeal
[Almond meal, for chocolate fruitcake]

BEANS AND LENTILS
Canned chickpeas / garbanzo beans
Canned red beans (for chili)
Canned Tuscan white / cannellini beans (for soup)
[Lentils, green or French de puy]

MISC CANNED
Canned tuna
[Canned salmon]
Canned pumpkin puree (for pumpkin bread and thickening chili)
Canned whole plum tomatoes
Canned creamed corn
[Tomato paste]
[Canned peaches]
[Canned mandarin oranges]

BAKING
Granulated sugar
[Brown sugar]
[Muscovado sugar]
Baking powder
Baking soda
Instant yeast, sleeves of three packets (mostly for no-knead bread)
Cocoa
Powdered milk (because I don't often have fresh milk in my fridge)
Kahlua (my favorite substitute for vanilla)

OIL AND VINEGAR
Canola
Olive (regular, for cooking)
Extra-virgin olive (a fancy store here has a Persian lime flavor I love, just for salad dressings)
Butter (I only keep salted, and use it even for baking - I just omit the added salt and it's usually fine)
White vinegar in massive jugs (pickling; does double duty as dandelion killer)
Cider vinegar
[Red or white wine vinegar]
[Balsamic]

SALT, HERBS AND SPICES
Regular iodized table salt (for salting cooking water)
Fine sea salt (regular cooking; have sometimes kept fine kosher salt instead)
Seasoning salt (for steak and grilled chicken)
Whole peppercorns
Whole nutmeg
Dried thyme
Chopped fresh cilantro (in freezer)
[Loads of others but these are my go-tos. My garden has fresh mint, rosemary and bay.]

CHINESE
Soy sauce
Chinese black vinegar
Chinese Shaoxing cooking wine
Sesame oil
Cornstarch
Cow Head brand Chinese barbeque sauce
[Oyster sauce]
[Packaged fried shallots]

MISC
Better Than Bouillon, multiple flavors
[Trader Joe's sundried tomatoes in oil]
[Capers]
[Pickles and cornichons]
Dijon mustard
[Mayonaise]
Peanut butter
[Nutella]
[Marcona almonds]
Jam (a berry one)
Honey
[Molasses]
[Maple syrup]
[Ovaltine]
[Hot chocolate mix]
Tea: loose-leaf green, English breakfast, chamomile, fruity, plus misc. assortment of tea bags
Dried currants (for scones; also good in couscous)
[Alpen muesli]
Walker's shortbread
Kettle-cooked potato chips, plain / original / sea salt flavor
Instant ramen
Kraft instant mac and cheese

FREEZER
Boneless skinless chicken thighs, wrapped in packets of two
Breakfast sausage, wrapped in single portions
Thick-sliced bacon
Gyoza
Udon
Spinach
[Peas]
[Trader Joe's white corn]
Bread (sliced)
[Bagels from New York]

EGGS
I *always* have eggs. I go back and forth between white and brown, large and extra large.


* * * * *
Some weird things about my kitchen:

• I almost never have fresh milk. I am not much of a milk drinker, and though I put milk in my coffee, I drink almost all my coffee at work.
• I only have crappy instant coffee. See above. At home, I drink tea.
• I don't really cook with garlic, so I rarely have it.
• I'm a wimp when it comes to spicy food, so all the red pepper flakes and hot sauces in my kitchen were purchased by my mom while she was visiting. She is a fiend for spicy food.
• I have lots of exotic spices and spice mixes. It's one of my favorite souvenirs to buy when traveling - for myself and as gifts.
• I have a very limited baking repertoire. I don't find it relaxing, and I don't do it enough to be very good at it. I also don't like icing or frosting, and never make it. I know, I'm a monster.

Roasted Beets

This is the best method I've come across for roasting beets, which are very inexpensive in the fall but somehow always expensive in restaurants.

Directions

Wrap each beet (whole and unpeeled) individually in foil. Place on a sheet and throw it in your oven at 375 F - no need to preheat. Let the oven run about half an hour after it comes up to temp. Turn the oven off but leave the beets in there until your oven cools down completely.

Keep the beets in foil until you want to use them. They will keep in the fridge for a week to ten days. When you want to use them, unwrap the foil. The beet skin should rub off easily in your hands.

What's great about this method is that, while it takes a long time, it doesn't take a lot of power or attention. In fact, you can turn off the oven and leave the house while the beets finish cooking. And because they're individually wrapped, you can have a salad of one beet every couple of days after one batch of roasting - perfect for a single person.

I really like roasted beets with a mustardy citrus vinaigrette. Goat cheese or chopped nuts go great if you have them.

Pickled Cherries

Adapted from Epicurious.

Ingredients
3/4 cup white vinegar
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp whole black peppercorns
1 tsp whole coriander seeds
[optional: 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes]
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 lb fresh cherries, pitted and halved

Directions
Combine everything except the cherries and the rosemary in a stainless steel pan and bring to a simmer. Add cherries and rosemary, cook for 3-5 minutes.

Transfer cherries and rosemary to a 1 quart mason jar. Pour in enough pickling liquid to cover the cherries. Chill. Can keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

These pickled cherries go great with a cheese plate, or as a topping for vanilla ice-cream. I like just snacking on them too.