My Kitchen Essentials

Tools

• My cream KitchenAid mixer- this was a real treat, an expensive one, but a long-term investment and I get a lot of use and pleasure out of it. I use it primarily for baking - whisking egg whites, beating cake mixture, mixing cheesecakes, etc



• A hand-held blender - perfect for liquidising and blending soups directly in the saucepan



• Sharp knives - I recently bought two Global knives. These come highly recommended by top chefs, including Anthony Bourdain. I have two cooks knives, a medium sized one for chopping vegetables a larger one for meat



• Wooden spoons of various sizes - I use these all the time and have an extra long one for making gravy directly in my roasting tray



• A grater



• Wooden chopping boards



• Digital weighing scales



• A colander



• A sieve - perhaps surprisingly baking is not what I have in mind for this, but straining soups, gravies and sauces



• A Pyrex measuring jug



• A potato ricer

Pots and Pans

• A good, non-stick frying pan



• A large frying pan with a lid



• A griddle pan



• A tiered steamer



• A solid, non-stick roasting tray with handles



• A large Le Creuset casserole dish - it can be used on the hob and in the oven. I couldn’t be without it in the winter



• A non-stick milk pan



• A stock pot

Store cupboard

• Stock bases: Knorr Touch of Taste Beef and chicken concentrated bouillons, Marigold swiss vegetable bouillon - this makes up a wonderful vegetable stock and is perfect in soups



• Oils: Lemon, chilli and garlic olive oils - for speed (or should that be laziness?), extra virgin olive oil, virgin olive oil, toasted sesame oil, groundnut oil



• Balsamic vinegar



• Tins of chopped tomatoes



• Rice (risotto and long grain), various pastas including the essential spaghetti



• Maldon sea salt - it really does live up to the hype



• Peppercorns



• A few pots of Dried herbs and spices – bay leaves, thyme, oregano, Chinese 5-spice, nutmeg, cinnamon, chilli flakes



• Pure vanilla extract - forget vanilla essence, it tastes very synthetic and is nothing at all like the real thing



• Vanilla pods



• Plain and self-raising flour



• Caster sugar and vanilla sugar – just a vanilla pod kept in a jar of sugar



• A few food colourings -pink and yellow are my favourite



• Tomato puree



• Port and Marsala

Fresh Produce

• Garlic
  
  
• Onions
  
  
• Lemons
  
  
• Unsalted butter
  
  
• Celery (for stocks, soups and casseroles)
  
  
• Carrots
  
  
• Thyme
  
  
• Rosemary