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
Hi Julia! I’m new to your great blog. Any recommendations for a handheld blender? I’m in the market for one and don’t know whether it’s worth getting a more expensive one, or whether for something so simple the £10 Braun blenders will do just as well. I primarily want mine for making soups, although I’m sure I’d find some other uses for it too! Thanks. Jane
To be perfectly honest, I don’t have an expensive one and it does the trick just fine, in fact I think it’s a Braun. The only thing I’d say is that you really should get a metal rather than plastic one if it’s for soup.
For an uninformed Yank, could you explain what a milk pan is, please? And I’m assuming what you guys call a roasting tray is a roasting pan/roaster, here?
Great site, I think I’m gonna’ enjoy reading it.
CJ
Hi CJ, a milk pan is really just a small pan, often with a spout for pouring.
Yep, a roasting tray is a roasting pan/roaster.