My cupboards

A few cupboard essentials I get ansty if I don’t have! I’ll keep adding to this as and when I think of new goodies.

Eggs – yes, I am an egg snob and don’t do battery hen eggs. My favourites are Clarence Court’s Burford Browns. I use them in baking even though they are only medium (even if the recipe calls for large eggs) and am yet to have an issue with this.

Rice – brown rice to accompany curries and stirfrys; pudding rice for rice pud recipes; arborio rice for risottos.

Pasta – a slight addiction of mine is that if I find a new shape I can’t resist buying it. I have (to name a few) shells, spirals, telephone cords, grains, penne, spaghetti, linguine, etc in white, brown and green. My favourites are orzo and shells. I also have alphabet shape pasta which is fabulous!

Grains, pulses and seeds – I always have dried puy lentils and red lentils – the former keep their shape and the latter go mushy so are perfect for soups and dahls. Pearl barley gets thrown into most stews. Sesame, poppy and mixed seeds top bread and rolls.

Flour – I have plain and self raising as well as wholemeal, spelt, bread flour, gram (chickpea) flour, rice flour and chappati flour.

Tins – baked beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, tomatoes, mushy peas. Plus sardines, tuna and anchovy.

Meat and fish (bought fresh but kept in the freezer) – chicken breasts and thigh fillets, raw prawns, salmon fillets, pork chops, pork shoulder steaks, minced beef and lamb, stewing and braising steak, black pudding, sausages (usually directors, toulouse and pork and leek), bacon and lardons.

Bread – I usually keep homemade bread rolls, seeded sliced loads, crumpets and soda farls in the freezer to take out when needed.

Spices – garlic and chilli form the basis of most of my recipes, along with freshly ground black pepper and sea salt which are always on the table. I also love the following dried spices: pink peppercorns, star anise, chinese 5 spice, mixed spice, cumin, coriander, turmeric, chilli powder, paprika and curry powder. A special mention to cinnamon (to mix with porridge every morning, plus grated apple – I am yet to be convinced by the fat burning capabilities of it. I do not recommend accidentally mistaking cumin for cinnamon when adding it to your porridge.

Herbs – I always kill the ones I grow so now keep ready chopped basil, coriander, parsley and mint in the freezer.

Veg – in the freezer I keep peas, spinach, green beans, broad beans, cauliflower, broccoli, and butternut squash. Every week I usually buy fresh carrots, tomatoes, leeks, onions, potatoes and stirfry (fresh spinach or pak choi and beansprouts). We also have pickled beetroot, onions and gherkins in the cupboard.

Fruit – I usually buy fresh apples, pears and plums for the fruit bowl which sometimes end up being cooked, and I keep a variety of berries in the freezer.

Sauces, oils and vinegars – olive, sunflower, sesame and rapeseed oil. Chilli, red wine, white wine, malt, cider, rice wine and balsamic vinegars. Mirin, fish sauce, dark and light soy sauce, oyster sauce, teriyaki sauce and char siu sauce. For the table we also have hollandaise, bearnaise, tartare, tomato, brown, salad cream, mayo, horseradish.