KITCHEN SUPPLIES

These are the basics.

Olive Oil I like to cook with olive oil because it's not only healthy for you but it adds a lot of flavor to food. Look for "cold pressed extra virgin." This means that the oil is from the first pressing of the olives and is of the highest grade available. There are many olive oils from all over the Mediterranean from a variety of olive types and each will have its own character. Olive oil can be used anytime you need to sauté meats or vegetables in your Teflon skillet.

Pam Spray I like to use cooking oil spray when I don't want the taste of olive oil in my food. Mainly I use the spray when I cook eggs. It also works well to coat the inside of baking pans.

Spices You can go two different routes here depending on your degree of involvement. You can either buy commercial spice blends that are readily available at any supermarket or you can buy individual spices and create your own blend. In particular I enjoy using Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Laggasse pre-mixed spice blends. Something to remember when buying spices is that they generally are only good for about 3 months before they start loosing flavor, so buy in small quantities. The best way to do this is to buy spices in bulk in small enough amounts, for instance, instead of buying the Costco size of curry powder buy 4 tablespoons worth in the bulk section of the supermarket.

Marinades Again depending on your personal preference, you can either make your own marinade or use commercal, ready-to-use marinades. For both taste and convenience I like Paul Prudhomme's and Yoshida's products. A note to bodybuilders on their pre-contest diets: these marinades almost always have high sodium content!!!

One really wonderful marinade for both poultry and beef is Fisher & Wieser's Original Roasted Raspberry Chipotle Sauce with an amazingly low 75 mg of sodium per tablespoon.

Herbs Being a chef and avid gardener I take great pleasure in organically grown herbs from my own garden. I rarely use dried herbs with the exception of bay leaves because fresh herbs have so much more flavor. If you have a kitchen window sill I recommend planting a few herbs pots with rosemary, oregano, thyme and basil. Better taste AND serious savings! Having your own herb garden, whether on your window sill or outside, is a rewarding and thrifty way to cook.