Things a Good Kitchen Should Always Have

Here are a list of things that are always found in my kitchen, and if they are missing, all hell breaks loose.

1. Olive oil: extra virgin, cold pressed.  The greener, the better.  It's expensive but worth it.  This is the olive oil you dress your salads with, and eat raw. 
2. Olive oil to cook with: Should still be extra virgin and cold pressed, but a cheaper variety is ok here.  Buy a bottle that doesn't come with a nozzle. 
3. Fresh garlic.  This lasts a long time and I cook with it every day.
4. Onions, especially red and yellow.  These also last a long time if they haven't been cut yet.
5. Red chili pepper, dried or fresh. 
6. Herbs, depending on the season.  Fall and Winter: Rosemary, thyme.  Spring and summer: endless basil, and oregano. 
7. A forever rotating collection of fresh, organic vegetables, depending on what's good during the season.  During spring, summer and fall we are never without zucchini.  Fall and winter we collect all kinds of squashes, as well as greens, like kale and collards.  Spring and summer are asparagus and artichoke time.  Summer and early fall are when to eat tomatoes.
8.  Brown rice, never ever white rice.  Replace all white rice recipes with brown.  To keep it interesting, I also buy wild rice, red rice, mixed rice, etc. 
9. Other grains, like millet and quinoa. 
10. And, because this is an Italian kitchen, endless pasta: We are never without spaghetti, penne, linguine, fusili, and orzo.  Don't bother with the whole wheat kinds, because they're no better for you than the white kinds, unless if it's protein you want.  Pasta, and all wheat products, is unfortunately not healthy for you and should be eaten only occasionally, though I have to admit here that pasta is just a part of my daily life.  (I do buy brown rice pastas, which aren't bad if you try the penne kind.)
11. Organic, cage free eggs.  Why organic?  Why cafe-free?  In general, you may want to watch the film Food, Inc if you can't answer that yourself.  But basically, eating eggs otherwise is the equivalent to consuming tons of antibiotics and other gross things I don't want to mention here.
12.  Dry white and full-bodied red wines to cook with.  They need not be expensive.  But they should at least taste good.  An example of a dry white: chardonnay.  An example of a full-bodied red: Bordeaux.  An example of the opposite: Beaujolais. 
13. Dried beans, especially red lentils, cannellini, and garbanzo.  I'll explain what to do with these in a later post. 
14. Vegetable broth, of a healthy variety.  I make my own.  Post to come.
15. Rustic, simple breads from good markets.  Your bread should contain no ingredients that you've never heard of before, no additives, no preservatives, no sweeteners, etc.  Simply yeast, wheat, water, etc.  Don't throw them out if they go stale.  There is so much you can do with stale bread!
16.  Seasonal fruit, though you should only be eating a little of this (definitely not 5 servings a day -- try 1).
17. Coarse sea salt and black peppercorns for grinding.  

And that's it.  That describes, in a nut shell, all I ever need to eat.
Photos of the Palma pantry to come soon.