Amaranthian

The only basics i can think to add to this list are:

rice
vinagar

as far as meat goes, i find that when i'm on a budget and i want to get something that will last throughout a few meals i buy whole birds. when you buy a whole chicken, you can very easily roast it (slather it with olive oil, salt, pepper, herbs and stick it in a pan with chopped onion and potato, bake at 400 degrees for about an hour and poof - dinner), then you can take the picked clean carcass and make chicken stock out of it (pot full of boiling water, add carcass, onion, garlic, bay leaf, thyme, simmer for two-three hours) to use in future sauces etc. that way you can save on buying the store bought stock. also, another stock trick. i find that i don't always use the whole thing of stock before it turns so i'll pour the stock into ice cube trays, then when frozen turn the trays out into freezer bags so i have little quarter cup frozen nuggets of stock in my freezer to use whenever i want.

If you're unsure of what you should have as a basic spice cabnet, this is what i recommend:

salt, pepper, bay leaf, thyme, rosemary, basil, oregano (i don't use it often but some people do), paprika, sugar, cayane (or red pepper flakes), taragon, and nutmeg. if you invest in these you'll be able to make pretty much anything, with the exception of certain asian and carribean dishes, etc.

for my asian staples i have soy sauce, rice vinagar, mirin, chili paste, fish sauce, shrimp paste, and miso.

When I lived alone, I liked making big batches of soup on the weekend when I had time and then eating it throughout the week. Get a decent soup cookbook. My boyfriend and I mostly eat vegetarian, so one I like a lot is Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special. My favorite thing in there is they have minestrone recipes for spring, summer, and fall vegetables. Minestrone is my favorite soup.

I'm not a good from scratch person, so if you're like me, I recommend getting some good cookbooks. For vegetarian stuff, I love the Moosewood cookbooks. I also have one I like made by the local public radio station, but that helps nobody really. Also cookbooks helped me with shopping, I could just make a list for one trip based on the meals I wanted to make. Now I've been cooking more, I have deviated from the recipes and know more stuff by heart and experiment more. But good cookbooks were a good place for me to get started from.

Also, if you have a farmer's market in Pittsburgh, check it out. I find that the vegetables I get from our local farmer's market are both better and cheaper than the ones in the store, I saved a lot of money that way when money was tight.

Two "must try" Pittsburgh pizza locations that everyone swears by.

Mineos - Squirrel Hill on Murray Avenue. Specialty - toppings baked under the cheese.
Beto's - out Rt. 51 somewhere. Specialty - lots of cheese, sprinkled on after the baking, so it melts as you're sitting and eating (very neat, and my favorite, though the location is a total dive and way out of the way).

Obviously there's lots of other pizza places, both independent and chain, but those are the most "distinctively Pittsburgh" for whatever that's worth.

PIEROGI!

Or pelmeni, if you're Russian and awesome.

Wow - guys, thanks SO much - I have to get the bus for work in 15 mins, so more later. What's mirin? Can I get it at a regular grocery or do I need to hit an Asian market? There's one close to work, so that won't be a problem. And what does it taste like? Miso - MMMMMMMMMM. Moosewood cookbooks sound great - I will check them out. Not a vegetarian except recreationally. Soup sounds great and I miss making it, so there's a plan. And crushed tomatoes - I forgot about those. I have lots of diced ones, but no crushed ones. Thank you SO MUCH again -- now, shower and get out of apt in 9 mis *grins*

I love Indian food the most.

Will, You've been to the REAL moosewood ?? i'm jealous.

I agree with the above comments, but recommend cooking with olive oil (not extra virgin, that's for dressing).

Purchase also either angel hair or egg noodles, brown sugar (it can be used in making deserts and sauces)

If your in a hurry and want something healthy I recommend the following.

Take half a pack of angel hair pasta ,boil it (salt to taste). In a separate pan , put three tablespoons of olive oil , 1 tablespoon of crushed red pepper, and three gloves of garlic, finely chopped. Cooked the three indigents over high heat until the garlic gets lightly brown. Toss the pasta and sauce together to have a nice meal.

Takes about 10 to 15 minutes for total time.

Also if your shopping for chicken , look at possibly goign to a butcher rather then pre package. Though price-wise it may seem cheaper , I've found most of the weight is from fat, which you end up trimming off. Cutlets from the butcher are already trimmed, so it's just meat.

Here is something I made last night for a lady friend and I. It's pretty simple

Jerk Chicken

* 1 teaspoon onion, finely chopped
* 3 tablespoons brown sugar
* 4 tablespoons soy sauce
* 4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
* 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
* 1 teaspoon sesame oil
* 3 cloves garlic, chopped
* 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
* 1 habanero pepper, sliced
* 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1. Combine the onion, brown sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, thyme, sesame oil, garlic, allspice and habanero pepper in the container of a food processor or blender. Process until smooth. Place the chicken into a large resealable bag, and pour in 3/4 of the sauce. Squeeze out excess air, and seal. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least one hour.

2. Preheat your oven's broiler.

3. Remove chicken and marinade from bag and pour into a medium size pan. Cook it for about 10 to 15 minutes, turning a couple times to ensure even cooking. Heat remaining sauce in a small pan, and pour over chicken when serving.

If you want a nice extra zest to it, throw some diced red/ green peppers in with the sauce and cook till lightly charred. The texture really adds to the over all meal experience. I usually like serving this with rice (last night it was a brown long grain rice)

I don't remember if I've ever even gone to Moosewood. I tended to avoid trendy places, except for the Thai place. OH THE THAI PLACE.

One of my best friend's from college was from Ithaca, which is how I got turned onto them. I've SEEN the resturaunt, that's the best I can do. When I was in Ithaca for a visit, there was no reason to eat out, as a friend of ours is an absolutely amazing cook.

http://web.foodnetwork.com/food/web/encyclopedia/termdetail/0,7770,4171,00.html

Interesting enough in that article they claim there is an Olive Oil Institute

Sumul, the place that used to be amazing when I was in Ithaca was called Thai Cuisine. It's entirely possible that since then a better place sprung up, but 7 years ago, Thai Cuisine was the one being celebrated as the best Thai place like, anywhere.

I personally just buy these hugh metal jugs of EVOO and use that for everything except deep frying. The reason is because i don't want to bother having more bottles of oil than i already do. for deep frying i generally use canola oil or peanut oil. i also keep around a bottle each of hazelnut oil, walnut oil, and truffle oil, but that's because i'm crazy.

Wait you have huge bottles of EVOO so you don't have to have lots of different oils. But you have 5 other types of oils, but you listed 3 that aren't for deep frying even though you use EVOO for everything but deep frying. Does anyone else see some seriously flawed logic in this passage?

Well, the term "lot" is relative. I imagine Fap doesn't want to compound his oil arsenal by having various olive oils to choose from. I'm the same way. I use EVOO for all of my olive needs. I use peanut for stir frying, canola for deep frying. We have grapeseed oil for lulz, and sesame oil b/c tasty.

<3 sesame oil

hahaha XD

If you have so much damn oil, you should sell it cheap to lower the overall price.

/$114 per barrel
//15 MPG city
/// :(

It took me a minute to actually read that as OPEC and not Opet. >.>

Then however, there was rofling.

I use canola and/or vegetable oil for most things and save the olive oil for Italian and/or Greek food. I find most olive oil and especially extra virgin olive oil to be too bitter for me.

also, <3 Indian food.

Mmm...naan. You're on.

Taj.

I've only had Thai food a couple times - there was this way expensive place in Bryn Mawr (like everything else in Bryn Mawr) that was really good. Think I need to seek out Indian food around here. I went grocery shopping yesterday, so now I have food, including olive oil. I need to use up my entire pantry in the next 4 months since I'm moving in August and don't want to waste anything or have to move it. Moving to where? Well that's an interesting question as I haven't sent any job apps out yet. Moving to where hopefully I'll be gainfully employed.