Dried and dry ingredients

A key dried ingredient for the store cupboard must be pasta. If you have pasta, olive oil and seasonings in the house, you will always have a complete meal at the ready. Pasta comes, of course, in all shapes and sizes. Don’t forget also oriental noodles which are useful for stir-fries.

Rice is another invaluable standby, and wonderful varieties which have real flavour are available; arborio is a marvellous type of rice used for risotto, a useful dish if you have only leftovers or store cupboard ingredients in the house. Then there is my favourite -basmati, the delicate, long grain rice prized above all others in India. Wholegrain basmati rice is to me much the nicest of the wholegrain rices, because it is lighter in texture and takes less time to cook.

Flour becomes stale sooner than most people think, so always keep an eye on the best before date. I always keep a stock of strong bread flour, including wholemeal, unbleached white, and malted wheat grain flours. You can also keep a little rye flour to vary your loaves by mixing with wheat flour.

I keep sunflower and pumpkin seeds, bulgar and sesame seeds to add to bread doughs and to use as a general topping.

I always keep a good store of dried fruits; these get eaten up very quickly as I used to try and to make my children eat dried fruit instead of sweets, and they have become as addicted as I am. Dried fruit is useful to nibble after a meal when you have no pudding and have run out of fresh fruit.

Dried mushrooms seem expensive, but the wonderfully pungent flavour of wild mushrooms which they give to dishes makes it worth the cost, and since their flavour is strong, you do not have to use a large quantity. Try adding a few dried mushrooms to the creamy sauce of a lasagne.

Sun-dried tomatoes are fairly new to our shelves; they have a rather addictive, intense flavour and you can buy them preserved in oil, or simply dried. The ones in oil are softer in texture and can be sliced and used as they are in pasta and salads, while the dried ones should be cooked in juicy casseroles.

Nuts should not be stored for too long unless they are vacuum packed, but they are useful for adding to cakes, puddings, salads, stuffings and so on. You can buy ready shelled pistachio nuts which are marvellous for pâtés, stuffings and in ice cream – and I always keep ground almonds for baking.

Pine kernels are a great favourite of mine; they are good toasted and scattered into salads, into spicy mince dishes, in stuffed vine leaves, aubergines and peppers, or simply on top of a dish of green vegetables.

Green and red lentils, unlike most dried pulses, need no soaking before cooking; delicious green lentils can simply be boiled for 30–45 minutes until just soft, and used in salads, stews or as a vegetable on their own with plenty of butter and seasoning. Red lentils cook even more quickly and are useful for thickening stews, or can quickly transform stock into a sustaining soup.

Spices of all kinds are obvious candidates for the store cupboard, but buy whole spices if possible and grind them yourself in a coffee grinder just before using.

Most herbs are better fresh, but oregano is, in fact, best dried, so this is an extremely versatile herb which you can always keep. The other herbs which dry successfully are thyme, tarragon, dill (surprisingly) and bay leaves.

Coconut milk powder comes in packets; it is the quickest and easiest way of making coconut milk or cream, which can be used in many spicy dishes and puddings.

Aromatic tea, such as Earl Grey, makes an excellent poaching liquid for skinless chicken breasts or white fish.