As you pack up the car for your next vacation — beautiful beach, rustic cabin, or relaxing at the farm — consider this list of “essential” kitchen items you may want to include:
One sharp knife. Don’t cut yourself with a dull one.
A good cookbook. Try this month’s pick: The Summer Shack Cookbook.
Bread crumbs. We like the coarser Japanese variety, panko, which is perfect for breading tomatoes, gratins or making a gremolata to mix with whatever you find at the farm stand. Try our recipe for Pan-Roasted Zucchini with Cilantro & Mint Gremolata.
Good olive oil and vinegar – fruity extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling over almost everything summery and a balsamic or sherry vinegar (you can always find decent red wine vinegar at most supermarkets).
A large saute pan. Why is it rental houses always seem to have lots of little pans?
Good coffee. Ground for a drip maker — there is never a grinder, much less an espresso maker.
Good wine and a proper corkscrew.
A pepper mill. For freshly ground black pepper. (Yes, it does make a difference.)
A vegetable peeler. there is so much good produce at farm stands now.
Good chocolate. For nibbling late in the afternoon or after dinner.
Pure vanilla extract. For making crisps (Easy Blueberry Blackberry Crisp), cobblers, cookies, or pies.
Ice cream maker. This is the time to use it (try our Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream). Add fresh berries or peaches while they last.
Dry spices. A few bay leaves, cinnamon, cumin, ginger, red pepper flakes. (Parsley, basil, dill, and mint are some of the fresh herbs that you can buy when you get there).
Cheese. If you can pack a cooler, bring: Parmigiano-Reggiano, a good blue (a little goes a long way), and your favorite goat cheese (if you haven’t already, try Cypress Grove’s Humboldt Fog).
Nuts. Pistachios or almonds eaten with sips of wine or slurps of beer or pine nuts toasted and scattered in a salad or over sauteed greens or endive, topped with goat cheese and a splash of balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
Lastly, raid your kitchen cabinets and include anything you think might save a trip to the grocery store.
Note: the above photo is by Elizabeth Bougerol from her book New England’s Favorite Seafood Shacks: Eating Up the Coast from Connecticut to Maine
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