A Kitchen List

Our dear friends and neighbors from across the hall recently moved out and across town (and not because of us!) as you might have read from this post. As they were creating their new, larger apartment, they also wanted to create a better, proper kitchen with basic essential cooking tools. When asked what I recommended, I readily complied and provided a list. Kitchen appliances can be expensive but if you invest in good equipment, you'll never need to replace any of it. Excellent knives are a must. Take your time with your purchases perhaps, don't leap in all at once, and get a hold of what you need for your recipes as you merrily cook along!

KITCHEN LIST:
4 quart Le Creuset dutch oven
Le Creuset cast iron skillet (among other things, for bacon of course, well oiled) 

All-Clad set of pots

All-Clad measuring cup set (1 cup, ½ cup, etc.)

All-Clad measuring spoon set (TB, tsp, etc.)

All-Clad 10” skillet

Rubber coated whisk (so as not to scratch up your All-Clad pots)

Wire whisk

Ladle 

Cutting boards (both wood as well as plastic, which is dishwasher ready for easier clean-up)

Ramekins (little round set of six to prepare chopped ingredients before cooking)

Melamine nesting mixing bowls (set of four, for prep)

Pyrex nesting mixing bowls (set of four, also good for prep)

Pyrex 13 X 9 baking dish (for lasagnes and brownies!)

Several rubber spatulas (flat for flipping;  curved for stirring)

Non-stick frying pan (Sunday eggs)

Pasta pot set with strainer
Fine-mesh strainer

Colander

Henkels/Wustof knife set of three

Henkels/Wustof kitchen shears (cutting bacon instead of chopping when required; opening anything vacuum-sealed)

Do enjoy your kitchen and remember Williams-Sonoma is heaven!

 

The Last Meatball

I posted several things about meatballs over the summer, which I bitterly refer to as the wettest of all seasons. Whatever you choose to call it, weather-wise, this summer was a definite wash out. Perhaps this will be the last post concerning meatballs, but I can't promise. Baby and I were just given a side of venison and all sorts of ideas of what to make with it have sprung forth. For all I know, venison meatballs may just be in our future, to fuel us in the cooler months.

Sadly I have to accept the fact that we may only have a few days of Indian Summer left over, so before I let it go, I'd like to reminisce for a moment on how we dispensed with some of our leftovers (including meatballs) over the summer before I put a cap on the whole damp thing.

George Carlin made a joke, as another witty friend reminded me, about leftovers and why they make you feel good twice: first for being thrifty, and again when you save your life by throwing them out.

But we didn't throw our leftovers out! In our own home, our perhaps Top Chef-inspired Kitchen Challenge was to make dinner from ingredients we already had on hand, which included some leftovers that of course, were still fresh or frozen and perfectly good.

Shrimp Pesto Pasta was created from a bag of frozen jumbo shrimp that we first thawed in a quick rinse under cold water, then grilled on our All-Clad panini press (yes! it's not just for panini!) with a little olive oil. We further poached the shrimp in a pork stock that Baby had made and froze from some of the borczek left over from our Eastern European dinner earlier in the summer. We also could have just subbed chicken or fish bouillon for this. Whole wheat pasta staring at us from the cupboard was tossed with pesto (we already had the pine nuts and olive oil, I just grabbed a fistful of basil from the roofdeck communal stash). Borczek made another appearance, thawed, cubed, sauteed and tossed in. It was delicious.

Another evening this summer, we had made Marian Curcio's Meatballs and we made so many that we had some leftovers--five fine, juicy orbs to be exact. We were in a quandry of whether or not to freeze them (they are great to freeze, by the way, if not even better, we discovered after heating up a more recent batch) for a later date, but decided just to eat them a few days later. But what to serve with? I considered the zucchini from a friend's city garden that would have perished if we didn't use it soon. Pillsbury Crescent Rolls were in our fridge, still in the tube, so I knocked it on the counter to free the dough and spread the whole thing out on a cookie sheet, made an onion and garlic balsamic jam (sautee onions and garlic in olive oil until yellow and softened, deglaze with balsamic vinegar, turn off heat and add honey to thicken) to spread on the dough, topped with shaved zucchini (let drain in a colander first for 30 minutes) and placed it in a 425 degree oven until browned (about 17 minutes or so) to make zucchini pizza. If you have any petulant cheeses lurking about, such as gruyere, grate that on as well before baking.

As there were only five meatballs left, we each had two. When it came to seconds, naturally I let Baby have the last meatball.

Everything But The...All-Clad Reduction Pan!

Williams-Sonoma is my Tiffany's. You know, when in Breakfast At Tiffany's, Holly Golightly blissfully asserts that nothing bad could ever happen there, and that they've got the most charming employees, etc.? That's how I feel when I enter Williams-Sonoma. I become sorta fuzzy all over and exhilarated at the same time by being around all the pots and pans and dinnerware. I lovingly stare at the Breville kitchen equipment and Japanese knives crying out to slice and dice a tomato with the precision of a culinary Ninja on olive wood cutting boards, and oh! something, anything from the heartbreakingly gorgeous, prohibitively priced Ruffoni hammered stainless steel collection wrought from workshops in Alpine Italy, and yes! the sturdy Mauviel copper pots, all the while musing that, "One day...this...will be mine!" Sometimes I do go a little overboard when I find a brilliant set of glasses, a particular table cloth or dish towels, herb snippers, or a fine mesh sieve that I must have. I wait though. At least a day. Maybe longer. I feel that if I make the trek back then it truly must be something I really want. I do that with most things when shopping. My credit card company loves me.

As you go along in life, whatever your passion, one of the great passages it seems to me is the importance found in replacing old, merely functional items in your kitchen or wherever, with solid, better quality items that will last forever, things that are more satisfying to use. For me, I started chucking out stuff sometime in my 20's and over the years, it's all been replaced, one Le Creuset pot, All-Clad pan or Henckels knife at a time.

The All-Clad Reduction Pan is a gem. Baby makes his stock, I make my reductions. This pan actually assists with both in the most marvelous, stainless-steel way: measure marks are etched inside the pan in cups and liters! When a recipe calls for a sauce or a stock to be reduced to say, one cup, just read between the lines.