Gourmet Meals in Crappy Little Kitchens (3 page)

Box cheese grater

It will tackle any grating or microplaning need you have and can hang from your pot rack. Each of the four sides has different size holes for making hash browns, grating ginger, or shaving truffles. It's also a useful tool for shredding cabbage or onions.

Fine strainer

Sometimes you need to strain a sauce to remove stems, seeds, or shells that might escape through the holes of a stockpot strainer. A fine strainer only costs a couple bucks and doesn't take up much room; in fact mine hangs from my pot rack. It also works well for sifting flour and dusting desserts with cocoa or powdered sugar.

Thermometer

You'll need one digital-read multipurpose food thermometer. It fool proofs the difference between medium rare and medium, prevents sugar from getting cooked past the soft ball stage, and perfectly regulates your frying oil in the saucepan, so you don't have to buy a fryer! The same one can work for meat or candy!

Sheet tray

Most home cooks are more familiar with the term cookie sheet, but it truly can do so much more than that. You can use it to toast nuts, or as a lid on a pot of water. You need one for roasting vegetables, and don't forget the cookies!

Cake pans

No one loves cakes more than I do, but I find I don't make them that often. For the recipes in this book, you'll only need a 6-inch and 8-inch springform pan. For all other cakes baked in my CLK, I purchase disposable pans. Grocery stores carry a variety of shapes and sizes so you don't need to store regular pans that you only use twice a year. If you find yourself making a lot of cakes, go ahead and buy the pan you need.

Blender

Luckily blenders come in various shapes and sizes, so you should be able to find one that will fit some nook or cranny in your house. A six-cup blender with three AMPS and two speeds is perfect for my home needs. Remember you don't need to store it in your kitchen if there's no room. Keep the box it came in, and when you're not using it, leave it in the hall or bedroom closet. A food processor is certainly helpful, but not necessary if you don't have the room.

Torch

You can buy the tiny one for too much money at your local kitchen gadget store, or you can go to the hardware store and buy a serious torch. A propane torch will caramelize a brulee in 30 seconds as opposed to that tiny butane one sold in a kitchen store that will take 5 minutes. It will come with a small propane canister that is very cheap to replace when it runs out, but chances are, it will last for years. I use mine for everything from caramelizing sugar on desserts to searing large pieces of meat.

CLK Saboteurs

Your kitchen is probably cluttered with a ridiculous number of unnecessary items that you've accumulated over time and stashed in every nook and cranny of your cramped space. How often have you used the ice cream maker from Auntie Ann or the trifle bowl from your wedding? Go through your kitchen cabinets and drawers and pull out every piece of useless equipment, unnecessary bowls, pans, and gadgets, and box them up. You only need the important tools I've recommended above, but if this causes a great concern for you, wait a year. If you haven't gone into the box because you needed something in one year, the whole box goes to charity. Someone needs that crap more than you!

In particular, you should unload the space-wasting, extraneous items, aka CLK Saboteurs that follow:

Colander

Because our stockpot comes with a built in strainer and a steamer basket, you have two colanders right there. One big, and one small.

Roasting pan

It's just too big! If you plan to roast a turkey or something huge, just buy a disposable pan for the occasion. Don't store that monstrosity of a roasting pan for the blue moon occasion when you cook an entire rib eye. A Dutch oven or braising pan can go in the stove or on the stove and will hold enough food to feed a small army. Give grandma her roasting pan back. You don't need it.

Meat mallet

This is my favorite example of CLK ingenuity! Don't buy or store a meat mallet. Pound out that chicken cutlet, crush those nuts with a heavy bottom saucepot, and tenderize that steak with a fork. Really.

Metal or wooden spoons and metal spatulas

One heat resistant spatula can take care of all your stirring and flipping needs. It comes clean much easier than a wooden spoon, and mine has a hole in the handle making it perfect to hang from the pot rack.

Sifter

My mom always used one of those old school flour sifters that looks like a tin can with a handle attached. This thing is the epitome of the one trick pony. In my CLK, I can't live without a whisk or a strainer and both can take the place of a sifter. A sifter, however, can't whip egg whites or strain out raspberry seeds (at least not very efficiently).

Melon baller

I'm kind of offended by balls of melon anyway. Think of all the melon that probably got thrown away, unless you were clever enough to put the scraps in a smoothie or fancy margarita! The Greek-Godlike Stuffed Tomatoes do need to be hollowed out, however, and a metal measuring spoon or even a dinner spoon will make short order of this.

Mandolin and microplanes

Now in my restaurants, I really can't live without a mandolin. We just slice and julienne in too much volume to use a box grater. In my home however, I only use my box cheese grater, which comes with three grating sides—fine, medium, and coarse, and one slicing side for slicing—for all my grating and slicing needs. I can slice cheese and mushrooms, fine grate or microplane ginger and chocolate, or shred potatoes—all with one handy tool.

Immersion blender

I love the immersion blender we have at the restaurant, but it's a great big stainless machine with super sharp blades and a boat motor inside of it. However, the smaller versions designed for use at home have two problems. They can't smooth soup perfectly, nor can they make margaritas. Your blender will perform these tasks to a tee!

Food processor

A food processor takes up a lot of space and is a bear to clean. Your box grater and blender will fulfill all the functions this ungainly item can perform.

Coffee maker

The idea of fitting an electric coffee maker on my counter is truly funny. Guests do deserve a good cup of coffee, and, interestingly enough, the tool that makes the tastiest cup is also the most CLK friendly. Get yourself a French press, and not only will you have the most flavorful cup of coffee in two minutes flat but cleanup will be a snap, and you can even use it to brew tea.

Electric can opener

Trusty old handheld can openers are not only reliable in a power outage, but most of them double as a bottle opener. Ditching your electric can opener for a manual model is a wonderful example of trading up from a one-trick pony to a CLK-friendly device.

Toaster/toaster oven

Anything you can drop in a toaster you can toast in a pan over medium heat. Unlike in the toaster oven, you can toast that bagel with butter in that same sauté pan without drying it out.

Spice rack

Besides wasting precious counter or cabinet space, spice racks hold spices that lack flavor and punch. Get rid of the crusty jars of decade-old spices and buy spices only as you need them.

Salad spinner

Yes, it will get your lettuce incredibly dry, but do you really need a gadget for this purpose? Simply allow your washed salad greens to drain inside the strainer or steamer basket of your large stockpot. Toss them around a little or pat them dry with a paper towel to expedite the process.

It's Not What You Have,
It's How You Use It

I cannot overemphasize that what's in your Crappy Little Kitchen has very little to do with the gourmet meals that come out of it. It's what you do with what you have that makes all the difference. Without hiring an architect or civil engineer, you can convert a genuine hovel into a lean and mean crappy little machine! Organization is the key.

Once you've purged the extraneous items from your CLK, it's time to evaluate your kitchen layout. Try to think as logically as possible. I keep my jar of long handled utensils on top of my refrigerator right next to my stove. When I'm cooking, I can easily grab the utensil I need because it is in full sight and within arm's reach. (It doesn't hurt that I am taller than my refrigerator, but it can still work for you, too.) Put the set of mixing bowls next to the flour and sugar. Your pots and pans should already be hanging overhead, Keep the salt and pepper right on the stove.

Just like us, cabinets need to be beautiful on the inside as well as out. In a CLK, cabinets have to work double time. Placing a lazy Susan inside a cabinet adds a ton of usable space. Now the crap that you had buried in the back can swivel quite easily to the front. With a few minor tweaks, you can enhance the space in your crappy little cabinets and drawers. Add some trays to the drawers to separate your utensils. Don't throw your back out crawling inside that cavernous, low to the ground cabinet, just install some rolling shelves.

You can buy them at any home improvement store, and the shelves come with detailed instructions. If I can do it, anybody can do it.

Buy inexpensive wire wine glass and coffee mug racks that you can easily install beneath your cabinets. You can even store everyday dishes, glasses, or appliances on freestanding shelves. Keep the good china wrapped up and boxed in an out-of-reach place for the rare occasion when you use it. Remember, you don't need to store kitchen items in the kitchen. I store my good china at my Mom's house and I never feel guilty about it! Cookbooks make wonderful conversation pieces and have beautiful pictures, so I keep mine on a bookshelf in the living room.

Lots and lots of light, especially natural light, help to create the illusion of space. If you have a window in the kitchen, don't block the light with dark curtains or shades. Open the blinds and let the light shine in. For artificial light, use energy efficient lightbulbs to decrease the heat your bulbs pump into the kitchen, while increasing brightness. If your CLK doesn't have wellplaced overhead lighting (and most don't), you can easily install extra lighting beneath the cabinets. Buy battery-operated lights that adhere to the underside of the cabinet with adhesive tape. Brighten your walls with a fresh coat of semigloss paint. Food splatters wipe off easily from the slick surface semigloss provides. A clean, white canvas on your kitchen walls will make the room look and feel open and roomy.

The CLK Pantry

Stock minimal pantry items for everyday use. Most CLKs don't have a real pantry area, so I recommend using at least part of one upper cabinet for staple dry goods. You can buy any other spices you need in small quantities, as they are needed, not only to maintain freshness, but also to take up less room. Many grocery stores sell loose items in what is often called the bulk section. Don't let the name dissuade you. You can buy spices, nuts, and grains in small quantities as needed—even as little as a tablespoon at a time.

The list below covers items used repeatedly in the recipes for this book. It is not intended as a comprehensive list of ingredients used in the book since you would need quite a large pantry, as well as fridge, to keep all the ingredients on hand. Not to mention, the recipes often benefit from fresh-bought ingredients. Saffron is used several times throughout
Gourmet Meals in Crappy Little Kitchens
, but for financial and quality reasons, only buy a pinch at a time whenever you need it. When making gourmet meals in Crappy Little Kitchens on the fly (as we say in the biz), I would consider the following items “non-refrigerated staples”:

• Quality sea salt

• Pepper mill

• Red pepper flakes

• Ground cumin

• White pepper

• Bay leaf

• Yellow curry powder

• Smoked paprika

• Cayenne pepper

• Extra virgin olive oil

• Tabasco

• Honey (your favorite)

• Soy sauce

• Crushed, canned tomatoes (they're always in season!)

• Dried pasta (only keep one variety on hand to save space, and just pick your favorite)

• Whole wheat bread

• Canned chipotle in adobo sauce

• Brown or white rice (whichever you prefer)

• Panko (Japanese bread crumbs)

• Chicken stock (or vegetable stock if you prefer)

• Kalamata olives

• Roma tomatoes

• Good vinegar (your favorite, but I use a lot of balsamic)

• Cornstarch

• Flour

• Sugar

• Powdered sugar

• Cornmeal

• Baking powder/baking soda

• Red wine (a chef's kitchen should always have alcohol!)

• Nutmeg and cinnamon (for desserts, but also for making coffee special)

• Speaking of that, coffee and tea (it's just polite)