Cooking in a Small Kitchen
272
Cooking in a Small Kitchen
272eBook
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Overview
A perfect gift for anyone making meals in cramped quarters, Cooking in a Small Kitchen is a four-star cooking guide that shows you how to cut loose like a cordon bleu chef in a kitchen the size of a closet. If cramped quarters have stifled your menu or limited your company for dinner, Arthur Schwartz, expansive Daily News food editor, tells you how to prepare delicious, sophisticated cuisine in a pinch for yourself and any number of guests.
A devotee of the small kitchen himself (“the small size of your kitchen actually dictates a few of the basic rules of good, basic cooking and sensible easting”), Schwartz gives invaluable tips on how to juggle space and get double use from utensils, discusses ranges, extols food processors for the time and effort they save, and compiles “must have” lists of implements for the efficient kitchen.
Ranging from the modest to the opulent, the 236 international recipes in Cooking in a Small Kitchen include entries for soups, pasta, salads, one-pot and skillet dinners, and desserts, in addition to unique sections on breakfast or brunch and dinners for two and four that provide complete menus and advise you on timing and what kitchenware to use. A creative gourmet, well versed in the world’s great culinary traditions, Schwartz masterfully teaches readers how to manage a king's cuisine in a pauper's pantry.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781250162878 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Picador |
| Publication date: | 05/29/2018 |
| Series: | Picador Cookstr Classics |
| Sold by: | Macmillan |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 272 |
| File size: | 12 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
A former Newsday food writer and food editor of the Daily News and a senior contributing editor of Vintage magazine, Arthur Schwartz travels in America and Europe seeking fine foods and recipes. He is a critically acclaimed cookbook author known for his appearances on TV, radio, and for being one of the first newspaper food editors in the country. All three of his cookbooks were nominated for national awards, and including two IACP cookbook awards.
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Equipment and Logistics
With food processors, microwave ovens, electric slow-cookers, Crock Pots, mini-fryers, hamburger grills, and almost restaurant-sized mixers permeating the market, it's become amazing to some people that excellent food can be produced with rather simple, even primitive, equipment. A three-quart saucepan, a ten-inch skillet, a sharp knife, a large mixing bowl, and a wooden spoon supplemented by a soupspoon, a dinner fork, and a coffee cup can get you pretty far. I don't recommend it but it can be done.
To that list I would at least add:
A teakettle for boiling water A filter drip coffeepot An eight- or ten-inch French chef's knife A slotted metal kitchen spoon An enameled cast-iron or earthenware casserole that can be used on top of of the stove and in the oven and is attractive enough to go to the table An eight-inch skillet for cooking eggs, among other things A deep twelve-inch, straight-sided heavy aluminum sauté pan with cover for cooking chicken, stews, and Chinese stir-fry dishes An eight-quart enameled cast iron casserole for boiling pasta, making stews, pot roasts, and large quantities of soup
It also would be helpful to have:
Another wooden spoon A rubber spatula A large strainer for draining pasta and other foods and also for pureeing some foods One-cup and four-cup heatproof glass measuring cups Metal measuring spoons on a ring An attractive ceramic pie plate to double as a baking dish that can go to the table A four-sided stainless steel grater A stainless steel wire whisk A stainless steel swivel-bladed vegetable peeler A baking sheet, preferably a jelly roll pan that has four half-inch sides A can opener A small mixing bowl
In fact, with the exception of some baking pans and an inexpensive electric hand mixer, you could prepare almost all the recipes in this book with just this equipment. Certainly you can eat quite well. There are a few additional utensils, however, that I feel are necessary for a small kitchen or are simply valuable tools beyond this basic kitchen battery.
Two touted pieces of culinary equipment are the food processor and the microwave oven. Food processors are the best thing to happen to kitchens and cooks in a long time, but I think the case for owning a microwave oven is somewhat dubious. A well-made food processor will slice, chop, puree, grate, and mix. It takes up very little counter space and can save enormous amounts of time and effort, especially if you cook often. I'm not sure it's worth the investment to someone who doesn't cook much, and I'm quite positive it is worthless unless you have the counter space to keep it handy at all times. But even if I had just a tiny amount of space to spare for it I would own a food processor. And I'd much prefer to clutter the counter with a food processor than a toaster. I toast bread in the broiler or oven.
A food processor is not an absolute requirement of any recipe in this book, but it is suggested for special jobs, such as pureeing, for which it has no peers. Until food processors became available a few years ago, almost everyone used a blender for pureeing foods. And if you have a blender you will find a number of uses for it here. If you don't own one, however, I don't recommend going out now and buying it. A food processor, although more expensive, is a better value. An old-fashioned food mill, which forces food through a sharp mesh, can also puree well and it is, of course, the least expensive pureer you can find. It also has the virtue of having a hole in the handle for hanging it out of the way of the work surface, but obviously more time and energy is required to puree with a food mill than with a food processor.
Microwave ovens seem to me to have limited uses considering their expense and the amount of space they consume. From my experience, they do not cook many foods nearly as satisfactorily as conventional methods do — roasts emerge with a steamed taste and texture, bread and cheese become rubbery even at low temperatures, large amounts of vegetables take much longer to cook, it's impossible to cook an egg with the yolk runny and the white set. What a microwave can do beautifully is soften or melt butter in seconds, fry bacon crisp between paper towels, reheat leftovers, defrost frozen foods, and reheat coffee without ruining the flavor — none of which seem to me worth its considerable cost. There also still seems to be some question about the safety of microwaves in general.
At the other end of the kitchen equipment spectrum, there is a very inexpensive kitchen gadget that I would't be without — a plastic Mouli nut and cheese grater. This is a small rotary grater that will grind nuts without their becoming pasty and grate cheese without fuss. I recommend the plastic model because, unlike the metal models with interchangeable graters, large pieces cannot leak from the plastic grater. The carriage cylinder is sealed.
The biggest problem of all in a small kitchen, however, is finding a place to chop, slice, and otherwise prepare vegetables and other foods for the pot. Assuming you have little or no counter space, the most useful piece of equipment you can probably buy is a board that will hinge over your sink. You can buy both wooden and sturdy plastic models with a strategically placed hole through which water can run into the sink. Some of these models also have strainers that fit into the hole so that you don't stop up the sink with vegetable scraps. Slicing, dicing, and other less vigorous ways of cutting up food can be done on a sink board, but heavy chopping of such things as parsley or garlic may have to be done on a sturdier surface. It's also a good idea to learn how to cut up some foods directly over the pot without cutting yourself. Cutting carrots against the thumb is an old homemaker's habit and a good one to acquire if you have no other place to cut carrots.
In older buildings, no matter how tiny the kitchen, there is often a double sink with a drainboard that fits over one half. It should not be used as a drainboard if it can be put to better advantage. In modern kitchens there is generally a single sink sunken into a counter, or at least a counter ledge, and no drainboard. In both cases, look into the possibility of hanging a plastic-coated wire or wooden dish-drain rack over the sink area. These are now widely available in housewares stores. One acquaintance of mine had her two cabinets moved up higher than usual so she could fit a drain rack under one and a combination cookbook and spice shelf under the other. She has to stand on a stool to reach the top shelves of her cupboards, but she has gained about four square feet of working space in a kitchen that has a total of about six square feet of floor space.
Portable surfaces can also be used to gain a place to put something down. By this I mean surfaces that can be worked on or over, then be disposed of or carried out of the kitchen until needed. A baking sheet or jelly roll pan, for instance, can be lined with paper towels or plain brown paper bags (when either one will do, the recipe will call for absorbent paper) to drain fried or greasy foods. And it can be used as a surface to assemble vegetables for a Chinese dish. Another portable surface is paper toweling. Never peel or clean a vegetable on your little bit of counter space. Do it on a piece of paper towel so it can be scooped away easily and without soiling the space needed for chopping. It may not be ecologically sound, but it is practical. I use many small bowls — soup bowls and cereal bowls — and plastic containers as portables. I put prepared ingredients in them and keep them out of the way in the refrigerator, on the refrigerator, on the window sill or in the next room until they are needed.
Although there may not be anything you can do about this piece of equipment, gas ranges are highly preferable to electric ones in a small kitchen. When a cooking period is over, you have to remove a pot from the coil of an electric stove to get it to stop cooking because the coil remains hot for minutes after you've turned it off. And when you have to remove a pot from the stove, there has to be someplace else to put it. With a gas range, however, when you turn the heat off, the range cools immediately and therefore the pot doesn't have to be moved. This all sounds rather obvious, so you must see the ramifications for a small kitchen. An electric range increases the necessity of juggling pots, pans, and plates, while a gas range can become another work surface. When dredging food in flour before frying or browning, for instance, I generally place the plate of flour on the gas burner next to the skillet. I'll also place a plate to receive fried or browned food on the burners not being used. If I had an electric stove I couldn't be so liberal with this range space, because every time I turned off the burner under the skillet, the burner would remain hot for quite a while.
Organization is, above all, an essential if you wish to produce more than an omelet or meat loaf. Dinner parties call for list making. Ingredients should be prepared before you start cooking. You should be well aquainted with the recipe before starting to cook. But these are all good cooking habits, whether your kitchen is small or large.
CHAPTER 2Soups
Many soup recipes are ideal for a small kitchen. All they require is one pot to boil in and one burner to cook on. The menus in this chapter start out with soups to feed smaller numbers — one, two, and four — and they can all be prepared in a threequart saucepan or a slightly smaller one in some cases. The next group serves about six persons, and for some of these you will need a slightly larger pot. The last few recipes feed eight to twelve, and for these a large casserole is needed.
A number of the recipes here, the lighter ones, are for soups that you would serve only as a first course. But there are an equal number which you could feature as the main event followed by just a salad.
QUICK KIDNEY BEAN SOUP
A can of beans heated with a few seasonings and broth or bouillon makes a comforting soup for a quick meal taken in solitude.
1 1-pound 4-ounce can red kidney beans
1. Pour the beans and their liquid into a small saucepan. With a wooden spoon, mash up at least half the beans.
2. Add the remaining ingredients, stir well and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Add more broth if too thick. Adjust seasoning to taste. Makes 1 generous serving.
COLD CRAB BISQUE
You can pack this into a thermos to begin an intimate picnic lunch of ham sandwiches on biscuits, raw vegetables with a dip, and fresh fruit. Or serve it indoors before broiled fish, the fish baked with vegetables here or a main course salad such as the noodle salad here.
4 tablespoons butter
1. In a 2- to 3-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Blend in flour and cook over low heat for about 3 minutes without browning the flour. Remove from heat and allow bubbling to subside.
2. Add clam juice, milk, and cream, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or wire whisk. Return to medium heat and, stirring constantly, bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer gently for about 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, pick over the crabmeat and remove any shell or cartilage. Flake most of the crabmeat, but reserve 4 good-sized pieces for garnish.
4. Add the lemon juice, crabmeat, sherry, cayenne pepper, and salt. Heat through without boiling. Remove from heat. Chill very well before serving.
5. Check seasoning before serving and garnish each cup with large pieces of crab and chopped egg. Makes 2 generous servings.
OYSTER SOUP
Here you have a recipe that is so easy, yet so elegant, that you might be tempted to make it all the time if oysters weren't so pricey.
3 tablespoons butter
1. In a 2- to 3-quart saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat and sauté shallots and celery until tender, about 10 minutes.
2. Strain the oysters from their liquid, letting the liquid drain into a 4-cup measuring cup. Add enough water to make 4 cups of liquid. Add liquid to sautéed vegetables. Add bay leaves. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add vinegar. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer gently, uncovered, for 15 to 20 minutes. (May be prepared ahead to this point.)
3. Just before serving, add the oysters to the simmering broth. Bring nearly to the boil, then serve immediately. Makes 4 servings.
Quick variation: A less successful version, but one that's good to know about in an emergency, can be made with canned oysters. Use two 8-ounce cans of oysters instead of the fresh ones. Drain them and add the water to the can liquid. Remove from heat as soon as you add the canned oysters to the simmering broth.
BREAD AND ANY ALLIUM SOUP
Allium is the family name for such members of the lily family as shallots, garlic, onions, and leeks. Any one of them will work in this peasanty bread-thickened cream soup. Which allium you use, as well as which dairy enrichment, depends entirely on whim and which is handy at the moment. This is obviously a good soup to know about when you're too lazy to shop. The bread thickening is called a panade in this soup's native France and some sources call the whole soup a panade.
6 slices firm white bread
1. Cut the crusts off the bread and break the dough into small pieces. Discard the crusts. In a mixing bowl, combine the milk and bread. Set aside to soak.
2. In a 2- to 3-quart saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the allium of your choice and sauté for 1 minute. Add the chicken broth and bring to a simmer over medium heat.
3. Meanwhile, mash the bread to a pulp with a wooden spoon or puree the bread and milk in a food processor or blender.
4. Add the bread paste to the saucepan and beat vigorously with a wire whip or wooden spoon. Let simmer for about 15 minutes or until bread is totally dissolved and soup has thickened.
5. Stir in the cream, yogurt, or milk. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Heat through to serving temperature. If too thick, add more broth or cream. If too thin, add some breadcrumbs and heat through. Serve with a pepper mill for each diner to grind extra pepper to taste. Makes 4 generous servings.
PEANUT SOUP
As American as apple pie.
3 tablespoon butter
1. In a 3-quart saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat and sauté onions and celery slowly, until soft but not browned, about 15 minutes.
2. Blend in the flour and continue to cook over medium heat about 5 minutes or until flour is golden. Remove from heat and allow bubbling to subside.
3. Add the broth, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or wire whisk. Place over high heat and, stirring constantly, bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer gently for about a minute.
4. Stir in the peanut butter until completely dissolved. (At this point, the soup may be pureed in a food mill, blender, or food processor if you want a smoother texture, although personally I like it slightly coarse.)
5. Stir in half-and-half, season with salt and pepper, and reheat to serving temperature. Serve with garlic croutons, if desired. Makes 4 servings.
JULES BOND'S CONSOMMÉ WITH GARDEN VEGETABLES
Jules Bond, a food authority of international stature who lives on Shelter Island in the middle of Peconic Bay, once offered this soup as part of a menu composed entirely of Long Island foods — garden vegetables, striped bass, Muscovy ducks, and Hargrave Vineyard wines. Jules is truly one of the most food-loving people I know, but as you can see from the use of canned broth here, he is not against an occasional cooking shortcut.
3 13-3/4-ounce cans beef broth
1. In a 3-quart saucepan, combine the broth, ground beef, and roughly cut celery. Partially cover and simmer gently for about 1-1/2 hours, skimming off scum as necessary.
2. Strain, then refrigerate until fat solidifies on top, at least several hours. Skim carefully.
3. Reheat the consommé and cook the diced carrots until tender. Remove carrots with a slotted spoon and set aside in a bowl. Cook the diced celery until tender and add it to the bowl. Cook the squash. Cook both types of beans together, remove them, then cook the potato. If necessary, add enough water to the consommé to make about 4 cups. (Soup and vegetables can be done ahead to this point.)
4. Just before serving, bring the consommé to a simmer and add the cooked vegetables and Madeira. Check the seasoning and heat through. Makes 4 servings.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Cooking In A Small Kitchen"
by .
Copyright © 1979 Arthur Schwartz.
Excerpted by permission of Picador.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Title Page,
Copyright Notice,
Publishers' Note,
Dedication,
Foreword by Lidia Bastianich,
Introduction,
Equipment and Logistics,
Soups,
Pasta,
Salads and Raw Foods,
One-Pot Dinners,
Skillet Cooking,
Broiling and Roasting,
Dinners for Two,
Dinners for Four,
Brunches and Breakfasts,
Feeding a Crowd: Party Food,
Desserts,
Index,
Also by Arthur Schwartz,
About the Authors,
Copyright,