This week I want to discuss the ‘tools of the trade’ or
in our case, the MUST-HAVE utensils you need in your kitchen. I am sure that you have just about every one
of these little goodies, but if you don’t GO OUT AND BUY THEM – they are
worth the investment!
My MUST-HAVE utensils list:
Wok
My
well-worn and well-loved wok (see the one wooden handle missing)
Woks
come in all sizes and shapes. Look for
one made of a good heat-conducting metal, that fits easily and safely on your
stove top. I have a five burner stove
with a large burner in the center that is perfect for a wok.
Buy at
least one large wok, so you can comfortably cook multi-portion dishes. Buy two for both fleishkes and milchicks. A good
wok will last a lifetime!
Grilling
pan with grooves
This
pan is great for grilling fish, chicken and vegetables without fat or oil. I love my pan and I love the grill marks it leaves
on the food. Buy two for both fleishkes
and milchicks.
Wooden
mixing spoons and spatulas
These
wooden spoons and spatulas are great for mixing food without mutilating or mashing
the ingredients. They
are cheap and usually come in sets of two or three or more. After use, wash them immediately in hot soapy water
and allow to dry COMPLETELY. Take care of them and they will last for years.
Steamer/Pasta
Pot
A
good steamer/pasta pot is NOT cheap, but a good one will last (almost ) forever. As I wrote in a recent article, I keep mine
pareve so I can cook all my pastas, as well as steam nearly all my vegetables
for any meal. These pots come in a
variety of sizes. Again, look for a pot
that is large enough to hold multi-portion dishes and made of good quality
metal.
Food
Scale
In
the spirit of full disclosure, I must admit that I bought my food scale years
ago, when I began doing catering gigs. Today
my food scale has “pride of place” on my counter. I use it continuously.
Portion
control is the name of the game! There
is no magic here! Only when you weigh
and measure your food on a regular and continuous basis will you have full
control over portion size. Keep the
scale in easy access of all your food preparation and GET USED TO USING IT ALL
THE TIME.
Hint
for portion control on Shabbat: I always write a Shabbat menu with portion size
and points value. Chicken quarters,
chicken breasts and meat can be weighed and the equivalent point value can be recorded
before Shabbat. Portion sizes for
side dishes can be established in advance.
If
the portion measurement is in tablespoons – there is no problem to
portion out the dish before serving.
If
you want to know a weight value for a points serving: weigh before
Shabbat and transfer to a cup or spoon or bowl to see the volume of the food in
the ‘container’, then calculate and write down the corresponding point value. For example, if you want to make sure you
only eat a 30 gram portion of nuts: weigh it, transfer it to a cup or bowl, and
then check the volume of the nuts in the container. Now you know how to portion out that specific amount on
Shabbat.
Hand
blender
I
love my hand blender – I have two (fleishkes and milchicks) for use during the
year and one for Pesach. These little puppies
are available as stand-alone stick hand blenders and as sets of hand blenders
with an assortment of attachments. I
recommend you buy the blender sets and not the stand-alone blender. Why? First
of all because the price is always dropping and before all major
holidays the chain stores offer them at an even further reduced sale price.
I promise you that once you have the blender
set in your kitchen, you will stop schlepping out your big food processors and use these
blenders instead.
WW app
Want to always know your points value; whether you are
shopping or on the road or in a restuarant?
Download the Weight Watcher PointsPlus Calculator App to your phone. Just google the App suitable to your phone,
download and you’re done! It’s free!
USE IT!
I have a bone to pick with frozen vegetables!
I want to talk about frozen foods! I have heard many folks bestow a great many
virtues on frozen vegetables: they are easy to buy, quick and easy to use, always
available in the supermarket and they make wonderful meals.
Now I want to set the record straight! Everything is correct EXCEPT THE LAST
POINT! They are super easy to use, you can buy them, stack them in the
freezer and forget about them – but as far as eating them, well…
Full disclosure: in a pinch (= when broccoli is out of
season) I will use frozen broccoli in a quiche, I regularly
use frozen spinach in lasagnas and I can live with frozen string beans
for my string bean and mushroom dish. BUT
I LOATHE the taste of frozen vegetables when they are used as the main
vegetables in any other dish.
I have tried frozen vegetables in soups – they are
acceptable in soups that will be pureed, but they are pure evil in soups
requring chunky vegetables. Nothing can take
the place of fresh vegetables that are freshly cut. If you don’t have the time to chop your own
vegetables for soup, then wait until you have the time, please.
I recently tried making a stir fry with a bag of frozen
vegetables that even had a sweet picture of a wok and stir fried vegetables on
the package. Now I always treat my
frozen vegetables with the utmost of respect. I take the bag of vegetables out
of the freezer, I transfer them to a bowl or strainer, and I do not allow them
to become wilted or boil them. I cook
them with the same love I cook “real” vegetables, but they are flat, imitations
of the crisp fresh vegetables I demand for my stir fries. And as such, they have very little place in my
“bag of tricks”.
Next week more recipes and hints and stories. Stay tuned….
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