There’s always pizza…but…
Experimenting in the kitchen is something you can really only do when you have time. Which for our family seems to be on vacation. While the kids are doing whatever it is they do online and hubby’s taking a nap, I often take the opportunity to try out new stuff (which often means NEW GADGETS) in the name of progress. Or dinner.
“What do we use the most? Hands-down it’s our Cuisinart combo griddle/panini press.”
Do you get a little burnt out on having a gadget for everything? I definitely do. Which kind of flies in the face of a post about gadgets. But hear me out. Two very formative contributors to this position: 1.) a former partner who owned a restaurant for decades, and 2.) a European-sized kitchen for the last nearly 10 years. While I love useful tools that really get the job done, I openly (and sometimes vocally) resist those that just clutter up my workspace and are hard to clean/store.
With that in mind, we’ve outfitted the Limoncello kitchen with cool AND USEFUL tools that should fit the bill for basically ANYTHING you need to do or want to cook.
What do we use the most? Hands-down it’s our Cuisinart combo griddle/panini press. On vacation in Greece one year, our Airbnb didn’t have a toaster. What it did have was a panini press. We started pressing our toast and found out that it makes (in our minds) an absolutely superior toast. It can handle thickness, so bagels work, sandwiches work, ramen works, burger buns work, chicken breasts work, quesadillas work…you get the idea.
When you’ve got limited counter space, this baby is a total rockstar. The griddle plates have two sides, a smooth one and a lined one. The smooth one is good for open face gridding (i.e. eggs or pancakes). The lined one is good for when you shut the lid on something (i.e. toast or a sandwich).
The great thing about gadgets like this, imho, is that you get to experiment with what works. As long as your basic ingredients are good and you don’t burn stuff, the worst you end up with is ugly food.
Other gadgets we have at Limoncello and use on the regular are:
KitchenAid stand mixer: to reduce clutter, we got the citrus juicer attachment (instead of a separate electric juicer) and an ice cream bowl attachment (instead of a separate ice cream machine). This is great for whipping, mixing, kneading and combining — in addition to ice cream churning and citrus juicing. At our full-time home, we have an all-in-one something called a Kenwood Cooking Chef that has an induction plate built in and ports for a food processor and a blender. But at Limoncello, we went for something more familiar and less complicated — let us know how you like it! We use it for everything from making pizza dough to crepe batter to whipped cream. With all the citrus trees at Limoncello, we also use it for deep dives into juicing. One grapefruit at a time is easy with the hand juicer, but 10+ grapefruits at a time requires (for me) some mechanical back-up!
KitchenAid 9-cup Food Processor: This baby has a deep bowl, which might make you hesitate when you just have a bit to shred. But it cleans fast and easy and can seriously do almost everything chop-wise except blend ice. There are three different blades for veggie slicing, grating cheese, and chop/blending. That means you can make bread crumbs, nut butters, salsa, salad dressing, pesto, hummus, and bowl after bowl of shredded cheese. I made an olive/lemon tapenade on our last visit and chimichurri sauce. If you’re grilling, just about any marinade or sauce emulsifies in a snap. And there isn’t a pasta on earth that doesn’t love the addition of toasted bread crumbs.
KitchenAid immersion blender: When you don’t want to deal with the food processor -or- are working with a hot soup at the stove, this tool is perfect. It blends out lumps and reconstitutes separated liquids that you’re heating up or thawing out. We use ours for smoothies, too, since we use frozen (-ish) fruit and never ice cubes. Puree a bowl of overripe strawberries to pour over yogurt or ice cream. You can use it for whipping cream, just by changing out to the whisk attachment. Keto peeps can transmogrify all kinds of foods into dips and spreads with this tool, making it easier than ever to get lots of veggies into your diet without added sugars.
All of the staycationing and home quarantining of late has made it more necessary than ever to get down with your kitchen and try new stuff. The right tools plus the right ingredients make anything possible, and we often say that we “love our restaurant” right there at home. We always keep ordering out for pizza on the back burner in case of emergency, but so far, so good! We’ve been just fine playing in the kitchen! You’ll find recipes and ideas for meals to make at PS Limoncello by clicking the “recipes” tag in the word cloud or tag block.
What kitchen gadgets can’t you live without? Would love to read in the comments :)
Here’s an inspiring post from Chris at Sharedappetite: 10 ways to immediately improve your cooking.
** no, we don’t have an endorsement with KitchenAid, but we do love their products!
