Ideas sparked by tools rediscovered in the kitchen cabinet
On a first go-through of my kitchen, I found these orphans languishing at the back of the cupboard:
Madeleine pans of various sizes and provenance. Resolved: Make lavender madeleines and have a tea party.
Hand-crank pasta machine. This guy was once practically my best friend, but as I got more and more into pasta asciutta (dried pasta), I stopped making fresh. I’d love to use it to make agnolotti and tortellini. The only thing stopping me: lack of a table edge thin enough to clamp the machine on. Resolved: Find one.
Chocolate double-boiler in porcelain and copper. I lusted over this one at Déhillerin in Paris for years, finally got one but rarely use it. Resolved: Make hot fudge sauce.
Blini pans. Carried home from Paris and used for several successive New Year’s Eves. What’s missing: some good caviar, or even salmon roe, which I actually love almost as much. Resolved: To re-create the time I sat with the Russian émigrés at Caviar Kaspia in Paris sipping icy vodka and eating blinis with caviar. A real splurge at the time (or any time).
Tall-sided lasagna pan purchased at a steep discount at the Williams-Sonoma outlet on the way to Vegas. It’s a Mario Batali pan, quite heavy, and large enough to make lasagna for the entire neighborhood. Resolved: Throw a lasagna party and make Gino Angelini’s lasagna verde with a veal and beef ragù.
Terrine form, the classic, with a flat lid that slides over to keep the terrine nice and square. The same kind that bistros like La Régalade in Paris put out on the table with a knife so you can serve yourself a thick slab. Resolved: Make a classic country pâté to serve as a first course or part of a charcuterie platter.
Soba knife and huge stainless steel bowl for making soba. I bought them when I took a soba class from Sonoko Sakai. I loved the process, but to make good soba takes practice, practice, practice. Resolved: Lay in some buckwheat flour and try making soba. I may need to take a refresher course to get better at it.
A pair of glass egg coddlers. They’re a classic Bauhaus style, with clamps to hold the lid on tight, designed by Wilhelm Wagenfeld in 1934. You get something similar to a soft-boiled egg without the mess. And you can add a splash of cream or some scissored chives to dress up your breakfast egg. Resolved: Have coddled eggs with toast and jam for breakfast more often.
A mezzaluna, the half-moon-shaped blade with a wooden handle at either end that Italians use to chops herbs and vegetables with a rocking motion, carried from Florence by a friend who took a cooking class there. Resolved: Next time a recipe calls for soffritto (the chopped onions, celery, carrots, garlic and parsley that are the base of so many Italian dishes), I’m breaking it out.
Follow me on Twitter at @sirenevirbila
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