Anticipation

The first Featherstone CSA box of the 2011 Summer season is only a few weeks away. Are you ready?

Here are a few things you can do in the next few weeks so you will be better prepared to make some beautiful meals with the food in your boxes.

1.  Herb and spice tune-up
Do you have basic dried herbs and spices on hand?  Have you had some around for so long that they have lost their flavor?  Time to go to the co-op and fill in any gaps in your seasoning line up.  The dried herbs I always have around: thyme, sage, bay leaf, oregano, marjoram, rosemary, dill, mint.  (Note - dried parsley is virtually tasteless.  Use fresh or none at all.  Dried basil is okay in a pinch but fresh is much better.  If you are lucky you have some pesto in the freezer.  Dried mint is ok, but fresh is much nicer.)

My favorite basic spices: cinnamon, nutmeg (fresh grated whole nutmeg is really nice), cloves, ginger, chili powder, cumin, turmeric, sweet paprika, dried mustard powder, white and black pepper,  fennel seed, caraway seed, cardamom (don't get ground because it loses flavor fast.  Get the little seeds and grind yourself with a mortar and pestle.)

You can find all kinds of fancy salt these days.  Most of the time I use good old Morton's Kosher Salt.

2.  Equipment inventory
Do you have a salad spinner yet?   Other essentials:  chopping board, chef's knife and paring knife, peeler, colander, strainer, measuring spoons and cups, tongs, whisk, graters, rubber scraper, pepper grinder, spatula, ladle, wooden spoons, can opener, slotted spoon, mixing bowls - especially a nice big bowl for tossing salads,  pots and pans.  Half a dozen absorbent cotten kitchen towels.  There are lots of other things I could list - but you can accomplish many kitchen tasks with this short list.

For more on basic kitchen equipment  -- see this previous post:
http://cookoutofthebox.blogspot.com/2010/05/getting-ready-tools-of-trade.html

3.  Olive oil and vinegar
See these two previous posts for oil and vinegar tips.

http://cookoutofthebox.blogspot.com/2010/06/dig-in-olive-oil.html
http://cookoutofthebox.blogspot.com/2010/06/dig-in-vinegar.html

4.  Are all your knives sharp?  If not - sharpen them.

5.  Do you have a good supply of plastic bags on hand for storing produce?  There are a lot of alternatives out there these days.  I have had good luck with Hefty Fresh Extend bags.  (I rinse and re use quite a few times with no problems.)

6.   Oils other than olive
I really like having some walnut oil around for salads.  Toasted sesame oil is nice for Asian style vinaigrettes.  I have found a Minnesota produced cold pressed, filtered (not refined) sunflower oil which I love for general cooking.  I buy mine by the half gallon at Lanesboro Local in - you guessed it - Lanesboro.  Ask your grocer to stock it or order some online:  http://www.smudeoil.com/

7.  Good to always have on hand:
Fresh ginger, lemons, limes, butter, cream, yogurt, eggs, canned tomatoes, nuts, dried fruit, flour, pasta, rice, fresh parsley

8.  Last but not least - review your cookbook situation.  Are your favorites close at hand?  Do you have at least one "classic" all purpose cookbook?  Such as Joy of Cooking, How to Cook Everything, Betty Crocker's Cookbook, The Fanny Farmer Cookbook.  Here is a blog post I did on some recently published cookbooks if you think you are ready to add to your collection: http://cookoutofthebox.blogspot.com/2010/12/potluck-holiday-gift-ideas-part-2.html

Getting ready - tools of the trade

This post is for old kitchen hands and newbies alike.  Newbies - just remember that we old kitchen hands are still figuring it out.  Cooking is all about  lifelong learning. 

Since the Featherstone Farm CSA boxes are starting the first week of June it is time for a brief overview on the topic of kitchen equipment and tools.   It is easy to fill up your kitchen drawers with really cool stuff.   I know.  Since we are friends I will show you how I know.  Here are two of my kitchen drawers. Uncensored.  Uncut.  Many of these tools were purchased at garage sales or secondhand stores.  Some from Williams Sonoma.  Some were gifts or handed down from cooking ancestors.  I didn't acquire these in one day or even one year or decade.  And you don't need to either.

The big white circle in the lower left is a ginger grater.   Nice but not necessary. Do you like my pink heart shaped cookie cutter?  The steak knives are pretty crummy.  But given the frequency of our steak eating they do just fine. My husband made the maple Asian style spoons.  They are pretty special.  Lots of stories in these drawers.  But no time for that now.

I consulted famous cook, restauranteur and local food advocate Alice Waters on this important topic of kitchen equipment.  Not in person.  But in her lovely book The Art of Simple Food, pages 22-27.  She and I are very sympatico on this topic.  She says:
"I am a minimalist in the equipment department. I don't like a lot of gadgets and I don't like cluttering up the kitchen with things I rarely use.  My friends tease me and call me a Luddite because I don't particularly like even small electrical applicances.  Instead, I love to use a mortar and pestle and have hands-on contact with the food.  That may be unusual these days, but I've found you don't really need that much equipment.  I tend to use the same few knives and pots and pans over and over again.  What matters is, they're comfortable, well-made, hard-wearing and long lasting. 
.... but if you're starting from scratch and outfitting a kitchen on a limited budget, spend your money on two or three very good knives and a few pieces of good, heavy heat conductive cookware.  These are truly lifetime investments.  Acquire other equipment piecemeal, when you can afford it, at your own pace.  Don't overlook garage sales and thrift stores for such equipment as cast iron skillets, pasta machines, baking pans and dishes and small tools."

If you don't have Alice Waters' book or don't want to buy it or find it at the library, then you could go to Jamie Oliver's web site, where I found a pretty decent PDF file on equipment that you can download from the home page.  I am getting to be kind of a fan of Jamie Oliver even though I have only seen one of the episodes of his new reality TV show.  I give him credit for bringing an important message to the "masses".  And his equipment list is straightforward and doesn't seem to be all about selling people more than they need.  So check it out.  http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution/get-cooking