My favorite kitchen equipment

It's amazing the difference good cooking equipment will make. My three new cooking loves are my toaster oven, my utility knife and my 12 inch stainless steel sauté pan. Tonight, however, I'm going to make a plug for how great toaster ovens can be compared to ovens, especially if you are only cooking for one or two people.


First off, my new and amazing toaster oven was not a planned purchase. However, once the old one went up in big in flames (true story), a replacement had to be found. Luckily, since Greg was the one that didn't realize that toasting for four minutes is vastly different than baking at 250 degrees for four minutes, my new purchase was subsidized. Combined with a coupon for over $20 off at Costco and I was able to get the mother of all toaster ovens. I mean, look at this thing -- the picture has it fitting in not one but TWO chickens! The functions on this thing are great -- there's options for broiling, convention baking, and toasting (and you can specify bagels or toast!). Plus, its easy to clean and easy to use. It has a built in timer. It also heats up ridiculously fast and is more consistent than my oven. Best of all, it still fit in the space my old toaster did, despite having a larger capacity. (And if anyone wants to buy one, they are still on sale at Costco. Sadly, though, the $20 off deal is no longer running.)



So what do I use my toaster oven for? Basically everything I don't feel like heating up my oven for. Besides the salmon I talked about in the previous post, there's roast potatoes (try cutting them up and adding a packet of Lipton's Onion Soup Mix) and all sorts of roast vegetables.


One of my new favorite sides is roasting broccoli and/or cauliflower in the oven with a little bit of cheese, like Parmesan or Peccorino Romano. Basically I preheat the toast oven to 400 degrees (which takes all of a minute, remember), put the vegetables on top, toss with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil and black pepper, grate some cheese on top with my top planer, and then just wait till they are nice and toasted. Don't worry about parts turning a little brown, that's supposed to happen. And if you are feeling a little more gluttonous, you could also had a little bit more cheese when you pull the vegetables out; they will be hot enough that it will melt right away.

And of course, there's lots of other variations you could try with this. You could try adding: garlic and lemon zest, red pepper flakes, or garlic and chili sauce.

Working with what you got

As much as I love cooking with fresh vegetables, my busy schedule doesn't always allow me to get to the grocery store. Luckily, I normally keep my kitchen ridiculously well stocked for a one bedroom apartment. My current challenge is trying to figure out how to make frozen and canned vegetables taste better. Here, I tried to breath some life into them by only steaming them for a fraction of the time suggested and then sautéing them with sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic and ginger. Let's just say the results still left much to be desired; I think my biggest issue is from the resulting squishiness. However, at least I got the salmon down!

Pictured on the right is a Soy-Glazed Salmon. I already had the salmon in my freezer, so the night before I just put it on the bottom shelf of my fridge to defrost. I then mixed together a concoction of soy sauce and other things. I'd list them out here, but for the life of me I can't remember what I used. If I had to guess, I'd say soy sauce, sesame oil, honey (or maybe brown sugar), sriracha, garlic and ginger. Oh, and maybe some mirin to make it seem less salty. Yeah, I know, sounds pretty similar to above. Anyway, to cook the salmon, after seasoning with pepper you just put it skin side UP on a pan in order to create a nice crust. I then baked the fish (skin side DOWN) in my toaster oven, with the soy spooned on top in order to finish. Now if only those vegetables tasted better....

Freeze Now, Eat later

Given how precious my time is these days, one of the things I wish I had more recipes for is king in bulk and freezing the rest for later. For me, a perfect example of this time saving technique is freezing spaghetti sauce. While, yes, you can use those store bought sauces you buy at the store in a pinch, those never taste nearly as good as the home-cooked deal. They tend to be overly sweet and lacking in depth of flavor. Plus, where's the fun in having no meatballs or sausage?


My goto sauce rrecipe is my grandfather's recipe. And it is a good thing that this recipe freezes well, because I ALWAYS make the sauce in bulk. Why? Because it's how my grandfather taught me to do it. I've tried exactly once to scale it down, but it didn't feel right. Was that in my head? Possibly. But hey, since freezers exist it doesn't really matter now, does it? Plus, there are those added advantages I hinted to -- you have spaghetti sauce for later!




Some practical tips: 1) When you go to store the sauce, use appropriate sized containers. This means diving it up into portions that you will want to use at one time. Yes, it takes a big more time than dumping it into one huge container -- but its infinitely more useful. 2) Similarly, divide up the meatballs and sausage evenly. Or, you could put more meatballs into one container for a day you want to make meatball sandwiches. 3) Use containers designed for the freezer! Why does it matter? Well, first other containers can become brittle and break if you use freeze them. Second, those aren't as good at protecting against freezer burn. 4) Don't be scared to completely fill up your freezer. Did you know that freezers actually use LESS energy and freeze better the more full it is?

Anyway, lucky for me I follow my tips above when I put away my sauce mid-January. Why? Because I went skiing at Snowshoe at the end of January, and the condo had it's very own kitchen, complete with cooking supplies. And what's better than spaghetti and meatballs after a long day of skiing, and not having to pay $20+ a person for the meal?

So you want to start a blog, you say...

I don't like gourmet cooking or "this" cooking or "that" cooking. I like good cooking. ~James Beard

For those of you that know me, I know the question running through your head right now is "Why on earth would someone juggling a full time job and law school all while trying to keep some semblance of a social live start a food blog?" The answer, however clichéd, is that I like food and I love good cooking. This, of course, wasn't always the case. I started off as a your typical picky brat. For me, this meant peanut butter sandwiches every day for lunch. No Jelly. NEVER Jelly. And the peanut butter had to be Skippy. And not just any type of Skippy, but Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter. And if we were on the road, it had to McDonald's. Burger King was a completely unacceptable option because their buns had sesame seeds. I despised those seeds so much that if forced to eat at Burger King I would trade my top bun for an extra bottom bun with my dad. And let's not get started on how I avoided most of my mom's Filipino cooking... Today, however, things have almost entirely changed. With the exception of how I still only like Coca-Cola products, I'm almost exactly the opposite person. While no Anthony Bourdain on No Reservations, this past year 2009 I've enjoyed foie gras, beef tartar, and sea urchin, just to name a few things. But that's not to say that I'm now just a snobby foodie, some type of weird byproduct of living in Arlington, Virginia and too close to a Whole Foods. For me, my new love of food extends far beyond just restaurants with Michelin Stars or AAA Diamonds. It starts with a new fascination with food production (I'd explain, but I won't be able to do it nearly as eloquently as Michael Pollen in Omnivore's Dilemma) to how strongly food is related to memory. For example, I will never forget learning how to roll meatballs with my grandfather or egg rolls with my mom. And that leads me to my favorite part of this food adventure -- cooking food. Trust me, it really has been an ongoing adventure, given the different mishaps I've already been through, from adding uncooked pasta to my vegetable soup (who knew pasta noodles could get so big or absorb so much liquid?) to adding spoonfuls of flour to a hot sauce to thicken (whoops) to watching my toaster oven catch on fire (technically that wasn't me, just someone I was cooking with). And lastly, I hope as I start to chronicle and share my new food adventures you'll be able laugh and grow with me (or at least laugh at me). Enjoy!