Hi. I want to talk to you today about some of my favourite bits of kitchen equipment. I truly believe you can make loads of scrumptious meals without high tech equipment, but having a few good quality bits in the kitchen does help. Here are some of my preferred tried and tested items. Forgive me if you don’t get such a frisson of excitement over such matters as I do!
Above you can see our relatively new breadboard. We got this from Amazon with some Christmas vouchers I think. I like it’s solidity and simplicity and it has good handles at either end you can’t see in the picture. I am enjoying the change from our very old round one which had an annoying groove around the edge where all the crumbs used to gather. It finally had to go after David thought it was a good idea to put it in the dishwasher.. David likes to put everything in the dishwasher, I think it’s a man thing.
On the board there is the bright yellow and green squeezer made by Ovos. This is the best squeezer we have ever had. This can be put in the dishwasher. It has really speeded up the lime squeezing when making margaritas. The balloon whisk is an essential I didn’t own for many years and now I can’t live without. You are seriously never going to make a soufflé without one of these. I also find it invaluable for a quick little whisk in the pan if a sauce or creamy soup is a little bit lumpy. It soon sorts it out. The green thing is the best garlic press I have ever found, after many years of trial and error. It is by Joseph Joseph. It is so easy to clean unlike most other garlic presses. You just scoop out any big residue from the bottom and pop it in the dishwasher. The yellow thing on the right of the board is an egg separator. It’s called the Practical Yolker and it works very well. You squeeze the yellow bit and it sucks up the yolk without breaking it allowing you to release it into another bowl. Marvellous.
A couple of years ago my boss gave me some Selfridges gift vouchers so I visited the kitchen department for some self gifting. I bought this set of Joseph Joseph bowls that I absolutely love. They all feel so nice, sit so sturdily on the kitchen worktops with their rubber bottoms (sorry no innuendos intended here). I love the way they all slot together so perfectly. There are measuring spoons/cups, bowls of different sizes, a colander and a sieve. Truly beautiful. It’s called Nest 100 and I highly recommend you buy this for a foodie friend or for yourself.
On the same trip of self gifting I bought this mini chopper by Cuisinart which is so useful. I use it all the time and hardly ever need a bigger machine than this. I make breadcrumbs with it, chop onions really small, mix up pastes for curries, chop nuts, you name it. All bits of it go in the dishwasher and as it is quite small at only 9 inches tall it doesn’t take up much space. My only criticism is that it is really really loud and I sometimes wonder if I should be wearing some sort of ear protection. For a little machine it is mighty powerful.
The last thing I’ll show you today is my slow cooker. I don’t particular love or hate this particular make, but do get a slow cooker if you don’t have one. It’s great to do the cooking preparation in the morning and return home to a house smelling of gorgeous dinner.. in my case today it’s Lebanese meatballs from the DK “The Slow Cook Book”.
I have run out of time and will probably finish telling you about my kitchen gadgets tomorrow.. I had no idea I was so enthusiastic about them. This blog is a voyage of self discovery. I can hear my friend Pat saying again “don’t you think people will think you are a bit weird?” Oh well, my name is Gail and I am passionate about kitchen equipment! It’s not all about what they do, it’s also how they look and how they feel in your hands. I do like a nice pan and a proper pestle and mortar, I haven’t even started on them yet.
Got any particularly good kitchen equipment at your place? Please tell me about it. I’ve just got some birthday Amazon vouchers to spend. Looking for some good ideas.
Meanwhile, for those of you not asleep yet… here are the photos of the day, happy eating, cooking, being xxx
Meatballs pre cooking.
The Windsor Waffle 