"SmittenKitchen" news and stories

Grilled eggplant and olive oil pizza. Photo: Smitten Kitchen.

A slew of youngsters are heading back to school this week, lugging backpacks, breaking in new shoes, sharpening pencils and, if they're lucky (at least a few days out of the year), forgoing the brown-bag lunch in favor of a pizza party. It's enough to make us nearly jealous, except that one of the many joys of adulthood is that we can have pizza whenever we please -- and booze to wash it down with -- no matter the circumstances (or caloric consequences).

For example, when Deb from Smitten Kitchen was craving grilled pizza and the weather didn't agree with her plans for dinner al fresco, she still found a way to make it happen, "Weather be damned!" She busted out a cast-iron panini pan, doused the dough with garlicky extra-virgin olive oil, and piled on the grilled eggplant, olives and provolone. The result, reports the cook, was "hearty, smoky and delicious."

So how'd she get those beautiful cheesy bubbles with her indoor "grill?" Well, since she was "grilling" inside anyway, she put it in the oven for a few minutes. They don't teach that in school.

[Via Smitten Kitchen]

While store-bought graham crackers are pretty great in their own right, the homemade rendition inhabits its own rarefied realm of culinary excellence. And looking at these specimens made by Deb at Smitten Kitchen, it's easy to see why. You can practically smell the warm aroma of honey and cinnamon, and feel the delicate crackle of the sugar topping between your teeth. While most grahams call out for a slab of chocolate and a marshmallow, these demand nothing but a simple appetite to match their simple -- but bountiful -- charms.

[Via Smitten Kitchen]

Fresh pasta: Every time we see it, it stops us short. Maybe it's the familiar sight of noodles after a long haul of a day. Maybe it's the swirl of tomatoes and poppy fresh fava beans, or the thought of irresistibly salty chopped sausage. Regardless, something about this Smitten Kitchen photo made us pause, mid-Web-surf, and for good reason: A quick investigation reveals that the smitten couple is actually moving and this is the last meal in their beloved old 80-square-foot kitchen. So click on over, bid them adieu as they settle into their new digs, or just sort of hang out and ponder the beauty of fresh pasta and tomatoes for a while. We won't judge.

[Via Smitten Kitchen]

Making do in tiny kitchens is all the rage these days (I'm glad to hear that what I've been doing for years has suddenly become the trendy thing. I knew if I waited long enough, I'd become hip!). Deb of Smitten Kitchen recently posted about how she makes due in her petite cooking space and just today, New York Times recipe tester Jill Santopietro launched a video blog that features the ways in which she makes do with just two square feet of counter space.

In the first episode of Tiny Kitchen with Jill Santopietro, Jill makes a calvados cocktail. The episode, which clocks in at a very web-friendly four and a half minutes, features a great tip on how to make simple syrup without dirtying a saucepan as well as a good substitute for a citrus reamer (when you're working with 11 square feet, you've got to eliminate utensils where you can).

So far, I'm totally charmed by this unassuming little video podcast. I'm looking to seeing more from the Tiny Kitchen.

Source

For years I considered soup making a rewarding, but time-intensive process. This is mainly because I grew up watching my mother make her insanely good turkey noodle soup after Thanksgiving -- one that involved a lot of carcass simmering, cooling, and straining before adding the bite-sized new ingredients. But then I learned the simplicity and value in an easy afternoon soup.

Once, on a particularly bad day, I spent a few hours in the kitchen with my grandfather. He was making barley soup with just a handful of leftover ingredients. The relaxed ease of the recipe, and the act of sitting there and smelling the soup simmer, was just about the most calming and enjoyable experience that I have ever had in a kitchen. It is easy to make a fresh pot of soup, and it really doesn't take a lot of time. You can set something up to simmer and run other errands, you can sit nearby and read a book, or you can take a moment to reconnect with someone, as I did.

Obviously, then, I was immediately attracted to Smitten Kitchen's latest recipe -- a ridiculously easy Beef, Leek, and Barley Soup. This is the sort of soup that makes the new, biting cold wind of the changing season a bit more bearable, and one that offers so much more than merely opening a can and filling yourself with calories. It's an experience that warms the senses and makes the impending months just a little warmer.