"smitten kitchen" news and stories

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.

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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.

I'm a bit, well, smitten with Smitten Kitchen. Everything looks so darned delicious, and while some sites inspire me to keep a recipe for the future, Smitten inspires impatience that leads to me trying out the recipes as soon as humanly possible, especially the rainbow-hued panzanella.

As Deb says: "there's no better way to take in late-summer produce than with a panzanella." Now that I've actually had it, I can agree. While I've overdosed salads with croutons before, I have never explored the world of bread salads until last night. This is, by far, the perfect way to say goodbye to summer. While fresh vegetables can make great cooked dishes, only a nice salad or raw mixture like this can adequately offer the rich flavors of summer -- the sweet peppers balance the onion, while the delicious bite of the champagne vinegar is softened by the large chunks of bread.

It can easily be adapted -- I just loosely followed the ingredients list for the bowl I mixed up last night (seen above). However, I would strongly suggest not messing with the vinaigrette and trying it as-is. The mixture is excellent, and must, must, must have champagne vinegar.

I now know what I need to hunt down this weekend -- lots and lots of cherry tomatoes.

Deb from Smitten Kitchen, a woman after my own heart, has just posted a sweet ode to the wonders of the tomato. Better yet, she has shared a great way to use up those small, sweet cherry suckers -- slow roast them. There's just a little bit of prep, a few hours for roasting, and then a bunch of little, roasted tomatoes to eat up. Don't they look delicious?

Just think -- small nibblets for snacking, a wonderful topping to pasta, a great addition to a sandwich, or even a nice twist on classic bruschetta on toast.

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Between this and Deb's chocolate sorbet, I am positively dying for a chocolate dessert of some kind (what are you people doing to me!). The chocolate pudding was made by Maya at My Feasts and was part of the the Tuesdays with Dorie cooking challenge. I could go for a big old spoonful right about now!

Thanks to Maya for adding her pic to the Slashfood Flickr pool! Remember to snap some photos of the delicious dishes you cook up this weekend and add them to the group.

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