(Image credit: Leela Cyd)
Earlier this week, we asked you what makes you happy in the kitchen. For some of you, it’s a tangible item like a sink or a pretty backsplash. Or it’s a thing you do (so many of you love to bake) while you’re in the space. Or it’s a mix of both! The point? The kitchen has this amazing way of putting a smile on all of our faces.
Get inspired (and even happier!) by some of these reader comments.
I have been thinking about how it might be cool to do a bake pasta dish in which we swap the noodles for farro but leave all the great parts like cheese, so much cheese, chunks of vegetable and, most hopefully, a crunchy lid for years. Years! In that time, I have cooked hundreds of other things, some even not terrible, even, but it took until I handed my husband the latest Ina Garten cookbook and told him to pick out some things we should eat and he pointed to her recipe for crusty shells and cheese that I thought “This!” I last felt this urgently about swapping pasta for a grain when we made this, three and a half years ago.
I should not have waited so long. This was wonderful, a perfect example of the kind of cooking I like best: lots of whole grains and vegetables but no compromises in flavor, texture or a bit of indulgence. Nobody ate this for dinner just because they “should” and not just because half our family is under eight and definitely don’t care about “shoulds” at all.
When it comes to hearty winter stews and braises, meat tends to be the main ingredient of this warming meal, but that doesn’t mean you should discount vegetables. Not only do they complement and balance the meatiness of stews and chilis, but it’s a wonderful way to pack more (and more!) vegetables into your comfort food.
Whether the recipe calls for it or not, every stew can use another serving of veggies. Here are seven vegetables you should be adding to stews and braises right now.
Stews are the perfect comfort food for January. They’re loaded with creamy vegetables and fork-tender meat that can only come from a long, slow cook. Most stew recipes begin and end on the stovetop, but a simple change of cooking location can make a better stew. Instead of letting a stew cook away on the stovetop for hours, try this: When your stew is ready for its slow simmer, move it to the oven for a long, slow cook.
Sometimes, a free hotel breakfast includes little more than a tray of stale muffins and a stack of sad mini cereal boxes. But many chains seem to be upping their breakfast games, offering all sorts of goodies worth getting out of bed for. Here’s a look at three top-notch (free!) breakfast spreads available across the country.
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Do you love kitchen cleaning, design, and organizing? Do you love The Kitchn? We’re looking for you!
We’re looking for regular freelance talent to grow our cleaning, organizing, and kitchen design stories. Here’s how to apply.
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If you’re still sprinkling your salt gingerly while seated at the dinner table, you’re living in the past. Take a cue from #SaltBae, the sexy Turkish butcher whose flair and style with salt has brought him scores of internet fans.
It’s so easy to forget how luxurious a properly cooked hard-boiled egg can be. First, don’t actually cook them until they’re “hard,” which is a misleading word to apply to eggs at this point, but it is what we call them so it shall remain. I’m really talking about a seven- or eight-minute egg, preferably made in the pressure cooker, with its firm-yet-creamy whites and yolk the texture of whipped velvet. An egg cooked just like this really doesn’t need more than a shower of salt and pepper to be delicious, but often I even tire of this simple preparation.
So to up the luxe factor in my hard-boiled eggs, I grab my favorite herb and spices, a small skillet, some olive oil, and work a little kitchen magic.
(Image credit: Alchema )
Turning waste into wine is one of early 2017’s gifts to humankind. There’s recently been a ton of buzz about the Alchema at-home fermentation system, which turns your unused fruit into wine, cider, and mead. You simply pour in the ingredients (measured by an internal scale and tracked by the accompanying app), push the button on the app, and let the Alchema do its thing.
The machine connects via Wi-Fi, so you can check on that batch of cider while you’re out getting cheese and charcuterie to enjoy with it. The app walks you through every step of the fermenting process, includes recipes, and also helps you customize characteristics like the drink’s alcohol content (ranging from 3.2 to 10.8 percent alcohol) and sweetness.
Soup and stew are so similar in character that it can sometimes be difficult to tell them apart. At their core, they both rely on the same foundation of ingredients, but there is one important factor that differentiates these two hearty meals.
