Rice Cookers (even if you don't like rice)

My most often used gadget (not including simple tools like spoons or pans) is my rice cooker.  Which is ironic, since I'm not really a fan of rice.  And I very rarely cook it.  If I could, I'd change the name to "grain cooker", but then I'd confuse everyone, because that doesn't really exist.
I bought my first rice cooker (a Wolfgang Puck, non-electronic model) after watching Wolfgang's sales pitch on one of the home shopping networks. I don't remember him making rice, I do remember macaroni and cheese and pasta and meat sauce.

But I haven't made those.  I cook grains in my rice cooker.  About three times a week, I make steel cut oats. 
Rice cookers don't necessarily cook grains faster (sometimes it actually takes longer) but the beauty is that you don't have to stand over a pot and stir, you don't under or over-cook your grain, and you can't burn it.
The machines automatically shut off when the grains are cooked - perfectly - and many machines will keep the grain (or other food) warm until you're ready to serve it.  Steel cut oats have a wonderful, chewy, nutty texture.  I've been using Trader Joe's quick cooking steel cut oats lately, with a 1:3 oats to water ratio.  I can put the oats into the cooker, add water, a bit of salt, give a quick stir, then go and shower or work out. When I come back, they're done, and are kept warm.   I'm still not sure how long they take but I'm thinking 30 - 35 minutes, depending on the brand.  I'll usually eat them with a bit of brown sugar, sliced bananas, and maybe some walnuts for some extra Omega 3s. 
I also love the cooker for quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wa).  I make a pot at the beginning of the week, and then put salad fixings on it,  like greek salad dressing, feta cheese, olives and dill, or grilled chicken pieces and avocado and some kind of dressing.  Or I'll top it with Italian turkey sausage and peppers.  I'll cook quinoa with orange juice, and add nuts and dried fruits.  I've also cooked it with College Inn Thai Coconut Curry broth, and added chopped nuts and chicken.    There are so many recipes out there (check the internet.)  Quinoa is the only non-animal food product that is a complete protein, so it's a great, healthy choice. 
Barley is another grain I love to make.  It has beta glucan in it - a soluble fiber reported to lower blood sugar levels and lower cholesterol levels.  I've been using that in my chicken soup instead of noodles or matzoh balls.  
I use a lot of cooked grains the way I would use pasta, but I'm getting a lot of fiber and protein and other great stuff.  
I have an electronic Sanyo rice cooker, but there are so many wonderful models - starting with basic, non electronic ones, from 25 dollars on up.  Aroma is a brand that I've seen in restaurant kitchens, and they sell small Aroma cookers in Target and on Amazon.com.  


If I used my "rice" cooker for oatmeal alone, it would be worth the price.  But at a time when I'm trying to get more whole grains into my families  diet, the little machine gets quite a workout.

Top Chef and a Few Degrees

I have been a fan of Top Chef since its second season and have watched it in  all its forms (I'm currently loving Top Chef Just Desserts) !Of course I love to see what gadgets they chefs are using - if they use something, I know it's legitimate and it's fair game for me.   I can't tell you how excited I was the day I saw one of the chefs using a chopper that looked something  like this one.  I've used  a food chopper  for the last 10 years.                                        

On the Top Chef-Chicago season, a  cheftestant  from Staten Island wielded a mean pasta machine, and the judges raved.

Intrigued and eager for fresh pasta (and having been otherwise impressed by the cheftestant), I got a pasta attachment for my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer, and started cranking out fettucini.   I used  it twice.  I didn't quite get the hang of it, but I'll try again soon.

Not long after that,  I was contacted by someone I used to work with as a counselor at a camp in upstate New York - Camp Mikan-Recro,  and was invited  to join the camp's  Facebook group.  I immediately found a former  camper, Jennifer,  who was eight years old when she was in my bunk.  I then saw a photo of another one of my campers from the same bunk , a dark haired girl named Nikki who I remembered as being quiet and very cute.  On her Facebook page, she wore a beautiful grey satin gown, and she looked stunning.  I asked Jennifer what Nikki was up to, looking all glamorous, and Jennifer told me that Nikki  had just been a contestant on Top Chef.  She was my culinary  inspiration !  I was so happy that I had rooted for her during the show,  not even knowing who she was.  And in an odd way, I was proud - as if I had anything to do with her success.  

Of course I immediately friended her, and thanked her for motivating me to try pasta-making.  And no, she didn't remember me.  But that was okay.

I visited Nikki Cascone at her restaurant 24 Prince in New York City,  which has since closed (but not to worry - she's got a new venture about to open - more in a bit!)  I had the best chicken salad I've ever tasted (she used  truffle oil. ) And the most amazing macaroni and cheese.  And we chatted about camp and cooking and she told me about her favorite cooking utensils.  No, not the pasta machine.  But she loves her tongs and fish spatula and vegetable peeler (for more than peeling vegetables.)  

I went back to 24 Prince last December.  I had promised my friend Scott - another  former camp counselor  and Major in the U.S. Army, that I would bring him to 24 Prince as soon as his tour of duty in Afghanistan was over.   We  had a great time at Nikki's, enjoying her food and hospitality.  And she gave him her Top Chef jacket.  I'll never forget that lunch.

Scott, if you're reading this, the next time you're in New York City, we'll be headed to Nikki Cascone's new restaurant Octavia's Porch for global Jewish cuisine.

http://www.opentable.com/octavias-porch

That's just one of her productions due this month, the other is a new baby.  Congratulations on both, Nikki!

If any of you are in the NYC area, check out Octavia's Porch.  Nikki Cascone is an amazing chef.  I can't wait to  try another one of her creative meals.  I'll post with an opening date .

Sorry for the long post, next time I get down to gadget and cookbook business.

Gadgets and Books and Julia

And so it begins.

I've started this blog because of my love for all things cooking -  my love for  kitchen toys and utensils and tools and gadgets, and my  love for cookbooks and books about food.  One day I'll count all the cookbooks I have, I'm sure I have over one hundred.  And I've never even cooked from many of them.  A long time ago, my husband said that the number of cookbooks I owned was greater than the number of meals I'd cooked.  I don't think that's true anymore. I hope.  But cookbooks are more than just books to cook from.  More about that soon.  And not all books about food are cookbooks.  Again, more later.    As for the gadgets, I suppose I have as many gadgets as I do cookbooks.  But of course there's always room for one more.  And since cookbooks and kitchen tools mean cleanup, there will be reviews on cleaning gadgets as well - I love them, too.

Julia Child's Kitchen at the Smithsonian

The above link goes to site about  Julia Child's kitchen (the above photo is my own.)     Julia  was my gadget idol.  I visited her kitchen twice in the last two months because I had things to take care of in Washington, D.C. - and Julia was going to be a priority.  Towards the back left of my photo, you can see her Kitchen Aid stand mixer, in cobalt blue.  I know it's "cobalt blue" because  it's same one I have.  Seeing her kitchen, and seeing that mixer - such a familiar object - is what motivated me to follow up on this blog.

I'm really new to this, so I apologize for any blogging faux pas (faux pies?) and will try to clean up as I go along.

Here's to Julia.
Thank you
Bon Appetit.