Читать книгу The Laura Lea Balanced Cookbook - Laura Lea - Страница 31

2 Properly supply yourself with the basic kitchen

equipment and ingredient staples.

Much of the stress that people feel around

cooking comes from not having what they need

to make a dish. This leads to multiple grocery

runs, often last-minute, making the idea of a

pleasant kitchen experience seem impossible.

However, there’s an easy fix for this major

cooking roadblock: take the time and invest in

pantry and kitchen staples. I have purposefully

streamlined the tools and ingredients I use so

that I know I have the building blocks of my

dishes handy. The purpose of this guideline

is to create the same ease for you.

Cooking Equipment Staples

FOOD PREP BASIC EQUIPMENT

• Chef’s knife: This 8- to 10-inch knife with a

wide blade and pointed tip is a home cook’s

best friend, and it is worth springing for

a high-quality one if you can. I have several

knife sets, and I rarely use any knife besides

this and my paring knife. I like Orblue

and Wüsthof.

• Paring knife: This is a mini chef’s knife that

comes in handy when you need to peel or

chop more delicate and smaller fruits and

vegetables, such as garlic or strawberries. I

suggest the same brands as for the chef’s knife.

• Vegetable peeler

• Kitchen shears: I use kitchen shears to

trim fat off meat, snip herbs, and open

plastic packaging.

• Can opener

• Colander: I suggest two large stainless-steel

colanders, one with micro-perforations for

smaller grains, and one with slightly larger

holes for draining pasta or bigger vegetables.

• Salad spinner: This is almost an optional

piece, but it makes life so much easier, so

I highly recommend it. This dries delicate

lettuce leaves without damaging them,

ensuring you never have a soggy salad.

• Mesh strainer: I use this all the time for

draining and rinsing beans and grains.

• Pastry brush: This is the best way to spread

butter or oil evenly over ingredients for

roasting and grilling, or for greasing a dish

or baking sheet.

• Stainless-steel whisk

• Wooden cutting board: Use this for

vegetables and fruit.

• Plastic cutting board: Use this for meat;

bacteria can leach into wooden cutting

boards. However, be sure to replace your

plastic board if the cutting grooves become

too deep and hard to clean.

• Stainless-steel mixing bowl set

A vegetable

peeler and

paring knife

will make

short work

of prepping

smaller

vegetables.