Saturday, August 14, 2010

How I Learned to Cook in a Small Kitchen

I recently made the move up to the Metro DC area for grad school. I feel like this goes without saying but, the housing prices are a little bit on the higher end in this part of the country. I was fortunate enough to score a lease for a basement efficiency apartment in a house in suburban Maryland, all for a reasonable price.

Of course- you get what you pay for. This place is just right to meet my needs, but maybe not all of my desires (to have a top-notch kitchen at my disposal!). As a result, I am have had to learn how to cook again. What do I mean? Well, tight quarters and limited equipment requires a little rethinking to the cooking process. I've got a fridge, electric range, small sink, and a microwave. Here is one angle of the setup:



First impressions: the oven knob says it can go up to 500 degrees, there is only *one medium* size burner, and the sink is about the size of one that you would find in a wet bar. The oven does have a broiler and it works fine (made a tuna melt yesterday). The 500 degree option will be good later on for making pizza and for searing off meat. The small burners are difficult to deal with because that means you can really only have one major project going on at one time. The smaller burners means I have to keep an eye on the temperature dial. I have to usually crank the knob to high to get any large pot up to temp, but once it's there, I have to turn the knob back just a little to prevent things from burning. Size constraints limit action on the stove to probably one big pot/pan and maybe a small sauce pan. This means I'll have to adjust my recipes/cooking style to more one-pot meals or meals that I can make in stages. When I mean "in stages," I am referring to a process where you cook one part of the dish, dump the contents in a bowl or a storage container, wash the pots and pans, and then work on the next part. Luckily, I also brought a standalone rice cooker (it's the Asian in me) which frees up some space on the stove.

The small sink and lack of a dishwashing machine means I have to hand-wash and dry everything that I use. I have one of those plastic drying racks and draining boards that I keep next to the sink usually. When I am doing my cooking prep, I move it on top of my fridge, where I bought a cheap metal wire rack from one of those discount surplus stores. This rack is great because I also have my cutting boards stashed up there. Maximizing space efficiency is key in a kitchen like this.



So- last night I got my first taste of actually cooking in this kitchen. I made a variation of the please-all summer pasta I posted about earlier. For this recipe I used white wine in the sauce, no canned tomatoes (fresh grape tomatoes instead), and added some diced spring onion and parsley. As you can see in the picture, the dishwashing rack is out of the picture (on top of the fridge). I made a mini-assembly line. I've got my diced veg next to the sink. I toss the food scraps in the garbage can to my right. I toss the first round of vegetables to saute (onions) in a separate bowl. My pot is heating up. My wine glass is full for personal consumption (verrry important). Things go quite smoothly because of the organization. After the veg is sufficiently cooked, I toss everything back into that glass bowl, wash the pot, fill it with water and salt, and then boil the pasta. When the pasta is done, I drain it (with a little reserved pasta water), and toss the veg back in. Presto! Perfect pasta! The lesson of the day- even the smallest of apartment kitchens can be setup to crank out the same quality of dinners as a larger household kitchens.

1 comment:

  1. I have to say, the best appliance I purchased for my small kitchen (even though it takes up some valuable space) was one of these countertop dishwashers! (I have the white Koldfront one) I hate hand washing dishes, so this little guy is my best friend.

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