KitchenAid Professional 600 Series 6-Quart Stand Mixer

My very favorite tool in my kitchen is my KitchenAid Stand Mixer. I’ve had it for several years, and it’s an absolute work horse. Just about all of my favorite recipes are made so much easier because I have this machine.

I use it when I’m making Lemon Angel Pie; it makes beating the egg whites for the crust as simple as could be. Whip the whites lightly with the cream of tartar, up the speed a bit to get the whites foaming, add the sugar gradually, crank up the motor to high, and let the whites get to the consistency you need in 8 or 10 minutes.

Another effort saver is when I’m making the Swiss cheese olive gougeres. It makes simple work of the beating necessary after adding each egg separately.

I could go on about all the ways this wonderful machine makes my cooking life easier. But I won’t. I’ll just say that if you like cooking but you’re not especially enamored with all the beating of ingredients, it would be well worth your time to take a look at the KitchenAid stand mixer. The picture is of the professional model (I bought it when I was still in the catering business), but there are a number of other models and sizes to fit your own cooking needs.

Clink the link above to go to Amazon.com and check out the models and the excellent reviews for this product.

Image via Wikipedia

Nobody Has All The Kitchen Tools They Need!

A neighbor – who doesn’t cook very much – invited me over to see her new cookware. She got a great deal on some very good pots and pans, and I’m a little jealous. Here’s the thing, though. My pots and pans aren’t so pretty, but they do me very well. I have an odd lot, I’m not worried about it all matching, and I’ll add pieces for their functionality rather than their looks.

And I’d rather save my money to buy gadgets. I’m a complete sucker for toys and gadgets, and I can spend hours going through each piece of a display to be sure I’m not missing something vital to my cooking. Naturally, this means I have a few toys that haven’t been used much, but all in all, I like my collection.

Which got me thinking about the ones that I do love and use a lot. So I decided the holiday time gave a great opportunity to share with you my favorite kitchen things. If you have a cook on your gift list, here will be some ideas for you. I’ll be adding to this over the next couple of weeks, so be sure to check back.

That said, here are some of my latest favorites: Microplane graters and zesters. I just feel so “chef-y” when I use them! Plus, they’re just amazing tools.

First on the list is the Microplane 40020 Grater/Zester. I could only find a black and white picture of it, unfortunately, because mine is red and quite jaunty looking.

More importantly, this is a great tool. I can’t believe I haven’t owned one for years. It has a fine grate, so it works really well for garlic, citrus zest, ginger, and on and on. You get the idea.

For zest, it’s especially effective. The grate is fine enough and shallow enough the getting only zest with no pith is absolutely no problem. It’s quick and easy.

This tool also is wonderful for grating ginger, one of the food groups for me. I’ve found that if I freeze the knobs of fresh ginger, grating is even easier. I don’t even need to peel it.

Another useful addition to your tool collection is another grater, this one the Microplane Fine Grater. It’s another useful tool when you need a little different grate than what the zester tool gives. It’s still a fine grater, just not quite so fine as the zester.

And that take us to the tool you’ll need for a larger grate. Another Microplane tool, this time, it’s the Microplane Professional Patented Design Coarse Grater.

None of these tools is very expensive, and I think you’ll find they’re a great addition to your kitchen tool kit. And once they’re in the drawer, I can assure you that you’ll be finding all sorts of ways to use them.