In the Small Kitchen: 100 Recipes from Our Year of Cooking in the Real World
In the Small Kitchen: 100 Recipes from Our Year of Cooking in the Real World
It’s hard to forget your first apartment—its cramped closets, one too many roommates, and oh-so-tiny kitchen—or the first entry-level job, vibrant but hectic social life, and newfound independence that come with it. For Cara Eisenpress and Phoebe Lapine, that first small kitchen was a blessing in disguise, a haven from adulthood’s worries and thrills. In the Small Kitchen, inspired by their popular website Big Girls, Small Kitchen, is their debut cookbook, filled with more than 100 delicious recipes for cooking and entertaining within the constraints of a twentysomething life. Whether you’re packing Pesto Chicken Salad Sandwiches for a cubicle picnic, staying in with a cup of Workweek Tomato Soup and Cara’s Classic Gooey Grilled Cheese, whipping up Three Onion Dip and Pimm’s Cup for a cocktail party, or making Shrimp Risotto with Sweet Peas and Leeks to impress a special dinner date, Cara and Phoebe will show you how to stretch your imagination and your pocketbook to get the most
List Price: $ 24.99
Price: $ 9.99
This is one of the better cookbooks I own,
I own hundreds of cookbooks. That sounds worse than it is, considering my age
I don’t really read most, I just search for recipes that sound good and follow them. Some don’t include any useable recipes, but are good for sparking ideas. I generally ignore the forward to the book as well as most of the text other than the recipes. I’m sorry, but to me that’s all a cookbook needs to be. A resource, or a reference.
My experience with In the Small Kitchen was quite different. The book states this cookbook was written by the creators of Big Girls, Small Kitchen. I had never heard of their blog before, and I purposely avoided it until after reading the book so I’d know if the book could stand alone if you were not already a fan. After reading the book, then exploring their website, I realized that the authors’ experience with blogging has turned them into masters of short stories. I can honestly say that I enjoyed reading this book as a book and not just as a cookbook. The book stood very well without prior knowledge of the authors or their website.
Things I enjoyed most about this cookbook:
*The book begins with a list of basic essential equipment. You’ll be surprised at how little you really need until you see it explained as well as they did. I’m channeling my inner kitchen minimalist!
*Many of the recipes serve just 2 people. They can be easily doubled or more, but are a great starting point.
*All of the recipes call for easily accessible ingredients, even if the results are far from ordinary
The first recipe I tried from In the Small Kitchen was Swiss Chard Frittata. The recipe serves 2, but it was easy to cut in half and prepare in a small single serving pan. I love Swiss chard, but it never occurred to me to use it in a frittata. The recipe also called for sun-dried tomatoes, another favorite ingredient. Along with the eggs and Parmesan cheese, this turned out to be one of my favorite breakfast recipes. Ever!
The Soy Honey Baked Tofu was also a big hit for myself and friends. It serves 2 to 4 and the leftovers freeze well, though you probably won’t have any. I’ve tried about 8 recipes so far, including the homemade ketchup which I really enjoyed. I’ve not been disappointed with anything so far.
There are a lot of meat recipes in this cookbook, which I don’t do. But there aren’t so many that I would turn this cookbook down as a vegetarian.
I feel that this is one of the better cookbooks in my collection. I’ve also bookmarked their blog and look forward to more fresh ideas from the authors.
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|In the Small Kitchen,
Recipes Tried (8.17.2011):20 of 100
Ah, another cookbook based off a blog. Filled with stories and anecdotes along with recipes. I should learn by now that these aren’t really to my taste but I always hope that the recipes will be more than enough to make up for the other stuff I must sift through. I’m not going to say this is a bad cookbook by any means, but I won’t say it is excellent either.
The two authors of this cookbook are friends, who, as they grew up, moved to college, and beyond took their friendship to the kitchen. The express their love of cooking, their mistakes and their successes. They also share dinner party tricks and tips and other sundry items and stories. I have to confess that I wasn’t very fond of their stories; like most personal anecdotes I read in cookbooks its probably great for those who known them, but to the stranger it can be hard to connect.
There are several chapters including Getting Started, which doesn’t have recipes but rather is a how-to and pantry stock of sorts. Next chapter is Cooking for One, which as it sounds is cooking for one. Despite it being named this however, many of the recipes could easily be shared, at least the ones I tried. I have tried the Peas for One, which was good but made quite a bit. The Spinach Pie Quesadilla, which really wasn’t anything special which is the same comments I have for the Swiss Chard Frittata. The Yogurt Carbonara was quick to make but really not so excellent as well. The Soft Scrambled Eggs and Gooey Grilled Cheese Sandwich were both things that are pretty standard and basic to make. I did really like Phoebe’s Pesto Panino and thought it had a great mix of flavors. In the soups range, I did try the My Mother’s Garlic Soup which for the amount of garlic it had in it, had surprisingly little taste.
The next chapter focuses on Potlucks and has all sorts of dishes you can make and share with your friends (and drinks). It was a smaller chapter, but I did try the Fusilli with Pomodoro Fresco which had a good sauce but wouldn’t stick to the noodles for some reason (could be my error). I also tried the Sexy-Ugly Onion Tart which was pretty good but could have been spiced up a little bit. The pie crust recipe that accompanied the tart turned out a really good buttery crust.
Cocktail Parties was next and as expected a lot of finger foods and dips enveloped this chapter. My first stop was the Noodles with BGSK Peanut Sauce that I absolutely loved but couldn’t figure out why it was in a cocktail party section. The White Bean and Rosemary Dip I made was good and very popular at our family reunion, but at the same token the Black bean Dip didn’t go as well as it was insanely spicy. There are some empanada and drink recipes in this chapter too that I can’t wait to try.
Dating and Food came next and it contained an array of different types of foods for different types of the day. I haven’t tried too much in this section yet, but the Plain Jane Pancakes tasted ok but didn’t cook evenly even in my cast-iron skillet. I can’t tell if the fault lied within my ingredients being bad or the ratio of ingredients being off. The Barbecued Lentils were surprisingly good and filling and definitely something I would consider making again. However I would have to give myself plenty of advanced notice as they were somewhat time consuming.
Brunch contained just what it sounds like, Brunch recipes. There actually aren’t very many recipes in this chapter (5) and I haven’t tried any of them yet. However, a couple of them are compotes and really, one is kind of a build your own thing so I’m not sure how to really define this chapter.
Giving was a chapter all about desserts. I made quite a few of them. The resignation brownies were ok but didn’t have the normal consistency of a brownie. The Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies were crispy outside, chewy inside and had great texture, but were only average on taste. The Banana Chocolate Chip Bread was a good idea, but ended up being too sweet for me but easy to make.
The Dinner Party was one of the largest chapters in the book with a myriad of different food options. Most of them are pretty involved and while I would have liked to explore in this chapter more, to date I have only made one recipe, the Provencal Baked Chicken. Like the rest in this chapter it was very involved to make, but tasted wonderful. I can’t wait to try more from this chapter of the book.
Leftovers sounds pretty self explanatory. But it’s not. Not only do they give you good ideas to use left over foods, they also have recipes for basic condiments such as ketchup. I made the Pesto and it tasted like a standard basil pesto, which is not a bad thing. I also made the Chana Bateta out of several things that could be found in your pantry and was pretty impressed with it as well. It did take…
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|Fun and Fresh If Unoriginal,
I have a ton of cookbooks, and while I can’t necessarily say that this one stands out, there are a few reasons why I believe it’s better than average and deserving of at least four stars.
First of all this is a cookbook that’s geared toward the younger crowd and actually does manage to feel hip. Secondly, there is a concerted effort toward using fresh, healthy ingredients. This would be a great choice if you’re either vegetarian or don’t like a lot of protein in your diet. There are several meat recipes, but most could be adapted to fit a veg-only diet. Also, in my experience, these recipes really are ideal for someone working in a small kitchen with limited space. Finally and most important for me, I love that most of these recipes are designed for two servings. It makes perfect since. Anything larger wouldn’t make much since considering their demographic. That said, there is a chapter devoted to dinner parties with larger servings.
Now mind you, a lot of things in the book are redundant. The introduction includes a list of essential kitchen utensils. Is it just me or does just about every cookbook include a similar section these days? I suppose they felt it useful for their target audience (college kids to late-20s) who might not have as much experience, but I’m getting sick of these lists. As the recipes go, there’s not much here that’s terribly original. These all feel like things I’ve seen before, although there are definitely some unique takes on a few classics (see, for example, the Swiss chard frittata).
One thing maybe to consider: I was given a copy of that Pioneer Woman’s cookbook last year. Out of curiosity, I checked her blog and discovered that just about every thing listed in the book could be found online. I know that these authors also run a blog, so it would be interesting to see just how many of these recipes might be found on their site. It might not be worth the expense if everything is already available on the interwebs. This is a rare paperback cookbook, so it’s not like you’re paying for quality.
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