We always talk about Spring Cleaning but Fall Cleaning is just as important, especially in our tiny kitchens. The cooler weather brings out the soup pans, the roaster, more cookie baking, the darker table linens and the heftier coffee mugs.
The delicate pink lemonade glasses, the white linen table clothes, the gigantic salad bowl and the blender (for smooties and dacquaries) all fade slowly away as the chill fills the air.
Take a little time and look at what pieces and utensils you are using less as the weather changes and what things you find yourself shuffling through the back of the closets to pull out. Space is limited but move things around so that the items you need most are easiest to get to.
Yes, you may need the margarita glasses sometimes in the next few months but you will definitely need the heavy earthen soup tureen frequently. An hour in the kitchen assessing and reorganizing will save you hours of time in the coming months, hunting, searching and reaching.
Happy cleaning!
And...let us know what your favorite autumn soup is....
2 comments:
I think my favorite autumn soup would be beef stew, because it's hearty and filling, but not too thick, which I associate more with soup for the winter...
I just made a batch of stew:
2 pounds chuck steak, cut into chunks a bit bigger than the potatoes
1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped
5 medium red potatoes, cut into half-inch chunks
1/3 cup parsley, chopped
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced (um, optional, I suppose)
1 quart stock (I use chicken stock, which I make every time I rotisserie a chicken, but beef stock would probably be more fitting. Just so long as it's homemade!)
In the soup pot (mine is 4 quarts, not too large), in a small amount of vegetable oil, brown the meat. You will almost certainly need to do this in batches. As each batch is browned, remove from the pot and set aside.
In the same pot, saute the onions, cooking until they start to become translucent. In with the parsley, green onions and jalapeno, then stir in the stock.
Add the potatoes and browned meat, bring to a vigorous simmer and lower the heat, continuing to simmer until the potatoes are cooked through and the meat is tender. With fairly small chunks of potatoes and larger pieces of meat, the timing will work out nicely, at about an hour.
Also, I'm thinking it is time for genuine New England baked beans (OK, genuine except for all the whining about the Red Sox losing 14-2). I have the dutch oven, anybody have a favorite recipe?
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