Our Tiny Kitchen

 

There are many things to love about our apartment and a number of things to ... mentally accommodate.  Our kitchen fits into the latter category.  I have not had such a small kitchen since I lived in a studio on Beacon Hill in 1988, but I am relearning cooking techniques for small kitchens and storage techniques to make the most of limited space.  We only have a two-burner cooktop, and it is not vented at all.  We do not have a built-in oven, only a combination microwave/convection oven.  We do have a dishwasher, but the fridge (which you cannot see here) cannot be accessed when the dishwasher is open, making post-dinner clean-up an interesting dance.  The sink is very small, which makes washing pots and pans a bit of an adventure, too.

I have, over the years, come to rely more on roasting vegetables relative to other cooking techniques.  But roasting here is difficult, so I have switched to searing them in a frying pan and steaming afterwards by adding a bit of water and a lid.  Cookies are out of the question unless I want to spend an entire afternoon to bake a dozen, but I have successfully made shortbread bars in a small roaster.  (I have also had a spectacularly unsuccessful attempt at blondies in that same pan, when I accidentally "baked" the blondies on the microwave setting for 10 minutes, at which point black smoke started pouring from the oven.)  There is no space for many of my favorite kitchen implements, but I made room for a salad spinner.  Salads are easy to shop for, with so many places close by with fresh, local, in-season produce, and they're easy to make with the spinner.  A tossed green salad has already become my go-to side dish with most meals.  And the tomatoes are still delicious here, so we've had a lot of sliced tomatoes with fresh mozzerella and good olive oil.   

Omelets, also, are entirely do-able.  And I made a decent lentil soup without too much trouble. 

I think that stews and braises on the cooktop will work reasonably well--I have not made many yet because the weather is still in the 80's, but I assume I will when it eventually cools down.  For one dinner, I made tacos with slow-cooked chicken, black beans with cumin, avocado, cheese, and some cabbage slaw, but that was honestly just about the limit that I could manage given the facilities.  (And, of course, I could not find any of my favorite jalapeno sauce or any peppers with any bite to them at all, so it was a little on the tame/bland side.)  

I did manage to establish a little herb garden to supplement cooking, but have yet to find a sage plant, which I would very much like.  It turns out that the street vendors down near PSE also sell large, beautiful bunches of some herbs (mint, parsley, cilantro) very cheaply--three bunches for a euro.  

     

Although I am learning and adjusting, I have to say that it's easy and tempting to just build a meal around some outstanding bread, a selection of cheeses, local honey, some ripe figs from the fruit stand, and maybe some olives and breasola or mortadella from the Italian vendor at the market.  Maybe some smoked tinned herring.  And chocolate or hazlenut sables for dessert.  It's hard to beat, and that's the kind of cooking that it seems this kitchen was made for.