Impossible Pumpkin Pies

You may remember the impossible pie (or tart) concept from my coconut version. They are so-called because it seems impossible to get something solid with those ingredients. The flour falls to the bottom and creates a crust, while the eggs keep the center gooey.

The problem with this recipe is that it was presented in the form of cupcakes, but they were nearly impossible to get out of paper liners (I’m not sure it would have been much prettier with silicone liners either). So I suggest using six greased ramekins and upping the cooking time a bit. Of course, I did make a substitution so that I could have a lactose-free version of half-and-half, but I don’t think the problem was entirely attributable to that. I think impossible pies are just not meant to be unmolded, that’s all.

After reading this website, I recommend melting 1 Tbsp butter or lactose-free margarine in a cup, then adding whole (lactose-free) milk until you have ¾ cup total, to substitute for the half-and-half. And I used my nifty digital scale to weigh 15 oz of pumpkin purée, which almost finished the can I had opened for the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

Also, for the pumpkin spice: the “official” recipe is to mix ¼ cup ground cinnamon + 2 Tbsp ground ginger + 2 tsp ground cloves + 1 tsp ground nutmeg + ½ tsp ground cardamom, if you wish. But that makes enough spice to store, more than you need for the recipe. Also, the cinnamon ratio is much too high for me (I like cinnamon, but not THAT much). So I added these spices in various ratios to total 2 tsp; you can do it to taste.

2/3 cup all purpose flour
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
15 oz pumpkin purée
½ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup half-and-half (or lactose-free substitution)

Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Grease six ramekins.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice
In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla and half-and-half until well combined.



Add in dry ingredients and whisk until no streaks of flour remain and batter is smooth.
Fill each ramekin with approximately 2/3 cup of batter.



Bake for 25-30 minutes. The pies will sink as they cool. Serve at room temperature or chilled, topped with lightly sweetened whipped cream or a lactose-free equivalent if you wish.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Fall is pumpkin season. And I just love pumpkin desserts! Well, pumpkin soup and pumpkin seeds are good too, but desserts are my favourite. I’ve added two new recipes to my arsenal recently, so I’ll share them here.

This cookie recipe was really good, though I have to say that I felt like they were lacking in... “heat”. Maybe it’s because of the ginger and spices that I’ve come to associate with pumpkin desserts and that are absent from this recipe. The cookies were wonderfully chewy, though, and the chocolate was a great touch (though not quite enough to satisfy a chocolate craving if you have one – it’s a supporting player here). Next time I make those, I’ll add powdered ginger (which goes well with dark chocolate), and maybe ground cloves or nutmeg. It’s up to you whether or not you want to spice them up.

Also, on the subject of pumpkin purée... I use canned purée. Sure, you can make your own with a real pumpkin, by roasting the flesh and processing the heck out of it. I’ve done it once. Once. Now, I stick to unsweetened canned pumpkin purée, such as Libby’s – with only pumpkin as an ingredient, what’s not to love? It’s so much easier that making your own purée, and you can stockpile it to use in seasons other than fall.

1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup white sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp milk (lactose-free if you want)
1 Tbsp vanilla
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven at 350 °F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or grease them.
Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg.
In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt.
Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in.




Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
Add vanilla and chocolate chips.



Drop by spoonful on the baking sheets and bake for approximately 10-15 minutes or until lightly brown and firm. (Go by the look of the cookies rather than the baking time.)

The Woman on Page 194

I've had this bookmarked for a while and I meant to write about it sooner.

A few months ago, the September issue of Glamour hit newsstands. In that issue was a picture that sparked so many positive comments that it started somewhat of a revolution. It’s a picture of Lizzi Miller, who at a size 12-14 (an average body-size, really), is a plus-size model. But this picture shows her stomach hanging. And it’s what most women out there look like, but it’s never really been shown in the media before.

I just wanted to say how much I like that picture, and I hope that more magazines follow suit by representing a wider range of body types. This woman is clearly beautiful, and she’s not stick-thin. Score one for the normal girls!

Gâteau au chocolat sans cholestérol

Bon, j’avais de très bonnes intentions avec ce gâteau. Il s’agit d’un excellent gâteau au chocolat, facile et rapide à faire, qui ne m’avait jamais donné de fil à retordre. Mais pour une raison quelconque, ce n’était pas ma soirée. Le gâteau a un peu trop cuit sur les bords et s’est défait lors du démoulage (ce qui ne m’était jamais arrivé auparavant avec cette recette). Pourtant, j’ai utilisé les mêmes ingrédients (sans substitutions de marques ou quoi que ce soit), et habituellement, notre four chauffe un peu moins que les autres, alors je ne vois pas ce qui s’est passé. De plus, sans lumière du jour, je n’ai pas de belles photos à présenter. Mais j’ai décidé de vous donner la recette quand même, parce qu’en temps normal, ça vaut vraiment la peine de le faire; le gâteau est vraiment très bon. J’ai modifié un peu la recette en ajoutant du papier au fond du moule, ce qui devrait donc empêcher le gâteau de se défaire (même si, vraiment, ça n’est arrivé que ce soir-là). Le glaçage est facultatif aussi, mais je l’aime bien parce qu’il ne contient pas de produits laitiers (et cette fois-ci, il m’a servi à masquer le fait que mon gâteau était en morceaux détachés!).

Pour le gâteau
1 tasse d’eau chaude
½ tasse de cacao
1 ½ tasse de farine tout-usage
1 tasse de sucre granulé
¾ c. à thé de bicarbonate de soude
½ c. à thé de sel
½ tasse d’huile de tournesol ou de canola
1 c. à soupe de vanille
2 c. à thé de vinaigre blanc distillé

Pour le glaçage
2 oz de chocolat noir, haché
½ tasse de sucre en poudre
2 c. à soupe d’eau

Préchauffer le four à 375 °F. Graisser un moule à gâteau de 8 pouces de diamètre; mettre du papier ciré au fond et graisser de nouveau.

Dans un petit bol, fouetter ensemble l’eau chaude et le cacao.



Dans un grand bol, mélanger la farine, le sucre, le bicarbonate de soude et le sel. Faire un puits au centre. Ajouter le mélange de cacao, l’huile et la vanille. Fouetter jusqu’à obtention d’une pâte lisse. Ajouter le vinaigre et fouetter. Mettre la pâte dans le moule.



Faire cuire jusqu’à ce qu’un cure-dents en ressorte propre, environ 30 à 35 minutes. Laisser refroidir sur une grille 20 minutes. Démouler et laisser refroidir complètement.



Pour faire le glaçage, faire fondre le chocolat noir; laisser refroidir un peu. Fouetter ensemble le sucre en poudre et l’eau. Ajouter le chocolat en un mince filet et fouetter jusqu’à obtention d’une texture lisse et épaisse, environ 1 minute. Glacer immédiatement le gâteau.

Roasted Tomato and Onion Tart

As you might guess, I have a long list of bookmarked websites with recipes that I want to try (along with a small pile of paper recipes in my kitchen). I was pretty proud of myself here, because I managed to combine three of them in this one dish. I used Clotilde Dusoulier’s Easy Olive Oil Tart Crust and David Lebovitz’z Aïoli as a base for a roasted tomato and onion tart. The tart called for garlic and mayonnaise, which I replaced with just aïoli.

I should mention first that I made the aïoli in the food processor. It may not be authentic, but it’s damn easy. Also, please take the instructions seriously when they say to start with only half of the garlic you have crushed. I decided to use all of it at once, since I like garlic and it didn’t seem like much. What could happen, right? Well, it was the most potent aïoli ever. Like, nuclear garlic flavour. So I ended up being stingy with it in the tart – and wouldn’t you know it, the taste was almost lost in it. The same later happened with some aïoli I had put in a ham-cheese-alfalfa, it really didn’t taste as strongly once it was mixed with other things.

Also, I did find that the tomatoes were a little watery in the tart. It’s possible that I should have let them roast longer, or maybe extra aïoli (substituting for the mayonnaise in the original recipe) would have helped. In fact, that may be why the recipe called for what seemed like an obscene amount of mayonnaise (2/3 cup). I’ll write a lesser amount in the recipe, but know that you should probably use more than I did in the pictures.


For the crust
250 grams (about 2 cups) light whole wheat flour, or a 50/50 mix of all-purpose and whole wheat
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp dried herbs (I used thyme)
¼ cup olive oil
½ cup cold water

Grease the tart pan lightly if it doesn't have a nonstick coating.
Combine the flour, salt, and herbs in a medium mixing bowl. Add the oil and mix it in with a fork. Add the water, mix with the fork until it is absorbed, then knead lightly until the dough comes together into a ball.
Turn the dough out on a lightly floured work surface. Sprinkle a little flour on the ball of dough and on the rolling pin, and roll the dough out into a circle large enough to fit your tart pan.
Transfer the dough carefully into the prepared pan and line it neatly. Place the pan in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.


For the aïoli
2-3 cloves of garlic (preferably fresh)
½ tsp salt
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil (you can substitute canola if you wish)

Crush the garlic cloves with the salt in a mortar or deep bowl until you have a smooth paste. Take out some of it as it may be too much; you can add it back later.
Put the remaining paste in the food processor along with the egg yolk and process.
Add the oil to the egg and garlic mixture starting very slowly, drop by drop. You can use a spout in an olive oil bottle to regulate the flow, but you can also drip the oil in from a spoon. As the mayonnaise thickens, continue to add the oil in a very thin stream. Continue until all the oil has been incorporated. (If it gets too thick you can dilute it slightly with a tablespoon of warm water - don't add more oil, it will just get thicker.)
Taste, and add more of the garlic, if desired.






For the tart
1 ½ lbs sliced tomatoes (4 medium)
3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 slices thick slab bacon
10-12 basil leaves, shredded
2 cups sharp white cheddar, grated (lactose-free if you want)
2/3 cup gruyère, grated (lactose-free if you want)
1/2 cup mayonnaise, good quality (or aïoli, but then omit the garlic cloves)
fresh ground pepper
basic pastry dough for one tart

Preheat oven to 400 °F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Core tomatoes, then slice them into ½-inch thick slices and lay them on the baking sheet. Thinly slice the onion and lay it on the other half of the baking sheet. Drizzle the oil evenly on top of the onion and tomatoes, baking them until wilted and slightly browned. This takes about 30 minutes. Set aside.
Cook your bacon, removing when crisp. Dry on paper towels and break up into 1-inch pieces.




Sprinkle the cheddar cheese on the tart shell. Layer tomatoes, overlapping them on top, and then scatter the onion on the tomatoes. Sprinkle the garlic on top, if using, along with the bacon bits. Sprinkle the basil on top.




Whip the mayonnaise or aïoli until light and spreadable. Place dollops evenly on the tart and spread to cover. Sprinkle the gruyere on top of the mayonnaise and bake in a 400 °F oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until the top is a golden brown. Let cool for about 10 minutes, remove the ring and serve.

Crunchy Oven-Baked Pork Chops

I tend to love recipes like these, where a classic (like fried pork chops) is tweaked to make it healthier (baked instead of fried). This recipe, though, was the best one I’ve tried yet. I got it on Baking Bites, but it is adapted from a recipe created by America’s Test Kitchen (the Engineer’s favourite reference). It was really good, perfectly crispy and well seasoned.

I used thinner pork chops than what the recipe calls for, so I reduced the cooking time accordingly. Feel free to use different cuts of meat (and I think this would work quite well with chicken breast, too). I also used 12-grain bread, not white sandwich bread, but the result was quite good. Finally, I used a grill rack instead of a cooling rack, so I should have greased it a bit more (some of the coating stuck to it).

3 cloves garlic
1 large shallot
4 slices of sandwich bread
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
salt and pepper, to taste
½ cup all-purpose flour
3 large egg whites
3 Tbsp Dijon mustard
6 Tbsp all-purpose flour
4 ¾-inch thick boneless pork chops

Preheat oven to 350 °F.

In a food processor, whizz garlic and shallot until very finely chopped.
Break sandwich bread up into large chunks. Add bread to the food processor, along with the garlic and shallot, and pulse bread until uniform crumbs form. Add vegetable oil, salt and pepper and pulse a few more times to mix well.

Spread crumb mixture into an even layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring once, until crumbs are a dark golden brown. They will not brown much once they are on the pork chops, so aim for a very deep brown.
Set aside to cool for 10-15 minutes.



Turn oven up to 425 °F. Lightly grease a wire rack (like a cooling rack) and place on a baking sheet.
In a large dish or pie plate, place ½ cup of flour.
In a medium bowl, whisk together egg whites, Dijon mustard and additional 6 Tbsp flour until a smooth batter forms. Pour into another large dish or pie plate.
Place cooled breadcrumbs into a third dish or pie plate.



Pat pork chops dry with a paper towel and trim off any excess fat. Working with one at a time, coat each completely in flour, dip into the egg batter and thoroughly coat with crumbs. Make sure to coat all sides of the meat. Use tongs if you don’t want your hands to get too messy. Place each pork chop on the prepared, lightly greased rack.



Bake for about 25 minutes, until the pork registers 155 °F with an internal read thermometer.
Enjoy!

Pouding au riz

Il s’agit enfin de la pouding au riz dont je vous parlais. Il faudrait peut-être l’appeler « pouding au riz francophone », par opposition à ce à quoi les anglophones semblent être habitués (comme chez Murray’s). Mais pour moi, c’est la pouding au riz de ma mère (et pour ma mère, c’est la pouding au riz de sa tante Raymonde). Je mets « pouding » au féminin parce que c’est toujours comme ça qu’on a appelé ce dessert, mais les puristes pourront dire « le pouding au riz de tante Raymonde » s’ils veulent.

C’était la première fois que j’en faisais, et je l’ai trouvée un peu moins moelleuse que d’habitude; j’aurais peut-être dû mettre un peu plus de lait (sans lactose, bien sûr). De plus, je l’ai toujours mangée avec des raisins secs bruns, mais tout ce que j’avais ce jour-là, c’était des raisins dorés. L’apparence est différente, mais le goût doit être semblable. J’aime servir cette pouding tiède avec du sirop d’érable, mais l’Ingénieur la préfère froide et nature.

½ tasse de riz à grains longs (comme du Uncle Ben’s)
1 ½ tasse d’eau
1 ¼ tasse de lait entier
1 jaune d’œuf
1/3 tasse de sucre
1/3 tasse de raisins secs
1 pincée de muscade

Dans un chaudron à fond épais, porter le riz et l’eau à ébullition, puis mijoter à feu très doux, couvert, jusqu’à ce que le riz soit cuit et que l’eau soit absorbée, de 20 à 25 minutes. (Donc en gros, suivez les instructions sur l’emballage de riz.)

Dans un bol, mélanger le lait, le jaune d’œuf, le sucre, les raisins secs et la muscade.



Verser sur le riz cuit et mélanger.



Porter à ébullition en mélangeant constamment, puis ôter du feu et laisser reposer, couvert, une heure.

Quinoa aux carottes et aux pois

Je tiens cette recette de ma mère, qui l’a probablement prise dans un livre d’Anne Lindsay. J’adore cette façon d’apprêter le quinoa!

1 c. à table d’huile d’olive
½ oignon, haché
1 branche de céleri, coupée en dés
2 carottes, pelées et hachées finement
½ tasse de quinoa
1 tasse de bouillon de poulet
1 feuille de laurier
zeste râpé d’un citron
1 c. à table de jus de citron
½ tasse de petits pois surgelés



Chauffer l’huile à feu moyen dans une casserole antiadhésive. Y cuire l’oignon, le céleri et les carottes 10 minutes en remuant de temps à autre.

Rincer le quinoa dans un tamis sous l’eau froide. Bien égoutter et mettre dans la casserole. Cuire 1 minute en remuant.




Ajouter le bouillon, la feuille de laurier, le zeste et le jus de citron.



Porter à ébullition. Réduire le feu à mi-doux, couvrir et laisser mijoter de 15 à 20 minutes ou jusqu’à ce que le liquide soit absorbé et que le quinoa soit tendre. Jeter la feuille de laurier. Incorporer les petits pois, puis saler et poivrer au goût.

Lazy Creamy Pasta

I was a little surprised as to how this dish came out. The paprika coloured the sauce more than I was expecting, and the sauce was also a bit runnier, even though I’d upped the amount of flour. Then again, I must confess that I used a saucepan instead of a frying pan. It was a reflex, since I was making sauce, but I realize that may be the problem. So I’ll give you the recipe as it appeared on The Kitchn and I’ll let you see for yourselves. It was a good recipe, though, just not quite the creaminess I was expecting.

1 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk
4 oz sausage, uncooked
3 cloves garlic
1 small onion
1 medium tomato
8 oz penne (or your favourite short pasta; I used gemelli)
1 Tbsp mustard
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
½ tsp paprika (sweet or smoked)
pinch of salt

Put water on the stove to boil.
Mix flour and milk. Set aside.
Chop sausage into bite size pieces (about ½-inch cubes). Chop onion and tomato. Mince garlic.

Water should be boiling now. Add penne.
Sauté sausage until cooked, about 1 or 2 minutes. Set aside.




Cook garlic and onion in the same pan. If the sausage did not leave sufficient fat in the pan, add about ½ Tbsp of olive oil or butter (fat is necessary to thicken the sauce).

After 2 or 3 minutes (when onion is soft and garlic is just browning), add tomato and cook for about 1 minute more.
Add mustard, balsamic vinegar, and paprika to pan and stir for a moment.
Add milk and flour mixture. Stir until sauce is thickened.
Add salt to taste.

Drain penne. Mix with sauce and serve.

Zero8

We finally went to Zero8 (on St-Denis) last Tuesday. For those of you who haven’t heard, Zero8 is a restaurant that has zero of the eight major allergens (no wheat/gluten, no fish/seafood, no milk/lactose, no eggs, no soy, no nuts, no peanuts, and no sesame). You might be wondering what’s left, but really, a lot of this cuisine is about substitution. I do it to a certain point when I cook lactose-free, but this restaurant just does it for a lot more. For example, the pasta is made with corn flour, not wheat or other gluten-containing grains.

The Engineer and I were with our good friends R. and J. R. is allergic to fish, seafood, nuts and peanuts, and I am lactose-intolerant, as you know. R. found it very refreshing to be able to eat out without worrying about sudden death, and I loved not having to pick from the menu based solely on how much lactose might be in the dish. For example, I was able to eat risotto without a care in the world!

We tasted the smoked duck with caramelized onions (delicious) as well as an exquisite cream of green onions and curry (cream-less, of course). And there were thin slices of gluten-free toasted bread. I then had the grilled duck steak (predictable) with squash purée and mushroom-shallot risotto, all of which was very good; the Engineer had the duck Sheppard’s pie (that’s with potatoes, not pot-pie style). R. had the braised beef short-rib and mashed potatoes, with meat practically falling off the bone, while J. had a New-York steak with fries. Great fries, by the way, and we all loved our meals.

For dessert, we tried the apple cake and the lava chocolate cake. I have to say they didn’t quite get the “lava” part right, but there was a dab of moist in the center, made with coconut milk. The crumb had either corn or rice flour; it was very good, even for those of us who can eat gluten.

I really loved this restaurant, and I hope that others will go try it. It’s got a great location and hip décor. Were it just because of the attention to the lack of major allergens, I would hope it stays in business for a long, long time, but it’s worth going just for the food even if you don’t have dietary restrictions.

There is a take-out service, too, for those of you who are interested.

A kohlrabi salad and some a-ha moments

So last weekend, as you saw, we did some reorganizing in the kitchen. Also, the Engineer made a Dutch apple pie with the last of the apples.



We also went to the movies and, while we were downtown, decided to poke our heads into Mourrelatos to see if they had fresh cranberries for the sauce I was going to make. Now, downtown isn’t exactly known as a place to find good cooking ingredients, but this was on our way home, so it was worth a shot. And wouldn’t you know it, they had some. But they also had a TON of other stuff! It is both terribly frustrating as well as eerily thrilling whenever we realize that just about any grocery store we walk into is, by leaps and bounds, better than our local Metro. That’s an a-ha moment right there – we need to go shop further away from home if we are to find anything interesting.



So Mourrelatos had ingredients for which I had been looking for a long time. Including kohlrabi. This might seem weird, but I had read about a kohlrabi salad on Orangette, and it looked so good that I decided to keep an eye out for it. I got really excited when I saw it, and the Engineer looked at me, dumbfounded. It is a strange-looking vegetable, I’ll grant you that. About a dozen times, I saw something else that I wanted to grab, and I had the willpower to put it back in the shelf. Is it sad that the only impulse items that made it into my basket were kohlrabi, rice paper and roasted salted soy beans?

I’ll reproduce Molly Wizenberg’s recipe for kohlrabi salad (I used three kohlrabi bulbs instead of two, so I added a carrot). Also, I must say that the dressing for this is really divine! And please forgive the metal bowl in the pictures. I realize now that one of my pictures looks like hers, but really, those bowls were just the handiest thing I had at the time (since I had just found an accessible place for them and cleaned them properly).

And while making this salad, I had a major a-ha moment. I had trimmed and peeled the kohlrabi bulbs and was thinking to myself, “These are too hard for my mandoline, but if I cut them by hand, the pieces won’t be small enough. Why don’t I just try to julienne them using the attachment on my food processor?” So I did. And oh, my, God. Three seconds and I was done. I had never used my food processor to its full potential before. I had always grated everything by hand, because I thought it was less hassle (and fewer dishes to clean). But now, no more hand-granted potato latkes for me! It’s the food processor or nothing.

2 medium red or green kohlrabi bulbs
1 large carrot, peeled
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
½ tsp kosher salt, or more to taste
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 small garlic clove, minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 cups pea shoots (optional; I did not use them)

Trim away any stems from the kohlrabi bulb. Using a sharp chef’s knife or a sharp vegetable peeler, cut and discard away its tough outer skin. Then julienne the kohlrabi, using a mandoline, the same sharp knife or a food processor. Julienne the carrot too.




In a small dry skillet, toast the fennel seeds over medium heat until they begin to brown slightly and smell toasty. Transfer them to a mortar and pestle or spice grinder, and grind them into a coarse powder.

In a small bowl, combine the fennel seeds, vinegar, salt, pepper, and garlic. Slowly whisk in the olive oil and sesame oil. Pour over the vegetables and toss to coat. Taste, and add more salt, if needed.



Chop the pea shoots, if using, into 1-inch pieces and toss into the salad immediately before serving.

Organisation de la cuisine

Je veux partager un petit billet sur l’organisation de la cuisine (je pense en faire d’autres pour d’autres pièces éventuellement). Par pur hasard, il se trouve que Lucie, d’Estomac sur deux pattes, a parlé de la même chose tout récemment. Je trouve son billet excellent, notamment parce que c’est vrai que quand on tente de chercher des trucs de rangement sur Internet, on se fait dire de deux choses l’une : soit débarrassez-vous de vos objets, soit engagez un organisateur professionnel. Je vais en parler un peu plus ici, quitte à recycler une partie du commentaire que j’ai laissé sur son blogue.

C’est vrai que toute bonne réorganisation doit commencer par l’élagage du superflu. Mais une fois passée cette étape, il faut ranger le reste. Et quand on est une personne qui cuisine, veux-veux pas, on a besoin de garder beaucoup d’ustensiles. Oui, j’ai besoin de deux assiettes à tarte (une profonde, une plus large, et puis mon moule à tarte à fond amovible aussi), de certains moules à gâteaux de base, d’ustensiles, etc. Non, je ne vais pas me limiter à toujours cuisiner tout un souper avec juste un chaudron. Même un truc dont je ne me sers qu’une fois par année, si je m’en sers, je le garde. Puis pour l’organisateur professionnel, personnellement, je ne crois pas que ce soit pour moi (je suis déjà quelqu’un de très organisée, et parfois, c’est juste d’un peu d’inspiration que j’ai besoin, pas d’aide professionnelle, surtout que ce n’est pas donné).

Tout ça pour dire que l’Ingénieur et moi avons fait quelques petites améliorations à notre cuisine en fin de semaine passée. On l’avait déjà fait à petite échelle au cours de la dernière année. En particulier pour le tiroir où nous gardons tous nos ustensiles de cuisine, qui était plein à craquer. On a commencé par se débarrasser du superflu (vraiment, c'était peu). Ensuite, on a fait un petit exercice de « relocalisation » : on a donc mis des ustensiles (louche, spatule, cuillère à spaghetti...) sur des crochets installés dans la porte d'armoire sous le comptoir (logique, car on y garde nos poêles et casseroles, dont on se sert avec lesdits ustensiles); et on a mis des clous sur le mur au-dessus du comptoir pour accrocher certains petits ustensiles utilisés très fréquemment (couteau économe, cuillères à mesurer, zesteur, roulette à pizza...). On a maintenant beaucoup plus de place dans le tiroir.




En fin de semaine, on a réussi tout un exploit : libérer la table de cuisine. Vous vous en rappellerez, dans les photos de repas sur ce blogue, elle était toujours jonchée de papiers. C’est que j’ai une pile de recettes que je veux faire, et j’insiste pour les garder sous les yeux et à portée de la main (si je les range quelque part, je vais les oublier et je finirai par ne pas les faire). De plus, j’ai souvent un magazine sur la table, que je lis au dîner (alors que l’Ingénieur travaille à l’extérieur de la maison). Ce n’était pas l’idéal, c’est certain, mais je ne voyais pas où d’autre les mettre. Or, sur une petite bibliothèque à côté de la table, il y avait mon système de son, que j’utilisais pour écouter la radio le matin et parfois pour faire jouer un disque quand je cuisinais (un autre billet là-dessus à venir). Mais comme vous le savez, j’écoute maintenant la radio sur Internet (que ce soit CFRB ou CISM). Et je peux quand même écouter mes CD soit sur le petit système de son du bureau (qui pivote facilement vers la cuisine), soit sur l’ordi lui-même. L’Ingénieur m’a donc convaincue de libérer cette tablette et d’y mettre mes papiers. Ils sont quand même sous mes yeux et à portée de la main, mais la table est libérée. Quel soulagement!



De plus, on a enfin trouvé où mettre les culs de poule : sur le frigo, avec le présentoir à gâteau et le moule à pizza à croûte épaisse (14 pouces de diamètre). Le wok, qui était auparavant sur le frigo, est maintenant en haut des armoires (l’Ingénieur peut l’atteindre sur le bout des pieds, et il s’en sert plus que moi de toute façon).



On peut aussi se servir de choses qui sont ailleurs dans la maison pour s'aider. Par exemple, j'avais l'habitude de ranger mes planches à découper les unes par-dessus les autres, à l'horizontale. D'une part, ce n'est pas idéal côté entreposage (surtout si celles en bois sont encore un peu humides quand on les range, puisque l'air ne circule pas) et, d'autre part, ce n'était nettement pas pratique de sortir celle du dessous pour s'en servir. J'ai fini par utiliser un dispositif de bureau, conçu pour séparer des piles de papier en plusieurs sections verticales. Maintenant, il sépare mes planches à découper.



Sinon, côté « trucs de rangement » sans élagage obligatoire, je pourrais passer des heures sur The Container Store. À noter que la livraison au Canada peut être chère; par contre, certains de leur produits sont vendus dans des magasins au Québec (la collection Umbra est vendue entre autres chez Zone, par exemple). Ça donne des idées, et on prend conscience du fait que parfois, il suffit de quelque chose de beau pour contenir les traîneries pour que celles-ci paraissent bien (même si elles y sont encore). Peter Walsh est également plein de bonnes idées sur le sujet.

J’espère que ça pourra vous inspirer un peu si vous voulez faire des changements simples dans votre cuisine.