Hello Kitchen Design

Here's a look at a Hello Kitchen project that's about to begin construction! 

Peggy's 1950 brick farmhouse is in a small town about two hours outside of Austin, and though it's her hometown, she is currently living in the Middle East. Peggy is an adventurous traveler and has accumulated a great variety of objects, servingware, and European appliances through her travels. She cooks a lot and especially loves to bake.

This was such a fun design project for me to begin last fall. Peggy had a few requirements and ideas, but was otherwise open to the design process and seeing what evolved. We corresponded mostly through email, and her builder, Shayne, helped by sending me some as-built measurements of the existing kitchen.  

The final design is a blend of interesting textures, deep colors, and natural materials - I think we were most inspired by the idea of a copper farmhouse sink, which is such a beautiful object and the centerpiece for the kitchen. Here is how the finishes have come together:

Probably the world's most popular food, the pizza takes on a proprietary characteristic to everyone who partakes. No matter how distant we may be from Napoli (pizza's hometown), we all have our favorite take on crust, toppings, and tomato sauce. And somehow, we all truly believe, deep down, that we have found the holy grail of pizzas, right in our own hometown. Whether it's a humble joint in a strip mall in Kalamazoo or the real deal in New Haven, we all believe we've found the best. 

I am no exception to this rule. I truly believe that I make the best pizza, hands down. Really - it's magical. Anyone who's had it will attest to this. Now, sometimes my results vary - the crust burns, or the dough gets too chewy from the humidity. Or my experimental potato pizza is adorned with not-quite-cooked potatoes. Or, in the final, harrowing step of removing the pizza from the stone in the oven, the super-thin dough develops a fissure, and the whole operation begins to quickly melt to the surface. But, generally, the final results are excellent. Even if they are in pieces.

To illustrate this example: about a month ago, I decided at the last minute to make pizza, so I mixed together the yeast, water, & oil to the usual proportions and got ready to add the flour. Only then did I discover that I had about 1/2 the flour I needed - so I guesstimated the underage, threw out half of the yeast water, and started mixing the dough. Of course, the ratio of water to flour was still to high, and I ended up with a sticky mess of a dough. Oh well, I thought, and put it in the bowl to rise anyway. One hour later the dough had barely risen, and the process of flattening it out was akin to shaping peanut butter into a ball with your bare hands - it just wasn't happening.

So I called Rick for an emergency pizza solution, and he picked one up from a local pizzeria on the way home from work. My mess of a pizza came off the stone right about the same time, so we had the opportunity to taste test... and much to my surprise, mine had more amplitude in all directions - crispy, salty, sweet, juicy, acidic. The failure was a triumph, after all.

Last night I had much more success - a solid arsenal of ingredients, some excellent topping options, and the right head-space to construct. I've made plenty of variations on this pizza theme over the last 10 years or so, but this particular blend of toppings packed a lot of punch. And, befitting of winter-time, the recipe is not dependent on farm-fresh ingredients. Roma tomatoes and the chosen herbs are generally available year-round, and the sausage and olives are cured and readily available. 

So (drumroll)... behold, the recipe for the best pizza of all time!! (results may vary due to affects of humidity, quality of ingredients, air temperature, dough-handler hand-temperature, hotness of oven, and individual taste buds). Enjoy!

for dough: (adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison)

1-pkg active dry yeast (about 2 tsp)

3/4 c. warm water

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 1/2 cups unbleached flour

cornmeal (to keep dough from sticking - picture them as tiny ball-bearings)

for topping:

3 large roma tomatoes, sliced crosswise into 1/4" slices

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp olive oil

1 small cured chorizo sausage, thinly sliced

10 nicoise olives, pitted

5 picholine or green olives, pitted

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

2 tbsp grated parmesan reggiano

1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary

1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
dash of crush red pepper flakes
kosher salt to taste

Equipment:

rimless cookie sheet

pizza stone

wooden cutting board with a handle (pizza board)

1. To make dough, pour water into a mixing bowl, stir in the yeast, and set aside until foamy, about 10 minutes. Add the olive oil and salt, and beat in the whole wheat flour followed by enough white flour to form a shaggy dough. Turn it out onto the counter and kneed until smooth, adding more flour as needed to keep it from sticking. For a crisp, light crust, pizza dough should be on the moist side, which means it will be slightly tacky.

2. Put dough into an oiled bowl, turn it once to coat, then cover with a towel and set aside to rise until doubled in size, 40 to 60 minutes. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured counter, shape in to a ball, cover with a towel, and let rise for another 20 to 30 minutes.

3. Salt the tomatoes: layer three paper towels onto a counter or cutting board and lay the sliced tomatoes on the towels. Sprinkle with 1 tsp kosher salt and let sit for 30 minutes, while the dough is rising. 

4. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Sprinkle about 1 tbsp cornmeal on the cookie sheet where you will be rolling the pizza. Flatten the dough into a disk, and begin spreading it out over the cookie sheet. Use a rolling pin to shape a large pizza about 16" x 14", and push up or fold the sides to make a rim.

5. Add the toppings: brush 1 tbsp olive oil over the dough. Blot the top of the tomatoes dry with a paper towel, and arrange them on the pizza. Add the chorizo slices, olives, and cover with mozzarella and then parmesan cheese. Sprinkle herbs on top, and season with salt & red pepper flakes.

6. Bake the pizza first on the cookie sheet for 7 minutes. Carefully loosen the pizza from the sheet, and transfer to the stone. Bake for another 7 minutes, but check after 6 minutes: lift the edge of the pizza with a wide spatula - if the whole pizza lifts up, it's done. If the pizza bends in the middle, keep it in another minute, but make sure it doesn't burn!

7. Remove pizza from the oven with the pizza board. Cut slices directly on the board, distribute and eat! The first piece is usually in my mouth 45 seconds after leaving the oven!

I found these beauties at Nordstrom mid-September - they're an embellished version of the clogs that a lot chefs and food-prep folks wear to save their feet. I wear these almost everyday and love how they are somewhat dressy but are incredibly comfortable. And in the kitchen they raise me up an extra 2 inches - all the easier to reach that top shelf!


2. notNeutral Ribbons Coffee Set

This well-designed Polish porcelain set rounds out the black and white theme pervading through our house. This company offers a great selection of patterns in different colors, too. All of which will make a happy kitchen!


3. Julia Child's 'My Life in France' and 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking'
Two great books to light your cooking fires. The first trails Julia and her husband during their years abroad in Paris, Marseilles, and finally, their Provence country house 'La Pitchoune,' where she finished up her first book about French cooking. The nearly 700 page 'Mastering...' walks you through French sauces and so many other things in a clear, step-by-step explanation.


4. Staub La Theiere Teapot

I got this as a gift for Christmas 2008, but technically didn't start enjoying it until 2009. I love the color the most, but it offers the best functionality of any teapot I've owned with its secure lid and excellent pour. As a bonus, you can also use it for heating sauces. As you can see from the photo, it's well-loved.


5. Miso Paste

I didn't discover the power of miso until this year. This healthy soy product, ubiquitous in Japan, brings a sweet, nutty complex flavor to any salad dressing, marinade, or soup. Pick up some White Miso and try it in Chopped Miso Salad or Walnut Miso Noodles, and be sure to try the smokier red miso as in Miso Glazed Flank Steak or Red Miso Salmon.


And here are my favorite kitchen design ideas from 2009 (featured on the blog):

I'm very proud to feature our good friend Philip Keil as the next Guest Designer. I've known Philip about as long as I've been in Austin (14 years!) and had the pleasure working alongside him at Furman + Keil Architects before joining forces with my husband at our own firm.

Philip and his wife Stacy graciously accepted our invitation to invade their kitchen for a day, agreeing to cook a winter meal consisting mainly of local ingredients - many from their own garden. So in honor of Edible Austin's Eat Local Week, we got busy planning our menu!

Our big day began at the downtown Farmer's Market. We found most of our needed veggies, and Philip picked up sausage and homemade stock from the Dai Due butcher shop. Their winter Bockwurst, filled with Richardson Farm pork, Bastrop Cattle Company beef and spices, Meyer lemon zest and fresh chives, inspired most of the meal.

Back to Philip & Stacy's for the preparations! They live in a 1936 bungalow in south Austin, which they converted from a duplex to their own single-family residence about 10 years ago. The kitchen is a large open space that bridges the living and dining rooms. I've always loved their house for its gracious, social feeling.

First order of business: coffee for the cooks! This batch is made old school: freshly ground in an antique bean grinder and steeped in a french press. I love how the textures & patina of well-worn kitchenware bring visual interest to a modern kitchen. The red glass tiles at their backsplash also work well because of their natural varying shades.


I love that Philip & Stacy are committed to growing much of their own food, in addition to being fabulous and inventive cooks. Stacy spent many years as a professional caterer, but now prefers to treat her family and friends exclusively (lucky for us!). Not surprisingly, Philip is on the board of the Sustainable Food Center, which promotes eating & buying local in Austin.

Stacy's main question before our gathering was: what to do with all these radishes? Here's a tasty & simple way to polish them off:

Radishes, Fennel & Olives with Creamy Feta Cheese Spread
Adapted from Vegetables Every Day by Jack Bishop

15 medium radishes, leaves, stems & rootlets trimmed
4 oz feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 c. plain yogurt (we used Greek Yogurt & Honey)
1 small garlic clove
Freshly ground black pepper
1 small fennel bulb
18 kalamata olives (we used green)
4 large pita breads, cut into wedges

1. Halve the radishes lengthwise from stem to root end. Place in a large bowl of ice water for 30 minutes.
2. While the radishes are soaking, use a fork to mash the cheese, yogurt, and garlic together in a small bowl. Add pepper to taste. Place in a small serving dish & set on the serving platter.
3. Remove & discard green stem & fronds from the fennel. Remove blemished or tough layers from the bulb and remove a thick slice from the base and the triangular core. Then slick the fennel crosswise to yield 1/4 inch slices.
4. Arrange fennel & olives around cheese spread. Drain and pat dry the radishes and add to the platter. Serve w/ pita bread in a basket.

Back to the design of their kitchen: a tiny, open stair winds up to a cozy attic bedroom, where they can watch movies. The lower stair treads create a perfect gathering spot next to the kitchen. The washer & dryer are cleverly tucked beneath the stair.

While most of the cabinetry and shelves are natural birch, there are little pops of color throughout the house. Here was a fortuitous accent: storing San Pelligrino soda on the window sill, alternating the filled bottles with the empty, brings another bright red hue to the space. 

After devouring the radishes, we got busy on the pot pie filling: first was the bechamel, or white sauce, which would bind the vegetables together into a creamy filling. We sauteed butternut squash & pearl onions until browned, then parboiled the carrots, turnips & celeraic. 

we toasted to the holiday season with some aromatic Swedish schnaaps that Philip & Stacy picked up during their recent trip to Stockholm. It was a light golden aquavit that had an herbacious scent of juniper, white pepper, & rosemary. But this stuff is not for amateurs... one shot will knock you off your feet!

While the pot pie fillings simmered, Philip started on the soup. This recipe from Martha Stewart is originally more like a minestrone and includes tubetti. That would be a fine iteration, but we punched it up a few notches with the bockwurst and beef bone stock from Dai Due.

I first encountered this soup over a year ago in Allison Gaskins' kitchen (of Bungalow Redemption fame). We arrived for playgroup one day (which, for those of you who don't know, is a perfect occasion for moms to treat each other and themselves to delicious food and conversation, while tots run ad hoc around the living room) and were happy to see a huge pot of Kale, Zucchini & Cashew Soup bubbling on the stove for our eager consumption. I'm sure she had very little leftover after the invasion.

Anyway, enjoy this on your own winter day... I would imagine that rosemary could substitute as the main herb if you don't have access to basil. Just use a smaller amount (1 tsp fresh), chopped fine.

mainly because we got to buy this 16 quart pot to cook it in... our first bubbling cauldron! (FYI I found it at Mission Restaurant Supply for $25 - what a steal!)

This year I lobbied for an Italian-themed Thanksgiving meal, which won the family majority only after I assured them that it would include a turkey, stuffing and sweet potatoes. Inspired by the November issue of La Cucina Italiana (maybe my new favorite magazine to replace Gourmet), here was our menu:

We started the Brodo Wednesday morning before the big day, and it was finished by about 1pm. That left time for it to cool down so that we could handle the chicken, turkey, and ribs and remove the meat from the bone. The leftover meat was then combined with egg, parmesan, and mashed potatoes to make these croquettas, which made for a perfect Thanksgiving Eve meal!

The next morning Rick and I started the main preparations...

We sauteed the leeks and toasted the rustic bread for the stuffing...

We made the cauliflower sformato, which was an incredibly sublime dish: boiled cauliflower, wrung of its juices, is combined with bechamel, parmesan, and eggs and then baked in a casserole coated with butter & bread crumbs. 

And while the little ones were preoccupied by setting the table...

We got the turkey out of the oven!

We made the gravy in the roasting pan with the remaining roasted garlic cloves, oranges, and turkey drippings. 

The old favorites - the sweet potatoes and the green beans - came together in a flash. Now I understand why we should always include those in the menu! They're just too easy, and too tasty. In the end, it made a lovely spread...

with a sweet ending!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We run into problems with cabinet shops that do not provide accurate shop drawings. Many times, center lines are missed, proportions are off, and we end up with larger gaps between drawers (we prefer 1/8" maximum). Sometimes, the entire layout is different than what was designed. Needless to say, this is a situation we try to avoid!

So that has brought me to the option of factory made cabinets. 

This week I visited Alno Kitchens, and was very impressed with the quality of the finish and organization systems available with this line. One of the biggest advantages of a product like Alno is the factory finish. Doors and drawer fronts are available in laminate, real wood, veneer wood, lacquer and glass finishes. Which means that after it's installed, it's done! No additional expense for painting, staining, lacquering, or sealing (which can, in some cases, cost as much as the cabinet construction itself).

Alno cabinetry and fittings are constructed in Germany, if that gives you any sense of how well-engineered these things are. The horizontal gaps you see in the dark cabinet above? Those are the hand pulls, cleverly concealed but still recognizable at the top of the drawer.

Tom and Andrea Wilkinson are the husband and wife team who run Alno Austin, and they have a beautiful showroom in the Penn Field complex on South Congress. And to make my visit that much more special, they actually cooked for me in their beautiful kitchen!

Alno offers plenty of ways to organize cleanly and efficiently, such as with these above-counter systems for hanging objects and cannisters:

The drawers can be outfitted with Blum's Orga-line or with their own custom accessories. Below is a drawer with a clever pegboard and wooden dowel system - I love the simplicity and elegance of this solution:

But back to the German engineering... Alno features some of the smoothest, sound hardware elements I have ever operated. Their corner cabinet (known in layman's terms as a 'lazy susan') glides out effortlessly to present a generous surface for storing items. The upper cabinet doors slide up and out using hardware that one might expect to find on a Maserati:

Alno seems to have the market cornered with their machine-like operability, but I was glad to see that they offer some softer finishes, such as this brushed pine door in grey:

Each project begs for a different solution to cabinetry. Some clients will enjoy the process of working with an experienced cabinet maker and appreciate fine wood details that can't be obtained otherwise. Some clients know they want that lacquered, high-gloss finish that can only be achieved through factory production. And other clients will appreciate a laminate product, made of sustainable materials and available at an affordable price. I think all of them can be designed well to create a personalized, beautiful kitchen space.