Melissa Coleman - The Minimalist Kitchen: 100 Wholesome Recipes, Essential Tools, and Efficient Techniques

THE
MINIMALIST KITCHEN

MELISSA COLEMAN

Creator of The Faux Martha

THE PRACTICAL ART OF MAKING MORE WITH LESS

100 WHOLESOME RECIPES ESSENTIAL TOOLS EFFICIENT TECHNIQUES

THE
MINIMALIST KITCHEN

Contents

CHAPTER 1

The Minimalist Kitchen

THE MINIMALIST KITCHEN is as much of an art form as it is a practical cooking philosophy. From paring down your tools and ingredients, to building a successful pantry, to using efficient cooking techniques, this book will help make over the most complicated room in the housethe kitchenso that dinnertime feels doable again.

Introduction

HOW DO YOU DO IT EVERY DAY? Kevin, my husband, asked. Do what? I asked. Start with a blank document. I was a graphic designer then. Most workdays started with a +N, a new blank document.

In a lot of ways, thats what were all doing every daystarting with a new blank document, trying to make something good, maybe even something great, out of the ordinary. Somehow though, weve made ourselves believe that creating something great has to be new and novel and different. Its exhausting. And even in the process of doing simple things like making eggs, I get stabbed by the strawberry de-stemmer in the catchall kitchen gadget drawer, a tool thats done more work stabbing me than its done removing the leafy greens from the end of the strawberry. And thats when Im presented with that problem again. Theres too muchtoo many gadgets, an overflowing pantry, and the idea that in order for dinner to be great, it needs to be novel. If youre anything like me, you grab for the same things anywaysthe spatula with the sharp edge, that trusty pasta recipe, and the rice that takes less than 20 minutes to cook. The rest is just taking up space.

So to answer his question I said, There are a thousand tools in this design program, but I know a couple really well. Those are the ones I use over and over again. Thats how I know how to create.

After moving to Texas in the fourth grade, I started playing soccer, playing right up until my freshman year of college. Thats when a second knee surgery made me hang up my cleats. After watching a couple seasons, my mom learned that I played my best soccer when I was mad. Turns out, I do my best designing when Im mad, toowhen something doesnt work the way it should. I started taking it out on the kitchen, the most used yet inefficient room in the house. The strawberry destemmer was the first to go.

WHAT IS MINIMALISM?

Pare down to the essence, but dont remove the poetry.

LEONARD KOREN, Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers

Before we go any further, lets address the word minimalism. It sounds stodgy and austere, and sometimes it is. But, as Leonard Koren says, its possible to pare down without removing the poetry, the beauty. In general, a minimalist lifestyle is marked by living with less. I like to think of it as living efficiently, keeping only the essentials. My husband likes to think of it as living lean. Minimalist living exists on a spectrum and can look extremely different for a family of one to a family of six, to a person just starting out, to a person 10 years in. In a lot of ways, its like yogaa practice. Its an ongoing, active practice that manifests itself differently over time. Its ongoing, too, in that you never quite arrive. Once you clean out the front of the drawer, you notice the back. In short, minimalism is the practical application of the idea that less is more.

WHAT IS A MINIMALIST KITCHEN?

If I had to guess, the kitchen is a problem area in your home, too. Its the most used room, always outfitted with a trail of crumbs, a pile of dirty dishes, disappearing spices, and a stack of half-empty pasta bags spilling over. A minimalist kitchen wont solve the trail of crumbs or the pile of dirty dishes. Its a kitchen after all. But it will solve the pasta bag issue, plus a multitude of other issues birthed from behind the doors of the kitchen cabinets.

This is going to sound silly, but Id like to suggest that weve been thinking about the kitchen all wrong. Its a room, yes. But its also the largest closet in the house. Closets are natural troublemakers. And within the greater kitchen closet ecosystem, there are several tiny systems at workthe gadget drawer(s), the small appliance cabinet, the refrigerator, and the pantry shelves. Its no wonder dinnertime feels impossible with the complex ecosystem of the kitchen.

So, what is a minimalist kitchen? Think of it as a capsule wardrobe. If youre unfamiliar with the term, a capsule wardrobe is a closet pared down to 30 or so essential clothing items. When rearranged, you can create 100 different outfits. Now, apply the wardrobe concept to the kitchen, and you have a capsule kitchen. Its outfitted with only the essential tools and ingredients used on a regular basis. The rest goes. As with a capsule wardrobe, once you pare down, you realize all the things you can make.

So, whats a minimalist kitchen? Think of it as a capsule wardrobe ... once you pare down, you realize all the things you can make ... in the case of this book, its 100 recipes.

You can also think of a minimalist kitchen like this: In a design class in college, my professor used the sandbox analogy during a lesson on creating branding standards. If you put a child in a huge park and tell them to play, they might get a little lost and overwhelmed. But if you put them in the confines of a sandbox with a couple tools, theyll know how to play. When I was a designer, I gave myself a sandbox, too, using only the tools I knew well to create. For me, having too many choices is completely debilitating. Creating a minimalist kitchen is counterintuitive. You pare down so you can create more. Its amazing the sheer amount of things you can make in a really good sandbox. In the case of this book, its 100 recipes.

By the sound of it, you might think The Minimalist Kitchen is a book of 5-ingredient recipes, but even a book like that could make your pantry spill over. The recipes in this book vary from 3 to 20 ingredients and use the same handful of tools and ingredients but offer a wide range of flavors. With a well-stocked pantry, pared-down tools, efficient techniques, and maintenance grocery shopping, The Minimalist Kitchen creates space to cook. Practicing this method makes meal planning and cooking a doable chore. Because lets be honestcooking is a whole lot like working out. If you want a homemade meal, you have to cook.