Tooling Around

By Sandy Hu

Just in time for holiday cooking, Special Fork is featuring Tool Week. For the entire week Special Fork Bloggers will be blogging about their favorite kitchen tools.

And we’d like to know which are your go-to tools.  Those of you who are our fans on Facebook will be eligible for a drawing of some cool kitchen tools especially selected by Special Fork (value: $75). And don't forget to let us know what your favorite tools are.

I love kitchen tools and my utensil drawers are chock-full of them But here are my go-to choices.

Click to read more ...

Easy Ravioli – the Secret is Wonton Wrappers

By Sandy Hu

Here’s a ravioli that even cooking newbies can make because it uses wonton wrappers instead of handmade ravioli dough. You cook up a simple pumpkin-walnut filling, spoon a tablespoon between two layers of wonton wrappers, and, using your fingertip, seal with water.

Cook up your plump pillows of dough in a pot of salted boiling water for two minutes and serve with a brown butter and walnut sauce. It’s that easy.

If you keep a package of wonton wrappers and a bagful of walnuts in your freezer, and a can of pumpkin in your pantry, this dish can be your go-to meal, anytime.

Click to read more ...

Nicky’s Velvet Potatoes

By Andrew Hunter

Nicky was eating mashed potatoes before he cut his first tooth. He loved potatoes so much that we relied on them as a vehicle for his balanced nutrition.

We called him Picky Nicky in those days, which meant we needed to work really hard just to get him to open his mouth at the dinner table. Once we discovered potatoes, we began mixing in other goodies…mashed peas, carrots, broccoli, almost anything we ate got mixed into his. I’m sure he would have been mad if he knew, but what he didn’t know helped him.

Click to read more ...

Short Ribs in a Slow Cooker

By Lori Powell

On Sundays, I like to roast a chicken, brisket or something that cooks for at least a couple of hours in the oven, perfuming the whole house. I make many a meal during the week from the leftovers.

One of my favorite appliances for the weekend is a slow cooker. It’s great for cheaper cuts of meat that require slow and low cooking.

So while at the green market on Saturday morning I stopped at Fleisher’s meat market and picked up four pieces of short ribs. Short ribs are sublime and result in meltingly tender nuggets of meat, due to all of the layers of fat. And then there is the added flavor from the bone.

Click to read more ...

Turn Leftover Halloween Candy into Dinner

By Katie Barreira

In his stand-up comedy, Bill Cosby does a bit about the morning that his wife tasked him with feeding the children breakfast. His brood, seeing this changing of the guard as an opportunity, asks Dad for chocolate cake. Considering the request, Cosby ticks off the ingredients in chocolate cake…eggs, milk, wheat… “That’s nutrition!” he concludes.

And so, the giddy children sit down to a breakfast of chocolate cake. “And then,” says Cosby in his best ghost story voice, “she came downstairs.” You can guess who that she might be, and how thrilled she was to discover her little hens shoveling down dessert at 7 a.m.

Click to read more ...