After more than 3 decades of cooking, I can advise anyone of the right piece of equipment, kitchen tool, gadget and appliance to use in any form of cooking.  I can also assist with kitchens styles (my kitchen pictured) and what works well in a newly designed kitchen, as from my experience running a bed & breakfast I know what works well where!

Kitchenaid stand mixer – If you are fortunate enough to own one, this will suffice for many other items you could purchase, waste money and bench or cupboard storage space on.  Below is a list of things your wonder machine can do and help you with your cooking.

1. Cakes – Beating the eggs, sugar and flour together to obtain a smooth mixture as in my Lemon polenta cakes with lemon icing and Delicious jam drops and of course my Passionfruit melting moments
2. The best Pavlova recipe ever! – I have made my best pavlovas since having my Kitchenaid mixer -whipping those egg whites into a stiff lovely foam.
3. Pasta Classes – I use my pasta attachment all the time, it saves having to worry about the right size bench to attach the hand machine onto.
4. Twice baked gruyere cheese souffles – Again my best prize souffles come from whipping the egg whites perfectly, and then the blending in of the cheese and yolks.
5. Mincer – If you are keen to use healthy lean meat for mince, the mincer attachment is wonderful.
6. Ice cream maker – I don’t have this attachment, but I hear from friends it is wonderful.  (I do have a separate ice cream maker I will mention later)

Le Creuset cast iron casseroles – I adore my Le Creuset pans, I use them nearly every day!  I have four in different sizes and shapes (but they are all cherry red…is there any other colour for me?) and here are some of the things I use them for:-

1. I use my oval pan on the stove top and in the oven for lamb shank stewing, beef curries and stews, chicken curries and even to fry my steaks and chops in, as they have high sides and save me some grief with cleaning the stovetop after frying.
2. I use my large oval pan for baking oblong loaves of bread – preheated at the highest temperature your oven can reach, these pans give the home bread baker the crispy crust only usually obtainable by commercial bakers ovens…they are the best for this!
3. I use my round pan for the same reason, bread baking an oval miche syle loaf, and larger amounts of curries and casseroles when I have a crowd to feed.  Also of course a big steaming batch of minestrone or other soup in wintertime is beautifully browned, and then cooked in the Le Creuset.
4. Baking chickens and roasts in the oven, I generally sear the outside first on the stovetop and transfer for the remainder of the cooking time to the oven.  I often use my wide, low pan for this.
5. Cleaning – they area  dream to clean, even baked on food will come off without much effort after a soak and a light scrub.

Bamix Hand Blender – Gone are the days when we had to pour a load of hot steaming soup into a blender to achieve a smooth consistency.  Not only was it difficult transferring all that soup to and fro, with extra pots needed in-between, but often dangerous with the splashes and splatters that often happened during the process.  Now with the hand blender just pop it into you soup pot and blend the soup up to the desired consistency.

It is also great for quick whipping of cream, or mayonnaise.

Kitchenaid Food Processor – I can’t do without this machine!  I use it as much as I use the cast iron casseroles!   It comes with a different set of cutting blades, I use it for my delicious Baba Ganoush, for making a batch of easy Chocolate Shortbread cookies for coleslaw with the shredder blade, or shredded cabbage for Chinese dishes and Italian soups.  The slicer is great for quick slicing of carrots and longer shaped vegetables.  I also use it to make pesto, when my vegetable garden has an abundance of it in summertime, as it has three different sized bowls, for large and smaller quantities.

It great for making scones, and especially for the pastry in my Gruyere and asparagus tart, its easy and very efficient in obtaining a great result. 

Mandoline – As I have quite a large family and degustation lunches I am often cooking for, this little gadget is unbeatable for quickly slicing of potatoes for potato bakes, as in my recipe for Drunken Potatoes .  There is also a shredder attachment which is great for carrots and cabbage for a quick coleslaw or salad dish.  I love the ease of clean up too!

Please remember to use the guard I have seen some nasty accidents as the blades are razor sharp.

Videos coming……………………….