Superfluous Tools

If you’re a cook you’ve got one. Maybe it takes up too much room in your cabinet or dominates a large corner of your kitchen counter, that one piece of equipment that makes your heart go a flutter, but you never really use. For some it’s one of those bread makers that were so popular in the 90’s or maybe it’s an asparagus steamer. Mine is a hand cranked vegetable food mill. I break it out every couple of months when I want to make the real Italian style pasta sauce I learned in Rome. The most difficult part of the recipe is scraping the remains of a masticated can of San Marzano plum tomatoes from the crevices of the mill. I really had no other use that thing until last week when I tried my first potato leek soup. With one more recipe under its belt, my mill has earned it’s tenure. I think we keep these pieces because they hold potential for greatness. In them we see fresh baked bread on a Sunday morning or bunches of veggies to be steamed before a summer dinner party.