From my Table: Quick-Candied Lemons

I’m not amazing at making pretend supper with my kids at the kitchen set, so it’s not something I ever really saw around. But one Friday I was making a glaze for a Bundt cake and I was looking for my whisk to get the lumps out, and there was the toy metal whisk in my utensils drawer — exactly where it was not supposed to be, but exactly where I needed it. (Don’t ask why, but it had actually been toiveled.) And so, we had a great glaze, and the irony of the little whisk switch was not lost on me.

We all know that creativity can come from the most unexpected places, and I try to apply that to Pesach cooking too. Because we’re more limited these days, I’m not necessarily looking for new food inspiration from a random source. Instead, I’ve been trying to find different gadgets to add to my Pesach collection each year to expand our options.

One year I found a small dehydrator for a really good price, so I decided to try it and see if I would ever even use it. Now it’s become a workhorse, making all kinds of dried fruit, which we eat and enjoy all Pesach long. Not only that, but it also opens up options of throwing dried fruit onto a tray of roasted chicken or into an interesting salad. Another year I added a blowtorch, a cool little gadget that I use to brûlée the top of lemons to serve as a sorbet garnish or other little dessert addition.

While our ingredients options might not be endless, there are definitely more applications out there that we haven’t tapped into yet — and they might just be sitting in your utensil drawer.