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Cutlery
Cutlery is an umbrella term—we’re talking knives and flatware, all the things you need to pull the food apart and eat it. Did you know this town’s a hot spot for gorgeous knives, some made right here? We’ve got a few highlights ahead of where to get your blades and how to care for them, along with tips on key utensils as well. How does that differ from cutlery? Are we just splitting hairs? Thank goodness we have sharp knives.
Steelport Knife Co.
3602 NE Sandy Blvd., Suite B, 503-498-8132, steelportknife.com.9 am–5 pm Monday–Saturday.
I’ve driven by Steelport Knife Co. no less than 300 times, but somehow the red stout building eluded me until recently. Inside, knife makers wield and sharpen steel into its final, fine-edge form, bright sparks between blade and machinery bushing like a fox tail. In five short years, co-owners Eytan Zias and Ron Khormaei have turned Steelport’s handmade knives into a must-have for the kitchen, using U.S.-forged carbon steel and handles made from Oregon maple (the wood is sourced from Goby in Oregon City). In a display case up front, you can see the knife’s evolution from raw steel to finished blade, all done on the custom machinery in the facility. The company also has its own serration machine for bread knives, the same ones used at places like Ken’s Artisan Bakery, according to Steelport operational manager Ana Khormaei. Above the machinery reads the business motto, “Craftsmanship without compromise”; these handmade pieces come with a lifetime warranty. That means you can chop for many, many meals to come with these stunners. ROBIN BACIOR.
Knife House
2637 SE Belmont St., 503-234-6397, knifehouse.com. 10 am–6 pm Monday–Friday.
The first time Eytan Zias visited Portland, it was just supposed to be a weekend trip. Quickly, though, he and his wife decided to move up from Phoenix and bring a second location of his shop, the Knife House, with them. Over the past decade-plus, the full-service knife shop has shifted from industry forward to attracting a mix of restaurant and recreational chefs (“the pandemic sped up more home cooks,” Zias says). Zias, who is also the head blade maker over at Steelport Knife Co., sells knives only in person, making sure people know exactly what they’re getting from him and his team (all former chefs and knife makers). You’ll find roughly 600 to 700 knives on the wall at a time. Though the shop primarily carries Japanese imported knives, the inventory is always rotating. Carbon steel, stainless, traditional Japanese single bevel—take your pick. And you’ll find more than your future knife—the store’s flow moves counterclockwise in anticipation of a chef’s needed goods, starting with knife rolls, into tools (think tongs and microplanes), then over to knives, followed by stones for sharpening. And if you’re intrigued but intimidated, think about signing up for a class or two on how to wield and care for your knife, currently hosted over at Steelport. ROBIN BACIOR.
Canoe
1233 SW 10th Ave., 503-889-8545, canoe.design. 11 am–6 pm Tuesday–Saturday,noon–5 pm Sunday.
If you’ve ever visited Canoe, you know the aesthetic feels dialed—minimalist, sleek, but not in any icy kind of way. But for owners Sean Igo and Craig Olson, it’s not a question of style. “We consider ‘modern’ to be more of an approach rather than a style,” Olson says. “We’re drawn to products that are direct, practical and long-lasting.” They’re beautiful, too, often Japanese or Scandinavian in origin, but not strictly. The modest-sized store offers a wide variety: hinoki wooden bath pieces, an apothecary of lotions and washes, well-crafted simple jewelry and, of course, kitchenware. You can find Goyon-Chazeau French knives made with Sandvik steel and natural wood handles, or Cutipol Goa flatware out of Northern Portugal, equipped with black acetal handles. The goods are not cheap, “but they reflect our philosophy of ‘buy less but better,’ which we think is a more mindful way of being a consumer,” Olson says. “The idea is to avoid buying trendy, inexpensive stuff that maybe gets tossed in the trash in a couple of years, and instead spend a bit more on something you can keep for a lifetime. Not everyone has the budget to buy everything at once, but there is a certain satisfaction in collecting items slowly.” ROBIN BACIOR.
Acre Forge
10405 N Macrum Ave., acreforge.co.
Chopping food with the same knives that Portland chefs Kasey Mills of Sesame Collective and Alexa Numkena-Anderson of Javelina use might not get you precisely the same results in the kitchen, but it couldn’t hurt. Both chefs have used knives from Acre Forge, a St. Johns production facility where traditional Japanese knife making meets the materials of the Pacific Northwest. There’s no brick-and-mortar location to see Acre’s wares, but the website is stacked, plus interested customers can schedule an appointment to see the knives in person at the headquarters. Jamison Chopp—what a name for a bladesmith!—is one of the six knife makers at Acre, which opened in 2023. Chopp’s collection ranges from a 4-inch stainless steel paring knife ($350) to his 7.5-inch Damascus knife for cutting beef ($1,875). Investing in a high-quality knife really makes a difference, Chopp says. “If cooking is a little less frustrating and you’re saving 10 minutes every time you prep a meal, that adds up.” RACHEL SASLOW.
Sea2Spoons
There’s a misapprehension that Sea2Spoons, the wooden utensils (and bowls) made by Stephen Mallinson, are made of driftwood from the sea. But the wood is local and mostly found—cherry, maple, ash, things Mallinson finds in his Southeast neighborhood, or close by on Facebook Marketplace. “I’m not as ambitious with my chain saw as I used to be,” he laughs. The sea in the name comes from his former career as a commercial fisherman, something he did for 44 years. In the past decade, he began working on spoons with some inherited tools, finishing bags of them during downtime on the boat. Now he’s retired with far more time, selling his work at the Vancouver and Hollywood farmers markets about every other week (he’s currently on the waitlist for the Milkwaukie market). The spoons feel handmade, made for the hand—lightweight and easy to maneuver as you’re flipping eggs, stirring veggies, or folding in cheeses. The spatulas and paddles have just enough of a curve to serve, but are not too rigid to cook with. Most spoons average around $25, butter spreaders are $10, and one of Mallinson’s favorites, the perfect oatmeal spoon, comes in at $15. But Mallinson’s not doing it for the money. “It’s very, what’s the word, cathartic?” he says. “All the shit that’s going on in your life, your taxes and bills, just disappear because you’re just out here dealing with this wood. I remember the damnedest shit, stuff I haven’t thought about in 60 years. It’s like your mind is so free from the burdens of life that these memories come.” ROBIN BACIOR.
Pantry Pointer: How to Take Care of Your Knives
The first thing I ask Genevieve St. Charles, founder of Kneighborhood Knives (425-449-6144, kneighborhoodknives.com), is whether it’s true that dull knives are more dangerous than sharp ones. “The injury you’d get from a dull knife is worse,” she says. “My experience is, you cut yourself with a sharp knife, but it’s more minor because you’re not putting as much pressure behind the knife.” That’s the first lesson. St. Charles knows how to wield knives—what started as a sharpening pop-up in New Seasons has turned into Kneighborhood Knives, St. Charles’ full-service mobile sharpening studio offering same-day hand-sharpening, repair and restoration. “It’s an ice cream truck for knives,” she says. St. Charles specializes in using whetstones, a more traditional, manually intensive method that’s beneficial for the longevity of the knife. Her advice for keeping your knives in tip-top condition? “I always tell people to not use your knives on anything you wouldn’t use your teeth,” she says. “How you store is also really important, to keep the edges from bonking. My favorite way to store knives is a magnet wall. And if you have nice looking knives, it’s an aesthetic thing.” St. Charles also recommends using a honing rod between uses and, of course, an annual sharpening “to establish those bevels and set it up for the best edge geometry,” she says. We know a person (on wheels). ROBIN BACIOR.
Chef Essentials for Your Home Kitchen:
Xiao Ye’s Louis Lin on the Mini Spatula
Here’s the thing about chefs when they’re off the clock—they’re not looking to turn their home kitchen into another work space. They’re keeping things simple, or at least Louis Lin is. The chef, alongside his wife, Jolyn Chen, opened Xiao Ye in 2023, and the first-generation comfort food has become a beloved hairpin corner of the Hollywood District, really the city in its entirety. But when it comes to home kitchens, Lin’s advice is that people keep it small on many levels. “A lot of people might say you need a scale, or this kind of cutting board [that] doesn’t move around—that stuff is great, but to be honest with you, we keep it as low fuss as possible,” Lin says. “Realistically, the things you’re touching every day, you’re not going to put extra work in.”
Lin’s low-fuss tool of choice? “I think everyone should invest in a set of small silicone spatulas. They have so many different kinds, so many different shapes, they’re not expensive. Just throw away your large spatulas or burger turner, whatever you call them—just get rid of them. [Mini spatulas] are small, they withstand a lot of heat, they’re machine washable, and at home you shouldn’t be using anything bigger than sauté pans. Use something small that’s easy to hold. Please get rid of your crappy black plastic whatever-they’re-called. Everyone should adopt it because I like small things.” ROBIN BACIOR.
Tableware & Textiles
Let’s talk tables. You chop and sauté and bake and cook your heart out and finally the meal is done, sultry and garnished, dazzling as the tableware it lies on, alongside the linens tucked under the flatware beside. There’s some stunning ceramics in this town, people, and linens to boot. Read on for where to find some gorgeous pieces as the aesthetic chef’s kiss for your home dining experience.
Clay Street Studios
1623 SE 12th Ave., 503-577-5825, schrottceramics.com/clay-street-studios.10 am–4 pm Thursday–Sunday.
For Sam Schrott, what started as a necessity turned into seeing through a bigger dream. The ceramicist had been working out of a small studio that flooded and had to find a new space. He’d had the fantasy of a larger place, somewhere visitors could connect with seeing the work made, and the pieces themselves, maybe even enjoy another medium (he’d been inspired by visiting a spot in South Dakota that was half cafe, half glass blowing studio). He founded Clay Street Studios in 2023, then rented out part of the space to local musician Eli Goldberg (of the band Ann Annie) who began hosting intimate shows. On any given visit, the space might be halfway through some creative process: chairs waiting to be set for the next performance, jugs and pitchers formed but not yet glazed in the back studio. But the feeling is calm, much like the vibe of the ceramic pieces themselves. Schrott finds himself drawn to slow work and sourcing local earthy bits—red pumice from the side of the road on Mount Hood, clay from riverbanks outside town. He turns all of it into tableware and sculptures, available for purchase in the studio’s front room. The resulting speckled pieces feel woodsy, as though they might be found in the pantry of a cabin enveloped in pines and rhododendrons. Imagine what it would feel like to take a sip of coffee out of that kind of mug. ROBIN BACIOR.
Notary Ceramics
8035 SE 13th Ave., 503-477-6643, notaryceramics.com. 11 am–5 pm Wednesday–Saturday,11 am–6 pm Sunday.
Whether you’re hosting a dinner party or working through a complicated recipe, it’s nice to put your meals on something beautiful. And that’s the feeling that sings over at Notary Ceramics—beauty. Small stacks of ceramic plates and copper mugs, wooden-handled brushes: The shelves are filled with muted, soothing tones, the kind you might find browsing shops on a weekend trip in Palm Springs. Studio owner and ceramicist Sarah Van Raden has been tucked into the sweet Sellwood space for nearly 10 years. According to shop worker Ella Hilario, Van Raden’s work, including tableware and lighting, focuses on creating timeless, natural pieces. The glazes have inconsistencies, the throw lines stay visible so someone can see the human touch. The glassware in the shop comes from Oaxaca, and the tablecloths are custom made in Lithuania, but the dishware is created in-house, then pressed by Mudshark Studios and glazed by Tina Flood. I stumbled across the shop last year when my car brakes suddenly went out. I stepped into the shop and its gorgeous things, and as I watched through the window as they towed by car, I breathed an unexpected pleasant sigh. ROBIN BACIOR.
Kokoro
986 SW Morrison St., instagram.com/kokoroportland. 10 am–6pm Sunday–Thursday,10 am–7 pm Friday and Saturday.
When you walk into the expansive Japanese-inspired store in downtown Portland (sister store to Kiriko), your oohs, aahs and cute aggression might be hard to temper. The impeccably designed store—ceiling-high wooden and glass display shelves along the walls and throughout the space itself—sells Japanese cookware, culinary ingredients, specialty foods and every manner of kitchen trinket you didn’t know you needed. You can choose from one of seven wooden spoons, each with a delicately different shape, depth, hue and feel, or opt for more of a basic kitchen staple with a deep yet still quaint pot or a matte-green tea kettle with a woven handle. There are richly colored miso soup bowls and a wide range of sakes in the refrigerated section. A wide assortment of high-end Japanese knives displayed neatly in glass cases makes you feel that you, too, could justify spending $248 on a Kiwami knife with which you cut your daily turkey and cheese sandwich, or you could reach for a more modest price point with the Satake Cutlery Deba Knife for $48. You won’t escape without buying at least one trinket or little clay figurine to place on your kitchen windowsill. SOPHIE PEEL.
Indigo Traders
7814 SW Capitol Highway, 503-244-7177, indigotraders.com. 10 am–6 pmMonday–Saturday, 11 am–4 pm Sunday.
Want to treat your table to something cute—perhaps a lovely tablecloth or napkins made of natural fibers, or some gorgeous glassware? Indigo Traders offers that, and then some. The Multnomah Village home goods store, owned by Samir Naser and Karla Bean, is lined with a wall of textiles folded thin like crepe shells, and filled with goodies like Palestinian and Turkish gift boxes, olive wood honey dippers and citrus reamers, and loads of copper pots hanging, waiting to be filled with Turkish coffee. There are edible offerings, too, like Palestinian olive oils and Moroccan spices, and preserved lemons, alongside bigger kitchen tools like cazuelas from Spain and wooden cookie molds. Naser and Bean focus on handmade goods, free from plastics. These are pieces built to last, bringing a Mediterranean elegance to your space. ROBIN BACIOR.
Lilith Rockett
916 SE 34th Ave., #200, 323-481-7670, lilithrockett.com.
The sign on Lilith Rockett’s studio door asks you to please be patient as you wait for her, as Rockett’s hands are likely covered in clay. She might be making new plates for The Old Tower, a restaurant in Beijing, or Smyth, the 3-star Michelin spot in Chicago. Or maybe she’s making custom plates for someone’s home. But no project comes easy. “Everyone eats differently,” she says. Rockett customizes every tableware set, meeting with clients, both restaurateurs and individuals looking to zhuzh up their dinner sets, to determine what suits their habits. Rockett got her start in the early 2000s after leaving the film industry in Los Angeles. Her big break came in 2011 when Matthew Lightner hired her to design all the tableware for his new restaurant, Atera, launching an unexpected career in designing and throwing tableware and vases for restaurants around the world. Rockett’s work is refined, elegant—primarily low-profile pieces in porcelain, the kind you want to grip lightly and inhale intoxicating herby fragrances from. These are a heftier investment for your pantry—understated, elegant pieces meant to last through many, many a dinner party ahead. The minimalist tableware doesn’t take the spotlight from the meal, but make no mistake, it still dazzles on its own. ROBIN BACIOR.
Pantry Pointer:
How to Care for Your Tableware
You’ve bought yourself some beautiful plates, and now you actually want to use them. We asked Lilith Rockett, a studio potter known for her work in restaurants across the U.S. how to care for these precious goods. Her first tip? Trust your maker. “Ceramics is way more technical than people realize,” Rockett says. “Most good potters, before they sell you tableware, they’ll be sure it’s sound.”
That being said, there are materials to consider. “Porcelain is more durable—if you chip an edge of porcelain that’s unglazed, you can sand it, [but] with stoneware, if you chip it, it looks chipped,” Rockett says.
Questions on glazes? “Gloss glazes tend to hold up better,” she says. “A matte glaze surface will get silverware marks, cutlery—sometimes you can get them out, sometimes you can’t. I just use Bon Ami or Bar Keeper’s Friend with a green scrubby side of a sponge.”
And on the note of cleaning comes the cleaning question—by hand or by dishwasher? “If someone says it’s not dishwasher safe, listen,” Rockett says. “A glaze could be food safe, but could degrade. And don’t use dishwasher pods—those chemicals are too harsh,” Rockett says, noting that they could strip off glaze. “Mild cleaners are your friend.” ROBIN BACIOR.
Pots & Pans
The thing that cradles all those chopped goods you just spent hours cutting with your gorgeous new knife ? It’s the almighty pan. Whether it’s an heirloom piece handmade in Eastern Oregon or a preloved beauty from a consignment shop, you’ve got options. See a few.
Department of Work at ReClaim It
1 N Killingsworth St., deptofwork.weebly.com, reclaimitpdx.org. Noon–5 pm Wednesday–Sunday.
Cast iron pans are the rare product that gets better with repeated use; it’s called seasoning. And as awareness of the chemicals that can flake off worn-out modern nonstick pan coatings increases, there’s a new demand for the 2,000-year-old technology. The Department of Work, founded by Julie Wilson, is a company that salvages contemporary and vintage cast iron cookware by stripping, scouring and then custom-seasoning the pan with sunflower polymer. When cared for correctly, cast iron cookware can last for generations. At ReClaim It, a nonprofit creative reuse store in the Humboldt neighborhood, shoppers can peruse the Department of Work’s latest offerings. A swing through this spring found eight cast irons hanging on the wall, including a li’l 6-inch skillet for scrambling eggs ($24), an oval fajita pan ($30), and a 12-inch round grill pan ($72). And for those intimidated by how to clean, store and season their Oregon Trail-style cookware, Department of Work offers a printout about cast iron care and use with each purchase (and take a look at the Pantry Pointer on page 23). RACHEL SASLOW.
Northwest Skillet Company
This one’s a bit off the beaten path, but we’re still calling it local—maybe regional. Out in Summerville, a little outside La Grande, you’ll find Northwest Skillet Company nestled on 80 acres of forested land. More specifically, you’ll find hand-forged pans, made by blacksmith Peter Clark. Owners Clark and Sue Miller started the company about a decade ago, focusing on carbon steel, heirloom-quality pans. “It’s much more durable,” Clark says. “You can drop it, it doesn’t crack. It’s a much finer-grain material—you really don’t even need to season it as fastidiously as cast iron.” Limited runs are sold on the website and drop every six weeks. Specialty items include planchas ($3,500), fry pans ($195–$395) and upcoming copper sake glasses crafted through mokume-gane, a Japanese process of creating a wood-grain look in metal. Clark came to metalwork nearly 30 years ago in art school, and now, full circle, he’s started his own classes on the property, Fire Arts Blacksmithing School. “The craft was really resurrected in the ’70s, and we’re really seeing a popularization of it,” he says. Classes hold five students, and the goal is everyone leaves with a finished product. Customized classes are available too, so start dreaming of what you want to make, and make it. ROBIN BACIOR.
Kitchen Culture
6300 SE Foster Road, Suite A, 971-666-8744, kitchenculturepdx.com.11 am–6 pm Tuesday–Sunday.
For Traci Hildner, Kitchen Culture was initially a hub to teach. The educator had been giving classes about food preservation around town for a decade—things like how to can or ferment, teaching anywhere from Portland Community College to a farmers market. But she was done with hauling materials all over the city. She started thinking of how she’d flesh out the space, and it hit her that the city needed somewhere to buy secondhand kitchen goods. “If I need a muffin pan, there’s nowhere I would go,” she says, “as opposed to if I needed a backpack, there are several places I’d go.” So, Kitchen Culture opened in 2022 and became both a spot for consignment goods and cooking classes. The goods took off. People came in droves with used kitchenware, anything from vintage china and crystal stemware to silver plate cutlery, and plenty of more basic, kitschy items too. “I always say we’re trying to cater to the cook over the collector,” Hildner says. “The goal is to keep tools in circulation and make use of what’s already out there so we don’t need to make more.” If you’re looking to sell, you can stop by as a walk-in anytime 11 am–4 pm Wednesday–Saturday, or call ahead for an appointment. Give yourself time to browse, too. ROBIN BACIOR
Pantry Pointer:
How to Keep Your Pan Happy
A good pan can cost a pretty penny—the last thing you want is for it to go to waste. The best way to keep it in shape, according to Peter Clark, blacksmith of Northwest Skillet Company? It’s pretty simple. “The biggest thing to keep these things working really well is to use it regularly,” Clark says. “The seasoning is an organic product; in a sense, it’s a living surface—no chemical coatings, nothing contrived about it. If you let it sit, the oils start to degrade or something, they’re not as friendly to cook with. They really just like to be used every day.”
While Clark’s tips work for cast iron and carbon steel, Clark prefers the latter. “Carbon steel is really versatile. You can go from searing a steak to cooking your eggs. You can wash just with hot water, sometimes use a scrubby, less abrasive, put it on the stove to warm it, use an oily rag to wipe it. We just keep a rag in the fridge with avocado oil. It’s a seasoning kind of protection.”
If you’re staring at your stainless steel pan wondering why the same tricks don’t work for your piece, it’s just simple chemistry. “It’s the carbon that helps the oil polymerize to the surface and stick a little bit, so when you use it next time, it’s a slick surface,” Clark says. ROBIN BACIOR.
Chef Essentials for Your Home Kitchen:
Coq Au Vin’s Rose Allred on the Mortar and Pestle
Rose Allred and George Page have plenty of recommendations for the kitchen. The husband-and-wife Coq Au Vin co-owners ping-pong ideas back and forth: scales for your savory goods, spice mills aplenty, mini meat grinders. The two manage the French farm-to-table restaurant just off North Mississippi Avenue, along with running the magic meat truck (a butchery market on wheels) and the Sea Breeze Farm out in Birkenfeld. That’s where they raise the goods and host farm stays (their blog is also an eloquent, active space). Naturally, they’d have a lot of tools cooking alongside their many ventures. But then, Allred makes a definitive call.
“My two cents is the mortar and pestle,” she says. “It has such deep roots—history of cuisine and human development. We wouldn’t have flour if not for a mortar and pestle. We wouldn’t have many oils. It’s the thing that George uses every single service. He throws in chunks of gray salt, mixes in olive oil for aioli. It’s such a great expression. You don’t need a blender, you don’t need all those tools. I came to cooking later in life, and the first thing I purchased was a mortar and pestle. You can smash and mix your spices, you can crack a nut—I reach for it frequently.” ROBIN BACIOR.
Cooking
This is more of a self-empowerment tool, one that lives less in your pantry and more in your heart. It takes more than buying all the gear and goods; you have to learn how to lean in and wield them all. We’ve got a few highlights on local cooking classes and books, and tips for what to have on hand at home to bring almost any recipe to life (page 27). The aim is to move around the kitchen with confidence and ease—after any of these classes, we hope you dance.
Feed the Mass
80 NW Davis St., 971-350-8291, feedthemass.org.9 am–5 pm daily.
In a decade, the nonprofit Feed the Mass has gone from pop-up classes in friends’ basements to taking over the downtown building that once housed Airbnb’s Portland corporate office. But let’s rewind a bit. Things really started with a field trip. Feed the Mass founder Jacobsen Valentine, who was working as a youth pastor, brought a group of teens down to San Francisco. Valentine noticed the teens flocking to fast food joints, bypassing fresh fruit stands. He saw a disconnect, then an opportunity. “There’s nothing wrong with connecting with food,” he says. “But if you don’t know how to make something or where it comes from, you’re missing out on the most important part.” Valentine channeled a culinary background into classes for youth, teaching pop-ups at friends’ houses that quickly took off. After three months of YouTube University, he opened a nonprofit. Classes became a greater education initiative, empowering people experiencing food insecurity with how to make healthier meals. Earlier this year, Feed the Mass purchased the former Airbnb building downtown (filled with office goods left by the tech company) and dubbed it the Nourish Building, a home base for the nonprofit as well as a business incubator. Upcoming classes include “Cooking on a Budget” and “Air Fryer: Actually Worth It.” Prices clock in at $55 for adults, but discount tickets are available. And the hands-on knowledge is priceless. “You’re not going to just taste things,” Valentine says, “you’re going to get your hands in the dough, you’re going to chop things.” ROBIN BACIOR.
Portland Cookshop
2625 SE 26th Ave., 503-893-9953, portlandcookshop.com.
Say it’s Friday night and you’re looking for some fun with friends. Instead of dinner out, why not all enjoy learning some handy kitchen skills? That’s the ethos behind Portland Cookshop—fun and informative. “I wanted to create a place where people could come feel really comfortable and learn how to become better cooks, but also just have a fun night out,” says founder Meredith Mortensen. “In the process they’re learning important life skills. They didn’t realize they didn’t know how to hold a knife properly, or they learned how to chop an onion in a way that will change how they prep soup. Even if they’re not signing up to learn, they’re getting that knowledge.” Mortensen spent 15 years as a pastry chef, and another handful teaching in the Art Institute of Portland’s culinary program. Eventually, in 2018, she started Portland Cookshop, to “create a place where you don’t feel like you’re intimidated because you’re in a stainless steel restaurant kitchen, you’re in your sister’s beautiful kitchen you wish your kitchen looked like,” she says. She moved down the street in 2022 to the shop’s current location. While summers tend to focus more on youth camps (selling out at record speed this year), the rest of the year offers more for adults, led by multiple instructors, peppering in collaborations with organizations like Slow Food Portland events and free classes with the Alano Club. Plus, there’s No School Camp Days, special classes for kids on days Portland Public Schools is closed. Take note, parents. ROBIN BACIOR.
The Italian Summer Kitchen by Cathy Whims
powells.com/book/the-italian-summer-kitchen-timeless-recipes-for-la-dolce-vita-9781682689189
Cathy Whims had her eye on developing a cookbook for her restaurant, Nostrana, but when the pandemic hit, she changed her focus. Instead, she started thinking about her frequent trips to Italy, brewing ideas on classic cuisine. From that came her recent The Italian Summer Kitchen (Countryman Press, 224 pages, $28), a collection of home-friendly recipes celebrating “authentic Italian cooking and culinary traditions,” she says. These are simple dishes focused on high-quality ingredients, and big hits for summer months. One of Whims’ favorites is potato gnocchi, a dish that requires some technique. “I learned this from the great Marcella Hazan; the gnocchi must be light and pillowy, yet sturdy enough to sit in a rich sauce,” she says. Instead of snapshots of each finished dish, the book is filled with watercolor illustrations by Kate Lewis, meant to transport the reader to a dreamy countryside. Tuscany, Provence—you choose. ROBIN BACIOR.
Pantry Pointer:
Grow Herbs, a Recipe’s Secret Weapon
There are many tricks to really make a meal shine, but a big one is the herbs. They’re somewhere between the glue and the glitter of a meal, the thing that gives it its pop. So, naturally, having a few decent ones on hand can help.
“They make everything better—a microwavable, a pizza,” says Willi Galloway, a Portland food writer and author of the recently published Veggies for Breakfast: 100 Delicious Plant-Focused Recipes for Healthier Mornings (Sasquatch Books, 224 pages, $37).
But Galloway’s tip isn’t just to have herbs around—she encourages you to grow them. “You go to Trader Joe’s and you buy a clamshell of thyme and you use two teaspoons, and you have this chunk that eventually molds in your fridge,” she says. “Even if you’re in an apartment or renting, having a few herbs in the ground or in pots is a great addition to the pantry. They grow so well here over winter. In my own garden, I have thyme, basil, sage and parsley, and I have dill that self-sows.”
And if you’re worried about your gardening skills, keep in mind it’s not a huge investment to try. “A 4-inch pot costs about the same as a clamshell,” Galloway says. “So if you kill it, it’s not a big deal.” ROBIN BACIOR.
This story is part of Pantry Companion, our guide to filling your kitchen cupboards. Pantry Companion is a small magazine, distributed free throughout Portland. Find out where to get yours by checking this map.
