If I had all the kitchen space in the world there is no limit to the cooking gear I would acquire. Unfortunately unlimited space is not yet a standard feature in our city apartment, which means I have to prioritize. When it comes to kitchen ustensile, we have a deal: if there is room for it, I get to buy it. If not, I have to get rid of a similar sized item to store it instead… Hint:  placing it on the kitchen island as decoration is not considered a valid storage option, trust me, I tried.

So onto my List of Needs & wants in the kitchen:

Top 5 “Needs”:

1. Kenwood Chef for anything from baking to grating vegetables – It’s a wedding gift from my grandmother and has served me loyaly for 10 years already!
2. An army of scary looking Fiskars knives of all shape & sizes
3. Mauviel copper pans & pots – They are both gorgeous and fantastic heat conductors
4. Mini Magimix for the quick chopping of herbs
5. My Italla sarpaneva cast iron pot which i use for baking perfect loaves of bread or stewing meat in winter time

Top 5 “Wants”:

These are definitely ranked in order of “Outrageousness”:

1. A vintage Pasta maker, because they look beautiful and I love the idea of making my own pasta
2. An Ice cream maker, mostly because i’d love to experiment with insane savory flavors, and invent cool ice cream like “pistachio basil”, “almond & lavender” or “caramelized tomato & thyme”
3. A slowcooker for these lazy winters when the longer it cooks the better it tastes
4. An extravagant collection of Copper baking molds to put on display and bake “forgotten recipes” from.
5. A gangster Lacornue gas stove, I mean – do I even need to explain?

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While I’ll still be longing for those, here is my twist to making your own ice cream with basic kitchen staple and no fancy equipment! the incredible thing is that it takes no time to assemble and tastes a significantly better than the ice cream you are forced to buy when out with kids on a Sunny day. Conseil d’ami: Do give it a try, and experiment with it; you won’t be sorry!

No Churn Mascarpone & Peanut Butter Ice cream:

Ingredients:

• 4 dl heavy cream (whipped cream)
• ~300 g mascarpone cheese
• 300 ml of condensed milk
• 2-3 tablespoon peanut butter (as I like the contrast of sweet & salty I used salted peanut butter,  but unsalted will work just fine or can be omitted altogether)
• 1/2 teaspoon Guerande sea salt (if using regular sea salt, then 1/4 teaspoon might be enough)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• for the flavoring & effect, Crushed nuts & Liquid caramel Sauce, berry syrup …

Steps: 

1. In a mixer, incorporate the Mascarpone, Peanut butter & condensed milk until creamy
2. Add the Heavy cream and whip until soft peak form,
3. Add the vanilla, sea salt and whip 30 second more until stiffer peaks are forms.
4. Place the mix In a cake pan layered with parchment paper and layer with crushed nuts, leave to freeze for 10 hours or more.I also made small portions as the kids couldn’t wait 10 hours, these where ready in half the time & could be decorated individually with sprinkles crushed nuts, berry syrup & more caramel!
5. Take out 5 to 10 minutes before serving

How about you; what are your kitchen Needs & wants?