Mar 3, 2009

Bossy’s Favorite Things.

This fish poacher.

On Saturday, Bossy cooked an enormous pot of spaghetti sauce with meatballs and chicken for a dinner party. For Bossy, this is like falling out of bed since she’s been working this same family recipe since she was a girl. What never used to be simple, however, was cooking over two pounds of pasta for a mass of people, since Bossy never had a second pot big enough to handle the tangle of spaghetti.

Enter the fish poacher. Its shape perfectly suits long spaghetti, and its capacity allows for tons of water to come to a nice rolling boil, so there’s never any sticking or clumping.

When not doing duty for a dinner party, the fish poacher sits without its lid in Bossy’s pot cabinet, where it holds all the other lids for the other pots and pans.

Oh, and the fish poacher is occasionally used to poach fish, where occasionally equals maybe never since Bossy and her husband usually grill or bake fish.

permanent link to post

17 comments

1. 1
   on March 3rd, 2009 at 7:31 am
   Peg said:

   That fish poacher is a beauty and perfect for pasta! My favorite thing would be to learn Bossy’s family recipe for sauce with meatballs and chicken. Looks yummy.


2. 2
   on March 3rd, 2009 at 9:17 am
   Gigi said:

   Love the fish poacher’s shape- I was trying to spend a gift card at Bed Beth and Beyond recently (before IT goes out of business like Linens and Things) and I saw these in the store. Frankly, I never knew such a thing existed. Obviously we don’t poach much fish at our house. Who knew it was also a lid holder/ spaghetti cooker? Shoot.


3. 3
   on March 3rd, 2009 at 10:04 am
   Florida Liz said:

   Heh.. yeah fish poaching.. not a common occurrence here either.
   My aunt was given a big fish from an friend that went deep sea fishing.. she ended up poaching it wrapped in foil and run through the dish washer.. worked out great !!


4. 4
   on March 3rd, 2009 at 10:17 am
   megachick said:

   yay, i finally know what to do with that fish poacher we got for christmas (wth?) 3 years ago.


5. 5
   on March 3rd, 2009 at 10:32 am
   Assertagirl said:

   Even more than your fish poacher I am coveting your stainless steel gas stove.


6. 6
   on March 3rd, 2009 at 10:34 am
   Jean said:

   Alton Brown would be so proud of you. He loves kitchen items with more than one purpose.


7. 7
   on March 3rd, 2009 at 11:29 am
   MariaV said:

   I agree. That poacher is a beauty.


8. 8
   on March 3rd, 2009 at 12:12 pm
   TanyaK said:

   This should almost be under the climb out of debt catagory. What a lovely three-use item! I never would have thought of the pan cover idea. I can’t wait to leave work and reorganize my cupboards.

   I know, my life IS that boring!


9. 9
   on March 3rd, 2009 at 2:59 pm
   Liz said:

   Wow. I’m so hungry now. I agree with Peg… any chance of a recipe?


10. 10
    on March 3rd, 2009 at 3:08 pm
    Cheri @ Blog This Mom! said:

    Whodda thunk it?


11. 11
    on March 3rd, 2009 at 3:47 pm
    Little Miss Sunshine State said:

    That made me want to cook spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. Even though I don’t have a pasta poacher, I have enough big pots


12. 12
    on March 3rd, 2009 at 3:51 pm
    Nina Rubin said:

    Poacher, tres elegant, but you don’t really need all that much water, or so says the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/dining/25curi.html?scp=1&sq=cook%20pasta%20with%20less%20water&st=cse


13. 13
    on March 3rd, 2009 at 5:00 pm
    Fortune Cookies said:

    You.Are.Brilliant.
    I don’t know that I’ll ever poach fish, but I’m thinking I definitely need one of those fish poachers/pasta cooker thingys!


14. 14
    on March 3rd, 2009 at 6:46 pm
    Bush Babe of Granite Glen said:

    Ha! Well I definitely need something to hold all my saucepan lids!! Sadly, the saucepan handles are no longer with us, so there’s plenty of room in the drawer!!!
    
    BB


15. 15
    on March 3rd, 2009 at 7:54 pm
    Helen+ilana=Hi said:

    I have 2 (count ‘em) fish poachers and this is why. If you place a lot of olive oil and a lot of vermouth in a large plastic bag along with a large clump of fresh basil or fresh cilantro or other herbs of your Choice and then you add a fish for several hours you can then slide the whole mess into a poacher. Don’t forget to use the tray and only use enough liquid to just lap at the sides of the fish. Proceed with poaching said fish. The result is ………..

    REALLY REALLY GOOD


16. 16
    on March 3rd, 2009 at 11:05 pm
    Cactus Petunia said:

    What?! Linens & Things is going out of business? And is it meatball week or something? This is the second post I’ve read about meatballs today. (Check out Foolery’s blog) I guess I gotta make me some! (Great creative use of the fish poacher by the way!)


17. 17
    on March 4th, 2009 at 12:07 am
    Chesapeake Bay Woman said:

    I shut down when I heard “poached fish” because, well, many reasons, where many reasons = ew. I love fish but concur with decisions to grill or bake it.

    However I perked back up when I read “enormous pot of spaghetti with meatballs and chicken” because is Bossy combining the chicken with the sauce/meatballs or was the chicken a separate entree?

    This is a rhetorical question brought to Bossy by Many Reasons, where many reasons = ew, which rhymes with flu.