Getting Started - Cooking Easy

Some Basics for Cooking Easy

Relax and a little music with a nice glass of wine. Sip, sip, sip

When I cook daily I am all about speed and recipes easy but with great flavor. I am a firm believer in comfort food.

The old adage: Some people eat to love while others live to eat. Food should not be a chore it should always be about the taste and presentation. I garnish the plate even if it is just me eating.

With a little prep once a month for about a hour I restock my basics I/E spice mix, roux, cooking butters etc.

I put together my spice mixes and store about once a month

I buy a quart of olive oil not gallons oil spoils in the bottle in about 30 days. (Builds free fatty acid content)

3 kinds of olive oil are available at the market each has their uses.

Extra virgin olive oil: for salads or making salad dressing or dipping.

Virgin olive oil: use for pasta and making bread sticks etc.

Olive oil: used for cooking or anyplace you are going to add heat to the oil.

I make seasoned butters that I use for various dishes, good in the refrigerator for a week or freeze up to 3 months.

Bottle of sweet vermouth it is low in alcohol and high in flavor buy a good brand. Martini and Rossi

Need sea salt for cooking and boiling pasta

Fresh coarse ground pepper mixes, black and white, buy a good pepper mill.

Spices have a shelf life, if opened over one year toss and buy new.

Basil Butter

Use this mixture to spread on rolls or bread, then wrap in foil and heat. There are many uses for this mix

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter, room temperature

1 tablespoon dried leaf basil

1 tablespoon dried leaf thyme

1 Dash of sea salt

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons fresh (only fresh, if not don’t use) minced parsley

1 tablespoon garlic

Preparation:

Mix all ingredients until smooth put in zip lock sandwich bag and form a log about the size if a polish sausage.

Base Spice Mix

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons ground paprika

4 teaspoons dried leaf thyme

2 teaspoons onion powder

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 teaspoon MSG (Accent™ optional)

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons black pepper

1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, or to your taste

1 teaspoon dried leaf oregano

3/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preparation:

Place all ingredients in a glass jar and store in a cool dark place. Shake jar well before each use.

Roux or Rue Thickening

Used for gravy thickening and finish for a lot of recipes. Some people just add water to flower and shake up to make gravy this leaves the taste of uncooked flour in your gravy (that weird after taste you can’t figure out). Rue can be made in advance and stored in a covered container for up to a month. Easy to make and gives great results in appearance (no lumps) and most of all taste.

Ingredients:

2 sticks salted butter

1 ½ cups all purpose white flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Preparation:

In non-stick pan melt butter, as soon as a liquid phase is achieved, add flour and cornstarch mix. Cook on medium heat until all flour mixture in soaked up by the butter. Cook another two minutes, color will start to change ideally you want the mixture to be color of sand (two minutes). There are other roux’s that are cooked longer but that is for another time.

Posted by Biorefiner at 2:32 PM