5 points if you can tell me what a Aubergine is, without looking it up?

Convenience Food

Check out Hungry for Change

Last night, I sent myself a text with the following:

Argh! There's a gal at my work whose making a simple recipe but going with all premade stuff. Cause it's easier, "it has chicken in it, that's healthy" (canned, RIGHT)

I get so frustrated with people.  They either do not cook at all or they take short cuts.  Short cuts in and of themselves can be good.  But be careful taking short cuts are they worth the trade offs, are they stuffed with sodium, fillers, and/or unhealthy fats?


Anymore, I am becoming more mindful of these things.  Especially when it comes to "Light", "Healthy", etc...  When fats are removed, something else has to be added to make something "tasty"...  Just what is added! Salt and other things that we do not need extra of.


The day before this I found a grocery list floating along the ground with the following: Bread, Meat, & Milk.  Why is it we are trying to simplify what we cook and consume?  We either simplify with buying convenience foods filled with God knows what or we just do "bread, meat, and eggs."   Why do we do this?  Excuse readily heard is: : "It takes to much time to cook" or "cooking is so hard."


Come on: Yes it does take time to cook good and healthy food but not really as long as you think and with anything you spend time on, it can be hard.  But just like a person preparing to run a race or play a game in a sporting event.  Practice, practice, practice....


You say, "how do I practice for cooking?"  Work on preparing vegetables and fruits for other recipes and in making quick convenience food grab bags to use instead of grabbing a bag of chips.
Unless you are cooking for more than 4-6 people, it does not take as long as one thinks to cook a simple and healthy meal from scratch.


Steps in preparing a meal:

1. Plan meal/menu...
2. Gather ingredients (this may entail your weekly shopping)
3. Gather tools needed.
4. Dice/Cut and/or clean any vegetables or fruits needed.
5. Prepare food.
6. Serve

Those simple six steps could take as short a time as 20 minutes and as longs as an hour or a little over, depending on what it is you are fixing.

Think about it, how does a restaurant serve you in 10-20 minutes?  It is all in the preparation!  They have their menu, shop/order the needed ingredients, have the tools available, prepare all ingredients (for quick assembly), prepare the assembled ingredients - cooking as called for and serve to you steaming hot on your table.
Okay, you say, they do a lot of the prep work way before I order my meal.  Yes but they are preparing for 100's of dishes and you are preparing for 2-6 meals/people.  Rarely, will you cooking something that will take hours of cooking, especially when it is just for a mid-week evening meal with no guest.

Remember we said a simple meal!  Please quit thing in terms of simple as canned, boxed, or fast food drive thru!

Reconstituting Dried Mushrooms

Sometimes a recipe calls for mushrooms and fresh are great but cannot always be obtained.  Next best thing when using exotic mushrooms or morels when they are not easily obtained or out of season is to buy dried mushrooms which are usually to be found in most produce departments in better grocery stores.

The problem is they need to be re-hydrated.

1. Do you soak them in room temp or luke warm water?
2. Boil or simmer them?

or 

     3.  Bring to a simmer, turn off heat, and let steep for approximately 20-30 minutes or more if needed.

I personally find that #3 is my method of choice and these are the steps I use.

First I open the package of dried mushrooms and remove in foreign objects which are obviously not mushrooms.

Secondly, I place them in a sauce pan and cover with Vegetable broth. (or broth of your choice)

Third, I bring them to a simmer and remove from heat.

Lastly, I then will strain them from the broth/liqueur and reserve such for use in the dish I am preparing.

At this point, I can cut up my reconstituted mushrooms if needed and/or add them to my dish.

Mushroom and Asparagus Pasta

Mushroom and Asparagus Pasta

By Skip Graden in Central Illinois Vegans and Vegetarians 

This is a replication of Healthy Choice: Portabella Marsala Pasta, if you would like to try this, I would appreciate anyone willing to be my test kitchen.  I just ask for your honest feed back and any suggestions you may have.  Also any pictures of the process from start to finish would be much appreciated.

Servings: 6

Categories: Vegan

Source: To Vegan or Not to Vegan

Copyright: Self

3 medium Shallots, minced or small dice

1 large Red Bell pepper, diced small

2 cloves Garlic, crushed and minced

2 tablespoons olive oil, more if needed

1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt, Season to taste

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper, Season to taste

1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, Season to taste

8 ounces porcini mushroom, diced/reconstituted and rough chopped of using dried and reserve liquid

1/2 cup Marsala wine

1/2 cup vegetable stock, or use liquid reserved from dried mushrooms

1 pound Asparagus, blanched/shocked cut into 2" lengths

2 tablespoons parma Vegan Parmesan, reserve half

16 ounces whole wheat pasta, Penne or Wide Noodles

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced fine

1. Prepare pasta as directed on box and shock and hold

2. Prepare Shallots, red pepper, garlic, mushrooms, and asparagus.  Blanch and shock asparagus and hold.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large saute' pan and saute' shallot and red pepper 3-4 minutes until shallot is translucent.  Add garlic and saute' until fragrant.

4. Add mushrooms, saute 3-4 minutes until juice is released.

5. Add Marsala and either vegetable stock or mushroom liquid.  Cook until liquid is reduced by approximately half and add asparagus and toss in pasta and parmesan.Season to taste with Salt, pepper, pepper flakes and any other seasoning desired.

6. Garnish with additional parm and parsley.

American Regional - ROASTED ELLENSBURG LAMB RACK WITH THYME-MERLOT SAUCE

ROASTED ELLENSBURG LAMB RACK WITH

THYME-MERLOT SAUCE

Yield: 6 portions

INGREDIENTS:

            1 ea                  Lamb rack, chimed, split

                                    Salt, to taste

                                    Black pepper, ground, to taste

            3 tblsp             Olive oil

            4 oz                 Dijon mustard

            1 tblsp             Garlic, minced

            8 oz                 Breadcrumbs, fresh

            3 tblsp             Shallots, minced

            4 oz                 Merlot

            6 oz                 Brown lamb stock

            6 oz                 Chicken stock

            1 tsp                Thyme, minced

            4 oz                 Butter

METHOD:

1.      Preheat oven to 450-degrees.

2.      Season lamb racks with salt and pepper.

3.      Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pan over high heat.

4.      Sear lamb racks for approximately 1-2 minutes on each side until thoroughly browned.

5.      Remove the pan from the heat and brush the topside of the meat with mustard.

6.      Mix the garlic and breadcrumbs and pat gently on top the mustard until the top of the meat is coated with breadcrumbs.

7.      Place the pan with the lamb racks in the oven and roast until the desired internal temperature is attained.

8.      Remove from oven, and rest while sauce is prepared.

9.      Discard all but 1 tblsp of the fat rendered from the lamb.

10.  Place the pan over medium-high heat and sauté the minced shallots for 1-2 minutes or until they are translucent.

11.  Deglaze the pan with the wine.  Add the lamb stock, chicken stock, and thyme.

12.  Reduce the liquid to half its original volume.

Remove the pan from the heat and finish the sauce by whisking in the butter, a little at a time, until a smooth emulsion forms.  Season with salt and pepper

Steamed Dumplings in Hot Sauce (China)

Myself and Ajsa Sadikovic

 made this in Global Cuisine class on April 24, 2012.

STEAMED DUMPLINGS

IN HOT SAUCE (China)

Yield:  50 Dumplings

50 each                                                Wonton Wrappers

8 oz                                                      Ground Lean Pork
1 each                                                   Egg, slightly beaten
1 1/2 tsp                                               Ginger, finely chopped.
2 tblsp                                                  Chinese Rice Wine (mirin)
1 tsp                                                     Salt
1/4 tsp                                                  Ground White Pepper

Hot Sauce

1 tsp                                                     Garlic, finely chopped
4 tblsp                                                   Soy Sauce
1/2 tsp                                                   Sugar
1/2 tsp                                                   Ground Cinnamon
1 tblsp                                                   Scallions, finely sliced
1 recipe                                                Chili Oil

Method:

1.                  Combine pork, egg, ginger, rice wine, salt and pepper.

2.                  Put a heaped teaspoonful of the pork mixture in the center f a wrapper. Use your fingertip to            smear a little water around the edge of the wrapper, the fold across in half, pressing firmly to enclose the filling. Steam or boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Drain.

3.                  Take 4 bowls and prepare the sauce separately for each portion. Put 'A teaspoon garlic, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, a pinch of cinnamon in the bottom of each bowl. Divide the dumplings among the 4 bowls and pour 1 tablespoon chili oil over each.

4.                  Garnish with scallion. Stir before serving. 

Chili Oil (China)

This recipe goes with the Steamed Dumplings from my Global Cuisine class.

CHILI OIL

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup                                                        Peanut Oil

1 tblsp                                                         Sichuan Peppercorns

2 each                                                          Dried Chilie, sliced

     

/4 cup

Method:

1.                  Heat wok and add oil, peppercorns and chilies. Cook over low heat for 10 minutes.

2.                  Allow to cool, then store in a covered jar for 2-3 days.

3.                  Strain and discard peppers and chilies.