Quick Cooking Part Two
When you come home at the end of the day it is easy to take one look at your kitchen and waves the white flag of surrender and pick up the phone to get take out.
But that need not be the case.
With a few pantry staples it is easy to make a completely satisfying meal in a matter of minutes.
Soup is a quick cooking life saver.
Created for the “Hey waiter there’s a something in my… stew!” event hosted at Spittoon Extra.
Except for certain holiday, lamb seems to be the ugly step child of America’s diets.
And even when it is eaten a vast majority of recipes seem to want to cover up the natural flavor. Helpful recipe writers tell us that if you do X it will reduce lamb’s innate gaminess and makes it milder in flavor.
These people are trying to make lamb taste like beef. And if that is what you want, then why not eat beef in the first place?
Lamb’s unique flavor should be enjoyed for itself; eaten in foods that highlight its slight gaminess.
Exactly like AB’s lamb and barley stew.
Submitted for Sweetnick's ARF/5-A-Day Tuesday event.
What do you get when you put left over butternut squash, corn, roasted potatoes and turkey all together and top it with a wee dollop of cranberry sauce?
That’s right! SOUP!
Ok that was probably not the first thing you thought of. Come to think of it, wasn’t the first thing I thought of either but never mind!
It is rare that I get to play with thanksgivings leftovers! Mostly because Thanksgivings butts up right against the start of lent; which means anything on the table that has touched meat becomes taboo.
I think my father enjoys this part of the year the most. Being Jewish he blithely eats the leftovers while the rest of us are eating vegetarian.
That is why this year one of the things I am thankful for is a little reprieve between Thanksgivings and lent; so that I could spend some quality time with my leftovers.
Submitted for Sweetnick's ARF/5-A-Day tuesday event
Risotto!
I will say it again. Risotto!
It is a word that strikes a note of both fear and longing in the home cook!
It looks so tempting there on the restaurant menu. Creamy and flavorful, it is the kind of food that most people reserve for going out. It feels decadent with its silky texture and extraordinary flavor. The kind that whispers of a long slow cooking process.
It is a celebration food. It feels special because it feels like it requires significant culinary prowess to master – or in the very least a diploma from a culinary school.
But that is not how it started. Risotto is peasant food. And it is no harder to make than any other stew. Just requires a touch more effort.
But just a touch!
Submitted for Sweetnick's ARF/5 A-day blogging event.
“I want a sandwich!”
Was my brother’s first reaction in response to what I was going to be serving for Sunday brunch.
In his defense, I admit that it did sound a little weird!
Sausage and apple pudding isn’t exactly what I would call standard fare around my house. As a matter of fact, the term pudding is rarely if ever heard here. And if it is, I am usually the one saying it.
However, this was definitely a case of “The proof was in the pudding.”
In recent years I have tried very hard to expand not only my own eating horizons but those of my family.
Slowly, with much patience I have been introducing world cuisine into our lives. Be it in the form of spices, meats, or veggies, I am working things in when I can. I am proud of the progress I have made. Going from meat, potatoes, cucumbers and tomatoes to a veritable cornucopia of possibilities is not easy.
I persistently push the food envelope. And yet, I seem to have missed a treat right under my very nose. Something so familiar and so banal – or so I thought – that it missed my culinary curiosity entirely!
Chestnuts!
Submited for Sweetnick’s AFR/5-a day Tuesday event.
This is the first weekend in almost a month that I had the opportunity to spend some time cooking. Even so, I had only a very small window in which to make something.
Of course with temperatures dipping into the 60’s during the night (what passes for cold in southern California) my mind turned to stew. Having satisfied my mushroom obsession, my mind moved to something different. Something earthy.
And with blueberry season almost at an end, I knew exactly what I wanted to make.
It all started innocently enough. It invariably does. The inimitable winter soup maven posted a recipe for an incredible sounding wild mushroom soup.
I am not normally a soup person, but evenings have been getting chill. Though the days may still linger in the high 80’s the night time temperatures drop quickly, especially with the coastal breeze.
Night creeps upon just a little sooner and something changes in the air. There is a crispness to the air that beckons one to the warm glow of a kitchen perfumed with the long cooking scents of soup.
Or. How do you forgive yourself for making a most
decadent cheese fondue?
I
have no shame about my love of fondue. Everything oooey-gooey and utterly decadent. Melted cheese you can play with. Can you think of a more fun food?
Having
entirely missed the 70’s in America, my parents had no lurking horror somewhere in their closets. There was no avocado colored monster lurking
somewhere in storage. No fondue came to
me entirely as a surprise.
Not
that I hadn’t heard of such I thing. I
just never got macramé flashbacks every time I heard the word fondue.
Mondays
are not the best day for cooking. Back
to work day also means that I end up getting home later than I intended with
little to no desire to cook.
So
if there are no leftovers from weekend cooking, this is where I pull out the
quick cooking methods.
