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Some
more ideas for fitting good cooking into your life
Sept 25, 08
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
Home cooking can improve your
diet and save you money. If only it were easier to fit kitchen
time into our lives.
Last week, I shared advice from culinary instructor and food
writer Sheri Castle and Debbie Moose, freelance food writer,
cookbook author and columnist for The News & Observer.
Both women lead busy lives and manage to fix dinner from scratch.
They use shortcuts and well-chosen kitchen tools and appliances
to make it happen.
Another ingredient is also critical to their success: the
right attitude. You’ve got to get into a home-cooking
frame of mind.
Your mindset about cooking can make it simpler and faster
to fix a meal. It can also help you overcome the barrier of
skill. You don’t have to be a trained chef to make something
good.
A few strategies are key:
* Focus on flavor. “It’s the secret to eating
well,” said Moose.
Moose uses low-sodium soy sauce and adds a drop or two of
toasted sesame oil for flavor when she makes a stir-fry dish.
She also makes liberal use of lemons and limes.
“I love the tart flavor,” she said. “Squeeze
some into whatever you’re cooking. They’re low
in sodium, too.”
Cooking from scratch lets you customize the flavor of foods.
Moose favors simple salad dressings that she mixes herself
at home. The easiest kind is nothing but olive oil and vinegar,
with salt and pepper added to taste.
“You can vary it by using lime juice or lemon juice
instead of vinegar,” she said. “You can also add
crushed garlic and herbs.”
Mix salad dressings a little at a time, or make more than
you need and save the rest for later. It keeps in the refrigerator
for weeks.
Both Castle and Moose are fans of flavored vinegars and condiments.
“Interesting mustards and vinegars add noncaloric flavor
to food,” said Castle. “It’s a good idea
to have them on hand in your pantry.”
Moose also recommends using good-quality olive oil when the
oil is being used on a salad or on top of a food, such as
dipping bread or drizzled over a plate of hummus. Less expensive
varieties are fine for general cooking purposes.
* Have some ideas in mind. “Start out with a few meal
ideas in your head,” said Moose. Peruse cookbooks to
stimulate your imagination.
Castle suggests looking for foods that can be steamed, sautéed
or roasted – easy skills for most of us to apply in
making quick, simple meals.
Write your ideas down on a sheet of paper. Make a list of
easy meal ideas as you come across them, and stow it away
for times when your mind draws a blank.
* Be flexible. “Develop a mindset that lets you be more
improvisational,” said Moose. The author of several
cookbooks, Moose values good recipes but recommends not getting
too dependent on them.
She likes an approach promoted by Sally Schneider, author
of The Improvisational Cook and A New Way to Cook. Schneider
encourages readers to understand the basic logic of the recipe
but to be creative in adapting or modifying it.
“She helps people think in ways that they’re not
tied to cookbooks,” said Moose.
Castle agrees.
“Trust your own palate,” she said. “If it
suits you, then it’s fine.”
Castle recommends experimenting with recipes, with the exception
of baked goods, which require ingredients to be added in precise
proportions.
Other foods are more forgiving.
“For example, if you want to try oregano in a recipe
instead of basil, go for it,” said Castle. “Trust
your instinct, and if it doesn’t turn out, think of
it this way: ‘It’s only one dinner.’”
Free your mind, and empower yourself in the kitchen.
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