Mini-Lesson: Salad Dressing

So, predictably when I start a new endeavor, my real-life has suddenly gotten rather intense. Apologies!

Today I want to spend a few minutes discussing simple salad dressing. A good salad can be a whole meal, or just a component thereof, and good salad dressing is, for me, a big part of what makes a good salad. Salad-in-a-bag + crumbled feta cheese + a yummy dressing is a pretty good meal when I’m busy (argh, like now). Maybe a slice of bread or some crackers on the side.

Most people know that the main component of vinaigrette salad dressing is some sort of oil + some sort of acid (vinegar, lemon juice, etc…). And for some people, that’s enough. When my husband goes out to eat, he often orders just the bottle of oil + bottle of vinegar for his salad dressing. I need a bit more, though.

I’m going to walk you through my House Dressing and explain what makes it work and how you can alter a dressing to your own tastes.

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by justtheblogger on November 2, 2011  •  Permalink
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Posted by justtheblogger on November 2, 2011

http://justthefoods.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/mini-lesson-salad-dressing/

Recipe #3: Macaroni and Cheese

mac and cheese with a salad

Have a salad, too. Eat your vegetables.

Straight from my mom to you. Well, via me.

Now, you will never catch me maligning the mac and cheese that comes in the blue box or whatever. I love that shit in a very, very guilty sort of way. But homemade macaroni and cheese is another category of food entirely. Sometimes I want Kraft, but sometimes I want the stuff that mom used to make.

So, follow along to make your own macaroni and cheese casserole, suitable for pot-lucks and impressing loved-ones.

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by justtheblogger on October 24, 2011  •  Permalink
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Posted by justtheblogger on October 24, 2011

http://justthefoods.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/recipe-3-macaroni-and-cheese/

Recipe #2: Panko-crusted cod with glazed green beans.

Panko-Crusted Cod with Glazed Beans (and incidental pierogies)

Panko-Crusted Cod with Glazed Beans (and incidental pierogies)

Now doesn’t that sound fancy! I bet you’re thinking this is going to take ages to prepare and be all complicated and discouraging.

The fact is that this is a great, week-night 30-minute meal that requires a real minimum of fuss. I’ll be discussing the fish and vegetable portions of the meal but not a starch. If you’d like to have a go at making rice, now might be a good time to try. Last night when I made this, we had frozen pierogies as our starch (just boiled with a dollop of plain yogurt on top). So pair it up with whatever starch you like (a piece of bread? some take-out left-over rice? pasta?), or none at all if the breadcrumbs on the fish are enough carbs for you.

Credit where credit is due: The fish recipe is adapted from here.

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by justtheblogger on October 17, 2011  •  Permalink
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Posted by justtheblogger on October 17, 2011

http://justthefoods.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/recipe-2-panko-crusted-cod-with-glazed-green-beans/

Mini-Lesson: Know Your Oils

So, I took a long weekend and promptly forgot my video camera at my office, which is why there haven’t been any more recipes added. Depending on home-based technology, I may take a stab at getting a breadcrumb-crusted fish recipe done tonight or it’ll be macaroni and cheese some time early in the week. (I film what I’m making for dinner, so it sort of depends what’s on the menu Chez JustTheFoods.)

ANYWAY.

Today’s post is about cooking oils: when to use which ones and what to keep in your pantry for maximum usefulness.

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by justtheblogger on October 16, 2011  •  Permalink
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Posted by justtheblogger on October 16, 2011

http://justthefoods.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/mini-lesson-know-your-oils/

Mini-lesson: Everything you ever wanted to know about rice, but were afraid to ask.

Rice is an inexpensive, commonly-found and delicious source of carbs. (And you can keep your Atkins because I freaking love carbs. Deal with it.) It does come in several varieties, however, making it a bit more daunting than your average box of pasta.

Hopefully, this post will demystify it a bit and you’ll be cooking delicious rice in no time.

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by justtheblogger on October 11, 2011  •  Permalink
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Posted by justtheblogger on October 11, 2011

http://justthefoods.wordpress.com/2011/10/11/mini-lesson-everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-rice-but-were-afraid-to-ask/

Recipe #1: Lentil Soup

bowl of lentil soupOkay, let’s do this thing! Time to cook!

Confession time: I eat a mostly vegetarian diet. I do promise, however, to enlist the help of my dear old mom to present non-vegetarian recipes in the future (and I’ve been known to cook seafood every now and again, so keep an eye out for a broiled fish supper coming up soon). But for now, we’ve got that old vegetarian stand-by: lentil soup. (Which you can un-vegetarian easily by making a simple tweak, noted below.)

This recipe is one of the first dishes that I learned to cook when I went away to college, and it sort of became my signature dish for a while. I know, it’s not exactly haute cuisine, but it’s filling, healthy, easy to prepare and people really do seem to love it.

So for each new recipe, I’ll first talk about the individual ingredients, and then we’ll get to the actual cookery bit. I’ve also included 2 videos, one of the prep work (cutting everything up) and one of the actual cooking. It’s all happening, beyond the jump:
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by justtheblogger on October 9, 2011  •  Permalink
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Posted by justtheblogger on October 9, 2011

http://justthefoods.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/recipe-1-lentil-soup/

Introduction Part 2: Measurement

Keeping to the shallow end of the pool for a second post, we’re now going to talk about measuring things.

Fourth Doctor

Once again, I really need to step up my follow-through when it comes to celebrity endorsements.

Here to talk to you all about what is possibly the most important measurement in cooking, all the way from Gallifrey, give him a big hand folks, it’s the Doctor!

Okay, if the Doctor were here, he’d be telling you about Time. Time and temperature are the most important measurements in your kitchen. Forget for now about cups and tablespoons and liters—we’ll get to those later.

When you cook, you are the master of time and temperature. You measure them carefully and orchestrate all the food around them so that in the end everything is perfectly cooked. The tricky bit is that every food item has different desires for how it wants to dance with time and temperature. A stir-fry wants to mosh with temperature but leave time standing woefully at the bar crying into its lager. A roast chicken does a sultry tango with time but is shy around temperature, flirting bashfully. You get the idea of this very labored metaphor, I hope.

Combining ingredients when you cook (and I am a big, big fan of one-pot/pan meals, so expect a lot of that from me) means taking the individual time and temperature needs of all the ingredients into account. (Even when cooking separate dishes, timing them so they are all finished at the same time and one thing isn’t left sitting cold while another is still cooking takes practice and attention to time.) Let’s consider an example…

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by justtheblogger on October 7, 2011  •  Permalink
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Posted by justtheblogger on October 7, 2011

http://justthefoods.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/introduction-part-2-measurement/

Introduction: Playing with knives

I just revealed my vintage, didn't I?

If you’d like to read more about who I am and what this is all about, visit the “About” page.

Today’s post is about what you need, so here’s Michael Hutchence to tell you all about it!

Okay, maybe not.

It might take you a little time to accumulate all this stuff, or you may already have most of it. If you can get to a thrift store or charity shop, this can be your golden ticket to stocking up on good cookware for cheap.

I’m a notorious cheapskate. I will never tell you that you need an item unless you really, absolutely have to have it to prepare basic foodstuffs. However, the fact of the matter is that you can’t boil water for pasta in a paper cup, so let’s discuss the things that you need in your kitchen in order to prepare the meals we’ll be discussing in later posts.

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by justtheblogger on October 7, 2011  •  Permalink
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Posted by justtheblogger on October 7, 2011

http://justthefoods.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/introduction-playing-with-knives/

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