I Want To Cook

Bean-based soups are amazing for their nutritional value and the sheer comfort they provide, not to mention that they cost so little to make. The problem with making most legume soups from scratch is the amount of time it takes to soak the beans – usually overnight – and then cook them, which can take hours more. If you don’t do it properly, instead of a soft bean, you’ll risk biting into something as hard as a rock.

Split pea soup doesn’t have these issues. Like lentils, the beauty of split peas is that they cook quickly – about 45 minutes – and require no soaking beforehand. Yet they pack plenty of fiber and protein, and about zero fat. Add the soup’s earthy taste and warm-your-belly satisfaction, and split pea is a winner. It’s also very cost-effective and can be tailored to a variety of tastes. You can buy a 1-pound bag of dried split peas in just about any grocery store for around $2 or less. The soup can be made vegetarian style or, for even more flavor, can include crisp, rendered bacon bits or a traditional ham hock.

While water can be used as the base liquid, I prefer broth or stock since it adds flavor. You can use chicken, vegetable, even turkey or beef broth, or a combination thereof.

[SEE HOW TO MAKE STOCK]

I like to mix low-sodium chicken broth and vegetable broth for mine. Furthermore, I bolster my split pea with potatoes, carrots and onions and garlic. The result is a big pot of soup that can feed an army.

If making homemade soup has daunted you all these years, start with split pea, and start right here.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s true: Some foods have a near-global appeal. No matter where you’re from or what your food preferences are, they speak the universal language of delicious.

Oftentimes these culinary all-stars are rather simple, and shine not just because they taste good, but because they have other inherently likable characteristics as well, such as an agreeable texture and ease of handling. One such food that immediately comes to my mind is the biscuit.

These simple, puffy clouds of carbohydrate goodness have a seemingly magical quality about them. Through the centuries they have been found everywhere from the sacks of traveling peasants to gilded baskets atop linen tablecloths.

They can be savory or sweet, and only get better when teamed with condiments such as butter, honey or gravy. Biscuits are also special in that they can be had for breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack; eaten as a side; or, when cut in half, used for a sandwich.

When I told a colleague that I’d be making some, he asked if I use Bisquick. My eyes immediately shot daggers.

Read the rest of this entry »

Learning to cook is kind of like learning to read in that, once you have the foundations down, you can create just about anything.

If you’ll go with this analogy, you can think of roux as a single word. In communications, a word by itself may not do much, but combined with others, it can help make a literary masterpiece.

Roux (say, “roo”) by itself isn’t much, but it lays a foundation for much greater things. Roux is just flour and fat cooked together. The flour is usually white wheat flour such as the all-purpose kind you use for making pancakes and other staples, and the fat can be just about anything: butter, vegetable oil, bacon grease or drippings from other meat.

Roux is not meant to be eaten by itself. Rather, it is used to thicken recipes such as soups, stews and gravies. In culinary school, roux is among the first things you make, and from there you learn to use it in dishes that may require some time to make, but are among some of the most flavorful on the planet, among them the kind of mac ‘n cheese you see above.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the pantheon of culinary words, there are a few that seem to carry extra cachet. One of those is “aioli.” You may have seen this oddly spelled and easily mispronounced word (say “I-oh-lee”) on posh restaurant menus or heard it thrown around by your foodie friends.

No need to be overwhelmed. While the stuff is admittedly delicious, it’s also quite simple: Aioli is basically garlic mayonnaise, made with olive oil.

See, that wasn’t so bad.

Even better? You can make it. Easily. In a blender, no less.

Since aioli is basically mayonnaise with a couple extra ingredients, you can consider this recipe a two-fer: With it you can make homemade mayonnaise or aioli, depending on the ingredients you add.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the culinary universe, pasta should be as easy to make as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. But if you’ve ever ended up with noodles that are flaccid and flavorless, something has gone awry. Many of us have been there. In fact, when I’m giving personal cooking lessons, I’m continually amazed at how many people bemoan the fact that their pasta never tastes quite right.

It doesn’t have to be this way. And after reading this, you’ll be equipped to make perfect pasta every time. Yes, the two main steps for turning dry, Italian-style pasta into a meal are boiling water and submerging the noodles. But for the perfect pasta, the devil is in the details. And so is the flavor, texture and even how well those oodles of noodles will hold their sauce.

Read the rest of this entry »

When I was a boy, my mom on occasion would make a certain meal that tasted and felt like we were living in the lap of luxury, even if our family’s bank account indicated otherwise. The dinner was a treat, an Italian classic like the kind that generations of her family ate in their home country: linguine and clam sauce.

Now that I make this dinner regularly, I can see why my mom counted on it so often. Aside from it coming together in less than 30 minutes – my mother worked hard in an office all day, too – it’s delicious, healthful and, at about $3 a serving, inexpensive. It can feed a young couple like my wife and me for less than the cost of a bowl of soup at many restaurants, and when the recipe is doubled in portion, will still feed a family of four for around $12 or less.

Using canned clams not only cuts the cost significantly, but also makes the dish way easier to prepare: no cleaning the clams, pan-steaming them, and then having to pry the meat from the shells. Sure, canned clams won’t taste as good as fresh, but keep in mind that in this dish they’ll be complemented by additional flavorful ingredients such as mushrooms, onions, garlic and capers, all mixed in with the pasta.

I buy canned clams on sale just to make this dish, and recently found name-brand ones for $1.50 at Vons, and even cheaper at 99 Cents Only.

It’s one clam dish (literally) in which you don’t need a lot of clams (figuratively) to make. Here’s how to do it:

Read the rest of this entry »

I have a culinary confession to make, and I might as well just get it off my chest: I’m a sucker for fries.

Thick, thin, crinkled or in wonderful fat wedges, there is just something magical and comforting about potatoes that have been deep-fried in oil. Of course, the very thing that makes them so tasty – being deep-fried in oil – also makes them much more fattening than their baked-potato cousin. I always feel a tinge of guilt and an obligation to go to the gym after ordering a batch.

Luckily I have found a happy medium between the plain-jane baked potato and that oh-so-tempting, fat-infused order of French fries, one that packs more taste than the former and less fat than the latter. Let me introduce you to my oven-baked potato fries.

Like traditional French fries, this oven-baked version can be in the form of thin strips or larger wedges, depending on your preference and how handy you’re feeling with a knife. Also like French fries, the best potatoes for this are good old Russet, or Idaho potatoes, which have a higher starch content versus smaller “waxy” spuds like new potatoes or fingerlings.

I prefer mine with the skin on, but of course they can be peeled if you like yours naked.

To make them, you only need to slice some potatoes, coat them with oil and a blend of spices, then let the oven do the hard work of generating the heat. Cooking time will depend on how you like your fries: If you dig ’em soft, you need only cook them till they are that way; if you’re like me and want some crunch, let ’em keep baking until they get crisp on the outside.

All told, you’ll be looking at anywhere from 25-40 minutes in the oven. While that isn’t nearly as quick as deep frying, the results are worth it, and less fat now means less time at the gym later.

Ready to give this a whirl? Here’s how to make a less guilty version of fries:

Read the rest of this entry »

Leftovers are always a good thing in my book, and they become even better when they can be used to morph into a totally new dish. What’s better than that? When the new dish outshines the original from which those leftovers came.

That’s exactly the case with fried rice, a favorite in Chinese restaurants that is so easy to make at home that you may never order takeout again.

To make fried rice, you need first need plain old cooked rice. To get that foundation for this dish, you simply simmer or bake a medium- to long-grain white rice like basmati in water for about 20 minutes or, even easier, use a rice cooker, which can be bought for under $20.

Read the rest of this entry »

We usually think of pasta as something to be drenched in a rich marinara or a heavy, cream-based alfredo sauce. We also usually think of it as something that comes in long ribbons or strands.

Orzo is a type of pasta that turns that latter notion on its head, and used in the recipe below, does the same for the sauce that it’s served with.

Upon first glance, you might mistake orzo for rice. That’s because it is shaped just like those little grains. But orzo is indeed pasta, and is made from the same kind of wheat used for more familiar shapes like fettuccine and angel hair.

Because of its small shape, orzo is easier to eat than your average plate of spaghetti – no slurping needed. It can also be served as a side similar to rice, or as the main ingredient. But orzo’s small size can spell trouble if it’s paired with big, traditional partners like marinara or alfredo; the granule can get lost in a sea of sauce.

A better – and healthful – alternative is to use orzo in a vinaigrette-type sauce of olive oil and fresh lemon juice. Combined with a bounty of vegetables, herbs and one secret ingredient, orzo becomes a star player that is not only seen in all its glory on the plate, but bursts with flavor once in your mouth.

Ready to give it a whirl? Let’s make some Extraordinary Orzo

Read the rest of this entry »