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.

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It’s the new year, that time when we make resolutions, ponder life’s big questions and wonder how that last year flew by so quickly. Oftentimes the first of these involves diets, and with them, vows to eat better.

Before you roll your eyes, don’t worry: This isn’t necessarily an article about nutrition or how to shed calories. Rather, it’s suggestions on five foods to try that may be new to you – all of which do happen to boost flavor in a relatively healthful way.

These foods are not usually eaten alone, and that’s the beauty of them: They can make a dish that’s tried and true better, and can be used in lieu of ingredients that are higher in fat and/or calories. They can introduce flavors you may not be familiar with, and are all ripe for experimentation.

Here are the five foods that top my recommended list of ones to try in the new year. I hope those that are new to you will find their way into your kitchen in 2012.

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I love herbs. Fresh or dried, they are an instant way to boost flavor without adding fat or salt. Their varieties and flavors baffle the mind, and they can perk up dishes ranging from the simplest eggs to the finest steak to ice cream and hundreds of foods in between.

One of my favorite herb combinations is one I only recently discovered. It was love at first taste, and now I use it on everything from seafood to spaghetti: herbes de Provence, named after the southern region in France.

These herbs, sometimes labeled “herbs from Provence,” are dried and can be found bagged or bottled with others in supermarkets or even stores like Target. Herbes de Provence are a blend of herbs, but like so many other creations in cooking, the combination creates a culinary synergy that’s magic in your mouth.

Herbes de Provence generally are a mix of dried thyme, basil, marjoram, savory and fennel. Some blends contain additional herbs such as lavender, rosemary and parsley. Bottles cost anywhere from a few dollars for a house brand like Target’s Archer Farms (it’s quite good) to nearly $20 for “gourmet” versions found at specialty retailers and online.

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Last week I showed you how to make a roux, which is basically flour cooked in fat, and in doing so we laid the foundation for greater things.

Roux isn’t for eating by itself, of course, but is used to thicken such things as sauces and gravies, which themselves are used in a supporting role to build a main dish.

One easy sauce to build from a roux is béchamel, also known as white sauce. Don’t worry: It tastes better than its rather bland name. In fact, in classical French cooking, this sauce is so important that it’s known as a “mother sauce.” It’s called that because from it even more elaborate sauces can be made.

Béchamel is a thick, milk-based sauce. It gets its thickness from the roux, which also helps give the sauce a nutty, hearty flavor.

Some béchamel recipes call for cooking onions with the roux for added flavor, but you can leave them out if you’re not hot on onions, are short on time, or want a smoother sauce without the need for straining. Other than the roux and the milk, about the only other things this sauce needs are a couple of bay leaves and a dash of nutmeg. And some time, but not a whole lot.

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What does roux and a kangaroo have in common? Luckily not much in culinary terms, but in phonetics a lot. The latter part of the fighting marsupial’s name is how you pronounce this classic foundation in so many dishes: Roux is simply pronounced “roo.”

So, what is the stuff?

Roux is just flour and fat cooked together. Two simple ingredients, but together they can do a lot.

The flour is usually white wheat flour such as the popular all-purpose kind, and the fat can be just about anything: butter, vegetable oil, bacon grease or drippings from other meat.

Roux isn’t meant to be eaten by itself, but is used as a thickening agent in soups, stews, gravies and sauces. Unlike, say, a cornstarch and water slurry, roux can lend dishes a nutty flavor and even color, depending on how long you cook it.

In the coming days I’ll show you how to make roux, and from there, how to make a lovely bechamel sauce. But wait, there’s more! From our bechamel, we’ll make a bangin’ cheese sauce.

Stay tuned for those coming attractions. For now, make sure you have some flour and oil in your pantry, and sprinkle in a “roo” here and there in your conversations.

So Wifey recently struck a deal, and when Degens find deals we go big or go home. In this case she scored a 25-pound bag of carrots. For $4.

Needless to say, just about every dish I’ve made in the past week has included the orange roots. If I were eating any more of these things I’d grow a bushy white tale and be saying, “What’s up, Doc?” But in addition to stocking up some vegetarian friends, the surplus has also given me opportunity to experiment with the versatile veggies.

One of my more tasty uses for carrots is using them for something sweet, and it’s not cake. It’s actually in a quick-bread batter that can be used for bread or muffins.

Finely grated carrots give this bread a dash of color and a subtle crunch. I add in some crushed pineapple for extra pizazz. While I admit this recipe is more of a treat – as muffins and dessert breads usually are – I give mine a degree more of healthful properties by mixing in whole-wheat flour and using canola oil instead of butter.

Best of all, it’s a snap to make and uses the standard muffin/quick-bread method of simply mixing wet ingredients into dry, popping your chosen bakeware into an oven and, voila, half an hour later you’ve got a tasty treat that makes a fine dessert pairing with coffee or a breakfast indulgence. Hey it’s got carrots so it must be good for you, right?

You won’t need 25 pounds for this recipe. In fact just one carrot should do the trick. Guess I’m lucky that these loaves and freeze well.

Let’s bake.

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Back in culinary school, I had a chef-instructor who was known for her love of lemon juice. Adding it to dishes, she would say, is like “Adding bursts of sunshine.”

Very true. A squirt of fresh lemon or lime juice can really brighten a dish with tang. But there’s an often overlooked piece of that lemon, lime or other citrus that can add an equal bite: the skin, aka the “zest.”

If the juice of a fresh lemon packs rays of flavor, then pieces of zest are like culinary meteorites for your mouth.

Adding the zest of a citrus fruit can enliven any number of foods, from salad dressings, pancakes and rice to ice cream and, one of my favorites, cheesecake. And for those counting calories, it’s a bonus to know that the zest, like little bits of herbs, add nearly zero calories.

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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.

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Across back yards everywhere this past Memorial Day, grills blazed at the unofficial start of summer. And while I enjoyed some freshly cut barbecue chicken myself, my thoughts – and taste buds – turned to something much different yet absolutely perfect for this eating season: Tapenade.

Tapenade is an olive-based dish that can be served on top of crusty bread, as a dip for vegetables, or even as a spread on sandwiches in place of mayonnaise.

It’s a dish that has a fancy name and one that you may think is hard to prepare, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. If you have a can opener, a food processor and 10 minutes, you can make tapenade.

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