October 9, 2011 · 1:50 pm

The Gentle Cook

Have you tried making hasty tasty meals with disappointing results? Try the opposite, what I call GENTLE cooking. The difference in a hasty tasty meal and a gently cooked meal is planning. No rushed last minute meals allowed.

The concept is simple, one our great-grandmothers and grandmothers knew well: low and slow. When you cook over low heat for a long time, you give food the chance to develop its natural flavors. You don’t risk burning or toughening food when you gently cook. Unlike hasty tasty meals, a gently cooked meal takes time. (Not to be confused with slow-cooker cooking, which takes hours)

The upside of low and slow is multi-tasking. If you start your meal gently cooking, you don’t need to stand and tend to it. You can put pots on the range or in the oven to start cooking gently then go on to other chores like laundry, checking e-mails, or cleaning the kitchen. You can set the table at your leisure. In a way, it’s more relaxed cooking.

Here is a gently cooked meal as an example. Prep produce for carrots and broccoli. Place the carrots in a 1½ quart pan (carrots have a longer cooking time than broccoli), cover, and turn the burner on low. If your range is gas, this is the lowest setting; electric range setting would be one notch higher than warm.

Take frozen fish fillets, season, and place in a dry 10” skillet. Cover and turn heat to its lowest setting as you did the carrots.

Do not lift the lids on the pans. You can check for steam by spinning the lids. If they spin freely, you have vapor seal. This is what you want. If the lid rattles and steam spews around the edges, lower the heat or use a flame-tamer.

After about twenty minutes, add the broccoli to the 1½ quart pan on top the carrots. Replace the lid and allow broccoli to steam at least twenty minutes for firm. Add time if you like broccoli super tender, taking care not to overcook. Broccoli cooked gently will not turn an ugly brownish color, even if it overcooks a bit.

After about forty-five minutes, dinner is ready to serve. You will get nothing but compliments on your delicious meal, and you can relax and enjoy dinner, too. Gentle cooking makes cleanup easy, especially if you use quality heavy-gauge cookware that evenly distributes the heat. No hot spots means no burned on food. Best of all, slow cooking requires little to no fat, which means healthier meals!

Gently cooked fish dinner

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September 20, 2011 · 11:01 am

Panko Crumbs? Make Your Own!

More and more recipes call for panko crumbs, the Japanese version of bread crumbs. They are flakier than traditional bread crumbs (although nutritionally worthless), which theoretically makes them absorb less grease. I usually make bread crumbs from whole wheat bread because they contain fiber and more vitamins, but sometimes panko works better in a recipe.

But have you bought panko? It’s expensive, considering it’s just bread crumbs. Make your own! Here’s how:

RECIPE

Panko Crumbs

Ingredients:

  • 6 slices white sandwich bread

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 325° F.
  2. Cut away the crusts from each slice of bread
  3. Tear each slice of the bread into fourths
  4. Add half of the bread to the Vitamix container.
  5. Process on variable speed 5 for 3-5 seconds or until all bread is flaked.
  6. Empty bread crumbs onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
  7. Process second half of the bread and add crumbs to the baking tray.
  8. Bake for 10 minutes, but watch closely. Don’t let crumbs brown.
  9. Remove tray from oven and allow the crumbs to cool completely.
  10. Store in a sealed container.

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September 17, 2011 · 8:36 am

Minorcan Clam Chowder Revisited

(This is revised from an earlier post. It’s in honor of my late friend Winni Wood, who bought me my Saint Augustine Seafood Cookbook that contained the original recipe. I miss you, friend.)

Soon it will be soup weather again. Here in the Hasty Tasty Meals kitchen I’m making a pot of Minorcan Clam Chowder. If you’re unfamiliar with Minorcan style cuisine, come to Saint Augustine, Florida, where many restaurants offer dishes featuring recipes from the 18th century settlers who originated from the Spanish island of Minorca.

I’ve adapted this recipe for the more modern, Hasty Tasty Meals kitchen. If you can find datil peppers, you should use those instead of the bell pepper. Datil peppers are authentic to Minorcan cuisine. I use canned clams, but if you have fresh clams, all the better!

RECIPE

Minorcan Clam chowder
Ingredients:
1 pint canned clams (do not drain)
1 Tbsp. oil
2 lbs. onions, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 28-oz cans crushed tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ tsp. thyme
¼ tsp. allspice
¼ tsp. pepper (I use Redneck Pepper® original)
¼ tsp. salt (optional–I omit because there is salt in the canned clams and juice)
2 lbs. potatoes, peeled and minced

Directions:
In the pot of a 6-quart pressure cooker, add oil and sauté onions until soft. Add all other ingredients. Cover and secure lid, bring to pressure, and cook for four minutes. Remove cooker from the burner and allow it to sit 5 minutes. Release pressure according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Cool chowder, and store in the refrigerator. Making the chowder ahead of time allows the flavors to season. Warm over medium heat and serve.

Note: Also good with fish instead of clams. For richer chowder, double the amount of clams.

Note that this is lower in saturated fat than New England clam chowder, and spicier than Manhattan clam chowder. Also, if you scrub the potatoes and leave on the peels, you’ll add potassium and fiber. It’s about as figure-friendly a clam chowder as you can get. Enjoy!

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September 12, 2011 · 5:43 pm

Simple BBQ Sauce

I love a good bottled barbecue sauce, but I’m not driving ten miles to the nearest supermarket if I’m out. It’s too easy to make my own! I have several recipes, but this one is the easiest. I make it in a Vitamix, but you can cook it in a saucepan, too.

RECIPE

Simple BBQ Sauce

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup tomato catsup
  • 1 tsp. minced garlic or 2 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
  • 2 Tbsp. real maple syrup
  • 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
  • 1 slice onion
  • 1 tsp. smoked paprika

Directions:

  1. Add all ingredients to the Vitamix container. Secure lid.
  2. Start on variable speed 1 then step up gradually to 10. Switch to high speed.
  3. Process for 4 minutes or until steam escapes from the lid.  Sauce thickens as it heats.
  4. Pour sauce over meat of your choice.

Use flavorings such as liquid smoke or hot sauce to customize the sauce to your tastes.

Next time you’re at the grocery store, take time to read the labels of various barbecue sauces. Most have high fructose corn syrup as the first or second ingredient. The only additives in my recipe are in the tomato catsup, and that isn’t a lot. Of course, you could make your own catsup, too. Here’s the recipe:

RECIPE

Tomato Catsup

Ingredients:

  • 6 oz. tomato paste
  • ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
  • 1¼ cups water
  • 1 tsp. minced garlic
  • 1 Tbsp. chopped onion
  • 1 tsp. sweetener
  • pinch allspice
  • ½ tsp. salt

Directions:

  1. Add all ingredients to the Vitamix container.
  2. Process on variable speed 4 approximately 1 minute
  3. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight jar or bottle.

Remember when you make your own food, you control the ingredients. Be the master of your kitchen!

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