I'm sneaking in just before midnight with a tip. Traditional Oven is one of the most useful baking sites I've ever used, as it provides conversions for specific ingredients like butter, sugar, and flour. The butter converter gets the most use from me - for example, it's a lot easier to weigh 85g of butter than to try to get 6 tablespoons while it's still chilled for scones.
Showing posts with label kitchen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kitchen. Show all posts
Friday, November 6, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Preserve the Bounty!
I finally have a good garden crop coming in! Not only do I have a bountiful amount of herbs, spinach and rhubarb so far, but my raspberries are finally turning red! To add to that, Brooke and I hit up a local u-pick to stock up on some fresh strawberries and saskatoons as well. What to do with all this wealth? Preserve!
I was surprised that my internet research indicated that a lot of items I was interested in could simply be preserved by freezing them. I have frozen berries this way before, and also dill, but was reluctant to do so for the rest of my produce. I remembered reading Duo Dishes blog back in December (when those Californians are still growing, but we Canadians are not) that they had done the same thing with Rosemary, so I went back and looked up their post. Armed with the confidence gleaned from knowing another blogger had done it with success, I made little frozen packs of all my herbs.
The steps are simple and work for herbs and berries alike:
1. Pick everything as fresh and close to peak seasonality as possible.
2. Some people say not to wash, but I like washing my pickings, even though they are grown organically, just to be safe about getting the bugs out. Just lay them out on a kitchen towel or paper towel and allow them to dry before freezing.
3. Lay everything in a flat layer on top of wax paper or parchment paper on a cookie sheet (this prevents everything from freezing together in a giant lump).
4. Freeze overnight.
5. Transfer frozen stuff into freezer bags or tupperware and label what they are and the picking season they are from (you should use them in the course of six months to a year or suffer the wrath of freezer burn).
I am hoping for a nice full freezer by the end of August that should take me well into the winter eating food with actual flavour as opposed to grocery store purchased herbs and berries, which are ridiculously expensive and sub-par in flavour. Seriously, how can someone charge $3 for a little pack of herbs when half of them are basically weeds they are so easy to grow (i.e. chives and dill). I have now tried and tested freezing: strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, saskatoons, mango (got a box for mega cheap last year at Superstore and it kept all through the winter), chives - chopped, oregano, parsley, basil, thyme and rosemary (leaves pulled off the branch), and dill this way with good results. The only major difference is that the colour is a bit off, so they don't make good garnishes anymore, but most can come straight out of the freezer, be chopped and thrown into your meal as it is almost done cooking.
I also preserved some spinach this past weekend, but that I flash boil for one minute, drain and then pack in plastic bags. I am not sure freezing would work quite as well on it, and with the amount of space you save by flash boiling it (it shrinks to about 1/10th the size) it is worth doing it this way. Can't wait to use it all this fall making homemade spanikopita!
Friday, December 19, 2008
Our Top 5 Gadgets (each!)
These are great foodie gadgets that would be perfect for gifts or stocking stuffers!
Brooke's Top 5 (+1):
1. Cooking Chopsticks - They replace a bunch of tools as they can be used for mixing, flipping/grabbing, or piercing.
2. Scale - Invaluable! It gives me the ability to try European recipes and is great for controlling portion sizes.
3. Mini Nesting Bowls - I love creating a mise en place when I cook, and using these means I can have everything ready to go.
4. Microplane - What did I do before I had this? It perfectly grates peel, cheese, garlic, ginger, nutmeg, etc. etc.
5. Mortar & Pestle - This is great because I make my own salad dressings, and it works for rubs and marinades as well.
6. Assortment of Rice Moulds - I eat rice several times a week, often for lunch. These make it so easy to create portable, freezable snacks.
Court's Top 5:
1. Veggie Keeper - It really does help my garden veggies last way longer, which is invaluable for me since garden stuff is like gold.
2. Thermometer - Needed to make sure meat is cooked since I don't roast often with just two of us eating, so I don't know meat cook times.
3. Spaghetti Measure - I love it because I am terrible at estimating volume.
4. BBQ Skewers (really all BBQ tools) - These are perfect because I BBQ all summer since we don't have air conditioning, so I can have veggies done BBQ'd too.
5. Mini Food Processor - It is great for making pesto, grinding nuts, and doing anything that the big one does with smaller clean up and a smaller price tag.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Freezers Make Life Easier
Having a stocked freezer makes eating and living well a lot easier. Freezer space can at a bit of a premium if you don't have a deep freeze (I am spoiled, I have a deep freeze, but Brooke does not). Even with just a little space, you can keep some basics on hand. Here are some tips on the types of things you may want to keep, and each of our suggestions regarding what we usually have to give you an idea of what might freeze well.
Eating Well - So that you don't get stuck having toast or cereal for dinner three nights in a row:
- Keep a few small flavor items that might go bad in your fridge because you don't use them all the time
Court: butter in stick form, lemon zest and ginger root
Brooke: ginger root, frozen herbs, frozen cubes of wine, sesame seeds, frozen cubes of stock
- Frozen fruit to use in baking in winter and smoothies in summer. I advocate getting the fruit when it is in season if you can, and freezing it yourself so that it tastes better and is cheaper than grocery store frozen fruit
Court: mango, blueberries and raspberries
Brooke: mango and mixed berries
- Meat so that you can buy in bulk or on sale since it is expensive. I always hit up Safeway when they have their bags of peeled, uncooked frozen shrimp on for buy one get one free as it takes almost no prep to cook with it
Court: I keep some type of red meat, meatballs or sausage and shrimp and bacon
Brooke: pork, chicken thighs and bacon
- Frozen meals for days when you don't want to cook but don't want all the additives of store bought frozen food
Court: soup and pyrogies
Brooke: Chili, rice and curries
For Entertaining when guests are unexpected or coming on a weeknight:
- A couple of appetizers
Court: mushroom tarts and spanikopita
Brooke: none - no room
- Something you can pull out for a meal
Court: quiche and curry
Brooke: curries
- A dessert
Court: cheesecake or brownies or cookies
Brooke: none - no room
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Do You Need a Chef's Knife?
When I first moved out, I got a knife set that was very basic. They looked fine in my apartment, sitting on my counter in the block they came in. There were many sizes and types, all which I used interchangeably (based on what was in my dishwasher). A few years later, after taking a cooking class where the chef went on about choosing a good chef's knife, I thought, I will ask for a good knife for Christmas and see if it makes a difference. Now I have three decent knives, and I only use the ones in the block when none of those three are available.
Having a good knife makes kitchen work go much more smoothly. No longer do I worry when cutting the skin of a tomato that I will just squish the insides all over. Neither do I worry as much about cutting myself. That might seem a bit contradictory, but if you have a sharp knife, it is more likely to cut your food than slip and cut you instead. Finally, there are items that are just too difficult to cut with a dull knife that a good sharp knife will have no problem with. I can cut through frozen meat and a seriously firm squash with no problems.
I started with a Victorinox that was bought for me by a friend. It is a nice large chef's knife, but it is still quite light, which makes it easy enough for me to work with. Life was good with my chef's knife for a while, but then I went and read Kitchen Confidential by chef Anthony Bourdain, where he claims that the only knife you need is a Global chef's knife. Well, he went on in such detail that one had to find it's way into our kitchen. I admit, I do love it. Would I give up my other knife? No way! I use my knives so much that I often dirty up more than one making a meal (and don't want to stop part way through to do dishes).
Recently, it seemed that almost everyone I know was looking at santoku knives. Apparently they were necessary! Off I went to the store to get myself one. I tried a number and chose a J.A. Henckel version, again, because it had a good weight in my hand. Yes, like the other two, I didn't know how I had been living so long without owning this knife.
What brands and types of knives will work for you will depend on what feels good to you, but I would certainly recommend that anyone who likes to cook regularly will benefit from a reasonably good knife. I have had someone stay at our house that has then said they hated cutting things when they returned to their place after using our knives. They can be a bit of a pain, because you have to hand wash them (and I don't hand wash anything else), and they need to be sharpened regularly, but they are totally worth it.
Having a good knife makes kitchen work go much more smoothly. No longer do I worry when cutting the skin of a tomato that I will just squish the insides all over. Neither do I worry as much about cutting myself. That might seem a bit contradictory, but if you have a sharp knife, it is more likely to cut your food than slip and cut you instead. Finally, there are items that are just too difficult to cut with a dull knife that a good sharp knife will have no problem with. I can cut through frozen meat and a seriously firm squash with no problems.
I started with a Victorinox that was bought for me by a friend. It is a nice large chef's knife, but it is still quite light, which makes it easy enough for me to work with. Life was good with my chef's knife for a while, but then I went and read Kitchen Confidential by chef Anthony Bourdain, where he claims that the only knife you need is a Global chef's knife. Well, he went on in such detail that one had to find it's way into our kitchen. I admit, I do love it. Would I give up my other knife? No way! I use my knives so much that I often dirty up more than one making a meal (and don't want to stop part way through to do dishes).
Recently, it seemed that almost everyone I know was looking at santoku knives. Apparently they were necessary! Off I went to the store to get myself one. I tried a number and chose a J.A. Henckel version, again, because it had a good weight in my hand. Yes, like the other two, I didn't know how I had been living so long without owning this knife.
What brands and types of knives will work for you will depend on what feels good to you, but I would certainly recommend that anyone who likes to cook regularly will benefit from a reasonably good knife. I have had someone stay at our house that has then said they hated cutting things when they returned to their place after using our knives. They can be a bit of a pain, because you have to hand wash them (and I don't hand wash anything else), and they need to be sharpened regularly, but they are totally worth it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
