The Gourmet Mama

When freezing stews, don’t add the potatoes. Add them when you thaw the stew to make it taste the best.

Many people are under the mistaken impression that gourmet food has to be extremely complicated. Fortunately, that isn`t the case. What you may consider to be an amazing dish is probably more because of the combination of flavors and the presentation.

Think about those cooking shows you see where the end result is a tiny morsel of food on a big white plate. It looks pretty spiffy, right? But the truth is, it`s really more of an illusion than anything else.

There are a few parts to a truly amazing meal and here they are:

1. The base. This is often starchy, such as rice, bulgar or cous cous and serves as the main part of the dish.
2. The flavor. This could be anything that you place atop the base, lamb, crab, or a combination of vegetables.
3. The sauce. Usually the sauce will combine the flavors that you`ve put into the dish and make them really pop. A well-done sauce can make a dish.
4. The garnish. This is what tops it all off and makes the dish look professional. A sprig of a fresh herb, a sprinkle of black pepper or the curl of carrot that turns a plain dish into a spectacular one.

The one real rule of making a dish great . . . keep them wanting more. Rather than giving people their fill of something, offer them small amounts to whet their appetite. No more. You`ll have them oohing and awwing about how amazing your cooking is. This is why top restaurants provide small, two bite appetizers and tiny entrees. It`s a trick you can use with your visitors, too!

To save time when you are making buscuits, don’t worry about cutting them out with a round cutter. Just roll them out and use a knife to cut them into squares.

Whenever you use lemons, oranges or limes, save the rinds and freeze them. When they are frozen solid, they grate easily and its always good to have some citrus zest on hand.

Photo by thebusybrain

You can hardly have summer without chowing down on a hotdog at least once, especially if you have children.  But most of us don’t really enjoy the cardboard tasting buns, bland wieners and ketchup that make up the regular hotdog. So how do we make that summer favorite into a gourmet treat that kids and adults alike will love and come back for seconds and thirds?

First, you want to start with the wiener itself. Try and choose a higher quality meat rather than the regular bulk ones. Find a package that says “100% beef” to make sure that you aren’t getting any mystery meats in there. When you do find a wiener that you like, then you want to grill it rather than boil it. Grilling gives it more of a smoked taste and fills them with a lot more flavor.

As for the bun, try and find some good buns at your local bakery instead of the highly processed ones that you get in the grocery store. I like to get whole wheat buns for a bit of extra fibre and flavor. Cut them in half and spread them with just a little bit of butter and toast them open faced in the oven or on the grill.

Now what you need is condiments and toppings that truely make this a gourmet hotdog! Here are a few suggestions that you can pick and choose from to find a hotdog that is truely a perfect summer meal.

Dijon mustard

carmalized onions

chopped bacon

sprouts

Terriaki sauce

Wasabi Mayo (1/2 cup mayonaise mixed with 1/2 teaspoon wasabi paste)

Chopped dill pickle

Blue Cheese

Grated cheese

Grated Ginger root (sounds wierd but is really quite tasty)

chopped red and green peppers

Ground black pepper

Diced pineapple

The possibilities are endless so play around with different flavors until you find one that suites you. Of course the little ones usually just like plain ketchup on their dogs but at least they will have a gourmet bun right?

Wine is a perfect way to make any meal a little gourmet and add some sass and perk up a regularly boring meal. The best part about it is you can enjoy…I mean “sample” the wine while you are doing the cooking. If your worried about feeding your children alcohol, don’t! The process of heating the wine when you are cooking with it burns off most of the alcohol, leaving a subtle taste of wine without a high alcohol content. In fact, if you boil it in a liquid, it loses 85% of its original alcohol content. Here are the top five rules to remember when you are cooking with wine.

1. Never, ever cook with a wine that you would not drink! If it’s not fit for human consumption, its not fit for cooking with either.

2.  It is important to use the right wine with each different kind of food, so here is a basic guide to help you out. Red meat dishes, soups with root veggies and beef stock should all be paired with a full bodied red wine. Seafood, poultry, pork and veal, veggie and chicken soups and white sauces should be paired with a dry white wine. Desserts should be mixed with a sweet white wine.

3. When adding it to cooking, here are the suggested amounts to add.

Soups - 2 tablespoons per cup

Sauces - 1 tablespoon per cup

Gravies - 2 tablespoons per cup

Stews and Meats - 1/4 cup per pound

Poaching liquid for fish - 1/2 cup per quart

4. Cooking is a great way to use leftover wine! If you want to store leftover wine properly, pour it into smaller bottles, cork it tightly and store it in the fridge.

5. Use whatever wine you like to drink rather than getting cooking sherry. It usually has salt or chemicals added to it and is generally more expensive than regular sherry.

Beef and Cabbage Soup

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cooking time:3 hours, 30 minutes (I know it seems like a long time but its well worth it and you only have to stir it occasionally.)

Ingredients

1-1/4 pounds beef top round roast

2 slices bacon, finely chopped

1 medium onion diced

1 medium carrot diced

2 medium ribs celery diced

1 medium green bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced

1/2 cup red wine (try a Cabernet sauvignon)

1/4 cup A-1 sauce

2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed

1/2 teaspoon whole caraway seeds

8 to 9 cups water

2 beef bouillon cubes, crumbled

1/2 large head green cabbage cut into 1-inch large dice

1 (3-ounce) jar roasted red peppers, drained and diced

Preparation

Trim beef, saving fat. Cut beef into 1/2-inch cubes and fat into 1/4-inch cubes.

In a large pot (6 quarts), add bacon and beef fat. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until all fat has been rendered and remaining pieces of fat and bacon are brown but not burned. Remove browned fat and bacon pieces and set aside. Leave liquefied fat in pot.

Saute onions, carrots, celery, and green peppers about 4 minutes. Add beef, raise heat to medium high and saute meat about 3 minutes. Return browned pieces of fat and bacon to the pot.

Stir in wine, A-1 sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper,garlic, oregano, thyme and caraway seeds. Stir about 1 minute. Pour in 8 cups water and add crumbled beef bouillon cubes (or base). Stir until cubes or base have dissolved completely.

Add cabage and roasted red peppers; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer several minutes, or until scum stops accumulating on top. Partially cover and continue to simmer 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Skim again, if needed. Taste for seasonings and if too thick, add more water. (May need up to 1 cup.)

Photo by Darwin Bell

Onions are notorious for being a pain to cut . . . literally. The fumes can make your eyes tear up and really irritate the mucus membranes. But you don´t have to cry your eyes out just because you need onions for dinner . . . there´s a solution! In fact, there are solutions to many of the common, unpleasant tasks in the kitchen and this post will cover a few of them.

Onions: To stop the tears, try peeling and cutting the onions underwater. This can be in a bowl or in a sink of cool water. The liquid stops those irritating fumes from reaching your face. Another option is to put the onions in the freezer for twenty minutes or so before cutting them, to reduce the effect.

Garlic: Annoyed with those itty bitty chunks of garlic sticking to your blade? Then sprinkle a bit of salt over the garlic before chopping and it won´t stick as much . . . or you could try rubbing a bit of oil on the knife before chopping.

Eggshells: When you are cracking eggs into a pan or bowl and suddenly realize that there is a little bit of shell in there, don´t reach for a spoon or try to dip it out with a finger. These techniques seldom work, but what DOES work is the actual shell. Use the large chunk of shell in your hand to lift the intruder out and you´ll have no problems.

Odors: Depending on the odor, you have a few options. That horrid onion smell that sticks to your fingers can be removed by washing with a piece of lime or lemon, or by rubbing your hands with stainless steel under running water. Fridge odors are often beaten by setting a small open container of baking soda in the fridge after a thorough washing.

Baked Goods: Having problems with your cakes and breads sticking to the pan, even when you grease it well? Here´s a quick and easy solution . . . tinfoil. Rip off a piece, press it into the pan, grease as normal and pour your batter in. It will flip out easily and can be peeled off whatever you baked.

Do you have any tips and tricks of your own to make kitchen tasks easier? Share in the comments!

Photo by Mandydale

They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day…and I agree, so long as it comes shortly after rolling out of bed around noon-ish. The problem for most mothers is that there is never enough time in the day…or at least in the morning to make sure that the kids get a good breakfast into them before running out the door for work and school.  There is one way that you can get some hot pancakes into them though, without having to rush around and make a huge mess and what mother would argue with that?

The first step is to eat ketchup…ok, let me explain. A great way to make pancakes is to store the batter in an old cleaned out ketchup squeeze bottle. Its perfect grab out of the fridge and pour strait into the hot pan without having to mix it and dirty dishes. Just make the batter up when you have the time, use a funnel to pour it into a washed out ketchup bottle and store it in the fridge for up to 3 days. Then in the morning, heat up the pan, throw in some butter and squeeze the batter out into the perfect pancakes. The only dishes you will have is the pan and the plates!!! So how do you make the batter? Here is a simple recipe that works every time and goes by the rule of ones.

Simple Pancakes

1 cup flour

1 cup milk

1 egg

1 teaspoon baking powder