Don't Make it So Difficult!

Every cook, whether he or she is a professional chef or cooks for a spouse and kids, was at one time inexperienced. At some point, each of us had a lot to learn about cooking. As a result, most of us have a cooking horror story to tell. It’s inevitable.

Mine? Making some sort of forgettable dish for my brother and his wife, with the rice having the look (and taste) of wallpaper paste. My brother, who has a long memory and a heartless sense of humor, reminds me of it on a regular basis. Oh, and the first pie I made during which I got so frustrated while rolling out the pie dough that I said a bad four-letter word that sounds somewhat like fudge, and threw it on the floor.

Simply Cooking Simply thinks we make it too hard on ourselves. And as I look at different cooking web sites and blogs or watch cooking shows on television, it becomes clear to me why. I can almost hear young cooks saying....

“This recipe calls for gruyere cheese, and have you seen how much that costs?”

“I’m suppose to use unsalted butter in this recipe, and all I have is salted butter!”

“A tablespoon of freshly grated lemon zest? What do I do with the rest of the lemon?”

“What the hell are blood oranges?”

See what I mean? The chefs on television make it seem as though you simply MUST use these ingredients or your cooking world will be shattered. And if I’m just beginning to cook for a family and am on a limited budget, I don’t want to go out and buy expensive ingredients that will grow old in my refrigerator or pantry shelf and need to be discarded.

Simply Cooking Simply recommends that you look at recipes as simply an outline, a recommendation. For example, don’t let yourself believe for a moment that you must use gruyere cheese in your French onion soup. Substitute Swiss cheese that you get on sale at the market, and maybe add a little parmesan cheese for a sharp bite.

Here is a recipe for French Onion Soup from Melissa d’Arabian that is simple and really inexpensive to make. If you don’t have fresh thyme (or have reason to buy any besides this recipe), either use dried thyme, or leave it out altogether. The key to making this recipe work is to have your burner on a low temperature and carmelize (which just means cook them until they are a carmel color) for a very long time. She recommends an hour-and-a-half. Low and slow.

As an aside, remember when you substitute dried herbs for fresh, use a LOT less. As herbs are dried, their flavor is concentrated. Using the same amount would be overpowering.

Serve your soup with a fresh vinaigrette salad, and you have a fancy French dinner for not much money.

By the way, I’ll try to answer some of those other questions in future blogs.