There’s a fast food company that has recently promoted their newest menu item - a sandwich which includes guacamole - by saying one reason to put guacamole on the sandwich is because “it’s just really fun to say… ‘guacamole'”! You know what? They are absolutely right. “Guacamole” IS fun to say, but it’s WAY more fun to eat! Here’s all you need to know about how to make your own Guacamole.
How’s your basic cooking knowledge?
Well, if you’re reading this at all, I know you at least have an interest in cooking (or perhaps just eating - that means you, Dad!). Cooking is something that so many people do, but often out of necessity, rather than because they are passionate about the art. It’s also something for which the vast majority of people do not receive any training, other than watching their parents cook. But what if your parents were not big cooks? What if you just had to learn as you go? Sometimes you miss the critical points, the basic techniques that can make a big difference to your overall effectiveness as a cook.
That’s where the Basics comes into play. Starting today and every Wednesday you’ll be able to see a new Basic episode (or two!), showing you how to do one cooking technique properly. Today we’re launching two segments - how to cook pasta and how to make a marinara sauce. Already a pro? Well, watch it anyway - you never know when you might learn something new! Remember: the more you know, the more you know you don’t know! 😉
I hope you enjoy the segments. They were a lot of fun to make and they let me do what I love doing best - teaching people! If you like the segment, be sure to click “Like” and subscribe to the series. So, without further ado… let’s get BASIC!
Today’s the day! Happy Thanksgiving! From years of teaching Thanksgiving classes to home cooks, I’ve learned that one of the biggest fears of the day (aside from under-cooking or over-cooking the turkey) is making the gravy. This doesn’t need to be intimidating and you can actually make the gravy ahead of time while the turkey is cooking, finishing it at the end with the drippings. Here’s a little video to help.
Basic Gravy
Makes 2 cups
Ingredients:
2 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoon flour
1 to 2 cups stock (chicken, beef or mushroom), room temperature
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Other optional seasonings (soy sauce, herbs, cream)
Directions:
1. Pre-heat a 2-quart saucepan on medium heat.
2. Add butter and melt. Add flour and whisk butter and flour together. Cook, stirring regularly for 2 minutes.
3. Add 1 cup of stock, whisking constantly.
4. Bring the mixture to a boil and thicken it. Set it aside.
5. When you have finished roasting your meat, pour the drippings from the roast into a fat separator. Let the fat rise to the surface and pour the flavorful drippings into the gravy. This will dilute the gravy to the right consistency and add the flavor from the roast to your gravy. If you want the gravy a little looser, add the remainder of your stock.
6. Season to taste with salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce
Making a pan sauce is one of my favorite things to do when I’m cooking. It’s quick, easy, delicious and finishes off the dish nicely. Plus, it forces you to let the meat rest while you make the sauce, and letting the meat rest is so important to keep it juicy and moist. But wait… there’s more… making a pan sauce is like doing half the dishes - by deglazing, you clean off the bottom of the pan as you incorporate all those tasty brown bits into the sauce AND making the sauce doesn’t make a second pan dirty. It’s a win-win-win-win!
Need a little tutorial on making a pan sauce once you’ve finished cooking your steak, chicken, pork or fish? It’s super easy. You just need to remember three (or maybe four) things:
Here’s a 10-minute lesson on making a pan sauce:
Chicken Breasts with Tomato Balsamic Sauce
Serves 4
Ingredients:
Directions:
Tradition and routine are strong influences in all we do, including cooking. In the kitchen, traditional techniques often prevail until we see someone doing something different, which opens our eyes.
There’s a Canadian food television show called Pitchin’ In with Toronto Chef Lynn Crawford which I particularly like. In the show, she travels around in search of the freshest ingredients in their place of origin, often relying on the locals to show her how to pick, catch or trap these ingredients. Then, she cooks a meal with the ingredients for all who helped her in the search. One episode featured lobster and Chef Lynn goes lobster fishing in the Bay of Fundy to catch some of the world’s best. Then, before she prepares it, she asks how the locals like to cook their lobsters. To her (and my!) surprise, they say their best way of preparing lobster is in the microwave! She gives it a try and actually likes it!
It’s very easy to fall into a philosophy of “the old way is the best way” when cooking. These days I try to keep my eyes and mind open to new and different cooking techniques, and never has that been more true for me than with the microwave pressure cooker. I’m very familiar with pressure cooking, having written a book full of pressure cooker recipes, but rarely used my microwave for more than popcorn or re-heating leftovers. It’s a crying shame, really, to have an appliance in the kitchen with so much to offer and do so little with it. Very few people use their microwave to its fullest capacity because they’ve never been able to get great results out of it. Foods tend to cook unevenly in the microwave and come out either dry or rubbery. Now, those who know me know that I approach new kitchen gadgets with a little skepticism. I really need to be convinced that they deserve a spot in my kitchen. When the microwave pressure cooker came into my life, I remembered Chef Lynn Crawford and the lobster and decided I needed to be open minded. What I discovered is that this cooking tool manages to use the speed of microwave cooking but gives you the results of pressure cooking - tender, juice, moist and delicious meals. It’s a win-win!
So, when it came to cooking mussels, naturally my first thought was to cook them on the stovetop in a lidded pot. But then… if lobster in the microwave can be delicious, why not try the microwave pressure cooker to cook mussels? It was quick and easy, but the best part was that they came out tasting delicious. Here’s the recipe:
Mussels with Beer, Leeks and Cream
Serves 1 or 2
Ingredients:
Directions:
Interested in learning more about the Microwave Pressure Cooker? Tune in to QVC on Wednesday, August 6th. I’ll be there!
ML
When I saw the sale price of cherries last week, I jumped on it and bought a few pounds. Of course, even though cherries are quite possibly my favorite fruit, I couldn’t eat that many cherries just as is (without getting ill), so I decided to make cocktail cherries. My favorite winter cocktail is a Manhattan, but I’m really not a big fan of the traditional florescent maraschino cherry. I’m always in search of proper brandied cherries or high-end maraschino type cherries. Now, I will no longer have to search. There are several recipes for brandied cherries on the Internet and they were all pretty-much the same. It was easier than I’d imagined, especially with the help of my brand-spankin’ new cherry pitter. Here’s what I did:
Cocktail Cherries
Ingredients:
Directions:
So, once the cold weather returns in three or four months, and I’m in the mood for a Manhattan I’ll not have to run around looking for the proper cherry. I’ll have a huge mason jar full of them in my fridge.
Or will I? Winter is several months away, after all…
Fish is good food! We all know that. It’s good for us, full of omega-3 fatty acids, a great source of protein and easy to digest. You can tell fish is good for you because of how you feel after eating it - fresh, clean, healthy. But more than just being good for you, fish is delicious! I love fresh fish, but I especially love fresh raw fish. Sushi has become a regular meal for me, but recently I’ve found a new love for a similar raw fish preparation - Hawaiian Ahi Poke. Poke is Hawaiian for “to slice or cut” and Poke is an appetizer prepared by cutting sashimi grade Yellowfin Tuna into small cubes or pieces and combining it with sesame oil, soy sauce, some chili spice and various other ingredients. The biggest challenge to making Ahi Poke is getting the freshest Yellowfin Tuna. Of course, you know I have the answer, because you can actually get this sashimi grade fish from my friends at Anderson Seafoods, already prepared and cut into cubes for you. While I do love Ahi Poke, these Yellowfin Tuna Cubes are actually very versatile and you can make delicious Ahi ceviche tacos, spicy tuna bites and pot stickers, a tuna putanesca sauce for spaghetti and seared sesame tuna with these cubes. The Ahi Poke dish takes about 5 minutes to prepare from start to finish, and will make a statement at any dinner party, or just makes for a delicious snack for you. Give it a try!
Want to see more of the Ahi Tuna Cubes? Check out QVC on Friday, July 4th at 6pm ET.
Hawaiian Ahi Tuna Poke
Serves 6 as a small appetizer
Ingredients:
Directions:
Today I have the good fortune to launch yet another delicious item on QVC from my friends at Anderson Seafoods. This time, it’s not fresh fish (although you can see their full assortment of fresh (never frozen) fish on their website at any time), but a medley of delicious seafood, including shrimp, wild caught bay scallops, squid rings and wild Alaskan cod! I’ve been busy cooking this seafood up in a number of ways and there are so many things I love about this seafood medley.
First of all is its versatility. I’ve made pastas, stews, fried appetizers, a pot pie, and even a salad with the mix, but you could also make tacos or fajitas, throw it onto a pizza, and of course grill it up in a grill basket to accompany just about anything. I love the versatility of this seafood and how quickly you can put a great meal together using it as the main ingredient.
Secondly, it’s such a quick fix! In no more than two minutes of cooking time, everything is cooked up and ready to be served. It’s great when you need to put dinner together quickly and the end result is delicious and special - not your everyday quick fix!
I also love the size of all the pieces of seafood. Squid cooks very quickly and the shrimp, bay scallops and cod pieces are the right size to accompany the squid. Together all the different seafoods are complimentary to each other and sized appropriately not only for each other, but also for eating. They are the perfect bite-size.
Last, but definitely not least, is the convenience of this medley. When making a seafood dish, you often have to go and buy all the different seafoods separately. Depending on how they are sold (shrimp in one pound bags, for instance), you may have to buy more than you need for a particular dish. Anderson, on the other hand, offers the medley in one-pound bags with the four different types of seafood making up roughly 25% of that pound. Having a pound or two of this in the freezer is a cook’s safety blanket - they defrost quickly, cook quickly and can make an impressive last minute meal!
Interested? You should be!
Quick and Easy Seafood Pasta with Black Pepper and Lemon
Serves 2 to 4
Ingredients:
Directions:
Click for recipes for Seafood, Chorizo and Corn Salad; Salt and Pepper Fried Seafood; Seafood Potpie with Puff Pastry Top; Seafood Stew with Fennel, Tomatoes and Potatoes.
I’ve been doing a lot of work with BBQ Grill Pans lately and here’s something sweet and delicious that I made on my latest Cook’s Essentials BBQ Grill Pan. I love how easy it is to make and how fun it is to serve. Just give your guests a small spoon and the banana scoops out so easily. I saw these grilled banana s’mores in various places on the Internet, so I can’t claim to have invented them (or even give credit because they were in multiple places), but I do love the addition of peanut butter chips!
Grilled Banana S’mores
Serves 4
Ingredients:
Directions:
Despite some rainy weather, grilling season is in full swing for me here in Pennsylvania. It feels so good to be outside, enjoying the weather again, cooking meals and making great backyard aromas. I’ve been testing out all sorts of accessories for the BBQ lately, and most recently I had the good fortune to take a whole new grilling system for a test drive. Overall, the STOK grill and grill insert system is pretty darn cool! STOK is really on to something here. They create both gas and electric grills and their grills have removable circles in the grill grate that can be replaced with one of their inserts, like a griddle, a vegetable basket, a cast iron kettle, a smoker infuser, a wok, a pizza stone and even a chicken roaster! I’ve had a lot of fun playing with this grill system, and as I write this, I can’t even decide which insert is my favorite.
That said, anyone who knows me, knows how much I love pizza! So one of the first things I did with the STOK grill 
system is throw the pizza stone into place and fired up the grill. I used the pizza stone in the grill to make a Tex-Mex Pizza, which ended up being a lot like nachos on a pizza crust. The best part was being able to grill some of my pizza toppings - corn, red pepper, and chicken - for extra smokey flavor while the pizza stone was still heating up. Then cooking the pizza on the grill’s pizza stone allowed me to have one of my favorite meals without heating up the house with the oven. I’ll be showing you more recipes from my experience with STOK in the next little while, but for now, here’s the Tex Mex Pizza recipe. Yum!
Tex Mex Pizza
Makes 2 9-inch pizzas
Ingredients: