This is dedicated to the singles and married ones alike. While
some of us already have our cooking game on fleek, there are some out there who
can hardly boil an egg or prepare those instant noodles (not everyone
understands what to sauté or to sear means). In this series of
articles, we will all start on an equal playing field and then work our way to
making those gourmet meals so we can all shine like other children on ‘Insta
what what’ or even betterJ
So, before we become
masters in the kitchen, there are some ‘basics’ that we must take note of –
things like how to prepare veggies, how to mind the kitchen, use appliances
etc. Then there is also organising your kitchen in a way that makes it easy to
move around, knowing the right cooking times and temperatures for meat, poultry
and vegetables (ever visited someone and you got served cold, bland, overcooked
veggies….yes, you know what I mean). I will round off with other things to note
in the kitchen and also mention some of the common (and not so common) cooking
terms and then from there WASHAAA!!!!...we get into the recipes proper.
Chicken Prep:
- Clean everything that comes into contact with raw chicken or its juices with hot, soapy water.
- Check the "Best Before" date when buying fresh chicken to get the latest possible date.
- Rinse raw chicken pieces with cold water and pat them dry with a paper towel (which you then throw away) before you start your recipe.
- Chicken should always be cooked throughout. The juices from the chicken should run clear (not pink).
- When marinating chicken, PLEASE DO NOT use the same marinade that was on your raw chicken as a basting sauce during cooking or a dipping sauce afterward to avoid food poisoning. Put some marinade aside before adding the chicken to use for basting and dipping.
- Never leave cooked chicken out at room temperature for more than 2 hours. And don't leave raw or frozen chicken at room temperature, if you can help it. Use unfrozen raw chicken (stored in the coldest part of your refrigerator) within 2 days.
Easy Peasy Pasta…
- Make sure to cook the pasta in plenty of water in a large saucepan or stockpot. Pasta needs lots of space to move around. And bring your water to boil before you add the pasta.
- Pasta should be tender but still slightly firm to the bite (this is called ‘al dente’ –). If you cook the pasta beyond this, you can still eat it. But it will be softer and potentially mushier.
- You can add a tablespoon of oil to the water to help keep the pasta from sticking together, but it isn't mandatory. Adding salt to the water is optional, too, but it can add flavor and help the pasta absorb sauce better.
- Stuffed pasta, like ravioli and tortellini, is an easy way to make your pasta dish seem more like a meal. Just cover with sauce and you're good to go!
- Make pasta a meal by using a sauce and adding vegetables and/or cheese. You can also add grilled or roasted chicken or other meat.
General Meat
Preparation
- Good food hygiene is especially important when dealing with meat, because of the bacteria that meat can contain. It's important to store, prepare and cook meat safely to stop bacteria from spreading, and to avoid food poisoning.
- store raw meat/poultry in clean sealed containers on the bottom shelf of the fridge, so the meat can't touch or drip onto other food
- You can eat whole cuts of beef or lamb when they are pink inside –or 'rare' – as long as they are cooked on the outside. This is because any bacteria are generally on the outside of the meat. These meats include steaks, cutlets, joints.
- Cut off any visible fat and skin before cooking: crackling and poultry skin are much higher in fat than the meat itself. You can try grilling the meat rather than frying, not adding extra fat or oil when cooking meat or roasting meat on a metal rack above a roasting tin so fat can run off.
Tips for Easy Vegetable
Preparation
- Consider a vegetable’s appearance and texture when you select fresh produce. High-quality, fresh vegetables are young, crisp, and brightly colored
- Get a good chef’s knife, learn how to use it, and keep it sharp. When you know you can cut up a big mound of vegetables in just a few minutes, you are much more likely to do it.
- Set up your work space. Running all over the kitchen is a time-waster. If possible, set up your kitchen so you have a work space for cutting right next to the stove. That way, you can just "chop and drop" as you go.
- Choose vegetables that are easy to prepare. Vegetables that don't tend to be dirty, aren't tricky to chop, and don't need a lot of extra fuss are your best bets on those evenings when you don't feel like cooking
- Chop once, eat lots! It doesn't take twice the time to chop up twice the vegetables; do it once and eat for several meals. Once in a while, chop up everything left in your vegetable drawer and sauté it all together in a big pan with olive oil. You can spice it up however you want to. Throw in a bunch of herbs, some garlic or chopped nuts. You can eat it as a side dish, in an omelette or egg dish, or with dressing as a cooked salad.
- When cooking up a bunch of veggies in a pan, start with the veggies that take the longest to cook and work your way to those that cook up in a flash. Generally, this would mean starting with aromatics such as onion, celery, and carrots, followed by denser options such as broccoli or cauliflower then peppers, then less-dense veggies such as zucchini and mushrooms, and ending with greens such as spinach and chard
Until next time…
Regards,
L
Acknowledgement/ For more info:
Lowcarbdiets.com
Bhg.com
Indirect.gov.uk
Webmd.com
Image
– lmgarcade.com
