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12
kitchen Timesavers
that don't sacrifice taste
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6
Be smart about timing.
It pays to think about how best
to coordinate the cooking of the various dishes that comprise your meal
– smart planning can significantly reduce your overall working time.
Start the pasta cooking water boiling just before beginning to make your
pasta sauce; set the rice cooking before you wash and chop veggies; turn
on the oven before attending to anything else, since it will take awhile
for the oven to warm up to the proper temperature.
7
Recycle your leftovers
Some foods just don’t taste as
good re-heated the next day – instead of nuking the flavor out of your
leftovers, try re-using them in a new dish. When making steamed white
rice to go along with stir-fries, for instance, I often make double the
required amount, then use the leftover portion to make fried rice the
next day. As another example, leftover pasta makes a tasty and filling
addition to soups, and also tastes good pan-fried.
8
Buy de-skinned, de-boned meats.
This is particularly useful if
you’re doing a stir-fry. If you’re feeling especially lazy, you can
even get pre-cut bits of chicken and beef.
9
Before freezing packages of meat, divide them into convenient
single meal-size portions—
To prevent the hassle of tugging/pulling/prying apart the precise
amount you’ll need when it comes time to cook.
10
Freeze foods in thin layers whenever possible.
Thin layers will defrost far faster.
11
Small/thin bits of food cook faster.
So when you’re in a rush to get a meal on the table, go with angel
hair rather than fettucine, sliced chicken rather than whole chicken
breast, finely minced veggies rather than roughly chopped veggies.
12
Keep a few favorite exotic ingredients stocked
Sometimes the fastest way to get a delectably different-tasting dish
is through the simple addition of a choice exotic ingredient. Since
exotic ingredients have a tendency to be somewhat pricey, I like the
ones that have a very strong flavor (so a little goes a long way) and
that keep well. For me, these include capers, real parmigiano reggiano,
dried shiitake mushrooms and sundried tomatoes – other possibilities
include dried porcini mushrooms, strong-flavored cheeses (blue cheese,
feta, romano/asiago), jars of antipasti (roasted red peppers, marinated
artichokes), or kalamata olives.
o
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