Starr's Kitchen: Dull, Gray January Days - How Do You Keep It Interesting?

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Dull, Gray January Days - How Do You Keep It Interesting?

My January blues just dipped down into a dreary shade of gray. So how about some tips from the rest of you? How do you keep things interesting in the kitchen when the January soup pot just seems a bit too boring?

3 Write Your Comment:

Courtney said...: This post has been removed by the author.; January 24, 2010 6:23 PM
Courtney said...: Today was some nice fish. Whole Foods had filet of cod on sale. I made a sauce to roast it in with buttermilk, Dijon mustard, a little bit of prepackaged fish rub, chile powder, and salt/pepper. I wasn't sure how the fish would cook so I put a couple tablespoons of butter in with the baking dish with the fish. The fish was cooked at 425 degrees F for about 12 minutes.

I also roasted broccoli and asparagus using the Barefoot Contessa Parmesan Roasted Broccoli recipe.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/parmesan-roasted-broccoli-recipe/index.html

All in all quite yummy.; January 24, 2010 6:36 PM
Ruth said...: I usually have a "fresh" garden salad. Ingredients can be had at most any market place deli bar.; January 28, 2010 8:55 PM

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+++ Book Review +++

How to Cook Everything, 10th Anniversary Edition
by Mark Bittman,
Double B Publishing, inc.; 2008; 496 pp.

Everything? Not quite, but pretty darn close. I love this cookbook. Find an excuse to buy it, and prop it up right beside the stove.

This hefty tome has been an award-winner and favorite for over 10 years. It's the perfect mentor for newcomers to the kitchen but it includes plenty of adventuresome and unexpected recipes to keep kitchen veterans interested. Bittman's style of cooking is informal and flexible, so along with the usual lists of ingredients for basic dishes he includes multiple options one could use for infinite variations on every theme. If a key ingredient isn't in the pantry, well, try something else in its place.

I'd like to see some photos, but there are note. Excellent line drawings that illustrate tricky techniques, like how to peel plantains and how to kill a lobster, almost compensate for that shortcoming. But it would be helpful to see how the finished plantains or lobster would look on the plate.

Bittman doesn't include everything; I couldn't find Yorkshire Pudding or Kale Chips (don't ask.) He does have recipes for Watermelon Mint Soup (p. 967.) and Braised and Glazed Radishes (p. 348.) That's probably as close to everything as any cookbook should get.

The Bottom Line

From time immemorial, food has come from the garden, farm, ranch, river or ocean directly to the kitchen, maybe with a brief passage through a local market. Things have changed a lot and we can't always have the ideal, but here are a few things we CAN do:

We CAN think about what we are eating and decide to eat what is wholesome and beautiful, healthful and delicious.

We CAN make the choice to buy fresh, real food in place of highly processed artificially flavored, enhanced, plumped or dyed "food products."

We CAN choose whole grains and flours and baked goods instead of processed white products with their nutrition stripped then partially replaced by synthetic nutrient substitutes.

We CAN refuse any products containing partially hydrogenated fats, high fructose corn syrup, and any other ingredient that our great-grandmothers would not recognize as wholesome food.

We CAN choose organic local foods in season from local producers whenever possible.

We CAN eat thoughtfully and joyfully, with thanksgiving for the great blessings of food.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Dull, Gray January Days - How Do You Keep It Interesting?

3 Write Your Comment:

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+++ Book Review +++

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