The Chef Within

Last Sunday the family was coming over for dinner and when my two granddaughters come through the doors their first words are usually “what can I do to help?”

We were having pan-fried snapper so I put one of them to work dredging the filets.  They were getting a quick dip in buttermilk and then a coating of crumbs.  Grace began and before long both hands were covered with a gummy mess.  So she washed her fingers and I showed her how to dredge the filets and maintain clean fingers while doing so.  We designated one hand for the dipping wash which in this case was buttermilk and the other for the dry crumbs.

Her left hand became the wet side and so the filet is dipped and wetted on both sides…

and then laid in the crumb mixture.  The right hand takes over and becomes the crumb handler.  Crumbs are scooped up and placed over the wet filet…

and then pressed into the filet so seal a bit. 

all the time keeping both hands free from a gummy mess.

As the filets are completed they get placed on a piece of parchment paper or on a clean, dry baking sheet. 

This technique is the same for chicken, beef…any meat OR vegetable.  If you’d like tips for making fine bread crumbs please refer to an earlier post.

This is a favorite pizza of mine and was inspired by the popular salad using pears, pistachios and gorgonzola.  The combination of flavors is so interesting I thought…why not turn it into a pizza. In a nutshell…the pizza consists of a roasted garlic aioli as a base on the crust, pears, pistachios (or some nut), prosciutto (or some salted meat), gorgonzola cheese, mozarella and some basil dressing (or something similar). 

What caused me to think about this pizza at this particular time is that I found myself with some leftover summer sausage.  I wanted to use it up and so I used it in place of the prosciutto.  It isn’t quite pear season so I resorted to the canned and I didn’t have pistachios so I used lightly toasted pecans.  This is how I cook…substitute everything.

I typically have grilled pizza crusts on hand and so I started with those.  You can buy store bought or really use any crust that you like.

Spread some aioli (refer to post on how to make roasted garlic aioli). 

Next you can use your prosciutto or cured meat.  I’m using the summer sausage cut in small dices.  You can omit the sausage if you prefer a meatless pizza.  Just use extra nuts and gorgonzola. 

continue by adding nuts….

Then you add the pears.  This step is rather critical.  You will want a substantial slice of pear to offer enough pear flavor.  If there are good, ripe pears in season those of course would be your first choice but if the fresh are not ripe then you should resort to the canned. 

Place a good number of pear slices in a concentrical circle around the crust.

Then the gorgonzola and mozarella.  I like to finish the whole thing with a drizzle of homemade basil dressing but I’m sure there are many store bought dressings that would provide the same “bite” that the basil does.  Take to preheated 400 oven and let them bake until the cheese is melted and golden around the edges.  Cut and serve.

If you’re someone who doesn’t use the freezer very often it may be because you don’t know for sure what foods can or cannot be frozen.  So here it is:  anything can be frozen.  Freezing food cannot make it go bad or become rancid.  However - in some cases, freezing can alter the texture of certain foods.  But think about this.  If you have a huge amount of something that’s left over or something that you just bought too much of – and if it is going to spoil – then why not take a chance and freeze it?   If that food is going to be wasted anyway, you’re better off throwing it in the freezer and at least trying to freeze it.

The big no-nos for the freezer are things like lettuce and watermelon.  Water is the primary enemy of freezing.  Fruits and vegetables with an unusually high water content do not freeze well.  But sometimes those same foods, if they are cooked first, freeze beautifully.

Use your freezer for the usual things like juice, meats and vegetables.  But also consider freezing extra bread, sweet rolls, muffins, cookies and bagels.  I love baking but I don’t want to eat a whole batch of cinnamon rolls in two days.  So I portion them in usable amounts and they go to the freezer and I pull them when I feel like a cinnamon roll again.   Bread and baked goods keep so well in the freezer.  They should never be wasted.

You can freeze cottage cheese and about any cheese.  The texture of some cheeses might change a little but the cheese won’t go bad.  I even freeze brie cheese with great success.  Portion all your foods in the portion size you will be using them.  Freeze leftover meats, pasta, rice, beans, sauces of any kind, meat broths, the list is endless.

Here’s a final thought and a suggestion.  Think of all the frozen food items you see in the grocery store.  Have you seen foods frozen with cheese, legumes, rice, peppers, mangoes, frozen eggs?  If they can freeze a particular food, you can too.  In order to be prepared to freeze make sure you stock a variety of air tight containers or freezer storage bags in various sizes and with a marker label those bags and containers with the name of whatever is inside, maybe even a date.  For the plastic containers you may need to use masking tape to create a writing surface.

This is a wonderful way to do something about waste and you’ll feel great utilizing everything you’ve paid for.

Do you get nervous when you’re about to throw a steak on the grill?  Especially steaks that you’ve paid a premium for?  There are a lot of things to watch out for but let’s discuss just one.  How do you tell when the steak is cooked to your liking?  One way of testing it is to pull it off the grill and cut it open with a knife.  But when you do that all the juices leave the meat and drip onto the plate.  Let me recommend a different method for testing the doneness of your steak.  This is how an experienced grill cook would do it. It’s a very reliable method but it does take some practice.

It’s done by using your sense of touch.  When meat is raw, it’s quite soft.  As it cooks, it becomes firmer.  A well-done steak, when touched with your fingertip, feels much firmer than a medium-rare steak.

So here’s how you can develop that sense of touch.  Next time you’re about to throw a steak on the grill poke it on top (with your finger) and memorize how soft the raw meat feels.  Touch it when it’s raw and then touch it several times as it’s cooking.  The meat will firm up as it cooks. Eventually you will learn to identify how firm you like your steaks to feel.  Or in other words, how done you want your meat be.

This goes for any meat:  pork chops, lamb and chicken.  If you don’t get the chance to cook beef steaks very often then practice on chicken breasts.  The technique is the same.  Get to know how soft the meat is when it’s raw and how firm it feels when it’s done.  With a little practice you’ll learn to detect the perfect doneness for each piece of meat without having to cut into it.