Get Cooking: 150 Simple Recipes to Get You Started in the Kitchen
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Authors: Mollie Katzen
Tags: #Food
150 Simple Recipes to Get You Started in the Kitchen
With Photographs by the Author
To Sam and Eve
One of the best parts of my job is that I get to work with some of the funniest, nicest, smartest, most food-passionate/knowledgeable people on the planet. Number one in all of these categories is the inimitable Steve Siegelman, who helps me organize my thinking about the broader project, and then zooms into the micro with his brilliant sense of language. A huge thank-you to Steve for his comprehensive support—in every sense.
Christi Swett is my recipe test accomplice, and Lorraine Battle, my food styling partner. Could I do it without you? Maybe. But it wouldn’t be nearly as good, and it definitely would be a whole lot less fun.
Major thanks to Beth Shepard for being here for me, always—for the big, medium-sized, and little pictures, all of them important and insistent.
To Janet M. Evans, graphic designer extraordinaire: I have loved sitting with you at the computer for umpteen hours, and I am thrilled with the results. You are a true example of artistic talent minus the temperament! There should be more of you in the world, but for now, I’ll settle for just one. And thanks to Philip Rolph Scanlon for feeding us.
To my wonderful mother, Betty Katzen: Thank you for everything-in-general, and for your brisket recipe in particular.
To my children, Sam Black and Eve Shames: Thank you for your inspiration and advice, and for your great taste in food (and in everything else). And thanks to my terrifically helpful, unofficial focus group for your great input: Steve Troha, Sarah Goodin, David Havelick, Becca Hunt, Laura Mead, and Cooper Reaves.
To Ted Mayer and everyone at Harvard University Dining Services, and to all the many incredible Harvard students who have so generously shared meals, stories, and helpful feedback over the past number of years: Much appreciation for the honor of collaboration and friendship.
Thanks to Ken Swezey for providing consistently excellent pragmatic support; to Will Schwalbe for your generosity of spirit and your dead-on sense of context; and to Robert MacKimmie for being my garden-and-photo guru and champion.
Bob Miller is a publishing visionary, and a one-man cheerleading squad who has helped me stay buoyant throughout the past more than a dozen years. Big thanks to Bob, and to the gang at HarperStudio: Debbie Stier, Sarah Burningham, Julia Cheiffetz, Katie Salisbury, Kim Lewis, Nikki Cutler, Lorie Young, Leah Carlson-Stanisic, Doug Jones, and Mary Schuck (cover maven). You’re the best!
Much appreciation to Kathie Ness, who is a most “respectfully submitted” copy editor, and to Elizabeth Parson for building the index.
Special thanks to Lara Gish and the Kashi Company for their support of get-cooking.com, and for their impressive work in making healthy products taste singularly delicious. However you do it, please keep it up.
We all love food,
and we all know what we like. But for many people—sadly, frustratingly—the love of food doesn’t necessarily translate into happy, good eating on a daily (or even weekly or monthly or any kind of regular) basis. Somehow, as our options have increased—from restaurants and takeout to more and more frozen heat-and-eat options of every kind—the fine, ancient craft of cooking has become something of a lost art. Why it that? What bridge is out?
I truly believe the missing link is pure knowledge: learning how to cook—for real—and then falling in love with it so much that we find ourselves making the time for it. Over and over. And then it becomes part of our lives.
Here’s the irony:
Interest
in cooking is at an all-time high. We love everything from watching cooking shows and competitions on TV to blogging about where to get the best
banh mi
sandwich. But that’s not what I’m talking about. I mean, I wonder how many people are munching junk food (or just plain not-very-good food) while watching gourmet cooking on a screen. We’ve kind of become a nation of nutrient-and flavor-challenged food voyeurs. Let’s change that. I’m here to help.
For starters, I’m exceedingly happy to present you with 150 delicious, doable recipes that even the most inexperienced person can walk into any kitchen right now and make for dinner tonight. The “cuisine” is what I like to call “Big Tent,” accommodating a broad base of tastes and needs, vegetarian and meat-loving and everything in between. I’m talking about soup-from-scratch, pastas that are light and well seasoned, salads you can make quickly and well, classic meat dishes with vegetable and potato sides to round them out, and plenty of vegetarian recipes (many of them vegan) that will please just about everyone. You’ll find this food to be boldly seasoned—there’s absolutely no need for “beginning” to mean “bland”—with lots of ethnic influences and flavors to keep things interesting.
These recipes are written in a way that I hope you can grasp in a single read-through, with a list of ingredients that isn’t overwhelming and step-by-step instructions that really walk you through the process. The key phrase is “read-through,” which I hope you’ll take literally, as a thorough grasp of the tasks at hand will make all the difference between driving the boat and drifting around at sea. I want to stand beside you (in spirit and in information, if not in person) as you cook, letting you know what to expect and what things should look like as your meal goes from idea to reality.
Along with the recipes, I have also included many handy skills for learning how to cook the food you love in your own (possibly first) kitchen—in your own way and often. I hope these recipes and advice will give you both the knowledge and the confidence to find the link between your appreciation of food and your ability to prepare it with your own two hands. Joy and pleasure and fun (and a newborn sense of accomplishment) can be yours all along the learning curve.
IS THIS YOU
?
Does this sound familiar? You find yourself eating pizza or fast food more nights a week than you wish. Higher-end takeout is an occasional option, but it’s expensive. You regularly crave a home-cooked meal at the end of the day instead of that slab of pizza. You’d really rather be eating a healthier, tastier, and more balanced diet. You’re curious about flavor combinations and interesting cuisines (ethnic and otherwise), and you’d like to experiment. You’d also like to know what the heck you’re doing in the process. And most of all, you’d like to have what you really enjoy, rather than settling for someone else’s idea of what’s good.
You’d like to think of yourself (and have your friends and family think of you) as someone who knows how to cook.
You’d like to share the pleasure of food and drink with your friends, without spending a ton of money at a restaurant. You fantasize about everyone getting together to shop, cook, eat, and hang out till all hours at your place without using up your entire month’s entertainment budget in a single evening.
But you’re not sure where to begin. You leaf through cookbooks, surf the web, pick up a food magazine at the grocery store—and end up reading it in bed rather than cooking from it (or not reading it at all because it’s too slick, and you’re sure it’s been written for someone else).
YOUR NEW COOKING LIFE
Having taught many people how to make a lot of good food in the course of my life, I can tell you that, if any or all of the above sounds like you, what you need are three things: good, reliable recipes for the kind of dishes you actually like; just enough advice on how to navigate them; and most important, the desire and confidence to
get cooking
. Not someday, not when you move into that place with the nice kitchen. Tonight. And thereafter.
This book, and its companion website, get-cooking.com, are going to give you plenty of the first two things—the recipes and the advice. The desire and the confidence, of course, are going to come from you. But trust me, the more you cook, the more that will happen on its own.
Learning to cook real food for yourself and the people you love is life-transforming. You’ll gain skills you can rely on forever. You’ll discover a whole new way to be creative, healthy, and focused, as well as popular. And who knows? Cooking might just become your favorite hobby—replete with benefits.
Once you’ve made these recipes your own (and started adding the
get creative
touches suggested throughout the book), you might find that you’re not so much following recipes as using them as springboards to invent new dishes that reflect who you are and what you love. You’ll be eating better, spending less, and feeling good about it. And, best of all, you’ll really
get
cooking in a whole new way.
Getting Started
So where to begin? Well, before you do anything in the kitchen, the best advice I can give you is to read—and I mean
really
read—each recipe well, visualizing everything as you do so. And don’t do this as you’re rolling up your sleeves to get started, but much earlier, at the point when you’re deciding what to make and laying out a game plan.
Studying the recipe will give you a sense of what ingredients you need to buy, whether you have all the right equipment, and how long the whole process will take. In these recipes, I’ve given you a heads-up each time something needs to be done in advance (especially when there is a waiting period for something to cool down, chill, or warm up to room temperature). Take the time to familiarize yourself with a recipe before you start, and you’ll be cooking from the driver’s seat instead of by the seat of your pants.
I strongly recommend that you get all the ingredients for each recipe completely prepped and ready before you start the actual cooking. Lay everything out (having a lot of containers helps) in an organized fashion near the stove. Get your tools handy, too. In most recipes I’ve been pretty specific about the best tools to use, so again, if you read through first, you’ll find embedded set-up information. The better set up you are, the more fun you’re going to have once you turn on the stove.
There’s another really important streamlining habit I strongly encourage you to develop: Try to clean up as you go. This is especially helpful if your kitchen is small. After you’re done prepping the ingredients and you have them all lined up in their respective containers by the stove, clean the knife and cutting board, and put away anything you’re finished using. Wipe down the counters, wash your hands, and take a deep breath. Now, proceed to the cooking phase.
What about the big, possibly overwhelming
uber
-cleanup awaiting you at the other end? Try to minimize it by keeping a tub of warm, soapy water in the sink. As soon as you’re done with a dish or a utensil, just clear it of debris (compost bin, anyone?) and slip it into the tub. The exception is sharp knives, which should be kept separate so you won’t accidentally slice your hand under the suds. Rinse the stuff later; just get it soaking for now. It will make a big difference.
Get the Gear
Equipping a kitchen for good, basic, fun cooking is less daunting than you might think. Start with the essentials, and go slow accumulating the rest. Remember that you don’t need to buy the newest and the fanciest tools—or even anything new at all. Scour
garage sales and thrift shops. And let all your relatives and friends know that you are in the exciting process of setting up a serious(ly fun) kitchen, so that they will keep you at the top of their hand-me-down list whenever they upgrade. Remind them, also, of your birthday, and promise to invite them often for dinner. That should help. Here’s a starter list that should pretty much get you through every recipe in this book.
KNIVES
Chef’s knife:
This is where it all begins. You can—and should—do most of your slicing, dicing, chopping, and mincing with a single knife. It’s known as a chef’s knife or utility knife, and has a blade that’s 6 to 8 inches long, without serrations. A good knife is one that feels comfortable in your hand, heavy enough to let you chop assertively but light enough to work with easily. There are many styles and options, and you need to find the one that feels right to you, but this is a good place
not
to scrimp, so visit a cookware store and get some advice.
Paring knife:
You will also want a sharp paring knife (also straight-bladed, not serrated), which is way smaller than the chef’s knife and thus invaluable for cutting diminutive things (like shallots) or doing fine work (like peeling and seeding fruit and vegetables).
Honing steel:
High-quality knives will last you a lifetime if you maintain them properly. To that end, you’ll want to invest in a knife-honing steel. This is a long rod with a handle. Here again, get advice at the cookware store, and ask for a demonstration. Use the steel to hone your knife frequently, and if you notice that the blade is getting dull and the steel isn’t helping, take your knives to a professional sharpener. It’s a good idea to do this once or twice a year, depending on how much of a workout your knives get.
Bread knife:
A long-bladed serrated bread knife is good to have for slicing bread. A high-quality bread knife will stay sharp for years. It can’t be honed on a steel, but you can have it sharpened professionally. And speaking of serrated knives, you might also want to have a smaller one on hand for cutting citrus and tomatoes.
CUTTING BOARDS
Buy a few wood or plastic cutting boards—you can’t have too many, and they take up very little space. I recommend having a dedicated one for onions, garlic, and shallots, as these flavors are difficult to get rid of and tend to keep imparting themselves to other things that get cut on the board long after the fact. That’s okay for vegetables, but really frustrating when your fruit salad is inadvertently seasoned with a hint of garlic. You should also have a separate plastic board for raw meat, poultry, and seafood to avoid cross-contamination with other foods. Make sure you clean it with soap and hot water—and thoroughly dry it—after each use.
SOUP POT OR DUTCH OVEN WITH A LID
You will use this a lot! Let it double as a pasta cooking pot to save cupboard space. The pot and its handles and lid need to be ovenproof;
you will often start a recipe on the stovetop, and then cover the pot and put it in the oven. Since you’ll often be browning things in this pot as a first step, it’s essential that it have a heavy bottom. (A thin metal pot will scorch food rather than browning it evenly.) Look for a substantial pot, such as one made of enameled cast iron, and treat it with respect, using wooden utensils to avoid scratching its surface.
SKILLETS
A 10-or 12-inch skillet is likely to be one of the most used pieces of equipment in your kitchen, so here again buying a good one matters. That doesn’t mean it needs to be expensive. A cast-iron skillet will work well. If your skillet comes with a lid, all the better. If it doesn’t, look for a heavy lid that will fit it (garage sales and thrift stores are sure to have a selection). A 6-to 8-inch skillet is handy for cooking eggs and small amounts of food. It’s good to have both sizes.
OTHER POTS AND PANS
You will need a medium-sized (around 2-quart) saucepan with a tight-fitting lid and a heavy bottom, a 9-by 13-inch baking pan (metal or glass), and a few good, heavy baking trays.
WAFFLE HEAT ABSORBER
This is a small, round, corrugated metal insulation pad, also known as a Flame Tamer or heat diffuser, that you can put under a pot on the burner. It allows your lowest setting on the stove to become even lower for long simmering of foods, like rice and soup, that you want to cook through very slowly without burning them on the bottom.
OVEN MITTS AND POT HOLDERS
Keep these near the stove, in a drawer or hanging from a hook—and make sure they stay dry. If they get wet, they’ll conduct heat and this will painfully (to you) defeat their purpose.
BOWLS
Collect various sizes from large to small—and various shapes (deep and shallow) for marinating, tossing, beating, combining, and serving. Nesting sets are nice for space-saving. And in general, when it comes to bowls, between holding ingredients, mixing, and serving, you can’t have too many.
COLANDER
Your colander should be large enough to drain a batch of pasta. You might also want to have a smaller one for washing and draining small amounts of vegetables, fruit, herbs, or other ingredients—or use a strainer for this purpose.
STRAINER
A medium-mesh strainer is useful for everything from sifting powdered sugar over foods to draining and rinsing a can of beans.
WOODEN SPOON SETS