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A simple, yummy soup. (LINK)

August 10th 2008 11:45
Salutations and greetings, I have to admit I have been in hiding for a while. My ranking was low and I was feeling somewhat embarrassed, but keep at it they say. The other reason is I have spent all spare time I have working on my first book, which is a kids book. But I am back with many a random musings.

Tonight I thought I would give you a basic, simply yummy soup loosley based on a minestrone. This soup sticks to my theory of the basic staples, if you don't know what I am talking about read the post on basic staples. The great thing about this soup is that it is basic, takes very little prep time and if you want to add your own flair you have a solid base.


INGREDIENTS:
3-4 medium size spuds(Diced)
1 onion(Sliced)
Garlic optional
1-2 medium size carrots(Diced)
1 stick of celery roughly chopped
For your own touch add what ever veg that takes your fancy
for the sake of argument I added today half a tin of corn kernels.
Usually I add broccoli. Get the idea.
Approx 150gm-200gm pasta. The two I use is spiral or spaghetti.
Vegetable or chicken stock, and I mean powdered stock, unless you can be
bothered making your own from scratch. Make up two litres, so add the powder
to hot water and stir. Directions are usually on the tin.
A couple of tins of crushed tomates.
Dried herbs for e.g Basil. oregano or italian.

METHOD
Heat the oil in your soup pot, throw the onions in. Stir a couple of times and chuck in your celery, stir in. Chuck in your carrots and you guessed stir through. At this point you can cover and leave for a couple of minutes, this is to allow the onions to cook through. At this point you can add the dried herbs, some people belive this releases the flavour. I see no difference. Chuck your spuds in, and any other veg that takes your fancy. And stir through.


Now add your stock, you want it to cover your vegies good and proper, so if two litres is not enough add more water. Chuck in your crushed tomato (as an alternative here use a jar of tomato pasta sauce). Throw your pasta in and stir through. If you have not added the herbs add them now. Bring to the boil and reduce to a simmer covered until the pasta is al-dente, and of course the vegies are cooked. To ensure an even cooking time, make the dice of your veg reasonably small (approx 1cm).

Now go away and do what ever takes your fancy, because this can take anywhere between fifteen and thirty minutes on simmer. If at this point it is a little bland, you can add salt, normally I just add a little more powdered stock. Your choice, I find the stock adds a nicer flavour than straight salt.

TO SERVE
It depends really, if its for you and your family, some bread and in bowls.
If your trying to impress friends, serve in pasta bowls, they are usually pretty flat. If you don't have them, you can get them fairly cheap from IGA and they are good quality.

Once you have the soup in this fancy bowl, garnish it with parmesan cheese. Not the powdered stuff, get a block and vegetable peeler. Shave it, two or three slivers, and to finish a sprig of basil.

If you are trying to impress friends, make sure you serve it with a chunky crusty bread.

Bon appetit.

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Here we are again, I will now share with you rule number two. Which is a secret also.
In my previous post I said customers want to be lead. What this means is that unless you have a particular taste and that is all you ever order, than you like many are out to dine for the experience.

We as humans will not admit that we do not know something, and that is fine. Where does this lead us? I'm glad you asked "Darhling, I often frequent the finest reataurants, and sample the finest fares, blah, blah." Unless you are in the industry,critiques, chefs etc, there is little you know. Why? Because you know what you like, you don't understand the game. Yes on one level,and only one you may understand foods and the quality etc, but you may not undestand the intricacies.

Before I lose you, please let me explain. We go to a food establishment to feed the hunger beast, but on occasion to try something new. Based on tastes and a basic understanding of what constitutes good food, we walk in like we are the experts, but secretly hoping the waiting staff will steer us on the right path and save us the embarrasment of being found out.

Rule number two: BE LED.

The secret is that if a waiting staff is worth their weight in gold they will read you, hear you and put on a sale pitch Yes it is sale, because they want to sell you the specials and the expensive dishes. Not only will they try to sell you these, they will also upsell, recommendng side dishes, wines and deserts. They do this for two reasons, it is their job and they take pride in what they do and because the Chef tells them what is on special and what needs to be moved.

Which naturally follows course, the Chef is recommending these items to the waitng staff becase they can't stand to see food go to waste. Food in bin, is money lost. The other reason is that Chefs love their trade, they love to experiment with food and love to get feedback from customers, because it helps them improve. Chefs are as crazy as they are because they take their work seriously and feel that people don't understand or appreciate their passion

In summary the hospitality staff love what they do and want to share their love and passion with the customers. So to become a fussy eater sit back and enjoy the ride.
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STAPLES OF ANY MEAL

July 17th 2008 12:34
Righto, at this point I am going to share with you a secret of cooking a restaurant quality meal at home using staples. Come closer, no, no closer I want to whisper this in your ear. If you hit your head on the screen, well that was silly wasn't it.

Sorry, but to work in a kitchen you have to have a sense of humour, most important. But seriously, anybody can cook. On a basic level it is systematic, what I mean by that is if you are rebuilding a motor, putting together a cupboard or anything manual there are tools, ingredients and an order you use to put it together. Cooking is the same, that is what menus are for they are an instructional manual. Learn them and you can cook anything off the top of your head, really it is that simple. Now here is a secret ingredient I use in all my recipes, wait for it...no it is not staples. It is LOVE. I mean that I have trained apprentices and have had people ask what have I put in my food because it is different to the apprentices, my answer was and will always be love. To be great you have to love what you do.

So back to the staples, 1) Onion
2) Garlic
3) A choice of vegies
4) A meat base(not if your a veggie)
5) A sauce (optional)

What can you make with that? Anything, a pasta add your choice of sauce tomato or cream, a stew, meat and three veg, a curry, kebabs. Do I need to go on? To turn it into a two course, get a couple of rolls out and butter and hey presto you have a garlic bread, you want a three course, buy a dessert or make one, add ice cream, cream or custard.

Alright an example of a pasta sauce using the above ingredients.

Depending on size and your taste, grab one to two onions slice and saute until translucent.
Crush garlic and cook in with the onion.(Garlic cooks quick, and again add as little as much as your taste allows)
Chuck in some mushies and chicken. Let the chicken cook through and add cream, bring to the boil and drop back to a simmer. Let it reduce, which means let the liquid evaporate until it is thick.
While this is happening cook your pasta.
Once the pasta is cooked toss through the sauce and serve.

Now here is a second example, cover a chunck of meat and a selection of your favourite vegies in oil, add a herb and garlic and chuck it in the oven. Once it is the meat is brown cover in foil. Depending on the size of the meat depends on the cooking time, secret, cook on a low heat. To check cut the meat when you think it is ready, the type of meat depends on the degree of doneness. So if it is anything other than chicken, a little bit of pink in the middle is O.K. And don't forget the gravy.

Now the tricky bit for creating restaurant quality, presentation. Don't throw the food on the plate, get creative and practice. Pasta, get most of the noodles in the bowl and almost tease it up, add the bulk of the sauce last.

Meat and three veg, think of the plate as a clock. At the bottom, which will face the eater is the meat, the vegie are arrangeed from 9 O'clock to 3 O'oclock in pockets again aim for height. If you are using a gravy or sauce drizzle across one half of the meat.

Most importantly don't play with it too much, simple is best and the more you play the more obvious the misatkes are.

Sorry Rule number two is coming up, but have fun with this and if you want specific recipes and tips let me know, more than happy to oblige. Have fun.
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RULE NUMBER ONE OF FUSSY EATING

July 17th 2008 10:37
Why do we dine out? In simple terms it is because we need food as fuel. Cool hey. "Derrr."
On a subconsious level it is to treat our selves, we want something out of the ordinary from our usual routine, and let's face it, it can be a lifestyle. Some people just have to be seen at the or in the right scene.

[ Click here to read more ]
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Random musings of a fussy eater

July 17th 2008 08:51
Hello readers, you are probably wondering what this caper is about, right? Well considering this is my first post of hopefully many, allow me to take this oppurtunity to introduce myself, and explain this fussy eater thing in a little more detail.

Let us take a step back in time, to a normal family day where as a family we are washing the dishes together and discussing random family matters. Myself at a tender age of twelve standing in the shadows of impending adolesence. At some point in this family discussion, I pipe up and state, quite adamantly, "I am going to be a chef in the Army one day


[ Click here to read more ]
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