Choosing Your Ingredients

            Cooking can get expensive.  Learn to be economical in the kitchen.  There are several things that you can do to economize your food budget without compromising quality.  When selecting your ingredients look for quality, ripeness, and freshness.  Each ingredient is different and you need to know what to look for in each ingredient.  Juggle the quality with the purpose you intend for the ingredient.  You may choose a different variety of apple for eating fresh, to cook in a pie or to make into applesauce.  Another example would be avocadoes, but they are all very hard in the market.  If you have time to allow them to ripen in time for use, go ahead and buy them.  If not you may revise your menu.

 

Know your ingredients

            Learn how to tell an ingredient is fresh, at its perfect ripeness.  Some ingredients will ripen naturally with enough time, like the above mentioned avocados.  Other ingredients do not ripen well after picking.  Strawberries will turn red, but will not develop the expected flavor and sweetness.  Strawberries are best picked warm and ripe from the field and used immediately.

When selecting meat, be familiar with the cut and its recommended uses.  Some less expensive cuts and be wonderful when prepared properly.  Again look for freshness.  Each type of meat will need special consideration.  Know how you plan to cook the meat, which recipe you will use, what method of cooking, and number of servings needed.  If you are unsure, ask your butcher.

 

Go to the market

            Your cooking will only be as good as the ingredients you use.  Choose your market as well as your ingredients.   The chain supermarkets are fine, but use farmers’ markets, and markets that sell locally grown produce and other products.  For certain things I use the big warehouse chains, like Costco and Smart & Final.  For others, I use Trader Joe’s or other stores like Mother’s or Whole Foods Market.  For produce, I like to check out our local Persian Markets because they carry locally grown produce.  For specialty food or hard to find items I like World Market or the high end gourmet stores like Bristol Farms or Gelson’s.  But I don’t shop there often and usually only buy a few things.

There are several methods of doing the shopping.  Chefs go to the market and select a great, fresh, quality ingredient and then build the meal around that ingredient.  Home cooks usually decide what to cook and make a list.  At the market, they look for the needed ingredients.  The best way is to use a combination of both methods.  Make your list, but also look at what is available.  Be flexible enough to adjust the menu if you spot something special at the market.

 

Choose seasonal ingredients

            In California we are lucky to have many ingredients all year round.  Even if it is available, it does not mean that you are getting the best price or the freshest ingredients.   An example would be strawberries.  Strawberries are grown locally and available in grocery stores from February until July.  However we have strawberries in the grocery stores all year long.  Some are imported from Chile and Mexico and some are greenhouse grown.  Importing and growing out of season adds cost to producing the product and that cost is passed on to the consumer.

            Certain times of the year meat prices go down.  A wise cook knows when this occurs and stocks up or uses that product more often at this time. 

            This does not mean that you should not use out of season ingredients.  Be judicial and knowledgeable about the ingredients you use and how you are going to use them.  It is perfectly fine to buy out of season strawberries for a fancy dessert for an important dinner party.  But be aware of the added cost, sometime flavor and quality may be sacrificed.  But a small amount could be made into a strawberry cream for an elegant and impressive dessert.

 

This Week’s Challenge

            Choose two in season ingredients, one produce and the other a meat or fish.  Research your ingredients.  Know how to detect freshness and ripeness.  Look at meat prices and choose and economical cut.  Go to the market and find your ingredients.  Talk to your butcher and he should have good suggestions for you.    During your research and shopping be thinking about how you can use these ingredients in a meal.  Once you choose your selections at the market, be thinking of your meal or dish.  Remember to get any other ingredients for this meal.  Bring your ingredients home and start cooking.  You can make one dish that uses both ingredients or you can plan a meal that uses the ingredients in different dishes.  Take some time to evaluate your cooking.  Did using the fresh ingredients make a difference?  Look as the cost, did you save money?  Overall how would you rate the outcome? 

 

Tip for this Week – Cinnamon sugar

            Cinnamon sugar is available in grocery stores, or you can make your own.  In a small bowl, mix four parts sugar with one part ground cinnamon.  Mix the ingredients until the cinnamon is distributed throughout the sugar and store in an air tight container.  I put the mixture in a jar with a shaker top and a lid.  An old spice jar will work.  Place the sugar and cinnamon in the jar, screw the lid on tight and shake until the cinnamon is evenly distributed throughout the sugar.  This is also the method to make colored sugar.  Put the sugar in a jar with a lid, add a drop of food coloring and shake until the sugar turns the desired color.

 

This Week in Punkin’s Kitchen

 

A crostata is a free form pie.  It is very simple but very impressive.  I usually make this on a pizza pan.  You can make your own pie crust or use a store bought crust.  Basically roll out the crust, spread it with jam or jelly, sprinkle with fresh fruit, fold over the edges and bake.

 

Fried Apple Crostata

 

2          Apples suitable for pie (I used Braeburn)

2 T       Butter or margarine

One    Pie crust

            Cinnamon sugar

 

1.    Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

 

This time I left the peel on.

 

2.    Wash, peel and core the apples. Quarter the apples.  Slice each quarter into thirds and dice the apples.  This should be a small dice, like for salad.

 

Watch them closely, stirring occasionally

Gently move the apples and sprinkle with
cinnamon sugar.

 

3.    Melt the butter in a small skillet add the diced apples. Sauté the apples until they are tender. Gently move the apples around the skillet to prevent sticking.

4.    Roll out the crust and place on a pizza pan.

 

My homemade crust rolled out.

 

Transferred to a pizza pan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.    Place the fried apples in the center of the crust and spread in a thin layer.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

 

Leave an inch and a half of crust to fold over.

 

6.    Fold the edges of the crust over the apples.  Sprinkle again with the cinnamon sugar.

 

The edges can also be brushed with
butter or beaten egg wash

It doesn't have to be perfect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

7.    Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.  Turn the oven down to 350 degrees and cook another 20-30 minutes, until the crust is golden and the apples are bubbly.

8.    Serve warm or cold with whipped cream or ice cream.

                       

Fried apples is an old Ozark dish.  The apples are diced with or without the peel and sautéed in butter.  Sugar may be added, but in my family we just sprinkle it with cinnamon sugar.  The fried apples can be eaten plain in a bowl or spooned over vanilla ice cream.  I tried it in this free style tart and it was a huge success.  It is lightly sweet, not overpoweringly sweet like most American desserts.

 

Also this week

Italian Sausage

 

2 lb.     Pork or turkey, ground

2 t        Salt

1 t        Pepper

½ t       Anise seed, crushed

1 T       Paprika

Dash  Pepper flakes (optional)

 

1.    Mix all the ingredients and knead into the meat to thoroughly mix the seasoning throughout the meat.

 

I used ground turkey this time.

 

 

 

2.    Place the meat in a gallon size Ziploc bag or other container with an airtight lid.

3.    Refrigerate for several hours or overnight for the flavors to blend.

 

This sausage was used in lasagna

 

4.    The sausage can be packed into casings, however I usually end up taking the sausage out of the casing and never pack the sausage into casings.

5.    The sausage is ready to use in pasta sauce or browned to add to pizza.  It can be used to make patties or meatballs.

 

 

Happy cooking!