Tinfoil Chef

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Ever notice how the kitchen (along with any other room actually) tends to get less and less organized no matter how much you try to keep up with it? You start out after a spring cleaning type thing where there’s a place for everything and everything is in it’s place. Then over the next few months it gets more and more out of whack and eventually that new bag of potatoes is sitting next to the pet supplies and there’s a rawhide bone in the refrigerator next to the butter.

I know that sort of thing happens to us all the time. Though we’re a lot better about because over the years we’ve gotten to the point where any given area will only be allowed just so long before it gets the “deep cleaning” instead of the usual “get it done because we’re in a hurry for something” kind of treatment.

I think the big trick is to not let the job get too big. First you need to set aside some time on at least a semi-regular basis to use for doing ‘mini spring cleaning’ sessions. Tackle one area at a time and get it right. Next time do the same with another area.

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I’m going slightly off topic here but not very far because it’s still got plenty to do with food. Specifically it’s got to do with the problems of so much more hunger going on in the world today and the rising price of foodstuffs.

The latest addition to this rolling and screaming mess is the sudden monstrous increase in the use of Ethanol as fuel. You see it mentioned on gas pumps all over the place these days, a cute little picture of a ear of corn and the notice that the gasoline may contain up to ten percent ethanol.

Now that this ethanol fuel thing is getting into full swing, I see two very obvious things. 1) The price of fuel hasn’t dropped a bit, in fact it’s continued to skyrocket while the oil companies pocket bigger and bigger all time record profits. 2). The price of food is now rising faster than ever before due in part to the increase in the price of fuel needed to move it and partly due to the fact that there’s less of it available and more demand for it.

I did some time on search engines looking up ethanol production and ran into something that just makes me want to scream. Most ethanol is made from corn, I guess everybody knows that if only from the cutesy ear of corn on the fuel pumps.

What is NOT being talked about is the fact that the amount of corn it takes to make 25 gallons of ethanol it would take to fill a fuel tank could feed one person a 2000 calorie per day diet for an entire YEAR!

What is NOT being told is the fact that ethanol isn’t as efficient as gasoline. Take a car that gets 30 miles per gallon with gasoline and you’ll get about 20 miles per gallon with ethanol.

I don’t know just exactly who thought of this idea of using food grains to make fuel but it’s obvious that they didn’t even think about stopping to consider the consequences of doing this.

We need to stop using food grains to make fuel. The very idea is insane. Not only that, but there’s a better, cheaper way to do it. Algae can be processed into a bio-diesel fuel that is a lot more efficient that making ethanol from corn.. (it costs less to make more fuel)

Making fuel out of food grains is just plain insane and needs to stop immediately. If you really want to “go green” (BTW-Is anyone else as sick of that phrase as I am?), then how about getting in touch with Congressmen and Representatives and start telling them to support and insist on development of algae based fuels instead of using food to make fuel.

Technorati Tags: algae, algae+fuel, biodiesel, ethanol, food, food+grains, food+prices, fuel, fuel+prices, going+green

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I’ve always been a seafood lover. I honestly can’t remember a time that I didn’t like fish and I’d say that one of the only seafood dishes that I would hesitate to even try is sushi. I’m sure it’s just wonderful for those who like it but somehow I just can’t wrap my mind around the idea of eating raw fish. I wouldn’t do that anymore than I would eat raw beef. The entire concept is just plain unpalatable.

Anyway, back to the seafood. My enjoyment of seafood started with the basic, not very fancy tuna salad and progressed to just the tuna and it’s gone on from there. I’ve had a variety of different kinds of fish ranging from things like catfish and trout to cod, sole, halibut, lobster, crab and a bunch more. One time I even had a shark steak. Of course, living as far away from the places where seafood is plentiful and less expensive, I sometimes feel like I’m undergoing a kind of addiction treatment only the addiction in question is seafood.

The basic tuna salad starts out with a 6.5 oz can of tuna (the kind packed in water! Fish don’t live in vegetable oil, they shouldn’t be packed in it.). Drain the tuna and add a couple of chopped hard boiled eggs and a quarter cup of chopped celery and 2 tablespoons of reduced calorie mayo. Mix well and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve.

It’s great by itself or on sandwiches. I personally prefer a good multi-grain wheat bread or a hearty dark pumpernickel and some mustard.

Technorati Tags: tuna+salad, seafood, fish, recipe, diabetic+friendly, sandwich

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Here’s some more terms. By the way, I’m not restricting this to just terms that apply to techniques, methods and styles. I’m also including ingredients, especially those that are out of the ordinary for your average Joe type American cook.

Wasabi is a good example. It’s a spice that comes from a knobby green root of the Japanese plant wasbia japonica. It’s a traditional condiment that is served with Japanese sushi and sashimi dishes. It’s got the same kind of warming / stinging nasal sensation as horseradish and can be as hot or hotter.

Zabaglione This is a whipped custard made with egg yolks and sugar gradually diluted over heat with Marsala or other wine, fruit juice, or liqueur.

Zest, as in Orange Zest, is the thin, brightly colored outer part of the rind of citrus fruits. The essential oils found in it make it an ideal flavoring. You get the zest by using a grater, citrus zester, or a vegetable peeler. You can even use the edge of a serrated knife if you’re careful. You only want to remove the colored layer. The bitter white pith that you find under it isn’t harmful, but that’s not the flavor you want to add to your recipe

Technorati Tags: terms, food+terms, cooking+terms, terminology, food+info

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This is one of those dishes that I think would be really interesting but I also know that there’s some households where you’d be well advised to take time to shop around for a term life insurance quote and make sure you’re covered before suggesting that you put tunafish on a baked potato. Especially with Tabasco sauce involved.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. and wash 8 large baking potatoes and rub the skins all over with butter or margarine. Poke some holes in them and bake for an hour an a half or until tender.

Drain 2 6 1/2 oz cans of tuna and mix in a tablespoon of grated onion, a can of cheddar cheese soup, 1/4 teaspoon of paprika, two drops of tabasco sauce and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Toss the mixture with a fork to break up the tuna and blend thoroughly.

Cut a one inch slice from the top of each potato and scoop out the inside leaving a shell. Add the potatoes to the tuna mixture and mix well. Spoon this mixture into the potato shells. Top each with some shredded cheddar cheese and return them to the oven long enough for the cheese to melt.

Technorati Tags: potato, baked+potato, tuna, recipe

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Low Fat. Thats a couple of words that for a long time I’ve associated with food that’s had a big chunk of the taste taken out of it along with the fat. However this does not always have to be the case. For example, this Low-Fat Alfredo Sauce is one that I’ll wager you’d need to have it checked out by a clinical laboratory service in order to determine it’s true nature.

If all you went by was the taste, I’ve no doubt that most people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the low fat version and the traditional version.

Combine a cup and a half of Low-Fat Cottage Cheese and 3 Tablespoons of Low-Fat Milk in a blender or food processor and blend until it’s smooth.

In a 2 quart saucepan saute about half of a Red Sweet Pepper (chopped) and a minced clove of garlic in a tablespoon of margarine until it’s softened.

Then reduce the heat and add the milk mixture and about 1/8 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Cook until it’s heated through without boiling it.

To serve: toss it with about 8 ounces of hot fettuccine or linguine that’s been cooked and drained. Sprinkle with a bit of grated parmesan cheese and maybe a bit of fresh chopped basil and you’ve got four main dish servings of Alfredo that you’ll never be able to tell it’s “low fat”

Technorati Tags: low+fat, diet, alfredo+sauce, pasta, linguine, fettuccine, recipe

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Flan is one of those desserts that if nothing else is guaranteed to LOOK really fancy and expensive like something you’d expect to get on a first class passage on one of those royal caribbean cruises.

The first part of the recipe is the custard. For that you boil a quart of milk with 5 anise seeds, peel from half a lemon a 3 inch cinnamon stick and 1 3/4 cups of sugar. Stir this constantly until it comes to a boil then remove it from the heat. Let it stand for 15 minutes and then strain it to remove what’s left of the anise seeds and the cinnamon stick.

Mix 8 eggs with 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla and add to the mixture and stir for a minute or so and set it aside.

Next comes the caramel part. Cook a cup of sugar with a quarter cup of rum until the sugar has dissolved and becomes a caramel color. Pour equal parts of this into 6 custard cups. Then pour equal amounts of the custard mixture into the cupscups.

Put them in shallow pan with enough water in it to reach 3/4 of the way up the side of the cups. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. When it’s done take the cups out of the water and cool them on a rack. When they’ve cooled, cover them and refrigerate.

At serving time unmold the flan by loosening the edges with a knife and then invert the cups onto a serving dish.

It’s fancy looking enough to make people think you slaved all day on them or spent a fortune buying them.

Technorati Tags: caramel, custard, dessert, fancy+looking+dessert, flan, recipe

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I know that for most of the country winter is drawing to a close but that doesn’t mean there’s no place for a good hearty bowl of soup. You could even consider it a kind of celebration to have a winter-ish type dish as the weather warms and the snows melt.

It’s a good time to think about the coming spring and the benefits of winter’s retreat…. Heating bills that slow down and then finally dry up as the furnace is turned off for the summer, less chance of slipping and sliding on some frozen patch on the road and driving your car insurance rates up.

There’s the green sprouting out all over the place and before you know it the new batch of flowers will be making their first appearances. Were we live, the Daffodils have already been blooming for a couple of weeks now. Can it be long before the trees regain their green and the lawn stands ready for it’ first cut?

Start out with 6 cups of diced potatoes, a cup of diced carrots, a cup of diced onions and a cup of chopped celery. The original recipe called for all that to be cooked together in just enough water to cover. The change I’d make here is to saute the onion and celery together in some butter until the onions start to turn clear, then add them to the potatoes and carrots..

Add about 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper, 4 cups of milk and 1/4 stick of butter. Simmer that together for 30 - 45 minutes and you’re good to go.

Technorati Tags: soup, recipe, potato, cream+of+potato, potato+soup

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No, I’m not talking about browser cookies. I’m sure you’re getting entirely enough of *those* in your day to day surfing. These cookies are part of a celebration of the fact that this post is actually seeing the light of day because I was beginning to wonder if I was going to have yet another day of not getting something posted. So actually getting this published merits a bit of a celebration. Now, While somebody runs out and gets the party invitations made up and sent out, the rest of us can make up a batch or six of Chocolate Chip Cookies

Start with 1/4 cup of margarine and 1 tbsp. granulated fructose, beat in an egg, 1 tsp. vanilla extract and a tablespoon of water. Mix this together until it’s a creamy consistency.

For the dry ingredients combine 3/4 cup of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and 1/4 tsp. of salt in sifter. Sift dry ingredients into creamed mixture, stirring to blend thoroughly. Stir in about a 1/2 cup or so of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Drop teaspoon sized balls of cookie dough onto lightly greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. This should make 30 cookies or so per batch of dough.

Technorati Tags: chocolate, chocolate+chip, chocolate+chip+cookies, cookies, diabetic, Diabetic+friendly, recipe

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I’ve never considered myself all that much of a vegetarian. I like and frequently prefer dishes that include or are pretty much based on meat. However that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any good vegetarian recipes out there. One good source of examples of this is a blog that was recommended in a recent comment. “My Recipes” is a blog that is specializing in vegetarian recipes that the author has tried, some of which are traditional favorites such as a Beans curry that not only looks interesting, but is apparently used as a means to get kids to eat veggies.

Most of the recipes do use some ingredients such as “Urad dhall” and “Toor dhall” that aren’t exactly common to American cooks but after looking them up it turns out that they’re a sort of bean that’s at least similar to lentils.

I think it’s a good idea to reach out of one’s native food culture once in a while. You learn how much variety of tastes and cooking styles there are and just plain run into some really good food that way. Yeah, it’s true that there’s always things you’ll find that don’t agree with you but the good stuff is worth all of the others.

Technorati Tags: bean+curry, Cooking+Blogs, curry, indian+cooking, indian+recipes, recipes, review, vegetarian, vegetarian+recipes

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