I am going to ‘try’ not to chat so much in this column and provide you with 3 ‘small’ guides that may end up inside the spice cabinet door. It’s what I did way back in the day. After you’ve been cooking a ‘long’ time, you won’t need these guides, but until it becomes second nature, these will come in handy.
Last week I left you with ironing, sewing, & cooking on the homefront. Suffice it to say I finely wrapped those projects up on Saturday, along with 2 new tablecloths, so I can see my dining room again! For those who don’t know, I enjoy making simple tablescapes, especially when we entertain. I now have a solid red quilt on the dining table with a red ‘ticking’ look topper over it. The center is winter greenery, pine cones and a lantern. I’ll be adding hearts and implementing fresh flowers for our dinner party.
This weekend I did lots of food prep to make some of our weekend meals a lot less work and time, something I love doing. Since I still work I try to do bulk cooking on the weekend, so there’s leftovers for our work lunches. If Ervin, my spouse, is out on a bus trip, (school bus driver) I tend to just skip cooking at night and reach for a fried egg or a pbj! That’s also when I take on little home projects.
Tonight I’m doing a new dish called Sausage, potato leek soup. I’ll try to run it for you next week, who knows, it might become your new ‘Super Bowl Dish’. Our family is having a thick bowl of chili for the Super Bowl. I have some desserts to make next weekend for our Valentine dinner, so I need to keep it simple.
Something that is not easy for many novice cooks is learning how to thicken things. There are still times when I don’t have quite enough thickening agent, and have to reach for more. No matter how many years in the kitchen, this can still occur. What I’m going to give you below are 2-3 samples of thickenings. The First one is not mine, it came from ‘Grit Magazine’, (my favorite read). The second one will be my mom’s cream base for her stuffed baked potatoes with peas, ham and mushrooms. Here we go:
Cream of Anything
Yields 1 ½ pints or 3.5 cups
2 tablespoons of preferred fat
¼ cup diced onion
½ cup diced mushrooms
½ teaspoon salt
1 pint or 2 cups broth
4 ounces heavy cream or cream cheese
Melt fat over medium heat in a sturdy pot. Add the onions and mushrooms and saute until the onions are translucent. Add the salt & broth and simmer for 5 minutes. Using a immersion blender, pulse the mixture til it’s smooth. Stir in the heavy cream or cream cheese. Stir & heat thoroughly
Here is my mom’s mixture:
Cream Base for soups, etc., Betty Dance
1/3 cup butter or your choice preferred fat
½ cup finely chopped onion
6 tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon dry mustard\
½ teaspoon black pepper or more
Salt to taste
3 ½ cups milk, usually 2 %
8 ounces creamed cheese
Much like the first mixture from Grit magazine: Melt the butter in a sturdy saucepan, saute onion until translucent. As if you are making a dry roux, which you are, work the flour into the mixture. Add dry mustard, black pepper and any additional spices you may choose, including the salt. ‘Sometimes’ at this point I’ll work softened cream cheese into this mixture along with the milk, added gradually. Garlic powder, onion powder, paprikas, chili powders and other spices can be added. Continually stir bringing heat up until the mixture boils.
This guideline and the one from Grit are good for a macaroni and cheese base too.
Perfect gravy
Preferred fat whether butter, bacon grease or sausage drippings 2-3 tablespoons
3 ½ cups flour
2 ½ cups milk
I also add dry mustard, peppers, etc. in my gravy base.
Melt fat and work flour into the fat and or sausage gravy, cook as long as you can without burning the flour, add spices and gradually pour in milk to thicken. This is enough gravy for 2-3 persons.
Remember if you switch to cornstarch instead of flour you will use only half the amount of thickening agent.
