Wizard Recipes

We are always waiting for the holiday, right? And we wouldn`t like to spend our limited free time on cooking, even if we`re spending our vacation at home or not! here are some tips and tricks to making your holiday regime perfeeect!

- It is absolutely mandatory to organize your vacation ahead, because,you also have to adapt your way of cooking to the new activities.

Considering the fact that vacations don`t necessarily mean being sedentary, but taking walks through the park, field trips or  practicing sports, we should combine harmoniously the two types of cooking, vegetarian and complex.

- In order to keep the figure, it is also indicated to have an `eating timetable`, even though this should come in not so handy, due to the tendency of getting up late, or partying all night :). I`m not saying that a very strict program of eating should be the solution, but, it is necessary to have organized meal hours for staying fit, getting all the nutrients and having an easy digestion.

So, breakfast remains the most important meal if the day, right? DON `T FORGET ABOUT IT!!! even though you`re getting up later than usual! if you`re planning some hiking that day, your breakfast should be even more consistent than usual! be careful with drinking too much coffee, because sun and lots of coffee don`t mix so well together, and also No Alcohol!

- Lunch also shouldn`t be skipped, but do not eat heavy ingredients like steaks with all sort of gravies or lots of meat.

Try a salad, but not only vegetables, try it with a little bit of cheese (feta) with tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, green salad, maybe a little bit of onion (if you enjoy onion), or if you still consider this to be unsatisfying, you can also add one hard boiled egg, or some boiled or grilled chicken breast. It tastes great, and also offers you the nutrients that you need at lunch time in order to keep you going for the rest of the day!

-Dinner… hmm… tricky aspect. Maybe on vacations we can manage to change our day-to-day lifestyle regarding the last meal of the day, because, let`s face it, when we come tired from work, dinner represents our biggest meal (if not, WELL DONE!). So, at least now let`s try and change this. If you want to lose weight, try some vegetables, boiled or grilled. Nutritionists consider fruits  not so appropiate in the evening, because fruits offer you energy, due to their sugar content, energy that has no place to be consumed, considering the fact that your day is almost over.

If you have no problem with your weight, just have a light meal, best with 2 hours before bedtime. This can contain anything you like, in SMALL PORTIONS,  excepting, of course, fats or sugars, which are ALWAYS bad.

-Also between these  meals of the day, some snacks are welcomed. Try fruits (well washed), yogurts (but not fruity ones, because they contain a lot of sugars), maybe a healthy sandwich, if somehow you`re very hungry.

-Especially in the summer time, it is most important to keep ourselves hydrated!

Minimum 2 liters of water a day, maybe even more if you`re sun bathing or exercising a lot. But BE CAREFUL! The sodas and  coffee you consume DON`T ADD to these 2 liters, only water counts, because this is what your organism needs!

-Sugar cravings can be easily tricked by eating HONEY, instead of sugar!

So have fun, party, but don`t forget to stay healthy!

When you are planning to use shrimp cold, it is best to cook them soon after purchase.

Cooking kills microorganism and deactivates enzymes, both of which speed deterioration. Once cooked and chilled, the shrimp’s shelf life increases considerably.

Cooking shrimp is easy, but cooking for the perfect, succulent flavor and juicy, firm, toothsome texture takes a good recipe and good method. I tested many, many recipes from different sources and finally chose two that are quick and easy and result in firm but not dry shrimp, that retain their flavor instead of releasing it into the cooking liquid. The first method is particularly quick, but the second one has added flavor from spices in the cooking liquid.       From beginning to end, the first method takes 10 minutes, the second one 20 minutes (not including cleaning the shrimp).

Remove shells from shrimp. The most efficient way is to pop open the shell from its belly with your thumbs, as if you were removing green peas from their pods. Pull the shell apart and peel it off the shrimp. If you are planning to leave the tail on as a handle, pinch the tail with your fingers, and stop peeling when you reach your fingers. Pull off the rest of the shell. Devein if you wish.

Method 1

1. Place shrimp in a bowl and barely cover them with water. Drain and measure the amount of water then pour it into a pan. Stir to dissolve 1 tablespoon salt for every quart (liter) of water. Bring the salted water to boil.

2. When the water is at furious boil, take the pot off the heat, dump the shrimp in the water, stir lightly with a spoon and cover. Set your timer for 5 minutes.

3. Drain the water and quickly chill the shrimp in cold running water. Drain again and refrigerate.

Method 2

1. Place shrimp in a pot and barely cover with water. Drain and measure the amount of water, then return it to the pot. Add 1 tablespoon salt, 1 bay leaf, 1 teaspoon peppercorn,1 /2 teaspoon dry thyme and 1/4 cup white wine for every quart (liter) of water. Pour the seasoned liquid (which is a simple court-bouillon) over the shrimp in the pot.

2. Cover the pot and bring water and shrimp to boil on high heat. Watch the pot. As soon as you see steam escape, pour the water off. Replace the cover and let shrimp sit in the steam for 10 minutes.

3. Chill the shrimp in cold running water. Drain and refrigerate

Mushrooms are not a particularly nutritious food, but few people are thinking of nutrition when they bite into a perfectly prepared specimen. They are high in protein compared to other vegetables, but in an absolute sense, they are still a low-protein food. They contain lots of vitamins B2 and B3, a significant amount potassium and a moderate amount of phosphorous.

The mushroom’s job is to add flavor, texture, eye appeal and richness to a dish or plate of food, not nutrition. Western cuisines tend to use mushrooms mainly for flavor, although the subtle mushroom texture is an important part of many dishes that don’t require long cooking.

In Oriental cooking, their texture and ability to absorb other flavors from the liquid are more crucial. Japanese cuisine in particular adore mushrooms for both flavor and texture. That is why the cultivation of so many flavorful mushrooms originated in Japan.

Mushrooms add a chewiness that is pleasing even if the flavoring effect is modest using milder mushrooms. In fact, some of the dried Chinese mushrooms match tofu in blandness, but cooks use them extensively for texture, color and to absorb the flavor of the sauces.

The mushroom’s very pretty, appealing shape in food presentation has made it even more trendy among contemporary cooks and chefs, particularly in white tablecloth restaurants

So what type of mushrooms should you use in your cooking? If you have an unlimited kitchen budget, use fresh black truffles ($1300 a pound or $3000 a kilo) and morels from France. They will be a sure hit among your guests, particularly if you can weave their cost into the dinner conversation.

But most of us work with a more limited kitchen budget in which the other end of the spectrum is the more likely scenario, even considering to rescue the mushrooms on the “reducedfor- quick-sale” shelf of the supermarket.

For most everyday cooking, fresh button mushrooms are perfectly adequate. When you want to splurge a little, one of the more common exotic types is a nice addition to your menu.

Remember, a little mushroom goes a long way. Two ounces (55 g) of an exotic mushroom per person is plenty to get the full benefit of mushrooms when you mix it with other ingredients in a side dish. So 1 pound (half a kilo) serves 8 guests-not an outrageous expenditure for an elegant meal.

To make the price even more reasonable, mix the exotic mushrooms with button mushrooms half and half. You will still get the flavor and visual impact of the exotic mushrooms. You can also blend fresh button mushrooms with dried reconstituted exotic mushrooms for their added flavor. Use 1 or 2 ounces (30 or 55 g) of dried mushroom for every pound (half kilo) of fresh mushrooms.

Mature mushrooms are always more flavorful than younger ones. Both the umbrella shape and the deepening color of the “ripe” spores indicate a mature mushroom. Don’t use quite as much of a mature specimen as you do the same mushroom in the button stage.

A flavorful exotic species like the chanterelle goes with any robust, full-flavored dish, while the milder exotics, like the oyster mushroom, are better with mild-flavored food, particularly seafood.

Some mushrooms are perfect for garnishing to add visual impact, such as the enoki. Their size and blandness are hopelessly lost among the other ingredients, but they look great as a garnish.

You may also use mushrooms raw in salads. They add visual impact to the dish with their pretty-shaped cross-section when thinly-sliced. But uncooked mushrooms are almost flavorless. Marinated or pickled, they readily absorb the flavor of the liquid in which they are soaked, thanks to their spongy flesh. A marinated mushroom retains its crunchiness, too, making it great hors d’oeuvres to serve with toothpicks.

How much mushroom should you count on for each serving? Mushrooms are 92 percent water so with cooking they shrink considerably as heat evaporates much of that moisture. Generally, a 4-ounce (110-g) serving is an adequate size when mushroom is a side dish, but for a more generous serving increase that to 5 ounces (140 g).

When it is the main ingredient of a mushroom dish, such as a mushroom stroganoff and mushroom stew, increase it to 6 or 6 1/ 2  ounces (170 or 185 g). For hors d’oeuvres as marinated mushrooms, count on everyone taking anywhere from 2 to 5 buttons, depending on their size and what else you are offering

Many strange-sounding names float around on lists of salad ingredients in fashionable recipe books these days. So let’s continue with the list of the “new” ingredients :

1. Curly endive is dark green with prettily-shaped leaves and a slightly bitter flavor. This green is in the chicory family. You may substitute any chicory family member in this list for another.  Remember to use them all in moderation. Some people taste the bitter flavor only slightly, but others are very sensitive to the taste (this is a genetic trait).

2. Belgian endive is slightly bitter but still mild-flavored. It is also a chicory. It grows in tightly bunched cylindrical-shaped, very pretty sprouts.

3. Plain endive is also a bitter chicory with lettuce-like leaves which curl at the ends.

4. Radicchio also called red or Italian chicory, is bitter like other chicory family members. It forms small tight heads like miniature head lettuce. It owes its popularity particularly to its beautiful colors, red with white tinges.

5. Escarole, another chicory, has broad leaves and is easily confused with curly endive. The two are very similar in their looks and flavors, but escarole has plain, lettuce-like leaves.

6.Watercress is a mild-flavored green, has tiny leaves that add a small tingle with a touch of piquant to salads. These are the greens that are frequently available in a good produce department, though they are not all in daily use in many households.

The lesser-known greens tend to be more available in grocery stores in ethnic areas of a city or in supermarkets of wealthier neighborhoods. They include:

7. Mâche, also called lamb’s lettuce, corn salad or field salad is popular in the Mediterranean, though it grows wild in most corn or other grain fields. It is a bland green having small leaves. It adds hardly more than variety and interest to your salad.

8.  Nasturtium flowers and leaves are edible but rarely available in the produce section of a supermarket. They have a wonderful peppery flavor. Both the round lush-green leaves and multicolored flowers look beautiful in any salad, and your taste buds definitely perk up and notice the punch.

9. Sorrel or sour grass is more a European favorite. There cooks serve it cooked as well  as raw in salads. It looks like spinach with smaller, dark green leaves. This green is quite tart. Use only a few leaves in each salad. In small quantity it gives a truly jazzy, sour flavor to your blander greens.

Many strange-sounding names float around on lists of salad ingredients in fashionable recipe books these days. But not many of us are lucky enough to live close to a well-stocked greengrocer or supermarket with a full array of new-age baby greens.

Often even the produce manager of a large supermarket can’t tell you what you are holding in your hand unless it is next to the sign that labels it.

To help ease the confusion, here is a brief list of “new” ingredients, few of which are actually new. Their availability in quantity is new, thanks to the demands of innovative chefs and today’s eating trends. I have included old stand-byes, too, with alternative names. Names, by the way, vary somewhat in different part of the country.

1. Iceberg or head lettuce is the most popular though the least nutritional of all the salad greens and taste rather blah, like a piece from an iceberg. When you say lettuce, most people conjure up a picture of an iceberg lettuce head. It is easy to grow, easy to store, has a long shelf life and it transports well.

That makes it inexpensive, always available, crisp and crunchy. Ever discover a hidden head weeks after tucking it into the refrigerator? It may be a little brown around the edges, even slimy here and there. But the inside is perfectly crisp and usable.

2. Romaine or cos lettuce has broad, stiff, upright leaves. It is the hardiest of all the lettuces and has the strongest flavor, though it is still mild. Great by itself, it is also good mixed with the more delicate salad greens as it adds a firm, extra crunchytexture and sturdiness.

3. Butter head , bibb, Boston, limestone or butter crunch lettuces are very tender and mild buttery-flavored. They form small loose heads. The various names refer to varieties, but they are fully interchangeable in salads and are not much different in taste.

4. Red leaf and green leaf lettuces don’t form heads and don’t keep quite as long as iceberg lettuce. They, too, have a mild flavor, although more flavorful than iceberg. They add bulk and interest to salads with their slightly wavy-structured, attractive colored leaves.

5. Spinach is popular in salads because of its vivid, dark peacock green color. It stands out and contrasts well among the more subdued colors. Raw spinach has a very mild, almost bland, flavor compared to the cooked form of this vegetable.

6. The cabbage family includes a large number of mild to strong-flavored greens that you may use in small amount with other greens. White and red cabbage are the most common. Both stay fresh and crisp for a long time.

Red cabbage adds a most desirable red to fuchsia color to salads, and in mid-winter it may be the only salad ingredient with a reddish color contrast that doesn’t cut deep into your food budget.

The several varieties of oriental vegetables in the cabbage family, like bok choy and napa cabbage, are very mild, but crisp, beautifully-textured, attractive-colored and readily available.

7. Arugula, also called rocket or roquette, is a small-leaved green with spicy, tangy, unusual flavor that mixes well with any salad green. Some people find its flavor too aggressive-use it in moderation.

Turmeric
Used in cooking since 600 b.c., turmeric is the root of a tropical plant related to ginger. Though native to the Orient, this spice is now also cultivated in India and the Caribbean.

It has a bitter, pungent flavor and an intense yellow-orange color. In Biblical times, turmeric was often used to make perfume, a comment on its rather exotic fragrance.

Today it’s used mainly to add both flavor and color to food.

Turmeric is very popular in East Indian cooking and is almost always used in curry preparations.

It’s also a primary ingredient in mustard and is what gives American-style prepared mustard its bright yellow color.

Powdered turmeric is widely available in supermarkets. As with all spices, it should be stored in a cool, dark place for no more than 6 months.

Thyme

Thyme is an essential herb for any herb garden whether you are a beginner or a pro. It’s easy to grow and maintain when placed in full sun, with light dry soil. It’s a Mediterranean plant so it needs a lot of heat to flourish, but yet it can survive even Zone 5 winters.

Harvest your thyme often, and use it fresh, dried or it can be frozen in ice cubes or in small bags. I use it along with  fresh garlic in my meatballs and have been told they are “better than Mom`s”.

Add thyme to your meatloaf recipes too. It is a wonderful addition to squash, carrots or dried beans, and can be added to any Pasta Primavera recipe as well.

A lovely tea can be made with 3 parts thyme and 1 part each rosemary and spearmint. Brew in a tightly closed teapot using 1 tsp. tea to 1 cup water. Let steep for 10 minutes and serve hot.

There are many varieties of Thyme; over 400 have been cataloged over the centuries. For culinary purposes three seem to be the most popular; garden (Thymus vulgaris), lemon (Thymus citriodorus) and caraway-scented (Thymus herba-barona).

Try them all if you have room in your herb garden.

Sage

This native Mediterranean herb has been enjoyed for centuries for both its culinary and medicinal uses.

The name comes from a derivative of the Latin salvus , meaning “safe,” a reference to the herb’s believed healing powers.

The narrow, oval, gray-green leaves of this pungent herb are slightly bitter and have a musty mint taste and aroma. There’s also a variety called pineapple sage, which has an intensely sweet pineapple scent.

Small bunches of fresh sage are available year-round in many supermarkets.

Choose sage by its fresh color and aroma.

Refrigerate wrapped in a paper towel and sealed in a plastic bag for up to 4 days. Dried sage comes whole, rubbed (crumbled) and ground.

It should be stored in a cool, dark place for no more than 6 months. Sage is commonly used in dishes containing pork, cheese and beans, and in poultry and game stuffings. Sausage makers also frequently use it to flavor their products.

Saffron

It’s no wonder that saffron — the yellow-orange stigmas from a small purple crocus (Crocus sativus )— is the world’s most expensive spice. Each flower provides only three stigmas, which must be carefully hand-picked and then dried — an extremely labor-intensive process. It takes over 14,000 of these tiny stigmas for each ounce of saffron.

Thousands of years ago saffron was used not only to flavor food and beverages but to make medicines and to dye cloth and body oils a deep yellow.Today this pungent, aromatic spice is primarily used to flavor and tint food.

Fortunately (because it’s so pricey), a little saffron goes a long way. It’s integral to hundreds of dishes like Bouillabaisse, Risotto Milanese and Paella, and flavors many European baked goods. Saffron is marketed in both powdered form and in threads (the whole stigmas).

Powdered saffron loses its flavor more readily and can be easily adulterated with imitations. The threads should be crushed just before using.

Store saffron airtight in a cool, dark place for up to 6 months.

Rosemary

Used since 500 b.c., rosemary is native to the Mediterranean area (where it grows wild) but is now cultivated throughout Europe and the United States.

Early on, this mint?family member was used to cure ailments of the nervous system. Rosemary’s silver?green, needle?shaped leaves are highly aromatic and their flavor hints of both lemon and pine. This herb is available in whole?leaf form (fresh and dried) as well as powdered.

Rosemary Essence is used both to flavor food and to scent cosmetics. Rosemary can be used as a seasoning in a variety of dishes including fruit salads, soups, vegetables, meat (particularly lamb), fish and egg dishes, stuffings and dressings.