Wizard Recipes

WHEN I don’t know what to make for dinner, I caramelize onions. In the 20 minutes it takes for them to soften and brown, I forage for ingredients and conjure up a plan.

The sweet, golden onions can accommodate whatever I throw at them; they’re perfect as a base for soups, stews and sautés. But usually, I just toss in an assortment of quick-cooking vegetables (like greens, tomatoes or zucchini) and simmer the whole thing down into what my family fondly calls “vegetable mush.” It is especially nice with a mound of buttery polenta and a side of some seared protein matter - boneless chicken, fish or meat.

I’ve been making variations of this dish for years, and it is always extremely satisfying, though never, to tell the truth, terribly exciting.

But I was inspired when I brought home an exuberant bunch of fennel from the farmers’ market. The fronds were particularly perky and too unwieldy for the refrigerator.

My immediate thought was to adapt my vegetable mush by caramelizing a thinly sliced fennel bulb with the onions. To play up the licorice flavor, I’d add a pinch of fennel seed and a drizzle of Pernod. The vegetables could serve as a bed for seared chicken thighs, ideal for absorbing the herbal aromatics.

But what about the fronds? Chopped and strewn over the mush, they might add color and flavor, but I wanted something more integrated.

I decided to purée the fronds with garlic, lemon zest and olive oil, and then spoon the bright aromatic paste over the chicken and vegetables. The lemon zest and garlic helped to counter the sweetness of the onions and fennel, adding a welcome bite. And the deep green color relieved the dish’s overwhelming drab beige hue.

Best of all, the fennel elevated a workaday dinner into a festive dish, with flavors bold enough to make anyone forget its mushy origins - even me.

Appearance and presentation are all-important in contemporary North American dining rooms. The truth is, we consider bread almost like a glass of water by our plates, a standard fare.

You can bake a wonderful bread that looks like a showpiece in a classy baker’s window, yet few of your guest stop dinner conversation to ooh and aah when you bring in the bread basket filled with a spectacular, warm Italian Tuscan bread you just pulled from the oven. Few even ask if the bread is your own.

But a perfectly arranged and color-coordinated dinner on a plate, an artistically composed salad or a simple decorated poppy seed-chocolate torte will stop the most heated discussion, even if only for a moment.

A major reward you do get from baking your own bread is satisfaction in performing this seemingly demanding task and, of course, savoring it.

As far as difficulty is concerned, if you are organized, you keep your basic staples on your shelf replenished, and have a basic kitchen experience, you can assemble a quick bread batter in 15 to 20 minutes.

By the time you pour the batter in the pan, the oven is hot, and in 40 minutes you have the loaf cooling on the counter. It is ready to cut, butter and eat in another 15 minutes. Actual work time is 25 minutes, including slicing and cleanup.

Yeast breads take a considerably longer time, but surprisingly not much more total work time once you are a regular bread baker.

To assemble the ingredients and knead the dough takes 15 to 20 minutes, less if you use a food processor or mixer. The first rise takes about 1 to 1½ hours.

It takes only a few minutes to punch down the dough, shape it and place it in a pan for the second rise, which takes some 40 to 50 minutes. A bread bakes in another 40 to 50 minutes, rolls 15 minutes.

Total time is over 3 hours, but your actual working time, including slicing and cleanup, is about 25 minutes when hand kneading or 15 minutes when using a machine. Is this realistic? Once your bread baking is routine, it is and you can prove it to yourself.

Is yeast bread worth the wait? You bet! Other culinary achievements that rival the satisfaction of baking a great bread is stirring up a wonderful, hearty soup or baking a spectacular cake.

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!