Wizard Recipes

Run your fingers along the husk to feel the kernels; they should be apparent, distinct, full, and without gaps. The silk should be soft; the husk, supple; the ear, heavy. A large ear of corn is a serving.

To store: Do not refrigerate; place in a cool, dark, dry storage place for up to 2 days.

To grill: Pull back the husks without removing them; remove the silk. Replace the husks and soak in cool water for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the grill for high-heat cooking. Place the corn in the husks directly over the heat and grill until lightly browned, turning occasionally, about 8 minutes. Remove the husks before serving.

To boil: Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Remove the husks and silk. Add the corn, the juice of a small lemon, and a generous pinch of sugar (salt toughens corn). Cover and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let the corn stand in the hot water, covered, until tender, 7 to 10 minutes.

To steam: Remove the husks and silk. If necessary, break or cut the cobs in half so they fit in a steamer. Set over 2 inches of water combined with a spoonful of sugar in a large pot over high heat. Bring to a boil, cover, and steam until tender, about 4 minutes.

To microwave: Remove the husks and silk. Place the ears in a large glass baking dish or microwavesafe container, snapping in half to fit if necessary. Add a splash of water, cover tightly, and microwave on high until tender, about 4 minutes.

To sauté: Remove the husks and silk, cut off one end so the ear will stand up on your work surface, and slice the kernels from the cob by running a knife along the ear. Melt some unsalted butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add the kernels and 1?2 teaspoon sugar; and cook, stirring constantly, until tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in 1?2 teaspoon cider vinegar.

To serve: Season with salt just before eating; also add unsalted butter, chutney, ground cumin, ground cinnamon, or grated nutmeg while warm.

Potatoes

Choose small to medium potatoes with firm, evenly colored skins. Peeling only slightly changes their nutrient value since most of the important vitamins and minerals are clustered about 1?4 inch below the skin. A serving is about 6 ounces.

To store: Potatoes should never be refrigerated (the cold turns off important flavor esters). Store in a cool, dark place for up to 1 week; if stored in a very cool place (around 50°F), they will keep for up to a month.

To prepare: Scrub under cool water to remove any dirt or grime.

To boil: Place in a large pot, cover with water to a depth of 2 inches, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover partially, and simmer until tender when pierced with a fork, 12 to 18 minutes, depending on the potatoes’ size.

To steam: Place in a steamer basket over 2 inches of simmering water in a large pot set over high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to medium, and steam until tender when pierced with a fork, 10 to 20 minutes.

To roast: Cut in half or quarters and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper-and some chopped rosemary or oregano, if desired. Place in a large roasting pan and bake in a preheated 400°F oven until browned, crisp, and tender, tossing occasionally, 40 minutes to 1 hour.

To serve: Salt and pepper while warm; coarse grained sea salt or kosher salt works best against the creamy texture. Also toss with melted unsalted butter or olive oil and/or any chopped herb, poppy seeds, or crème fraîche, if desired

In lieu of many spices, golden treasures and precious gems early Spanish explorers returned to Spain with items of much greater signifi­cance: tomatoes, potatoes and corn. Unfortunately for those who financed the voyagers, the value of this produce was not immediately appreciated.

The Spanish and the Italians hailed the tomato (whose name comes from the Aztec tomatl) as an aphrodisiac-perhaps because of its resemblance to the human heart- when it arrived from the New World during the 16th century.

But even though tomatoes soon become part of Spanish and Italian cuisines, most other Europeans, New World colonists and later, Americans considered tomatoes poi­sonous. (There is some truth to this notion: tomato vines and leaves contain tomatine, an alkaloid that can cause health problems.) Thus for many years and in many societies, only the adventurous ate tomatoes. Tomato historians consider September 26, 1820, a red-letter day marking the popular acceptance of the tomato.

On that day, the then-well-known eccentric Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson ate an entire bushel of tomatoes on the Salem. New Jersey courthouse steps before a crowd of thousands -and lived. Tomatoes soon became one of the most popular of all vegetables.

Similarly, the potato, first delivered to Eu­rope from its native Peru by Francisco Pizarro in die 16th century, did not win wide acceptance in haute cuisine until Antoine-Augustin Pamientier (1737-1813), a French army pharmacist, induced King Louis XVI of France (reign 1775-1793) to try one. He and his courtiers liked them so much they even began wearing potato blossom boutonnieres.

Pamientier was ultimately honored for his starchy contribution to French cuisine by having several potato dishes named for him, such as potage Pamientier (potato soup). Not only did Pamientier lobby for the accep­tance of the potato as a food fit for a king, he also prophesied that the potato would make starvation impossible.

Potatoes ulti­mately did become a staple of many diets. But, sadly, the converse of  Paniientier’s prophecy came true during the Irish Potato Famine of 1846-1848, when a terrible blight destroyed the potato crop. Nearly 1.5 million people died, and an equal number emigrated to the United States. They brought with them a cuisine that incorporated potatoes; thus an appreciation of the common potato was rein­troduced to its native land.

When returning from his second voyage to the New World. Columbus took corn with him. Called mahiz or maize by West Indian natives, com had been a staple of Central American diets for at least 5000 years.

Although Euro­peans did not actively shun corn as they did tomatoes and potatoes, corn never really caught on in most of Europe. (As with another famous New World import, corn’s origin was mistakenly attributed by the British, Dutch, Germans and Russians to Turkey. They called corn “Turkish wheat”: the ‘lurks simply called it “foreign grain.”) Grown for human con­sumption mostly in Italy, Spain and south­western France, corn was and still is usually eaten ground and boiled as polenta.

But de­spite an unenthusiastic European reception, corn’s popularity quickly spread well beyond Europe: Within 50 years of Columbus’s journey, corn was being cultivated in lands as distant from the New World as China, India and sub-Saharan Africa.

You cannot easily duplicate ideal storage conditions for potatoes in your home so don’t buy more than what you can use in a few weeks. Thick-skinned potatoes keep longer than the thin-skinned varieties.

If stored above 50°F (10°C), potatoes begin to sprout, which makes them flabby and more susceptible to decay, even though most storage potatoes are chemically treated to delay (but not stop) sprouting.

If you store them in your refrigerator, potatoes turn sweet and taste unpleasant. Here is what happens. After harvesting, the still-living potatoes continue to breathe and to convert their starch to sugar at a slow rate, the way they naturally do. When you quickly cool them to refrigerator temperature, potatoes slow their breathing rate (because breathing slows at cooler temperature), but the reaction that converts starch to sugar continues at the same rate.

They cannot use up the sugar fast enough, it accumulates and refrigerated potatoes taste too sweet. The sugar converts back to starch if you return the potatoes to room temperature, but the process doesn’t reverse completely.

Because of the increased sugar, refrigerated potatoes are particularly poor choice for frying. The sugar caramelizes in the hot oil, the potatoes tend to burn and become bitter.

You should store potatoes under well-ventilated conditions so they can continue to breathe. That is one reason why the plastic bags in which they are sold always have little breathing holes.

For long-term storage, add an apple to the potatoes. The presence of apple preserves potatoes longer in firm, healthy conditions and discourages sprouting. Apple gives off ethylene gas and alcohol while it breathes that suppress sprout formation.

Cooking potatoes is one of the first thing a new cook learns. Not much to it but keep in mind a few points:

¨ use just enough water to cover (to leach minimum of nutrients)

¨ salt the water, otherwise you leach the natural salt from the potatoes and they taste flat

¨ don’t overcook or undercook, so keep testing with the point of a knife or skewer; cooking time is around 15 minutes for diced potatoes but varies with your location and how large the dices are. Average-size whole potatoes cook in about 30 minutes, large ones 45 minutes.

When baking potatoes, don’t cover with aluminum foil unless you like soft skin. In foil potatoes steam instead of bake. But oiling or greasing the skin before baking promotes browning and crispy skin. Pricking the skin with a fork or knife before baking is also a good idea to prevent a possible explosion in the oven that could happen if the potatoes have tough skin and the built-up steam inside cannot escape. It makes quite a mess in the oven.

French frying is a messy operation even with a home deep-fryer but properly-made French-fried potatoes are delicious. In deep-frying you reduce the high moisture content of potatoes from the original 78 percent to about 2 percent.

The moisture turns to steam in the hot oil, desperately trying to escape while spattering oil everywhere, creating a mess. As bubbles of steam burst when emerging from the surface of oil, they produce a small hissing sound. All the bursting bubbles together act like an orchestra to create that pleasing sizzle with its anticipation of that heavenly deep-fried taste.

The steam escapes first from the hottest part of the potatoes, the surface which is in direct contact with the hot oil. Then, as the center part of potato gets hotter, moisture starts turning to steam that escapes through the outside part. Eventually not much water remains in the potato and the sizzling dies down.

The outward pressure of escaping steam keeps the oil from seeping into the potatoes, but the steam also cools their surface to prevent burning (evaporating water cools, like your skin after coming out of the pool). When most of the moisture has boiled off, the potatoes become vulnerable to burning but also start absorbing more oil.

Oil temperature is critical. If the oil is too hot, the surface of the potatoes burn before the inside is properly cooked. If the oil is too cool, the escaping steam doesn’t have enough pressure to keep excess oil out of the potatoes. The correct deep frying temperature is 375°F (192°C).

Unless you have a thermometer or a thermostat on your deep-fryer, there is no easy way to judge that. Various home methods, such as browning a certain-size bread cube in so many seconds that some cookbooks suggest, are not accurate enough when oil temperature should be preferably within 15° of the ideal. For that reason the results of home French-frying is not often as satisfying as French-fried products in a good fast-food joint.

The best method of deep-frying potatoes is the two-stage method. In the first stage you cook the potatoes in oil at a lower temperature, 325°F (161°C), until they are limp but not brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. In this stage the oil is hot enough to gelatinize starch, in other words, to cook the potatoes. In the second stage the already cooked potatoes quickly brown at 375°F (192°C).

Through culinary evolutions and revolutions, potatoes remain on the menus of western cultures. One reason is that the potato is hard to ruin. It is forgiving of your cooking errors and ends up edible even if you have the least cooking skill and pay minimal attention.

For people who know nothing at all about cooking and detest the kitchen, the food processing industry invented instant potatoes, which are both faster and easier to prepare than the real thing, though its flavor and texture resemble potato’s like a horse-and-buggy resembles the automobi

All the different kinds
The number of varieties of potatoes cultivated all over the world is huge. What farmers can grown economically, harvest effectively, transport without damage and store for a relatively long time without deterioration dictate the few choices available to consumers in the U.S. and Canada.

What consumers are willing to accept also influences farmers’ decision. Like everything else on the market, what is available in the produce section of your local grocery store is a series of compromises-not necessarily the best but always available (therefore recognizable), inexpensive and reasonably good.

Mealy or waxy

As cooks, we can appraise potatoes from two points of view-culinary use and appearance. For culinary purposes there are two broad classes. Which one you choose for what culinary purpose determines how the potato looks on your plate:

1. The dry, fluffy, starchy, mealy types which produce the most appealing and tasty baked potatoes. These are also good choices for frying and deep-frying as they absorb less oil. These potatoes tend to fall apart when you boil them.

2. The waxy, moist types with lower starch content that hold up well and firmer when you cook them in water. They are best as boiled and scalloped potatoes or in potato salads. These varieties still taste good baked, but sacrifice the dry fluffy texture.

The kind you happened to have in your pantry dictates how you should prepare them. But don’t hesitate to use one kind for a less suitable use, if that is all you have. They just won’t be perfect.

If you don’t know what specific variety you have, one of these quick tests will tell you whether they are high-starch or low-starch.

1. Cut the potato in half and rub the two cut pieces briskly against each other. If the potato has a lot of starch, you produce plenty of frothy, starchy juice as you rub.

2. Prepare a brine of 1 part salt to 11 parts water and drop a piece of potato in it. High starch potatoes are denser and sink in the brine. Low-starch potatoes float.

Appearance

U.S. and Canadian commercial growers cultivate about 33 varieties of potatoes, not including a couple of dozen specialty potatoes-8 to 10 of these dominate the market. This number changes as agronomists introduce newer, more promising varieties and abandon less desirable ones. The names, however, don’t mean very much to either cooks or consumers because they are not much in use in the retail produce departments. You are likely to find four types on display:

1. The russet, that is also called Idaho potato, no matter where it is grown. Two-thirds of all U.S. potatoes are russets. These are the ideal baking and deep-frying potatoes.

Russets are light brown or russet brown in color with a slightly rough, thick skin, a long oval shape and shallow eyes. The flesh is creamy white. Even though these are high-starch frying or baking potatoes, they boil well, too, and do well in salads if you

are careful not to overcook them, or all that high starch makes them fall apart.

2. Red potatoes became trendy in the 1980s. They have red-colored smooth skins and are round or oval in shape with quite a few deep eyes. They are waxy and have a firm

texture. Their low starch content makes them perfect for boiling or sautéing, or in soups, stews or salads. Because of their thin skin and attractive color, your best approach is to use them unpeeled, if peels are acceptable in your preparation.

3. Round white potatoes have an ivory or creamy-buff rather than white skin, as the name implies, a thin peel and low starch. These are also waxy and ideal for boiling, but acceptable fried or baked as well.

4. Long white, California long white and white rose are different names for the same variety. California and Arizona grow them commercially. This variety has smooth fawn-colored skin, shallow eyes that are barely visible, a firm texture, low starch

content and creamy-white flesh similar to the round whites.

Russets, white and red potatoes are often available year-round in most part of the country if there is local demand for them. Each of these three common types have a number of varieties but you never know what you get since they don’t label varieties.   Occasionally you may see the name of a particularly common type, like round white katahdin or red Pontiac or russet Burbank.

What about new potatoes? This name doesn’t refer to a specific variety, but is applied to any potato that growers pick young (when the plant is still green) and the tubers are immature.

Farmers only harvest mature potatoes when the plant dries and turns yellow. New potatoes have a wonderful flavor, thin skin and are relatively perishable, therefore higher priced. New potatoes tend to be small and available only fresh-they don’t go in lengthy storage. Distributors specially select and package creamers or baby potatoes for uniformly small size and are pricey. High-end restaurants, clubs and other institutions tend to buy these.

Storage

Freshly harvested potatoes are more perishable than retail producers like. So growers put most potatoes through a curing process which gives them a chance to develop thicker skins and to heal bruises and cuts they receive during harvest and transportation.

They do this by storing them for two weeks at 50° to 60°F (10° to 15°C) at high humidity. Then they slowly lower the temperature to between 45° and 50°F (7° to 10°C), the ideal long-term storage temperature.

Potatoes keep for as long as 9 months at this temperature if the storage space is dark, has good ventilation and high humidity. Potatoes stored all winter are still in reasonably good condition in the spring when the new crop is not yet on the market.

To continue our journey through the secrets of fish and seafood, I continue my article by mentioning the proper way of consuming fish and seafood in order to attain a healthy nutritious meal!

How to associate fish and seafood… the right way! :

- Due to the low calorie content, you must associate fish with rice, potatoes or vegetables of any kind to make it a complete nutritious meal

- lemon juice contributes to a better protein digestion and increases iron absorption

- if you’re consuming ‘fish from a can’, use only the ones with own juice, not oil added. It’ s a lot healthier!

- try not to stir fry the fish

-cook it in the oven, sauté, in aluminum foil or grilled

- cook the seafood with tomato juice, wine boiled and well seasoned. Don’t add a heavy graving or mayo

- smoked or dried fish contains a lot less calories that the normal one.

- fresh fish must have: sparkling eyes and firm meat

Also remember that :  - there are two types of fish: Low fat and fatty(salmon, tuna, sardines)

- there are two types of seafood: Mollusks (oysters, clams, octopus )and Crustaceans (shrimps, crabs, lobsters)

Did you know that…

• Grated potatoes help your eyes regain their brightness? Potatoes also help reduce superficial burns of the skin, by rubbing the damaged skin with potato juice.
• Our organism cannot produce by itself Omega 3 and Omega 6?
• Each vitamin from the B complex has its functions, but cannot prove its efficiency if not administrated with the other vitamins from the B complex?
• Half of the mineral springs of Europe are located in Romania?
• Green leafed vegetables contain Iron and Calcium and mustn’t be boiled for too long, because they lose their nutrients?
• Vitamin C is eliminated from the blood after ~4 hours of being administrated?
• South America offered the world for the first time chocolate, vanilla, corn, tomatoes, potatoes and peanuts?
• If your sense of smell is very deteriorated you cannot tell the difference between potato and apple?
• You should boil the potatoes in their skin in order not to lose the vitamin C from potatoes ?
• Kiwi contains the most nutrients? It has more Vitamin C than an orange and  more Potassium than a banana?
• A few tablets of dark chocolate, consumed daily, have the same effect as aspirin? Dark chocolate reduces the risk of heart  and cerebral attacks?

Did you know that some foods take their toll own our mood? Some nutrients are absolutely mandatory for the good functioning of our brain and nervous system which is in charge, among others, with our good well being. Here are some of the most important nutrients to keep us happy!

1) GLUCIDS

Glucids are in charge of stimulating the production of  serotonin, a neurotransmitter that influences the so called ‘good mood’. Sugar, for instance, is one of them, but, in order to keep our organism healthy, it is better if glucids are consumed in forms of cereals, bread, potatoes, beans, but not in excess, of course, because the body will transform them into fats. Also, eat generous portions of fruits and vegetables, and, the wonderful chocolate, that, even if you care about your figure, you can consume from time to time, but in small quantities. You may non know this, but the sweet tooth you always have may be a sign of lack of serotonin.

2) MINERALS

Iron. It is essential for the whole organism, helping neurotransmitors to be formed and transported. We can find it in meat, fish, some vegetables, nuts, cereals and seeds.

Zinc. It plays almost the same role  and it is found in the same foods as iron, with the exception that we can find plenty of zinc also in liver and oysters.

Magnesium. With calcium, it helps transmit the nervous impulses. If you are stressed, your magnesium level decreases, decrease that can lead to anxiety or depression. We can get magnesium from nuts, peanuts, almonds, sesame seeds, green leafed vegetables, fish, seafood, cereals.

3)B VITAMINS

Folic Acid (B9). Stimulates the serotonin secretion. Lack of folic acid can lead to irritability

agressivity, depression. B12 Vitamin can be found in green leafed vegetables, wheat,

soya, eggs, liver, oysters, cereals, and B6 in bananas, avocados,

asparagus.

4)FATTY ACIDS

Last researches show that fatty acids Omega-3 and Omega-6 which we can find in fish, seafood, regulate some hormonal actions, including the ones for our mood. These acids are very important to our brain, improving consistently our cognitive capacity. according to these studies, consuming one portion of fat fish, at least once a week decreases the risk of developing Alzheimer. Also, fatty acids contribute to improving you skin aspect, being used in cosmetic treatments.

Original Articles. Constant-Content.

Here are some tips and tricks for successful cooking!

• when making a BBq, grease the grill a little bit so that it doesn’t stick to it. In order to remain juicy,

don`t poach the meat, and add salt when you serve it (or prepare the marinate  and leave it to soak

up for 24 hours for best results).

• Leave the steaks to rest for 4,5 minutes before cutting!
• Cut the steaks before you put them on the plate!

• The water for cooking spaghetti must be boiling before you add them. Also, you can add a little bit of butter or oil to prevent sticking to the pot.

• Rice gets cooked faster if kept in cold water before.

• Potatoes for mashed potatoes remain white during cooking with you add a little bit of vinegar in the water.

• Use warm milk for preparing the mashed potatoes, to give it a plus of flavor.

• Cook the soup at a small flame, to keep it clear.

• Mushrooms don`t go dark when cooked, if soaked for 5 minutes with water and vinegar.

• Grated apples remain white if sprinkled with a little bit of lemon juice.