Question for Mom

Onion Quiche

A lot of recipes say to preheat the oven before putting food in to cook.  Are there any dishes you can bake without preheating?  --Amy V.

When you’re baking cakes, pies, cookies, quiches, bagels or anything made with yeast, pre-heating the oven is very important.  Just a few days ago I put my pizza stone in the oven but forgot to turn on the heat.  When I was about to slide my homemade pizza onto the stone, I suddenly realized my mistake. 

So the uncooked pizza sat on the counter on the pizza paddle until

Turmeric Root: What Is It and How Do I Cook with It?

When a new food item appeared in my local cut-price supermarket, I figured that some people were already fans, while lots of others were wondering what it was.  I was a wonderer, which is how I came to buy some fresh turmeric root.

Mom Cooking Tip 156

If you plan to freeze leftovers, make sure they have cooled down before wrapping and storing.  If convenient, keep them briefly in the fridge before transferring to the freezer.  That way they won’t inadvertently cause any partial defrosting of already frozen food.

                                          See all my Cooking Tips!

Spaghetti Lefterini—My New Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

You probably make your own version of this pasta dish, which is not so subtly named after its main ingredient: leftovers.  My husband came up with ‘Lefterini’ after I told him I was thinking of combining some leftover Spaghetti and Clam Sauce with slices of a spicy chicken sausage I had in the freezer.

Why not?  The Spanish rice dish Paella combines clams, mussels and shrimp with sausages and chicken.

Money-Saving Tip 101

Need 2 cups grated cheddar cheese and you have only a block of cheddar?  Cut a 1/2-pound piece and grate it.  How big is a 1/2-pound piece?  Use a food scale, if you have one.  Otherwise, just keep grating until you fill a 2-cup container with grated cheese.

Budget-wise you’re way ahead if you grate your own cheese. Consider this:

A 2-pound block of cheddar cheese (which is 32 ounces) costs $5 or $6--or 16 cents per ounce.  Two cups of packaged grated cheddar cheese weighs 8 ounces and can cost as little as $3--or 32 cents per ounce. Thus, packaged grated cheese costs about twice as much as cheese you grate yourself.

                                      See all my Money-Saving Tips!

Question for Mom

Some recipes tell you to “cover the pot or casserole during cooking.”  Others say, “Do not cover.”  And some don’t say anything about covering or not covering.  Did the recipe writer just forget to say what to do, or does no mention of covering mean “do not cover?”  I’m confused. –Deirdre K.

I sometimes get confused too.  Why do I cover Lasagna when it’s baking but not Eggplant Parmesan?  Here’s my reasoning: 

My Endless Hunt for Chocolate Desserts

Chocolate Pecan Bars (right)

One of my main missions in life is to find good chocolate desserts.  Yes, when I’m desperate I’ve been known to lay out a few handfuls of chocolate chips on a plate.

But that’s for my personal consumption.  I can’t really end a dinner party with a bowl of chocolate chips. 

My latest go-to chocolate dessert comes from my friend Rukhi,

Improv in the Kitchen

My friend Ellen loves to improvise—both on stage and in the kitchen.  She’s fearless and successful in both arenas, although she doesn’t tell me about the flops.

Unlike some cooks I know, Ellen is willing to go off recipe because 1) she doesn’t like one or more of the ingredients, 2) she avoids certain foods for health reasons or 3) she just feels like it.

A Weird Kitchen Crisis

All kinds of things can go wrong in the kitchen, but what do you do when the knob handle on your biggest pot lid falls off?  I had used this lid, which fits on my largest pot as well as a large frying pan, for several decades.

I tried to fix it, but

Leftover Lamb

I came to roasting a leg of lamb quite late in my cooking life.  Mainly I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to carve it properly. Unlike a prime rib of beef, which has one big bone, a leg of lamb has 2 major bones that present themselves at odd angles.  Most recipes make a big deal out of how to carve this cut without making a fool of yourself.

Since a leg of lamb is expensive, it was highly unlikely that I would ever buy one just for Bart and me.  There would be way too much meat for the two of us.  What would I do with the leftovers?