Try This Quick and Easy Salad Dressing!

Photos by Don Shirley

Homemade salad dressing is an often-overlooked addition to a home-cooked meal.  For years I always kept Good Seasons salad dressing packets in the larder and opened one up when I needed it.  We got so used to the flavor that we would lug a dozen packets back to London after visiting family.

That was long before I met Ellen Switkes, a home cook always on the lookout for something new and delicious.

Mom Cooking Tip 176

Looking for an easy, colorful vegetable as a side dish?  Buy red, yellow and orange bell peppers, remove the stems and seeds and slice into thin strips.  Stir fry in 1 teaspoon olive or canola oil for 2-3 minutes, or until partly softened, and serve in a bowl.

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Pesto: What Is It and How Do I Use It?

Pesto is a combination of fresh basil leaves, pine nuts, olive oil, garlic, salt and Parmesan cheese.  For whatever reason, it was not on my radar until about 10 years ago when a foodie friend started telling me how easy it was to make.  He didn’t have any for me to sample, so I forgot about it for a few years until I stumbled on a jar of pesto in the refrigerated section of Costco.  I decided to try it as a pasta sauce.

It was an immediate hit.  Pesto, which originated in Italy, has a strong, fresh basil taste and is a very good topping for spaghetti, ravioli and other stuffed pasta.  As the cook, I find it incredibly convenient.  It has now become my family’s emergency meal.

Have I ever made pesto from scratch?  No.  Call me lazy, but it’s a lot easier to have pre-made pesto in the refrigerator than having to rush out to the store to buy fresh basil leaves.

                 For easy recipes, order "Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen!"

Using Up Wine

Boeuf Bourguignon 

Back in the Dark Ages when I was teaching myself to cook, I stumbled on a recipe that called for a cup of wine.  Innocent that I was, I went to my local Bohack, a now defunct New York grocery chain, and consulted with one of the checkout clerks.  She told me what aisle had cooking wine. 

Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce: What Are They and How Do I Use Them?

When I moved to California, my neighbor told me about Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce, a key ingredient in some Mexican recipes.  Eventually I bought a 7-ounce can to try it.  Here is what learned:

Sriracha: What Is It and How Do I Use It?

Start the year off with a taste bud bang with this super-spicy hot sauce.  Popularized by David Tran, a Vietnamese refugee who emigrated to the U.S. in 1979, Sriracha Hot Sauce is the most in-demand condiment Tran created in his Southern California factory.  No one knows exactly what else is in this sauce, but sugar, salt, vinegar and garlic are likely ingredients.

Mom Money-Saving Tip 99

The concept of ‘reverse engineering,’ which means taking something apart to see how it works, came in handy recently when someone brought a dish of glazed carrots to a potluck I attended.  The carrots were delicious and looked easy to make.

I thought, ‘Here’s how I can use up that bag of mini carrots I had bought as a snack but sits untouched in the fridge.’  I like roasting vegetables so I roasted my carrots in a little olive oil for 25 minutes at 400 degrees.  Then just before serving I stirred in a teaspoon of honey.  Healthy and frugal at the same time!

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Noodles and Sauce: Finding the Right Combo

In my youth, noodles cooked at home always meant spaghetti.  In Italian restaurants, I could order lasagna, ravioli or macaroni and cheese.  But I’d never heard of the intriguingly-named penne, farfalle (butterflies or bowties), linguine, bucatini, rotini, rotelle, rigatoni and maybe 100 more served in Italy.   This list doesn’t include Asian noodles.

My mother’s go-to cooking guide was “The Settlement Cook Book,” which had the curious subtitle “The Way to a Man’s Heart.”  It was initially published in 1901.  Her copy, the 22nd edition, was dated 1938.  Noodle recipes took up just a few pages, and you had to make your own noodles!  I don't remember her trying any of those recipes. 

Instead she reached for the canned spaghetti. 

Mom Cooking Tip 139

Looking for a flavor boost?  Add a teaspoon of soy sauce to a soup, sauce or stew.

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Getting Out of a Cooking Rut

When I was growing up, every Friday night we had dinner at my grandmother’s house.  Usually it was boiled chicken, preceded by chicken soup.  Grandma was probably in a cooking rut.

Now our house is the venue for that weekly dinner.  Although boiled chicken is never on the menu, I’m the one in the cooking rut.  There are only certain dishes I can serve that we all will eat—vegetarian lasagna, stuffed tortillas, blintzes--and I’m tired of them.

At times like this one of my great joys in life is dinner at somebody else’s house.

Cornstarch: What Is It and How Do I Use It?

In England, cornstarch is called cornflour, and this is a clue to what is actually is—flour made from corn.  It’s sold in the baking section and often comes in a 16-ounce box.  I use it as a thickener for sauces, soups and gravies. 

Cornstarch, which feels silkier than flour, has a tendency to clump in the box.  Always dissolve it in cold water, stirring thoroughly to make sure no lumps remain.  If you add cornstarch directly to a hot liquid, you’ll end up with lots of lumps.

The Healthy Reuben Bagel

There’s nothing like biting into a Reuben Sandwich and having corned beef juice dribbling down your face and sauerkraut falling into your lap.  The Reuben Sandwich of my dreams is so stuffed with these ingredients, plus melted Swiss cheese and Russian dressing on rye bread, that I can barely get it into my mouth.

I happily dealt with that problem for years until I decided that too much fatty meat was not good for me.  So I gave up eating Reuben Sandwiches. But I never forgot the taste.

Then I bought a dozen mixed bagels and discovered a rye bagel in the bag.  “Aha!” I thought.  “Time for a Reuben Sandwich.”

How Far Can You Stray From a Classic Recipe?

I’ve been aware of Gado Gado, an Indonesian salad, for years.  I’ve admired pictures of it and even considered making it at one point.  But I never did because 1) it looked like too much work, and 2) it didn’t appear filling enough to be a main course.

Sunset Magazine’s July issue carried a recipe for this salad, and I finally decided to try it.  ‘Too much work’ and ‘not filling enough’ still seemed valid concerns, so I decided to add a few of my own touches and subtract one of theirs--the bean sprouts, because there were enough cold vegetables already on the platter.

Mom Cooking Tip 115

(left) Traditional Cranberry Sauce  (right) Cranberry Sauce Made From Dried Cranberries 

Pining for cranberry sauce but can't find any fresh berries?  Use dried cranberries soaked overnight in a small amount of water.  No cooking needed.  The cranberries will plump right up, and any excess liquid can be spooned off and drunk as cranberry juice.  Kudos to my brother Steve for coming up with this idea.

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Question for Mom

I have a recipe that calls for BBQ sauce, but I don’t have any.  Can you suggest a substitute? – Daryl W.

Make your own BBQ sauce.  It’s easy, although it’s only worth it if you already have most of the ingredients.

Bean Sauce: What Is It and How Do I Cook with It?

Ground Bean Sauce (left) and Bean Sauce (right)

There are various forms of Bean Sauce on the shelves of Asian supermarkets, including Bean Sauce, Black Bean Garlic Sauce, Ground Bean Sauce, Spicy Black Bean Sauce and Chili Bean Sauce.  This condiment is used to add spice and some thickness to Asian dishes.  It is quite salty, so you don’t need very much—1-2 teaspoons should be enough for a dish that serves 4.  Consistency varies, from smooth to chunky. 

Hoisin Sauce: What Is It and How Do I Cook with It?

Thai Pasta Salad

Hoisin sauce is an Asian condiment, in some ways similar to ketchup.  I first came across it when I ordered Peking Duck at a restaurant.  This sauce, which is a deep, rich brown, appeared in a bowl when the duck was served.  The waiter advised spreading some on the accompanying pancakes and then adding slices of duck .  I was enchanted with the flavor of the sauce and assumed it was part of the Peking Duck recipe.

Years went by before I tasted hoisin sauce again.  Then I discovered it’s a key ingredient in Thai Chicken Pizza, one of the offerings at the California Pizza Kitchen chain.  In that instance hoisin sauce is mixed with peanut butter to make the ‘pizza’ sauce.

Mom Cooking Tip 64

Cornstarch (left), Flour (right)

If you want to cut down your calorie intake, use cornstarch instead of flour to thicken sauces.  If the recipe calls for 2 tablespoons flour (28 calories per tablespoon), you can substitute just 1 tablespoon cornstarch (30 calories per tablespoon).

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Cooking Fast Often Means Cooking Small

Early in my kitchen days I figured out that the quickest way to get cooked meat, potatoes and vegetables on the table was to cut them up into small pieces before cooking them.  It takes more than 1 hour to roast a chicken, 20 minutes to poach a boneless chicken breast in water, 8 minutes to grill or broil a skewer of chicken kebabs and 2 minutes to stir-fry 1/2-thick strips of chicken.  If I were truly in a hurry, stir-fry was my cooking method of choice.

Similar timetables hold true for beef, lamb and pork.

Easiest Ever Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Unless you’re wedded to can-shaped cranberry sauce, make your own.  It’s probably the easiest dish you will ever create, and you will be unduly praised for it.

Of course, there is always a way to go wrong—adding too much water.  My mother often wound up with cranberry soup.  But even that can be remedied by continuing to cook the cranberry sauce until the excess water boils away.