Mom Cooking Tip 168

Using yeast but don’t know where you should place your dough to rise?  Use your oven. Turn it on to 325 degrees for 45 seconds to warm it up just a bit.  Then turn off the heat, put your dough in a large bowl, cover it with a tea towel and place the bowl on the bottom oven rack to rise.

                                                 See all my Cooking Tips!

A Favorite Lunch from the Past

Chicken Melt

When my children were young, they usually ate whatever I put in front of them.  Sometimes they would resist.  For instance, they refused to eat buckwheat, which they said tasted like wet carpet.  I thought they were making it up until I ate some myself.  They were right.

Baby Bellas: What Are They and How Do I Cook Them?

I was in such a hurry to complete my grocery shopping the other day that I grabbed the first package of mushrooms I saw, not paying attention to what the label said. Only when I was putting them in the vegetable bin did I notice I’d purchased “Baby Bella Sliced Mushrooms.”

I Can Make That Too: Panini with Prosciutto in Mom’s Kitchen vs. the Restaurant Version

Eatalian Café's Version of Panini with Prosciutto 

What could taste better on a summer day than a panini stuffed with prosciutto, mozzarella and tomatoes?  It barely needs cooking.  In fact, you can skip the panini press altogether and just use a loaf of French bread or ciabatta cut into 5-inch sections.

Mom Cooking Tip 167

If you are just learning to bake or are trying a new baking recipe, it’s a good idea to check whatever you are baking 5 minutes before it’s supposed to be done.  Your oven may be hotter than it should be…or the recipe writer could have made an error.  If you over-bake bread, cakes or cookies, there’s nothing you can do.  By checking 5 minutes early you may discover your dish is done and you can remove it from the oven.  If it’s not done, you have not harmed it by opening the door.  Just let it bake for the additional 5 minutes.  However, don’t open the oven door every 5 minutes during baking.  That will change the temperature of the oven and will impact the end result.

                                            See all my Cooking Tips!

The Brussels Sprouts Revolution

Since my childhood Brussels sprouts always seemed to be the most hated vegetable on dinner plates.  I got used to choking them down and actually became semi-fond of them. To me they tasted better than mushy peas.  However, I quickly learned not to serve them for company unless I wanted leftovers for myself..

Now, though, roasted brussels sprouts have become a restaurant favorite in Southern California.  They taste nothing like the overcooked vegetable you have bad memories about.  These are cut in half, oven-roasted in olive oil and then sautéd in butter. Seasonings include garlic, lemon juice and a few other salty ingredients.

The dish is so popular at Tin Roof Bistro in Manhattan Beach that the chef has posted his recipe

Loving Tandoori Chicken

Photo courtesy Tuttle Publishing

One of the best meals I had in London some years ago was Tandoori Chicken.  I’d never heard of it, but restaurant critics were raving about this spicy Indian chicken baked in a tandoor oven.  I assumed it was mostly exaggeration—until I tasted it myself. 

Thus was born a new family dining-out experience.  At the time our two children were under 8, and they weren’t interested in spicy food.  On the other hand Bart and I couldn’t get enough of this newly discovered way to cook chicken—a way I could not duplicate since my oven didn’t heat to 800 degrees.