How Novice Chefs Can Prepare Foolproof Dinners
More notes from the kitchen of Lena Chen:
I chose the dishes for my Mexican feast purposely, since many failed culinary experiments have taught me that I have limited expertise and experience. Thus, instead of overly ambitious goals, such as soufflé-baking, I can make the most of my skills by employing these strategies:
- Step away the knife. I absolutely hate chopping, skinning, and any preparatory steps in recipes, which is why I make Patrick do those tasks. (That’s also all he can contribute to the culinary process). But ever since I got a food processor, I realized that I don’t even need a boyfriend. Unlike my trusty Kitchenaid, Patrick doesn’t double as a blender, nor can he create dips and sauces with just a couple pushes of a button.
- Combine dishes that contain similar ingredients. The best way to cut down on cooking time is to prepare ingredients in advance. For the above meal, I used onions in the guacamole, salsa, mole sauce, and soup so that I only had to pulse my food processor a few times to cross onions off the list of ingredients I had to skin and chop. My chips were made from the same tortillas used in the enchiladas. I just heated them on high in a pan to get them crispy and slightly burnt.
- Make use of things already in the fridge. Never let anything spoil since almost all items can be re-purposed. Old carrot sticks go into my juicer in the morning. Already-cooked veggies can become soups, sandwich fillings, or pizza toppings. I’ve even crumbled up stale cereal bits to coat fish fillets. Get creative and you’ll waste and spend less!
- Keep a well-stocked pantry. Thanks to obeying rule #3, I only had to buy $10 worth of items for the above meal, especially since I already owned spices, herbs, and other basic goods needed for the recipes. It’s inconvenient to make a grocery run just because you’re missing a relatively simple, but crucial ingredient. Though I go to the store near-daily (thanks to living within three blocks of three supermarkets), I usually only pick up perishables that will go into that night’s meals. Most of the time, I already have on hand the basics (pasta, good olive oil, chicken/vegetable broth, etc.) since those items tend not to spoil. It’s a lot easier to grab something off my shelf than it is to make a new grocery list before every meal. I’ll follow up on this entry with a list of pantry must-haves.
- Maximize taste while minimizing cost. Enchiladas are filled with cheap ingredients and I can closely approximate the taste of their restaurant-made equivalent. As an amateur chef, I’m not quite ready to take on more exotic ingredients like truffles, which cost too much for someone who makes a lot of cooking errors. I’m never going to be Barbara Lynch, but I can play off my strengths by being realistic about expectations.
Any other tips for making cooking a bit less hellish for the uninitiated?
