AN INTRODUCTION TO SEASONING

                        ...that makes the difference

         I think almost an entire book could be written about seasonings, so this will be one of very many articles. We can categorize seasonings, label them with certain properties, discuss how they are indeed seasonal to the time of the year, varied in specific uses, and particular to certain foods and certain cultures. We can discuss the best ways to grow them, preserve and dry them, where to buy them, how to use them. So after a few introductory articles I will write about each specific seasoning in its own article. And there will be some gardening articles specific to the time of year that certain herbs are planted, grown, harvested, and more. Ah this could take some time, but alas…

To start with let’s talk about taste. Our taste buds pick up four main receptive tastes. Bitter at the tongues back, sweet and salty at the tip, and sour on the sides. In recent years folks have really picked up on the classifying of a fifth taste umami, though it was discovered and named by a Japanese scientist over a hundred years ago, this is considered the taste of savory. I’m out on the jury with this one. it supposedly is tasted in the middle back of your tongue.

  There is a salt from an amino acid which was found in high concentration in a seaweed. The research scientist felt it had a different taste from the other four when eaten in a certain soup made with that seaweed. And this salt causes different chemical reactions than the other four tastes do, and in fact pulls the tastes of the others together in an enhancing way. They isolated this salt and began producing it as a flavor enhancer. It is umami.

 

  It is Monosodium (single salt molecule) Glutamate (referring to an amino acid) its seasoning salt, its accent, its in so many things…. I will say two things here before I go on. I’m not sure I agree with it being classed with the other four tastes,  for the reception with your taste buds is not its property, but I do believe it does a great deal to make savory things taste richer. And secondly I don’t think it’s harmful. OMG it was for a while was the big sin of “American” Chinese food, and then in each and everything.

    Calm down everyone. It happens to be naturally occurring in so very many foods, soy sauce being one, and not as an additive. But the MSG powder created, has been used to add to the amount of that which is naturally occurring, to foods in the food industry for more than a generation now. You might think they’re putting it in other things too, but it will not work on any foods. You cant sprinkle it in canned fruit and get a better taste from that fruit. 

    Also, Just so you know…NOTHING conclusive was ever found about any harmful effects, in fact it was a theory, and any testing only found that in massive levels it could be harmful to some who have sensitivities to it. Which my friends, is true of every single thing we eat. And it is in fact less toxic than simple table salt. But no ones saying use a pound of it in your food. And then like so many other fad things about food, well I say all things in moderation, mon cher.  If you have high blood pressure then watch your salt intake… but everyone in the world does not need to stop eating salt. That’s not moderation that’s excessive in the very abstention of the ingredient. I feel that most of the mysterious symptoms folks get from “food additives” or anything consumed is caused by the neurotic fussiness of what someone eats more than the ingredients. This is another article though so off my soap box for now.

   I do cook a lot from scratch, and with natural fresh ingredients, seldom using seasoning salt or such. However I do use seasonings a great deal, but I must admit with the MSG.. I like to add soy sauce as a flavor enhancer, and I use bouillon cubes often.

   It seems we have digressed,  but the tastes the tongue senses are part of this information and the Umami one needed to be addressed. 

    Receptive tastes are the basics. Sweet is to alert the body to energy providing food (sugars and carbs), it’s why it is pleasurable. Sour to show acidity of foods and according to your bodies needs your tastes will desire or shy away from sour. Salty is basic to everything. And our bodies need a balance of it to work properly. And while it seems that this excessive society has tempered out tastes to want evermore salt, your body will regulate that in what you are tasting and wanting under ideal circumstances. Bitter is there to warn your body of possible toxins, but not always, and to tell your body where alkaline exists. Once again if your body needs it your tastes should naturally crave it. Bitter foods in small amounts can compliment and add interest to foods. And sometimes such as in the bitterness of cocoa,  when sugar is added its heaven in the form of chocolate.  And if we go with Uamami, well… it tastes good… think of what pleases you in the taste of seasoning salt, and ranch dressing, and soy sauce. It’s a little different than just the salt taste isn’t it? Basic tastes are part of the story with seasoning. They are the base the foundation, the canvass you are working on, and that you need to be aware of. All foods have tastes, knowing how to use some other foods to enhance those tastes is the key. Seasonings are the AROMA part of what you taste. They have to do with the wafting sense which pulls adventure from the food. Apples are sweet, with a bit of sour in their taste, but apple pie with cinnamon sugar and nutmeg brings obvious aromas, and added to apples is a whole different experience. Seasonings have strong aromatic qualities that enhance the rest of foods that have in varying combinations the four/five basic tastes. The combination of taste with aromatic qualities is the tastiness, the flavor. And the flavor is the difference in why one persons apple pie brings folks back for more and others are just OK.

   The proper use of seasonings is essential and it’s a broad and extensive area to learn about. Some folks think if you just keep dumping more stuff in you are going to have more flavor. But not everything compliments the same way. And excess or let me say abundance has its place. Sausage has a great deal of seasoning and that works great there. But a large variety of seasonings is not always preferable. Say lets go back to apples, aside from sugar,  cinnamon and maybe a tad of nutmeg, are as far as you want to go there. (unless caramel is involved mmm). I’ve had apples cooked with cinnamon, allspice, cloves, ginger and nutmeg all together… it was NOT a nice dessert. And I noticed everyone else at the gathering wasn’t eating it either… lots of cobbler got hid under napkins. More is not always better. And tastes and flavors of things are best when used in a way where they can be experienced as a medley, with the nuances of various taste experiences there, not as an onslaught of one new heavy mixed flavor of all the combined ingredients at once.

    The next article will go into the categories of seasonings, and I hope to have a chart prepared for you. Those categories are: Spices, Herbs, Aromatics, and Capsicum cultivars (or lets just say)Peppers, though not all heat in foods comes from capsicum.

     In addition salt and sugar need to be addressed with the rest, though neither is really a seasoning. They are important in the use of seasonings. Sugar tempers, and compliments seasonings and tastes and salt enhances, brings out the flavor of seasonings and tastes. I’ve heard even chefs say salt does not really enhance other tastes it just adds a salty flavor. I get aggravated when folks don’t find out a true answer to something. Let me just say I’m a researcher and I want to always know why, and wont stop till I do. I’m not going to tell you something, without good reasoning or information to back it up. Salt, sodium, on a molecular level reaction, frees connections allowing certain molecules to escape (for lack of a better word) these escaping molecules are aroma from all foods. Salt indeed enhances taste. Not to mention all the other qualities it has but that’s also another article.

   Till later. Blessings mes amis

THE WISHBONE BLESSING

     When I was young my mother used to put wishbones on a shelf in the pantry where she had her spices and seasonings. I asked her once what they were there for. “Actually,” she answered, “if I’m taking the meat off of a left over roasted bird and no ones around when I find the wishbone, then I clean it and put it there, thinking you kids could wish with it later… but I often forget they are there till I put another one there.” She took one and asked if I wanted to make a wish which I did, and we did. Then we looked at the other three or so left on the shelf. I was wondering were we going to wish with all of them. My mom seemed to be thinking. “These will stay here,” she told me, “they will be a little wishbone blessing on my spices. That way when ever I use these spices in food I’m cooking for some one, I’ve prayed them a little blessing that upon eating my cooking they will have a wish come true.” We decided this was a good idea, and always after that there was at least one wishbone on the spice shelf.

      It was this little notion of my Mom’s, this little act of love that she added along with the spices…. the ingredient of intent that her food bless those who eat it, that stayed with me and said something to me about food, meals, life, and love that has been core to all my cooking. She said the wishbone there was always a reminder for her to say that little prayer when she reached for spices. I understood then that to her cooking was not a chore or duty, or a creative effort alone, but a sacred art taken on with joy.

     I don’t always do so, but for just about any large meal I’m cooking for others, certainly holiday meals, I begin with a tiny intent prayer. I like to start with a completely clean kitchen. And once that is done, or if it was clean before, just as I start the first task of preparation I pray that my hands may do good work and my food bless those who eat it. Sometimes I even look over at my spice rack to see the wishbones I have collected there.

     To add to all this my family does another thing with the wishbones. I read that in days gone by who ever got the wishbone in their food would clean it off then try to throw it up and catch it in the chandelier. At the years end all the wishbones would be taken down, and folks at the table would hold them in a circle and everyone make a wish and pull.

    Well I have no chandelier, but since I keep them on the spice shelf anyway there they collect till years end. At yuletide when we have our Christmas dinner. Each person gets a wishbone. This year I put them at their place setting. Before the meal starts, but after the blessing, we each take our wishbone in our right hand and cross our arms in front of ourselves offering the wishbone to person at our left. who then takes the other end of the wishbone with their left hand. everyone takes the time to make a wish… then we all pull!

                                         

                                 

  

  Family traditions are fun. Rituals and traditions mark points in time and commemorate them each year, when we gather, hopefully, with the same family or group to be together. The rituals, bind us to something unseen. There is something spiritual that is more than just the food we eat or the place settings. It’s in the company we are enjoying. The time we are setting aside to just be with each other and enjoy some tasty food and drink. There is a saying I keep meaning to make a plaque of and put in my kitchen…FOOD IS LOVE.... simple and true.

     Remember that when you go to prepare food for those you love. You know you want it to be good and the table to look nice because you want them to feel good and feel happy. You want to bless them.

     Remember the wishbone blessing whenever you use seasonings from now on. And never forget the most important ingredient in any recipe … the intent… to create something that blesses those you cook for.

And with that said… Blessings mes amis

PIERRE DIVAN BLANC

 Chicken divan is usually broccoli layered with chicken in a white sauce that’s been mixed with mayonnaise or hollandaise sauce and dispersed with cheeses. When I make that I often add oysters and mushrooms. However this recipe was inspired in that I had cauliflower not broccoli, left over turkey, not chicken, and some nice white cheeses. You will need:

§        2 cups of largely diced cooked turkey breast and white meat

§        1 cup of Swiss cheese grated

§        1 cup of extra sharp white cheddar

§        plenty of dry or grated parmesan cheese

§        1 cup of mayonnaise divided in half

§        ½ cup sour cream

§        about 3 oz of cream cheese

§        1 head of cauliflower

§        2 cups of white sauce (see instructions)

§        and one lovely white French looking 1.5 qt. casserole dish given to you by your friend last Christmas.

 WHITE SAUCE

·        3 tbsp butter or margarine

·        3 tbsp flour

·        2 cups of milk

·        salt to taste. Forgo the nutmeg for this recipe

     Warm the milk to very warm in the microwave. Melt the butter in a sauce pan, add some salt and add the flour whisking in. Over the heat pour the milk slowly until all is in and blended, then continue to a boil just to thicken. Remove from heat or lower heat to very low.

     OK now back to the divan. Core and wash your cauliflower and cut into pieces about 1 inch or just larger. Steam the cauliflower until tender. Now go mix your grated cheeses. Be sure your turkey is cut about 1 inch pieces and salt a bit if needed. Add ½ cup of mayo to the turkey and blend in. add 1/3  of the grated cheeses to the turkey and mix all well. 

  Go to your white sauce and melt into it the cream cheese on a low heat blending smooth with a whisk. After its melted in add the sour cream to the sauce and the other ½ cup of mayo. Blend smooth with a whisk. Add a tiny more milk if its too thick. You want it to just pouring stage. 

   Grease your casserole and place a thin layer of sauce in the bottom. Arrange the cauliflower pieces one layer deep with the heads up. 

     Ladle about a third of the sauce over the cauliflower layer, and sprinkle with half the grated cheese left,  and Parmesan cheese. Add the turkey mayo mixture as the second layer, and ladle the remaining sauce over it. Using a knife open up side pockets and in the middle too, to let a bit of sauce drain down inside if it seems to be just sitting on top. Add the remaining grated cheese, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

     Bake in a 350° F oven covered for about 25 minutes. Uncover and bake another 25 to 30 minutes until it just barely starts to toast to a golden on top. Serve warm. This turned out to be a great looking dish and wonderful tasting

Pierre Divan Blanc with Slow Roasted Winter Carrots

Blessings mes amis

WINTER CARROTS

    I can not tell you how excited I was to go into a market the other day to see in the produce section a bin of winter carrots. Giant carrots still with plenty of soil on them as if they had just been scooped up from the field and placed there. A note, when storing vegetables say in a root cellar or basement, keep the dirt on them do not wash them off until you are ready to use them. Washing the dirt off compromises the skins and causes them to go bad quicker.

   When I say winter carrots I’m not referring to the varieties of carrots specially hardy to cold weather raising such as Danvers or Red Chanteney. I’m referring to carrots that were left in the ground through the winter, and picked in the spring, large and sweet. In many climates the ground will not freeze very far down at all even through the cold winter. Carrots which are pretty hardy, and usually growing deep in the soil can be mulched over in the late fall when frosts come. Cover them with wood shavings, or hay, or even leaves. In the early spring like this time of year you can dig through the mulch and find fresh carrots to harvest still growing in the ground. These carrots have had time to grow bigger but in the cold they have not grown tough and dry but sweeter with higher sugar content.

     I was one of the few customers in the market excited to find them there. A few folks walking buy wondered what they were, and one gal just said gross... pity they knew not what they were missing. I selected five well shaped ones about the size of sweet potatoes.  I photographed them with my glasses and phone so you could see how big they were. So tonight I slow roasted them whole just as my mother used to do, then you make a nice glaze to drizzle on them. to do the same you will need:

§        Five  to seven large winter carrots

§        3 tbsp butter barely melted

§        3 tbsp olive oil

§        fresh cracked pepper

§        1 tsp nutmeg

§        1 tsp salt

§        1 tsp garlic powder

§        1 tsp onion powder

§        1 tsp sage

     Skin the carrots and cut off the ends. Combine all the other ingredients and coat the carrots well rolling them back and forth on a cookie sheet. Heat your oven to 400° F. place a shelf in the upper third of oven. Set your carrots on the shelf to roast and set timer for 20 minutes. Every 20 minutes turn them over first half way the just a quarter turn until they have gone four cycles of 20 or a total of 80 minutes.

     While they roast make the glaze.

§        1 cup of water

§        1 chicken bouillon cube

§        1 & ½ cups white sugar

§        ½ cup of brown sugar

§        ½ tsp salt and some pepper to taste

§        1 tsp chili powder

§        1 tsp nutmeg

§        1 stick butter or margarine cut into pieces

§        3 tbsp corn starch, with just enough water to mix into a slurry (a liquid about the consistency of whole milk)

     Dissolve your cube in the water and heat in a sauce pan. Add the sugars and spices and simmer until it melts. Bring all to a boil and  make a simple syrup, then reduce the heat again to low. Melt the butter into the syrup. When the butter is melted add the corn starch slurry bringing the syrup glaze to a boil and it should just thicken lightly. Set glaze aside keeping it warm.

   When the carrots are roasted, take them out and cool just slightly. * At this point if you have something else to cook at a lower temp, keep your whole roasted carrots warm and don’t slice them yet. I warmed up my Le Creuset casserole and placed them in the hot casserole with a towel over them out of the way in the laundry room. They stayed good and hot enough for the next hour while I had to cook a casserole at a lower heat. 

When ready to serve. Be sure the glaze is hot. Slice them on the diagonal layering them in a shallow baking/serving dish. Drizzle the glaze over them plentifully. Serve with remaining glaze in a gravy boat for folks to add more if they wish. Enjoy. I certainly did.

Blessings mes amis

BROCCOLI AND CAULIFLOWER, COLE CROPS

     Broccoli is a wonderful vegetable vibrant green, like the good looking favored brother, while Cauliflower, white puffy and plain, is like the misunderstood, unappreciated older sis. Broccoli has become more popular to average American families in say the last 20 to 30 years. But cauliflower still is used mostly by folks who have eaten it, known how to cook with it, most of their lives. And you still here… “I don’t like cauliflower,” like you used to here… “I don’t like broccoli.” Let me just say if you think broccoli or cauliflower are those mushy smelly tasteless boiled things you got in the school cafeteria when you were young, those are just some green or white mistake. Both vegetables should in most cases, be steamed not boiled. The heads are too dense and absorb water from boiling, holding it like a sponge. The heads get mushy and any flavor is watered down.

     As I said broccoli, especially steamed broccoli with cheese sauce, which was nothing new, or raw broccoli with ranch dressing, which was, became all the fad when my children were young. And my kids loved it. So much so that when my daughter was very young, her food of choice when we’d go out to eat was “Little Trees.” 

   Broccoli and Cauliflower both lend extremely well to the use of cheese and cheese sauces with them. To steam either fresh, you can use a steamer or just cut wash and place in a microwave dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and add some water, about ½ inch to the bottom of the pan an microwave on high for at least 4 minutes. Microwaves vary in power so you will have to see what works for you. 

  Test for tenderness, they are best if just slightly has a tad of crispness in them but basically easy to bite into.Continue in microwave a few minutes at a time stirring, tossing the pieces. Cauliflower of course wont really change in appearance, but broccoli should get a more vibrant bright green color. If the green color begins to fade to an olive drabness then it is getting over cooked.    If you are using a steamer when placing your veggie pieces into the steamer basket, place with flower / bud ends up and stalk / stems down.  Sprinkle with at least salt before steaming. If you don’t have a steamer, or maybe a microwave, you can arrange the veggies in the same way in the bottom of a large sauce pan with a well fitting lid. Add about ½ inch of water to the bottom, salt, or salt and pepper well and steam with the lid on. Some people even leave the head or crown of these veggies whole and steam the entire thing  as one piece.. I find a more even cooking if I cut it up first, but that also has to do with what you are using it for.

          Broccoli is great raw …added to salads, dipped in dressing, or even sliced as a crunchy green on sandwiches. Sometime try this… a grilled Swiss cheese and ham sandwich, but with thin avocado and broccoli slices.

     Get a nice bread, like maybe rye. Thin slice your veggies, and sprinkle both with salt and pepper. Layer in this order, having buttered the insides of the bread: Swiss, avocado, ham, broccoli, and Swiss cheese again.  Then top bread. Butter the outsides of the sandwich Grill the sandwich on a low medium heat giving it time to warm through and melt the cheese, as it toasts more evenly and slowly.

     Broccoli of course, is probably one of the most used vegetables in casseroles, such as Broccoli Divan, Broccoli and rice casserole…with chicken added. For me Broccoli compliments the taste of oysters well. And they are both seasonal for winter. I add steamed or even canned oysters to my divan recipe sometimes. And broccoli cheese and rice casserole is fun along side fried oysters, with some sourdough bread.

     Cauliflower, I steadily stand in defense of. I certainly wouldn’t force anyone to eat it but I dare them to try some well cooked cauliflower in inventive recipes and then decide if they like it. It also goes so well with cheeses. Try steaming small chopped cauliflower, letting it cool, and adding it to sliced mushrooms, sliced red onions and toss in a sweet vinaigrette, and set all in the fridge for a day or two, to marinate. Add slightly cooked carrots too. This is a great “eat cold” lunch for work.

     Of course cauliflower is very fine in casseroles, like cauliflower Au-gratin. If you are trying to go low on the carbohydrates, say to drop a few pounds, add cauliflower to your diet. It can be pleasing when starches like rice pasta and potatoes are a no no, cause it has a sort of starchy comfort food taste and texture with out being high in carbs at all. Cauliflower salad, made just like potato salad but with cauliflower is great and satisfying. But I’m not going to lie to you here. When folks say... “you cant tell the difference!!” seriously, whoever says that  about most anything has just gotten a little over zealous. Certainly you can tell the difference, but it is satisfying. You can use it like rice, and it can be satisfying. Grate it or chop into rice sized bits, steam it till just tender. It works for those things you want to put over rice. I make just like fried rice with it. Cook some eggs in oil (a blend of olive oil and a bit of sesame oil is what I use in my wok). beat and seasoning the eggs then drizzling them into long strands. When they are cooked add onions, and or green onions, add peas and maybe carrots or corn, any veggie you usually eat in fried rice. Some seasoning like maybe five-spice. Then toss in your cauliflower, and as you are frying it all in quickly, just to warm all through, drizzle a bit with soy sauce. Make it just like you would make fried rice... to eat with Asian food, and yes you can tell the difference… but it’s as satisfying!

     Colored cauliflower can be fun and make an attractive dish, raw or cooked. If you are steaming them and using more than one color together, steam them in separate batches of color, the gently toss the cooked colored pieces together to serve. And also a note, the purple and lavender varieties, sort of like broccoli will loose the prettiness of their color as soon as they are getting over done so watch them closely when cooking… don’t boil the purple ones!... In fact to boil almost any purple veggie is to get a dirty dull bluish grey colored mess.

Alas, Romanesco, the beautiful, Christmas tree, amazing fractal looking, cauliflower, I have yet to cook with. When I can find and afford it, I’ll be very sure to write about it and photograph it.

     And so I conclude my praise of these winter veggies from the Cole-crop group. There are other veggies of course seasonal to this time of year. Another group to look at another time are Root-crops, potatoes, turnips, carrots, beets, rutabagas, and parsnips. So till later cher, with I hope a few recipes.

Blessings mes amis.

     

     

ROASTED BRUSSELS'S MEDLEY

  YOU WILL NEED:

§        24 fresh washed or frozen thawed Brussels’s sprouts

§        3 ripe Roma tomatoes

§        3 to 5 garlic cloves according to your taste

§        3 stalks of celery

§        7 mushrooms

§        one small onion

§        1 tsp chopped fresh or dried basil

§        1 tsp fresh chopped or dried oregano

§        1 tsp crushed anise seeds (optional)

§        1 tbsp sugar

§        1 tbsp lemon juice

§        1 stick of butter or margarine

§        3 tbsp olive oil

§    1 to two tsp or to taste salt, sea salt if you have it. More salt is preferable for roasting Brussels’s sprouts.

§        1 tsp or to taste pepper, fresh cracked pepper if you have it

§        ¼ tsp hot cayenne pepper

§        more salt and pepper to adjust seasoning to taste

   Mix the olive oil, salt and pepper together and toss all the Brussels’s sprouts in that mixture coating all well. Place an oven shelf at about the upper third of the oven. Heat the oven to 420° F. Place the sprouts on a cookie sheet and in the oven on the shelf. Set your timer for 30 minutes.

     Chop the onion and celery, and slice the mushrooms, and set all in a dish covered so the onions don’t bother your eyes. Peel and seed your tomatoes and chop into large, about ¾ inch pieces, and set in a bowl. Crush your garlic cloves by placing them under your large chef’s knife (the large wide all purpose blade best for chopping) blade and smashing it with your hand. Then you will see that the peels will loosen and easily pull off. Mince the peeled garlic small and place in a little ramekin, or dish. Crush your anise seeds with a mortar and pestle or between two spoons. Place them, the basil and the oregano into a little ramekin or dish. Wash off your cutting board and knife and keep them at hand for later use.

     Cut your butter into pats, and melt it in a large skillet, and as soon as it is melted add the onion, celery, and mushroom mixture. Turn your heat down and sauté for about 2 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and sauté for about three to five more minutes until the onions just start to get translucent. Add your minced garlic and basil oregano and anise mixture and also add your cayenne here, and stir in. raise your heat to hot for one minute stirring the mix. Take off the heat.

     Hopefully your timing is about at the thirty minute mark to check your Brussels’s sprouts. You want the sprouts to just be starting to toast brown on the edges. If they have more to go cover your veggie medley until they are toasted. As soon as your sprouts are done take them out and set them to cool for just a moment. Have the cutting board and sharp chef’s knife ready. Mix your sugar and lemon and have handy.

     Turn on the heat under your skillet again, and add in the tomatoes, stir in and lower the heat to medium.

    Next take your roasted sprouts, still warm, and roll them on to your cutting board. Chop them very loosely. Just in half or in quarters. Add them all at once to the skillet, as well add your sugar and lemon here, and turn the heat to high gently blending everything till all is heated through. Then serve. Ideally your tomatoes will just be hot but still flavorful and with body, your sprouts will have toasty edges but be tender, celery will be just slightly crisp but cooked. This dish does not need to be over cooked. It will still taste delicious if cooked too much, but the fresh textures and tastes you are looking for will be missing. I must apologize that I didn’t get a better photo of the medley cooked, it’s shown here with fried onion rings and tilapia along side mac-n-cheese. I ate it all before I looked at these pics closely and realized that the sprouts are hard to see in the medley. Trust me though in that they were delicious.

Blessings mes amis

SOPHIE'S WISDOM # 1

Many cooks may already know this but for those who do not: Always peel tomatoes that you plan to cook. Or the peel will come off anyway in cooking and roll up into tiny little splinter looking twigs in your dish. They are soft and do no harm but for a pleasing looking dish, and appearance is key to presenting good food, you don’t want them in your food.

    You want your dish to look good. People usually smell the food first, and the aroma calls to them just like the old cartoons used to show. Second people usually see the food, and it should look appetizing, even pretty. A good cook knows presentation is part of the pleasure you are seeking to give the folks you cook for, so make a great appearance, and be willing to set a fabulous table as well. Eating a meal should be experienced and relished, not gobbled mindlessly. Everyone likes to go to a really nice restaurant for the pampering and ambiance, and let them receive the same treatment and environment when you cook for them. You are giving a gift.

     

   Now as to peeling tomatoes, it may seem like a chore if you do it while they are raw. However the peels shrink and want to roll as soon as they get heated. So a very simple solution is to blanch (immerse quickly) them in boiling water, for a count of 12 seconds. Then immediately put them in cold water. Be sure the tomatoes are completely under the water holding them down with a spoon to keep them from floating. The heat will cause the peels to pull away, and the cold will stop the heat process so you are not cooking the outsides of your tomatoes.

          Now you just need to take a sharp knife and core or cut around the stem end of your tomato and remove that part. You will find the peels are already coming away from the tomato and just need to be pulled off. In addition many recipes have you remove the seeds as well so all you are cooking with is the meat pieces of the tomato.   

     Just a note, 12 seconds is ideal for the blanching, just enough and not too much. Incidentally 12 and 7 are sacred numbers in Biblical and Ancient numerology. They symbolize and are used to show the following: Seven is the number of individual completion. God created man and upon this completion rested on the seventh day. Twelve is the number of corporate or communal completeness, 12 tribes, 12 apostles. You think our 12 makes a dozen and 12 inches were just arbitrary numbers? They were not, but numbers that symbolized significance to ancient peoples. All sadly lost to modern understanding. I like to use these numbers whenever I can in cooking, with a consciousness of what I’m doing, sort of as a spiritual component to the act of my cooking. If I can use 7 carrots or 7 potatoes, or 12 potatoes for a group, I do. I Count twelve seconds, I always make dinner rolls in multiples of twelve, according to how many I’m serving. That’s just me, but to me cooking is a spiritual art. You want to bless the folks you serve with your efforts do you not?

 

P.S. Roma tomatoes, AKA plum, pear, Italian, tomatoes. Which come in red and yellow, are best to cook with. 

Blessings mes amis