Sean’s Blog

I spent most of the day Saturday making tons of curry. Actually I made just 2 large curries to freeze and reheat through the week. Not only are curries really, tasty, cheap and healthy (depending on the ingredients of course), but you can make big batches and freeze them.

Curry is a generic word for any heavily sauced Indian dish. Over the weekend I picked up Raghavan Iyer’s book 660 Curries. This is a great book loaded with recipes from the very simple to very complex. I decided to make a couple simple vegetarian curries.

The first was basically onions, coconut, chilies, black eyed peas and spices. The second was cauliflower, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and spices. Almost all the ingredients can be found at a larger grocery story (even many of the spices). The only problem I had was finding the curry leaves for one of the recipes. After stopping in to a local Indian grocery, we found out that curry leaves from Hawaii have been banned so they are scarce right now.

I’m always surprised to find how many people have never tried Indian food. I love it and would really recommend taking the time to find a local Indian restaurant and give it a try.

There are a million food blogs on the Internet, but one of the few I subscribe to is Heidi Swanson’s 101 Cookbooks.  Most of the recipes are vegetarian, but all look really good.  Most are not overly complex and rely on ingredients that most people should be able to find with not to much problem.

For me though, the real kicker is the photography.  There are beautiful  shots that accompany  every recipe.  And food photography is HARD.  Generally when I try to take a picture of something I made that looks especially good, the resulting photograph makes it look grey, shiny, disgusting … thing.

Take a look and give some of the recipes a try.  101 Cookbooks

Here is a recipe that I use at least once a week and I though I would share with everyone.  It is a great simple tomato sauce that is perfect for pasta, chicken or whatever and it only takes 2 or three minutes (once you get it down).  Here it is:
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3 large cloves of garlic (more or less depending on your taste)
1 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat.  Peel and chop the garlic (I like to smash each clove with the flat of the knife, pull off the peel, and then chop the smashed garlic).  Open the can of tomatoes. Throw the garlic in the pan with the hot oil.  If you’ve chopped it finally and the oil is hot, the garlic should start to brown within 20 or thirty seconds.  Don’t let it burn!  When the garlic is golden brown pour the tomatoes in (careful you don’t splash the oil). Season with salt and pepper and let the sauce heat through.  Your ready to go.  This sauce is really versatile.  Add some fresh herbs at the end (I like basil and oregano), add some red wine and reduce, or add some red pepper flakes for a bit of a kick.

I’ve recently started reading Micheal Ruhlman’s blog.  I first saw Ruhlman on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations on the Travel Channel.  Being a Cleveland boy who spends too much time with a New Yorker myself, I immediately took a shine to him.  He has recently published a new sort of “meta-cookbook” called Elements of Cooking that doesn’t deal with recipes, but the fundamentals behind the art of cooking.  Looks really interesting.  I’ve yet too read it, but hope to soon.  Regardless, he has a great blog covering some of the same topics.  Definitely worth a look if you are interested in improving your cooking.

Elements of Cooking via Ruhlman.com

When I first started cooking, I was kind of overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I thought you had to have. But as I got more into it, there are really just a few essentials that you need to get going. Two of my culinary heroes talk about this and it is really good advice to share.

The first is Alton Brown of the Food Network show Good Eats. His advice, repeated over and over again, is not to by anything that only has one specialized purpose in the kitchen. No unitaskers! The one big exception to the rule is a fire extinguisher. No cook (and especially one just starting out) should be without one. Every kitchen should have one.

Mark Bittman a while ago posted a great piece on how to equip a basic kitchen for around $200. He shows you how to use restaurant supply stores to get you up and running. It is a really great article and I am not just saying that because I think Mark Bittman is a god among mortals (How to Cook Everything has been my bible since I started).

I am going to go one better. These are the 5 things, that I believe are absolutely essential and will allow you to cook 80% of the food you are going to make. Here they are:

• A large saute pan (12? or so). I use this for almost everything from making sauces, to frying and sauteing. I got it for 15 bucks at Target and use it almost everyday. Make sure you get one with a metal handle so you can place it directly in the oven for roasting.
• A small paring knife. I get these at a restaurant supply store down the street. It’s ugly as sin, but does the job just as well as the $65 Wusthof paring knife I got for a gift. Just make sure it has a good grip and a sturdy blade.
• A large cutting board. We actually have kind of gone cutting board crazy, but if you have a good large one, it will double as a workspace for seasoning meat or any other messy sort of prep work.
• A large stock or soup pot.
• A pair of tongs. I prefer silicone ones since my girlfriend fiance enjoys melting anything that is not heat resistant to the temperature of the sun

Now by no means is this a complete list and if you are looking to tackle some baking this list will not work, but for day in day out cooking, this is what I find myself going back to. The most important thing is to actually start cooking. The gear will follow.