Prog Chefs Unite!!!

Spurred on by Hugh Fernley Wittingstall and that Oliver boys recent TV campaigns against intensively farmed chicken, we have made the switch to free-range chicken. The downside of this is we eat considerably less chicken than we once did (no more cook-chill ready meals!) and can only afford smaller chickens, which means less left-overs for sandwiches and treats for the cats, but it does mean I can be more creative with the cooking than just slamming the whole bird in the oven for a Sunday roast.

Jim Garten wrote: After a weekend of eating what Vicky and I refer to as 'dirty food' (that is, convenient & usually delivered...), I desperately want to get back to where we were before Easter, ie home made & fresh. Going on from Dean's reference to that Oliver chap - one of his recent programmes really opened my eyes to the amount of salt & sugar in ready made (even so-called 'healthy option') pasta sauces; all mine are now based on Oliver's failsafe: tomatoes, onions, garlic, basil and seasoning - to this I'll usually add baby spinach (takes so little time to cook, I usually add this toward the end when I add the fresh basil); the whole thing takes less than 10 minutes & tastes fab

As my blood pressure is a little on the high side, I have had to be very mindful of salt as of late.  It's amazing how much salt is in all pre-packaged foods - even just canned tomatoes.  My wife had a hell of a time finding canned whole tomatoes with no salt added.  To control salt, you're pretty much forced to make all your own food and no shortcuts (I still "cheat" though, way too often for my doctor most likely).

Tescos value canned chopped tomatoes just chopped tomotoes & tomato juice - perfect pasta ingredient & only 15p

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Different subject - pan frying fresh cod; even if I have the pan/oil really hot, I cannot turn the cod steak without the damned thing falling apart. Generally, I dont flour the steak first... should I do this or is there something else I'm missing here?

Edited by Jim Garten - March 25 2008 at 10:27

darqDean wrote: Hmm, reduce the heat just before adding the fish and make sure it is dry before adding it.

That's odd - most chef types always say to have the pan/oil really hot...

darqDean wrote: Having seen how much salt TV chefs throw into a dish, I've managed to wean myself off adding even more salt when I'm in a restaurant - I'm also careful of how much I use when cooking - if one of the ingredients is already salted (bacon, anchovies, capers, cheese, tinned tomatoes etc.) I will not add any extra. Big problem for me is potatoes - starch is inedible without the addition of butter and plenty of salt.

Dean, you're a far better cook than I will ever be, so I'm almost ashamed to be saying this to you as regards potatoes. Not being a lover of salty foods, I can eat potatoes with almost no salt at all, but I understand this is not for everyone. Therefore, at least when you make roast potatoes (which I prefer to chips/fries), you can add a lot of rosemary, fresh or dried, to enhance the taste of the tubers without adding too much salt.

A thing I make a wide use of is mixtures of coarse (kosher) salt with dried herbs and spices. In the past I bought quite a few varieties, all packaged in their own mill (which can be recycled in most cases), and I use them regularly. They are very useful to season dishes effectively without overdoing the saltiness. Ah, and in Italy canned tomatoes are usually NOT salted, thank heavens!

Interesting you should say this Rachel - as normally I worship at the temple of Delia, but this new series of hers, 'how to cheat', I'm really not sure about - effectively saying, "no, you don't have to spend time preparing, so long as you're willing to use everything out of cans & spend 4 times as much money doing so"...

...methinks my erstwhile Goddess has sold her soul to Mammon

...and Waitrose   

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A couple of buddies and myself got drunk over Easter and watched Apocalypse Now Redux and we has this big slab of beef  sprinkled it with steak spice and then we just threw the thing in the oven for an hour and a half. Then we ate it like savages and gave what was left to the dogs.

Atavachron wrote: Pomi is a great Italian brand of tomatoes that come in a resealable package instead of a can, Raff probably knows it..  comes diced or pureed, perfect to have around for fresh-tasting tomatoes

I have to admit that at first I didn't recognise the name.. That was because in Italian it is spelled Pomì (we are quite big on those last-syllable stresses). The Italian word for tomato is pomodoro (meaning 'golden apple'), and Pomì is an abbreviation of this word. Personally, I don't have a favourite brand, because they are all generally very good, and don't contain any salt. Of course, in summer, when tomatoes (the plum variety, or San Marzano) are at their best and cheapest, there are people who make their own tomato purée. My mom used to do it, but it's a lot of work, and I've become way too lazy.

I have the pleasure of retiring my cast iron dutch oven and christening my new coated cast iron dutch oven. The former has served me well, but the care that goes into maintaining cast iron was getting old.

So, today I'm making Kentucky Burgoo--a stew made of beef, pork tenderloin and chicken with vegetables (corn, okra, bell peppers) in a rich sauce that's sweetened with just a little brown sugar.

E

I recommend Cocada ,I dont have exactly the recipe but is made with milk,condensed milk ,sugar and coconut pulp (white part in the seed) and water of coconut ,mix and shake well with frappe ice in a liquifyer ,after add sweet cinnamon and more condensed milk or chocolate syrup....well for me is delicious..

Edited by markosherrera - April 06 2008 at 13:29