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Search Results for: Confident Kitchen Series

My Favourite Kitchen Tools – The Simple Spatula

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My Favourite Kitchen Tools Series

Spatulas – is it silly to admit that a simple spatula is probably the most utilized tool in my kitchen? Spatulas are really not all that simple. Not interesting, but necessary.

The Simple Spatula | urbnspice.com
The Simple Spatula: favourite kitchen tools | urbnspice.com

Spatulas go well beyond the scope of typical ordinary bowl scraper varieties to include silicone spatulas which can be used for cooking, stirring, sautéing, frying and blending; off-set spatulas (a pastry chef’s third hand); a combination spatula and spoon scraper; as well as a variety of pan and bowl scrapers with different shapes, sizes and materials for a wide range of uses.

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HOW TO MAKE PAN ROASTED GARLIC PUREE

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The Confident Kitchen Series

There are numerous techniques on the Internet and in cookbooks that describe how to roast garlic – almost all of them demonstrate or discuss the traditional oven roasting method. I have prepared roasted garlic this way for many years.  However, I always felt that it was a bit wasteful because I could not totally remove all of the sticky, roasted goodness from the heads of garlic. Therefore, knowing How to Make Pan Roasted Garlic Puree is an important skill to learn because it is a simpler process with little or no waste.  I will provide you with a step-by-step process which will show you how to peel cloves of garlic in an easy and efficient way, then pan roast the garlic cloves, puree them and then store them.  As well, I have provided recipes and ideas regarding how to use the pureed roasted garlic. There are several advantages to this method:  one, there is no waste, and two; you end up with a delicious bonus – garlic oil.  Let’s get started. 

Freezing Roasted Garlic Puree in silicone | urbnspice.com
Puree of Roasted Garlic in silicone trays ready for the freezer
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How to Make Your Own Herb and Spice Turkey Deli Meat

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The Confident Kitchen Series

One of my favourite deli lunch meats is thinly sliced turkey breast, which is one of the most expensive lunch meats available. After posting the Pork and Ham Lunch Loaf last month, I had a number of requests for additional lunch meat recipes that can easily be made at home for a fraction of the cost when compared to store bought luncheon meats. The recipe for Herb and Spice Turkey Deli Meat provides a simple technique that does not involve roasting. It is very economical to make an extremely high-quality product which is gluten free, grain free, dairy free and preservative free.

Skip to my Recipe

Herb and Spice DIY Turkey Deli Meat | urbnspice.com

The Herb and Spice Turkey Breast Deli Meat is sliced thinly for sandwiches

COST ANALYSIS:

Store Purchased Turkey Deli Meat vs. my Make Your Own Turkey Deli Meat

  • Store Purchased Prepared Turkey Breast: $ 4.99/100 grams sliced Turkey Deli Meat or approximately $50.00/kg.
  • Make Your Own Turkey Deli Meat: Cost to purchase $15.41/kg of boneless raw turkey breast
  • #WOWSavings : $ 50.00 – 15.41 = $ 34.59 Savings on just 1 kg of lunch meat

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Baking Dilemmas and the Fix

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The Confident Kitchen Series

“I love baking, but baking hates me!!” This is a frequent comment that I hear, which clearly illustrates people’s frustration with baking. Typically, after just a few questions, it quickly becomes quite clear why they are feeling this way. There are several key issues which arise again and again. In this “Confident Kitchen” post, I am going to address some of the necessary fundamentals of baking. For the purposes of this post, I will discuss Baking Dilemmas and apply “The Fix” to a recipe for muffins.

One of the very best things about being a chef is that I am able to adopt a “pay it forward” approach to cooking and baking. There are many barriers that prevent people from attempting baking or cooking which can be resolved easily.

Example of a perfectly baked muffin | urbnspice.com

Example of a perfectly baked muffin | urbnspice.com

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Fun with Pomegranates

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The Confident Kitchen Series

What is the best way to eat and/or use pomegranates?  I have heard many versions and most people talk about struggling to get to the juicy gems (called arils) that are well hidden inside the dry pithy fruit.   I thought it might be a great idea to tell you about one of the easiest (and neater) ways of tackling this unusual fruit.

A beautiful pomegranate

A beautiful pomegranate

Did you know that Pomegranates are considered a Super Food?  They have sources of Vitamins A, D and B-12, and Calcium, Protein, Potassium and fibre, as well as it is a powerful antioxidant. And, they are delicious!

CHEF TALK: The two common methods of extracting the arils from the pomegranate is to score the outside of the pomegranate as shown in the first photo.  Pry the fruit in half.  Using a medium to Large size bowl, hold the pomegranate half (or pieces) over the bowl and use the back of a wooden spoon to tap firmly against the fruit and the arils will fall into the bowl.

The second method, which is a technique that I prefer, is as follows.  If you try this technique, you will have a minimum of pink speckles all over your kitchen (and little faces if your children or grandchildren are helping you).

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Frequently Asked Questions on UrbnSpice

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FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions on UrbnSpice

I get asked a host of questions over and over so here is where you will find the answers to the most common ones – The Frequently Asked Questions on UrbnSpice.  If you have more, let me know!  It was quite fun pulling this together and it brought back tons of memories.

How did you come up with the name of your blog?

Well, that is a story, for sure!  When I was in Culinary School, we were given a huge project by our culinary masters.  Our challenge was to come up with plan for a business, decide what it was we were going to do or make; how we were going to finance this endeavour; and what are specialities would be to place us into a niche market; marketing of the product; and then, present all of this to a panel of my peers and instructors for discussion, feedback and advice.   My “product“, (which I still make to this day) was a spice blend and variations of that blend.  I pondered over the name of my business for quite some time before my creative husband came up with the name “Urb’n’Spice”, which is a play on the words since we had been toying with the words herbs and spice and urban spice.  As you can see, the name stuck!  (And I received a great mark for my project! Yay!)

Spice Blends | urbnspice.com

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How to Caramelize Onions

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The Confident Kitchen Series

Well, it was a sad day in the UrbnSpice kitchen when I realized I had developed a sensitivity to onions – not eating them, thank goodness – only for cutting and chopping them! There was a time when I wore contact lenses for years and years and didn’t have to give cutting onions a second thought. I would smugly chuckle at my teary-eyed colleagues as they prepared their daily mise-en-place. After having laser eye surgery, I now stand before you, adorned in goggles – teary eyed from all the cutting and slicing and dicing. However, this has not stopped me from one of the most important flavour booster processes in the world of cooking – caramelizing onions.  So, in this post, I will share with you How to Caramelize Onions.

Caramelizing Onions

Caramelized Onions

The result of caramelizing onions is so worth the time it takes to make them – the tears are an added bonus – or so I am told. It takes very little effort to make them – it is a great technique for the novice or seasoned cooks. For those cooks who ‘love to hover’ over their speciality dishes, making caramelized onions is intensely gratifying.

Bacon and Onions | urbnspice.com

The process of caramelization of bacon and onions will have people coming into your kitchen to see what’s cooking!

The versatility of caramelized onions or shallots alone makes it one of the best flavour enhancers to any dish. It is definitely worth your time to make enough to have on hand for other recipes and uses. Take a lamb burger to epic heights with the addition of caramelized onions. French Onion Soup would not be French Onion Soup without this important ingredient in the process. A bowl of plain onion soup just doesn’t have the same appeal.

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Roast Your Nuts!

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The Confident Kitchen Series

If you want to “step it up a notch” in your kitchen, whether a professional kitchen or a home kitchen, Roast Your Nuts before using them in your recipe. It is a surefire way to elevate the taste of your food in both cooking and baking from flavourless to outstanding.

Why bother?  You would not consider having a cup of coffee with un-roasted beans, would you?  Have you ever eaten a cookie, cake or bread that has the addition of nuts that really did not deliver the taste you were expecting?

Roast Your Nuts: The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies | urbnspice.com

Chocolate Pecan Cookies 

For example:

  • A chocolate chip pecan cookie
  • Hazelnut Raisin Bread
  • Granola Bars or granola
  • German Chocolate Cake with traditional coconut & pecan filling
  • Bar nuts, candied nuts, spiced nuts, etc.

As well, other food-related items that are not baked but have nuts added, such as:

  • A spinach salad with goat cheese, cranberries, sliced pears and candied pecans (that were not roasted beforehand)
  • A pesto with pine nuts or walnuts that were not roasted

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Grilled Chicken Breast with Roasted Strawberry Salsa

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The Confident Kitchen Series

In a recent article called Tweaking:  A Study in Flavour Amendment, I describe how to make each dish that you make flavourful and perfectly seasoned.  I included the following recipe in that particular article, however, I am reposting separately to make sure that you can access the recipe for Grilled Chicken Breast with Roasted Strawberry Salsa easily and practice your new ‘tweak-ability’.

In summary, it is now your turn to try some of the flavour boosting tweaking ideas from the article mentioned above. Don’t forget to taste, taste, and then, taste again; even if it means that you have to buy a few extra teaspoons. It will help you build your ‘tweaking’ capabilities and in turn, build confidence in the kitchen.

Roasted Strawberry Salsa on Grilled Chicken Breast | urbnspice.com

Roasted Strawberry Salsa on Grilled Chicken Breast

This tweaking process is often ignored until the dish is finished and on the table. In professional kitchens, the tasting ritual is encouraged by having containers of fresh spoons available for the cooks and executive chef for continual tastings while food is being prepared. It is an important element in cooking and one that is stressed in good kitchens.

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TWEAKING; A STUDY IN FLAVOUR AMENDMENT

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The Confident Kitchen Series

Are you familiar with the word tweaking?  The term “tweaking” is sometimes used in technological communication, but chefs have used the expression as part of their kitchen terminology for years to describe the path they take to perfect flavours.  This is called a Tweaking:  A Study in Flavour Amendment.

Roasted Strawberry Salsa on Grilled Chicken Breast | urbnspice.com

Roasted Strawberry Salsa on Grilled Chicken Breast

During a recent cooking class, one of the students asked the question, “What do I do to flavour my food if it needs a little ‘something-something’? I don’t know where to start to fix it and what would I use to fix it?” The other students joined the conversation by asking, “what do I do if my dish is too salty, too sweet, or ends up being too bland?”

The focus of this article is to address these questions in a number of practical ways; for example, the proper use of seasonings such as salt and pepper and more sophisticated ones such as smoked paprika or reductions. I will discuss how to “tweak” a dish until it is pleasing to your taste.

The three most important steps in developing flavours are:

  1. “taste,
  2. taste and then,
  3. taste again”.

This process is often ignored until the dish is finished and on the table. In professional kitchens, the tasting ritual is encouraged by having containers of fresh spoons available for the cooks and executive chef for continual tastings while food is being prepared. It is an important element in cooking and one that is stressed in good kitchens.

My husband is the tweaker in our family. He has the refined palate of a ‘saucier’ – one of the most important and coveted roles in a professional kitchen. When tasting, they can readily identify what the dish needs in order to balance the flavours. They understand what sour, sweet, or acidic addition would correct, enhance or brighten the flavour of a dish. If the balances of sour, sweet and acid in the dish are not in harmony, it is difficult to bring the flavours of the dish together….

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