When you do something often, it's important that it's easy to do, and if you are only to use a stock for soup, this is a good shortcut. The simplest stock you can make is this, and it contains only chicken and water. Usually, there are meat, bones, vegetables and herbs in a stock. But with soups, you will put vegetables and herbs in soup itself, so it does not have to be in the stock too.
I know I've got a lot of recipes and videos with stocks, but for me it's an essential element of the food I'm making. In the winter, I typically make a batch every week for soup and sauces, and I do not always want to peel and clean a lot of vegetables for it. Then I just use this recipe.
Crispy chicken is some of the best meat you can eat. I should know, as I do it often. Especially when there is a busy week ahead and I prepare food for several days for Asian dishes. Then it only takes 10 minutes to prepare the meat on the day itself.
When ordering an Asian dish with crispy chicken, it is usually the breast you get. But in fact, the thigh is even better to fry. You use almost the same technique for thighs and breasts, but there is still a slight difference, so I will make two different recipes.
One of the things we all have a bad conscience about, is eating too little vegetable. When you finally remember to buy the vegetables, you get overly optimistic and buy too much. Then they just lie in the fridge and become soggy. My way of solving that, is by preparing a lot of vegetables at the same time, for example, on Sundays, so I have enough for a whole week, or at least for several days. It makes it much easier to just take out a serving of vegetables and use in a soup, or in a stir fry or other Asian dishes. In this video I describe what I do and why.
When you know you have a busy week coming, it's a good idea to prepare in advance so that the individual dishes can be simple and quick. I usually cook chicken dishes in those weeks. Therefore, I prepare enough chicken for as many meals as I need.
I often make the same kind of food for a week at a time. Asian, Indian, French, etc. Chicken prepared in this way is especially suitable for Asian week.
There are 4 servings per chicken, so it's just a matter of multiplying how many meals you need. If you are four in the family then it is a chicken a day.
Deboning chicken thighs is a very handy technique to know. It makes it much easier to fry the thigh on a pan. You can fill the thigh with eg mince meat, chopped mushrooms or herbs. The bone can be cooked for a long time for a stock without destroying the meat. Making for a stronger stock. I myself use it mostly to make
crispy
Asian chicken thigh. It is also nice when chicken thigh sous vide, that you do not have to have the bone in the vacuum bag.
It's a recipe I have copied from my local Vietnamese restaurant, where I've been coming for many years. It i suitable most meals and is incredibly easy to make. 15 minutes from start to finish if you are a little efficient. It has a really good strong taste and satiates well.
Normally, white potato salad is made with mayonnaise, but I prefer a white sauce made with yoghurt and cream. It is easy to make and equally well suited for everyday dining and parties, red meat or barbecue sausages. Also, you often have all the ingredients in the fridge, so it's faster than ordering a pizza.
Green potato salad is a good recipe if you are note able to make a gravy to go with your potatoes, or if it has to be quick meal. Oh yeah, it is also a good dish simply because it taste fantastic. You can also make it in as large portions as you have pots for cooking potatoes, and the potatoes can even be cooked the day before and put in the fridge, so it's great for parties. The recipe can be varied indefinitely depending on which seasoning and herbs you like.
Vinaigrette is a very simple dressing. It is one of the recipes you must be able to make. It can be used for: tomato salad, lettuce salad, potato salad, pasta salad, bean salad and any salad you can think of. OK, maybe not fruit salad, but it can be varied indefinitely with spices, herbs and other condiments.
Marble Cake
is one of the classic variations of pound cake. It is in fact, the same recipe just with a little cocoa in it. This is a recipe for "half a marble cake" so to speak. Instead of 7 oz of each ingredient that you typically use for a cake in spring form, I use 3½ oz. It yields a small cake, so I also use a small spring
form
for it.
These are harder to pronounce than to make. Probably the most simple pancake recipe in the world. You only need 2 ingredients, and there is no compromise on flavor. 15 minutes and you got a big stack of pancakes for breakfast.
Garam Masala is a spice mix. Made up of a lot of regular spices mixed together. Actually it is Indian/Pakistani but it can easily be used in other cuisines as well. Many of the same spices are used in Arabic and Mexican cuisine as well. So it is a very practical thing to have in the cupboard as it goes well with a range from foods from Chicken Tikka Masala to tacos ans burritos.
This is an even better version of potato chips. They fry better. They taste better. Just slightly acidic and mildly salted all the way through. It is basically the same recipe as regular potato chips. The only difference is that they are fermented before cooking. Basically like homemade saukraut is made
There is no doubt that potato chips are easiest to just buy. But the uniformity of the factory made I find unattractive. So when it is gin-tonic Friday in the small home, it is time to bring out the homemade chips. And the homemade guacamole. And salsa fresca.