If You Can't Stand the Heat...

I’ve said it before, but summer is my least favourite time of year.  It doesn’t help that I have my own internal furnace chugging away furiously, 24-7-365.  So, when the mercury soars, the last thing I want to do is spend time in a tortuously hot kitchen.  If only appetites dwindled along with my desire to cook!  Sadly, they don’t.  I’ve had to devise creative ways to get food on the table, while generating the least amount of indoor heat as possible.

Barbecuing is a great way to avoid heating the house.  Most everything can be cooked on the grill, whether on direct or indirect heat.  All that’s needed are a few good recipes, some heat-resistant cookware, and maybe a little shade.  Metal pans are the best option if cookware is required.  Avoid using pans with Teflon-coatings or with handles made of plastic or wood as most won’t take the high heat or open flame.  Aluminum foil is great for steam-cooking but use it over indirect heat for best results.  To limit our use of aluminum (cookware or foil,) we use parchment pouches on an old cookie sheet to steam vegetables or seafood.  Also glassware, as I discovered when baking our favourite meatloaf on the barbecue, can be dangerous...although, the explosion didn’t actually take place until I removed the loaf pan and placed it on a trivet to cool.  Cast iron and stainless steel are excellent cooking vessels and both clean up well.  Not everyone has access to a barbecue, though.  And, sometimes it’s simply too windy to enable thorough cooking, in a timely manner, on a barbecue.

Our most common way to get meals on the table in summer is to cook certain components in the early morning, when the house is coolest and there are still hours remaining to dissipate the generated heat through open, shaded windows.  Those meal components are foods like carbohydrates and proteins – generally the foods requiring the longest cooking times.

Potatoes, pasta, rice and beans we use most often in cold salads, but they can also be used to create quick, hot meals.  No matter the weather, baked or par-boiled potatoes produce the best oven (and barbecue) fries, in my opinion.  Pasta, cooked "al dente," and refrigerated, keeps for a few days and can be added to (re)heated sauces until warmed through.  Rice is probably our most versatile cook-ahead ingredient.  Aside from the stir-fry option (where pre-cooked rice is optimal,) it can be used as a base for frittatas, cold salad, and a (whole grain) breakfast “pudding.”  One idea I haven’t yet tried is to form a pizza shell by packing cooked rice (1/4-1/2 inch thick) into a pizza pan and then pre-baking it for a few minutes before adding toppings and finishing the cooking process.

Caution is required if you cook enough proteins  to last for two or three days of meals.  They must be cooked thoroughly, stored in air-tight containers, and refrigerated promptly. Instead of making a couple slices of bacon for breakfast, we roast a pan full (in the oven or on the barbecue) and then we have extra to crumble onto salads, baked potatoes, or to add a little protein to a quick veggie wrap.  We cook several chicken breasts or pork chops, or larger cuts like roasts and whole chicken, to use as salad or pizza toppings, or in stir-fries, sandwiches, fajitas and wraps.   Boiled eggs are something we keep on hand, year-round.  One hard-boiled egg, sliced, on toast, is my choice for an easy, high-protein meal before beginning morning exercise.  Those eggs also supplement cold summer salads (like potato, macaroni, and rice,) in tasty ways and, with the addition of a variety of vegetables, make those salads complete meals.

Last but not least, dessert.  The custard or syrups required to make ice cream, sorbet and frozen pops often require some cooking or boiling.  Jellied desserts (and salads) are also cooling, without the excessive calories of most frozen desserts.  With just a few minutes of morning prep, your family can enjoy these chill treats at any time of day.

 
Sweltering over a hot stove can really add sizzle to summer, and not in a good way.  Cooking certain ingredients in advance, in quantity, at the coolest time of day, dramatically lessens the amount of heat generated in the home.  Not only can you save time and heat-exhaustion, you’ll also save on air-conditioning and energy costs for the stove, oven and/or barbecue.  I like the fact that cooler meals don’t raise the body’s core temperature as much (though, this may be more imperative for women like me who “roast” without cooking anything.)  Best of all, you’ll have healthy food, fast – no need to resort to fast-food when heat overwhelms.

Leftovers: Waste or Surplus?

Some people toss them. Others don't mind them; they just don't know what to do with them. Me? I plan on them. Leftovers – our favourite "fast food" – also help keep grocery spending on budget.

By planning for and making the most of leftovers, food needn't be sent to the landfill. Meal-planning is easier and preparation faster, simply by using those excess cooked foods. A few extra minutes of preparation on the first day and there's enough for (at least) one more meal. Most leftovers are used as ingredients in dishes which cook rapidly, so cooking processes are reduced for the second meal and that saves on energy costs. Any way you look at it, leftovers provide some thrifty dinners.

And there are so many good things to make with leftovers! Par-boiled and chilled potatoes make the crispiest hash browns. The best stir-fried rice – one that doesn't become sticky – is made with cooked, cold rice. A surplus of pared veggies makes handy snack food. Soups and stews not only stretch for a few meals, their texture and flavours often improve during the chilling process, as natural gelatins are activated and seasonings fuse. Leftover chicken breast or pork chops, julienned, make "topping" enough for two medium pizzas, or a hearty salad, or an excellent addition to stir-fries or ramen-noodle soup. Leftover turkey or roast beef are great in casseroles such as tetrazzini or one-pot pilafs. If you're fortunate to have spare gravy, it can seed a sauce that will convert those leftover roast meats into scrumptious pot pies. Nobody will guess they're eating leftovers!

To make fabulous fare from last night's excess, you'll need to build your own repertoire of recipes, ideally ones which allow ingredient substitutions. Pizza – my favourite use of leftover chicken – always delights. It's both a satisfying and economic meal. Home-made pizza dough requires fore-thought – to allow for rising time – but the smell of fresh-baked dough, and the pleasing texture and taste of the crust, makes it worth the minimal effort. If you like a tomato sauce base, you can make a simple sauce on the stove-top. During winter months, we don't have access to good cooking tomatoes so we use a few tablespoons, per pizza, of a jarred spaghetti sauce. (Each jar, once open, we use within its shelf-life as a condiment or ingredient in other dishes, marinades, and/or sauces – these, too, I plan ahead.) Here's my simple dough recipe for one, medium-sized pizza crust:

• 1/2 cup warm water
  
• 1-1/2 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 2-1/4 teaspoon yeast (or one, 2.5 oz. Packet)
  
• 1 tablespoon sugar
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
  
• 1-1/2 cup flour
  

Dissolve sugar in warm water. Add yeast and allow it to develop (approximately 5 minutes.) Add oil, stir to combine, and pour into a mixing bowl. Add 1/2 cup flour and beat until smooth. Add the salt, stir well to blend, and then add the remaining flour, as much as required. Knead on a lightly floured surface for 5-10 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and set aside to rise for 45-50 minutes. Punch down dough, knead until smooth, and allow it to rest for 5 minutes before shaping. Once topped, this 12-inch pizza crust cooks in about 10 minutes in a hot (425-450 degree) oven.

Even the smallest amount of leftover food need not be wasted. You'd be surprised by the delicious meals that can come from a hodgepodge of leftover ingredients. Once you build your collection of recipes, your own family favourites, you'll begin to see these "fast foods" as desirable surplus. Be warned, though. This process is addictive! Soon, you'll be intending leftovers, too. Meal-planning quickly becomes a tag-team activity, featuring first meal and its progeny.

How about you? What's your favourite recipe for leftovers?

Confessions of a Stocker

I admit it. I'm a stocker. It all started innocently enough with a simple home-made chicken soup, but quickly escalated to stocking rice pilaffs, wine reductions and seafood chowders. It's become an obsession. I can't shop for certain groceries without envisioning their stocking potential.

Ham – joint-in of course – makes a delicious stock for split-pea soup. A turkey is mentally stripped of its roasted meat, its carcass tossed in a stock pot with Mirepoix (onions, celery and carrots.) A whole fish or in-the-shell shellfish and I fantasize about Bouillabaisse.

But this is more than just another foodie obsession. Stocking is frugal activity. No, really! If you want healthy, flavourful meals on a budget, then stocking is the way to achieve it. Good stock not only enhances the flavour of meals, the natural gelatine has wonderful health benefits. Perhaps the most frugal aspect of stocking is that nothing goes to waste. Any leftover bones with a little meat on them can provide a few cups of stock that could later enhance some ramen noodles with veg. When vegetables age faster than they're eaten, they can be tossed into a stock pot together with some onion, celery and carrot, and brewed into a completely vegetarian stock – a light and flavourful addition to brown rice pilaf.

For beef stock, alone, I buy bone. However, the cost of good soup bones varies radically, so I make my purchase when the quality is highest – good amount of meat on or marrow in the bones – and when prices are lowest. Meaty beef bones need browning in a hot oven before being added to Mirepoix and water, and produce high amounts of gelatine. On the rare occasion I find a bone-in beef roast, the leftovers are sure to hit the stock pot, though usually produce less gelatine than soup bones.

Brown stocks are made from cooked-meat and bones and clear stocks are made with raw-meat and bones, the latter producing greater amounts of gelatine. A whole stewing fowl – excellent flavour for much less cost (and fat skimming) than a fryer – can make several cups of clear stock and be price-competitive with popular store brands. Turkey legs can be a cost-effective choice for making clear turkey stock. Recently, we found whole, fresh turkeys and were able to butcher them at home. The breasts became roasts, the best leg, wing and back meat was run through the grinder to become lean and hearty turkey burger, and the remaining carcass went into a stock pot. That bird yielded two roasts (which, bought separately, would've cost the equivalent price of the whole turkey,) six pounds of burger, and sixteen cups of wiggly-giggly gold: clear turkey stock.

I won't stock in summer, though – that season is steamy enough! But, once stocking becomes obsession, even summer can't stop the yearning. And, not just any stock will do. Nothing – and I mean nothing! – compares to home-made stock. Store brands may do, in a pinch, but their flavours and textures are bland. If you want superior taste and texture, then home-made stocks produce the rich gelatine most store brands lack. Gelatine not only carries flavour molecules on a silky, savoury base, it's rich in valuable nutrients. Without the gelatine, flavours are elusive and the texture watery.

Water, however, is the base of every stock and quality must be considered. If your tap water tastes funky, the stock will too. Filtering water can solve this problem, so plan ahead and have 12-20 cups ready. About a half-hour into the simmer, impurities in the meat and bone will rise to the surface in the form of foam. Gently skim this from the surface. This process can take a long while but, once impurities no longer rise, seasoning can be added according to the base protein or featured vegetable. Bouquet Garni, a collection of complimentary herbs tied together with string, provide aromatic notes and subtler flavours than most spices. Flavours intensify as the stock reduces during its cooking time and, while certain seasonings are important additions, they should be used sparingly or whole. For instance, whole peppercorns add a subtler flavour and less heat than ground pepper will. Salt is essential in drawing out flavours but, as stocks are primarily ingredients in other dishes, limiting salt when making them better enables adjusting that common seasoning in those future dishes.

Stock freezes well, too. Up to three to four months. Remember to label and date the containers and cycle your stock for maximum freshness.

Those containers of gelatinous goodness will come in handy on cooler summer days – that's when my craving for risotto hits hardest. I'm stocking up now, before summer's swelter sets in. I figure several containers each of turkey, chicken, and beef stock, should get me through the season's comfort-food crises.