Cooking at home can be therapeutic. How? Cooking for yourself and or your family is comforting in more ways than you can imagine. It calms the soul stirring the creative imagination that truly sings to the spirit.
This is especially good for you and your family when faced with the daily stresses of life and especially during a challenging crisis like the current pandemic.
When you cook at home you should always cook what you and your family likes; and, keep it simple by not getting all caught up in this or that recipe. Why? Following a recipe 'going by the book' can be very stressful and you can end up buying expensive 'exotic' ingredients (as well as spices/seasonings) that you will likely never use again.
Another bit of brainy advice is to make what you can that is as tasty as you can make it and as nutritional as possible. If your family is beyond particular, encourage them that you made it with love just for them. Talking up a meal can shed new light on its taste when you don't have very much or just don't have a variety to offer.
The Brainy Gourmet has always advocated to keep a simple basic pantry and a few staple items in the refrigerator that you will use up in a weeks time. Advice for a beginner stay at home chef ...start with soup.
Keep in mind that soup is not stew. Soup is lighter having more liquid. Most often, soup is treated as a starter but it can be the main meal if you serve with bread and a salad.
Every soup begins with stock which is made by boiling a piece of meat or a few vegetables. You can use whatever meat or vegetable base you prefer straining out the meat/vegetables once the stock is finished. Now that you have the basic stock, you can make any soup you want the rest of the week.
To begin, just boil the a large piece of meat in salted water (whole chicken or pork butt or beef shank). Do not add rice, pasta, potatoes to the stock. This allows you to change up the soup the next day from chicken/beef vegetable to minestrone or tomato.
To the stock, you can add a whole onion or leek along with a few carrots which should be strained out of the stock once it is finished. Again, don't add rice or pasta or even potatoes to the stock directly.
Cook those items separately to be added to individual bowls of stock. This way, the stock you made can serve a different soup the next day or be used as a liquid to stir fry or to make a gravy or sauce for another evening's dinner.
When you are ready to serve your soup, offer rice or pasta or potatoes (cooked separately) to each bowl along with a bit of meat/vegetables that you strained out of the stock; set aside keeping warm.
If you cook frugally in this way, you will discover that you are in charge of your kitchen/cooking and it's a very satisfying and rewarding experience that everyone can benefit from.
~ Tutti a Tavola!
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