Before I met my husband I cooked most of my meals but my repertoire was somewhat limited. I ate because I was hungry, not because I wanted something that tastes fantastic.
When I started dating my now husband, he opened my eyes and taught me things about food and cooking.
With time, I started learning from the True Masters of Cooking: my mother-in-law and her mother (my husband's grandmother). These two iron ladies are the true heroes of today's modern world. There are no such things as ready-made-dinners, meat and fish come as they are, things still have fur, eyes, organs, feet etc etc... Cooking is hands on, dirty work. Nothing sterile about it. And if it means 12-24 hours of cooking, it means 12-24 hours of cooking...with no complaining. That is just how it is.
I've learnt so much about seafood, blood, fish, poultry, meat... You'd be amazed if I told you even half of the things. The family used to own a restaurant so indeed, I am learning from real professionals.
And what does all this knowledge do to a person? It gives you confidence to try new things, pimping up recipes, trusting your own instincts. And most of all, it gives you the little tricks you will need in order to be successful at least 90% of the times. Only 90% as no one is perfect. Mistakes happen. Especially when you try new things.
My cooking is not pretty, it lacks presentation... But flavours are always intense and nicely balanced. I learnt what goes with what, what enhances things, what makes things more round, what makes things sharp. And most of all... I learnt to keep tasting when cooking. Each stage is as important so tasting comes from early on, not only when you're about to serve the meal. Or even worse, only after serving (like it was at my home when I was little... You never knew what was on the plate until it was in your mouth).
Our spice/herb collection is pretty impressive. Without any trips to the supermarket we can whip up Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Italian,Thai, Indian, Greek, Cajun, Scandinavian, French etc etc... cuisine. The more I experiment, the more I learn what I like.
In the last week I've been doing these foods (if you want any of the recipes, leave a comment).
 |
| Chicken-chouriço Jambalaya (with self made Cajun seasoning) |
 |
| Meatloaf with Mushroom-Gruyère stuffing (before rolling it up) |
 |
| Carrot-Tomato soup |
 |
| Making moussaka: I was so mean I made aubergines CRY! |
 |
| Moussaka in the making |
 |
| His'n'Hers moussaka: his side with no cheese (only Béchamel sauce) and my side (with Béchamel & cheese) |
Also, I cooked a very simple Chinese oven roasted chicken (soy sauce, honey, ginger, five spice marinade). Chicken was shy so no photos, sorry.
As said, I don't make gourmet food. I make rustic home food that both fills you up and makes your taste buds say "yippee".
And yes, I am hungry while I am writing this. As I'm typing away, I'm also preparing my lunch using the left over chouriço and cabbage with the carrot/tomato soup base I prepared yesterday.
 |
| Lunch |
My point of this blog post is.... Don't be afraid to try new things! There's always room for improvement in this field.
And I didn't even scratch baking in this posting... That's a whole other can of worms which I might tackle at some point.
Now go away, cook and EAT, my friends!
No comments:
Post a Comment