Great fantastic idea Bear! I know you will be of great use to us here
I don't use packets, but I do get lazy with somethings like refried beans... I know how to make them & I have them frozen in the freezer, but every once in a while its easier to open a can.
I don't use packets either, but I love the idea of this thread to broaden my horizons I do see some jars and think 'I wish I could make that from scratch'. Looking forward to more of your of recipes Bear!
How about salad dressings? I would like to have a honey mustard dressing to make from scratch. I always buy Paul Newmans because I can't be bothered making it.
I love a good vinagrette, but I get tired of the same ol same ol... balsamic vinegar and olive oil...
i'm at the other end of the spectrum in that we are starting to grow our own vegies, and struggling to come up with reasonably simple recipes to make the ultimate use of them!
would love to get a good recipe for tomato sauce (as in pie and sauce) that isn't time and labour intensive (i love my slow cooker hint hint!!). also a tomato base for spag bol and stuff. we add a tonne of fresh veg to everything, so i just need a base sauce...
ummmm, what else? hehehe
at the moment we don't have any veg in, but given another couple of weeks we'll replant. last year we grew:
a lot of our cooking is done in moisture rich dishes (casseroles etc) as DH lives in a truck and has a small cooker that he can reheat food in a small tray only...
I use the packet recipe mix to make lamb or beef casserole....would be great to actually know what herbs and spices to use from scratch to make it tasty
Tomato bases for spag bol, basic neopolatana sauce:
6-8 tomatoes peeled
1 onion chopped
2 tbsp tomato puree
2 cloves garlic
1 celery stick
2 carrots
salt and pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
2-3 handfuls of fresh herbs, italian parsley, basil, oregano.... I prefer a mix but I do take whatever is on hand in my garden
1/2 cup red wine (optional)
Chop onion and saute in olive oil until the onion goes clear turn heat down as low as you can go. Pop tomatoes in and pour 1/4 cup of water into pan. Cover and let sit. Meanwhile you can chop your carrots and celery or you could grate it finely if you like. Add to the pot with the garlic, red wine, salt and pepper. I squash the tomatoes as they soften and cover. Cook for 20-30 minutes or you could put the whole thing in the s/c and let it go for 4 hours or so on low. Add the tomato paste after a while. If its too dry a sauce, I add a tin of tomatoes in.... but generally I don't.
When you are nearing the end, add the fresh herbs for the last 10-15 minutes. If you like, you can blend the mix to make it less chunky, but it looses some colour sometimes.
We always had homemade mayonaise grwoing up, but for some reason I always bought it in the jar. Tomy whole egg mayonaise. It is exy....about $5 a jar.
So recently I have gone back to making it:
6 egg yolks
Dry mustard powder
White wine vinegar
Pinch of salt
Olive oil (about 400ml)
~ WIzz the yolks, vinegar and salt in a blender
~ Gradually add the olive oil in a very slow stream with the blender going full pelt
~ You will see/hear/feel when it thickens (takes about 5 minutes)
~ Store in a jar
You can add all sorts of herbs to add other flavours.......
Netix - give me a bit more information on which types of sauces you are using and I'll put a few things together for you.
Ok - I'll start with the salad dressings because that's an easy one to deal with - I'll start with a little theory that is common to most salad dressings.
Most salad dressings share a common base, which is nothing more complicated that a mixture of oil and acid (usually vinegar) - all you need for a basic salad dressing is to mix them together in the right ratio which is around 3 parts oil to 1 part acid.
The simplest dressings rely on putting the oil and acid in a jar and shaking the life out of it in order to mix the two together to form an emulsion.
However oil and water don't mix well and the acid is mostly water, so if you want to make a more stable and longer lasting dressing then you need to use some sort of emulsifying agent to help them mix. If you read the ingredients on the commercial recipes they all have some sort of emulsifier amongst the additives.
Mustard is a great emulsifying agent, and can make a really stable base salad dressing, you will need:-
A small mixing bowl
A whisk
Oil - Extra Virgin Olive Oil, or a salad oil
Dijon Mustard
White Wine Vinegar
Salt and Pepper
Put a teaspoon of mustard into the bottom of the mixing bowl, then slowly (drop by drop) use the whisk to beat the oil into the mustard. It's important to start slowly when you add the oil, but you should find that you can add the oil a little faster after the first tablespoon or so. You should be able to add 5-6 tablespoons of olive oil to the mustard without any visible signs of it 'splitting' - as soon as it looks like your beating isn't managing to get the oil absorbed into the mixture then stop adding it. The mixture should look smooth and creamy, now add the vinegar - roughly about a third of the quantity of oil and mix it together, season with a pinch of salt and a grind of pepper and the dressing is ready - taste it to check.
A dressing made like this is stable enough to keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks, and if you want to make larger quantities then it works well in a food processor.
Once you have mastered this basic recipe then you can adapt it to make many other dressings;-
try adding a dash of single cream after the vinegar to make a french-style creamy dressing
Honey Mustard - Start with wholegrain mustard, and finish with a teaspoon of liquid honey
You can also use different acids to alter the taste, there are a range of vinegars with a huge variety of flavours and prices....but I think that it's nice to use citrus juice as the acid, it's much cheaper and adds a real punch.
Lemon Juice is classic, Blood Oranges work really well, Grapefruit, Navel Oranges, Passionfruit or any other sharply acidic fruit juice or pulp can be used - you may need to vary the 3:1 ratio depending on the strength of the acid - make it to your own personal taste.
Even the fuller bodied dressings are made in the same way, to make a mayonnaise style dressing we just add a couple of egg yolks to the mustard as a further emulsifier, then add the oil as before - it's best to use a lighter oil like sunflower, or a light olive oil as you can 200ml of oil to your starting teaspoon of mustard - you will find that the more oil you add, the thicker the dressing becomes. Then add your choice of flavouring - lemon juice, herbs, saffron, garlic.
A few salad ideas:-
Warm Red Onion and Halloumi Salad - gently fry chopped red onion and slivers of halloumi cheese until the onion has sweetened and the halloumi is soft, then toss through salad leaves with a dressing made with wholegrain mustard
Fennel and Orange Salad - Finely shred Fennel, Peel an Orange with a knife to remove all the Pith, and then cut out each segment by running a knife between the membranes. Make the salad dressing using wholegrain mustard and the juice of an orange instead of vinegar - toss the fennel and orange pieces with salad leaves and the dressing. This goes wonderfully with fatty meat like grilled duck breast and also with fish.
Thank you Bear! My salad dressings are usually olive oil and vinegar of some description, or lemon juice. Occasionally I go out on a limb and add some mustard to the mix I am pleased to say that I never buy salad dressings, but how fantastic to have your simple instructions, it's like Cooking Well 101 I can't wait to expand my repertoire!
But I wish I didn't! I never cared much of what I ate before the lady bug came along (in fact we often had take away easily 5 or 6 nights a week, or would cook packet stuff, mainly the continental pasta mix things. We have oodles of jars of pasta sauce in our pantry, as well as quite a supply of other 'simmer sauce' type jars. But, since she has arrived, I would desperately like to get away from packets and jars and make my own things from scratch.
There is no reason why I couldn't. Storage isn't an issue, we have a big pantry, and three fridge/freezers to be utilized. (Why three, I'll never know!)
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I do see some jars and think 'I wish I could make that from scratch'. Looking forward to more of your of recipes Bear!
I am pleased to say that I never buy salad dressings, but how fantastic to have your simple instructions, it's like Cooking Well 101
Hi, my name is Netix, and I use packets and jars.
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