Cooking lessons

Last night (Thursday October 4th) I gave Marshall his first cooking lesson.  We had been talking about it for a year, but it never came together, but I guess he finally got tired of pizza every night and decided to do something about it.  His rules were very specific:

1) It cant take longer to make than it would to order Yemeksepeti and have something delivered.
2) It has to be easy enough for a culinary 10 year old to manage it.
3) No onions.

Week 1: Chicken Stir Fry

I was headed out to Migros on Tuesday afternoon so I called up Marshall to see if he wanted to come with me.  He had mentioned wanting some help shopping for the basics.  I helped him pick some vegetables (carrots, mushrooms and peppers) and find rice and olive oil.  He also got chicken and soy sauce and what I thought was corn starch, but ended up being corn meal.  He seemed surprised that there weren't too many ingredients, but I was just following instructions.

On Thursday he called when he got home from tennis and I went up to his apartment armed with a head of garlic, which I knew we forgot.  During the evening I came back down two more times, for the corn starch and for the garlic press.  (Yes a tool that is only good for one thing.)

The event went well and it turned out tasty.  The only glitch was in the rice.  I told him it didn't matter how much rice you cooked, but you needed a 2:1 ratio for water and rice.  A reasonable amount of rice for two people and one left over portion would be 1.5 cups of rice, so you use 1/2 cup rice and 1 cup water.  I must have said it in a confusing way as he started measuring 1.5 cups rice.  I corrected that, but then didn't pay close attention when he measured again and somehow there was not enough water for the rice and it didn't fully cook.

Chicken Stir Fry
3-4 piece of garlic, mashed
1/4 c soy sauce
1/4 c oil
1 Tbs corn starch
1 Tbs sugar
red pepper flakes to taste
3 chicken breasts
15 mushrooms
2 carrots
2 peppers
1/2 c rice
1 c water

Prepare the marinade:  Mash the garlic and mix it with the soy sauce, oil, corn starch, sugar and red pepper flakes.  Mix enough so that the corn starch is not too lumpy.  Open and rinse the chicken.  Cut it into bite sized pieces and put it in the marinade, making sure it is all covered. 

Start heating the water for the rice.  When it is boiling, add the rice and cover.  Turn down the heat by turning the dial to the small flame (counter clockwise).  Set a timer for 15 minutes (make sure the timer's volume is on.)

Vegetables: Cut the ends of the carrots and take the seeds out of the peppers.  Clean the mushrooms.  If you are going to cook the mushrooms, it isn't very important to keep them dry and you can wash them, but if the mushrooms are going in salad, wipe them off with a damp cloth.  Cut the ends off the mushrooms and slice.  Slice the carrots and peppers.  The carrots will take the longest to cook, so start them first.  With a half dollar sized puddle of oil, heat the pan and the carrots for a few minutes.  Add the mushrooms and the peppers.  Stir the vegetables to make sure everything touches the bottom and gets hot.  When the mushrooms start to get soft, make a hole in the middle of the vegetables and put the chicken in with all of the sauce.  Heat and stir until a big piece of chicken is not pink in the middle.  Hopefully by now the rice is ready.

Week 2: Chicken Pesto Pasta

Marshall said he had a lot of work to do for Friday and wondered if we could postpone dinner until the weekend.  I had my doubts that it would ever happen if we postponed it, but I said ok.  I had already sent the shopping list so all I had to do was wait for Sunday.  I was a little worried I was asking too much with this week's menu.  He was going to have to go to the nicer grocery store, Macro, to get the fresh basil and that might make two stops and that might put him off.  Also, he was going to need a food processor, which I knew he didn't have, but I have one he can use. 

I was a little surprised when he rang my doorbell at 8 and said he was ready when I was and to come up whenever.  I got the food processor and headed up, only having to come down one time to get a vegetable steamer, which I left there because I have two. 

Starting with the chicken then the pasta then the pesto and finally the vegetables, everything was pretty much ready at the same time.  I didn't stay to eat, but it smelled good and I trust I will get a full report in the morning.

Pesto Pasta
1 plastic box of fresh basil (available in the produce section)
1/4 cup (a small handful) pine nuts, or if you cant find them, walnuts
olive oil
1/4 c Parmesan cheese (about the same as the nuts)
3-4 pieces of garlic
vegetables to steam
pasta
3 chicken breasts

Wash the chicken and place it on a baking sheet.  Pour a little olive oil over the chicken and sprinkle with salt.  Put it in the oven at ~200C for 15 minutes.  Check that the thick part of the chicken is white (rather than pink) in the middle and adjust cooking time accordingly.

Meanwhile, wash and cut up the vegetables.  Put them in the steamer basket in a sauce pan with a lid.  Don't add hot water until you are 10 minutes from ready to eat.

Heat water for the pasta.  When it is boiling, fill the big sauce pan 3/4 of the way and set it to boil again.  When it is boiling add the pasta, add salt and a silver dollar sized puddle of oil.  Stir the pasta, turn the heat down and cover.

Pluck the leaves of basil off the stalks.  Put them in the food processor.  Add the nuts and garlic and some oil.  Blend.  If it is too dry, add more oil (you will probably need ~1/4 cup, or about the same volume as the nuts).  Use a spoon to rearrange the pesto so it is within reach of the blades.  When it is fairly well chopped, add the Parmesan cheese.  You may have to add more oil as the cheese may make it dry again.

Check the pasta, check the chicken, if you haven't done so already, start the vegetables.  If the pasta is done, strain it using the lid of the pot.  If the chicken is done, chop it up into bite sized pieces.  Add the pesto and the chicken to the drained pasta, stir.  Eat with steamed vegetables.

Midweek note:  All sorts of people know that Marshall is getting cooking lessons from me.  He must be telling everyone he meets.  This is fine with me, in fact I think it is cute.  People ask how it is going and tell me that he was pleased with the first week's attempt, which I am glad to hear.  The hard part is going to be thinking up things for him to cook. 

Week 3: Roasted chicken and vegetables

When I suggested roasting a whole chicken, I think Marshall was skeptical that this would be within his requirement range, but I was trying to think up a meal that wasn't rice and wasn't pasta and the only other starch I feel comfortable with is potato and what goes better with potato than a roasted chicken?  He asked me to go shopping with him again, because I guess buying a whole chicken is scary, but I need to get things for book club so it was no big deal.  There are a lack of root vegetables here in Turkey.  No yams, sweet potato, rutabaga, turnip, parsnip etc.  It is hard to find beets and you only get one choice for potatoes at most supermarkets.  The green grocers have more choices, and i am working up the courage to visit them more often, but it is hard when you have to go to the grocery store anyway to make two stops.  Anyway, Marshall chose carrots, potatoes, and zucchini and we found thyme, but not rosemary.  He now has his own supply of garlic but wasn't willing to invest in a bag of lemons, so we went without.

Knowing that this meal would take a bit longer and would have down time in the middle, we started a bit earlier on Thursday.  I think it was the first time Marshall had encountered a whole dead chicken, but he managed to wash it without too much difficulty.  I had picked some fresh rosemary on campus on my way home, so we could put most of that in the bird, saving some for the vegetables.  I brought my knife up for him to use, since he still doesn't have knives that have any sort of edge on them.  We put the chicken in the oven and the started to work on the vegetables and after 20 minutes they were ready to go in as well.  Janelle came over and we started our second episode of Game of Thrones while waiting for the next timer to ding, to check on the bird and add the zucchini.  After 20 more minutes it was all ready to go.  We did the vegetables separately so that they wouldn't be contaminated with meat juice in deference to Janelle. 

Marshall's comment was that it seemed like this made the most food for the least number of dishes and while it took longer it was the easiest of the three meals we had made so far.  It wont be too long before he works out that cooking isn't difficult, or at least you can go quite a long way before it is and all of my mystique of being a good cook will dissipate.

I am so proud!

Roasted Chicken with Vegetables
1 small chicken
rosemary
thyme
salt/pepper
olive oil
1 lemon
garlic
5 potatoes
3 carrots
2 zucchini

Wash the chicken inside and out.  If it comes with guts, take them out and throw them away.  Sprinkle the inside and outside of the bird with salt and pepper, and thyme.  Cut the lemon in half and put both halves in the bird along with several cloves of garlic and the fresh rosemary.  Drizzle the outside of the bird with oil and put it on the oven pan.  Put the pan in the middle of the oven at about 200C and set the timer for 20 minutes.

Prepare the vegetables, wash them and remove the ends.  Scrub if necessary.  Remove the paper from the garlic and add those as well. Cut the potatoes and carrots into similar sized pieces, generally one bite worth.  Put these in a separate baking dish.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.  If you have more rosemary, add it here.  Use your hands to coat.  The shallower the layer of vegetables, the more will have contact with the baking dish and the crispier they will be.  When the 20 minute timer dings, put these in the oven with the bird.  If the bird is getting dry on top, take some of the run off juices and put them back on top.  Set the timer for 20 more minutes.  When it dings, check the chicken again and add the zucchini, stir to coat. Set the timer for 20 more minutes.

After an hour total of cooking time, you need to check that the chicken is cooked.  The best way to do this is with a meat thermometer stuck in a meaty part of the bird.  If you don't have one, you can cut into a breast and check that it is white all the way through, or you can cut off the leg and see if the juices run clear.  The bigger the bird (and the more you stuff in it) the longer it will take to cook. 

Week 4: Chicken Curry

This week was a bit of an adventure.  I had seen my friend Alette make chicken curry for her kids when I was visiting Germany in October and it looked really easy, but I had never tried it myself and didn't have a recipe.  I wish I had written down exactly what we did because it came out really well and I would like to be able to do it again myself, but I will have to make due with best guesses at this point.

Chicken Curry
1 package chicken breasts
2-3 potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
2-3 carrots, scrubbed and chopped
2-3 peppers, deveined and chopped
(1 onion chopped)
chicken stock or chicken bullion cubes
1 box cream
curry powder
frozen peas
rice


Since the potato and carrot (and onion) will take longer to cook than the other vegetables, start cooking them first, by adding a little olive oil to a large frying pan over medium heat.  When they are partially done (maybe 5 minutes) add the chicken, cut into bite sized pieces.  When they are browned, add the peppers.  Stir for just a minute then add ~2 cups of chicken broth, the box of cream and about 3 Tbs of curry powder.  Simmer this until it starts to thicken and the potatoes are done all the way through.  Add the frozen peas and cook until they are hot in the middle.  Meanwhile, cook the rice, remembering a 2:1 ratio of water to rice.  I know people do this differently, but I always heat the water and then add the rice, let it boil and then turn down the heat and cover.

It was tasty and even Alison thought it was good.

We have had a couple of weeks off due to holidays and guests and I had the chance to try Marshall's independent cooking skills when he made roasted vegetables for the Thanksgiving pot luck on campus.  While the zucchini got a little mushy and the vegetables might have been a little too crowded for optimal crisping contact with the pan, they were delicious and received many compliments from the other diners.   I remember when I took cooking in middle school, our final project was to plan and cook an entire dinner for our families and the report back how it went.  Perhaps I should set something like this up for Marshall and give him a certificate of completion (suitable for framing) when he has chosen, shopped and cooked an entire nutritionally balanced meal on his own.