What’s for Dinner on Hot Summer Nights?

Put Some “Summer Style” into Your Meals

When the weather turns hot, deciding what’s for dinner can leave you feeling completely cold and clueless.  All our usual standbys seem to lose their appeal in the heat.

The problem may lie less with the weather and more with our mealtime “wardrobe.”  Nobody dons turtlenecks and wool pants to face the heat of summer.  We switch wardrobes for the season!  Likewise, we need to put a little “summer style” into the mealtime lineup when hot weather rolls in.

While meats go hand in glove with a grill, don't forget about vegetables. I think of the grill as my "summer oven." Whether it's sweet potatoes, zucchinni or asparagus, whatever I might roast in the winter, I grill in the summer, getting the same, tender browned vegetables with a sweetly concentrated flavor.

Beyond Grilling Grilling is the most obvious option, so common in fact, that in some households the stovetop is basically mothballed for the summer.  If you’re ready to expand your summer style beyond the grill, however, there are plenty of other options.  Think *light, *cool and *fresh.

• Light Instead of those roasts that are so comforting in December, take advantage of the wonderful fresh fish shipped down from Alaska in the summer, like salmon, halibut and cod.  Serve with a fruit salsa or fresh herb pesto.  Maybe even go meatless some nights and combine a couple vegetable dishes and a grain.

• Light Instead of heavy stews and casseroles, get imaginative with salads.  A bed of lettuce can be the backdrop for a wide range of “accessories,” from proteins like fish, chicken and steak to beans of every color, nuts of every stripe, cheeses of every flavor, fresh herbs and of course, practically any vegetable, either raw, pan-fried or grilled.  Then play with one of the many uniquely-flavored dressings on the market if you don’t want to make your own.

• Cool When it comes to grain dishes, serve them salad-style rather than as hot skillets.  Cook grains in the morning, cool in the frig all day, then use as a salad base.  Cooled buckwheat, for instance, tastes sweet and nutty.  Combine it with sliced sugar snap peas, sauteed onions and mushrooms, toasted walnuts and roasted red peppers.  Add a simple dressing of olive oil, fresh herbs and lemon juice and you’ve got a refreshing one-dish meal.

Fruit is another stellar salad addition, especially fresh, but dried will work until flavorful fresh fruits come to market.

• Cool Summer is an ideal opportunity to be lazy.  Blame the heat if “all” you get on the table is a sandwich or wrap.  But don’t be fooled; bread and tortillas can easily pack a completely filling, balanced and tasty meal.  Consider even a simple turkey wrap made with a whole grain tortilla, bursting with shredded carrots, red pepper strips, cucumber slices and lettuce.  With or without cheese, it looks like a full meal to me!  Make it even more special with pesto mayonnaise.

• Cool Or you could skip the bread and tortillas and simply serve up some “cold cuts,” but not the kind with unpronounceable preservatives and colorings in them.  Many stores now carry deli meats that (imagine this) contain just meat flavored only by salt, spices and plant-derived compounds.  (e.g., Applegate Farms Herbed Turkey Breast).  Serve slices rolled with lettuce and tomato inside.  Or serve tofu slices Japanese style, with green onions, soy sauce and sesame seeds.  Or canned canned tuna fillets with light rye crisps and mustard.  Or cold chicken strips dipped in prepared peanut sauce.

• Fresh Closely related to the idea of cold cuts, finger foods take advantage of the amazing array of fresh fruits and vegetables available in the hot months.  Imagine lounging on the patio in the shade, nibbling on a plate of simply sliced vine-ripened tomatoes, crisp Asian cucumbers, juicy watermelon, and chili-lime corn on the cob?  That’s one of our favorite summertime meals.  For a little more substance, pair it with cheese and crackers, hummus and pitas, nuts or French bread.

• Fresh Pasta is perfect for summertime, especially in salads.  Hot pasta can be fine, too, just sans the heavy cream and thick tomato sauces.  Instead, combine with fresh vegetables lightly cooked and tie together with light broth-based sauces featuring fresh herbs and olive oil.  Top with a little fresh Parmesan, feta or chevre.  Check out Lynn’s Super Fast Spinach Pasta Dish in the Vegetable A Month Club for a good example–and starting point.  That dish can be creatively modified to showcase practically any of summer’s luscious vegetables.  P.S. Don’t forget to use whole grain pasta.

One final tip:  Don’t wait until 5:00 when you’re driving home in a hot car to decide on dinner.  All these great ideas will vanish like a heat mirage as you just struggle to get home intact.  Take the time now, with everything fresh in your mind, to plan several meals drawing on these ideas.

Mary Collette Rogers, meal planning master, is the author of Take Control of Your Kitchen, the guide to managing our cooking time like a pro.  Find out more about the “Plan Ahead Habit,” the most important piece of a smooth-running dinner operation.

Green Kitchen Tip: Use Citrus Bags for Herb Washing

Keep those yellow, green and red mesh bags that lemons and limes come in.  They are perfect for washing herbs and, more importantly, spinning them dry.  Surely you’ve attempted to chop washed herbs that haven’t been spun dry.  The waterlogged mass turns into a mess of green slush.

Of course if you are on top of things, you wash the herbs the night or morning before they’re needed, in which case they’re nicely dried.  Chopping them is easy and the end result is a fluffy halo of green garnish on a finished dish.

But in case there’s a day when you’re not exactly on top of things, here’s a pretty good option: Use a saved citrus bag as a makeshift spinner.  Cut off any tags, then close one end with a bag closer or simple knot.  Pop the herbs inside, then:

Step 1: Wash herbs under spraying water, separating and shaking to loosen dirt.

Step 2. Head outside and, holding the open end tightly, fling the bag up an down several times.

In the End: Herbs that are washed but dry and perfect for chopping.

I got this idea from the Veggie Scrub, reviewed in yesterday’s post.  This handy invention does a great job scrubbing vegetables and can also be used as an herb washer/spinner–for small amounts.  however, when I’m washing large bunches (e.g., for pestos, pistous and salsas), a large citrus bag does a more effective job of both washing and drying.

While you likely need only a couple citrus bags for herb washing, you needn’t pitch all the others that find their way into you kitchen.  They are perfect for bagging onions, garlic, potatoes and fruit at the grocery store, sparing the earth a couple more plastic bags.  (FYI:  Each year, 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide.  Each American uses between 300 and 700 plastic bags each year.  This tip can reduce that annual figure to  just 299, or 298 or 297 . . . .)

Scrubbing Vegetables: “Veggie Scrub” Makes It Easier

Check out this great new 2-for-1 find:  A vegetable scrubber + fresh herb colander for just $3.50

Clever (and easy) gadget for vegetable scrubbing. Especially good for cleaning small produce. The Veggie Scrubber(www.VeggieScrubber.com)

Although I’m a still big fan of my $2.50 nail scrubber from the cleaning supply store, I put the “Veggie Scrub” to the test on Jerusalem artichokes (also known as sunchokes.)  These gnarly and knobby vegetables are the toughest vegetable I’ve ever scrubbed, but the Veggie Scrub did a great job with them.  I am always reluctant to buy sunchokes just because they are so hard to wash, but now that’s not the case.

The packaging instructs to either wear it like a mitt to scrub vegetables with your hand, or to pop the vegetable inside the pouch and rub under flowing water.  The first method worked best with large vegetables, while the second worked best for small things like baby turnips and potatoes.

Either way, you get a decent and inexpensive vegetable scrubber.  But wait, there’s more:  The Veggie Scrub doubles as a fresh herb “colander.”  Washing herbs is always problematic, not only because they’re small and hard to manage, but also because they get soaked and become difficult to chop.  The Veggie Scrub contains them handily while washing.  Then take the pouch outside, fling it up and down vigorously and the herbs are quickly dried enough for a decent chopping job.

Green Kitchen Tip: See tomorrow’s post, about reusing the mesh bags from lemons and limes as an herb washer/spinner

In a recipe, how much is “to taste?”

Make a Recipe Just the Way You Like:  10 Tips

Salt and pepper, to taste.

1/2 tsp. chili flakes, more or less, to taste.

1/4 to 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, to taste.

Recipes seem to be littered with unhelpful directives about “to taste.”  For those of us who aren’t exactly Julia Child in the kitchen, coming across one of them can be annoying, maybe even mildly anxiety-provoking.  “Now what do I do?” might be your response when a recipe says “add lemon juice, to taste“

These vague directives may seem like a cop out for lazy recipe writers, but they actually have a good purpose.  When you see “to taste” in a recipe, it’s shorthand for “Caution! Strong-tasting ingredient ahead.  Handle with care.”

I actually worry more about recipes without a warning system.  Just yesterday, I madea peanut sauce recipe that called for 2 1/2 tablespoons of red chili paste.  That amount would have burned a small crater in my mouth!  I never use more than 1/8 a teaspoon.  Made me wonder how many dishes get tossed in the garbage because an unsuspecting chef wasn’t warned that an ingredient had dangerous potential.

Take advantage of a “to taste” instruction to make a dish just the way you like—which happens to be one of the best aspects of cooking for yourself.

It’s easy to focus on the work involved in cooking, and while there’s no question that eating out is a lot easier, how often do you end up with a dish that doesn’t quite do it for you?  At the end of the meal, your taste buds feel shortchanged.  They crave a meal that wasn’t quite so bland, or so burningly hot, or so salty, or so . . . you fill in the blank.

While it might involve a little more effort, cooking for yourself has the distinct advantage of producing meals that taste just right for you.  Which is where the “to taste” business comes in.  There’s just one way to create a dish that makes your taste buds happy:  by tasting and adjusting, then tasting and adjusting again.

1. Tools of the Trade To begin with, thwart the temptation to taste out of the pan.  Pull out a tasting spoon and plate and keep them handy.
2. Start Small If a recipe gives a range of measurements, start with the smaller amount.  You can always add more, but not the reverse.
3. Taste, Taste, Taste After adding the minimum amount of a flavoring, stir it in completely and allow the flavors to meld a minute or two before tasting.
4. Cool It I am better able to taste flavors when a dish is warm rather than hot.  So I always let my tasting portion cool off before trying.
5. Unfamiliar Flavoring? Sprinkle just a little bit over a couple spoonfuls on your tasting plate.  Mix in and taste before deciding how much to add.  If you’re ambivalent, keep the flavoring to a minimum and give your taste buds time to adapt to the new flavor.  Reject it outright only if completely distasteful; sometimes the best flavors are ones that grow on us over time.
6. Portion Control Don’t ruin your appetite:  Tiny tastes are enough to judge flavor.  And call in the spouse and/or children to help.  Not only do they get invested in the meal, the dish can be made to meet their tastes as well.
7. Balance When tasting, seek balance.  The best dishes achieve that state where no ingredient predominates, but each enhances the other in a “just right” symphony.  So don’t be looking for a major burst of one particular flavor, just a pleasing, overall taste.
8. No Measurement Given Salt and pepper frequently come with no guidelines other than taste.  That’s because there is such a wide variance in tastes and needs when it comes to these two flavorings.  Some people barely salt their food and might be tempted to omit salt completely.  However, salt often brings out the other flavors in a dish, so try at least 1/4 teaspoon in a dish for four, unless medical reasons require otherwise.  Heavy salters may want to scale back slightly (to maybe 1/2 teaspoon in a dish for four) so other flavors have a chance to present themselves.
9. Salt and Pepper Speaking of salt and pepper, there may be other ingredients in a recipe that add saltiness or heat, like Parmesan cheese or chili powder.  Adjust your usual salt and pepper amounts accordingly.
10. Powerful Flavors Generally speaking, the more powerful its flavor the more gingerly an ingredient should be handled.  A few examples of “powerful flavors:”

• anything having “chili, “hot” or “pepper” in the name
• ginger and garlic (especially when uncooked)
• fresh rosemary and sage
• strong cheeses like blue cheese and goat cheeses
• spicy mustard
• cloves

While these flavorings deserve special consideration, just about any of the herbs and spices, when overdone, can make a dish unbearable.

Because our tastes are so individual, learning to add ingredients “to taste” is a very individual process.  The best strategy:  always go slowly.  This can be tedious, especially when you’re in a hurry to get a meal on the table.  But after two or three months, expect to begin developing a feel for your tastes.  The rewards are magnificent:  Having food exactly your way.

Tomorrow’s Post Measurement guidelines for some of the more common “to taste” ingredients.

Summer Refreshment: Cure for the Mid-Afternoon Doldrums

Make Iced Green Tea

It’s 3:00.  The vending machine is calling, or maybe the doughnuts left over in the break room.  You know it’s suicidal to indulge those cravings, but work is so boring and you’re so tired and . . .

Here’s an alternative.  Maybe more than sugar and calories, you need refreshment—as in something cool, revitalizing and calming, like Iced Green Tea.

Pomegranate ice cubes in the foreground; Lemon balm sprigs to the side; my lovely rosebush in the background

Years ago, a good friend told me about the surprisingly satisfying taste of green iced tea, but I just couldn’t get excited about it.  Green tea seemed bland enough when hot; I could only imagine what a cold cup might taste like.

Things changed a couple weeks ago when I ran across a new decaf green:  Whole Foods’ Green Tea with Lemon Myrtle.  Admittedly, it was the price tag that drew me in.  While most teas now run $3.00 to $4.00 for a 20-count box, this one had 40 bags for $4.00—and it was organic to boot.  Remembering the crush of heat that waited outside the air conditioned grocery store, I decided it was finally time to try iced green tea.  Now I’m hooked.

Ayurvedic Balance There may be a good reason iced green tea is just the ticket for me on a hot day.  According to the Ayurvedic thought system, I’m primarily a “Pitta” gal.  As Jennifer Workman, Ayurvedic practitioner and author of Stop Your Cravings explains, we pitas get hot and bothered easily.  Happily, with something bitter, astringent and sweet our irritability evaporates and we get realigned into balance.  Conveniently, my new tea is both astringent (green tea) and bitter (lemon myrtle), in one easy-to-make, no-calorie beverage.  See the ice cube suggestion below to incorporate a little low-calorie sweetness.

Vatas and Kaphas Will this tea be as beneficial if you’re not a Pitta?  Yes!  Although Pittas are predisposed to irritability, anyone can get hot and bothered when the circumstances warrant, and summer’s heat certainly qualifies as just cause.

Good as a Tummy Tuck? Not really, but among the dozens of health facts to hit the airwaves recently there was a study about green tea’s ability to reduce tummy flab.  Sure can’t hurt to try!

A Special Touch Toss in a couple pomegranate juice ice cubes for a little sweetness.  Make a batch from pomegranate juice, then store in a plastic zippered bag or storage container in the freezer.  Not only will they be quite handy, they won’t acquire a nasty freezer burn taste.

Brewing in the Post-Hippie Era Remember the sun tea craze?  It was a great idea:  Why waste energy brewing on the stovetop when the sun could do the work?  Now it’s possible to go one step further and just brew in the frig.  Put a pitcher in the frig at night and it can go to work in the morning.  Three good reasons to go this route:

1. Your refrigerator doesn’t have to cool hot or warmed tea, saving energy.
2. You get better taste.  As explained by tea connoisseur Beth Johnston of Teas, etc., cold water draws out or pulls the flavor from the tea , “a much slower and gentler method [than hot water brewing] that results in a smoother, more subtle, naturally sweet tasting tea.”  
3. As or more importantly, you’re spared from potentially dangerous bacterial growth.

How’s that?  Both water and tea leaves can harbor bacteria.  Sun tea water reaches only 130 (F), never the 195 (F) required to kill all this bacteria.  So left in the nice, warm sunshine, it can quickly grow and multiply to dangerous levels, enough to make you sick. 

Getting It to Work Of course you can drink iced green tea any time, but it does me the most good at my 3:00 p.m. low point.  So fill a water bottle at home and stash it in the office frig.  Alternatively, consider brewing a bottle at work.

No Whole Foods? No problem.  Any green tea will do.  Add a slice or two of lemon to your glass.  Or, when throwing the tea bags in your brewing water, include a few sprigs of lemon balm, one of those great herbs that comes up year after year without your doing a thing.  Or check out some of the greens that Johhston offers, especially Premium Lemon Citrus Organic.

To a refreshing and uplifting afternoon!

Make a Simple Salad Special

It seems like I buy at least a couple bottles of salad dressing every time I go to the store.  And it seems like I’m knee-deep in salad dressing every time I’m pawing through the pantry looking for something else.  So it seems like I should have had some salad dressing when friends came for dinner last week.  But no, we were completely out.  Not even a 1/2″ dribble languishing in the bottom of some bottle on the frig door.

But sometimes, running out of ta pantry staple can be a good thing as I discovered tonight.

I still haven’t gotten to the store to buy salad dressing, and the consequences  are even worse than running out with guests at the table.  After gardening and computering all day, I just wanted something simple for dinner.  Some leftover salad topped by canned tuna and a bowl of soup sounded just perfect–until I remembered our salad dressing situation.

Was I going to have to futz and fuss with a homemade salad dressing before I could sit down and eat?  Happily, the words of our local food editor, Cindy Sutter, came to my rescue.  A couple weeks ago she had written an article titled, aptly, “Easy-to-Make-Salad Dressing.”  What was in the basic recipe she learned from her mom?  Oil, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper, maybe some herbs?

With those words of wisdom in my ear, I got out a little bowl and whipped up a little dressing.  Taking only two minutes, it didn’t even come close to dashing my hopes for a simple and fast dinner.  Best of all, I got to experience the point of Cindy’s article:  That a freshly homemade dressing, even if super simple, tastes a whole lot better than something that’s been sitting in a bottle for who knows how long.

Which brings me back to the point of this article:  That a fast, fresh salad dressing is an easy way to turn simple tuna salad into expensive bistro fare.

Tuna Salad with Balsamic Dressing

Using a fork, whisk the following together in a medium-sized bowl:

• 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp. dried leaf oregano
• 1/4 tsp. garlic salt
• 1/4 tsp. sugar
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste

To the dressing, add

• 1 can water-packed, salted Albacore tuna, drained

Use the fork to break tuna into small pieces and mix with dressing to coat thoroughly.  Place the following in a Big Salad Bowl (be sure to see my blog on these special bowls:)

• 2 cups leftover green salad (e.g., red leaf lettuce, shredded carrots, tomatoes and, for something a little different, thinly sliced cauliflower florets)

Add tuna and toss gently to combine with salad.  Taste and add more salt, pepper or vinegar, if desired.

Find out more about making vegetables a lively and luscious part of your life with the help of the Vegetable a Month Club.

Washing Spinach vs. Packaged Spinach

Claudia is a “Good Mom.”  She buys spinach for her family because it’s so tender, tasty and full of nutrients.  But getting her family to help wash it is like climbing Mt. Everest.  Week after week, spinach goes to waste in their household.

Ray doesn’t like washing spinach any more than Claudia’s crew.  But neither will he shell out the extra dollars for the pre-washed variety.

So even though Ray and Claudia’s family all like spinach and would love to eat more, they end up with none. Not a happy ending in spring, when spinach is the star of the seasonal show.  What to do?

Getting Past the Money Thing The money thing is understandable.  You’re standing in the vegetable aisle.  Bunch spinach is $1.99.  Next to it are packages of pre-washed spinach for $2.99.  In the context of the grocery store, a dollar is a lot.  So right then and there, it seems foolhardy to pay for the packaged spinach.

That would be fine if we went ahead and bought the $1.99 bunch.   But all too often we don’t, which is why it’s worth examining the money thing a little more closely.

From the safe perch of this blog, well outside the grocery store context, the perspective is a little clearer:   It’s a dollar we’re talking about.  The difference between eating spinach and reaping its many benefits and not eating it at all is a single dollar. Maybe you eat spinach two or three times a month.   That’s $3 for the entire month.  Need I say anything about the cost of a single latte?

The 5-Minute Thing Assuming you can face down the money thing, there’s another big problem with the pre-washed spinach:  its packaging.  What happens to that plastic shoe box after fulfilling its single job of delivering your pre-washed spinach?  Of course we can “just throw it away.”  But as Julia Butterfly Hill so simply and poignantly puts it:  “There really is no such place as “away.”  This is what keeps Claudia from reaching for the packaged spinach at the store—and what leaves her with a washing problem and rotting spinach.

It’s no surprise that no one in her family wants to wash spinach.  It’s inconvenient and takes time and in our frenzied culture, that is sufficient cause for panic if not disdain.  But just like the money thing, it helps to stop and think:  just how much time is at stake?

I forced myself to quantify my time fears recently while staring at a leftover plastic spinach box.  Just how much does it take to wash a bunch of spinach?  Out of curiosity, we timed it for the Washing Spinach video for this month’s Vegetable-a-Month Club.    [[LINK]]

Spinach washing takes 5 minutes.   So we’re talking about 5 minutes.

There’s some real data instead of just more vague time fears.  So when I am torn between packaged and bunch spinach I ask myself, can I afford 5 minutes out of 16 waking hours for clean air?  Are pure water and fewer toxins in our dirt worth 5 minutes?

The Best of Both Worlds Happily, there is a solution that takes some of the environmental sting out of buying pre-washed spinach.  Some stores have bulk bins of pre-washed spinach.  The price isn’t much better than the boxed stuff, but at least you can take it home in a recycled plastic produce bag.  While I would still wash it (who knows how many hands have touched it), washing spinach in this form doesn’t take any longer than any other vegetable.

Farmer’s market spinach is often sold in bulk bins, too, and when sold in this form it is very often pre-washed.  It must definitely be given a final wash at home but again, this doesn’t take long.

Take the Aggravation out of Spinach Washing There’s one final way to tackle the spinach conundrum:  Take the annoyance out of spinach washing!  Then it isn’t a barrier to buying the less expensive, more environmentally friendly forms of spinach.    First, if you’re in a hurry, instead of tearing the spinach, use a long serrated knife to cut it to the right size.  Next, don’t get overly worried if a few stems find their way into your spinach.   Finally, get a large washing vehicle, like a salad spinner or a pasta pot with an insert.  Then you don’t need to scrub the sink before washing.

Find more tips on the Washing Spinach video from the Vegetable a Month Club—and enjoy spinach with abandon when it comes into season in spring and fall.

So That’s What They Mean by “Slow Cooking”

Removing the soup bones from my slow cooker this morning, they were melting apart.  Had to scoop them out with a slotted spoon.  The meat glistened with tender silkiness.  It was still early, but I had to try a bite:  Just like the melt-in-your-mouth, slow cooked lamb shanks I’ve had in good restaurants.

So this is how those good chefs transform the toughest cuts into the tenderest and most flavorful dishes.

I’ve known the rule for years:  low and slow.  But in my hurry up world, I tried to do low on a gas stovetop that was calibrated for hot, fast cooking.  My last batch of soup bones came out as tough as leather, even though I had cooked them on low.

Of course it probably didn’t help that I “got things going a little” by bringing the water to boil over high before turning it down to simmer.  And then I left it to simmer on the turbo-burner, not the wimpy simmer burner.  I was in a hurry, you see.  I’d decided at the last minute that the cool day would be a nice one for a last beef stew before summer’s heat settled in.

Thankfully, we’re having yet one more “last” cool spell before summer.  But yesterday morning I heard about the weather blowing in.  So I promptly pulled the last package of soup bones from the freezer and let it thaw all day.  Last night I dumped the bones into my slow cooker, filled it with cold filtered water, put on the lid and turned the heat to low.  Then the truly low heat (with no advance boiling) and the truly long time (12 hours) worked it’s magic.

It's old and dumpy, but it still works magic

Guess there’s something to be said for forethought and patience–and that cheap, completely un-cool and un-designer kitchen appliance called the Crock Pot.

P.S. After removing the soup bones, I threw in celery and carrot tops and some raggedy ends of Egyptian green onions and spring garlic.  They’ll simmer a few hours to add even more goodness to the broth.

Using Herbs and Spices: More on Flavor Families

This multiple-entry post on herbs and spices was sparked by Julee Rosso’s recipe for Beef Stew with Eggplant (Great Good Food, p. 487).  Its unusual combination of spices ignited an entire exploration into using herbs and spices more often and more creatively.

On the subject of creativity, an earlier post talked about “flavor families”and how paying attention to them paves the way to more creative use of herbs and spices.  Rosso’s stew recipe provides a good example, with its flavor family of coriander, paprika, cinnamon, allspice and cayenne pepper. It took a little courage to step out on a limb and try that unusual combo (if you’re having trouble with that step, see the first post), but once past that barrier the door swung wide open to some cooking fun.  Turns out that this flavor family was fantastic.  Now, how else could it be used?

That’s the great thing about flavor families.  Find one you like and you’ve got an easy springboard to creative fun:  In the case of Julee’s coriander combo, after tasting it in a beef stew, it was a no-brainer to imagine how nicely it would complement a vegetarian stew with eggplant, green peppers and garbanzo beans, and then what a nice bite it would add to a peach chutney.  I tried both variations with excellent results.  The vegetarian stew follows.

Give it a try, check out the coriander combo, then have some fun trying it with other things—and be sure to share your ideas.

Eggplant and Garbanzo Stew with Spicy Coriander Flavors

Serves 4-6

• 2-3 cups cooked brown rice

Be sure to have some leftover brown rice or put it on to cook before starting the rest of recipe.

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 1 large onion, diced to about ½”
• 1 large or 2 medium green peppers, diced to about ½”
• 1 lb. eggplant cut into roughly 3/4” cubes*

In a large sauté pan, heat 1 Tbsp. oil over medium heat until hot but not smoking.  Add onions and green peppers and sauté about 4-5 minutes.  Push to sides of pan, add second Tbsp. oil, heat a minute or two, then add eggplant and sauté, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 7-8 minutes.

• 6-8 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp. ground coriander
• 1 tsp. paprika
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp. ground allspice
• 3 dashes to ½ tsp. cayenne pepper, to taste  [[LINK]]
• 2 bay leaves

Reduce heat to medium, stir spices into vegetables and cook another 2-3 minutes.

• 2 lbs. tomatoes (about 5-6 med.) tomatoes, cut roughly in ¾” pieces (or 1 lrg. can diced tomatoes)
• 15-oz. can garbanzo beans, with juices
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Stir tomatoes, beans, salt and pepper into onion mixture and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer gently for about 20 minutes or so, stirring every few minutes.  Once tomatoes have softened and eggplant is soft and tender, add:

• ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
• ¼ cup chopped fresh mint (optional)

Cook just 1-2 minutes more, then serve over cooked brown rice—basmati is especially nice.

Notes:

1.  On the Side:  This one dish meal doesn’t need any side dishes if you’re short on time, but if you have a few extra minutes, a simple salad with winter pears and toasted cashews is a nice compliment.

2.  About the Eggplant:

• 1 lb. is roughly equivalent to 2 slender Japanese eggplants or 1 medium standard eggplant.
• Use very fresh, small to medium eggplants, since they are the youngest and tenderest.  Larger or older eggplant can be used, but can be bitter.  If that is all you can find at the store, follow this procedure for salting, which works to draw out the bitterness:  Begin the recipe by cutting eggplant as directed and sprinkling generously with salt.  Place in a nonreactive colander to drain while preparing the onions and peppers.  Before cooking,

Is it OK to use the garlic and ginger that comes in jars?

Those little jars of prepared garlic and ginger are so completely convenient!  No fussing

The Ginger People and Emperor's Kitchen brands have good flavor but no artificial preservatives. Although some kind of preservatives are needed to keep them from molding, these brands just use citric acid, sugar or vinegar. In the background are chives in bloom.

with paper-thin garlic peels, no paring gnarly knobs of ginger or endangering fingers on the ginger grater and no garlic-smelling hands for the rest of the night.  But is it OK to use these conveniences?

I get this question a lot, usually phrased a little sheepishly, as if the questioner is already using the bottled stuff; she just wants to know how guilty she should feel.  After all, what kind of cook doesn’t peel , mince and grate her own ginger and garlic?

One of the fun things about my cooking classes is that we actually experiment with fancier ingredients and preparation methods, do side-by-side taste comparisons, and see whether they are worth the extra time and money.  This month we pitted prepared garlic and ginger against fresh, in an easy version of Saag Paneer.  (Join a second session of this class; make this intriguing dish then take it home for dinner)

The results?  The dish with fresh ginger and garlic really did taste better.  “Brighter” you might say.  You could really pick up on the tangy-ness of the ginger and earthiness of the garlic.  So yes, peeling, chopping and grating your own does make a difference.  But does that answer the question of whether it’s OK to use prepared stuff?  Not exactly.

Even though I know flavor might be sacrificed, I use prepared ginger and garlic all the time because sometimes, flavor isn’t the only factor to consider.  How much of a flavor difference is there?  Will it make a difference in the dish I’m making?  What if I’m so pressed for time that a flavor/convenience tradeoff is acceptable?  And finally, do I care?

In our Saag Paneer class, for example, one participant acknowledged that fresh tasted better—but not enough to offset the convenience of the prepared version!  She was perfectly happy with the taste of her dish, which is the real bottom line and the answer to our question.  As long as you are OK with a tradeoff in taste, then pre-chopped ginger and garlic are completely OK.

Sure, a five-star chef wouldn’t use prepared ginger and garlic, but she has a sous chef to do her grating and chopping!  For everyday cooks, the prepared products can be a real godsend, making good-enough dishes possible on a busy schedule.

Personally, I favor a selective use of prepared garlic and ginger.  Rather than completely embracing or shunning them, I follow this rough rule:  The longer garlic and ginger are cooked in a dish, the less they are the dominant flavor, and the less time I have, the more I am inclined to use the prepared versions.  Conversely, in recipes where garlic or ginger is used uncooked or only lightly cooked, or where it is the main flavor, I am inclined to use fresh unless I absolutely don’t have time.

Here are some specifics to flesh out that general rule:

Mary’s Six Guidelines for Fresh vs. Prepared

1.  Cooking Time When garlic or ginger is used in an uncooked form, as in a pesto or salad dressing, I use fresh, no question.  Ditto for dishes where the garlic or ginger is only lightly cooked, as in Spinach with Raisins and Pine Nuts (check it out at the Vegetable a Month Club.)  In these cases, flavor is critical.  What’s more, when used fresh, very little is required, minimizing prep time.

On the other hand,if garlic is called for in a long-simmering stew, I usually opt for prepared, since the flavor difference becomes almost imperceptible with longer cooking times.  For in-between dishes, like stir-fries and skillets, I let time dictate my choice.

2.  Flavor Dominators When garlic or ginger is the predominant flavor in a dish, I am sure to use fresh, as in the classic Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic or Ginger Sauteed Halibut.   If the flavorings are just a side note, however, I feel fine substituting the prepared versions, as when I make nut burgers, which combine a myriad of flavors.

3.  Backup Plan What if the flavor of fresh is needed, but there just isn’t time to chop and grate?  Two solutions:  Use a little more and/or cook it a little less, to keep the flavors bright.

4. A Continuum Perspective Any time a convenience food question comes up, I view it from a “Continuum Perspective.”   In other words, I imagine the possible range of foods positioned along a continuum.  On one end are highly processed and refined packaged foods without much in the way of nutritional value to recommend them.   At the other end are nutritional darlings like fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, good fats, and so on.

Of course it would be ideal to eat completely from the whole, natural, fresh and from-scratch end of the continuum, but I pat myself on the back if I at least keep progressing along towards the ideal.  So if at times I must rely on some canned beans—or pre-chopped ginger and garlic–to get a decent meal on the table, I don’t hesitate for a second.  I’m still further along the continuum than if I tried to cook completely from scratch, got overwhelmed and ended up making a packaged and processed something out of desperation.

5.  At Least Try Fresh Once Remember what your mother said when you turned up your nose at dinner?  “How will you know unless you try?”  I used to think that bottled lemon juice was a good enough substitute for fresh—because I had never bothered to squeeze my own.  Finally I put out the effort and tried fresh.  I was fully humbled and corrected.  So at least try the fresh stuff a couple times so you have a point of reference–and know if you’re missing out on something.

6. Read the Ingredient Label Everything said so far is based on the assumption that your pre-chopped ginger or garlic (or other convenience food) is just that:  “ginger” and “garlic.”  Surprisingly, this is often not the case.  Reading the ingredient label is the only way to know if a seemingly simple food contains additives, colorings, preservatives, excessive amounts of salt and so on.  If it does, using it isn’t just a matter of taste, but also a matter of personal health.

The Bottom Line:  They may be completely convenient, but real cooks can use pre-chopped ginger and garlic–without feeling guilty!