Author: John Reardon

Hello my Foodie Friends!

The winter months often times bring us “snow days” from work and school. Snow day; you know what that means? It’s time to bake some sweet goodies with your friends or family.  There are standard baking essentials that are needed to make your favorite baked treats. 

Cooking and baking are really enjoyable if you can find recipes that are inspiring and delicious. Flipping through a cookbook, you’ll find that most cooking and baking recipes use precise measurements. Portioning ingredients in a dish balances flavors to create the best-tasting recipes. Dry measuring cups, liquid measuring cups, and measuring spoons are three of the fundamental kitchen tools that will help you measure your ingredients. The best measuring cups and spoons make it easy to portion your ingredients and wash up after you’re done cooking or baking. Dry measuring cups are important kitchen tools to have in your drawers. The best measuring cup sets consist of five different measuring cups, ranging from 1/3 cup to 1 cup for measuring dry goods. You’ll find that dry measuring cups are made from many different materials, including plastic and stainless steel. Both of these types of materials can be placed in the dishwasher, which makes it easier to clean up after you’re done cooking or baking. These materials are used in measuring cups because they will not react with food and then can even be placed in the refrigerator or freezer if you need to cool ingredients. If you are baking, make sure that you clean out your measuring cups after each use to ensure that you don’t contaminate any of your ingredients. A well-stocked kitchen has both dry and liquid measuring cups. There is a slight difference in volume between dry and wet ingredients, so it’s important that you have both styles of measuring cups. The best liquid measuring cup sets have three different sizes, ranging from 1 cup to 4 cups of liquid. A lot of liquid measuring cups have spouts on the end, which makes them easy to pour into your recipe. Most liquid measuring cups have handles so you can transport them across the kitchen. This is especially helpful if you are incorporating warm liquid into your recipe. The majority of liquid measuring cups are made from plastic or glass, so they can go right in the dishwasher alongside your dry measuring cups.

Aside from measuring cups, measuring spoons are also a must-have in your kitchen. A standard set of measuring spoons is great if you are baking in the kitchen because you can use the right portion of baking soda and baking powder to get the perfect texture for your best sweet treats. Measuring spoons can measure both liquid and dry ingredients so they’re super handy to have in the kitchen.

Stop in to Compliments to the Chef, your Neighborhood Kitchen and Cutlery store located at 33 Railroad Place and stock up on baking supplies.  Don’t forget to keep your eye on your little helpers when measuring the Cinnamon-Sugar as three tablespoons could become six! Remember my Foodie Friends that “Life Happens in the Kitchen.” Stay warm and have fun baking. 

 Take Care,
John & Paula

Hello my Foodie Friends!

In kitchens throughout the world, there is one piece of technology that has been the same since the Stone Age: the mortar and pestle. The mortar and pestle is one of the most primitive kitchen tools. You place ingredients in a bowl usually made of stone or ceramic and them pound them with a tiny club. 

Why should every good cook—and everyone who loves herbs—own and use at least one mortar and pestle? Several reasons include: from history; the ceremony of using ancient tools and the joy of knowing the rhythm of how they work. For celebration: food feeds both body and soul, and the act of preparing it should be a pleasure, not a chore. And finally, for quality: there is a depth of flavor to spices and fresh herbs prepared this way that you just can’t get from a food processor. Mortars and pestles have been used for crushing and blending seeds, roots, herbs, and other foods. This dates back to prehistory, although information on their origins is hard to find. It’s only logical that early man and woman picked up the nearest rock and used it to crack open the nuts they gathered. Eventually they found similar tools to grind seed or grain into a powder, so that they could mix it with water to form a gruel and grind herbs and roots to flavor it.

Here’s a list of cooking tasks you can accomplish with a mortar and pestle:

• Grind your own peppercorns and spices including cinnamon sticks, coriander, and cloves.
• Remove cardamom seeds from their pods and then crush to use in Indian cooking.
• Grind sea salt to the fine texture of popcorn salt and season your movie night treat.
• Crush whole dry chilies into flakes.
• Crush capers to use in homemade tartar sauce recipes.
• Smash fresh peeled ginger to use in Asian recipes.
• Crush some flax seeds to release their benefits and add to yogurt for a nutritious breakfast or snack.
• Crush lavender to use in baking or potpourri.
• Crush herbs and seeds to make medicinal teas.
• Make fresh, homemade nut butters.
• Turn fresh garlic cloves into a paste and spread on Italian bread with olive oil for some intense garlic bread.
• Crush some fresh basil, garlic and pine nuts together in the larger sized units. Then mix in some olive oil to make super fresh and flavorful pesto.

The mortar and pestle is available in a wide variety of sizes and can be found made of ceramic, glass, porcelain, wood, metal, granite, marble or bamboo. The advantage of a using a mortar and pestle rather than an electric grinder or food processor include easier (as in no) assembly required, less noise and easy cleanup — no small parts or sharp blades to wash.

One of the most classic uses of the mortar and pestle is for pesto.  Combining the flavors of basil, pine nut, Parmesan, garlic, and olive oil can make a wonderful pesto to add to pasta, spread on a sandwich, or eat by the spoonful.  When it comes to making pesto, you can’t go wrong with a pestle and mortar. You could make it in a food processor, but you just won’t get the same flavors as when you’re pounding and crushing all that lovely basil by hand. 

Cooking can be fun! No matter how long you have been cooking, there is always something new to learn. The mortar and pestle may take a little elbow grease, but it is the tool that will not fail you.  Go back to the old grind for a while, stepping away from modern technology and use the mortar and pestle for your incredible culinary creations. Stop at Compliments to the Chef; your Neighborhood Kitchen and Cutlery store located at 33 Railroad Place to get your “cool” Tools for Cooks. Remember; “Life Happens in the Kitchen.”

 Take Care,
John & Paula

Hello my Foodie Friends!

As we progress into the month of January, the challenge becomes holding onto and maintaining those New Years Resolutions. For Paula and me it is about making better and healthier food choices. There is more than one way to eat healthfully and everyone has their own eating style. Making healthier choices can reflect your preferences, culture, traditions, and budget. Healthy eating is not about strict dietary limitations, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving yourself of the foods you love. 

Rather, it’s about feeling great, having more energy, improving your health, and boosting your mood. Create an eating style that can improve your health now and in the future by making small changes over time. Consider changes that reflect your personal preferences, culture and traditions. Think of each change as a “win” as you build positive habits and find solutions that reflect your healthy eating style. 

At Compliments to the Chef, we have many cooking vessels and tools that can assist with your quest to eat healthier. One very popular item we have is the vegetable spiralizer. The spiralizer is a unique kitchen gadget that can turn all your favorite vegetables into delicious zoodle recipes you can add to any meal. Probably everyone’s favorite reason for spiralizing is that spiralized vegetables are mostly light in calories, carbs, fat and sugar. By spiralizing, you’re naturally eating more vegetables – without even noticing (especially when they’re covered in a delicious tomato basil sauce!) This small shift in the way you eat helps lead to weight loss, because you’re consuming more vegetables and less processed foods while still remaining satisfied. Vegetables are high in water (such as zucchinis) and help detox your body, ridding it of unwanted toxins and leaving you refreshed and hydrated. Vegetables have an abundance of dietary fiber, which helps keep you fuller longer and help with your everyday digestion. Certain vegetables even help spike the metabolism, such as zucchinis. Most importantly, after eating a bowl of vegetable noodles, you’re left feeling light and energized – ready to have a productive and healthy day, which means you’ll be more motivated to exercise and eat well.

What are the Best Veggies for Spiraling? You can transform all sorts of vegetables into noodles, but the best candidates are those that are firm (not floppy) and long or that can be cut long (if you want long spaghetti that you can easily spiral). One of the best aspects of veggie noodles is their spectacular names. Here are some of the best vegetables for spiraling:

• Zoodles (zucchini noodles)
• Coodles (carrot noodles)
• Swoodles (sweet potato noodles)
• Squoodles (squash noodles)
• Boodles (broccoli stem noodles)
• Poodles (parsnip noodles)
• Toodles (turnip noodles)

We carry several types of spiralizers. However, one of our favorites is the OXO Good Grips Easy Twist Spiralizer. This is a great tool to spiralize foods such as zucchini, squash, carrots, potatoes and more. There are three cutting options: thick and thin julienne and ribbon, and includes easy adjustable rotating blade settings with no loose blades. The Easy Twist Spiralizer has silicone capped feet for stable slicing – no suction base required. It is faster and safer than a knife, with a fun and unique end result. 

Stop by Compliments to the Chef located at 33 Railroad Place, your Neighborhood Kitchen and Cutlery store to pick up cool tools to help you with healthy eatings. Make healthy eating a family kitchen event. Remember my Foodie Friends; “Life Happens in the Kitchen.”

 Take Care,
John & Paula