I hope anyone who reads this recipe blog will find that cooking is easy to do and not at all hard work. Much of the ingredients I'll be using in these recipes do take some preparation such as washing and peeling potatoes and using a clean surface and utensils.
I have not made a blog before but this will be fun for me to help those that want to learn to cook great dishes and sides that taste great and are good for you.
I want to start with some easy recipes such as home style mashed potatoes and white rice.
Lets start with the mashed potatoes.
Generally you would want to have some big russet potatoes but you can use Idaho or red potatoes.
How ever many potatoes you do desire you will want to think about portions. Think of how much potato can you eat and do you want any potatoes left over and if so is there a dish that you could add mashed potatoes to such a a casserole such as mashed potato topped pot pie!
I would start with a 4 quart size pan since you can add a lot of taters or maybe just a few.
Begin by placing water in the pan and begin heating slowly if you have a lot of potatoes to prepare (clean water, clean pan makes good clean taste)
Firstly you want to wash the potatoes if you like the skin on and scrub the tater with a new clean scrubber to remove dirt and debris. I use a potato peeler and with a quick forward shaving motion remove the skins and they should be thin you don't want to cut the skins so that a lot of potato is attached. as they are cleaned drop them in some water so they don't turn reddish brown from the air.
Now when they're cleaned you would cut them lengthwise in half and then in half again removing any bad spots you see and leave healthy potato to cut up into 3/4" to 1 1/2" pieces being that the potatoes are cut roughly the same size so that they cook at the same rate and as you rinse the potatoes and cut them you place them into the heated water.
The water should be covering the potatoes and heated to boiling temperature and left uncovered because it will spill over and make a huge mess. Continue cooking for about 25 to 35 min and use a fork to stab a potato and if the tater slips right off the fork then it's pretty much done. I do cook them for about 10 min longer at that point to make a creamier dish without lumpy bits which are ok and happen.
Now you would want to get a colander and pot holders to drain the water off and be real careful because steam will scald and burn you very fast. put the potatoes back into the pan with the burner off and now you would add in white pepper or black pepper and salt such as a half teaspoon of each or whatever your taste is or omit the salt and maybe put in more pepper it's up to you just don't over do it.
Next you want to add melted butter 1/2 to 3/4to the hot potatoes this will make them fluffier and when whipped the peaks get very high
or you can add just melted margarine.
Using a potato masher or an electric mixer begin processing the potatoes just until they are all smashed and being careful not to use a high speed on the mixer and you can shut off the mixer and push in the potatoes back in there and continue processing and then finally add some milk up to 1 cup or so and process it in and Viola! I always did love how mashed potatoes come out with the milk, keep covered to keep them hot and should be one of the last side dishes made in your meal since they take so little time such as baking some rolls.
White rice
This dish is very easy to do but it can be a real hassle getting the right texture and doneness some may use the rice to make a sushi roll or just a plain side dish where the rice grains are not so sticky to each other.
The secret with sticky rice and more of a separated rice is the rinsing. I do generally like to soak my rice in a bath of cold water for 1 hr and then completely rinse it for a few minutes until the water is pretty clear but it's never going to be perfectly clear. that starch is what makes the rice sticky.
To begin you will need a pot with a lid and the rule for rice is 1 part grain rice to 2 parts water. 1 cup rice 2 cups water or 1/2 cup rice and 1 cup water the rice will rise up to that water level as the water is absorbed so don't fill a pan over half way ever lol
Rice is always cooked at a low temp gradually heated to a boil so you can put rice into a casserole dish with all the ingredients and then put in the oven covered and the rice will be cooked.
Bur for this example you would want to begin with water in your pan be it a cup or what not the water should be cool and not heated. begin with a very low heat on your pan of rice and water uncovered and heat slowly and check on it after 10 to 15 min later and stir gently and increase the heat a little more for about 5 min uncovered and then stir gently again and increase the temp a tad more for 5 min and the water should be just very hot but not at all a boil and so at this point you want to turn up the heat and get a boil for one min at least and you can stir it gently just to keep the rice on the bottom from sticking I don't add salt or butter or oil at all
Once the rice is boiled good for one min reduce the temp back down to very very low and put the lid on the pan and let it cook for 15 to 20 min and never stir the rice after covering it will smash up and be stick like that and you will see the water will be mostly absorbed and keep it covered if there is a bit of water in there let it simmer a bit more but use a fork to dig into the rice and shovel out some and gently flip it over to fluff it.
I have not made a blog before but this will be fun for me to help those that want to learn to cook great dishes and sides that taste great and are good for you.
I want to start with some easy recipes such as home style mashed potatoes and white rice.
Lets start with the mashed potatoes.
Generally you would want to have some big russet potatoes but you can use Idaho or red potatoes.
How ever many potatoes you do desire you will want to think about portions. Think of how much potato can you eat and do you want any potatoes left over and if so is there a dish that you could add mashed potatoes to such a a casserole such as mashed potato topped pot pie!
I would start with a 4 quart size pan since you can add a lot of taters or maybe just a few.
Begin by placing water in the pan and begin heating slowly if you have a lot of potatoes to prepare (clean water, clean pan makes good clean taste)
Firstly you want to wash the potatoes if you like the skin on and scrub the tater with a new clean scrubber to remove dirt and debris. I use a potato peeler and with a quick forward shaving motion remove the skins and they should be thin you don't want to cut the skins so that a lot of potato is attached. as they are cleaned drop them in some water so they don't turn reddish brown from the air.
Now when they're cleaned you would cut them lengthwise in half and then in half again removing any bad spots you see and leave healthy potato to cut up into 3/4" to 1 1/2" pieces being that the potatoes are cut roughly the same size so that they cook at the same rate and as you rinse the potatoes and cut them you place them into the heated water.
The water should be covering the potatoes and heated to boiling temperature and left uncovered because it will spill over and make a huge mess. Continue cooking for about 25 to 35 min and use a fork to stab a potato and if the tater slips right off the fork then it's pretty much done. I do cook them for about 10 min longer at that point to make a creamier dish without lumpy bits which are ok and happen.
Now you would want to get a colander and pot holders to drain the water off and be real careful because steam will scald and burn you very fast. put the potatoes back into the pan with the burner off and now you would add in white pepper or black pepper and salt such as a half teaspoon of each or whatever your taste is or omit the salt and maybe put in more pepper it's up to you just don't over do it.
Next you want to add melted butter 1/2 to 3/4to the hot potatoes this will make them fluffier and when whipped the peaks get very high
or you can add just melted margarine.Using a potato masher or an electric mixer begin processing the potatoes just until they are all smashed and being careful not to use a high speed on the mixer and you can shut off the mixer and push in the potatoes back in there and continue processing and then finally add some milk up to 1 cup or so and process it in and Viola! I always did love how mashed potatoes come out with the milk, keep covered to keep them hot and should be one of the last side dishes made in your meal since they take so little time such as baking some rolls.
White rice
This dish is very easy to do but it can be a real hassle getting the right texture and doneness some may use the rice to make a sushi roll or just a plain side dish where the rice grains are not so sticky to each other.
The secret with sticky rice and more of a separated rice is the rinsing. I do generally like to soak my rice in a bath of cold water for 1 hr and then completely rinse it for a few minutes until the water is pretty clear but it's never going to be perfectly clear. that starch is what makes the rice sticky.
To begin you will need a pot with a lid and the rule for rice is 1 part grain rice to 2 parts water. 1 cup rice 2 cups water or 1/2 cup rice and 1 cup water the rice will rise up to that water level as the water is absorbed so don't fill a pan over half way ever lol
Rice is always cooked at a low temp gradually heated to a boil so you can put rice into a casserole dish with all the ingredients and then put in the oven covered and the rice will be cooked.
Bur for this example you would want to begin with water in your pan be it a cup or what not the water should be cool and not heated. begin with a very low heat on your pan of rice and water uncovered and heat slowly and check on it after 10 to 15 min later and stir gently and increase the heat a little more for about 5 min uncovered and then stir gently again and increase the temp a tad more for 5 min and the water should be just very hot but not at all a boil and so at this point you want to turn up the heat and get a boil for one min at least and you can stir it gently just to keep the rice on the bottom from sticking I don't add salt or butter or oil at all
Once the rice is boiled good for one min reduce the temp back down to very very low and put the lid on the pan and let it cook for 15 to 20 min and never stir the rice after covering it will smash up and be stick like that and you will see the water will be mostly absorbed and keep it covered if there is a bit of water in there let it simmer a bit more but use a fork to dig into the rice and shovel out some and gently flip it over to fluff it.
