What's Cookin' Good Lookin'?

Besides for reading the random and not so random blogs I stumble across during my many self-imposed breaks at work, one of my favorite ways to pass the time between 9 and 5 is planning menus. Whether for a quiet weeknight dinner with Jon or the kind of Friday night meal that requires both leaves placed into my grandmother’s art deco dining room table, I comb the internet for yummy things to make and serve. I also like to pester my mom occasionally with emails requesting recipes of favorite dishes and general kitchen tips. I love learning how to cook and bake new things. Although my sister teasingly calls me Mrs. FancyPants and my husband is constantly boggled by the amount of time and effort I put into creating a Shabbos meal, I get such pleasure from impressing myself with what I’m capable of- especially when others enjoy the fruits of my labor. So in the spirit of pooling our collective resources, here are a bunch of things I’ve learned in the past six or so years that I’ve been on my own. I’ve picked them up from family, friends, food magazines, and of course my favorite plump friend, the Barefoot Contessa.

-Your menus should be built around the following building blocks- protein, vegetable, and starch. You should have at least one of each. This in an Evelyn basic and a non-negotiable in my house. Sorry, potatoes don’t count as a vegetable.

- Don’t cook things that contain ingredients that aren’t in season. Amazingly, we live in an area where you can get ingredients year-round, but they won’t taste or look as nice, plus they are way more expensive. Why bother making a dish comprised mostly of strawberries in the middle of winter? It’s a waste of time and money.

-On a similar note, if you get to the supermarket and the ingredients you need don’t look good, don’t buy them. Just save yourself the headache and make something else.

-Think about what your different dishes will look like on the plate- a colorful menu will look most appealing. This is Evelyn rule number 2.

- Do your best not to apologize for anything you serve (I know that this is a hard one for me.) Even though you know that you forgot to add raisins or it doesn’t look anything like the picture in the cookbook, no one else will. That is, of course, unless you draw attention to it.

- Not everything has to be hard- for someone who works full time and is often up late on Thursday nights cooking, I recommend making only one or two difficult things at a time. Everything else should be simple or something you make often enough that its familiarity makes it easy. Why be stressed out or exhausted when you have guests over? You should get to enjoy your company.

-Presentation is important. It makes the simplest dishes seem impressive and makes all food look delicious- even gasp! store-bought products. Often it’s as easy as chopping fresh herbs or sprinkling croutons into soup.

- Keep in mind guests’ distinct food tastes. This is not to say that you need to cater to picky eaters (one of my biggest adult pet peeves)- it just means that there should be enough variation so that there’s something for everyone. It's a good rule in general. Not every dish should contain soy sauce or cinnamon or meat. This obviously does not apply to food allergies.

- The internet is a great resource- foodnetwork.com and epicurious.com are terrific. Reading user reviews and searching by ingredients are just a couple of the user-friendly features.

- Don’t be afraid to try new things- how else will you learn how to make them or expand your palette?! Friends and family are the best people to test them on and learning is all part of the process.

-Have fun and don't take it so seriously!