I may be a bit of an anomaly. At least I hope my husband appreciates my cooking style. I have never prepared a processed meal like Hamburger Helper, spaghetti with sauce out of a jar, or anything calling for cream of mushroom soup. Never. Everything I prepare is from scratch.
My thought is this: I want to control what goes into my body. I don’t have the time or inclination to research the litany of unpronounceable ingredients on a label. My solution then, is to go for the natural things.
For cooking, I like a good sauce. In fact, I’ll often spend more time preparing the sauce than the rest of the meal. Chicken or beef broth is the typical base. To add extra flavor, I like to work with those basic broths. So, here is my favorite cooking tip.
While the meal is cooking, I’ll pour some broth in a small saucepan. I’ll add a handful of chopped onions, carrots, and celery. The dice is smaller for short cooking times and larger for longer times. I’ll also add a sprig or two of parsley and thyme. For added flavor, I’ll toss in about a teaspoon of whole black peppercorns and part of a bay leave. Then, I let it simmer.
I try to concentrate the flavor of the broth, taking advantage of the new flavors. Then, when it’s time to make my sauce, I’ll strain the doctored-up broth into another saucepan and continue. It takes so little effort, but really enhances the flavor. The way I see it, we have a limited number of meals in our lifetime. I want to make each one delicious. It’s as my parents taught me too, food is love.
