I need to learn to cook, need to start with versatile basics?

Question

I eat nothing but processed food. Don't get me wrong it's good, but I want to be a little more hands on.

However, I don't want to buy large quantities of ingredients with limited use so I would like to know what the chefs out there suggest.

Any ingredients, complimentary herbes/spice/etc, or side items that would go well with grilled fish, salads, and chicken

Also, your suggestions on dishes would also be cool - always looking to try something I haven't come across

Cobalt · Accepted Answer

My advice would be to learn how to maximize your efficiency. Don't get caught up in a meal at a time mindset, it is much easier to do and stick with if you plan out a few days or a week at a time. An example menu would be something like:

Monday:

Steak - crush some garlic, salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil before you broil it

Onions and Mushrooms - sautee them up while the steak cooks

Mashed Potato

Double up the vegetable portions so you're cooking for two as it saves time in the week. Put away half of the results for use later in the week.

Tuesday:

Chicken/turkey sausage in a hot dog roll or without depending on personal taste.

The rest of the mushrooms and onions

Side salad - make it yourself or buy a bagged one

Wednesday:

Fish - bake a filet of cod/haddock/salmon at 375 in olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and paprika (I always keep paprika around) for about 10 minutes wrapped in foil.

Remaining potatoes

More of the bagged/made salad

Its a good habit to get into, and being able to cook is great for anyone. Hell, I've gotten to the point where I will sometimes grill up a couple pounds of spice-rubbed chicken to slice for lunch salads during the work week.

JanJan · Accepted Answer

Here are some basic spices that you can start out with:

- Salt

- Pepper

- Garlic Powder

- Onion Flakes

- Curry Powder

- A multi-purpose spice mixture like "Mrs. Dash"

Other things you might need:

- Butter

- Milk

- Flower

- Baking Powder

- Baking Soda

- Bread

- Meat of choice

- Cheeze (real cheeze)

- Eggs

- Fruit of choice

- Carrots, cucumbers, other veggies of choice (good in stir fry meals, salads, soups, etc)

Take a walk down the "health food" isle in your grocery store and see what you can find. You will be surprised at what kinds of foods you can buy organically that are better than the processed stuff! Good luck!

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

As far as dishes, I love looking at blogs for inspiration (stumbleupon is also a great source for recipes). Personally I like From Argentina With Love a lot. I would also recommend checking out allrecipes.com, it's a great place for people to share their recipes and rate them.

One dish I love to make is to buy frozen gnocchi (when I don't have time to make it fresh!), and cook it. Then I cook vegetables such as asparagus and eggplant in a bit of oil and herbs such as an Italian herb mix, and when they are soft I add in the gnocchi as well as my favorite kind of cheese, so it gets nice and melted :)

kereru · Answer

- a bottle of really quality oil, like extra vigin olive oil, avacado oi. this will make a difference to the flavour of your cooking and can be thrown over salads or vegis alone to make them taste good.

- always keep some garlic, onions, ginger, tomatoes and lemons around.

- soy sauce is very healthy and can be splashed on anything to make it taste better, and add dollop of honey to make a great marinade for any meat and stir fried vegis.

-

Anonymous · Answer

Start off with learning how to bake, like cupcakes and cookies. Then learn how to make pasta sauce, or roast chicken etc

I need to learn to cook, need to start with versatile basics?

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