Father's Day Grilling

Nothing pleases me more than when Father's Day roles around. Okay, partly because that week is my birthday, but the other reason is the excuse of finally getting outside to have a grill-fest. The sun is finally shining more, the evenings are longer, and the air is laced with delicious grilled aromas.

Several years ago I developed a peach grilling sauce which I'd like to share with you. I hope you come to like it as much as my family does. Happy Father's Day! I wish you the best bbq ever!

Chef Lia's Peach Grilling Sauce

The luscious blend of peaches, red peppers and ginger seasoned with brown sugar and spices creates a deliciously sweet and spicy barbeque sauce that can be used over a variety of meats and seafood. We developed this recipe in the field, under real camping conditions, and something about grilling out in the woods made us fall in love with this sauce.

1/2 cup green onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon butter
2 pounds fresh peaches, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup peach preserves
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and add the butter until just melted. Cook the onions and garlic in the butter until just tender. Remove from the heat and set aside.

2. Wash the fresh peaches. Peel and pit the peaches and chop into small pieces. Place peaches in a food processor or blender and process until the peaches are very finely chopped. Transfer the chopped peaches to a large saucepan.

3. [Chef's Note: To easily peel peaches, cut a small "X" in the bottom blossom end of the peach. Place in boiling water for about 30 to 60 seconds until the skin starts to wrinkle. Immediately remove peaches from boiling water and place in a bowl filled with ice water to cool. The peels will come off easily.]

4. Place the onion mixture in the food processor and process until finely chopped. Add to the peach mixture. Mix in the remaining 10 ingredients (brown sugar through onion powder) and mix thoroughly. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer uncovered on low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the sauce thickens a bit.

5. Remove from the heat and cool. Place in a covered container and refrigerate for up to one week or store in the freezer for up to 2 months.

6. Brush peach sauce over your favorite meats during the last 15 minutes of grilling Be careful not to use too much, or to put it on too early, as the sugars may burn. Pour additional sauce on top after grilling for even more flavor.

May 9 2009 Stamp Out Hunger on Long Island!

Letter Carriers Nationwide Food Drive
May 9, 2009

How YOU Can Help! It’s simple. Place non-perishable food items next to your mailbox for your letter carrier to pick up, or bring food donations to your local post office on Saturday, May 9.

Want to know more? Want to Volunteer? Visit us at www.stampouthungerli.com.

Come on Long Island....help feed our families in need.

Wine and Food Matcher

I stumbled upon this fabulous widget that allows you to search for food and wine matches. I admit that I'm not the most savvy when it comes to the various wine and food combinations. Natatalie MacLean is a well-know wine expert and this widget is one of the most helpful tools I have found in years!

Try it for your menu this weekend. You'll see how fabulous this wine matcher is. And visit her website nataliemaclean.com as well as it is a valuable resource for everything wine.

Italian Pasta Party

Here's an article that I wrote about throwing your own Children's Pasta Party. If you'd like to hire a chef to do this cooking party with you on Long Island, give us a call!

Bon Appetit!

Chef Lia


Cooking with Kids: How to Throw An Italian Pasta Party
Freshly prepared pasta, marinara sauce and homemade meatballs are a great way to involve children in helping to prepare the perfect party meal.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1627942/cooking_with_kids_how_to_throw_an_italian.html

Green Cooking

Ok, there's been way too much hype on being green. So much so, that companies are now making many green profits by producing green products. In my dictionary, though, cooking green means literally cooking something green! But we'll get to that later.

There are many ways to "cook green" or in other words, without destroying our environment. Some of the ways in which to do this is to utilize containers that are reusable to store food such as glass corning or pyrex dishes. They come in many sizes and can be used right from the fridge to the oven or microwave. You will save a bunch of money on throw away plastic containers and you will also help to keep that stuff from the overflowing land fills.

Another way to be green in the kitchen is to utilize environmentally friendly products to clean with. There's so many brands out there to choose from. Pick one you like and go with it. Or make your own cleaners. There's a variety of resources on the web to show you how to make a great cleaner out of vinegar and water, or baking soda, or other natural ingredients.

There's even green cookware, that is, cookware that is made with a nonstick coating that doesn't give off poisonous gases when cooking. Now that one is a great improvement for us home cooks. You're already pretty green if you've used stainless steel, cast iron, or enameled cast iron which were always green and last a lifetime. But every home usually has at least one nonstick pan so I'm all for getting one of the newer ones that is both better for you and the planet. I've thrown way too many nonstick pans out in the garbage over the years since the finish always degrades. Next pan will be green, I promise!

A final way to be green...utilize local ingredients, where possible. This is more difficult here on Long Island in the winter...so I can't say that this task will be an easy one. But if you do visit our local farm stands in summer...than that's wonderful. This not only helps our planet but it keeps our farmers on Long Island! And, if you can't buy local than shop local, that is at the nearest store to your home to save on energy. Or at least ride your bike once in a while to the local market with a nice big backpack to carry your groceries in!

So back to Green Cooking and my definition therein. I share with you a quick green cooking recipe I made tonight for dinner. Takes but a few minutes and is oh so delicious!

Italian Style Steamed Spinach

1 package baby spinach
1 clove garlic pressed
2 tablespoons good quality extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Salt and Pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons pignolia nuts (pine nuts)

Place the spinach and pressed garlic in a microwave safe dish and cover with a vented plate cover (this is green since I don't use plastic wrap to cover dishes in the microwave..oh, and using the microwave is green since it uses less energy to cook food quickly). Cook on high for 1 minute until the spinach is wilted.

Drizzle the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss with pine nuts and serve.

Cook More, Eat at Home - The Survey Says!

I was just asked to answer a poll question from the FoodFit website,
"What's your food-related goal for 2009? The choices were:

• Avoid sugar
• Keep a food diary
• Be a better grocery shopper
• Cook more, eat out less
  

I, of course, chose cook more, eat out less since avoiding sugar and keeping a food diary don't appeal to me and I already am terrific at grocery shopping. The main reason for answering the question was to see what other folks goals are. I was extremely pleased to see that the majority want to cook more and eat out less. See the results below.

What's your food-related goal for 2009?

Avoid sugar 24%

Keep a food diary 28%

Be a better grocery shopper 19%

Cook more, eat out less 29%

Total votes: 492

Ok. So as of the writing of this blog entry there was a small margin between keeping a diary and cooking more. The interesting thing is that people are starting to care about what they eat. Home cooked food is really delicious and can be as elegant or simple as you wish. That's the fun of it. And, when you make meals yourself and enjoy them with family and friends, well there's just nothing more rewarding and enjoyable.

Eating out less is a great goal because it reaps you many rewards both health-wise and money-wise. By cooking foods yourself, you can control what goes into your meal. If you were torn between avoiding sugar and cooking more, well now you can do both! It also gets you to spend more quality time with family. Get everyone involved in the process. Kids are a great help in the kitchen and with proper supervision, can complete parts of the meal on their own. Or they can help in planning the meals and grocery shopping. And, of course, there's significant cost control as long as you avoid the packaged food, snacks and candy aisles!

When planning meals, plan to make extra so you can utilize the leftovers in another dish. And, also try to make weeknight meal planning easier. A hearty soup with a salad and good bread makes a fabulous, quick and filling meal. You'll save dollars too when you start to only shop around the borders of the supermarket, where the fresh food, dairy, and meats are.

If you'd like to learn more about how to cook great meals at home and you live in the NY Metro area, contact us. Our personal chefs can help plan a customized cooking lesson right in your own home (serving the Long Island and NY City areas of New York).

Long Island Personal Chef Sweepstakes 2008

2008 has been a challenging year for everyone including our Personal Chefs here at Home Cooking Consultant. However, we feel fortunate that our clients have allowed us to continue what we love to do - serving delicious meals or cooking together with our cooking class students. Even in this down economy we have successfully continued preparing special dinners, taught many cooking classes or helped clients prepare special holiday meals.

To celebrate our success serving the Long Island community and to thank all the wonderful people out there who have used our services over the years, we are holding a Personal Chef Sweepstakes from December 1, 2008 - January 3, 2009. (This sweepstakes is only available to entrants in Nassau and Suffolk County, Long Island, NY).

Even if you haven't tried a Home Cooking Consultant personal chef service, winning one of the three personal chef prizes can be a great introduction. So don't wait...enter now! And, tell your friends who live on Long Island as well. You never know who will win. Winners will be posted on the Home Cooking Consultant website in January.
Good luck!