Wednesday, February 18, 2009

HURRAY--MORE COOKBOOKS!


Our library had a cookbook exchange last week. They had
people bring in our old cookbooks and for every book
you brought in you could pick out another from the ones
that other people brought in. What a great idea! They also
had a lot of cookbooks out that were from previous book
sales, so there was actually quite a bit to choose from.

I brought in 10 of my cookbooks and picked out 9 to
bring home. I have already made 2 of the recipes and
really liked them both. The Colonial Cookbook in the
bottom left corner is pretty neat, with old fashioned
measurements. I wanted it because I am really trying
to learn to cook even more from scratch with as few
"special" ingredients as possible. To me a special
ingredient is anything that doesn't preside in my
cupboard, refrigerator or freezer at all times.

The recipe I made was called Bubble & Squeak.
The only ingredients were green cabbage, a bit of
bacon, potatoes, garlic, salt & pepper. Now that's
what I call simple! It was really good and total
cook time was maybe 30 minutes. You don't
get much more basic than cabbage & potatoes.


I am looking forward to reading more about pressure 
cooking too. My sister gave me a pressure cooker and I 
know it can really cut down on cooking time and also 
preserves a lot of the nutrition in food. And the Thai book? 
Oh my word I could eat Thai food everyday and the 
ingredients are simple and very good for you.

The library also had demonstrations from different people
going on while we were looking through the books. That 
was such a great idea. How often do you get to ask a
professional chef any questions you have about cooking?

The first demonstration was by the chef of a local very
nice restaurant. He showed us how to professionally
cut up a whole chicken into parts. I liked the fact that
he was up on prices and pointed out that buying a
whole chicken is much cheaper than buying one
already cut up. He also demonstrated how to cut
up beef tenderloin into steaks. I think he said it
the piece he was cutting was $11.69 a pound and he 
got 8 Filet Mignon steaks from it. His restaurant 
charges $34.00 a plate for for those steaks. Like
he said, you can pay me or buy this yourself, cut
it up correctly and save a lot of $$$.

We moved on to learning how to make tortillas.
Easy-peasy. Who knew? I have always bought them
in the store for $4-6.00 a package of 8. This lady
made 8 of them in about 10 minutes total time
for about 75 cents. And the taste--no comparison
to store bought. Plus there are no preservatives
in these (BIG bonus in my book)

Our next demo was also from a local chef that just
returned from 2 months in Italy. He showed how
to make pasta and how to make it paper thin on
a pasta machine. Then we got to taste some
ravioli cooked with meat inside and drizzled
truffle oil he brought back from Italy. The pasta
was so tender it melted in my mouth. The truffle
oil was what I call very Gourmet. It was really
good, but I couldn't eat a whole lot of it. Plus
it was $30.00 for the thin bottle he had.

Then we watched a pie crust being made. This
was a no brainer for me simply because I make it
all the time, but she made some good points and
she whipped together an apple pie in no time.
Then they gave away the pie to someone in the
audience. I was close--they chose it by birthday
but someone beat me out.

And last was a bean dip being made called
Cowboy Caviar. It looked really good, with lots
of cilantro, tomato and onion, but I don't like
things like garbanzo beans and corn in dips, 
so I didn't even try it when they passed it around. 
Everyone else looked like they enjoyed it though.

Overall it was a very fun evening, free of charge
and I learned a lot. I hope they end up doing
this again soon!


4 comments:

Laura ~Peach~ said...

that sounds like tons of fun I wish we had things like that around here!
Hugs Laura

Karen Deborah said...

I want to move to Alaska. I really like your governor, your view, and you have library book sales? I am so there. The colonial book looked very interesting to me.
Puhleeze do a demo on how to make tortillas. That would be very useful. Scratch cooking is much cheaper and healthier. Gourmet food items are now vetoed from the grocery list. I feel bad about what that will do to businesses but I am not comfortable enough to spend anything extra right now. To bad our government doesn't behave like that.

Caution/Lisa said...

That was a great idea some librarian had. I'm with Karen: would you teach us about the tortillas?

Bubble and Squeak is something I've actually read about in novels over the years. How fun to hear you mention it! And you said it was good? Maybe I'll give it a try, but that would mean that my boys will bubble and squeak the rest of the night. Can I endure it?

Debbie in CA : ) said...

Terrific Idea for a booksale! Somebody was thinkin'! I go to a dingy little basement, a warren of rooms full of treasures. It sounds like you went to a marketplace with food to boot! Bravo! I think Alaska sounds better and better . . . but with our cold spell upon us, a new stove being broken in
"gently" (read: BRRRRRRRR!), I doubt I could convince too many of my California kids (and hubby) to join me. : D

I love Bubble and Squeak. Been cooking it for years. Another great simple potato-cabbage recipe is colcannon: Mashed potatoes and cabbage. I carmelize some onions, add garlic and cabbage with S&P, get it good and yummy and then add to mashed potatoes. YUMMY!!

My daughter makes tortillas from scratch and I am loathe to eat anything else. Cooking from scratch provided our survival once-upon-a-time and I turned my back on processed for good. Gourmet ingredients, however, are my downfall. (Yes, I have white truffle oil in my pantry, and capers, and roasted red peppers . . . all organics . . . $$$$!) Karen Deborah has been pressing me for cooking posts. I see how fun and useful they can be. I cook from instinct more than recipe (I even tinker with Noble Pigs fabulous offerings), so I'm not big on precision. Hmmmmm . . . we'll see.

For now, you've inspired me to talk to the gal in charge of our booksales -- this idea could really bring the community together. Is it okay if I forward your blog post to her?

GREAT POST, dear friend. I'd love to be real neighbors. Oh the potlucks we could have! ; D

p.s.
Thanks so much for your latest kind comment on my blog. It really encouraged my heart. You're a sweet, sweet friend and I simply love to come to see the Lady of this House. : )