Gourmet Global

I have never been a fan of cream based soup, but I found a great use for condensed cream soups - they are the perfect base for sauces.
Now I always have my pantry full of them - Cream of Brocolli, Cream of Celery, Cream of Asparagus. I even add a few tablespoons to the water when I am making rice - it is like having one of those boxed rice mixes, without all of the sodium.
Here is a delicious fish recipe using a cream soup based stock. This is a quick dinner I made up on the spot, so I don’t have quantities (use your judgement and preference):
Cod (or any other firm, white fleshed fish
a few garlic cloves, finely chopped
a few scallions, thinly sliced
1 chili pepper, if so desired
about 4 tablespoons of any condensed cream based soup (I use Campbells)
any seasoning blend (I use Global Tastes & Travels Caribbean Spice Blend) but you can use any.
about 1 cup of canned, diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons of cornstarch dissolved in about 3-4 tablespoons of water
2 tablespoons of fresh cilantro, chopped

Sprinkle seasoning blend on both sides of fish and salt, if so desired.
In a skillet, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil. Add scallions, chili and garlic and cook for about 1-2 minutes until scallions are softened. Add fish to skillet. Cook on one side a few minutes until golden brown. Flip fish and brown on the other side for about 2-3 minutes.
In a small bowl, mix condensed soup and tomatoes. Add to skillet and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and start to reduce sauce. Once sauce has begun to thicken and fish is cooked completely, stir in cornstarch mixture. Cook for another 3 minutes. Sauce should be thoroughly thickened. Stir in cilantro and serve immediately with rice and stir-fry vegetables - Green Beans or asparagus would be wonderful complements to this entree.

With the price of food nowadays, it is always an advantage when food can do double duty.

The following two Thai recipes will need the following specialty ingredients:
lime leaves
lemongrass
galangal (use ginger if you cannot find galangal)
red chiles
Thai Basil (use cilantro if you cannot find Thai Basil)
Sweet Chili Sauce

Thai Mussels
1 stalk lemongrass
5 red chiles
7 slices galangal (or ginger)
3 stalks of Thai Basil ( or a good handful of cilantro)
6 lime leaves
6 cloves garlic
2 lbs. mussels

In 4 cups water, bring lemongrass, chiles (tips removed), galangal, basil and lime leaves to a boil. Add mussels, reduce flame and cover pot. Cook for about 5 minutes until mussels have opened. Add a little salt, to taste.
Serve in a bowl with a little of the cooking liquid. Pour a little sweet chili paste inside the mussel shells and serve extra, for dipping, if so desired.

Thai Chicken Soup
Strain the ingredients in the cooking liquid of the mussels, reserving the liquids. Place all the ingredients in a food processor with about 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid and process well until all ingredients form a paste, about 5 minutes.
In a large pot, bring paste and reserved cooking liquid to a boil. Add chicken pieces (whatever parts you desire). Cook about 5 minutes and then add whatever vegetables you happen to have in your refrigerator. Cook until vegetables are cooked. Add salt and sweet chili sauce (about 2 tablespoons) to taste.

A few specialty items can go a long way!!

Good Afternoon Everyone:

It is sometimes difficult to follow recipes when they come from
International sources which uses the metric system. Here is a great
tool to help you convert those recipes to the American standard
measurements and vice versa .

It is a great help to me when I am writing recipes for my clients. I
hope it is helpful for all you cooks out there as well:

http://www.ez-calculators.com/measurement-conversion-calculator.htm

It is especially helpful in converting very small quantities. Many of
the currency converters out there will only convert grams to pounds and
it can bedifficult to determine what 0.02187 of a pound is. This
converter will convert from gram to ounce which makes things much easier.

Good Luck on all of your International cooking!!!!

I have heard so many myths about the art of perfect pasta that does not stick. To salt or not to salt before - oil or no oil in water.

I am demystifing the art of perfect pasta for you.

First of all, pasta should not be crowded into a small pot. It should be cooked in a large pot, preferable a tall pot, like a stockpot, especially if you are cooking long pasta like spaghetti or linquine. Lots of water should be brought to a rolling boil. Pasta should only be added to the pot AFTER the water is boiling. Plenty of salt should be added to the water at this point. If you wait until after it is cooked to add salt, it simply coats the outside of the pasta, but the seasoning does not get into the pores of the pasta grain. For flavorful pasta that does not even need sauce, salt the water first.

NO OIL. Once you drain the pasta, if the pasta sits it will still stick. The key is to add some olive oil AFTER the pasta has been cooked and drained. This is to only way to keep each piece seperate.

Cook pasta according to package instructions, not a minute more, for perfect al dente pasta and enjoy!