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Jan. 2011 - In this Issue: |
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Happy New Year! Most New Year’s resolutions, we’re told, involve renewed determination for being healthier and wealthier. These two goals mesh wonderfully in the cooking world where a couple modest shifts in the kitchen can have a positive, cumulative return.
IN THIS ISSUE, we suggest our list of top ten alterations that will support you in your shift to more health and wealth. We investigate the possibilities of the humble skillet as a key tool for creating healthy meals fast, and conclude with three recipes from the EatingWellTM kitchens that will help you achieve your goals for fitness and frugality while maximizing flavor – all accomplished quickly!
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Next Issue: |
"Game Plan XLV" |
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Kitchen Window Online |
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 Plan some fun with a cooking class at Kitchen Window! We have an incredible line-up of topics, menus and instructors. With hundreds of choices, a Kitchen Window cooking class makes a great outing with friends and family, as well as a wonderful date night.
SEMINAR: Cake Basics - #110130A – Sunday, January 30 | 11:00 a.m.
MEET THE CHEF: moti-i - #110131A – Monday, January 31 | 6:00 p.m.
View All Cooking Classes You may register for any of our classes any time of day
February - April Cooking Class Schedule Coming Soon!
Watch our website for new classes. |
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Kitchen Window's Sidewalk Sale
January 13-17 |
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Featured Healthy Cooking Items |
Cooking healthier often begins by cooking at home where what's in the food and how much is served is managed much more easily. A few good tools will make cooking at home a pleasure!
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Knife of the Month - January |
KNIFE OF THE MONTH
Wusthof Trident 2.75" Bird's Beak
The Wusthof Classic 2.75 inch Peeling Knife is great for everyday tasks, while the curved edge blade offers versatility. Use for peeling, coring and decorating.
Trident Classic 2.75" Bird's Beak - Suggested Retail $67 THIS MONTH $44.99
Trident Classic Ikon 2.75" Bird's Beak - Suggested Retail $100 THIS MONTH $69.99
Price valid in-store only
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{THIS COUPON IS VOID}
Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive our next coupon
Coupon Code: EN0107111
Limit one coupon per customer number/Email Address and one per household.
Offer expires January 21, 2011
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Small shifts, made often, accumulate over time into significant change.
Here are our top ten recommendations for making healthier and wealthier changes in your cooking habits: |
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 Buy in Bulk – Buying in larger quantities will often save money. For perishable items or leftovers, freeze the extras. Mark all the freezer bags with the item and the date for easy retrieval. Buy only the bulk items that you actually use frequently; if not, it’s not a savings. |
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 Cook at Home More Often – Cooking at home offers several advantages ranging from choosing your own ingredients, adjusting how much salt or oil to use, and controlling portions better – all for less cost. Save dining out dollars for personal and unique dining experiences.
 Double Down – When you have time, make double. It’s not much more effort and you’ll have healthy, extra meals ready in the refrigerator or freezer when your schedule is unforgiving. Package the extra portions before serving the meal so that no one is tempted by seconds.
  Plan your Pantry – Make a list of five breakfasts, five lunches, and five suppers of family favorites that are easy to make. Stock your pantry and freezer with ingredients for those meals. You’ll always be ready when a busy day hits and there’s no time to shop.
 More Beans – Eschewed for too long as not worthy, beans are making a huge comeback. They are inexpensive, absolutely packed with nutrition, and accommodate a wide range of flavor partners. Get comfortable with cooking dried beans for maximum savings.
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 Cook Together – Cooking together with other family members is a great way to stay connected. Cooking with children provides great connections and teaches life skills. Cooking with your significant other can be a great bonding experience. |
 Eat More Vegetables – Despite nutritionists’ proddings, most of us simply do not get the 4-5 recommended servings per day. Frozen veggies are flash frozen at peak harvest time. They are quick to access and require minimal prep.
 Practice Meatless Mondays Join the national “Meatless Monday” movement. For most of us, it’s healthier and less expensive. Practicing “Meatless Mondays” gets us thinking about a different style of menu planning that just might spill over to other days of the week.
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 Mind Your Oils – Fats are an essential part of a good diet. However, the types of fat we choose can make a difference. Nutritionists recommend mono-unsaturated fat sources such as olive oil, canola oil, or other plant-based oils. Minimize saturated fats and trans-fats.
 Eat More Seasonally and Locally – Eating with the seasons is usually cheaper and always more flavorful. When a food is in season, enjoy it thoroughly with a variety of preparations. Buying locally will sustain local food sources in the long term.
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One obstacle to healthier cooking is the perceived time and effort it takes to accomplish cooking tasks at home. One rescue to this dilemma is a good skillet. Cooking in a skillet uses the quick cooking techniques of pan-frying and sautéing. With a good skillet in hand, breakfast, lunch, or dinner is ready quickly. The three recipes below, made in less than 30 minutes, prove our point!
What is a skillet? A skillet is a flat-bottomed pan with sloped sides. It is designed with special attention to the bottom surface where most of the cooking will occur. The sloped sides allow easy access for turning the food yet adequately containing any liquid.
What is good skillet construction? A good skillet has a heavy bottom that conducts heat efficiently and distributes it effectively across the skillet’s surface. Since the cooking surface is the bottom of the pan, heat conduction along the sides is less important. Skillets constructed in layers or “clad construction” are designed with durable surfaces and an inner core of a highly conductive metal. |
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Stainless Steel – An all-purpose cooking surface, stainless steel browns foods well and is easy to clean and care for. Stainless steel skillets feature multi-layer construction that is very responsive to changes in heat and cools quickly. Stainless steel requires a bit of oil or water to keep foods from sticking to the pan while cooking. |
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Cast Iron – A classic cooking surface, cast iron also browns foods easily and holds up well over time. Traditional cast iron takes a bit longer to heat up and cool, and is heavier to handle. Cast iron cooking uses oil to keep foods from sticking, and requires a bit more attention in its care. |
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Enameled Cast Iron – Enameled cast iron skillets provide a more natural nonstick surface and minimize any special care. Like regular cast iron, they take a bit longer to heat up and are slower to respond to changes in heat.
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Diamond Reinforced Nonstick – Gone are the days of the peeling, cracking and flaking nonstick coating. Nonstick pans like Swiss Diamond use revolutionary methods to reinforce the layers of nonstick coating, creating a hard, durable cooking surface. Nonstick surfaces may not tolerate high cooking temperatures, so they are not the best choice for browning or caramelizing foods. |
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Ceramic – Stoneware has become sophisticated and offers stovetop cooking, oven baking, and table serving all in the same pan. Naturally nonstick, ceramic cookware retains heat well.
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Ceramic Nonstick – Some cookware lines are now offering a greener choice in nonstick coatings that use a ceramic (instead of petroleum) base. A ceramic or porcelain nonstick surface is baked on and guaranteed not to wear away. Baked-on nonstick is also scratch resistant and known for cooking food more evenly than traditional nonstick coatings. Nonstick surfaces may not tolerate high cooking temperatures, so they are not the best choice for browning or caramelizing foods.
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Enameled Carbon Steel – Carbon steel is a great material for cookware because it heats quickly and evenly. When combined with an enamel coating, you get a rust-proof, low-stick surface that won’t react with your foods. Enameled steel is a favorite choice for large pots and pans because you get superior heat conductivity combined with light weight – great for boiling liquids and making stock. For everyday use, enameled steel is also a good choice, but keep in mind that the coating may harmlessly discolor over time. |
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Assess the handle – A good skillet has a handle that is long enough to leverage the pan’s weight and stays cool for easy handling. Larger skillets will often feature a shorter “helper handle” for a two-sided grip when moving the pan. If you choose to finish a dish in the oven, make sure the handle is oven safe.
Sizing your skillet – 8, 10, and/or 12 – Choosing the appropriate skillet size depends on your typical cooking situation. An 8-inch skillet is perfect for cooking for one or two people. A 10-inch skillet works when cooking for two to four persons, and a 12-inch skillet accommodates cooking anywhere from three to six people.
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Tip #1: To keep your stainless steel cookware looking good, clean well after each use in warm soapy water. Most stainless steel may also be placed in the dishwasher. Any water spots may be removed with a micro-fiber cloth, or with the slightest bit of vinegar on a cloth. Always avoid scouring pans; instead use an approved stainless steel cleaner.
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Skillets are perfect for reducing liquids
and creating delicious pan sauces. |
Tip #2: Allow pans to cool for a few minutes before immersing in dishwater. The change in temperature may shock the metal causing the pan to warp irreversibly.
Tip #3: When choosing a stove burner for cooking with your skillet, choose the burner that best matches the size of your skillet, or a burner that is slightly smaller than the bottom surface. Flames or heat up the sides of a skillet is wasted energy.
Tip #4: A skillet is perfect for making finishing sauces that call for reducing a liquid. Reducing liquid concentrates flavors by removing water in the form of steam. A skillet’s broad bottom provides maximum surface area for the steam to escape. Reduced sauces often impart delicious magic to the final dish.
Tip #5: Overcrowding a skillet will challenge the pan’s ability to retain or recover its heat, and will tend to steam instead of pan-frying or sautéing the foods.
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Q: How do I know when the skillet is hot enough for cooking?
A: There are many ways to assess the temperature of a heating skillet: (1) Hover your hand above the skillet to get a sense of its gathering heat. (2) In a dry, heated skillet, pour in a few drops of water. If the water forms a ball that dances across the pan, it is an ideal temperature; if the water shatters into many pieces, it is too hot. (3) In an oiled and heated skillet, the oil’s surface will shimmer and move when hot. A flick of water off the tip of your finger should sizzle, though take care to avoid any oil splatters. If the oil begins to smoke, the pan is too hot.
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Fond develops as the meats proteins and sugars are exposed to medium-high heat. |
Q: What is fond?
A: Fond is the brown portion of food that forms particularly when cooking meats. When proteins and sugars are exposed to heat together, they undergo a caramelization process known chemically as a Maillard reaction. The “brown bits,” (as they are sometimes called), at the bottom of the pan have formed complex flavors and create the foundation for many delicious sauces. When frying or sautéing is done, deglaze the pan and gather up all of the fond by adding liquid, stock, or wine, to the pan, then proceed in finishing the sauce with seasonings and other ingredients.
Q: What is the difference between pan-frying and sautéing?
A: Pan-frying uses a medium to medium-high heat and enough oil to keep foods from sticking. With pan-frying, foods are allowed to cook without a lot of stirring or moving about, just flipping to finish the other side. In contrast, sautéing uses more heat, less oil, and more stirring and turning of the food so that all of it cooks evenly. Pan-frying is suitable for larger pieces of food, while sautéing requires smaller, similarly sized pieces.
Q: What’s the difference between a skillet and a sauté pan?
A: Both pans are similar in many ways. The bottom surface of each style of pan is the cooking surface; the sides are less critical to the cooking process. A skillet generally has sloped sides and a sauté pan has straight sides. The sloped sides of a skillet make it easier to use a turner, while the straight-sides of a sauté pan are more effective in keeping ingredients in the pan when stirring and tossing the food.
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From
Ken |
At Kitchen Window, we strive to offer everything you need to outfit your kitchen, stock your cupboards, host a fabulous dinner party or give the perfect gift. And we are excited about the products we carry – we don’t just sell them, we use them in our own kitchens everyday. Check out our Staff Picks – to get to know us and the products we love.
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Le Creuset Pate Terrine
Create a beautiful pate with this Heritage Stoneware Pate Terrine by Le Creuset. The included press helps ensure your pate will turn out beautifully, because it helps ensure even fat distribution in your pate as it sets. .75 quart capacity.
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Ken – Kitchen Window Shift Manager
Ken has been with Kitchen Window since February of 2006. His passion for food is only rivaled by his passion for travel. Possibly the most adventurous member of our team, Ken doesn’t go more than a few months without taking off to explore the world. And he brings his sense of adventure to the kitchen, always experimenting with flavors, gathering inspiration from his travels, and rarely following a recipe.
Ken’s pick is the Pate Terrine with Weighted Press by Le Creuset in cherry red. The terrine pot made it to the top of Ken’s list because it’s such a beautiful piece, and the weight, he says, makes the terrine so much nicer to do. |
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EatingWellTM on a Budget by Jessie Price and the EatingWellTM Test Kitchen. Published by The Countryman Press, Woodstock, VT. Copyright 2010. |
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The EatingWellTM folks have done it again! They’ve created a great collection of recipes that shift us to a healthier lifestyle full of flavor, all without a hint of asceticism or curtailed eating pleasure. A pleasant mix of new recipes and favorites with a healthy makeover, this book is great companion for pursuing “healthy and wealthy” in the New Year. And, in addition to the healthy character of each of the recipes, they have crafted the book to contain foods that are less than $3 per serving. A hallmark of EatingWellTM publications is their practical aspect; the recipes are for real people, with busy lives, who like good food but may not always have the time or budget for daily gourmet cooking. The book covers breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. There are a generous number of tips for being budget conscious while eating healthily. The recipes are clearly written, identify total and active time requirements, and detail nutritional components of each dish. We love how EatingWellTM has put all our New Year’s resolutions together in one systematic guidebook. |
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Recipes from EatingWellTM on a Budget by Jessie Price and the EatingWellTM Test Kitchen through permission of
The Countryman Press, Woodstock, VT. Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
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Sesame-Orange Shrimp
View & Print
In 30 minutes, shrimp are lightly coated in a simple cornstarch mixture and quickly pan-fried in a skillet. A delicious, super-easy sauce of orange juice and soy sauce completes the dish. Made in less than 30 minutes, the shrimp were served over rice and accompanied by pea pods. It’s a healthy, low-calorie supper meal that is satisfyingly delicious.
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Sweet Potato and Red Pepper Pasta
View & Print
In less than 30 minutes, a great pasta dish is on the table. Shredded sweet potatoes along with red bell pepper strips provide a healthy does of Vitamins A and C in a colorful presentation. An easy “sauce” is formed with the addition of goat cheese. The equal parts of veggies and pasta keep the calories per serving lower than typical pasta dishes. The leftovers were just as tasty! |
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Pork Chops au Poivre
View & Print
In 20 minutes, these pork chops are ready. Pork tends to be an inexpensive cut of meat, yet quite tender and lean. This recipe plays on the classic Steak au Poivre, only now as a pork variation. The recipe makes excellent use of a good skillet and demonstrates the process of deglazing a pan and the making of a delicious finishing sauce. |
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We hope this helps start your own version of “healthy and wealthy” in this New Year.
Wishing you the best in 2011!
From all of us at Kitchen Window
Kitchen Window
Calhoun Square - 3001 Hennepin Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55408
612-824-4417 -- 888-824-4417
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