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Column by Leanne Ely
www.savingdinner.com

Basic kitchen skills translate into meal making, a crucial component to running a home. Now before you start to panic, please know that doesn’t mean you need a degree from Cordon Bleu in order to make dinner for your family! You need skills—that is all. That and a good recipe or two. (I can help you with that!)

Cooking skills fall into two different categories: preparation and actual cooking. Preparation involves getting the food ready to be cooked, using skills such as chopping, dicing, and other fun stuff with a knife. All of this translates into preparation, or prep work as we Dinner Divas like to call it.

The cooking part (this is where you dispense of the knife and start using the heat) can be a little tricky, but mostly it’s because the cook doesn’t know the stove. Getting to know your own stovetop is as essential as understanding concepts like preheating (don’t put the food in until the oven is heated to the indicated temperature), broiling (food cooked under the heat source), and my favorite, grilling outdoors on a barbecue grill. 

I have noticed that inexperienced cooks either overcook or undercook the food when they make their cooking goofs, so following the advise above should help eliminate that problem.

Another problem for cooks is the speed in which they chop. If it takes you a full five minutes to chop one onion, it’s going to take you way too long to get dinner on the table.

This is tough one to write about without showing you, but I will do my best. Believe it or not, this is easy. When you’re chopping, you need to use both hands—one for holding whatever it is that you’re cutting (that will be the opposite hand you will be cutting with) and the hand that you are going to cut with. The hand that holds the food we will be transforming temporarily into a claw. Yes, a claw. When you are holding the food in a claw-like fashion, if your knife accidentally gets too close to your fingers, the worst that will happen is your fingers will get too close a shave, but you won’t be losing any fingers! An important safety precaution!

Now as far as making the chopping go smoothly and quickly like they do on Food TV; that just requires a rhythm, which will come as you get better at chopping.

If you need a visual of what this all looks like, be sure to tune in to www.savingdinner.tv starting next month. I’ll show you just how it’s all supposed to work!

Here’s a great recipe to get you using some basic skills with delicious results, enjoy!

Asian Sesame Pork Chops
Serves 4
4 boneless pork loin chops (about 1 pound) — butterflied
1 teaspoon sesame oil mixed with 1 teaspoon olive oil
2 tablespoons sesame seed
1 teaspoon dry ginger
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms — sliced
2 green onions and tops — sliced
1 teaspoon butter

Heat oils in a skillet over medium heat. Add chops and brown, sprinkling with sesame seed and ginger. When both sides are browned, add soy sauce and white wine to skillet, add mushrooms and onions; stir gently to sauté, 1-2 minutes. Remove chops to serving platter. Add butter to pan, stir constantly to deglaze pan. Pour mushroom-onion sauce over chops to serve.

Per Serving: 232 Calories; 11g Fat; 24g Protein; 5g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 69mg Cholesterol; 567mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain (Starch); 3 Lean Meat; 1 Vegetable; 1 Fat.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS: Sautéed spinach (use a little olive oil and garlic), steamed summer squash and a big salad.

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