I can make cookies and do easy stuff. Pies are very specific and hard to do well though.
I like barbecuing because it's easy.
You don't have to do everything from scratch. Nobody wants to make puff pastry!
People are so used to eating terrible pancakes, no matter how you mess up, they're going to be great. And if you make fresh orange juice, they'll be over the moon.
I love cooking Japanese food at home. It's so easy to make an easy fry, a saute, or a quick braise and serve it over a bowl of rice with pickles and a side salad.
My goal in 'Live to Cook' is to make great food more approachable for home cooks.
I am an expert at applying premade pesto to pasta.
If I've gone to the market on Saturday, and I go another time on Tuesday, then I'm really prepared. I can cook a little piece of fish; I can wilt some greens with garlic; I can slice tomatoes and put a little olive oil on. It's effortless.
Spreadable butter is wonderful for cake-making: it's much easier to cream than the block type and slightly lighter because it's blended with oil.
Everybody says, 'I have problems overcooking steak on the grill,' but just take it off earlier! Grilling is really common sense. It's very simple. You should think of a grill as a burner - it just happens to have grates. You shouldn't be intimidated by it.
One thing I've told people with the holidays, cooking in particular - don't make something that stresses you out. If there's something you're intimidated to make, maybe just don't make it.
I'm not a trained chef. I'm a self-taught cook, and I want people to be like, 'Yo, I could do that! Maybe I didn't think to or maybe it seemed harder than it really is.'
No matter what the recipe, any baker can do wonders in the kitchen with some good ingredients and an upbeat attitude!
If you could make a pudding wi' thinking o' the batter, it 'ud be easy getting dinner.
You can't go wrong with relatively simple comfort food. It's also about ease. Some cook to impress. I cook for people to enjoy the food.
For me, whether it's in a book or on T.V., a recipe has to be simple. I have a short attention span, so to open a cookbook and see a recipe that goes on for three to four pages, well, I've lost interest.
Believe me, I understand the need for easy and speedy. After a 12-hour day of shooting 'Chopped,' say, I'm talking stir-fry, spaghetti, heck, peanut-butter sandwiches. But that's not about the joy of food. That's survival.
It's really fun to have a convection oven, even it if it's a little convection toaster oven. It really changes the way you bake.
I do loads of one-pot things because I feel like you can't go too far wrong. And I make a lot of soups and casseroles, which is so boring, but it's the only thing I can do!
As far as cookbooks go, I think Joy of Cooking is a classic. I've used it over and over again. Julia Child frustrates me. By the time you get all her herbs together, you're exhausted
Organize yourself so you aren't struggling to shop at the last minute. When you have real food, it's very easy to cook.
If you know what you're doing, you can make a meal happen with any kitchen knife. But using a top-quality knife versus a low-quality one is the difference between driving a Jaguar and a VW Jetta across the country. They'll both get you there. But the Jaguar will give you a much smoother ride.
Don't underestimate the importance of having enough room to work. Grilling is much more relaxing when you are not trying to juggle a whole collection of plates and bowls as you do it. If your grill doesn't have enough workspace - and they almost never do - set up a table right next to your grill.
Canned chickpeas are my tried-and-true pantry fallback for those days where I get home late with no game plan and no energy to cook. More than just about any other canned bean, they retain their shape and texture really well.
Too much trouble,' 'Too expensive,' or 'Who will know the difference' are death knells for good food. ... Cooking is not a particularly difficult art, and the more you cook and learn about cooking, the more sense it makes.
