Kitchen kick start needed!

Tiffany_Aching

I was bought up on a diet of ready made and frozen food and never saw my mum make a cake, pastry or anything more adventurous than a tomato, cucumber and lettuce salad. Even peas were processed and came from a tin. As an adult I have always been a little scared of cooking and also rather lazy - I often rely on meals with the least preparation. I am now 43 and I really think that it is time to sort myself out.

I have tried to get some enthusiasm in the past and, as a result of buying things on a whim in the hope that they will be used, I do own a couple of kitchen gadgets but they are rarely used. I have a Panasonic bread maker plus a Kenwood Chef with several attachments - ice cream maker, food slicer, pasta maker to name a few. It makes me sad to see the Chef sitting, forgotten, on the end of the worktop. I plan to get the ice cream maker out of the box for the first time today (:o) and use up the gooseberry yogurt that is hiding at the back of the fridge.

I have tried making a cake in the Chef before, but when pouring the mix out into the tin I found a lot of the butter had been missed and was sitting on the bottom of the bowl. I ended up mixing by hand anyway and just doubling the washing up. I have no idea where the recipe book is that came with it, so I am wondering if I should have used the whisk / k thing to mix it with and used the wrong one (can't remember which I used).

I also never make pastry as I am terrified of it! I tried making it years ago and it was breaking as I rolled it out and it was impossible to do anything with it. I have avoided the stuff ever since. Can I make it in the Chef? If so, does anyone have a recipe?

I think what I'm really looking for is a few basic ideas to get me going that are tried and trusted in order to gain a bit of confidence and to get me out of this lazy rut that I have found myself in. My DH and kids dont eat meat, I do but have it rarely as it is easier to eat the same as everyone else. We have chicken and quail, so we are always inundated with eggs. I'm thinking that, if I can master pastry, I should be able to manage quiche at least!

Anyone able to offer me a few ideas as a kick start?

esmf73

Suggest you take a look in the charity shops and try and get some of the basic Delia smith cookery books. You know the how to cook an egg books. She is excellent at teaching from the ground up, then you can start to develop your own shortcuts.

pws52

I always use the shortcrust pastry recipe in the booklet which comes with the Kenwood Chef. It is so easy and works!
Make sure that you measure ingredients accurately ....no guessing....and buy measuring spoons.
Good luck.

LV_Sue

If there was still unmixed butter at the bottom of the bowl after mixing then probably your 'K' beater needs adjusting. There should be a nut just under the bit you plug into the mixer on all your beater attachments and sometimes this needs adjusting to make sure the beater reaches the bottom of the bowl.
When I'm making sponge cakes in my Kenwood Chef I use the 'chuck it all in' method and use the 'K' beater. After a couple of minutes I stop the mixer and use a spatula to scrape all the mixture from the sides and bottom of the bowl, before mixing again until everything is combined and light & fluffy.

You should be able to download an instruction book for your Kenwood model here
http://www.kenwoodworld.com/uk/Customer-Support/Instruction-manuals/

and some recipes here
http://www.kenwoodworld.com/uk/cooking-with-kenwood/

Pitlanepiglet

I'm rubbish at pastry so avoid making it, I make pastryless quiches by just chucking the quiche mixture in the quiche pan....clearly you need a solid pan, I use a ceramic one from a car boot sale, don't try this with a loose bottomed one!

savingqueen

My mum was a great baker, simple traditional stuff like fruit cake, scones and rock buns. Our meals were largely of the meat and 2 veg type and I was never taught to cook at home. I was allowed to bake and peel veggies but that was it. I didn't learn to cook 'properly' until I had children and I am still learning in my mid 40a and a fair way to go so you are not alone.

What helped me was picking a few basic meals like a pasta dish, a casserole etc and making them and repeating them a few times until I was comfortable with them before attempting anything new. Once I had the basics I found new recipes much easier.

I picked up a couple of student cook books cheaply and found those helpful as they don't rely on endless ingredients and fancy gadgets (although you have a food processor I know). One of my favourite current cook books is a kids cook book and they have lots of easy steps and photos to help in each stage - definitely worth a try.

You could borrow some books from the library to test out books before buying and/or copy out some simple receipes for free.

Tons of receipes online including on OS and debt free boards and you can ask Qs on here and someone will always help. BBC good food website is good and you can search for "easy" recipes. Another one is the Change for Life website (govt iniative) which has simple, healthy and low cost recipes without lots of ingredients.

Personally I would keep a few easy to make meals whether ready meals, pasta and sauce, soups, things on toast etc so that you don't have the pressure of cooking from scratch every night to begin with and also if you have a disaster you can make something else quickly.

Before I start cooking (night before/earlier in day) I get out the recipe (if I don't know it off by heart) and check I have all the ingredients. Nearer the time I might get out all the non perishable bits like stock cubes, herbs etc and appropriate utensils like knives, grater or whatever. Next step is to do any weighing then chopping/preparing and then I start the actual cooking. (I also do this as I have kids who will interrupt me throughout my kitchen adventures)

Put some music on while you cook to relax you a bit and then go for it! We will be waiting for reports of your early successes!

happy cooking
sq

maman

savingqueen wrote: »

What helped me was picking a few basic meals like a pasta dish, a casserole etc and making them and repeating them a few times until I was comfortable with them before attempting anything new. Once I had the basics I found new recipes much easier.

happy cooking
sq

I'd agree with that. If I were you I'd focus on getting some family main courses perfected before you start on baking. It'll build your confidence. If you really want sweet stuff then make some easy things like flapjacks.

Personally I'd forget the gadgets for now and start to walk before running.

Google is your friend for recipes and there are step by step instructions for some things on youtube.

babyshoes

Pastry is seen as difficult - and if you aren't confident and/or don't follow the rules precisely, it can easily go wrong, but once you know how to do it, it becomes simple.

For a basic shortcrust pastry, follow these rules:

1. Half fat to flour - weigh your plain flour and use half the ammount of fat (I use butter, but half butter and half lard is traditional, some baking marg is ok too) - 200g of flour is enough for a small batch of pastry, will do 2 small trays of mince pies or a largeish quiche, depending on how thinly you roll it out.
2. Keep everything cold - cold water, cold fat, cold hands, even cold flour is useful if you can remember to put the bag in the freezer a few hours beforehand.
3. When rubbing in, keep your palms clean - the touch should be light. Lift your hands out of the bowl while you do it. Alternatively, use a chopping attachment in your mixer and whizz it up in bursts until it looks like fine breadcrumbs.
4. Add a squeeze of lemon juice. I've forgotten the reason for this - something to do with the gluten, but if I don't add lemon juice I do notice the difference.
5. Add cold water slowly, stirring with a palette knife or running the processor until the pastry just about comes together. If you have fizzy water, use it. There is generally a slightly sticky mass in the middle with a few drier crumbles around it.
6. Handle the pastry as little as possible - just squeeze it gently enough to bring it all together and shape it into a round-ish ball as quickly as you can.
7. Put it in plastic (cling film or a bag) and let it rest in the fridge for a minumum of 20 mins, an hour or so is better. A couple of days in the fridge won't hurt it either.
8. When rolling out, use enough flour to stop it sticking but try not to have too much as the pastry will get dry and crumbly, and handle it as little as possible, but occasionally lift and turn over to let the gluten shrink back down. Try to use the weight of the rolling pin to flatten the pastry as you roll, rather than stretching, or it will shrink when baked. Hard to explain, but you will see it as you work. Be patient here and work gently and slowly to stop cracking.
9. If possible, don't keep re-rolling the leftover pieces. Once is ok, more than that and your pastry will start to get 'tough'. Still edible and ok if it's just for you, but not something I'd serve to guests. Try to lay the leftover pieces flat on top of eachother to re-roll, rather than handling them a lot and squishing them into a ball.
10. Don't grease the tins - there's enough fat in the pastry - just dampen them a bit. If you find that your pastry does stick, use some greaseproof paper in the base.
11. If putting a sealed lid on, make a hole to let steam out.
12. Glaze the pastry with either a beaten egg or just with milk, to give it a nice shiny brown top. Bake on a medium heat until nicely browned. If the pastry cooks too fast, cover it with foil to stop it burning.

And finally - keep trying! It takes a while to master, but even a flop is probably going to be edible and fairly tasty.