The Meat Lover's Meatless Cookbook - Kim O'Donnel [6]
Butter: Unsalted, please. Salted butter is great at the table, but it’s a wild card at the stove. Salt content varies from brand to brand, so it’s hard to know just how much salt you’re adding to a dish. You have more control adding salt on its own.
Chard: Short for Swiss chard, a quick-cooking leafy green from the beet family. Available during cool months, with a variety of gorgeous, almost neon-colored stalks and can be used interchangeably with spinach.
Eggs: Large eggs were used in developing all of the relevant recipes. Brown or white? Your pick. My preference: farmstead eggs laid by hens that are outside during the day and cared for by a real person who lives within 250 miles of your neighborhood. The difference in taste from a commercial battery-cage egg is mind blowing.
Fresh parsley: I prefer flat-leafed over curly purely for aesthetic reasons, but I wouldn’t let curly hold up the works if that’s what was available. Chopped, you can hardly tell which is which; whole, it has a different look and feel.
Mise en place: Pronounced MEEZ ON PLAHZ, this is an old-school French term that refers to the process of locating and prepping all ingredients for a dish. A culinary “getting your ducks in a row.”
Oil: I like all-purpose, high heat-friendly, and mostly neutral-flavored oils and choose organic varieties whenever possible.
Safflower: One of my two workhorse oils. Consistently reliable and relatively inexpensive.
Olive: My second workhorse oil. Unrivaled source of heart-healthy monosaturated fatty acids and antioxidants. But at the stove, it shouldn’t be used for everything. Its distinctive fruitiness clashes with Asian and Indian spice-intensive dishes in the book, and its lower smoking point creates a challenge for longer sautés. On the other hand, this oil is tailor-made for vinaigrettes and for drizzling over pasta just before serving.
Grapeseed: Love its high-heat capability, but can be pricey.
Sesame: The Asian variety, made from toasted sesame seeds, which is darker and richer in flavor. Use as a flavor enhancer rather than as a cooking medium, as too much can be overwhelming and unlike its lighter counterpart, can burn quickly. Good idea to combine in a fifty-fifty ratio with a neutral oil (such as safflower or grapeseed) with a higher smoking point.
Onion: Unless specified, I’m referring to the yellow onion (also known as yellow storage onion), an all-purpose, year-round allium with a good balance of sweetness and pungency. Come spring, I make room for the mild, sweet onion (Walla Walla, Vidalia, to name a few) for salads and sandwiches.
Salt: Kosher salt was used in developing all of the recipes and what I recommend you give a try in your own kitchen. It is as all-purpose as it gets, with larger crystals than table salt. Sold in 5-pound boxes in the same vicinity as the Morton’s free-running canister. Don’t worry; you’ll find it.
A sprig of thyme: Given a choice, I always prefer fresh herbs to dried, which oxidize and lose their flavor spunk quickly. In the case of thyme, use it like a bay leaf, allowing flavor to steep, then remove from dish before serving.
Consider buying herbs from the bulk sections in supermarkets such as Whole Foods. This allows you to buy in amounts only as you need. Store herbs (and spices) in a cool, dark place, and do label them with a date of purchase; you’d be amazed at how fast spice time flies.
Tomato puree: