- The ideal meal stretcher
An extra guest or two for dinner — even at a casual meal — can foil the most carefully laid plans. Head straight for the pasta — it’s your best bet as a filling meal stretcher, along with a can of chopped tomatoes. Boil the pasta, heating up the tomatoes at the same time. Drain the cooked pasta, put it into a large bowl and toss with the tomatoes and plenty of grated hard cheese, preferably parmesan. (If you don’t have tomatoes, toss the pasta in a little olive oil and grated hard cheese — a surprisingly delicious combination.) Add the steaming bowl of pasta to the table and you can bet your guests will be satisfied.
- Stop spaghetti showers
We’ve probably all done it — you’re rummaging through a kitchen cupboard and accidentally knock over a half-used packet of spaghetti — and the dried strands cascade onto the floor. How can you stop it from happening again? Save an empty Pringles chip box (tall and cylindrical with a plastic lid) and recycle it as a dry pasta canister.
- Carrot ribbon pasta
Carrots add additional nutrients and some vibrant colour to a simple pasta dish. Clean and peel the carrots, then use a peeler to shave wide carrot ribbons. Saute the ribbons in butter and seasonings, such as ginger, black pepper and salt, then acid to cooked, drained pasta. You don’t need a tomato-based sauce — simply toss with parmesan cheese.
- Keep pasta from boiling over
Before adding water to a pasta pan, coat the interior lightly with nonstick cooking spray. The water won’t boil over, even when you add the pasta. If you don’t have spray on hand, add a teaspoon of olive oil to the water as it cooks. This trick works for boiled rice as well.
- What to do with leftover pasta
Don’t throw it out. Toss it in a nonstick, ovenproof pan with a teaspoon of olive oil, pour 2 beaten eggs over it, sprinkle with cheese and bake until golden brown. Slice the resulting frittata into wedges and keep it for another dinner with a small green salad. It’s money-saving, simple and delicious.
- Jazz up rice
Instead of boiling rice in plain water, try using chicken or beef stock, tomato juice or even equal parts of orange juice and water. Or you could sprinkle dried oregano, cumin, turmeric and any other herb or spice into the water before adding the rice. You could also add finely chopped onion, garlic or plenty of lemon or orange zest to turn rice from a bland accompaniment into a brand-new dish each time it appears on the table.
- Fluff it up!
It’s easy to keep rice grains from sticking together as they cook. Try one of these methods to ensure you’ll spoon out the fluffiest of servings:
- Soak the rice in a bowl of cold water for 30-60 minutes before cooking. Soaking will also make the rice cook faster. Drain and rinse before cooking.
- Put the rice into a colander and rinse it under cold running water several times to remove the surface starch that makes the grains stick together.
- Add the juice of half a lemon to the cooking water. Grating the lemon rind and adding the zest will give rice another taste note and some visual interest.
- Perfect rice noodles
Before being cooked, rice noodles need to soak in water at room temperature for at least 1 hour, preferably several hours. If you’ve soaked them but you can’t cook the noodles immediately, keep them moist by sandwiching them between damp paper towels.
Credit : Reader’s Digest
Picture Credit : Google