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Kelly Rossiter is offering ideas about cooking basics; see introduction here.
In my earlier post on stocking your kitchen, I gave out an outline of what basic food items and equipment you would need to get started cooking. So today I am going to walk you through the exercise of making fusilli with tomato and chickpea sauce and a green salad. I'm not going to give you an exact recipe because part of learning how to cook is figuring out what and how much of each ingredient to add. It is important to taste as you go along and learn to adjust the flavours to your liking.
You will need onions, garlic, canned tomatoes, canned chickpeas, oregano, dried chili flakes, dried fusilli, Parmesan cheese, lettuce, green onions, olive oil, vinegar and dijon mustard to make this dinner.With your cutting board and chef's knife remove both ends of the onion. While holding the onion, curl your fingertips under slightly so that the knife is against your knuckles, otherwise you can cut yourself. I speak from experience-years ago I cut the tip of my thumb off and believe me, it hurt. Once you have removed the ends from the onion, peel off the layers of brown skin. You can slice the onion so that you have onion rings, or you can simply cut it into chunks, whichever you prefer. Take two cloves of garlic and cut off the hard end. Peel the garlic. There are a few ways you can use the garlic. You can take your chef's knife and put the blade sideways across the garlic and bang it down; you can cut into fairly large pieces or you can chop it finely. The more finely you cut garlic, the stronger the taste it imparts.
Take your frying pan and put a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in the pan and heat over a medium high heat. You will be able to see the surface of the oil change a bit and then you'll know it is time to add the onions and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally until the onion is soft which should take about 5 minutes or so. Be careful not to have the heat too high because the garlic will burn easily and turn bitter.
While that is cooking chop the tomatoes. As with the onions you can chop it as roughly or finely as you please. Keep the juice from the can in reserve in case you want to use it in the sauce. When the onions are soft turn the heat up a bit, give it a minute and then add the tomatoes and stir into the onions and garlic. They should sizzle when you add them. Let that cook for a few minutes, until the tomatoes and oil separate a bit.
In the meantime, drain and rinse the chickpeas in a colander. You can use them whole or you can mash them up-your call. Add the chickpeas to the tomatoes and stir them in. If you are using fresh herbs, wash them and chop them finely and then add them to the tomatoes.
Oregano, basil and thyme would all work here and a couple of tablespoons would be good. If you are using dried herbs use less, they are stronger. Put a teaspoon or so into your hand and rub your palms together before you add them to the pan. You can always add more if you like, remembering to taste as you go along. I usually use about a teaspoon of dried chili flakes. That gives a bit of heat, but it isn't overpowering. If you want a fairly chunky sauce, leave it the way it is. If you want a more liquid sauce, add some of the reserved juice until it is the consistency you want.
Put a pot of water on to boil. Make sure you have a lot of water so that the pasta can move about in the pot, otherwise it will all just stick together and it won't cook. I never add anything to my pasta water. I know some people who add salt, but I don't see the need for the extra sodium. Some people add olive oil to the water but it makes your sauce slide off the pasta.
Once the water is at a boil add the fusilli to the pot. This was always the tricky part for me. It has taken me 30 years to figure out how much pasta to add. I now put in two large handfuls of fusilli per person, but you may want to cook more. If you cook too much you can always put a bit of olive oil on it to keep it from sticking and then make a pasta salad out of it the next day. Cook the pasta for about 7 or 8 minutes or until it is al dente, that is softened but not mushy.
While the pasta is cooking wash and dry the lettuce. If you have salad spinner, great; otherwise, dry it on clean tea towels. Rip the lettuce into pieces and put into a salad bowl. Take a couple of green onions, cut the root end off and then peel the outer layer off. Cut the onion into small slices, starting at the white end and cutting your way up using as much of the green as you wish. You can add different kinds of greens if you have them. Spinach, arugula and watercress are all nice additions.
To make a vinaigrette for the salad put 1 cup olive oil, 1/3 to 1/2 cup white or red wine vinegar (depending on how acidic you like your dressing) a teaspoon of dijon mustard, and salt and pepper to taste into a jar and shake it up to emulsify. You can refrigerate the unused portion for a week or so, or you can cut the amounts in half and make less. Once it is mixed, pour some onto the salad and toss. You want all of the lettuce to have dressing on it, but don't add too much or you won't taste the greens.
When the pasta is cooked, drain it in the colander and place in a large serving bowl, or in individual bowls. Top with the sauce and grate some Parmesan cheese over top.
Congratulations! You just made dinner.
Difficulty level: Easy
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