How To Make Hot Dogs

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posted in Appetizers and Snacks, Lunch by Kathy Maister

Difficulty:

Hot dogs cooked in the microwave oven are a quick and easy snack, lunch or dinner. (Fenway Franks are my favorite but turkey dogs are also pretty great as well!)

Let me begin by stressing that all microwaves have different strengths. They range in power from 500 watts to over 1500 watts. Just inside the frame of your microwave door there should be a label indicating the strength of your microwave.

Knowing the strength of your microwave is very important. Otherwise you may be following cooking directions exactly and still end up with burnt popcorn or an under cooked baked potato! I have an 850 watt microwave oven. All of my directions are based on that wattage. (Here is a great microwave wattage conversion chart.)

Hot dogs are already cooked when you buy them. All you need to do is heat them up. Place 1 to 4 hot dogs on a paper plate or a microwave-safe dish with a paper towel. (If you are cooking more than 4 hot dogs, do it in stages.)

With the tip of a sharp knife, pierce the hot dog three times; on one end, in the middle, and on the other end. You only need to break the skin. This allows the steam to escape so they don’t explode!

Cover the hot dogs with another paper towel.

Cook on high for 35 seconds. That should be enough to heat them through, but you may have to add another 10-15 seconds.

Remove the hot dogs from the microwave.

Wrap the bun in a paper towel and zap it for about 15 seconds.

You only want to warm the bun. If you over cook the bun in the microwave it will get very hard and chewy as it cools.

I don’t recommend putting the hot dog in the bun and heating everything at once. The steam from hot dog makes the bun very soggy.

For a real treat try toasting the hot dog bun under the broiler. It will make the bun a bit firmer and able to hold all the extras you’re going to pile on!

I like my hot dogs with ketchup, mustard and relish…hold the onions please!

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How to Cook Asparagus

posted in Vegetables and Beans by Kathy Maister

Asparagus with Guy Kawasaki’s Teriyaki Chicken

For dinner at home, with or without company, I like to serve asparagus because fresh asparagus can get cleaned, trimmed and steamed in the microwave in less than 10 minutes. I steam the “spears” just to the point where they are tender but still have a bite to them. Then I just add a sprinkle of salt, pepper, and sometimes a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, and the asparagus is ready to serve.

Buy asparagus that has nice bright green stalks and doesn’t look dry or shriveled. Depending on the season, you can buy asparagus that is pencil thin or stalks that are three times thicker than a pencil! I prefer slightly thicker stalks which I then peel. Many years ago my old friend Roger Bennet (from London, Montreal and St Remy) taught me the peeling trick. (See below.)

Asparagus is sold by the bunch. There are approximately 14-18 spears of asparagus per bunch. Count on about 3 to 5 spears per serving.

Make only what you are going to eat for dinner. Asparagus cooks really fast in the microwave so there is no point in making enough for leftovers.

If you are not going to use it immediately, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator. It should keep about 3-4 days.

Preparation:

Wash one bunch of asparagus under cool running water.

Trim away the bottom 1/3 of the stalk. The tip of the asparagus is very tender, but the farther down you go on the stalk, the tougher it gets.

If you bend the asparagus it will naturally snap at the point where it goes from tender to tough (which is usually about 1/3 of the stalk).

Leslie demonstrates this method in startcooking.com’s post on Roasted Asparagus with Garlic Sauce.

You can now use the new shorter “broken” asparagus as a guide to cut the rest of the bunch.

Peel the stalks so that they are the same width as the tip. This ensures even cooking. Really thin stalks of asparagus do not need peeling.

Lay the asparagus two to three deep in a rectangular dish.

Add one Tablespoon of water.

Cover the dish with plastic wrap. Leave a small vent in the corner for steam to escape. (This also helps the plastic wrap from almost shrink wrapping itself over the asparagus. When that happens it’s a lot harder to remover the plastic wrap. (Be careful not to get burnt from the hot steam!)

Set the microwave on high heat and cook the asparagus about 2 minutes and 30 seconds. If you want your asparagus to be more tender, cook it for another 30 seconds or so.

Be sure not to overcook asparagus. Overcooked asparagus not only turns to mush, but it develops into a very unappealing shade of green.

Asparagus is great served either hot or cold. If you are going to be serving it cold you need to get the cooked spears cooled off quickly or they will loose their bright green color. You can either put the hot spears in a bowl of ice water…

…or in a colander and run cold water over the spears.

For more startcooking.com tips on blanching vegetables check out Keep it Fresh: Learn How to Blanch.

Cheers!

Ingredients:

(Makes 3-4 servings)

One bunch of asparagus
1 Tablespoon of water
Salt and Pepper

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Pasta Sauce – Marinara

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posted in Main Dishes, Soups, Salads, Sides and Sauces, Vegetarian by Kathy Maister

Difficulty:

This is a very basic (and quick!) tomato sauce that takes very little time to cook and can be made ahead of time and frozen. It can be used with any pasta dish or in lasagna.

You will need the following ingredients to make this Marinara Sauce recipe:

Two 28 ounce cans of whole tomatoes in juice
1 bunch of Fresh basil
½ cup extra-virgin Olive oil
2 small o nions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon sugar
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Be sure to get both the onion and garlic chopped before you turn on the stove.

You’ll need about 1 cup of finely chopped onions for this recipe. Two small or one medium onion should do the trick.

Peel and mince 4 cloves of garlic. That’s a lot of garlic, but it does get cooked, so it’s not going to be too strong.

Fresh basil is essential for this recipe. Nowadays, most grocery store carry fresh basil year-round. You can wash it the same way you wash lettuce. Pull the leaves off the stem and throw the stems away.

Put the basil and the canned tomatoes, with their juice, in a blender and puree everything until almost smooth. Set the tomato-basil puree aside.

(As I filled the blender I thought, YIKES, this is way too full! With my hand pressed firmly on the lid of the blender I pressed the puree button. I was very lucky that my kitchen did not end up covered in tomato sauce. Next time I would puree this mixture in two batches!)

Heat ½ cup of olive oil in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat.

That does sound like a ton of oil, but believe me it works. It gives the sauce a full, rich flavor.

Add the onions and garlic and cook until very tender, about 12 minutes.

The onions should not get browned. This is what they should look like after 12 minutes.

Stir in the tomatoes and basil that you pureed in the blender and 1 teaspoon of oregano plus 1 teaspoon of sugar. (Don’t skip the sugar. It helps balance the acid in the tomatoes.)

Bring the sauce to a simmer over a medium-high heat. Decrease the heat to medium and continue simmering until the sauce thickens slightly, stirring occasionally. This will take about 10 minutes.

Give the sauce a taste. You may need to add about ½ -1 teaspoon of salt and several grinds of fresh pepper.

The sauce can be made 1 day ahead. If you are storing it for future use, cool the sauce, then cover and refrigerate it. Gently re-heat sauce over medium heat before using it.

If you are going to be freezing this sauce, use small containers that would be enough for 1-2 serving.

Be sure to spray your plastic containers with cooking spray first so they don’t get stained by the tomato sauce.

(For more basic pasta sauce recipes, be sure to check out my Tomato Sauce Video or my Turkey Sausage Sauce photo-tutorial.)

Turkey Sausage Sauce

Enjoy!

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