fidzu : cooking

This year my recommendations are short, sweet and all really practical but are things I genuinely enjoy using. Without further ado…

Non-stick pans have come a long way since the days of Teflon. Today you can find pans that are free of harmful chemicals, yet affordable and durable. Everyone should have a good nonstick pan for frying eggs and making omelets. The light weight DiamoTech nonstick pan features a 4 layer design and is made with aluminum. It can be used in the oven up to 500° F and is scratch resistant. It's free of PTFE/PFOA/PFOS and dishwasher safe but I cannot imagine ever needing to put it in a dishwasher. I used this pan consistently for 3 months and even made a huge batch of crepes and never needed to use any butter or oil. It's the best ceramic nonstick pan I've ever used. The 9.5 inch pan with a glass lid is just $19.99

If you're the kind of person who prefers cooking with nonstick (I can't blame you!) the Circulon Symmetry Merlot Twin Pack Skillets Set nonstick French skillets are incredibly durable, made from hard-anodized aluminum and have a magnetic stainless steel base so they are compatible with all cooktop ranges, including induction. The pans feature a unique cooking surface of raised circles that reportedly lasts 10 times longer than ordinary nonstick coatings. Unlike many other nonstick pans they are metal-utensil-safe, in addition to being PFOA-free and oven-safe to 400° F. and are dishwasher safe, though I find them easy to clean. The high sides to these pans make them perfect for frying, sautéing, as well as making pan sauces and gravies. A 10 and 12 inch pan set in gorgeous Merlot color is $67.39 (other colors are a bit less)

Laudemio extra virgin olive oil is made from Frantoio, Maraiolo and Leccino olives that come from an estate near Florence. It's a very "green" olive oil with notes of artichoke and grass. It's one of the best you can buy and because Laudemio is celebrating their 30th anniversary the bottle is a stunning gold this year. Great quality extra virgin olive oil must be used fresh, so don't save it, savor it! I wouldn't use this olive oil on salads, it's too good. But I would use it on plain cooked beans, grilled meats, potatoes, steamed vegetables, toast, vanilla ice cream, any "blank canvas" that will allow you to fully enjoy the flavor. $44.95

I know everyone is going nuts for the Instant Pot but I'm still a fan of this great counter top oven. I just replaced my original Breville Smart Oven with a newer model and am really loving it. It heats quickly, has a convection feature, a light, and now has a slow cooking function so I can put a Dutch oven in it for hours and hours. My last Breville SmartOven lasted 8 years. It costs $215.95

GIVEAWAY!

Deiss Kitchenware is offering one of my readers a lemon zester/cheese grater (value $10.98). I have an earlier model and use it practically daily. It would make a nice gift or a stocking stuffer. To win you must reside in the United States. Please leave a comment telling me what's on YOUR kitchen wish list this year. I will choose one winner at random on Monday December 17, 2018.

©2019 Cooking with Amy. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

There are many parallels between surfing and cooking starting with the fact that both can be an adrenaline rush. But has there ever been a surfer's cookbook? That was the question I asked Jim Kempton, a jourmalist, chef, restaurater and surfer. Kempton is the author of First We Surf, Then We Eat: Recipes from a Lifetime of Surf Travel. The answer? Not like this one. Even though I'm not a surfer (yet!) I love this book which combines the best of a memoir and travelogue with recipes. Recipes run the gamut from banana pancakes from Hawaii, Basque tuna steaks, machaca and eggs from Mexico and Rujak, a spicy sweet fruit salad from Bali.

It's important to me because it's part of what attracted me to certain cuisines, even though we don't always practice it everywhere it is very important in some places. It's especially true for surfers. A lot of surfers don't cook so they dine with whoever does! Surfers travel a lot and so it's also practical. Also bringing it [BRINGING WHAT?]brings back the communal aspect of living, the idea of hanging out with people is missed and is being revived. Eating together is a way to do that.

Every recipe I have is something I came across somewhere-a friend, at a hotel, a restaurant-and I was so taken with it that I had to learn it. The hardest thing was standarizing the recipes because I'd been cooking them for so long I never thought about it. Recipes were on the back of envelopes or tucked into books or in books I'd received as gifts. I learn so much from reading cookbooks.

The same way I learned to surf! Unless you go to school, there's no way to learn except by doing it. Both my parents loved to cook. We lived in a lot of places where you cooked differently. I always enjoyed it and was an observer of it.

I would say, it has some of the best fish dishes, although no match for Tahitian restaurant cuisine which has a French influence. The fresh fish and variety there is incredible.

People don't think of the Atlantic coast of France but it has great waves. It's also a beautiful coastline, the Basque country with rocky ledges and long stretches of beach are amazing. Stop anywhere and the food is great and the quality is high.

The food in Bali is really a fusion of different Indonesian elements and the Caribbean with different cultural influences from other places. It's tropical but there are different kinds of dishes you wouldn't find ther. The food in Morocco is getting better all the time. Peru is a booming place for food.

I was raised in the South Pacific and Southeast Asia. My wife was born in Southern California. She wants rice and beans and I grew up on rice and noodles. So the first recipe is Pancit noodles. It's one of the first things I learned to cook along with fried rice, I have one fried rice recipe from Peru and another from Hawaii and another from Central America. Fried rice is a good way to clean out the fridge! Another is soups and I have quite a few soup recipes. Soups are better the next day. The eggplant and shrimp soup is a favorite.

The Moroccan lamb with fruit. You can't screw it up. Cooking with fruit is not something Europeans have done since the Middle Ages but the Arabs have always done it. The combination of savoriness and sweetness, and the textures, is a real mind blower. It's got the wow factor.

Thanks Jim!

Disclosure: I received a review copy of the book and this post includes an affiliate link

©2019 Cooking with Amy. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

He loved the West Coast and he had a lot of friends here from years back that pampered him. Chuck Williams would have him for dinner at least once a week. He kept his private life private. He enjoyed his life, he had a good time and he lived it up. - Jacqueline Mallorca (JM)

©2019 Cooking with Amy. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten or redistributed without permission.