All Food Recipes

If you want to cook like a chef but don’t have the time to master the intricacies of the kitchen, Singapore chef Florence Quinn offers the following “cheat sheet” to bring out the best in your meals:

1. Can’t find good ripe tomatoes for pasta sauce or a simple soup? Buy a good Italian brand of plain canned peeled tomatoes. Tomatoes are usually canned when at their best, very ripe, full of flavours and definitely tastier than any tomato that is harvested too early so that it can withstand long storage and transport.

2. To add extra flavour and texture to vegetables for a salad or a soup, roast them first with a bit of olive oil and some sturdy fresh herbs such as thyme or rosemary. Try it with potatoes for a roasted potato salad, and squashes and pumpkin for soups.

3. Buy dry spices whole and keep them in a dry and cool place - they’ll keep for years. Before using, roast them in a dry pan to release the flavours, then grind them down with a mortar and pestle or an electric coffee grinder. Use right away when the flavours are the strongest.

4. Use fresh rather than dry herbs, but remember that their flavours are very delicate and subtle. Most herbs will lose their aroma if cooked too long, so you are better off adding your herbs at the end of the cooking. However, sturdier herbs such as rosemary, thyme, oregano and bay leaf can be cooked longer without losing their flavours If you can’t find fresh herbs, the best alternative is to buy them frozen.

5. If you want to keep green vegetables bright green after cooking, blanch them in hot salted water for a few minutes. Immediately plunge them into a bowl of iced water to stop the cooking process and to fix the chlorophyll. If overcooked, the chlorophyll will begin to break down and the vegetables will also lose their crunch and most of their vitamins.