The Curious Cook

10 Things I've Learned from Teaching Myself How to Cook: 1.) Cooking can be hard, but it can also be very fun. 2.) Always check for proper equipment and tools before beginning a meal (see my Waffles post). 3.) In that same vein, always make sure you have all necessary ingredients before starting to cook, lest you need to stop and run to the store halfway through. 4.) When making something with a lot of required prep work (i.e. chopping onions), do that before starting anything to make the cooking process easier. It is way faster to have everything ready first and working from there, rather than rushing to do it as you go along. 5.) Cooking can be dangerous (see my Paella post). 6.) Clean as you go; if you are done with a tool or bowl put it in the sink or if you are done using a spice put it in its proper place. This both minimizes the clean time at the end as well as keeps the space uncluttered while you are trying to cook, preventing accidents. 7.) Oil in the bottom

I'll be honest, my only prior experiences with beef stroganoff (or at least the only that I can recall) were with the Hamburger Helper boxed stroganoff. In a way this deprivation was a blessing because I was surprised by how good the real thing actually is. A quick and easy winter meal, this was perfect for a weeknight and is great leftover. I like to have it the traditional way, over egg noodles, adding to the hearty qualities as well as providing a better vessel for that delectable pan sauce. Sadly, this was my last meal of the month, but I think it was a good note to end on mainly because it was wholly unproblematic and delicious. For more final thoughts check out my next post. Recipe: Beef Stroganoff 3 tbsp butter 2 large onions, diced Salt and Pepper 8 oz mushrooms, sliced 1-2 lbs beef tenderloin or sirloin, cut into 1-1 1/2 in. chunks 1 tbsp stone ground mustard 1 cup beef stock 1/2 cup sour cream 1.) Put the butter in a large, deep skillet with a lid over m

Of course I had to make pizza this month, I'm not a monster. Aside from the obvious, I wanted to make pizza because it was a good opportunity for me to get experience working with yeasted bread. The dough making was actually way easier than I was expecting and makes me wonder why more people don't make bread at home, because I sure will from now on out. In regards to the toppings, I wanted to lean more traditional with a Margharita: tomato, basil, mozzarella. The tomatoes proved to be a deceivingly hard ingredient to work with because I forgot to remove the wet innards, which led to some seepage and inhibited the middle of the crust from fully crisping. However, after a quick dab with a paper towel much of the liquid was removed and with this technique I managed to save the pizza (buts let's be honest I would have eaten it whether or not it worked). Overall, this foray into breads was a decent success, and I got a pizza out of it which is always a bonus. Recipe: Pi

Tacos, or rather the concept of a "real" taco, were always something that interested me, but I had never had them until last year. Until that point I wasn't clear on what a taco actually could be, other than some ground beef in a rigid corn shell that disintegrated when you took a bite. That first time, however, was life changing and I wanted to use that experience as inspiration for a meal. These carne asada tacos are what resulted. For this meal I was toying with making either carnitas or carne, but as the time drew nearer I was feeling steak over pork and that decided it. In the end it was a good choice because I really liked the way it was constructed: a simple charred steak, raw onions, cotija cheese and green salsa. Though simple, I really enjoyed the savory flavors. With the tacos I felt like it was only right to make beans and rice, so I found a recipe and the rest is history, though I was a bit disappointed with the flavors of the rice (I think I was too delica

Pad Thai is one of my favorite Asian dishes, but I couldn't seem to find a suitable recipe, though not for lack of trying. What resulted was my searching for Pad Thai-adjacent noodle dishes, and in that search I found this recipe. These ambiguously dubbed "Thai-Style Noodles" were actually perfect, because they provided a new flavor profile while keeping with the hallmarks of Pad Thai, the peanuts being my favorite part. As far as the actual process of cooking, these were fairly easy and are perfect for a weeknight. The only problem I had was that when all of the ingredients got combined I realized that the pan I was using was suddenly much too small. So I would give the disclaimer to use a pan that is WAY bigger than you need to cook any individual part because that will prevent you from spilling half of your noodles during the final mixing. Recipe: Thai-Style Noodles Salt 12 oz dried flat rice noodles 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/2 cup coconut milk 2 tbsp soy sa

Ah, paella. A meal that, when eaten, conjures the dulcet sounds of a Spanish guitar wafting through an open widow on a warm summer's eve in Barcelona. Maybe that's hyperbolic, but I just really enjoy paella as both a concept and a food; it is the Iberian cousin of risotto (one of my other favs) while also having a flavor profile that is so uniquely "paella". It is amazing, period. Moving past that uncomfortable love note to rice, I chose to make this dish because it was something that, in the few times I had tried it, I enjoyed. In addition to the yummy connotations I had with the meal, it also seemed to be pretty easy to make, from what the recipe purported, and that sealed the deal. I was actually very surprised how similar it was to the Chicken and Rice I had made a couple weeks ago, this similarity giving me a sense of comfort in what I was doing. And that ease translated into a meal that went off without a hitch. The one problem I did have was more equipment re

Chicken Piccata is one of my favorite meals that my family commonly eats, so of course I had to learn how to make it. And thankfully, through relatively minimal effort and ingredients, one can make this classic Italian (?) dish. I think that this simple meal, paired with broccoli and buttered noodles, exemplifies one of the great pleasures of home cooking. It is the definition of pared down, but the result is full of flavors that one wouldn't expect from the hands of a home cook. Recipe: Chicken Piccata 3 Chicken breasts Flour, as needed Salt and pepper 2 lemons 3 tbsp capers 3 tbsp butter 2 tbsp olive oil 1/2 cup dry white wine 1.) In a large pan, heat half of the butter and oil until melted. In a shallow dish, mix about 1 1/2 cups flour with salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken and place into the hot pan, quickly browning and cooking through. Remove chicken from pan and cover to keep warm. 2.) Add the remaining butter and oil. When melted, add white wine and scr