FEEDS: 4-6

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

• bones and skin from 2-3 chickens
• 2 carrots, trimmed and rough cut
• 2 medium onions, trimmed and rough cut
• 2-3 stalks celery, trimmed and rough cut
• 5-6 cloves fresh garlic
• 2-3 stems fresh parsley

LET'S COOK

Place all ingredients in a soup pot, fill with enough water to cover and bring to a boil. Lower the burner to a gentle boil, skim any foam on top and allow to slowly cook, uncovered, for 2-3 hours. Strain the stock, discard the bones, etc. and refrigerate overnight. The next day, skim and discard any congealed fat on top and your stock is now ready as a base for a soup or sauce.

MORE IDEAS:

Whenever you purchase a roasted chicken, save the bones and carcass in a freezer bag in the freezer until you’re ready to make a stock. Never use the liver, it’ll cloud the stock. A gentle boil insures a clear liquid.

If using raw chicken bones, bake them in a shallow pan, with the vegetables, for an hour at 350 to add color and bolster the flavors, or, fry them in the pot before adding the other ingredients. By cooking and browning the bones and skin first, your stock will have a greater depth of flavor in it’s final state.

Never add salt and pepper to a stock in the beginning of the cooking process. Wait and season it when it’s strained.

FEEDS: 2-4

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

• 1 bunch fresh asparagus spears
• 1 T. olive oil
• 3 cloves fresh crushed garlic
• 1 T. drained small capers
• pepper

LET'S COOK

Bring a couple inches of salted water to a boil in a pot. Drop in the fresh asparagus spears, which you’ve trimmed, and boil for about 3-4 minutes. Check the asparagus to be sure it’s as tender as you like it.

When it’s ready, drain it. Leave the spears in the pot, place on the stove and add the crushed garlic, capers, olive oil and a couple of grinds of pepper. Stir it up, turn the burner to the lowest setting, cover the pot and allow to simmer for about 3 minutes. Stir it up again, check the seasonings, adjust as you see fit and then serve it up.

MORE IDEAS:

It’s usually best to cut the asparagus while still a bunch bound by an elastic band, about an inch or so up from the cut end before cooking.

One of the most sought after vegetables of all time, and the most glamorous, is the mighty asparagus. Its rich history is filled with folklore and fables of its palate appeal. It's been written that kings and queens loved asparagus, a member of the lily family, and went to great lengths to procure and ensure that tables would be graced with the emerald green spears of edible ecstasy. Louis XV was said to have had orangeries built and heated to guarantee that asparagus would be available for his table year round.

Spring was once the harbinger of this favorite vegetable. But, with modern-day transportation and advancements in agriculture worldwide, the precious spears can be found in produce sections of major supermarkets year round. Americans favor green asparagus. Europeans delight in white asparagus and a purple variety is also popular.

Above all, asparagus responds well to various cooking methods. Some like to tie it in bundles and steam it in appropriate pots. Asapragus can also be braised in a shallow pan, sliced and sautéed in butter and oil, steamed, baked, even grilled. Its flavors are enhanced by capers, butter, garlic, mustard and mayonnaise.

I prefer to walk out to a spring garden scene, snap off fresh spears and eat them immediately, on the spot, when they're fresh as a sunrise.

FEEDS: 2-3

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

• 5 carrots, peeled, sliced on the bias
• 1 T. olive oil
• ½ T. butter
• 1 C. peas and corn, frozen, mixed
• salt and pepper

LET'S COOK

Place the cut carrots in a pot, cover with boiling water and cook just until tender. When the carrots are done the way you like them, drain them.

Place the pot with carrots back on the stove, add the oil, butter, the cup of mixed frozen peas and corn and a pinch of salt and pepper. Turn the burner on a low setting and stir it all up.

Gently simmer about 5-6 minutes, just long enough to defrost and heat the peas and corn through. Taste, adjust the seasonings and then serve.

MORE IDEAS:

A bag of both peas and corn in the freezer makes for an easy vegetable when dinner time rolls around.

It's hard to conceive of any human in this country who hasn't eaten and doesn't like peas. Whether canned, frozen or fresh served on their own, with carrots, in salads, stews and soups, peas are an all-American favorite. For me, peas are all about the senses.

Pea plants are some of the first sprouts of spring in the vegetable garden. Sown in early spring, the waxy green buds of those tiny seeds are a commitment to continued warm weather by Mother Nature. As the plants grow, thin tendrils reach for anything to grab on to, helping the main plant to strive towards the warmth of the sun. White flowers, those delicate little folds, raise the expectations of texture and taste.

The sun helps to determine when the very first pods are ready to harvest. With the rays beaming from behind the ripe pods, the shadows of the peas inside help gauge if they're in fact plump enough to pluck from the plant.

Grasping the stem end, there's great anticipation when the stem is pulled, set free from the pod as a green string. A gentle push of the thumb opens the pod and then, it's all about appreciation.

Holding the gapping pod between your fingers, the thumb now helps to push the tender globes of green from the mother shell. Pop them in your mouth and the sheer pleasure of the gifts from the garden become apparent. Peas have a distinct snap-crunch when your teeth violate them. A pleasing sweetness prevails as the fabulous food is consumed. Peas are about the thrill of freshness.

There are two types of edible pod peas. The most common is the snow pea, widely used in Asian cuisine. The pods are flat and tender. Sugar snap peas are plumb and also entirely eaten. The Chinese use pea leaves in some dishes, and they donate a distant essence of the main attraction, a suitable enhancement to the dish it's incorporated into, or, tasty when eaten solo.

For fun, check out the Asian section of supermarkets, or frequent an Asian market and find wasabi peas. Brilliant green dried peas are coated with a slightly sweet and crunchy coating that packs the hot punch of wasabi, or green Japanese horseradish. These are nothing but fun.

FEEDS: 4-6

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

• 12 oz. cooked and cooled pasta
• 2 C. cold corned beef, cut into baton shapes
• 4 oz. (1 C.) Swiss cheese, small dice
• 1 T. caraway seeds
• 1 C. sauerkraut, rinsed and well drained
• 1 ½ C. 1000 Island Dressing

LET'S COOK

Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and toss to combine well. Serve on a bed of finely sliced romaine tossed separately with a bit of olive oil and vinegar.

MORE IDEAS:

This is a perfect way to use up leftover cooked corned beef. A baton shape is similar to a fat wooden match stick.

Organic multi-colored bow tie pasta is wonderful in this formula. Use your favorite brand of 1000 Island dressing, or make it from scratch.

To slice the romaine, stack washed and chilled leaves then use a French knife to cut thin strips which, after tossing with the oil and vinegar, can be shaped into a nest on the plate, ready for the salad on top.

FEEDS: 2

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

• 1 ½ C. cooked, diced chicken
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1 scallion, chopped
• 5-6 stuffed green olives, chopped
• 1 T. olive oil
• 3 T. mayonnaise
• apx. 2 C. finely chopped romaine
• 2 wraps, sun dried tomato and basil is great

LET'S COOK

Combine the chicken, carrot, scallion, olives, oil and mayonnaise and mix well. Lay out the two wraps and spread the top half of each one with the chicken mix. Spread the bottom half with the chopped romaine.

Start at the bottom half edge and begin to roll the wrap around the greens, rolling and finishing at the chicken end. Cut in half on an angle, arrange on a plate with the seam side down and serve.

MORE IDEAS:

To best chop the romaine, lay the leaves in a neat pile and then cut with a large chef’s knife into long, thin strips. Wraps are available in all sorts of flavors; see what your favorite store offers.

As long as humans have recorded their culinary excapades, chicken soup has been documented as both a food stuff and a remedy. The ancient Egyptians left us stories in tomb paintings of the elixir and its’ ability to quell their ills. Maimonides, a 12th century Jewish Sage, wrote that “soup made from an old chicken is a benefit against chronice fevers, and also aids the cough.”

In the last century, a yet-to-be determined comic in the Catskills postulated that chicken soup and all it’s curative powers was in fact, Jewish penicillin. The monkier has lovingly remained to this day. And for some, it’s also referred to New York Penicillin, since not a deli or corner café in Manhattan is worth it’s salt if chicken soup is not on the menu.

No one disputes the comfort food status of chicken soup. But, significant studies show that the medicinal attributes of chicken soup are more than folk lure and kitchen fable. When piping hot chicken soup is sipped, the heat actually spreads throught the upper body, acting as a natural decongestant, thus aiding in the release of mucus, the harbinger of the nasty stuff that causes cold and flu symptoms.

Besides, homemade chicken soup is nutritious, especially if long simmmered to increase the nutritional content. When turkey is added to the mix, additional iron is the benefit to the recipient. Depending on the household and it’s ethnicity, the addition of either matzo balls or noodles render it easy food to eat and digest, a plus when fed to someone who’s ill.

Regardless of the style or origin of any cuisine, chicken soup is among the recipes. The base is the same, it’s the additives that separate the preperations from eachother. Some cultures add coconut milk, others chopped almonds, lemon leaf or curry. The end results are the same: chicken soup is a comfort food that’s both medicinal, satisfying and capable of unlocking mealtime memories.

FEEDS: 2

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

• 6 oz. can chunk light tuna in water
• 1 carrot, grated
• 2 T. capers
• 1 T. finely chopped onion
• 1 T. olive oil
• 1 T. lemon juice
• 3 T. mayonnaise
• pinch of salt and pepper
• 2 thick slices of Italian bread
• ½ small tomato, diced
• 2-3 slices cheddar cheese

LET'S COOK

Drain the tuna, place in a mixing bowl and break it up into a fine texture. Add the carrot, capers, onion, oil, lemon juice, mayo, salt and pepper and mix it all together well. Divide the tuna salad between the slices of bread. Drizzle about a tablespoon or so of olive oil into a saute pan over a medium high burner.

Place the two tuna topped bread slices in the oil and saute gently just until it’s lightly browned underneath. Top the two open-faced sandwiches with diced tomato, cover with the cheddar cheese and place under a broiler just until the cheese is melted and lightly browned. Serve right away.

MORE IDEAS:

Use any bread that suits your fancy.

FEEDS: 2-4

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

• 1 T. canola oil
• 1 T. sesame oil
• 2 C. cooked, chopped broccoli
• salt and pepper
• 2 cloves crushed garlic

LET'S COOK

Heat the oils in a saute pan over a medium high burner. Using a sharp paring knife, whittle the cooked broccoli into the pan, just like whittling a stick of wood. Use as much or little of the thick stem as you desire.

Season with some salt and pepper, drop in the crushed garlic and toss to warm it through. This makes an excellent partner with a grilled steak and a side of brown rice.

MORE IDEAS:

Whenever you cook broccoli, always prepare a lot. The leftovers can be used in an omelet with sautéed onions and a scatter of cheddar cheese, or, quickly prepared for dinner, like this food formula.

Las Vegas is Nirvana for gamblers and those who love the glitz and glamour of civilization. For me, this city of lights is a sensory experience filled with extravagant illuminations, entertainment delights and scads of culinary options. But, the biggest surprise in Vegas were the hedges along roadways, sidewalks and in the front of the mega-hotels. Instead of Japanese Yews, boxwoods and flowering shrubs, I found rosemary, tons of it, growing along the byways of the town that gambling built.

While rosemary has a very evergreen confirmation and look to it, the distinctive aroma of this common herb is apparent by just rubbing your hands against the tender needles. And, walking in Vegas offered the constant opportunity of rubbing the magic olfactory enhancements just about anywhere you walked.

For the most part, rosemary is on the low end of herbal popularity. Most people know about it but are at a loss for uses in the kitchen. Lamb is rosemary’s best friend. The fragrant needles seem to pare perfectly with the unique flavors of lamb racks, roasts, legs and chops. But, don't stop there. Rosemary with pork, chicken, potatoes and even duck is a step into the magic and flavorful union of a fresh herb and it's host.

Rosemary is also a great potted plant. Standards of rosemary are perfect on a mantle, near a sunny kitchen sink or at a doorstep. And, when rosemary planted in a garden offers long stems of them for kitchen use, cut them and use them as skewers of chunks of pork or lamb tenderloin. Fresh sprigs of rosemary also add an unusual leaf shape to petite bouquets at a dinner table.

FEEDS: 2-4

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

• 3 T. canola or olive oil
• 3-4 T. flour
• salt and pepper
• 2-4 lamb shanks
• 1 small onion, diced
• 5-6 cloves garlic, sliced
• 2 T. fresh rosemary, or 1 T. dry
• 2 C. chicken or beef broth
• 6 oz. can tomato paste
• 2 - 6 oz. cans red wine

LET'S COOK

Heat the oil in a pan that can be covered and eventually placed in the oven. Mix the flour, salt and pepper in a pie plate. Liberally dust the shanks in the flour and fry in the hot oil on all sides to brown them nicely.

While that’s going on, mix together the stock, tomato paste and 2 cans of red wine. Add the onions and garlic to the shanks and saute a bit, then add and mix in the remaining flour. Stir it all up well, add the rosemary, then the stock mixture.

Bring it all to a boil, cover and then slide into a 350 degree preheated oven. Cook for 30 minutes, then drop to 275 and cook an additional 30 minutes. Turn the shanks over, remove the cover and cook an additional hour, turning and basting occassionally. Serve on a base of mashed potatoes, drizzle with additional sauce and serve.

MORE IDEAS:

Save the remaining sauce and serve it over pasta.