How to use the iPad as a cookbook

First of all, get yourself one of those iPad cases which can also be used as a stand, so you can adjust your viewing angle for maximum of comfort and visibility. The Cloak Undercover case from Quirky can be an excellent idea, because it can be used in both landscape and portrait views and it’s adjustable. If you’re interested, you can read more about this iPad case on Quirky.com directly. Some of you may prefer to get a stand or a dock instead of a case. It’s your choice, there are some really nice stands for the iPad.

Bookmark your favorite recipe websites, choose the recipe you want to cook, put your iPad in “cooking position” and start preparing the foods you want. No more books that close by themselves when you’re full of flour on your hands, no more papers flown away by an unexpected draft, nothing. The iPad is very convenient in the kitchen, I just love it. This is hi-tech cooking, isn’t it?

Ingredients:

• 2 big potatoes (I had two huge ones, so you’ll probably need 3-4 average size ones to match the other ingredients)
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 pound sour cream (if you believe in cholesterol and cardio-vascular diseases, then you can use low-fat sour cream or yogurt)
• 1 cup grated cottage cheese (actually I wanted to clean up the fridge today and that cheese leftover gave me the idea of these baked potatoes)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon thyme (you can replace it with dried basil or with rosemary)
• 1 teaspoon curry powder

Method:

Peel the potatoes, then slice them, trying to get equal, thin slices, so they all get baked in the same time. In a bowl, mix the grated cheese with two eggs and with half of the sour cream quantity. If the cheese is very salty, don’t add  salt. Oil a baking dish and arrange half of the potato slices in a layer on its bottom. Pour the cheese and eggs mixture on top of it, then add a second layer of potatoes. Mix the last two eggs with the remaining sour cream, add the dried herbs and the curry powder, then pour the mixture over the potatoes, making sure to cover all slices.

Put the dish in the oven and bake it at low temperature for about one hour, or until the fork comes out clean when you try the food. This  how my baked potatoes were looking when I considered them done:

Let the dish rest for 3-4 minutes, then cut the baked potatoes as if you’d cut any other cake or pie. Put the pieces on a plate, grind some pepper on top of them and serve them hot. If you want, you can add some sauce, dip or mayonnaise. I ate them with the spinach artichoke dip I cooked yesterday (I told you already, my purpose was to empty the fridge).

If you took your time to arrange the potato layers nicely, you can see now how beautiful the section of the baked potatoes pieces looks.

Grilled chicken breast with sauted yellow beans and garlic

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 big chicken breast, boneless, skinless, divided in 8 slices (approximately 1/2 inch thick)
• 1 package frozen yellow beans (200 g)
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced small
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
• salt and pepper to taste

Cooking instructions:

Grilling the chicken breast:

Gently beat the chicken pieces until they become flat, but take care not to hit them too hard, because chicken breast is fragile and tender anyway and it may rip apart of you are too zealous. Sprinkle salt, curry powder and dried thyme on both surfaces of the meat slices. Heat the grill (optionally, you can oil it a little, even if it’s non-sticky – this trick reduces the amount of smoke, so it’s a good idea if you want to use the grill indoors). Place as many meat slices as you can fit on the grill, making sure they don’t touch or overlap. If the grill was preheated well, cooking should last only 3-4 minutes for each side.

Sauteing the yellow beans and the garlic:

Heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a frying pan, add the garlic and cook it for 2-3 minutes, until it starts to brown. Then add the yellow beans, salt them and cook at medium fire, making sure to stir frequently. Optionally, you can add about 1/4 cup of water, if you don’t want the oil to become too hot. The skillet should be large enough to allow the yellow beans to fit on a single layer, like you see in the picture below. I used 1/4 of the specified quantity, because I cooked for only one person, namely myself.

For yellow beans the size you see in my photo, it shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes until they are done. If you overcook them, they’d become too soft. The cooking time is up to you. I prefer vegetables not completely done, because I like them to be a bit crispy.

When you’re done, put two pieces of grilled chicken breast on each plate, add the sauted yellow beans with garlic, sprinkle everything with freshly ground pepper and enjoy.

This is a healthy and quick recipe, which can be tweaked according to your preferences: you can use other spices, you can use butter instead of olive oil or you can use no fat at all. Regarding the preparation and cooking time, you can have everything ready in about 15 minutes, provided that you grill the chicken and saute the vegetables simultaneously. If you have to do one operation at a time, it will take you double.

Onions make great dish garnishes, but in order to make them look decorative, you need to learn how to chop them. This is the topic of the above video demonstration done by expert cook Manish Paul. Watch, learn and amaze your dinner guests with cool plate decorations.

Chopping onions can be a challenge if you’re new to cooking and you don’t master the proper technique. Moreover, if your knives aren’t appropriate, your technique will be equal to zero anyway. This video illustrates how to finely chop various types of onions such as green, yellow or spring onions. The demonstration features expert cook Manish Paul.

Graduated from the College of Hotel Management in Mumbai, Manish cooked for the guests of big hotel chains such as Ramda, Taj, and with Norwegian cruise lines. He teaches the art of cooking to students of a culinary institute.

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