I'm getting better at this!

For a long time I have envied those who could just throw together a dish without a recipe or any instructions. I now have a growing repertoire of my own creations, so here is what we had for dinner tonight.

Campanelle and Sausage

8 oz. Campanelle pasta
1 link mild Italian sausage
1 link hot Italian sausage
1/3 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
2 TB cream
1/3 cup Parmigiana Reggiano, shredded
2 TB sundried tomato olive oil
Red pepper flakes to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions. Remove casings from sausage and cook over medium heat in 1 TB of the oil until browned and crumbled. Add onion, garlic and red pepepr flakes and cook until tender. Keep warm over low heat. When pasta is done, drain and add to sausage mixture. Add the remaining oil, cream and Parmigiana Reggiano, stirring after each addition. Serve immediately. Yield: 4 servings.

I basically cooked this in my head before I started. I didn't measure anything so amounts are approximate.

My husband and I both thought it was very good.

I basically cooked this in my head before I started. I didn't measure anything so amounts are approximate.

Congratulations, Linda.

You've arrived.

I wish I could do that Linda. I've admired Robin's, Jenise's and Stuart's ability to do that regularly, and have read posts by several other folks online here who have developed the ability to do so.

Somehow that just doesn't connect in my mind -- I need a "recipe" in mind, even though I often make small and sometimes major changes, usually with good results.

But you folks are describing a whole new level of skill that I aspire to but probably won't ever achieve.

Congratulations.

Linda,

Once you can do this, you know you really have grokked a cuisine. I can do this with Chinese, but I still follow recipes for most everything else.

-Paul W.

I wish I could do that Linda. I've admired Robin's, Jenise's and Stuart's ability to do that regularly, and have read posts by several other folks online here who have developed the ability to do so.

Somehow that just doesn't connect in my mind -- I need a "recipe" in mind, even though I often make small and sometimes major changes, usually with good results.

But you folks are describing a whole new level of skill that I aspire to but probably won't ever achieve.

Congratulations.

Bob, thank you for the praise, but I suspect you are the greater cook. I'm only beginning to learn how to do this. It's not something that I can do every day.

From what I gather, you've had professional training. What I create are simple dishes, mostly pasta and Mexican. I am so far removed from Jenise and Robin's abilities, but they give me inspiration.

I, too, make changes in recipes based on taste or lack of an ingredient. And, I make my share of mistakes, but if you don't make mistakes sometimes, you're not cooking.

Build up to this by working with flavors and ingredients you know.

For example, you know what rice tastes like, and how it acts in the pan, and you know what black beans taste like, and how they act, right.? So how hard is it to come up with a great tasting dish centered around those two ingredients?

I might start by softening some garlic in oil, add some diced red and green and yellow peppers, and then add my beans and season to taste, using spices and herbs that I know I like. (salt, pepper, cumin) Once combined with the cooked rice I might add other ingredients (with which I'm already familiar) until it looks and tastes right to me.

That's the same methodology you'd follow with anything. Once you're familiar with how to cook something, and how it tastes, combining those items into a finished dish should come naturally.

BTW, the original dish posted to start this thread sounds delicious. (I might have reversed the steps - starting the garlic and onion, then adding the sausage - you always want to build flavor from the foundation)

Now how might you change it? Along with onion, you might add thinly sliced fresh fennel - wouldn't that marry nicely with the sausage? I also love the color of fresh peppers this time of year, and look for ways to incorporate them into dishes.

Keep experimenting - have fun, and always eat your mistakes. It helps focus your mind for next time.

Now how might you change it? Along with onion, you might add thinly sliced fresh fennel - wouldn't that marry nicely with the sausage? I also love the color of fresh peppers this time of year, and look for ways to incorporate them into dishes.

John, thanks for the advice. Some color would be nice, and I had thought to add some frozen peas at the end, but forgot. I think a bit of red bell pepper would be a nice touch too. I'll try reversing the onions and sausage next time.

I can do this with Chinese

Agree with you Paul. I find that stir-fry is more like a system than a recipe:

1. Marinade
2. Meat, poultry, or seafood to marinate.
3. Oil
4. Veggies
5. Sauce

Ready, set, go.

Cheers, Carl

[Jenise]

Way to go, girl! That's a dish every one of us would love to sit down to. One bit of advice, though--not criticism, but advice--try backing off the package directions for cooking pasta by 1 to 2 minutes. Most pasta manufacturers over-prescribe cooking, especially since the pasta continues to cook/soften while it's draining.

Way to go, girl! That's a dish every one of us would love to sit down to. One bit of advice, though--not criticism, but advice--try backing off the package directions for cooking pasta by 1 to 2 minutes. Most pasta manufacturers over-prescribe cooking, especially since the pasta continues to cook/soften while it's draining.

Jenise, thank you for your kind words and advice. For us, however, we tend to like it cooked per instructions or at least in the neighborhood. The last time I intentionally undercooked some pasta (ziti) that I was going to then bake thinking it would cook more, it was too chewy for our taste.

Good post, I'm also just starting to foray into cooking, and although I still tend to use recipes as a starting point/guidepost, I'm getting more comfortable just winging it, too. I've been lucky lately...most of my experiments have worked out OK (granted, they've been pretty simple). However, I really screwed up the other night:

I made a chimichurri sauce for some chicken tenderloins that I threw on the Foreman Grill. While the chicken turned out wonderfully (great flavor, cooked to perfection), I wanted to use the remaining sauce so I sauteed some green, red and yellow peppers in a bit of olive oil, then threw the remaining sauce in the pan with the peppers to heat while the rice and chicken were finishing up. Well...I guess you don't want to throw an oil based sauce into a really hot pan, because it ended up separating and splattering all over the kitchen and although I did end up using it over the rice, it was not very appetizing. Way too greasy and slightly burnt tasting. Yuck.

[Jenise]

Jenise, thank you for your kind words and advice. For us, however, we tend to like it cooked per instructions or at least in the neighborhood. The last time I intentionally undercooked some pasta (ziti) that I was going to then bake thinking it would cook more, it was too chewy for our taste.

Good point--if that's your preference, I can't mess with it.

I can do this with Chinese

Agree with you Paul. I find that stir-fry is more like a system than a recipe:

1. Marinade
2. Meat, poultry, or seafood to marinate.
3. Oil
4. Veggies
5. Sauce

Ready, set, go.

Cheers, Carl

I think that each of the world's great cuisines has its systematics and methodology, and once you learn those basic outlines, you can create freely within them. This is the point of Julia Child's wonderful book The Way To Cook, which outlines the parameters for classical French cooking. Continental European-style cooking seemed just a disconnected set of independent recipes to me until I read that book. It hadn't occurred to me that, for example, coq au vin and boeuf Bourgignon are basically the same idea but with different meats. Chef Carey's Chef on Fire IMO does an even better job of laying down the fundamentals of how to apply heat to ingredients to create food.

-Paul W.