Ask Rachel

If you have a question, preferably food related, ask away. If I don’t know, I’ll try to find out. If I can’t, I’ll try to refer you to someone who can.

I’m not an expert. I’m not a trained chef. But, I know a few things that I’ve learned from experience. I’d love to share what I know with you. Sometimes I’ve had to learn the hard way. Like the time I made homemade Tomato Soup and hadn’t read the part in the cookbook my friend Brandy had made me that said to take the middle part out of the blender before blending hot liquid. Did you know this? Now you do. Take it out!!! It will fall in and blend up and the blender lid will get all floppy from the heat and soup will splash everywhere. And while it’s really funny, it’s REALLY hot! Or like when I was making Banana Bread (haha I typed Banada, like Canada!) and I thought I would substitute all the sugar for honey. A nice idea. But you have to make other adjustments to the recipe when you do this, since honey is a liquid and sugar is not. About an hour and a half later, the outside was burnt, the inside was still liquid. Fail. Even though I make mistakes, I’ve learned to learn from them (my dad always reminds me that this is an important thing to do). They’ve helped to make me the cook I am today.

If you have a question or a quandary, leave a comment below, or post it on Facebook, or email it to: demacuisine@racheloberg.com and I’ll (do my best to) answer it here.

Diana’s Question: What to do with a whole raw avocado when a little bit goes a long way?

Rachel’s Answer: I have read (in Jessica Seinfeld’s cookbook, Deceptively Delicious) that you can mash, then puree avocados, and store in a bag (seal out the air before closing). It doesn’t say anything about freezing, but I would stick it in the freezer, then you have it for the next time you need it. At our house, we also mix it with mayo for a healthier (very yummy) sandwich spread (it’s really good on a BLT). We also, of course, like to make Guacamole (avocado, lemon juice, diced tomato, salt and pepper).

Here are a few other ideas:

Chocolate Fondu (Jolly Mom)

Chocolate Pudding (Marcus Samuelsson)

Vegan Chocolate Avocado Cake (Joy the Baker)

Milk Chocolate Cupcakes with Avocado Buttercream  (Pinch of Yum)

(I’m sensing a theme here… avocado pairs well with chocolate)

Avocado Chicken Casserole (Taste of Home) (I might make a few substitutions to make it a bit healthier, but it’s the general idea that you can bake with it!)

Ooh, and this site has lots of wonderful looking recipes you could try!

Diana’s Question: How long ahead of time I can make things so that I’m not cooking, baking the day of a dinner or party? Things like mashed potatoes, baked goods, salads, pies,….

Rachel’s Answer: From my experience… Mashed potatoes freeze and re-heat well. Salads are best made fresh, but do fine made the morning of, and refrigerated (no dressing or croutons though) – what could work is washing and chopping all ingredients, but keeping them separate until you’re almost ready to eat. I haven’t made many pies, but, since I know that pie crust is best cold (since the butter stays cold, and then when baked leaves air pockets, making the crust light and flaky), I think it would be fine to make ahead and then bake before your party (I’ve never had as much success with re-heating pie crust after it’s been baked). It might depend on the filling too, as they could get soggy. One option would be to make your crust, roll it out and put it in the pie pan. Make the filling. Freeze both separately. The day before, defrost in the fridge. The day of, assemble and bake (making sure to leave enough time for the pie plate to come to room temp so it doesn’t shatter).

I’ve done both ways with baked goods. I’ve baked in advance and frozen (not quite as good, but still a great option). Just remove from freezer the day before and defrost in the fridge. Bake (wrapped in foil) at a low temp for the illusion of fresh baked bread.  I’ve also made the dough and frozen it, then thawed and baked it. A fine option, but they are sometimes more dense this way (but maybe I haven’t given them enough time to rise??).

Basically, I think things like the sauces, stocks, some meats (especially depending on how you’re going to serve them), rice, potatoes are fine done in advance and re-heated (and depending on the item, even frozen and re-heated… I’ve done this with rice, but it will be a bit mushier). Things like pasta, and more delicate items should be done right before you eat.

These have been just from my experience, so not necessarily the way you’re “supposed” to do things. 

Carla’s Question: I have researched different recipes but get stuck when it says things like dry red/white wine or red wine for a sauce or white wine for a sauce. How do I know what kind to use? Could you give me some suggestions for which types I can use for different sauces? Like brands that you use?

Rachel’s Answer: I’ve heard that the alcohol cooks out of the wine. But, if I had kids, I’d do some research and think twice about it too.  If you don’t want to use wine, you could stick with vinegars and stocks.

If you want to use stock, you could use chicken, pork, vegetable (on my Borscht episode I show how to make vegetable stock), or beef. I would use chicken or vegetable for white wine, beef for red wine, and with pork I’d play it by ear.

If you’re subbing with vinegars, you could sub an apple cider for a white wine (I think a bit of a lighter flavor), a red wine vinegar or balsamic for a red (deeper richer flavor). (I don’t know if the substitution for wine with vinegar is exactly equal… I’d say go with vinegar when it’s a small amount, but if it’s like say 1 C wine, I may not want that much vinegar – it could be too sour! You could also do part vinegar, part stock.)

If you want to try wine, in my experience, white wines often go well with chicken, fish, and pork. Also in things like Mac and Cheese, Fondue, and Risotto. Reds go well with beef, in tomato sauces, and Beef Stews (and sometimes pork). But there are some recipes where you’d think one, but the other works better. I’m no expert, this is just from my experience.

As for a type of wine, we don’t know much about wine. We drink the $2 bottles from Trader Joe’s (Charles Shaw wines), or Fresh & Easy (or whatever grocery store – many have a cheaper section), so that’s what I use to cook with. Some might have a problem with those wines, since they’re not high quality. I’ve tried more expensive wines, and they are much better. But, we’re not too picky, and are trying to keep to a budget, so it’s what we drink, and we’re happy with it.