Celebrated author and TV chef Sara Moulton is food editor at "Good Morning America."
You've written to her asking questions about what you want to do in the kitchen -- and she responded.
Carol Berey from Kansas City, Kan.: Looking for recipes for stew. The "Ultimate Beef Stew" and others have as much as 2 cups of flour to dredge beef in, while others use just 1 or 2 tablespoons. What do you recommend?
Sara's Answer: Wow, 2 cups of flour is crazy, but 1 or 2 tablespoons might not be enough. It depends on how much beef you are dredging. One cup should be enough for 2 to 3 pounds of meat. And here are a few tips: Work in batches. Dredge only as much meat as you can fit in one layer in the skillet you are going to brown it in. Toss the meat in the flour (you can either season the meat first with salt and pepper or season the flour) to coat it well and then transfer it to a strainer and shake it to remove the excess flour before adding it to the hot pan. If you flour the meat ahead of time and let it sit before you cook the flour will become gummy on the meat and you will not be able to properly brown the meat.
Linda Hachenski from Michigan: What is the difference between broth and stock? Also what potato is the best for making potato salad?
Sara's Answer: Linda, this is slightly murky territory, but what is generally agreed upon as a broth is made with meat and bones, and a stock is made with bones. ,p> The best potato to use for making potato salad is a boiling potato. How do you know it is a boiling potato? It has a thin skin. Baking potatoes have thick brown skins. Boiling potatoes are lower in starch than baking potatoes and hold their shape when cooked. Baking potatoes crumble when cooked. Boiling potatoes come with many different colored skins -- red, blue, yellow. A Yukon Gold potato is a cross between a baking and a boiling potato, and can also be used for potato salad.
Liz from Indianapolis, Ind.: I love meatloaf, but mine comes out dry. I don't like lots of stuff in it, just the basic meat, egg, bread crumbs, milk and onions. Do you have a simple recipe that would give me a moist comfort food I love so much?
Sara's Answer: Liz, there are two ways to solve this problem. Use a fattier kind of ground meat (fat equals juiciness) or add some vegetables such as diced, sauteed, cooled onion, raw shredded napa cabbage, shredded carrots or chopped red or green bell pepper. I add those vegetables to my turkey burgers since turkey is so lean. They will provide the moisture you are looking for.
Robin Robintree from Nevada City, Calif.: I'm in love with pesto but have no idea how best to make it. I have access to fresh basil and other herbs in season, as well as a new blender; can you help me find a recipe I can use for my family? Basics first, then I can begin to experiment.
Sara's Answer: Robin, I agree. I love pesto, especially fresh homemade pesto and you can use it in so many ways -- on sandwiches, in pasta dishes, as a garnish for soup, as a topping for a grilled or sauteed piece of protein.
For a great basic recipe, I went back to one of my favorite Italian cookbook authors: Marcella Hazan Here is her recipe from "The Classic Italian Cookbook," Knopf, 1976:
Blender Pesto
Enough for about 6 servings of pasta
2 cups fresh basil leaves (see note below)
½ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed with a heavy knife handle and peeled
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons freshly grated Romano pecorino cheese
3 tablespoons butter softened to room temperature
1. Put the basil, olive oil, pine nuts, garlic cloves and salt in the blender and mix at high speed. Stop from time to time and scrape the ingredients down toward the bottom of the blender cup with a rubber spatula. 2. When the ingredients are evenly blended, pour into a bowl and beat in the two grated cheeses by hand (this is not much work, and it results in more interesting texture and better flavor than you get when you mix in the cheese in the blender). When the cheese has been evenly incorporated into the other ingredients, beat in the softened butter.
3. Before spooning the pesto over the pasta, add it to a tablespoon or so of the hot water in which the pasta has boiled.
Note: The quantity of basil in most recipes is given in terms of whole leaves. American basil, however, varies greatly in leaf sizes. There are small, medium and very large leaves and they all pack differently in the measuring cup. For the sake of accurate measurement, I suggest that you tear all but the tiniest leaves into two or more small pieces. Be gentle, so as not to crush the basil. This would discolor it and waste the first fresh droplets of juice.
Angie Loethen from St. Louis: My husband doesn't like onions and garlic, and has difficulty eating due to tongue cancer he has had. Soup seems to be the best option, how can I flavor soups without the obvious onion, pepper and garlic.
Sara's Answer: I would rely on flavorful broths and add other vegetables to your soups such as carrots, mushrooms, parsnips, tomatoes and turnips. Carrots, parsnip and turnips will become caramelized when they are cut up and sauteed in a little fat which provides a sweetness and depth of flavor. Mushrooms and tomatoes (especially in the form of tomato paste) also pack a ton of flavor.
It is very easy to make homemade chicken broth. I start with about 5 pounds of chicken wings. I cover them with cold water by 2 inches, bring the mixture to a boil and turn it down to a simmer. You can add some coarsely chopped carrot, parsnip and celery to the broth as well as some parsley sprigs, thyme and bay leaf. Simmer for about 3 hours. Strain, skim off the fat and boil the broth down by about 1/3 third. Now you have a flavorful chicken broth as your base.
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