A Savory Moment by Life At The Table - Video Podcast

Chef Sandra Lewis, Life At The Table
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Food
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Tips, fun facts, and recipes from Chef Sandra Lewis of Life At The Table to help you answer the most important question of the day, “What’s for dinner?”.

Episodes

  1. 11/10/2022 ·  Video

    Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies

    Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies Make the World Go ‘Round It’s the treat realtors tell their sellers to bake when they have an open house so the house smells like a home.  And it’s what Cookie Monster has been chomping on for 50 years.  Yes, it’s the revered chocolate chip cookie. The old standby.  The standard bearer of cookies. This cookie is such a special treat that it has its own National Day on August 4th.   A Brief History of Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies Where did this beloved cookie get its start? We have Ruth Wakefield to thank. She owned the Toll House restaurant in Massachusetss and invented this chocoltay chunk of goodness in the 1930s. Apparently Ms. Wakefield’s invention was no happy accident.  With a degree in household arts, it was most likely the result of diligent testing and development.  Her restaurant was known for its desserts and she invented these cookies with the intention of serving them with ice cream.  That was back in the day before so many flavors of ice cream were around so the chocolate morsels were most likely intended to be served alongside vanilla ice cream.  Legend has it that she ran out of baker’s chocolate and substituted the now-standard semi-sweet morsels. Her delectable creation was featured on the Betty Crocker radio program later in the decade.  And homemade chocolate chip cookies have been a staple in most kitchens since then.   The Allure of Off-The-Chain Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies The aroma is alluring and there’s something comforting about enjoying one fresh out of the oven. My chocolate chip cookie recipe is called “Off-the-Chain Chocolate Chip Cookies.” That’s slang for super good! We all have our own take on what makes a perfect batch of chocolate chip cookies. This recipe shared with me by a chef friend of mine does some cool things that you need to give a try. It’s the best of what you remember your grandmother’s chocolate chip cookies to be but with a modern twist. Using kosher salt both in the mixture as well as sprinkled on top of the finished cookies Mixing in semi-sweet and dark chocolate chips Browning the butter in the basic mixture which gives a nutty flavor Adding in espresso powder for a richer, deeper flavor  So much for reading the recipe off the back of the chip package.   I bet you could almost taste the zip in these cookies once I said “espresso powder.”      Print Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies Print Recipe Pin Recipe 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star No reviews Enjoy delicious chunks of chocolate in every bite with this luxurious cookie. This recipe combines the best of what you remember about your grandmother’s semi-sweet chocolate chip cookies, but with a modern twist. Author: Life At The Table Ingredients 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 cup unsalted butter 1 tablespoons water 1 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 teaspoon espresso powder 1 large egg 1 large egg yolk 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chip cookies 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark Instructions Heat your oven to 350˚F. Cube butter into 3/4″ cubes. Brown the butter on low heat in a small pot. As the butter melts it will begin to bubble and foam; there will be small eruptions on the surface of the butter as the water evaporates. Adjust the heat to maintain a nice sizzle, but not a boil. Once you begin to see a brown ring around the butter in the pot, the butter is browned. You will also see browned milk solids that have fallen to the bottom of the pot. Once the butter is browned add 1 tablespoon of water to the butter and cool it by placing it in an ice bath (described in the next step). While the butter melts, prepare an ice bath to cool the butter. You will need a heat proof container for the butter and a bowl filled with ice that will fit into the ice bath without the chance of ice water getting into the butter or the butter tipping over and spilling into the ice bath. Prep the bowl with the ice, but don’t add water. Once the butter has browned, pour the butter into your heat-proof container. Add the water to the ice and place the heat-proof container of butter into the ice bath. Remove the butter from the ice bath after it has cooled, about 5-7 minutes. Some of the butter will be congealed on the bottom of the bowl. While the butter cools, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Scrape the cooled butter into a mixing bowl. Cream the cooled butter with the brown and white sugars, vanilla and espresso powder to the butter for 3-5 minutes with an electric mixer. Add the eggs to the creamed butter mixture; mix until just incorporated. Stir the flour into the butter mixture in thirds scraping the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl to ensure all the flour gets incorporated. Stir the semi-sweet and dark chocolate chips into the flour mixture. Using your hands, form dough balls about 1″ in diameter. Place dough balls on a cookie sheet at least 3″ apart. Bake for 12 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Sprinkle with additional kosher salt (or flaky sea salt) as desired. Did you make this recipe?Tag @lifeatthetable on Instagram and hashtag it #whatsfordinner The post Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies appeared first on Life At The Table.

  2. 07/21/2022

    Cajun Shrimp and Grits

    Cajun Zydeco music with its uptempo and strong rhythm matches perfectly with the Cajun culture of robust and rustic food. Consider Cajun Shrimp and Grits for your next weeknight meal. It might sound a bit intimidating if you’re not familiar with the dish, but it’s one of the easiest and quickest weeknight meals you can make.   What is Cajun Seasoning? The band leader in the kitchen is Cajun seasoning, spicy, peppery, and earthy. It’s bold and built to give your taste buds a cayenne pepper kick in the backside. This love of everything spicy is everywhere even in the sports team logo for the University of Louisiana in Lafayette mascot, the Rajn’ Cajuns. The apostrophe where the “g” would be in the word “rajn” is styled as a cayenne pepper. What exactly is a Cajun? Good question! Great Britain deported a group of people from the Acadia lands, a good chunk of which today is known as Nova Scotia in Canada, for refusing to bow to the British crown. Many of these deportees made their way to the bayous west of New Orleans where they learned to live off the land. The word “Cajun” is an evolution of the word Acadia. The cuisine developed here in these wetlands are a mix and a mingle of all the local cultures inhabiting those parts, Indian, free people of color, enslaved Africans, and other immigrants from Europe and South America.   How To Cook With Cajun Seasoning Cajun seasoning is a mix as versatile as it is taste bud tingling delicious. Liven up just about anything with Cajun spices: Coat a steak and grill it Sprinkle it on popcorn Dose your scrambled eggs with it Dust cut fruit with it Stir it into sour cream or yogurt for a party dip Fry up your veggies with it Honestly, the better question is, what isn’t made better with a little bit of cajun seasoning on it?   Cajun Shrimp and Grits Why not get started with my Cajun Shrimp and Grits? Dust up your shrimp with my Cajun seasoning and sauté them with a bit of garlic. (If you’re not a garlic lover, leave this step out.) But because sautéeing your shrimp is a really quick process, like just a handful of minutes depending on how many shrimp you crowd into your pan, get your grits cooking first. Once those near completion, heat your skillet to rock and roll on sautéeing your shrimp. Play a little Zydeco music while you’re at it. You and your taste buds can dance a jig while you cook. My Parmesan Grits recipe is here. Want to cook this recipe with a group? More info here. Looking for another grits recipe? Try Chef Sandra’s Grits Breakfast Bowl.   if (typeof jQuery !== undefined && jQuery.mobile) { jQuery.mobile.hashListeningEnabled = false; jQuery.mobile.pushStateEnabled=false; } window._xnext_initialization_scripts = window._xnext_initialization_scripts || []; window._xnext_initialization_scripts.push({widgetType: 'Product', id: 'ecwid-shopping-cart-ecwid_product-1', arg: ["display=picture title price options addtobag","link=yes","version=2","show_border=1","show_price_on_button=1","center_align=1"]});     if (typeof jQuery !== undefined && jQuery.mobile) { jQuery.mobile.hashListeningEnabled = false; jQuery.mobile.pushStateEnabled=false; } window._xnext_initialization_scripts = window._xnext_initialization_scripts || []; window._xnext_initialization_scripts.push({widgetType: 'Product', id: 'ecwid-shopping-cart-ecwid_product-2', arg: ["display=picture title price options addtobag","link=yes","version=2","show_border=1","show_price_on_button=1","center_align=1"]});   Print Cajun Shrimp and Grits Print Recipe Pin Recipe 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star No reviews Get the party started! This recipe is simple and easy for a delicious weeknight meal. If you choose to make it for company on the weekend, they will think you slaved all day. Author: Life At The Table Prep Time: 10 Cook Time: 5 Total Time: 15 minutes Yield: 4 servings 1x Ingredients Units USM Cajun Shrimp 4-6 pieces of shrimp per person, peeled and deveined (sized16-20), about 1 lb Chef Sandra’s Cajun Seasoning 1 tablespoon of sliced garlic, divided Bell Pepper Garnish 4 mini bell peppers various colors, small dice 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1/4 teaspoon dried parsley or 2 teaspoons fresh parsley, chopped 1– 2 lemons kosher salt olive oil Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark Instructions Heat cast iron skillet on high heat. Add just enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the skillet. Add the shrimp in a single layer to the skillet. Sauté the shrimp in batches if needed to avoid overcrowding the pan. As the shrimp sautés sprinkle with Chef Sandra’s Cajun Seasoning. (One packet will season 1 lb of shrimp. Add more or less seasoning depending on your taste preference.) Add 2 teaspoons sliced garlic to the skillet. (If you’re cooking large quantities of shrimp and you like garlic, prep the amount of slice garlic needed for each batch of shrimp.) Sauté just until shrimp curl and are cooked through. Depending on how how your skillet is, this may be only a couple of minutes for each batch of shrimp. Once finished with the shrimp, add the diced bell pepper to the skillet. If the skillet is dry refresh with olive oil as needed. Sauté the bell pepper with the remaining garlic, just until the bell pepper is tender, 1-2 minutes Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the red pepper flakes. Once the shrimp is plated and garnished with the bell pepper mixture, add the parsley on top. Notes The Cajun Seasoning will blacken as it cooks. If your preference is for Blackened Cajun Shrimp coat the shrimp with the seasoning prior to adding it to the hot skillet. Serve Cajun Shrimp over Parmesan Grits – yum! Adjust the amount of garlic as needed in this recipe to suit your personal preference. Nutrition Serving Size: 4 shrimp Calories: 134 Sugar: 0.4 g Sodium: 213.2 mg Fat: 4.1 g Saturated Fat: 0.6 g Trans Fat: 0 g Carbohydrates: 1.9 g Fiber: 0.2 g Protein: 23.1 g Cholesterol: 182.5 mg Did you make this recipe?Tag @lifeatthetable on Instagram and hashtag it #whatsfordinner The post Cajun Shrimp and Grits appeared first on Life At The Table.

  3. 08/31/2021 ·  Video

    Four Tips To Pick the Best Watermelon

    Four Tips To Pick a Watermelon Hey y’all! It’s summer and I’m craving a watermelon. I’m off to the grocery store to pick the juiciest, best-tasting watermelon there is. Come with me and learn how to pick your own. Here are my four tips for picking the sweetest, juiciest watermelon you can.    Tip #1 Look For a Large Field Spot Number one, look for a large field spot. That’s the underbelly of the watermelon where it’s laying in the field. The larger the spot, the longer that watermelon lay there.    Tip #2 Listen for a Deep Hollow Sound Number two, listen for a deep hollow sound when you tap on the watermelon. This generally means there’s more water content which means lots of juice!   Tip #3 Pick a Dull Watermelon, Not a Shiny One Number three, you want it to be dull, not overly shiny. If it’s dull, it means it’s been picked for a while, and it’s a little bit riper. A shiny watermelon is an indication of being under ripe.   Tip #4 Pick a Heavy Watermelon You want it to be really nice and heavy. If it’s heavy, that means there’s more juice, more water, more than likely more sweet. Hey, just got back from the grocery store. I am going to weigh this honking watermelon. Oh, my, that is a huge watermelon. I just weighed this baby, 31 pounds. Let’s cut into it. You do have a couple of choices when you cut a watermelon. You can go around the circumference. You can go through it longways. Today, because this watermelon is so large, I think it will be easiest for me just to cut it around the circumference.  So, here we go. I’m liking the sound of that. Ah, yeah. Look at that. It is beautiful inside. That is an amazing red, ripe, juicy watermelon. Look at that, incredible.  All right, let me put one of these halves aside. I’m going to turn this over, so I have a flat, stable piece of watermelon here to slice. And I’m just going to go right through the middle of it again. Open that up just a little bit to get my knife down the other side. Perfect. Gorgeous. Can you see the juice all over my cutting board? That is amazing. Now I’m going to put this side over here to give me a little bit more room to work with. All right, now we’re going to take this, turn it flat, once more lengthwise. Voila.  And now, turn it over. Oh, I’m loving it. Look at this beautiful flesh on this watermelon. Then if you want to slice individual slices for your friends or family, put them on a platter. All you got to do, take your knife now, and there you have it, gorgeous slices of watermelon.  That is amazing. I am loving it. Okay, now the proof is in the pudding. Right? The proof is in the taste of the watermelon. Here we go. So good, so juicy and delicious. More From Life at the Table Like cantaloupe? Here’s how to pick the perfect cantaloupe and the health benefits of eating cantaloupe. here’s a fun recipe to make with cantaloupe. Want to learn how to cook? Register for one of our online cooking classes. The post Four Tips to Pick the Best Watermelon appeared first on Life At The Table.

  4. 03/16/2018 ·  Video

    Top 10 Kitchen Tools - Part 1

    Top 10 Kitchen Tools – Part 1   Refresh Your Tools To Put Dinner On The Table In A Flash Top 10 Kitchen Tools for Weeknight Cooking | Part 1 Several years ago, my upstairs washing machine leaked through the ceiling to the first floor.  In what now seems like a stone age experience, I used the yellow pages and my landline to locate a plumber in the middle of the night. He surveyed the rogue washer, pulled out a wrench, and tightened a loose fitting.  If only I’d had the right tool, I’d be $120 richer today.   Proper Kitchen Tools Make a Big Difference Does it take you longer to prepare dinner than it should?  Or do you struggle to carry out a recipe instruction because you don’t have the proper kitchen tool? Then it’s time for a refresh. Top 10 Kitchen Tools for Weeknight Cooking Number 10.  Fish spatula.  This spatula is thin with a slightly curled end, and a bit of a give to its structure.  It’s perfect for lifting a potato latke, turning a pancake, breaking up hamburger meat, and for gliding under a delicate piece of fish. Number 9.  Box grater.  With a large, sturdy box grater there’s no need to haul out the food processor for small jobs. Number 8.  Silicon spatula.  When the heat is on, you need something that won’t melt.  Silicon is heat-resistant and flexible.  It’s definitely a work-horse tool from scraping roasted veggies off a sheet pan to scraping the batter from a mixing bowl. (I don’t have a brand to recommend here.) Number 7.  Tongs.  The end used to grip the food should be solid, not a triangle with open air in between.  And the gripping end should be metal, not rubber. Number 6.  Microplane zester.  A mircograter that is truly indispensable for zesting lemons, limes, and oranges.  And for finely grating ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, garlic, and hard cheeses. Ready for the rest of the list to find out the number one tool you need in the kitchen?! Find it here. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. The post Top 10 Kitchen Tools – Part 1 appeared first on Life At The Table.

  • 4 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

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Tips, fun facts, and recipes from Chef Sandra Lewis of Life At The Table to help you answer the most important question of the day, “What’s for dinner?”.

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