Stop Blogging and Cook

I love a man with dishpan hands. ~Pat Doornbos (1941-) & Marlene Fowler (1932-)

CLEANING UP IS EASY TO DO
Women have dishpan hands, but we’re hoping that no one notices.  The reason why we like the above quote is because we don’t want to be all alone in there, cleaning up after having cooked the bacon and maybe brought it home as well.  The clean-up is often the least fun part of feeding ourselves, and the reason why it’s so important to have all hands on deck.  Many hands make quick work of tedious tasks, and spread the chapping around.

A dear friend of my mother used to say, A clean house is the sign of a dull life.  We all covet a clean house, but not at the expense of forsaking more interesting things, so helping out with the drudgery is a lot more valuable than helping to ice the cake.  (Licking the egg beater is not cleaning up)

What a good, fresh feeling to get up in the morning, go into the kitchen to put water on for coffee, and be greeted by an empty sink.  Morning confrontation by the sad detritus of dinner is not a good way to start the day.  Caked-on residue, pots and bowls crowding every surface is not how I want to remember last night.  They hold their ground, like lazy brothers watching cartoons, as if to say, “What’s your hurry?”  But it’s hard to begin the day anew when the past is staring you down in your own kitchen before your brain has yet to summon powers of perspective.

It does not have to be this way.

Since the 14th, I’ve been detailing a romantic Valentine’s dinner.  Today I suggest how to make quick work of cleaning up.  While what follows may seem obvious to those already cooking, it is considerably less so to those just beginning.  Stop Blogging & Cook is for those less familiar with – and perhaps even intimidated by – things that go on in the kitchen.  It is one thing to say:

Plan ahead, be organized and clean up as you go

quite another to know just how how to do that during those first attempts.  They say you only get one shot at making a first impression.  My goal is to make your first impression:

Wow, that’s a lot easier than I thought!

Skills gained over a lifetime of cooking are valuable, and my goal is to pass that value on to you in hopes that you will have great success in feeding yourselves and those you care about.  Rocket science?  Never.  Practical pearls of useful information?  I hope so!

WHERE DO WE BEGIN?
The first step is to chose the scope of the meal you’re about to undertake, so that you’re not overwhelmed.  I’ve suggested many dishes that can be made ahead so that on the day of  the dinner your energy is focused on the other person rather than the six balls you’re juggling in the kitchen.

The menu I’ve devised is intentionally more than you may want to attempt, so choose how many you want to make.  Dessert is still to come; I’m soaking cranberries in brandy as I write this!  And while this does not address clean-up per se, anything that you make in advance will create that much less mess before dinner.

1. Appetizer:  Cook & peel the shrimp ahead of time & have it chilling in the fridge.  The aroma from the steeping shrimp may not complement that of the cooking chicken, so keep then in separate corners by dealing with the shrimp beforehand.  Make the cocktail sauce as well & chill.  Take it out of the fridge a little ahead of time so it’s room temperature.
2. Soup:  At the least, make the vegetable broth however far in advance you can and freeze, or up to three days ahead and keep in the refrigerator.  Roast the squash and potato up to three days ahead and refrigerate. (It will be much easier to peel if chilled.)  Day of, sauté the onions, add the broth, blend & sieve, then heat in a double boiler.
3. Salad:  This is one thing that you cannot make in advance.  But it’s so much fun to make for an audience you wouldn’t want to.  Have the salad ready to toss before you serve the soup.  Toss it just before serving.
4. Chicken & Gravy with Potatoes:  This, actually could be made in advance if you really wanted to, but then the aromas enveloping your home would be absent.  And you wouldn’t want to be accused of ordering in, would you?
5. Buttered vegetables are quick and easy.  Less than seven minutes max, start to finish, and you’re done!

So, here’s how to minimize clean-up efforts after your dinner is under way, assuming you have no dishwasher.  If you do, everything but the wooden spoons & salad bowl can go in directly:

1. Appetizer:  If you’ve done things in advance, there will be almost nothing to to clean up, except maybe a knife.
2. Soup:  After the soup is plated, run hot water in the pot.  If you’ve used a double boiler, put the hot water from the bottom into the top pot after a squirt of dish soap.
3. Salad:  After plating the salad, swipe the salad spoons w/a lightly-soaped sponge, rinse and put in dish drainer.  Run a  damp paper towel over the salad bowl (if it’s wood).  This will prevent the dressing from hardening on the wood, making it sticky & difficult to remove.
4. Chicken:   Put the chicken & potatoes directly on dinner plates when they come out of the oven.  If you’ve made extra for leftovers, put them in a refrigerator container.  After making the gravy, pour into another refrigerator container.  Ladle the gravy on the chicken and/or potatoes.  Put the roasting pan in the sink and run hot water in it with a good squirt of dish soap.
5. Vegetable:  Plate directly from the pot; fill pot with hot, soapy water.

By the time you’ve finished with your dinner, you will have a good start on clean-up.  Leftover chicken, potatoes & gravy) will have cooled and can be covered & refrigerated.  Baked on foods will have softened considerably.  You can easily wash up the pots & plans  at this point, then run water in the sink for the dishes from the table.  All of this can take place while you’re heating water for coffee or having another glass of wine before dessert.