Ever have one of those "why didn't I think of that?" moments in the kitchen?

[herbgeek]

2 recent examples for me:

- I have a cookbook "Cooking from the Root Cellar" that had a recipe for Pasta Inverno. Its like pasta primavera (primavera = spring) but uses winter root veggies (inverno= winter). Why didn't I think of that? Why did I get stuck in the mindset that only spring/summer veggies can be used for that dish? Last night I made this with butternut squash, parsnips and celeriac (celery root). Yum.

- Also from same cookbook, there's a recipe for sauteed shredded root veggies. Again, in my head I think of root veggies as being in chunks- and taking too long to cook on a weeknight (where I spend 15 minutes max preparing dinner). But shredded only takes 5 minutes or so to saute. I also learned that some veggies that I'm not necessarily all that fond of on their own, and really good in a mix with other root veggies (I'm talking about you turnip).

[redfox]

Ooo! Could you share the recipe, pleeze?

[pinkytoe]

All of my life when I needed to cook certain vegetables like potatos, sweet potatos, butternut squash, etc, I would do as the cookbooks said and bake/roast in the oven or boil. Very recently, I started cutting them into small chunks and steaming. It cuts the cooking time by 3/4 and keeps them moister. You can also easily control the firmness - say if you want to add sweet potato chunks to a bean salad you can steam until just right or if mashing, you can steam a little longer. Duh!

[herbgeek]

Since that recipe is copyrighted, no, I legally can't do that, but I can give you my shortened version:

I sauteed some shredded veggies- about 1.5-2 cups worth in some butter, along with a sliced leek and a pinch of thyme for about 5 minutes. I added a good cupful of light cream and a splash of white wine to the veggies while I boiled some water. I cooked maybe half a box of angel hair pasta in that separate pot. After the pasta was done, I drained it (saving some of the cooking liquid) and added it to the veggies/cream. I then added a good handful of Italian grated cheeses, and some of the cooking liquid because I added so much cheese the sauce was too thick.

[profnot]

for future info:

Recipes cannot be copyrighted.

Cookbooks can.

[Simply Divine]

for future info:

Recipes cannot be copyrighted.

Cookbooks can.

US copyright laws pertaining to recipes: http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl122.html

Basically, lists of ingredients can't be copyrighted, but original descriptions of how to prepare the food and pictures accompanying them can. Cookbooks, of course, can be copyrighted as well.

[Blackdog Lin]

I had a small recent duh! in the kitchen: a breakfast casserole recipe to try, but it involves croutons. I don't buy croutons, and didn't want to spend the money on them just to try this recipe.

One of the reviewers of the recipe said she/he used their old homemade biscuits to make croutons. Light bulb went off: oh, I have old biscuits in the freezer that need used! Crumbled biscuits in a low oven for an hour and I can have croutons. (I've done this for homemade dressing, but never thought of it as making croutons. Double duh.)

Will be trying the new breakfast casserole this next weekend.