Sneaky, sneaky Claire Robinson. The host of Food Network Challenge and 5 Ingredient Fix is taking the intimidation out of classic dishes like Cornish Hens au Vin, Rib Eye Steaks au Poivre and creme brulee through sheer trickery. Her concept is simple: showing people how to cook anything using five ingredients or less. The short ingredients list makes things seem safe, manageable, fool-proof even — and that’s where she gets you.
Before you know it, you’re sauteing, braising and tempering with the best of ’em. It’s like getting a culinary degree without applying for it.
That Claire Robinson is a trickster, I tell you!
She joined Coffee-mate this past week to promote its new Natural Bliss line of creamers, which contain only four ingredients (and thankfully, none of that chemical-like aftertaste so many store-bought creamers possess!). Over iced coffees and French toast topped with strawberries and whipped cream (made from Natural Bliss, of course), Claire shared a few culinary tips and tricks. Here are our top five:
- The secret to eating seasonally: look for what’s piled high in the produce section. Sure, hardcore gourmands like to wax poetic about farm-to-table this and seasonal eating that, but it really doesn’t have to be that complicated. Seasonal ingredients are usually those found in high abundance on the ends of aisles in the produce section and — bonus! — they’re usually on sale because they’re so plentiful.
- Ten ingredients that deserve a permanent spot in your pantry: unbleached all-purpose flour, chicken stock, olive oil, granulated sugar, balsamic vinegar, honey, Grade B maple syrup, dried fruit, salt, pepper
- The way you cook can an ingredient can transform its flavor. “When your ingredients are good, there’s no need to mask and muddle the flavor with unnecessary add-ons,” Claire says. In her book, 5 Ingredient Fix, she explains how the technique used for cooking garlic can give you an entirely different dish. It’s bitter if fried, pungent when sauteed and sweet when roasted, just to name a few.
- Claire’s litmus test to determine whether a meal is 5-Ingredient-Fix-worthy: She has friends sample the dish and try to guess all five ingredients. If they can’t guess one, she says she hasn’t done her job. Claire’s goal is to bring out the flavors in all five ingredients, bringing out the full flavor in a dish.
- Why she’s so hell-bent on preparing simple dishes with few ingredients: It’s all about letting you focus on mastering the techniques in an easy and straightforward way. A ton of ingredients can get confusing, bogging down the recipe — and you by extension. If you can make her simplified coq au vin, you can make Daniel Boulud’s, even though his contains a dozen more ingredients than hers.
