BN Cuisine With Chef Fregz: Helpline! Dial-A-Chef

Salut a Tous!

Friday is here again… Thank God is Friday right?! I had an interesting week and I hope you did too! Today’s post is supposed to help your weekend better with regards to your kitchen.I’d like to say a special  Thank You for your rave reviews of the suya sandwich. If you haven’t tried it, don’t worry. On the 30th of September, the Suya Sandwich Configuration will be headlining at the Chef Fregz Special. Yeap! It’s here again.It’s at the GET Arena in Lekki and it starts at noon so make sure you come early. It’s also the last one for the year  so y’all HAVE to be there!
Moving on to today’s post. You know I promised to answer questions sent in by you… and thankfully some of you mailed me. And to those who have asked to be my assistants and apprentices don’t worry, I’m going to take up your offers really soon because this Chef is getting really overwhelmed with work. But we thank God.

 We’ll take the questions one at a time. Some of the questions ran along the same lines so the responses ended up being the same. So, please don’t think I didn’t answer you personally.

This one is from Titi

“Hi Chef Fregz,
You write such an amazing column on BN Great Job!
However, I have a question how do you cook Couscous. I see it in the stores but never have a clue how to cook it. It spends forever in my pantry and gets tossed out. The one time I tried it, it was like eba and I know thats not how its meant to be.
Please help!
Many Thanks
Titi”

Don’t worry Titi. You’re not alone. This is a classic problem but Couscous is quite easy to make. All you need to do is:
1. Have boiling chicken stock or salted boiling water
2. Pour over the couscous till it an inch over it and cover with cling-flim or a fitting cover.
3. Leave to sit for a minute
4. Get some butter or garlic oil (you can use normal oil) add to the couscous that has absorbed all the liquid and break up with a fork.
5. At this stage, it’s ready to eat but let me tell you an extra tip. You can add some chopped herbs or vegetables and even stirf-fry it like you’re making fried rice.
6. Remember, you can use some couscous in breading for deep frying for extra crunch
I hope I have helped you, Titi.

This one is from Ore

Hello Chef!
How do i preserve fresh herbs for longer? I read your rosemary post and bought some but it went bad in a couple of days.Any suggestions?
Thanks Oreoluwa

Okay Ore, here’s the trick…

1. Wrap the herbs in newspaper and for things ilke parsley and celery wrap in foil paper it would keep longer. Sadly our warm climate and not so stable power can cause the herbs to wither fast but these tips would keep them much longer still. Good luck!

This third one is from Andre

Hello Sir,
I’m a bachelor. I live by myself and I want to start cooking more but I rarely have the time and want to eat real food fast! Most of the time, I find myself either eating out or having too much noodles. Do you have any suggestions as to how I can make real food in real time?
Thank you Chef

Ok Andre here are my suggestions.

1. I recommend first you plan better. Take a few minutes at work and write what you want to be eating
2. For simple things like stew and soup that can freeze well, pick a weekend where you cook all these down and divide into small bowls and take as you need.
3. Boil a batch of rice that can last up to a week. Boil and cool it by rinsing in cold water allow to drain well and divide in small bowls or Ziploc bags and freeze and use as you like. In the alternative, you can make couscous which takes more or less seconds to cook.
4. For meat and protein, go to stores like shoprite, goodies and oasis they have butchers that can cut up meat to your specification so all that work is off your hand.
5. Buy pre-packaged pepper mixes like Omo Alata so all that grinding is off your back and it’s just straight to the pot.
6. Have fruits like apples and oranges at all times so you’re eating healthy too.

Andre, I hope this works. Just remember to plan it well!

This last one is from Mirabel

Hello Chef Fregz
I read your column on BN faithfully every Friday! I have one question. Every time I try to grill Chicken Whole it’s usually too dry or underdone and pink… help please I want to have that Julia Child Effect please!!
Thanks!

Ok Mirabel. Thank you for your kind words. Because of people like you, I’ll keep writing. I do hope you try some of the recipes. To answer your question; first I suggest you poke your chicken with a knife randomly all the way through. Place the chicken in the middle of the oven, then you grill/bake breast side down first. half way through cooking be sure to baste the chicken in its roasting juices. Turn the chicken the back side down and cove the top in foil so it steam-bakes keeping the breast soft and succulent.The test to know when it’s done. Take an iron skewer or a knife and pierce into the thickest part of the leg/thigh place at the bottom of your lip it should feel hot like a cup of tea.When it’s ready, wrap in foil to retain its moisture and warmth.
You could roast on some vegetables like carrots and onions for flavour and steam action

I hope everyone found these questions and answers helpful. If you have any questions, or suggestions we can share, please send an email to me: features(at)bellanaija(dot)com. It’s been great answering these questions and I look forward to yours!

Have a flavour-filled weekend.
Ciao!

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Fregz loves to cook! He is a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu Paris Culinary Arts School in France and hosts monthly “Chef Fregz Special” where he whips up a yummy menu with a different theme each time then everyone enjoys a taste. He also caters special events and private dinners. To find out more, visit http://theskinnychefthatcould.wordpress.com/