Summertime: and the cookin’ is easy …

ClubWest

(To view our July/August 2017 issue of ClubWEST online, click here.)

By Jan-Willem Stulp

I don’t know about you but, between you and I, summertime isn’t nearly as relaxing as it could be; partly my own fault, I understand, as I tend to have lots of things on the go, and rarely take enough time to ‘relax’.

I tend to relax when I’m doing things I enjoy. This includes work-ish things, oddly enough. Like cooking.

In my career I have done some pretty intense things which are also enjoyable in their own way; much like winning a game in sports.

The intensity can be a source of leisure enjoyment, even though some ‘leisure’ activities, might not seem leisurely at all!

One of the things that impedes us from enjoying cooking is not having the time or ingredients to create something that is delicious, healthy, satisfying (and impressive….). So I’ve embarked on a little plan to assemble and share some of the things that I have done at our house, after work, which take very little
time and most of them allow for outside cooking, which is that much more enjoyable in my opinion.

Store these little gems away for those times when you just want to grab one or two things from the grocery store, get home and relax, while you cook. I usually leave my ingredients at 5-6 at the most, but I assume that everyone has salt, pepper and oil.

I don’t count those.

(Chef Stulp co-owns, along with his wife Jane, Grand Oak Culinary Market in Vineland.)

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For all the Chef’s recipe suggestions, click here for Club West Online.