Fast cooking tips Washington DC

Chef Caitie Barker asked the group of students gathered in the Housing Commons at Springfield’s University of Illinois if any of them cook.

Charles Olivier, 18, a freshman from Chicago, piped up.

“I’ve been known to make a mean pizza,” he boasted.

“A frozen pizza?” Barker said.

“Yeah,” said Olivier softly, causing a ripple of laughter among the other students.

Barker was at the school during the opening week of the academic year to demonstrate gourmet cooking in a microwave, one of several activities offered by the university to help students adjust to campus life.

Wearing a black chef’s jacket and jeans, Barker, 22, created a full meal in four microwaves in less than an hour. Her menu was corn chowder with roasted red pepper and avocado relish, beef paprika over polenta, steamed broccoli florets with toasted-pecan dressing and an almond cheesecake with chocolate-covered strawberries. (Barker made the cheesecake the night before because it needed to cool.)

“When you prepare a meal, always start with the thing that will take the longest,” Barker told the group, made up largely of admitted non-cooks. The former chef at La Sorella restaurant said she finds the best microwave recipes at the Web site www.goodnuke.com.

“Pretty much all of the recipes work,” she said.

Other cooking advice she shared:

- Roasted red peppers in a jar cost less in the olive aisle of the supermarket than when they are sold in the produce section.

- To stop avocados, bananas and other cut produce from browning, toss the cut pieces with lemon-lime soda. It has the same acidic effect as lemon juice, but without the strong flavor.

- Before adding nuts to a dish, cook them on a paper plate in the microwave for about a minute. It toasts them and enhances the flavor.

- Put a half-teaspoon of honey in homemade salsa to cut tartness. It will provide balance without a sweet taste.

- Softening diced onions and peppers in the microwave eliminates the need for butter or oil used to soften them in a skillet.

- After removing a hot bowl from the microwave, use a platter as a lid to keep the food warm for about 30 minutes.

- Instead of mashed potatoes, polenta makes a good “soaker-upper” for juicy dishes.

After Barker was done cooking, she invited the students to sample the dishes. Some returned for seconds and thirds.

“Don’t underestimate the power of a microwave,” she told them.

State Journal-Register food editor Kathryn Rem can be reached at 788-1520 or kathryn.rem@sj-r.com.