Alexander Belkovich: life hacks for the kitchen

Any housewife is ready to entrust her kitchen to him. And all because of the endless charm and burning eyes when Alexander Belkovich talks about cooking. The renowned chef, loved by the audience on the show “MasterChef.Children”, knows about his gift and uses it. Every Saturday in the new program “Pro100 Kitchen”, which starts on April 1 on STS, he will visit his viewers to conduct an audit in their refrigerators. He will tell you how to keep greens and vegetables longer, teach you recipes from products that, it would seem, can be sent to the trash for a long time.

– I teach not to throw money away, – says Alexander.

This is the main heading of the show. Its essence is to prepare an exquisite dish for the whole family no more than 100 rubles per serving.

– People constantly spend a lot of money on food, while eating quite monotonously. If they cook a poultry, they usually just bake it in the oven, says the chef. – And I will teach chicken recipes in Asian, Vietnamese, Indian styles. Moreover, all the ingredients can be bought at any supermarket. I will show you how to cook a large high-level dish for a very modest budget – no more than 100 rubles per serving, and sometimes even for 40-60 rubles.

The savings do not end there: surplus products from the main section are sent to a new dish.

“For example, I soaked too many beans for the soup. In order not to throw it away, I will make a sandwich of beans, – the chef shares his secrets.

Down with the packages!

How to store food so that it does not spoil? When I come from the market, I immediately take out all the vegetables, fruits and herbs from the bags. I put a rag on the bottom of the vegetable box in the refrigerator. So all fruits and vegetables will not go bad for a long time.

Root vegetables – potatoes, onions, carrots, beets – cannot be stored in the refrigerator. But even in packages they will cheer. Therefore, I have a special basket for them, which is well ventilated, preserving the food.

French stew pate

We recently filmed a program in a family that has whole deposits of canned food. As a result, I made a French pate from the stew. I just passed it in a blender, added nuts and dried fruits. The finished pate was served on toast.

There was also a lot of canned tuna in stocks. I made sandwiches out of it. Grind the fish in a blender, add celery, sesame seeds. All this is served on crispy bread. The family was delighted – how I got rid of their canned food.

Pasta in ice cubes

Lightly tainted tomatoes can be sent to Italian pasta or bruschetta. Or prepare tomato paste for future use, and so as not to deteriorate, pack it in bags and put it in the freezer. You can pour the pasta into ice bags and then toss a few cubes into soup, stews, and other dishes.

But throw away rotten cucumbers right away – you can’t do anything with them. The same as with spoiled meat and fish. A rotten smell has appeared – do not experiment with your health, throw away such products.

Express steak

It happens that you buy a very large piece of meat from the market. How to prepare it? Cut the meat into steaks against the grain. Wrap each piece first in parchment paper and then in plastic wrap. So you don’t have to defrost all the meat later for a couple of servings. And the cooking process will be faster. You shouldn’t just wrap meat and other products in a bag – they will freeze and be covered with ice. Parchment sticks tightly, leaving no air – food is also stored in it in a professional kitchen.

The secret of tender meat

I don’t keep track of time in the kitchen. I can do something in a hurry, but sometimes I have to cook for hours. For example, inexpensive but tough meat. To make it soft, I have to put the piece in parchment or foil and bake in the oven for two hours. So you can make a delicate, tasty dish from cheap meat.

Old bread casserole

Dried bread is usually sent to the trash can. Therefore, in one of the episodes of the show, I decided to make a casserole from old bread. Quickly made a sugar and cream caramel sauce. I mixed bread, cream, milk and eggs, and poured it all into a mold made of old stale bread. The people from the film crew were suspicious at first, but then they ate the casserole by both cheeks.

You can make delicious croutons from dried bread. Just add garlic, paprika, dill to them. You can sprinkle ready-made crackers on salads, soups, make breading from them.

Healthy dessert for a child

Not all children are delighted with cottage cheese, although it is very useful. Moreover, in a minute you can make a wonderful dessert from it. For example, curd cream. Beat the cottage cheese with sour cream with a blender. It becomes airy like mousse. We add jam, crumb cookies – everyone will love the cottage cheese in this form!

OUR DOSSIER:

Alexander Belkovich – Chef, restaurant owner, author of the cookbooks “Open Kitchen” and “Russian Cuisine 2.0”, winner of international culinary competitions, one of the hosts of the “MasterChef.Children” show.