Cooking Cheats

8 clever tips and tricks to help you save time and effort in the kitchen.

• Hate the chore of chopping onions and carrots for sauces? Grate them instead and they will cook at twice the speed.

• Keep a 200-gram tub of cream cheese in the fridge and a jar of Thai sweet chili sauce in the pantry. When unexpected guests drop by, you're only a minute away from making a speedy dip to serve with breadsticks or vegetable sticks. 

          To make: Mix the whole tub of cream cheese with 3 tablespoon of sweet chili sauce, add 

           lime juice to taste, pile into a bowl, and serve.

• To save reaching for the flour, salt, and pepper every time you need to dust meat or fish before pan-frying it, make a batch of seasoned flour in advance and keep in a sealed jar, topping it up whenever it runs out. 

          To make: just mix together about 3/4 cup plain flour with 2 teaspoons salt and 1 

           teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. 

           For an easy way to dust meat, pop a spoonful or two of the seasoned flour into a plastic 

           bag, add the meat, hold the bag closed, then shake it around for 10 seconds or so to coat 

           the meat throughly.

• No time to simmer a homemade tomato sauce for ages to develop the flavor? Pack in more taste with a combination of fresh and dry herbs (more punchy), plus a splash of good balsamic vinegar to help mimic the deep, rounded sweetness of long, slow cooking.

• For a speedy way to enhance the taste of soups, casseroles, or pasta dishes, freeze leftover pesto, red and white wine, and lemon juice in separate ice cube trays. Once the cubes are frozen, pop out and store in sealed, labeled plastic bags in the freezer for up to 3 months. Then all you need to do is drop a frozen cube into whatever you're cooking for an instant injection of flavor.

• Want to cook like an Italian? When you get down to the dried knobbly rind of a piece of Parmesan cheese, don't throw it away - put it in a plastic bag, then freeze it to add to soups and risottos. The remaining cheese will melt into the dish and impart its magical flavor. Don't forget to discard what's left of the rind just before serving.

• For a quick salad dressing that packs a punch, mash crumbled blue cheese into a mix of natural yogurt and mayonnaise, then add water to thin it down.

•  And finally... It isn't exactly a cheat, but it's guaranteed to save you time: Do as the professionals do and assemble your ingredients and equipment before you start cooking. Try it and see what difference it makes.