When it comes to human beings and their long history of cooking, the griddle is one of the oldest items of cookware that we have ever had. In the old days, it was little more than a flat rock suspended on two other rocks over an open fire. Once it heated up sufficiently, food was cooked on it.

These days, the equivalent of the griddle isn't made of stone - they are typically fashioned from cast iron or another metal. The griddle plan is defined by most cooks and kitchen experts as a shallow pan that is used on a stove top to either bake or fry food, be it fish or potatoes or steak or kale.

What separates the griddle from the griddle pan? The latter has slightly higher side, allowing for a degree of stirring not present in straightforward griddles.

But fancy definitions aside, if you are serious about cooking and kitchens, then you can't afford not to have both a griddle and griddle pan somewhere in the pantry! Without it, you are going to find that plenty of recipes - home fries, scrambled eggs, chicken fried steak - just aren't going to come off as well as you want them to.

Griddle pans come in many different sizes and shapes. There are those that are perfectly round and others that are rectangular or square. You can even find them in the shape of an oval! There are griddle pans large enough to fit two different stove top burners, while others simply sit on one.

Griddle pan surfaces also own some slight variation. Some have smooth surfaces - ideal for frying eggs, for example. Others have grooved exteriors that can lend your chicken breast those all-important grill lines. Or the grooves can catch the grease and fat dripping from cooked meats.

You are not limited to griddles and griddle pans that have to be used on a stove - you can buy variations that are designed to be plugged into an outlet and used that way.

Why are they so important to your kitchen? Simply because of the incredible variety that they offer you. You can cook just about anything on a few griddles - pan cakes, griddle cakes, home fries, eggs of all stripes, crepes, poultry breasts, French toast and so forth.

What good cook would deny themselves that kind of range?

Perhaps the most popular benefit to the griddle is that you can cook more food in a quicker time. In other words, where a traditional pan might only yield three or four slices of French toast, you might be able to cook as many as ten on a good griddle. This is ideal if you are a family chef and have lots of hungry mouths to feed at one time.

Think about it. Getting yourself a good griddle and accompanying griddle pan will only expand your ability to turn your kitchen into a haven of delicious food - why not go for it?

You'll bring loads of flexibility to your kitchen and cooking when you add a good griddle and griddle pan. All the hungry mouths that you feed will thank you.

Ingredients

Main

125ml olive oil

900g skinless chicken breast

Fillets, halved horizontally

6 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tablespoons chopped

Fresh oregano

2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

3 large onions, sliced

450g courgettes, sliced

450g aubergines, thinly sliced

675g puff pastry

3 beefsteak tomatoes, peeled, quartered and seeded

1 egg, beaten

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the sauce

50g butter

2 teaspoons plain flour

450ml double cream

125ml horseradish sauce

125ml white wine

" Preheat the oven to 220°C. Grease a large baking tray with butter or ghee.

" Heat 4 tablespoons of the oil in a large frying pan, add half the chicken and sprinkle with half the garlic and herbs. Season lightly. Saute the chicken on both sides to seal and remove with a slotted spoon.

Saute the remaining chicken, garlic and herbs. Remove from the pan.

"Add the onions to the pan. Saute gently for 5 minutes. Add the courgettes and aubergines, and saute for a further 5 minutes, adding more oil if needed. Allow to cool.

" On a floured work surface, roll out a third of the pastry into a 40 x 20cm/16 x 8in rectangle. Place on the baking tray. Lay half the chicken to within 2.5cm/1in of the pastry edges, cover with half the vegetables, then arrange half the tomatoes over the top. Repeat the layering to use all the ingredients. Brush the pastry edges with some of the beaten egg.

" Thinly roll half the remaining pastry to a rectangle. Cut diagonally into strips and lay over the filling, leaving a gap between the strips. Press the ends to seal. Brush with beaten egg. Roll out the remaining pastry, cut strips and lay them over the pie in a lattice pattern. Press the edges of the pastry firmly together to seal; trim off the excess with a knife. Brush with beaten egg.

" Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 180°C and bake for a further 40 minutes until risen and golden.

" To make the sauce, melt the butter in a small pan and blend in the flour. Cook for 1 minute, stirring. Remove from the heat and stir in the cream and horseradish. Return to the heat and cook, stirring, until thickened, then add the wine. Serve hot with the pie.

Eat Well, Stay Fit and Healthy

One of the easiest ways to bake salmon is to pan fry it briefly before putting it in the oven. Baked salmon receipes cooked this way are quick and easy. An easy baked salmon recipe just right for a mid week supper after work or as part of a dinner with friends. Try this baked salmon fillet recipe served with an unusual red wine sauce.

Ingredients - serves 6

6 x 150g/5oz Salmon Fillets, skin on 2 finely diced shallots 450ml/14floz full bodied red wine such as a Bordeaux 250g/8oz unsalted butter, diced Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper Olive oil
Method

Prepare the Red Wine sauce first.

Pour the wine into a pan with the diced shallots. Bring to the boil and reduce until you have about 3 tablespoons.

Turn the heat down to low and whisk in the diced butter until it becomes emulsified with the red wine reduction, don' let it boil. Season with salt to taste and take off the heat.

The sauce can be reheated gently when needed.

The Salmon

Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7.

Heat a large non-stick frying pan with an ovenproof handle over a high heat.

Cut 3 diagonal slashes into the skin of each salmon fillet, brush with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Place the salmon skin side down in the frying pan and sear for 3 or 4 minutes. When golden brown, turn over and quickly cook for 30 seconds. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for about 6 minutes or until done to your liking. Try not to overcook the baked salmon or it will be dry and tasteless.

Serve the salmon skin side up with the warm red wine sauce poured around it and a simple salad or steamed French beans on the side.

And there you have it, a healthy, quick, easy baked salmon dish with very little washing up - my kind of cooking.

In a traditional Italian menu, pasta is never the main course of a meal. A pasta dish is served as primi piatti (1st course) and will be followed by a secondi piatti (second course), which can be meat or fish accompanied by some side dish such as vegetables. Sometimes, when a go to a good Italian restaurant, I try to eat in the traditional Italian way. So, I order some pasta as first course and then some meat or fish. The problem is that after I eat my pasta dish I'm already full and I cannot eat more fish or meat. For me, pasta dishes make a great complete meal, specially if prepared with some meat, chicken or seafood. Actually the great advantage of a pasta dish is: it can be quickly and easily prepared and you have a complete meal. Not to forget the uncountable variations of pasta recipes that there are available.

I personally love the combination of pasta and seafood, specially shrimp pasta dishes. Fortunately my family loves them too, because I prepare shrimp pasta recipes again and again. A very important thing that should be paid attention when preparing any dish with shrimps is not to overcook them. The simple rule is - once the shrimps turn red, they are ready.

Below, I've put together some shrimp pasta recipes that I've already tested and approved. I hope you like them too.

Shrimp Linguine Alfredo

Ingredients:

40 small shrimps, peeled and deveined
1 (12 ounce) package linguine pasta
1/4 cup butter, melted
4 tablespoons diced onion
4 teaspoons minced garlic
1 cup half-and-half
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
4 sprigs fresh parsley
4 slices lemon, for garnish

Directions:

Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente. Drain. Meanwhile, melt butter in a large saucepan. Saute onion and garlic over medium heat until tender. Add shrimp and saute over high heat for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in half-and-half. Cook, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens. Place pasta in a serving dish, and cover with shrimp sauce. Sprinkle with black pepper and Parmesan cheese. Garnish with parsley and lemon slices.

Shrimps with Stir-Fried Noodles

Ingredients:

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
12 ounces Chinese noodle
2 green onions, cut in 2 cm pieces
1 clove garlic, finely minced
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons rice wine
8 ounces frozen green peas
1 red chili, chopped
Salt and Cayenne pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook noodle as directed on package. Drain, rinse in cold water, add a few drops oil and mix to keep from sticking. Set aside. Heat the oil in a Wok. Add shrimps, green onions, and garlic; cook and stir until shrimps turn red. Add green peas and stir for 1 minute. Stir in rice wine and soy sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 2 minutes more, stirring constantly. Add noodle, stir well and cook for 2 minutes. Sprinkle the noodles with the chopped red chili. Serve immediately.

Shrimp Spaghetti with Arugula and Basil

Ingredients:

9 ounce Spaghetti
7 ounce medium shrimps peeled and deveined
11 ounce cherry tomatoes, make a cut but not so deep enough to separate it into halves
5 large cloves garlic, sliced
4 tablespoons olive oil
5 ounce arugula
1 ounce fresh basil leaves
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling lightly salted water until al dente. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan, stir in garlic for 2 minutes, add shrimps, salt and cook them for 3 to 5 minutes or until they turn red. Remove with a slotted spoon and and set aside. Leave the garlic in the frying pan. Add in the same frying pan the cherry tomatoes and cook them, stirring frequently until they get soft and a little bit sauce is formed (but the tomatoes should not melt completely). Add the shrimp, stirring for 1 minute. Reduce heat, add arugula and basil, stir quickly. Remove from heat. Drain pasta and mix with the sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Enjoy your meal!

Years ago, a friend of mine planned to move from one job to another because she didn't feel valued in the one she had. Since I was afraid she hadn't dealt with the reason she'd attracted the original job and feeling of being mistreated, I wondered if changing jobs was a good idea. She asserted that her new boss would recognize her worth. A few months later, she was complaining how her new boss treated her worse than her old one.

When we don't deal with the underlying, emotional cause that attracted a difficult situation into our lives, then we'll get to experience it again. There's an old saying "Those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it." We can escape one challenging life experience just to find that we've jumped into one that's even more difficult. As long as we continue to run away from the feelings and conditions which brings these events into our lives, we'll attract worse ones.

12-Step programs recognize this. If the partner of an alcoholic runs away from the relationship without doing any inner work, generally they'll wind up in a relationship with another alcoholic. This is because they haven't dealt with the original issues that attracted them to the first alcoholic. The idea holds true for any association. Someone who ends a suffocating relationship without realizing why they were with that person in the first place very likely will attract someone similar.

I don't advocate anyone stay in an abusive relationship or situation until the lesson is learned. Having the courage to leave and recognizing your own worth may be part of the lesson. But if a person moves from one abusive relationship to another, this sets up a pattern. Inner work needs to be done, once they're in a safe place, to address the emotional, mental cause.

The Universe keeps bringing the issue to our attention. If we ignore it, or try to run away, the issue will pick up steam. It grows on the energy we use to attempt to escape it. The more we avoid dealing with the underlying thought, the more power we give it. A person who hates to deal with authority will continue to do so until they understand and release their original cause of the hatred. They'll have power-hungry bosses, they might experience more than the usual number of encounters with the police, or they might have trouble with their landlord. The emotions they hold about the issue keep attracting it to them. And it won't go away until they resolve it.

There have to be changes in belief, attitude and behavior before the condition will be released. For instance, the person who hates authority would meditate on the reasons why they hate authority. Did they experience someone who abused power in the past? If so, what idea did they accept about authority and power? Do they feel like the authority figure is trying to control them? If they feel disempowered, they can remember that they own their power, and they must decide whether to keep it or give it away. Suppose someone used authority to hurt them in their childhood, and the only way they survived was to resist. They can now understand that they don't have to do that now to survive. The solution to a problem is to figure out how they 'feel' about the situation and find a way to think differently about it.

Once a person can make the changes in belief and attitude, changes in behavior generally happen automatically. To help change the behavior, a person can decide how they want to respond in a situation and mentally rehearse new actions. Using self-hypnosis to re-train old patterns would make the change much quicker. In self-hypnosis or meditation, imagine the situation with the new responses.

For the friend who changed jobs, she had to learn how to say "no" and value herself. She practiced it in her mind before she actually expressed it verbally. Eventually, she got a job with a boss she really liked, who treated her as a partner, and encouraged her to open her own business. As she found out, when the original issue has been resolved, miracles can happen.

Cod is a fish that is often unduly ignored. Fish connoisseurs prefer more exotic, more fragrant tasting fish such as salmon or even the arrestingly salty flavored anchovy. But cod is an extremely excellent source of protein as it is quite low in fat and is packed with minerals and vitamins that do a body good. It also has a mild taste and dense white flesh which makes it quite versatile in culinary terms. There is a wide range of ways of cooking cod. Recipes run the gamut from frying, baking, poaching, and grilling to sautéing and deep frying.

First though before we get to the recipes, here are some things to keep in mind when cooking cod. Cod is really quite easy to prepare and cook. As it is lean, without much fat content, it does cook quickly, so you do have to be careful not to overcook it.  Think about 8-10 minutes of cooking time per every inch of thickness. Set the oven to no hotter than 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 160 degrees Celsius, or gas mark 3. Cod is done when it starts to flake.

One of the easiest ways of cooking cod is to bake it. Take a cod fillet and season it with lemon, salt and pepper, and some butter. Wrap it in foil and place it in the oven. Serve with lemon and a side of green salad and rice.

Another quick and easy way of cooking cod is to dredge a cod fillet in flour and season with salt and pepper. Cook the fish in a frying pan with some olive oil. The fish is done when it is no longer translucid. Serve with a sprig of parsley and some lemon.

This next cod recipe is a little more complicated, but well worth the preparation time. You will need two eggs, flour (about 1 cup), a tablespoon baking powder, 10 oz beer, 4 cod fillets and some salt. Mix all the ingredients minus the fillets in a medium sized bowl. Add paprika, salt, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, black pepper, dried oregano and thyme into the mix and blend thoroughly. Dip the cod in the batter, letting the excess drip off.  Fry the battered cod fillets in a deep fryer or Dutch oven. Once both sides are crisp and golden brown, transfer the fillet onto a paper towel to absorb the excess oil. Season with salt.

When buying shellfish, it is important to make sure that you are getting your supply from a quality, uncontaminated source-and nothing could leave a person calmer in this sense than knowing that they are getting their shellfish from Alaska, whose pristine waters are a haven for quality, clean, sustainable seafood.  Not only are the activities of the seafood industry highly regulated, with some of the most highly acclaimed sustainability and eco-friendliness initiatives being overseen by local, state and federal regulators, but furthermore the size and quality of the seafood coming out of Alaska is unsurpassed.  Take prawns, for example: practically no other prawns in the world can compare to the impressive dimensions-as well as craved flavor-of the Alaskan prawn.  In honor of this highly sought-after specimen of the deeps of the sea, let's take a look at a few recipes for prawns...

First, know that prawns are an incredibly versatile ingredient, and you can do pretty much anything with them.  They can be served up whole with the head and shell on, they can be peeled and deveined, they can be butterflied, they can be cut into tiny chunks...you get the picture.  Furthermore, they can be baked, they can be fried, they can be poached, steamed, boiled, they can be grilled or broiled.  Hence, when cooking prawns, the cooking method is not necessarily the decisive factor (since they can turn out perfectly no matter which cooking method is used), but is rather the condimenting of the prawns and the knowledge of how long to cook them.  These are the most important aspects of all recipes for prawns.

To start, a classic preparation: simply take whole, shell-on Alaskan prawns (perhaps cut the head off, no more) and let them boil in a pot of water with a few generous shakes of Old Bay seasoning for about two to three minutes at a medium boil (not roiling), and finally serve up with a pot of cocktail sauce, or melted (and clarified) butter with lemon wedges-a spectacular success at any finger-food event.

The next idea: marinade as many peeled and deveined prawns as desired in a sauce created with extra virgin olive oil, garlic cloves, rosemary, chili sauce, teriyaki sauce, ginger root, and a splash of bourbon (simply add all these ingredients in a blender and process for a few seconds).  Allow the marinade several hours to kick in, and then put the prawns on grill skewers, and cook for about two minutes on each side.