On becoming a better cook

People assume that because I am Italian, I must be a great cook.

Although this has not always been the case, my skills in the kitchen had improved considerably in the last few years thanks to (a) becoming vegetarian, (b) buying my own home, and (c) tips from Jamie Oliver.

Before moving to the Plateau, I lived in an apartment located in a quaint (but remote) residential area wedged between NDG and Lachine. This alone gave me every reason in the world not to cook.

1) Recipes are generally dosed out for four portions. As any person who lives alone can tell you, making a standard recipe is condemning yourself to a week of the same dish. At least if I had friends to share the food with, I might have been more enthusiastic, but...

2) Since none of my friends lived in the neighbourhood and found travelling there a great inconvenience, I rarely had visitors. It was far easier - and more pleasant - to drive out and meet them in a restaurant.

So then I moved. And become a vegetarian.

Now that I had a fabulous new home, in close range to many friends, I want to lure them to my home with promises of homemade pizza dough or asparagus lemon mint risotto, so a 4-portion recipe no longer seems daunting. If you cook it, they will come.

Even though I was initially worried that becoming a vegetarian would limit my range, it forced me to become more creative. In fact, it made me a more mindful cook. Instead of grilling a slab of chicken and covering it with a layer of salt, I now had to find new ways to make broccoli tasty. Even tofu (it turns out) is quite tasty if you know how to season it right.

So I've been experimenting and researching, and learning how to improvise, and the results are increasingly exciting. I am more attentive to the food I eat, my mind remembering which flavours blend well together and my tastebuds recording reactions for later reference.

The following list contains the discoveries that have helped me most in my journey to being a better cook. Perhaps readers might be so kind as to add some discoveries of their own.

• Fresh coriander. Adds a fresh flavour to food that it's blander cousin parsley cannot provide.
• Use red, orange or yellow pepper instead of green. The price per pound is fairly inexpensive if you shop in fruiteries and you don't need to use a lot to add some serious flavour to your food.
• Lemons and limes. A squish of lemon or lime juice - even the zest - adds a freshness to salads, marinades and sauces that lifts the flavour instantly.
• Marinades. Stop rolling your eyes - marinades are not hard to make. If you can make a simple salad dressing, then you can make a marinade for vegetables, tofu or meat. I quickly got tired of eating steamed vegetables with salt, so I started playing around with marinades. I make a simple marinade for veggies (before tossing them on the BBQ) which consists of garlic, coriander, fresh ginger, sesame oil, lime juice, and salt. Squisito!

Now, of course, I'm hungry.