Camilla's Catering

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Arlington caterer shares the book on quick and easy home cooking By Terry Lee Goodrich Star-Telegram Staff Writer
	At age 2, Camilla Koenigseder's culinary secret was to toss lantana blossoms into her mud soup. "Does that say I had a future in cooking? I think so," Koenigseder, now 52, says with a laugh. These days, Koenigseder owns Camilla's Catering in Arlington, which frequently caters Northeast Tarrant County events, often serving up to 150 people. Nobody knows better than a caterer how to cook quickly without sacrificing flavor, she said.
So she decided to serve up some of her fast and simple secrets in a self-published cookbook. The result is Cook Smart: Camilla's Catering Secrets for Home Cooks ($24.95). Koenigseder, the second of four children said she was "raised cooking," with plenty of practical instruction from her mother. From the beginning, the Los Angeles native graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, worked at the Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley and 20 years ago came to Texas and started her catering business. She has done a dinner for Bedford Historical Society, a 20th anniversary meal for Colleyville Woman's Club and a dinner for the Wine Society of Texas in Colleyville. Her book includes quick recipes such as express chile rellenos; simplified, low-fat dishes such as dilled beef stroganoff; and strategies to solve common cooking problems, such as lumpy gravy. Joyce Marshall, a Tarrant County extension agent for family and consumer science, said that more people might be motivated to cook if they get quick and easy tips. "Few people have time to do it from scratch, so we're always looking for tips," she said. "A lot of the ones we give in food demonstrations are low-fat and low-sodium; removing skin from poultry, using nonfat yogurt or nonfat sour cream in recipes that call for yogurt or sour cream, or adding cilantro, onions, or garlic instead of bacon or salt pork to things like black-eyed peas." Bedford resident Linda Devlin, a BeautiControl unit director, said she likes Koenigseder's book because every recipe states whether the dish can be frozen and whether that will hinder the flavor. Here are a few of Koenigseder's hints: Make garlic puree for recipes that call for garlic. It's easier and more pleasant than peeling garlic, and it's tastier than garlic powder, she said. For the puree, buy peeled garlic cloves in a jar ("They come that way now"), puree a cup of them with 1 1/2 cups of canola oil, place the mixture in small containers and freeze. When needed, chip off the appropriate amount. "It only takes a few minutes to thaw," she said. To "de-stale" chips or crackers, pop them in a microwave for a minute or two, with the bag or box open a few inches. "That will crisp them right up and perk up the flavor," Koenigseder said. If buying crackers and chips in quantity, freeze the extras to keep them fresh. Rice flour may be substituted for wheat flour in recipes in which baked goods don't need to rise. "It's also easier to whisk in later to a sauce that's hot, because it doesn't tend to clump," she said. To keep sour cream or yogurt sauces from curdling during cooking, add a blended mix of 2 tablespoons of flour and 1/2 cup of water before heating. Chocolate-covered strawberries needn't be an expensive, difficult-to-prepare delicacy. "Just use chocolate chips, nuke (microwave) them with water in a bowl and dip the strawberries," she said. Be sure to wash fruit and give it a few hours to dry, because chocolate doesn't cling to wet fruit, she said.