If you saw my last column, you should know how to cook rice. Rice can be the basis for any dish, but therein lies the problem: what to cook with it?

Everything is better with butter. Well, the same goes if you add garlic and onions, too.  The combination of the slight sweetness of onions, the pungent spiciness of garlic and creamy buttery goodness is simply delicious.    The only steps necessary are to peel the garlic and onions, cut them into manageable pieces, put the oil in the pan, and sauté.       

What is sautéing? It’s when you put stuff in a frying pan with some oil and cook it. It’s that simple. The oil or butter is used so the ingredients you are sautéing don’t stick and get burnt.

Cut the garlic and onions into smaller pieces so they cook evenly in the pan. The intricacies of knife technique can’t be explained in this article, but anybody can cut vegetables. It may not be perfect your first time, but you’ll get better at it. Just make sure it’s the onions and garlic you cut, and not your fingers.

You don’t need much oil to sauté. Two tablespoons should be the right amount. Butter burns quickly, so keep the stove on medium heat and don’t let it sit for long. Oil burns less easily, so if you have problems keeping track of things, use olive oil. If you see a little smoke coming from the pan, the heat is too high.

Stir the onions and garlic a few times to prevent burning. Don’t stir with metal if you have a Teflon pan. Cook the onions and garlic for about one minute before adding something.

Any piece of chicken will taste good with this mix and should be cooked until you can cut into the meat and not see any pink. The same goes for pork.

Beef steaks can be slightly pink in the middle if you prefer, and will take a little longer to cook depending on how thick they are.

Everyone should take advantage of the affordable of shrimp in New Orleans. They cook quickly, are healthy and taste delicious. They turn that familiar orange color that cocktail shrimp have when they are done cooking. Fish cooks the fastest and tastes great if you add a little lemon juice to the mix. Anything you add should be done before the onions turn to brown mush. Cooking is trial and error, so it might take a few times until you get the timing just right.

If this seems too much to handle, don’t overthink it. Just remember the order: peel, chop, oil and cook. If you want some hands on help with any of this, just contact me. I’m always down to hang out with new people and cook.

Christoph Dorneman is one of Loyola’s Sunday Cooks he can be reached at [email protected]

A film like “Burlesque” is hard to recommend. If you like the clichés of the musical genre such as contrived story lines, excessively elaborate costumes and the occasional burst into song, then this film is for you. It takes the tried-and-true plot of a country girl (Christina Aguilera) trying to make it as a singer/dancer in the big city with the help of a weatherworn vet (Cher). If you don’t like musicals, this film isn’t for you. The Blu-ray/DVD combo features an additional six full-musical performances, tons of featurettes and looks great on TV. C

Looking for the perfect DVD for little viewers? Check out the fun adventures of Sesame Street’s (arguably) most adorable puppet in “Elmo’s World: Penguins and Friends.” The disc includes three episodes focusing on various animals that your young children, nieces, nephews or siblings will love. B+

The winner of the Best Documentary Academy Award, filmmaker Charles Ferguson’s blistering expose on the world’s financial crisis, “Inside Job,” arrives with a bang in an information-loaded DVD. The film (narrated by Matt Damon) describes the spectacular rise and cataclysmic fall of deregulation in the United States that lead to the current economic situation. The DVD contains an illuminating filmmaker commentary and making-of feature. A

Cut the garlic and onions into smaller pieces

Add 2 tbsp of oil

Stir in the onions and garlic a few times to prevent burning

Add the meat of your choice