Okay, this is the most recent Recipe Thread

[glatt]

That's cool! What is the flavor like?

[BigV]

Originally Posted by glatt

That's cool! What is the flavor like?

salt, pepper, butter, garlic, sour cream, bacon, cheddar, what-have-you...

[orthodoc]

Nice! I'll have to try that - looking for potato substitutes.

Off to make stuffing right now. Today will be a multiple-coffee day; my 6:00 am alarm went before I got to bed this morning. I feel like I'm back at college, pulling all-nighters. Yikes.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by glatt

That's cool! What is the flavor like?

It's very mildly celery-ish, like if someone had boiled a bunch of celery in the same water the potatoes were boiled in. More a smell than a taste. Salt and other seasonings hide it completely for me, but I don't have a very refined palate, so maybe others will still be able to taste it.

[glatt]

I'd love to try it if someone put it in front of me.

[Clodfobble]

Update: both the kids absolutely hated the texture of the mashed celeriac. Minifobette actually gagged on it, and this is the child who will eat anything I put in front of her. One of my relatives told her, "but it's just like mashed potatoes!" and I had to tell them that I think she's never actually had mashed potatoes in her life.

Anyway, it's still great for fries. But it looks like I have a lot of mashed leftovers I'll be eating.

[orthodoc]

This is the recipe I promised to Ali. I thought I'd share it in general because it's super-easy and it's delicious. At least, we think so.

Frozen Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Chocolate cookie-crumb crust (I used to make it with Nabisco chocolate wafer cookies but can't find them anymore; now I buy two pre-made Oreo cookie crusts, take them out of their pans and crumble them up, and add a little melted butter so that they'll stick together and not crumble too much once the cake is cold.)

If you can find those dark chocolate wafer cookies, the crust recipe is:
1 1/4 cups chocolate wafer cookie crumbs (about 24 wafers, crushed)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted

2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened
1 cup finely crushed peppermint candy


1. Spread the chocolate cookie crumb crust in an 8 or 9" springform pan and press onto bottom and slightly up the sides of the pan.
2. Beat the softened cream cheese (leave it out on the counter for about an hour) until fluffy.
3. Slowly beat in the sweetened condensed milk.
4. Whirl the peppermint candy in a food processor or strong blender until most of it is almost powder and a few small to medium pieces remain. Set aside the larger pieces, which always migrate to the top. You don't want big chunks that will crack someone's tooth. The peppermint candy can also be crushed with a rolling pin, which is time-consuming and noisy but can be done. This year I found pre-crushed peppermint hard candy for the first time and only had to whirl it in my Vita-Mix for a few seconds to get the consistency I wanted. Heaven!
5. Stir the cup of peppermint candy into the cheese/milk mix.
6. Beat the 2 cups whipping cream until it forms stiff peaks.
7. Gently fold in the whipped cream.
8. Pour into the springform pan. Sprinkle the top with the larger bits of candy. Freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Here's a photo of what it looks like when done:

[Urbane Guerrilla]

A comfort-food apotheosis, this one.

From Cal Hancock, of Hancock Gourmet Lobster Company.

Time: About one hour. Four quart Casserole dish.

You need 1 1/4 sticks butter for everything.

The Pasta:
1 lb shells, macaroni, small shaped pasta
8 TBSP salted butter, divided -- one quarter of butter
1 sm yellow onion, diced
1 clove garlic
5 TBSP allpurpose flour
2 C light cream
2 C gruyere cheese, shredded -- with
3 C cheddar cheese, also shredded
1/2 C grated Romano cheese
salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste
8 oz cooked lobster meat, cut bite size (about 2 1.5lb lobsters' worth)

The Topping:
2 TBSP salted butter
3/4 C panko
1 tsp chopped fresh parsley

Doing It:
1. Cook the Pasta per directions, cool in colander with cold water
2. Preheat oven 350 F.
3. In medium saucepan, melt 3 TBSP Butter over medium heat. Stir in Onion and Garlic, cooking until onion is translucent, about 5 min, transfer to sm dish
4. Melt remaining 5 TBSP Butter in that saucepan. Whisk in Flour, stir until mixture is light golden brown and glossy, 8-10 min. Gradually whisk in Cream into the mixture; increase heat to med-high, bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to med-low, continuing to stir until mixture is thick, creamy and smooth, about 10-15 min.
5. Add Onion-Garlic mixture back in, and add all three Cheeses, stirring until mixture is creamy smooth with the cheeses melted in. Season to taste w/Salt & Pepper. Gently stir in Lobster and reserved Pasta. Pour into 4qt casserole, smooth the top if needed.
6. The Topping: in sm saucepan over med heat melt the 2 TBSP Butter. Add Panko crumbs and Parsley, cook, stirring, until lightly toasted. Sprinkle over casserole. Bake in the preheated oven until sauce is bubbly and top is golden brown, about 10-12 min. 6 servings.

One of those very rich Mac & Cheeses. Probably just as good with canned crab, or varied with cubed ham in place of lobster.

[BigV]

That looks freaking delicious. Why are you trying to sabotage my nascent resolution to eat better?


Eta: my post was directed to orthodoc, imagine my surprise to see it appear following your mac and cheese devilrey. Fine. It applies equally to that one too.

[orthodoc]

Thanks, V. The peppermint cheesecake recipe is great during the holidays - you can always keep it until Dec. 2014.

[limegreenc]

1 pkg broccoli slaw
1 cup sunflower seeds
2 pkg Mr. Noodle (chicken or vegetable) broken up
1/2 cup chopped green onions
3/4 cup sesame oil
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dried cranberries
seasoning from the soup

Best eaten the next day-mmmmm

[BigV]

You guys are my friends. You've done a lot for me. Now, I'm paying back *all* of it. Here ya go. You're welcome.

*******************

This is a recipe for ice cream. I love ice cream. I remember when I was a kid, I thought that one of the best parts of growing up was that someday, someday, I'd be able to have more than two scoops of ice cream if I wanted to. When you make this recipe, you're gonna realize my childhood dream.

Makes 1 pint

1 1/4 cups (300 milliliters) heavy or double cream, well-chilled
2/3 cup (175 grams) sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
2 tablespoons espresso liqueur

Whisk all the ingredients together just until the whisk leaves trails of soft peaks in the bowl, and you have a gorgeous, caffe-latte-colored airy mixture.
Fill two 500-milliliter or two 1-pint airtight containers, and freeze for 6 hours or overnight. Serve straight from the freezer.

Now for some notes. the 2/3 cup of sweetened condensed milk, just give up. Make a double batch, that's 396 grams of sweetened condensed milk. That's one whole can, super easy. Put an extra splash of heavy whipping cream in there to balance it (AFTER doubling the heavy whipping cream to 2 1/2 cups in proportion to the doubled sweetened condensed milk). I've made this recipe a few times now. By adding all the ingredients together and then whipping it, you get a product that is very, very creamy, with not a lot of air in it. It's much closer to gelato in texture. I've also whipped the heavy cream first then added the other ingredients, this produces a much airier product, still delicious, just lighter in texture. Also it requires much more space in the freezer.

As for the flavoring, go crazy. I've made coffee ice cream, my favorite so far, cookies with fudge swirl, toffee and chocolate. The ice cream base of the cream/milk lends itself to practically anything. When I made the coffee one (described in the attached copied recipe) I didn't have any espresso liquor to add, so I substituted vodka. It worked just fine. I boozed up other batches too, to the tune of four ounces of clear liquor to one double batch.

What makes this a great recipe? It's delicious. It's SUPER EASY. And it's fast. The hardest part of this recipe is waiting for it to freeze. Good luck with that. Like I said, Life is short--Dessert First.

[glatt]

So the only sugar is in the sweetened condensed milk.

Is it a sweet dessert? Or just a coffee flavor?

[BigV]

It is sweet like you expect ice cream to be. All of the sweetness comes from the sweetened condensed milk.

I hope you try it. If you like ice cream, you'll love this recipe. It's delicious, very rich.

[Lola Bunny]

Must try soon. Certainly does sound yummy, although very high in calorie. But low-fat ice cream just doesn't sound very tasty.