Okay, this is the most recent Recipe Thread
Since there didn't seem to be a recipe thread per se, I'll lead off with The Frugal Gourmet's recipe for Bubble-And-Squeak, with some comments. By popular demand among the Cellar's potato fiends...
BUBBLE-AND-SQUEAK
3 unpeeled potatoes, boiled
4 cups cabbage, chopped, blanched
1/2 med yellow onion, peeled, chopped
1 zucchini, grated or julienned
1 carrot, grated or julienned, optional
3 or more slices bacon, browned, chopped; reserve the fat
1/4 cup diced ham or Spam
fresh coarse-ground black pepper, to taste; salt ditto
English-y cheeses to top, optional
Fry the bacon and boil the potatoes, which may be cut up into thirds if you like; blanch the chopped cabbage in the potato water. Mash the potatoes into rough lumps with hands or the bent-wire type of potato masher. Just break them up some, don't reduce them to paste. Add everything else but the reserved bacon fat and stir together in a mixing bowl.
Heat a frying pan of any size that suits; nonstick ones are okay too. Put the bacon fat in the pan and press the potato mixture into the pan after it with a basting spoon or a spatula. Fry the resulting pressed layer of potato mixture until the bottom is golden brown, over medium-low to medium heat. The Froog says half an hour, but this depends on how thick you've loaded the pan. A too-heavy smell of frying potatoes says you're starting to burn it. Loosen it in the pan with the spatula, around the edges and underneath, clap an inverted plate on top of the frying pan and upend the whole thing so the bubble-and-squeak falls out on the plate. Top with a cheese you like, if desired; crumbled, grated, or sliced thin.
* * * *
I've tried things like adding red pepper, Italian seasoning, or minced garlic, and I'm not convinced they do anything for the dish. Seems like garlic should work; curry powder definitely doesn't. I've added mushrooms this time around -- maybe I need more mushrooms. As for Italian seasoning, perhaps the way to go is with some single green herb rather than a mixture. I suppose anything you like with ham might be considered, but the main seasoning it seems to really need is plenty of black pepper. I haven't tried any radical vegetarian revisions, though olive oil would suggest itself as working with the cabbage. I suppose bacon flavor TVP would make it.
The quantities given are really starting points; this stuff can be made by eye and if you've an extra for dinner you can toss in a little more of everything. Four cups of cabbage is about half a cabbage head. Once the ingredients are prepped, this is a mix-and-heat recipe.
BOSTON BAKED BEANS in a CROCKPOT
When my maternal grandfather passed away, he left his baked-bean recipe for posterity. He made his in a very slow oven in a bean pot, topping it off with water if the beans started getting too dry. When I saw it cooked at 250 F, I said to myself, "Aha! Crockpot on high power!" Tried it that way and it worked fine -- don't even have to tend the pot. This is baked beans from scratch, and I haven't bought a can of Boston baked beans in over ten years. Doubles easily.
1 lb dried white beans, Navy or Great Northern
1 tsp baking soda
Water to soak, parboil, and to cover
The night before, soak the dried beans in the water. Then add the baking soda and parboil the beans in the soaking water until the bean skins break when blown on. This isn't terribly long, maybe as little as fifteen minutes. The water will foam up as the parboiling goes on; when the foam reaches the top of the pot you're parboiling in, check the beans by blowing on them. Skim off the foam, leave the beans in the water while you put into the Crock-pot:
1 sm onion
1 to 2 tsp dry mustard
2 TBSP brown sugar, or molasses and sugar to taste
(Grampa Rolie's original recipe included 1 tsp salt, but this DOESN'T need salt with the baking soda being in there already)
1/8 to 1/4 lb salt pork, cut in 1-inch pieces, per pound of dried beans, but no more than 1/4 lb or it goes too greasy. You can really hold back on the amount of salt pork.
All this goes in the bottom of the Crock-pot. Drain the beans and pour them in on the other ingredients. Add the bean water to just barely cover the beans, discarding any remainder. Cook on High for five to six hours. Around five hours, stir the potful well to check doneness and to break up some of the baked beans, thus making the sauce, then continue cooking for a while. Six hours total should really do it, but if it takes longer, it's not a problem. The beans at the top may have dried out a little, but just stir these back into the potful. At this point I check it for taste and usually end up adding some more molasses; I like baked beans rather sweet.
You can cook the beans all night and half the day on Low power, but remember to turn to High when you lift the lid to stir the beans. Don't cook it this long on High unless you really want Boston Baked Refrieds -- interesting, but it's because it's peculiar. Navy beans work well for this recipe, but I think Great Northerns actually have the real baked-bean texture; the Navy beans feel a little different.
Serve with fresh-baked bread, particularly brown bread of any sort.
There's supposed to be a vegetarian/Kosher edition of this dish in the Mediterranean, substituting olive oil for the salt pork. I haven't tried this.
<b>Cheap Lazy But Vaguely Pro-Vegetable College Student In A Burrito</b>
(tonight's dinner.)
- sweet onion
- broccoli
- tortillas (large, cheap, local & fresh, ideally)
- salsa
- refried beans
- cheese (opt.)
Slice onions, crudely chop onions. Leisurely sautee on medium in covered pan with olive oil and <a href="http://www.huyfong.com/frames/fr_sriracha.htm">cocksauce</a> until the broccoli is cooked to taste and the onions are brown. (Add broccoli later if you want it crisper.)
Dump the veggies into a bowl, add olive oil & a tortilla to the pan. Apply sliced/etc cheese, refried beans. Let it cook a while (still on medium-ish), then add the vegetables. Keep an eye on the bottom; ideally, it'll turn a light golden brown and turn crispy. Take it off before it gets too crisp to fold or roll, add salsa, consume.
If you're particularly lazy, try to use only one plate for the vegetable storage and burrito consumption.
I threw some sausage, saurkraut, and dumplings (with a bit of water) in the crock pot, let it cook on high for 4 hours and served it over mashed potatoes. Mmmmmmmmmm.
BOSTON BAKED BEANS in a CROCKPOT
What is the procedure if you are going to use a bean pot?
Oven at 250 degrees, same amount of time, and check the beans every hour or so for drying out. They get too dry, add a little water to barely cover, stir. Everything else is as above.
The crockpot will consume less energy than heating an entire oven, but you can get more out of the oven if you slow-cook some other stuff in there along with the beans. This is good in the winter, as the hot stove will take care of some of the heating of your house, perhaps all of it if your place is well insulated and easy to heat.
LEMON MERINGUE PIE, the condensed milk recipe
There are several ways to make lemon meringue pie. We've never found any others that could match this one. It's my mother's slight modification of the recipe found on cans of condensed milk; over the years she's tweaked it a bit. The secret to a lemon meringue pie that will blow your guests' socks off is the homemade graham cracker crust; storebought graham pie shells just aren't the same. We like the pie pretty tart now that we're all grown up and don't have kid-type sweet tooth any more, so a little more lemon and less sugar will doubtless suit maturer palates. Doubles easily; you can go from a nine-inch pyrex pieplate to a fourteener.
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Graham cracker crust: mix together
3/4 stick of Butter, melted
20 squares Graham Crackers (one of those packages inside the box), crushed to crumbs. Flog 'em up in a food processor or crush with rolling pin between layers of wax paper. Fresh crackers are best.
1/4 cup Sugar (you may be able to reduce this quite a bit, or cut it with Splenda)
Press mixture into 9" pie pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes, cool on rack.
Filling: while pie shell is cooling, mix together, then immediately put in pie shell
1/2 cup Lemon Juice
juice of 1 Lime (optional)
1 tsp Grated Lemon Rind (more if desired)
a little Grated Lime Peel (optional)
1 14oz can Condensed Milk (not evaporated! that's for tea!)
1/4 tsp (heaping) Trader Joe's Trader Darwin's (tm) Vitamin C Crystals (optional. Now the pie is good for you, at about 250% of RDA per slice)
Mix everything but the condensed milk together first. The minute the condensed milk hits the lemon juice it's going to start to set up. Mix together quickly and immediately pour into pie shell. Allow to set while you prepare the meringue. Mom doesn't put the yolks of the separated eggs into the pie filling as the original recipe has it, on the grounds that uncooked egg parts may not be safe and she dislikes the texture; she reserves them for the morrow's scrambled eggs.
Raise oven heat to 425 degrees.
Meringue:
3 Egg Whites
1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
1/4 cup Sugar
pinch of salt
Beat Whites w/Cream of Tartar until stiff peaks form. Beat in Sugar, Salt. Pile onto pie filling, bake at 425 degrees for 5 minutes, until peaks start to brown or meringue is just getting golden. Let cool, refrigerate. Several hours fridgeing is better than just one hour.
This pie doesn't travel very well. At least, the meringue doesn't -- automobile vibrations seem to start breaking the meringue down into a sweet eggy liquid -- a little of this moistening the crumb crust is nice, but a flood of it makes for a sticky mess. Basically, make it where you're going to eat it if at all possible.
Tonight has been a double feature. Starting at around 10:30, I made a batch of <h1>Woo's Blue</h1>
Kingston Spar 42.0
Silica 27.0
Ball Clay 13.0
Whiting 18.0
--
Red Iron Oxide 4.0
Rutile 4.0
Bentonite 2.0
Mix gently (wear a respirator), add <i>to</i> water (oops) & sieve repeatedly, about 9 times.
Mixing 300g plus cleanup took me about 2 hours, so when I got home, I made myself some <h1>Nutritional Yeast on Toast</h1>
- Toast some bread.
- Apply vegan butter of your preference (Soy Garden, Earth Balance, etc)
- Sprinkle with nutritional yeast, pepper (opt), salt (opt)
never said the recipes had to be food. ;)
Same idea, from bottom to top:
Whole grain toast, butter, Vegemite. Vegemite beats its Canadian cousin Marmite.
Delish corn casserole dish I'm making for T/giving dinner:
(Not for dieters)
1 can (15 0z) creamed corn
1 can (15 0z) whole kernal corn, drained
1 cup buttermilk
1 stick melted butter
2 eggs, whipped
1 package JiffyBrand corn muffin mix
Spray 2Qt casserole dish with non-stick spray
Mix all ingredients together
Pour into casserole
Bake, uncovered, 350X45 min. to an hour
I cook for an hour--I like it brown and crispy.
Amazingly easy and really :yum:
Do any of the Brits hereabouts have a really good recipe for Bubble and Squeak?
Delish corn casserole dish I'm making for T/giving dinner:
(Not for dieters)
1 can (15 0z) creamed corn
1 can (15 0z) whole kernal corn, drained
1 cup buttermilk
1 stick melted butter
2 eggs, whipped
1 package JiffyBrand corn muffin mix
Spray 2Qt casserole dish with non-stick spray
Mix all ingredients together
Pour into casserole
Bake, uncovered, 350X45 min. to an hour
I cook for an hour--I like it brown and crispy.
Amazingly easy and really :yum:
Sounds totally awesome - I may have to give it a try!
Bri, that's a classic recipe in my husband's family, except they use 8 oz. of sour cream instead of buttermilk.
Here (approx) is my Mum's recipe for Bubble & Squeak. I've tried to translate it to be US friendly. Mum says she hasn't measured it out in years, and really anything leftover would go into it - this is the simple, basic recipe.
2-4 slices cooked bacon diced or cut into strips
1 small onion, chopped & fried until soft
2 cups cabbage
2 cups boiled potatoes
Dripping (leftover fat) from roast or butter for frying
Roughly mash potatoes (should be chunky)
Mix in with cabbage, bacon, onion
Heat dripping/ fat in skillet
Press mixture down & cook over a low-medium heat for approx 10 mins
Turn onto plate, return to pan to cook other side
You can also make wells in the bubble & squeak & drop eggs into them to cook.
Delish corn casserole dish I'm making for T/giving dinner:
(Not for dieters)
1 can (15 0z) creamed corn
1 can (15 0z) whole kernal corn, drained
1 cup buttermilk
1 stick melted butter
2 eggs, whipped
1 package JiffyBrand corn muffin mix
Spray 2Qt casserole dish with non-stick spray
Mix all ingredients together
Pour into casserole
Bake, uncovered, 350X45 min. to an hour
I cook for an hour--I like it brown and crispy.
Amazingly easy and really :yum:
I had something like this as a kid, but had greenpeas in it. only way I'd eat the damnn things. Almost sure no one has Jiff in thoses days, so must have been bread crumbs. Anyway I'll give it a go. Maybe a litle bell pepper and celery? What do you think? And the sour cream
Ok I am definitely going to try making bubble & squeak in the next couple of days. My husband is a very choosy eater, and this would definitely be something he would veto..... but he's in Beijing, so I can eat whatever I want!
I'm going to try UG's beans too!! I made corned beef & cabbage last night - it's another "no way" meal when he's home.
I vowed that I would be good & work out/ diet while he was gone....... yeah, um..... don't think that's gonna happen! lol
Enjoy! And eat your starches with fiber -- try getting your carbs from fiber-laden sources, includin' beans. The slower release of the energy of the carbs when plenty of fiber is around means your body isn't jolted into secreting lots of insulin to control the rise in blood glucose and storing that glucose as fat. Something I've gotten some pretty good results from is Sugarbusters (tm) -- you can get the books at Borders or Barnes & Noble.
BusterB, Jiffy brand corn bread/muffin mix and cake mix are still around on the West Coast.
Well when I was a kid, don't think they had jiffy. I however do have some.
One cup breadcrumbs, 2 tbsp parsley, pinch of dried thyme, grated rind of half a lemon, 2 oz melted butter, 1/2 tbsp lemon juice mix it all together, add a little beaten egg to bind.
1lb monkfish tail - remove the bone down the middle and stuff with the above stuffing.
Lay a little proscuitto on top.
Wrap it all in foil and bake at 190C for 40 minutes.
Deeeelishus!
Made the corn casserole yesterday. With sour cream, added 1/2 cup each green onions and bell pepper a dash of old bay seasoning. Great
On new years we smoke ribs at Mikes shop. With blackeyed peas, cabbage and cracklin cornbread. Click photo for cornbread.
![Image](<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/busterb/80498616/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/42/80498616_b8ae34ef23.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="ribs" /></a>)
I made the corn bread casserole again today. With green onions, bell pepper and swapped the whole corn for Hominy. Also 2 small pounded chicken breast coated with my take off of the Outback onion. Served on my fine china :yum:
![Image](<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/busterb/86236065/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/39/86236065_5380aa26fd.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="c-bread casserole" /></a>)
![Image](<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/busterb/86236066/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/6/86236066_7ffb8729b7.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="c-breast" /></a>)
:yum: Yum! I think I need to go fix myself dinner now, although it won't be as good as that, alas. Like your fine china, too! Where did you pick up that pattern? :D
A further note on baked beans, from the cookery booklet written somewhat erratically by one Olga V. Hanscomb, home ec advice columnist with the St. Paul Daily News, 1936: "[with the beans cleaned and soaked overnight] Beans may be cooked in a pressure cooker for 45 minutes at 20 pound pressure and then browned in oven for 30 minutes."
The Hanscomb recipe looks a lot like my grandfather's, in the general details:
2 cups dried Navy Beans
1/4 lb Salt Pork
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Mustard
1/4 cup Molasses
Hot Water, to cover, and a change of water to cook
How Olga did it: "Wash beans and soak over night in one quart of water. Drain off the water and cover with fresh water. Cook slowly about 1/2 hour. Drain. Place half the beans in a bean pot or deep casserole and add seasonings [the mustard and molasses -- U.G.]. Slash the pork but do not cut through the rind and place in pot rind up. Add the remainder of the beans and cover with hot water. Cover the dish and bake at 275 degrees for 8 hours, replenishing with water which evaporates. Beans may be cooked in a pressure cooker for 45 minutes at 20 pound pressure and then browned in oven for 30 minutes."
You may or may not want the salt, particularly if you parboil the beans with baking soda in the bean water, which is the big difference between Grampa's recipe and this one. I'm a bit surprised at the keeping of the salt pork in one piece -- I rather like encountering the occasional lump of salt pork adrift in my beans.
Good gods, man, be careful!! An exploding pressure cooker can take out your whole kitchen!
Wonder if anyone could have a look at this cornbread recipe for me & let me know how authentic it's likely to be? I can't follow American recipes as I usually come up against an ingredient I can't find in this country, so this is from a UK website.
280g cornmeal, fine polenta or fine semolina
85g plain flour
2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
salt and fresh ground black pepper
1 large egg
150ml Milk
425ml buttermilk or natural yogurt
115g jarred chilli peppers, drained and chopped
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas 6. Generously butter a shallow tin (around 25cm long) or a small roasting tin.
2. In a large bowl combine the cornmeal, flour and bicarbonate of soda and season well with salt and freshly ground pepper.
3. In a jug combine the egg, milk and yogurt and chillies .
4. Pour the contents of the jug into the bowl of dry ingredients and lightly combine, taking care not to over-mix as this will make the corn bread tough.
5. Pour the mixture into the buttered tin and bake for 25-30 minutes until firm and golden. Serve warm from the oven, cut into squares.
I've had packet mix cornbread before (from the Kick Yo Ass Hot range), but I've never tried it from scratch before. This one appeals as it's not too fattening...
Yogurt is not an authentic southern ingredient.
Check the back of the cornmeal package. There is usually a recipe on there.
I've never seen cornmeal, though I am going to check tonight. I was going to use polenta. If I used buttermilk would that make it worth making? I'll buy it if I can find it, but authentic southern ingredients don't have a very high demand round here :(
"Authentic Southern Ingredients" include exotic things like Lard and Fatback.
Buster is the one who should be guiding you here. I'm a Yankee.
Cornbread is pretty straightforward.
And yes, go with the buttermilk.
Their ain't no Bacon fat in that , it CAN'T BE REAL !!!!!!
Oh and when you Do find some bacon fat and buttermilk also find a black iron skillet , heat your stove and light a burner on top,
after you mix up the corn bread mix ,
put the black iron skillet on the burner and melt the bacon greese ,
spread it around and THEN pour your mix in to the skillet ,
then into the oven and ENJOY !!!!
What this will do is cause a bottom layer that WILL seperate from the pan that tastes YUMMMMMMMMMY !!!!!! All crunchy and baconey tasteing !!!!!!
But either use the yoghurt (um, authentic to the modern South ;) ) or sour a half liter of plain milk with 30ml (two tablespoons) of either lemon juice or white vinegar -- this halves easily, think a tablespoon to a cup and let it stand five minutes before using. You can also simply stir some yoghurt into milk, 1:1. What you're trying for is milk + acidic zing. Makes the baking soda really go to work.
There are two basic kinds of American cornbread: Southern, which is simply a starch food and unsweetened, and Northern, which prefers to make cornbread sweet, though not as sweet as cake, which it otherwise rather resembles. What's the difference? Adding sugar. Whichever is eaten isn't, I think, rigidly observed by region, but professional Southerners (like professional Texans, but they sound a little different, as each Southern state has its own variation on the southern accent) will likely acknowledge that unsweetened cornpone is the traditional variety in their neck of the woods.
Oh, and frying polenta or cornbread, a/k/a cornpone, in bacon fat IS authentically Southern -- though it's the sort of thing you'd do before going out and plowing the bottom forty acres, the kind of thing Goodman John would have eaten a Ploughman's Lunch to fuel up for. Oldfashioned, that is.
Those chili peppers are optional, for a spiced cornbread. If you go with the chilis, you might consider grating some cheddar cheese on top.
The modern South is not "The South." As in "The South will Rise Again" South.
The modern South is a bunch of damnYankees relocated to Research Triangle Park, North Carolina and to the high tech corridor of Georgia to work computer and electronics jobs that just never went back North after the dot com bust.
I found both buttermilk AND cornmeal! From the packaging & location in the supermarket I assume both are used in Carribean cookery. So if my experiment goes well I can make it as many times as I like.
Thanks for the advice - I won't be taking the bacon or cheese advice for the moment as I'm trying to make a low fat version. Once I've lost some pounds - and perfected basic cornbread - I may become more adventurous.
I should stay out of this, because I use self rising meal and flour most. UG is correct about making sour milk in post above. The hot pan thing above is good also. Zippy. If you let pan cool a little after oven, it won't stick as much. I cook mine in a cast iron skillet and how much,what I put in mix depends on size of skillet. Some put oil, grease in mix. I use a TB spoon of bacon grease in hot pan, swirl around to grease pan and dump in mix. Sometimes I use no flour or maybe 3 TBs to a cup of meal. Also I cook nothing in my bread skillets but bread.
Son brought me a bag of the asskickin mix before X-mas. Wow! Just be careful of the package of pepper, it's like dust. Here's a little read on baking soda, powder.
http://users.rcn.com/sue.interport/food/bakgsoda.htmlI can't get the Ass Kickin mix over here any more - no UK sites seem to sell it & the US sites won't ship to the UK. Hence falling back on making my own.
Am I right in thinking a skillet is like a frying pan? I was going to cook mine in a ceramic overproof dish.
You're better off with a sheet cake pan of the dimensions stated on your recipe.
Skillet = frying pan. I concur with Wolf on using the cake tin or loaf pan, but I'd be hard pressed to describe any difference of results from putting a frying pan or a cake pan into the oven to bake this recipe.
ceramic overproof dish. It'll work if not too deep.
BB I have NEVER personaly cooked any corn bread , but i have seen it done , the best tasting used the bacon fat in the skillet , I just assumed it also helped it not stick , but well ,hell what do I know !!!
I just assumed it also helped it not stick.
Right, but letting in cool for just a minute or so before trying to dump from pan will help.
I fixed the Ass kickin chili today for dinner, supper and a few more meals. I didn’t use all the Habanero pepper; hey someone else might like to try it.
I took a chuck roast, trimmed and cubed it. Then to freezer for a few minutes, ran it thru food processor. Think I might have trimmed too much fat off. Guess I’m use to the store ground crap. I also add some ground Chipotle pepper, more chili powder, which I think might have been too old. More black pepper and cumin.
I truly think it needed more fat. Anyway I wouldn’t have paid for the mix. It was a X-mas present. The ass-kickin cornbread was good. BTW I’m working on a knockoff of it. Got the dried bell pepper today. :worried:
3/4 c granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c peanut butter
1 tsp baking soda
Heat oven 350 degrees. ( calls for parchement paper on baking sheet but I didn't use any)
Mix sugar, egg,vanilla with mixer for 3 minutes on low.
Mix on medium until dough comes together, about 30 seconds.
Place 2-teaspoon balls one inch apart on baking sheet. Press down with fork or make indent with thumb and fill with jam. 1/2 tsp.
Bake until lightly brown. 12 to 14 min.
These are really really yummy!
Anyone have a recipe for vegetarian lentil soup that actually tastes worth a tinkers' damn? There are a lot of mediocre, uninteresting veggie lentil soups out there -- mediocre when they are not downright nasty.
Meat stock in lentil soup works better, and even adding saturated fat in the form of bacon grease or butter improves veggie lentil soup -- looks like the addition of chopped cooked bacon may be just the thing. Of course, that wouldn't do for a vegetarian recipe -- so who has one they actually like, beyond faint praise? Trying the pea-soup trick of adding a few drops of dark sesame oil seems to show promise.
I've not tried this recipie but sometimes rice is a good filler for meat. I personally would use white rice so as not to overpower the lentils. I would also add celery and carrots too. I like bean soup but have been skeptical about trying lentils.
I think the onion soup mix might give you the flavor you desire. I have some creole seasoning mix that is really good for beans too.
LENTIL & BROWN RICE SOUP [COLOR=BLACK]3/4 c. dried lentils
1/2 c. brown/reg. rice, uncooked
6 c. water
1/2-1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 pkg. onion soup mix (I sub. 2 bouillon cubes)
2 cloves minced garlic
3 oz. spinach, cut into 1/2" strips (about 1 c.)
2 tbsp. snipped cilantro or parsley
3 tbsp. lemon juice[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#772222]Heat lentils, rice, water, cumin, salt, pepper and soup mix (dry) to boiling in 4 quart Dutch oven; reduce heat. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until lentils are tender, about 40 minutes.Stir in spinach, cilantro and lemon juice until spinach is wilted. Serve with additional snipped cilantro and lemon slices if desired.
[/COLOR]
An old friend came by for lunch today. We made 1/2 of this. I had the breast cooked in butter and olive oil when she came. She did the rest was great.
Bundles
1/4 cup butter or margarine
8 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 4 oz each)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cans (8 oz each) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
1 package (4 oz) garlic-and-herb spreadable cheese
1 egg, beaten, if desired
2. Meanwhile, heat oven to 375°F. Lightly spray large cookie sheet with cooking spray. In 12-inch skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Sprinkle chicken breasts with pepper; add to skillet. Cook 8 to 10 minutes or until well browned on all sides. Set aside to cool slightly.
3. Unroll both cans of the dough and separate into 8 rectangles; press each into 6x4-inch rectangle, firmly pressing perforations to seal.
4. Spread cheese evenly in center of each dough rectangle; place chicken over cheese. Bring corners of dough together over chicken and press to seal; place on cookie sheet.
5. Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until deep golden brown, brushing lightly with egg during last 5 minutes of baking time. Stir chutney; serve with warm chicken bundles.
I'll probably be making a batch of this this week sometime.
Sauce Bolognese
Prep time 90 min to 2 hrs. This is the old-school stuff from an 80-y.o. Italian mama.
5 cloves Garlic, 3 and 2
¼ cup Olive Oil
about 1 lb. Ground Beef or Ground Pork
2 cans Crushed Tomatoes
¼ cup White Wine
fresh Parsley
fresh or dried Basil, optional
Black Pepper, Red Pepper, to taste – light on the Red
1. On low heat, brown three of the Garlic cloves in the Olive Oil.
2. Remove cloves, add ground Beef or Pork, brown.
3. In a separate pan, simmer crushed Tomatoes over low heat. Keep at light simmer. Use diffuser if necessary – like if you have cheap cookware.
4. When meat is browned, drain excess oil if necessary, add White Wine, simmer about 5 minutes.
5. Add meat to the simmering tomatoes, cook about 1 ½ hours. Cooking time depends on your taste for the acidity of the tomatoes (longer cooking means less acidic?), and how acid they are.
6. ½ hour after adding meat, add fresh Parsley and the other two cloves Garlic, and the Basil – 1 sprig if fresh Basil, or sprinkle in some dried, to taste.
Tried it out last night. Definitely simmer two hours if not more, or at the two-hour mark do what I did and stir in one small can of tomato paste to thicken without burning. Slow simmer really seems to be the secret. Something else that will affect how long you cook it is how wet you want the sauce -- I dislike sauce that leaves a puddle of red water under the pasta, so I'm going with longer simmering.
Cranberry Liqueur
24 oz Cranberries; pkgs fresh
4 c Sugar
3 c Gin (the most inexpensive
Chop Cranberries in food processor or blender. Put in a large lidded jar.
Add sugar and gin. Store for 2 weeks, turning or shaking container daily. Strain off cranberries reserve for dessert topping, or use in cranberry nut bread.
Decant liqueur into appropriate bottle. Keeps indefinitely.
(To strain off cranberries I use a bandanna and squeeze the hell out of them)
This is awesome in champagne
To make a cranberry martini
In good whiskey
Just on ice
The dregs are awesome on ice cream with a reduction of the liqueur, mmmmmm
Blueberry Liqueur
2 lb frozen blueberries, chopped
4 cups sugar
3 1/2 cups (cheap carbon filtered) vodka
place in a container (I used an old 1 gal plastic vinegar bottle).
I used to use fancy glass decorative storage containers, the fuckers are heavy and don't have handles. Not worth it unless you are trying to impress someone.
Shake and mix until well combined.
Shake and mix once a day for two weeks.
Decanting:
Strain through a mesh strainer over a bowl.
Take the leavings and place into a clean (duh!) bandanna and squeeze it over another bowl (in case you slip and some of the leavings spill out) to get as much of the denser juice out.
Get your strongest friend to do this or use blocks of wood if you like.
The harder you squeeze the better.
Combine the contents of the two bowls & decant into bottles or jars.
Save the contents of the bandanna and use on ice cream, in muffins, cheesecake or a blueberry upside down cake
Tabbouleh
5 Bunches of curly leaf parsley
1 Large tomato (use two if small, 1½ if medium)
1 Large cucumber (use two if small, 1½ if medium)
1 Medium onion (I use the Red Onions, they do not get bitter)
1 Cup of Extra Virgin Olive oil
1 Cup of Lemon Juice (Lime is fun too)
1 Cup Bulgur Wheat (cracked wheat found at most health-food stores)
Kosher or Sea Salt to taste
Fresh cracked black pepper to taste
Boil 4 cups of water & add to the Cracked Wheat in a bowl.
Chop the parsley, tomato, cucumber (with the skin on), onion, & tomato very fine.
In a large bowl, mix chopped ingredients, with the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, & pepper.
Drain the wheat & fold it into the other ingredients.
Refrigerate & serve when chilled.
Some like to drain off the juice so the salad does not get soggy after it has been chilled and use it like a dressing. Most leave the salad in the juice.
If you do not like the consistency of the grain you can use Couscous though it will get soggy very quickly.
Tabouleh is best eaten the same, or next, day of preparation.
Some like to use Salsa instead of the Tomatoes, add Garlic, Paprika, or Cumin. Playing is best after making the base a few times, depending on your taste.
humus
4 cups cooked chickpeas (two 19oz cans, drained)
1/2 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
1/3 cup hot water
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
4-6 cloves fresh garlic (or more, if you're like me)
2-4 tsp ground cumin
juice of 1 or 2 lemons
sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
In your food processor, blend the chickpeas, tahini, hot water, olive oil and the juice of one lemon until smooth. Add the garlic and spices, and blend again, stopping to scrape down the sides occasionally. Taste and adjust the lemon juice amount, if needed. Add the salt and pepper, and blend again.
Serve with warm pita bread, cut up fresh veggies or crackers. Also great as a Mayo substitute on sandwiches or burgers.
Variations
My Favorite is with some dill and cucumber!! (Rob)
Sun-Dried Tomato: This one is soooooo good. Add 1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes (preferably those that have been packed in oil) and process well to make it smooth. Very tangy.
Green: Add one bunch of fresh, chopped cilantro (stems removed) and 1/3 cup chopped, fresh dill (stems removed) to the recipe. Process until smooth.
Mexican: Add 1/2 cup hot salsa to the recipe. Omit water, or use 1/4 cup if needed, to blend.
Sweet and Sour: Add 1/2 cup drained sweet pickles to the recipe and process until smooth.
Humus and Tabbouleh wraps are awesome!
Thanks, Rkzen, those look delicious. The blueberry thing probably works well with the strawberries we grow out here. Or rhubarb, too, with all that sweetening.
When I was 19 I got a job in a bakery bagging bread. MOst of the baggers would bag up all the loaves as soon as they cooled and then stand around waitnig for the next batch to come out. I was so slow That there was no room left for the bread to cool. I constantly fell behind the bakers.
My boss was very cool, though. He decide to train me as a baker, reasoning that everything was doen by clock. e.g. the mixer starts on the hour, after ten minutes the first part of flour goes in and mixes until half past, etc.
So I beacme a baker at 19. For the next four years I worked as a baker in about four different bakeries and learned how to bake just about everything you could imagine.
What I'd do was jot down the recipe from the recipe box on a slip of paper and scale it up or down according to what I needed to bake that day. Usually, when I got homw I'd have four or five in my pocket. By the time I quit baking for a living I had amassed a large collection of tested recipes.
Even though this was more than 20 years ago, after four years of baking, there are a lot of things I can bake off the top of my head and without measurements. There are certain ratios that are constant, a little more or less and your muffin becomes a bar or a cookie, your chewy becomes crunchy, etc. Playing with these ratios can be like a musician riffing on a classic melody.
In the spirit of Ibrams music trivia game here is a bakery question. Whoever answers it correctly gets to ask the next question.
I was going through my recipes and found the following slips of paper. I neglected to write down what the recipes were for. What do you think this is a recipe for? Baking times and temps optional.
First:
3C flour
1/3 C sugar
2 1/2t B.P.
1/2t B.S.
3/4t salt
1/2 lb Butter
1 C milk
3/4 C currant
1t Orange rind
The second one is harder since I didn't even write down what the ingredients were, just the quantities. Although I did write down time/temp.
1/4#
1/4#
2 C
4
1C
1/2t
1/2C
325 degrees f
20-25 minutes
I have since figured out what these are for.
Was that a major thread hijack up there? Sorry. Didn't mean it like that.
First:
3C flour
1/3 C sugar
2 1/2t B.P.
1/2t B.S.
3/4t salt
1/2 lb Butter
1 C milk
3/4 C currant
1t Orange rind
This is close to a Welsh Cookie recipe that you do on a griddle, but no egg... I'm in over my head.
First:
3C flour
1/3 C sugar
2 1/2t B.P.
1/2t B.S.
3/4t salt
1/2 lb Butter
1 C milk
3/4 C currant
1t Orange rind
Scones. (I was thinking Irish Soda Bread for a minute there, but there's more baking powder than soda involved.)
We have a winner! Wolf guessed scones, I was afraid the currant would give it away.
Note the rather large proportion of flour to sugar. And yes soda bread would call for more soda.
I knew it was scones, too, but came in late (better than not coming at all, eh?) :)
Like my sister always said: "Better late than pregnant."
. There are certain ratios that are constant, a little more or less and your muffin becomes a bar or a cookie, your chewy becomes crunchy, etc. Playing with these ratios can be like a musician riffing on a classic melody.
Okay, I'm filing that one away next to "The difference between soup and gravy is mostly how much you reduce it." Interesting, and it increases my understanding.
The second one is harder since I didn't even write down what the ingredients were, just the quantities. Although I did write down time/temp.
1/4#
1/4#
2 C
4
1C
1/2t
1/2C
325 degrees f
20-25 minutes
This will doubtless go astray, but it looks to me like it would make cookies:
1/4# sugar
1/4# butter
2 C flour
4 eggs
1C old fashioned oatmeal
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 C raisins ... the slow oven says they get cooked gently.
Nice idea, I may try it, but I think it would be a bit dry even for cookies.
You've got three cups of dry in total, and a cup of eggs would make it a pretty chewy cookie.
I'll be back later, I've got a meeting
[FONT=Book Antiqua]
Too simple to be true: ?
1 cup of magarine or butter
1/2 cup of cocoa
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup of all purpose flour.
1/4 tsp salt
Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes.
[/FONT]
sounds too simple. not edible. equal parts cocoa powder and flour? Gah. Where's the sugar? I like my brownies sweet-er than that. And what would that yield? About a cup and a half of brownie mix? What do you make it in, a single serving rammekin?
Possibly hot cocoa mix?
Not a rammekin, an easybake oven! Your sister can hook you up ;)
When do you add the ganja?
Southern-Fried Stuffed Chicken with Roasted Red Pepper-and-Vidalia Onion Gravy
Grand-Prize Winner: Susan Rotter, Nolensville, TN
INGREDIENTS
4 ounces PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup dry chicken-flavored stuffing mix
½ cup (2 ounces) finely shredded Romano cheese
½ cup chopped Vidalia onion
¼ cup minced fresh basil
4 large boned chicken breast halves with skin
4 OSCAR MAYER Ready to Serve Bacon slices
1 large egg
1 cup milk
1 cup BISQUICK Original All-Purpose Baking Mix
2 teaspoons Creole seasoning
1 teaspoon black pepper
Canola oil
Roasted Red Pepper-and-Vidalia Onion Gravy
INSTRUCTIONS
Stir together first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Place chicken, skin side down, between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; flatten to ¼-inch thickness, using a mallet or rolling pin.
Spread one-fourth of cream cheese mixture on skinless side of each chicken breast half; top with 1 piece of bacon. Roll up chicken, jellyroll fashion, lifting skin and tucking roll under skin.
Whisk together egg and milk in a bowl. Combine baking mix, Creole seasoning, and pepper in a shallow dish. Dip chicken rolls in egg mixture; dredge in baking mix mixture.
Pour oil to depth of 2 inches in a large skillet; heat to 350°. Fry chicken rolls, in batches, 10 to 12 minutes or until dark brown and done, turning chicken rolls often. Drain on wire rack over paper towels.
Spoon ¼ cup Roasted Red Pepper-and-Vidalia Onion Gravy on each of 4 individual serving plates; top with 1 chicken roll. Drizzle with additional gravy.
Yield: Makes 4 servings
Prep: 25 min., Cook: 12 min. per batch
Roasted Red Pepper-and-Vidalia Onion Gravy
INGREDIENTS
1 large Vidalia onion, halved vertically
1 large sweet red bell pepper, halved and seeded
1 tablespoon olive oil
¼ teaspoon MORTON Kosher Salt
3 tablespoons butter
REYNOLDS WRAP Release Non-Stick Foil
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
2 teaspoons Creole seasoning
2 tablespoons minced fresh basil
Black pepper to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
Dice 1 onion half; set aside. Cut remaining onion half into slices. Place onion slices and bell pepper, cut sides down, on a baking sheet lined with non-stick aluminum foil; drizzle with oil, and sprinkle with salt.
Broil onion slices and bell pepper halves 5 inches from heat about 10 minutes or until bell pepper looks blistered. Place bell pepper halves in a freezer bag; seal and let stand 10 minutes to loosen skin. Peel bell pepper halves; finely chop 1 bell pepper half. Reserve and set aside chopped bell pepper and remaining pepper half. Finely chop roasted onion slices, and set aside.
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add reserved diced onion, and sauté 10 minutes or until onion begins to brown. Stir in flour; cook, stirring constantly, until flour mixture is caramel-colored (about 5 minutes). Stir in chicken broth and Creole seasoning. Reduce heat to medium, and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened.
Process gravy mixture and reserved bell pepper half in a blender until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides.
Combine gravy mixture, chopped roasted onion, reserved finely chopped bell pepper, basil, and black pepper.
Yield: Makes 3 cups
Prep: 20 min., Broil: 10 min., Cook: 25 min., Stand: 10 min.
Tex-Mex Egg Rolls with Creamy Cilantro Dipping Sauce
Kids Love It! Winner: Stacy Lamons, Houston, TX
INGREDIENTS
1 (5-ounce) package MAHATMA Authentic Spanish Rice Mix
1 teaspoon MORTON Iodized Salt
1 pound JIMMY DEAN Hot Pork Sausage
1 (15-ounce) can BUSH’S Black Beans, rinsed and drained
6 green onions, finely chopped
1 (1.25-ounce) package taco seasoning
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 (14.5-ounce) can HUNT’S Petite Diced Tomatoes With Mild Green Chilies, undrained
28 egg roll wrappers
1 large egg, lightly beaten
4 cups peanut oil
Creamy Cilantro Dipping Sauce
Garnish: fresh cilantro sprigs
INSTRUCTIONS
Cook rice according to package directions, using 1 teaspoon salt. Cool completely.
Cook sausage in a skillet over medium heat, stirring until it crumbles and is no longer pink; drain well. Let cool.
Stir together rice, sausage, black beans, and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Spoon about 1/3 cup rice mixture in center of each egg roll wrapper. Fold top corner of wrapper over filling, tucking tip of corner under filling; fold left and right corners over filling. Lightly brush remaining corner with egg; tightly roll filled end toward the remaining corner, and gently press to seal.
Pour oil into heavy Dutch oven; heat to 375°. Fry egg rolls, in batches, 2 to 3 minutes or until golden. Drain on wire rack over paper towels. Serve with Creamy Cilantro Dipping Sauce. Garnish, if desired.
Yield: Makes 28 egg rolls
Prep: 40 min., Fry: 3 min. per batch
Creamy Cilantro Dipping Sauce
INGREDIENTS
1 (8-ounce) package PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 (10-ounce) cans ROTEL Mexican Festival Diced Tomatoes
2 cups loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves (about 1 bunch)
Garnish: finely chopped fresh cilantro
INSTRUCTIONS
Process first 5 ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Garnish, if desired.
Note: For a beautiful presentation, cut top from 1 large red bell pepper, reserving top; remove and discard seeds and membrane, leaving pepper intact. Arrange bell pepper on a serving plate, and fill with sauce.
Yield: Makes 3 cups
Prep: 10 min.
Balsamic vinegar:
this is what I'm talkin about
It's a party in your mouth, and everyone's ... invited!
[FONT=Arial Narrow]Help. I need a good zucchini recipie. One that's tried and true!
I have a huge zucchini from my sisters garden that is just dying to be made into bread.
[/FONT]
I make 'faux crab cakes' out of my zucchinis....
Let me know if you want the recipe - I'll dig it out :)
Dags
eww, no dosn't sound good but thank for the offer?
crab is scary enough fresh let alone eating a faux tasting crab cake made out of zucchini. yuk..... seems too strange. You could post it and let me see the ingredients to satisfy my curiosity.?? .....I am a lot bit sceptical here.
hehehe
it's really not as bad as you're imagining, but you need to like the taste of old bay.
1 shredded zucchini - smallish
1 egg
salt, pepper, old bay to taste
bread crumbs
Mash it all together - like you're making salmon or crab cakes.
Brush with melted butter, broil for 4 minutes.
thanks , it has promise. I am not sure I'd like the mushy bread crumbs. I googled and came up with something using cheese. [LIST]
[*]2 cups grated zucchini
[*]2
eggs, beaten
[*]1/4 cup chopped onion
[*]1/2 cup all-purpose flour
[*]1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
[*]1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
[*]
salt to taste
[*]2 tablespoons vegetable
oil[/LIST]I think I am getting close but I am thinking something with cheddar cheese instead of mozzarella or a bread would be best.
I've actually tried chocolate zucchini cake and it's divine.
When I first encountered Clotilde Dusoulier's fabulous
Chocolate and Zucchini website, I thought to myself, "How wonderful, the ingredients of my favorite cake!" My grandmother taught me how to bake when I was very young, and later when I was in high school she sent us a recipe pulled from
Sunset Magazine for Chocolate and Zucchini Cake. Being adventurous, and knowing how good zucchini bread tastes, I tried it and it quickly became my favorite - the standard against which all future chocolate cakes were measured. The main distinction of this particular cake is its moistness. The zucchini absorbes the cocoa delivering the full flavor of chocoate, but without the heaviness of some other chocolate cakes. Today mom pulled the recipe out of some forgotten folder, still intact from the September 1974 issue of Sunset. I haven't made the cake in over twenty years, but it is still as delicious as I remember it. Here's to you Clotilde! Happy belated Birthday and thank you for the inspiration of Chocolate and Zucchini.
2 1/2 cups regular all-purpose flour, unsifted
1/2 cup cocoa
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup soft butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Glaze (directions follow)
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
1 Combine the four, cocoa, baking powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.
2 With a mixer, beat together the butter and the sugar until they are smoothly blended. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. With a spoon, stir in the vanilla, orange peel, and zucchini.
3 Alternately stir the dry ingredients and the milk into the zucchini mixture, including the nuts with the last addition.
4 Pour the batter into a greased and flour-dusted 10-inch tube pan or bundt pan. Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes (test at 45 minutes!) or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes; turn out on wire rack to cool thoroughly.
5 Drizzle glaze over cake.
Glaze: Mix together 2 cups powdered sugar, 3 Tablespoons milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until smooth.
Cut in thin slices to serve. Makes 10-12 servings.
http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/000621chocolate_zucchini_cake.phpThat's about 2/7ths zucchini by volume. You could probably sneak that much wet sawdust in and noone would be the wiser if you used maple or sweet birch. ;)
Maybe not a recipie per se - but I had this drink the other day at a Greek restaurant and it was soooo nice and refreshing on a 110 degree day.
Regular lemonade - if you are lazy like I am - I used minute maid.
2-3 basil leaves - chopped into small strips
1-2 slices lemon
1-2 slices lime
Mix the basil, lemon & lime in the bottom of a chilled pint glass - mulch it like you would a lime & mint for a mojito. Then put in ice and pour lemonade over the mixture & ice. Basil lemonade - add some vodka and its even better. Regardless - extremely refreshing on a hot day.
That's cool! The basil we are growing this year is called "lime basil" -- and damn, if you crush it and smell it, it smells exactly like a cross between basil and lime.
That's about 2/7ths zucchini by volume. You could probably sneak that much wet sawdust in and noone would be the wiser if you used maple or sweet birch. ;)
haha funny! ok so do YOU have a good zucchini recipie??
( That would be zucchini bread if you please )
haha funny! ok so do YOU have a good zucchini recipie??
( That would be zucchini bread if you please )
you could dip it in batter and deep fry it...
I like zucchini, but you really ought to compost them if they get much bigger than a banana.
julienne cut them and saute in a little butter, dress with some celtic sea salt and balsamic vinegar. Simple.
POT BROWNIES
Carefully manicure 1/8 to 1/4 oz. primo grade cannabis sativa and set aside.......
just joking, folks. I loved the old bell bottom days. Still have my Barracuda jacket.
As long as somebody plants zucchini there will never be famine in America.
Lots of kids who hate zucchini, but no famine. Maybe an invasion of zucchini-triffid hybrids, but no famine. If the triffids get southern California in late summer, look out for triffid-artichoke hybrids.
If I keep this up I'm going to give myself an appetite.
Anyway, to keep the thread active, a crosspost from the Chicken Masala thread a little ways down:
Madras Curry Powder
5 TBSP dried ground red New Mexico chile pepper
2 tsp ground Cayenne
4 TBSP ground coriander seeds. Grind the whole coriander yourself.
4 TBSP ground cumin seeds. Ditto.
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground fenugreek seeds. Maybe ditto. I got a little packet of ground fenugreek and it lasted years.
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1TBSP cardamom. Grind this yourself from the seeds or pods, sift if needed.
1 tsp ground cloves.
The grinder here may be a coffee grinder. Mix all ingredients, grind until fine, store in tight-lidded jar, yield is about half a cup. Fresh-ground ingredients rather than buying powdered spices really make the difference. This is a general-purpose mix and you can play with the proportions for anything short of vanilla ice cream, I suppose. If I want turmeric in it, I just add by eye and taste. Recipe from The Whole Chile Pepper Book.
hmmm...
now THAT'S fucking intelligent.
Not quite Greek Shrimp Salad
Chop up equal amounts of tomatoes, cucumber, and red onion. Also chop equal amounts of black olives, artichoke hearts, and hearts of palm, so that the total is about 1/4 the tomatoes, cucumber, and red onion combined. Mix well.
Add crumbled blue cheese (or feta if you like), and dress with small amounts of oil and vinegar.
Place 10 medium cold boiled shrimp on each end of an oval platter, and fill the middle with the salad.
Put red shrimp coctail sauce in a small dish. If it does not already have horseradish in it, add some. Cut up a lemon and squeese it over everything.
Serves one. Find 20 more shrimp and if you have enough salad, it will serve 2. You get the point.
Not Greek because in a Greek salad you are supposed to use feta cheese, and also seed the tomatoes, which I view as a waste of time equal only to peeling the cucumber. Also not a shrimp salad, because the shrimp is not chopped up and distributed with the other stuff.
I chop the olives because even if the can says "pitted", sometimes I have found a pit, and I would prefer to have the knife find the pit rather than my tooth.
Anyway, that is for dinner tonight. Not exactly hard to do.
I just banged together a crude Ayran using one of those powerful little hand blenders that try and suck down onto the bottom of the container if you let them. Some yoghurt we'd had to put on ice in a picnic cooler ended up with a great deal of water in it because of that. I poured a little yoghurt whey off the top as I usually do when it shows up and saw the yoghurt was pretty thoroughly diluted with water all the way down but was otherwise good. I cast my mind back to a summer's day during my sojourn among the Turks and having gotten a glass of ayran. It's a yoghurt-based drink.
Enough yoghurt to fill a glass
About half that much water
Large pinch of salt, to taste
Optional sugar or other sweetening
Blend all ingredients with plenty of power, buzzing it up until water and yoghurt are thoroughly incorporated. The result is like mild buttermilk, with a slight overlay of salt and sweet. It might, like buttermilk, be good with black pepper included or sprinkled on top. Serves one.
Honey Cake
1 c sliced almonds
1 1/4 c whole wheat flour
3/4 c unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter @ room temperature
1 c honey
4 large eggs
1/4 c sour cream
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Lightly grease 9" round cake pan. Sprinkle 3/4 cup of the sliced almonds over bottom of pan.
In medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda and salt; set aside.
In large mixing bowl, combine butter, honey, eggs. Stir in the flour mixture, then the sour cream and the remaining 1/4 cup almonds. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl, then stir another minute.
Gently pour batter over almonds in cake pan. Bake 50-55 minutes, or until edge of cake pulls away from sides of pan. Remove from oven, cool on rack 15 minutes.
Invert the cake onto a serving plate and allow to cool completely. If desired, dust with powdered sugar before serving. 16 servings. (UG -- oh, really??)
A local seven-year-old cooked this no-sugar-added apple pie:
Deep Dish Double Crust Apple Pie
2 Large uncooked Pie Crusts, homemade or store bought
8-10 Large Red Apples
1 large can Frozen Apple Juice Concentrate, w/o added sugar. Probably the 16-oz size, so our SI friends should shoot for half a liter of concentrate.
1 tsp Cinnamon -- 5ml
2 tsp Cornstarch -- 5ml
1/8 cup water -- 45ml
Shortening to grease pie plate
Grease pie plate, put one crust in for bottom crust. Cut up apples.
Put apple juice concentrate and cinnamon in large saucepan, bring to boil.
Mix cornstarch and water in a cup, add to saucepan, reduce heat and stir until mixture of cornstarch, concentrate, and cinnamon has jelled. Then add apples, stir, and remove from heat.
Place apple and concentrate mixture in pie shell, cover with second pie crust, pinch crust edges together. Slit or prick top crust.
Bake at 400 deg F/220 C/Gas mark 9-10 for 45 minutes. (Anyone still use Gas Mark?) Cool before serving. No extra sugar -- fruit sugars are a mix of fructose and some sucrose, if this is important to your innards -- you just taste apples, sayeth deponent. This should work for any kind of apples you like for pie.
I haven't made an apple pie in I don't know how long. About three generations of coons.
I made a good curry tonight, using mostly leftovers, we had a grilled butterflied leg of lamb with just Mediterranian seasonings so it went well with this.
1 onion roughly chopped
4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1/2 red bell pepper chopped as above
1 jalapeno as above
nice knob of ginger as above
some left over carrots and peas and potatoes
sauteed all with a little olive oil and a pat of butter till soft
about 2 lbs of cubed left over lamb to fry for a little bit to brown
Served with rice and a nice Australian Shiraz! Thank goodness for the folks in OZ
Stirred in a few TBS of tomatoe paste and a cup of whole stewed tomatoes hand squeezed.
Added some chicken stock and a tash of garham Masalla and a good 1-2 bs curry powder, stove top cooked for awhile to thicken. Then into the oven at 350f for awhile while the rice cooked.
Should be good! IT SMELLS GREAT!!!:3eye:
Chris, if you'd like to make your own curry powder all fresh, and perfumey (fresh ground coriander and cardamom are zingy, but that doesn't last forever) see earlier in this thread -- p. 6, two-thirds down.
This is another one that smells wonderful, and may also use the curry powder recipe on p. 6 of the thread. This is the most stained and spotted page of our copy of Geraldine Duncann's
Some Like It Hotter. This is not the only way to make this stuff. I often speak of "a bobotie." A casserole of meat -- any meat -- and eggs. Great way to use up leftover meats and chicken -- the
and is used advisedly. This is said to be a hunting-camp dish good for using up odds and ends that don't quite amount by themselves to enough for hungry hunters.
Bobotie
4 Eggs
1 c Milk
2 slices Bread, white or whole wheat, anything you like for French toast
2 TBSP Butter
1 TBSP Corn Oil/Cooking Oil
2 TBSP Madras Curry Powder, turmeric included/added if using the Madras on p. 6
1 large Onion, diced
4 teeth of Garlic, minced
2 lb (900g-1kg) ground Beef
1 lb (450g-500g) lean boneless Beef, diced bite size -- optional
3 Chicken breasts, diced bite size
2 tart cooking Apples, such as Granny Smiths, cored and diced. Avoid peeling them -- the peel is where most of the nutrition is in this type of fruit
1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
1 scant tsp Cinnamon, ground
1 TBSP grated fresh Ginger
1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper, or to taste
1/2 tsp coarse Black Pepper
3 TBSP Brown Sugar, dark, or add a trifle of molasses to the regular stuff
1/3 c fresh Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp grated Lemon Rind
1/2 cup Raisins
1/2 c slivered Almonds
Salt to taste
6 hard-cooked Eggs, halved, optional -- makes this already robust dish really so
a few blanched Almond halves, optional
[1 tsp = 5ml, 1 TBSP = 15ml]
0. Preheat oven, 350 F.
1. Beat eggs with milk, crumble bread into mixture and set aside to soak.
2. Melt butter and oil together over medium-high heat in large skillet (frying pan). Add curry powder and singe lightly, stirring rapidly, for 2 minutes or less. It really doesn't take much. Add onion and garlic, saute until onions are translucent but not browned.
3. Add ground meat, sauteing until just done, stirring to break up chunks. Add chunks of beef, sear on all sides. Add chicken chunks, tossing with all other ingredients in pan, coating and lightly sauteing. Add all remaining ingredients except cooked eggs and almonds, stir together and simmer 5 min. If mixture seems a bit dry, add a little water, just enough to make a little gravy.
4. Shell and halve the eggs lengthwise.
5. Transfer meat mixture to casserole dish (4 quart will do, sometimes I've had to dragoon my small casserole dish into the job to handle the extra) and press egg halves down into meat mixture cut side down, then smooth the mixture's surface with the back of a large spoon.
6. Stir up and pour egg and bread mixture over top of meat. Strew top with almond halves into preheated 350 F oven for 30 minutes, or until top custard is set and golden brown.
Serve hot from baking dish, accompanied with rice.
This is a forgiving recipe; you can play with the proportions of everything. I've never even used the hard boiled eggs, though they'd be nice for a company dish. If you're out of anything but the curry powder, you can still bring off a successful bobotie casserole. The essentials are several kinds of meat, curry the heck out of 'em, raisins and a custard.
Another Bobotie, also set up as a company dish with thin slices of orange and lemon -- Googling "bobotie" gets you hundreds if not thousands of hits, so knock yourself out.
Chili Powder
1 part dried ground Cayenne or other hot pepper: Piquin, Chile de Arbol, Habanero for the brave...
1 part dried ground Pasilla or Ancho or other mild pepper
5 parts dried ground red New Mexico chiles -- these are of course also mild, but really the backbone of the chili powder, along w/the cumin.
2 parts Garlic Powder
1.5 parts ground cumin (grind it yourself if possible, ground from the store okay)
1.5 parts Oregano (powdered if desired)
If you've gotten the peppers whole, reduce to powder as much as you can; a blender or a coffee grinder work well.
Mix powdered ingredients thoroughly and store in a tight container.
The advantage of making your own chili powder is you control just how vigorous it is. If you mix everything except the hot pepper into it, then you can have a quiet chili flavor while somebody after flamin' hot chili can stir in the cayenne to taste.
Am I right in remembering that "Imam" is a specifically Shi'ite title?
Turkish food is Middle Eastern food, plus frequent garlic and hot peppers. A good zingy pastirma is not to be passed up; it's got zowie with fried eggs and fresh bread for breakfast. But I digress.
No one's sure if the Imam fainted at the richness of the dish or at his wife's extravagance with the olive oil used making it!
Eggplant with Oil and Garlic or Imam Bayildi
6 long Eggplants (aubergines)
3 large Onions
6 large Tomatoes for the stuffing, plus some tomato sliced
6 to 10 cloves Garlic, the essence and backbone of this dish
Juice of 1 Lemon
Sprigs fresh Parsley
1 tsp Sugar
1/2 pint (yes) Olive Oil, optionally, less than that
1/2 pint mild Stock, like chicken broth
Salt and Pepper to taste
Long eggplants suit this dish best. Step 1) Wash eggplants and slit lengthwise deeply but not completely and not cutting open the ends; you're making canoes of the eggplants to hold the stuffing in. Open eggplants by pushing inwards at the closed ends. If eggplants need salting to draw bitterness, salt down the insides well and let sit 15 minutes.
2) Slice onions very thin, fry in tablespoon of olive oil until soft. Chop tomatoes and parsley, crush garlic; mix all together in a mixing bowl. Reserve any remaining oil in skillet for the next step.
3) If you salted the eggplants, rinse out and pat them dry. Heating some more of the olive oil in a large skillet, fry eggplants carefully all over, medium heat, taking care not to spoil their shape; you want them still stuffing-tight. Reserve oil, it'll be used a bit later. Arrange eggplants in a baking dish and fill the slits up with the tomato/parsley/garlic mixture, using the sliced tomatoes to cover the stuffing over. Pour over them all the remaining oil and all the oil you'd fried them in also, and enough stock to come halfway up the sides of the eggplants. Pour on the lemon juice, sprinkle the sugar and the salt and pepper.
4) Bake in moderate oven, 350F, about one hour, leave to cool. It's usually eaten cold, and makes a fine vegetable meal-starter. If this is too oily, simply use less in the dish.
Cincinnati Chili
2 large onions, chopped
3 tablespoons oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 pounds ground chuck
4 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
3/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
2 (8 oz.) cans tomato sauce
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon molasses
3 cups beef broth
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
Accompaniments:
Cooked spaghetti
Cooked red kidney beans
Chopped onion
Finely grated cheddar cheese
Oyster crackers
In a heavy kettle, cook onions in oil over
moderate heat, stirring til soft. Add garlic
and cook one minute, stirring. Add ground
chuck and cook, stirring and breaking up
lumps until it is no longer pink.
Add spices and cook, stirring, 1 minute.
Stir in tomato sauce, cocoa, molasses,
broth, vinegar, 3 cups water, salt & pepper
to taste.
Bring to a boil and simmer, stirring
occasionally, for 1 1/2 hours or til thickened
but soupy enough to be ladled. The chili
will improve in flavor if cooled and chilled
overnight. Add more water as necessary
when reheating.
To serve the chili "five-way", ladle it over
individual bowls of spaghetti and top with
beans, onion, and Cheddar. Serve oyster
crackers on the side, preferably in a small
bowl.
Cardamom Rusks
Cream 1/2 Cup Butter w/ 1.5 cups sugar
Add 3 Eggs and beat.
Crush 1 dozen cardamom seeds (ha ha or: 1Tablespoon Ground cardamom)
Stir in 3 Cups Flour mixed with 2 teaspoons baking powder
pat out to about 3/4" thick.
Bake at 350f for 30 minutes, cut into diamonds and re-toast.
UG adds: cardamom pods or seeds may be whopped into submission in a coffee grinder, and you needn't clean it out before you make the next batch of coffee, as a hint of cardamom goes very well in coffee. Makes it coffee Arabic style.
I wonder how this recipe would go using the variety of cardamom called grains of paradise?
The first time I ate this in Sinop, Turkey, I wasn't too taken with it.
A week later, I was back at that same restaurant, ordering it for breakfast, with fried eggs to go with. Maybe potatoes too; I forget.
PastirmaWell, there are about a half bazillion variations on Imam Bayildi, and my cookbook shelf has about a quarter of them.
At the least, it's hearty stuff. We made a batch. Somewhere between a supper vegetable and a salad -- it would do nicely for either.
You know, it just might be worth sitting at your dinner table and being verbally insulted, while enjoying one of your home-cooked feasts. :lol:
Only if this was on the menu.
[youtube]jCSpK2tTZws&[/youtube]
Anyone notice how much she looks like Lily Tomlin?
"(Honk!) Gracious, good afternoon..."
But seriously, folks, verbal insults only after dinner and dessert, puhleeze... :lol:
Before today's Food section, I had no idea what went into making bagels -- I was raised in the mountain states in the seventies, and it was a New Jersey buddy who introduced me to the Jewish toroid. Toroid, not Torah; you stop that. This recipe is for a high-gluten white flour, the writers note that this one isn't so hot for whole-wheat while retaining the true bagel ethnicity:
Bagels
Start to finish, 15 hours clock time, 1:15 active.
Servings: 12 regular or 24 small bagels
The Sponge:
1 tsp Instant Yeast
4 cups Unbleached White Bread Flour
2 1/2 cups Water @ room temperature
In the bowl of a stand mixer combine yeast and flour. Add water and mix together with a spoon until it forms a sticky batter. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature about two hours, or until foamy and bubbly. Mixture should nearly double in size and collapse when bowl is tapped on the counter.
The Dough:
1/2 tsp Instant Yeast
3 3/4 cups Unbleached white bread Flour
2 3/4 tsp Salt
1 TBSP Barley Malt Syrup, or Honey
Set the bowl with the raised sponge in the mixer with a dough hook attachment on. Turn mixer on Low, add the yeast, then the 3 cups of the flour, all of the salt and the syrup/honey. Mix on Low speed until ingredients form a ball, slowly adding in the remaining 3/4 cup flour. Let mixer knead dough for six minutes. Dough should be pliable and smooth, feeling satiny but not tacky. Add a few drops of water or a sift of flour as needed to get the desired texture.
The Finishing Touches:
1 TBSP Baking Soda for the boiling water
Cornmeal or Semolina Flour, for dusting
Kosher Salt, Sesame Seeds, Poppy Seeds, or other bagel toppings, for sprinkles
Form the Bagels:
Wipe down your worksurface with a damp cloth. Transfer dough onto work surface and divide into 12 to 24 portions. One at a time, cup each portion in your hand and firmly press it into the counter. Move your hand circularly while pressing. In a short time, the dough should form a tight ball. Cover dough balls with damp towel, let rise 20 minutes. Meanwhile, line 2 baking pans with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray.
To shape bagels, pick up each piece and push your thumb through the center. Gently rotate your thumb around in the hole to stretch it to about 2 1/2 inches (somewhat less for smaller bagels). Keep bagel evenly shaped all the way around, no thick or thin parts.
Arrange bagels 2" apart on baking sheets, and spray lightly overall with cooking spray, loosely cover with plastic wrap and let sit another 20 minutes at room temp.
This is important: then refrigerate bagels overnight, or even over two nights. Rest, therefore, from your labors. Under refrigeration, the bagel dough slowly ferments, releasing enzymes essential to true bagel-ness and savor.
To cook Bagels:
Arrange oven racks in the middle of the oven and preheat to 500 degrees F. Bring a large pot of water to boil with the 1 TBSP baking soda added. Have a slotted spoon ready to turn bagels with.
Remove bagels from refrigerator and gently place a few of them into the boiling water. After 1 minute, flip bagels over for 1 minute on the other side. If you want chewy bagels, boil 2 minutes each side.
While bagels get boiled, sprinkle the parchment papered baking sheets with the cornmeal or semolina flour. As bagels finish their boiling, return bagels to the baking sheets. If topping is desired, sprinkle toppings as soon as the bagels come out of the boiling water, while they're still wet.
When all bagels have been boiled, place pans in oven and bake at 500 degrees F for 5 minutes. Rotate the pans 180 degrees for evenness of cooking, switching shelves too, and lower heat to 450 degrees F for an additional baking time of 5 minutes, or until bagels are golden brown.
Cool on rack for 15 minutes.
Note: Bagel dough is stiff stuff. You want a powerful stand mixer to do the mixing. Commercial bakeries have those big Hobarts -- Kitchenaids on steroids and growth hormone -- but look to your mixer's directions for stiff doughs: it will likely be either to only use low speed or to give your mixer motor a rest every couple of minutes mixing time to avoid serious heat buildup. Some people start with a mixer and finish kneading by hand to "get a feel for the dough." Maybe they do.
Find barley malt syrup at natural-foods grocers. Malt powder isn't a good substitute as it messes with the dough texture.
There are special high-gluten white flours milled for bagel making, and bagel bakeries can be persuaded to part with some for a consideration. Failing that, unbleached white bread flour works. Mr. Reinhart is researching on a recipe for whole wheat flour -- and it seems to me every W/W bagel I've ever eaten more nearly resembled a Freckle-Face roll than a whole grain slice of bread...
--From Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice
I made the Lemon Meringue Pie recipe last weekend for a cast party, to general acclaim. I didn't mention I'd stirred vitamin C crystals from Trader Joe's into the filling, nor about a teaspoon of psyllium husk into the double-batch graham cracker crust. Those people actually ate a decadent, meringued dessert that was good for their health.
my recipes are pretty simple - just the basics - some of you may already have this
PEACH COBBLER - (easy)
1 c flour (self rising)
1 c sugar
1 c milk
1 stick butter (softened)
1 can peaches w/juice (if double, use a large can)
mix together (will be runny) bake 1 hour 350
(i double - cause my boys love it & lots of v. ice cream):yum:
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Intermediate Eater: Keep your crew smiling and full with these nautical nibbles
By JOHN OWEN
SPECIAL TO THE P-I
Do you have a favorite recipe for Boiled Baby?
Or maybe your tastes run more toward Dog's Body or Soused Hog's Face. If so, you may want to obtain a copy of "Lobscouse and Spotted Dog." This book was recommended to me by reader Gary L. Burk after I made reference to Horatio Hornblower in a recent "Intermediate Eater" column. Burk has read all of the Hornblower novels and graduated to the works of Patrick O'Brian, author of "Master and Commander" and other nautical classics.
O'Brian has a devoted following, including a mother-daughter sailing team from Long Island who researched all the sailor's fare mentioned in the books. Before I put you off your feed I should point out that Boiled Baby is actually a pudding that the ship's cook wrapped in white swaddling cloth and immersed in boiling water. Dog's Body was a variety of pease pudding. As for Soused Hog's Face, well, all I can say is that what you see is what you get. And it ain't pretty. If a pig runs into my galley while we're cruising the Mediterranean, I think my crew might prefer:
SOUSED TENDERLOIN
SERVES 4
* 1 pork tenderloin (about 1 1/2 pounds)
* 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
* Salt
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1/2 cup red wine
* 1/2 cup chicken broth
* Zest of one lemon
* 8 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
* Rosemary sprigs
Roll the tenderloin in rosemary, then sprinkle with salt. Brown on all sides in hot oil, about 5 minutes total. Remove to a baking pan and bake at 425 degrees for 12 minutes, or until internal temperature is 155 degrees.
While the meat is cooking, simmer the red wine and chicken broth in a small saucepan for about 5 minutes. Add the lemon zest and olives.
Cut the loin into 1/3 -inch slices. Place on a platter, garnish with rosemary sprigs and pass the sauce around to slop over the meat.
The British tar in that era was allotted a gallon of beer a day. The wine-swigging officers probably preferred their beer included in:
TAR STEW
SERVES 4
* 2 pounds stew beef hunks
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 3 large onions, thinly sliced
* 1 tablespoon flour
* 2 tablespoons brandy
* 1 cup beer
* 1/2 cup beef broth
* 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
* Salt
* Pepper
* 2 tablespoons sour cream
* 1 teaspoon dried dill weed
Beat butter and oil in a heavy skillet. Add beef hunks in batches, browning on all sides. When all the meat is browned, transfer to an oven casserole.
Toss the onions into the skillet (adding more oil if needed) and cook over low heat until soft and golden. Sprinkle with flour, then add to the casserole.
Add to the casserole the brandy, beer, broth and allspice. Shove the casserole into a 350-degree oven and let it simmer until tender, maybe 1 1/2 or 2 hours. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Finally, stir into the stew the sour cream and dill weed.
Then you can go up on deck with a full stomach to see if the ship needs steering.
____________
John Owen writes "The Intermediate Eater" weekly. Contact him by e-mail at [email]ieater@verizon.net[/email].
I've been looking for a grownup mince pie for some time; there's only so far you can take bottled mince. This is from Lobscouse And Spotted Dog: Which it's a Gastronomic Guide:
Mince Pies
'I will just see my people aboard,' said Jack... When he reached the cabin, Captain Lambert was calling for 'a glass of brandy, there, and mince pies; but only small ones, d'ye hear me, only small ones,' ... 'What did he mean by mince pies? ... Mince pies. Why, of course: it must be Christmas in a day or two.'
- The Far Side of the World, p. 102
Mince pies are indelibly associated with Christmas. Indeed, until the mid-17th Century, they were known exclusively as Christmas Pies—they were usually rectangular, to represent the cradle of Jesus, and the dried fruits and spices were supposed to symbolize the Gifts of the Magi. The Christmas Pie of Little Jack Horner was a mince pie, though in his case it contained something more than meat and fruit. Sir John Horner was responsible for the delivery of a Christmas Pie to Henry VIII; and the plum he pulled out was the deed to a piece of confiscated church property—one of several hidden beneath the crust.
Under Puritan rule, Christmas Pies were briefly outlawed as emblems of Popery, but they resurfaced shortly afterward in less controversial guise, as Mince or Shrid (Shred) Pies. Under any name, they represent a very old tradition—the practice of preserving meat by combining it with dried fruits, spices, sugars, and alcohol dates back at least as far as medieval times, and may even have originated in ancient Rome.
Today, alas, mincemeat has lost something in translation—too often it is neither minced nor meat—but in Aubrey's time it was still faithful to its roots.
[Note: the two pastry recipes mentioned below appear elsewhere in Lobscouse and Spotted Dog and are not reproduced here to save space—but you can substitute any good short pie crust and/or any puff paste.]
2 recipes (1 pound) Short Pastry
1/2 recipe (1/2 pound) Puff Paste
1 quart Mincemeat (see below)
Mint Spies [Is this in here to see if we're paying attention? Or just to make intelligence-gathering... savory? --UG]
* Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
* On a lightly floured board, with a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out the short pastry until it is about 1/8-inch thick. Cut the sheet of pastry into 4 circles big enough to line 4 small pie dishes (the ones we use are 4 1/2 inches in diameter).
* Fill the pies with mincemeat.
* Re-flour the board and rolling pin, and roll out the puff paste until it is 1/8-inch thick. Cut 4 circles slightly larger than the pie dishes. Cut a small hole in the center of each, and place them on the pies. Crimp the edges together.
* Bake 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.
* Makes 4 small pies.
Mincemeat:
3 pounds shin of beef
1 pound suet, finely grated
1/2 pound currants
1/4 pound raisins
1/4 pound sultanas
1/2 cup candied orange peel, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup candied citron, coarsely chopped
1 pound tart apples, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped (about 3 cups)
juice and coarsely chopped zest of 1 lemon
juice and coarsely chopped zest of 1 Seville orange
2 tablespoons grated ginger
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon mace
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cider
1/2 cup brandy
1/2 cup red wine
Finished Mince Pies. Yum!
* Put the beef in a pot with water to cover. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, covered, 2 hours, or until the meat is tender enough to fall off the bone.
* Take the meat out of the pot (you may want to season and save the stock, as we do, for future use). When it is cool enough to handle, remove and discard the bones, fat and gristle. You should have about 1 pound of meat.
* Shred or coarsely chop the meat, and mix it thoroughly with all the other ingredients. Put the mincemeat in a sealed container and set it to ripen in a cool dark place. It will be ready for use after about 2 weeks... or it can be refrigerated for several months (ours has been aging for about a year now, and it gets a little more interesting every day).
* Makes about 3 quarts.
meat and fruit. -- not my favorite combination.
We had mincemeat pies at Christmas. A relative brought them, but I refused to eat anything with suet in it.
I think that's what the array of spices is in the mix for: to keep the suet, in particular, palatable. The fat that is the suet, of course, also helps seal the rest of the pie's contents away from the atmosphere and its attendant microbes, which prosper best with water, not lipids.
Fruit'n'meaty things are something I've gotten quite a taste for since picking up medievalism as a hobby. I even like prunes in my cock-a-leekie, a feature that was regarded as oldfashioned even in the eighteenth century.
The great bastion of fruit and meat living together is Scandinavia. They do not live entirely on Swedish meatballs up there, ya know.:cool:
But come to think of it, if you wanted to try it, you could. Yipes. I mean, should a guy make himself that sick of Swedish meatballs??
OK, if you don't like fruit and meat, does that mean no cranberry sauce on your turkey? No apple sauce on your pork?
What about apricot chicken?
Mmmmm...fruit and meat are very good together I reckon, although we don't put meat in our fruit mince pies at xmas time. I usually just use dried fruit that I simmer in water with sugar and 'some other spices' till it become syrupy, then put them in sweet shortcrust pastry. Yummmbo. Oh, and don't forget to dust them with icing sugar when they're cool.
I can't imagine roast duck or goose without fruit. Oh, I can, but it wouldn't be that palatable a dish.
Pork and ham do very well with fruit accompaniment. Stuff a pork roast with prunes, Danish style, or dress a ham with apricot glaze.
Chutneys or salsa can put a sandwich of last night's roast in the realm of nirvana. Guacamole with turkey, tomato jelly with beef, peaches and ham: mix it up.
Oh, lamb and apricots is very Middle Eastern. Try a bit of apricot in your moussaka.
Aside from citrus, I'm having a hard time thinking of fruits I'd use with fish. Bland fish could use tomato of course. But something heartier like mackerel? I'm thinking something tart or zesty, perhaps cranberry? I guess I'll have to smell some fresh mackerel to come up with a fruit dressing.
I haven't made this for anyone who didn't totally love it and want the recipe. It's quite simple and you can kebab to your hearts content, adding whatever you kebab lovers love to kebab.
Cut boneless skinless chicken breasts into chunks 1-1/2 to 2 inches squarish. Dip one side into brown sugar, the other into chili powder (I add a bit of garlic powder, onion powder, and cajun seasoning for kick.)
Wrap a half a slice bacon around chunk and skewer. Kebab at will.
I've only made them in my gas broiler, and the bacon gets really crispy (i.e. it's not slimy.) I can imagine they would be good grilled. You can also make smaller ones on toothpicks for appetizers.
Tres yummy!
Alright, so I have four massive fig trees in the backyard of our new house, and the little fruit buds are already visible everywhere. We're going to have so damn many of these things. What does one do with figs?
You pick them only when the neck bends. There will be a noticeable droop. They will be soft. There should be no milky sap when the skin is broken. Wash them gently, pat dry and bite from the blossom end. You can eat the entire fig up to the stem.
Wrap whole or halved figs in ham. Prosciutto is very nice. Maybe a fume blanc with them.
Cut a few in large dice and serve over ice cream or custard. I prefer custard because the ice cream is too cold for the delicate taste of fresh figs.
You can drag the blossom end in melted milk chocolate. I think dark chocolate is too strong.
from a couple that has a plum tree ,,,,,
The First year its like YAAAAAA we have PLUMS !!! I made an EPIC batch of wine !!! Carol made plum preserves ,WAAAAAAAY killer !!
Year three , YeHaww We got plums ! more or LESS of the same .
year 4 , a wind storm blew off ALL the blooms . damn it !
Year 5 , we have plums agqain yehaww .
year 6 , more plums
year 7 , plums AGAIN , cut the grass , go strolling thru the fresh cut grass with a cold beer , surveighing your work ,AHH life is GOOD untill,, SPLUT as you step on a WAY over ripe plum , it is like stepping on a dog turd , but less smelly
year 11 , an EARLY freeze ,,,,,,,, Blooms freeze and die ALL over the place . Damn it !!! the fucking plums SURVIVED !!!!!
Ill let you know about year 12 next year .
Alright, so I have four massive fig trees in the backyard of our new house, and the little fruit buds are already visible everywhere. We're going to have so damn many of these things. What does one do with figs?
Eat them. Make jelly from them and then serve it with strong cheese (if you're into cheese platters). Eat them. Use them in cooking. Oh, and don't forget to eat them. ;)
Drying Figs -- I searched on that term and got numerous hits.
Drying and Freezing Figs Mmmmm...dried figs. Delicious.
Has anyone figured out that I like figs yet?
UG's second link connects to the California fig growers site. They have a page of recipes including cooked figs and figs in salads. Fig salsa, fig ice cream, figs and carmelized onions, fig preserves, etc.
Figs do make good preserves and jams, but I keep the yield of my fig tree down by severe pruning so I've never made any.
Figs do make good preserves
Not only good,
Great.Thanks for the ripeness info, lizzymahoney, I never would have thought to consider that. I went looking on my favorite recipe site last night and found some interesting options:
Goat Cheese Stuffed Figs Wrapped in Bacon
Raspberry and Fig Gratin
Balsamic and Fig Caramel SauceI think I can quote this in full from memory:
". . .Dessert was a platter of figs brought in at the end of dinner. Then Cousin Elmore used the only word he'd bothered to learn in Italian: "Fighi, fighi!" The cook dropped the platter and bolted for the kitchen, precipitevolissimivolmente."
-- Patrick Dennis, Around the World with Auntie Mame
guy salad
tear open one bag of fancy ass mixed salad greens, dump in large bowl
chop a left over steak or chicken breast into 3/4" cubes, add to bowl
add half a sliced and quartered cuke
add a big handfull of grape tomatoes
a bunch of sharp cheddar cheese....shredded
bleu cheese crumbles to taste
1/4 cup of almond slices or walnut pieces
4 tbsp chunky bleu cheese dressing
apply lid to large bowl, shake vigorously.
grab a fork
don't clean up
That sounds good lj...cept I'd feel obligated to clean up...being a chick and all that...
That is normally my salad except I add bacon bits and something crunchy - either croutons or chow mein noodles
blue cheese? yuk. Nothing with overt mold, please.
As a kid, I didn't like bleu cheese dressing -- not at first. But I got the taste for it and from there, in time, learned that with cheese a lot of the time the important bit IS the mold -- what do you think that white coating on brie is? So, I like the bleu, and Gorgonzola, and can't get enough Stilton... I even go as hardcore as St. Nectaire (considerably more ammoniac than nectarean (or nectarous if you prefer a more up-to-date word)), which no one else in the house will touch, even though they are fond of a hardcore hot-and-sour soup, something the East Coast does better than the West Coast.
There's mold, and there's mold. Gotta have the proper mold.
these are not exactly light and fluffy, but they are very good. Jam inside:
Applesauce muffins (Dr. Weil)
1 1/2 c whole wheat pastry flour
1 c oat bran
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1 t allspice
1 egg
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 cu chopped dates
1 1/4 c applesauce
1/4 cup jam (raspberry or apricot work well)
preheat oven to 350 F. Mix dry ingredients and spices in large bowl. Add egg, brown sugar, dates. Gradually stir in applesauce. Mix. Fill 12 muffin molds 1/3 of the way full of batter, then drop 1 t of jam on top of the batter. Drop enough batter on top to fill the muffin mold 2/3 full (on top of the jam). The jam will fall into the batter when it bakes. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the tops are light brown.
I love
Brochettes de Crevettes - basically shrimp and bacon marinated then cooked on a grill shish-kabob style. To simplify the recipe, take shrimp and bacon, place on skewers, marinate in italian dressing ~6 hours, then grill until done. The bacon will not be crispy, if it is, you overcooked the shrimp. Very yummy!
What's a good meal that is easy to prepare in advance and freeze to take to a family gathering of about 20 people? This will be a day's drive away at a remote lake cottage, and we would do the meal a day or two after arriving.
So I'm looking for something that would be appealing to all ages, easy to heat up on a stove top. (the oven heats the place up too much so we don't want to use that) Fairly simple to clean up is good. In years past, we've done tacos, but that's a lot of work.
Any ideas?
If you want to freeze, then heat up on a stove, I recommend something like chili or stew, something with liquid in it, rather than a casserole.
I was going to say lasagna until you said stove top... maybe a soup or stew? Chicken and dumplings? Chili?
Yeah.... what cloud said....
What's a good meal that is easy to prepare in advance and freeze to take to a family gathering of about 20 people? This will be a day's drive away at a remote lake cottage, and we would do the meal a day or two after arriving.
Soylent Green.
No, I agree with cloud, and
here is a great freezer chili recipe from aboutDOTcom.
I have a chili recipe and also a roasted chicken chowder recipe, both of which are kid-friendly (especially the chowder) and really awesome. Let me know if you want them and I'll bother to type them up. Otherwise, your stovetop requirement makes it really difficult... Pasta is probably a good bet, just a massive batch of spaghetti or penne or something with a sauce you've already prepared. Or you could always do pancakes.
Hey Clodfobble - I'd love a copy of those if you can be bothered, please :)
the chili con carne recipe in the Joy of Cooking is the best, simple, kid-friendly chili there is. I have other, fancier, and more authentic Southwestern chili recipes, but that one really is simple and yummy, and I find myself going back to it again and again. In fact, I'm going to make some tonight!
I'd be interested in the chowder recipe, too, please, Clodfobble.
Knowing my audience, I think chili or stew won't be well received. I think of them more as winter foods anyway.
But pasta is a safe bet. It's a good idea.
Thanks for the ideas, everyone.
3 medium onions, chopped
1 large russet (baking) potato
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups heavy cream
2 roma tomatoes, diced
2 cups corn
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 a chipotle in adobo sauce, minced fine (about 1 teaspoon)
1-2 smoked (i.e. pre-cooked) chicken breasts, chopped.
In a soup pot, cook the onions in a few tablespoons of oil (I use olive oil, but whatever you like) over medium heat until softened. Peel and cut the potato into a very fine dice, preferably about 1/4 inch. Add potato and garlic to the pot and cook for 2-3 minutes. Stir in flour, and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Whisk in broth and cream, and bring to a boil, still stirring. Add tomatoes, corn, Monterey Jack, chipotle, and chicken, and simmer for about 20 minutes, until potatoes are fully softened. For a more kid-friendly version, I just use about a tablespoon of the adobo sauce instead of an actual chipotle pepper.
And here's the chili recipe for Ducks:
Turkey Chipotle Chili
2 lbs. ground turkey
1 med. onion, chopped
1 Tbs. chili powder
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 chipotles in adobo, finely chopped
2 cups chicken stock
1 can chopped stewed tomatoes
1 can red kidney beans (drained)
In large soup pot, brown turkey in oil for about 3 minutes (it will not be done yet.) Add onion, garlic, chili powder, and chipotles and cook another 5 minutes, until turkey is completely cooked. Add stock, tomatoes, and beans, and simmer until chili is desired thickness, about 30 minutes. Add a tablespoon or so of tomato paste if necessary to thicken faster. Top with cheese (any will do, but IMHO pepper jack is the best choice.)
This goes exceedingly well with corn cakes--just a standard box of Jiffy Corn Muffin mix, prepared according to package directions (optionally with 1-2 cups pepper jack cheese added) and cooked on a griddle into pancakes.
Can you tell I like chipotles? :)
I dont know what chipotles are....muahahaha...off to google.
chipotles are smoked and marinated jalapenos, I think.
Yes, they are, though many people are under the mistaken impression that they are an entirely separate species of pepper. But anyway, I imagine any spicy pepper would reasonably do in either recipe.
Oh jeez :blush:
I thought it was another word for chipolatas (sausages about the size of a thumb usually roasted with turkey)
Must be a States thing. Everything is chipotle these days. It's the hot (pun intended) food ingredient. Chipotle chicken. Chipotle shrimp. Chipotle salad. Chipotle ice cream. Chipotle dog bones. Chipotle sandwich.
That's...that's about it.
Don't forget the actual restaurant chain named Chipotle (which does not actually have anything with chipotles on the menu.)
(which does not actually have anything with chipotles on the menu.)
:headshake
Good burritos there at Chipotle. The chipotle (smoked dried jalapeno) peppers are in one or two of the salsas.
The peppers can be found canned or dried. Useful-looking page here:
GourmetSleuth.comQuinoa One Skillet Meal, or, Garlic Chicken Stir Fry with Quinoa, Peppers, and Basil
Had some quinoa in a box, and there was a recipe on the back of the box. It's pretty flexible, turns out. I substituted beef strips for chicken, and didn't have any bell peppers.
Prepare quinoa in saucepan:
1 cup quinoa grains
2 cups chicken broth or stock
Soak quinoa in two or three times the volume of water to rinse away bitter flavor.
Simmer quinoa and broth together in saucepan until all of broth is absorbed.
While this is going on, prep everything else:
1 1/2 lb. boneless, skinless Chicken breasts, cut in 1" pieces
4 TBSP Garlic Olive Oil, or increase garlic from amount below
1 sm Onion, sliced thin
1 red Bell Pepper, 1 yellow Bell Pepper, seeded and sliced thin
5 or more cloves Garlic, sliced thin or minced
20 leaves fresh Basil, julienned
Parmesan Cheese, grated
Salt & Pepper to taste.
With everything sliced and readied, heat skillet, add Oil. Saute Chicken 5 minutes or until golden. Add Onions and Peppers, sauteing one or two additional minutes; add Garlic and saute until Peppers are slightly limp but still bright (adds to dish's looks), a minute or two more. Season with Salt and Pepper.
Remove skillet from heat; add prepared Quinoa and julienned Basil, toss until Basil is well wilted. Garnish generously with Parmesan. I served it in soup plates.
For variation, add tomatoes, or use another meat, sliced thin the way you'd prep meat for stir frying. Beef or pork could stand to be marinaded for this recipe in something acidic and tenderizing. Some may like a little drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.
Quinoa can be fixed in a rice cooker without trouble: one volume of quinoa to two volumes water or stock. With stock it comes off very like a pilaf.
This is ratatouille by the classic, slow technique, but ratatouille can be cooked entirely on top of the stove and more quickly without peeling or seeding. It can be left chunky or cooked to a puree. Add cheeses such as feta, goat cheese, mozzarella or Parmesan at the end.
Ratatouille can be an all-vegetable entree, a side dish or a filling of crepes and pita sandwiches. It may be served cold, and ageing in the fridge improves it.
If you really don't want to peel the eggplant, take a very sharp knife and lop the skin off in six or eight pieces; you won't lose much flesh to this. Chop the zucchini and any other squash the same size as the tomatoes, about 1-inch cubes. With the eggplant it matters little if it is chopped so or simply sliced as it will meld into the tomatoes.
Ratatouille
1 Eggplant, 1 1/2 to 2 lb, peeled/trimmed and cut into 1 inch cubes
About 1/2 c Olive Oil, divided
2 Zucchini, cut in 1/4" slices
1 large Red Bell Pepper, cored, seeded, sliced
1 large Green Bell Pepper
1 large Onion, sliced
2 c Tomatoes, chopped, seeded
1 TBSP Tomato Paste
1 TBSP Minced Garlic
1/2 c minced fresh Basil leaves (or 2 tsp dried)
1 tsp dried Thyme}
1 Bay leaf ...........}optional: Herbes de Provence herb blend may be substituted (rosemary, marjoram, basil, bay leaf, thyme) -- basically whichever you've got on hand. Try a little extra Thyme too.
Salt and fresh ground Pepper
Equipment other than oven: colander, skillet, casserole
In a colander, toss Eggplant with salt, let sit to draw bitter juices out, pat dry.
Preheat oven 350 F.
In large skillet over medium heat, warm 2 TBSP Oil until hot, add half of Eggplant, stirring occasionally cook for 5-7 minutes or until soft. With a slotted spoon, transfer eggplant into casserole dish. Repeat process with remaining Eggplant and same amount of oil. Cook, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes and transfer to casserole.
In 2 more TBSP Oil, saute Bell Peppers 5 min until softened and add to eggplant in casserole.
In same skillet, saute Onion in 1 TBSP Oil for 7 min or until golden, transfer to casserole.
Add Tomatoes to ingredients in casserole dish, and the Tomato Paste, Garlic, Basil, Thyme, Bay Leaf, Salt and Pepper to taste; stir to combine. Cover casserole and bake 30 minutes.
--The Best of France, Evie Richter
Serve with lamb, roast pork, grilled shrimp. Pairs with oven-browned potatoes or crusty bread. Red wine. Keeps well, and improves some with fridge ageing.
You know how they're saying that onions and garlic are good for you? Well, here's a simple, yummy recipe for braised onions right out of Julia Child.
1 lb pearl or white boiling onions
oil, butter
1/2 cup beef stock
herbs: parsley, thyme, bay leaf. (etc.)
salt and pepper
Peel the onions (the hardest part): Put onions in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Let sit for 5 minutes. Cut the root end off the onion, and a shallow cut lengthwise, and squeeze them out of their skins.
Brown the onions in oil and butter in a skillet (not a non-stick). Cook over medium until brown; toss gently during this process (5-10 min.)
Add stock and herbs; cover and simmer about 40 minutes until onions are tender but retain their shape and liquid has almost evaporated. Correct seasoning by adding salt and pepper. (unless you are adding them to another recipe, like beef burgandy or coq au vin).
Faggots
http://www.yourcounty.co.uk/you/archive/recipes/faggots.html
People tend to love or hate faggots, but these beauties, freshly made in faggot gravy bare little resemblance to their distant cousins you may have seen in the deep freeze at your local supermarket.
They take 50 minutes to prepare, and about two hours to cook, serves four.
Ingredients:
1 pigs liver - diced
1 pigs heart - diced
6 rashers streaky bacon - cut into strips
250g pork belly - diced
2 medium sized onions - peeled and sliced
1 egg
100g breadcrumbs
2 tsp of finely chopped fresh sage
salt and pepper to taste
a large knob of butter
Method:
1. Melt the butter in a large heavy based oven proof pan, add half the sliced onion and cook over a moderate until the onion softens.
2. Gradually add all the meats, stir for a few minutes then add enough water to cover the ingredients, leave uncovered and put in the middle shelf of the oven at 190oC for 50 minutes.
3. Remove from the oven, drain the liquid (to make the gravy), mince the meats and onion with the remaining onion, egg, breadcrumbs, 1 tsp of sage and salt and pepper, mix well and form into faggot sized balls.
4. Place the faggots into a greased baking tray and add enough of the reserved liquid to just cover the base of the tray. Cook for about 40 minutes at 200oC on the middle shelf.
5. In the meantime use the rest of the reserved liquid to make some gravy.
6. Five minutes before the faggots are cooked add the gravy to the tray and cook on the stove getting as much of the meat juices into the liquid.
7. Serve whilst piping hot with mashed potatoes and peas pudding, garnish with the remaining sage.
The current Kent Recipe can be found
here. The Recipe Directory is
here.
mix well and form into faggot sized balls.
How big are faggot sized balls?
faggots are bundles. ?
BTW, I had the onion recipe tonight for dinner with a small steak, and the combination was divine!
Chicken Macaroni Bake
8 oz. macaroni
2 chicken breasts
1/2 cup frozen peas
3 Tbs. butter
3 Tbs. flour
1/2 cup cream
1 cup chicken broth
4 oz. shredded Gouda cheese
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 Tbs. melted butter
Boil chicken breasts until cooked through, about 10-15 minutes. Dice. Boil macaroni and thaw peas. Meanwhile, prepare sauce: melt butter over medium heat, whisk in flour and cook for 1 minute, then add cream and broth and slowly add cheese, stirring constantly to melt. Mix sauce, chicken, macaroni, and peas in a 13x9 dish. Mix butter and bread crumbs and sprinkle over the top. Cook uncovered at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes, until golden brown and bubbly.
Yum, I was wondering about that, Clodfobble.
Also, thank you, UG for the quinoa recipe. I've never had much luck with quinoa. or millet.
faggots are bundles. ?
A fagot
is a bundle of wood for fuel. However, with regard to food-
[color=white]__________[/color]U.K. -- faggot
[color=white]__________[/color]U.S. -- meatball
For example: "After a tasty bowl of faggots and gravy, nothing satisfies like a few puffs of a nice fag." :D
Okay, this is a complicated-looking recipe, but TOTALLY worth it! It's a kind of layered Mexican lasagna. You can cut some of the steps by using a purchased roast chicken. This is a NEVER FAIL potluck dish.
CHICKEN SOPA
"MEXICAN LASAGNE"
Ingredients
24 corn tortillas
Chicken; 1 large package boneless, skinless
chicken breasts (about 8 breast halves)
1 bay leaf
4 cloves garlic (1 clove + 3 cloves)
2 chopped onions
3 T olive oil
2 cups mild salsa
2 ½ + ½ cups chicken broth
2 t cumin
1 ½ t oregano
2 t salt
½ pound grated cheddar cheese*
½ pound grated monterrey jack cheese*
*Use low-fat cheese if desired
16 oz. sour cream (use low fat sour cream)
Cooking Equipment
Large shallow baking pan (14" x 8")
Large saucepan
Skillet
Tongs
Cheese grater
1. To prepare chicken: Rinse chicken parts and place in pan, cover with cold water with 1 bay leaf and 1 chopped clove of garlic. Turn heat to High and bring water to boil. Once water comes to a boil, turn heat down to low. Cover pot and simmer 25 minutes. Remove chicken to a plate and cool. When chicken is cool enough, shred with hands. You should have about 8 cups of chicken meat. (Note: You can also use this method of cooking chicken to make chicken for sandwiches, chicken salad, etc.)
2. Chop onion and 3 cloves garlic. Place large saucepan over medium high heat. Put in olive oil and let heat for 1 minute. Put in onion, garlic, cumin, and oregano, and stir. Turn heat to medium low and cover. Cook for 10 minutes, checking and stirring 2-3 times. If vegetables start to stick, add a little more oil. If they start to burn, turn down heat.
3. Add 2 ½ cups chicken broth, 2 cups salsa, and salt to pot; stir. Turn heat to high; bring mixture to boil. Turn down heat to medium, cook uncovered 15 minutes. Sauce should be bubbling nicely but not too frantically.
4. While sauce is cooking, grate cheeses. Coat large (14" x 8") baking pan with Pam cooking spray, or take a paper towel and lightly coat pan with olive oil. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
5. When sauce is done, remove a scant 2 cups (this means almost 2 cups, but not quite) from pot and set aside. Add chicken pieces to pot and stir until thoroughly coated.
6. In a skillet, heat ½ cup of chicken broth to boiling; turn heat to low. To prepare tortillas: Using tongs, quickly dip each tortilla in hot broth before layering. If broth starts to run out, add a little hot water.
7. Layer casserole:
1. Place 8 softened tortillas overlapping in bottom of baking pan.
2. Spread half the chicken.
3. 8 more softened tortillas.
4. Half the chicken.
5. Half the cheese.
6. 8 more tortillas.
7. The 2 cups reserved sauce.
8. The remaining cheese.
9. Carefully spread the sour cream on top.
8. Bake 45 minutes in oven until edges are brown and sour cream is set. Yum!
Seems some comic book artists are not only major chowhounds, but very talented in that direction. Chaykin put this simple recipe in the back of an issue of American Flagg back in the 1980s. Naming it "Spaghetti Alpha Carbonara" made some kind of sense in the context of the story -- the hero was a Martian colonist, Alpha was part of the name of his home town... something like that. It's been years, nay, decades. And it's been that long since I've last eaten it.
So I dusted off the recipe tonight.
As with any simple entree recipe, use high-quality, not baseline, ingredients to give this its full effect. In particular, choose a flavorful kind of bacon, something that really impressed you. Health food? -- nope; probably better serve this with plenty of red wine at the table (salad's a given), and in a day that included lots of exercise. This recipe is good bachelor chow for impressing a new girlfriend with -- though she might not eat much! Still, she'll savor each bite...
Spaghetti Alpha Carbonara
1/2 lb/225g Bacon -- about half a package, most places. Use your favorite kind.
4 TBSP/60ml Vegetable Oil, divided. No need to be exact with this one either.
1 TBSP Butter
4 cloves Garlic, peeled and crushed
3/4 cup/200ml heavy Cream
2/3 cup/315ml grated Parmesan
Salt
1 lb pkg Spaghetti or other long pasta -- 454g pkg
All quantities somewhat approximate -- this dish can be stretched for large parties.
Equipment other than stove: large mixing bowl, measuring cups, pasta claw or other implements to toss pasta in bowl with carbonara sauce and parmesan, large frying pan
Cut Bacon slices across into 1/4" pieces.
Put 2 TBSP Oil, Butter, crushed Garlic cloves in frying pan, saute at medium-high heat until garlic is golden brown, remove and discard garlic. This doesn't take long.
Add Bacon, saute until cooked.
Add half of Cream, simmer at lower heat 1 minute or until cream thickens. Remove from heat.
Boil 4 qts water in large pot, adding 2 TBSP Oil, Salt, 1 lb of Spaghetti. When spaghetti is al dente, drain.
Reheat pan of bacon and cream, adding remaining cream. When hot, toss Spaghetti together with bacon and cream and Parmesan cheese in mixing bowl until thoroughly mixed. Serve hot, with a salad and red wine.
[Man, am I full!]
A nice little Omelette
Just something I threw together because it was late:
Quantities to taste, approx measures:
3 Eggs
Brown mushrooms, portobellos, white mushrooms -- whatever's on hand
1 lg clove Garlic, minced fine
a couple dashes Herbes de Province (equal parts marjoram, rosemary, basil, thyme), minus the bay leaf (the complete herbes blend), to taste
Half a pat of Butter
Oil for cooking
Saute' the Shrooms in Oil with minced Garlic and Herbes de Provence blend until shrooms are shrunken to two thirds their size or so, just don't burn them.
Fix the beaten Eggs in blend of Oil and half pat of Butter over medium to med-high heat, not letting the eggs get browned. Kills the flavor.
You know the rest. Warmed plates make for nice cozy omelettes.
I missed a procedural paragraph when I was transcribing the Ratatouille recipe... you'll note I didn't include anything to do with the chopped/sliced zucchini. So:
In prepping everything for baking in the casserole dish,
Saute Onions, then Peppers, at medium heat in a couple tablespoonsful of Oil each; then add Eggplant and any squashes with the herbes, soften and brown these. If you wish to cook ratatouille down to a smooth texture, add in Tomatoes, garlic, and the herbs, cook covered briefly, then remove cover and cook down to desired consistency, chunky or smoother.
The half-hour bake en casserole finishes the job. For good ratatouille, don't be afraid of the herbs and garlic, or the olive oil. Not too far from Imam Bayildi, except that it's more stew-ish.
It allows plenty of variations, too -- this is peasants'-garden-food after all -- so try addition of tomato paste or sundried tomatoes if you have either around.
That's about 2/7ths zucchini by volume. You could probably sneak that much wet sawdust in and noone would be the wiser if you used maple or sweet birch. ;)
I know you arn't here much but when you got the time can you post a good dense sweet zucchini bread recipe?
I have the texture I am looking for in my mind but I can't convert it to the baking dish. :sniff:
This is ratatouille ...Ratatouille can be an all-vegetable entree,...
This reminds me of something I used to do from time to time.
I used to do a mix of a lot of great spices cornmeal, cornflour, and flour and put it in the processor then coat-dredge-coat-fry; green tomatoes, eggplant (preferably Asian), zucchini, summer squash and anything else that is seasonal and good fried. All very young and cross cut and on the same large platter when done.
That way you don't know what you are getting.
There were always good dipping sauces too.
It was a fave with friends and family, I miss doing it.
Okay, which spices were the "great" spices? ;)
I don't know from Lamingtons, so here's a link to the first of 61,000 hits on the 'Net on the term "Lamingtons recipes":
Australian Lamingtons RecipeThat's a very lazy lamington recipe.
BBQ Squirrel
~ 4 squirrels, quartered
~ 3 tbsp salt
~ 2 tsp pepper
~ 1 tsp garlic powder
~ 1 tsp onion powder
~ your favorite dry rub
~ 15 charcoal briquets
~ 3 handfuls hickory chips
~ your favorite bbq sauce
In a large pot, boil the squirrel in water seasoned with the salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder for 1 hour or until tender.
In the meantime, soak the hickory chips in water. Light the charcoal and let them get white hot. Place them to one side of your grill.
Remove the squirrel from the water and pat dry. Coat with your favorite dry rub.
Add one handful of wood chips to the hot coals.
Place squirrel on grill across from the hot coals. Cover and smoke for 1 hour. Add a handful of wood chips every half hour.
Add last of the wood chips and baste squirrel with bbq sauce. Smoke for another half hour basting another 3 - 4 times.
Serve with mashed potatoes, sweet corn and buttermilk bisquits.
I've had squirrel fried like chicken. It was good.
UG, yooo hoooo UGGGGGGGG
Whats quinoa and what can I supplement it with???
I have a recipe for quinoa salad that I want to try, buuuut, I cant find quinoa anywhere locally.
Oh never mind, I found a website that will sell it to me, stupid bloody hixville pokey town.
Yeah, where O where to go for funny grains? The health-food stores in my area sell it packaged or in bulk -- look carefully at the bulk, 'cos quinoa looks like great big amaranth! As I've said, two volumes of stock to one volume, perhaps a little more, of quinoa cooks up nicely in a rice cooker. Or else use water if you're not trying for the pilaf effect.
This is ratatouille by the classic, slow technique, but ratatouille can be cooked entirely on top of the stove and more quickly without peeling or seeding. It can be left chunky or cooked to a puree. Add cheeses such as feta, goat cheese, mozzarella or Parmesan at the end.
Ratatouille can be an all-vegetable entree, a side dish or a filling of crepes and pita sandwiches. It may be served cold, and ageing in the fridge improves it.
If you really don't want to peel the eggplant, take a very sharp knife and lop the skin off in six or eight pieces; you won't lose much flesh to this. Chop the zucchini and any other squash the same size as the tomatoes, about 1-inch cubes. With the eggplant it matters little if it is chopped so or simply sliced as it will meld into the tomatoes.
Ratatouille
1 Eggplant, 1 1/2 to 2 lb, peeled/trimmed and cut into 1 inch cubes
About 1/2 c Olive Oil, divided
2 Zucchini, cut in 1/4" slices
1 large Red Bell Pepper, cored, seeded, sliced
1 large Green Bell Pepper
1 large Onion, sliced
2 c Tomatoes, chopped, seeded
1 TBSP Tomato Paste
1 TBSP Minced Garlic
1/2 c minced fresh Basil leaves (or 2 tsp dried)
1 tsp dried Thyme}
1 Bay leaf ...........}optional: Herbes de Provence herb blend may be substituted (rosemary, marjoram, basil, bay leaf, thyme) -- basically whichever you've got on hand. Try a little extra Thyme too.
Salt and fresh ground Pepper
Equipment other than oven: colander, skillet, casserole
In a colander, toss Eggplant with salt, let sit to draw bitter juices out, pat dry.
Preheat oven 350 F.
In large skillet over medium heat, warm 2 TBSP Oil until hot, add half of Eggplant, stirring occasionally cook for 5-7 minutes or until soft. With a slotted spoon, transfer eggplant into casserole dish. Repeat process with remaining Eggplant and same amount of oil. Cook, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes and transfer to casserole.
In 2 more TBSP Oil, saute Bell Peppers 5 min until softened and add to eggplant in casserole.
In same skillet, saute Onion in 1 TBSP Oil for 7 min or until golden, transfer to casserole.
Add Tomatoes to ingredients in casserole dish, and the Tomato Paste, Garlic, Basil, Thyme, Bay Leaf, Salt and Pepper to taste; stir to combine. Cover casserole and bake 30 minutes.
--The Best of France, Evie Richter
Serve with lamb, roast pork, grilled shrimp. Pairs with oven-browned potatoes or crusty bread. Red wine. Keeps well, and improves some with fridge ageing.
oh yum-0 UG
Here's one I want to try.
[COLOR="DarkSlateGray"]Clam Bake Stoup Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray, 2007
See this recipe on air Tuesday Sep. 04 at 6:00 PM ET/PT.
Show: 30 Minute Meals
Episode: Clam Up
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 pound kielbasa, diced
4 cups (half a 32-ounce bag) frozen diced hash browns
1 large onion, chopped
4 ribs celery, chopped
1 bay leaf
5 to 6 sprigs fresh thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 rounded tablespoon seafood seasoning (recommended: Old Bay)
4 large ears corn on the cob or 3 cups frozen kernels
1 (15-ounce) can diced fire-roasted tomatoes
1 quart chicken stock
4 dozen littleneck clams
Hot sauce, to taste
1 lemon, zested and juiced
Handful fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
4 jumbo sourdough English muffins, split
3 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons chopped chives
Heat a large soup pot with extra-virgin olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the kielbasa and brown for 2 minutes; add the potatoes, onions, celery, bay, thyme, and salt and pepper and let the veggies soften up 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Pat shrimp dry and toss with a rounded tablespoon (a generous palmful) of seafood seasoning.
Invert a small bowl and place at the bottom of a larger bowl. Shuck corn and stand on end on the small bowl. Scrape off kernels. Add corn to soup pot.
Add the tomatoes and stock to the pot. Cover and bring to a boil. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Add the shrimp and clams and replace the cover. Cook until shrimp are pink and firm and the clams have opened up, 5 to 6 minutes. Finish stoup with hot sauce, lemon zest and juice and a handful of parsley.
While the seafood cooks, toast the English muffins. Soften the butter in the microwave. Mash the garlic cloves with a little salt and make a paste. Add the chives and garlic paste to the softened butter and mix. Rub hot toasted muffins with garlic/butter mixture and chop into large dice.
Serve stoup in shallow bowls with muffin croutons. Place an extra bowl at each setting to collect shells as you eat your Clam Bake Stoup.
[/COLOR]
I think ol' Rachel gets EVOO into everything short of vanilla ice cream. And my own consumption of EVOO has gone up quite a bit since I started watching her show. Kinda too bad for us guys she's been married for a couple of years, huh?
(Remember to scroll down farther on the page for a paragraph I neglected to copy into the recipe.)
I think ol' Rachel gets EVOO into everything short of vanilla ice cream. And my own consumption of EVOO has gone up quite a bit since I started watching her show. Kinda too bad for us guys she's been married for a couple of years, huh?
(Remember to scroll down farther on the page for a paragraph I neglected to copy into the recipe.)
lol true about the EVOO in everything sort of ice cream
I don't know. I thought guys didn't like her for the most part? I thought guys
liked bitchy controlling women or beauty without brains. :) Of which I fall short or inbetween both .....plus I'm not a guy and I don't really know what they like.
( ok I'll scroll )
edit- ok I have the entire recipe copied to my notepad. thanks!I could kind of crush on Rachel, not least for her looking like she should have dimples in her cheeks when she smiles that broad smile -- but she doesn't. Attention-getting.
Hey, she's brunette, she's clearly passionate about food and its creation, she's got a good figure. And she can cook -- and she can teach you how. She makes good money at it too.
Rachel's got a lot going for her. Some don't like her vocal squeaks, but they don't bother me. What does bother me is accidentally treading on my tongue watching her. That's a hell of a way to find out the living room carpet really needs vacuuming.
Well, ninety to ninety-five men out of a hundred like people like you, skysidhe. You know, female people. That, and the fully grown make the best partners. Remember that men as a whole are less inclined to say love loudly than to do love, and long.
Meanwhile, it's a real hoot getting men to do something if you can frame it as an opportunity to show off before women. That is like totally not a secret; you'll see us smile knowingly then, and, laughing a little, go right on to do whatever it is.
Right down to "honey-do" projects.
What does bother me is accidentally treading on my tongue watching her. That's a hell of a way to find out the living room carpet really needs vacuuming.
That's a funny image :)
I do agree that fully grown partners are nice except that by my age if a man isn't attached there are some serious reasons? I don't know I've been out of the loop. It's either that or I am a freak magnent and therefore lose my trust so/ and ....therefore I don't see so clearly.
You might ask the same of a woman who at my age isn't attached. Well for me it has been rasing a kid. My whole focus even to the exclusion of my own needs which isn't healthy but when your plate has been full things just are sometimes.
I do agree that a man usually expresses his love by doing something and I like that since that is my way to express love too. I think giving of oneself is a good way to create harmony in a relationship. A giving back and forth...words don't mean so much if not matched by the action.
So I know that was a little bit personal but since you shared what seemed a genuine effort I thought I would respond in kind.
thanks for the nice little chat :)
Please can I have your best recipe for low fat Tuna Pasta Bake (possibly Tuna Noodle Casserole in the US) Ideally with UK measurements, though if you have to use cups I can probably get by.
From memory, I used to soften an onion and garlic in olive oil, then add tuna and pasta which had just been brought to the boil and a tin of mushroom soup. I'd then top with spicy breadcrumbs and cook for 20 mins.
Exact recipe or just variations on a theme would be great - I'm cooking something every day now but lost a lot of low fat recipes in my last few moves.
Mmmh -- good one. Maybe I'd have to invent one, I don't know. I think both terms are used in the US. Looks like search time for both of us, doesn't it?
[Edit: on "tuna casserole recipe" alone I get one million fifty thousand hits. We oughtta be able to do something with that. What wine should we put 60ml of in the 'shroom soup?]
BTW, I've found I don't particularly care for putting tuna into Green Bean Casserole. It's edible, but the flavors don't really enhance each other -- they don't dance together. Seems it has to be either tuna at the center of it all, or else the beans/mushrooms/Tater Tots team.
Soo, if we don't find something we dream up variations to try. Probably one important part will be to enhance the dish's fiber content so there's plenty of satiation in a serving: whole wheat pasta noodles. We avoid using anything else in the house, trying to keep my blood sugar under control -- Metformin can do a lot, but doing things to keep blood glucose levels from getting all spiky-crashy -- which is a phenomenon that will put the pounds on -- is important too.
I did search and got many hits also, but my problem was they were all US sites (with measurements foreign to me) and I was too lazy to vet them all for low fat solutions...
I just want something tried and tested from someone I trust.
I'd love to help you out... but tuna (any kind other than sushi) is the work of the devil.
I think it's going to be a case of
that one looks good, now what are the fats and what are my choices: reduce amounts? Change to unsaturated -- hey did Rachel Ray put EVOO in any of these?
Tuna casserole has got to be one of the more forgiving recipes known to humanity.
Where I'd start with this is rather twofold: whole wheat or other wholegrain pasta only to enhance the fiber, and halve the fat content. How lowfat is low fat, btw? What do you need to do? Keep an eye out for reduced fat cream of mushroom soup; I daresay somebody's making the stuff now. The Martha Stewart method takes more woman-hours: scratchbuild your own reduced cream of shroom.
{Now it's time for me to go untimely stimulating my appetite looking for cream of shroom recipes... off I go.}
She did!! It's not quite a casserole, but it could be done up as one, and is doubtless good either with its original chicken, or with tuna substituted for the chicken.
Another, similar idea, also from Rachel's site. Chicken again, probably work with tuna, and an effort at reducing the fat content. We may be getting somewhere. "1/2 cup (2 handfuls) shredded Italian 3-cheese mix" I suppose is equal parts Parmesan, Romano, and Asiago. (But that is a SWAG -- Stupid Wild Ass Guess.)
I did search the site for her
Tuna Casserole Recipe. It's not at all low-fat. Got EVOO.
Awright -- from Cookingforengineers.com,
Cream-of-Mushroom-Soup
This one has measures in metric as well as Yankee and features two of the big fatties: it's got both whole milk and a stick of butter in it,
and some heavy cream so we gotta find a means of reducing these. Some recipes dispense with the cream, but I'm picking this one as a good candidate for fat reduction. And they stuck a leek in there too along with the onions -- the curious attractions just never end. Well, test it on a Welsh Nationalist next March maybe, for St. David's Day. We might try halving the butter and see what happens, and cutting the heavy cream half and half with nonfat yoghurt, blending the two into a thickish fluid and adding to the soup. I really don't know what changing skim milk for whole milk would do to or for a soup. Rigid experimental protocol would be doing a batch with each variation.
As you can see, I think
we're going to have to experiment for ourselves. Hey, it gives a well rounded perspective to be both the mad scientist and the guinea pig. For tried, true and trustworthy, consider this: this guy's tried it, is quite talkative about how he evolved the recipe, and he seems really to like it.
Which OT reminds me I'm still rather looking around for vegetarian lentil soup recipes that aren't insipid. I'm very confident with my meaty lentil soup, but veggie lentil soups I've had... well, I want those minutes of my life back, dang it.
So, 'Fobble, no likee Tuna Casserole? Me likee tuna sushi, regular, yellowfin, and maguro. For the totally sashimi/sushi newbie, tuna sushi is how I would introduce them to raw fish.
So, 'Fobble, no likee Tuna Casserole? Me likee tuna sushi, regular, yellowfin, and maguro. For the totally sashimi/sushi newbie, tuna sushi is how I would introduce them to raw fish.
Sushi is awesome. All other forms of tuna are catfood.
But cats look really weird eating tuna fish sandwiches with both paws and spitting the diced celery across the room.
Well I threw one together today that worked quite well, but I nearly fell asleep eating it, it was dull, dull, dull. Also the soup made it quite sweet - might try vegetable stock with fish sauce as a base next time. And definitely including red onions and chopped jalapenos.
1 tin tuna (in brine - drained)
1 small tin Weight Watchers tomato soup
handful of sweetcorn
added to 2 servings of parboiled pasta
all heated together
then topped with 1 (very thick) slice of granary bread made into breadcrumbs and mixed with a sprinkling of Cajun spices
small sprinkling of grated Cathedral City (very strong mature cheddar)
put under grill with oven door closed for 15 mins
it was nice to have a meal that took longer to eat than it did to prepare (2 servings meant it was lunch and dinner)
I think I'll keep playing around with it- thanks for the suggestions
btw, why in the name of all that's holy would you put celery in tuna sandwiches? BLEURGH!
btw, why in the name of all that's holy would you put celery in tuna sandwiches? BLEURGH!
Well. That shows just how provincial each of us is. I have an extremely low tolerance for UG's posts, and that particular remark, and that one struck me as particularly unnauseating. Hmmm.
I'm with the foreigner. Celery is the exact wrong texture when you're eating tuna.
sweet pickle relish goes in tuna salad. or even dill pickle relish.
Cooked celery, like SG mentioned, is a different texture than raw, and goes fine in the tuna noodle casserole. What's she's describing is like a soffrito--i.e., a flavor base for the casserole.
I like raw celery in chicken salad, though.
Pickle relish in tuna salad. Well, hmmmm!
Now what I just found in today's paper falls under the heading of "God will provide." Today's Heloise column has a no-fat cream soup base. You make it, add in the -whatever to make today's cream-of-whatever soup.
Heloise Cream Soup Base
1 cup (237ml) nonfat dry Milk
1 TBSP (15ml) dried Onion Flakes
2 TBSP (30ml) Cornstarch
2 TBSP (30ml) Chicken Bouillon Powder
1/2 tsp (2.5ml) dried Basil
1/2 tsp (2.5ml) dried Thyme
1/4 tsp (1.3ml) Black Pepper
2 cups (475ml) water
Put all the above ingredients in a saucepan with the 2 cups cold water. Cook on medium heat, stirring continuously. Once it becomes thick, add your -whatever ingredient, like diced mushrooms or chopped celery or broccoli.
Making up the base and freezing it in batches for use in making cream-of-whatever soups is a good path. Thaw, add the ingredient, heat together and you have soup.
If the soup needs a thickening, add some instant mashed potato flakes a bit at a time -- or maybe real mashed potato? The -whatever vegetable pureed with a little bouillon will do the same thing.
From cooks.com:
ANGEL FLAKE BISCUITS
1 pkg. dry yeast in 1/2 c. lukewarm water
5 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. baking powder
3 tbsp. sugar
3/4 c. shortening
2 c. buttermilk
Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup lukewarm water; set aside. Sift flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder and sugar. Cut in the shortening until it is well blended in with dry ingredients. Add yeast mixture and buttermilk together. Stir into dry ingredients. Make sure that you stir until it is well moistened. Do not over mix.
Roll out portion you will be using at 3/4 inch thick (use round cookie cutter). Place on greased pan and bake 12 minutes at 400 degrees. Remaining dough will keep in the refrigerator for several days in a well covered bowl.
Awesome. Used butter in place of shortening.
I've been on a huge shellfish kick lately. Mostly mussels (the mussels josephine at Bonefish grill are unbelievably good and numerous for $8), but driving past our local fish store saw frying and stewing oysters are on special. I don't like raw oysters, but both fried and stewed sounded really good to me.
So I've got some fryers here, gonna do them up for a late night snack. But I also want to make oyster stew at some point soon. I can find recipes online I'm sure, but I'm hoping to find some words of wisdom from the dwellars. Anyone have any tips based on their experience?
Never use margarine! Oyster stew needs real butter.
Don't fry them for too long. Make sure the pan is hot and flash fry them.
[Tune: American Music]
o/' I like American bis-cuits
She likes American bis-cuits
We like American biscuits, baybeee... (drums)o/'
Better Homes & Gardens calls this Biscuits Supreme
2 cups/475ml All-Purpose Flour
4 tsp/20ml Baking Powder
2 tsp/10ml Sugar
1/2 tsp/2.5ml Cream of Tartar
1/2 tsp/2.5ml Salt
1/2 cup vegetable Shortening (Crisco or other brand)
2/3 cup/160ml Milk
1. Stir together Flour, Baking Powder, Sugar, Cream of Tartar, Salt. Cut in Shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
2. Make a well in the center, add Milk all at once. Stir just until dough clings together. Knead dough gently on lightly floured surface for 10-12 strokes. Roll out or pat out to 1/2" (1cm) thickness, cut with biscuit/cookie cutter or cut into squares 5-6cm on a side with a knife. It's useful to dip cookie cutter into flour between cuts so biscuits release easily.
3. Transfer biscuits onto an ungreased baking sheet, bake at 450 F for 10-12 minutes until golden on top. Serve warm. 10-12 biscuits.
Buttermilk Biscuits
Prepare Biscuits as above, but stir in 1/4 tsp/1ml+ Baking Soda into the flour mixture and substitute 3/4 cup/180ml buttermilk for the milk. If you don't have buttermilk, sour ordinary milk with 5ml vinegar to 237ml milk.
As you can see, this one works by combining acid with baking soda to leaven, rather than the double action of baking powder.
Sour Cream Biscuits
Another substitution. Prepare biscuits as above, substituting 1 cup/237ml Sour Cream and only 2 TBSP/30ml Milk. Not too different from Buttermilk Biscuits.
The best Spinach Pie ever!
Ingredients:
1 lge bunch of spinach (or silverbeet) finely chopped
1 lge Onion finely chopped
1 cup of grated cheddar cheese
2 cups of crumbled fetta cheese
1/2 cup of long grain rice (uncooked)
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil
2 sheets of puff pastry
1. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl and then drizzle olive oil in the mixture until it starts to 'cling' together, but not drip.
2. Line a pan with 1 sheet of pastry.
3. Tip the spinach mixture into the pastry lined pan.
4. Make a lid out of the second sheet of pastry. Remember to poke holes in the top so the mixture can breath.
5. Brush melted butter or milk over the top of the pastry.
6. Bake in a moderate oven for 1 hour then turn the heat up to a hot oven for 10 minutes to brown the pastry.
7. Eat with gusto
Enchilado de Camarones
Kind of like a seafood stew. Can be made with lobster, chicken... lots of other stuff, but shrimp is the best.
Ingredients
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
The juice of 1 lime
1 onion, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup white wine (I use sauvignon blanc)
Fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Ground cumin
Salt & pepper
Cayenne pepper (optional)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Directions
Put the shrimp in a small bowl. Mix in all of the lime juice, a sprinkling of cayenne pepper, and salt & black pepper to taste. Cover and marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.
While the shrimp finishes marinating, heat the olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the onions, bell peppers, garlic, and about a teaspoon of cumin. Cook for a few minutes until lightly browned. Turn the heat up to high and stir in the tomato paste -- cook for about a minute. Stir in the wine and bring to a boil. Stir in the shrimp and the marinade, and reduce the heat to a medium low. Simmer for 3 to 5 minutes or until the shrimp is cooked through. Add more wine if needed (it should have a consistency similar to spaghetti sauce) and flavor with more cumin, s&p, or cayenne paper to taste. Serve and sprinkle the parsley on top.
Goes really well with yellow rice, but plain white rice will do.
FORTUNE'S FAVORITE RECIPES: #8
Christmas Rum Cake
1 or 2 quarts rum 1 tbsp. baking powder
1 cup butter 1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. sugar 1 tbsp. lemon juice
2 large eggs 2 cups brown sugar
2 cups dried assorted fruit 3 cups chopped English walnuts
Before you start, sample the rum to check for quality. Good, isn't it? Now
select a large mixing bowl, measuring cup, etc. Check the rum again. It
must be just right. Be sure the rum is of the highest quality. Pour one cup
of rum into a glass and drink it as fast as you can. Repeat. With an electric
mixer, beat one cup butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add 1 seaspoon of tugar
and beat again. Meanwhile, make sure the rum teh absolutely highest quality.
Sample another cup. Open second quart as necessary. Add 2 orge laggs, 2 cups
of fried druit and beat untill high. If the fried druit gets stuck in the
beaters, just pry it loose with a screwdriver. Sample the rum again, checking
for toncisticity. Next sift 3 cups of baking powder, a pinch of rum, a
seaspoon of toda and a cup of pepper or salt (it really doesn't matter).
Sample some more. Sift 912 pint of lemon juice. Fold in schopped butter and
strained chups. Add bablespoon of brown gugar, or whatever color you have.
Mix mell. Grease oven and turn cake pan to 350 gredees and rake until
poothtick comes out crean.
This is an awesome dessert, really easy and quick, plus it looks snazzy!!
This is the healthy-ish version
Choc Berry Parfait
1 pkt Chocolate Mousse or Pudding Mix - Sugarless or Weight Watchers
1/2 cup low fat plain yoghurt
Small tub low fat cottage cheese
1 tsp Splenda or similar Sugar replacement
1 cup fresh raspberries or chopped strawberries
4 Dessert glasses
[LIST]
[*]Mix dessert as per instructions, set aside to set slightly
[*]In a separate bowl, combine yoghurt, cottage cheese and splenda
[*]Layer glasses in the following order....dessert mix, yoghurt mixture and then berries. Repeat layers at least twice
[*]Refrigerate for at least 30 mins.
[/LIST]
I make something like that in summer time but I don't use any pudding mix. I make a fruit puree and (if I'm feeling keen) I set it with gelatine. If I just want to do it quick, I use the puree unset. It still looks good in the glasses.
If I want it to be a bit creamier, I add in some whipped cream to the yoghurt.
Kids love this dessert. Mine go crazy for it. They'd probably go even crazier for it if I put pudding in as well. lol
Maybe you should tell them they can have all they want, with the pudding, but they have to eat it in the back yard -- where they can be hosed off before being allowed back in the house! ;)
Please can I have your best recipe for low fat Tuna Pasta Bake (possibly Tuna Noodle Casserole in the US) Ideally with UK measurements, though if you have to use cups I can probably get by...
Basic recipe
Par-boiled pasta.
Soften chopped in 1 tablespoonful of olive oil, or low fat marge, or other stuff. Take the pan off the heat briefly.
Sprinkle 1 rounded tablespoonful of flour (selfraising or plain, it doesn't matter) onto the softened onions and stir til all onion bits coated in flour.
Put the pan back on a low-medium heat, add a little bit (an eggcupful-ish) from half a pint of milk (semi-skimmed, skimmed if you like I suppose), and stir til mixed and thickened. Add a little more milk and repeat ... Adding the milk gradually like this prevents the formation of lumps.
When the consistency of the onion sauce (yahey!) is to your liking, stir it into the pasta, and add the chunks of tuna. I'd grate a little cheese on the top, and stick it under the grill to brown.
Variations
Instead of tuna tinned mackerel, cooked chicken pieces, salami-type sausage bits, a tin of beans (not baked beans, but black eyed, or kidney beans, say), crisply fried bacon bits.
Instead of onion, mushrooms, or add peppers to the onions. Cook the onions til dark brown for a different flavour.
Curry powder in the sauce.
Cheese in the sauce. Goats cheese!
Go wild and poach (gently simmer until the flesh is white and flaky) an 8 ounce fillet of (smoked or unsmoked) haddock in the 1/2 pint of milk, and then use tha tmilk to make the sauce and the haddock instead of the tuna.
Add peas or sweetcorn.
Instead of onion sauce, a tin of tomatoes or passata or whatever and herbs (basil is good).
Please accept my apologies if any of this is too basic. Hope this helps.
Not too basic at all, that is great, thank you :)
It is easy but by using a sauce base fulfils my need for real cooking, where I get to decide exactly what ingredients are used.
HM makes a pretty mean cheese sauce, and it's the one thing he cooks from scratch. I've been too embarrassed to admit that for all my chopping, soaking and liquidising skills I never did get the hang of the correct proportions of a flour based sauce!
About twice the volume of flour to fat (hence a level tbsp fat and a rounded tbsp flour above), this is about the right amount for half-a-pint of milk, but experiment.
NEVER try to add more flour on its own once you've started - that is the route to guaranteed lumps.
Cooking something in the fat and then adding the flour, as above, as pretty foolproof.
If you're after a classic white sauce, melt the fat, add twice the volume of flour and mix over heat until it forms a soft ball. Gradually add the milk as above, stirring and beating it in until it is completely smooth before adding more.
If you get lumps make sure you've got a balloon whisk (wire whisk) handy and beat the shit out of the sauce when no-one's looking.
And finally ...
it's always edible, even if it doesn't look it!
And if you want to make it cheesy, just add cheese. To convert it to a beschemelle sauce, just use parmesan cheese and fry off a bit of garlic when you melt the butter at the start. ;)
It really is too easy...especially if you use the whisk right from the start.
...too easy...especially if you use the whisk right from the start.
Where I grew up that's called cheating :eyebrow: ! [COLOR="Silver"][SIZE="1"](but who's to know?)[/SIZE][/COLOR]
lol...really? Doesn't it just make sense to make cooking as simple and easy as possible?
There's no need to be a hero in the kitchen in my opinion. I'd much rather be fairly certain that what comes out will be good to eat and have taken the minimum of fuss to prepare. Also, avoiding cooking mishaps (like lumpy white/cheese sauce) only makes sense to me.
I'm with you, there, Ali. But what you grow up with very often seems "normal" until someone questions it ...
Well, to be honest, I learned how to make white sauce with a wooden spoon. My mum was very traditional in the kitchen. She didn't even own a whisk!
When I had my own kitchen, I had whisks (a couple of different sizes) and they just make life so much easier. I'd never bother going back to the old way of doing it...and I am not intending to teach my kids the old way either.
There are some things about old traditions that just are not better than creating new ones. ;)
Hmm... is there anything in the idea of putting a bit of sherry or wine into that kind of cheese sauce to make macaroni & cheese more adult? I presume it would go in last.
I wouldn't put sherry or wine in, but I do use different types of cheeses or put some mustard in or other spices. You really can dress up a white sauce to be anything you like.
I'm "re-organizing" my recipes, a task I did not think would be so daunting, so I thought I'd post some tried-and-trues here as I'm going through them, especially since I stole a few from you all. I'll post more as I get them scanned into my puter.
7 - 10 Layer Salad
[LIST]
[*]1 1/2 qts chopped lettuce
[*]2 c chopped tomatoes
[*]2 c sliced mushrooms
[*]1 (10 oz) pkg frozen peas
[*]2 c small broccoli or cauliflower flourettes
[*]4 oz cubed mild cheddar
[*]1 c green and/or red pepper
[*]several sliced hard boiled eggs
[*]1 c red onion rings
[*]several slices bacon, cooked, crumbled
[*]2 c mayo
[*]2 tbsp sugar
[/LIST]
Layer ingredients in large (2-3 qt) clear serving bowl. Mix mayo and sugar (or use 2 c Miracle Whip); spread on top of salad. Garnish with bacon. Chill. Pretty salad esp at holidays.
Cheese Squares
[LIST]
[*]1 c swiss cheese, shredded
[*]1 c parmesan cheese, grated
[*]1 1/2 c mayo
[*]onion, grated, to taste
[*]1 loaf Pepperidge Farms very thin sliced bread, quartered, crust removed
[/LIST]
Preheat to 400F. Mix ingredients together and spread on bread. Toast 4-5 min. Quick, easy app.
Sausage and Cheese Balls
[LIST]
[*]1 lb ground hot Italian pork sausage
[*]2-3 c Bisquik
[*]1 lb very shark NY cheddar, grated
[*]3/4 c H2O
[/LIST]
Preheat 350F. Combine sausage and cheese. Add Bisquik, working with hands. Shape into balls and bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 15 min. Easy, and freakin yummy! Pork and cheese, pork and cheese!
Broccoli Cheese Casserole a/k/a How To Get Your Kid To Eat Broccoli
[LIST]
[*]2 packages frozen chopped broccoli (or spinach, or other veggies), mostly thawed (par cook fresh veggies)
[*]1 can cream of mushroom soup (or any cream-based soup)
[*]1 cup mayo
[*]2 cups medium or sharp cheddar cheese, grated
[*]2 eggs
[*]onion, diced (I usually put in a whole large onion)
[*]1-2 cloves garlic
[*]S&P
[*]approx 1/2 - 1 cup bread crumbs
[/LIST]
Preheat oven to about 375F. Layer veggies in casserole dish to cover the bottom.* In mixing bowl, mix all remaining ingredients except the bread crumbs.** Pour mixture evenly over veggies. Bake for about 25 minutes, then remove from oven,*** spread a little butter over the top and sprinkle bread crumbs. Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
* I often will make this by par cooking bone/skin-less chicken breasts and put them on the bottom under the veggies.
** Diced ham or bacon thrown into the wet mixture is wonderful.
*** I started adding sliced tomatoes in a layer on top just under the bread crumbs. I hate tomatoes, but other people love it this way.
Spinach-Artichoke Dip
(I can't recall the measurements, just the ingredients, so I play with it until I get the right consistency/taste)
[LIST]
[*]Spinach
[*]Artichoke hearts
[*]Butter
[*]heavy cream
[*]sour cream
[*]garlic, sautéed
[*]onion
[*]Tabasco
[*]parmesan
[*]white cheddar
[/LIST]
Mix, bake to warm.
And last, but definitely not least... the best muther-effing version of French Toast ever... Except for that french toast made with raisin bread and cream cheese...
Baked French Toast Casserole with Maple Syrup
[LIST]
[*]1 loaf French bread (13 to 16 ounces)
[*]8 large eggs
[*]2 cups half-and-half
[*]1 cup milk
[*]2 tablespoons granulated sugar
[*]1 teaspoon vanilla extract
[*]1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
[*]1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
[*]Dash salt
[*]Praline Topping, recipe follows
[*]Maple syrup
[/LIST]
Slice French bread into 20 slices, or about 1-inch each. (Use any extra bread for garlic toast or breadcrumbs). Arrange slices in a generously buttered 9 x 13-inch flat baking dish in 2 rows, overlapping the slices. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and beat with a rotary beater or whisk until blended but not too bubbly. Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread and bake for 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. Serve with maple syrup.
Praline Topping:
[LIST]
[*]1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
[*]1 cup packed light brown sugar
[*]1 cup chopped pecans
[*]2 tablespoons light corn syrup
[*]1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
[*]1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
[/LIST]
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well. Makes enough for Baked French Toast Casserole.
Hmm... is there anything in the idea of putting a bit of sherry or wine into that kind of cheese sauce to make macaroni & cheese more adult? I presume it would go in last.
I put sherry or wine in cheese fondue, I know that much.
I also know I'd perform barely legal sex acts to have a cheese fondue right now :sniff:
Or maybe just mildly creepy... like licking a poster of Rachel Ray or something.
My kids can't have dairy products (from a cow), they are allergic (plus cow milk is teh debil, but anyway...), so we have to get creative with some 'normal' foods. When goat cheese was harder to find and more expensive, I substituted other foods... like making nachos with squash. The kids love 'em - even my nephew who eats nothing. Just layer;
Chips
Refried Beans
Frozen cooked winter squash
Cinnamon
Brown sugar or maple syrup (sprinkle on or add to squash while heating up)
Couldn't find frozen squash at 2 markets today and the boy was demanding mushrooms so we adapted again and layered;
chips
refried beans
Midnight Moon goat cheese
few more chips
cubed carrots, squash, parsnips - simmered till soft in chix broth
small white beans
mushrooms
more M.M. and a little chevre
Baked until the mushrooms looked cooked enough.
The kids say they are awesome, but they miss the cinnamon.
You Americans are cinnamon freaks!!!
I made this for lunch today (had some people over) it was divine. The original recipe used Pork...but as that is just nasty...I used Chicken.
Spicy Chicken Salad.
Chicken needs to marinate for at least 2 hours, overnite is preferred. Everything can be made well in advance and just assembled when needed.
Ingredients:
Marinade....
400g Chicken Tenderloins or Cubed Chicken Breast
2 cloves garlic - crushed
30ml soy sauce
30ml dry sherry
small nub of ginger - grated
2 teaspoons brown sugar
50ml olive oil
10ml sesame oil
1 teaspoon chilli paste (I use 2 teaspoons)
Salad...
2 Zucchinis - cut into strips
2 spring onions
1 carrot - cut into strips
1/4 red capsicum - cut into strips
1/2 cup of mung bean shoots (or bean shoots)
250g Singapore style noodles
Dressing...
20ml lime juice
20ml lite olive oil
10ml sesame oil
5 sprigs fresh coriander
10ml oyster sauce
5ml fish sauce
20ml sweet chili sauce
Method...
Prepare marinade from the garlic soy, sherry, ginger, brown sugar, oils, and chilli. Marinate for at least two hours.
Combine salad ingredients into a bowl and keep well chilled.
Prepare the dressing and keep chilled.
Cook chicken on a hot BBQ or frying pan.
Toss noodles in a hot pan to warm, add the salad and combine.
Place into serving bowl.
Arrange chook on the salad and drizzle liberally with the dressing.
Garnish with fresh coriander.
Stoopid Simple Cranberry Sauce
Not a jellied sauce but unflavored gelatin could always fix that. The wife made this today -- while suffering terrible twinges from the site of her root canal, yet. Every now and then it kicks up.
If I'd ever known it was this easy...! Don't get me wrong, I love the canned Ocean Spray product too, that keeps the pattern of the can on its outside when you unmold it from the can into a recumbent claret cylinder on its serving dish -- particularly for turkey sandwiches the day after, which this more liquid sauce won't do...
3 cups (340g/705ml) Frozen Cranberries -- the 12 oz package
1/2 cup (100g/115ml) Honey
1 cup (225ml) Water
Zest of one small Orange
Bring Water and Honey to boil, dissolving honey. Add Cranberries and Orange Zest, return to boil, boiling gently until cranberry skins pop or break. Remove from heat and refrigerate -- about 1 hour is enough to chill it well. Yields about 2 1/2 cups of sauce.
SOS can be... shoddily... made. Phooey on trying to pass off unseasoned plain hamburger as the one true Creamed Chipped Beef. It needs the chipped beef, or this Turkish-style variant.
Or for heaven's sake, do something to pep up the ground beast. Try minced garlic and ground red pepper.
Middle-Eastern markets can get you pastirma, as can some middle-eastern restaurants. You may have to get creative to land a supply.
Armour Brand chipped beef in the little jars gets its zip from nitrite curing. Some pastirma does likewise, but in the main it gets its zing from a rub of powdered red pepper and garlic. Nitrite is optional. Pastirma can be found sliced, in half-pound and 1-pound family size packets in the freezer case, and costs like pretty good cheese, about eight dollars the pound. You won't need more than the half-pounder one.
SOS with Pastirma
3 to 4 oz Pastirma slices, snipped or sliced 1/4" across -- about an eighth of a kilo
2 TBSP (30ml) Butter
2 TBSP (30ml) Flour, all purpose or w/w
1 1/3 (220ml)cups Milk
1/2 tsp (~10ml) Worcestershire Sauce
Buttered Toast, cut in points if you're feeling Martha Stewartish or James Bearded
Lightly sauté Pastirma bits in the Butter, about 3 minutes. Stir in the Flour, making a roux, then add the Milk all at once. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly, then cook and stir 1-2 mins more. Add Worcestershire Sauce with a dash Pepper if desired. Spoon mixture over buttered toast points.
Option: fry 1 large clove crushed Garlic in the butter with the Pastirma, remove and discard Garlic. Makes your white sauce Béchamel-ish.
Serves 3-4, unless you really like Creamed Chipped Beast on etcetera and hog it all yourself.
One-Skillet Bacon & Sausage Guy Food
from some guy in Levittown
1 lb smoked bacon
1 lb good polish kielbasa
1 really huge onion or 2 regular ones
several large potatoes, sliced thickish
tablespoon of mustard, salt and pepper to taste.
These instructions are for a house with a normal sized large frying pan. Also you need a baking pan, or else bake it in the frying pan too.
Cut the bacon into 2 inch strips, cook it just short of done, you want it a bit soft - remove from pan.
Cut the kielbasa into @ 1/4 inch slices, cook in the bacon fat until it is just short of browned, remove from the pan.
Cut the onion into large slices cook until just translucent remove from pan.
Combine bacon, kielbasa, and onions and put into a deep baking pan. Oven preheat at about 350 F.
Cut the spuds into 1/4 to 3/8 inch thick slices and cook in the fat in the frying pan until browned. Move the potatoes into the baking pan as they are done, and you are adding more, you only want one layer of potato cooking at any time.
Stir the bacon, sausage, onion, potato mix in the oven occasionally as you finish and add more potatoes. [??? - UG]
I have no idea why he thinks he should stir it while it's baking, or why he hasn't put all the potatoes in at once. --UG
Ready to roll once everything is cooked and a bit of shredded cheddar on top is nice.
Yes, you're right, I'm really pissed off at my heart.
From a cooking class conducted by Rocky Durham:
The Santa Fe School of Cooking is at 116 W. San Francisco St. (upper level of the Plaza Mercado). The school was founded in 1989 by Susan Curtis; her daughter, Nicole Curtis Ammerman,, joined her in the business 13 years ago. The storefront shop offers cookware, tabletop accessories, regional products and ingredients. For ingredients and online information, go to
www.santafeschoolofcooking.com.
Got fresh chiles? Roast 'em like so for a good peeling -- from the article:
Durham started with Anaheim chilies to make his green sauce, a necessary substitute until the fall harvest of fresh New Mexican Hatch chilies is conducted.
"The skin can taste like plastic, so these green chilies are always peeled," Durham said, placing fresh Anaheim chilies atop a screen set over stovetop flames. They made loud pepper-popping noises as their skins dotted with black blisters. Removed from the heat and sealed in a large, zipper-style plastic bag, the chilies were set aside to cool and steam a little before their skins would be rubbed off and interior seeds removed.
Santa Fe
Enchiladas recipes
You will need to double this Green Chile Sauce recipe to provide enough sauce to make the enchiladas. If you're looking for a shortcut, instead of roasting, seeding and peeling fresh Anaheim chilies, use canned mild (diced) chilies instead.
Green Chile Sauce
Yield: about 2 1/2 cups
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 to 3 teaspoons minced garlic
2/3 cup roasted, peeled, diced Anaheim green chilies
2/3 cup roasted, peeled diced Hatch chilies, defrosted if frozen; see cook's notes
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
3/4 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano; see cook's notes
Optional to use as needed: beurre manie made with 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour mixed with 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt if needed
Cook's notes: Frozen Hatch chilies (roasted, seeded, diced) are available online at
www.hatch-chile.com (as well as on other sites). They are available in mild, medium (Big Jim variety) and hot (Sandia variety). When I was leaving Santa Fe to go to the airport in Albuquerque, I stopped at Sam's Club and bought several bags of frozen Hatch chilies. They are the Sandia variety and are extremely hot. I balance them out with mild Anaheim chilies in this sauce. I like to double this recipe and freeze leftover sauce. I use leftover sauce for tacos and stews. If desired, fresh cilantro (to taste) can be added to the sauce at the last minute.
Dried Mexican oregano is sold at most supermarkets in the Latin American specialty section. Most often, it is sold in clear cellophane bags.
"The oil should look like the hem of a woman's skirt — shimmering and dancing," he said about the oil he was heating in the pot. I thought about the moving surface of the oil and envisioned the motion at the bottom of a full, sequined skirt. I may never look at hot oil the same way again.
Procedure:
1. Heat oil in Dutch oven or large saucepan on medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook about 1 minute. Add chilies, pepper and chicken broth. Rub oregano between your hands and let it drop into mixture. Bring to boil; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 15 minutes.
2. If sauce is too thin, stir in about a teaspoon of beurre manie. Cook 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently. Taste and add salt as needed.
Nutritional information (per 1/4 cup): calories 30 (less than 3 percent from fat), protein 0.2 g, carbohydrates 3 g, fat 1.5 g (saturated 0.5 g), cholesterol 0 mg, sodium 230 mg, fiber 0.1 g.
— Source: Rocky Durham, The Santa Fe School of Cooking, Santa Fe, N.M.
Red Chile Sauce from Ground Chilies
Yield: 3 cups
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup finely diced onion
2 to 3 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 cup ground medium Chimayo red chilies; see cook's notes
2 1/2 cups chicken broth or water
1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano; see cook's notes
2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
Salt to taste
Cook's notes: I bought ground medium Chimayo red chile at
www.santafeschoolofcooking.com. If desired, you can substitute ground California chilies or ground New Mexican chiles, or a combination of both.
Dried Mexican oregano is sold at most supermarkets in the Latin American specialty section. Most often, it is sold in clear cellophane bags.
He cooked onions in a large saucepan until they were soft, then added some minced garlic and let it cook about 1 minute. Meanwhile, in a large pan, he briefly toasted red chili powder, no longer than about 30 to 40 seconds. He warned that if the powder scorched, it would become bitter. He added the powder to the onion mixture, stirred in chicken stock, ground toasted spices, a pinch of Mexican oregano. A splash of sherry vinegar and a smidgen of honey followed.
Procedure:
1. In a small, dry skillet, toast cumin seeds and coriander seeds over medium-high heat until seeds are lightly browned and aromatic; shake handle of skillet to rotate seeds and brown on all sides. Use a clean, electric spice grinder or coffee grinder to grind toasted seeds into a powder. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in large saucepan on medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat.
3. Place ground red chiles in a separate large saucepan. Place on medium-high heat and heat chilei powder, shaking handle and stirring to keep powder from scorching. Heat it about 30 seconds or so, to lightly toast it. Remove from heat.
4. Stir chile powder into onion mixture and stir to combine. Stir in broth or water. Stir in cumin-coriander seed mixture and Mexican oregano. Stir in vinegar and honey. Bring to boil on medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer about 20 minutes, or until mixture has thickened slightly. Taste and add salt as needed.
Nutritional information (per 1/4 cup): calories 33 (less than 3 percent from fat), protein 0.4 g, carbohydrates 3.8 g, fat 1.5 g (saturated 0.5 g), cholesterol 0 mg, sodium 278 mg, fiber 0.1 g.
"There are three ways to clean the grinder," he said. "You can grind up a piece of bread and discard it. Or you can grind up some raw rice and discard it. Or you can grind coarse salt and keep it. The toasted, spice salt can be used to flavor lots of dishes."
We loved the dual-purpose salt trick. I could see a potential gift, shown off in a jar tied with a red ribbon.
As the small appliance whirled salt with the residual spices left behind in the grinder, he said he would pass the mixture around for students to taste.
"But don't lick and dip," he said. "Just pinch, then taste."
— Source: Rocky Durham, The Santa Fe School of Cooking, Santa Fe, N.M.
Chicken or Cheese with Corn Enchiladas
Yield: 10-12 servings
Vegetable oil, for greasing pan
3 cups red or green chile sauce (see recipes)
About 16 corn tortillas
4 cups cooked chicken (boned, skinned) or 3 cups corn kernels
1 1/2 pounds (6 cups) grated Monterey jack or cheddar cheese (or a combination of both)
1 1/2 cups diced yellow onions
Garnish: 2 cups shredded iceberg or romaine lettuce
Garnish: 1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes
Garnish: 1 1/4 cups sour cream
Optional garnish: sliced green onions, including green tops
Procedure:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with vegetable oil.
2. Spread about 1 cup sauce over bottom of pan and layer half of tortillas evenly over sauce. If using chicken, toss chicken with about 3 tablespoons sauce. Spread half of chicken over tortillas. If using corn, spread half of corn over tortillas.
3. Sprinkle with one-third of cheese and half of the onion. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for second layer and top with the last cup of sauce and remaining cheese.
4. Bake 20 to 30 minutes, until bubbly and lightly browned.
5. To serve, spoon portions onto dinner plates. Garnish with shredded lettuce, diced tomato and top with sour cream.
Nutritional information (per 1/4 cup): calories 323 (49 percent from fat), protein 11.9 g, carbohydrates 30.5 g, fat 17.6 g (saturated 5.5 g), cholesterol 40 mg, sodium 670 mg, fiber 0.5 g.
— Source: Rocky Durham, The Santa Fe School of Cooking, Santa Fe, N.M.
...that came out really pretty good.
I had some leftover baked potatoes, rather overdone in fact. Overdone baked potatoes are less fun than ones done just right. So, what to do to salvage the poor shrunken things?
Nameless Skilletstuff
Quantities approximate.
Half dozen Baked Potatoes, small
Half can (15oz) diced Tomatoes, juice and all
1 cup frozen cut Okra
1/3-1/2 cup Barbeque Sauce
1/2 cup turkey Pastrami, diced
Heat through in skillet or wok-pan on medium heat, covered, stirring occasionally. Uncover pan and reduce liquid towards a sauce texture, stirring occasionally to prevent any burning.
The okra actually doesn't yuck this up because of the tomatoes it has to play with, and your favorite BBQ sauce is about all you need for seasoning. Probably any kind of pastrami would work.
Pastirma? Maybe substitute jerk sauce for BBQ sauce, then.
Tried this one recently. I like it.
Fusilli alla Caprese
For sure put the cubed cheese in at the end, with the heat off. Heating the cheese too long melts it into glop that sticks on your serving spoon. A little meltiness about the edges is fine, but the cheese should retain its structure and its identity.
Hey, do you like iced coffee?
Vietnamese style or Thai -- whatever, they're both good, aren't they?
Thai sugars the living heck out of the coffee, then floats heavy cream on it. I think they do the sweetening with simple syrup.
The Vietnamese is a Winnie-the-Pooh sort of approach: the coffee is straight, generally espresso-roast, and it gets turned into something like coffee ice cream, liquefied, by stirring in quite a bit of condensed milk. Darn good with ice, though you shouldn't let too much ice melt into the mixture or it gets diluted.
Fix that by freezing coffee in an ice tray for this purpose.
But try grating a little nutmeg into your coffee grounds before brewing. To taste, of course, but don't go too strong. You want a touch of the flavor, and the sweetness of the condensed milk will bring it out.
If cardamom is more your thing than nutmeg, grind a few pods of green cardamom in with your coffee, milk it and ice it as above.
And cardamom and nutmeg both -- they dance well together here, too.
<Sip>
Sounds good UG. Esp. the Thai drink.
I got some coffee icecream thinking I could cheat but it isn't quite the same.
This is consistently good, easy, and fast. This last time, I used a brown and wild rice mix, and cooked that separately first, then added it.
Curried Zucchini-Bean Soup (from Sunset)
10 servings
4 cans pinto beans
2 T butter
3 cups finely chopped onions
1 cups chopped celery
¼ to 1/3 cup curry powder (or to taste)
8 cups chicken broth
1 cu long-grain white rice
6 zucchini, diced (or less, to taste, or substitute another veggie)
¼ cup Italian parsley
3 T lime juice
Salt and pepper
1. Drain beans, reserving ½ cup of the liquid. Rinse beans; set aside.
2. In 12-quart pan over medium high heat, cook butter, onions, and celery, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, 10 minutes.
3. Add curry and cook stirring, 3 minutes more.
4. Add broth, reserved bean liquid, and rice; scrape browned bits from pan bottom. Cover, bring to a boil, 2 minutes. Reduce heat, simmer, covered until rice is just tender, 15 minutes.
5. Stir in zucchini, beans, parsley, and juice. Add salt and pepper. Heat until hot.
256 calories per serving.
It's been twenty years now since I made this, but oh boy... from the Coach House Restaurant in Aurora, Colorado.
Coffee Kahlua Cake
First: 1 8-inch [20cm] layer white cake, as follows:
3 1/2 cups [823ml] cake flour
2 tsp [10ml] double-acting baking powder
1/2 tsp [2.5ml] salt
2 cups [473ml] sugar
1 cup [236.6ml] butter
1 cup [236.6ml] milk
1 tsp [5ml] vanilla extract
7 or 8 egg whites
Equip: flour sifter, 3 8" cake pans, greased; mixing bowls.
Have everything at about room temperature. Sift Cake Flour before measuring, then resift twice with Baking Powder and Salt. Sift Sugar and cream Butter well; add the sifted sugar gradually to the creamed butter and continue creaming until very light. Add the flour mixture to the creamed butter in 3 parts, alternately with thirds of the cup of Milk. Stir the cake batter until smooth after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and if desired, 1/4 tsp [1.3ml] Almond Extract. Whip Egg Whites until stiff but not dry. Fold egg whites lightly into cake batter. Bake at 350 F in greased pans for about 25 minutes. Makes 3 8" rounds.
Next, the Kahlua Cream Filling:
1 8-inch layer white cake as above
1 1/2 cup [359.5ml] powdered sugar
2 fl oz [59ml] Kahlua
6 serving packages Sanka, dissolved in teaspoon [5ml] warm water; or like quantity of other instant coffee
2 1/2 cups [591.5ml] whipping cream
Equip: mixer, mixing bowls, spatula.
Whip Cream and add in Powdered Sugar. Fold in Kahlua and Coffee. Slice cake layer in half and fill with this cream, if you're going for six layer cake, or else just keep it at three.
Then, the Kahlua Butter Frosting:
1 lb butter [454g]
4 cups [946.5ml] powdered sugar
2 eggs [English or Metric]
1/2 tsp [2.5ml] vanilla extract
2 fl oz [59ml] Kahlua, again
6 serving packages Sanka or other instant coffee, dissolved in 1 tsp [5ml] warm water
Combine all in mixer, frost cake's outside and top. This is a quite stiff frosting; take care not to break your rubber spatula in it getting it out of the bowl. A metal spatula stands up better to this stuff.
I ran into this eating at the Coach House; Mom later got me the recipe book -- The Best of Colorado's Gourmet Gold.
Recently, I spent some time in Philadelphia.
This has triggered a touch of homesickness. Even my spouse liked it there so much she can hardly wait to go back. She's amazed that the food there is so varied and good. True, I cherry-picked the places we ate, but still.
I personally am feeming hard for soft pretzels. Again. Yes, we have Auntie Anne's and Superpretzels but I want to good stuff without paying two bucks for a pretzel.
So.
I have been experimenting with recipes and find this one to be pretty good. I'll try cheese, garlic, jalapeno and cinnamon sugar next.
1 1/2 pkgs dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
mix until dissolved
Stir in:
2 T brown sugar
1 t salt
until dissolved. Then add:
1 C bread flour
3 C all-purpose flour
knead until smooth and elastic.
place in lightly oiled bowl, cover and let rise at least
30 mins in a warm place. An hour is best, IMO.
While that is going on, mix:
2 C warm water
2 T baking soda
stir to dissolve. This will be your final wash.
Take a piece of dough and roll into a string about 1/2" think and 12-14" long. You may adjust to your size pref.
Dip into the baking soda wash and then form into pretzel shape. Bake 10-12 minutes at 450 deg F.
Alt, you may brush with melted butter before baking as well as add coarse salt to taste. When done baking, you may also dredge in coatings of your choice.
Cool a few minutes (if you can) before eating. May be frozen and reheated in toaster oven for up to one month.
Here is how you make Kettle Corn. A 2:1 ratio of corn to sugar and a lot of heat.
I've been thinking about making a quiche.
Sonoma Orchid Inn
Guerneville, California
Specialty Recipe
"Love Child" Quiche
Ingredients
One 9-inch unbaked pastry shell or your own pie crust recipe
1 cup grated, mixed cheeses: Swiss, Monterey Jack, and mild Cheddar
1/4 cup diced, sauteed leek
1/2 cup each: chopped mushrooms, diced asparagus, diced ham
4 eggs
1 cup half & half
A sprinkle of ground pepper and a dash of nutmeg
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread the cheese evenly in the bottom of the unbaked pastry shell and place it on a cookie sheet. To prevent the crust from becoming soggy, we recommend that you place the chopped mushrooms and diced asparagus in a microwaveable bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave on high for about 2 to 3 minutes. Let cool and then strain or squeeze out the water and sprinkle the veggies over the cheese mixture. Top with the diced ham and sauteed leek.
Place the eggs, pepper, and nutmeg in a bowl and whip together, then add the cream and blend well. Pour this mixture into the pastry shell and bake for 45 minutes or until puffed, golden, and firm in the center. Let it rest for just a few minutes before slicing into 6 generous wedges.
...if you're omnivorous, anyway.
The Best Meat Marinade in the World
1 1/2 C [355ml] vegetable oil
3/4 C [180ml] soy sauce
1/4 C [60ml] Worcestershire sauce
2 TBSP [30ml] dry mustard
2 1/2 tsp [12ml] salt
1 TBSP [15ml] cracked black pepper
2 tsp [10ml] chopped fresh parsley
1/2 C [118ml] red wide vinegar
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/3 C [79ml] fresh lemon juice
1 TBSP [15ml] fresh lime juice
Heat all ingredients in a medium saucepan over low heat until simmering lightly -- not foaming! Cool completely. Place meat in a ziplock freeser bag, pour in marinade, seal tightly. Refrigerate at least four hours, or overnight for tougher cuts, game, and the like. Gives the acids more time to tenderize. Yields about 3 1/2 cups of marinade.
--from The Shameless Carnivore: A Manifesto for Meat Lovers by Scott Gold. He says only people with no taste even in their mouths cook steak beyond medium rare -- a point of view I sympathize with. A little sear from the Maillard reaction on the outside, the meat warm and red throughout, touch of pink going gray towards the outsides.
My father's favorite marinade:
1 c dark beer
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tbsp grated garlic
1 tbsp grated ginger
1/4 c orange marmalade
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sriracha or other chili sauce
Combine well. Marinate lamb, beef or pork for 12-24 hours.
Two marinades, one acidic, one not so very. Excellent!
Two marinades, one acidic, one not so very. Excellent!
Yeah. Since the 2nd is fairly neutral, one can extend the marination period as long as you'd like (within reason!) without the meat turning to mush.
Looks like my typing had a code in ids node. For "wide" read "wine."
This site is just awesome... the information... the recipes...
Food TimelineJinx, just damn you! Do you have any idea what time it is? Tnxs. Have a big bird day.
He won a contest with this one, and a prize of twenty five thousand bucks too.
Cheese Lovers' Five Cheese Mac & Cheese
From Foodnetwork.com
And for anybody not wanting to use the link:
Ingredients
* Kosher salt
* 1 (16-ounce) package macaroni (cellentani or other curly noodle)
* 1/4 pound bacon, diced
* 1 medium onion, diced
* 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more to butter baking dish
* 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
* 2 1/2 cups whole milk
* 2 cups heavy cream
* 1 sprig fresh thyme
* 1 bay leaf
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 1/2 cups grated fontina
* 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
* 3/4 cup grated Gruyere
* 3/4 cup grated white Cheddar (Australian)
* 3/4 cup grated Parmesan
* 3 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
* 1/4 cup bread crumbs
Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F and butter a 9 by 13-inch glass baking dish.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add salt. Cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain.
In a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot, saute the bacon until crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and reserve. Saute the onion in the bacon drippings until soft. Add the 5 tablespoons butter to the onion mixture and melt the butter stirring with a wooden spoon.
Using a whisk, add the flour, and stir constantly until well mixed with the fat making a roux. Whisk in the mustard. Gradually add the milk and cream whisking constantly.
Add the thyme, bay leaf, and salt. Let come to a simmer and stir frequently for 15 minutes.
Strain the hot milk mixture into a metal bowl and discard the solids. Working quickly, mix in 1 cup fontina, blue cheese, 1/2 cup Gruyere, 1/2 cup white Cheddar, 1/2 cup Parmesan, the reserved bacon, and parsley. Continue to stir until all cheese is melted.
Add the cooked noodles to the cheese mixture to coat. Add the noodle mixture to the prepared baking dish. Mix the remaining cheese and bread crumbs together and sprinkle on top of the noodles. Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until bubbling and golden brown. Remove from oven when done and rest for 5 minutes.
I have some ground beef+pork+lamb here and will be needing your meatloaf recipes for tomorrow night.
Nothin' good looking on the 'Net, or will that be the backup plan?
I like a meatloaf and haven't made any in simply decades.
I went looking for Heloise's Meatloaf. So far I've found this:
Dear Heloise: I have one more add-in for meatloaf. It's sugar-coated flakes of breakfast cereal. It might sound strange, but the sugar takes the edge off the ketchup that I also use. Family and friends request my meatloaf all the time. Try it — it's fabulous. This was my mom's secret ingredient. — Kathy P. Keyes, Hot Springs, Va.
Sounds interesting. I've heard of just flaked corn cereal as an ingredient, but not the one with the sugar. Here's another meatloaf hint, from Carol Haufler of San Antonio. She says: "My aunt had a cafe during the Second World War, when meat was rationed. She stretched the ground meat for hamburgers or meatloaf by adding white cornmeal. I add yellow cornmeal to my meatloaf today." — Heloise
And this:
Meatloaf
January 12, 2009 by angie Schilling
Filed under Healthy Recipes
I have to be in the mood to make meatloaf, but when I am in the mood it turns out fabulous. Here is a great recipe that I use and it turns out great all the time.
Take one pound of lean ground beef and mix it with one egg, two squirts of ketschup, and about 1/2 cup bread crumbs. Mix it well and season with salt and pepper. Add as many onions as you please, then press into a greased glass loaf pan.
Combine 3/4 cup ketschup with two tablespoons of brown sugar. Spread this on top of the meatloaf and then bake for one hour at 375 degrees. Let it rest for 5 minutes before cutting it.
I find this meatloaf is wonderful served with mashed potatoes and homemade rolls. It really hits the spot after having a long day at work and your whole family will enjoy it.
And I guess it will take fairly serious Googling to find the Heloise meatloaf actually on the 'net, instead of some incidentals gleaned from Heloise columns.
Cheese Lovers' Five Cheese Mac & Cheese
The only problem with making that dish is that once my kids get a taste of it I will never get away with making mac and cheese from a box ever again.
I have learned to not make fancy stuff unless there is no analogous plain jane version to compare it to thus saving me from ridicule and scorn when subsequently preparing said vanilla version.
Teach them how, and tell 'em if they want it, they cook it, and no kvetching. One or more of those kids is likely to turn into a good cook once they get good with Five Cheese Mac & Cheese. And why should this not work more than once? But don't spring it as a surprise: tell them ahead of time that this is what you're going to be doing with the grand recipes that kick the plain-jane ones around like a football.
But this optimistic campaign plan might best be implemented a few years down the line -- keep it on file for Great Feasts, Meals Of Occasion, and other capital-letter festivities.
Re: Five Cheese Mac & Cheese
Had it at TGIFriday's last week -- the winning recipes in the contest were added to the Friday's menu. It is very rich and fairly oily. Decidedly a restaurantish kind of recipe. A small portion will do all but the hungriest.
Re: Five Cheese Mac & Cheese
Had it at TGIFriday's last week -- the winning recipes in the contest were added to the Friday's menu. It is very rich and fairly oily. Decidedly a restaurantish kind of recipe. A small portion will do all but the hungriest.
The contest being the Food Network Challenge or something like that? Was bleu one of the cheeses?
I can't think of five cheeses I want want to waste in Mac n Cheese!
I'd rather have them with crusty bread.
Oh wait, yes I can think of cheese I'm happy to waste, but it's all the bland grim stuff which is barely worth the name anyway - and won't really get any better when served on my least favourite pasta anyway.
Once each quarter, I go to a meeting that features a pot luck.
Most of the time I'm in too much of a hurry to actually make something. This month I planned ahead and had everything on hand to make some Thai Peanut Noodles.
I decided what I wanted to make and then
went hunting for a recipe.
It was awesome. Everybody at the meeting said so, and I have a lengthy list of people who asked for the recipe.
For convenience, I served it cold, but it's awesome when it's hot.
Also, you can throw whatever else you want into it to make it more of a meal ... stir fry veggies for sure, and perhaps chicken or tofu.
SPICY THAI PEANUT NOODLE RECIPE
Ingredients:
[LIST]
[*]6 Tbsp of Crunchy Peanut Butter (Note: I used Jif)
[*]4 Tbsp of Water
[*]3 Tbsp of Vegetable Oil
[*]3 Tbsp of Sesame Oil
[*]3 Tbsp of Rice Vinegar
[*]3 Tbsp of Soy Sauce
[*]4 Tbsp of Honey
[*]1 Tbsp of Sugar (optional)
[*]1 ½ Tbsp of Minced Ginger Root (Note: I cheated. I used 1 tsp of Powdered Ginger)
[*]1 ½ Tbsp of Minced Garlic Cloves (Note: I cheated here too. I used 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder)
[*]1 Tbsp of Crushed Red Peppers (Note: I used a bit less than one Tablespoon. As noted below, the recipe originally called for 1-1/2 Tablespoon. With the amount of crushed peppers that I used it was pleasantly hot, with even the hot-wimps liking it without too much complaining.)
[*]1 16oz Package of Spaghetti or Linguine
[/LIST]
In a large saucepan, bring 8-10 cups of water to a boil and cook the pasta as directed on the box (usually 8-10 minutes).
While the spaghetti is cooking, place another saucepan on low heat and mix together the peanut butter and water. Once the peanut butter warms up it will mix nicely with the water and you should end up with a soupy peanut butter mixture in the saucepan.
One by one, add the vegetable oil, sesame oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and honey thoroughly stirring the sauce after each ingredient is added. If the sauce begins to bubble, turn the heat down a little bit. By now you should have a few minutes left before the pasta is done.
Peel the garlic and ginger root and chop them up with a food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, you can finely chop the garlic and ginger with a knife (it is tedious work, but these ingredients are essential). Once the garlic and ginger root are chopped up, stir them into the saucepan along with the optional 1 Tbsp of sugar.
Drain the pasta, and then place it back in the large saucepan until you are done preparing the sauce.
Add the crushed red pepper to the sauce. The original recipe called for 1 ½ Tbsp but you may find this too spicy. I would start with a little less than 1 Tbsp of crushed red peppers and gradually increase to your taste. Simmer the sauce for two minutes to allow all of the ingredients to blend together. Keep in mind that more “spicy heat” from the crushed red peppers will be released as it simmers in the saucepan. If you feel that the peanut sauce needs a little more “kick” add more crushed red peppers after the initial 2 minute simmer.
Once the delicious peanut sauce has simmered and you have adjusted the “spiciness” to your taste, simply mix the sauce in with the cooked pasta and serve!
Maidrites/Manwiches
2T +/- minced garlic
1/2 c. +/- onion (fresh is best, but flakes can be used if you cook them with the meat when it browns)
1 lb hamburger (or whatever meat or meat substitute you want)
1 can Campbells chicken gumbo soup
Heinz ketchup
French's yellow mustard
Seasonings of choice. I like
Trader Joes 21 seasoning salute or
Garlic Garlic and garlic or onion salt.
medium salsa/picante sauce [SIZE="1"][COLOR="White"](wtf is the difference, anyway??)[/COLOR][/SIZE]
In large skillet brown hamburger. Pour cooked meat into spaghetti strainer sitting in 2 plastic shopping bags in garbage can*.
Use the residual fat in the pan to saute the onions and garlic while the hamburger is draining. When the onions are soft, add the hamburger back to the pan, then add the can of gumbo soup. Stir well.
From this point on, I don't really measure anything, I go by taste. :blush: My best guesstimates are:
Add ~1/4 c. yellow mustard, ~3/4 c. ketchup. (the last time i made this though, I cut back more on the ketchup and added more salsa/picante for a little more kick)
1 T. 21 seasoning salute.
1/2 T. onion/garlic salt
1 c. salsa/picante
Sorry, every time I make it, it's a little different depending on my mood and whatever seasonings I have in the cupboard.
At this point, you can throw it in a crock pot on low for however long you want, or let it simmer uncovered in the pan for 20 minutes then eat it right away. By letting it simmer with the lid off, it concentrates the flavors a bit, and isn't quite so 'runny'.
This keeps well in the fridge, I've never tried to freeze it. Leftovers are good on triscuits as well if you've run out of buns.
[SIZE="1"]*Pouring grease down your sink will eventually clog your pipes and be very disgusting/expensive to clear. Even if you run the hot water. I learned this the hard way :)[/SIZE]
Define 'small'
Oval dish, no longer than five inches on the major axis. About an inch deep too. A little dab will definitely do ya. (is there a burp smilie?)
Jinx, yeah, that's it. Certainly the sprinkle of bleu cheese really makes the dish... or Gorgonzola or Stilton. Lends it a piquancy. If you have to fudge on the cheeses, don't lose the bleu.
Crosspost from another thread. I'm not very much fish people, though I like blackened fish. Most of my ideas of fun seafood seem to center around shellfish and shrimp -- definitely not halibut! But this one looks like fun:
Phyllo-Wrapped Halibut
The recipe:
Phyllo-Wrapped Halibut
I created this easy entree to convince my husband that seafood doesn't have to taste "fishy." He likes the flaky, phyllo wrapping as well as the bright green and red vegetables hidden inside of it. —Carrie Vazzano of Rolling Meadows, Illinois
SERVINGS: 2
CATEGORY: Lower Fat
METHOD: Baked
TIME: Prep: 20 min. Bake: 20 min.
Ingredients:
* 4 cups fresh baby spinach
* 3/4 cup chopped sweet red pepper
* 3/4 teaspoon salt-free lemon-pepper seasoning, divided
* 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
* 6 sheets phyllo dough (14 inches x 9 inches)
* 2 tablespoons reduced-fat butter, melted
* 2 halibut fillets (4 ounces each)
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon pepper
* 1/4 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
Directions:
In a large nonstick skillet lightly coated with cooking spray, saute spinach and red pepper until tender. Add 1/2 teaspoon lemon-pepper and lemon juice. Remove from the heat; cool.
Line a baking sheet with foil and coat the foil with cooking spray; set aside. Place one sheet of phyllo dough on a work surface; brush with butter. (Until ready to use, keep phyllo dough covered with plastic wrap and a damp towel to prevent it from drying out.) Layer remaining phyllo over first sheet, brushing each with butter. Cut stack in half widthwise.
Place a halibut fillet in the center of each square; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with cheese and spinach mixture. Fold sides and bottom edge over fillet and roll up to enclose it; trim end of phyllo if necessary. Brush with remaining butter; sprinkle with remaining lemon-pepper.
Place seam side down on prepared baking sheet. Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Yield: 2 servings.
I'm the opposite: I love fish but hate seafood like shrimp or crab or lobster.
I love halibut, one of my favorites. Haddock. Salmon. Tuna.
I'm hungry.
Thanks for sharing that recipe over here,
Urbane Guerrilla. My husband and I had "paper-wrapped" halibut as one of the entrees at our wedding, and it was so delicious I had to try it myself. I made that recipe one night as an experiment, because I had a bunch of leftover stuff I needed to use up, but that weren't enough for full portions of anything by themselves. We
loved it, so I can definitely recommend it.
I haven't had a chance to read through this thread thoroughly yet, but I did search through it and didn't find any recipes posted for brisket, so I thought I'd share mine. I adapted it from my step-mother's recipe, which calls for sealing it in aluminum foil, putting it in a glass baking dish surrounded by water, then babysitting it for hours, replenishing the water constantly. Doing it her way and not getting to it soon enough to add water when it dried up, caused my glass baking dish to explode in the oven! This is truly the "set it and forget it" method. . .
Jill's Famous Brisket
The modification at the bottom is also mine (and doesn't have to be used only for the reason I created it - Passover, obviously), and I can tell you it's exactly as delicious as the soup mix version, in fact, maybe even better, as I like the real mushrooms that end up in the gravy, and Better Than Bouillon is to die for yummy.
Off to go read this thread from the beginning. . .
The best Spinach Pie ever!
Ingredients:
1 lge bunch of spinach (or silverbeet) finely chopped
1 lge Onion finely chopped
1 cup of grated cheddar cheese
2 cups of crumbled fetta cheese
1/2 cup of long grain rice (uncooked)
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil
2 sheets of puff pastry
1. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl and then drizzle olive oil in the mixture until it starts to 'cling' together, but not drip.
2. Line a pan with 1 sheet of pastry.
3. Tip the spinach mixture into the pastry lined pan.
4. Make a lid out of the second sheet of pastry. Remember to poke holes in the top so the mixture can breath.
5. Brush melted butter or milk over the top of the pastry.
6. Bake in a moderate oven for 1 hour then turn the heat up to a hot oven for 10 minutes to brown the pastry.
7. Eat with gusto
This sounds incredibly yummy and I will definitely be trying it!
I have some ground beef+pork+lamb here and will be needing your meatloaf recipes for tomorrow night.
I know it's well beyond the "tomorrow night" referred to in your post, but in the event that you find yourself with ground meats again, especially pork, I can highly recommend my mother-in-law's Danish frikadeller. They're similar to Swedish meatballs, but way, WAY better. :D Here's the recipe, translated from my husband's Danish cookbook,
God Mad, Let at lave (Good food, easy to cook):
Ingredients
1/2 lb ground beef and 1/2 lb of ground pork (you can also use just pork, or pork and veal, whatever combination of ground meat you prefer)
1/2 cup flour
About a cup of liquid, such as milk, water or stock (we use milk)
1 egg
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 finely chopped yellow onion
Butter for frying
(This is an easy recipe to double, which we also usually do.)
Directions
In a large mixing bowl, add all ingredients except liquid, and mix for roughly 3 minutes with a hand mixer on medium speed, adding liquid to get desired consistency, which should be moist but not wet.
Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes
Heat a couple of tbsp of butter in large skillet
Dip a spoon in the hot butter from the pan and use the spoon and your hand to shape meatballs into flattened football shapes.
Drop meatballs in the skillet and fry until crispy on the outside, roughly 4 - 5 minutes on each side.
Continue the process until all the meatballs are cooked (will require several batches, or, if you're good, several pans at one time).
When they're done, they should look like
this.
Serve with boiled red potatoes and green beans.
Mmmmm. Enjoy!
Serve with boiled red potatoes and green beans.
Yanno, I bet those would make good sandwiches too.
Pork meatball sammich with provolone and put under the broiler for 3 minutes?
Sign me up! (For cholesterol testing! :D )
They make good everything, even just pop-in-your-mouth snacks. Frikadeller are my Desert Island food. Whenever we go home to Denmark, my MIL makes a ton of them because she knows I'll inevitably get up in the middle of the night from jet lag and raid the refrigerator, heading straight for the frikadeller. Cold frikadeller -- heaven on earth.
P.S. HI, Alluvial! I'm glad to see you finally made it here!!
P.S. HI, Alluvial! I'm glad to see you finally made it here!!
Thanks, I'm glad you're here too. We should start a Refugees club. ;)
My family is going to love these Frikadeller. I'm going to try making them this week. Any reason I couldn't use venison for one of the meats?
The more, the merrier, I say!
I've never tried venison meat, so I have no idea how "gamey" it might taste compared to other ground meats, but if it's a flavor you like, I don't see why it wouldn't work. I will admit to preferring pork to beef, so if you're substituting one of them, I'd use pork and venison as opposed to beef and venison.
You'll have to let me know how you like them. Hope you enjoy!
Venison's only occasionally gamey. It tastes like... well, ungulate. African antelope, deer, cattle... they all taste a little different but a recipe that works for one works for another.
This thread has no organization by theme or anything else. Until Jill, no brisket either. It's just where I throw recipes I either like or think I'd like. We just talk about food here until we get hungry and go raid the refrigerator.
I'm working on getting somebody else's apple-blueberry pie recipe the way the wife likes it -- she doesn't see any point in oversweetening a pie, particularly a fruit pie, and she may have something there. It'll be a bit more my recipe after I jigger with it a bit.
Still getting lots of raves locally with the Lemon Meringue Pie, p.1 in the thread.
I mentioned elsewhere that I would post the recipe for the Mexican Casserole. (Photo in
this post).
The only essential ingredients are the corn tortillas and the tomato sauce. What else you put in there is up to you.
I usually make this in a 13" x 9" pan. You won't need as big of a pan if you put fewer ingredients in it.
I take a can of diced tomatoes (you can use fresh diced) and a can of tomato sauce and simmer that for a few minutes (10-15) on the stove with some seasonings. If you're in a hurry just put a packet of taco seasoning in there.
Then take your corn tortillas (the small kind), dip them in the sauce, and lay them flat in the pan. Six go on the bottom layer. Ladle a good coating of the tomato sauce on top of these.
Now you're ready to build the other layers. Here are some suggestions for ingredients:
1 can black beans (drained)
1 can cut corn (drained)
1/2 c diced onion
shredded cheese
1 can black olives
1 lb ground meat (beef, venison, or turkey) seasoned with one packet taco seasoning
etc.
You can stretch this further by including 1 cup of cooked rice.
Layer a couple of ingredients, then another layer of tortillas. I usually put the corn and cheese on the top.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. To keep the cheese from getting too brown, you can wait and add it for the last 15 minutes.
Very good served with a dollop of sour cream and a salad.
Thanks Alluvial. I suspect the darlets will enjoy this.
YVW. It's the sort of thing kids like to help make, as well - kind of fun. :)
Swiped from BrianR's post in "Hollandaise."
I was trained to make all sauces at the Jax Culinary Institute, so this one is a whiz, but it is hard for a beginner to make.
To begin with, the ingredients should be at room temp, as suggested above. start your double-boiler. Whisk in cool water (out of the tap is fine) and egg yolks and a few drops of lemon juice. The lemon juice is important to add flavor!
heat over the boiler (be gentle, this sauce is delicate) until thickened. Then add the butter (clarified, not melted) s l o w l y!
only a few drops at a time until the sauce thickens well. You should be able to drop in the last Tablespoonful at the end but be gentle. If you do too fast, you will break the sauce.
If the sauce gets TOO thick, add in a few drops of HOT water at a time until it is back to where you want it. The sauce will keep for an hour or so, if you keep it warm. You should have turned off the double-boiler earlier. You can hold the sauce over that as long as it doesn't get too hot, warm is the key.
Have the muffins prepared ahead of time and do the eggs at the same time you're building the sauce. quickly heat the ham (I use Canadian Bacon on mine) and build the dish, spread a bit of sauce over the top of the eggs, and garnish with a tiny pinch of parsley or a small slice of lemon.
i've made this one a lot.
this basic meat jambalaya is enriched by using beef stock in place of water. if you have no stock on hand, you can easily prepare some from a good quality beef concentrate. as in the preparation of gumbo chop the vegetables and cut up the principal ingredients before beginning to cook. i like my jambalaya very rich, but if you need to stretch it, double the amount of rice and water and add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper - you'll have enough jambalaya to feed eight. for a more delicately flavored variation, substitute lean veal for the pork.
--------------------
2 tbs. salt butter
1 1/2 c. long grain rice
4 c. chopped onion
3 c. rich beef stock
2/3 c. chopped green pepper
2 1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 c. thinly sliced green shallot (scallion) tops
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1tbs. finely minced garlic
1/2 tsp. chili powder
2 tbs. finely minced fresh parsley
2 whole bay leaves (crushed)
1 lb. lean pork cut into 3/4" cubes
1/4 tsp. thyme
1 c. finely chopped baked ham
1/8 tsp. cloves
6 creole (polish, french garlic) smoked sausages (or your fav) sliced 1/2" thick and kept refrigerated
---------------------
in a heavy 7 to 8 quart pot or kettle, melt the butter over low heat. add the vegetables, parsley, pork and ham; continue to cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for about 15 minutes, or until the veggies and pieces of meat are browned. add the sausage and seasonings and continue cooking and stirring over low heat for 5 minutes more.add the rice and beef stock and mix well, then raise the heat to high and bring to a boil. cover the pot, turn the heat to very low, and cook for 45 minutes, uncovering from time to time to stir. uncover the pot during the last 10 minutes of cooking and raise the heat to medium to allow the rice to dry out, stirring very frequently. serve immediately.
gumbo recipe to follow in the next day or so.
This jambalaya sounds like it would work in a Crock-Pot too. Longer cooking time, set'n'forget, maybe a little less stock/water, as that is often called for with covered cooking like a crockpot.
This jambalaya sounds like it would work in a Crock-Pot too. Longer cooking time, set'n'forget, maybe a little less stock/water, as that is often called for with covered cooking like a crockpot.
yeah, actually, that sounds like it would work really well if you have to time to wait.
The basic New Orleans seafood gumbo. Gumbo crabs are the hard shell crabs we use for cooking; any hard shell crab avail. in your area can be used. Whether you eat the cooked crab served in the gumbo is a matter of taste-some of us do and some of us don't. A delightful and slightly extravagant variation is to use lump crabmeat in addition to or use as a substitute for hard shell crabs. We like chopped smoke sausage in this gumbo because it adds a fine, smoky flavor. Reserve half of the shrimp, and if you use it, half the lump crabmeat, then add them just a few minutes before the end of the cooking time. This way your gumbo will have both the cooked-in taste of shrimp and also some good firm shrimp for eating. Be sure to have everything else ready before you start the roux because you can't do all that chopping and tend to the roux at the same time.
the gumbo base
2 c. chopped onion
3/4c. chopped green pepper
1/3c. thinly sliced green shallot (scallion) tops
2 tbs. finely minced fresh parsley
1 tbs finely minced garlic
1 1/2c. coarsely chopped creole (beefsteak, jersey) tomatoes (2 medium)
2 creole (polish, french garlic) smoked sausages, chopped fine
2 lb. whole fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 lb. gumbo crabs, broken in half
2 lb fresh okra, stems and tips removed, sliced 3/8 inch thick
the roux
3/4 c. vegetable oil
3/4 c. flour
the liquid and the seasonings
2 1/2 qt. cold water
3 whole bay leaves, crushed
1 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
5 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper (fresh is important here...my emphasis)
1/4 tsp. cayenne (i prefer more but add or delete to your discretion)
4 tsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice
10 whole allspice
1/2 tsp. mace (not the chemical, the spice :) )
8 whole cloves
k. after you have assembled the ingredients for the gumbo base, heat the oil in a heavy 7 to 8 quart pot or kettle over medium heat. Make the roux by gradually adding the flour to the oil, stirring constantly. (must. stir. constantly. don't let it sit and burn. the roux is the most important part of this. don't buy store bought either, that's cheating. the roux is the hardest and most important part of this recipe) Cook over low heat, always stirring, until a medium brown roux is formed. (this will take from 20 to 30 mins. the roux should be the color of pecan shells or hazelnuts). immediately add the onion, green peppers, shallot tops, parsley and garlic. continue cooking for about 10 minutes longer, stirring constantly; the chopped vegetables should be lightly browned at this point. Add 2 quarts of the cold water. 1 lb. of the raw shrimp, the crabs, the okra and the seasonings. Raise the heat slightly and bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 1 hour. Stir from time to time and scrape down the sides and across the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon or spatula to prevent scorching. At the end of the hour, still keeping the gumbo at a simmer, add the remaining 1/2 quart water and stir. Remove the pot from the heat and let stand at room temperature. (personally, i like to let it cool to room temp and then put it in the fridge over night. this really brings out the flavor but if you can't wait, follow recipe)
before serving, bring the gumbo to a boil and add the remaining pound of shrimp. simmer just until the shrimp turn pink, about 10 to12 minutes. stir thoroughly, turn off the heat, and cover the pot. let it sit, covered, for about 15 minutes before serving. Serve by ladling the gumbo over mounds of boiled rice in gumbo bowls or deep soup bowls.
enjoy!!!
Oh Nom Nom Nom NOM !!!!!
I absolutely love this pie. I only made it once and it turned out great. I didn't have the zucchini, though. I am sure there are a bevy of veggies you could put into it. from here:
http://amberveggies.blogspot.com/2009/06/apology-pie.html
Apology Pie:
1pound sirloin cut in cubes (or you could use stew meat)
Flour (to lightly coat meat)
Salt and pepper (to season meat)
1-2 potatoes diced or thinly sliced, however you prefer
A handful of diced zucchini
1 medium onion, sliced
2 c beef stock
9 inch pie crust
Preheat oven to 400F.
In a bag mix flour, salt, and pepper.
Add meat and shake to coat.
Brown meat with onions. Add stock and lower heat.
Simmer for 30 min or until meat is tender.
Add potatoes and zucchini and simmer another 10 minutes.
Spoon everything into pie shell
Bake 30 min or until crust is done.
This serves about four, unless you are like my boyfriend. Then it serves about 1 and a half.
I'm not very much fish people, . . . Most of my ideas of fun seafood . . .
OMG! I almost choked to death laughing at this, trying desperately not to conjure up images of UGs ideas of "fun seafood" . . .
I absolutely love this pie.
Thank you! :blush:
Thank you! :blush:
Welcome :D Wait, you don't come with gravy! Must be another pie :p
Wait, you don't come with gravy!
How do you know?!!!11!1 :eek:
This, ah, was probably supposed to be its own thread. :)
I made a lovely lamb broth yesterday. Big pan of it so I had it for last night's evening meal and again this evening. Always nicest second day:)
Ingredients:
500g blend of lamb and mutton mince (ground meat I think you guys call it)
1 large white onion roughly chopped
5 new potatoes with skins scraped but not peeled, cut into halves.
1 large carrot scraped and chopped
1 large closed cap white mushroom sliced
1/2 broccoli broken into florets
1 tin garden peas
2 cloves garlic crushed
dessert spoon of dried mixed herbs
3/4 pint of vegetable stock
teaspoon of cornflour (or plain flour)
tablespoon of cooking oil
tablespoon of worcestershire sauce
a shake or three of salt, pepper and ground chilli flakes.
Dead easy:
Heat the oil in large pan and throw in the onions. let 'em sweat for about 7 mins stirring or shaking occasionally to stop them sticking.
Add the mincemeat and brown gently, stirring often. Salt, pepper, chilliflakes and about half the herbs and half the worstershire sauce can be added during this part.
When the meat is starting to brown and fat is gathering in the pan, add the cornflour (dont mix with water first) sprinkling it so it soaks up the fat and keep browning. The meat should start to catch the base of the pan a little. That's good, let it but keep it moving so it doesn't stick totally and burn.
Throw in the carrots and keep stirring the lot. After about five minutes add the potatoes and keep stirring to brown everything. Give that about five minutes and then add the stock and stir. Add the crushed garlic.
Give it about another ten minutes then add the mushrooms; another ten minutes and add the broccoli and peas.
Throw in the rest of the herbs and worstershire sauce, cover and simmer on a gentle heat for about 20 minutes (longer if you like a slow-cooked taste) stirring occasionally. Then give it 5-10 mins with the lid off if the liquid levels are still high.
Just before the end it's worth throwing in a little more worstershire sauce and pepper.
Serve with crusty bread. Delightful.
We tend to call that sort of blend meatloaf: beef/pork/veal optionally, ground all together, extended a bit with breadcrumbs, seasoned with herbs and a little salt, sometimes topped with ketchup or any other suitable seasoned sauce -- Worcestershire's fine to flavor it, but A-1 Sauce will actually stay on top of the loaf -- and baked in a loaf pan or baking dish.
Serve with mashed potatoes and veg.
Blackened, Cloud, blackened. Blackened is fun, but it's gotta be the real spice mix and the butter. Paul Prudhomme's recipe taught me how. Any diluted form has just been insipid by comparison. I'd go so far as to call it debased. If it isn't hot enough to make the Cajun preacher dance, it's not done right and you've lost two-thirds of the potential experience. Bland food is the enemy. Don't let it win.
We tend to call that sort of blend meatloaf: beef/pork/veal optionally, ground all together, extended a bit with breadcrumbs, seasoned with herbs and a little salt, sometimes topped with ketchup or any other suitable seasoned sauce -- Worcestershire's fine to flavor it, but A-1 Sauce will actually stay on top of the loaf -- and baked in a loaf pan or baking dish.
Serve with mashed potatoes and veg.
My mum used to make meatloaf when I was a kid:)
This was a broth: meat and vegetables cooked slowly in stock which then becomes a thick gravy. It's quite gloopy. Not remotely loaflike. If done to a drier consistency it then becomes a 'hash'.
I like bell peppers and onions in my meat loaf. Baked with a thick ketchup based topping.
I cook them in the microwave and brown with the oven broiler.
Fav sides: Mashed potatoes and garden peas. (my mom calls them English peas). What's up with that?
I haven't had a good meatloaf in years.
Blackened, Cloud, blackened. Blackened is fun, but it's gotta be the real spice mix and the butter. Paul Prudhomme's recipe taught me how. Any diluted form has just been insipid by comparison. I'd go so far as to call it debased. If it isn't hot enough to make the Cajun preacher dance, it's not done right and you've lost two-thirds of the potential experience. Bland food is the enemy. Don't let it win.
, ooh, fun, hot, and debased! my kind of food!
We tend to call that sort of blend meatloaf: beef/pork/veal optionally, ground all together, extended a bit with breadcrumbs, seasoned with herbs and a little salt, sometimes topped with ketchup or any other suitable seasoned sauce -- Worcestershire's fine to flavor it, but A-1 Sauce will actually stay on top of the loaf -- and baked in a loaf pan or baking dish.
Serve with mashed potatoes and veg.
good meatloaf is yum! crappy meatloaf is scary.
Yeah, bad meatloaf is bland and dull. Its perpetrators should be ductaped to kitchen chairs and made to eat the entire thing.
Then they should be untaped (the hard way if you're feeling mean -- rrrrrippp!) and served a small portion of a meatloaf with a flavor in it. And a touch of juiciness, possibly provided by a gravy content...
Chopped onion, yes. Even BBQ sauce as topping if you don't care for ketchup, which will concentrate in the baking, producing something like a ketchup beyond ketchup. And then there are the people who bake some bacon slices over the top.
Meatloaf came up on a thread UT had... he was looking for particularly fine meatloaf for company some months back.
I now have theories. I believe that the meat combination should be ground beef only, no other types. I believe that 80-20 or 85-15 (meat/fat percentage) are actually better than having less fat content. Bread crumbs are fine. I believe that the ground meat should not be very firmly packed, as we are not producing sausage, and that we should accept that the meat may fall apart on the plate a little. I believe that onion must be involved but that it should be chopped very, very finely. Pepper is right out, except for black pepper which must be included. I believe that garlic mashed potatoes and corn are the ideal accompaniments. I believe there are other spices or herbs which may help produce good results but that I haven't done much experimentation. Perhaps thyme or sage.
I also add a little egg to my meatloaf to help hold it together, and I make it into a loaf and cook it in the center of a lasagna pan so the juices can escape. I do not pack it into a bread pan for baking.
Any thoughts on the pan?
I cook it that way too glatt. I add egg also. Mom uses a bread pan. Meatloaf, like pizza and chili, can be made so many different ways. Part of their charm.
So I went to the cafeteria and instead of getting my typical salad I got the meatloaf special they are running today. I was happy because since I visited this thread this morning I've been craving meatloaf.
It's not too bad. :)
I've found that when I'm craving meatloaf, what I'm usually actually craving is ketchup. Meatloaf with barbecue sauce is worthless to me.
You know, they put a gravy on it that if I had my druthers would have been ketchup instead.
Still, not bad for school food.
Ix-nay the etchup-kay.
BBQ sauce, A-1, maybe a good concentrated marinara, a hoisin sauce, even a mustard/mayo combo. But no ketchup. :yeldead:
I like a little bit of pork in the meatloaf mix. I add quite a bit of breadcrumb and a bit of milk. And sauteed minced onion. Other spicing depends on the 'theme' of the meatloaf.
I do an awesome Thai green curry turkey meatloaf. With jasmine rice and stir-fried veggies.
I made meatloaf for the first time ever a couple of months back and it was a hit with the family. I just used ground beef (very lean) and put some herbs (parsley, chives, shallotts) and spices (salt, pepper, cracked chilli and a couple of others) in along with some onion and garlic, some evaporated milk, an egg and some breadcrumbs. I served it with a beef stock gravy which the boys then added bbq sauce to.
I've made it twice more since then and it's as popular as ever. I never thought I'd like it, but I do.
Last night I made spaghetti and meatballs. that was a hit too.
I use a 50/50 mix of Italian sausage and ground beef for my meatballs. A just a little breadcrumbs.
I do an awesome Thai green curry turkey meatloaf. . .
Hey, wow, Pie, could you favor us with the recipe? Sounds like something the wife would like, and we tend to underutilize ground bird. Need to get more imaginative.
[Woo! Post #300!]
I think meatloaf is obscene and should only be thinly sliced for sandwiches and given to homeless people.
I think meatloaf is obscene and should only be thinly sliced for sandwiches and given to homeless people.
You may be right about the songs, but the punishment seems a little harsh!
Hey, wow, Pie, could you favor us with the recipe? Sounds like something the wife would like, and we tend to underutilize ground bird. Need to get more imaginative.
I don't really do recipes, but try something like this...
I buy a good quality jarred green curry paste. Add a tablespoon or two to 1 lb ground turkey. Add an egg, some breadcrumbs, a little cream or milk or coconut milk (if you have it) till it's the right consistency. No salt, the curry paste is salty enough. Maybe a little minced red pepper, onion, chiffonade of basil, mint, minced cilantro. A squirt of sriracha if you want it hotter. Mix well. Form into a loaf, or meatballs, or miniloafs or whatever.
Bake at 375-400ish till internal temp is over 150F.
Alternately, form into burgers and pan fry. Serve with sriracha mayo, tomato slices and a salad of herbs.
The curry paste will survive indefinitely in my fridge.
You may be right about the songs, but the punishment seems a little harsh!
hehehehe
I'm la'fin
Paula Deen's Shrimp Creole. Super Easy
[LIST]
[*][FONT=Calibri]2 tablespoons olive oil[/FONT]
[*][FONT=Calibri]I teaspoon white sugar
[/FONT]
[*][FONT=Calibri]1/2 cup diced green bell peppers[/FONT]
[*][FONT=Calibri]I/2 cup diced celery
[/FONT]
[*][FONT=Calibri]1/2 cup diced onions [/FONT]
[*][FONT=Calibri]1 teaspoon chili powder[/FONT]
[*][FONT=Calibri]1 (14-ounces) can tomatoes[/FONT]
[*][FONT=Calibri]1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce[/FONT]
[*][FONT=Calibri]1 tablespoon hot sauce[/FONT]
[*][FONT=Calibri]1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce[/FONT]
[*][FONT=Calibri]Salt and pepper[/FONT]
[*][FONT=Calibri]1 1/2 pounds peeled and deveined [/FONT][COLOR=green][FONT=Calibri]
shrimp[/FONT][/COLOR]
[*][FONT=Calibri]Green onions, for garnish[/FONT]
[/LIST]
[FONT=Calibri]Preheat crock pot on high. [/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]In fry pan, heat olive oil. Add peppers, onions and celery. Cook until softened. Add chili powder and saute until caramelized. Remove from heat and pour into crock pot. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, hot sauce, Worcestershire, white sugar, salt and pepper. [/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]Cook for 3 hours. Add shrimp and cook for about 3 minutes. Serve over rice. Top with chopped green onions. [/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]note:
[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri]
I bought huge shrimp at a two thirds of a pound and it was enough for 3 or 4 people I thought. Plus I cooked stove top for one hour instead of using a crock pot.
[/FONT]
Leftovers Pork Chops
[LIST]
[*]2 pork chops
[*]leftover veg (1 onion, some celery, a carrot)
[*]leftover wine (Niersteiner)
[*]leftover apricot and ginger chutney
[*]leftover apple and cranberry juice
[*]the last of the five spice powder
[*]soy sauce
[*]garlic
[/LIST]
Brown the chops in a frying pan
Chop or slice the leftover veg and put in the bottom of the crockpot
Slop all the other ingredients in the chutney jar and give it a good shake
Put the chops on top of the veg
Slop the contents of the jar into the slow cooker
Cook on auto till dinner time
I'll let you know how it turns out!
Slop all the other ingredients in the chutney jar and give it a good shake
This step is the very definition of awesome. Gets the last of the chutney without scraping, and saves washing a mixing bowl. I love it!
I'm going to do pork chops with roasted root veggies tonight -- sweet potatoes, turnips, beets, onions, and I'll probably toss in some peppers, maybe apples. Limey, your sauce sounds like it would work well with my chops... Ginger preserves, 5-spice, chili, soy.
Or I might hit the veggies with rosemary and a little truffle oil, glaze the chops with mustard...
So many choices!
#306 - was delicious.
For those who want some certainties in this life:
2 pork chops
leftover veg (1 onion, 1 stick celery, a carrot)
1/3 cup any wine
2 tbsp any chutney
1/3 cup any fruit juice
1 tsp five spice powder
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 clove garlic
I humbly submit that any chutney and any fruit juice will do - you will see how marvellously the two I used up did not match at all.
Oh, and thank you, clod!
All rightey dightey, good on yer there Limey!
3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookie
* 1 cup peanut butter-creamy or chunky
* 1 large egg
* 1 cup Splenda
Beat the egg slightly
Add the peanut butter and sugar-mix well
Drop by the teaspoon full onto an ungreased cookie sheet
Smash the dough down with the tines of a fork making a cross-hatch pattern
Bake at 350 degrees until the edges begin to appear dry-approximately 6-10 minutes
They taste just as good as any other cookie. I like them better than the ones with flour.
You may use regular sugar too.
APRICOT BUTTERMILK SALAD
2 pkgs. apricot Jello
2 c. buttermilk
1 c. pineapple, crushed
1 (8 oz.) Cool Whip
Dissolve the Jello in 2 cups hot water. Add pineapple. Cool. Add 2 cups buttermilk. Add the Cool Whip. Delicious!
'funny, that word is one that I can never get used to. It always sounds odd to me: jello.
Yeah...they should just say Jelly like the rest of the free world. :D
Also, what is cool whip?
Hmm, how to describe. Non Dairy whipped topping. Basically sweetened plastic whipped in a tub. Generally put on pies...or cheap hookers ;)
Hmm, how to describe. Non Dairy whipped topping. Basically sweetened plastic whipped in a tub. Generally put on pies...or cheap hookers ;)
lol now there's common knowledge for ya
Why is our food in the US so crappy?
[SIZE=2]Now bruce will come along and tell me about all the starving children in Africa with only wormy rice to eat once a month.[/SIZE]
You may be certain that wormy rice (protein and carbs!) has more nutrition in it than Cool Whip.
Wikipedia
Cool Whip -- Wired magazine -- pic
"That," as Butch Cassidy said before the mailcar blew to smithereens, "oughtta do it."
You may be certain that wormy rice (protein and carbs!) has more nutrition in it than Cool Whip.
haha so true
hey clod
The 3 ingredient cookie recipe I posted for you or I had you in mind anyway.
The Splenda can be substituted for sugar if desired and they are great little cookies.
Thanks for thinking of me, sky. Alas, the kid is allergic to both eggs and peanuts... :(
They Should Look like This
I make a lot of homemade granola which is delicious and economical but my neighbor delivered some no bake chocolate oatmeal cookies. I had not had one since I was a kid. I don't know why because they were delicious and I always have a ton of oatmeal.
I
just made some more. The sugar content is 17g per cookie which is high and you'll feel it after eating one but oh man oh man are they good.
No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies Recipe
These are wonderful, quick cookies. It is one of the first things I learned to 'cook'. You can add more or less oats (3 cups work best for me). I have found that the weather makes a difference on the consistency. It is very important not to boil them for longer than a minute.
by
Jenny White
6 min | 5 min prep
24 cookies
[LIST]
[*] 1/2 cup
butter or
margarine
[*] 2 cups
sugar
[*] 1/2 cup
milk
[*] 4 tablespoons
cocoa
[*] 1/2 cup
creamy peanut butter (or chunky)
[*] 3-3 1/2 cups dry
quick-cooking oats
[*] 2 teaspoons
vanilla
[/LIST]
[LIST=1]
[*]Add the first four ingredients into a 4-quart sauce pan.
[*]Bring to a rolling boil and hold for 1 minute.
[*]Remove from heat.
[*]Stir in the next 3 ingredients and drop by tablespoons onto wax paper.
[*]Let cool until set.
[/LIST]
And very chewy it is too.
Ingredients
1/2 c Milk
3 TBSP Shortening
1 lb Honey
1 c hot Water
1 pkg activated dry Yeast, or equivalent cake
2 c Flour, white
4 c Flour, whole wheat
1/4 tsp Salt, to taste
Equipment
Large mixing bowl
Procedure
1. Scald Milk
2. In large bowl, mix Shortening, Salt, Honey, hot Water
3. Add Milk, cool until lukewarm; add Yeast and let sit a while
4. Add all Flour, knead
5. Cover, let rise 2 hr, punch down, rest it 1/2 hr
6. Divide into 2 loaves, let rise further 2 hr, bake 50-60 minutes at 350 F.
The Froog doesn't really like haggis, but knows people who do.
I prepared this recipe for the Medinah Highlander Pipe and Drum Band of Chicago. They piped the Haggis into the dining room. . . The Pipe and Drum Major cut the Haggis in the sign of the Cross and the party began. These pipers ate everything in sight... so I am willing to offer you my version of Haggis. [capitalizations as original]
Beef and Lamb Haggis, Froog style
Equipment
4-qt covered pot
Meat grinder
Mixing bowl
Steamer and String, for tying ends
Filling Ingredients
1 lb Beef Heart, cut into 2" wide strips
1 lb Beef Liver
1/2 lb Lamb Stew Meat, 1" chunks
1 1/2 C Yellow Onion, peeled, finely chopped
4 TBSP Scotch Whisky
2 C Oatmeal, toasted on cookie sheet, 375 F for 10 min
2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground Black Pepper
1 tsp dried Thyme (about 2 tsp fresh)
1/2 tsp Rosemary
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg.
The Casing
3 Beef Caps -- inquire w/sausage maker about these. I'd go to the Mexican groceries around here, which all have old-school meat departments and prep their own stuff.
1 C Distilled Vinegar
1/2 TBSP salt, to soak
Place Beef Heart in 4-qt pot with cold water to just cover. Simmer, covered 1 hr 10 min. Add Liver and Lamb, cover and simmer 20 more minutes. Remove contents of pot, let cool; reserve 1 C liquid. Grind everything coarsely w/meat grinder.
In large mixing bowl, mix all the ingredients together except beef caps/vinegar/salt for soaking. Mix well, set aside.
Now for the beef caps: rinse Beef Caps in cold water. Turn them inside out and soak them in 2 quarts cold water with Salt and Distilled Vinegar for 1/2 hr. Drain, and rinse very well inside and out.
Divide seasoned meat/oatmeal mixture into 3. Fill Beef Caps with mixture, tie ends off with string. Prick haggises all over with sharp fork. Steam 1 hr 20 min.
Serve sliced with beef or lamb gravy.
Once each quarter, I go to a meeting that features a pot luck.
Most of the time I'm in too much of a hurry to actually make something. This month I planned ahead and had everything on hand to make some Thai Peanut Noodles.
I decided what I wanted to make and then went hunting for a recipe.
It was awesome. Everybody at the meeting said so, and I have a lengthy list of people who asked for the recipe.
For convenience, I served it cold, but it's awesome when it's hot.
Also, you can throw whatever else you want into it to make it more of a meal ... stir fry veggies for sure, and perhaps chicken or tofu.
SPICY THAI PEANUT NOODLE RECIPE
Ingredients:
[LIST]
[*]6 Tbsp of Crunchy Peanut Butter (Note: I used Jif)
[*]4 Tbsp of Water
[*]3 Tbsp of Vegetable Oil
[*]3 Tbsp of Sesame Oil
[*]3 Tbsp of Rice Vinegar
[*]3 Tbsp of Soy Sauce
[*]4 Tbsp of Honey
[*]1 Tbsp of Sugar (optional)
[*]1 ½ Tbsp of Minced Ginger Root (Note: I cheated. I used 1 tsp of Powdered Ginger)
[*]1 ½ Tbsp of Minced Garlic Cloves (Note: I cheated here too. I used 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder)
[*]1 Tbsp of Crushed Red Peppers (Note: I used a bit less than one Tablespoon. As noted below, the recipe originally called for 1-1/2 Tablespoon. With the amount of crushed peppers that I used it was pleasantly hot, with even the hot-wimps liking it without too much complaining.)
[*]1 16oz Package of Spaghetti or Linguine
[/LIST]
In a large saucepan, bring 8-10 cups of water to a boil and cook the pasta as directed on the box (usually 8-10 minutes).
While the spaghetti is cooking, place another saucepan on low heat and mix together the peanut butter and water. Once the peanut butter warms up it will mix nicely with the water and you should end up with a soupy peanut butter mixture in the saucepan.
One by one, add the vegetable oil, sesame oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and honey thoroughly stirring the sauce after each ingredient is added. If the sauce begins to bubble, turn the heat down a little bit. By now you should have a few minutes left before the pasta is done.
Peel the garlic and ginger root and chop them up with a food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, you can finely chop the garlic and ginger with a knife (it is tedious work, but these ingredients are essential). Once the garlic and ginger root are chopped up, stir them into the saucepan along with the optional 1 Tbsp of sugar.
Drain the pasta, and then place it back in the large saucepan until you are done preparing the sauce.
Add the crushed red pepper to the sauce. The original recipe called for 1 ½ Tbsp but you may find this too spicy. I would start with a little less than 1 Tbsp of crushed red peppers and gradually increase to your taste. Simmer the sauce for two minutes to allow all of the ingredients to blend together. Keep in mind that more “spicy heat” from the crushed red peppers will be released as it simmers in the saucepan. If you feel that the peanut sauce needs a little more “kick” add more crushed red peppers after the initial 2 minute simmer.
Once the delicious peanut sauce has simmered and you have adjusted the “spiciness” to your taste, simply mix the sauce in with the cooked pasta and serve!
While I was looking for the 15 bean soup recipe I found this recipe from Wolf. It sounded so appealing I thought It deserved a re-post. I'll keep it in mind.
The 15 bean is probably in the 'What's for dinner section'
I am debating between that or a cheddar/broccoli rice dish.
Ixnay onway ethay eanutpay ecipesray....! C'mon!
I am interested in the sweet potato dish though. Is that what candied yams are?
No idea how well it would go down here, but am tempted to try it for myself while the 'rents are away. If it passes muster with me I might try it at a BBQ... Without the pecans.
Yes, should be fine with candied yams. There is a terminological kerfuffle about yam vs. sweet potato in marketing them in cans. Something about the latter getting called the former a lot. Wiki, maybe...?
Yes, from here. An excerpt:
The sweet potato is very distinct from the actual yam, which is native to Africa and Asia and belongs to the monocot family Dioscoreaceae. To prevent confusion, the United States Department of Agriculture requires that sweet potatoes labeled as "yams" also be labeled as "sweet potatoes".
FWIW... sigh.
That solves it then. I did wonder, because many of the African/ Caribbean shops here sell both and they are quite obviously different. But then I was puzzled how an African vegetable became part of the Thanksgiving tradition. Now I know it's really a sweet potato (indiginous to the Americas) I will sleep more soundly.
Was talking to my bro about this the other day.
He told me his story of loading up his plate (so says my SIL - he maintains he only had three) with roast potatoes, only to find it was plantain. Very disappointed. He was much more suspicious at buffets after that.
That would startle. 'Course, fried plantain would be a decidedly guy-starch. Once you're set to expect banana, not potato flavors.
Yebbut, Ste - like me - is well aware that banana is the fruit of the devil. Everything about it makes us gag.
Mystifying, except in point of an allergy. What sort of bananas would they be afflicting you with, there in Buckinghamshire?
Grim ones. That smell and taste and look like bananas!
Anyone have a good onion marmalade recipe?
I'm not looking to put any aside, just as an accompaniment for Mum's birthday dinner.
She mentioned the other day that she adores it. I want to do a proper 3 course meal that I know she will enjoy. I have to practice the souffles though, as she's not a big sweet potato fan. I might end up with some sort of puff pastry tart.
Sweet Potato and Cheshire Cheese Souffle with a rocket garnish and Red Onion Marmalade
Chicken Roulade Stuffed with Ham and a Cider Cream Sauce
(new potatoes and seasonal veg - I'll see what's around)
Baileys Chocolate Raspberry Torte
(really a one layer chocolate cake topped with Baileys cream and raspberries)
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
1/3 c butter
1-1/4 c sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c buttermilk
1/3 c applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla
1-1/4 c flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1tsp salt ( omitted )
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 c shredded zucchini
2 oz semi sweet chocolate melted ( I substituted coco powder with appropriate amounts of oil and sugar to make it sweet and oily)
confectioners sugar for sprinkling on top
bake 30-35 min @ 350
A new to me recipe and it tastes great although I actually prefer zucchini bread without chocolate.
Went to Clodfobble's cooking blog. She made
chocolate chip cookies last month.
The Recipe,
sí mismo:
2 1/2 C [592ml-- eh, 600] Almond Flour
1/2 tsp [2.5ml] Baking Soda
1/2 tsp [2.5ml] Salt
1 TBSP [15ml] Vanilla Extract, liquid or powdered
1/2 C [118ml] Grapeseed Oil, or other veg. oil
1/2 C [118ml] Agave Nectar/Sweetener, or Honey for a honeyed flavor
Chocolate chunks/chips, to taste, in enough quantity to make the cookie dough look like a Dalmatian, about 1/2 C [118ml].
1. Mix dry ingredients together, mix wet ingredients together in another bowl.
2. Mix wet with dry, stirring very well. Add in the Chocolate chunks and stir in. 'Fobble used no-dairy organic chocolate bar.
3. Drop on cookie sheet by spoonfuls. Depending on size of spoon, 'Fobble says you might get anywhere from 12 to 30 cookies.
4. Bake at 350F until golden brown. Large cookies take about 12-15 mins, smaller cookies 7-10.
Military Pickle
Woot! Dead-tree comes through where the 'Net forbore to tread! The Kenya Cookery Book and Household Guide, 1928 (twelfth ed., 1958) has this for
Military Pickle (and remarks)
1 marrow, fair sized (zucchini or other long squash)
1 lb (500g) cauliflower florets, left so you can appreciate that it's cauliflower
1 lb (500g) French beans (haricots? green beans? both?)
7 chile peppers (presumably fresh, green or ripe)
1 oz (30g) ginger, chopped fine or minced
1 1/4 C flour (the Brit-ism has it 1 breakfast cup, 1.2 C/284ml) -- scanted
1 cucumber
1 lb (500g) onions
1 lb (500g) sugar
2 quarts/up to 2.5L vinegar (conversion seems in error here, perhaps a maximum amount is intended to be given -- well, this ain't rocket surgery)
1 oz (30g) turmeric powder
salt to draw -- almost like brining
Chef knife, saucepan, jars/lids
Cut vegetables small, cover with the salt, leave for 12 hours then drain. Put veggies into saucepan, add vinegar, boil 6 min. Mix powdered ingredients to a smooth paste (in a little vinegar, I suppose) and add to veggies while they boil. Boil or simmer all together for 30 min at least, stirring frequently to prevent any burning.
Put into jars, put up as in canning: sterilization procedures and all. Apparently usable at once, no doubt some nuances come with ageing. Said to be damn fine with strong Cheddar... or say, Wensleydale, a crumbly, somewhat sour cheese in quite the English style.
I still keep imagining mechanized troops exercising on Salisbury Plain with their tanks and AFVs, pulling up for a lunch of rations adorned with Military Pickle, and enjoying a great boost of morale thereby.
Crossposted from Nothingland:
Entelodont Stew with Wild Mushrooms, Chestnuts and Eohippus Sausage
Serves 6 [doubles easily?!]
Preparation time overnight
Cooking time over 2 hours
Ingredients
1.5kg/3lb 5oz boneless shoulder of entelodont or Paraceratherium neck,
For the marinade
2 bay leaves
4 large thyme sprigs
3 x 18cm/7in rosemary sprigs
1 fat celery stick, roughly chopped
300ml/10+ fl oz gusty red wine such as a Cabernet Sauvignon or the Corsican Niellucciu
8 cloves
2 medium onions, sliced
6 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
12 black peppercorns
1 tbsp juniper berries, lightly crushed
For the stew
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
200g/7oz small Eohippus sausage, cut into 4-5mm/1/4"-thick slices
2 tsp tomato purée
2 tsp plain flour
100ml/3-4 fl oz red vermouth, such as the local Cap Corse
450ml/15-16 fl oz beef stock
50g/2 oz dried porcini mushrooms
50g/2 oz chestnuts, cooked and peeled and vacuum-packed
1 tbsp butter
200g/7oz mixed wild mushrooms, including some chanterelles, wiped clean and sliced if large
salt and freshly ground black pepper
handful parsley, chopped, to garnish
Method
1. Cut the entelodont into 5cm/2in chunks and put the pieces of meat into a large bowl. Add all the ingredients for the marinade, mix together well, cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for 24 hours, stirring it occasionally.
2. The next day, set a colander over another clean bowl and tip in the marinated meat. Drain well and reserve the wine collected in the bowl.
3. Separate the meat from the rest of the marinade ingredients and set aside. Heat half the oil in a large flameproof casserole dish and fry the meat in batches until it is browned all over. Season as you go and add a little more oil if needed.
4. Return all the meat to the casserole dish with a little more oil if necessary. Add the eohippus saussage and fry for a minute or two until lightly golden. Add the remaining marinade ingredients reserved in the colander and fry until soft and richly browned.
5. Stir in the tomato purée and fry for another minute. Stir in the flour followed by the red vermouth, the reserved wine from the marinade, beef stock, porcini mushrooms, 1 teaspoon salt and ten turns of the black pepper mill. Bring to the boil, cover with a tight-fitting lid and leave to simmer gently for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
6. Add the chestnuts to the casserole, replace the cover and cook for another 20-30 minutes or until the meat is very tender.
7. Shortly before the stew is ready, heat the butter in a large frying pan, add the wild mushrooms and some salt and freshly ground black pepper and fry briskly over a high heat for 1-2 minutes. Stir them into the casserole, sprinkle with the parsley and serve.
Over fifty thousand views! Yay.
2.5 lb leg of lamb cut into bites
2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic chopped
1-2 tbsp harissa
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
6 anchovy filets, finely chopped
3 tbsp worchestershire
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper
2 onions, finely chopped/diced
1 lb shelled fava beans (or sub. canellini beans)
1.5 lbs potatos, peeled and cut to bites
4 cups vegetable stock
Well mix cut lamb with oil, garlic, harissa, rosemary, anchovy, worchestershire, thyme, lemon juice, salt, pepper in a sealable container/plastic bag. Marinate for at least 30 minutes or overnight in fridge.
preheat oven to 400F/200C. In large cast-iron casserole/dutch oven add lamb mixture and cook for about 10 minutes or until browned. add onions and cook for another 5.
Add the beans, potatos, and stock and bring to boil. Cover and transfer entire pot to the oven and let cook for 2 hours or until lamb is tender. check once while in the oven and if liquid is running low, add a bit of hot water or vegetable stock.
---
i made this last week and it was pretty good, though i think the rosemary upsets my stomach a bit. The original recipe called for fava beans but i substituted canellini beans as i couldn't find any favas anywhere. i used a full 2 tbsp of harissa, and i added a little extra lemon juice and worchestershire to the marinade. it's not terribly spicy overall, was very filling, and the lamb was extremely tender. takes a pretty darn big pot to fit it all. i used a big enamelled cast iron "dutch oven" thing and filled it to the brim.
the original recipe notes also to check it while in the oven once and top with water/stock if necessary, but that definitely wasn't a problem when i made it. it thickened nicely but didn't lose much volume at all.
overall verdict: tasty. :)
Mother little kitchen helpers... mostly battery powered. ;)
Quinoa Salad:
cook quinoa:
boil 1 cup washed quinoa in 2 cups water, reduce and simmer lidded for 10-15 minutes until water is absorbed, set aside to cool/dry
dice raw yellow squash, cukes, celery, red pepper.
halve some cherry tomatoes, mince a bit of fresh ginger
combine in large bowl with 1/2 can of chick peas, a shake of garlic salt, 1/2 can of black beans, a tsp of olive oil, and the juice from one lemon.
heat a skillet with 1 tbsp of olive oil, and toss in the quinoa. add 2 tbps of horseradish, a couple splashes of balsalmic vinegar, some hot sauce and stir. add veggie mix, heat for 5 minutes,stirring, and remove to a bigger bowl. chill, serve cold.
i adapted this from a couple of different recipes, and it doesn't suck.
If you're strictly vegetarian, you might consider vegetable stock substituting for the water. If you're omnivorous, chicken stock gives a pilaf effect to quinoa.
I made another batch last night, but used 1/2 sesame oil in the saute pan and forgot the balsamic vinegar and the celery. Also used a LOT more hot sauce, and some garlic salt.
it's pretty good. the sesame oil really makes a difference.
OK, for all you zucchini fans out there, here's the first pick from the crop of my daughter's garden.
It's not huge by Willamette Valley standards, but getting there.
Are they as common around your place as they are here ?
Oregonians almost classify them as weeds.
If your neighbors know you are growing zucchini's, they won't come to the door when you knock in late summer.
My daughter left this one for my wife while she was away shopping... but not for zucchinis.
We will sent you all you want... but you pay postage.
Won a whole flat of strawberries in a raffle the weekend. A dozen of the little green basket thingies.
We've been availing ourselves of the good-sized, slightly buttery flavored biscuits offered in Mexican bakeries to make shortcakes, halving them across. About two baskets' worth of berries goes into each batch, de-leafed and sliced with a quarter cup of sugar tossed in with the sliced halves to coat. I used half and half sugar and Splenda(tm). I beat up a bit over half a pint of heavy cream with 3 TBSP more sugar drizzled in as the cream just began to form its peaks. Ooo, the last rose of summer! The wife likes using plain yoghurt over her shortcake, and the yoghurt plays well with the whipped cream too.
You Can't Buy These Doughnuts
Because the shop went out of business years ago. You must make them for yourself.
"I know I can't make a convincing argument that donuts are good for you," [Mark Carter] said. "And I'm not going to try. You can't get away from fat. Donuts are fried in fat. We're not dogs; fat doesn't make our coats shinier. But fat -- good fat, good shortening like I use -- makes for a good doughnut. This is about wonderful pastry. You don't eat my donuts because of what's in them. I'm not going to try and convert the people who love Winchell's to my donuts. I just want to make a great donut. I make donuts for the people of northern California. And that means I crack eggs instead of opening a bag of mix. I melt butter. That's what they want. You can call my donuts organic, but that's too easy. That's not what I'm after."
Pancake Donut w/Frosted Maple Syrup
Ingredients: Doughnut
1/2 C [120ml] (1 stick) Unsalted Butter, softened
3/4 C [177ml] Sugar
1 tsp [5ml] Vanilla Extract
3 large Eggs
4 C [947ml] self-rising Flour
1/2 tsp [2.5ml] ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp [1.2ml] Salt
1 C [237ml] Buttermilk
1/2 gallon [2 liters] Peanut Oil or Vegetable Oil, for frying
Ingredients, Frosting:
1/2 C [120ml] (another stick) Unsalted Butter, softened
1/2 C [120ml] Maple Syrup {grade A for light flavor, grade B for robust}
3 C [310ml] confectioner Sugar
Equipment: heavy-bottomed pot, mixer, bowls, wire racks, deep frying thermometer, slotted spoon
Cream the Butter and Sugar with an electric mixer. When the mixture loses its grittiness, add the Vanilla. Stir in the Eggs one at a time.
In another large bowl, combine Flour, Cinnamon, Salt. Dump these dry ingredients into the creamed butter/sugar/egg mixture. Add in the Buttermilk, a little at a time, mixing until the dough begins to get tacky. Cover with kitchen towel and let rest 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, the frosting: cream Butter and Maple Syrup together in medium bowl with mixer. Gradually add in Confectioners' Sugar, mixing after each addition to thoroughly incorporate. After the last addition of sugar, scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again briefly. Cover bowl and place in refrigerator 30 minutes to thicken.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough out to a thickness of 1/2 inch. Using pastry cutter or a wide-mouth glass, cut the dough into circles, then incorporate the scraps after the first round.
Pour the oil into a cast-iron Dutch oven or other deep, heavy bottomed pot until it reaches a depth of three to four inches. Heat the oil over medium-high heat to 360 F. Fry the doughnuts and holes until golden brown on both sides, about 2 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on wire racks. Let cool, use spatula to spread frosting over donuts. Makes about 24 donuts.
-- Donuts: An American Passion, John T. Edge
I have searched this thread back to last year. I NEED Jinx's 15 bean soup recipe. I'm STARVING.
Homemade 15 bean soup of ass destruction, including not only 15 different beans but also smoked ham, onion, garlic, stewed tomatoes and chili powder. 6 hours after eating it, nobody will be remaining in your area.
(later)
Well my grocery store carries this product which is basically a packet containing the beans, for like a dollar, and then I follow the recipe on it. But what I do that's different, see, is I throw away their silly "ham flavoring packet", and I cut up and add the meat of a smoked ham butt.
That's what it's called, I think. Smoked ham butt.
Anyway after rinsing the beans overnight and slow-simmering for 3 hours, they don't really resemble themselves any longer, the beans, which is how I like it. They all fall apart and create a big mash. And the pieces of ham fall apart in your mouth, they're so tender after all that treatment.
That's it!? I suppose I need to thank you for the effort. :) thx
THAT is it! Thank you Jim. It's the carrots. It's all about the carrots.
Orange cranberry fat free muffins and a cup of fresh brewed Seattle's Best coffee.
mmm mmm
No recipe. I used these. Ready in 10 min. R&R, short break, simple sweet indulgence.
made flautas tonight, my cretinous children only wanted plain tortilla quesadillas. (cheddar melted on a tortilla, no salsa, nada.)
More flautas for me and homegirl.
That's too easy. ah youth.
put pasta on to cook.
new pan;
mushrooms, butter: cook a bit.
Add milk, bring just to boil.
remove from heat, stir in cornstarch/milk mix
return to heat, stirring.
when bubbling, turn off heat add blue cheese, stir until melted.
serve on pasta. takes 10 minutes, tops.
made flautas tonight
I never heard of flautas. From context, they are clearly some form of mexican tortilla wrapped dish.
Makes me wonder, just how many different names are there for stuff wrapped up in a tortilla?
In order of my own personal exposure, I know of:
Enchiladas
Chimichangas
Burritos
Tostadas (Not really wrapped, so doesn't count)
Soft tacos
Wraps
Taquitos
and now Flautas
Take pictures of all of them, and you will see little difference.
I'd love to see a definition for each.
In my own experience, an enchilada has sauce on it, a chimichanga is fried crispy, a burrito is plain and can be eaten with your hands, a tostada is open faced, a soft taco has cold ingredients, a wrap is lunch meat, and I'm not really sure what taquitos and flautas are. Probably a small burrito.
And I forgot tamales. Which are nasty soft corn tortillas or sometime corn husks.
The taquitos I've seen in the frozen food section are totally tubular, and crispy.
Generally speaking, taquitos usually means corn tortillas, while flautas means flour. Both are small, tightly wrapped, and usually fried. Like a skinny little chimichanga.
But if we're including corn as a wrapping (e.g., tostadas,) then you can add tamales to your list too. And if you're adding other ethnicities (e.g. "wraps" with lunchmeat) then you should toss in gyros as well.
I always had corn tortilla flautas. That's what I made anyway. They were yum.
Flautas (flutes) is a more accurate name than taquitos (little tacos) anyway.
anybody have a good (and pretty easy) recipe for chicken chili?
Here is what I do for that, Bri. I know there are a lot of ingredients, but it is really yum, and it is simpler than it looks if you have a good can opener.
Yummy Slow Cooker Chicken Chili
1 19oz can of black bean soup (I like to use a southwestern black bean chicken soup by Progresso.)
1 15oz can of Kidney Beans, rinsed and drained
1 15oz can of garbanzos, rinsed and drained
1 15oz can of baked beans (whatever variety you like)
1 15oz can of chopped tomatoes in puree
1 15oz can of whole kernel corn, drained
1 cup of cooked chicken (or you can use that canned kind)
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 T chili powder or to taste
1 T dried parsley
1 T dried oregano
1 T dried basil
Combine everything in a slow cooker and cook for at least 2 hours on high.
You could probably use one of those packages of pre-cooked chicken you find with packaged deli meats, if you wanted.
Shawnee? You. Are. A. Goddess! this recipe turned out WAY better than i expected. and monst? there's ur bacon pic too! for the veggies i used orange bell pepper, whole and sliced jalapeño (i recommend sliced and deseeded) and mushrooms.
oh and yeah, for those who may not know, the bowl on the right is fresh pineapple.
Looks Yummy , But Pass on the Jalapenos and Wheres the Onions ?
Looks Yummy , But Pass on the Jalapenos and Wheres the Onions ?
the roomie absolutely cannot stand them. can't even bring them in the house. i miss onions. :(
I can Just see Plthijinx Sitten in the drive way eaten Onion Rings and Cryen !!
hell i should! set up my own fryer out there make me some onion rings and a few fried turkeys chicken and powkchaps! mmmmmmHM!
damn i love to cook! now i needs to finds me a woman to cook for!
He said COOK !!!!
Ya Dirty Minded Freaks !!!!
WHOA! :eek: what? me? don't hate me cuz i can cook!
my chile recipe:
2-3 lbs coarse ground beef or venison
one
Wick Fowlers 2 alarm chili mix
sear the meat and drain. open chili packet, set aside the masa flour for later
1 sam adams 22oz ale (or your fav beer)
add all packets then add
2 8 oz cans tomato sauce
5 roma tomatoes chopped
2 big cloves of garlic smashed and diced
5 jalapenos sliced
2 sprigs FRESH oregano diced
roommate absolutely cannot stand onions. not allowed in the house even. :( anyway, one yellow onion diced or chopped. your choice. 1015 onion if you can get them.
1 package sliced mushrooms
sea salt to taste
1 tsp cumin
2 tbs chili powder
bring it to boil then reduce heat to simmer and cover stirring about every 15 minutes for an hour and a half.
then slowly stir in the masa flour packet. you will probably need to add more flour than what they provide so have some ready to use if need be.
1 package spaghetti or vermicelli
when heating the water for the pasta add a couple tbs of olive oil to prevent sticking.
serve like you would a normal plate of spaghetti only rather that Parmesan cheese use grated cheddar or your favorite shredded cheese. kraft 4 cheese mexican works really well.
enjoy!
There is also Six Gun Chili Mix, should work every bit as well, plthijinx. I don't care for the Carroll Shelby mix -- too much guajillo in the pepper mix gives it a bitter finish.
cool thanks! i'll check it out!
ok. i've done shawnee's recipe twice now and am thoroughly satisfied. making them is a bit of a chore but no worries. this is a recipe that will stay with me for the rest of my life. now what i'm looking for is this: another recipe. i love to cook. i love to please people. i love to please people especially through cooking. someone pony up a recipe that is not only awesome but kinda cheap to cook. like 30 bucks or so. when i start working in engineering again then the sky is the limit. i'm still on a budget at the moment. when i do start working again i will post my gumbo. sucker costs about 75 bucks to make and is a royal pain in the ass but worth every dollar and minute. i have not gone back through this thread (i may love to cook but at times..just lazy) SO if you have a recipe that you would like to recommend....please post here. or pm me. prefer posting here so i can share with all. pics will be posted doing said recipe.
alright then here's what's for supper tonight.
pork spareribs in a bed and blanket of peppers.
1 red bell pepper sliced
1 yellow bell pepper sliced
3 cloves garlic smashed and diced
1 box mushrooms sliced
3 jalapeño peppers sliced
spice to taste. in this case the spices are:
brown sugar
fresh ground pepper
sea salt
lemon pepper
mccormicks montreal steak seasoning
lay out a long sheet of aluminum foil and use half of the peppers/veggies as a bed. put the ribs on then spice them to taste. after that put the rest of the peppers/veggies on top and wrap it up good. and i mean good. use several sheets of foil. you want it pretty much sealed to hold in the moisture. you can certainly use the oven and if you do set temp at around 250 - 275. you want to slooooow cook this recipe. even slower if you are using beef ribs instead of pork. if beef i recommend 200 deg. you want to cook them at about an hour per pound at these temps. in this case i'm using the grill today. houston weather. ya gotta love it. friday night it was 24 deg. at work. today? upper 50's lower 60's. anyway slow cook the slab for about 2 to 2.5 hours then cut open the top of the foil and remove the ribs and put them on the grill for browning. put peppers/veggies aside for munching on later. that's pretty much it.... damn i love to cook. more pics later. it's on the grill as i type this.
Sounds YuMMMMY !!
but Ditch the Jalapenos and add some Onions for Me ( yeah I Know yer roomie is ANTI Onion )
We found Nadia G one Late drunken Nite on the Cooking Channel ,
Here she does V day
[YOUTUBE]uZW9W4QUsxE[/YOUTUBE]
Sounds YuMMMMY !!
but Ditch the Jalapenos and add some Onions for Me ( yeah I Know yer roomie is ANTI Onion )
yeah very much so or i woulda.
didn't get to finish the pics of it. had to go help my neighbor move a couple refrigerators so i turned the cooking duties over to paul. i will say this....the meat fell off the bone! damn good supper.
yesterday our neighbor brought us a cut of venison back strap. so i marinated it in milk, to get rid of the game flavor works well on fish too btw, seasoned it with sea salt fresh ground pepper made slices in the meat to put whole garlic cloves in it and then diced up cloves to sprinkle on top. let it sit overnight in the fridge. cooked on the pit with low heat. o m g. it was scrumptious!
Dude SCREW Engineering !!!
You my Friend Need to Open a restaurant !!!
Plthijinx Phine Dining !!!
I never heard of flautas. From context, they are clearly some form of mexican tortilla wrapped dish.
And I forgot tamales. Which are nasty soft corn tortillas or sometime corn husks.
Lots of flautas around here. They are long and rolled--like a flute, then fried.
tamales are not nasty! they are yum. They are made from a similar dough as corn tortillas, though; the dough is filled, rolled in corn husks, then steamed. Very labor intensive--traditionally made assembly line style by the women for Christmas.
not common knowledge for you folks?
I would kill for Chile Rellenos. No decent Mexican food to be found in Montana.
My wife is slowly convincing me we need to move to the south west. She wants Albuquerque or Tucson, maybe Phoenix.
tamales are not nasty! they are yum.
I couldnt agree More Cloud !!!
Glatt just hasnt had Good Tamales
But Xmas ONLY !!????
Poor You !!! :(
Since there didn't seem to be a recipe thread per se, I'll lead off with The Frugal Gourmet's recipe for Bubble-And-Squeak, with some comments. By popular demand among the Cellar's potato fiends...
BUBBLE-AND-SQUEAK
3 unpeeled potatoes, boiled
4 cups cabbage, chopped, blanched
1/2 med yellow onion, peeled, chopped
1 zucchini, grated or julienned
1 carrot, grated or julienned, optional
3 or more slices bacon, browned, chopped; reserve the fat
1/4 cup diced ham or Spam
fresh coarse-ground black pepper, to taste; salt ditto
English-y cheeses to top, optional
Fry the bacon and boil the potatoes, which may be cut up into thirds if you like; blanch the chopped cabbage in the potato water. Mash the potatoes into rough lumps with hands or the bent-wire type of potato masher. Just break them up some, don't reduce them to paste. Add everything else but the reserved bacon fat and stir together in a mixing bowl.
Heat a frying pan of any size that suits; nonstick ones are okay too. Put the bacon fat in the pan and press the potato mixture into the pan after it with a basting spoon or a spatula. Fry the resulting pressed layer of potato mixture until the bottom is golden brown, over medium-low to medium heat. The Froog says half an hour, but this depends on how thick you've loaded the pan. A too-heavy smell of frying potatoes says you're starting to burn it. Loosen it in the pan with the spatula, around the edges and underneath, clap an inverted plate on top of the frying pan and upend the whole thing so the bubble-and-squeak falls out on the plate. Top with a cheese you like, if desired; crumbled, grated, or sliced thin.
* * * *
I've tried things like adding red pepper, Italian seasoning, or minced garlic, and I'm not convinced they do anything for the dish. Seems like garlic should work; curry powder definitely doesn't. I've added mushrooms this time around -- maybe I need more mushrooms. As for Italian seasoning, perhaps the way to go is with some single green herb rather than a mixture. I suppose anything you like with ham might be considered, but the main seasoning it seems to really need is plenty of black pepper. I haven't tried any radical vegetarian revisions, though olive oil would suggest itself as working with the cabbage. I suppose bacon flavor TVP would make it.
The quantities given are really starting points; this stuff can be made by eye and if you've an extra for dinner you can toss in a little more of everything. Four cups of cabbage is about half a cabbage head. Once the ingredients are prepped, this is a mix-and-heat recipe.
Hi fellow that's the nice one recipe and thanks for sharing that one with all the member's of the forum, keep sharing more one's that in your knowledge and best from healthy point of view.........
I would kill for Chile Rellenos. No decent Mexican food to be found in Montana.
My wife is slowly convincing me we need to move to the south west. She wants Albuquerque or Tucson, maybe Phoenix.
I love a Chile Rellenos! I'll have to make my own, I keep thinking I will, one day. It can't be too difficult.
You guys are crazy. Most Mexican food is awesome, but Chile Rellenos are just about the worst. My mom used to make it in a casserole form when I was a kid. Blech.:greenface
But... it's just the same ingredients as all other Mexican food, plus a poblano pepper. If you don't like poblanos, try it stuffed inside a red bell pepper instead.
Dude SCREW Engineering !!!
You my Friend Need to Open a restaurant !!!
Plthijinx Phine Dining !!!
hahaha! i have thought about it.
oh and when doing chile rellenos, from what i have heard, i personally have never cooked them, you either blanch them in boiling water or stick em in a really hot stove for not too long. apparently just long enough to be able to peel the outer skin off? anyone? anyone? beuller? beuller? and also, why do that anyway? what;s the benefit?
" why do that anyway? what;s the benefit?"
I suspect it's so the batter will stick. WAG.
Most likely it's because the skin will be tough and the flesh will be soft after cooking, so when you bite into them, there'll be crispy batter then soft flesh, but you can't bite through the skin without giving it a yank, which will make it just not quite so attractive to eat and may even make a mess.
I would kill for Chile Rellenos. No decent Mexican food to be found in Montana.
Give it a couple of years ... they eventually get tired of landscaping and shovelling snow and open restaurants.
Glatt, sounds like you've never had any decent Mexican in your entire life. Amble on down to SoCal sometime for the good stuff. Usually any restaurant with "taqueria" in its name somewhere, for those tasty-hole-in-the-wall kind of places. The biggest hole in the wall in Oxnard is La Gloria, a grocery-and-general sort of place, with an eatery-cum-bakery. No pretensions, just food made by people who understand the cuisine. Just south of the bus and train station downtown.
I commend to your attention a nice dish of Caldo Tlalpeño, an easy soup to get right. It's really chicken soup with both fresh and chipotle chilis, a bit of potato and some chickpeas. Peppery Mexican Jewish penicillin about describes this. Cures what ails ya on a cold day, and makes ya lively too. Definitely wants the chipotle for the proper flavor, so be sure to have that -- canned is just fine and is the usual way anyway. I particularly like half an avocado sliced up served in it.
Glatt, sounds like you've never had any decent Mexican in your entire life.
You missed the part where I said that I love most Mexican food.
Chile Rellenos are cooked peppers, which I generally don't like in large quantities.
You missed the part where I said that I love most Mexican food.
Obviously you have an unrefined palate, and so your assertion that you love most Mexican food is wrong, as you have
clearly never had any
decent Mexican food in your life. You might as well say you enjoy steak because you visited a McDonald's establishment and did not regurtgitate their offerings. Take it from a gustation expert such as my delightfully sophisticated self ;)
Most likely it's because the skin will be tough and the flesh will be soft after cooking, so when you bite into them, there'll be crispy batter then soft flesh, but you can't bite through the skin without giving it a yank, which will make it just not quite so attractive to eat and may even make a mess.
What she said. I made some stuffed peppers once where I had to broil them briefly.
I made some really good lettuce wraps the other night. I have to get going, but I will post my ingredients later.
I made some really good lettuce wraps the other night.
:drool:
Okay, here is what I used:
- 1.5 lbs of chicken breast chopped up in little cubes
- 1 onion chopped up
- 1 red bell pepper chopped up
- 1/2 cup crushed tamari almonds
- 3 cloves of garlic chopped up finely
- some olive oil
- some roasted sesame oil
- some soy sauce
- some white wine vinegar
- some fish sauce (this I think was the profound ingredient for this recipe)
- some romaine lettuce leaves
I cooked the chicken in some olive and sesame oil for a while until it was close to being done. I then, added the onions, pepper and garlic. After everything was cooked sufficiently, I dumped the cooked mixture into a bowl where I had mixed the soy sauce, vinegar, fish sauce and some more of the sesame oil. I also added the crushed almonds and mixed it all together. When we ate it, we scooped a little bit of the filling in the lettuce leaves and rolled it up and ate it. Yum!
Sorry I don't have exact measurements. I usually cook like this, where I just add the amount I like.
that sounds great! i will have to try that!
right now i have fresh redfish and sheephead in the oven. been on the pepper kick lately so that;s what they;re cooking with. oh and garlic. lots and lots of garlic. can;t beat fresh fish. caught them today. pics in the fishing thread after supper.
We had scallops, steak and salad. Unfortunately, scallops are not so fresh this far inland, and super expensive, but they were tasty, nonetheless.
i have GOT to go and try
This!i have GOT to go and try This!
Good god. I need to make a trip to Houston.
Good god. I need to make a trip to Houston.
in houston you can get every and i mean
every type of genuine ethnic cooking. from real mexican, south american, tex-mex (my personal fav), greek, italian, food. you name it. we have it. oh i wish i could eat out more. i'd weigh 50 pounds more than what i do now and would need to jockey twice as many go karts to keep from looking like the stay puff marsh-mellow man! :D
Good Indian food out your way?
Leicester opened my eyes to authentic Northern and Southern Indian cookery. Things are getting better here in the South, but nowhere near as good as the Midlands/ North.
i have GOT to go and try This!
Veeeeer-ry Interesting... but beefy!
I made my own recipe up today :D Time will tell how good it is tough. It is still baking. Here's what I did:
4 ounces whole grain medium shells
1/2 c sauce
1/2 c low fat ricotta
1/2 c reduced fat shredded mozzarella
1 egg white
seasonings
I heated up the sauce and added some seasonings to it. I boiled the pasta about 2 minute short of the suggested time. Meanwhile, I mixed together the ricotta, seasonings, egg white and 1/4 c of the mozzarella. When the pasta was done, I drained it, mixed it with the sauce. In two ramekins, I put a layer of pasta and sauce, half the ricotta mixture, then more pasta. I topped them with the rest of the mozzarella cheese. They are now baking in my convection oven at 350 for about 35 minutes. I am hoping they will be done then ;)
And, yes, I know that to some of you using reduced fat things is an atrocity, but I have found that while fat-free has a noticeably different taste, reduced fat isn't bad at all. Plus I am really trying to stick with the Weight Watchers this time. After all, I am going to the beach in the middle of June! :eek:
A lasagnoid. Cool. I like to develop a strong note of basil in my lasagna -- or tarragon. Often I mix either of these into the ricotta with the egg before assembly.
heheheheee...lasagnoid.
I'm hungry.
ok, tonight i'm trying a recipe suggested by sheldon. i have half a fillet of salmon, lemon, fresh dill, salt pepper to taste. for the sides? 2 stuffed portabella mushrooms. can't decide whether to bake it or grill it. mushrooms are def going to be grilled. pics to come later.
here we go. fresh chopped dill, sea salt, fresh ground pepper, lemon slices (half of it sliced the other quartered to squeeze over the salmon), smashed and chopped garlic then resmashed and rechopped. then covered again in foil (poor mans dutch oven) and on the grill. along with the portabella shrooms. the shrooms are my appetizer tonight.
damn shel. great recipe!! it was great! only i added too much garlic. it negated the dill.
I recently discovered that I own a mandolin.
momwolf bought a lot of kitchen stuff and then never used it. This bad boy was new in box, still wrapped in shipping plastic.
It is a very sharp mandolin. It even has a special insert for storage so you don't accidentally slice you hand off when you go to grab it out of the cabinet. I sacrificed the sponge to it while cleaning it. Unintentionally. The sacrifice was unintentional, I meant to clean it.
So, having this fine implement of vegetative destruction at my beck and call, I had to do something. Yams were on sale on my last trip to the market, so I have a few lying about. I peeled them, and then sliced them with the Mandolin of Fingertip Severing(TM). This thing is really sharp. It is so damn sharp I didn't need to apply much pressure on the downward stroke to get sweet potato chips out of it. In fact, I think a couple of slices happened just because I was THINKING of pushing the yam across the blade.
So, thinly sliced yam pieces, some spray oil, salt, baking tray 425 oven (probably should have pushed it up to 450, they weren't as crispy as I'd like. Watched 'em so they didn't burn, about 15 to 20 minutes.
I may have to learn how to deep fry.
yummy [youtube]FcC8i-tsUoo[/youtube]
I recently discovered that I own a mandolin.
Yeah. Kitchen implement is not the first thing I think of when the word mandolin is used.
heh... I read pete's quote of you first (being the last post in the thread) and the FIRST THING that came to mind was, careful, that fucker is sharp.
I scrolled upward to see the source of the quote and I happily learned that you already know this fact, and did not have to learn it exsanguinously.
Yeah. Kitchen implement is not the first thing I think of when the word mandolin is used.
I had to google it.
Wiki uses the spelling mandoline (with an 'e') for the kitchen implement.
I've always heard the kitchen tool called a "mandoline slicer." With or without an e, I'm not actually sure.
The only thing I ever bought from TV was a Super Slicer. It was worse than you would expect from a TV impulse purchase. To say this thing was utter crap would be unfair to utter crap.
Wiki uses the spelling mandoline (with an 'e') for the kitchen implement.
I've always heard the kitchen tool called a "mandoline slicer." With or without an e, I'm not actually sure.
In an old house in Frisco
On 23rd and Vine
Lived 12 little cooks
Hitting the cooking wine
The sharpest one was Mandoline
Mandolines are called that because you're sort of strumming up and down the thing. And yes, razor sharp blades are a must or it flat refuses to work. That means don't use the cheapest stainless alloy you can get your suppliers to supply, but instead the pricier alloy that will actually perform. There is such a thing as high carbon stainless steel. It's often called surgical stainless, but within that category are alloys that are better for edgeholding than some others.
Mandolines are called that because you're sort of strumming up and down the thing. And yes, razor sharp blades are a must or it flat refuses to work. That means don't use the cheapest stainless alloy you can get your suppliers to supply, but instead the pricier alloy that will actually perform. There is such a thing as high carbon stainless steel. It's often called surgical stainless, but within that category are alloys that are better for edgeholding than some others.
Ahhh. Ok that makes sense.
In an old house in Frisco
On 23rd and Vine
Lived 12 little cooks
Hitting the cooking wine
The sharpest one was Mandoline
Foot is the man of a thousand limericks.
The only thing I ever bought from TV was a Super Slicer. It was worse than you would expect from a TV impulse purchase. To say this thing was utter crap would be unfair to utter crap.
Like that, only a LOT sharper.
(btw, I had no idea they were spelled differently. I've only ever heard the name spoken ... although it's probably in the instruction manual somewhere, I didn't read it.
The only thing I ever bought from TV was a Super Slicer. It was worse than you would expect from a TV impulse purchase. To say this thing was utter crap would be unfair to utter crap.
Glad I fought my impulse to buy it. :p:
This is the slicer that I feared the most. I have scars on nearly every knuckle on my right hand from slicing tomatoes back in my high school Burger King days.
Is it possible to salvage jelly that hasn't set?
Story is that I made up some jelly yesterday...here everything has to go in the fridge immediately otherwise there is ant suicide on a large scale so I put icecubes in the jelly to cool it down so it could go in the fridge quickly and it hasn't set....recommendations for alternative uses or straight down the sink?
vanilla ice cream topping!
Waffle/flapjack topping.
Daquiri base.
Thanks for the ideas. Gonna try making it into icecubes and mixing it with OJ etc...
Add the sloshy jelly to Vanilla or Plain Yogurt.
or smear your body with it and have someone.....
or smear your body with it and have someone.....
Anyone? [COLOR="Yellow"]BTW, there were demonstrations about Bashir's sentencing somehwere nearby today if that appeals.This will be followed by more advisories from the embassy advising all citizen to seriously reconsider their plans to travel here. [/COLOR] :D
I made up a recipe - it was fantastic. Wanna hear? I had it for lunch yesterday
3 oz chicken cooked diced chicken breast
1 serving barilla pasta plus
2 oz corn
asparagus
2 g parm cheese
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp Italian Dressing Seasoning from Penzey's
Cook pasta until desired doneness amd drain. Blanch corn and asparagus in boiling water until asparagus is bright green and drain. Mix everything together while warm. Eat immediately or do what I did and put it in a container for the next day and eat it cold.
So I am thinking of doing the above with steak - what do you think? Will it work? What would you change?
Came across a recipe for tamale filling, and it is also recommended for enchiladas.
As I fancied doing those in the next week or so, I'm going to give it a go.
HOWEVER
This is a completely different way of cooking pork for me.
And I can't help wondering if simmering it for 45 minutes is enough.
I suppose I wouldn't question it if it was in a stir fry or in a sauce, but being in water it seems quite a short amount of time.
Also do the flavours really permeate the meat?
I should probably just trust the recipe, but it's a lot of pork to waste if I get it wrong...
Any advice?
Ingredients
450g (16 oz) pork shoulder roast
600ml (1 pint) water
1/2 onion
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 bay leaf
salt to taste
8 black peppercorns
1 dried red chilli
Preparation method
1. Trim fat from pork. Cut into large pieces and place in a large saucepan. Add water, onion, garlic, bay leaf, salt, peppercorns and chilli. Bring to the boil; skim foam from surface. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour.
2. Drain stock, let meat cool and shred with a fork. Refrigerate overnight if desired.
Turns out I didn't need your input you old miseries :p:
Not serious - this is a slow moving thread, and had I been really concenered I'd have put it in Home or Nothingland.
It went well.
The meat didn't fall apart as well as I'd hoped and I was prepared for a chew-a-thon.
But of course it was only the first part of the process.
I divided the enchilada sauce between the filling and the topping and after adding onions and red & green peppers the filling was lovely and moist, the pork tender and the outside all yummy and baked with cheese & sauce.
I made 12 for 3 people, but took two in for lunch today.
I managed to eat one.
Today was stupid-hot.
Eating hot food (in both meanings of the word) doesn't work.
I'll have the other half tomorrow.
Given it was too hot to eat tea tonight I might be hungry enough to manage it!
This is not really a recipe; it's an assembly.
Strawberry Shortcake...
...needs biscuits (in the American sense), not yellow spongecake, dangit. Needs their soda-bicarb/baking powder piquancy to balance the sweetness of the berries and whipped cream.
Equipment: mixer, paring knife, bowl for sliced strawberries.
Multiplies readily. I usually stop at a double batch of about a quart of whipping cream -- 2 pints. Don't have to, though...
Ingredients:
1 pint Whipping Cream
Double Cream, Devonshire Cream, Mexican Crema Agria, slightly thinned yoghurt, quantity sufficient to dab on, optional
3 little green baskets Strawberries, sliced to about 1/4 inch or simply halved.
1/2 C Sugar, divided -- 4-5oz castor sugar. Or use a proportion of Equal or Splenda.
Biscuits, quantity sufficient, halved flatwise. Use your preferred American biscuit recipe to make them, or buy them from a bakeshop. I use the biscuits I can get at Mexican bakeries locally -- somewhat buttery, faintly sweet. Fairly large biscuits are preferable but not necessary.
Procedure:
De-leaf and slice Strawberries. The big ones can give three or four slices. Toss in bowl with half the Sugar coat, put in fridge 30-60 minutes to marinate and exude a little juice. If other berries tempt you as well, put them in the marinating bowl with the sliced strawberries. Slice the Biscuits into flat rounds while the berries marinate in the fridge.
Whip the Cream in the mixer. When it just begins to form peaks, stream in the remaining half of the Sugar. Continue whipping until Cream forms firm peaks.
With the berries marinated, spoon them onto the biscuit halves, adding a dollop of the local interesting creams if desired. Or a touch of some liqueur. Pile whipped cream on top. May serve immediately, or may be held in fridge.
Yummy, UG. Try it with ice cream.
I'm just going to post a brag pic here. It was Mav's birthday earlier this week, and I wanted to make him a special cake so had been thinking about it for a while. His favourite desert is lemon meringue pie, so I decided to make it but as a cake.
What I did was make just a plain white cake, but a fairly dense sort of recipe because the middle layer was going to be the lemon filling, and fairly thick, so the cake would need a bit of substance in order not to collapse.
So anyway, I don't have a pic of it cut, but here's one of the finished item.
[ATTACH]33023[/ATTACH]
eta I'll sort the pic out. That's come up a bit small.
mmm yummy
I think this is the best thread ever.
Tonights Dinner, from the Splendid Table . ORG
MENU
Turmeric Grilled Chicken
Potato Salad
Corn on the Cob
Turmeric Grilled Chicken
Serves 4 and doubles easily
15 minutes prep time; 4 to 24 hours for marinating; 60 minutes indirect grill time; 15 minutes rest
Grilling a whole, butterflied chicken is one of the easiest ways to cook for a crowd. In this recipe, shallots, garlic, red chiles, turmeric and salt are combined into a pungent paste that makes the bird as beautiful as it is tasty. Be sure to add some of the paste under the skin for an added kick when you cut into the chicken.
This is our managing producer Sally Swift's spin on a recipe from Food & Wine magazine featuring hunky Chef Pete Evans, author of My Grill: Outdoor Cooking Australian Style (Weldon Owen; reprint edition May, 2011).
Wine: Pair this earthy chicken with a lightly chilled Grenache-based wine like Côtes du Rhône from the southern Rhone Valley.
4 medium shallots, peeled
12 garlic cloves, peeled
3 fresh red jalapeño or long red Asian chiles, seeded, if desired, for less heat
3-inch piece of ginger root, peeled and roughly chopped
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt, more to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
4-pound chicken, butterflied
3 fresh limes
1. Up to a day ahead, combine the shallots, garlic, jalapeño, ginger, turmeric, oil, salt and pepper in the bowl of a food processor and puree into a thick paste.
2. Place the chicken in a large dish and smear it with the paste, making sure to thickly coat both sides, and slipping some under the skin. Cover loosely and refrigerate for 4 to 24 hours.
3. Heat coals in an outdoor grill until they're covered in grey ash, or heat a gas grill on medium-high. Set up the grill for indirect cooking, with the coals spread out around the circumference of the grill, leaving an empty spot in the middle.
4. Place the butterflied chicken, bone side down, over the empty space in the middle of the grill. Cover and cook 20 to 30 minutes, checking occasionally, and adding more coals if the fire is burning too fast. You want to cook the chicken most of the way through on the bone side before turning. The bird should be nicely charred on the bottom.
5. Turn the bird carefully and continue cooking until the skin is nicely browned and crisp, and the internal temperature measures 170°F on an instant-reading thermometer, about 15 to 25 minutes more.
6. Carefully remove the chicken from the grill and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Cut the bird into pieces and drizzle with generous squeezes of fresh lime juice.
Potato Salad
Reprinted with permission from Cooking in the Moment: A Year of Seasonal Recipes by Andrea Reusing (Clarkson Potter, 2011). Copyright © 2011 by Andrea Reusing.
Serves 4 to 6 as a side dish
1/3 cup champagne vinegar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
1-1/2 tablespoons walnut oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1-1/2 pounds (about 8) medium Yukon Gold potatoes
1. Whisk together the vinegar, 1 teaspoon salt, black pepper to taste, the sugar, and both oils in a small bowl. Add the onion and toss to coat.
2. Put the potatoes in a medium pot and cover with cold water; add a big pinch of salt. Bring to a boil over high heat and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for about 12 minutes, until the potatoes are easily pierced with the tip of a sharp knife but are still firm.
3. Drain the potatoes, and as soon as they are cool enough to handle, rub the skins off by using a clean tea towel or peel them with a sharp paring knife.
4. Slice the potatoes into 1/3-inch-thick slices and put in a large bowl. Pour the onion mixture over the warm potatoes and combine gently with your hands. Taste for seasoning, and add more salt if necessary.
OMG, that chicken and potato salad ROCKED!! we used new potatoes, 0 calories, 0 fat.
we used new potatoes, 0 calories, 0 fat.
I'm sorry, what? Each potato serving alone had 30-60 calories, and then there's this part:
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
1-1/2 tablespoons walnut oil
Granted, since there was no mayo it's considerably better than most potato salads... but if it truly had zero calories it would not have tasted like much at all. :)
I'm sorry, what? Each potato serving alone had 30-60 calories, and then there's this part:
BOO! BOO! I like the 0 calories and 0 fat part. :D :lol:
The nutritional package statement said 80 calories and 0 fat. Sorry, my error..... I was just talking about the potatoes.
No, not little cardboard milk cap things.
6 Potatoes (I used russets, but you could use pretty much any type)
1 Sweet Onion
5 Cloves of Garlic
Water to cover potatoes
Tablespoon of butter.
Peel and dice the potatoes. Add enough water to cover and boil until tender. Drain, reserving the potato water.
While the potatoes are cooking, finely dice the onion.
In the potato pot ... throw in the butter, use more if you think it needs it, add the diced onion, stirring frequently until caramelized.
While the onion is cooking,
Peel and dice 5 cloves of garlic. When the onions are just about done, add the garlic. Let that cook a bit and return 1/2 to 2/3 of the potatoes, depending on how chunky you want it to be at the finish.
Let that heat up a bit, and then mush it all together ... do it however you like, handmasher, mixer, or throw it all in a food processor if you want to have to clean up more stuff.
Add the potato water back in until you get the consistency you want.
Pour in the rest of the potatoes.
Fantastic on it's own, mindblowing with a handful of cheese thrown into it.
That sounds great wolf. I am going to have to make that one soon.
Bump, to put it back at the top.
Easy turkey brine
defrost bird
get a Cooler that will hold said bird ( unsented tall trash bag optional , it makes for Way easy clean up )
put a Gallon or so of water in said bag in said cooler
add a Hand full of salt ( sea , reg table salt . etc,,, )
a Bear of Honey
hand full of Pepper corns
Other spices if you want
mix this around to combine
put in the turkey
fill with water and ice untill turkey is covered
seal up bag
let sit over nite
Rince off the turkey
Cook it how you like
we smoke ours ( Hard keeping it Lit !!! )
Enjoy
Deep Fried Turkey again. Wonderful.
. . . now for the rollicking bun!
Now for the muffin and toast!
And now for the
[SIZE="4"]gay Sally Lunn![/SIZE]
Sally Lunn Recipe
(from historic Gadsby's Tavern, Alexandria, Virginia)
The following ingredients make one two-pound loaf:
3 1/4 cups flour
1/4 oz. active dry yeast
1/2 cup (short) melted shortening
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup (plus) milk
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 egg
4 tablespoons warm water
Grease a cookie sheet. Heat the milk and shortening to the temperature of a warm baby bottle. Mix flour, salt and sugar in a separate bowl. Add water to the yeast in a separate bowl. Mix the egg in yet another bowl. Add the warm milk and melted shortening to the bowl of flour, salt and sugar. Add the egg and yeast and water.
Beat the entire mixture until it comes off the side of the bowl, which should be clean. Cover, let rise in a warm (non-air conditioned) place until double in size, about 1 1/2 hours. Knead the bread down in size and shape into a round loaf. Place on the cookie sheet and let rise again to 1/2 again as big, about 45 minutes.
Bake bread at 300 degrees F for approximately 45 minutes. After 30 minutes, baste the top of the bread with butter, and also again after it has finished baking.
Also a
Quick Sally Lunn
(from a Reedville, Virginia Cookbook)
1 egg, well beaten
2 cups flour
1 cup sweet milk
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
Butter size of an egg [a little more than 1/4 cup]
Beat egg -- add milk. Sift in flour to which has been added other ingredients. Add melted butter. Pour in a well greased cake pan and bake in hot oven [425 degrees F] until golden brown.
Serve either with whipped cream, sliced sugared fruit optional but tasty. Some Sally Lunns come out rather dry, and need everything a good dollop of whipped cream can do for them.
...sounds formidable. Also like it'd go down real well at California's Gilroy Garlic Festival, last weekend of every July since 1979.
Ma's Spicy Garlic Meatballs
In a heavy skillet with a drizzle of olive oil, SAUTE:
10 bulbs ( not cloves) of garlic, separated, peeled, and
smashed with a wooden mallet
When soft and pungent, add;
1 sweet Mayan onion, peeled and diced finely
Remove from heat and allow to cool
Meanwhile, in a 2 quart or larger bowl, mix;
1/2 Lb. lean ground beef, 2 eggs well beaten, 3 Tbsp. heavy cream,
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce, 4Tbsp. Tabasco (red or green), and
1/2 Lb. dried bread crumbs. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Mix well, add cooled onion and garlic, and with relatively clean hands
make balls the size of golf balls.
Brown formed meatballs in skillet, adding olive oil as necessary.
Cook, turning, until all sides of meatballs are browned.
Serves one or two, depending upon species.
Swiped this off a paintball webcomic,
The Whiteboard. Don't worry, the name makes sense when you read through the whole thing.
Using different hot sauces probably make entertaining nuances on the recipe. This recipe is Alaskan-influenced and thus may be a little limited on what hot sauces you can get in bottles.
"Wooden mallet" and "depending upon species" are, um, significant.:cool:
Sounds nice but we'll have to sub out the bread crumbs for anti-wheat purposes.
Mm, busted-up rice noodles? Does barley have gluten? I tend to neglect the gluten-free things since my condition is diabetes, not celiac.
Crushed rice chex is the easiest and cheapest method.
Swiped from a poster off The Armour Archive.
Soul Food Mac&Cheese the way they don't tell you they do it. High fat.
1 lb macaroni elbows
2 eggs
1 1/2 pints BUTTERMILK (the secret)
1 (8 oz or so) container sour cream
pepper to taste (a lot)
Velveeta (1 box)
Boil noodles, drain. Rinse in cold water. While all that's going on mix the sour cream, buttermilk, eggs and pepper in a bowl. Slice the Velveeta.
Put a layer of Velveeta on the bottom of a 9 x 12 pan. Pour the liquid mix in with the noodles. Spray it with Pam first.
Pour the resulting mix in the pan. Layer Velveeta on top, bake for 35-40 min @ 400F. There will be liquid in there that will thicken on standing, and the resulting mix will actually rise slightly over the top of the pan. Doesn't matter; stir, serve, eat up.
[UG in here] Some editing went on; Blackbow didn't capitalize hardly.
Also works using Muenster or any other suitable meltable cheese. The roux-milk-shredded cheese route also works, though by then the recipe is completely different, more chef-ly; they were kicking these ideas around discussing it in the thread. The interesting feature seems to be the buttermilk with sour cream.
Can I request a recipe or instructions on how to make something? I want to make these! :D
Bump :3eye:
Somethin's comin'... promise.
Can I request a recipe or instructions on how to make something? I want to make these! :D
I bet I could make those.
Maple-Buttermilk Pudding
Seems simple, sounds tasty. Has pics.
I bet I could make those.
Prove it. :-D
It looks like meth crystals wrapped in a pool noodle.
Hello Kitty Crank?
Can I request a recipe or instructions on how to make something? I want to make these! :D
Here ya go, Lola.
How To Make Hello Kitty Sushi
It's the same pic, note the dish detail, the version you posted has been tweaked to make the colors pop.
There's no real instruction, you'll kinda have to infer what's going on.
******************************
On another note: The song playing in the background of that vid is driving me crazy. I'm all but positive it's a Japanese version of an English language song.
AND I CAN'T FIGURE OUT WHAT SONG IT IS!!!!!!!I'll be trying this one before long:
Crockpot Lasagna
[ATTACH]45517[/ATTACH]
[SIZE="1"]from[/SIZE]
[SIZE="1"]RecipeTips[/SIZE]
Ingredients
1 pound Ground Beef
Lasagna noodles
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
Brown ground beef and drain. Spoon 1 C. spaghetti sauce in bottom of 4 quart crock pot. Mix remaining sauce with beef. Place 2 uncooked lasagna noodles on sauce in crock pot. Spread 1/3 meat mixture on top of noodles. Spread 3/4 C. cottage cheese over meat. Sprinkle 1/2 C. mozzarella cheese over cottage cheese. Add another layer of uncooked noodles, 1/3 meat mixture, the remaining cottage cheese and 1/2 C. mozzarella cheese. Place another layer of uncooked noodles, meat mixture, and mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over top. Cook on low for 4 hours.
If cooked much longer, it gets a bit well done.
Sugar-free Cheesecake Melange
Crust: 2 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup Splenda 1/4 tsp. vanilla flavoring
3/4 stick of butter, melted Cinnamon and clove to taste, optional
Combine ingredients and pat into a 9-inch springform pan.
Filling:
2 (8-oz.) pkgs. Low-fat cream cheese 1/2 cup Splenda
2 Tbsp. one-percent milk 1/4 tsp. vanilla flavoring
3 eggs
Beat together cream cheese and milk. Whip eggs, Splenda, and vanilla together; add to cream cheese mixture. Pour into crust and bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes. Increase heat to 450 degrees for 5 minutes. Remove and let set for 20 minutes.
Topping:
2 cups low-fat sour cream
1/3 cup Splenda
1/4 tsp. vanilla flavoring
Combine ingredients and spread onto cooled cake. Bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes. Refrigerate for 8 hours.
Fruit topping:
Strawberries, halved Black grapes, halved
Kiwi, peeled and sliced 1/2 cup sugar-free apricot preserves
Canned pineapple chunks, drained 4 Tbsp. water
Arrange fruit in a pattern on top of cheesecake. Combine preserves and water in a saucepan. Cook until preserves are melted, stirring frequently. Brush over fruit. Refrigerate until serving
Anyone knows a good recipe for corn medley? :)
I have just recently discovered celeriac, aka celery root. It has turned out to be a fantastic potato substitute for my kids. The french fries I made recently were a big hit, and today I have made mashed celeriac so they can look like they're having mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving with all their relatives. It had to be very aggressively pureed with the immersion blender instead of just lazily softened up with the hand-mixer, but ultimately I did achieve the same texture. Hooray!
That's cool! What is the flavor like?
That's cool! What is the flavor like?
salt, pepper, butter, garlic, sour cream, bacon, cheddar, what-have-you...
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.
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.
I'd love to try it if someone put it in front of me.
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.
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:
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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.
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. :drool:
Thanks, V. The peppermint cheesecake recipe is great during the holidays - you can always keep it until Dec. 2014. ;)
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
mmm yummy
I think this is the best thread ever.
For the BUMP.
BigV, you're right. It IS freaking delicious. We gnawed on it the entire four day visit and there wasn't a drop left.
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.
So the only sugar is in the sweetened condensed milk.
Is it a sweet dessert? Or just a coffee flavor?
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.
Must try soon. Certainly does sound yummy, although very high in calorie. But low-fat ice cream just doesn't sound very tasty. :p:
It's gonna be 80 degrees here today, emergency dessert conditions. I might resort to some of these recipes in an emergency, but I'd have to be pretty hot and pretty hungry. I haven't made any of these, so, if you do, please report your results here.
10 Wacky and Wonderful Ice Cream Flavors
It's official: summer has arrived. As the temperatures rise, we've been dreaming about delicious ways to cool off. A frozen treat is the perfect way to indulge during the hot days of summer, and these recipes are definitely worth treating yourself to. Sweet, salty, nutty, fruity -- these recipes cover all the taste bases. Put your beloved chocolate and vanilla back in the freezer and try one -- or all! -- of these unique flavors.
Olive Oil-Saffron Ice Cream with Burnt Orange Caramel Swirl
Fresh Ricotta Ice Cream
Maple-Sage Ice Cream with Maple-Sage Sugared Walnuts
Ginger Ice Cream with Honey-Sesame Brittle
Arnold Palmer Ice Cream
Kabocha Vanilla Chai Ice Cream
Maple Ice Cream with Tipsy Raisins and Maple Candied Cashews
Strawberry Fennel Ice Cream
Oatmeal Ice Cream with Toasted Walnuts
Mango Ice Cream with Chili Sea Salt
I've only now discovered what is apparently an old standby in the faux-BBQ sauce arena:
Mix ketchup and Coca-Cola (or pretty much any cola drink - I read Sprite and/or 7Up, also, but with a much different result than the BBQ-ish sauce), 50/50 for how much you need. I added a dash of Tabasco. I use this for a marinade (works great on pork chops).
I also just read about using plain yellow mustard and water, 50/50, to dredge your fish (this recipe used redfish) in before dredging it in flour to fry fish. Haven't tried this yet.
Anyone used either of these methods before?
I also just read about using plain yellow mustard and water,
Anyone used either of these methods before?
Used it last night to grill a 12lb turkey I de-boned. My neighbor told me to try it... I had never used it before and I must admit, it was fantastic.
I just banged together a crude Ayran using one of those powerful little hand blenders that try and suck down onto the bottom of the container if you let them. Some yoghurt we'd had to put on ice in a picnic cooler ended up with a great deal of water in it because of that. I poured a little yoghurt whey off the top as I usually do when it shows up and saw the yoghurt was pretty thoroughly diluted with water all the way down but was otherwise good. I cast my mind back to a summer's day during my sojourn among the Turks and having gotten a glass of ayran. It's a yoghurt-based drink.
Enough yoghurt to fill a glass
About half that much water
Large pinch of salt, to taste
Optional sugar or other sweetening
Blend all ingredients with plenty of power, buzzing it up until water and yoghurt are thoroughly incorporated. The result is like mild buttermilk, with a slight overlay of salt and sweet. It might, like buttermilk, be good with black pepper included or sprinkled on top. Serves one.
Memory fail -- this is called Kaymak.
That sounds very much like a lassi.
I love them in the heat, and prefer the salted ones. The most common pre-packaged lassis over here tend to be too sweet for me (and usually mango)
I posted this over on FB because my phone makes that super easy. But I wanted to share it with my good friends here in the Cellar too.
The kids were off last week at my parents' house in Maine, and my wife and I grabbed some Thai takeout one of those evenings. For an appetizer, we always get these fresh Thai spring rolls that come with a sweet hot pepper dipping sauce, and they are absolutely delicious. As I was eating mine, I focused on the stuff inside. There was nothing terribly exotic in there. Lettuce, cilantro, cucumbers, carrots, bean sprouts, and shrimp. I commented that I bet we could make these ourselves pretty easily, and that if we had a bunch of them, it would make a nice meal instead of just our usual appetizer.
So on Sunday, we drove a mile up the road to the Eden Center. This is a shopping area that is famous in the Asian community on the East Coast. Any Asian stuff you want can be had there. Mostly Vietnamese, but really any country. Going into the large supermarket there is very much like going to a different country. Alphabets I don't recognize, most of the produce I don't recognize, meats I don't recognize. We were able to pick up all the ingredients, including the rice paper wrappers, which are the key ingredient. The sauce is also key, but we had a bottle at home already to go with the lettuce wraps we sometimes make. So if you want to make this, get the rice paper that has Tapioca as a main ingredient. It works well, and is apparently the best kind of rice paper for these. And get some hot pepper sweet sauce.
We shredded the lettuce, and julienned the carrots and cucumbers. I cleaned and steamed the shrimp and sliced them in half lengthwise.
Then I found this video, which starting at the 3:40 mark shows how to put all the ingredients in the rice paper and roll it up.
[YOUTUBE]qaDMnLE6NBU[/YOUTUBE]
You just put a neat pile of lettuce down on the wet rice paper. Then a few sprigs of cilantro on top of that, a small spear of cucumber, a bit of carrot, and some bean sprouts. Then carefully lay the shrimp halves down next to that pile, with the pink side facing down, so it will show in the final product. By now, the hard crispy rice paper you dunked into the warm bowl of water will have become soft and sticky, and stretchy. You peel up the edge and start wrapping it all up. The rice paper sticks to itself and rolls up beautifully. You can tuck the sides in, or not. We tucked them in, but the restaurant we go to leaves them open.
We made 22 of them for 4 of us to share, and were not able to finish them. We had bought a pound of shrimp, and were running out of rice paper and other ingredients, so I started really loading the shrimp on at the end.
Pour a little of the sauce into tiny bowls and put crumbled peanuts on top of the sauce.
They were super yummy, and I gorged myself.
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That is my favorite favorite favorite Asian meal (though I prefer a meat other than shrimp). When traveling for work, I'll get two orders of them as a meal, since it fills you up without weighing you down, which is unusual for restaurant food.
After a recent conversation with classicman, I produced a batch of limoncello. It's fucking delicious. I loved it so much, I've made a second batch, and true to my standard MO, it's a double batch. Here's the recipe.
10 pounds of lemons
1.75 liter bottle of 195 proof Everclear
simple syrup to taste
water
******
I zested the lemons using a microplane. I put the file shaped microplane in a large steel bowl and carefully scraped the zest only, no pith (white material between yellow skin and juicy flesh of lemon) into the bowl. I love this microplane, it is absolutely sharp as fuck and will zest your fingerprints and knuckles with effortless ease. USE EXTREME CARE when dragging the fruit along the blade surface. We're not dealing with blood oranges here. After zesting all the lemons, it produced about 400 gm of zest. Reserve the now pale matte finish lemons for later juicing. I divided the zest into two equal portions and spooned each portion into a one liter wide mouth nalgene water bottle. I then topped off each bottle with the Everclear. It made two full nalgene bottles, meaning 875 mls of booze and 225 ish mls (by volume) of zest. Cap them tightly, put them on the shelf and walk away for a couple weeks. Actually, I shake the bottles when I think about them as I walk by in the kitchen, but really, you're just trying lemonize the booze.
I then halved all the lemons and juiced them using my electric juicer. What a labor-saver. My first batch I just squeezed the juice by hand, no more. This batch produced about 1.75 liters of well sieved juice, which is stored in the refrigerator for later combination with the lemonized booze. I strained the juice six or seven times. My first batch I tried running it through a coffee filter--bad idea, do not attempt. Just the fine mesh sieve is ok, scraping with the spoon as it drips into the funnel and into the bottle.
Now it is waiting time.
When it comes together, I'll prepare a liter or two or more of simple syrup. That's easy, take a saucepan, boil some water and stir in spoonsful of sugar until no more sugar can be dissolved. Let it cool, store in a capped bottle in the refrigerator. After a couple weeks, if my patience holds out that long, I'll strain the zest out of the booze. The booze will be water clear and bright yellow, like ... well like a clear bright yellow liquid that is appetizing. I'll add the lemon juice to it and it won't be clear anymore, but it will still be quite yellow, like the yolk of a hard boiled egg.
Now is the taste testing phase. It's only got 195 proof booze cut with almost half a gallon of straight lemon juice. That will pickle your pucker for sure. I'll add sugar until the tartness is drinkable, albeit STRONG LEMON. Not to mention still quite high proof. Add water until the strength is acceptable. I like to keep mine very strong because I like to have it on the rocks. The melting ice naturally dilutes the whole drink, so starting strong is good.
I expect I'll wind up with 4 to 5 liters of product.
Here are some pictures of the first batch. The second batch was all business, no camera time, sorry.
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Only two three pound bags of lemons this batch. And a very fine grater by microplane.
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Close up of the fineness of the zest.
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How much zest six pounds of lemons produces.
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What the shorn lemons look like. They remind me of newly-shorn sheep.
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the lemons and their zest.
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the pickling (only 151 proof this time)
This is about the yummiest thing I have ever had... (My mom started making this in the 80s (Recipe adjusted so it tastes the same as it did then))
Ingredients:
1/2 chopped green pepper (1/2 of a pepper chopped up)
1/2 chopped onion (1/2 of an onion chopped up)
1/2 lb ground beef
1 lb can tomatoes
6 oz can tomato paste
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 lb mostaccioli noodles
3 or 4 packets of VELVETTA CHEESE from Shells and cheese original dinner (
)
bay leaf
1 Jar of Speghetti Sauce (The "Flavored with Meat" Kind) (32oz Jar) from aldis
Prep:
In oil,saute onion & pepper until tender. Add meat & cook until brown. Stir in tomatoes,tomato paste,water,salt,pepper,bay leaf. Add Speghetti Sauce, Simmer.
Cook Mostaccioli noodles as directed. Pour velvetta packets in.. (In a 2qt casserolo,arrange alternate layers of noodles,sauce and cheese.)
Bake @ 350 for 30 mins
The Result:
The Best tasting dish you'll ever have!!!!!!!!!
I hope many will enjoy this as much as I do...............
Well, I continue to get raves with my Lemon Meringue Pie -- ended up scattering about half a dozen copies of the recipe in the thread among Mom's neighbors about half a year after she died, to remember her by.
Experience yields a few new details. I now like to sprinkle sugar on top of the meringue and not to beat very much sugar in -- if any. On the quick baking to set the meringue the sprinkled sugar makes a bit of a crust, making it easier to slice the meringue, which can cling to the pie server and slide off the pie filling if it hasn't a bit of stiffness up there. I've taken to reserving a couple teaspoons' worth of the lime zest to beat into the meringue -- pretty.
Graham cracker packages have been reducing their content. Once it was ten crackers, now it's eight or nine -- it seems to vary with Honey-Maid. It's not critical, a cracker or two more or less. I often make up the volume difference with some Metamucil if I want to use a thick crust -- and yay, fiber.
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