NationStates Jolt Archive

Been a while I think since we had a thread like this and I had a recent culinary success so I thought I would share and ask what recipes you guys have to share . . .

Double breaded Chicken Parmesan

The chicken:
2 cups Bisquick

1/2 cup of grated Parmesan Cheese

2 eggs beaten with a little milk

Butter to cook the chicken (screw your diet this dish is too good to skimp - use the real thing)

The Sauce:
10 boneless skinless Chicken Tenders (or 5 boneless skinless breasts)

1 Jar of you favorite meatless spaghetti sauce

Some Port wine

1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

Topping:
shredded cheese (you could use pizza cheese, I was able to find a blend with aged Provolone in it)

Make sure the chicken is fully thawed and pat it dry with a paper towel. Mix the bisquick and the 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese. Dip the chicken in the egg/milk mix and then bread with the bisquick/cheese mix. After breading once dip it in the egg/milk mix a second time and bread it again. This creates a thicker crispy coating that stands up well to the sauce. Cook in a 425 degree oven according to the directions for oven frying that you will find on the bisquick box (the time may need to be adjusted - when using the chicken breast tenders they were done after ten minutes on each side partially due to the fact that I flattened them slightly while breading them). During the last five minutes of cooking start your sauce pour the spaghetti sauce into a sauce pan add the 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese and an egg cup full of port to the sauce (if the chef is of legal age to drink you may add an egg cup full of port to the chef as well - the kitchen is getting pretty hot by now and the chef deserves it). Bring to a simmer stirring constantly. When the chicken is done pour the sauce over the chicken and top with shredded cheese then return the pan to the oven until the cheese is browned on top. Serve with a salad and garlic bread and/or pasta. Serves five people.

Squash Deliciousness in a Pan Thing

4 cups squash or zucchini (personal preference)
2 small onions
2 carrots
3 tablespoons Canola or Olive Oil
1 Stick butter (or margarine, either works)
1 Can cream of chicken soup
1 Package Stovetop Stuffing
1 Chicken breast (shredded) (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit

Toss the veggies and the oil in a pot and cook 'em up nice and good, and dump them into a glass oven tray. Just before you remove it from the heat, melt the butter into the vegetables. Mix in the CoC soup, the stuffing and the chicken. Stick it in the oven for one half hour or until bubbly and delicious. Serve, good as a main dish or a side.

Here is my favorite, and it is fairly easy to make. It's always a big hit.

Blintz Casserole

Ingredients
1 package of frozen blintzes (crepes filled with farmer's cheese, fruit jams, etc..., usually six per package. I prefer cherry myself.)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup orange juice

Lightly coat a rectangular pan or glass casserole dish with butter or margarine. Place blintzes in single layer. Blend ingredients thoroughly and pour over blintzes. Refrigerate overnight. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

16 oz. Belgian dark chocolate or good semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups cane sugar
3/4 cup very hot coffee
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
8 large free-range organic eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon good vanilla extract [yes, a tablespoon!]

Preheat the oven to 350 degress F. Prepare a 10-inch springform pan by lining the bottom with parchment, and buttering it.

Break up the dark chocolate into pieces and pour the chocolate into the bowl of the food processor. Pulse until the chocolate breaks up into small bits. Add the sugar. Pulse until the chocolate and sugar turns into an even, sandy grain.

Pour the hot water or coffee slowly into the feed tube as you pulse again. Pulse until the chocolate is melted. Magic!

Add butter pieces and the cocoa powder, and pulse to combine. Add the eggs and vanilla, and process till smooth. The batter will be liquid and creamy.

Pour the batter into the lined springform pan. Wrap the outside of the whole pan with a big piece of foil. Bake at 350 degrees in the center of the oven, till puffed and cracked and lovely - about 55 minutes to an hour or even more [it took an hour plus 15 minutes here at high altitude]. Use a wooden toothpick to check the center of the cake.

Place the cake pan on a wire rack to cool. The cake will deflate. Don't worry! When cooled a bit, press down on it gently with a spatula to make it even, if you wish. Or not.

When the cake is completely cooled, cover, and chill it for three hours [up to eight hours] until serving. Release the cake from the springform pan. Slice and serve.

Serve slices with drizzled chocolate sauce or a sprinkle of powdered sugar. Add a few berries or mint leaves to the plate, if you like.

I'm almost certain this question has come up previously, but here in England we don't have 'sticks' of butter, so how much would a stick weigh?

1/4 lb. I guess thats about 113g.

Thanks.....

I'm almost certain this question has come up previously, but here in England we don't have 'sticks' of butter, so how much would a stick weigh?

1/4 lb. I guess thats about 113g.

This is what I cooked today....it was delicious, and not as complicated as it looks.
It serves two good helpings.

Spicy lamb with cous cous and apricot chutney

For the lamb
1 lamb steak, cut into cubes
1 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp coriander seeds
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp dried chilli flakes
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the couscous
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp chopped fresh dill
1 tsp chopped fresh parsley
125g/4½oz couscous, cooked according to packet instructions
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the apricot chutney
50g/1½oz butter
25g/1oz caster sugar
½ tsp white wine vinegar
2 apricots, stone removed, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. For the lamb, place the lamb and oil into a bowl and mix well.
2. In a pestle and mortar, grind together the coriander, cumin and chilli flakes. Add to the lamb and mix together, then season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
3. Heat a griddle pan until smoking. Add the lamb and cook for 1-2 minutes on each side, or until cooked through.
4. For the couscous, place the oil, fresh herbs and couscous into a clean bowl. Mix well with a fork and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
5. For the chutney, melt 25g/1oz of the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the sugar, vinegar and apricot and cook until the apricot has softened and broken down.
6. Add the rest of the butter and stir to create a thick purée.
7. To serve, place the couscous onto a plate, top with the chargrilled lamb and drizzle over the apricot sauce.

I served this with soft flour tortilla and humous.

Cheese On Toast, A La Canada :

2 slices of bread
Some cheese
Marmite

Method :

Put bread on grill until the first side is done
Flip over, and put on marmite before adding the cheese on top
Grill a bit more
Eat

MANGO SALSA

One mango, cubed
One good sized tomato, cubed
One nectarine or two apricots, cubed
One red bell pepper, diced
One green bell pepper, diced
One or two jalepeno peppers, diced fine
One red onion, diced
Garlic (to taste) chopped fine
Several scallions, cut small

Combine in a bowl, add two tablespoons or so of a good olive oil and the juice of two or three limes and a little bit of salt. If not citrusy enough for your taste, add the fruit of a lime, chopped fairly small (be sure to peel the segments and remove any seeds before chopping, a little labor intensive, but worth it...). Cover and refridgerate for at least a couple of hours or up to overnight to marinate. Eat within 24 hours.

Goes very well with fresh fish, try cooking a salmon fillet in a pan with a little butter and some lime juice, then serve with the salsa on top and a nice rice dish. Pair it with a good margarita, and you have very nice summer meal!

SPINACH SOUP

500 g leaf spinach
1 onion
1 tablespoon (= 15 ml) non-dairy margarine (regular margarine or butter is fine if you like animal abuse)
2 tablespoons flour (can be replaced with corn starch if you are gluten-intolerant)
12 dl water
2 cubes vegetable stock
1 dl vegan soy/oat-based cream (regular cream works fine if you don't care about animal suffering)
salt
pepper
1-2 pinches nutmeg

Roughly chop the spinach. Peel and finely chop the onions. Fry them in the margarine for a few minutes in a saucepan. Sift the flour over the onions and spinach, then add the water. Crumble the stock cubes into the soup and allow to simmer for ten minutes under a lid. Add the cream and season to your liking with the salt, pepper and nutmeg. If you chose to replace the flour with corn starch, dissolve it in some water and add it towards the end instead of sifting it like the flour.

SPINACH SOUP

500 g leaf spinach
1 onion
1 tablespoon (= 15 ml) non-dairy margarine (regular margarine or butter is fine if you like animal abuse)
2 tablespoons flour (can be replaced with corn starch if you are gluten-intolerant)
12 dl water
2 cubes vegetable stock
1 dl vegan soy/oat-based cream (regular cream works fine if you don't care about animal suffering)
salt
pepper
1-2 pinches nutmeg

Roughly chop the spinach. Peel and finely chop the onions. Fry them in the margarine for a few minutes in a saucepan. Sift the flour over the onions and spinach, then add the water. Crumble the stock cubes into the soup and allow to simmer for ten minutes under a lid. Add the cream and season to your liking with the salt, pepper and nutmeg. If you chose to replace the flour with corn starch, dissolve it in some water and add it towards the end instead of sifting it like the flour.

Fool, don't you realize we (Normal people) would stop eating animals if they didn't taste so good? Animals can really only blame themselves. :rolleyes:

*bookmarks thread*

I think I've bookmarked every recipe thread so far - but still have to make even one of the recipes. Bad me, bad.


Break up the dark chocolate into pieces and pour the chocolate into the bowl of the food processor. Pulse until the chocolate breaks up into small bits. Add the sugar. Pulse until the chocolate and sugar turns into an even, sandy grain.

Pour the hot water or coffee slowly into the feed tube as you pulse again. Pulse until the chocolate is melted. Magic!
"pulse"?

Cheese On Toast, A La Canada :

2 slices of bread
Some cheese
Marmite

Method :

Put bread on grill until the first side is done
Flip over, and put on marmite before adding the cheese on top
Grill a bit more
Eat
What happened to unsplintered Yootopia? Too much Marmite?

"pulse"?

It's a food processor thing.

It's hardly a recipe, but it's tasty, and I feel like posting...

Add 1-2 tablespoons of maple syrup to a glass of milk of any size.

Heat milk for 30-60 seconds in microwave. Stir thoroughly when finished heating.

Sprinkle a dash of nutmeg on top and stir again.

Your tasty beverage is now complete! Enjoy! :)

A new NSG recipe thread? Guess it's time to pull out the copy and paste!

The Substitute Name Family Potato Soup Recipe(Converted to modern, easy to obtain ingredients by The Guy Writing This.)

Ingredients:
Two Cups Brocolli
Five large Russet Potatoes
Two Cups Celery
One Cup Carrots(optional)
2 Sliced Precooked Chicken Breasts
1/2 Cup Mushrooms of your choice (optional)
1/2 Onion
1/2 Clove of Garlic
One Can Chicken Broth
One Can Cream of Mushroom Soup (If you are allergic or just don't like mushrooms, substitute Cream of Chicken instead.)
Two Cans Evaporated Milk
One Teaspoon Butter
A Small Amount Olive(or your choice) Oil
And the following seasonings in amounts of your choice:
Salt
Pepper
Cayenne Pepper
Italian Seasoning
Cloves
Parsley
Oregano
Tumeric
Red Curry

Directions:
Plop a huuuge pot on the stove. Wash and microwave the potatoes and carrots(optional, though this makes it far easier to slice them.) Place the amount of olive oil into the pan, then chop up and toss in the onions and garlic. Turn on the heat to a medium level, add a small amount of water to prevent the onions and garlic from burning. Then, while they are cooking, slice up and toss in the potatoes, carrots, and celery. If you wish, slice the brocolli as well, though I prefer to merely toss them in whole. Then place in the chicken. Now here's a key for good cooking: you have to add all of the seasonings--except for salt and pepper--right now. Take a spoon of some sort--wooden is my choice--and mix it all up so the seasonings and the fixings spread nice and evenly. Then put a cover on, turn up the heat, and let it cook for a while. How long depends on where you are, your type of stove, and all that good stuff. Once the fixings have cooked, place the chicken broth, mushroom soup, and evaporated milk in, along with the butter. Stir it up, making sure to keep the fixings spread evenly. Add in the salt and pepper as needed, wait till it's all finished, and you're done! Enjoy.

Chicken Veronique

Poach some chicken breasts in chicken stock with a sprig of fresh french tarragon. When cooked remove chciken breasts and place in a serving dish. Reduce the remaining stock by half then stir in a few tablespoons of cream to thicken the sauce. Pour the sauce over the chicken and garning with halved white grapes.

Julienne Potatoes

Cut potatoes into matchsticks (about 2 inches long by 1/8 inch by 1/8th inch) and press them into a well buttered dish. Dab more butter on top and cover with foil. Bake until cooked - you are aiming for something akin to a rosti.

Green salad

Some green leaves such as chicory, lettuce, dandelion etc garnished with chives or parsley and dressed with olive oil and lemon juice.

Serve all three together.

Slice off top of bell pepper (capsicums to you Aussies) - stuff with mince/onion/garlic/cumin - bake for 30 minutes. Repeat according to amount of guests

Serve with salad - the secret's always in the dressing and that secret is French mustard - and bottle of wine to impress the ladies with your mad cooking skillz despite having taken about 5 minutes to do.

Always be different but don't try too hard about it.

(all quantities are approximate)

Lentils with chilli.

1 Onion - cut into fine ½ rings
4 gloves garlic, finely cut
3 cayenne peppers, finely cut
190 g green lentils
300ml vegatable stock
Coriander
cumin
salt
pepper

Fry onion halves in oil til brown. Take out. Fry garlic and cayenne pepper for 1 min, add lentils. stock. cumin, salt & pepper. Cook for 30-35 mins, add coriander. Serve and enjoy.

Spinach and Chickpea

500g spinach
1 onion, finely chopped
3 chopped cloves of garlic
Ginger, peeled and finely chopped.
2 tins of chickpeas
chopped tomatoes (or passata)
seasoning to taste

Heal oil in pan. fry onions, garlic and ginger lightly, add spinach until wilted. Add chickpeas (with juices), passata/tomatoes, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika etc to taste. Cook for around 15 mins, until chickpeas are cooked.



Servewith cous cous or rice for a delicious vegan meal :D

(And use Fass's recipe for a two course meal ;))

a delicious vegan meal

Isn't that an oxymoron?

Isn't that an oxymoron?

Tasting is believing. :)

Though if the vegan thing scares you. Add some chorizo to the lentils and bacon lardons to the spinach.


Or cheese and yogurt if you don't want fluffy little cows being killed - just maimed. :p

"pulse"?
there is a button on my food processor that says pulse, when you push it it runs and when you let go it stops, so you can chop something intermittently until it's the right amount as opposed to pushing one of the other buttons that just chops it completely and turns it into mush very quickly.

http://home.howstuffworks.com/food-processor2.htm

My cousin is teaching me how to make eggs benedict today (I'm up in Michigan now visiting my cousins.) I'm not good at cooking at all, but she's taking classes to get a degree in pastry arts and restaurant management or something and she wants to open a restaurant someday. But I don't really know the recipe. Just that you like break open the eggs and save the yellow thing and put it in something with butter and stir it and then poach the eggs, but I'm not sure how to do that. Like I said, I'm not very good at cooking...

By the way why do all the recipes in American cook books seem to involve adding tins of soup - usually mushroom or chicken for some reason?

By the way why do all the recipes in American cook books seem to involve adding tins of soup - usually mushroom or chicken for some reason?

I don't know but it pisses me off as well because it requires me to make my own cream of...whatever soup since the store variety always have stuff in it that I can't have.

I don't know but it pisses me off as well because it requires me to make my own cream of...whatever soup since the store variety always have stuff in it that I can't have.

I'm not sure what it is you can't have Smunk, but would stock (either chicken or vegatable) work as an alternative for tinned soup?


(this tinned soup thing is completely alien to me, I'm still trying to get my head aound cups, sticks and hogsheads)

I'm not sure what it is you can't have Smunk, but would stock (either chicken or vegatable) work as an alternative for tinned soup?


(this tinned soup thing is completely alien to me, I'm still trying to get my head aound cups, sticks and hogsheads)

well, when they talk about cream of chicken soup, it looks like this (http://images.allrecipes.com/site/allrecipes/area/community/userphoto/small/449.jpg)........it almost always has flour in it. I do have a recipe for making your own cream'o'whatever soup, I will find it and post it, it should be easy to modify to metric stuffs.

By the way why do all the recipes in American cook books seem to involve adding tins of soup - usually mushroom or chicken for some reason?
Because we're lazy and can't make our own?

Actually, mine was just converted to that. The actual recipe is different when it comes to the ingredients, and often never stays the same from pot to pot.
I don't know but it pisses me off as well because it requires me to make my own cream of...whatever soup since the store variety always have stuff in it that I can't have.
That's the free market for you.

well, when they talk about cream of chicken soup, it looks like this (http://images.allrecipes.com/site/allrecipes/area/community/userphoto/small/449.jpg)........it almost always has flour in it. I do have a recipe for making your own cream'o'whatever soup, I will find it and post it, it should be easy to modify to metric stuffs.
Ooh, I'd love to see yours. It'd probably be healthier and easier to make.

well, when they talk about cream of chicken soup, it looks like this (http://images.allrecipes.com/site/allrecipes/area/community/userphoto/small/449.jpg)........it almost always has flour in it. I do have a recipe for making your own cream'o'whatever soup, I will find it and post it, it should be easy to modify to metric stuffs.

In which the answer lies...it's a thickener and the chicken flavour works as a stock.

Potatoes work well as a thickener compared to cream and a simple stock cube works as flavour if you can't be bothered to boil bones for a few hours.

It may be the Irish in me but potatoes are just the most versatile of ingredients.

Love potatoes.

In which the answer lies...it's a thickener and the chicken flavour works as a stock.

Potatoes work well as a thickener compared to cream and a simple stock cube works as flavour if you can't be bothered to boil bones for a few hours.

It may be the Irish in me but potatoes are just the most versatile of ingredients.

Love potatoes.

potatoes are my favorite food. :D

two easy recipes for the college budget that are also decently healthy

Ramen Stew

1) Start 1.5 cups of water boiling (more if you prefer it to be more soupy) on mediumish heat
2) Dice two two stalks of Yu Choy, depending on availability of the items (pretty much any greens found in an Asian market that either look vaguely similar to a leafy celery or asparagus works) and then toss into heating water (this is why you set it to mediumish heat so it takes a while to boil while you do this other stuff)
3) toss a half tablespoon of peanut chili oil, also found in the Asian markets, into pot and stir a bit (experiment with amounts to find preferred level of spicyness)
4) turn the heat up to probably ~7, depending on stove, and dice an average block of tofu (not sure on measurement for this one, but tofu is usually purchased in four blocks per carton, so just use a whole block) and then toss into pot as well
5) the pot should be boiling nicely by now, stir in the ramen seasoning (preferably beef or chicken) and, while those ingredients are mixing their flavors and the greens are softening some, crunch up the actual ramen and toss in like normal...when it's partially cooked, squirt however much Sriracha sauce in you want (can be found in most Asian or Indian markets) and you've got yourself a very cheap, fairly quick and pretty healthy meal :)

Saucy Chorizo On Rice
This one is a bit odd, but try it and you might be surprised. Ingredients you'll need: Rice (probably, this is just for the sauce, you can put it on whatever, I prefer rice, though), French Catalina Honey Dressing, Chorizo, Tofu, one corn tortilla, Yu Choy (the asparagus looking green mentioned above...if it looks like celery it won't have the right consistency)
1) set a pot of water to boil, doesn't matter how much, just enough to boil a large stalk of Yu Choy, set to ~7 or 8
2) Dice either a large stalk or one and half average stalks of Yu Choy and toss into boiling water
3) spray your frying pan with some non-stick spray and put in a healthy dose of Chorizo...about the same as if you were making around three breakfast tacos, I'd say; bring to a simmer
4) dice up your brick of tofu and throw it into the pan, stirring thoroughly to make sure the tofu starts absorbing the flavor of the Chorizo
5) chop the tortilla into fine strips and throw them into the pan as well, again making sure to stir thoroughly so the strips begins to crisp and absorb the Chorizo flavor
6) strain the diced Yu Choy and toss into the frying pan, more thorough stirring
7) smother it in a good dose of French Catalina Honey Dressing, stirring thoroughly so as to mix all the flavors, let it simmer for a minute or three, so it all cooks together
8) pour over rice, serve and enjoy

the setting for the frying pan should probably be about 7 or 8, depending on the stove. This is a little more expensive than the ramen simply because of the dressing, but it also makes a lot more and can be refrigerated, whereas the old ramen just tastes weird.

16 oz. Belgian dark chocolate or good semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups cane sugar
3/4 cup very hot coffee
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
8 large free-range organic eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon good vanilla extract [yes, a tablespoon!]

Preheat the oven to 350 degress F. Prepare a 10-inch springform pan by lining the bottom with parchment, and buttering it.

Break up the dark chocolate into pieces and pour the chocolate into the bowl of the food processor. Pulse until the chocolate breaks up into small bits. Add the sugar. Pulse until the chocolate and sugar turns into an even, sandy grain.

Pour the hot water or coffee slowly into the feed tube as you pulse again. Pulse until the chocolate is melted. Magic!

Add butter pieces and the cocoa powder, and pulse to combine. Add the eggs and vanilla, and process till smooth. The batter will be liquid and creamy.

Pour the batter into the lined springform pan. Wrap the outside of the whole pan with a big piece of foil. Bake at 350 degrees in the center of the oven, till puffed and cracked and lovely - about 55 minutes to an hour or even more [it took an hour plus 15 minutes here at high altitude]. Use a wooden toothpick to check the center of the cake.

Place the cake pan on a wire rack to cool. The cake will deflate. Don't worry! When cooled a bit, press down on it gently with a spatula to make it even, if you wish. Or not.

When the cake is completely cooled, cover, and chill it for three hours [up to eight hours] until serving. Release the cake from the springform pan. Slice and serve.

Serve slices with drizzled chocolate sauce or a sprinkle of powdered sugar. Add a few berries or mint leaves to the plate, if you like.Oooh, that reminds. I know of a great cake that's prepared in much the same way.

6 medium-size, thin-skinned oranges, preferably seedless

1.5 cups ground almonds

6 eggs

110g sugar (1 cup)

1.5 teaspoons baking powder

Scrub the fruit well. Place in a pot, cover with water, bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover and simmer for 2 hours, checking every once in a while to make sure the water hasn’t boiled off too much. Drain and when cool enough to handle, cut the fruit in half carefully, and remove all of the seeds (otherwise the cake will be bitter).

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas mark 4 (350F). Grease, or line with parchment, a 9-1/2- or 10-inch springform pan.

Put the fruit, skin and all, in a food processor fitted with the steel blade and puree.

Beat the eggs with the sugar and baking powder at medium-high speed until thick and lemon-colored. Add the ground almonds and mix well. Mix in the pulped orange at low speed, in two or three additions, beating for 20 seconds after each addition. Pour into the prepared pan.

Bake for 1 hour, until firm and a knife comes out clean. If the top begins to get too brown halfway through, cover loosely with foil.

It's made even nicer if covered in cream as well. :D

potatoes are my favorite food. :D

Melt butter in a sauce pan

Fry sliced garlic, onions and carrots in the pan for 3-5 minutes.

Add garlic, onions and carrots with water until water is about a third higher than ingredients. Heat til just below boiling.

Add chicken stock, tomato puree, lemon juice and mint leaves and season with salt, pepper and cumin. Squirt in a healthy dose of lemon juice.

Add potatoes sliced about 5x5 cm cubes.

Boil til potatoes slide off fork then strain and then puree, adding milk as you do.

Simmer and then serve placing remaining mint leaves on top.

I'm not great on portions, but about twice as many potatoes as carrots and the rest I tend to add as I see fit.

Mumsfilibaba!

My version of a chicken curry

Chop up a large onion, half a dozen cloves of garlic, and a two inch piece of fresh ginger. Put them all in a liquidiser and blitz them into a puree.

Meanwhile in a large pan heat up some sunflower oil and throw in a couple of bay leaves, 6 cloves, 6 green cardamon pods, and a two inch piece of cinammon stick. Let the cook a little before adding the onion puree. Add a teaspoon of chili powder, a teaspoon of cumin powder, a teaspoon of turmeric, a teaspoon of coriander powder, half a teaspoon of fenugreek powder, two teaspoons of garam masala, and a tablespoon of tomato puree. Let this cook slowly for about 15 minutes while stirring to stop it catching. Add chicken pieces cover and leave to cook. At this point you can add a load of spinach if you like it. When it is cook add a load of freshly chopped coriander leaves and serve immediately.

Beef brisket

You'll like to start with a roasting pan that you used the night before for roasting beef. Heat up the pan on top of the stove, and add 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil, and scrape up the stuff on the pan, stirring it together and getting a good broth going. Turn off the heat.

Add:

1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp allspice

You'll need a whole first-cut brisket. Preferably USDA Prime, if you can get it.

Salt the meat lightly, then sear it on a 500 degree propane grill for 2 minutes on each side.

Remove from grill.

Place it in the roasting pan. Cover with chopped garlic, and 1 pound of coarsely chopped onions.


Open a large can of whole tomatoes, and pour the liquid into the pan. Smash the tomatoes on a cutting board (use your fingers for this), and toss them into the pan.

Add 1 cup of pinot noir wine. At this point, if the liquid doesn't barely cover the meat, add hot water to bring the level up.

Seal the top of the roasting pan with aluminum (aluminium) foil.

Place in a 300 F oven for five hours. DO NOT OPEN THE FOIL FOR ANY REASON.

If you have some boiling potatoes, peel, halve, and boil them for 30 minutes just prior to the brisket being done. Toss the boiled potatoes in butter and salt prior to serving.

I leave the salad and vegetables up to you.

This is a fairly simple recipe, but everyone I know really raves that it's the best vodka sauce they've ever had, and I constantly get requests. So I suppose it's worth sharing.

1 can crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp (or more) crushed red pepper
2 cloves (or more) crushed garlic
2-4 tbsp butter
3/4 cup grated Romano cheese
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 cup premium vodka
1 cup heavy cream

Crushed black pepper (garnish, optional)
Pine nuts (garnish, optional)

The key to this recipe is cooking slow over relatively low temperatures. If you're making one batch, prep and cooking is probably about an hour.

Start, however, with med-high to high heat, because you're going to saute the pepper and garlic in butter. I use about 4 tbsp butter, but if you're trying to keep down the fat and cholesterol you can get away with about half that. You can really use as much crushed red pepper and garlic as you want, to taste. I usually put in much, much more of both than I suggest above, for a very spicy, garlicky sauce... but maybe you don't like garlic as much as I do.

Anyway, brown the garlic and then add the crushed tomatoes. Reduce the temperature to low or med-low heat. You want it to be hot enough that the liquid reduces, but not so hot that it quickly burns down. The flavors seem to blend better if you cook it slow. The important thing is to really, REALLY reduce it. I use a large skillet, and I reduce to the point that I basically have a garlic/pepper/tomato paste: you should be able to push it around in the skillet without liquid running in to displace it.

When it's reduced by about half, add the Romano. You really want to give this time to blend in, lest you get a gritty look to the sauce because it doesn't melt very easily. This will also thicken the sauce, so if you reduce too far first you'll wind up with something TOO pasty.

When it's fully reduced, add the Parmesan. Let this melt in for just a few minutes: if it melts entirely that's fine, but I actually like to allow the shredded Parmesan to retain some of its shape. It gives a VERY SLIGHT cheese "stringiness" to the final sauce that most people seem to like.

After a few minutes, add the vodka. If necessary, bump up the heat just a bit. You want it to simmer gently for about a full minute to burn off the alcohol without destroying the flavor. IT IS CRUCIAL TO USE GOOD VODKA. People always seem to think that if they're cooking they can use any old shit off the bottom shelf. The exact opposite is true, since what you WANT in your dish is the FLAVOR.

Lower the heat to practically nothing before you add the heavy cream. I like to let this sit out on a counter while I'm preparing the sauce, so it mellows to a higher temperature before adding it. You shouldn't need to "heat" the cream. Rather, your already hot sauce should combine with the cool (but not too cool) cream to produce a nice, creamy sauce. Boiling the cream seems to destroy some of its "texture."

When served, I usually add some black pepper to the plate and some pine nuts, but this is optional. Some of my friends also like to toss a little extra shredded Parmesan to the top. Again, there's something nice about the grain of the cheese, if you can get it right.

Serve warm over fresh pasta.

:)

</snip>

Nice, I might try that.

I can add it to list of my other vodka themed recipes :)

btw, I've always wondered, can you cook with gin as a main ingredient. And if so, anyone have any good recipes?

1 orange, juiced
2 limes, juiced
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
3 chipolte chiles, in adobo sauce
3 tablespoon roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt


2 1/4 pounds skirt steak (DO NOT USE FLANK STEAK), trimmed of fat cut into thirds or 8-inch pieces
Salt and pepper
2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced
1 large onion, thinly sliced
Lime juice, olive oil, optional
12 flour tortillas, warm
Guacamole, recipe follows
Good quality store bought salsa

In a small 2 cup measuring cup, or something similar size and shape, combine all the marinade ingredients. Using an immersion blender, puree the marinade until smooth. Transfer to a re-sealable plastic bag and add the steak, seal and shake to coat. Refrigerate the beef for 2 to 4 hours to tenderize and flavor the beef.

Prep your charcoal grill. Also, you'll need a vegetable wok made for a charcoal grill (it's got a bowl shape with little holes in it).

Drain the marinade from the beef. Season liberally with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Grill the steak over medium-high heat and cook for 4 minutes on each side and then transfer to a cutting board and let rest. Depending on the size of your grill you may need to cook in batches.

Once the beef is off the grill and resting, add the bell peppers and onions tossed with lime juice and olive oil, if using. Grill the mixture in the grill wok for 7 to 8 minutes until the vegetables are just barely limp.

While the peppers and onions are cooking, heat up the tortillas. Place a tortilla on the grill and let it char about 30 seconds to 1 minute, flip the tortilla and repeat on the second side. Once heated and charred remove the tortilla to a clean tea towel and wrap to keep warm. Repeat until you have warmed all of your tortillas.

Thinly slice the steak against the grain on a diagonal.

To serve:

Spread some guacamole on a tortilla, top with a few slices of steak, peppers and onions, and salsa. Roll up the tortilla to enclose the filling.

May also be served with sour cream and shredded cheese.

Guacamole:
5 ripe avocados
3 to 4 limes, juiced
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 serrano chile, chopped
1 big handful fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Drizzle olive oil

Halve and pit the avocados. With a tablespoon, scoop out the flesh into a mixing bowl. Mash the avocados with a fork, leaving them still a bit chunky. Add all of the rest of the ingredients, and fold everything together.

Lay a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the guacamole so it doesn't brown and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

You'll need a case of Corona to go with this...

btw, I've always wondered, can you cook with gin as a main ingredient. And if so, anyone have any good recipes?http://www.ginvodka.org/cocktail/ginrecipes.html

Somewhere I also have a recipe for gin cookies. I'll look for it, but I was never crazy about them so I may have thrown it away.

Rice and Orzo Yummy

1c rice (medium or short grain if you can get it)
1c orzo (or any other smallish pasta - couscous is too small for this...)
1/4 large vidalia onion (or more to taste)
garlic powder to taste
1Tbsp butter
2Tbsp oil

Put the butter and oil together in the bottom of a medium saucepan over medium high heat. When the butter has melted, drop in the onion. Cook til almost translucent, add the orzo. Cook together until the orzo is slightly browned, then dump in the garlic powder and the rice. Add four cups of water, simmer until everything is tender.

This stuff is amazingly yummy.

A couple of good period recipies, redacted by Cariadoc, with notes by me.

Darioles

Ancient Cookery p. 37/443

Take cream of almonds, or of cow milk, and eggs, and beat them well together; and make small coffins, and do it therein; and do thereto sugar and good powders, or else take good fat cheese and eggs, and make them of divers colors, green, red, or yellow, and bake them and serve them forth.

1 1/3 c milk and cream
1/3 c sugar
2 eggs
1/6 t salt
enough pastry for 2 9" pie crusts

colorings, each in a quantity for 1/3 of the filling:
6 threads of saffron in 1 t water
3/16 t of saunders
2 T parsley mashed and strained with 2 t water

Make pastry into tart shells in muffin tins and bake about 10 minutes. Make filling, divide in three and color one part with saffron, one with saunders, and one with parsley juice. Pour into tart shells and bake. The recipe makes 15 tarts.

NOTES: I don't usually bother coloring the filling, the tart itself is so damn good. These are kind of custard tarts, particularly nice with a bit of orange extract in the filling.

Tart on Ember Day

Ancient Cookery p. 448/38 (Good)

Parboil onions, and sage, and parsley and hew them small, then take good fat cheese, and bray it, and do thereto eggs, and temper it up therewith, and do thereto butter and sugar, and raisyngs of corince, and powder of ginger, and of canel, medel all this well together, and do it in a coffin, and bake it uncovered, and serve it forth.

7 ounces cheese
4 medium onions = 1 lb
1/3 c parsley
2 T fresh sage or 1 1/2 t dried
3 T butter
4 eggs
1 T sugar
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t ginger
4 T currants
9 " pie crust

Chop the onions and boil 10 minutes, drain. Grate cheese. Mix everything and put in pie crust. We used Meunster; a more strongly flavored cheese might be better.

NOTES: This is kind of a quiche, quite nice. But I prefer to sautee the onions, and ignore the sweet ingredients. The medieval obsession with mixing sweet and savory is just nasty to me.