Evil Recipes

Beet pancakes

2008-08-06T12:21:00.004-05:00

a.k.a. Beet Roesti, from Mark Bittman's wonderful book "How to cook everything"

1 to 1.5 lbs beets
1 teaspoon coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons butter

Trim the beets and peel them as you would potatoes; grate them in a food processor or by hand. Begin preheating a medium to large non-stick skillet over medium heat.
Toss the grated beets in a bowl with the rosemary and salt, then add about half the flour; toss well, add the rest of the flour, then toss again.
Place the butter in the skillet and heat until it begins to turn nut-brown. Scrape the beet mixture into the skillet, shape it into a nice circle, and press it down with a spatula. Turn the heat to medium-ghigh and cook, shaking the pan occasionally, until the bottom of the beet cake is nicely crips, 6 to 8 minutes. Slide the cake out onto a plate, top with another plate, invert the two plates and slide the cake back into the pan. Continue to cook, adjusting the heat if necessary, until the second side is browned. Cut into wedges and serve immediately.

Fifty-dollar Hamburger

2006-12-18T12:17:00.001-05:00

This recipe is from the Air Canada in-flight magazine in Novemeber 2006. It is an exercise in gilding the lily. Any two of wild mushrooms, cognac, stilton, foie gras, truffles, and fancy herby salad would be a good addition to a hamburger; all of the above is just plain ridiculous.

Serves 4

Ingredients
2 T butter
2 handfuls wild mushrooms (shiitake, morel, chanterelle), sliced into 1/4 inch strips
1 T fresh thyme, stemmed
1 1/2 oz cognac
3 oz foie gras, divided into 4 pieces
2 lb hamburger
4 oz Stilton, crumbled
4 buns
4 T mayonnaise
1 handful baby herb salad/chervil/arugula
1 truffle or 1 oz truffle oil

Melt butter. Sauté mushrooms and thyme for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add cognac, warm for 5 s, then flambé. After flames burn out, remove and reserve.
In a separate pan, sear one side of one piece of foie gras for 5 s, then flip and sear the other side; remove and reserve; repeat for other pieces.
Season hamburger with salt and pepper. Divide into 4 8-oz mounds, each with an indentation in the centre. Place a piece of foie gras in the centre, forming a patty around it.
Grill patties, crumbling stilton on each burger as it finishes.
Spread buns with mayonnaise on the bottom and greens on top. Add burger. Garnish with mushrooms. Shave truffle over burger or drizzle with truffle oil.

Two cold-weather drinks: Feuerzangebowle and Glühwein

2006-11-27T05:27:00.001-05:00

Feuerzangenbowle

(this is more fun than Glühwein, but more work too!)

2 Bottles red wine (ie: Bordeaux)
1 Orange
1 Lemon
4 Cloves
1/2-1 Cinnamon sticks
1 sugar cone (or sugar cubes) (250 g)
1/2 Liter Rum (over 50 Vol. %)

Peel and wash the orange and lemon rind, slice it into spirals and poke cloves into them. Squeeze the orange and lemon and mix this with the red wine in a cooking pot. Add the citron peel with the cloves and the cinnamon sticks. Heat but do not allow to boil, and then keep it simmering. Place fire-proof tongs or a flat, metal grater over the pot and balance the sugar cone on top of this. (If using sugar cubes, try to build a pyramid out of them on top of the metal.) Important is only that the melted sugar can drop into the pot below. Drench the sugar with rum and immediately light it on fire. As soon as the flame is gone, pour more rum onto it and light it again, until all the sugar has been melted down. Remove the grater or tongs, scoop out the rind, cloves, cinnamon sticks and serve hot.

Important: Always use a funnel to pour the rum onto the sugar - pouring right out of the bottle is dangerous.

Tip: If the spices, etc. are bound in a net bag, they are easier to remove later.

Orangen und Zitronenschale (ungespritzt!) heiß abwaschen, spiralenförmig abschälen, die Schalen mit Gewürznelken spicken. Orangen und Zitrone auspressen, den Saft zusammen mit dem Rotwein in den Kupferkessel füllen. Schalen und Stangenzimt dazugeben. Topf erhitzen (nicht kochen) und auf den Rechaud stellen. Feuerzange quer über den Topf legen, den Zuckerhut draufstellen, so das der schmelzende Zucker in den Topf tropfen kann. Zuckerhut mit Rum durchtränken und sofort anzünden. Sobald die Flamme erlöschen will wieder Rum nachgießen bis der Zucker komplett geschmolzen ist.
Feuerzange entfernen, Gewürze herausnehmen. Bowle heiß servieren.

Wichtig: immer mit einer Schöpfkelle den Rum nachgießen, niemals direkt aus der Flasche!

Tipp: Gewürze in ein Mulltuch binden, dann kann man sie leichter rausnehmen.

Glühwein

2 Bottles of Red Wine
1 Lemon
3 Cinnamon Sticks
4 Cloves
30-50 g Sugar
Pinch of Cardamom

Peel the lemon very thinly, and cut into strips. Heat the red wine in a pot, and add the lemon peel, cinnamon, cloves and sugar. Add cardamom to taste and let "marinate" for about half an hour. Before serving, heat it up again.

Zitrone dünn abschälen, in Scheiben schneiden. Rotwein in einem Topf erhitzen, Zitrone, Zimt, Nelken und Zucker dazugeben. Mit Kardamon abschmecken und etwa 1/2 Std ziehen lassen. Vor dem Gebrauch noch einmal erhitzen, heiß servieren.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

2006-09-18T14:52:00.000-05:00

Ingredients:

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
8 oz. package (brick, not bucket) of Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 jar Marie's Chunky Blue Cheese Salad Dressing
1/2 to 1 full bottle Buffalo Wings Sauce (to taste and consitency)

optional: Tobasco sauce (if you use Mild Wing sauce)

Season the chicken breasts with a little salt and bake on a baking pan at 350 F until fully cooked. Remove from the oven and pull the meat with tongs or your fingers until it's finely shredded into strings, in a meduim bowl. Dump and mix in the other ingredients while the chicken is still warm, to help the cream cheese blend evenly into the mixture.

You can warm the mixture back in the oven until it's slightly bubbling and serve it hot, or serve it as-is, delicious either way. Serve with Tostitoes Corn Chip Scoops (it's a very heavy, sloppy dip, it needs the bowl-shape of the Scoops to not make a mess.)

Men LOVE this dip.

Far less fatty than regular buffalo wings with the skins on. And no nasty piles of bones to clean up.

Bread Pudding

2006-02-02T14:24:00.001-05:00

Again with the custard theme. This is an excellent use for stale bread. Some recipes call for slices of bread to be buttered before you put them in. mmm, butter....

Old-Fashioned Bread Pudding
From Diana Rattray, on About.com

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups milk
3 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 slices bread (or 4 cups cubed bread)
1/2 cup raisins
1 teaspoon cinnamon
dash nutmeg

PREPARATION:

Heat milk over low heat until hot, but not boiling.
In a bowl, combine eggs, sugar, and salt; stir well. Gradually stir about 1/4 of the hot milk to the egg mixture and stir in. Add remaining milk, stirring constantly. Stir in vanilla.
Place bread slices in a buttered baking dish, about 2-quart size.
Sprinkle raisins over bread. Pour the milk mixture over bread. Combine cinnamon and nutmeg; sprinkle over pudding mixture.
Bake, uncovered, at 300° for about 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. (Some recipes say 350 instead of 300 so the temperature is clearly not critical.)
Serve warm with custard or another sauce. Fruity sauces work well, as do alcohol-based ones if you want to get fancy. (mmm. grand marnier...) A friend also claims that chocolate sauce is v. good with this, and I'm skeptical although the connection to Nutella makes me keep an open mind.
Serves 6. (heh heh. More like 3, in my experience--but then, we were all hungry....)

Three-layer cornbread

2005-12-18T08:17:00.001-05:00

Ultra-simple, ultra-delicious. The dry ingredients settle to the bottom, except for a thin crust on top, leaving a custard-like middle. mmm...I'm drooling just thinking about it.

6-8 servings

1 c. cornmeal
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. white flour
1/4 c. wheat germ
2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
2 eggs
1/4 c. honey
1/4 c. safflower oil
3 c. milk

Combine the dry ingredients.
In a second bowl, combine the wet ingredients.
Mix all together. (The mixture will be runny.)
Pour into greased shallow baking pans.
Bake at 325 F for 25-45 minutes, until the top is springy to the touch.

Neiman Marcus Urban legend chocolate chip cookies

2005-12-12T22:43:00.000-05:00

1 cup butter (or butter-flavored Crisco, for very soft cookies!)
1 cups granulated sugar
1 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
2 ½ cups blended oatmeal
(measure oatmeal and blend in blender to a fine powder)
12 oz. chocolate chips
9 oz. Hershey bar (grated)

Cream the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla; mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda. Add chocolate chips and Hershey Bar. Roll into balls and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 56 cookies.

Cranberry, Sausage and Apple Stuffing

2005-11-23T00:52:00.000-05:00

12 cups white bread cubes,
baked until slightly dry
1 pound sweet Italian
sausage, casings removed
1/4 cup butter
6 cups coarsely chopped leeks
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon
poultry seasoning

2 cups chopped celery
2 tart apples - peeled, cored
and chopped
1 cup dried cranberries
2 teaspoons dried rosemary, crushed
1-1/3 cups chicken stock
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1 Saute; sausage in a large skillet over medium heat, crumbling coarsely, for about 10 minutes. Remove sausage to a large bowl with a slotted spoon. Empty pan of grease.

2. Into the same pan melt the butter. Add the leeks or onions, apples, celery and poultry seasoning. Saute; until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the rosemary, dried cranberries and cooked sausage. Mix all with the dried breadcubes.
Season to taste with salt and pepper. Moisten with the chicken stock.

3. Bake in a covered buttered casserole at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 15 minutes to brown top

Make-Ahead Goat Cheese and Walnut Souffles

2005-11-07T11:18:00.000-05:00

This is taken directly from the All-New Joy of Cooking (the one that just came out, not the older "new" one from the 70's).

I think I'm going to make this as a side dish for my birthday dinner this year, in small ramekins. But it could be a nice component of a hearty salad lunch kind of thing, or an appetizer, or even an hors d'... I want to play with it a bit.

Ahem....

8 servings

These are more substantial than traditional souffles, but they are wonderful in their own right. Serve them on a lightly dressed bed of field greens. Please read about souffles, page 137.

Preheat oven to 350 F

Combine:

3/4 cup walnuts, toasted and finely chopped
1/4 cup cornmeal

Generously butter eight 6-ounce ramekins or custard cups and sprinkle the insides with the cornmeal mixture, tilting in all directions until completely coated. Scatter any nuts that do not adhere ove the bottoms of the dishes.
Melt in a saucepan over medium heat:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Stir in until smooth:

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in:

2/3 cup of milk.

Return to heat and, stirring very briskly, bring to a boil. (The mixture will be very thick.) Scrape into a bowl. Add and mash until the cheese is melted:

10 ounces fresh unripened goat cheese

beat in:

4 large eggs
2 cloves garlic, vry finely minced
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

Beat until stiff but not dry:

5 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Stir one-quarter of the whites into the souffle base to lighten it, then fold in the rest. Pour into the prepared ramekins, and smooth the tops. Plae the ramekins in a water bath. Bake until a skewer insterted intothe center comes out almost clean, about 30 minutes. Let stand for 15 minutes in the water bath, then invert onto a greased baking sheet. The souffles can be served immediately or cooled, covered tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerated for up to 3 days.

When ready to serve, heat the souffles in a 425 F oven until warmed through, 5 to 7 minutes.

Veal Piccata with Artichokes

2005-10-25T13:47:00.000-05:00

Serves 2

1 lb veal cutlets, pounded with meat mallet if needed
salt & pepper
flour
olive oil
1 lemon
1-2 Tbsp capers (I use lots)
splash pinot grigio (about 3 oz)
1 can artichoke hearts, drained

Method:

Season the veal cutlets with salt & pepper, then dredge them in the flour, coating both sides.

Heat 2-4 oz of olive oil in large skillet to hot, then add the veal pieces in, making sure they don't overlap. Work in batches, if necessary. Cook on both sides until fully cooked (about 2-3 minutes), browning slightly around the edges, but not so long that they get tough. Remove from pan.

Pour off excess olive oil, then return pan to heat and deglaze with white wine, scraping up any browned bits into the sauce. Allow the alcohol to boil off for a few moments, and the sauce to reduce slightly, then add the veal pieces back in. Add the capers, lemon juice for both halves of the lemon, avoiding seeds in the pan, and the artichoke hearts. Stir to coat the veal and artichokes with the sauce. Allow the artichokes to heat thoroughly, and then serve immediately, spooning extra sauce and capers over each portion.

Same recipe also works great with chicken, but increase the cooking time to make sure the chicken is fully cooked throughout.

Fried Catfish

2005-10-15T13:31:00.000-05:00

Holy shit, this was delicious! I bought some catfish nuggets from Publix on sale this week, and then thought...I've never made catfish! what am I doing with nuggets????

well, FRYING them, of course!

I followed the EASY EASY recipe I found at allrecipes.com for the breading.

3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
6 (6 ounce) fillets farm-raised catfish (but I used nuggets...ummm...I forget how much. a pound? it ended up being 15 pieces)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Vegetable oil

COMBINE first 5 ingredients in a large shallow dish. Sprinkle fish with 1/4 teaspoon salt; dredge in cornmeal mixture, coating evenly.

POUR oil to a depth of 1 1/2 inches into a deep cast-iron skillet; heat to 350 degrees. Fry fish, in batches, 5 to 6 minutes or until golden; drain on paper towels.

after draining, serve with a good Louisiana Hot Sauce (like Crystal, or this time I used Trappey's Bill) and a side of cole slaw. mmmmmmmmmmmm....SO GODDAMN GOOD YOU'LL LICK YOUR PLATE!

Grilled chicken focaccia sandwich

2005-10-11T20:39:00.000-05:00

I just made these tonight and Kev said I HAD to post it.

1 chicken breast per person
marinade: juice of 1 lemon, 1 minced garlic clove, salt, pepper, dried thyme, spicy brown mustard
focaccia bread (I used spinage and cheese foccia)
sliced onions
sliced mushrooms
mayonaise
shredded italian blend cheese
salt and pepper
olive oil

Mix the marinade ingredients together and marinate the chicken for 20 minutes up to a few hours.

Saute' mushrooms and onions in olive oil. cook chicken on grill. Cut focaccia bread in half across, and then divide into sandwich-sized sections (I got 3 out of mine). Spread both halves with a thin layer of mayo.

Slice the grilled chicken into pieces and place on one half of the bread. Top with cheese and saute'ed onions and mushrooms. Top with other piece of bread...cut sandwich in half...and mmmmmm...enjoy!

Halusky

2005-10-11T20:28:00.000-05:00

There was a church potluck a couple of weeks ago, and I needed to come up with something international (world communion sunday), easy, and that would feed many many people.

HALUSKY!

1 head of green cabbage (nothing fancy here. plain green cabbage) cut into thin strips
1 large yellow onion - cut in a thick jullienne (if there is such a thing)
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1 lb bag of wide egg noodles
salt and pepper to taste

In your second largest pot (I say second largest because my largest pot is to boil the noodles in. if you have two really big pots, then bully for you. I use a non-stick 5qt pot) melt butter over medium heat - make sure not to burn it! Once it's melted, add the onion and sprinkle some salt over them. Once the onions get transluscent, add the cabbage. It will look like it won't all fit, but it will! the cabbage will cook down. Stir it all together and continue to cook until the cabbage becomes very soft.

Cook the noodles according to the instructions. Drain and add to cabbage mix (actually, I had to add the noodles back into the large pot, and then add the cabbage mix to that).

Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a blob of sour cream. Mmmmmmmm! Good on a cold rainy day.

Tostadas

2005-10-01T10:55:00.000-05:00

So I think Yoli was getting irritated with some of the faux-mexican recipes that occasionally appear here...heehee! That's OK by me, because she sent me this yummy recipe to share!

This recipe is super duper easy, something like crunchy tacos but different, great for parties, or just for snacking and is low in fat.

Ingredients:

Crispy flat corn tortillas (instructions below if you can't find them in the store)
Skirt Beef meat or chicken breast
Shredded lettuce
Sliced Onions either white or red (optional)
Refried beans
Sour Cream
Feta cheese crumbs or replace with shredded cheddar cheese
Sliced Relishes
Hot Salsa “Pace”

How to prepare the meat for the tostadas:

Boil the Skirt beef meat or the chicken breast; let it cool and shred into very thin strings of meat.

How to fry the tortilla if you don’t have crispy flat tortillas at the supermarket:

You can buy the regular soft corn tortillas; in a frying pan with plenty cooking oil fry the complete tortillas one by one until golden brown and crisp and let them cool over a napkin to absorb the extra oil.

Preparation Method of the Tostadas:

Take one crisp tortilla and spread the refried beans over the crisp tortilla, then add the shredded lettuce over the crisp tortilla with beans; add the shredded meat over the bed of lettuce (what you can get with your 3 fingers); then add about a tablespoon of sour cream spreading it all over the tostada; add the desired slices of relishes and onions, then the cheese crumbs and finish with a desired amount of hot salsa.

And now the Tostada is ready to eat and have fun with. Remember to have plenty of napkins on hand because it gets messy.

Enjoy with an icy cold beer!

Cream of Chicken with Wild Rice Soup

2005-09-29T20:28:00.000-05:00

Kev made this for dinner tonight...it's AWESOME. He found the recipe here. He followed some of the commenter's advice and added some herbs to the soup - dried thyme, oregano, and parsely.

1 1/3 cups wild rice
1 (3 pound) whole chicken, cut into pieces
7 cups water
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules
3/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup margarine
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups milk
3/4 cup white wine

Cook the wild rice according to package directions, but remove from heat about 15 minutes before it's done. Drain the excess liquid, and set aside.
In a stock pot over high heat, combine the chicken and the water. Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to low. Simmer for 40 minutes, or until chicken is cooked and tender. Remove chicken from the pot, and allow it to cool. Strain the broth from the pot, and reserve for later. When chicken is cool, remove the meat from the bones, cut into bite size pieces, and reserve. Discard the fat and the bones.
In the same stock pot over medium heat, saute the celery and onion in the oil for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms, and cover. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until everything is tender. Return the broth to the stock pot, and add the partially cooked wild rice. Stir in the bouillon, white pepper and salt; simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt margarine in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour until smooth. Whisk in the milk, and continue cooking until mixture is bubbly and thick. Add some of the broth mixture to the milk mixture, continuing to stir, then stir all of the milk mixture into the broth mixture.
Mix in the reserved chicken meat and the white wine. Allow this to heat through for about 15 minutes.

we enjoyed this soup with some fresh hot biscuits - from a can, of course!

Parmesan Pepper Breath Wreath

2005-04-02T13:07:00.000-05:00

from Vince

1 1/4 cups warm water (105 - 115 F)
2 packages dry yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons medium grind black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 - 4 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 egg
1 cup grated parmesan cheese (Asiago works very nicely)
1 egg white, lightly beaten
Additional black pepper (optional)

Place 1/2 cup warm water in a large warm bowl. Sprinkle in yeast: stir until dissolved. Add remaining water, sugar, pepper, salt, and 1 cup flour; blend well. Stir in whole egg, parmesan cheese, and enough remaining flour to make soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 4 to 6 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 30 to 45 minutes.

Punch down dough. Remove dough to lightly floured surface; divide into 3 equal pieces. Roll each piece to 28 inch rope; braid ropes. Place on greased baking sheet. Form braid into circle; pinch ends together to seal. Cover, let rise in warm, draft free place until doubled in size, about 20 to 40 minutes.

Brush loaf with egg white. Sprinkle with additional pepper, if desired. Bake at 375F for 25 to 30 minutes or until done. Remove from sheet; let cool on wire rack.

When I make bread, I use the dough hook on my Professional series Kitchen Aid mixer and it works wonderfully. What? You don't have a Kitchen Aid mixer? Well if you don't I highly recommend getting one. Best investment I ever made for the kitchen.

best marinade ever!

2005-04-01T15:01:00.000-05:00

The secret to cooking and grilling meats is a good marinade. If you've never grilled a day in your life, your friends will think your the grill master, as long as you marinated the meat in something yummy.

My favorite marinade is a form of a classic Mediterranean marinade, although I vary the ingredients from time to time, depending on what I have on hand, and what I'm making. The ingredients at their most basic form is really just Italian dressing. If you're pressed for time and desperate, any old Italian dressing you have laying around will do. Just throw the meat into a zip lock bag and pour in some Italian dressing. Stick it in the fridge for an hour up to overnight, and the meat will be yummy yummy!

And when I say meat, I'm referring to white meat: chicken and pork. Red meat, like steak, is fattier and more flavorful in general! and usually doesn't need much of a pre-treatment besides some salt and pepper. The exception for this is flank steak, which I grill for fajitas. I use the same marinade with some exceptions, which I list below.

Here is my basic marinade formula:

Juice of two lemons, or equivalent of limes (limes tend to be not as juicy, so it may take four or five). I would say about 1/4 to 1/3 cup worth.

tablespoon of salt

teaspoon of pepper, freshly ground if you have it. If you're going to let the meat marinate overnight, you can use whole peppercorns if you have them

3 or more cloves of garlic, finely chopped.

splash of basalmic vinegar (or red wine vinegar)

any fresh or dried herbs you have laying around (for pork and chicken, rosemary or thyme work well, but you can have fun and experiment. Believe me, YOU CAN'T MESS THIS UP!!!)
important: dried herbs are more potent than fresh! I use about a small handfull of fresh, but only a pinch or two of dried.

Mix all these ingredients together in a bowl, and then pour over the meat, which you've already put in a ziplock bag. Then toss the bag in the fridge and party until it's grillin' time!

FOR FAJITA MEAT (flank steak or chicken):
use the lime instead of lemon
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more/less to taste)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
instead of the vinegar, use a couple of good glugs of tequila (feel free to take a few glugs yourself. cheers!)

after marinating, grill away! Don't have a grill, you say? Well, you can invest in a cast iron grill pan for the stovetop, like I did. or you can just throw it in a pan (cast iron still best!). You won't get cool grill marks, but who cares? For bigger pieces of meat, like pork loin, I start out on the grill pan for the first 10 minutes (until I get nice grill marks all around) then I throw it into a 400 degree oven (ummm...can't convert that to Celsius off the top of my head, sorry) until the internal temp reaches 145.

I know I know, you're supposed to cook pork to 160. Well, first of all, you'll get carry over heat after you remove it from the oven (this is true of all big pieces of meat). Which means that the temperature will continue to rise. You should ALWAYS let the meat rest under foil before you slice and serve, anyway. Also, AMERICAN pork is extremely lean, and if you cook it to 160, it will be as dry as toast. Also, your risk of getting trichinosis is very very low, much more so than in our grandparent's day. so you have very little to fear, I promise! (I emphasized American, because I have NO IDEA what Aussie pork is like.)

So! to recap:

1. marinate 1 hour to overnight
2. grill, or cook on stovetop and then put in the oven (for big thick meats, like pork loin)
3. only cook to 145 internal temperature
4. let rest under foil for 5-10 minutes
5. amaze your friends and family with your meaty genius.

Taboulah

2005-03-23T20:22:00.000-05:00

From Jim Friday

1 Cup Cracked Wheat (Bulgar) soaked in boiled water for 20 mins then drained.
2 Cups Very finely chopped salad materials -- spring onions, celery, tomatoes, sweet green pepper, carrots, and anything else you like (Not Lettuce, though)
2 Cloves Garlic -- finely chopped. Black Pepper to taste.

Mix the above after the Bulgar has cooled.

Add 5 tbls. extra virgin olive oil and the juice of one lime. You can add a bit of lemon, too. DON'T use zest (peel).

Add 2 tbls. mint sauce (yes, Mint Sauce), or a handful of fresh mint, very finely chopped, if you want to be purist.

Mix together thoroughly and chill.

Eat with tortilla bread or anything else. It's a really good Turkish/Lebanese (and Greek) salad, both filling and delicious.

Mushroom Veloute Soup

2005-03-17T14:42:00.000-05:00

This is taken directly from James Peterson's Splendid Soups for the basic recipe, and then I'll tell you my own modifications to it.

Makes 8 Servings
(Not really, makes about 4 dinner-sized servings)

1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
3 Tbsp flour
1/2 C. Maderia or dry sherry.
1 quart chicken, vegetable or dried porcini broth
14 ounces fresh cultivated white or cremini mushrooms, rinsed and dried
1 Cup heavy cream
salt & pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream, lightly whipped (for topping)

My modified recipe:

1 medium white onion, fine chopped
6 Tbsp. Butter
1 cup dry sherry (+ extra if needed later)
1 quart box of Pacific Organic brand mushroom broth or Free Range chicken broth. DO NOT USE CANNED BROTH. It is nothing but colored salt water. Pbbbbblt!
1 pound white mushrooms, or do half & half of white and wild mushrooms
1 pint heavy cream
kosher salt and black pepper

1 cup heavy cream
half bunch of fresh tarragon, plucked and woody stems discarded
pinch kosher salt

1 French baguette, biased sliced into 1/2 inch pieces, allowed to "stale" in the air for a day, or quick stale on a cookie sheet in a warm oven. Do not toast.
1/2 lb butter
1/2 bulb garlic

Tarragon Cream:
hip the heavy cream, tarragon, and salt in a blender until it is thickened. I like it a little looser than cool whip. Do not overwhip.

Transfer the tarragon cream to another container and store refrigerated. Do not clean out blender pitcher - the added flavor is good for the soup.

Garlic Croutons:
Prepare the Garlic croutons by first rubbing each piece of stale bread with fresh garlic, on both sides. For one loaf, you will probably use up 2 of the larger garlic cloves of the head. Peel and finely mince the rest of the garlic, place it in a small sauce pan with the half-pound of butter over medium heat. Melt and allow to boil only slightly, do not allow to burn. Stir to help the garlic infuse flavor into the butter. Remove from heat.

In a large skillet, place a few tablespoons of the garlic butter to coat the bottom, heat until sizzling, then place a layer of the French bread slices in and saute them on both sides until they are nicely browned, but not burned. Do not allow the garlic to blacken. The bread should be quite crisp and oily, the flavor pleasantly strong. Remove bread from pan, set aside in a bowl or basket, and repeat with the remaining bread and garlic butter, in batches, adding more fat to the pan as needed as the bread soaks it up.

Mushroom Veloute:

Cook the onion in butter in a medium (4 quart or larger) stock pot over medium heat, stirring almost constantly to prevent browning.

When the onion turns translucent, (about 10 minutes), add the flour and stir over medium heat 5-10 minutes more to cook out the starchy taste of the raw flour.

Add the sherry to the hot onion mixture, let some of the alcohol evaporate to concentrate the flavor, then add the broth. Whisk the soup to get rid of any lumps and bring it to a simmer. Simmer 5 minutes.

Have a large bowl with a mesh strainer positioned over top ready for the next step.

Place mushrooms into the blender pitcher, filling about half way. Add 1 cup of the hot soup base. Do not overfill, because when hot soup is blended, it expands and can seriously burn you when you turn it on. Hold the lid on tightly. Blend the mushrooms on high speed (liquefy) for about 2 minutes, adding a little more soup base if needed to get them moving. Empty the blended soup through the mesh strainer, into the large bowl. You may want to push it through a bit with a rubber spatula, as the onions may be fibrous. Discard any pulp buildup that remains. Repeat with another batch of mushrooms and more soup base, until it has all been blended and strained.

Pour the mushroom soup from the large bowl back into the original stock pot. Add the c ream. Bring the soup back up to a simmer and season it to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle it into warmed bowls, and top each serving with a dollop of the tarragon cream. Pass around the croutons and any extra cream for dipping and soaking.

A healthier Black Bean Soup

2005-03-13T16:41:00.000-05:00

courtesy of lurker Allison:

2 tbs of olive oil or small amount of soup stock

2 stalks of celery, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cups soup stock

1 can of V8 juice, or 1 cup of tomato juice, or 1/2 can of crushed tomatoes

1 can of black beans, rinsed

1 tsp of ground cumin

salt and pepper to taste

makes 6-8 bowls of soup
-heat olive oil in a heavy soup pot at medium heat (if you want to make this NO FAT use a small amount of soup stock instead) add chopped celery and onion, cook until soft. add soup stock, V8 or tomato juice (if you use crushed tomatoes you mayneed to add water)

add black beans (rinse them before adding) bring to a boil, turn the heat down to simmer and add cumin, blend the soup smooth with a hand blender add salt and pepper to taste*** depending on the stock you use you may not need any salt - TASTE FIRST

OPTIONS - if you want a garlicky soup add some fresh garlic to the onions and celery.if you prefer to see your veggies don't blend the soup and add some corn - it looks really pretty

We often have this soup with chicken quesadillas and fresh salsa, even the kids like it..

a healthier black bean soup

2005-03-11T22:09:00.000-05:00

courtesy of lurker Allison:

2 tbs of olive oil or small amount of soup stock

2 stalks of celery, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cups soup stock

1 can of V8 juice, or 1 cup of tomato juice, or 1/2 can of crushed tomatoes

1 can of black beans, rinsed

1 tsp of ground cumin

salt and pepper to taste

makes 6-8 bowls of soup
-heat olive oil in a heavy soup pot at medium heat (if you want to make this NO FAT use a small amount of soup stock instead) add chopped celery and onion, cook until soft. add soup stock, V8 or tomato juice (if you use crushed tomatoes you mayneed to add water)

add black beans (rinse them before adding) bring to a boil, turn the heat down to simmer and add cumin, blend the soup smooth with a hand blender add salt and pepper to taste*** depending on the stock you use you may not need any salt - TASTE FIRST

OPTIONS - if you want a garlicky soup add some fresh garlic to the onions and celery.if you prefer to see your veggies don't blend the soup and add some corn - it looks really pretty

We often have this soup with chicken quesadillas and fresh salsa, even the kids like it..

stir fry udon soup

2005-03-10T20:51:00.000-05:00

serves 3-4

2 pkgs udon noodles (they're in the refrigerated ethnic section, possibly near produce)
assorted stir fry vegges (I used sugar snap peas, carrots, green onions, and garlic)
2 cans beef broth

cook noodles according to package (usually boil in water 2-3 minutes)
drain

in a HOT giant non stick pot, pour a little oil and quickly stir fry veggies (only put garlic in the last minute of cooking or it will burn)

after veggies are done (about 5 minutes), add both cans off beef broth. add one of the packages of seasoning that came with the noodles. keep on medium heat until soup is heated through.

to serve, put a scoop of noodles in bowl and ladle broth on top.

mmmmmm!

Black bean soup and corn muffins

2005-03-09T21:29:00.000-05:00

I've had a hankering for some black bean soup recently. This is odd, because I don't think I've ever eaten black bean soup, let alone make it.

So I looked up a recipe on foodtv.com. I knew that it was a good recipe, because the first ingredient was 10 STRIPS OF BACON. Excellent.

The recipe is here, but I'm going to post it here, because foodtv sometimes takes down their recipes at random. Also, since I can't leave well enough alone, I made some changes based on what I had available, and because dammit, I like tinkering. My changes are in blue.

10 slices bacon, finely chopped (I only had 7 slices. you can probably use less if the thought of that much bacon horrifies you)
2 medium onions, chopped (about 2 1/2 cups)
6 garlic cloves, pressed
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups canned chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
4 (15 1/2-ounce) cans black beans, drained but not rinsed (I only had 3 cans. trust me, this is enough)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bunch cilantro (I'm not a big cilantro fan, so I used parsley from my garden)
juice of 1/2 lime
Thinly sliced scallions, for garnish (I was out of these)
Sour cream, for garnish
Grated cheddar, for garnish

Put the bacon into a large heavy pot and place it over medium heat. Cook until it starts to give up its fat, about 4 minutes. Stir in the onions and cook, stirring, until they start to turn translucent, about 4 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until you can smell it, about 1 minute. Add the broth, tomatoes, ketchup, Worcestershire, and chili powder. Stir in the beans, turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat so the soup is bubbling gently and cook 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

I like my soups creamy. So at this point, I scooped 3 or 4 cups of soup out and poured it into the blender. I blended it smooth, then added it back to the soup pot.

Meanwhile, pick off all the thick stems from the cilantro. Wash it and shake dry. Chop the cilantro coarsely and stir it into the soup when it has been simmering 10 minutes. cook until the soup is thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the lime juice. Serve with the garnishes and corn muffins.

corn muffins

These are easy. Buy a box of Jiffy corn muffin mix. Add the egg, BUT instead of using milk, like the box calls for, pour in 2/3 can creamed corn. This makes the muffins thicker and moister. I'm not a fan of dried out corn bread. You'll probably have to cook the muffins for a few minutes longer. Keep an eye on them, when they start to get brown on the top, they're done!

Taco Salad

2005-03-08T17:01:00.000-05:00

This is not an elaborate recipe. I originally used ground beef, but last time made it with turkey to make it a little more healthy.

1 lb ground turkey or beef
1 onion, chopped
1 can beans (any kind, I use Goya's small white beans)
1 pkg taco seasoning
salad fixens
ranch dressing
tortilla chips

Saute the onion in a little veg oil. Add the meat and brown. Drain any fat. Add the can of beans, liquid and all, and the package of taco seasoning (optional: reserve a spoonful of the seasoning mix). Cook on medium until heated through, stirring occasinally.

Prepare your favorite salad and veggies and toss with a little ranch dressing (optional: mix ranch dressing with reserved taco seasoning before mixing with salad).

Everyone gets a biiiig bowl - fill halfway with salad, and then top with ground meat mixture. Garnish with tortilla chips.

Split Pea Dal

2005-03-06T17:23:00.000-05:00

This is a very easy vegetarian dish. I like to serve it with pita/flat bread and a dollop of lowfat sour cream. The recipe calls for the Grit Indian Spice. It is worth it to go ahead and make the spice mix. You can use it over and over again. I got this recipe from "The Grit Restaurant" Cookbook in Athens, Georgia

1 pound dried split peas, rinsed
2 quarts water (64 ounces)
1 small or 1/2 large yellow onion, finely chopped
2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 1/2 teaspoon Grit Indian Spice **

Combine all ingredients in a large stock pot. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently . Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour, stirring frequently. When consistency is creamy and split peas have lost their body, soup is done.

For a creamier result, puree cooked soup in a blender or food processor. Reheat and serve immediately in warmed bowls.
Yield: 6-8 servings

**
Grit Indian Spice
4 tsp. curry powder
4 tsp. cumin powder
3 tsp. turmeric powder
3 tsp. granulated garlic
3 tsp. coriander powder
3 tsp. cayenne powder
2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/3 tsp. ground clove

Combine well and store in an airtight container.
Yield: 2/3 cup

Italian Wedding Soup

2005-03-03T17:37:00.000-05:00

6-7 cups chicken stock or canned chicken broth
1 pkg frozen chopped spinach
frozen precooked meatballs - I use alot (around 30?) because I love them, you can use less
1 cup acini de pepe or other small soup pasta
1 tsp dried basil
2 tbs grated parmesean cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Heat broth in large pot to boiling. Add basil. Add meatballs and simmer 10 minutes. Add spinach and stir until thawed.

In separate pot, add pasta to salted, boiling water. Cook according to directions, minus 2 minutes. Strain out pasta and add to soup. Simmer all together for 5 minutes. Add parmesean cheese, salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with warm, crusty bread. Mmmmmmm!

Beef Stew

2005-03-02T20:36:00.000-05:00

Do you have a crock pot? I sure as hell hope so. Why would you NOT own one of these wonderful devices? Just throw some stuff in before you leave in the morning, and when you come home, your house smells wonderful, like your own personal slave has been cooking for you all day.

The easiest thing to make in a crock pot is beef stew. If you can use a knife and open cans, you can make this dish.

1 pkg Stew meat - or you can probably cut up a pot roast cut.
potatoes (I used 5 smallish)
carrots (ummm...5, I think)
onions (as many as you like...actually that goes for all the veggies here)
2 cans beef broth
bay leaf
salt '
pepper

Chop up veggies into large yet bite size pieces. Put into pot. Dump meat into pot. Add bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Pour cans of beef broth over. Turn crock pot on low, for 8 or more hours, or high for less time.

When you get home, you can eat it right away (just fish out the bay leaf), or if you have some time you can play around with it. I turned it up to high and added barley. You can also add some tapioca beads, which help thicken (sounds gross, but it's not!). I like to make bisquick dumplings - just follow the directions on the box. The dumplings disintigrate a little, thickening the stew. Or you can probably just mix some flour with mix, add, and let cook until thicken.

mmmmm....tasty....

Potato/Tomato Soup!

2005-03-01T21:41:00.000-05:00

1 Med Onion, chopped
1 cup chopped celery
3T Butter
3-4 Potatoes
Water(different amounts make different textured soups)
1 8oz can Tomato Sauce
1tsp Paprika
1-2tsp Salt or less to taste
1/2 tsp pepper
3T Oil
3T Flour
Fresh chopped Parsley, or if your lazy, the dried flaky stuff will do

First fry the onion and celery until the celery is soft and nearly see-through, in the butter. Then add water, potatoes, tomato sauce, paprika, salt and pepper. If you add more water, it is more soupy, if you add less, it is more stewy. I like it somewhere in between so I put it at least an inch over the potatoes.

Bring to boil, then simmer for 30 minutes or longer if your potatoes are not soft.

Place oil and flour in a shallow pan over med to med high heat. Stir constantly until it bubbles and flour changes color. It is a subtle change in color and in texture.

VERY SLOWLY add the mixture to the soup, stirring carefully. Watch out, this usually sizzles, and smells great!

Let soup cook for another 3 to 5 minutes, add Parley, stir and serve! I like it with cheddar cheese and crackers on the side!

Strawberry friands

2005-02-11T22:13:00.000-05:00

from Riz

I thought I'd better add the recipe, considering I posted the pic on my blog!

You'll need:
175g butter, melted
100g icing sugar (I'd run out, so used raw sugar, powdered with my kitchen whiz thingy)
100g ground almonds
75g plain flour
5 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh strawberries
Extra chopped strawberries for garnishing

Method:
Preheat oven to 200°C, grease friand moulds or muffin cups. (You can see from the pic, that I used some of each.)

Put icing sugar, ground almonds and flour in a mixing bowl. Blend well with a wooden spoon. Add egg whites and vanilla and mix lightly.

Pour in melted butter. Mix until well-blended. (I stuffed this bit up and added the melted butter before the egg whites and vanilla - I don't think it made a difference - they were still delicious!)

Stir in strawberries and spoon mixture into moulds, up to 2/3 full. Scatter more pieces of strawberry over the top for decoration.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until the tops are firm to the touch. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before removing from moulds to a wire rack to cool. Dust with icing sugar if desired. (I didn't.)

Sweet potato, spinach and fetta quiche

2005-02-01T22:03:00.000-05:00

I had this at a cafe once and it was so good I asked for the recipe.

What you'll need:
1 packet of pastry mix (yep - I'm lazy)
about half a small packet of sesame seeds
a pinch of nutmeg
1 large or a couple of small sweet potatos (the orange ones - also called kumera)
a bunch of fresh baby spinach (or packet of frozen spinach)
a block of fetta cheese (the Danish or Bulgarian fetta works well - use a creamy one)
1 onion
2 eggs
about a cup of light thickened cream
salt and ground black pepper to taste

What to do:
Peel the sweet potato and cut it into small chunks. Put it in the oven to bake until soft.

While the sweet potato is cooking, add the sesame seeds and nutmeg to the dry pastry mix and follow the directions on the packet. Roll out the pastry and let it sit (cos it shrinks a bit).

Chop the onion and fry in a little oil until soft and golden.

Beat the eggs, add the cream, salt and pepper and cooked onion.

Lightly grease a quiche or flan dish and line it with the pastry. Over the base, arrange a thin layer of spinach. Add the cooked sweet potato and small blocks of fetta.

Pour the egg/cream/onion mix over the top.

Bake in a hottish oven for about 20 minutes. If the crust looks done but the filling isn't set, turn the temperature down a little and let it keep cooking.

The top should be a golden-brown colour when it's done.

This is just as good cold as it is hot. The amount usually makes one large and one small quiche. It freezes well, too (although there's very rarely any left to keep!).

Enjoy :*)

Salsa!

2005-01-21T16:35:00.000-05:00

From Lady Myles

got this salsa recipe from the little old El Salvadoran mother of my step-dad. The longer it ages in the fridge (up to a week or so) the better it tastes. Makes a whole bunch.

2 each green, red, and yellow bell peppers, chunked according to your
preference
1 medium to large red onion, chopped fine
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 medium tomatilla, chopped fine
4 tomatoes, chopped
1 bunch cilantro
salt to taste
juice of 2 lemons and 1 lime

toss it all in a big rubbermaid, shred or chop the leaves of the cilantro and put on top, squeeze the lemons and lime over the whole bunch, and add salt to taste. put the lid on the rubbermaid, and do the shake-shake... macarena even if you've got a catchy tune playing. shake it all up good and let sit for at least an hour. Viola'! crunchy veggie salsa goodness.

goes beautifully with a very simple guacamole of crushed avocado, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and onion, with a dollop of sour cream on top.

Extreme Margaritas

2005-01-19T08:10:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! This is my first contribution to Evil Recipes, so I figured I'd open with a toast and get y'all schnockered, as a way for us to all get to know each other in a friendly sorta way.

Credit where due, my brother was the first to make these for me. They seemed a bit strong at first sip, but once I got used to them...

The joy of these is that the recipe can fit whatever container you want to make with them, since it's a ratio. 1 glass, 1 pitcher, or 1 bathtub, it's all good.

Extreme Margaritas

1 part triple sec
2 parts Nellie & Joe's Famous Key West Lime Juice
3 parts tequila
Sugar, simple syrup, or Splenda to taste*
Ice

Notes

I use Quervo Gold for the tequila (save the Patron for sipping), and Montezuma triple sec, but I don't think the triple sec matters that much.

Nellie and Joes now comes in a Mango-Lime flavor, too.

*You may need to drink several glasses while you make them in order to twink the recipe's sweetness to your own most discerning standards of excellence. But always make sure your sweetener is fully dissolved before you add the ice.

The drink base is strong enough that if you want frozen margaritas, they will blend up just fine without seeming watery.

I usually mix these up in a gallon sized pitcher, using the 12 oz. bottle of Nellie & Joes as the guide. It fills the pitcher about halfway, so then I fill it the rest of the way with ice, shake it to quick-chill, and serve immediately.

If you have leftovers, they keep in the fridge for weeks - all that acid and booze, it won't spoil. I've never had a batch stay around long enough to go bad, but that's not saying much, other than I'm kinda Irish like that.

Cheesy Potatoes

2005-01-10T14:01:00.000-05:00

One of the post-docs in my lab made this for our recent bbq party. It's DEEEELICIOUS!

This recipe makes a nice size 9x13 pan.

1- 16oz or so bag of Shredded frozen hash brown potatos (I have used the refrig.ones too)
3/4 of a stick of melted butter
1- cup or so of Sour Cream (I add more if it looks too dry depends on how muchpotatos used)
1- can of Cream of Chicken soup
2- cups or so of any kind of mixed cheeses- must have cheddar. (I usually get the mexican blend without the spices added to the cheese).
Durkee French Fried Onions
cooking spray (pam)

Thaw hash browns by running under hot water or just let them sit out for a bit, but make sure they are not soggy wet. I usually just thaw on counter for awhile and if some are still frozen who cares. This is why I have used therefrigerated kind before but they are way more expensive. (Bob Evans Brand or Simply Potato) and you do not get as much, smaller bags.

Next mix Sour Cream, Soup, melted butter together then add it to potatos.

Then add and mix in the cheese.I spray the pan with PAM .......put potatos in pan and cover with foil. Bake for 35-40 min. in a 350 degree oven. When buzzer says they are done uncover the pan DO NOT STIR, top the potatos with Durkee French Fried Onions. I sprinkle them on top as much as you like. Bake an additional 8-10 min. till golden brown!

YUMMMMM!!!!!!!! Enjoy.

Easy Artichoke dip

2005-01-07T21:22:00.000-05:00

This recipe comes from lurker Paul, who emailed it to me out of the blue! Hooray!

Thanks Paul! Anyone can send in a recipe, just email me at evilsciencechick at gmail dot com.

Combine 1 can drained artichokes with 1/2 cup light sour cream and 1/2 cup parmesean cheese.

Add 1tbsp of garlic powder and mix.

Place in a small ovensafe dish and sprinkle ground pepper, and freshly grated parmesean cheese on top.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

Serve with melba toast garlic rounds or another hearty cracker. The good thing about this recipe is that it is easy and can be doubled without problems.

Salsa!

2005-01-07T16:48:00.000-05:00

From Lady Myles

got this salsa recipe from the little old El Salvadoran mother of my step-dad. The longer it ages in the fridge (up to a week or so) the better it tastes. Makes a whole bunch.

2 each green, red, and yellow bell peppers, chunked according to your
preference
1 medium to large red onion, chopped fine
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 medium tomatilla, chopped fine
4 tomatoes, chopped
1 bunch cilantro
salt to taste
juice of 2 lemons and 1 lime

Sesame chicken skewers

2005-01-06T15:59:00.000-05:00

this recipe (increased amounts, of course) would be great finger food for a party!

marinade: all amounts are approximate - I just add add add...so I'm guessing at the amounts

1/2 c soy sauce
3 tbs honey
3 tbs ketchup
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tbs fresh ginger, chopped
a dash of sesame oil

combine together

other stuff:

2-3 breasts chicken
wooden skewers, soaked in water
sesame seeds

chop up chicken breasts into bite sized pieces and combine with marinade (a ziplock bag works nicely for this)
marinate for at least 20 minutes

skewer chicken, a few peices per skewer. my chicken pieces were a little long, so I double skewered them - weaving them on.

sprinkle with sesame seeds and place on hot grill. grill each side a few minutes. (depends on how big your chunks are)

in the meantime, pour the marinade into a small pot and put over medium high heat. bring to boil. boil for 5 minutes while stirring (careful, it can burn!), then remove from heat. this kills all the nasty salmonella bugs and now your marinade is a tasty dipping sauce. you can probably just make extra marinade and reserve it for this purpose, but I didn't think of that ahead of time, now did I?

Easy Artichoke dip

2005-01-04T15:57:00.000-05:00

Swedish Ham Balls

2005-01-02T14:52:00.000-05:00

This is my Grandmother's famous recipe. She got it from her mother. These are absolutely fabulous. I've seen fights over the leftovers. LOL

Balls:
1 lb. Ground Ham
1 ½ lb. Ground Pork
2 c. Bread Crumbs
2 Well Beaten Eggs
1 c. Milk

Sauce:
1 c. Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Dry Mustard
½ c. Vinegar (I use ½ white and ½ red wine vinegar)
½ c. Water

Combine meats, crumbs, eggs & milk. Mix thoroughly. Form into small balls & place in baking pan.

Combine remaining ingredients, stir until sugar completely dissolved & pour over meat balls.

Bake in slow oven (325 degrees) for 1 hour. Baste often. Makes 16 balls.

I usually double the recipe because they are so good and make great leftovers.

Layered Taco Dip

2005-01-01T18:10:00.000-05:00

This goes under the "make for a party" category. But it comes with a warning: it's ADDICTIVE! I kid you not. If you make it for a party, be prepared for all your friends to request that you bring it to theirs. most of my party invites are contingent on me making this.

1 pkg cream cheese – softened
1 cup sour cream
½ pkg taco seasoning
around 1 ½ cup shredded lettuce
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 small red onion, 1 bell pepper, chopped
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 can black olives – chopped

With a food processor or mixer, mix cream cheese, sour cream and taco seasoning until well blended. Spread in a 9x13” pan. Chill in fridge for an hour. Then top with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onion, peppers, and olives. Serve with tortilla chips

Optional: chop cilantro and mix with lettuce layer
Use hot peppers
After chilling sour cream layer, spread a layer of guacamole

a healthier black bean soup

2004-12-15T15:17:00.000-05:00

courtesy of lurker Allison:

2 tbs of olive oil or small amount of soup stock

2 stalks of celery, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cups soup stock

1 can of V8 juice, or 1 cup of tomato juice, or 1/2 can of crushed tomatoes

1 can of black beans, rinsed

1 tsp of ground cumin

OPTIONS - if you want a garlicky soup add some fresh garlic to the onions and celery.if you prefer to see your veggies don't blend the soup and add some corn - it looks really pretty

We often have this soup with chicken quesadillas and fresh salsa, even the kids like it..

Grilled Chicken With A Flare

2004-12-04T15:56:00.000-05:00

(and no, not the kind you send out as a distress signal) courtesy of Brighton

1 tsp Salt
1/4 Cup Cilantro
1 tsp. Cumin
1tsp. White Wine Vinegar
1/2 Cup Lime Juice
1/4 Cup Green Onions
1 tsp. Jalapeno Pepper
1 tsp. Cajun Seasoning
8 Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Breasts
1/2 Cup Green Hot Sauce

Directions:
Place the chicken in a large zip-lock bag. In a bowl, combine the lime juice, pepper sauce, cilantro, onions, peppers, vinegar, and cumin. Pour into the bag with the chicken. Seal the bag, place inside a large bowl or baking dish, and refrigerate for at least 4 and up to 8 hours. Turn the bag occasionally to marinate evenly. (Alternately, the chicken and marinade can be placed in a non-reactive baking dish and tightly covered with plastic wrap. Turn the pieces occasionally.) Preheat a grill. Remove the chicken from the marinade and pat dry. Season both sides with the salt and cajun spice. Grill over a medium flame, with the lid closed, until brown on both sides, cooked through and juices run clear, about 25 minutes, turning frequently.
6 Servings.

Chicken Cacciatore

2004-12-03T15:54:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of Sara

What you need:

Chicken breasts (preferrably with fat cut off)

ScallionsA can of olives, drained

Can of stewed tomatoes1-2 Zucchini

Garlic & other seasonings (optional, to your liking)

1 egg

Flour

Box of pasta of your choosing (penne recommended)

Merlot/Red wine (optional)

How to prepare:

First, you need to cook the chicken in a large pan/deep skillet. Do this by dipping it into the egg mixture, then rolling it into the flour. Cook the chicken for about 10 minutes (when it looks fairly well-cooked).

In the meantime, chop up the scallions and zucchini. Once the chicken is cooked, add the can of stewed tomatos to the chicken, along with a splash of merlot or other red wine (the wine is optional). Also, add the olives, zucchini, scallions, and any other seasonings you choose. Make sure the heat on the stove is turned down to a low/simmer setting.Once the chicken is all prepared, cook your pasta according to the directions on the box. Serve a piece of chicken over a 1/2 cup of pasta per person.

Serves 3-4 people.

Apple-Onion Chicken

2004-12-02T15:53:00.000-05:00

courtesy of Sara

What you need:
Sour Apple Pucker/Sour Apple Vodka
Chicken breasts (preferrably with fat cut off, appropriate for the number of people that will be served)
1 white onion, chopped
1-2 Granny Smith Apples, sliced
Seasonings (optional, to your liking)
1 egg
Flour
Rice

How to prepare:

Cook the chicken as you did for the chicken cacciatore. In a separate small pan, cook the onion pieces until they look somewhat transparent. Add the onions and apple pieces, along with a splash of the pucker/vodka to the pan. Let the mixture simmer for about 20 minutes. Prepare the rice. Serve a piece of chicken with the apples and onions over 1/2 cup of the white rice. Serves 3-4 people.

a healthier black bean soup

2004-12-02T15:52:00.000-05:00

courtesy of lurker Allison:

2 tbs of olive oil or small amount of soup stock
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cups soup stock
1 can of V8 juice, or 1 cup of tomato juice, or 1/2 can of crushed tomatoes
1 can of balck beans, rinsed 1
tsp of ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste

makes 6-8 bowls of soup

-heat olive oil in a heavy soup pot at medium heat (if you want to make this NO FAT use a small amount of soup stock instead) add chopped celery and onion, cook until soft. add soup stock, V8 or tomato juice (if you use crushed tomatoes you mayneed to add water)

add black beans (rinse them before adding) bring to a boil, turn the heat down to simmer and add cumin, blend the soup smooth with a hand blender add salt and pepper to taste*** depending on the stock you use you may not need any salt - TASTE FIRST

OPTIONS - if you want a garlicky soup add some fresh garlic to the onions and celery.if you prefer to see your veggies don't blend the soup and add some corn - it looks really pretty
We often have this soup with chicken quesadillas and fresh salsa, even the kids like it..

Strawberry friands

2004-11-10T22:27:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd better add the recipe, considering I posted the pic on my blog!

You'll need:
175g butter, melted
100g icing sugar (I'd run out, so used raw sugar, powdered with my kitchen whiz thingy)
100g ground almonds
75g plain flour
5 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh strawberries
Extra chopped strawberries for garnishing

Method:
Preheat oven to 200°C, grease friand moulds or muffin cups. (You can see from the pic, that I used some of each.)

Put icing sugar, ground almonds and flour in a mixing bowl. Blend well with a wooden spoon. Add egg whites and vanilla and mix lightly.

Pour in melted butter. Mix until well-blended. (I stuffed this bit up and added the melted butter before the egg whites and vanilla - I don't think it made a difference - they were still delicious!)

Stir in strawberries and spoon mixture into moulds, up to 2/3 full. Scatter more pieces of strawberry over the top for decoration.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until the tops are firm to the touch. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before removing from moulds to a wire rack to cool. Dust with icing sugar if desired. (I didn't.)

Blueberry Beer-Batter Pancakes

2004-11-01T13:31:00.000-05:00

Heheeeheee... what to make for breakfast when you realize that you want blueberry pancakes, but forgot about eggs and milk...

Ingredients

1 bottle or can (12 oz.) beer -- the lighter/cheaper the better ... Coors Light, Rolling Rock, Bud Light are good choices. If you normally drink heavier beer, try Killians Irish Red as an alternative here. And yes, the alcohol cooks off.
2 C. Bisquick or Jiffy Baking Mix
1 pt. blueberries, washed
oil or cooking spray

Instructions

Add ~ 2 T. oil to large skillet or griddle (or spray with cooking spray). Heat pan over medium high heat until it "sizzles" when you sprinkle a few drops of water on it.
Mix 2 C. baking mix with beer. This is "to taste"... NO, DON'T *actually* TASTE IT...I mean, depending on how thick or thin you like your pancake batter. Everyone does it differently, so use your own judgement. I've used almost a whole bottle to 2 C. mix, and it works great.
Pour pancake batter onto hot pan into desired size pancakes.*
Add blueberries to pancakes -- I like to make smiley faces with mine... :-)
Cook first side of pancake til the outside edge starts to turn "matte" (i.e. not shiny) and the bubbles that come to the surface of the uncooked side all pop. If you peek at the underside it will be golden brown.
Flip the pancake!
Cook second side til golden brown and the whole pancake sort of "puffs up" a little.
Butter your beautiful** blueberry beer batter pancakes (say that 3 times fast!) and enjoy with or without syrup!

* Generally, the first pancake is always the cruddiest... so if you are trying to make them look good, make one pancake (to soak up the extra oil on the skillet) and eat it yourself. :-)

** Okay, so this is just for alliteration... these don't always look so beautiful, because blueberry pancakes tend to be messy, but they always taste delicious!

Egg Yolk Sponge

2004-10-11T02:06:00.000-05:00

I found something to do with the yolks left over from the Strawberry friands I made yesterday.

What you'll need:
4 egg yolks (I used 5 as that's what I had left)
2 tbsps boiling water
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup self-raising flour
2 tbsps milk
Dash of vanilla essence

Method:
Beat the egg yolks with the boiling water until light and fluffy.

Add the caster sugar and beat again until thick and creamy. Fold in the flour, milk and vanilla.

Bake in a preheated oven at 190°C for 20 minutes in a greased 8"/23cm cake tin.

Cool for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

Once completely cool, split if desired and fill. I used fresh whipped cream and chopped strawberries in the middle, put the top back on, then topped it with whipped cream, jelly and more strawberries.

My first made-from-scratch sponge cake :*)

Chocolate Heaven Truffle Cake

2004-10-09T14:28:00.000-05:00

From Sunni's recipe site.

as usual, I tinker, and I made only one real change - the addition of a pinch of salt. my comments are in blue.

This cake is a bit complicated to make, but the results are worth it!

All ingredients at room temperature:

16 oz. best quality bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate bars, 60% cocoa)
1 C. unsalted butter (cut into tbs squares for easier melting)
6 eggs
1/4 to 1/2 C. sugar (optional) (I used 1/2 c)
1 t. vanilla or up to 2T. flavored liqueur of your choice (optional) (I used Grand Marnier)

Preheat oven to 425 F. Butter a 9" springform pan (or cake pan with removable side). Line bottom of pan with parchment paper; butter paper. Coat bottom and side of pan generously with superfine sugar.

Oops...I forgot to buy more parchment paper. And it was 11pm. Crap! My springform pan is non-stick. So I just buttered the pan, sprinkled on some sugar, and kept my fingers cross. The next morning, after warming the sides and running a knive around the edge, no major sticking to report. Whew!

Wrap outside of pan well with a double layer of aluminum foil. You'll also need a roasting pan that the cake pan can fit into.
In double boiler or (carefully!) in microwave, combine chocolate and butter and melt. Stir to blend; if using vanilla or liqueur, stir into chocolate mix and set aside. (I recommend using vanilla unless you're using a liqueur, because it enhances the chocolate flavor.)

I also added a pinch of salt. Chocolate needs salt - I remember this from my truffle making experience.

Place eggs in large bowl set over simmering water, stirring constantly until warm (do not allow eggs to begin to set). Remove from heat and whip until tripled in volume and soft peaks form. If using, add sugar slowly to eggs once they begin to froth.

I was afraid I'd get instant "setting," so I started using the handmixer on the eggs as soon as I put them in the double boiler. Once I was sure they were warmed through, I took them off and contined mixing. I never did get soft peaks. I got to foamy ribbons, and left it at that.

Fold about 1/3 of eggs into the chocolate mixture until almost incorporated, making sure to scrape bottom of bowl well. Gently fold in remaining egg mix just until blended, again being sure to scrape to the bowl's bottom.

Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top. Set the pan in the roasting pan, and gently pour very hot water in the roasting pan to a depth of about 1".

Place pans in oven; bake cake for 5 minutes. Cover top of cake loosely with buttered foil and bake 10 minutes more. The cake will look soft.

Remove from oven and carefully remove from roasting pan (watch for the dripping hot water). Cool on wire rack 45 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until firm (about 3 hours). To unmold, wipe sides of pan with hot, damp towel. Run thin knife around inside of pan and release side. Place plastic-wrapped plate (NOT serving plate) atop and invert cake. Wipe bottom of pan with hot, damp towel and remove. Peel off parchment paper. Reinvert cake onto serving plate.

Frost as desired and chill. Cake may be served chilled, in which case the texture will be dense, rather like cheesecake. If cake is served at room temperature, the texture is soft, quite like the inside of a truffle. Delightful either way! I'm going plain with mine, as icing would be WAY too over the top, and homemade whipped cream won't travel in my car very well.

Suitable frostings include whipped cream, whipped chocolate buttercream, or creme anglaise (flavored with up to 2 T. of the same liqueur used in the cake if desired).

A wonderful combination is to frost with whipped cream and pool raspberry sauce beside each slice.

my results:

Cookies: Evil-good and evil-bad versions

2004-10-02T09:59:00.001-05:00

How to make Haystacks

2 c white sugar
1/2 c butter
1/2 c milk
1/2 c cocoa

Boil, stirring, for 5 minutes (or 3 minutes for gooey cookies).

Add

1 T vanilla
1/2 t salt
3 c oats
1 c coconut

Mix well. Drop by the teaspoon onto waxed paper. Cool. Eat. Eat more. Put in an airtight container before you eat yourself sick. Try not to lick out the pot while it's still hot--that stuff is sticky and can really burn. (These are evil-good, because they're easy to make and hard to stop eating.)

How to make disgusting, vile, horrifyingly, traumatically nasty Haystacks

substitute Splenda for as little as half of the sugar.

shudder

"Hmm. I'm almost out of sugar," I think. "But here's some Splenda. They talk up how good this stuff is for baking," I think. "How bad can it be?" I think.

You'd think I'd have learned from my brother's Tequila Suicide experience (I'll tell you about it some other time) that if you find yourself asking "How bad can it be?" you usually don't want to know the answer.

Creamy Peach Pie

2004-10-01T17:27:00.000-05:00

This? Is the recipe for the world's greatest peach pie. Since it's almost peach season (or is it peach season? I'm not really up on these things. heh) I figured I'd share.
Warning: This pie has been known to cause brawls over who gets to eat the last piece. Never say I haven't warned you.

Crust:
1 1/2 cups All purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter

Filling:
4 cups sliced fresh peaches
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons All purpose flour
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
Topping:
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
For crust, combine flour and salt and cut in butter. Press into a 9-inch pie plate.
For filling, put peaches into a bowl. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup sugar and set aside. In another bowl, combine remaining sugar, 2 1/2 tables spoons flour, egg, salt and vanilla. Fold in sour cream. Stir mixture into peaches. Pour into crust. Bake for 15 minutes.
Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 20 minutes more.
Prepare topping by combining all ingrediants until crumbly. After baking at 350 for 20 minutes, sprinkle topping evenly on top. Bake for 10 minutes more at 400 degrees.
This recipe serves 6 to 8.
Don't go asking for calorie counts, because this pie is so good it will wipe all thoughts of diet from your mind and you will eat until peach juice runs down your chin.
Enjoy!

Thyme and Cheesy Potato Fritters

2004-09-22T13:30:00.000-05:00

Sylvana is on a fritter kick! MORE FRITTERS! HIDE THE CAT, BEFORE SHE GOES FRITTER INSANE!

A 24 oz bag of cheap, frozen hashbrown potatoes- the loose variety, not the preformed
2/3-1 cup flour
a couple tablespoons of dried thyme or chopped fresh thyme
1/4 cup dried milk- you could also use sour cream or plain yogurt. I was going to use sour cream, but mine was unfortunately expired :(
a pinch or two of cayenne pepper, cause I do like the spice!
sea salt
black pepper
a clove garlic chopped up itty-bitty
1/2 medium onion chopped up itty-bitty, GET VADALIA IF YOU CAN!! BEST ONION EVER!! If you can't then get Walla Walla, or use shallots. You need a mild, sweet onion.
One egg
a palm full of grated parmesan
a palm full of grated co-jack
olive oil
goggles and/or shield

The brand of hashbrowns I used was Mrs. Dee's. Got them two for a dollar, I think. Now that's cheap! They aren't too bad fried up on their own, but I far prefer
the Oreida hashbrowns. Put the hashbrown potatoes in a large mixing bowl. I defrosted them a little, just until all the potato pieces were separated.

Dump in the flour, thyme and dry milk and mixed it up thoroughly. If you are using sour cream or yogurt, I would wait to add it with the egg. Sprinkle cayenne over the top and mix it in. Do the same with the salt and pepper. If you don't have sea salt, you can use regular salt. But then you must make sure to get that on your shopping list. Many Chinese markets have this salt for next to nothing. I think I paid about 50 cents a bag for mine. Get it. You'll thank me.

You could grate the onion, but you will most likely regret it. I slice the onions very thin then think about someone I hate and chop the hell out of them… er, the onion- I chop the hell out of the onion. I do the same with the garlic. I am assuming that you know that you are supposed to peel both of these first. Throw the itty-bitties into the mix and stir until they are well acquainted with everything.

Now it is time to moisten things up a bit. You can scramble the egg first, but that sounds like extra work. I like my food rustic, so I just cracked it right into the bowl and stirred like mad. If you were using sour cream or yogurt, you would add that at the same time. Don't worry if the potatoes look like they are taking a beating- they like it rough. The batter should be just moist, not soupy (you can add a little more flour to remedy too much liquids). If it looks a little dry, you can add a little milk, water, or more sour cream or yogurt. Dealer's choice no matter what you put in the recipe to begin with.

Once you have it the consistency that you want, stir in the cheeses.

Heat up a couple tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, cause you only live once, in a pan over medium heat. Put on the goggles, get your shield at the ready, or at the very least be prepared to quickly throw up your hands to defend yourself. Yeah, cause there is a lot of water still floatin around in these and the oil will try to burn your eyes out in a fit of vengeful rage. Spoon the mix into the pan. Spread it out a little to form a patty.

Fry on each side until golden brown and there is no batter coming out of them. Remove from heat and serve.

These got the SSB and JD seals of approval.

(The editor would like to add that "fritters of vengeful rage" would be an excellent name for a band.)

Thyme zucchini fritters

2004-09-21T20:43:00.000-05:00

Sylvana sent this to me. She originally published it at her gardening site here. So if you grow your own veggies...great! But if you're like me, buy them from the store. But I do have fresh thyme. Hooray!

In a medium sized bowl beat together two eggs into a
scant cup of flour. When this is mixed thoroughly,
sprinkle baking powder over the top of the batter,
just enough to dust it. Mix this in as well. Mix in
enough milk so that the batter will just barely run
from your mixing utensil. This is about 1/4-1/3 cup.
Mix in about 2-3 teaspoons of dried thyme. You can
also use fresh if you were lucky enough to remember to
grow it this year. Salt and pepper to your taste.

Get one of those green bad-boys from your garden. Wash
it if you want. I don't. I like to innoculate my
immune system on a regular basis to prepare for
bio-warfare. Cut the ends off, and start grating. I
think I used about two cups. They suggested to grate
it over a paper towel to remove some of the moisture.
That's a really good idea, especially since you will
be frying these. I use Viva. It's the best towel on
the market! Mix the grated zucchini into the batter.

You need a frying pan and some oil. I use a cast iron
skillet. I love the way that cast iron cooks food. It
just adds something extra to the food that I can't
explain. It makes pancakes and hashbrowns perfectly.
And it comes in handy as a weapon if your dog is
broke.

I splurge on extra virgin olive oil. You only live
once! Use a couple of tablespoons.

Heat the pan first on medium heat. I learned years ago
that the key to non-stick (save for those cancer
causing teflon thingies) is cold oil on a hot pan. I
don't really know if this is true, but what the hell.
Do it anyway.

Once the oil is heated enough, scoop some of the
batter into the pan and spread out slightly. You can
put a couple of these in the pan at a time. I got
three in at a time. Fry each side until they are
golden brown and there is no more raw batter coming
out the sides.

I served these warm with real mayonaise. I did try
them with Miracle Whip too, and that was good as well.
I would have made my own garlic mayonaise, but I was
way too eager to try these while they were still warm
and I hadn't thought to make it ahead of time.

Cheesy Potatoes

2004-09-11T21:05:00.000-05:00

Evil Chinese Noodles

2004-09-04T15:47:00.000-05:00

From Dr Jim

1 seasoned Wok or non-stick pan
1 pack of dried noodles (good quality japanese noodles work well too)
Olive oil
Sesame oil
Good soy sauce (Kikkoman Japanese is good)
Sugar (demerara or other unrefined sugar)
sea salt

Feel free to substitute whatever grade ingredient you like or can get
hold of. Also, the volumes/amounts aren't fixed like tablespoons,
teaspoons or fl oz - you just get the feel for what is right,
sometimes is great, others it is just ok - you'll get it.

Pre-emptive: Put dried noodles in pan, add boiling water. Bring back
to boil and let boil for 1 minute - very strictly 1 minute!

Pour of the hot water and cool them off with cold water. Keep doing
this until they are totally cold. Don't leave them in the water too
long as what you're trying to do is clear the starch (that will lead
to unwanted clumping later on) and prevent them from absorbing too
much water (as they will disintegrate).

Once they're cooled down, drain them well in a sieve or collender.
Leave them to sit for 20-30 mins - this is when you can get on with
the rest of your accompanying meal of chop suey, chow mein or whatever
stir fry.

As everything else is nearing readiness, come back to the noodles. Get
your wok/pan and add a few glugs of olive oil, a glug of soy sauce, a
glug of sesame oil (this is the main basis for the flavour - so don't
over do it...but you can vary the amount depending on how strong you
want them). Also add a pinch of salt and a good few pinches of the
sugar. Get the heat on and mix using your preferred utensil. It should
form a browny oily mush (all very healthy though).

Once mushed, dump in the noodles and fold them through the mush over
the heat. Try to get all the noodles coated - they will quickly absorb
the flavours. Keep the noodles cooking until they almost get that
crispy brown authentic noodle look (not the sloppy white noodles that
westerners often do - sloppy noodles are for Ramen soup and nothing
more!)

Then serve hot.

People will think you have a China man in your kitchen!

Thyme and Cheesy Potato Fritters

2004-09-03T15:45:00.000-05:00

Sylvana is on a fritter kick! MORE FRITTERS! HIDE THE CAT, BEFORE SHE GOES FRITTER INSANE!

A 24 oz bag of cheap, frozen hashbrown potatoes- the loose variety, not the preformed
2/3-1 cup flour
a couple tablespoons of dried thyme or chopped fresh thyme
1/4 cup dried milk- you could also use sour cream or plain yogurt. I was going to use sour cream, but mine was unfortunately expired :(
a pinch or two of cayenne pepper, cause I do like the spice!
sea salt
black pepper
a clove garlic chopped up itty-bitty
1/2 medium onion chopped up itty-bitty, GET VADALIA IF YOU CAN!! BEST ONION EVER!! If you can't then get Walla Walla, or use shallots. You need a mild, sweet onion.
One egg
a palm full of grated parmesan
a palm full of grated co-jack
olive oil
goggles and/or shield

Fry on each side until golden brown and there is no batter coming out of them. Remove from heat and serve.

These got the SSB and JD seals of approval.

(The editor would like to add that "fritters of vengeful rage" would be an excellent name for a band.)

Thyme Zucchine Fritters

2004-09-02T15:44:00.000-05:00

Cheesy Potatoes

2004-09-01T14:57:00.000-05:00

Evil Chinese Noodles

2004-08-30T15:33:00.000-05:00

From Dr Jim

1 seasoned Wok or non-stick pan
1 pack of dried noodles (good quality japanese noodles work well too)
Olive oil
Sesame oil
Good soy sauce (Kikkoman Japanese is good)
Sugar (demerara or other unrefined sugar)
sea salt

Black-eyed beans and spinach

2004-08-28T18:42:00.000-05:00

What you'll need:
375g (a little over 3/4 pound) dried black-eyed beans
1 bunch spinanch leaves, washed well
salt and freshly ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
1/2 lemon for squeezing

What to do:
Rinse the beans, cover with water and simmer for 20 minutes.
Drain, rinse, then top with just enough water to cover.
Bring back to the boil, add spinanch, salt and papper and simmer another 10 minutes or so until the beans are soft (add more water if needed).

Serve tepid or warm, drizzled with olive oil and fresh lemon, with bread to soak up the juices.

I've got to admit - I haven't tried this yet, but found it in yesterday's newspaper and am doing it for dinner tonight. Thought I'd add it to the bean recipes for Regan ;*)

Three bean chili

2004-08-27T05:52:00.000-05:00

This is insanely good vegetarian chili. I don't ever measure this, so this is just an approximation.

Warning: You will have leftovers.

You will need:
One can dark red kidney beans
One can red kidney beans
Two cans black beans
One can crushed tomatos
(You can make all of these cans the big kind if you want a freezer full of quick meals)
One bag vegetarian crumbles (make it two if you go with the big cans)
One medium sized bottle or can of tomato juice (again, make it larger to match cans if needed)
Chili powder, red pepper to taste (I use a lot)
5 onions
2 green peppers
Head of garlic (we like a lot of garlic, so if you're not a fan, just toss in one or two cloves)
(I did mention there would be leftovers, right?)

To prepare:
Saute the onions, peppers and garlic in some olive oil until translucent
Add to large pot with beans, tomato juice, crushed tomatos and vegetarian crumbles
Add spices to taste
Simmer for 800 years or until flavors have melded into a red hot harmony.
Enjoy!
Be sure to have plenty of beer, milk and bread on hand to stop the fire.

Thai green chicken curry

2004-08-26T07:46:00.000-05:00

This is another quick and easy one ... god I love my frypan and the microwave!

You'll need:
Chicken breast or thigh fillets
an onion
Green curry paste
a small can of coconut cream
beans (fresh or frozen)

What to do:
Slice the onion and fry til golden in a little olive oil. If you have sesame oil, add about half a teaspoon, as it gives a great taste.

Add the sliced chicken and cook til sealed.

Add the green curry paste. I won't give a definite amount, as brands vary in strength, but I use about half a jar of asia@home for two people.

Stir til chicken is coated, add the coconut milk and beans. While this is cooking, do the rice.

The easiest way to cook rice is in the microwave - honest - it's foolproof! I use Basmati rice, sometimes called "fragrant" rice, for just about everything except risotto. I love the flavour... mmmmmmm... and it smells great while it's cooking. Just put about a cup in a microwave-proof bowl, rinse it, then add water til it's covered with about half an inch (1-1.5cm), cover with gladwrap and cook on high for 11 minutes.

There! Lovely fluffy rice :*)

The chook should be cooked by this time:

So serve and enjoy :*)

Chicken & Rice

2004-08-24T15:28:00.000-05:00

The cold & flue season is coming up. I made this for dinner this past week, when both me and my kid were feeling sick. The rice continues to absorb the broth so what began as a thin soup type of stew becomes thicker and almost a solid mass by the time you are finished dinner.

1 whole chicken, cut into parts,
or 3-5 pounds of bone-in chicken pieces
2 carrots roughly cut up (or 1 cup of those tiny peeled snack carrot fingers)
1 onion, coarse chopped
2 stalks celery, coarse chopped
1-2 Tbsp. salt, to taste
1/2 - 1 tsp. pepper, to taste
1-2 Tbsp. poultry seasoning (more if you are adding a lot of water)
2 sticks butter
2-3 cups white rice (not instant)

Place the chicken in a very large stock pot, fill pot with clean cold water , up so that water level covers chicken by a good inch. Throw in vegetables. Add salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium and boil gently until the meat falls easily off the bones when you pick a piece of chicken up with tongs (about 2 hours). Add more water if it boils off too much.

Lazy method: Drop in 1 stick of butter and stir in rice without picking the chicken bones skin out, allow to simmer until rice is fully cooked, about 25 minutes, serve in bowls, let everyone else pick out their own bones. Top each bowl with an extra pat of butter.

Nicer presentation method: Before adding the rice, use tongs to remove all of the chicken pieces from the broth into a large bowl. On a separate cutting board or plate, work on each individual piece of chicken, separating the meat from the bones and skin. Discard bones and skin and return meat to the broth. Add in 1 stick of butter and rice. Allow to simmer until rice is fully cooked, about 25 minutes. Serve in bowls, with an extra pat of butter topping each.

Fruity curried sausages

2004-08-22T01:21:00.000-05:00

This is a quick and easy dinner. Good for cold weekend nights, and it's been a favourite of the kids for years. Quantities are really loose .. just however much you've got, and more or less curry powder to taste.

About 10-12 BBQ or breakfast sausages
1 big white onion, chopped
1-2 apples, chopped
a handful of sultanas (raisins)
yellow curry powder (I use Keens)
fruit chutney (Rosella is good)
a handful of dessicated coconut
water

Place the raw sausages in a pot of water and bring to the boil. Once they've cooked through (ie, turned grey), drain them and chop into bite-size lengths.

Brown the chopped onion and apple, then add curry powder and fry til fragrant. I didn't have any apples last time I made this, so used diced dried fruit (raisins, dried apple, apricot, pear) ...

Add the sausage bits, about a third to half a cup of the chutney, the coconut and a little water (enough to make everything wet so it doesn't burn).

Once it's bubbling, turn down the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Oh - keep the lid on while it's simmering - I just took it off for the pic.

Serve over steamed rice... yummmmmmmm.

Rosemary Basil Chicken with Spaghetti

2004-08-21T20:08:00.000-05:00

Sylvana sent this to me last week, and because I'm such a ditz lately I forgot to post it. So here it is, in all its yummy glory!

This is a FAST and EASY recipe that tastes like you slaved over it.

Get a couple chicken breasts, I like the frozen ones but you can use fresh. If they are frozen, defrost them SLIGHTLY. Chicken is way easier to cut when it is still a little frozen. It's more like chopping celery than like chopping over-ripe tomatoes.

While that is defrosting (about two minutes on defrost in the microwave), start a pan of water for the pasta. I chose spaghetti because we had just bought some. You could use any plain pasta. I always put salt and oil in the water. They help heat the water faster, season
the pasta, and they help keep the noodles from sticking to each other.

Heat up another pan. I used my cast iron fry pan, of course. Once it is hot, put in about two tablesoons of extra virgin olive oil (cause you only live once) . While that is heating up chop up the stilll mostly frozen chicken into one inch cubes. You can chop them up however you like.

Make sure that the pan is good and hot before throwing in the chicken. This sears the outside to keep the juices inside, plus it makes it taste better. Start stirring right away to make sure that no side gets over-cooked and all sides get seared fairly evenly.

Once the chicken cubes are fully seared, turn down the heat to about medium. Make sure that there is still moisture in the pan to keep the chicken from getting dry. Add a little water if you have to. Mince two cloves of garlic and add to the chicken. Grind up half a tablespoon or more of rosemary and throw that in. Add about a tablespoon of basil- or more if you like. Add a couple of big pinches of sea salt (or regular salt, or garlic salt, whatever). I like sea salt because it gives the food a nice flavor. Regular table salt is too harsh for my tastes.

The pasta water should be ready by now. Add the pasta, stir, reduce the heat slightly, and cover. I like to stir the pasta every five minutes to make sure that I don't get the evil pasta clump! Seriously, who wants to try and eat that?

Dice up a few medium sized tomatoes (I used three for this) into thick chunks. Throw them into the chicken pan. I never peel tomatoes. Peeled tomatoes are for wusses. The tomato peels add a nice bright red garnish to the dish. Cook the mix down until the tomatoes make a pseudo sauce. Add a little black pepper if you like. I did.

The pasta should be done, or at least when it is done, drain and add to chicken mix. OR you can do it the lazy Sylvana way- just tong the pasta out of the pan you cooked it in right into the chicken mix pan. What's a little pasta water among friends, eh? Stir the whole thing together. Add a couple handfuls of feta cheese (good stuff, that feta). And serve.

My picture may not look very impressive. I feel that I didn't add enough tomatoes. I used three- medium sized.. Next time, I might use five, or less pasta. Although, my son said that it was the PERFECT sauce to pasta ratio. And my husband said it was fabulous. I thought it was pretty good myself, so maybe I wouldn't change a thing.

Chicken, mushroom and bean enchiladas

2004-08-19T06:27:00.000-05:00

This is cooking now - it's good to use up left over roast chicken, and you can vary the rest of it depending on what you have around. Tonight, it was a few huge field mushrooms that have been sitting in the fridge, and a can of mexibeans from the pantry.

The filling:

Roughly chopped cold cooked chicken
Roughly chopped field mushrooms (they actually taste better in this if they aren't incredibly fresh)
1 can of mexibeans (mixed beans in a capsicum and tomato sauce)
Enchilada sauce to make a thick, gooey mix

Heat the tortillas and have a glass of wine while the filling is cooking. Check, stir and blog if it's not quite ready - the chicken should be done enough so that it shreds easily. Have another glass of wine if needed.

Putting it together:
Peel the tortillas apart, place a decent spoonful of the filling down the centre of each and roll them up. (I know this doesn't really need a pic, but I'm trying out Blogger's new pic upload.)

Place edges down in a lightly oiled baking dish or flat casserole dish. Repeat as needed until you've used all the tortillas or filling. Spoon over extra enchilada sauce, top with grated cheese (I use reduced fat cheddar), and put in the oven at 180°C for about 15-20 minutes until the cheese is melted and just starting to brown.

Serve with a salad and sour cream - and more wine. I'm having Banrock Station White Shiraz with this tonight. Hola!

Rosemary Basil Chicken with Spaghetti

2004-08-18T20:18:00.000-05:00

Sylvana sent this to me last week, and because I'm such a ditz lately I forgot to post it. So here it is, in all its yummy glory!

sesame chicken skewers

2004-08-17T19:20:00.000-05:00

BRATS!

2004-08-16T21:22:00.000-05:00

I always see those commercials for Johnsonville Bratwurst on TV. They tell you how to cook them, the theory being they're so easy, a guy could do it. We've never had brats before, so I thought I'd try the recipe. On advice from Caroline, who is the head technician (or "lab goddess") in the lab, AND who's from Germany(so she would know), we didn't buy the Johnsonville Brats. Instead we bought them from the Dekalb County International Farmer's Market. Which is the best place ever and if you're in atlanta ever, you should go. They make the brats fresh there, using organic meat. Anyway, here's our attempt to duplicate the Johnsonville brat commercial, using better brats!

Heat 3 bottles/cans of beer in a pot. We used 1 Amstel light and 2 Rolling Rocks (just what we had on hand). Throw in one or two sliced onions. Bring to a boil.

The brats make good mustaches.

put the brats in the beer and onions. Lower heat to simmer and cover.

Go play with the dog. But she won't want to play, because you're making yummy food and she can't concentrate on anything else. Stupid dog. Blog instead.

After maybe...20 minutes? take out the brats and grill on each side for a few minutes to get nice grill marks. I'm not sure this step is absolutely neccessary, but without the marks, the brats look disturbingly white.

Serve on crusty rolls topped with the onions (drain beer), spicy mustard, and a big helping of baked beans.

Mmmmmm...very good. Similar in spices to breakfast sausage. Would definately make again.

Chicken, mushroom and bean enchiladas

2004-08-16T15:00:00.000-05:00

Roughly chopped cold cooked chicken
Roughly chopped field mushrooms (they actually taste better in this if they aren't incredibly fresh)
1 can of mexibeans (mixed beans in a capsicum and tomato sauce)
Enchilada sauce to make a thick, gooey mix

sesame chicken skewers

2004-08-15T14:58:00.000-05:00

Apple-Onion Chicken

2004-08-15T14:16:00.000-05:00

courtesy of Sara

What you need:

Sour Apple Pucker/Sour Apple Vodka
Chicken breasts (preferrably with fat cut off, appropriate for the number of people that will be served)
1 white onion, chopped
1-2 Granny Smith Apples, sliced
Seasonings (optional, to your liking)
1 egg
Flour
Rice

How to prepare:

Cook the chicken as you did for the chicken cacciatore. In a separate small pan, cook the onion pieces until they look somewhat transparent. Add the onions and apple pieces, along with a splash of the pucker/vodka to the pan. Let the mixture simmer for about 20 minutes. Prepare the rice. Serve a piece of chicken with the apples and onions over 1/2 cup of the white rice. Serves 3-4 people.

Chicken Cacciatore

2004-08-15T14:15:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of Sara

What you need:

Chicken breasts (preferrably with fat cut off)
Scallions
A can of olives, drained
Can of stewed tomatoes
1-2 Zucchini
Garlic & other seasonings (optional, to your liking)
1 egg
Flour
Box of pasta of your choosing (penne recommended)
Merlot/Red wine (optional)

How to prepare:

First, you need to cook the chicken in a large pan/deep skillet. Do this by dipping it into the egg mixture, then rolling it into the flour. Cook the chicken for about 10 minutes (when it looks fairly well-cooked). In the meantime, chop up the scallions and zucchini. Once the chicken is cooked, add the can of stewed tomatos to the chicken, along with a splash of merlot or other red wine (the wine is optional). Also, add the olives, zucchini, scallions, and any other seasonings you choose. Make sure the heat on the stove is turned down to a low/simmer setting.

Once the chicken is all prepared, cook your pasta according to the directions on the box. Serve a piece of chicken over a 1/2 cup of pasta per person. Serves 3-4 people.

Grilled Chicken With A Flare

2004-08-15T14:14:00.000-05:00

Chicken and mango in filo

2004-08-14T19:38:00.000-05:00

This is a really easy main meal that's great for dinner parties - looks elaborate, but it's simple.

You'll need:
One skinless chicken breast per person
Fresh or tinned mangoes
Cheddar cheese (use a sharper cheddar for a more cheesy flavour)
Filo pastry (that's the kind that comes in very thin sheets - sometimes spelled "phyllo")
Melted butter (I prefer salted butter, but I guess you could use unsalted)

What to do:
Slice the mango and cheese

Brush the filo with melted butter. Place a chicken breast in the centre a little way from one of the short edges and arrange mango slices, then slices of cheese on top.

Using two layers of filo at a time, wrap the chicken, mango and cheese like a parcel, folding in the edges after the first wrap. You need to work pretty quickly with the filo as it dries out fast (if you're interupted ... by the doorbell, phone or horny boyfriend ;*) ... place a damp teatowel/dishcloth over the pastry). Brush more melted butter as you go.

Ready for the oven...

Place a little apart in a greased baking tray and cook at about 200C/390F until golden brown ... ummmm .... I can't remember how long, but you have enough time to blow bubbles and freak out the cat while it's cooking. I think it's about 30 - 40 minutes.

We blew too many bubbles.... they shouldn't be quite this brown ;*)

These chicken breasts were actually quite big, so I cut them in half to serve. I'd usually do roasted or baked potatoes, but we'd run out, so I ended up using potato gems (yummy).

Alternatives:
You can try just about anything in combination. Other great ones are pork/cheddar/sliced apple and beef/pate/sliced field mushrooms.

Enjoy :*)

Steak Fajitas

2004-08-12T20:34:00.000-05:00

This is an easy recipe for fajitas. While I give ingredients, they can be skipped, added to, or substituted according to tast.

I use a big piece of flank steak or other similar "marinating" steak. I marinate in lemon or lime juice, chopped garlic, tequila, wor-shire-chester sauce (yeah, YOU spell it!), salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, cumin, and a little oil. Dump it all in a zip lock and let it sit for at least 30 minutes, as long as overnight.

Chop up onions and peppers. Toss them with salt, pepper, and your favorite light oil, and spread them on the hot grill (I have a cast iron grill pan which I LOVE! No, you can't have it. No. $25 at Target. Get your own.) Grill until veggies start to brown and soften.

Grill the meat, according to taste. If you like your steak over medium rare...what the hell is wrong with you? This was a pretty thin piece of meat, I grill it for about 3 minutes per side.

Have some patience! Wrap the steak in foil and let it rest for a few minutes to allow the juice to redistribute.

Slice against the grain. Note: if you ask your boyfriend to take a picture of you slicing meat, he will undoubtably attempt to include your boobs in the shot. Fact of life.

Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, salsa, Crystal hot sauce (the best), avocadoes, etc.

mmmmmmmm...good fajitas. Gets boyfriend's approval. Success!

White Spaghetti

2004-08-08T09:37:00.000-05:00

courtesy of E-Lo.

Try it with bow tie noodles, my favorite.
You’ll need:
2-3 chicken breasts
1 8 oz. Package of cream cheese
1 packet of italian dressing mix (the powdery kind)
1/2 a cup of white wine vinegar
a stick of butter or margarine
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of chicken broth
Some sort of pasta, preferably penne, rigatoni, or something big and chunky (why it’s called white spaghetti, I don’t know, but you can use whatever, don’t let me dictate your culinary creativity!)

Ok, what you’re gonna do is take half of your chicken broth and some water (enough to cover the chicken in a skillet), and simmer the chicken breasts in that mixture for about a half hour, until it’s cooked. Take out the chicken and cut it into bite sized pieces, and drain the skillet (you could probably re-use the same broth mixture, which is what my mom told me to do, but the little chicken floaties scared me, so I drained it) and throw the other half of the chicken broth and a little water (you’ll want to have less this time) into the skillet with the pieces and cook it up some more while you’re making the sauce.

To make the sauce, take a medium sized pot and throw in the butter and cream cheese until it softens up and whip it around with a fork, or an egg beater, which worked nicely for me. Add your other ingredients as you whip. When all the stuff is mixed together, throw the entire contents of the skillet, chicken broth and all, and mix that in. Let that cook around together for about 15 minutes or so on low-ish heat. When you’re ready, add your pasta. I used an entire 12 oz box of bow ties. The sauce will be really thick and creamy, so it’s good to use a lot. Add some salt and pepper and parmesan cheese and serve. Or eat it all yourself. And throw some cheesy garlic italian bread into the mix.

Thai food delight

2004-08-07T21:25:00.000-05:00

OK, most of the amounts below are approximate, and you can adjust depending on how how you like your food, or how sweet. The paste mixes I use are all Thai Kitchen brand, which is all I can find here. But you can use whatever brand you have available.

Coconut curry

1lb chicken breasts or 1lb skirt steak, cut into bite sized pieces
1 each red pepper and green pepper, chopped into bite sized pieces
1/2 red onion, chopped into...you know....
1 tbs vegetable oil
1 can coconut milk
1-2 tbs brown sugar
3 tbs fish sauce
1/2 tsp - ? red curry paste
1/2 tsp corn starch, stirred into some water (optional - I like my sauces thicker)

Heat oil in a deep pan. Add meat to brown. Add veggies. Add curry paste and sugar, stir to coat. Add coconut milk and fish sauce. Bring to boil and turn down heat and let simmer for 10 minutes (or longer, it's pretty forgiving, especially if you forgot to put on rice and need some extra time). Add corn starch slurry, bring back up to boil, then turn off heat to let thicken.

Serve with rice.

Tom Yum Hot and Sour Soup

There is a recipe on the back, which I mostly follow, but made some changes. I don't like seafood soups, so I made this vegetarian. i think you can add just about any meat, fish, or veggie you like to the broth, though.

2 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
3 tbs fish sauce
1 tsp tom yum soup mix
1 tsp roasted red chili paste
red curry paste (OPTIONAL!)
1 tbs brown sugar
sliced mushrooms
chopped green onions (2)
cubed soft tofu

Combine all ingredients but the curry paste over medium heat. Bring to a simmer. TASTE...if you want it hotter, add a little bit of curry paste. Simmer for 10 -15 minutes.

Portabella mushroom burgers

2004-08-06T21:04:00.000-05:00

porabella mushroom caps, destemmed, and gills scooped out with spoon
italian dressing
1 small onion, cut into rounds
2 roasted red peppers (from a jar), sliced into strips
1 piece bacon per mushroom, cut in half and cooked
sliced provalone cheese, 1 per mushroom
onion rolls, toasted

put mushrooms in ziplock bag with italian dressing. marinate for 15-30 minutes.
saute onion rounds (I did it in the same pan I cooked the bacon in, drained of most of the fat, of course, with just a little olive oil added) with a little salt, until very soft. add roasted red peppers.

grill mushrooms on a very hot grill. 3 minutes a side. top with onion and pepper mixture, and place provalone on top (melted cheese prevents onion/peppers from sliding off). top with bacon and serve on toasted onion roll.

as a side, I roasted red potatoes in a little italian dressing, and sliced up some fresh tomatoes and sweet onion, again, in italian dressing. notice the theme?

Stuffed turkey thighs for two

2004-08-05T20:43:00.000-05:00

two turkey thighs, skin removed, and deboned so that you have one flat, long piece (may have to slice through (umm...butterfly?) some of the thicker parts to make all the same thickness, or pound with kitchen hammer to even out (wrap in plastic wrap first, of course!)

2 thick slices of very stale bread, or fresh bread put in oven at low temp until dried out, and cut into cubes

1 carrot, finely diced
1/2 medium onion, finely diced
2 ribs celery finely diced
tsp poultry seasoning
salt and pepper
few tablespoons of chicken broth/stock

butcher's string.

heat a pan with some olive oil. saute carrot, onion, and celery. add salt and pepper to taste. cook until softened. add poutry seasoning and stir to coat. add bread cubes and toss to soak up all the oil. add chicken broth to just moisten the bread cubes. turn off heat, spoon mixture into bowl and let cool.

once cool, use you CLEAN hands to scoop up about a palmful of stuffing, form into football shape. Place at one end of flattened boneless turkey thigh, and carefully roll the turkey up, tight! Secure with a few wraps of string, and tie securely. Repeat with other thigh.

Spray glass baking dish with cooking spray, placed stuffed thighs in, and put in 350F oven for a half hour, or until internal tempurature reaches about 160F. Remove, place thighs on separate plate, cover with foil and let rest.

Meanwhile, add more some (1/3 cup?) chicken stock to baking dish and use a spoon to scrape all the stuck on turkey goodness off. pour into a saute pan and heat on high to reduce liquid by half. in a seperate little bowl, mix 1/4 milk with a tbs of flour, and add to broth mixture. stirr to remove lumps. bring to boil and allow to thicken. gravy!

serve with garlicky mashed taters....mmmm...it's thanksgiving ANY DAY!!!

Mexican Lasagne

2004-08-04T20:31:00.000-05:00

3-4 large four tortillas, or 6-8 medium size ones
left over cooked chicken or pork or ground beef
frozen corn
medium onion, chopped
1 pkg frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess moisture
1 can black beans, drained
1 can condensed pepper jack cheese soup
1 can ro-tel peppers and tomatoes (your choice of hotness)
shredded cheese (chedder, pepper jack, etc)

Spray large pan with cooking spray. Add onion and cook over medium head until transluscent. Add corn, meat, beans and spinach, cook until heated through, stirring often. Add cheese soup and stir to coat.
Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray. Place a layer of tortilla (one large, or two medium, and depending on the size of your casserolle dish). Spoon some of the heated mixture on top, add a few spoonfulls of the ro-tel, and a sprinkle of cheese. Add another layer of tortillas. Repeat until you get the top of your dish (two or three layers total). Put the final tortillas on top, pour the rest of the ro-tel on top and sprinkle with more cheese.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 F for 30 minutes. Take off foil, bake for another 5 minutes until cheese on top is melty and bubbly.

Chicken, basil and macadamia ravioli

2004-08-02T22:48:00.000-05:00

I finally succumbed to the temptation of buying a pasta machine! See my blog for more about that. This was my first attempt so ignore the rather munted looking result - they tasted fantastic, though ;*)

What you'll need:
For the pasta:
3 eggs
4 cups sifted plain flour
1/4 cup of water
2 tablespoons olive oil
(I used pasta mix from my bread shop - you still have to add eggs, oil and water, but the flour is made from the right variety of wheat)

For the filling:
250gm (about 1/2 pound) minced chicken
about 3/4 cup crushed macadamia nuts
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh basil

To top it off:
one small or half a large sweet potato, cut into chunks
full cream fetta cheese
shaved parmesan cheese
a drizzle of good olive oil

What to do:
The pasta:
Prepare the dough - I just mixed it using the dough setting on my breadmaker. Roll it out thinly, using either a pasta machine or a rolling pin. If you're using a pasta machine, we got the best results by not making the pasta too thin. Use a little extra flour if needed - the dough should be really pliable and elastic, but firm. Let it stand for 15 minutes after kneading before working with it.

The filling:
This is really easy - just mix the mince, basil and crushed macadamia nuts really well.

Flour a ravioli mold and place a sheet of the pasta over it, making sure the pasta overlaps the zigzag edges.
Place a little of the chicken mix into each cavity, pushing it down well. Make sure the mix doesn't rise above the level of the mold.

Place a second sheet of pasta over the top, overlapping the edges. With a rolling pin, start at the centre of the ravioli tray and roll firmly in both directions untill all ravioli have been sealed and cut. You should be able to just tip out the ravioli by turning the mold upsidedown ... ermmm.... we had to prise them out, which is why some of them look munted!

Place the prepared ravioli on floured cloths and let them sit for about an hour before cooking. This recipe made about 3 1/2 dozen.

While the ravioli are drying, brush the chunks of sweet potato with olive oil and roast til cooked.

Bring salted water to the boil in a large pot. Drop in the ravioli, cook for about 8-10 minutes and drain.

Serve topped with the sweet potato, chunks of fetta, shaved parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil. About 6 of these ravioli is enough for a good-sized serve. The fetta adds enough salt, I found. You could add ground black pepper, but don't kill the basil flavour!

Regan and K try out Nicole's Red Curry Recipe

2004-08-01T11:13:00.000-05:00

The red curry recipe looked very good, and I'd been wanting to try cooking thai food. so we gave it a try!

LOTS of veggies - red and green pepper, yukon gold potatoes, and onions.

I used flank steak. It ended up being a little too chewy, so next time I'll try a better cut of beef.

Here's how it turned out. mmmmmm...very good. I used 2 tsp of the curry paste. It was almost too hot for me! Didn't really care for the rice noodles I bought. Next time I'll probably just have sticky rice with it.

I tried to duplicate the soup that comes with the lunch specials from Thai Chili (place we order delivery from the lab). It's got mushrooms and soft tofu in it, with just a touch of a red chili oil. Here I saute'd some mushrooms, added two cups chicken broth and a can of coconut milk, and about half a block of cubed tofu. All I could find at the store was roasted chili oil, which wasn't as red, and the color faded. Next time I'll add less mushrooms and use less chicken broth. It was delicious, though.

Very good recipe, Nicole!!!

Red Curry Beef and Vegetables

2004-08-01T10:45:00.000-05:00

Okay... so this one goes on the "quick and easy main dish" category, but ESC hasn't figured that out yet. We'll deal with that later.

Ingredients:

1 green pepper
1 red pepper
(other asundry vegetables you like... i.e. onion, thinly sliced potato, etc.)
1 package "rice sticks" or rice noodles
red curry paste
1 can (no, I don't know what size!) coconut milk (lite or regular)
1 steak (approx. 1 lb., sirloin, flank, whatever... something to soak up flavor)
oil (I like extra virgin olive oil... why?...because (as I explained to my housemate) I'm extra virgin! Seriously, it has a very light fresh taste to it, which doesn't compete with other flavors. And it's good for you too!)

Instructions:

Heat 1-2 T. of oil in LARGE skillet or wok on medium high heat.
Put a pot of water on to boil.
Chop vegetables into bite-size pieces (about 1 inch square).
Cook vegetables in oil until tender and onion is slightly clearish.
Remove vegetables to bowl.
Slice meat thinly (think stirfry strips, bite-size). Add to hot pan and brown.
Add 1 tsp-2 T. curry paste (a little goes a long way... I like it hot, and 2 T is almost too hot!). Stir with meat til meat is coated.
Add vegetables to meat. add coconut milk. Bring to boil, then turn down to simmer. Simmer 5 minutes.
Turn heat off of curry mix and allow to "rest". The sauce will thicken a bit.
Once water has come to boil, turn off. Put rice noodles in hot water for 10 minutes to soften. Drain noodles and place service size portion on plate(s).
Serve curry over rice noodles.

I don't use any seasoning other than the curry paste in this, because the flavor is so strong, you don't want to compete with it. I have seen recipes that use basil or chicken stock in the curry as well, which sounds good. I generally have to add salt or garlic salt to my own portion, to taste -- you could do this to the whole dish, but my rule of thumb is to let people add salt to THEIR taste.