TMD Recipes

[orgcandman]

This was spawned after a discussion on the IRC channel. Feel free to post recipes here for any foods. I'll start off with one of my favorites:

Delicious Rosemary Foccacia
-----------------------------------------

Rising ingredients:
1 T Active Dry Yeast
1 T granulated sugar
1 C hot water (104 deg. F)

Bread ingredients:
Either -
1 T dried crushed rosemary leaves
1 T dried rosemary leaves
- or -
1/4 C fresh rosemary -

2 1/2 C all purpose white flour
2 T butter / margarine
1 T kosher / sea salt
extra virgin olive oil

Process:
   Dissolve sugar in water, and add yeast, to proof. Once bubbling, add to 2 cups flour and salt, and knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic
   oil a bowl, place dough in bowl to rise with warm, damp towel covering. Approx 1 hour.

   After dough rises, punch down to evenly distribute yeast, and divide in two. Into each, roll / press rosemary so that it is evenly distributed throughout.
   Let rest for another 15 minutes or so, to re-rise.
   Coat 2 9-in square cake pans with non-stick spray, and press dough into pans.
   Melt butter / margarine and coat the top of the loaves.
   
   Preheat oven to 450 deg. F. Lightly sprinkle sea / kosher salt over the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes until light or golden brown (and delicious of course).

For an even better tasting loaf, try putting shredded Asiago cheese over the top before baking.

[The Atog Lord]

Here's a link to my Blog, where I go over cooking Beef and Broccoli for the first time. My Blog is acting strange, and the HTML itself seems to be showing up instead of the intended text, but you basically get the idea:

http://www.techhouse.org/~richard/blog05/120405

My girlfriend Mo Ya instructed me in how to do this over the phone, and despite the fact that I'd never cooked anything before, this turned out well. So, if I could do it, I'm sure any TMD'er could as well.

Ingredients:

____One Half-Pound of Ground Beef
____Just over half a pound of Broccoli
____Eight of a pound Cilantro
____Dash of Salt
____Two Half Tablespoons of Soy Sauce
____One and One Half Tablespoons of Chicken Buleon
____Two Tablespoons Minced Garlic
____Some vegetable oil

Preparation
1. Wash Cilantro and cut into two-inch pieces. Set aside washed and cut cilantro in a bowl.
2. Wash and cut Brocoli. Set aside in bowl.
3. Set stove to low heat and place pan onto stove.
4. Use a small amount of oil in pan, and coat the bottom of the pan with this oil.

Cook Broccoli
1. Place broccoli into the pan, stirring.
2. After a few minutes of cooking, add a little water to the broccoli.
3. Keep stirring until the water is mostly gone.
8. Add a sprinkle of salt to the pan. Stir more.
9. Take Brocoli off the fire and store in a bowl.

Cook Meat
1. Oil the pan, as before. Remember, we're using very low heat.
2. Add garlic to the pan, and stir the garlic.
3. Add beef. I shouldn't need to tell you to keep stirring.
4. Add a dash of salt.
5. Add Cilantro when the beef looks brown.
6. After a few more minutes, add broccoli.
7. Add some Soy Sauce and stir it in.
8. Add chicken buleon.
9. Turn up the heat and stir for ten seconds. And that's it!

[Apollyon]

Here's a good one for when you have leftover chicken and want to make something delicious and fast. It's the best in the winter, although it's good at any time.

Chicken A La King

Ingredients:
1 cup of flour
stick of butter (1/4 pound)
stick of margarine (1/4 pound)
pound of sliced white mushrooms
precooked chicken (2-3 breasts is usually enough)
pepper
sliced green peppers
2 cubes of chicken bullion (chicken stock is better, but it takes longer to make)
milk (1 1/2 cup)

Start by making the chicken bullion. Boil about a cup and a half of water and put the cubes in it to let it soak.
Melt the butter and margarine in a large pot. Once it's melted, add the mushrooms and sautee them.
After they are done, add the cup of flour and stir in well. Let cook for a while until it starts to bubble.
Add the bullion, milk, peppers, and pepper. Stir well. Bring to a boil and let it boil for another 1-2 minutes.
Add the chicken. Let it warm for another minute or so on low heat.

Serve over white rice.

[The Chosen One]

Here is one that is quick, easy and just as good as lasagna, but better for you and a hell of alot faster to prepare.

Noodle Bake
Ingredients:

1lb Egg noodles
1lb Ground beef(or sausage/turkey)
1 normal size jar of pasta sauce(not the small)
1lb Cottage cheese
1lb Sour cream
a little under 1lb shredded mozarella cheese

Preheat over to 300F

While browning meat in a saucepan, cook noodles about a minute less than recommended(to leave them a little stiff since they will be in the oven). After meat is browned, add sauce to the meat and mix together. Drain noodles, then add sour cream and cottage cheese to them and mix well. In a pyrex pan, layer noodles on the bottom, then pour sauce/meat over them and sread evenly. Top with shredded cheese and put in oven until cheese is melted. Let cool for 5-8 minutes, and serve..... Its delicious and there is no measuring involved....

[Parcher]

My recipe for a very healthy and and good light meal. Feeds four.

4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 large red onion
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
2 Portobello mushrooms
1 bunch asparagus
8 oz. Angel Hair pasta
2 cloves garlic
4 slices prosciutto
1 lemon
fresh basil
olive oil

Pound the chicken breasts flat. Marinate for one half hour in lemon juice. Chop peppers, onion and mushrooms into large slices. Dice garlic. Peel asparagus.
Boil water for pasta. Preheat oven to 350.
Lay chicken breasts flat. Season with salt and pepper. Lay one fresh basil leaf and one slice of prosciutto on breasts and roll. Secure rolls with kitchen string.
Place large saucepan over medium heat. Add 2 tbsp. olive oil and diced garlic.
Place oven-proof saucepan over very high heat. When hot, add one tbsp olive oil. Brown chicken rolls on all sides. No more than three minutes total.
Add to large saucepan in order: onion, peppers, mushrooms. Stir to coat with oil. After two minutes add salt and pepper to taste.
Place chicken rolls in pan into oven. Bake for 10-11 minutes.
Add pasta to water.
When translucent, but still firm, remove vegetables from saucepan, saving all remaining liquid in pan.
Increase heat in saucepan with vegatable liquid to high, after boiling, add asparagus for 4 minutes.
Remove chicken breasts when firm. Allow to rest 5 minutes. Place pan back on high heat.
Remove asparagus and set aside. Add remaining liquid to hot pan that chicken was cooked in. Scrape, reduce by half.
In individual pasta bowls, divide drained Angel Hair equally. It should only be enough to form a mound at the bottom. Divide vegetables on top of pasta.
Remove twine, and slice chicken in quarter-inch slices. Arrange atop vegetables. Arrange asparagus around rim of pasta bowls,
Pour remaining vegetable/chicken pan liquid over each dish.

Easy ingredients. A lot of cooking, a balancing act really. Very low calories and fat. High in vitamins.

Enjoy.

[Hi-Val]

OMG OMG

OMG


OMGOGMOMG

I love to cook.



THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD INVEST IN IF YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT COOKING:

-Get a really freaking sharp chef's knife. Go to a legitimate store and test out their knives. Learn how to care for a knife. You may spend $80+ on your knife. If the price is too high, look for the same model on Ebay, they're far cheaper there. Use a honing steel on your knife before you use it, every time. I cannot emphasize how important a good knife is. Bad knives make chopping carrots like wearing oven mitts while extracting brain tumors.

-Get a pepper mill. Don't use pre-ground pepper ever. It doesn't have any flavor left in it. Again, a good mill may run $30+, but they will last for a lifetime. I could talk for hours on how important pepper is and how delightful a seasoning it is. Learn how to use it and use pepper. Its flavor diminishes in high heat, so add it at the end of cooking. It's the second-most essential seasoning to...

-Salt. Get some kosher salt because it's easy to pinch and learn how to salt things. An experiment for finding out how to salt is to make something like homemade soup and set some aside and add just a little bit of salt at a time so you can see the fine line between perfectly salted and salty. Most bland food tastes that way because there's no salt in it. Salt eliminates bitter flavors, making things more delicious. You can test it out-- put a little salt in your coffee and you'll see how much less bitter it is.


There are other things too; a good cutting block, nice pans, a microplane grater, but tool-wise, I think that's the essential list above. Take care of your things so you don't have to buy them a second time.

There are also techniques I might talk about later. Things like stir-frying, making a roux, reduction sauces, carmelization, sauteeing, etc.

orgcandman, I'll probably try that recipe tomorrow. Have you considered an autolysing step about 25min into the first rise to redistribute yeast?

[SonataOfTheCathedral]

I'm an avid Fisherman as another hobby. I know cooking East Coast fish such as Bluefish, Striped Bass, Fluke, Weakfish, and even Sea Robins. If you ever decide to prepare fish and you are in a fish market deciding heres a few things to always keep in mind...

Almost all fish were prefrozen, pretty disgusting to me as I eat most of my fish same day it was swimming.

But whenever you are out there....
#1 Fish should never have a glazed eye with discoloration, if they eyes look clear and firm, it was frozen fresh at least.
#2 Look at gills, they should be red/pink. Brown gills means sad times.
#3 Fish should never have that AWFUL fish smell, its a huge common misconception that fish should have a disembowling odor.They should smell like the ocean when fresh not like the dirty street.

-Picking out your seafood with Elias!             

[andrewpate]

Like Hi-Val, I'm a very serious cook.  Everything he says is great advice.  I would add that you should also purchase a good whisk, not a cheap plastic or nylon one but a layered balloon whisk like this one, although you don't necessarily need one quite that large in most cases.  One like that will cost you around $30, but if you take care of it you should find that it is quite sturdy.  This is particularly essential in dessert-making, because whipped cream from scratch is extremely difficult without one, as is a good stiff-peaked meringue (I have made both with a fork; for a large amount, it can take 30 minutes of vigorous mixing).

Another quick pet item of mine is a good-sized glass mixing bowl.  It's just plain better than plastic (for a number of reasons I'll be happy to explain to anyone who cares) and a very good one still doesn't cost that much.  Spring for the Pyrex and use it for the rest of your life.

Here's a little something I came up with earlier this year if you grill or broil some good steaks (or save some from a restaurant) and want to change it up the next day with the leftovers:

1.  Get a big onion ring (around 4" diameter).  You can either make one yourself if you have the means to deep fry or just snag some jumbo frozen rings if you don't.
2.  Slap some olive oil in a skillet (cast iron preferred) and crack an egg into the middle of the onion ring.  Start with the "bell" of the ring (such a large ring should have a clear small side and large side) pointing up so that the egg will fill it and create a thick white.  Leave the yolk intact and fry to about over-medium.
3.  If the steak (which is already cooked) is thick, as it should be, cut it in half parallel to the plane of the steak, giving you two flat pieces.  Put them in the same skillet to heat them.
4.  Also in the same skillet, toast an English muffin, adding more olive oil for moisture (it will replace the butter you would usually apply to the muffin) if needed, although it's best to put enough in at the beginning because it will carry over some of the flavor.
5.  On another burner, make a hollandaise sauce.  Here's one way to make it, although you can find plenty of easy(er?) recipes online:

3 egg yolks
1/2 cup butter
4 tsp lemon juice
pinch of salt
dash of cayenne pepper

Melt the butter in a double boiler (you can use a saucepan if you don't have a double boiler, but be sure to use very low heat and go slowly--rushing a hollandaise is lethal to its creamy texture, although it still tastes fine even when it comes out lumpy).  Separately, mix all of the other ingredients, then stir in the butter gradually.  Add a bit of hot water as you add the butter, maybe a couple of tablespoons' worth.  Return the mixture to the double boiler and cook it down, slowly, until it's nice and creamy.  As I pointed out above, though, don't start over if it separates; it will taste fine.

6.  Place the onion egg onto a plate along with the two face-up halves of the English muffin.  Place the steak pieces on top of the muffin halves, then top with the sauce.

I think you'll really like this if you try it.  It will taste like really serious cooking, but it calls only for things you can justify having around even if you don't own your own house with a fully-stocked kitchen.  The only possible exception is cayenne pepper, but you can substitute a little Tabasco or even leave it out if need be; this won't compromise the taste too badly.

[Almighty]

-Get a really freaking sharp chef's knife. Go to a legitimate store and test out their knives. Learn how to care for a knife. You may spend $80+ on your knife. If the price is too high, look for the same model on Ebay, they're far cheaper there. Use a honing steel on your knife before you use it, every time. I cannot emphasize how important a good knife is. Bad knives make chopping carrots like wearing oven mitts while extracting brain tumors.

I'd like to add to this. Using a dull knife can be dangerous. If you have to use excess force to slice something, you are more likely to slip and have the knife cut you. And since extra force was used, it won't be a little cut either. It will probably be several stitches.


I have tons of recipes I like to cook. I'll start out with my one of my favorites.

Creamed spinach with penne and salami

Salami can be substituted for any cured meat. I like salami best followed by mortedella in this dish.

(serves 4)

Boil 6 cups penne in salted water. It should taste just a little less salty than the ocean. When done, strain and put back into the pot. Do not rinse or you will lose all the starch from the pasta. Lightly coat the cooked noodles with a light oil. I like mine al dente, but some like theirs more cooked. It's all good, really.

While the pasta is cooking, melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a separate pot, then add an 1/4 cup flour to make a roux. Cook the roux for a couple minutes stirring constantly. Add 3 cups milk and use a whisk to make sure all the little roux balls have been incorporated. Bring it to a boil to show it's maximum thickness. It should look really thick, but it will be fixed in the next step. Keep aside and hot.

In a third pot or saute pan, melt another tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Slowly cook about 6-8 ounces fresh spinach (Roughly half a bag) by adding a little bit at a time. Add salt liberally to the spinach to extract as much moisture as possible from it. When the spinach is done, strain it saving all the juice. Add the juice as needed to thin out the sauce. If still too thick, add some more milk. Fold in the cooked spinach and add salt and pepper as necissary.

Add the sauce as needed to the pasta and add 2 cups julienned salami (thin strips). Heat the whole mixture in that pot and when it is piping hot, it's ready to be served.

If you are making this for a date, you will blow her away.

[Hi-Val]

andrewpate, great point. I have stainless steel mixing bowls and they are really crucial for cooking.

While kitchenware can be expensive, you can shop around for real bargains. Tuesday Morning is an overstock store that has high-end consumer kitchen stuff. They sometimes have Cuisinart copper-clad pans marked down 60%, how good!

Almighty, you're absolutely right. When you get a good knife, learn how to steel it and don't sharpen it yourself. Go to a restaurant that you like and ask the chef where she has her knives sharpened. Professional sharpening will always beat home sharpening and it's actually a lot cheaper than gadgets. If you're still wondering about whether a good knife is worth the expense, find a friend or family member who likes to cook and takes care of their good knives. Give them a try, you'll see why it's worth it.

And yes, being able to cook 2 or 3 things is a fantastically cheap date that pays off : )

[Almighty]

Some of the fancy mall type kitchen stores (Williams Sonoma, Kiss the Cook, etc.) will demo proper knife sharpening on a variety of stones. I use a ceramic waterstone myself. It's easy to do once you get used to it. A diamond steel, which while never as effective as a stone, will maintain an edge on a knife for a long time and doesn't really require any special training to use.

Most kitchens that I work in have very cheap knives. Low grade steel and plastic handles that balance funny. They are sharper than samurai katanas when they come back from the knife guy, though. They use wheels to grind off the metal into an edge so fine that it's almost impossible to get there on a stone by hand. The edge only lasts a few days even with constant steel usage, unfortunately. After 15 or so grindings, the knife is almost useless it's been worn down so much. But it's no big deal since those knives only cost like 3-5 dollars. I cringe at the thought of sending an expensive Henkle or Shun to the grind wheel. Learn to use the stone! If you are a serious home cook, what's the harm?

[Hi-Val]

I trust knife sharpeners who won't destroy my blade because they know how to hold it at the right angle and I don't. A stone is a fine thing to use but it's a bit of a hassle. My suggestion about restaurants is to find a really good one (a sushi joint might work) and ask about their knives. I've got a Wusthof Trident that's seen years of use, but proper care keeps it going.

Fine Cooking had a section on sharpeners recently and they had this neat one with two steels sticking up like \  /  out of a base and they should sharpen it at the right angle.


orgcandman, the foccacia is cooling now. I'll let you know how it is!

[orgcandman]

orgcandman, the foccacia is cooling now. I'll let you know how it is!

Excellent!! Let me know how it came out.

I love to do a lot of cooking, so I have plenty of recipes. That foccacia is a great one to start off an evening of entertaining. If you want a dipping sauce to go with it, soften 3-4 med cloves of garlic in olive oil, and then let them steep together for a few days. After 3 days, you can discard the garlic cloves, (or if you have another recipe that calls for garlic, let me know) and add fresh chopped parsley, red pepper flakes, fresh thyme, and fresh basil.

-Aaron

[Hi-Val]

It was great! It rose a lot more than I thought (about 3 inches) and I didn't develop the ultra-huge cells in the bread from lots of air, but it had a great crust and a good chew. I laminated some chives just under the crust. I put a pan of boiling water in the oven with it when I tossed it in, which makes the crust turn crunchy and delicious. It's a French bread trick. I think I already ate half the loaf : )

I'm a little dicey about putting garlic and olive oil together to marinate for a couple days, because botulinum has been found in garlic and there have been cases of botulism-tainted olive oil from the infusing. Luckily, I found that I could put the garlic and olive oil in a pan and put it on the absolute lowest heat possible for 30 min. If the cloves are browning, it's too hot. Anyway, the end result is infused oil and garlic cloves that are really sweet and spreadable like butter with none of the raw garlic bitterness.

[orgcandman]

Creamed spinach with penne and salami

Just a question, but have you tried this with kale at all?

-Aaron

[Almighty]

Honestly I haven't, but kale would be really good in there too.

[Necrologia]

Cooking is awesome. I feel bad for some of my friends who literally couldn't boil a hot dog to save their lives. Eating is something that's kind of important to stay alive. I don't understand how people can go through lives having no idea how to prepare decent food. It's a life skill. Ramen noodles/Easy mac get real old real fast.

Cooking 101. Fat equals flavor. It sucks if you're trying to diet but it's the truth. Thanks to thousands of years of our ancestors struggling to find enough to eat, we're programmed to love fat. If you're cooking virtually anything, odds are that a little butter, olive oil, or (best case scenario) bacon could make it tastier.

As Hi-Val mentioned, salt is another biggie. When seasoning food, you want the flavor to go towards the back of your tongue but not all the way back. It sounds weird but give it a try. Taste something, and add a pinch of salt. Repeat. You should notice how you taste the food further back each time. Learning where the line is for too much is an important skill. Just remember that not everyone has the same taste. If your grandmother's coming to visit, leave the food a bit bland. It's a billion times easier to make something more salty than it is to make it less salty.

Kosher salt is nice for being slightly coarser, and quite a bit weaker actually, due to it's lack of iodine. If you're making a brine, for instance, you'll need roughly twice as much kosher salt as iodized if you're trying to keep the saltiness the same.

Oh, and I'd like to echo everything SonataOfTheCathedral said about fish. 99% of people who say they don't like fish, mean they don't like the fish at supermarkets or McDonalds or whatnot. I love fish, but only because I happen to love fishing and always have a fresh supply of fish at hand. Tonight I had some delicious fried Blue Gill and Perch from a local pond. Last weekend I grilled some grouper that was properly frozen after a trip down to Delaware last fall. Freshness is everything with fish, and sadly the way most places keep their fish "fresh" is atrocious.

Hmm, as for a recipe. How about some Chicken Marsala? It's so simple if you happen to have a bottle of Marsala sitting around the house somewhere. The marsala wine doesn't have to be particularly great either. I get a huge bottle of the stuff that claims to have a raisin like finish for $7 or so at the local wine shop.

1 Chicken Breast pounded
1 Portabella Mushroom Sliced Medium Thick
1 (Very) Small clove of garlic diced
2/3 cup Marsala wine
1 Tablespoon butter
Flour
Salt, Pepper to taste

Mix your salt and pepper in with the flour, and toss the chicken in it. Heat the butter in a frying pan to medium heat.  Cook the chicken until it's golden on both sides. Toss the mushrooms in the seasoned flour a bit then add them to the pan. Give the mushrooms a quick turn, then add the garlic and wine. Simmer until the wine has reduced and the sauce is getting thick. Done.

I usually serve it over wild or white rice to soak up all the delicious sauce. Add a nice salad or some sauted veggies and you have a super awesome dinner.

[The Atog Lord]

Necrologia --

Interesting point about fish. I hate fish. I can't stand the taste, and I never eat it. However, I do recall, some time back, eating some fish I caught myself. It wasn't bad, but instead really good. Some large-mouth bass, if I recall correctly. You've made me wonder if my dislike of fish is in fact a dislike of non-fresh fish.

[Hi-Val]

Anchovies are one of my top 5 favorite foods.

The trick is that with canned fillets, you soak them in a bit of milk for 15 minutes and all the salt leaches out and only the delcious anchovy flavor remains.

[Matt]

This is a really good and simple peanut sauce:

1/2 tsp hot chili sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp sesame oil

Heat the peanut butter and honey to loosen it before mixing - microwave works but real heat is better because in a microwave the honey and PB heat at different rates and you'll end up burning the honey by the time the PB is sufficiently loose. Works best on pork but is good on almost anything, up to and including sandwiches. If you're new to the cooking game like I was, you may blanch at the price of sesame oil. Do not be afraid. That $8 bottle will probably last you a year, because it's potent stuff.

Protip: put the honey and peanut butter in whatever your final container will be. It is sheer hell trying to get the sticky stuff from one container to another, even after heating. When I forget to do this, I have to go back and add more to make up for the quantity that got left behind.


I like to keep a bowl of caramelized onions around at all times, because it makes such a great ingredient for sandwiches. Onions are cheap as fuck too.



Here's a nice meatless sandwich, from top to bottom:

1. A slice of good bread, not wonderkids shit. something with oats and nuts in it.
2. MYSTERY CONDIMENT - I forget what I used to put here. Possibly nothing? Some things that should not have been forgotten, were lost...
3. lettuce, crisp and fresh.
4. Brie. It comes in wheels so you'll have to do some knifework to get it into suitable slices - I use three slices, approximately 2" x 1" x 0.5".
5. A slice of pineapple. I just take it straight from the can.
6. VERY THIN layer of Mayo - put a normal layer on, then scrape as much as possible off. The remaining amount is the correct amount.
7. Bread again.



Also, randomly experimenting one day I came up with this:

1. melt some butter and lemon juice together, on low or medium heat.
2. add sliced peaches, flipping to coat.
3. cook until peaches are soft, turning occasionally to cook evenly.
4. remove from heat
5. splash some vanilla rum on top and mix it up.

It's absolutely incredible over vanilla ice cream, or good on its own.

[Zherbus]

So, I am a Food Network addict.

Here's one of the recipes I stole from Alton Brown, whom I am a huge fan of. It's SLIGHTLY modified for my taste.

I usually get some challah from the bakery, slice it up the night before into about 3/4 inch slices and let air out over night.

1 cup half-and-half
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons honey, warmed in microwave for 20 seconds
1/4 teaspoon salt
I added a pinch of Nutmeg here to the custard mix.

In the morning, both are ready (I prepare the custard the night before, but you can easily just do it in the AM).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Dip bread into mixture, allow to soak for 30 seconds on each side, and then remove to a cooling rack that is sitting in a sheet pan, and allow to sit for 1 to 2 minutes.

Over medium-low heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a 10-inch nonstick saute pan. Place 2 slices of bread at a time into the pan and cook until golden brown, approximately 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove from pan and place on rack in oven for 5 minutes. Repeat with all slices. Serve immediately.

Seriously, this will make you obese.

[Hi-Val]

Matt, I love peanut sauce! I might add that you should look for *toasted* sesame oil, it'll be darker and it's mad potent. One of my favorite applications for peanut sauce is to boil some spaghetti and serve it cold with peanut sauce. You can add in meats and other things as you like; I enjoy sliced chicken or shrimp on top with a dash of squeezed lime. It's got a great Vietnamese flavor to it and it's not as exotic as you'd think.

You can also thin the sauce down a little with a few drops of hot water at a time.

Zherb: I cannot fathom how much I like Alton Brown. Best chef on the network.

[SonataOfTheCathedral]

Every fish has it's own taste many taste similar to Lobster, like Blackfish and Striped Bass, but some have that distincitve fish smell like Bluefish. But the most important part is freshness.

To me every kind of fish tastes amazing fresh except like Carp, Suckers and all those trashy fish. Even Skate and Dogfish are delicious if prepared properly.

[Whatever Works]

Wow! Cool recipes! Seriously though... When I saw the tread title I was expecting a recipe like:

1/2 Cup of Smennen opinons
2 Tablespoons Tournement reports
1 pinch of arrogance
5 pints entertainment

Well, that example was horrible. However, I thought it was going to be a thread about TMD components. Not actual usful information like cooking (which shocks me with a 42.6 to 1 male to female ratio).

I <3 Microwave pizza, and until 2 months ago thought "filet minyon" (sp?) was a type of bird.

[Hi-Val]

Hey, we all start somewhere cooking! If you've got a grill, I can share a recipe for grilled pizza that's a snap to make. If you have questions on cooking, you've got a bunch of people here who would love to help out!

[Necrologia]

Given that the summer BBQ season is upon us, I figure I'd share a few of my favorite BBQ recipes I've picked up over the years. I like sweet and spicy tomato based sauces and this is one of my favorites:

1/2 Onion diced
4 Cloves Garlic Minced
1/3 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1/4 cup Worcestershire
1/2 cup packed Brown Sugar
3/4 cup Molasses
1/4 cup Tomato Paste
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1/2 Tbl Salt
2 tsp Liquid Smoke
1 1/2 tsp Tabasco
1/2 cup Whiskey

Saute the onions and garlic in a bit of butter until tender, then add the remaining non-whiskey ingredients. Heat to a simmer. Add the whiskey and let it simmer until most or all of the alcohol has evaporated. Slather on anything and everything you toss on the grill. It's great for dipping too.

One of my favorite ways to prepare fish is on the grill. Assuming you can find some fresh fish fillets or steaks, a light marinade is great. If you're in a hurry or just feeling lazy, a bottle of non-creamy Italian dressing works fine. Just take the fish and dump the Wishbone or whatever dressing on it and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours. Toss it on a hot grill and cook for a few minutes on each side, depending on the thickness of the fish. For tuna and other really meaty fish, treat it just like a steak. For smaller, lighter fish it's done when it flakes apart easily. Just be careful turning it, as you can easily break it and lose half the fillet down in the coals if you're not careful.

A quick dipping sauce for the grilled fish if you're so inclined is a roughly 2:1:1 ratio of Mayo to Heinz 57 to Brown Sugar. Sounds kind of weird but it's actually another sauce that's great on just about anything. My younger sister used to whip some up whenever she microwaved herself some chicken nuggets.

[orgcandman]

oh right! BBQ and outdoors season. Wanna impress your friends with a little oniony goodness? This will require a deep fryer. Deep fryers are cheaper than moxes (in fact, I could get 3 deep fryers for the price of a mox) so it's a cheap investment, and you'll use it a lot more than you expect.

Home-made Bloomin' Onion
4 Vidalia or Texas Sweet Onions

Batter:
1/3 C cornstarch
1 1/2 C flour
2t minced Garlic
2t Paprika
1t Salt
1t Pepper
24oz Ale (I use bass or sams. You could use any beer, really)

Seasoned Flour
2C flour
4t Paprika
2t Garlic powder
1/2t Pepper
1/4t Cayenne Pepper

Directions:
For Batter - Mix cornstarch, flour, and seasonings until well blended. You could use a food processor or something but simply putting into a bowl and stirring+agitating should do the trick. Add the beer, and mix well. Remember, always add wet ingredients to dry ingredients.
Onion Prep work - Cut about 3/4" off the top of the onion (it should be large anyway) and peel. Cut into the onion 12 to 16 vertical wedges, but DON'T cut through the bottom root end. Remove petals from the center, probably 3/4" to 1" Dip into seasoned flour, and shake off excess. Spread out the petals to a nice shape and dip in batter to coat (do this thoroughly). Gently (I do mean gently, because the onion is fragile at this point) put the onion into your fry basket and lower into the oil. Your oil should be at 375 to 400, depending on how big the deep fryer is and how quickly the oil recovers. You'll want to deep fry for 3 minutes total. If your fryer isn't deep enough to do both sides of the onion at once, go ahead and flip it 1 1/2 minutes in. At this point, you have a choice: Horde the delicious center for yourself, or cut it away to make a lovely presentation with a dipping sauce in the middle and the bloomed onions and all.

Oh right, the dipping sauce:
equal parts Mayonnaise and sour cream
Chili sauce and cayenne pepper to taste

A note - It took me a while to really get the hang of making this recipe. I forget where I actually got it from, but its savagely good, and once you get it down pat, you will really impress people with it.

[Parcher]

Zherb: I cannot fathom how much I like Alton Brown. Best chef on the network.

I agree in about loving the show, but I can't watch it for too long. I think that it is the best show overall as it gives the reason and theory behind how and why we get certain results when cooking.

I can't watch it because he frickin' chews with his mouth open, and talks while eating; it drives me nuts.

[Ephraim]

Greek Chicken Salad Poufs

I use Alton Brown's recipe for savoury pate a choux to make the poufs and then I prepare a very simple chicken salad for the filling.  (Pate a choux is the batter used when making cream puffs, which use the sweet preparation.)  I took these to a potluck at work and they were a big hit.  By the way, Alton Brown does not recommend using a pastry bag, but rather a freezer bag with the corner cut out of it.  In this one regard, I think he's an idiot.  He uses this trick every other episode because he disapproves of mono-taskers.  If he has an application for a pastry bag every other time he cooks, though, he should use one (especially since for this recipe, he actually advocated having the tip assembly for a pastry bag anyway, even if you were using a freezer bag.)

***

Here is the recipe for the pate a choux, c/p'd from foodnetwork.com.  The instructions indicate that you're supposed to mix this up with a mixer and bowl.  I don't have one and a spatula and some elbow grease did the trick, just fine.  I also did not have parchment to put on my cookie sheets, so I just greased them up with a little bit of shortening and there was no problem lifting the poufs off the sheet.

1 cup water
3/4 stick butter (6 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon salt
5 & 3/4 ounces flour (Yes, it is best to weigh flour, rather than measure it by volume.  Just tap your measuring cup with a table knife, poke it to knock out air pockets, and level off the top with the back of the knife and you'll be okay.  5 & 3/4 ounces is equivalent to 1 & 1/3 cup.)
1 cup eggs, about 4 large eggs and 2 whites

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Boil water, butter, and salt or sugar. Add flour and remove from heat. Work mixture together and return to heat. Continue working the mixture until all flour is incorporated and dough forms a ball. Transfer mixture into bowl of a standing mixer and let cool for 3 or 4 minutes. With mixer on stir or lowest speed add eggs, 1 at a time, making sure the first egg is completely incorporated before continuing. Once all eggs have been added and the mixture is smooth put dough into piping bag fitted with a round tip. Pipe immediately into golfball-size shapes, 2 inches apart onto parchment lined sheet pans. Cook for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 degrees F and bake for 10 more minutes or until golden brown. Once they are removed from the oven pierce with a paring knife immediately to release steam.  (I remember from this episode that you MUST NOT open the oven while the poufs are cooking, no matter how tempted you may be.  The heat loss is particular devastating in this case and the poufs will probably be ruined.)

***

Here is the recipe that I used for the chicken salad:

1 lb. chicken breast, diced (I just picked up a package of the scraps that they sell "for stir fry")
1 cup chopped celery
pinch of cilantro
pinch of rubbed sage
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup feta cheese

Cook the chicken by your preferred method.  I boiled it because it was fast, cooked the pieces consistently, and gave them the right texture for chicken salad.  Blend together the celery, mayonnaise, feta cheese, and herbs.  Toss the chicken with the sauce blend and then mash the mixture together with a potato masher.

***

These can be served either warm or chilled.  If chilled, then let both the poufs and the chicken salad chill in the refrigerator separately until you're ready to serve them.    Slice open the poufs.  They may not have a huge cavity in them, but that's okay.  This preparation looks quite nice with a pouf "overstuffed" with chicken salad, with the 'cap' of the pouf set on top of the filling at a jaunty angle.  You don't have to be particularly accurate with the amount of filling.  I used approximately a heaping tablespoon per pouf.

[Ephraim]

For Batter - Mix cornstarch, flour, and seasonings until well blended. You could use a food processor or something but simply putting into a bowl and stirring+agitating should do the trick.

I have found that a wire whisk is really very good for blending together dry ingredients.  It yields a homogenous mixture much more readily than 'folding' the ingredients together with a wooden spoon or spatula.