Cooking Strut?

[G_Balliando]

After checking the Sopranos thread, I realized that several people around here might be into cooking. Cooking is my new favorite thing to do (after record digging of course) and I've been inspired to develop new meal ideas. Where's all the good cooks at? What have you been making lately? Let's get a Soulstrut cookbook going here. Recent meals from scratch/fresh ingredients:Chicken Enchiladas, Pinto Beans, Mexican Rice Crispy Chile Rellenos (made with fresh roasted green chiles)Organic Baby Romaine and Fresh Roasted Green Chile salad with Lemon-Pepper Breaded and Fried Chicken Tenderloins with a spicy barbecue sauceSteam Baked Chicken Breast stuffed with Fresh Mango SalsaShare yours, help me be creative.

 

[JLR]

Where's all the good cooks at?

Quick reading that sentence made me feel uncomfortable.

 

[G_Balliando]

Where's all the good cooks at? (no homo)

there.

 

[jinx74]

-Breaded Milkfish or Tilapia with lime, baked asparagus spears, and twice baked potatoes with a light white wine.

-cook up a 1/4 chicken (boneless, skinless) and a pound of sausage, get yourself a box/bag of red beans & rice and begin cooking that how its directed, in another frying pan sweat some onion, celery, crushed tomatoes, ground pepper, kosher salt, red pepper flakes. once the veggies are done, mix those with the chicken and sausage. once the simmer time is half over for the beans & rice, add the veggie/meat mixture. youve now made jambalaya. bake up a side of cornbread muffins and hush puppies, grab a couple of beers or get those already made margarita mixes and enjoy.

-got leftovers in the fridge? veggies, meat, rice, potatoes... make soup! chop up your ingredients, add some crushed pepper and kosher salt, 4 cans of veggie or chicken broth (depending if youre vegetarian or carnivore), heat up in a soup pot. get yourself a loaf of bread. cut length wise. spread butter on both sides of bread. get some grated cheese (your preference... or try two or three at once for more flavor) and spread on top so there is a nice layer of cheese. put into a 350degree oven for 10/15min (keep an eye on it) and you got yourself homemade soup and cheese bread.

 

[bassie]

Dandelion, romano beans, black olives, tomatoes tossed with red wine vinegar and olive oil, topped with smoked tuna (optional) and sprinkled with parmesan

Spaghettini tossed with olive oil, steamed rapini and oven-roasted garlic and tomatoes

Grilled green beans tossed in sesame oil and chilli flakes

Fried dhal

Lavender short bread cookies

 

[jinx74]

MB- dandelion salad is a must with tuna or salmon. you can also replace the romanos with any other red or white bean of your choice.

i also wanted to add that lately when i bake cookies... what? i bake... ive been adding a little vanilla extract and a handful of butterscotch morsels to them and its been a lot tastier. easy on the morsels though... a little goes a long way. or... whats easier is to place two morsels on the top of the cookie right before placing it in the oven.

 

[G_Balliando]

Grilled green beans tossed in sesame oil and chilli flakes

Fried dhal

Lavender short bread cookies

Wow the green beans sound good. You use whole fresh green beans?
Isn't Dhal an Indian Lentil dish? How does that get fried? Please educate.
Lavendar Shortbread cookies sounds interesting too. Use a normal short bread cookie recipe and add lavendar extract I'm assuming?

Good stuff folks, keep it coming.

 

[bassie]

MB- dandelion salad is a must with tuna or salmon. you can also replace the romanos with any other red or white bean of your choice.

Yes!
White beans are great in soups as well...and baked with whole garlic, tomatoes, parsley, oil and cheese.

Grilled green beans tossed in sesame oil and chilli flakes

Fried dhal

Lavender short bread cookies

Wow the green beans sound good. You use whole fresh green beans?
Isn't Dhal an Indian Lentil dish? How does that get fried? Please educate.
Lavendar Shortbread cookies sounds interesting too. Use a normal short bread cookie recipe and add lavendar extract I'm assuming?
Everyone makes it a little different, but I fry the onion, garlic, mustard seeds, turmeric, curry powder and chillis in ghee for a while and then add the lentils, the little itty bitty red ones cook a bit faster than the yellow ones (you can use both).
Top with fresh cilantro, chopped tomatoes and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Yes, whole green beans (save for the brown bits at the ends) don???t soak them in the oil, just enough to cover them, toss them on to a flat pan and turn them over now and then ??? about 15 ??? 20 min

For the cookies - use fresh or dried flowers - makes it look good too. The extract might make it too bitter. Mint shortbread cookies are also amazing - same thing - fresh or dried mint.

 

[G_Balliando]

Mint shortbread cookies are also amazing - same thing - fresh or dried mint.

Daaaamn good lookin out on that one, I am a big mint fan. I'll have to try that. All this struff sounds good so far.

 

[JayGee]

Sicilian oven baked pasta!
Hmmmm...

 

[kitchenknight]

I'm at my best on desserts. Here are a few favorites...

Vanilla Bean Cake (my most requested jawn)

Buttermilk Panna Cotta (the great fraud of desserts...looks so fancy; takes like 10 minutes work, and a refrigerator.)

Pear-Cherry Crisp

Apple Dumplings (unexpected hit of the winter)


I've got the recipe to the top one stored in my email...get at me if you're interested.

 

[bassie]

I'm at my best on desserts. Here are a few favorites...

Vanilla Bean Cake (my most requested jawn)

Buttermilk Panna Cotta (the great fraud of desserts...looks so fancy; takes like 10 minutes work, and a refrigerator.)

Pear-Cherry Crisp

Apple Dumplings (unexpected hit of the winter)


I've got the recipe to the top one stored in my email...get at me if you're interested.

what can you tell me about baked pears in some sort of wonderful sauce? like chocolate or something boozey and sweet?

 

[G_Balliando]

Sicilian oven baked pasta!
Hmmmm...

edumacate, plaese.

 

[G_Balliando]

I'm at my best on desserts. Here are a few favorites...

Vanilla Bean Cake (my most requested jawn)

Buttermilk Panna Cotta (the great fraud of desserts...looks so fancy; takes like 10 minutes work, and a refrigerator.)

Pear-Cherry Crisp

Apple Dumplings (unexpected hit of the winter)


I've got the recipe to the top one stored in my email...get at me if you're interested.

what can you tell me about baked pears in some sort of wonderful sauce? like chocolate or something boozey and sweet?
Yeah, and a little more detail on the vanilla bean cake and the Panna Cotta?

 

[kitchenknight]

I'm at my best on desserts. Here are a few favorites...

Vanilla Bean Cake (my most requested jawn)

Buttermilk Panna Cotta (the great fraud of desserts...looks so fancy; takes like 10 minutes work, and a refrigerator.)

Pear-Cherry Crisp

Apple Dumplings (unexpected hit of the winter)


I've got the recipe to the top one stored in my email...get at me if you're interested.

what can you tell me about baked pears in some sort of wonderful sauce? like chocolate or something boozey and sweet?
Poached pears are a favorite...I serve them in a ginger-chocolate sauce. I just poach them in some white wine, water, sugar, v. bean, star anise, whatever nice aromatic herbs you have around. I have a recipe for poached pears with a port-wine granite that looks great, but I've never tried. (I used to be a baker/pastry chef, so I get a little adventurous at times.)

 

[ariel_calmer]

Dope.

Here's my recipe for cheap margaritas that are better than margarita mix....

Get that minute maid limeaid that's like a buck, in the fridge section of the store next to the orange juice. Then put in a shaker:

2 parts tequila to 1 part triple sec (usually I do a full jigger to a half)
1 tsp. Lime juice, or to taste

Fill up shaker with ice & limeaid, shake. Serve in a glass rimmed with margarita salt.

Alternately, you can make ice cubes from the limeaid and crush them in a blender.

 

[kitchenknight]

I'm at my best on desserts. Here are a few favorites...

Vanilla Bean Cake (my most requested jawn)

Buttermilk Panna Cotta (the great fraud of desserts...looks so fancy; takes like 10 minutes work, and a refrigerator.)

Pear-Cherry Crisp

Apple Dumplings (unexpected hit of the winter)


I've got the recipe to the top one stored in my email...get at me if you're interested.

what can you tell me about baked pears in some sort of wonderful sauce? like chocolate or something boozey and sweet?
Yeah, and a little more detail on the vanilla bean cake and the Panna Cotta?
Oh, and these.

My favorite panna cotta recipe (above mentioned buttermilk) come's from Claudia Fleming's "The Last Course". Its kind of expensive ($40 new) but if you can find it used or at a library, it is highly recommended. Beautiful, seasonal desserts. Anyway, panna cotta is in the flan or creme brulee family, except it has no eggs. It is cooked cream & (in this case) buttermilk, a minimal amount of gelatin to help it set, sugar and vanilla. Youu heat the milk/sugar/vanilla, take it off the heat (as I recall), add gelatin until smooth, pour in ramekins and refrigerate. Chill for at least 4 hrs. It is the lightest custard...Great for the summer, when it is hot, and you want a nice, cool dessert and you don't want to spend too long standing over a hot stove or turning on the oven. serve with some fresh fruit on the side.

The vanilla bean cake was my favorite from a bakery I used to work at. Almost like a pound cake, but not at all. Has vanilla beans, extract, and vanilla sugar incorporated into it, and then you brush on a vanilla-sugar syrup that sets up into a crust. Like I said, my most requested dessert.

 

[CousinLarry]

Carbonara

Alright, I have seen this dish fucked up so many times in the US it makes me ill. There is no cream or milk in it so if you ever see a recipe with that spit on it and flick your chin at it. It is easy to make, but it requires speed at the end. If you are a lily livered chef don't even bother you will fuck it up.

Ingrediants:

-1 box of pasta ( I like spaggetti, angel hair is too thin and fetuchini is to thick. I have had it with penne and it is alright)

-3 quarters of a pound of pancetta in big ?? inch slices (some recipes say you can use ham or regular bacon. I say that is utter bullshit, and only pancetta will do. Its Italian cured ham and it is fucking incredible)

-about 4 eggs

-A bag of frozen or fresh peas

-A brick of parmigiano origiano (If you even think about using that Kraft shit a guy in a valore track suit will show up and kill you and your dinner guests)

-Fresh cracked pepper, salt, and olive oil (if you don???t have these already in you kitchen, just go to Olive Garden because you don???t know what good food is anyway)

First cut the pancetta into small pieces about 2cm by 2cm. Trim off the excess fat you only really want the meat with just a little bit of fat on it. Now cook the pancetta in a saut?? pan on medium heat. Don???t just throw all of the pancetta in the pan at once. Only do a small handful at a time. Otherwise it will not get crispy, it will be chewy and gross. After each small batch is cooked until it is crispy, but not burnt, put it on a paper towel to remove the excess grease. Once you are finished cooking all of the pancetta put it off to the side for later.

Now start boiling your pasta water. Add salt and olive oil to the water before you start.

You will need to have your grated cheese ready along with the peas and the pancetta. You can thaw the peas in the micro if they were frozen, but don???t over cook them they should be firm. 3/4 a cup of peas should be fine.

Now beat 4 eggs in a room temperature bowl and add good amount of fresh cracked pepper.

I will assume you can figure out how to cook the pasta, but don???t over cook it. It should be firm.

Once the past is finished drain it but not too much. Pour it through a strainer over the sink, but do it quickly then put the pasta in the bowl (you want some to the pasta water to stay on the noodles, but you don???t need much) with the beaten eggs and add all of the other ingredients. Move fast for these last few steps or you will ruin dinner. Stir it us so the eggs and the cheese coat the pasta. You do not want the egg to cook hard. If it starts to look like scrambled eggs you fucked up. It should be more like an eggy alfredo sauce. If you are afraid of slightly raw egg you are a candy ass and should go to Olive Garden. Now serve it hot with some nice white wine and enjoy.

 

[bassie]

I'm at my best on desserts. Here are a few favorites...

Vanilla Bean Cake (my most requested jawn)

Buttermilk Panna Cotta (the great fraud of desserts...looks so fancy; takes like 10 minutes work, and a refrigerator.)

Pear-Cherry Crisp

Apple Dumplings (unexpected hit of the winter)


I've got the recipe to the top one stored in my email...get at me if you're interested.

what can you tell me about baked pears in some sort of wonderful sauce? like chocolate or something boozey and sweet?
Poached pears are a favorite...I serve them in a ginger-chocolate sauce. I just poach them in some white wine, water, sugar, v. bean, star anise, whatever nice aromatic herbs you have around.
i feel woozy just reading this. yummers.

 

[Sooks]

I've been making a pasta lately with romano beans that I really like...

rapini, prosciutto, and romano beans on orichiette

Pretty simple, too. Basically you put some well-salted water on to boil. When it's boiling, throw in the stems of the rapini, cut into 2 in pieces. After a minute, throw in the tops and let it all boil for another 2 minutes, then take it all out (leave the water, now green, boiling) and run it under cold water to stop the cooking.

Add the pasta to the water. I use orichiette (little ears) because they trap little bits of food, which I enjoy.

Cut up some proscuitto and drain a can of romano beans.

Heat up some garlic and some chili flakes in a pan, and add the rapini and the beans and the proscuitto to warm everything up.

Dump in the pasta, and toss with lots of pepper and some salt, and serve with lots of freshly grated parmesan or pecorino. The dish can sometimes feel a bit lacking in salt, because the proscuitto and cheese are supposed to add it, but I always end up adding more during the cooking.