Fun, Tasty, or Unique Food and Drink Recipes?

or, if you go to cafeteria in chelsea, you can get a nice toad in a hole cruton on a ceasar salad. yum.

I love reading recipes...

My favorite soup this month:

Chop and cook 1 small to med. yellow onion in a 2-3 tablespoons of oil of your choice.

Add to cooked onion:
1 butternut squash, seeded and cubed
1 tart apple cored and cubed
chicken broth, enough to almost cover the other ingredients
Simmer until squash and apples are soft

While the pot is going, puree:
~1/2 of 8oz jar of roasted red peppers
1-3 cloves of garlic, to taste
hot pepper, optional

Once the squash is soft, remove from heat and let cool a few minutes. Blend squash, apples and onions with enough broth to get a smooth, but not runny texture.

Return to pot and heat, adding pepper puree. Salt to taste.

Add 1-2 tablespoons cream to the bowl just before serving.

I dont drink so I dont know if this is something I invented or if this is a known drink already but one day my friend bought over fresh strawberries and I put them in the blender with crushed ice, sugar and champagne that our friends bought over. Deelish and refreshing. Like a slushie with a twist.

Here's a really easy semi-asian marinade that you can put on ANYTHING. We've had the best luck with shrimp (everyone raved at our bbq) but you can do chicken, pork or fish as well. We usually estimate, so these amounts are eyeballed

1/2cup oil (usually use canola bcause its cheapest, olive is prolly overkill)
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbs sesame oil
some chopped shallots
garlic
ginger
red pepper flake or other hot pepper
chopped jalepeno if you like heat
cumin if you've got it
brown sugar *maybe 2 tbs*
splash of sake


you don't usually need salt because of the soy sauce. I've also made this with wasabi powder on fish and it ruled. You get the basic concept...you can throw just about anything along these lines in there and its tasssttyyy. Plus it marinates pretty quick because it's quite strong.

-ron zacapa 23 yr old rum
-glass

pour rum in glass. serve. drink.

i made a pretty awesome dinner the other night. easy and kind of restaurant-y. slow, so more of a weekend meal, but not much work.

i found pork bracciole (thin, tough meat wrapped in a tight coil with garlic, herbs, and parmesan inside) at los paisanos meat market in CG. i'd only had bracciole at the san gennaro festival, but the gf loved it, so i got two.

here's what i did/made up:

ingredients:
2 bracciole
1 c red wine
1.5 ish c chicken stock (good stuff i made, not store-bought salt water)
.5 box canned tomatoes (diced, i think?)
.5 bunch broccoli rabe

.25 bag of coarse haitian corn meal from the bodega
butter
1 T butter


- brown bracciole on all sides in a skillet with a little olive oil
- add wine and chicken broth; turn heat WAY down and cover
- turn bracciole over occaisionally; splash greasy red wine all over brand new white linen pants and newly cleaned white stove (optional)
- simmer for an hour; add tomatoes*
- keep simmering until tender (maybe 2 hrs total?), while you bleach pants and drink wine.

half an hour before you want to eat:

- bring 1 qt water to a boil in a sauce pan; add corn meal (aka polenta). turn heat way down, stir, and cover. stir occasionally -- break up and lumps.
- blanch broccoli rabe in boiling salty water for 5 minutes; drain and add to bracciole pan maybe 10-15 minutes before you want to eat.
- when polenta is cooked, stir in a tablespoon of butter and salt to taste.

serve polenta in the middle of a big plate with bracciole on top; spoon broccoli rabe and sauce over.

e voila! braccioli e broccolini con polenta

the extra polenta and broccoli rabe/sauce was great lunch the next day (and, with the addition of some canned black-eyed peas, dinner).

*i added the tomatoes late because it suddenly occurred to me that their acid would help soften the meat. it might have become tender more quickly if i'd added them at the beginning; on the other hand, i liked that they weren't super duper cooked at the end of the process.

bogframe wrote: Rice

Forget it... if you can't cook, don't even TRY to cook rice! instead...
Go to your favorite chinese restataunt.
Buy a quart of rice and take it home.

Or just get a cheap rice cooker. A decent basic model will run you less than $25. Then you can have perfect rice at home whenever you want no matter how inept you are.

I have a similar older model that my wife (then girlfriend) got me when we were in college in 1992. It still works perfectly.

Dishwasher Salmon with Cilantro Sauce from Salon.com.

I haven't made this, but I saw this recipe and wanted to share.

B O B B L U M E R


Illustration by Bob Blumer

Salon welcomes Bob Blumer, author of "The Surreal Gourmet: Real Food
for Pretend Chefs" and "The Surreal Gourmet Entertains." His weird — but
delicious and easy — recipes are aimed specifically at dysfunctional
kitchens, mismatched dinnerware and low budgets. His weekly column comes
complete with suggested wine, garnishes and music to cook by. Bon appetit!

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Dishwasher Salmon with Cilantro Sauce
(serves 4)

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since the release of my second cookbook, I have traveled around the globe being a media slut and throwing spontaneous dinner parties wherever I could rustle up a kitchen and a willing audience. The hazard of the job is that guests tend to arrive with impossibly high expectations. Instead of competing with these fantasies, I counter with culinary theatrics from my surreal bag of tricks. My trump card is salmon fillets poached in the dishwasher and topped with a brightly flavored cilantro sauce. It's simpler then it sounds, (virtually) foolproof, and it's usually a safe bet that none of the guests ordered the same thing for lunch. As a bonus, the results are melt-in-your-mouth moist.

The answers to the following (skeptically asked) questions, and the accompanying recipe are all you need to convert your own dishwasher into a multifaceted kitchen appliance.

Q: Is there any trickery involved?

A: No.

Q: How do you keep the fish from breaking up?

A: The individual-sized fillets are sealed in aluminum foil.

Q: How long does it take to cook?

A: The salmon should be run through the entire wash and dry cycle. (approximately 50 minutes for most models)

Q: Does the model make a difference?

A: No, I have poached salmon in almost every make and model. Although the temperatures and duration of the cycle vary with each make, salmon is very forgiving, and a little more or less "cooking" will not affect it greatly.

Q: Is there any special setting?

A: Yes. You need all the heat you can get. Modern dishwashers have "economy" and "cool dry" settings. These are undesirable since they are designed to conserve heat. However, on the other side of the spectrum, I have found that the "pots and pans" settings tends to be overkill.

Q: Doesn't the fish taste like soap (adding soap and dirty dishes is optional)?

A: No, not as long as the salmon is tightly sealed in the aluminum foil.

Q: Have you ever had a disaster?

A: Recently, moments before appearing on a live national morning TV show, I discovered that the heating element in the dishwasher was broken. After a quick huddle with the producer, I was forced to make the most of the situation by baking the salmon in the (gasp!) oven. To avoid this pedestrian fate, ask yourself the $100 question: when you last unloaded the dishwasher (immediately after it completed its cycle), were the dishes hot? If the answer is yes, you are ready to poach.

Ingredients for salmon
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 6-ounce salmon fillets
4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Heavy-duty aluminum foil

Ingredients for cilantro sauce
1 tablespoon butter
1 leek, white part only, finely chopped and thoroughly washed
1 shallot, minced
1 jalapeno chili, seeds and membranes removed, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1-1/2 cups chicken stock
2 cups lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves (stems removed before measuring)
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons sour cream

SALMON
1. Cut two 12-inch pieces of aluminum foil.
2. Grease the shiny side of the foil with the oil. Place 2 fillets side by side on each square and fold up the outer edges.
3. Pour 1 tablespoon lime juice over each fillet. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Fold and pinch the aluminum foil extra tightly to create a watertight seal around each pair of fillets.
5. Place foil packets on the top rack of the dishwasher. Run dishwasher for the entire wash and dry cycle. (To heighten the theatrics, ask your guests to crowd around the dishwasher when you put the salmon in.)
6. When cycle is complete, take out salmon (in front of your disbelieving guests), discard foil, place one fillet on each plate, and spoon a generous serving of cilantro sauce over top.

CILANTRO SAUCE
1. Melt the butter over medium heat in a saute pan.
2. Add the leek, shallot, jalapeno, and garlic and saute for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are translucent but not brown.
3. Reduce heat to medium and add the stock. Simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. (Adjust heat as required to simmer.) The liquid should reduce by half.

4. Remove from heat and let cool.
5. Transfer to a blender or food processor and add the cilantro, lime juice, salt, and pepper. Puree until smooth.
6. Add the sour cream and "pulse" until mixed. Set aside.

Le Secret: Make sure the packet is airtight by pressing down on it gently with your hand. If air escapes easily, repackage.
Adventure club: Poach the salmon with yesterday's dishes and lemon-scented dishwasher detergent (I do it this way all the time).
Garnish: Cilantro sprigs.
Suggested Accompaniment: Yellow string beans, steamed and glazed with lemon juice and butter.
Alternatives:
i) Sour cream may be replaced with yogurt.
ii) Chicken broth may be replaced with vegetable broth (for fish-eating vegetarians).
Music To Cook By: Le Cirque de Soleil Soundtrack from Alegria
Wine: California Pinot Noir

wow -- that's gotta be in the running for most cosmopolitan meal of the week.

indian
+
english (tikka masala)
+
portuguese (vindaloo)
+
italian-ish
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?? who knows about that chili oil

nice.

Bacon chocolate chip cookies:

http://neverbashfulwithbutter.blogspot.com/2007/12/experiments-in-deliciousness-bacon.html

Carnivore wrote: Bacon chocolate chip cookies:

http://neverbashfulwithbutter.blogspot.com/2007/12/experiments-in-deliciousness-bacon.html

that sounds disgusting. and to think, I was compared to you yesterday as "she's like carnivore - you can't offer her sweets and have a taker but offer her bacon and she'll say yes." odd.

It's a maple glaze.

There's also bacon crumbles inside the cookies.
:thumright: =P~ :thumleft:

invite me over.

just posted this in another thread:

my aunt's recipe:

Curry Goat or Curry Anything

1.Heat vegetable oil in a skillet.

2.Add salt, pepper, 1/4 teaspoon or so of garem masala if you can get and I am sure you can in NYC. (1/4 t. of Garem Masala for each 2 Tablespoons of Curry Powder)

3.Add several tablespoons of whatever kind or mixture of curry powders you like. (I always used about half mild and half hot, you just need to fiddle with this until you get it how you like it)

4.Stir this all up in the hot oil in the skillet for a few minutes. Don't let it burn.

5.Add onion, garlic, thyme, oregano, majoriam (italian seasoning works well too) and any vegetables you want to this mixture. Keep stirring.

6.Add water to make the sauce and add the meat.

You might have to add additional water to keep the mixture from sticking and you definitely need to stir occasionally unless you use a crock pot.

If you are a fan of chicken wings, after step 4 add wings to the curry mixture and fry the wings with no additional water until they are done. This is called dry curry and boy are they good!