Weekly Cooking (and related issues) Thread

[Jamestown1630]

This week, we have Savory, with Fruit! (Heads-up, pugmama!)

I've never been a very fancy cook, though I do enjoy making food pretty and presentable and will go to some lengths for that. Otherwise, I'm into 'comfort' foods.

But I greatly enjoy having something very different and unusual from time to time; and some of my favorites have been dishes that are savory, but include a sweet element, usually fruit.

I once vacationed with friends who came from a restaurant background, and eating with them was always a great experience - always something unexpected and never before encountered.

About 25 years ago, at the beach, the lady accompanied her meat with a carrot recipe that I loved. She wrote it down for me, and I've made it ever since - but I've always been a little suspicious of the accuracy of the recipe because it used so many carrots! When I've made it, I use about half the carrots.

When I decided to post it here, I thought I'd look and see if it was online anywhere, and whether my recipe was accurate.

Lo and Behold, here it is, at a very interesting website; and Yes, it uses a whole 2-1/2 pounds of carrots. I should have just trusted a gal who grew up in her family's restaurants ;-)

Carrots Sauteed withToasted Walnuts and Figs: (Don't substitute any other kind of fig, in this recipe)

http://www.laurengroveman.com/recipes/vegetables/the-carrots-sauteed-with-toasted-walnuts-and-sliced-calimyrna-figs/

Second, is another one that I think I saw in the Washington Post almost 20 years ago; the raisin/caper sauce was a revelation, and this is still on the menu at Restaurant Jean-Georges in NYC:

Scallops with Cauliflower and Raisin/Caper sauce:

http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/special/jeangeorges/raisin.html#axzz3UCJovrc2

And Lastly: Green Apple Gado Gado

I'm confused about the Indonesian dish Gado Gado. The first recipe that I encountered some years ago, and still make frequently, seems very different from what I now read about the dish, as it has become more popular. I guess you can make it many different ways; or many different dishes carry the name.

Here's the Wiki on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gado-gado

And here's the one that I make, which doesn't seem at all like the Wiki description, but was called Gado Gado in the newspaper where I found it - and it's wonderful in Summer:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59917-2004Jun22.html

[Jamestown1630]

Enjoy!

(If you would like to be on or off of this weekly cooking thread, please send me a private message.)

-JT

[JRandomFreeper]

One of my favorites is most meats, pork, beef, fish, with prepared jams, jellies, or marmalades.

Of course, I have a lot of orange peel and jalapeno marmalade, roasted red pepper and onion jelly, and other home-made jellies at hand.

But I really like pork with apricot jam and spicy mustard.

Sweet and savory is an old invention, and recently abandoned (couple of hundred years), but I like meats with the right kind of sweets.

/johnny

[NorthstarMom]

I like grilling honey coated plum halves to serve with pork chops. It will probably be the meal that kicks off grilling season this year.

[Roos_Girl]

Y’all cooking too fancy for me. I eat shredded carrots in my salad, dried figs and grapes, and whole fresh apple. :)

[CyberAnt]

As soon as you started talking about carrots and figs, I thought of one of my favorites using carrots: Carrot and raisin salad. Think I’ll put that on my grocery list.

I haven’t made it in years because I didn’t want to use mayo (which I love; but is too much fat for me), until Best Foods started making a mayo from an olive oil base.

I have learned to like it; and at least I can feel a little less guilty since the olive oil is a good fat.

[latina4dubya]

ham or pork roast with grape sauce...

[RandallFlagg]

There was a thread here about 12 years ago that listed the recipe for Crock Pot Fajitas.

Completely vanished.

[Jamestown1630]

Hi, Johnny;

We were recently gifted with a stoneware baking sheet, from ‘Pampered Chef’. Never saw anything like it before, but it might be good for pizza or bread-baking.

However, it came with a recipe that I’m anxious to try:

Tangy Oven-Barbecued Chicken

1 Cup Barbecue Sauce
1/4 Cup Peach or Apricot preserves
1 tsp. dried Thyme Leaves
1 4-lb broiler/fryer chicken, cut into quarters

Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine barbecue sauce, preserves, and thyme.

Place chicken on the ‘Stoneware Bar Pan’ and spoon sauce over chicken.

Bake 1 hour to 1 hour and fifteen minutes, or until it reaches 170 F in thickest part of breast, or 180 F in thickest part of thigh, and juices run clear.

http://www.pamperedchef.com/recipe/Main+Dishes/Tangy+Oven-Barbecued+Chicken/14155

-JT

[Jamestown1630]

Is it number 18 on this thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1196906/posts

[JRandomFreeper]

Don't let food fetishists and the current 'health' fad run your life. ;)

Coffee was good, then coffee was bad, now coffee is good, looks like coffee is going to be bad again.

Same thing with eggs.

Rinse and repeat.

Don't let current health fads and fetishists run your life. They are wrong too much, and experimenting with your body. ;)

/johnny

[JRandomFreeper]

Sounds good. I keep breaking regular oven stones because I run my oven well over 350F.

I am an advocate of stones in the oven to help stop the temp cycle most modern ovens have. I use granite slabs now.

But the oven stones like what you got work GREAT for lots of breads. Mmmm.

/johnny

[Jamestown1630]

The first carrot/raisin salad that I made, I found in a low-fat diet cookbook back in the 1980’s. I will try to find it again - it used nonfat yogurt instead of mayo; and it had pineapple in it. I still prefer it to the fattier recipes.

I’ve lost the original recipe, but it was pretty simple so I’ll try to find an equivalent again and post it.

-JT

[RandallFlagg]

HOLY CARP! Ya FOUND it!!

Thank you so much. Google and archive searches turned up nothing.
(But then, I was drinking while searching.....)

[llmc1]

I’d like to know what brand of herbs and spices is a favorite. I recently discovered Penzey’s (which I love), but even more recently discovered Mr. Penzey’s pushy liberalism.
http://www.rightwisconsin.com/perspectives/Bill-Penzeys-Latest-Stomach-Turning—275950731.html

[greeneyes]

I’m mostly a comfort food person too. Sometimes I take a pork roast and spice rub with a touch of brown sugar in the crock pot. Sometimes use some jelly-whatever I happen to have on hand and opened.

I saw a quick and easy recipe on the TV this week, that I am going to fix for my daughter’s birthday next week.

STRAWBERRY SPARKLE CAKE

Take an angel food cake(buy it or make it), and slice off the top about 1 inch down(horizontal slice).

Then make two parallelvertical cuts in middle of the cake, and pull out pieces of cake to hollow out a trench all the way around the cake so that there is a trench to spoon the filling in.

The filling is a packet of Strawberry Jello dissolved in hot water according to packet directions. Then add a bag of frozen sliced strawberries to the mix.

When this has thickened a bit and no longer hot, spoon it into the trench encircling the middle of the cake.

Put the 1 inch layer back on top of the cake so that the filling is hidden. Then cover the entire cake with whipped cream (or cool whip).

Put into the refrigerator till ready to serve.

[CyberAnt]

Wow! Now that you mention the pineapple, that brings back to memory that my mom used to put pineapple in it too.

And, using yogurt instead of mayo would be great.

I love a well seasoned piece of meat with fruit. It’s one of my favorite meals.

I’m not a potato eater, although I do love to make my own potato soup. I use the small red potatoes and I leave the skin on (but I do scrub them to be sure they don’t have any dirt). I usually cut them in half. After you boil them in water (with onion, garlic, and a little celery salt) then I mash them while still in the water base, I then add 2% milk and butter, salt, and pepper to taste. I’m going to be making a batch next week. I usually make enough for 3 helpings. I put the two extra helpings into gals jars and put them in the freezer.

[Jamestown1630]

Here’s one; it sounds pretty close to what I used to make, though I don’t recall putting honey or any other sweetener in it; the fruit was enough. And I probably added a little salt, which always makes pineapple taste more like itself:

http://www.food.com/recipe/no-fat-carrot-raisin-salad-68514

-JT

[Jamestown1630]

By the way, another thing that my husband brought back from his trip to relatives was an injector-needle sort of thing, for infusing meat with marinade.

I recently saw a guy in Texas, on Youtube, showing how to inject with marinade before roasting or barbecue-ing meat.

Do you have any experience with that? I want to try it. When I find the man’s Youtube channel again, I’ll post it here.

-JT

[JRandomFreeper]

I've tried it. Personally, I don't like it myself. Different strokes for different folks.

Some people swear by 'em. All of my meat is tender and flavorful when I finish it anyway.

No hating on those that like injectors, just not for me. Experiment. Try it out. I could learn something... I'm sure.

/johnny