~Julia Child~
***********************
March 5 National Cheese Doodle Day
March 6 National Frozen Food Day
March 7 National Crown Roast of Pork Day
March 8 National Peanut Cluster Day
March 9 National Crabmeat Day
March 10 National Blueberry Popover Day
March 11 National Oatmeal-Nut Waffle Day
Weekly Cooking Thread Ping List
Recap of last week’s recipes:
Dessert* 3 OREO TRUFFLES
Dessert* 120 Blackberry cheese tarts
Dessert* 108 Cheese Cake Tarts
Dessert* 82 Cool Mint Oreo Cookie Balls
Dessert* 76 Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
Dessert* 13 Grandma D’s Prize Oatmeal Cookies
Dessert* 10 Kahlua Creamy Fudge
Dessert* 103 Mint Cookie Candies
Dessert* 162 No-Bake Pumpkin Pie
Dessert* 102 Pig Pickin’ Cake
Dessert* 109 Sophia Loren’s Ricotta Condita
Drink* 100 Rum Truffle
Ingredient* 92 Homemade Mozzarella
Ingredient* 119 Homemade Velveeta Cheese
Meal* 25 Baby back - regular pork ribs
Meal* 41 Carnitas
Meal* 4 chili dogs
Meal* 106 Egg Rivvels with Tomatoes
Meal* 46 Goi Tom
Meal* 96 Lasagna
Meal* 27 Lazy Pierogis with Sausage
Meal* 211 Pork Medallions with Mushroom-Dill Sauce
Meal* 9 Sausage & Peppers
Meal* 22 Sausage and Cabbage
Meal* 8 Sausage and Seafood Paella
Meal* 66 Savory Sausage and Rice
Side* 135 Artichoke Shallot Souffle
Side* 45 Grilled Asparagus
Side* 57 Orzo Salad
Side* 48 Sauted Asparagus
Soup* 184 Asparagus Soup
Soup* 126 Italian Wedding Soup
Feb 26 Thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2680445/posts?page=224#224
(To be added/deleted from the Ping list just FReep mail me or request on the comment thread)
Thanks for all you do!
Hello folks. I finally have something for you, but I have no name for it. I serve it alongside a steak, fried chicken wings, etc., or whatever and eat it like a relish.
Recipe:
1 ½ lbs of red onions sliced very thin.
1 C water
1 C oil (not olive oil)
1 C white vinegar.
1 teaspoon salt (you may or may not want to increase the salt by another tsp when you make your second batch.)
½ teaspoon sugar.
Put onions aside in a separate bowl.
Bring liquids and seasoning to a boil.
Once it boils, add the hot liquid and seasoning to the onions and NOT the other way around.
Stir the mixture until it all cools down.
Refrigerate. It will stay in good condition for several weeks.
Liquid leftover after you finish munching on the first batch can be added to the next batch; therefore there is no need to throw it away.
I found a bag of fingerling potatoes at Walmart, couldn’t believe it!
Tonight I am trying
Alton Brown’s recipe for
Perfect Fingerling Potatoes
Ingredients
1 1/4 pounds kosher or rock salt (yes that is the correct amount of salt!)
2 quarts water
2 pounds small fingerling potatoes, cleaned
4 tablespoons butter, optional
Freshly ground black pepper, optional
1 tablespoon freshly chopped chives, optional
Directions
In a large pot, combine the salt, water, and potatoes and bring to a boil. Cook until the potatoes are fork-tender, approximately 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the pot to a cooling rack and let stand for 5 to 7 minutes. Serve as is or with butter, pepper, or chives.
1 1/2 C vegetable oil
1 envelope Ranch dressing mix
1(t) red pepper flake (optional, or Tony's Creole)
1 box wheat or multigrain saltine crackers
Mix first three ingredients together. Place crackers in a plastic dish with cover, about 9 x 13, standing crackers on edge. Pour mixture over crackers, place top on dish, and shake, rotate, flip container till all crackers are covered well.
Let sit for a while, a few hours. Strangly, they don't get soggy. Good with dips, or left plain.
This is one of our all time favs...
Asian Flank Steak
1 Flank steak
Marinade:
Soy sauce
Rice wine vinegar
Sesame oil
Honey
Minced garlic
Minced fresh ginger
Chinese hot oil
Mix the above ingredients together in a bowl. It should have a sweet and salty taste at the same time. Sesame oil and the hot oil should be used sparingly, or to your taste. Use half the amount of rice wine vinegar as soy sauce. I usually use two table spoons of garlic and one of ginger.
Place flank steak and marinade in a zip lock and marinate for four hours or overnight.
Heat up a grill or BBQ and cook on each side for 4-6 minutes until it reached your desired amount of being done. Medium rare is best.
Serve with your favorite side dishes.
Here’s one of our favorite recipes - Mou Shu Pork. It helps use up leftover pork roast/chops/ribs/etc. and you probably already have everything in the fridge. All the amounts and the veggies, except the meat and cabbage, are optional and up to you but here are the usual. For the meat, I used the last three leftover ribs from a recipe posted last week (btw, yum and thanks!). It may look long but it’s really quick and the wraps take no time.
MOU SHU PORK
1 lb. cooked pork, shredded or chopped
1-2 eggs
1/2 head cabbage, sliced thin
1/2 carrot, shredded with a veg peeler
1/2 onion or green onions, sliced thin or diced
handful of sliced mushrooms, fresh or canned
bamboo shoots, sliced
bean sprouts
1 T soy sauce
1-2 tsp hoisin sauce
1-2 tsp sugar
garlic
salt and pepper
water
In a large heated skillet, add the meat and stir in the eggs until just cooked. Add the remaining ingredients and stir it up. Add just enough water to keep it from sticking (at the end, you want it moist but not soupy). Cover with lid. Let the cabbage wilt and everything heat through. Stir occasionally. Adjust seasonings to taste.
WRAPS
2 1/4 C flour
1 C hot tap water
sesame oil (a must)
Stir the flour and water into a soft dough. Add a bit of flour if sticky. Divide into 16 balls (divide dough in half, divide those halves in half, divide a third time, and a fourth time to make 16 equal balls).
You will be rolling the balls out on a floured surface. Smoosh one ball in your palm (about 3”) and lay it on the floured surface. Spoon just a bit of sesame oil onto it using back of spoon to spread it near the edges. Take a second ball, smoosh, and lay it on top of the first one. Roll the pair out to about 6”.
Lay the pair into a heated skillet (I use a 6” cast iron skillet but use whatever you have). Do NOT grease skillet. Cook the wrap until it just barely starts to get light golden spots on the bottom. Flip over, and do the same. This takes seconds so stay on top of them. You want them soft and NOT crispy. You have time to quickly make the next dough pair while the current batch is cooking.
When cooked, lay the wrap on a plate to cool enough to touch. Then pull apart the pair. See, you saved time by only cooking 8 to have 16!
After cooking 4 pairs, the flour that falls into the skillet will begin to scorch so take a paper towel and dust it out and continue.
Put the meat/veggie mixture in the wraps and roll up like a burrito. Enjoy!
FYI, you can use a mexican flour tortilla but it’s just not the same animal.
Orange and Lemon Zest - we all know how expensive zest is, so make your own. Next time you eat/use an orange (or whatever citrus), grate off the colored part of the rind. Do not grate the white pith as that is bitter. Spread the zest onto a plate and leave it a few days to dry. Store in a spice jar or freeze in a baggie.
Please add me to the PING...
Don’t throw out those citrus peels!
CANDIED CITRUS PEELS (orange, lemon, lime, or grapefruit)
citrus peels, cut into 1/4” strips
2 C sugar
water
Put the peels into a sauce pan. Bring to a boil and let boil 15 minutes. Pour water out. Add water and boil again. Repeat once or twice more. You are pouring out some of the bitterness of the pith so repeat this depending on how bitter the peel is. If the pith is extra thick you may want to scrape some away before doing the boiling.
Make a 2:1 ratio simple sugar syrup with 2 C sugar to 1 C water. Make enough syrup to cover the peels. Add to saucepan and simmer until sort of translucent - may take up to an hour depending on the peels’ thickness.
Place a rack on a cookie sheet to catch any drips. Place peels on rack and let dry. Depending on the humidity, it will take a couple days to dry.
Eat candied peels as is. Or chop to top ice cream or decorate a frosted cake. Or chop and bake in a sugar cookie dough or a dried fruit bread. Dip strips in chocolate for a treat. Use in other recipes.
Don’t throw out the simple sugar. Use in hot or ice tea. Or in cookie and cake recipes to add flavor. Pour it into an ice cube tray and when frozen solid put the cubes into a baggie and store in the freezer until you need them.
Yeah, I bought oranges at .15/ea so am on an orange kick. This is an old recipe I found somewhere on the net a long time ago and it’s become a hit here.
ORANGE AND SPINACH SALAD
TOPPING:
1/3 C sugar
4 tsp water
1/2 C sliced almonds
Have a square of cooking sprayed foil set aside.
In a small skillet or pan, heat the sugar and water until it turns a golden color and syrupy. Stir so it doesn’t burn. Add almonds. Stir a few seconds until they are golden. Spread out onto the sprayed foil to cool.
FYI, use a small aluminum skillet. For some reason my small 6” cast iron skillet soaks up the water and the sugar crystalizes rather than turning to syrup. But, ymmv.
DRESSING:
1/4 C vinegar (white, cider, etc.)
1/4 C olive oil
1 tsp orange zest
salt and cayenne to taste
Combine and set aside.
SALAD:
Bag of fresh baby spinach
2 oranges, peeled and sections cut into large chunks
2 celery stalks, sliced thin
1/2 onion, sliced thin
salt and pepper to taste
Put salad into bowl. Toss with the dressing. Break up the almond topping and sprinkle on top. Serve immediately.
I love this thread! I look forward to reading it every week. Thank you so much for starting it!
I posted my recipe in the FReeper Canteen a few days ago. Here it is:
Trillian’s Cream of Cheesy Potato Soup
1 tablespoon of butter
1 teaspoon of olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
5-6 medium potatoes, skinned and cubed
Salt and pepper to taste
Enough homemade chicken stock and water to fill pot
1- 1/1/2 cups of half & half or whole milk to taste (you can also use cream if you want)
1 stick of butter and equal parts flour to make roux
2 cups of shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 lb of cooked bacon, minced
In a large soup pot (mine holds 18 cups) saute onions in butter and olive oil for a few minutes.
Add garlic, carrots and celery and saute for a few minutes more. Add potatoes and then saute for a few minutes constantly stirring.
Add a mixture of chicken stock and water to taste until the liquid reaches about 1-2 inches from top of pot.
Salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium and simmer for 45 minutes.
Stir in milk or cream until well blended.
In a medium saucepan melt stick of butter and slowly mix in flour with whisk. It should form a thick paste.
Slowly start to ladle the soup into the medium pan continuing to mix with whisk until it starts to thicken. Pour it into the big soup pot and continue stirring with whisk until all the soup starts thickening. It should have the consistency between soup and gravy, not too thick.
Add cheese and stir until completely melted. Take off heat and stir in bacon.
Serve with homemade bread toasted in the oven.
I hope this helps, it’s not really exact which is how most of my recipes are since I do it by look, feel and taste.
Turkey stock works well with this too, I usually make some after thanksgiving using the bones.
Tonight I am making frittelle (also called panzerotti).. Italian fried pizza pockets.
Homemade pizza dough rolled into circles, filled with tomato sauce, mozzarella (or whatever else you want), pinched closed and deep fried at 350F until delicious.
A huge favorite around here.
Got this from the Swanson’s website:
Spicy Mexican Minestrone Stew
1/2 pound sweet Italian pork sausage, casing removed
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups Swanson® Beef Broth or Swanson® Beef Stock (full can)
1 can (about 14.5 ounces) whole peeled tomatoes, cut up
1 1/2 cups Pace® Picante Sauce
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (heaping) or 1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup uncooked medium shell-shaped pasta
1 package (about 10 ounces) frozen cut green beans, thawed (about 2 cups)
1 can (about 15 ounces) kidney beans, rinsed and drained
Shredded Monterey Jack cheese or mozzarella cheese
Shape the sausage firmly into 1/2-inch meatballs. Didn’t do this!
Heat the oil in a 4-quart saucapan over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and cook until they’re well browned on all sides. Remove the meatballs from the saucepan. Pour off any fat.
Stir the broth, tomatoes, picante sauce and garlic powder in the saucepan and heat to a boil. Stir in the pasta. Return the meatballs to the saucepan. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring often.
Stir in the green beans and kidney beans. Cook for 10 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through and the pasta is tender, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with the cheese before serving, if desired.
RECIPE TIPS
Easy Substitution: Substitute 1 can (about 16 ounces) cut green beans, drained, for the frozen.
Time-Saving: For quicker preparation, omit the first step and cook the sausage over medium-high heat until it’s well browned, stirring often to separate meat. Leave the sausage in the skillet and pour off any fat. Proceed with the remainder of the recipe as directed. (This is what I did)
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (6 or 8 if you want)
olive oil
1 cup water
1 chicken bouillion cube
1 dried pulla pepper (I have used 1 japone pepper)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon whole coriander, crushed
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed thyme
Heat pan over high heat and add just enough olive oil to coat pan. Brown chicken on both sides. Add water, bouillion cube and seasonings. Reduce heat to simmer. Cover and simmer twenty minutes until chicken is cooked through.
From here you have an infinity of choices. Serve the breasts as is or in buns with whatever condiments you have. Any recipe you own that calls for 2 cups cooked chicken, chicken salad sandwiches, slice over a lettuce salad.
My wife is making chicken and biscuits tonight. Yes, I am cooking the chicken for it this way.
Of course you may substitute chicken broth or stock for the water. I do when I can, but home made or even store bought doesn't last around here, so I use what I have.
I have got to find the time to try this. It sounds so good!
New Orleans King Cake
Dough
1 Tbs active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk, warmed
4 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp grated nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
5 egg yolks
Cream Cheese Filling
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbs all-purpose flour
1 egg yolk
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
(makes about 1 1 2/ cups)
1 tiny plastic baby, hard candy or bean
1 egg white
1 Tbs milk
Lemon Icing
4 cups powdered sugar (confectioners’ sugar)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
yellow food coloring (optional)
Dissolve the yeast in the water. Add 1 Tablespoon of sugar and the milk. Let sit for 10 minutes.
Dough:
Combine the flour, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and lemon zest in a food processor or blender (I used my stand mixer). Pulse three to five times to combine.
In a separate bowl, cream the butter and the remaining sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks. Gradually add the butter mixture to the flour mixture and process until coarse. Then add the yeast mixture. Pulse eight to ten times, until the dough forms a ball. If it is too sticky, add more flour, 1 Tbs at a time. If it is too dry add more water, 1 Tbs at a time. Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover. Let sit in a warm, dry place for at least 2 hours, until the dough doubles in volume.
To Assemble:
Butter a large baking sheet. When the dough is ready, punch it down a couple of times to flatten it a bit. Divide the dough into three equal pieces. Roll out one piece on a floured work surface to about 12 inches by 4 inches with a thickness of about 3/8 inch. Spread one-third of the cream cheese filling (recipe below) over the dough, leaving a bare 1 inch on all sides. Then roll up the long side of the dough, foring a long cylinder, and pinch the edges to seal. Repeat with the other two pieces of dough.
Braid the three cylinders together then wrap the braid into a circle. Where the ends come together, insert the plastic baby and pinch with ends together to seal, smoothing the dough to hide the seam. Transfer the ring to the prepared baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit for 45 minutes, or until the dough doubles in volume.
Bake:
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Beat the egg white with the milk. When the dough is risen, brush it with the egg white mixture. Place the cake in the oven and bake for 35 - 40 minutes, until golden, or a thermometer reads 200-210ºF. Remove from oven and let cool.
To Serve:
Pour or pipe the lemon icing (recipe below) over the cake. Sprinkle immedieately with colored sugars. Let the topping set before serving.
Cream Cheese Filling
makes about 1 1/2 cups
Combine the Cream cheese, sugar, flour egg yolk, lemon juice, and vanilla in a bowl and mix until smooth.
Lemon Icing
Makes about 3 1/2 cups
Cream the sugar and butter until smooth. Mix in the lemon juice, lemon zest and a drop of yellow food coloring if desired.