FReeper Weekly Recipe Thread(March 24, 2012

FreeRepublic Cooks | March 24, 2012 | libertarian27

[libertarian27]

Welcome to the 16th installment of the FReeper Weekly Recipe Thread for 2012.

Looking for something new to make or made something new that came out great? Please share a 'tried-and-true' recipe or six- for fellow FReepers to add to their 'go-to' Recipe Stack of Family Favorites!

Here's the place to share and explore your latest and greatest favorite recipe.

(All 2011 FReeper Recipes are on my profile page as an Online Cookbook Thread Link)

[libertarian27]

National Chocolate Covered Raisins Day March 24

Pecan Day ~ Waffle Day ~ National Lobster Newburg Day March 25

Spinach Day March 26

National Spanish Paella Day March 27

Something on a Stick Day ~ National Black Forest Cake Day March 28

National Lemon Chiffon Cake Day March 29

Turkey Neck Soup Day March 30

[libertarian27]

Weekly Recipe Thread Ping List
(to be added/deleted-please contact me)

Recap of recipes from the March 17th thread:

Beef _ Post#` 28 _ Corned Beef Brisket

Bread _ Post#` 64 _ Golden Sweet Cornbread
Bread _ Post#` 59 _ Famous Dave’s Corn Bread w/ Honey Jalapeno Glaze

Meats _ Post#` 45 _ Venison (various recipes)

Sauces _ Post#` 29 _ Roquefort Dressing with Anchovies
Sauces _ Post#` 59 _ Famous Dave’s BBQ Sauce
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2860419/posts?page=65#65

[MissMagnolia]

Last week, on the Garden Thread, a couple of us were talking about mesclun, various lettuces (other than iceberg), etc. and looking forward to the time when we will have fresh greens for salads. Someone posted a ‘recipe’ (and a picture) for stuffed romaine and it brought to mind one of my favorite books ‘Simple But Perfect Salads – The Taste of Summer All Year Round’. I found it on a bargain rack and got it because the pictures are beautiful and I liked the combinations of ingredients that I was seeing. Some of the recipes are super simple, others are more elegant and would be nicely suited for special company or a dinner party. I’ve made several of the salads and been very pleased.

Someone on the Garden Thread posted back to me that they had ‘ordered the book – thanks!’ That got me curious so I looked it up and found it at Amazon …. then I read the reviews. There were four 5-star reviews and the book was getting wonderful comments so I thought I would share it with the Recipe Thread ….. here’s the link at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Simple-But-Perfect-Salads-Summer/dp/1405492430

[kalee]

Just had bbq pork made in the crockpot.
Cooked butt roast with 12 oz coke on low for 12 hours.
Drained and discarded juices from pot, shredded meat then returned it with 8 oz bbq sauce to crock to cook an additional 5-6 hours.
Easy and not bad tasting. We had sandwiches and potato salad for a late lunch.

[pops88]

I was looking for something different to do with canned tuna other than basic tuna salad that I’m sick of. I love spicy tuna roll sushi, so this recipe looked worth trying. It was great, but I used a lot more sriracha sauce because I like the heat:

Spicy Tuna Salad

Ingredients:

1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 teaspoons dark sesame oil

1 teaspoon sriracha sauce, or more to taste

2 cans sold white albacore tuna in water

Instructions:

In a small mixing bowl stir together the mayonnaise, sesame oil, and sriracha. Taste for seasoning.

Serving suggestion- serve on arugula topped with olive oil, lemon juice and avocado.
____________________________________________________________

In a similar vein, here’s a recipe for sauce to kick up your sushi:

Dynamite Sushi Sauce

½ cup (low-fat) mayonnaise
2 tbsp Sriracha hot sauce
¼ tsp roasted sesame oil

Japanese mayonnaise would make it more authentic, but regular mayonnaise works fine.

[libertarian27]

I bet that would be neat rolled up in bib lettuce or iceburg and then cut up to look like sushi rolls
(without the sushi{rice} heck - maybe even with a layer of rice:)

[Twotone]

What is sriracha? Never heard of it.

A friend gave me this sushi recipe years ago. It uses the ‘age’ tofu skins & is a very tasty dish:

Sushi

Rice:
3 cups pearl rice
4 cups water
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Bring water to boil, add salt & oil; put in rice. When water evaporates, add Rice Sauce (below), cover & allow to simmer 25 minutes.

Rice Sauce:
1&1/2 cups rice vinegar
1&1/2 cups sugar
½ tsp MSG
1 cup French-sliced green beans
1 cup shredded carrot

Put all ingredients in saucepan together & bring up to medium heat. Add to rice when excess water has evaporated.

Age Sauce:
¼ cup sugar
2 tsp salt,
2&1/4 cup water
1&1/2 tsp MSG
2 tbsp soy sauce

When all ingredients are dissolved put in Age skins (cone sushi) & allow to simmer for about 10 minutes. Then remove skins & allow to cool. Add Age Sauce to Rice mixture & stir thoroughly. When all fluid has been absorbed, stuff rice into Age skins.

[prisoner6]

Checking in. May not be able to post. Have to work. One thing I'm planing for making this week is a copy of Skyline Chili.

Also variations on grilled cheese sandwiches. Sandwich King had a good show a couple of weeks ago with one made with onions and cheese. Kind of an onion soup sandwich. Looked interesting.

Mrs p6 and I have made a lot of food over the past week or so and some was (surprisingly) REALLY GOOD!

Hope I can post it before the weekend ends.

[MistrX]

Kalua Pork.

3-5 lb. pork butt
2 Tbs. Sea salt
2 Tbs. Liquid smoke
2 C water

rub butt w salt
put all into dutch oven
braise 325 degrees about 3-3 1/2 hrs.
add 2 heads coarse chopped cabbage and some small potatoes and cook for another 45 min.
use a turkey baster to wet cabbage a couple of times

Your guests will all think you are a genius.

[SAJ]

Sriracha is a Thai pepper sauce, which (curiously enough) gained mass-market appeal in the US after a couple of episodes of the old Emeril Live cooking programme some 10-12 years ago.

The origin of this sauce is a little cloudy, It is clearly a traditional (i.e. rurally made and consumed) Thai sauce, possibly originating in the village of Si Racha on the Thai coast (and possibly NOT, too).

The best known preparation of sriracha in the US is made and imported by the Huy Fong company. Packaged in a clear squeeze bottle with their traditional logo of a rooster on the front, in white, it's a very useful and tasty sauce.

By experimentation, I've found that letting the bottle of sauce sit on the counter, vented (twist top open) for a couple of weeks improves the flavour.

Like almost all pepper sauces, one can find a sriracha prepared to any degree of heat, from mild to fiery.

Hope this is of some use to you, and best cooking always!

[Twotone]

Thanks very much for the info! I enjoy a nice spicy sauce & will have to give this a try. :-)

[Red_Devil 232]

I have a question about using tomato paste in sauces. For some reason I have always slightly sauteed the paste in a small amount of olive oil before adding to sauces. I read, years ago, that this should be done to intensify it’s flavor.

For some reason I think the paste by itself is intensified enough, does sauteing it have any other benefits?

[pops88]

It's a chili sauce found in the Asian section of the grocery store, is red and has a rooster on the label. This is from Wikipedia:

Sriracha sauce, labelled in Vietnamese as Tương Ớt Sriracha, is a hot sauce product by Huy Fong Foods. Created by David Tran, founder of the company, it is a distinct variant of Sriracha sauce and has achieved great popularity in the United States. It is also known as rooster sauce or cock sauce because of the rooster featured on its label.[1] It has grown so much in popularity that there are now cookbooks featuring recipes that use it as their main condiment.[2] The Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce recipe has not changed since 1983. It is currently Huy Fong Foods' best-known and best-selling item, easily recognized by its bright red color and its packaging: a clear plastic bottle with a green cap, text in five languages (Vietnamese, English, Chinese, French, and Spanish) and the rooster logo. The bottle lists the ingredients "Chili, sugar, salt, garlic, distilled vinegar, potassium sorbate, sodium bisulfite and xanthan gum." Huy Fong Foods' chili sauces are made from red jalapeño chili peppers and contain no added water or artificial colors. The company formerly used serrano chilis but found them difficult to harvest. The company has warned customers about counterfeit versions of its sauces.[3] In Dec. 2009, Bon Appetit magazine named this Sriracha sauce Ingredient of the Year for 2010.[4][5

[pops88]

I have a question about using tomato paste in sauces. For some reason I have always slightly sauteed the paste in a small amount of olive oil before adding to sauces. I read, years ago, that this should be done to intensify it’s flavor.

For some reason I think the paste by itself is intensified enough, does sauteing it have any other benefits?
____________________________________________________________

If you are using cast iron the acid from the tomatoes supposedly will leach out iron from it which is beneficial for health.

[Red_Devil 232]

That brings up another thing I have been told - do not use cast iron for making tomato sauces they can cause ‘pitting’ and oxidation. True?

[bgill]

Here’s a really nice tuna dip for celery or crackers:

1 sm. can of tuna, drained
1 8 oz cream cheese, softened
1-2 T sweet relish (sweet adds a little extra something)

Stir together.

If you used the sweet relish with Splenda, it would be low carb.

[bgill]

I made the mistake once of putting some tomato paste or sauce in a cheap metal pan. I don’t know what type of metal it was but the acid in the tomato took the many years of grunge off it and everywhere the sauce touched it was shiny metal. Threw that thing out, pronto!

[rightly_dividing]

Sriracha is good stuff. We discovered it in a Chinese restaurant where it is on the table. Lots of Mexicans eat there and they pour it on. I spied a bottle in the store for a couple of bucks and brought it home for my wife.p>

[bgill]

I’ve never had a problem with tomato in a cast iron pan. YMMV.

[mojo114]

I read the Gardening Thread too that spoke about this book. I went to Amazon, checked the reviews and ordered a copy, used condition from Yankee Clipper through Amazon. The book cost 58 cents with $3.99 shipping and arrived a day ago. It is a glorious hard cover, very good condition. I briefly looked at it’s pictures and recipes and I am in love with this book “ Simple But Perfect Salads-The Taste of Summer All Year Round”.
Can’t wait to try some of the recipes! Loads of different ways to use greens with/or without meat/seafood.