Favorite recipes?

Asparagus Risotto (in a mild fresh asparagus purée)



So tasty.

Preparation:

I could have called that one...

Oh yeah.

I forgot that I already posted it in a similar thread.

I'm a big fan of spicy foods.

Cayenne pepper pairs surprisingly well with chocolate. Hot chocolate with cayenne pepper might be the most euphoric drink on the planet. No exaggeration-- you get an endorphin rush without any of the pain. This is a good recipe for "Spicy Mayan Hot Chocolate."

Right now I'm enjoying some chocolate pudding with cayenne pepper. It's unspectacular (unlike the hot chocolate), but it keeps things interesting.

I just discovered "bruschetta" is pronounced "brusketta."

Man, I butchered that one.

Actually, it is "brew-skay-ta"

I wonder why the "English" pronunciation has to be different. Maybe that's just wikipedia being dumb.

I don't know. I'm just going by how my family always said it. And of course Giada.

Nice. Is that the slab kind?

I've been obsessed with creating perfect omelettes. Mine has to have a very thin shell, moist body, and made from good quality eggs (ones with practically orange yolks) (incidentally, just how I like my women.) I do this by beating several eggs with a splash of milk, salt, and pepper. Then I add 1 tbsp of cubed butter so it melts evenly when cooking. The real secret is to break up the curds with the bottom of a fork as they form. This gets the egg silky and creamy; not a dry, thick slab of egg. It's hard to master because you have to get the temperature right and control the curd formation without scrambling or drying out the egg. I finish with a touch of heat to create the thin shell (yellow, not burned).

I also make a mean english muffin egg sandwich. The ingredients can easily vary, but it basically consists of bread, egg, meat, and vegetable. My version uses a toasted, lightly buttered english muffin; egg, basil, and green onions cooked appropriately for a sandwich; a slice of roasted red pepper; and a slice of soppresata or prosciutto. You can get as fancy or down-home as you want with this thing. I've seen it with smoked salmon and caviar. I love it!

The cubed butter goes in the egg mixture so that it will melt evenly in the pan when you start frying it up. Also, there's no time to cover the pan. The process of breaking up the curds as they form with the bottom a fork takes all your attention. Doing it this way, the texture of the egg is creamy, so you don't have that egg mass/runny insides thing you seem to be getting. When you fold it, the egg only runs a little and it's nothing a few more seconds on the pan can't help solidify without drying up the egg. It's difficult to perfect-- I've mistakenly scrambled/dried out more omelettes than I can count.

The perfect (basic) omelet.

I really don't like starchy carb heavy foods as they will do me no favors in the long term.

However,,, There are these Buttermilk Spice Muffins served at Mimis Café http://www.mimiscafe.com/default.aspx and they are really good with breakfast.

They actually post the recipe on their website and here it is:

BUTTERMILK SPICE MUFFINS

Muffin Battert \t
1 cup sugar\t \t
1/2 cup butter or margarine\t \t
3 eggs\t \t
2 1/2 cups flour\t \t
2 teaspoons baking soda\t \t
1 teaspoon nutmeg\t \t
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon\t \t
3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon buttermilk

Nut Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg


Grease the baking tins with butter or margarine
Method
Preheat oven to 375°. In a mixing bowl, cream the sugar and the butter together with an electric mixer. When they are thoroughly mixed, add eggs and beat one more minute.

Sift the flour into a separate bowl, together with the baking soda, nutmeg and the cinnamon.

Add the flour and the buttermilk to the first mixture, mix at low speed until smooth. To avoid lumps in the batter, add the wet and dry ingredients alternately, in small amounts.

Make the nut topping: Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.

Grease muffin tins with butter or margarine. You can also use paper baking cups. Fill each cup 3/4 full of batter. Add a full, rounded tablespoon of nut topping on top of each muffin cup of batter. Bake immediately or the topping will sink to the bottom of the muffin.

Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. A toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffin should come out dry. Home ovens heat differently from commercial ovens so you may need to adjust the temperature or the baking time accordingly.

Recipe yields 12 standard-size muffins, or six Mimis size muffins. If using the jumbo muffin pans, reduce the oven temperature by 25° and increase the baking time 5-10 minutes.

They are perfect!

Fellows

I love Alton Brown, but his omelette won't have a creamy consistency or thin shell; it'll be a lump of egg mass. Standard omelette, basically. Although the tip about swirling the runny egg around the pan pre-flip does help reduce runniness.

Cast Iron skillet is awesome for bacon. I am not a terribly good cook and I really only use recipes for baking, but this place http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/shophome.html has improved the quality of my food. I haven't ordered online as they opened a store close enough to me, but the quality and price of the spices is excellent. Sean, you should try some of the fine herbs in your omlette.

Alton's my favorite too. I've always followed his omelet method and never had a runny center, but the center should definitely be moist. For those that like their omelet dry, try a frittata instead.

Spicy Thai Vegetable Wraps
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Recipe By: Raw Food Real World

Ingredients:

For the tamarind dipping sauce:
3 tablespoons tamarind
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon nama shoyu (or soy sauce)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 pinch sea salt


For the Wraps
1/2 cup raw cashews, chopped
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons grated ginger, grated into a paste
1 tablespoon chopped red chile, or tabasco, or raw jalapeños, or habaneros.
1 cup raw almond butter, or peanut butter
1/2 head savoy cabbage, shredded (or regular shredded cabbage)
6 collard greens, or romaine (spring roll wrappers work well)
1 carrots, large
2 cups bean sprouts
1 handful cilantro
1 handful basil leaves
1/2 handful mint
1 mango

Directions:

1. In a small bowl mix the cashews, sesame oil, and salt and set aside.

2. In a food processor, mix the maple syrup, lemon juice, grated ginger, red chile, and nama shoyu. Add the almond butter and blend at low speed to combine. Add water to thin if necessary, to get a thick, cake batter-like consistency.

3. In a medium bowl, add the shredded cabbage and the almond butter mixture and toss well to combine (this is easiest if you use your hands).

4. Cut out the center rib of each collard green leaf, dividing the leaf in half. Place 1 I half leaf on a cutting board with the underside facing up. Arrange a few tablespoons of the cabbage mixture evenly across the bottom third of the leaf, leaving about 1 1/2 inches clear at the bottom. Sprinkle some of the chopped cashews over the cabbage. Lay a few sticks of carrot, a few strips of mango, and a few sprouts on top. Add a few leaves each of cilantro, basil, and mint. Fold the bottom of the collard leaf up and over the filling, keeping it tight, and tuck the leaf under the ingredients and roll forward. Place the roll seam side down on a serving dish. Repeat with remaining leaves and ingredients. Serve with the tamarind dipping sauce.

For the dipping sauce
Wisk together the tamarind, maple syrup, nama shoyu, and olive oil. Taste for seasoning and add a pinch of salt if necessary. Place in a separate bowl and set aside. This sauce may be made ahead and refrigerated for up to 2 days. It can also be frozen if you have leftovers or want to make it in advance

Dammit! Now I'm hungry.

What's with all this chick food?

Anything I cook has two attributes:
1. Very high in protein
2. Caveman simple

The only thing I do that might be passable as "interesting" is something I call the "eggalo." I do a lot of braised meats, too, but you can find that info anywhere. The buffalo meat is important: it doesn't taste nearly as good with cow.

Eggalo
- 2 eggs
- 300g ground buffalo meat (actually american bison)
- oil of sorts (sunflower or canola are best. Don't use olive oil)
- large-ish saucepan with lid
- salt
- hot sauce
- corn syrup, honey, anything of this type

1. oil the saucepan depending on how fatty the buffalo meat is. Even if the meat is fatty, you'll want a little oil to get it going.

2. pack two patties. Make sure they are thin but not too thin. Maybe 1.5 to 2cm thick.

3. Start cooking the patties with the lid off. Medium or Medium high depending on the strength of your stove. I assume you've cooked burgers before and know how long it takes per side in order to get them to the level of "done-ness" that you like.

4. Flip the burgers. There should be a nice slick of burger fat and blood in the pan, now. Crack the two eggs and toss 'em in, adjacent to the burgers (not on top).

5. Put the lid on! this is important, because the eggs are not to be flipped. The presence of the lid allows the tops of the eggs to cook.

6. Dump the contents out of the saucepan. This takes some practice in order to do it without getting it jumbled, but no big deal either way.

7. Hit the mass with plenty of salt, honey, and hot sauce.

Pasta with Tomato and Cream Sauce and Shrimp

Cast of Characters:

Small onion
(2) cloves garlic
Olive oil.
2 tbsp butter.
1 cup tomato sauce (prepared or unprepared)
1 cup heavy cream
4-6 ounces white wine (about a half cup to two thirds of a cup)
Lots of basil and parsley
Lots of shrimp

Cooking Instructions:

Saute the shrimp in olive oil and 1 tbsp of butter until opaque (lightly undercooked). Set aside on a plate.

Dice the onions and garlic and then saute them in olive oil and 1 tbsp of butter until translucent. Add the white wine and tomato sauce. Simmer until the alcohol evaporates (5-10 minutes. You'll be able to tell by the smell). In the meantime, cut the shrimp into bite-size pieces. When the alcohol evaporates, puree the sauce in a blender. Then add the puree back to the pan.

Stir in 1 cup of heavy cream and add the shrimp and diced herbs to the sauce. Cook until the shrimp are done (5 minutes; don't let it boil). Add enough pasta to use up all the sauce (Add pasta to the sauce; don't dump the sauce over the pasta-- this recipe typically only uses up 1/2 to 3/4ths of a box depending on the noodle).

Oh yeah: cook the pasta at some point.

That's it! It's really quite good. Takes about 30 minutes altogether. Serves 2-3 maybe.

Chick Food!?


Oh Yeah?!



If you look at the extras on Robert Rodriguez's movies, sometimes he'll have a cooking bit in there. On the DVD for Once Upon a Time in Mexico, he shows you how to make this dish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO8EiScBEjA




Puerco Pibil
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Recipe By:
Serving Size: 8

Ingredients:

5 lbs. pork butt, cut into 2 inch cubes
5 tablespoons annato seeds
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 tablespoon whole black pepper
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
8 whole allspice berries
2 habanero Peppers, fresh or dried, cleaned and minced (optional)
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup white vinegar
8 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons salt
5 lemons
1 shot of tequila
banana leaves (optional)

Directions:

Preparation Instructions
Grind the annato seeds, cumin seeds, whole peppercorns, whole cloves, and whole allspice in a mortar and pestle, molcajete y tejolote, spice grinder or coffe grinder.

Blend the cleaned and chopped habanero peppers with the orange juice, vinegar, garlic and salt.

Mix the dry spices with the liquid.

Add the juice of 5 lemons and a nice splash of tequila.

Place the cubed pork butt in a large zip lock bag and add the marinade. Soak 4-6 hours, in refrigerator, turning several times.

Line (8x13) baking pan with banana leaves. Pour in pork along with the marinade. Cover with Banana leaves and seal the pan with foil. Bake in a 325 F degree oven for 4 hours.

(I guess you could use parchement paper for the bananananananana leaves.

Cadillac Margarita
---------------------------------------------------------

Recipe By:

Ingredients:

.5 oz Triple Sec
1.25 ounce Tequila
.5 oz [Rose's] Lime Juice
Top Off Sour Mix
.5 oz Grand Marnier
Margarita glass

Potent but tasty margarita.

Why lime juice and sour mix?

I dunno -- it's not Buffet's recipe (out of his boxed set) but it's pretty good.


Wait a minute -- that should read Rose's Lime Juice.

Panama empanadas:



http://panamagourmet.blogs.com/cooki...my_10_gem.html

Romanian cabbage rolls:



http://www.bloglander.com/cheapeats/...cabbage-rolls/

Fellows

Jack and Coke
---------------------------------------------------------

Recipe By:

Ingredients:

Glass full of ice
Three parts Jack
Splash of Coke

Stir with finger.

Enjoy.

Must run in the family...

I'm calling lundy.

Spicy Green Jasmine Rice

An awesomely spicy side dish with cilantro and poblano peppers as prominent flavors.

Ingredients

1 1/3rd cups jasmine rice
2 poblano peppers
1 jalapeno (optional)
2 handfuls cilantro
2-3 green onions
2 cups chicken broth
1 lime
1 small onion
3 cloves garlic
Olive oil
Salt/Pepper

Directions

Roast the poblano peppers. You can do this in the oven, but it's quicker to just roast the peppers by hand over a gas flame. Roast them until they're black or otherwise distorted-looking on all sides. Place in a sealed bag for 5-10 minutes to cool (This step makes them easier to peel). Then peel and take the seeds out of the peppers. (Also, don't run the peppers under water or you'll lose a lot of the flavor).

Place the peppers in a large pan with the chicken stock and 1 handful of cilantro and bring to a boil. As soon as it boils, transfer the mixture to a blender and puree. (Don't get this stuff in your eyes!) Set aside.

In a large pan, saute the onions and garlic in olive oil. Add salt and pepper. When translucent/golden, add the rice to the pan and toast for a few minutes.

Add the puree to the pan and bring to a boil. As soon as it boils, turn the heat down to low, cover the pan, and let it cook for 15 minutes. It's important not to lift the lid of the pan for the next 15 minutes or the rice won't cook.

Meanwhile, chop the green onions and the other handful of cilantro.

When the rice is ready (you want the rice to be tender but still have somewhat of a bite since nothing is worse than soggy rice), turn off the heat and add the green onions, remaining cilantro, and the juice of half of a lime and stir.

That's it!

*Note:

You might want to be conservative adding the remaining cilantro during that last step since it's a strong, bitter flavor. Also, you can add a jalapeno pepper during the roasting/pureeing process but 9 times out of 10 it will make the dish *extremely* spicy. Poblano peppers are wildly inconsistent in their heat levels, so use your discretion here.

You like women with thin shells?

When I went past that the first time, I didn't reply on account of it being too weird.

Get a sense of humor, spliney. Spammy's got one.

Is that all you've got? Don't try to cover your tracks after making the lamest joke I've seen in months. ... you fucking know it, too.

Haha, I'm aware!

Sun-Dried Tomato Hummus with Garlic.

This is a nice orange-rose colored hummus with a decent flavor.

Ingredients

15 oz can of Garbanzo beans
2 tbsp Olive Oil
2 tbsp Sundried Tomatoes
2-3 garlic cloves (optional)
Juice from half of a lemon.
A bit of water if it's too thick.

Directions

Drain and rinse the beans.

Then just throw it all in a blender/food processor and blend until pureed.

I'd roast the garlic first. Raw garlic in this recipe is a little harsh. Overall it tasted alright- if a little off. Better the second day, but I wouldn't keep this stuff around for too long. I'm gonna try it with roasted garlic next time and other variations.

Any suggestions?

Ribeye Steak with Mushrooms and Onions,
Roasted Red Potatoes with Olive Oil and Rosemary, and
Braised Sweetened Carrots with Ginger and Honey.

It's a fantastic twist on the old meat, po-ta-toes and and carrots ensemble. A man's meal with taste.

Ingredients:

Steak (I used a choice ribeye)
Kosher salt
Olive Oil
1 package of mushrooms
1/2 medium onion
2 tbsp butter

Potatoes (I used the small red ones)
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
2 sprigs of rosemary

1 lb carrots
3/4 cup of orange juice
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp honey
2/3 to 3/4 tbsp of fresh grated ginger

Directions

For the steak, pack it with loads of kosher salt on both sides and let it rest at room temperature for about 45 minutes. The science of this step is explained here. It really does wonders.

In the meantime, pre-heat the oven to 375.

Boil the potatoes until they're fork-tender.

In the meantime, peel and chop the carrots to your desired thickness and grate the ginger root.

Melt 2 tbsp of butter in a pan at medium heat and add the carrots. Saute until tender but still a bit firm. Next, add the orange juice, honey, and grated ginger. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes or until tender. Set aside covered when done.

Next, in an oven-safe dish or whatever you have, pour in a few tbsp of olive oil. Add the potatoes and crush with a fork enough to retain their shape but still somewhat flattened. Salt, pepper, pour more olive oil over the top of the potatoes, and added chopped fresh rosemary. Bake until golden and brown.

In the meantime, chop the onion and mushrooms. I tend to chop the onions for this dish so that they're long strands instead of bite-sized pieces. Pour a tbsp of olive oil in a pan and heat on high for a few minutes (or until it reaches its smoke point). At this point, dump the mushrooms in the pan and leave them until they're nicely blackened and browned.

Add 2 tbsp of butter, a dash of kosher salt, and the onions to the pan and continue to cook until the onions are golden.

Now, finally, cook the steak. First wash the salt off the steak and pat it very dry. Then, rub each side with olive oil. Next, heat a pan on high for a few minutes and dump the steak on the pan. Cook to your likeness. Or grill it. I like it medium rare with a gorgeous brown seared outside. (Just like I like my.... okay I won't go there).