What are you Cooking?

[Tirien]

Inspired by Goldenking's comment in the Alorael thread. We need to start posting recipes and the like, for the good of us all. The delicious food must not be denied!

[Cairo Jim]

I'm thinking of attempting to invent some sort of kangaroo stew tonight. How I'm gonna do, I have no idea.

[keira]

Sylae's Sadly Standard Supper

 

Ingredients: Dr Pepper, 2 bricks ramen, crushed red pepper (optional).

 

Preparation:

 

Cook both ramens together. Add seasoning and, if desired, a pinch of red pepper. Sit in darkness by self, eating ramen out of pot cooked in, while occasionally drinking the soda. Be resentful and angry at the world.

[Lilith]

Originally Posted By: Cairo Jim

I'm thinking of attempting to invent some sort of kangaroo stew tonight. How I'm gonna do, I have no idea.

as a general rule, you can treat kangaroo as you would venison: they're both lean, flavourful, high-protein meats that need careful cooking. so look up some recipes for venison stew and substitute kangaroo for venison. a classic example uses onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots, a dash of Worcestershire sauce, some herbs, and just enough water to cover everything. quickly brown the meat in oil, then add everything except the potatoes and carrots and simmer until the meat is tender, then add the last two ingredients and keep cooking until they're soft. wham, stew

[Cairo Jim]

Oh, how I love your culinary skills are coming out.

[Lilith]

the #1 skill in cooking is understanding what flavour and texture combinations work together. once you have a good sense for that, you can find a recipe that's close enough to what you're trying to make and substitute ingredients as you see fit

[Andraste]

Pizza Muffins: Makes 12 Muffins

 

(Picture is still huge for some reason. I edited it but it hasn't taken effect yet.)

 

Click to reveal..

 

Crust:

 

2/3 c warm water

1 tsp sugar

.5 tsp salt

1.75 c flour

.75 tsp yeast

 

Mix warm water, yeast and sugar together in a large bowl. Let rise until frothy, about 15 minutes. Next, mix in salt and flour and knead until you have a nice ball of dough. Cover with a damp towel and let rise in a warm location for about an hour.

 

Sauce:

 

1 6 oz can tomato paste

~1/3 c water

1 tsp dried garlic

1 tsp onion powder

1.25 tsp Italian seasoning

.25 tsp black pepper

.25 tsp red pepper flakes

~1 tbl sugar (if you like icky sweet sauce, I don't)

 

Mix everything in a container and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least half an hour for the flavors to mix.

 

Putting it all together:

 

Preheat oven to 375F. Divide the dough into 12 even balls. Roll out each ball into ~3in diameter circles (depends on size of muffin pan.) Line each muffin depression with a dough circle. Make sure it it fully touching the sides and bottom. Add about a table spoon of the sauce to each muffin well. Top with shredded cheese and other toppings of your choice*. Bake at 375F for 20 minutes.

 

*If using meat such as Italian sausage for a topping, fully cook it before adding to your muffins.

[Nicothodes]

This is the best way to eat lentils ever. Also, it says 2 cups sliced onions, but you want at least twice that because the onions are the best part.

 

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups sliced onions

 

In a large, heavy-bottomed skillet, heat oil and butter until butter melts. Add onion slices and

cook slowly about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Increase heat to moderate toward the end

of cooking period to brown the slices a little.

 

1 cup lentils, picked over and rinsed

5 cups water

 

While the onions are cooking, place lentils and water in a large saucepan. Bring to boiling point,

cover, and reduce heat. Simmer about 20 minutes. Drain lentils and return to saucepan.

 

3 cups vegetable stock (or 3 cups chicken stock, or 3 bouillon

cubes and 3 cups water)

1/2 cup long grain rice

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground sumac (or 1 teaspoon ground cumin)

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

 

Add the above ingredients to lentils. Reserve 1/3 cup of the onions and stir the rest into the

mixture. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer about 20 minutes or until the rice is

tender. Spread the reserved onions over the top and serve.

 

Note: If you have cooked lentils, rice, and slow-cooked onions on hand, the dish will take only a

few minutes. Just combine the cooked ingredients, add the seasonings, and moisten with a little

vegetable stock. Place in a greased baking dish and bake in a 350° oven until heated through.

[Cairo Jim]

Sauerkraut, lentils and tabasco sauce is quite a nice combination. I was trying to think of this earlier, but I forgot about the lentils til just then.

[VCH]

1. Kidney Beans and Corn

 

Add oil to a frying pan; turn heat to medium

then add one whole chopped onion and several chopped garlic cloves

 

heat onion and garlic until browned, then add one can of kidney beans and one can of whole kernel corn

 

add 1/4 of a green onion

 

Turn heat down to low and let the lot simmer for 15-20 minutes; mix occasionally

 

Eat

 

2. Snails 'n' Butter

 

Add lost of butter and lots of lemon juice to a pot, then boil until butter is melted

 

add snails, then turn down heat to low and cook for 10mins

 

Eat

[Dintiradan]

Sometimes, when I make Kraft Dinner, I use seasoning salt as a topping instead of ketchup.

[Niemand]

The most recent dish I prepared is known to the family as 'favorite casserole'. Legend has it that the base recipe became known to us through a newspaper sometime in the early 20th century. It's filling, really simple, and refrigerates well, all of which make it well suited to a lazy grad student who only wants to cook significantly once a week or so.

 

1 pound ground hamburger

1 can tomato sauce

1 can peas

1/2 pound small shell macaroni

1/2 pound shredded cheddar cheese

 

Grease the casserole dish. (I use a 2.3 Liter dish that's a little over 9 cm deep.)

 

Brown the hamburger in a large skillet. Drain it, and then put it in the bottom of the casserole dish, spread into a uniform layer.

 

Boil the macaroni. I'll assume you know how this goes.

 

While the pasta is boiling:

Add some seasoning to the meat. I usually use 'Cavender's All Purpose Greek Seasoning', but someone with more of a culinary clue could make more deliberate choices here. You could also add some dried onion here, but I never bother.

 

Put about half of the tomato sauce onto the meat, reasonably evenly. (You could pour it, but I usually use a large spoon.) Drain the peas, then add them as another layer, then add about half the cheese, again spread evenly.

 

When the macaroni is ready, drain it and add it to the casserole dish as well. (If the quantities are right it should now be about full.) Finally, distribute the remaining cheese on top.

 

Finally, heat the casserole through. About five minutes in a microwave oven will suffice, or a conventional oven could be used. (The goal is just to melt the cheese and give the dish a uniform temperature.)

 

This makes 5-6 servings.

 

--------

 

Andraste's pizza muffins intrigue me. This may bear investigation, although I've never attempted making a yeast-based bread by myself (only things like cakes and pancakes which use solely chemical leavening).

[Callie]

Most of what I cook comes from basic recipes, but I have made my own methods for eggs and salmon.

 

Cheesy, fluffy, spicy scrambled eggs:

 

Get a blender and mix the following at a high speed:

6 eggs

2 cups grated Tillamook sharp cheddar cheese (depending on desired cheesiness)

1 cup milk

~20 drops Tabasco sauce

Some parsley flakes

1 pinch ginger

1 pinch paprika

 

Grease pan with butter. Pour eggs and cook on medium heat. Let sit for three or four minutes until solid egg start to form. Continue to stir and scramble for about ten to fifteen minutes until eggs are lightly browned and dry. Eat with salt and pepper.

 

(Because I now have to limit dairy in my diet, I usually just have plain scrambled eggs.)

 

-----

 

Simmered Salmon Filet with garnish:

 

Get suitable cookware for simmering with a lid. Wash off salmon and fill cookware with water so that the salmon is just submerged. Add peppercorn, lemon juice, some Mrs. Dash or similar seasoning, bay leaves, and plenty of onion (I love onion). Put the lid on and heat at a temperature just below the boiling point of water for 15-20 minutes or until cooked.

 

While that's cooking make some garnish. Get a very small container and add 1-2 tablespoons of mustard. Then mix in the following.

Red Wine Vinegar

Olive Oil

Oregano

Strained garlic (or garlic salt)

Hint of lime juice

 

The amount varies on taste, but it should be over 3/4 mustard while having a fairly strong vinegar smell. Once the salmon is done take off the skin and dry off the filet with a paper towel. Apply the garnish and serve on a bed of fresh, raw spinach. The garnish also works well as a light dressing for the spinach.

 

I really love the aroma from the process.

[Alorael at Large]

Nico's recipe is almost exactly one of my favorites. The dish is mujadarra, where the spelling varies widely. The trick really is onions: I'll usually cut up four to six of the biggest onions I have, because you can't have too much onion. You also can't really have too much olive oil. I usually add a few minced cloves of garlic to the lentils, and while the traditional spice is cumin, I've also delicious results from mixing in cinnamon, coriander, cardamom, and cloves. Possibly any spice beginning with C can go in.

 

It's tasty and filling, and it has big storage advantages. Mujadarra refrigerates very well and freezes fine, and you can make it in batches limited only by the size of your pots. All the ingredients will keep in a cupboard for months so you can stock up and always have a meal (or five) in a pinch.

 

Now, a recipe: roasted garlic Brussels sprouts. I'm bad about measuring anything while cooking, so there'll be some guesswork.

• Brussels sprouts - Two pounds (or a kilo, if you round up) will serve two voracious people or provide side dishes for four to six.
• Olive oil - Again, be generous. I'd guess around four tablespoons (60 mL).
• Garlic - The more the better. I've used an entire bulb before, but four to six cloves should be fine.
• Salt and pepper to taste - I usually add neither and let other people do this. A couple of pinches of pepper will do, and I can't judge salt well.

1. Preheat the oven to 375-400º F.

 

2. Trim the Brussels sprouts. Cut off the stem and the outer leaves should fall off. This is important, especially for bigger sprouts: the outer leaves have the unpleasant sulfurous taste that many people dislike in Brussels sprouts. Cut any really big sprouts in half.

 

3. Chop garlic. It doesn't need to be minced, and roasted garlic bits are delicious.

 

4. Mix olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and sprouts. The easy way is to put them all in a plastic bag and shake them, but then you've wasted a bag unless you're willing to clean out all the oil. Or you can skip this for now and read the next step.

 

5. Dump everything onto a baking sheet. I like to cover the sheet with aluminum foil so that the cleanup is easier, but you don't have to waste aluminum. The really easy way to mix is to dump the Brussels sprouts on the sheet, sprinkle the chopped garlic roughly evenly over them, and then just pour oil overtop. Just be sure to get oil all over.

 

6. Stick the tray in the oven for somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour. Mixing every ten minutes or so will give you more even roasting, but I usually don't bother. The sprouts should come out dark brown and be squishy, not crunchy. That said, if they come out crunchy they're still pretty good anyway.

 

—Alorael, who would also plug stir-fry if that were a recipe and not just a method. It's a great method, though, that you can use to cook many different things with many different flavors.

[The Mystic]

You know, this thread is making me kind of hungry, so here's my recipe for eggplant parmesan.

 

1 eggplant or 3-4 baby eggplants, peeled and cut into 1/2” to 3/4” slices

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 to 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1/4 pound (4 ounces) ricotta cheese, crumbled

4 ounces (1 cup) shredded mozzerella cheese

1/4 cup grated parmesan or romano cheese

24-ounce jar of spaghetti/pasta sauce

1/2 tsp. dried basil (optional)

 

Preheat oven to 350°F.

 

Dip eggplant slices in egg, then in bread crumbs. Place eggplant in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for about 5 minutes per side.

 

In a 9” by 13” baking dish, spread enough spaghetti sauce to cover the bottom. Place eggplant slices in sauce, and sprinkle with ricotta cheese. Cover with remaining spaghetti sauce. Sprinkle with mozzerella cheese, then parmesan cheese and basil.

 

Bake in preheated oven for about 30-35 minutes.

[Goldengirl]

Originally Posted By: Tirien

Inspired by Goldenking's comment in the Alorael thread. We need to start posting recipes and the like, for the good of us all. The delicious food must not be denied!

I've always known I'm an inspiration.

As is common knowledge on Spiderweb Software, the sandwich is king.


With the same care and attention to detail as Arthur Dent, I strive to make the best of sandwiches. And how do I know that I have made the best? Constant experimentation of course!

First, the subject of the experiment must be selected - the best type of ham sandwich, the best wheat-based sandwich, etc. This subject acts as the control variable, and from there all other potential variables are tested. Every sandwich is weighed on criteria ranging from how filling the sandwich is to the visual appeal of the sandwich.

Science will yield success in my quest for the Perfect Sandwich, I am sure of it!