Relic boards recipes 2006

[reki]

This one was a big hit for starters at a dinner party @ our place last weekend:

Roasted tomato soup

Prep Time: 13 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Yield: 6 servings

1 1/2 pounds ripe plum tomatoes
5 tablespoons olive oil
2 minced garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
1/4 teaspoon dried basil, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup dry red wine
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup tomato paste
Sugar to taste, if needed
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese, optional

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Halve tomatoes lengthwise and lay them cut sides down in a jelly-roll pan. Brush generously with 3 tablespoons oil and sprinkle with garlic, oregano, basil, and pepper. Roast tomatoes until their edges are charred, about 15 to 20. Scrape tomatoes, oil, and herbs from pan into food processor. Process until not quite smooth (leaving small chunks and charred black specks).
In a saucepan cook onion in remaining 2 tablespoons oil until translucent. Whisk in roasted tomato puree, broth, and wine. Then whisk tomato paste. Heat the cream and whisk in to the tomato mixture. Taste and add sugar if necessary. Stir in optional Parmesan. Add salt and pepper to taste and bring soup to a simmer.

----------

I baked some fresh bread rolls and followed up with a main of rabbit & wild mushroom cannelloni (made the pasta from scratch as well ) with a pear & cointreau sorbet for dessert.

Despite the stiff competition from the other dishes, the soup went down the best by far - everyone was queuing up for seconds. I recommend you make some fresh bread or rolls when you serve. I love cooking - it's kind of a pastime for me, so I'd love to hear some of this year's RB recipe ideas.

Everything welcome, from the usual coke & chocolate pizza sandwich types to chilli & truffle oil fois gras.

[Alliance]

Best toast you ever had

ok, you'll need one of those triangle clamp toasters for this.
take:
2 slices of white bread
cheese (the more the merrier)
favorite brand of sausage or salami( i preffer salami)
BBQ sauce (I like honey and mustard sauce)
butter

ok, turn the toaster on while you get everything out, so its already hot when the bread is ready. now apply all the ingrediants like a normal sandwich, but also add butter (a nice thick cover) on the outer sides of the toast. throw it on the toaster and close it, and wait untill it gets a good brown gold colour and enjoy.

[General Nuke Em]

How about renaming that "heart attack special" to reflect its true nature?

[Alliance]

hey, its not something you eat everyday, its a special something you have when you wanna spoil yourself a little.

[Kovac]

Now I have never actually tried to write this recipe down before.
I adapted it for my own uses from several different recipes, but I tend to adjust based on what I have available at the time.
In any case this is an attempt on sharing the recipe

Kovacs Enchiladas

Two boneless chicken breasts
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. Chili Powder (Vary depending on your own taste for hot food)
2 garlic cloves
Vegetable Oil
1 Jar of Salsa
1/2 C Olives
1/2 an onion
Tortillas
1 & 1/2 C Grated cheese (Tasty or Mild)

Preparation:
Slice the chicken breasts into cubes
Mince the garlic
Dice the onion
Halve all of the olives

Cooking:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)

Warm 2 tbsp of oil in a saucepan at a medium heat. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and sauté the onion turns translucent.
Add the chopped chicken to the pan and cook until the chicken turns brown.
Sir in salsa, Olives, 1/2 C Cheese, cumin, oregano and Chili Powder which you will allow to simmer 4-6 minutes

Spoon an amount (Dependent on the size of tortilla used) of the chicken mixture into the center of each tortilla. Roll the tortilla around the chicken filling into a fluted shape.

Layer the bottom of a pan with oil and heat to a medium high temp.
Use this to fry the tortillas to a light brown on all sides

Insert the fried tortillas into a baking dish and sprinkle a layer of cheese 1 C over the top and then place the baking dish into the preheated oven for around 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbling.

Lasagna

Ingredients:

510 g lean ground beef
3/4 onion, chopped
1-1/2 cloves garlic, minced
2-1/4 teaspoons chopped fresh basil
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon and 1-1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 (29 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1-1/2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
9 dry lasagna noodles
1-1/2 eggs, beaten
1-1/2 cups part-skim ricotta cheese
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon and 1-1/2 teaspoons dried parsley
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 tablespoon and 1-1/2 teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

In a skillet over medium heat, brown ground beef, onion and garlic; drain fat. Mix in basil, oregano, brown sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Simmer for 30 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add lasagna noodles, and cook for 5 to 8 minutes, or until al dente; drain. Lay noodles flat on towels, and blot dry.

In a medium bowl, mix together eggs, ricotta, Parmesan cheese, parsley and 1 teaspoon salt.

Layer 1/3 of the lasagna noodles in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Cover noodles with 1/2 ricotta mixture, 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese and 1/3 of the sauce. Repeat. Top with remaining noodles and sauce. Sprinkle additional Parmesan cheese over the top.

I prefer to make this the night before serving, but if you don’t want to wait that long you should at least let it stand for 30 minutes

[Handarazuur]

Salmon Pie

Ingredients:

Small bowl of boiled silverbeet
2 large onions, diced
1 large potato, cubed
2 tblspns tomato paste
1 small can frozen peas
1 large can flaked salmon
Chopped anchovies, olives
Salt and pepper to taste

(Can be done with homemade or puff pastry)

Directions:

Cover the bottom of a large saucepan with olive oil, and lightly fry the potato and onion pieces. Add tomato paste and half a cup of water, and simmer until the potato is soft. Add all the other ingredients, and heat through. Then, fill the pastry case and bake until brown.

Note 1: To reduce the saltiness of the anchovies, soak them in milk for approximately fifteen minutes, and then drain.

Note 2: Lightly coating the top of the pie with milk will help it brown better.

[ceejayoz]

Pavlova

Ingredients:

• 4 room temperature, fresh, extra large (jumbo) egg whites
• 1.5 cups normal white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (add a second, if desired)
• 1 teaspoon corn flour (a.k.a. cornstarch)
• 1 large pinch of salt
• 2-3 pints of heavy (whipping) cream
• Fresh fruit - traditionally, strawberries and kiwis, sliced thinly
• Chocolate, shaved in a cheese grater (a mix of Cadbury Dairy Milk and Royal Dark chocolates, if available, or another brand of Australian or European chocolate - DON'T USE HERSHEY'S!!!)

Preparation:

1. Prepare a circular tray (like a pizza tray or circular cookie tray) by covering with aluminium foil. Coat foil with butter, then coat butter with some additional cornstarch and some confectioners sugar. Shake excess cornstarch and sugar off when done.
2. Warm mixing bowl with warm water.
3. Beat egg whites + pinch of salt until quite stiff - it needs to be able to hold its shape.
4. While beating, gradually add sugar, spoonfuls at a time.
5. While beating, gradually add vanilla and vinegar.
6. While beating, gradually add cornstarch.
7. Spoon beaten mixture onto pre-prepared tray. Spread across pan, leaving about 0.5 - 1.0 inches around the edges for pavlova to expand.
8. Scoop mix in center to edges, forming a crater.
9. Smooth down any peaks, as they will blacken in the oven.
10. Bake at 275 degrees for 30 minutes.
11. Reduce heat to 250 degrees and bake for fourty-five minutes.
12. Turn oven off, but leave pavlova in oven for approximately 10 minutes with the door slightly open. Removing it too quickly will cause the crust to crack.
13. Allow shell to cool completely.
14. Whip the whipping cream, and fill the center of the pavlova shell with it.
15. Add fruit and shaved chocolate on top of whipped cream.
16. Serve!

End Result:
Looks something like this:


The meringue winds up having a wonderful marshmallowy layer inside... mmm mmm mmm.

[Moe]

ceejay fails for not naming his recipe.

[Retroboy]

I'd post a definitive recipe for Retro's Ridiculously Relished Beef Jerky, except the proportions vary every time I make it.

Ingredients
- 1 whole eye of round cut of meat (about 2Kg, usually)
- Worcestershire sauce - 1/3 standard size bottle
- Soy sauce - 1/2 standard sized bottle
- Brown sugar - 1/2 cup
- Onion powder - 1/3 to 1/2 cup
- Liquid smoke (1/3 to 1/2 bottle)
- Flaked Chili pepper - 1/3 cup (less if you don't like it hot)
- Lots of freshly ground black pepper (important that you grind it yourself)

Equipment
- basting brush (preferably one of those silicone ones for easy clean-up)
- air-based dehydrator
- whisk
- plastic scrub brush (for cleaning the dehydrator)
- damned good sharp knife
- really good pepper grinder.
- 1 big freezer bag
- large glass bowl
- several small freezer bags (ziplock kind)

Day 1
1) Remove all possible fat from the beef cut, as it's what causes jerky to go rancid.
2) Cutting the beef across the grain, slice beef into 1/2 cm thick "steaks", and slice again into 1-inch wide strips.
3) Combine all liquid ingredients and the brown sugar. Whisk until dissolved, and add in onion powder and chili pepper. Grate in about 1/3 cup of black pepper. Continue to whisk until well blended.
4) Place beef and liquid in big freezer bag, seal, and "massage" to ensure marinade touches all meat surfaces. Let rest overnight.

Day 2
5) Place the marinated meat on the drying racks of the dehydrator so that no pieces touch. Reserve remaining liquid for later use. Turn on dehydrator
6) Anywhere from 4 to 8 hours later, flip each jerky piece and marinate it with the remaining liquid and the basting brush. For zest, grate some fresh black pepper over each piece. Turn on dehydrator and let run overnight.
7) When you can tear a piece of jerky and the fibres inside don't look moist, it's done. I let mine run about 16 hours, depending on how large I cut the meat. Place it in small baggies in the fridge so it'll last longer, and you're good.

-- Retro

[nyyti]

Basic breadpizza:

One white bread
Some cheese
Oregano
Salami (you can change this to whatever you want)
-------------------------------------------------
Cover one side of the bread with cheese and put the oregano and salami on top of it. Then into microwave for 30 secs with about maximum power.

[SquidDNA]

Sarcastic posts will be dealt with!

Excellent thread Reki.

Barcz
(Family recipe variant -- served at Easter)

4 lbs polish sausage
~1/2 cup of cream
~3/4 cup of vinegar?
~1/2 cup of "prepared horseradish" (NOT horseradish sauce-- it should mainly be clumpy vegetable matter, not a smooth creamy paste.)
salt
pepper
1 egg
More eggs
a loaf of bread

*Begin two days prior to serving-- it doesn't take that long to prepare, the soup just needs to sit in the fridge awhile to optimize the flavor.*

Loosely place sausage in a pot large enough to hold foot-long lengths diagonally. (Cut if grossly necessary, as with peices that come two feet long, bent in half.)
Add enough water to cover the sausage without stuffing the sausage down.
Bring to a boil, then simmer for a half hour.
Poke lots of holes in the sausage (say every inch on two or three sides of the sausage) and simmer for another half hour. It's best if you can do this without taking the sausage out.
Does it look like simmering for another half hour isn't going to get any more of the juice out? If so, remove the sausage and set aside. Skim off as much molten fat as you want.
This is the tricky part which requires a little experience with the dish. Continuing to simmer, add a bunch of cream. The soup should become a muddled white, and the ladle or spoon should not be visible past a half inch to an inch (you can always add more later, but I suppose you don't want to add too much.)
Add horseradish.
Next, slowly add vinegar until the cream begins to clump / curdle. There's now some texture to the appearance of the soup, yes? Add a little bit of salt and pepper. A pinch, a dash, whatever. Taste-- it should be rich with cream and sour. If it's right, tasting it should kick your tongue with the sweetness of the cream and the saltiness of the sausage broth right before the vinegar and horseradish make the sides of your tongue tingle. If you do not get the warm tingling on the sides of your tongue, you need more vinegar and horseradish. Of course, this will make the soup start to clear up, so add more cream back.
Add a smushed up raw egg or two-- just a little bit of egg drop. You can scramble it in a bowl or however you're most comfortable.
Cut up the sausage into peices an inch or two long and add it back. Simmer for another half hour. Hard boil three eggs in the meantime.
Letting the soup cool to warm, peel the eggs, slice them, and add to the soup.
Refrigerate for a day or two. Cut slices of bread in half and leave in a warm place to become stale. (We've always used white bread, but other types should be fine. I plan on using some of my sourdough wheat.)
Hard boil a dozen more eggs (easter eggs work fine and add some fun color to the soup if the dye has soaked in) while reheating the soup.
Add a few peices of stale bread to the bowl and ladle some soup in. Cracks, peel, and slice your own egg, adding it to your soup just before you eat.

This is the most delicious thing I have ever tasted.
You're never really supposed to make it any time but Easter, but this may be as much a health precaution as anything.
Kudos to anyone that even tries to make it, given the highly qualitative nature of the recipe.

[Tails]

Basterma, the Armenian Beef Jerky
(Warning: this recipe takes very long and is unbelievably difficult to get right. Experts on this food wear "Basterma" as their title instead of "Mr." or "Dr.")

Ingredients/Tools:
- Prime cut of beef
- Coarse sea salt
- Chaimen (see below)
- Cutting Board
- Butcher string
- Cheese cloth
- Sharp Knife


1. Slice a prime cut of beef (any will do, but filet mignon works best) into about 6-inch thick slices.
2. Tie a heavy butcher string in one end of the loin and make a loop so you can hang the meat.
3. Cover the meat with coarse salt (sea salt works) and let stand in a covered pan for 3 days.
4. Wash the salt off the chunks of meat with cold running water and then let the chunks soak for one hour in cold water.
Hang the chunks by thier loops and let drain for one hour.
5. Wrap the meat well with cheese cloth and arrange side by side in a roaster or lasagna pan. Place a cutting board over then and weight it down with something heavy. This is to drain all the juice from the meat. Replace the cheese cloth ever 12 hours for 2 days.
6. Cover the meat AGAIN with fresh cheese cloth and hang the meat again in a DRY, cool windy place.

Now, it's time to make Chaimen, a basting sauce for the basterma.

7. Make CHAIMEN and soak the meat in it for 2 weeks

RECIPE FOR CHAIMEN
3 Tablespoons ground fenugreek
3 tablespoons paprika
1/2 tablespoon coarse salt
1/2 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper
1/2 tablespoon fresh ground cumin
1/4 tablespoon Cayenne pepper
1/4 tablespoon Allspice
3-6 cloves crushed garlic
Combine all the above ingredients with enough water to make the mixture as thick as pancake batter. Process this mixture well to avoid any lumps.
This will keep in the refrigerator well for several weeks.

8. After soaking the meat for 2 weeks, remove the meat and slice VERY thinly. If not eating right away, basterma keeps in the refrigerator. If the meat gets too dry, soak it in Chaimen again to soften it up. Basterma is has an extremely pungent smell, so expect to smell bad after a healthy sample.

[Dyntheos]

stickied for a bit.

[oneredpanther]

"Oh-No-Not-Again"
(So called because we have it so often in our student house)

This stunningly simple dish is about the tastiest thing you'll ever eat. It's easy to make so much for so little money that you'll never eat anything else ever again. Warning: May cause pulmonary issues in later life. It's a great little stir-fry-bolognaise hybrid.

Ingredients:
3 Sausages per Person (cheap frozen ones are the best)
250g of Beef Mince per Person
Onions
Big jar of Bolognaise Sauce
Fusili Pasta (the twists)

Optional:
Red Wine
Oxo Cubes

1. Put the sausages under the grill and cook until done.
2. Heat up your wok or frying pan with a little olive oil and stir-fry some chopped onions.
3. Bring some water to the boil and stick the Fusili pasta in to cook.
3. After a few minutes put the beef mince in with the onions and stir-fry them together.
4. Five minutes later empty the bolognaise sauce into the frying pan and stir furiously.
5. Cut up the sausages into thin slices and empty into the frying pan - stir all this together.
6. Drain the pasta and put the mice-onion-sausage-naise on top.
7. Eat

Optionally, add a glass or two of red wine before the bolognaise sauce goes in and sprinkle a ground oxo cube into the mixture.

Trust panth on this, it'll become a habit.

fixed spellingk - blu
what spellingk? - panth
"250g of Beef Mines" (Like landmines I suppose?) - blu

[Retroboy]

Basterma is has an extremely pungent smell, so expect to smell bad after a healthy sample.

Considering it encompasses the processing of large chunks of raw meat over several weeks' duration, AND is difficult to get right, AND stinks when you DO manage to get it right, I think Tails' post should come with a liability-protecting disclaimer. :yech:

One of those things you'd have to try a really well made portion of for it to become appealing, I guess?

-- Retro

[DatonKallandor]

Austro-Hungarian Chili-con-carne:

Ingredients:
0.5 kg of hash-meat
liberal amount of beans
good hand fulls of corn
tomato sauce (not much needed)

The Real Ingredients aka "That hot stuff!!!"
2x green sweet pepperoni
3x green hot pepperoni
3x red hot pepperoni
4x "piri piri" pepperoni
4x dried "piri piri" pepperoni
+ ?x hottest local variant of "That hot stuff!!!"

Optional:
Freshly toasted bread
Multitasking capability
Little Helper/s

- Roast your meat in a Wok (let your helper keep an eye on the meat)
- Meanwhile, cut your pepperoni into small pieces, while also washing the beans and corn.
- once meat has nice colour and isnt raw anymore, add water (amount depending on taste - you can always put in more of it at a later stage if your chili gets too dry)
- add "That hot stuff!!!" to your water and let the spicyness seep into the meat
- after a few minutes add your beans and corn aswell as the tomato sauce (careful not too much - its merely for the colour)
- let it cook, while putting your bread into your toaster (this is time management at its finest)
- try it and add more spices if needed
- serve hot and enjoy the pain


Daton
Edit: PS.: The Hot Stuff!!!
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b1...r/fa8dc70b.jpg

[Starfisher]

I want reki's soup. What do we have to pay to order a bowl?

[bluevorlon]

A plane ticket to melbourne I guess.

Lots of central/eastern europe coming in here, polish, armenian, austro-hungarian american, really interesting.

Also. Retro. What's a dehydrator? I imagine you standing over half a cow with a hairdryer or something.

[Starblade]

What is an oxo cube? A spice?

Great, now I'm hungry. Maybe I'll try making one of these recipes (even though I suck at cooking).

Oxo Cube!

[bluevorlon]

Go for it Star, report back on your progress. (With photos if possible), see if any of these survive the banzai approach of the average RB'er.

Oxo cube's just a stock cube. Add hot water to make basic stock. If you're a student you don't bother with things like herbs and spices right panth?

Also mr panther, if you learn how to make a basic bolognese sauce, it's an even cheaper meal! (I know this for I used to subsist on a scary similar meal to that I have to admit, although I preferred Penne to Fusili)

[Starblade]

Hmm, need to go shopping. Need mats to grind recipes on, up my cooking skill. In the mean time, here's something I like to munch on from time to time:

Cheeziti:
Generous portions of pasta (the little tube kind; I can never remember the name) *
2-3 cups chunky tomato sauce
Ground meat
Several spoonfuls of Ricotta cheese
Mozzarella cheese, along with Parmesean cheese

Basically, you cook some pasta, throw in some meat, douse it all in some tomato sauce, then just dump as much cheese as you can stand in that, and microwave for 20-30 seconds, just enough to melt the cheese. Stir and serve. Note that the actual amounts don't really matter; mess with it to your hearts content. I dub it "Cheeziti" because I rather like dumping in as much cheese as I can.

Nothing fancy, I know, but hey: You can't beat cheese.

Thanks for the link, btw.

* Sounds like your talking about Maccaroni (which is small and tends to be a little sticky) Penne is the other common 'tube pasta' but that tends to be larger - Scribbs

PENNE! That's the one.

[Scribble]

These are two basic recipes I've already bored people with, I'll post up some new ones when I next feel energetic.

Salsa di pomodori semplice

Its best to scale up the following recipe making it in much larger quantities, freezing what you don't need. While useful as a component in many other Italian disks (topping pizzas for instance) its also great in its own right.

A large clove of garlic (crushed or finely chopped)
1 can peeled Tomatoes
Half an onion (chopped)
a carrot (chopped)
a stick of celery (chopped)
a squirt (2 teaspoons worth or so I spose) of tomatoe puree
a teaspoon each salt, black pepper, sugar/honey and wine vinegar.
basil.

-(optional) Add a spoonful of olive oil to your pan and cook the chopped celery, carrot, onion and garlic for 5 minutes or until lightly browned.

-Add remaining (or all if the above stage was missed) ingredients, bring to boil mashing with a wooden spoon to break up the tomatoes, cover and simmer for 30ish minutes.

Then just squash it through a sieve and cook it down to whatever consistency you like.

Ragu dell'Inghilterra

a Ragu fit for north European palates, but be warned that Italians will not find it amusing, an old lover once nearly battered me to death with a stiletto after seeing this.

500g lean minced beef (or better yet, veal)
500g minced pork
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
225g chicken livers finely chopped and trimmed
2 medium onion, finely chopped
3 fat garlic cloves, chopped
150g pancetta or streaky bacon, EXTREMELY finely chopped
1 kilo chopped tomatoes
200g double concentrate tomato purée
half bottle red wine
Cup of Milk
30g fresh basil
1/4qtr whole nutmeg, grated
1 star anise
salt and black pepper

. Heat the oil in a medium-size deep pot and saute the carrot, celery and onion over low heat until translucent, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Add the pancetta and saute, stirring occasionally, for 4-5 minutes. Add chicken Livers, cook for 5 minutes, then add anise and remaining meat and saute, stirring occasionally, for 4-5 minutes. Do not brown the meat during this time, just cook thoroughly.

Add the wine and cook until it has evaporated, after this add the milk and nutmeg and continue gently simmering until that too evaporates. Once done add the Tomatoes and simmer for 8 hours (or put in the oven at a low temp (140 say)). Leave to cool for at least a day, skim of the excess fat then reheat and add the basil.

Serve with tagliatelle and Parmesan.

[Tails]

Chi Kofte, Armenian-style steak tartar

:!!:Warning:!!:: The following recipe involves raw ground beef and liberal use of hands. Queasy cooks and diners should shy away from this one.

Ingredients:

2½ lbs. lean ground meat (London Broil or top round)
2¼ cups fine ground barley
2 cups cold water
2 tbsp. tomato sauce
1½ tsp. salt
1 tbsp. basil
3 cups onion chopped fine
1 lge. bunch parsley, chopped
1 lge. green pepper, chopped
1 dollop of red pepper paste

Method:

Combine vegetables and basil together and mix well. In a large bowl combine 2 cups of chopped vegetables and mix the barley, water, tomato sauce and salt. Mix well and let stand 10 minutes. Add meat and blend well. Knead vigorously about 5 minutes, adding the red pepper paste and moistening your hands with cold water at intervals. Add salt to taste. You know you've done it right when your wrists are covered in raw meat.

Shape as desired and place on platter. Garnish and serve with remaining chopped vegetables.

Serves 12-16

[DatonKallandor]

Tails, do you actually eat something normal....ever?


Daton

[KON Air]

Chi kofte? Çiğ köfte? That thing, if done with enough pepper, can kill a small mamal due to digestion problems :P

Thought it goes fine with beer and any salad.

[SquidDNA]

No takers on the Barcsz, huh?

Tails, your recipes sound unholy. I bet the jerky is good if expertly done though.

Scribb already taught me how to make tomato sauce, I'll try Reki's soup next.

When I'm out of Barcsz.

[Tails]

Thought it goes fine with beer and any salad.

I'd say it goes great with a side of Tabouleh.

[KON Air]

Tails, your recipes sound unholy.

If I can figure a way to find Central Asia recipes in English, Chi Kofte looks innocent.

Kavurma
There, a way to keep you up for days, or to murder someone with unholy amounts of fat and salt;

Chopped mutton with all the fat (especially pick a sheep that used to be fat )
Enough salt to cover every piece

Start cooking it without adding anything, as soon as the fat begins to melt add the salt and mix it well, close the pan (or whatever you are using) to keep the vapor in, after entire... stuff looks as single piece melded together, dry it (or simply put it in refrigrator after it stops smoking ). It will last around two months. Or just eat it as main course while it is hot.

[Tails]

Pacha, a.k.a. Gelatin Stew

Ingredients:
- Lamb's feet
- 4 quarts of water
- Lemon, minced garlic, salt, and pepper to taste

Method:
1. Remove the lamb feet's skin, leaving behind the meat and cartiledge.
2. Cover and boil the lamb's feet, about 30 minutes or until tender.
3. Serve hot, each bowl should have one foot. The gelatin is completely edible.

(This is harder than it looks, but still very managable. I might be missing a step, but that's basically it.)

[bluevorlon]

Sorry squid, but any recipe that takes two days, is too much organisation from me.

Here's a quick risotto recipe for anyone who (like I used to be) was scared of making the damn thing. Great storecupboard failsafe, and perfect uncomplicated warming food for a cold evening, (Perfect for British climate infact) It started off as Nigel Slater's recipe, but then I had to cook it from memory, and this is what came out.

Scribble will probably chop my hands off for doing this wrong mind.

Risotto with Pancetta and Cheese

Should serve 2.

Ingredients

• Risotto Rice - Unfortunately, (and this is as exact as I'm going to get throughout the recipe) Has to be proper risotto rice, Arborio, Carnaroli, or Vialone Nano are the three kinds you want. I've found about half a mug full of rice per person is the way to go.
• One small onion (or a couple of shallots)
• Butter, a big lump of it, probably about 50g, but you'll end up using more I reckon. (I have no scales)
• Stock: I use chicken stock, but any is fine. You'll need about 500ml for each person should do the trick. Bare in mind, the better stock you get hold of, the better the dish will taste. I use that concentrated bouillon stuff which is great (infinitely better than stock cubes), but if you want to go boiling up some chicken carcasses and some root vegetables, go ahead.
• One glass white wine. (I have found no difference no matter which I use)
• Pancetta (Or streaky bacon) - you know how much you want of this, couple of rashers per person
• Blue (or other) cheese. Again, depends on the strength of the cheese, and how rich you want the rissotto, probably about 200g will do it though. I've made this with all kinds of things, from parmesan, stilton, danish blue, taleggio, and gruyere. It helps if the cheese melts, and has a strong flavour.

First chop your onion finely and your pancetta/bacon less so. Then melt a big lump of butter in a saucepan, (the thickest, heaviest based one you've got) and cook both until the onions are softened and the pancetta has cooked through a bit.

Then chuck in the rice, stirring it round to coat it in all the butter and juices in the pan. Add the wine, and cook that until most of the alcohol has been cooked off and the rice has started to absorb the wine.

Now add about, a third of your stock into the pan and let it simmer on a pretty low heat.

Here's where most recipes order you to stand by the pan and stir continously for a solid half hour, adding stock painful ladle at a time, and giving yourself tennis elbow. Unfortunately, you will have to stir a bit, but I just generally let the rice get on with it. It'll slurp and gurgle and absorb the liquid quite happily. You'll need to keep checking on it, and basically every time you come back to it, give it a good stir, you should see plumper, rice with a lot less liquid then when you left it, then add some more stock. Then give it another good stir and leave it again. (I have to say, the stirring can be quite theraputic if you have the time) It should smell fantastic.

Keep doing this until all the stock's gone and the rice is plump and is now edible. (If you're anything like me, you'll have been tasting throughout) Al Dente (with a little bite) or not is entirely up to you, but it'll probably take about half an hour.

Turn off the heat, and add another generous lump of butter, and then your cheese, in slices and lumps, stirring it through a little. Add lots of black pepper and a little salt.

Simple, big hearted food. And not scary. Honest.

[Scribble]

Sindhi Gosht

This is a curry for 6 that suits British tastes (ie calorific and spicy ) Its a little tricky to make and prepare but bloody nice if you do.

2.5lbs shoulder meat cut into 2-4cm (1-1.5 inches)cubes (if you can get it go for goat, if not mutton or if all else fails lamb- Goat and mutton are much less fatty and stronger tasting than lamb and the long cooking time and spices tenderises them, If you do go for lamb, cut as much fat off as you can.)
2 onions roughly chopped
4tbs vegetable oil (or ghee)
6 cloves garlic peeled
2 cm/1.5 inch sqr piece of ginger
1 tbs ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground tumeric
1tsp cayenne pepper/ crushed chillies (optional)
120ml red wine vinegar
2 tsp whole fennel sees
1tsp kalonji (black onion seeds)

Stick the ginger, onion, garlic coriander, cumin, turmeric, chillie, vinegar and a tsp of salt into a blender. Whizz 'till smoothish. wipe the meat dry with a (paper) towel) and prick, then pour over the paste. Mix in well then leave for at least 4 hours (I recommend overnight)

To cook; Empty the meat and marinade into a heavy bottomed pan and bring to the boil then cover and leave to simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally.

Uncover and raise the heat, stirring more frequently as it dries out. Add the oil and keep stirring over a medium heat (carfull not to break up the meat though) untill the disk is dry . (ie the sauce is thick and clings to the meat)

Serve with chapatis, vegetables brown basmati rice and something yogaurty .

[Retroboy]

Blu:


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ities&n=284507

A couple batches of jerky and it pays for itself.

-- Retro

[bluevorlon]

Thought I'd give an alternative for some of the rather slow cook recipes here. This takes about ten minutes in total to both prepare and cook, tastes amazing, and is very good to impress someone with. Good starter for a party aswell. Nicked from the gorgeous Nigella Lawson.

Salt and Pepper Squid

Serves 2.

Ingredients

• half a kilo of Baby Squid. Go to a good fishmongers and get them prepared for you, they'll get rid of anything unsavoury, ink and all, and everything you get back will be edible I promise.
• Groundnut Oil (far less likely to burn than sunflower oil.
• Cornflour, enough to dust the squid and give them a little coating. (Upon a little research it says 75g)
• Black Peppercorns (please please please don't try this with pre ground pepper, you know, the kind that gets up your nose and makes you sneeze.)
• Salt - If you have some rocksalt (the stuff that goes in the grinder) fantastic, otherwise, use big sea salt flakes (maldon, if your made of money)
• One lemon (even a whore has lemons in her pantry, as the saying goes)

Right, this is dead easy. Chop the squid up into small parcels, depending on how small your squid are, this'll change. I made them roughly about the size of my thumb.

Take a handful of peppercorns and salt, and bash them up using a pestle and mortar/the flat of a knife/the end of a rolling pin (whatever works for you) mix this up with the cornflour and then coat the squid in the mixture. Use your hands. Get stuck in.

Now, heat the groundnut oil in a frying pan until it's very hot. You need the oil to come up about half way in the pan, (i found this much easier in a small, deep frying pan) so a lot of it. Obviously, heating this much oil in a pan can be dangerous, be sensible here k. There are some of you I don't want to end up on fire.

Fry the squid in batches of four or five in the hot oil. They will fizz and splutter and spit at you, be careful. After about a minute they should be crispy on the outside, but tender inside, take them out with a slotted spoon and put them on some
kitchen paper to drain. Add another batch. Repeat until you've cooked all the squid.

Squeeze some lemon juice over the top, and munch immediately, use your fingers. You could have some a basic salad as well here , but I don't think you'll necessarily need it. They will vanish very quickly.

[reki]

The Barscz looks great, although it's not what I was expecting.. isn't Barscz a beet(root) soup?

I have a good mate who is polish & we've been talking about doing a bit of a polish cook up, so I reckon I might even give your recipe a go Squiddy. I'll be sure to photograph the end result when I do.


edit: blu I love you. I fucking love salt & pepper squid but never thought of making it. what a cool idea.

[Scribble]

Filet de Porv aux Poix Nouveaux


This is a great dinner party peice, I'd serve it with green beans and sauted potatoes, maybe with a white burgondy.

Anyway; Exact quantities are really unimportant here. But this is aproximately the quantities that i use:

1/2 pint Bechamel (you will need half a pint of milk, onion, carrot, celery, 20 grams of flour and butter and a bayleaf for this)
Egg white (1 large eggs worth)
Pork Fillet (half a kilo/ a pound)
Bacon fat
bouquet garnie
2 onions
Lettuce heart
a cup of peas
A large handful of breadcrumbs.

Make the Bechamel: heat half a pint of milk with quarter of an onion, half a stick each celery and carrot a bayleaf and a few pepercorns. Meanwhile melt 20 grams of butter in a pan, and slowly stir in sieved flour until you get a thick biscuity paste, with the heat extremely low add the milk (using the sieve to filter out the gubbins) a bit at a time, mixing it completely with the paste before adding the next bit.

Boil the peas with a lettuce heart and half an onion then remove and puree them.

Braise A pork fillet in a covered pan with chopped onion, bacon fat and a bouquet garnie, when almost cooked through (stick a skewer in and the juice should have a hint of pink) remove the pork and cut it into slices (~ 1/3rd inch) and put a layer of puree between them.

Reshape the meat and put it into the smallest casserole dish that will fit it and cover with the bechamel. Cover with the beaten egg white and sprinkle with breadcrumbs.

Put into a preheated oven at 220 degrees C for 8 minutes or until it has risen like a souffle and turned golden brown.

[Tails]

isn't Barscz a beet(root) soup?

You're probably thinking of Borscht.

[bluevorlon]

I have to say I'm tempted to try a few of these. Squid's Barscz, Rekiz' Soup, and Scribb's Curry all look damn good. Sorry Tails, I'd love to eat yours, but I'm not sure I'd be able to make them.

Also reki, I request the pear & cointreau sorbet recipe.

[Verrin]

I think I'm going to try ceejay's fancy-pants recipe over easter. I'll take pics and let you know how it turns out.

[Retroboy]

Black Peppercorns (please please please don't try this with pre ground pepper, you know, the kind that gets up your nose and makes you sneeze.)

I think that's kind of like an axiom of good cooking.

-- Retro

[reki]

Tails, keep reading the wiki:

The soup is called barščiai in Lithuanian, barszcz in Polish, борщ (help·info) borshch in Russian and Ukrainian, and borş in Romanian.

ok blu, for you:

This is pretty easy, bloody delicious & refreshing for an inbetween course refresher or very light dessert.

Sorbetto di pere (Pear sorbet)

200g/7oz caster sugar
200ml/7fl oz water
1kg/2lb 3oz soft pears, peeled, quartered and cores removed
juice and zest of 1 lemon
55ml/2fl oz grappa, or to taste (I substituted grappa for cointreau, but I think you could use anything - vodka, frangelico etc)

Try to get really ripe pears - even cheap ones from the supermarket. If they're really really ripe and soft to the touch, simply remove the skin & put the flesh into a bowl & you won't need to cook them at all.

First of all, put the sugar and water into a pan. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 3 mins. Add your quartered pears and, unless they are super soft, continue to simmer for 5 mins. Remove from the heat, leave to one side for 5 mins, then add the lemon juice (minus the pips) and zest. Pour everything into a food processor and wiz into a puree, then push the mixture through a course sieve into the dish you're going to serve from.

Add the booze to taste, give it a good stir. The alcohol shouldn't be overbearing or too powerful, it should be subtle and should work well with the pears. If you use too much alcohol, the sorbet won't freeze.

Put the dish in the freezer and whisk it up with a fork every half hour - you'll see it gradually become pale in colour after a couple of hours. The texture should end up being nice and scoopable.

I actually did a similar one with a bit more lemon and wasabi for a japanese dinner once. It blew everyone's mind... pear, lemon & wasabi is a pretty unique flavour & very cleansing.

[Tails]

Tails, keep reading the wiki:

D'oh! I am a doofus.

Sorry Tails, I'd love to eat yours, but I'm not sure I'd be able to make them.

Sorry for posting the hard ones, but if you're interested the following recipe is much simpler.

Tabouleh, or Mediterrenean Barley Salad:

Ingredients:
- 1-1/2 cups fine barley
- 1 lge. bunch parsley, minced fine
- 1 bunch green onion, minced fine
- 4 tomatoes, diced
- 1 small bunch mint or 2 tsp. dried mint
- 1/2 tsp. ground red pepper (Optional, but adds a zing)
- 1/3 cup olive oil (any kind)
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- Salt to taste

Method:
1. Soak barley in cold water for about an hour.
2. Squeeze out the water from the barley with your hands and in a bowl mix with all the other ingredients except the olive oil, lemon juice and salt.
3. Mix with olive oil, lemon juice and salt, using proportions agreeable to your taste.
4. Serve in a bowl or dish surrounded with Romaine leaves or fresh tender grape leaves. They go good with the salad.
5. Garnish with olives, sprigs of parsley, or lemon wedges.

If done right, it will look something like this:

[SquidDNA]

The Barszcz ( ) I make is this cackhanded offshoot of a cackhanded offshoot of the stuff you'll find in Europe. It's a family recipe, possibly quite mutated over the generations. I make no claims as to its cultural authenticity, only that it's my tradition and it's goddamn good.

Reki, I don't know if I can get squid so far inland, but I'll check that too. Think they'll save the ink for me? I've always wanted to ruin a pen writing in neurotoxin.

[Kovac]

Here is a recipe that my friend often begs me to make.
This is best served with a pile of mashed potatos - I make my mashed potato by adding some cheese, pepper and cream or butter (Maybe a little of both) for extra smooth creamy goodness

Warning: This meal may prove fatal in high doses

Honey mustard chicken

Ingredients:
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded to 1/2 inch thickness
2 teaspoons seasoning salt
6 slices bacon, cut in half
1/2 cup prepared mustard
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
2 cups shredded Colby-Monterey Jack cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

Rub the chicken breasts with the seasoning salt, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until crisp. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the mustard, honey, corn syrup, mayonnaise and dried onion flakes. Remove half of sauce, cover and refrigerate to serve later.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Place the breasts in the skillet and saute for 3 to 5 minutes per side, or until browned. Remove from skillet and place the breasts into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Apply the honey mustard sauce to each breast, then layer each breast with mushrooms and bacon. Sprinkle top with shredded cheese.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and chicken juices run clear. Garnish with parsley and serve with the reserved honey mustard sauce.

[snrjefe]

Hey Tails, don't forget the Sarma! My wife just uses lamb (fine ground...ask your butcher), but you can use just about any red meat.

Sarma

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

1 lb ground lamb
1/2 cup cooked rice
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1/2 tsp basil
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 jar grape leaves
2 cans (8 oz each) tomato paste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In mixing bowl, mix together everything but the grape leaves.

Place a small amount in each grape leaf, roll and arrange in a single layer in a flat casserole dish, with the folds on the bottom. Cover rolls with the tomato sauce.

Cover the casserole with a lid or foil and bake for 1 hour.

Top that off with a whole spring lamb courtesy of the father-in-law. Marinated in unspecified (yet vast) quantities of red wine, salt, pepper, and garlic.

The whole lamb is fun too. When neighbors ask what yer cookin', you say "Well, you don't see the dog around anywhere do ya?"

Before:

Just went on the spit.

After (8 hours-ish):

Done

[Vaarok]

Cabbage Stew

You need:

One or two cabbages, diced into 1cm wide strips
Two packages of sausages
Three cups (about 600ml) of vinegar
About a half pound of brown sugar, about .25 kg
Two generous scoops of flour
Water
Vegetables as desired, peas work well.

Shred cabbage into a large pot half-filled with water and stew combined with vinegar and brown sugar. Once wilted somewhat, add flour and vegetable components, and allow to stew for about an hour on low heat.

Add in small pieces of sausages about ten minutes before removing from heat.

For best results, after stewing, refrigerate overnight before reheating to serve.

[snrjefe]

@ Vaarok: You might want to serve Beano as a side dish to that or your significant other may just kill you in your sleep.

[reki]

and the cool thing is that if you accidentally turn on the wrong hotplate, you could also have stewed pineapple for dessert, vaarok.

[Scribble]

Vaarok, that is the filthiest cooker i have ever seen in my life. Fo Shame!

[Void]

snjrefe: you can make sarmale using cabbage leafes instead of grape leafes. They are a bit sweeter that way. Also, you can serve them with sour cream.

[Harmanoff]

If i may i would like to request some recipes for bread also. I seem to recall squid mentioning an obsession with baking bread, something i am starting to form also, but i am in need of some good beginner recipes.

Unless i should make a separate baking thread?