time to exchange, then munch

[kaigou]

A few days ago in answer to a post, chibidrunksanzo mentioned she has recipes to offer, and I realized, hrm, that's a really good idea (especially with the way things look economically for a lot of us right now). Instead of fancy stuff, just give me TESTED RECIPES. Although I promise not to fuss if I fail a recipe on my own, but I do prefer "I grew up with this and it's a solid tasty good meal" recipes. Those are the best. I think.

I grew up with chicken & fish, so if it's got chicken in it, I can usually come up with something, and failing that, it's casserole. (Hey.) The only other meat we had with any regularity was ground beef, because we were military and there's a lot you can make with ground beef for really cheap. (And actually, my mother makes a really fine meatloaf, which leaves me baffled why she only made it at most once every year or two.)

But the upshot is that CP likes red meat, and I just don't have much experience in cooking it, but I know there are excellent long-cooking recipes that use the really cheap cuts to really good advantage. Yeah, so you can't do steak with shoulders, but I know there are things you can do that are awesome... but what are they?

So, if you know, or have some other recipe that's a tried-and-true, and uses few ingredients OR uses basic, affordable, even cheap, ingredients, do tell. I can't be the only one reading me that would be curious.

In return, here's a few things back from me, but I'll skip the casserole basics for you. No need to make you suffer (unless someone really really wants to know).

---

Substitutions when baking!

Never ever use whipped butter. Just don't. Stuff never comes out right with it. Use regular butter, or margerine, or crisco. Also:

1cup salted butter = 1cup unsalted butter + ½tsp salt = 1 cup crisco + ½tsp salt

Unless your doctor has made you swear off all salt, do NOT leave it out when baking. It does contribute to the chemical process. (Also, your tastebuds will give you teh choice of sugar versus salt -- a ½tsp salt goes a lot further, and the recipes I've seen that leave it out invariably have double the sugar to make up for the otherwise blandness.)

USEFUL: baking powder = baking soda + cream of tartar, which means...

1tsp baking power = 1/4 tsp baking soda + 5/8 tsp cream of tartar = ¼tsp baking soda + ½c sour milk

If you go with sour milk, remember to subtract ½c liquid from the recipe.

1c sour milk = 1c buttermilk = 1c plain yogurt

This is why my grandmothers' recipes all call for "sweet milk" -- as opposed to "sour/butter milk". There's a way to make sour milk with, uhm, vinegar, but I tend to just use yogurt if I can.

1cup brown sugar = ½cup honey

---

What you get when you substitute...

If you want baked goods to stay puffy and chewy, use crisco. If you want the cookies to spread out and be really flat, use butter. Margerine gives you kinda in-between. I don't use butter-flavored crisco, so I tend to split the margerine/crisco content to get a bit of butter flavor but without using all margerine, since crisco is cheaper. Plus, I like chewy cookies.

If you use butter and the cookie goes completely flat or spreads way too much, try cutting back on the amount of butter and pad out the rest with crisco. (This won't work in some recipes like shortbread that absolutely really do require real butter, though.)

Use all-purpose or pastry flour. Bread flour & cake flours have more glutin, which helps cookies & cakes keep a shape but cookies won't spread out at all, then. If you do use bread/cake flour, up the liquid content a bit more. If you like really crumbly cookies, add more flour.

Baking soda contains the chemical in the equation that makes cookies brown in the oven -- so if you're looking for a tea-cookie, a sugar-cookie, or a white-cookie (like for decorating), then you want a recipe with minimal baking soda.

Baking powder is basically acid + neutralizing ingredient, which keeps cookies from browning AND makes the cookies puffier.

IOW, if you want cookies to spread out but not brown, then use a recipe that calls for butter or margerine and baking power (spreads out to counteract puffing up, doesn't brown as much). To make the cookie puff up even more, cut back on the sugars. Brown sugar makes a cookie chewy, and white sugar makes it crispier. Most recipes will balance these, but some recipes (like tea-cookies) will be all white sugar. Now you know why.

If your oven is gas, cook at listed temperature. If electric, lower by 10°-15°. Dunno why, just something about the way the ovens heat up & whatnot.

---

Oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies, because the oatmeal is good for you. REALLY.

1c crisco
¼c margarine
¾c brown sugar
½c sugar
1 egg
1tsp vanilla
1½ c flour
1tsp baking soda
1tsp ground cinnamon
½tsp salt
3c rolled oats* ["old-fashioned" -- NOT instant!]
2c chocolate chips

Mix wet, add dry, ends up sticky mess (suitable for drop cookies). Teaspoonfuls on ungreased sheet, 8 - 12min @ 375° -- I cook for 10min @ 360° (electric oven) and they come out just right.

---

Now, don't you feel smarter? Possibly also hungrier, but sorry I can't help on that one.

All that's left now is to wait and see if clarentine made those rumored double-ginger shortbread cookies herself, because those sound rather intriguing... Oh, and MEATLOAF. Right. Wait! The ultimate cheap-ass barbecue sauce ever, which now that I know what's in it, I will never ever eat again, SORRY MOM.

1 can grape jelly
1 bottle ketchup

YEAH. That's it. One of those things that tastes great... until you find out WHAT'S IN IT. And then no eating, EVER AGAIN. *grosses*

Comments

[annotated_em]

One of my favorite things to do with el cheapo tough cuts of beef is a... well, it's not a proper stroganoff, but it tastes good and can be made in vast quantities. And you can gussy it up as much or little as you want.

-beef, cheap stuff, cubed
-beef broth
-cream of mushroom soup (toldja it's not proper)
-salt, pepper, onion/garlic in yer preferred amounts and forms
-worcestershire
-red wine (optional, but gives a nice depth of flavor)
-sour cream

Brown the meat. Chuck it in a stewpot with the broth and soup and wine, stir it all up well, and add pepper, worcestershire, and onion/garlic to taste. (Save the salt for later; this is going to cook down for a while and you may not need salt at all, depending on how salty your broth is.)

Bring the whole mess to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Let it do this for a while, stopping by every now and then to give things a stir. When the meat's falling apart and fork-tender, it's done. Add the sour cream and let it warm up, and serve over the starch of your choice.

Keeps well, freezes okay, although it's not always terribly pretty on the thaw and reheat. Still tastes good, though.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

Oi, mushroom soup is THE STUFF. There is just about nothing you can't make a good meal out of, if you have cream of mushroom soup. Honestly.

But I've never tried even a faux stroganoff -- hmm... must try soon, thanks!

[annotated_em]

It's one of my favorite cook-a-vat-and-freeze-for-lunches foods. And, you know, you can have as much or as little meat in it as your budget will allow.

Basically the cheap cuts of beef tend to be really tough, but that's what the gods gave us braising for. You can improvise a lot with a slow braise, which is lowish heat + cooking liquid + time. Wine, booze, broth, etc. and whatever savories you like. A covered dish or those fancy cooking bags works even better, and so does a good crockpot.

Another good recipe--assuming you like garlic--is chicken with a shload of garlic. That's chicken, garlic cloves, tarragon or rosemary or whatever herb you like, cream, chicken broth, white wine. Layer the chicken with the fresh herbs and the garlic cloves--convention would have you use forty, but use however many or few you like--in a dutch oven. Mix cream, chicken broth, and white wine in roughly equal portions and pour over to cover. Cover with a lid, pop it in the oven for about forty-five at 350, serve over the starch of your choice. You may wish to blend/mush up the garlic cloves into the sauce, and/or reduce the sauce down some, or not.

Not that I wish to sound elitist (even though I am...)

[talheres.livejournal.com]

or margerine, or crisco.

Considering how it's made, I'd have to disagree. Palm oil, coconut oil, duck fat or non-hydrogenated lard maybe, but I'd never use margarine or crisco again, especially after my brief stint and eventual dropping out of pastry school. There is nothing like the taste of real saturated fat that hasn't been chemically tampered with at that level.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

I put my ex through culinary school. I'm aware of the debates.

However, my wallet is also aware that crisco is cheaper.

When I have the money, sure, I buy the good stuff. Until then, I cook the Deep South recipes I grew up with, and figure my concession to health is that at least I don't have a coffee can under the sink where I keep the drippings.

[talheres.livejournal.com]

Well, there's always grapeseed oil (it screws with the texture a bit because it's not a saturated oil, but it's natural and mildly flavored, and usually costs less than olive oil-granted, I wouldn't use it in most cookie or brownie recipes, but I refuse to use hydrogenated oils now due to health issues, amongst other things).

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

Well, nobody ever claimed true Southern cooking is good for the heart.

[rurounitriv.livejournal.com]

Here's one that's unusual, but very tasty and makes a surprising amount, and there's nothing in it more exotic than a pumpkin. Well, technically, it's in the pumpkin...

Oh, and when it says "serves 10-12" that's as a side dish. If you make it your main meal (we tend to make it the whole meal in our family) then it doesn't go quite that far.

Stuffed Pumpkin
Serves: 10-12
Prep time: 30 minutes + 2 hours

1 1/2 cups pressed down bread crumbs
1 @6inch pumpkin w/ stem (or turban squash)
1 tbsp butter
2/3 c minced onion
6 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp salt
pinch each nutmeg & pepper
1/2 tsp ground sage
1/2 c grated Swiss cheese
@ 2 c light cream or evaporated milk
1 bay leaf

Dry bread crumbs in 300d oven for 15 minutes, stirring 1-2x while drying.
Meanwhile, cut lid from pumpkin at an angle (to prevent fall-in). Clean seeds & strings from lid & pumpkin, butter inside of pumpkin & lid.
Saute onion in rest of butter, stir in dried crumbs to absorb all butter. Stir in seasonings.
Gently stir in cheese with crumb mixture & spoon into pumpkin.
Pour cream to within 1/2 inch of top of pumpkin & lay bay leaf on top; replace lid matching cut marks. (Can be prepared 1-2 days ahead to this point)
Bake on pie plate in preheated 400d oven 1 1/2 hours. Reduce heat to 350d and bake 30 minutes more.
Serve whole on small platter, scooping some filling & pumpkin meat with each serving. Great with ham, turkey, chicken. Leftovers look awful, but taste very good when microwaved.

Notes: This is the basic recipe, it's open to all sorts of adaptations. Usually when we make this in our family, we add things in, like chopped ham, peas, etc. It's a good dinner/side for special occasions, like Halloween and Thanksgiving. And, of course, once you gut the pumpkin, you've got plenty of seeds to roast and snack on!

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

EVAPORATED MILK.

I have no idea how many recipes my mom has in her head that use that stuff. Amazing that if you add it to stuff, it's good. If you have to, like, DRINK it, it's probably one of the worst things you can experience. Eww.

Turban squash, hunh? Does it go by any other name? I've never heard of it.

Thank you for the recipe! ...and I'm very familiar with "serves 10-12... sort of, but not really, depending on how many are at the table." But then, no one ever believes me (from outside the South, at least) when I say I grew up with holidays consisting of one meat dish, three vegetable dishes for each person at the table, at least three desserts (more if 10+ people), and a mound of biscuits taller than me.

[My mother still ponders the mystery of how the plate of homemade biscuits always seems to end up sitting right next to me. I HAVE BISCUIT MAGNET, BABY. It's an art-form.]

Really, the recipe sounds like it's not just yummy but probably looks pretty amazing when you set it on the table... whole pumpkin sitting there, am I reading that right?

[rurounitriv.livejournal.com]

I don't think so... <url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/boofrumom/1541802909/">these are the things I'm talking about. I've never made it with turban squash, though, just pumpkin, and goodness knows that anytime from mid-September to November you can find those in your average supermarket. Around here, when they sell the piles of mixed squash, there will usually be some turban squash in the pile, along with plenty of acorn squash.

And yes, you serve the pumpkin whole - it'll slump a little as the meat of it cooks and softens, and the color darkens some, but you've got the whole thing there in front of you, lid and all, and then you take the top off and serve it right from the shell.

It does look pretty dubious the next day, but it's possibly even tastier when you reheat it.

[rurounitriv.livejournal.com]

Aaargh. My html fails... Turban Squash (http://www.flickr.com/photos/boofrumom/1541802909/)

[whispurr267.livejournal.com]

One great recipe to have on hand is Cream Cheese Crescents. These are similar to Rugelach, but simpler. We always made many nut and poppyseed rolls for the holidays, but when we found this recipe, we could have a great taste anytime without the fuss.

Cream Cheese Crescents - similar to Rugelach
Makes 64 cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/2 cup sugar (use Domino Brownulated Sugar if you can get it)
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Powdered sugar

Cream together butter and cream cheese. Add flour and salt. Mix well. Shape dough into 8 balls. Wrap each in plastic wrap and chill at least 2 hours.

Working with one ball at a time, roll ball into an 8 inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Cut into 8 wedges.

Combine walnuts, sugar, and cinnamon together. Sprinkle about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of this mixture on each wedge. Roll up, starting at wide edge. Shape into a crescent. Place, point side down, on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool and dust with powdered sugar.

Notes: I've also brushed with an egg wash and dipped in the nut/sugar/spice blend before baking. Also used a jar of apricot filling.
The dough freezes beautifully, so you can make it and have it on hand, pull out a ball, and have a fast treat for just a few.

The next two use dried onion soup mix - a great multi-purpose ingredient:

Apricot Chicken only 4 ingredients

Ingredients
Apricot preserves - I use the all-fruit variety
Russian salad dressing - I've used French and added
some ketchup when I couldn't find Russian
1 pkg dry onion soup mix
Chicken
Instructions
Smear apricot preserves on chicken. Pour Russian dressing over it. Sprinkle with dry onion soup mix.
Bake at 325° for 1-1 1/2 hours.

Braunschweiger Cream Cheese Dip
Makes about 2 cups

1 (3 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 (8 oz.) pkg. braunschweiger
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 tbsp. prepared horseradish
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
Dash Tabasco
2/3 cups evaporated milk

Combine cream cheese and lemon juice in blender.
Add remaining ingredients.
Blend until completely blended and smooth.
Chill before serving.

and this was a favorite from our local paper many years ago

Mrs. Murphy's Meatballs
1 pound ground chuck
1/4 cup rice, not instant
Green pepper, chopped fine
Small onion, chopped fine
1 stalk celery, chopped fine
2 cups cabbage, finely shredded
1 can tomato soup plus 1/2 can of water
You will need a large frying pan at least 2 inches deep. Pour the tomato soup and water in the frying pan -- place over a low heat. In large bowl, mix together thoroughly the meat, rice and vegetables. Form mixture into balls (our meatballs were about 1 1/2 inches). Place the meatballs in the frying pan with the tomato soup. Simmer for about 1 1/2 hours.
Note: We used a food processor to chop the vegetables. This is important: The meatballs should be placed in the pan raw -- do not fry.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

AWESOME.

*drools*

And I notice your meatballs do not have a sauce made of grape jelly OR ketchup. YAY. The apricot chicken looks particularly yummy -- definitely doing that one soon.

Thanks!

[whispurr267.livejournal.com]

Plus, the meatballs are not fried and absorb all the flavor from the sauce. The story goes that a postman smelled something delicious and followed the scent to Mrs. Murphy's door. It has been a requested recipe from the local paper for probably 30 years.

The apricot chicken can be made with boneless, skinless chicken or (like I prefer, with the bone in for more flavor.) Fill up the pan and make plenty, because it tastes great warmed over or cold too.

[rogue53.livejournal.com]

This isn't really a recipe, but when I cook a roast I put it in a roaster (or one of those nifty cooking bags)(or both) in a slow oven (250-300) for at least 4 hours. And I pour Campbell's Beefy mushroom soup over it. By the time you're done, it's fork tender and I use the gravy strainer to get rid of most of the fat and use the rest for gravy. It works really well on those tougher pieces of meat.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

AHAH I SEE WHUT YOU DID THAR.

I'm telling ya, cream-of-mushroom-soup is like the ultimate base to a bazillion excellent things, and realizing that has been a major door to adulthood. AHAH So that's how Mom fed us all those years!

[clarentine]

I have made these cookies three separate times, twice this year (and one of those times was a three-double-batch endeavor for a cookie exchange...and I will be eating the extras through New Year's, I suspect). They are my absolute favorites, bar none, and this includes a hell of a lot of cookies, because I like baking and trying new recipes. It's a great combination of the tenderness and buttery goodness of shortbread with the snap of gingerbread.

If need be, you can substitute one half tsp of good lemon extract for the lemon peel; this is commonly what I do, since I hate scraping the peel off a perfectly good lemon I then have no use for. (Poor lemon.)

http://www.cooksrecipes.com/cookie/double_ginger_shortbread_cookies_recipe.html

If the first batch comes out too hard, cut them thicker and cook them a little bit less long. Best if you only let the edges get the slightest bit brown. And serve on plates; these are butter-rich, and any cloth you put them on will remind you of that fact.

Enjoy!

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

coooooooooooookies *drool*

nomnomnomonom, and I'm almost positive doing crystallized ginger isn't that difficult. I think my mom used to do it when I was a kid, but that was because eating it also settles your stomach before a trip. (Not that it made any difference to my stomach, but that's the rumor at least... and it does work on dogs, if nothing else.)

[ellevate.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. If I wasn't such a terrible cook, I might have something to add here. But it sounds as if you're further down the path to chef-dom than I am... by about a mile.

Oh, and by the way, I need to get your books back to you! Let me know if you want to grab lunch or something. And of course, if you'd like to borrow some from me or something, you're welcome to do so.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

oh RIGHT I knew there was something I was forgetting... it's been one of those weeks months YEARS. guh.

Well, you can always try some of the recipes here, then, because my claim to chefdom is basically whether I can make it with chicken and, well, cream of mushroom soup. (Or tuna-in-cans.) Casserole is ALWAYS the best failsafe on dinner, I'm telling ya. Verrry simple.

Going out to eat probably isn't possible for awhile, and right now CP is crutch-bound plus relatives next week. Maybe at some point in the days before new years?

[vcmw]

No meat recipes to offer you (my husband is vegetarian and so are my parents, so though I eat meat I can't cook it), but I know many very tasty vegetarian basic stew recipes.

Lentil Stew is my absolute standby
You will need
1 lb lentils
1 large onion
4-5 good size carrots
2-3 medium-to-large potatoes
most of a head of garlic (or reduce to taste)
1 small can tomato paste
1 large can of diced tomatoes
regular cooking oil or olive oil

Optional but really improve things:
1 8 oz package mushrooms
some fresh ginger

Spice assortment:
VERSION 1 You definitely want:
yellow curry
turmeric
ginger if no fresh ginger
tamari or soy sauce for salting (adds richness)
cumin

You may want:
cinnamon (tiny sploosh for rich scent)
any other rich scented brown spices you're fond of

VERSION 2:
Skip the curry, turmeric, and cinnamon

Add cayenne or fresh hot pepper, basil, and oregano plus other green and red aromatic tasties of choice.

Cooking:
1) in a medium size pot, add the lentils and 2x the amount of water that you have lentils. cook till lentils are soft.

2) in large soup making pot, cover bottom of pot with oil. dice onion and put in bottom of pot, cook till translucent.

3) dice or crush garlic amount of your preference (not less than 6 cloves if you're asking me). add to translucent onions

4) if you want mushrooms, add 'em now so they can cook in the oil a little. same for ginger or fresh hot pepper

5) dice potatoes, carrots, any other vegetables you decided to add. put on top of oil/onion base. add water to just cover. simmer until vegetables are soft.

6) dump the separately boiled lentils over the veggies. stir together. add tomato products and spices. simmer till flavor combines.

Serving suggestions:
crusty bread, sharp cheese. tastier on second day.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

Oh, yummy! Lentil soup is one of those things I hated as a kid and love now. I guess like artichoke, you have to grow into it, or something. But I've never known how to make it, so I've always skipped it.

I am totally adding stuff to my grocery list from this post, yo. Okay, what I don't already have -- most of the spices we do have, since CP is spice-crazy. It's the lentils we're missing!

[chibidrunksanzo.livejournal.com]

I didn't get to my recipes yesterday, but there's one really easy and good one I can think of at the moment. On the back of Lipton dry onion soup mix there's a recipe for roasted potatoes. If you add chicken into the mix it's even more delicious.

2 lbs potatoes
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1/2 C oil (olive oil is especially tasty)
3 large chicken breasts, less or more depending on how much you like chicken

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the potatoes and chicken into chunks. Put them in a ziploc bag along with the oil and onion soup mix. Shake until everything is evenly coated. Put in a glass casserole dish and cook for 40 minutes or until potatoes are tender and a little browned.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

DRY ONION SOUP MIX.

And right there is the OTHER secret to all fine cuisine. I had totally forgotten my mom used to get that stuff (Knox's, was it?) in like the 12-pack, and use it in everything.

While we aren't a potato house, we ARE a sweet-potato house, and same family, right? ...and I didn't go to the grocery store today to get onion soup mix or mushroom soup, sheesh, but I do still have some stuff -- so nabbing your recipe & adjusting untasted. Will report!

thank you -- and thank you for the idea in the first place. :)

[chibidrunksanzo.livejournal.com]

Oooh, sweet potatoes. I may have to try that sometime. You know, I should just put a download to the .doc file with the few recipes I've collected. Ooh, I also need to get Mom's salmon recipe.

And you're very welcome for the idea. =)

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

Posted the modified recipe in another thread, and turned out really good -- yeah, so potatoes are a good basic starch but I just don't like how bland they are. With sweet potatoes, you can make a dish extra-spicy (not necessarily in terms of heat, but in terms of # of spices) and the sweetness from the sweet potatoes really adds a softness to round things out.

Plus, any dish with vegetables that also goes well with marshmallows is MY idea of awesome. (It was the only time we ever got marshmallows, growing up -- my mom was not big on processed sweets, unless it was for a holiday & had vegetables in there to balance the bad with some minimal goodness.)

Warning: following recipes given Emily-style

[branchandroot]

(I absorbed a certain scorn for measuring implements from my mother.)

One of the easiest ways to make the cheapest cuts nice and tender: alcohol. For Japanese style beef, slice it into bits and leave it in the fridge overnight covered with vodka and a few tablespoons of sugar. Add a splash of soy/tamari/braggs while you cook it (I favor pan saute) and lo.

I've actually made this work with leftover chinese ginger beef that was really tough.

I'm also fond of beef sorta-burgundy, which involves stewing (yay crock pot) over night or all day, possibly on high, with a bottle of red wine and a few cups of water. Add quick-sauted chopped mushrooms at the end and sprinkle in corn starch to thicken to taste. Serve over noodles. Or not, depending on how carnivorous you're feeling.

Salsa fry-up is a staple for my house. Take a pound of ground and fry it up in a pan with a can of whatever kind of beans you like best and a jar of your favorite salsa. Serve over rice.

Corned beef brisket, crock-potted all day with half a cabbage, a handful of potatoes and a bunch of carrots (all chopped to your preferred fineness) is a nice, easy one, and will usually have leftovers. Skim off the fat and you have cooking lard for several days at least.

Incidentally, sheep and goat are perfectly good meats and may, depending on your local meat people, be cheaper.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

(Unfortunately we're in cow country, so sheep & goat are harder to find AND more expensive. Bastards.)

I can totally relate to the no-actual-measurements. When I hand over recipes, I have measurements, but that's rarely how I actually make them myself. Okay, when I get past about 1/2cup then I'll use measuring, but up to that, it's all "how many dollops" and teaspoons being just so much in the palm of your hand, eyeball, and there you go.

The salsa fry-up is absolutely freaking brilliant. We're a rice house, not a potato house, so stuff that goes over rice (okay, most does) is stuff that makes CP happy. Too much of my cooking and he starts snarking about pasta. (And what is WRONG with pasta, I ask?)

That's it, I'm buying the cheapest & toughest meat I can find, and a bottle of vodka. THIS IS GONNA BE FUN.

Thank you!

[felix-fortuna.livejournal.com]

I totally missed this post, in neglecting LJ. I'll rassle up some affordable and quick recipes for you.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

*practically vibrates in place from anticipation*

[felix-fortuna.livejournal.com]

Heh, ok, I had to take a long Winter's nap first, and get K's input on this as well. I tend to write colorful recipes, I'll shorten them here (of course, you will get one of the first mss. of CWT if'n'when I ever get around to compiling it...)

Since you are rice people, I'll offer up my creole red bean stew, a staple in my house-- this is slightly different from ordinary red beans and rice. Serve with rice, oc, sometimes we use kashi or quinoa, but on the cheap side, I've never had a problem with uncle bens. Trick here is to get the good andouille and everything else as cheaply as possible, because the andouille is where all the flavor comes from.

~1 lb andouille, I often use less, cut in half then slice thin
1 medium brown onion
2 cloves garlic
2 stalks celery, white parts and strings removed

place the above in a heavy pot and add
1 bay leaf
a few dashes of worchestershire sauce
about a tablespoon of thyme
teaspoon of salt and black pepper
dash of paprika, cumin, and oregano
drizzle with a little oil to coat the onion, saute on low to medium heat until the onion and celery is soft

add 2 8oz cans of little red beans, undrained, 1 can of tomato paste, and 2 tomato paste cans of water, stir well, re-season to taste with salt, pepper, and cayenne or hot sauce to taste (I've even used siracha in this... hmmm..) and simmer for at least 20 minutes.

15 minutes before you'd like it to be done, add a chopped red bell pepper, and 2 or 3 chopped green onions, simmer for about 15 minutes longer.

K and I have recently been making this awesome recipe for cheaper cuts of steak. Follow Alton Brown's recipe for grilling rib-eye using a cast iron pan. The recipe for the sauce is as follows:

1 cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 large garlic cloves
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried hot red-pepper flakes
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (I use bottled lemon juice, which is cheaper)
2/3 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp salt

puree in a Cuisinart or a blender, serve over steak

Before I go on... do you folks like Mediterranean and Middle-eastern food?

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

*drools*

do you folks like Mediterranean and Middle-eastern food?