Cooking In General

[revmaf]

DoTW, that sounds like a whole new recipe!

Bought a new kitchen gadget: a two-quart Pyrex measuring cup with softish top that has different openings, or no opening, to use for storing - but best of all it is marked so you can measure by looking down into the cup rather than holding it up at eye level or bending down to look at it. Only drawback is, since it's glass, it's heavy.

I have the dreadful habit of fixing hot cereal in the microwave in the morning in a Pyrex measuring cup and then eating it right out of the measuring cup. I know, living alone just ruins all the civilized niceties.

[Sir Belisarius]

I tried your Abyssal chili today, Sir Bel, with a couple of modifications (to satiate the meat lover in me), and MAN... that's some SWEET chili!

Basically, I took out all the vegetables, swapped stewed beef for grounded beef, added two varieties of very, very, very spicy sausages (Diabolical, a Hungarian cayenne pepper sausage, and Calvaire, a sausage found only in my town which packs a very, very, very solid punch), swapped light red kidney beans for black turtle beans, multiplied by five the concentration of Cayenne pepper and Habanero sauce, added a ton of ground red peppers and a whole bottle of Tabasco.

It's spicy aplenty, and I love the smell it's cooking leaved around the house...

That sounds great! I toned down the heat because my guests were not into "real spicy" chili...It was spicy, but tasty.

Yours sounds killer! I don't think I could find the meats or beans you used, but adding the extra hot sauces would be interesting...

The best chilis are those you create!! Nice job!!

[Ragusa]

My chili usually involves minced beef, two small cans of tomatoes with juice, three small cans of kidney beans, 2 small cans of corn, tomatoe extract, a few potatoes, 4 onions cut small.

Fry the minced meat till it is darkish, then add the onions, and when they are brownish, extinguish with the tomato juice. Add the content of the other cans and, if neccessary, add some more water, or beer.

I usually add some ten piri-piri - the small very hot variant, and pepper, some mexican chili powder I still have left over from my holiday there, cayenne pepper, ground bell pepper, and especially a good dose of cumin. That way it's an 'all round' spicyness, rather than that 'spiky' spiceness you would have when only using peppers.

As for guests, I once made a hellfire variant that was so overspiced my pals still talk about it with awe ten years later. Usual comment when I make chili today is 'but this time it's edible, yes?'
The mistake I made was to presume that twenty hand-length peppers are as spicy as twenty small peppers. I erred.

[Disciple of The Watch]

That sounds great! I toned down the heat because my guests were not into "real spicy" chili...It was spicy, but tasty.

Yours sounds killer! I don't think I could find the meats or beans you used, but adding the extra hot sauces would be interesting...

The best chilis are those you create!! Nice job!!

The Diabolical sausage I'm fairly certain you could find in a good grocery store, or perhaps at a sausage parlor (not sure if this is the exact term), it could prove hard to track down since this is imported, but it's definitively worth it.

Black turtle beans IMO are better than red kidney ones - but it's purely aesthetic since they pretty much taste the same. I'm fairly certain you could find some easily - that's what they look like

And yeah, that sucker is mighty spicy! If it gives me some heartburns, it's strong enough!

[Dice]

I never knew that those were call black turtle beans. They look like what we just call black beans around here. They are actually a type of kidney beans but I like the flavour better of the black beans rather than the red kidney.

[revmaf]

I'm probably about to start a whole new series of rants, but if fiber is indigestible, that is, if it, ah, passes through, so to speak, is wheat bran food? Just thought I might try a different argument on my doctor, see.

[Blackthorne TA]

Bran is not fiber alone; it contains many nutrients.

[kuemper]

I made my first Yorkshire puddings with supper.

Now I know why India got invaded.

[Dice]

I've made popovers before! They are pretty much the same thing as Yorkshire pudding. You're supposed to serve them with gravy but I like mine with a little dab of melted butter. Damn tasty.

[revmaf]

Well, I guess that argument won't do, either.

BTW, made REAL oatmeal - what we in the U.S. call steel-cut oats, or Irish oatmeal, or Scottish oatmeal - overnight in a small (1 1/2 quart) slow cooker. Really good, though there was a bit of a crust on the pot - but that came off with a soak, just peeled off in one piece.

OTOH, making it in the microwave just doesn't do very well, and making it on the stovetop takes forever and results in a really messy pan.

Can you tell I have been read the nutritional riot act? Oh, well.

[Ragusa]

Potato salad, for aprox 2 to 3 persons:

Cook some 6 medium potatoes. Let them then cool, peel them and cut them into slices. Peel and chop a smallish onion. Cut a three largish cornichons from the glass and chop them as well. Add chopped parsley and chives. Add chopped bacon, or ham from Parma, if you like. Chopped green olives, and Feta cheese or chopped tomatoes are nice additions, too.

For the sauce take or make mayonnaise, some vinegar, a largish spoon of mustard, salt, pepper and taste. It should be slightly sour. Add all the chopped stuff into the sauce, stir, and let it rest in the fridge for roughly two hours.

Serve with some bread, mustard, and Wieners, and a beer. It'll be my dinner today.

PS: Onions with self-made mayonnaise are somewhat problematic in the summer as they will perish quicker in the heat due to the onion juice, not to mention the salmonella risk in fresh eggs. So, in the summer, use of ready mayonnaise is suggested, unless you're sure the salad will be eaten the same evening.

[Cúchulainn]

Potato bread

450g (1lb) potatoes
30g (1oz) butter
1 level tsp salt
100g (3.5oz) plain flour
1tbs Baking Soda


1. Peel the potatoes, cut them into small pieces, and put them in a pan of boiling water. After about twenty minutes, or as soon as they are soft, drain them and mash them up so no big lumps remain.

2. While still warm, mix in the butter and salt.

3. Start working the flour and baking soda in. You may not need it all, depending on the texture of the potatoes. Just add enough to make a good, stiff dough.

4. Roll the dough out to form a circle about 1cm thick, and cut into triangular quarters.

5. Cook on a hot, dry gridle or frying pan which has been sprinkled with flour to prevent sticking (wait until flour has turned brown). No oil or fat is needed; the purpose is just to cook the dough, not to fry it.

6. Turn the bread occasionally; it is ready when both sides are golden brown.

Tastes really good on its own, but even better with goats cheese.

Edit: Pic of Sodabread (top) and Potato Bread (bottom).

[ February 08, 2007, 16:13: Message edited by: Cúchulainn ]

[Dice]

Thanks Cúchulainn, I just copy pasted that to my recipes file and I'm going to try making it tomorrow. It sounds very good and I think my family will like it.


@ Revmaf - You know... if you don't like wheat bran then you could always just eat a couple of scouring pads to clean out your intestines.

[revmaf]

@Dragonfly, I will be sure to bring that dietary tip up to my internist.

@Cúchulainn, the potato bread sounds divine but probably should not be on my menu at the moment. However, I am keeping the recipe!

[Cúchulainn]

Hope you 2 enjoy it. Goes really well with most cooked breakfasts. You can also add apple to the recipe.

[Ragusa]

Boiled eggs are awesome. Take an egg, pierce the shell, boil it 7 minutes - ready. Just awesome

[Dice]

I was going to try the potato bread recipe Cúchulainn, but I realized that I don't have a grill to make them on. Do you think there is a way that I could cook it in the oven?

[revmaf]

Dragonfly, I think you could do it on any flattish pan, a saute pan or frying pan would do it. Oven cooking them probably won't result in the kind of bread you'd expect, but might still taste good - no experience with that.

[DarkStrider]

@Dfly As revmaf says any griddle pan would do the job, don't try them in the oven, they don't really come out right

[revmaf]

Slow Cooker Marinara and Mozzarella Lasagna

This comes from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes for Two, by Beth Hensperger. If you're a lasagna purist you will be displeased, but I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. I haven't tried it with any of the add-ins. The recipe is written for a small (in my case 3 quart) slow-cooker but I think it could be doubled for a larger one. It serves 2 or 3; I eat leftovers for a couple of meals after the first round.

1 - 26 ounce jar marinara sauce of your choice

6-9 sheets no-boil oven ready lasagna noodles, number of sheets you use will depend on size and shape of cooker

8 ounces mozzarella cheese, sliced or cubed

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, Pecorino Romano, or aged Asiago cheese (my note: all options are very expensive where I live but it does make a difference to use good cheese here)

1. Wipe the inside of the slow cooker with an olive-oil soaked paper towel. Using a large spoon, spread 2 or 3 tablespoons of marinara sauce over the bottom of the crock. Break a pasta sheet into pieces to cover the sauce; it doesn't matter what size or shape the pieces are, just jigsaw them into place. Cover with 2 to 3 tablespoons of sauce and a layer of mozzarella cheese. Make 5 to 6 layers total, ending with the marinara sauce. Sprinkle the 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano over the top. The crock will be 2/3 to 3/4 full; the lasagna will collapse as it cooks.

2. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Test for tenderness by piercing the top of the lasagna with a sharp knife at about 3 - 3 1/2 hours. When done the lasagna will be crisp and brown around the edges and curly and bubbly on top. It can be held on the KEEP WARM setting of your slow cooker for up to 2 hours.

Additions and variations listed in the recipe: You can add 2 to 3 layers of vegetables, such as cooked or fresh spinach leaves, roasted red peppers, leftover roasted mixed vegetables, thawed frozen or water-packed artichoke hearts, or sauteed mushrooms. The total cook time will increase by 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the addition. My note: don't add frozen vegetables without thawing them first - it will throw off the whole cooking process and you will end up with burned edges and raw centers, as I have learned from making this mistake in a similar recipe.

Anyway, I've made this twice and liked it both times. Next time I'm going to try some spinach layers.

[Dice]

Spinach and tomato based sauces are a marriage made in heavon, in my humble opinion. I often add spinach to spagetti sauce and lots of soups. Boosts the nutrition and the flavour just seems to work with the tomato.

On the topic of spinach, I made spinach burgers the other day for an experiment. I used lean ground beef, an egg, soya sauce, a spoon of tomato paste, onion, cilantro, and some TexMex seasoning in my ground beef (which is how I usually season it) then I added a package of drained frozen chopped spinach. I wasn't sure how it was going to go over but as it turned out, everyone loved it including the baby.

@ Revmaf and DS, thanks for the advice about the potato bread. I now have a bag of potatoes just asking me to try it.

[revmaf]

@ Dragonfly, the spinach burgers sound great. I'm going to try them. Unlike many, I actually like spinach, cooked or fresh in salads - I was quite put out for the many weeks fresh spinach wasn't available in the U.S. because of the E. coli outbreak.

Speaking of outbreaks - I had one of the recalled jars of peanut butter - not for me, I hate the stuff, but I feed it to the wild birds in my yard in cold weather. I pitched it but I haven't seen any dead birds so my guess is there was nothing wrong with that particular jar.

[The Magister]

The best thing I can cook involves 3 eggs and whatever else I happen to have lying around the house.

...The results tend to be mixed...

[revmaf]

Mixed, well, yes, they would be, I think.

But the principle is very sound.

[Disciple of The Watch]

As I stated in RBP, I once again tweaked Sir Bel's Abyssal Chili... here's the end result after the final tweaks:

Sir Bel's Abyssal Chili, DotW remix

• 2 lb (roughly eight) Calvaire Sausage (chopped)
• 2 lb Diabolical sausage (roughly eight) (chopped)
• 1 big can of tomato juice
• ¾ Cup tomato paste
• 1 Can dark red kidney beans
• 1 Can black turtle beans
• 4 tsp garlic powder
• 4 tsp Ground chili powder
• 1 tsp Oregano
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 1 tsp Turmeric
• 8 tsp Cayenne Pepper
• 8 tsp ground Red Peppers
• 3 tsp Paprika
• 1 full bottle of Tabasco
• 8 dashes habanero sauce
• 2 Bay leaves
• 2 tsp corn meal (optional)

I've cranked up the doses of sausages, Habanero sauce, added more ground red peppers and eliminated ground beef in an effort to give it an extra kick, and I'm far from disappointed - one bowl of that sucker and I felt like I just downed a gallon of napalm...