Michelle Posted March 12, 2008 Report Share Posted March 12, 2008 PS. Exciting to see so many Men involved in cooking, much less responding so well to this post! If someone makes a great dish for dinner, please share it with us! I'm making a Mole Soup tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobD Posted March 12, 2008 Report Share Posted March 12, 2008 My favorite pizza, which happens to be vegitarian. Just a topping really, but not normally seen in the US Chop up some leeks. Do include the green parts of the leaves and sprinkle generousely, together with chopped mushrooms. Better to add the cheese after the leeks, so they don't scorch. I sprinkle with Italian herbs and roasted garlic powder. To be a little healthier, I often use toasted whole grain brown bread as a base (not the usual sweet stuff like sara lee etc). Use a minimal amount of pizza sauce as it makes the toast soggy. For cheese, I use a very little grated Ementala. It has so much flavor that just a little will taste great. Plenty of herbs (herb de Provance works as well). Leeks have so much flavor that you don't miss the meat. Mushrooms and leeks also make a great pie filling. BobD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gecko Posted March 12, 2008 Report Share Posted March 12, 2008 You guys that live in the city are very lucky. here in the mountains we now have one Himilayan restuarant, and a vitamin cottage that sells some ethnic spices and such, but I really wish we had an Asian market. Anyone know of a good one in Denver/Boulder? Au Contraire...I don't live in the City we were having to drive to Providence or Hartford (each at least an hour away) to find spices and the like until "Raj's Cash a Carry" open near my work I'll admit that I am a bit spoiled now but I still buy in bulk for most things even though they are so close The owner knows us pretty well now and recommends things/ingredients (and recipies) that they think we will like. Indian markets in Denver http://www.thokalath.com/colorado/grocery_stores.php for asian cuisine it does look like you are screwed at least in the Denver area though I've had good luck in other cities by shopping were the local asian popularion does...try Far East Center which I think is in southwest Denver (the first time you walk in expect stares) Cooking is my specialty. I grew up in the south, and learned to cook from my mom and grandmother. However, over the past few years and becoming a veg-head, I've learned to be quite creative with my cooking, even making some traditional cajun dishes without meat!Expirement! Cook with passion! Sorry.....I really like it. Indian food is in my opinion the easiest vegetarian cuisine to live with, everything else you are cutting out or replacing a meat...btw the best thing ever is premade Paneer...I love eating Paneer but making it is a PITA especially if you can't get raw milk...I keep more paneer in my fridge than I do regular cheese Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnwradar Posted March 13, 2008 Report Share Posted March 13, 2008 If someone makes a great dish for dinner, please share it with us! I'm making a Mole Soup tonight. Made chicken and olives tagine last night. Gonna try it again tonight with lamb shank, lemon, olives, and dried apricots. Puree two tomatoes and an onion with a healthy pinch of saffron paprika and ginger powder, and some salt/pepper. Add 1/4c olive oil and 1/4c melted butter, and marinade a chicken's worth of chicken parts in the whole mess for a half hour. Put the chicken and marinade into a tagine and add a cup or two of chicken broth to mostly cover the chicken. Simmer at medium-low heat for an hour or two, until the chicken is cooked through. Add 1-1/2 cups of pitted olives and the chopped peel from two preserved lemons (optional) and simmer another half hour. If you use a skillet or saute pan, you might need to add more water during the simmer, but then you can raise the heat at the end and reduce the sauce to make it thicker. Present tableside in the tagine or plate with flatbread and freshly minced coriander. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gecko Posted March 16, 2008 Report Share Posted March 16, 2008 Well my wife had to spend the afternoon working on her college class so dinner was mine to make. Chicken in a curried yogurt sauce Aubergine mash with tomatoes and onions (lots of spice in this one) Chick Pea Dal, spiced with cinnamon cardamom and cloves among other things serves with Naan... The thing that my wife was most happy about (ther than the fact that she didn't have to cook) was that I only used 2 pots to make 3 dishes (less mess) BTW if anyone is looking for a good indian cookbook I bought 1000 Classic IndianRecipes in Singapore a decade ago and it's dog eared from so much use. well time to serve:biggthump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bell Posted March 17, 2008 Report Share Posted March 17, 2008 This is so easy that I kick myself for all the years I used crust in a box. This will make a thin, crispy crust. Turn on your oven and preheat to 500 or (if it goes that high) 550. Throw some flour in a big bowl. Add some salt. Amounts? Who cares! Just eyeball it. Sugar? Don't even think about it! Buy some yeast in the little packets or in a jar. Doesn't matter what kind. It's near the flour in the grocery store. While you're there buying yeast, buy some parchment paper, unless you have a pizza stone and a pizza peel (which are both well worth it. Just don't get the super-cheap kind of stone, because I've cracked two of those under normal use. Get the thicker one that runs about $30 at Williams-Sodoma). The peel is the big wooden paddle thing--which can double as a cutting board. Activate the yeast by putting about a spoonful in a cup with some warm (but not hot) water with some sugar. Stir it up and cover. It should have a foamy head after 5-10 minutes. If it doesn't, the yeast is dead. Add the water to the flour and mix well. Add a little olive oil, but not too much, or the crust will be super-chewy. Knead it just until it's mixed--to much and it'll be tough. Add flour to keep from sticking. Let it rise for 30 minutes, covered and in a warm place. Flour up the pizza peel or the parchment paper. Better yet, if you have coarsely ground cornmeal, use that. Spread the dough out on it. Don't add the toppings yet! Put the crust in the oven for about 8-10 minutes--until it starts turning slightly beige in places. Then pull it out. This first bake will get the crust crispy enough so that it won't get soggy when you add toppings. Add the toppings, put it back in, and pull it out when the cheese is melted. The parchment will probably burn in the oven where it doesn't have pizza on top of it, so don't let that alarm you. The one caveat is that there will be flour all over the kitchen. So it makes sense to make extra dough and put it in the fridge in Ziploc bags for later use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gecko Posted March 17, 2008 Report Share Posted March 17, 2008 yeah that's tasty....my wife bought me a pizza stone for my gas grill that gives me a nice smoky taste Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjl Posted March 17, 2008 Report Share Posted March 17, 2008 Somebody teach me how to make a good tomato-based pasta sauce. I've been cooking a reasonable but not spectacular one; I'm sure somebody out there has a killer recipe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobD Posted March 17, 2008 Report Share Posted March 17, 2008 Summit cooking sessions. A carve and cook fest BobD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik J Posted March 17, 2008 Report Share Posted March 17, 2008 Somebody teach me how to make a good tomato-based pasta sauce.I've been cooking a reasonable but not spectacular one; I'm sure somebody out there has a killer recipe. How would you like the sauce to taste? Describe what you imagine it tasting like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjl Posted March 17, 2008 Report Share Posted March 17, 2008 How would you like the sauce to taste? Describe what you imagine it tasting like. I would like it to taste "amazing", with a pretty good hit of "awesome". :D No, I don't know enough about food to know what I want, and if I did, I wouldn't be able to put it in words. In any case, I'd like to be surprised anyways. How about this, I'll tell you what I do, and maybe you can tell me what I'm doing that's totally wrong :) : I cook down a little garlic, a bunch of onions, carrots, mushrooms, and beef in olive oil until the carrots are soft and the onions are translucent, and then I add a whole bunch of diced tomatoes and a little bit of tomato paste and white wine and cook it down until it looks like tomato sauce. That takes a few hours for everything to cook down, and I fill up a big pot so I can have it for the next two weeks. It actually smells and tastes fine, but, as I said, not spectacular. It's kind of a one-note sauce, with no complexity at all; a little boring. Also, it ends up looking like a bolognese and not a ragout; I wish I had more sauce in my sauce, but still thick and not watery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
photodad2001 Posted March 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2008 I would like it to taste "amazing", with a pretty good hit of "awesome". :D Well, this isn't a "recipe", but the key things any good tomato sauce for pasta needs is freshly pressed garlic cloves for the "amazing", and half a cup of red wine for the "awesome", I like to use the same wine I'll be serving with the meal, ussually a pinot-noir or chianti, although you could just use a classic burgandy. I also use canned tomatoes, cuts down on the cooking time. You could just throw that into a store bought sauce and it'd make it much better. Something real easy for an appetizer is get some portabella mushrooms and fry them in butter and red wine. Quick easy and tasty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted March 18, 2008 Report Share Posted March 18, 2008 If I can find my mom's recipe I'll send it over. She makes AMAZING sauce, and we can add a little for the AWESOME part. It's easier with a slow cooker, but you can also make it on the stove (that's how she does it, old school). :) Even my Italian friends are impressed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
photodad2001 Posted March 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2008 This isn't gourmet, but it's an awesome party favor and a bit surprising. Straight up meatballs served on a toothpick. Step one. Buy a bag of your favorite frozen meatballs. (or if you're wanting to show off make your own) Step 2. Buy a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's barbeque sauce and a can of Jellied Crannberrie sauce. (yes I said crannberrie sauce... jellied) Combine in a crockpot for 2-3 hours (it gets better with more time) and serve. Trust me, I took this to my works Christmas party and it was the only thing gone at the end of the night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Donnelly Posted March 19, 2008 Report Share Posted March 19, 2008 Ken, My wife makes an easy "blender" Pesto (basil) sauce and then freezes for use on pasta or as the killer pizza sauce. We change up our toppings for Pesto pizza to include items such as: Sun dried tomatoes (put below cheese) Roasted garlic Shirmp Thinly sliced red onion (on top) Cooked bacon or real bacon bits Top off with fresh grated parmasean For red sauce we buy a big can from Costco - Dei Fratellia http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/40243/dei_fratelli_italian_style_pizza_sauce.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted March 21, 2008 Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 Ken - try this one: 3 cans tomato paste or puree (12 ozs)keep the cans for the water. 1 can diced tomotos (any kind will do) 1 onion, 1/2 bell pepper, garlic Saute the seasoning until soft,in a small amount of olive oil, add tomato paste (puree) and cook for about 5 minutes. Be careful, cook over low fire and stir constantly so it doesn't burn. Add 3 cans of water(using empty tom paste cans) and the diced tomatoes. Add parsley,bay leaves, italian seasoning and any other seasoning that you want. Turn fire to low, just enough to simmer, and cover. Cook for at least 5-6 hours, stirring occassionally. If you want to add meat, add it as soon as you add the water and let it simmer in the sauce. The tomato puree will make it thicker than the tomato sauce. Straight from my mom! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdea Posted March 21, 2008 Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 make your normal pesto but replace the basil with fresh cilantro, if you like thing spicy and unique add a dried smoked pepper or two a dry chipoltle would be be great but if you can find a smoked cayenne you'll be in heaven. if you have a smoker they are very easy to make on your own and I go that route. Curd and cheese, rennet is your friend! raw milk does work better but is by no mean critical to make curd or even many cheeses. pastuerized and ultra pastuerized are not the same though and ultra pastuerized is pretty useless for some cheeses, most of the things that are good about milk is destroyed by ultra pastuerization anyway....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdea Posted March 21, 2008 Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 forgot to mention that some people have good result with adding a little whipping cream to the milk, helps for making a bunch of cheeses, it might be for paneer too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjl Posted March 21, 2008 Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 Woohoo! Thanks Michelle, Pat, Bob. I'm not a huge fan of pesto, which is really weird, because I love all of the ingredients of a pesto sauce... a lot. I'm psyched to try Michelle's mom's sauce though. I haven't tried the mostly-tomato-paste sauce before. The can of diced tomatoes is the same size as the paste/puree cans? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted March 21, 2008 Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 Woohoo! Thanks Michelle, Pat, Bob. I'm not a huge fan of pesto, which is really weird, because I love all of the ingredients of a pesto sauce... a lot.I'm psyched to try Michelle's mom's sauce though. I haven't tried the mostly-tomato-paste sauce before. The can of diced tomatoes is the same size as the paste/puree cans? Good question, I'll have to ask her. It's really good too, I can remember coming home from school and smelling the sauce cooking down the street. She adds ground meat to it sometimes, and sometimes she makes homemade meatballs (which I don't eat anymore, but there are substitutes!), both of which are EXCELLENT! you can also add diced chicken and it takes pretty good too (I haven't always been a veg-head). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted March 21, 2008 Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 Here ya go Ken, straight from my mom! "you can also use it to make chicken/spagatti or whatever you want. I use the 12oz cans of paste or puree. If you don't want to make as much, you can use the 6 oz cans. I make a lot and freeze it. It is also good to use if you want to make lasagna" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gecko Posted March 21, 2008 Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 well for some odd rason the US Navy decided that I didn't need to work today Soo I tackled a bunch of Honey doo's and I made dinner for me working wife Dinner was chicken and green beans because that's what's in the fridge. My green bean recipe has been an evolving I sautée a piece of salt bacon with 2 cloves of garlic in olive oil, toss in a half pound of green beens, sautee for an additional minute or two before adding a glass of whatever wine is going with dinner, turn down to simmer and let the beans cook to al dentee. Chicken, 1 and 1/2 lbs of boneless skinless thighs, 1 egg 3 TBSP Garam masala (in this case a Moroccan spice blend) 2 cloves of garlic 1 onion minced Throw it all in the food processor and make meatloaf. remove and shape around wooden skewers, refrigerate for a few hours to stiffen the meat Grill either on a BBQ or a grill on on the stove serve with a wine strong enough to stand up to spicey food Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted March 25, 2008 Report Share Posted March 25, 2008 One more thing to add: a pinch of sugar. I forgot that.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave ESPI Posted March 25, 2008 Report Share Posted March 25, 2008 www.filet7west.com Come dine in the new restaurant that I'm a chef in. Not cheap, but I promise to please :) * and yes, I do indeed love to cook. Been doing it (quite well I may add) for almost 12 years now, and have extensive skill and credentials as a Chef. I'm 16 months away from finishing a BA in Restaurant and Hospitality Management aswell from NECI. cheers, D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted March 25, 2008 Report Share Posted March 25, 2008 www.filet7west.comCome dine in the new restaurant that I'm a chef in. Not cheap, but I promise to please :). Would you make me something vegan if I came in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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