Thursday, March 27, 2008
Roasted Beets by Aquarius
Roasted beets (much better than boiled, IMHO) cooled and sliced thin, served over arugula and curly endive, and topped with a disk of chevre that I'd coated with breadcrumbs and Herbes de Provence and fried, to make a warm melty crouton. It was dressed with balsamic vinaigrette.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Pea Soup by Madeleine Powers
The crockpot made it a dream. I doubled the recipe and filled the whole sucker up. 10 cups of water, 4 cups of peas, 2 cups of onions, carrots, and celery. Herbs n' such. Fuckton of leftover ham. Hours later, nirvana: obtained.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Dublin Coddle by McGuffin
Serves 4
Ingredients
8 oz. bacon
1 c. chicken stock
1 c. heavy cream
1 lb. sausages, preferably Irish breakfast variety
6 medium potatoes
2 medium onions
2 tbsp. parsley
Salt
Pepper
1. Cut the bacon into one-inch squares.
2. Bring the stock and heavy cream to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add sausages and bacon, replace the lid, and simmer for about five minutes.
3. Remove sausages and bacon, reserving the liquid. Cut each sausage into four or five pieces.
4. Peel the potatoes and cut onions and potatoes into thick slices.
5. Assemble a layer of potatoes in the saucepan, followed by a layer of onions and then half of the sausages and bacon. Repeat the process once more and finish off with a layer of potatoes. Pour the chicken stock and heavy cream over and season lightly to taste.
6. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer gently for about an hour.
7. Salt and pepper to taste and serve warm in a casserole dish topped with chopped parsley.
Ingredients
8 oz. bacon
1 c. chicken stock
1 c. heavy cream
1 lb. sausages, preferably Irish breakfast variety
6 medium potatoes
2 medium onions
2 tbsp. parsley
Salt
Pepper
1. Cut the bacon into one-inch squares.
2. Bring the stock and heavy cream to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add sausages and bacon, replace the lid, and simmer for about five minutes.
3. Remove sausages and bacon, reserving the liquid. Cut each sausage into four or five pieces.
4. Peel the potatoes and cut onions and potatoes into thick slices.
5. Assemble a layer of potatoes in the saucepan, followed by a layer of onions and then half of the sausages and bacon. Repeat the process once more and finish off with a layer of potatoes. Pour the chicken stock and heavy cream over and season lightly to taste.
6. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer gently for about an hour.
7. Salt and pepper to taste and serve warm in a casserole dish topped with chopped parsley.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Tuna Noodle Casserole by curly
Boil a pound of egg noodles or other pasta (preferably not long noodles like spaghetti, but whatever)
Mix in one can cream of mushroom (or chicken or celery or whatever) soup
Add one bag frozen peas or other mixed vegetables
Add one can tuna
Mix it all up
(Some people like to top it with cracker crumbs, if you have them)
Pour mixture in buttered baking pan and bake at 375 for 30 minutes.
You can change any of it, too. It occurs to me that you could make it with sardines in tomato sauce instead, and add fresh tomatos, onion, parsley, and celery (maybe capers) and use tomato soup instead. It's really flexible.
Mix in one can cream of mushroom (or chicken or celery or whatever) soup
Add one bag frozen peas or other mixed vegetables
Add one can tuna
Mix it all up
(Some people like to top it with cracker crumbs, if you have them)
Pour mixture in buttered baking pan and bake at 375 for 30 minutes.
You can change any of it, too. It occurs to me that you could make it with sardines in tomato sauce instead, and add fresh tomatos, onion, parsley, and celery (maybe capers) and use tomato soup instead. It's really flexible.
Tuna Noodle Casserole by Claire Carpenter
A simple version is to combine two large cans of tuna (drained), one pound of pasta (cooked), two cans of cream of mushroom soup, and one pound of frozen peas (cooked in the microwave). Adding a clove of minced fresh garlic wouldn't hurt. Top with grated cheese if that's what your kids clamor for. No need to bake, just warm the undiluted canned soup with the tuna and mix them with the hot pasta and peas.
Improvising by bookseller
You know, one of the things I like best about cooking is the acquisition of basic principles, which then permits a certain amount of confident improvisation. For example, protein and pan sauce. Take a boneless piece of chicken, season it with salt and pepper, saute it in butter till it's done. Remove the chicken from the pan (cover it loosely with foil to keep warm), add a glug of white wine to the pan, and bring the wine to a boil while scraping up all the brown bits that the chicken has left on the bottom. Once all the bits are scraped up and the liquid in the pan has reduced to a glaze consistency, you have a sauce. Pour it over the chicken and eat.
That's perfectly good. But you could do the same thing with steak, with pork, with fish, with veal. You could use red wine or chicken stock or beef stock or fish stock or cider or coffee or orange juice or...any liquid (or combination of liquids) that you like. You could saute some shallots or garlic or onions (or ginger or scallions or lemongrass) in the pan before adding the liquid. As the liquid's reducing in the pan, you could stir in some mustard or some cream or some jelly or some capers or some chopped pickles or some peanut butter or some hoisin or some orange segments. That's your improv. But it's all based on the extremely simple technique of Cook a Piece of Protein and Use the Fond (the bits left in the pan) and a Liquid to Make a Pan Sauce. If you like, you can turn it into a hugely complicated dish -- various vegetable garnishes, minced herbs, toasted nuts, sit the whole thing on a crouton (fried bread) or a potato cake, etc. But even if you just use the very basic ingredients -- protein, salt and pepper, fat, liquid -- you'll have a really tasty dinner. And once you latch onto that basic technique, you can make substitutions easily, depending on what looks good and sounds good.
That's perfectly good. But you could do the same thing with steak, with pork, with fish, with veal. You could use red wine or chicken stock or beef stock or fish stock or cider or coffee or orange juice or...any liquid (or combination of liquids) that you like. You could saute some shallots or garlic or onions (or ginger or scallions or lemongrass) in the pan before adding the liquid. As the liquid's reducing in the pan, you could stir in some mustard or some cream or some jelly or some capers or some chopped pickles or some peanut butter or some hoisin or some orange segments. That's your improv. But it's all based on the extremely simple technique of Cook a Piece of Protein and Use the Fond (the bits left in the pan) and a Liquid to Make a Pan Sauce. If you like, you can turn it into a hugely complicated dish -- various vegetable garnishes, minced herbs, toasted nuts, sit the whole thing on a crouton (fried bread) or a potato cake, etc. But even if you just use the very basic ingredients -- protein, salt and pepper, fat, liquid -- you'll have a really tasty dinner. And once you latch onto that basic technique, you can make substitutions easily, depending on what looks good and sounds good.
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