Cheesy Biscuits by liz_isabella

I use a mix of cheddar and Parmesan, but you can also use a blue cheese.

185g (6½oz) chilled butter, cubed
250g (9oz) plain flour
85g (3½oz) grated Parmesan
½tsp mustard powder
¼tsp paprika
1 free-range egg yolk
1 free-range egg, beaten, for glazing
35g (1¼oz) sesame seeds
you will need
2 baking sheets, lightly oiled
5cm (2in) star-shaped cutter
In a food processor, pulse the butter and flour until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add the Parmesan, mustard and paprika, season well, then pulse to combine.
Mix the egg yolk with 1tbsp of cold water and pour into the food processor. Whizz until big flakes form and then bring the biscuit dough together with a knife, tip on to a floured surface and quickly form into a flat disc shape. Wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
Heat the oven to 180 C, 160 C fan, 350 F, gas 4. Roll the dough out to the thickness of a £2 coin and cut out star shapes. Put on the baking sheets; brush with the beaten egg and sprinkle the sesame seeds on top. Press down gently to help the seeds stick and bake for 15 minutes.

Salad Dressing by bookseller

I made a really great salad dressing tonight, dead easy, and just super-tasty. And since it's salad season, I thought it might be useful. This is an adaptation of a recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, The Frog Comissary Cookbook:

1 egg
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1.5 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon minced (fresh) garlic
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon prepared Dijon mustard
pinch salt
big pinch fresh ground black pepper
1/2 cup canola oil or other neutral-flavored oil
1/2 cup olive oil

Bring the egg to room temp. Break it into the container of a blender, and whiz it around for 30 seconds. Add all the ingredients except the oil, and whiz around for a minute. Mix the oils together in a measuring cup or some other container with a pouring spout. With the blender running, start dripping the oil mixture in. At first, go quite slowly -- really truly drop by drop, until you start to get irritated. At the 1/3 point, you can bump it up to a thin stream. At the 2/3 point, you can go to a fairly solid stream. Getting the oil in will probably take you two minutes of standing there. Very irritating.
But worth it. This produces a dressing that is creamy, thanks to the egg, but very light, with a lovely punch of flavor. It will go beautifully on all green salads, especially if you're adding, say, hard boiled eggs or chicken or sliced steak or shrimp. Or avocados or swiss cheese or asparagus or tomatoes or radishes or cold leftover potatoes or broccoli or artichoke hearts or....pretty much anything. The soy sauce, by the way, will not taste like soy sauce; it just adds a very savory back note. The dressing keeps in the fridge for a good two weeks.

Pickled Shrimp by annen

To 2 1/2 lb shrimp add boiling water to cover. Add 1/2C celery tops, 3 1/2tsp salt and 1/4c mixed pickling spices. Cook shrimp 10-12 min. drain. cool with cold water. Peel under cold running water and remove black line. OR buy about 2 lb shrimp already cleaned and steamed. Sauce: Combine 1 1/4 C salad oil, 3/4 C white vinegar, 1 1/2 t salt, 2 1/2 t celery seed, 2 1/2 T capers and juice and a dash of Tabasco. Mix well. Alternate shrimp in container with thinly sliced onions. Add 7-8 bay leaves. cover with sauce. Refrigerate at least 24 hrs. Will keep at least 1 week in refrigerator.

Peanut Sauce by liz_isabella

Had a nice dinner of greens and peanut sauce. The peanut sauce was so easy I'm going to put it on everything. It was a quarter cup of peanut butter, a quarter up of boiling water, two tbsp soya sauce, two tbsp lemon juice, garlic and ginger to taste. The only thing I'd do differently is put less lemon juice. I had to compensate for that with more garlic and ginger.

Wine Sauce for Lamb Chops by bookseller

I did some interesting old-school cooking. I wanted -- don't ask why -- to make a wine sauce to go with lamb chops, and I did it, as I say, really old school. Which is to say that I browned three pounds -- THREE POUNDS -- of lamb neck (admittedly, too bony and gristley to make good eating), working really slowly to brown every side, took about, jeez, an hour maybe. Removed the meat, and in the fat that had rendered I browned -- deeply browned -- some chopped onion and garlic and carrots, with a little fresh thyme and a bay leaf. Added the lamb back into the pot, and poured in an entire bottle of red wine plus about a quart of chicken broth, and let it all cook down for...three hours maybe. Strained it and degreased it (and was delighted to learn that those gravy separator thingies really do work), and then reduced it down to about a cup. Added about 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt -- the only salt I had added so far, which really made it come together, and then thickened it with a beurre manie, which is a variation on a roux; it's a small amount of softened butter smushed together with a small amount of flour, and then dropped into simmering liquid in tiny clumps.

Anyway, the sauce thickened beautifully, all glossy and with a lovely body, and the salt pulled all the flavors together. And after all of this, I got a scant cup of this gorgeous sauce. It's intensely flavorful; I can't see wanting to use more than, say, 2 tablespoons per serving. But all that meat, and all that wine, and all that time, for ONE CUP of glaze....wow. It's a very 19th-century kind of cooking, and deeply French, rather than American; we just don't do those kinds of reductions. And I had never made one before, but I gotta say, the result is a knockout.

Vegetable halva by bookseller

Last night I was trying to figure out what to do with a zucchini and a couple of large carrots. I figured I would just cut them into sticks and eat them as veggie snacks, though that did seem extremely boring. And then I remembered a recipe I had recently seen for "halvah" (though of the Indian, rather than Middle Eastern, variety) made from vegetables. I'd never made anything like this before. The grated vegetables went into a wide skillet, along with about a teaspoon of the little black seeds from inside a cardamom pod, and two cups of milk. Oh, and half an ounce of raisins, which is about a tablespoon. Really low heat, and occasional stirring until the milk gradually, gradually reduced and was almost entirely absorbed -- probably took about two hours. Six tablespoons of sugar (sub), two tablespoons of butter, an ounce of sliced and toasted almonds, and half a teaspoon of rosewater. Mixed it all in, let it cool overnight, and I have to say, this is delicious. Really weird, but delicious.

Lentil Dip by Highgate

Please be warned that the recipe isn't too accurate - I just taste and keep adding olive oil to taste...

Small, red lentils - I used about 400 ml. Rinse, boil in salted water until soft (these took 12 minutes), drain.

Put 1/2 smal chili (not the hottest kind, please!) and 3-5 garlic cloves in the food processor, blend. Add the lentils (lukewarm, not boiling hot), blend. Add olive oil (around 100 ml, possibly more), blend. Add salt to taste and blend.

Tastes really good on carrot sticks.

Relish for Grilled Fish by bibbety

Coarsely chop some black olives (those wrinkly French ones are the best), garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and add in some olive oil, capers and the zest of one lemon. You could also add basil. Serve it at room temperature over grilled tuna. I serve it on halibut all the time.

Pickled Lemons by bookseller

simplest version, which is best with Meyer lemons but just fine with ordinaries too: Take a lemon and split it into quarters the long way, but stop cutting just before you reach the bottom: The lemon will look (if you're inclined this way) like a wee four-petaled flower opening its heart to the warmth of the sun.

Now cram that puppy with as much kosher salt -- do NOT use regular table salt -- as you can, and sorta squeeze it shut. Stuff it into a jar, ideally one that is only marginally larger than the lemon. Repeat with as many lemons as the jar will hold, and fill up the jar with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Put the lid on, turn the jar upside down every few days for a couple of weeks, and hey presto, preserved lemons.

If you like, you can add any or all of the following, in proportions that seem nice: cinnamon sticks, coriander seeds, peppercorns, cracked cardamoms, cloves (careful with these; they are stronger than you think), cumin seeds (I'd toast them -- VERY lightly -- first), fennel seeds, mustard seeds. Also, I like to float some olive oil on top of the jar, partly because it keeps the (corrosive) lemon juice and salt from coming in contact with the metal bottom of the lid (assuming you're using good old Ball canning jars, which are the easiest and cheapest to find) and partly because it makes a semi-airtight seal and thus helps prevent any bacterial growth, though the acid and salt mean that's really not going to be much of an issue.

Sadly, I have never managed to make a jar that didn't start to look murky and a little scary, but the lemons are wonderful anyway. And even though recipes usually tell you to use only the rind, I use the entire lemon and find it perfectly delightful. And I have two bags of Meyers sitting in my fridge right now, for this very purpose, so you're inspiring me.

Really, it could not be easier, and they are my secret weapon for perking up any soup or stew that tastes a bit stodgy -- you know if a pot of Lentil Stuff is tasting like something you might have been served at the cafe attached to a particularly virtuous food co-op circa 1972, these will make it all zingy and delish.

Stuffed Yorkshire Puddings by Bibbety

For the yorkshires, just make a yorkshire pudding batter (I use the "Joy of Cooking" one). Oil or butter some mini muffin tins, heat the tins up until smoking, pour in the batter 3/4 of the way up and bake at the temperature recommended for about 15-20 minutes. (I have a convection oven which helps them rise.)

Then freeze them in freezer bags.

Get some thinly sliced rare roast beef from the deli. Whisk together a little horseradish, some mustard, and sour cream to taste. Cut the roast beef into pieces that you can roll up and which will fit into the puddings.

Re-heat the frozen yorkshires on a parchment lined baking sheet for about 10 minutes max (at 375). Stuff with roast beef, and add a dollop of the horseradish sour cream. Serve.

I've heard you can also put a tiny cube of stilton in them before reheating (if you don't want meat), but I haven't tried that yet.

They go fast.

Japanese Pickles (asazuke) by Sammy

What I usually make is called "asazuke" which means "shallow pickling." This means it can be eaten even after just half-a-day of pickling, and it's not as salty as regular Japanese pickles so you can eat lots of it almost like a salad.

It helps if you have a container like this to press the vegetable down while pickling, but as long as you have some kind of weight on it (a big stone?), it'll do.

So. You just cut up the vegetable you want to pickle -- Japanese turnip (sliced thin), cucumber (chopped in chunks), carrot (sliced thin), and cabbage are good ones to start with -- and place them in a container. If using a container size like what I linked to, you mix in about 1.5 teaspoons of salt -- mix well -- and about 1 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp vinegar, some chopped ginger, 1 whole chili pepper (small one), and you're done. If you have access to it, you can also add kombu , cut in 2x2 inch squares to the mix. (Sometimes kombu has this white powdery stuff on it. If so, wipe it off with vinegar before adding it into your pickle mix.) Done.

Boereks by Sicut Cervus

Holiday appetizer: BOEREKS

(Turkish pastry, made every year by the thousands as a fundraiser, by the staff and parents of the nursery school all three of our kids went to. We usually buy four boxes of 2 dozen). They are made with fillo pastry, which you can buy frozen in l lb. boxes.

Read the instructions on the fillo box for how to defrost, handle and store fillo.

BOEREKS (50 boereks)

Filling:
6 oz. cream cheese
6 oz. feta cheese
2 eggs
2 - 3 T. milk
1 c. cottage cheese
2 T. Parmesan
1 c. parsley
2 T. dill
pinch salt

Mix all ingredients (a Cuisinart works fine)

To assemble: Use 1/2 lb. fillo, 1 stick butter. Melt the butter (microwave is safest and least messy).

Cut fillo sheets in quarters. Brush each sheet with butter; place a dab of filling about 1" from the near edge of each quarter, centered between left and right edges. Fold the right and left sides of the pastry sheet over the filling in thirds, resulting in a narrow shape 3 layers thick with the dab of filling tucked into the front end. Roll this up (neither very tightly nor very loosely) front to back. Place on a buttered baking sheet. Brush tops of rolls with melted butter.

May freeze at this point.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

If frozen, bake at 370 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

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OK, here's a seafood recipe by ivy

Get a pound of jumbo lump crabmeat. After you recover from spending the money, saute a bit of garlic and add a bunch of chopped chard. After it cooks down a bit, add a handful each of chopped chives and parsley. Meanwhile mix the crab with mayo, maybe a half-3/4 cup, and about the same amount of grated mild cheese over low heat. Stir in juice of one smallish lemon. Stir over heat until ingredients blend. Add the greens and stir, cook together for a few minutes. Sheer fabulosity.

Drunken Clams by Grizzled Adams

Top neck clams are the size clams in between littlenecks and cherrystones.

Serving: 10 to 12 as appetizer

INGREDIENTS:

3 dozen top neck clams
8 quarts water
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 (12-ounce) bottle beer

DIRECTIONS: 1. Upon bringing clams home from the fish market, set them in a large bowl or pot with water; sprinkle cornmeal over water. Keep in refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or until ready to cook.

2. Heat gas grill to high. Drain and rinse clams. Place on grilling rack.

3. As clams open, flip each one using tongs, so that the meat of the clam is on the bottom half shell. (As clams cook, they will naturally go to the top shell.) Pour 1 tablespoon of beer over each clam. Let sizzle 1 minute, then remove, using tongs, to large bowl. Let stand 5 minutes (clamshells will be too hot to handle immediately) and serve.

Mah famous BluCheese & Anchovie Olive by Griz

Make'm myself....here's the deal.............they are a pain in the ass to make but worth every minute.

1. Start with the largest olives you can find, I use Queen size, take the pimento out. If you are not in the boonies like me you may to be able to buy very large olives without pimento.

2. I use jar'ed Anchovies, take one anchovie and cut it in half (unless ya got really big olives) roll it up like a jelly roll, place it in the olive.

3. Take your favorite Blue Cheese, cut off a chunk and place it in the olive sealing the hole.

4. Place in your favorite Martini........eating one'o these is a unique experience.....savor it.

After I put this recipe up on TT last year, some non drinkers have told me they made these for hor'dourves.

Another Mayo Substitute by curly

I have another good salad dressing recipe that could be fat free. I think it's just yogurt, lime juice, a little sugar, and a whole lot of cilantro, plus some salt and pepper. The original recipe used sour cream, but I've always made it with yogurt and never felt a lack of fat.

Mayo Substitute by Bookseller

For anyone looking to cut some fat, I recommend this highly (and I say this as a person who has never uttered the words "this sauce is too rich"). I made it from the stuff I had lying around; YMMV:

5-6 oz. silken tofu
Half a small roasted onion
Large bunch of scallions
An enormous handful of fresh thyme, leaves only
2 tablespoons tarragon vinegar
Quite a lot of salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons good olive oil

Whiz everything except the oil in the food processor; dribble the oil in very slowly as if you were making mayo. It will be quite runny, but will thicken to a near-mayonnaise consistency after an hour in the fridge. It's delicious right then, but gets even more delicious after a night of chilling. I wound up with about one and a third cups, which works out to roughly 20-25 calories per tablespoon -- or one-quarter of what you'd scarf if you were eating regular mayonnaise -- and about 2-3 grams of fat.

Artichoke Dip by Always Chaotic

One 12-oz jar of marinated artichokes, drained
1 cup of parmesan (my sister just grated fresh parmigiano reggiano, but you can just do a generic kind; it'll still taste good)
1 cup mayonnaise
3-4 minced garlic cloves (or to taste)
The juice of 1/4 lemon (or to taste)

Mix all of these in an ovenproof dish and bake at 350 for about 40 minutes, or until browned and bubbly on top. It's good stuff. I make it all the time when we have guests, because it goes very quickly.

Figs and Stinky Cheese by Perle0

First, take a nice hunk of Stilton. You can probably substitute any blue cheese, and if you have blue-cheese-haters you can also provide a hunk of Brie, but Stilton is what was in the recipe, and it's the best thing I've tried yet.

Cover said hunk of cheese with Adriatic fig spread. (I get it at Whole Foods, but similar items may be available elsewhere.)

Sprinkle with chopped walnuts to taste. I've substituted pecans successfully as well. Serve with any mild cracker, such as water crackers.

This is amazing stuff, and I've yet to find anyone who's tried it that didn't like it. I loved it so much that I immediately memorized the (admittedly simple) recipe.