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.

Chicken for Chicken Salad by bookseller

So I had four chicken thighs and I wanted to make chicken salad from them, and I also had a couple cartons of organic chicken broth. Put the thighs in a pan, covered them with chicken broth and NOTHING else, brought them to a simmer and held them there for three minutes, kicked it up to a boil, slapped a cover on, turned off the heat, and let them sit for 45 minutes. The result: PERFECTLY poached chicken, moist and juicy, ideal for chicken salad. And what's really interesting to me is how flavorful the chicken is, as though I had spiced the broth. And the broth, too, is terrific. Straight out of the carton, it's bland and dull, but now infused with double-chickaliciousness, it's something I would actually choose to eat as soup.

[Later] Nomming my chicken salad, and I will never cook chicken -- for salad -- any other way again. This is amazing. I recommend highly.

Spanish-Style Pork Chops by Picklehead

Pork chops:

Crush some garlic and fry it in olive oil with a pinch of Spanish saffron.

Cover the pork chops in a mixture of flour, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, and paprika.

Fry 'em up. When almost done, pour some white wine over them.

Polenta:

Fry it with some salt and pepper. When done, grate a bit of parmesan cheese over it.

We had broccoli for veggies, which worked nicely. It was all very yummy.

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.

Apple Clafouti by Picklehead

FOR THE BATTER:

3 eggs

1 cup milk or heavy cream

8 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2⁄3 cup all-purpose flour

1⁄2 cup sugar

1⁄2 tsp. salt

FOR THE APPLES:

4 tbsp. unsalted butter

4 tart apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

1⁄2 cup plus 2 tsp. sugar

2–3 tbsp. brandy

Ground cinnamon

1. For the batter: Preheat oven to 400°. Put milk, eggs, 6 tbsp. of the butter, vanilla, flour, sugar, and salt into a blender, blend until smooth, and set aside. Grease a 10" pie plate with remaining butter, then set in oven to heat.

2. For the apples: Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add apples, 1/2 cup of the sugar, and brandy and cook until apples are glazed and warm, about 5 minutes.

3. Remove pie plate from oven and immediately pour in half the batter. Arrange warm apple slices over batter, reserving juices, then pour remaining batter over apples. Sprinkle remaining sugar and a little cinnamon over batter and bake until clafouti is golden and set in the center, 25–30 minutes. Drizzle with warmed reserved apple juices.

Otter Chowder by Grizzled Adams

1Cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1/2 cup chopped celery

3or4 garlic cloves chopped

put a couppla glugs of olive oil in a heavy soup pot add 1st 4 ingredients fry till onions are translucent

1/2 lb mild whitefish

1 qt lowfat/low salt chicken broth

add fish to onion mix, when half done add chicken broth then add

1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika

1 teaspoon Mrs Dash Garlic and Herbs

1 teaspoon Old Bay

1 4oz can chopped green chilies

1 small can tomato paste

1 14 oz can whole tomatoes and juice

add 2 potatoes cut into 1/2 inch cubes and bring to a boil, then simmer for 45 min

next you will need;

1/2 lb "seafood mix"(raw octopus,raw cuttlefish,raw squid,raw shrimp and cooked clams and mussels)

1/2 lb salmon cut into large chunks

4 oz bay scallops

4oz backfin crab meat

4oz oysters

olive oil

white wine

garlic chopped

juice from one lemon

add olive oil to fry pan, when it is hot add garlic after about a minute of pushing the garlic around put in the "Seafood mix" turn the heat down, what you want to do is heat up the seafood mix in a scampi sauce, so add the lemon and wine and let it cook down keep stirring.

when the potatoes are about done, add the scampi, and the salmon chunks and simmer till the salmon is almost done. Then add the crabmeat and about 2 minutes before you serve add the oysters.

Serve with a salad and garlic bread.

Now I thought this tasted pretty damn good, and Leviticus would have tasted it, his book would have been half as long.

Long-Rise Bread with Carrot and Walnuts by MollyDunlop

OK, here's the recipe for the long-rise bread. It's from Jim Lahey's book My Bread.

3 cups flour (I use 2 of bread flour and 1 of WW)
1/4 teaspoon dry yeast
1 to 2 tspns salt (to taste)
1 1/2 cups fresh carrot juice (I grate a couple of carrots and run them through the blender)
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup currants (optional)
about 1 tspn whole cumin seed

Mix flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in the juice to form a soft, "shaggy" dough; it should be just too wet to knead. Add water by tablespoons if required. Work in the walnuts and currants. Cover bowl with oiled plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 18-24 hours.

Turn the risen dough onto a floured surface and fold it over a couple of times. Shape it into a round loaf. Take a clean cloth (cotton or linen dish towel is ideal) and cover it heavily in flour. Scatter the cumin seed over the flour. Dump the shaped bread onto the cloth and leave it for an hour or so. Heat your oven about as hot as it will go, 450-475 F. Heat up a large, lidded cast-iron or earthenware pot in the oven. Once hot, remove the pot, dump the loaf into the pot (don't worry if it goes in upside-down), replace the lid, and put it back in the oven for about 35-45 minutes. Remove lid and bake to a deep brown (about another 25 min). Carefully remove the whole shooting-match from the oven and tip out the loaf. Tap the bottom to make sure it sounds hollow; if not, return to oven and bake in 5-minute increments until done (don't bother putting it back in the pot). Cool on a rack; freezes well. You can bake it as two loaves if you like. Or use a cast-iron skillet instead of the pot and don't cover it, but throw half a cup of water onto the oven floor just before you close the door on the loaf (the idea is to create a steamy atmosphere for crust formation).

The currants are in the original recipe, but I sometimes leave them out.

Beans with Greens and Olive Oil by bookseller

Soak 1/4 pound dried white beans (I used cannelini; lots of others would probably work as well) overnight in water to cover generously. Drain, cover generously with water, and add any aromatics that you think might be nice; I used half a chopped onion, a clove of mashed garlic, a bay leaf, and a piece of dried chorizo. Bring to a boil, turn heat down, and simmer till beans are tender (mine took about 90 minutes; timing will vary according to both the kind and the age of your beans). Drain, and eat any pork products you had in the pot.

Julienne the leaves only (save the stalks for some green gumbo) of four stalks of chard (I used red; any other kind -- or any other kind of dark green leafy green, for that matter -- would work as well). Chop half a small onion and one or two cloves of garlic.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil (I used garlic oil, in which I had soaked cloves of garlic) over medium-high heat in a largeish pan; spread the drained beans in a single layer, stir them around, and then let sit 3-4 minutes until they are starting to get brown and crusty.

Trickle perhaps a teaspoon of olive oil down the side of the pan, stir the beans around again until the brown sides are facing up (don't make yourself crazy here, MOST of the brownsides, SORT OF up), and repeat till brown and crusty on the other side.

Add a bit more olive oil (the beans do soak that stuff up!), the onion and garlic, and a generous amount of kosher salt and pepper; stir-fry perhaps 2 minutes till the onion and garlic are smelling good. Add in the chard -- plus, if you're feeling reckless, some more olive oil -- and stir everything around until the chard wilts down. Taste for seasoning (mine needed nothing), and scarf. Makes an extremely tasty and healthy side-dish for 3-4.

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.

Sweet Potatoes with Rosemary by CU Tiget

Sweet potatoes: Dice them, add salt pepper, rosemary and olive oil and then bake them. That's the best way to prepare themr

As for sweet potatoes... by MollyDunlop

As for sweet potatoes, I like them fried or roasted with onions and cumin, or made into a casserole with mashed apricots and sour cream, or as french fries. I really don't get the American tendency to add sugar/honey/maple syrup to an already sweet vegetable.

Turnips (swedes) benefit from being frosted before they are harvested. Then they should be boiled and mashed with good "floury" potatoes butter, and a good quantity of black pepper. Not an exciting dish, but a good accompaniment for roast meat or, of course, haggis.

Puerto Rican Style Beef Stew (adapted for slow cooker) by Li

First you make the base (called sofrito). Take 9 cloves of garlic, 2 large onions, 2 green peppers, a bunch of cilantro and (if available) a bunch of recao and 9 ajicitos. Put in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth (add a little water if needed).

Take 2-3 tablespoons of the sofrito and saute it for a few minutes in olive oil along with one can of tomato sauce or 1/2 can of tomato paste (I prefer the paste) and manzanilla olives (as many as you like, though I tend to like a lot of olives). Remove the mixture from heat and set aside.

Cube two pounds of stew beef and season with Goya Adobo and half a packet of Goya Sazon. Add to slow cooker along with cubed potatoes and (if available) cubed calabaza (a type of Caribbean pumpkin). Some people add onions and carrots as well, but I tend to keep it simple. Pour the sofrito mixture into the slow cooker and add one cup of water. Toss to coat meat and potatoes evenly. Set slow cooker to low and cook for 12 hours.

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Key Lime Fudge by falalala

1 8-ounce can of evaporated milk
1 2/3 cups sugar
½ tsp. salt
12 large marshmallows
2 cups white chocolate chips
1/8 cup grated lime rind
2 Tblsp. Key lime juice (try Nellie & Joe’s famous Key Lime Juice)

Line an 8”x8” square pan with aluminum foil; grease foil with butter.

Combine the first three ingredients (through salt) in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil; boil 8 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove pan from heat. Add the marshmallows and remaining three ingredients to the milk mixture, and stir until the marshmallows are melted and the mixture is smooth. Pour fudge into the prepared pan. Cool completely in the refrigerator. Cut into small (or large!) squares, and enjoy.

Had I thought of it in time I would have put a graham cracker crust at the bottom of it. I just sampled the stuff and it's not bad...I'm making a bunch of different things to wrap up on pretty plates with cellophane to bring over to the neighbors and to parties, and this looks to be a decent addition. (If you do make it, make sure to keep stirring the stuff...if if don't watch out it burns quickly and then you get little charred bits mixed in which doesn't look at all appealing.)

Pasta with Chorizo by Picklehead

It is *the* perfect dinner for when you need warming up, have no money, and want to eat NOW.

A significant amount of Spanish chorizo

A significant amount of pasta (fusilli works well)

A significant amount of feta cheese

Chili oil

Cherry tomatoes

Salt

Pepper

Fry the chorizo while cooking the pasta. Pour chili oil over it. Drain the pasta and toss with the chorizo/chili oil mix, then crumble the feta over it, toss the cherry tomatoes on top, season, stir, and serve.

MARTINI SALMON by Grizzled Adams

Salmon: 4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets

Salt and pepper

Chopped fresh parsley, as desired

2 tablespoons olive oil (if sautéing)

Martini sauce: 1 tablespoon minced shallot

1/4 cup gin

1/4 cup dry vermouth

1 teaspoon chopped whole juniper berries

1 teaspoon dried or brined green peppercorns, optional

1/4 cup heavy cream

2 teaspoons butter

6 pimiento-stuffed green olives, sliced into rings

Fresh lemon juice

Salt and pepper

Salmon: Season each piece of salmon with salt and pepper and sprinkle with a little chopped parsely. If sautéing, heat the olive oil in a wide skillet and cook the fish, about 3 minutes on the first side, then about 2 minutes on the second side to achieve a medium-rare temperature. (Increase the cooking time by about 90 seconds on each side if you want the salmon to be cooked through.) You may also grill or broil the salmon, as desired.

Spoon the Martini Sauce over the cooked salmon and serve immediately.

This salmon is delicious with boiled new potatoes or rice.

Martini Sauce: Place the shallots, gin, vermouth, juniper berries, and green peppercorns in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until reduced to about 3 tablespoons liquid. Add the cream and reduce to 1/4 cup.

Strain and return the liquid to the saucepan (discard the solids).

Whisk in the butter. Add the olives and season to taste with lemon juice, salt, and a little pepper. Cover and keep warm while you prepare the salmon.

and don't forget for the cook; 5 parts Gin, 1/2 part Vermouth, Ice and shake, drop a couppla olives in the glass, Mmmmmmmmm

Baked Sea Bass or Other Whole Fish Stuffed with Shellfish by Grizzled Adams

In this preparation, a whole bass is stuffed with shellfish, onions, olive oil, and lemon juice; it is then tightly sealed in foil or parchment paper and baked in the oven, where it braises in its own juices and those released by the stuffing. It merges from the cooking with its flesh extraordinarily moist and saturated with a medley of sea fragrances. The most agreeable way to serve the fish is whole, with the head and tail on, but completely boned.

For 6 or more serving

1 dozen clams
1 dozen mussels
6 medium raw shrimp
2 garlic cloves
1 small onion
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1/2 cup fine, dry, unflavored bread crumbs
A 4-to-5 pound whole sea bass, red snapper, or small salmon, or similar fish, boned as described above
Heavy-weight cooking parchment or foil

1. Wash and scrub the clams and mussels. Discard those that stay open when handled. Put them in a pan broad enough so that they don't need to be piled up more than 3 deep, cover the pan, and turn on the heat to high. Check the mussels and clams frequently, turning them over, and promptly removing them from the pan as they open their shells.

2. When all the clams and mussels have opened up, detach their meat from the shells. Put the shellfish meat in a bowl and cover it with its own juices from the pan. To be sure, as you are doing this, that any sand is left behind, tip the pan and gently spoon off the liquid from the top.

3. Let the clam and mussel meat rest for 20 or 30 minutes, so that it may shed any sand still clinging to it, then retrieve it gently with a slotted spoon, and put it in a bowl large enough to contain later all the other ingredients except for the fish. Line a strainer with paper towels, and filter the shellfish juices through the paper into the bowl.

Ahead-of-time note: The steps above may be completed 2 or 3 hours in advance.

4. Shell the strimp and remove their dark vein. Wash in cold water and pat thoroughly dry with cloth kitchen towels. If using very large shrimp, slice them in half, lengthwise. Add them to the bowl.

5. Mash the garlic lightly with a heavy knife handle, just hard enough to split its skin and peel it. Add it to the bowl.

6. Slice the onion as fine as possible. Add it to the bowl.

7. Put all the other ingredients listed, except for the fish, into the bowl. Toss thoroughly to coat all the shellfish well.

8. Preheat oven to 475°.

9. Wash the fish in cold water inside and out, then pat thoroughly dry with paper towels.

10. Lay a double thickness of aluminum foil or cooking parchment on the bottom of a long, shallow baking dish, bearing in mind that there must be enough to close over the whole fish. Pour some of the liquid in the mixing bowl over the foil or parchment, tipping the baking dish to spread it evenly. Place the fish in the center and stuff it with all the contents of the bowl, reserving just some of the liquid. If you have opted for having the fish split into two fillets, sandwich the contents of the bowl between them. Use the liquid you just reserved to moisten the skin side of the fish. Fold the foil or parchment over the fish, crimping the edges to seal tightly throughout, and tucking the ends under the fish.

11. Bake in the upper third of the preheated oven, let the fish rest for 10 minutes in the sealed foil or parchment. If the baking dish is not presentable for the table, transfer the still-sealed fish to a platter. With scissors, cut the foil or parchment open, trimming it down to the edge of the dish. Don't attempt to lift the fish out of the wrapping, because it is boneless and will break up. Serve it directly from the foil or parchment, slicing the fish across as you might a roast, pouring over each portion some of the juices.

Cucumber-Stuffed Trout by Grizzled Adams

Ingredients:

1/2 cup chopped cucumber, seeded and peeled

1/2 cup shredded carrot

2 tablespoons chopped onion

1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper

2 tablespoons margarine or butter

1/2 cup hot water

1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules

2 tablespoons minced parsley

3 cups dry bread cubes

4 small trout, about 1/2 pound each

In small skillet, cook cucumber, carrot, onion and lemon pepper in margarine over medium heat until tender, about 6 minutes, stirring constantly. Blend in water and bouillon granules. Heat to boiling. Add parsley. Remove from heat.

In medium bowl, stir bread cubes and vegetable mixture until coated. Place fish in lightly oiled 13x9 inch pan. Stuff each trout with 1/4 of bread mixture.

My Dad's Basic Tripe, Onion and Potato Recipe by liz isabella

Boil up the tripe in a pot of water for an hour or so. Pour away some of the water and add some chopped up onion and pototoes. Allow it to continue to boil up until soft. (Optional: Mix up some very Klassy french onion soup and add it to the pot, stirring until it thickens). Add some cornflour to thicken the sauce. It should be smooth and white.

If you're wanting to do trotters and tripe, boil them up together for that first hour or so. Then follow the recipe onwards.

My dad has on occasion curried his tripe, but that's a step too far for me.

Measurements obviously depend on the amount of offal you've gotten. The important thing is to test the thickest pieces. If they're soft and chewy, the thin stuff will be good also.

Riffing on Chicken Marbella by bookseller

[The Silver Palate recipe for chicken marbella is here.]

The chicken dish really isn't terribly sweet. There's a...I don't want to call it a recipe, because I've made it (and seen recipes for it) with everything from chicken to chard to zucchini to spinach, and from Spain, Italy, Portugal...anyway, there's a WAY of cooking that works really well with both poultry and green veg and involves garlic, olive oil, raisins, and pine nuts or walnuts. Lots of all of them. It's incredibly delicious -- and oh, it works well with pasta, too! -- and the raisins are just sort of these surprising snippets of sweetness. Chicken Marbella is very much like that. Or like eating a hamburger with ketchup or sweet pickle relish.