whinendine's Profile
My cookbook challenge! (long...)
Great inspiring post. Time to stop surfing (Internet) and start cooking! Thank you for sharing.
Your tried and true Cook's illustrated Best recipes.
Blueberry pancakes (from an old magazine) . I use it a few times every year using both fresh and frozen blueberries...
sides with shish kebob
Great that you are serving with pita, hummus, babaganoush. Grilled hot peppers and onions are usually good. Tabouli and tzatziki are a couple of other side dishes you might like.
pizza
A veggie pizza or a "four seasons" - no sauce, no cheese, put olive oil on the crust and add anchovies, artichokes, capers and olives.
Hot and Sour Soup
I've tried a recipe by Dorothy Huang that I really liked. I found a copy of it here: http://www.sallybernstein.com/food/recipes/chinese/Chinese_hot_sour_soup.htm
What can I do with my zaatar?
It is great for breakfast - both with pita bread. 1- Mix zaatar with olive oil and brush it on the inside of a split pita bread. Toast under the broiler. 2 - Spread a cream cheese on a pita bread and sprinkle zaatar on top then toast under broiler.
Cookbook 101: List Some Fundamental Cookbooks (Suggestions Needed)
Yes, I guess you don't want that. Sorry, it just sprung to mind because of the great details in the book - i.e. making a stock, information about flour (American) that kind of thing.
Oh, I see someone mentioned James Beard. I use his books on occasion especially for meat temperatures and has a lot of recipes.
Cookbook 101: List Some Fundamental Cookbooks (Suggestions Needed)
I would suggest Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume 1 by Julia Child. She has some very good descriptions on how to do things. The Art of Cooking Volume 1 and 2 by Jacques Pepin also has a lot of detailed descriptions. There are a couple of bread recipes that I like in there and he gives step by step instructions on boning out a chicken and stuffing it. Also, I use Joy of Cooking for ideas and Better Homes and Garden for some of the older things that I make.
Not Italian, but need Italian help
Well, the original was done for a special wine dinner and was so delicious that I still think about it over 20 years later. Also, I mentioned it to hubby yesterday and he said it was the best pasta he had ever eaten. He also thought the outside layer was a pastry crust not a pasta noodle. His memory is better so I'll take his word on that.
Not Italian, but need Italian help
Thank you everyone for your replies. I think looking at timballo recipes will help with my search although I still cannot find THE one. However, I now have something to work on to get over this obsession....
Not Italian, but need Italian help
Thank you... Yes, I think looking at timballo recipes will put me closer to where I want to go with this.
Not Italian, but need Italian help
I can't remember. What I'm thinking is make fresh lasagna noodles. For some reason, I think that was a green (spinach noodle), but I'm not sure why. I can't remember what was in the ravioli -- maybe prosciutto and something. Line the pan with lasagna noodle, put in a layer of ravioli, then sauce, then another layer of ravioli, then sauce, then a layer of lasagna noodle. I'm missing cheese here so maybe the ravioli was ricotta based... Oh, the sauce I think was like a bechamel with tomatoes. I think that is common. Then bake. Un-do the springform pan and when you slice it like a cake, the pasta layers shown and it stays together... Maybe, I'm going to have to try pieces and get the sauce where I like it, then the ravioli where I like it then somehow figure out how to put it together so it won't fall apart...
Not Italian, but need Italian help
Maybe. I've used that in a search before, but still could not find the recipe. I am thinking I'm going to have to make something up from the things I think I remember.
A ravioli/tortellini... I can't remember the filling.
I think prosciutto
A bechamel sauce (can't remember if it was then made red)
All within lasagna noodles
Not Italian, but need Italian help
Thanks. I actually have that book, but don't remember seeing that recipe. I will look at it!
Not Italian, but need Italian help
I have an obsession that comes up every few years, but lately every few months. I keep thinking about a food item I call “pasta pie”. It all started in 1990/1991 when a small group of us worked together to create an Italian food and wine dinner. We used several recipes from magazines. One keeps coming up in my mind. I think it was raviolis (or some wrapped pasta) which was placed between sheets of pasta in a springform pan – kind of like a lasagna, but the layers in the middle consisted of the wrapped pasta. Then it is baked and you slice it like a pie. You see wonderful layers. Someone lost/threw away that magazine and I’ve been thinking about it since I got back to the states. We lived overseas for about 12 years.
Also, during that time, I had a co-worker that brought something similar in his lunch. Apparently, his mother-in-law made this.
Anyway, I can’t find the recipe or anything similar. At one time, I found out that the different layers may represent every year Jesus was alive, but, lately, if I look at torta pasqualina it has eggs.
Can someone set me straight? What are these “pasta pies” called? Do you have a recommended recipe? I would like to try to do one again soon (maybe for Easter) and try to get over using my time searching the World Wide Web!
Your favorite recipes using chevre / goat cheese
Take french bread (I like the mini-bagettes), slice, put it in a cookie sheet and in the oven to dry out. Take it out of the oven, take a garlic clove and rub it on the slices. Smear goat cheese on the slices add sun dried tomatoes and stick it under the broiler for a minute or two.
Oh, the most delicious goat cheese dish I had, but did not make was goat cheese and figs in puff pastry with a port sauce. I have not idea how to make it, but because we had that wonderful dish, we will sometimes have figs sliced with goat cheese and stick it under the broiler.
January 2012 COTM: Essential Pepin: Poultry and Game
From Pepin's "The Art of Cooking", we've made the Chicken Ballottine many times. There are 3 stuffings, red bell pepper, mushrooms and spinach. Mushrooms are a favorite with my family, but I also like the spinach (which does not have bread crumbs). I would try the red pepper again, but it's just harder to deal with. I think the recipe I have has a step for steaming the chicken, which we skip. We have had the problem with not browning though I'm not sure we had that problem recently. However, we have browned the chicken on top of the stove.
dim sum request
A couple of months ago, we went to "Hung To Seafood" in South San Francisco and I was really impressed. I've been there before and liked it, but last time it was really, really good. They have a parking lot, but it does get crowded there. Our strategy is to go early.
Sorry, I have no help within SF. It's just too hard to park so we don't even try.
Help! Lost a Cook's Illustrated recipe I was going to cook for New Year's Eve.
Is this it?
http://cafewitteveen.wordpress.com/2011/03/05/dinner-blog-scallops-with-butternut-squash/
I want to love my slow cooker, can you help?
I have an old one. It's all one piece, mustard yellow color. I didn't use it for a long, long time. Then I saw it taking up space one day and didn't want to give/throw it away. I now use it to make jook/congee. It is great because it doesn't stick very much and I don't have to stir it very much. It's really good for that. I also make split pea soup in it. I would do beans/bean soup, but my version is too small.
What in the world do I do with a leftover cooked half of a 6 pound roasted loin of pork?
I forgot to say that you can slice the pork in bite size pieces and do the same thing as laab. There is a similar salad called namtuk (spelling?) that uses grilled meat.
One likes it well done - Prime Rib Dilemma
This is just a thought and I haven't tried it. Cut off one piece at the beginning and roast it in a separate pan. It'll cook faster so you'll need to adjust for that.
What was your favourite childhood concoction, which you now think is disgusting?
Take a slice of Wonder bread, spread white sugar on half of it, fold it in half and eat it - "sugar sandwich". Disgusting... I don't know where it came from...
What in the world do I do with a leftover cooked half of a 6 pound roasted loin of pork?
It's a Laos/Thai dish made with ground meat which is boiled then combined with rice powder, ground dried chilis, mint, cilantro, shallots, lemon grass, etc. with a lime, fish sauce and some of the water from boiling the meat dressing. There are many variations of it. Here is kind of a version that I use (not authentic) and I am guessing on the quantities.
Title: Laab (or larb or laap)
Description: Laos/Thai dish made with ground meat.
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons of raw sweet rice
handful of dried red chilis
1.25 lbs of ground chicken
5-6 shallots (this is the small kind; if you get the big ones, probably 2 will do)
2-3 stalks lemongrass
12-15 kaffir lime leaves
small handful of mint leaves
small handful of basil leaves
3 limes (the large kind)
fish sauce
4-5 Napa cabbage leaves
3-4 Long beans
Directions:
In a pan, dry fry the sweet rice to a light brown. Grind it in a food processor or mortar. You can make more and save it to use next time.
In a pan, dry fry the chilis. Grind it in a food processor or mortar. You can make extra for next time.
Grind the chicken in the processor or hand chop. You can just buy ground meat.
Peel and slice the shallots.
Remove outer leaves from the lemongrass. Cut off the root. Rinse. Thinly slice the lemongrass from the root part towards the top until there is no more purple in your slices.
Fold kaffir lime leaf along the middle line. Pull to remove that middle line. Thinly slice across the leaf. Do this for all leaves.
Wash mint and basil. Remove excess water. Pick leaves off the stems. If you have extra, wash stems of the basil and mint. Put them on your platter when you serve. (You can use this to add more to the laab as you eat it.)
Juice the limes. About 4 tablespoons of juice? Add almost equal amount of fish sauce (some fish sauce is stronger than others so put in less, then taste it and adjust it as needed).
Wash & dry napa cabbage leaves. Line your platter with the leaves. (You eat this raw with the laab. Regular cabbage can be used too.)
Wash 2 to 3 long beans. Cut into 3” pieces. Place this on the platter. (You eat these raw with the laab).
Boil enough water to cook the meat. Throw in the meat until cooked. Drain and place meat in a bowl.
Sprinkle meat with some of the rice powder and chili powder. Mix. Add some of the lime, fish sauce mixture.
Add the kaffir lime leaves, shallots, lemongrass, mint and basil. Add more lime, fish sauce mixture as desired. Taste and adjust to your taste. Add more sauce if needed.
Place meat on your platter, top with a more rice powder and serve.
For another version that I have not tried try the www.shesimmers.com website.
