Challenge: Ready, set, cook!

[astuarlen]

Yeah, so these topics seem to pop up every few months and don't often meet with much success, but let's give it a go anyway. Plus, roygbiv has been taunting us with pictures of cake...

Time to share your ubertasty recipes + food pron, people of PSOW. Consider it a... challenge! Dun dun dun.

I'll kick this baby off with the Pear Souffle I made tonight for dinner. It's not incredibly impressive appearance-wise, but it's damn delish.

Obligatory visual aid:
Yeah, by the time I got out the camera I'd already eaten half ;>
http://numennu.home.comcast.net/misc/foodpron_pearsouffle.jpg

Ingredients:
1/2 kg whole green pears (~3 decent-sized ones)
3 large eggs
1 Tbs honey
7 Tbs grape juice (or wine, in which case add more honey)
1 tsp oil (I prefer olive oil)
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cumin
ground black pepper
ground cloves

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375F, dudes! (Invariably, I forget this step :<)
Peel and core pears, slicing into chunks. Put the pears in a large saucepan with a bit of water (~1/3 cup should do) and cook the pears until they're soft.
While the pears are cooking, spoon 7 Tbs of grape juice (or wine) into a small saucepan. Boil off about half of the grape juice (no need to be concerned with precision; I couldn't really tell "half" myself ;p).
Once the pears have softened, toss 'em in a blender or food processor. Add the remaining grape juice, the honey, oil, salt, and cumin. Chuck in a bit of pepper if you like, too. Now mix it all up until you've got a nice, viscous blend. Mmmm (smells good).
Crack ye those eggs in a separate bowl and stir 'em 'til the yolks and whites are fairly indistinguishable.
Pour the pear goo and the eggs into a caserole dish and mix until it's all of a single consistency. Pop on the lid and pop it in the oven for ~35-40 minutes--or, y'know, until it looks done to you, 'cause I'm a pretty crummy cook to be honest, and I'll eat pretty wierd stuff. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wacko.gif
Sprinkle the cooked goodies with ground cloves and serve. (Tastes better than it looks, swear to Bob!)

Share your recipes now, please. :>

I've also got a wicked carrot soup recipe, but I'm too lazy to go hunting for it right now. Perhaps on the morrow.

[LadyRedComet]

I like shashlyk (Russian shishkabobs). They're relatively easy to make, and definitely my favorite beef dish. Too bad everyone else in my family also likes my shashlyk so much that I end up making it a lot, even though it's easy enough any of them could make it. This is the recipe I use, but they can vary a lot depending on the person and where their recipe came from.

Ingredients:
~2.5 lb of beef, chopped into cubes (small, but big enough to be skewered)
~4 onions (and other vegetables if you wish)
~1 stick melted butter
~3/4 cup red wine vinegar
~1 tbsp oregano
~salt and pepper to taste
~tkemali sauce
~wooden skewers

Directions
1. chop up the beef (if it's not already) and the onions. You'll need a lot of onion.
2. mix up the butter, vinegar, oregano, and salt and pepper
3. marinate the beef and some of the onion in the butter mixture for at least three hours (overnight is the 'traditional' timeframe, or so I'm told)
4. put the beef and onions on the (soaked) skewers, starting with a piece of beef, then alternating down the length of the skewer between beef and onion, and ending with a fatty piece of beef on the end.
5. grill (or fry, if no grill is handy) until well done
6. serve with vegetables and tkemali plum sauce (good luck finding this...regular plum sauce works fine)

Shashlyk can be made with just about any meat. Pork shashlyk is also very good, and traditionally they are made with lamb.

[Neoswayne]

Basil Fried Chicken
This recipe is a sort of Southern recipe mixed with Italian recipe that I came up with
Breading: Bread crumbs, Basil, Parmisan cheese, Flour, and Pistacios or peanuts
Roll the thin raw chicken strips in eggwash and then into breading
Fry in Oil until done (Med - med low heat, just enough to fill the bottom)
Mix White wine, A little milk, Basil, a pinch of salt, and some of the breading mixture with the oil in the bottom of the pan to create a southern style (sawmill) gravy which should me not soupy and not congilled (somewhere inbetween)
Pour on the fried chicken and serve warm or hot

[Rainbowlemon]

Oxo Rice.

Put rice in water. Stir, clean, drain, then put in more water. Equal water with milk, to whatever measure you think appropriate.

Cook on medium/high heat on hob. After 10 minutes, sprinkle a vegetable oxo cube into the water. Don't stir. Leave to cook until all the liquid is gone. Serve and eat. Yum!


Yeah, meals are often far more complicated than they have to be. I like it the japanese way - fry some teriyaki-soaked meat until it's brown, then use a bit of honey to finish. Easy peasy.

[Kent]

Mint Cheesecake:

Ingredients:
16 oz. Cream Cheese (two packages)
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 tbsp. Vanilla extract
Creme de Menthe to taste
2 eggs
1 Graham cracker crust, exactly 9" in diameter (Oreo cookie crusts work best with Mint)
A couple drops of green food coloring
Some toothpicks

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract first.
3. Add in Creme de Menthe and about two drops of green food coloring. You want a strong minty flavor here (but not quite like toothpaste), because some of it will bake out, but don't add in too much liquid, or the consistency will be more like a pudding than a cheesecake.
4. After you're satisfied, add in both eggs, and mix thuroughly.
5. Pour the mixture into your crust, and place in the oven on top of a sheet pan.

Okay, here's the tricky part. The cheesecake will be done baking when the center of it sets... But a toothpick also has to come out of the center of it relatively clean (doesn't have to be perfect). If you see the edges of the filling start to brown, it's probably been in long enough. With the way it reacts to heat, the center will poof up, then move out in a wave... The outer sides will still be sticking up some when the center sets. The entire baking process will take at least 40 minutes, probably a little longer, so pay attention.

After that, let it cool on a stovetop or something, until you can place the plastic cover from the crust on it, with no condensation, then chill it in the refrigerator for at least three hours, and it's ready to eat.

If you take out the Creme de Menthe and food coloring, you've got the most basic cheesecake possible. Of course, you can replace these with other flavorings/colors (try it with raspberry extract sometime - good stuff), for various other effects. Get creative with it.

http://img454.imageshack.us/img454/5516/mintcheesecake35sh.jpg

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Kent on 2006-11-25 23:14 ]</font>

[Neoswayne]

Amaretto Fudge
1 3/4 - 2 C Sugar
1/2 C Cream
1/2 C Milk
2 T Butter
2 t Vanilla
Mix Together in a pot on med heat until dissolved. Get most of the moisture out by cooking and get to 240 degree F. Take off the burner and add about 1/4 - 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Once it has considerably ciooled down (About 200-150) put in about 1/8 - 1/16 cup Amaretto in the pot and stirr well on the burner for about 15 - 30 sec. Take off and put in a 9x9 greased pan. Cool and serve in squared. Bon Appetite



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Neoswayne on 2006-11-26 15:46 ]</font>

[Kevino]

i wish i had something better but i cant remember the recipie as i free hand basically everything so sorry but this is what i have

cerial

1 - ?? cups cerial
1 - ?? cups milk
put some cerial in a bowl and add milk. this is a simple dish usually had for breakfast or as a snack but it can be had at any time of the day if you so chose. if you add fruit to most cerial dishes it adds a nice fruity taste and alittle color plus it's good for you! Nice and easy this makes a great dish to prepare for beginner cooks. As you will come to see with practice you will keep all of the cerial AND milk in the bowl and with practice you will begin preparing this dish in under 2 and a half minutes. This dish is eaten with a spoon but if dry is also a finger food. Good day and enjoy!

[Neoswayne]

nice

[Kevino]

ty

[medusae]

I posted about some of my hodgepodge cakes in a thread from the off topic forum, and someone said they sounded good, so... I have no real recipes, but I usually start with prepackaged cake mix and icing and just add from what I have.

(they're double layer round cakes btw, not the flat rectangular kind)

Lemon-blueberry filling: just use either blueberry preserves (smuckers) or a small amount of blueberry pie filling mixed with whipped cream. make a lemon cake either from a mix or your own recipe; when the cake part is baked, scoop a little bit of the "cake" part out of the bottom layer and fill with the blueberry. put the second layer on top, hold together with toothpicks, and ice if necessary. needs to be refrigerated. also could be done with cherry preserves or filling, although I haven't tried it.

white chocolate cherry cake: use white cake mix or a recipe and pour a little bit of juice from a maraschino cherry jar into the mix before baking. only pour a TINY bit so that the batter is an extremely light pink. while cooking the cake batter, fix a package of Jello white chocolate pudding so that it will be ready for filling. when the cakes are done, first fill the cake with the pudding (same technique as above) and then add maraschino cherries to your liking. add the second layer, toothpick if needed, and ice it. needs to be refrigerated.

chai tea cake: start with white cake mix or some kind of vanilla mix; imo, I think golden vanilla mix tastes a little better. the mix needs to have water listed as an ingredient. before mixing the batter, buy some chai or chai vanilla tea bags and let them steep in hot water. mix everything in the batter EXCEPT THE WATER. start with a very tiny amount of tea (as in 1/8 to 1/4 a cup) and mix it into the batter. use a plastic spoon to taste, and keep adding tea to the mixture until it is just a little too strong. do not exceed however much water the recipe/box calls for. as soon as enough tea has been added, fill the rest of the water requirement with actual water, e.g. recipe asks for 1 1/2 cups = 1/2 cup of tea has been added, so add 1 cup of water. bake and ice as normal. does not need to be refrigerated.


Sorry for such a long post :x I hope they're of use to someone.

[Neoswayne]

yeah you were talking about them in my forum and they do sound good you should try something like mixed berry cake...lol

[MaximusLight]

I would share my Hamburger recipe but then someone else could make it's awsomeness before I prefect it... so instead...

Something simple that anyone can do (assuming everyone can boil water)

Spicy Kraft Mac and Cheese (good for the poor University/college student)

Cook the Macaroni like usual.

Depending on how much favor you want it to have either add the cheese in with or without milk (much stronger less creamy this way).

Add Cajin and Itallan spice to the mix, taste test so you know what you like (everyone is different, personally I add a half teaspoon of each but I like mine strong)

Anyways that's it http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif
(It's not really a recipe but it will have to do until I get my others)

[Neoswayne]

What is also really good is when you add parmesan, basil, cheddar, salt, and a litlle red wine to some tomato sauce. Then combine it with blanched noodles (like maccaroni or bowtie pasta). Then sprinkle it with cheddar cheese and bale for a while at about 350 degrees farenheit (175 Celsius I think) for a few minutes. I just love Italian dishes like this.

[medusae]

haha thanks, I hope that if anyone who decides to try them enjoys them http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

I don't really like mixed berry things though... but for anyone who likes that flavor, it wouldn't really be hard to substitute berries in one of those recipes.

[Neoswayne]

You could drain them...!!!!!!!OR YOU COULD MAKE A MIXED BERRY PIE!!!!!!!!!! ILL BE RIGHT BACK!!

[MaximusLight]

On 2006-12-01 19:23, Neoswayne wrote:
What is also really good is when you add parmesan, basil, cheddar, salt, and a litlle red wine to some tomato sauce. Then combine it with blanched noodles (like maccaroni or bowtie pasta). Then sprinkle it with cheddar cheese and bale for a while at about 350 degrees farenheit (175 Celsius I think) for a few minutes. I just love Italian dishes like this.



Yeah that's like speggetti hmmmmm... so good

[Neoswayne]

yeah I ate it for lunch today