Time to Mix Up the Menu!
Tony Peters | May 6, 2010
Two recipes I cook the first is fast food the second is a meal that should be served with cous cous
#1
1lbs of Ground meat (lamb, beef, turkey or chicken)
one egg
4oz of bread crumbs (toast two pieces of bread crispy and grind up)
1Tbs cinnamon
1 onion diced
small handful of fresh cillantro also diced
mix in a bowl and make into walnut sized meatballs
in a large frying pan heat 1-2 Tbs of EVOO and 1-2 Tbs butter (yes both are needed unless you have ghee then use 3Tbs)
Brown meatballs on all sides
once meat is browned add 2-4 chopped tomatos (depending on size)
a large hadfull of chopped cillantro
and 2-3 Tbs of Ras el Hanout
stir and reduce liquid by 1/3-1/2 add 4-5 eggs on top of meatballs (you can just crack them into the pan or scramble them as I did) once eggs are cooked serve with crispy bread or couscous
this is a spicy though not hot North African dish, the Ras el Hanout (essentially moroccan curry powder) recipe is a simple one they can be much more complex but for this it's unneccessary
#2
This recipe requires preserved lemons…not hard to make just time consuming, Get a quart canning jar, a box of kosher salt and a bag of lemons, cut a lemon almost completely in quarters leaving just a small part to hold the lemon together. Pack the lemon with salt and put into the Jar until nearly full leave some room at the top. Squeeze the remaining lemons of their juice(do not use bottle lemon juice) and fill the jar with the juice until all the lemons are covered. Cap and leave. Every day agitate jar for a month, don't worry about a white film on the lemons that's normal, Rinse lemons before using.
Options = I added 2 Cinnamon sticks, 3 whole Cloves, 6 pepper corns, 5 corriander seeds and a bayleaf to the jar as well to add some flavor,
Moroccan Chicken with Preserved lemons and olives.
1 chicken cut into 4-6 parts or use 4-6 thigh/drumstick pieces
The day before you plan to serve the chicken wash the chicken parts and dry, take 3-4 cloves of garlic and 2-4 Tbs of salt and mash into a paste rub the chicken flesh thoroughly let sit for 10 minutes and then rinse until free of garlic smell and dry again.
In a mortar and pestle (or blender if you don’t have a large mortar and pestle) put
4 cloves of garlic
1Tbs ground ginger
¼ cup oil (I used olive oil because that’s what I have)
½ tps ground pepper
½ tsp salt
the pulp of one preserved lemon
1 tsp of ground Cumin and or Paprika can be added to the marinade as well though I haven’t tried this yet
mash/blend until you have a sauce, put chicken in a bowl ,rub sauce onto the meat to marinate , cover and refrigerate until the next day.
This is where it gets expensive in a casserole that you know will fit all the chicken put ¼ tsp of pulverized saffron with 2 ½ cups of water and soak along with ½ tps of tumeric (if you don’t have saffron, tumeric alone will do) while you chop/dice an onion into a near paste. Grab a handful of cilantro and do the same…turn on the stove to medium, add the onion and cilantro and a thumb of unsalted butter to the casserole, stir well and when the butter is melted, add the chicken and all of the marinade from the bowl. Raise temp to a rolling boil. Once it’s boiling reduce heat to simmer and cover. Turn chicken often and baste to insure that it stays moist. When chick is cooked remove from pot and broil for 10-15 minutes or until the skin is browned. While chicken is browning raise heat to a boil and reduce by 2/3rds after 10 minutes add the skin/rind of the preserved lemon and ½ cup of Kalamata or other ripe olives, boil with sauce for 5 minute or until you have approximately ¾ -1 cup of sauce. Remove chicken from broiler and serve over/with cous cous with sauce as gravy
Now hind site being 20-20 I found a section of my Moroccan cookbook that talks about prepping canned olives. place olives into a small saucepan and fill with water, boil, change the water and boil again and then drain. This removes much of the brine that is left in olives from the northern side of the Mediterranean
Scott Hardie | May 16, 2010
Sorry, Erik. Most of my meals come out of a Lean Cuisine box these days.
When I do cook, one of my favorite simple recipes is for spaghetti casserole, which makes plenty of leftovers: Combine 1lb cooked spaghetti, 1lb cooked ground beef, 1 can tomato soup unprepared, 1/2 to 1 onion chopped, 1/2 to 1 green pepper chopped, 1 small (~6oz) can of corn drained, 1 lb cubes of cheddar cheese, salt and pepper and whatever spice you like, all stirred together in a casserole dish. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Cover the top in thick slices of cheddar cheese and bake for another 5 minutes.
Dave Mitzman once shared his "chicken du mitzman" recipe with me which is even easier: Cover chicken cutlets in egg and seasoned flower (salt, pepper, oregano, garlic powder, whatever you like). Hear olive oil and garlic in a pan for a few minutes, then sautee the cutlets until both sides are brown and mostly cooked through. Pour chicken broth into the pan until it coats the bottom but doesn't drown the chicken, then cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
Amy and I like the band Southern Culture on the Skids, and they offer redneck recipes on their site. Some are just for laughs, but a few might actually be good.
Kelly Lee | May 17, 2010
Here's some stuff I like to make:
Tuna Noodle Casserole
One package of elbow macaroni, prepared nearly to done, but still has some bite to it.
One or two cans of cream of mushroom soup (depends on how much you adore it. I adore it)
One can of tuna, drained.
Layer noodles and soup and tuna in a casserole dish, top layer of soup, bake in oven till top layer is somewhat cruchy looking. Or you could forgoe the whole baking in oven thing and just cook noodles till done and add other ingredients.
Pancakes and Fruit
Take whatever yummy fruit you have in season or laying around, and a pancake batter mix, add fruit to mix and prepare as instructed on mix. It's really good with bananas and blueberries.
Kelly Lee | May 17, 2010
Oh! And more:
Premade pizza dough is awesome.
Add whatever flavors you want wrap in pizza dough and backe per instructions, and make little tiny calzones. I'm about to try ham and cheese. In the past ground beef and cheese is awesome.
Scott Hardie | May 17, 2010
I'd like to mention that I like the tuna noodle casserole even more with grated parmesan on top, even though Kelly doesn't.
Jackie Mason | May 22, 2010
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Jackie Mason | May 22, 2010
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Kelly Lee | June 7, 2010
Add in tator tots and shredded cheddar cheese on top of that....yum....
I think I'll make that sometime this week.
Dave Stoppenhagen | June 8, 2010
Pork Barbacoa
1 Pork Shoulder roast
1 can of Herdez Ranchero Sauce
2 cans of Tomato sauce
Put it all in a crockpot on low all day, season port w/ salt and pepper. Rinse the cans w/ about 1/2 a can of water and add to the sauce. When you get home shred the pork and serve hot on dinner rolls, tortilla's, tostada's or eat it plain. My 3 year old loves it and it goes over very well at partys. Feeds a lot of people for cheap.
Jackie Mason | June 9, 2010
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Kelly Lee | June 12, 2010
And because I just made it.
This is why we are fat:
Amy Austin | June 12, 2010
At least it's a good reason. ;-D (I'm so hungry!)
Steve West | June 12, 2010
Home-made veal scallopini is fantastic. Nothing special - just seasoned flour and fried golden brown. It doesn't compare even to the veal marsala at Carraba's (let alone the utopian dining at La Colline) but it's a reasonable substitute.
Kelly Lee | June 12, 2010
Yum, you remind me I want to make things with veal.
Jackie Mason | June 13, 2010
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Amy Austin | June 13, 2010
*horrified that anyone still eats veal*
Kelly Lee | June 13, 2010
Cause it's baby cow?
Samir Mehta | June 13, 2010
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Kelly Lee | June 16, 2010
I think people realized just how full of shit PETA is and stopped paying attention to them.
I hope that someday the same will happen to Fox News.
Samir Mehta | June 16, 2010
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Kelly Lee | June 16, 2010
I totally agree with you there, Samir. If it's a fad, people will eat it.
Though I doubt cats and dogs, with the way they have integrated into our family unit (to some people as their equivalent to children, even) that we will be seeing widespread feasting on our family pets.
Tony Peters | June 16, 2010
I live in neighborhood full of Northern italians, Veal is on the menu at three restaurants within a half mile of my house not to mention in the case at my local meat packing plant. Now do I like it? not particularly which is in truth why I don't eat it. I would rather have Eggplant Parm to Veal Parm. I've never eaten Cat I'm sure I ate dog in Korea and likely the PI. I've had BBQ Monkey and after getting rocks thrown at me by the monkey's in Subic it tasted good. Had whale in Tokyo I wasn't impressed and don't understand the attraction. Now lets talk Roo burgers........
Samir Mehta | June 16, 2010
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Jackie Mason | June 19, 2010
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Amy Austin | June 19, 2010
There's people on the street getting diseases from monkeys
Yeah, that's what I said, they're getting diseases from monkeys
Why's this happening, please, whose been touching these monkeys?
Leave these poor sick monkeys alone
They're sick they've got problems enough as it is!
Scott Hardie | July 20, 2010
My friend Jeff keeps a recipes blog of the meals he likes. The more recent additions are blocked to friends only for some reason, but there are still some good ones showing to everyone.
Did you find any new recipes that you really like, Erik?
Aaron Shurtleff | July 26, 2010
Just wanted to jump in and say:
Had whale in Iceland. It was so good, IMHO!!! Not as good as puffin, but pretty good!
Erik Bates | July 26, 2010
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Steve Dunn | July 26, 2010
Erik, try frozen fruit and veggies. Basically the same nutrition as fresh, but super-cheap.
Jackie Mason | July 27, 2010
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Jackie Mason | August 10, 2010
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Tony Peters | August 10, 2010
blender gazpatcho
1 cucumber chopped
1 roasted red bell pepper chopped
2lbs of tomato's copped
2 cloves of garlic crushed
1/4-1/3 a baguette (stale)
2tbs olive oil
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1-2 tsp salt
pepper to taste
in a bowl put torn up baguette water and vinegar allow to soften bread
put cucumber, red bell pepper garlic and bread mixture into blender and process until smooth, pour into bowl. put half of tomatos n blender and process until smooth, pour into bowl with cucumber mix, put last of tomatoes into blender and process, add oil while tomatoes are processing. Put remaining mix into bowl and stir in salt.....add pepper to taste refrigerate 1-2 hours before serving garnish with diced cucumber and or diced tomato
Jackie Mason | August 12, 2010
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Tony Peters | August 12, 2010
Jakie that is my problem and why I am keeping a bowl of gazpatcho in the fridge for the foreseeable future
Dave Stoppenhagen | August 19, 2010
Very glad to hear it, it is definitely a favorite around my house.
Tony Peters | August 28, 2010
Veggies are coming at me in baskets these days and I have been struggling to keep up with the harvest
here is a recipe for a different kind of potato salad that has evolved from my kitchen this summer though I'm sorry that I have no real measurements as this is still a seat of the pants
potatoes (enough for who ever is eating)
Pesto sauce (I had huge bunch of basil so I have 2 quart jars of Pesto but I digress)
Wine
olive oil
mayo
yogurt
sun dried tomatoes
cut potatoes to to 1-2 inch cubes put in a frying pan, cover with water and add a glug of wine (white or red)
put on medium heat and boil until soft...pour any excess water off and add a bit of olive oil and saute until lightly brown deglaze pan with another glug of wine add enough pesto to coat potatoes as much as you want.......
in a bowl mix yogurt and mayo 60-40 high on the yogurt side
chop sundried tomateos and add to sauce
salt and pepper to taste.....
stir in potato mix
allow to cool and serve
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Erik Bates | May 6, 2010
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