Post: #1

I'm surprised we haven't assembled a recipe thread here on RvF. Cooking is the easiest way to bed a girl especially if it is home cooked. If you have a slow cooker recipe, open a new recipe thread for "Slow cooked" recipes and we can have a mod put an edit in here to link the two.

Here's a personal favorite of mine:
Toulouse sausage and butter bean casserole
   

40 minutes Serves 4 EASY

sausages 6 spicy ones, Toulouse are good

streaky bacon 6 slices, chopped

leek 1 large, sliced

garlic 1 clove, sliced

white wine 1 large glass

chicken stock 200ml

chilli flakes a pinch

butter beans 2 x 400g tins, drained and rinsed

parsley a small bunch, roughly chopped

Brown the sausages in a little oil. Take out of the pan and slice into chunks. Brown the bacon in the same pan then add the leeks and garlic and cook till softened. Add back the sausages, the wine, stock, chilli flakes and butter beans. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until the sausages are cooked through. Season and add the parsley.
PER SERVING 474 kcals, protein 26g, carbs
22.4g, fat 28.6g, sat fat 9g, fibre 6.3g, salt 3.66g

Post: #2

Good thread, and nice recipe there.

This is a simple and quick recipe, that even novices could cook. If you're confident, cook it first time with your girl. You could practice it when you're cooking generally, it isn't that expensive.

Some of you might not like the 'manner' of the cook in this video, but look through that and observe the cooking. I have had success with this recipe.

Post: #3

Keith Floyd=Alpha.

Post: #4

Cool thread! Here is one of my favourites, Spaghetti Carbonara. This is the real stuff, not some shit made with whipped cream and ham...

For 1 person you need (approx.):

150 - 200g Spaghetti (De Cecco is a good brand)
60-80g Guanciale
1 Egg (since you eat it basically raw, it should be from organic/ free-range)
1/2 cup of Pecorino romano
Black pepper
Salt

Boil enough water and cook the pasta.

Meanwhile, cut the Guanciale in thin stripes and put it into a pan with lowish heat. You dont want to fry the Guanciale, you just want the fat to become transparent. By no means, the stripes should become crunshy. This is important! Don't use oil, the Guanciale will release enough fat and also, the oil fucks with it's delicate flavour.

Crack the egg into a bowl/ recipient and mix it with a little salt and a good amount of black pepper. Grate the Pecorino and put it into the mix. Now, take the bowl and put it on top of the boiling water/ pasta in order to heat up the egg-pecorino-mix a little. It'll become a bit creamy with a homogenous texture.

Once the pasta is done or better al dente, pour it into the pan to the Guanciale. Stir a little and let it soak up the fat.

Pour the pasta-guanciale-mix into the bowl with the egg-peco-mix and stir quickly. Make sure that you do it quickly, because you don't want the egg to flocculate.

BAM, there you have it, authentic Spaghetti Carbonara! Easy to make and delicious.

P.S. Quality ingredients are key here.

P.P.S. This is Guanciale

Post: #5

^^ One of my favorite dishes, never made it though.

Post: #6

Here's a really good hot dog recipe I freaking adore:

For the Hot Dogs
6 all beef hot dogs
1/2 C apple cider vinegar
1 C brown sugar
2 cloves garlic minced
For the Sauce
1/2 C Chili Sauce (found in the ketchup aisle)
1.2 C prepared BBQ sauce
1/4 C honey
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar


Instructions

Combine apple cider, brown sugar, and garlic for the marinade and stir until sugar is dissolved
Score hot dogs in a diamond shaped pattern and place in marinade for 30 minutes up to overnight
Remove from the marinade and grill until hot and slightly charred around the edges.

For the Sauce:
Combine all sauce ingredients and stir. Serve over hot dogs with onions, pepperoncinis, and pickles.

Stolen from here: http://www.heatherlikesfood.com/fancy-pa...-hot-dogs/

Post: #7

(07-29-2014 12:04 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  ^^ One of my favorite dishes, never made it though.

Try it, it's really easy to make.

Post: #8

Damn I wish I could find some guanciale in my area.

That stuff is the king of pig flavour.

Post: #9

Great thread idea.

Two days ago a friend turned me on to ajvar. It's a balkan relish made from roasted eggplant, red peppers, garlic and vinegar. I love this stuff! I'll be making my first batch today.

Is anyone familiar with it and have a favorite recipe? Balkan chefs, let's hear it!

   

Post: #10

(07-30-2014 01:39 PM)birdie num num Wrote:  Great thread idea.

Two days ago a friend turned me on to ajvar. It's a balkan relish made from roasted eggplant, red peppers, garlic and vinegar. I love this stuff! I'll be making my first batch today.

Is anyone familiar with it and have a favorite recipe? Balkan chefs, let's hear it!

We used to make that at the hotel. Here's my recipe:

Acvar (the turkish word)

1 red bell pepper
1 poblano chile
1 Italian eggplant
3 T olive oil
1 fresno chile, seeded and finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp white vinegar
½ bunch parsley, coarsely chopped
Salt and pepper

Roast the bell pepper, chile, and eggplant over a gas flame until well charred. Roast the vegetables in the oven for an additional 5-10 minutes, or until soft. Peel the peppers, slice them. Cut the eggplant in half and scoop out the flesh, and coarsely chop.
Heat the oil in a pan and cook the fresno chile, garlic, and sugar, for 3 minutes or until they color along the edges. Toss in the peppers, eggplant, lemon juice, vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and stir in the chopped parsley.

To achieve the proper flavor, the eggplant and chile peppers should really be roasted over charcoal. Adds a whole dimension of flavor that you don't get on the stovetop

Post: #11

I´ll throw in some bread recipes:

Basic French:

Bread flour.................1k (plus some extra)
Water.......................600ml
Yeast........................30g (get the fresh stuff)
Salt..........................20g
Malt extract...............15g (can be replaced weight by weight with Honey)


Dissolve the yeast in the water, add honey or malt extract, throw in some flour and start stirring with the hand or with a fork.
Add the salt and continue mixing and adding flour until it stop sticking in the bowl.
Knead by hand riping and pressing the dough for 20 minutes.
Add some flour but don´t exceed the kilo.
Spread some flour on the bowl and put the dough in it covering it with a little more flour and a damp cloth.
Leave it be for 4 hours.
Put the dough on the table, it should be twice the original size and have a nice smell of alcohol.
Press it to deflate it and cut it in 6.
Form some balls and leave them be for 1 hour covered with the cloth.
Now form the baguettes or little round breads put them on a tray and leave them for another 40 minutes.
Make some cuts and get the tray in the hottest oven you can get.
If you have a shitty oven bake for 40-60 minutes @ 180-250 °C. If you have a wood Forno in the backyard bake for 20-30 @ 400 °C.

If you want to make this basic formula even better you can add a preferment called Poolish.
Its really simple, 5 hours before kneading mix:

Water..........150g
Flour............150g
Yeast...........5g

When using poolish reduce the yeast in the original formula to 5g.

This is excellent for making Pizza Napoletana.

Post: #12

CONVERSION TABLES!

Ounces x 28.35 = Grams
Grams x 0.0353 = Ounces
Pounds x 453.6 = Grams

1 Gallon = 3785 ml = 3.785 L
1 Quart = 946.3 ml
1 fl oz = 29.57 ml

1 litro = 1000 ml = 33.81 fl oz

Post: #13

(07-30-2014 10:40 PM)LaCobra Wrote:  CONVERSION TABLES!

Ounces x 28.35 = Grams
Grams x 0.0353 = Ounces
Pounds x 453.6 = Grams

1 Gallon = 3785 ml = 3.785 L
1 Quart = 946.3 ml
1 fl oz = 29.57 ml

1 litro = 1000 ml = 33.81 fl oz

Why isn't the whole world on metric yet? Makes things so much easier.

Post: #14

(07-30-2014 09:27 PM)thedude3737 Wrote:  

(07-30-2014 01:39 PM)birdie num num Wrote:  Great thread idea.

Two days ago a friend turned me on to ajvar. It's a balkan relish made from roasted eggplant, red peppers, garlic and vinegar. I love this stuff! I'll be making my first batch today.

Is anyone familiar with it and have a favorite recipe? Balkan chefs, let's hear it!

We used to make that at the hotel. Here's my recipe:

Acvar (the turkish word)

1 red bell pepper
1 poblano chile
1 Italian eggplant
3 T olive oil
1 fresno chile, seeded and finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp white vinegar
½ bunch parsley, coarsely chopped
Salt and pepper

Roast the bell pepper, chile, and eggplant over a gas flame until well charred. Roast the vegetables in the oven for an additional 5-10 minutes, or until soft. Peel the peppers, slice them. Cut the eggplant in half and scoop out the flesh, and coarsely chop.
Heat the oil in a pan and cook the fresno chile, garlic, and sugar, for 3 minutes or until they color along the edges. Toss in the peppers, eggplant, lemon juice, vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and stir in the chopped parsley.

To achieve the proper flavor, the eggplant and chile peppers should really be roasted over charcoal. Adds a whole dimension of flavor that you don't get on the stovetop

That is great. Thanks.

Just curious, I realise cooking is your living, but do you use refined sugar at home? And do you use sea salt at home?

I'm a bit spergy about only having unrefined sugar and sea salt in my kitchen.

Post: #15

Thanks for posting the recipe, dude3737. I made it yesterday and blackened everything under a broiler. It's good, but probably no comparison to the charcoal roasted version.

Post: #16

Beans and Rice.

- cook the rice
- while, it's cooking, throw some chopped onions and tomatoes on the pan
- after a while, throw the beans on top
- lower the heat, and let simmer, depending on the amount of "gravy"/"sauce" you'd like (also, more tomatoes if you want more of that)
- season with salt and pepper, I also use a bunch of random Indian spices I found at the Asian shop

Chicken Curry and Rice

- same as above, except replace beans with chicken thighs

Post: #17

(07-31-2014 12:35 AM)Trev Wrote:  That is great. Thanks.

Just curious, I realise cooking is your living, but do you use refined sugar at home? And do you use sea salt at home?

I'm a bit spergy about only having unrefined sugar and sea salt in my kitchen.

Yes I use granulated white sugar. When I'm baking, I'm going off recipes from great pastry chefs, none of that crunchy granola B.S. I have a major sweet tooth, it's my one major vice, and try to control my sugar intake. But when I do eat sweets, I don't bother limiting myself. All that said, I don't use sugar or make sweets all that often, if I do want something sweet I'll just steal some of our desserts at work.

I use kosher salt, either Morton or Diamond crystal is fine. I never use a salt-shaker. Keep some salt in a crock or a ramekin and use your fingers. It's the best way to control seasoning.

If a dish needs more salt at the end, then I'll use a finishing salt like Maldon sea salt or French grey sea salt from Geurande. To use sea salt in your cooking is pretty wasteful and expensive. At the end of the day, you're simply enhancing the flavor of your food with sodium chloride. Whether it's manufactured in a huge plant or evaporated by hand on trays on the western shores of France, it's essentially the same thing. Salt is traditionally judged by purity; it doesn't get any purer than kosher salt. With some sea salts, the impurities are sought after as these are trace minerals that give the salt VERY slight different flavors, but these flavors are lost in cooking, I promise you. If you're going to use fancy sea salts, use them at the end of cooking, when their quality is more apparent.

Post: #18

A spanish tortilla is an iven baked dish of eggs, potato and onion, served like a slilce of cake.

My recipe is more an onlette using these ingredients. It is a great basic dish to get creative with, adding in whatever strikes your fancy. And based on potatoes and eggs, its a great nutrient dense way to start your day with some protein and good carbs.

Anyway heres how I made it today:

4 eggs beaten.
Half a red potato, boiled and lightly smashed.
Portion of red onion finely sliced.
Broccoli finely sliced.
Soft cheese, brie style.
Salt, chili peppers, fresh basil.

Mix it all together, cook as an omlette. Easy, filling, good vessel for veggies, great all around simple nutritious meal.

Post: #19

IMO needs more potato and not lightly smashed. should be cut "in circles" and fried (that's how my grandma used to make them)

I would not add any kind of cheese.

the hard point on spanish tortilla is how to make it properly.
after frying everything, mix it all and put it on a pan frying again on not that much olive oil. add eggs and let it sit for a while, while cooking the eggs. then grab two plates. When the bottom and middle are hard, transfer the unfinished tortilla to one plate (A). Use the other plate (B) and cover the tortilla. Turn it around and use plate b to transfer the tortilla again to the pan, so that the previously cooked part stays on top.

Post: #20

Yeah a proper tortilla is more akin to an Italian Frittata

I fry the potato coins and onions together until the onions are very well caramelized. At various points in the process, you'll develop a crust on the bottom of the pan due to the potato starch and sugars from the onions. If you're not careful, this crust will burn, so I periodically deglaze with a little bit of water to pull up all that crust. It creates a fantastic flavor. The onions caramelize and potatoes cook at roughly the same time, but if you're the anal retentive type then you can cook them separately.

Once the potato/onion mixture is cooked, I let it cool slightly and mix it with the eggs and season generously, then cook it as wreckingball mentioned. You can do this relatively quickly if you're making a thin tortilla, or use larger quantities and bake it in a round dish to get a thicker tortilla. I've seen it done both ways in spain, but I personally prefer it the former way.

It's not traditional, but I like Tortilla Española with some finely sliced chives and a dusting of smoked pimentón on top.

Post: #21

I don't have pics and am going off memory alone

It started as a Rabbit Ragu' but rabbit is a PITA to find

1 Cup-Carrotts, Celery and Onions chopped
1 Cup decent red wine. If it tastes good drinking it then cook with it
1lb boneless skinnless chicken breast
4 or 5 slices of bacon
Fresh Tyme
Fresh Rosemary
Salt/Pepper

Cut the chicken into 1" or so pieces. Salt/Pepper and brown in a large heavy skillet.
Cook the bacon and chop into fine pieces.
Cook down the carrots/celery/onion in 1/2 the bacon fat.
Add the cooked chicken, the wine and tyme and rosemary. (both of these are to taste-I prefer a little more rosemary than others)
Cook to reduce by 1/2 to 2/3

Serve over smashed potatoes, rice blend or polenta

I may also try it served over quinoa just because I'm trying to find different ways of using quinoa

EDIT: The original recipe like I mentioned calls for Rabbit and also Pancetta instead of bacon. It also is supposed to be served on Polenta

Dried Tyme sucks IMO but dried rosemary is fine and can be substituted.

Post: #22

If you're a fan of authentic Thai cuisine, this girl's videos are good. I've tried a few, and based on the food I've eaten in my trips to Thailand, she's the real deal.

Post: #23

Glad to see a thread like this being brought back! Here's one for pork chops.


Honey-Garlic Pork Chops

Ingredients:
3 pounds boneless pork chops
2/3 cup of honey
1.5 cups of ketchup
½ cup soy sauce
4 cloves minced garlic (or buy it in a jar)
Salt and pepper to taste


Directions:
1. Preheat stove to medium.
2. In a bowl, combine honey, ketchup, soy sauce and garlic.
3. Sprinkle pork chops with salt and pepper. Baste each pork chop with prepared sauce on each side.
4. Place pork chop on pan for about 5 minutes on each side, or until thoroughly cooked, basting frequently.

It's a simple recipe, but very good. Goes great with potatoes.

Post: #24

My go-to recipe when a girl is coming over for the first time has always been Spaghetti Carbonara, since it only takes a few minutes, and it seems to get girls wet. I've always used cream, not knowing that cream is not included in the authentic recipe. However, I just made this version for my cheat meal today, and it was awesome.

Post: #25

Same here.
Carbonara's a safe bet.

LaPD