Dinner!

[theweaselking]

Today I'm doing a repeat of a past dinner - homemade bruschetta and steamed artichokes.

Audience Participation Day: How about you? What's the last meal you made that turned out well, and how did you make it?

Comments

[laplor.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what to call it, but a couple of nights ago I sliced up some carrots and lightly steamed them in the microwave, then threw them into an oblong baking dish along with 3 sliced peppers (one each red, orange, yellow), and a sliced onion and a couple of ribs of sliced celery. I threw a chunk of frozen haddock on top, drizzled the whole thing with some olive oil, salt and pepper and put it in the oven until it started to smell good.

Then I broke up the fish and threw on a can of cream of mushroom soup mixed with a generous splash of lemon juice. I topped it with a wee sprinkle of grated old cheddar and baked until it was bubble.

I've made this before with chicken, and just as a vegetable dish.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Interesting! That sounds like a really neat casserole kind of idea.

I'll have to try it - chicken and Cream Of Celery or something since I'm not a fan of fish and I'm allergic to enough mushrooms that I avoid them all on principle, but still.

[laplor.livejournal.com]

Oh, it sure doesn't have to be cream of mushroom. I just keep a stock of cream of things soup. Chicken or celery tastes just about the same really by the time you pour it over a pile of onions and things..

[chaosrah.livejournal.com]

Some of the better ones:
Buffalo chicken dip and banana bread, I make these two recipes often enough and they come out FANTASTIC. I've also put the banana bread into a muffin pan and they come out terrifically as muffins
White trash baked beans, LOTS of beans with a sweet twist. Very easy to make, but makes A LOT of food
BBQ Tofu Pizza, I haven't made this myself, but I have eaten it and it's delicious, you'd have no idea there was tofu in it
Bean dip, this one is REALLY good, just make sure to get low sodium refried beans, learned the hard way that salt beans + salty taco seasoning makes for a REALLY salty dip

There are other recipes in my lj tagged recipes, some I have tried but haven't tried making, but it's all yummy

[singingnettle.livejournal.com]

Woh, that's a lotta beans.

[singingnettle.livejournal.com]

(In the White Trash Baked Beans, I mean.)

[retextual.livejournal.com]

Artichokes? Man, I decided to make artichoke dip yesterday and found out that fresh artichokes are THOOPID. They have SPINES! The delicious part is tiny and impossible to get to! No one even makes dip out of fresh artichokes! No one warned me >:(

Anyway, I finally got down to the thumb-sized heart, chopped it up and put it on pizza with onions, garlic and asiago cheese. Then success.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

At least you didn't sue? (http://consumerist.com/2010/12/man-sues-restaurant-for-not-stopping-him-from-eating-an-entire-artichoke-including-the-leaves.html)

Artichokes are AWESOME. And the delicious part is included at the base of each leaf, in addition to on the heart.

[ed-dirt.livejournal.com]

I could see a dip made from artichoke hearts.

But actually, when I think of artichokes and dip, I am more inclined to think of something interesting to dip the artichoke leaves in, rather than making a dip from the artichoke itself.

Seasoned mayos, etc.

[the-trav.livejournal.com]

* preheat oven to 180deg C
* lay out your pastry to defrost (I use frozen puff pastry and lots of little pie dishes, you could use a single big one if you're lazy
* shred a bbq chicken (just pull all the meat off it and pull the meat apart, alternatively dice and cook some breast/thigh)
* slice up 4 spring onions, fry them in 1 tbsp of sesame oil with a chopped up clove of garlic
* mix in about 1 tbsp of flour
* add about 9 sliced shiitake mushrooms and half a cup of warm water, turn heat low and stew them a while (maybe 10-15 min)
* add 2tbsp hoisin sauce 2tbsp oyster sauce, 1tbsp soy sauce, 1tsp fish oil and the chicken
* up the heat a bit, mix it around, it should be a thick sauce / paste add water if required
* oil your pie dish(s) put the bottom layer of pastry in,
* put the filling in,
* whisk up a single egg, brush the edges of the bottom and top pieces of pastry where you're going to join them
* put the tops on, smoosh the edges together with a fork (use this to trim the excess pastry off at the same time)
* brush the top with egg and cut a few slices in the top pastry layer for steam to get out
* bake for not long... I gave mine about 15 minutes, you really just need the pastry to go gold, everything else is already cooked


tastes good, serve it on a bed of baby rocket

[singingnettle.livejournal.com]

One of my friends went insane for sweet-and-sour beef borscht, which is ridiculously easy to make:

1. Brown some good stewing beef or lamb or other meat of your choice in a roaster or big heavy pot. (You want a pot that will tolerate simmering soup for three to five hours.) I like using beef chuck for this. You can do without the browning, but it adds flavor. Brown a generous amount of chopped onions with the meat. I also like adding sliced mushrooms for texture, because everything else in the finished soup is sort of mushy.

2. Throw in some peeled beets. You can also add the chopped stems. You can chop the beets first, but they are hard to chop when raw and if you cook them whole, you can mash them when they're cooked soft. (But chopping them raw will speed the cooking of the soup.)

3. Add a few quarts of beef broth or water and a can of chopped tomatoes or some tomato paste. I prefer using broth for flavor and chopped tomatoes for texture, but you can use whatever is at hand. You can also use tomato juice instead of broth + tomatoes, but I think it makes the soup taste metallic and acidic.

4. Add some chopped or sliced carrots if you want and some salt.

5. Simmer until the beets are soft, which'll take, oh, hours. This is a good crockpot soup to do overnight.

6. When the beets are soft, mash them and put them back in the soup. If you have beet or other greens, you can add them at this point.

7. If you want the soup to be sweet-and-sour, add about 1/4 cup of honey and a few tablespoons of lemon juice to taste. Adjust salt.

Traditional way of serving is to serve it over boiled potatoes and topped with a scoop of sour cream. Alternately, it's nice with rice, although most of the time I forgo these because it already has a fair amount of starch and sugar from the beets, carrots, and honey.

* * *

I served this with a platter of whole raw sweet peppers, sour preserved Lebanese cheese and salty fresh Lebanese cheese, salad, flatbread, Greek olives, and lox. It made a beautiful contrast of flavors and colors.

[singingnettle.livejournal.com]

Oh, and this makes a perfectly fine vegan soup without the meat.

[alumiere.livejournal.com]

Today was reheated split pea soup with ham, which I made Monday.

Basic recipe - take a bone in chunk of ham (fully cooked), ~ 2-3 lbs. Trim off as much of the meat as you can, throwing the bones and any large chunks of fat into your pot a cover about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way up with water. Simmer on low heat for at least 30 minutes (longer is ok too), then drain into a large bowl.

Throw a pound of raw split peas in the same pot along with chunked onions and/or leeks, pesto, garlic. Pour the broth from the ham in (see package for amount). Clean the remaining meat off the bone, and put the bone back in the pot. Simmer on low for about 30 minutes stirring occasionally until the peas are soft. Pull the bone out and blitz the soup with a stick blender (or in a regular blender). Add in all the chunks of ham, put back on low heat until ham is heated through and the soup is nicely thickened. Serve by itself or with crackers, or bread.

This is a bit time consuming, but requires little attention or major cooking skill.

[alienor77310.livejournal.com]

The latest is bœuf bourguignon. Otherwise, the other day, I defrosted the freezer and cooked the contents before freezing them again: spanakopitas in puff pastry, spinach quiche, spinach and roast tomato quiche and, to finish off the puff pastry, tarte Bourdaloue (pie with pear halves smothered in a butter and almond custard).

[lafinjack.livejournal.com]

I made crock pot carnitas, brown rice, and tomalito, each in its own cooking bag so they would all cook at the same time. Carnitas was cubed pork butt coated in chili powder, garlic, oregano, basil, and salt, then seared; a couple chopped up apples that were getting soft; chicken broth; bay leaves; and something else I forget. Then I had makings for burritos and taquitos for a week.

[kierthos.livejournal.com]

What ees thees coo-king you speak of?

[rbarclay.livejournal.com]

Take some pieces of beef (filet/tenderloin) or pork (shoulder), put in a suitable container that can be closed, add a mixture of vegetable/olive oil until the meat is completely covered (yes, it has to swim in oil). Add spices as per the mood of the day, put in fridge for at least 48 hours (don't worry, the oil (or rather, that the oil keeps oxygen away) will keep it from spoiling for at least a week, if not more). This is necessary to get the meat to become so tender that it can later fall apart on your tongue.
Chop a couple onions, sear them with a couple drops of oil, put them out of the pan and on the side. Now take the meat, let excess oil drip off, sear it shortly on both sides, turn down the heat to minimum, and re-add the onions (if you're a perfectionist, you'll put the onions under the meat at this point, so that the meat doesn't touch the bottom of the pan). Add bits of garlic, salt & pepper and a bay leave or two. Put the lid (you got one, right?) on the pan, let simmer on minimum heat for 2+ hours.
Very carefully take out the meat (it should now be so tender that it's in danger of just falling apart), take out the bay leave(s), and stir up the remainder with water (maybe add some salt & pepper) until you have a nice gravy.

Serve with rice or potatoes, and green salad.
Optionally, you can chop up & add other vegetables, like bell peppers or carrots, to the onions to nudge the flavour in another direction.

[ed-dirt.livejournal.com]

All of my meals have been turning out well lately (last night it was flash fried Basa (a delicious Vietnamese Catfish)coated with dried herbs, served with steamed broccoli and peas, with a caramelized onion and hot chili sauce over the veg), but last Saturday we had people over and so I dragged out the big pans and made a feast.

It's what I call my "Grazing Menu" and I really like it for company because it's a lot of little dishes brought out in a succession rather than one big thing that has to come together all at once. Very low-stress, which is nice when there are more than a couple of people over. One of our guests is lactose intolerant, celiac, and semi-vegetarian (he'll eat fish).

What we had
Crudités with a Greek yogurt/curry powder dip
Beetroot, dipped in malt vinegar in a bowl
Baby plum tomatoes in a bowl
Steamed button (Brussel) sprouts (very well received by all)
Skinless Richmond Sausages
pickled onions in a bowl
Cumberland Sausages
Sashimi (very fresh) on a bed of shredded cabbage (our semi veg friend ate plenty of this
Meat balls (turkey mince mixed with finely chopped garlic, dried thyme and coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves)
Teriyaki chicken (chicken breasts marinated in a sesame oil/soy sauce/chopped garlic/ chopped fresh ginger sauce for several hours and then grilled in the oven)

and then 5 kinds of cheeses and a ciabatta. One of the cheeses was goat's cheese for our friend (and those of us who like it. like me).

It went over very well, and it was really relaxing for the cook (me) because I was able to hang out and talk in between bringing out one dish and the next. No rush, no big climactic finish in the kitchen, just lots of low-key easy to do dishes coming out on plates.

[maelorin]

Peanut chicken on sugar cane skewers, with spicy dhal.

Pumpking and White Bean Soup

[le-trombone.livejournal.com]

The original recipe and my modification.

[dreamshade.livejournal.com]

* Had some leftover nonfat sour cream, decided to try a chicken salad. Threw three pounds of chicken meat into the slow cooker with about as much zucchini and green bell pepper chopped up on top of it, let it stew in its own juices for three hours. Threw it all in a bowl, dumped a 16 oz. nonfat sour cream tub on it, about half that much salsa from a jar, and a couple spoonfuls of mayo. Didn't even add any spices, stuff turned out to be simple and addictive.

* Make a lot of dry beans, never tried doing chickpeas before, tried a simple hummus. Two pounds of dried chickpeas soaked overnight in the slow cooker. Opened the top, added five red bell peppers and half a big sweet onion chopped up, splashed with a bunch of lemon juice and a bunch of chili powder. Some of the best beans I've ever done.

"Throw shit in the slow cooker and see what comes out" is my basic modus operandi.