Speaking of Food

[Boo]

[size=1]Because of Raiha's soy sauce thread I felt hungry and I felt like cooking, and then I felt like creating a thread to discuss the cooking and baking and stuff that I felt like!

So, since it's been too long since we had something like this, I present to you:

[center][img]http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/3/banner001text.png[/img]
[color=#ededed]Quick colourful thingy until I get around to making something deliciously looking[/color]

[b]YUMMY![/B][/center]


So basically the point is to encourage anyone to just talk and share about food. Be it what you like best, or a delicious sammich you just prepared this afternoon, tips and tricks that run in the family, experiences with which ingredients [i]not[/i] to mix, or maybe just some food-ish thing you saw on a sign the other day and made you think: "zomfg, need to share." Inspire and be inspired!

Besides, if this works out well enough given time, I could put every suggestion, story or recipe in an awesomely awesome cookbook, able to be sent all over the world! Whoo!

So to set off, I'll tell you all about what I made the other day to drown my sorrow in cooking:

[indent]For yesterday's meal I prepared noodles with a bit of soy in the pan. To go along with that I cut a few steaks to strips of about 1,5×5 centimeres, marinated them with a mixture of sweet soy sauce, oil, a rather big sesamy seeds, touch of garlic, some rather fresh ginger and ginger powder, and then as a finishing touch some honey and quite a lot of sweet syrup. Then to add some vitamin C and extra stuff to bite on, I threw a sliced up zucchini in the mixture.

Served them separately for three people and everything was gone at the end. Though we're big eaters in this house, so I always make food for at least 4 to make sure everyone's satisfied. :^D[/indent]

Not very original or complex, but the end result was really finger-licking good, and that's really all that matters, right?

Oh yeah, and if you manage to add a picture of foods that you're discussing or typing out a recipe for, be my guest! I'll see to doing it next round. :v

[/size]

[Axel]

Haha, oh the hilarity. :P I was just asking about a recipe section in chat the other day. Olol. ¬_¬


I'll offer up a few of my recipes if you like.



[B][U]Axel's Cheesy Bread[/U][/B]

Cheese bread is a very tasty and versatile bread that can be enjoyed with virtually anything. My particular favorite would be with tomato soup, or as a sandwich with pastrami and english mustard.

[B][U]Ingredients[/U][/B]
[LIST]
[*]1 pack of active dry yeast. (Roughly 1 tbsp)
[*]1 & 3/4 cups warm water
[*]2 teaspoons salt
[*]3 and half to 4 and a half cups white flour
[*]1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
[*]Sesame Seeds/Poppy Seeds/Cornmeal (For the French loaf)[/LIST]
First, you'll need to dissolve the yeast. To do this, put the yeast in a large bowl and pour 1/2 cup of warm water over it. It should take around a minute to dissolve properly, but just stir it lightly to make sure.

Mix the remaining water (1-1/4 cups ) with 2 teaspoons of salt and pour it over the yeast. Stir in the flour a cup at a time. When the dough becomes hard to stir, turn it out onto a floured work surface.

The dough will need tome to rest, so while you are waiting, clean out the bowl you were using, because you'll need it later.

After letting it settle for a little bit, scrape up the dough and knead it for around 10 minutes. You can add more white flour if you need to, just as long as the dough ends up smooth with a lot of elasticty.

Next, you'll want that bowl you cleaned. Grease it lightly with soft butter, marge or vegetable oil and put the dough in it. Turn it so that the fat/oil coats it lightly. Cover this with cling film and let it rise until almost tripled in size. This will take around 2 to 3 hours, so go make yourself a coffee, or something. ([B]DON'T PUT IT IN THE FRIDGE[/B]! Put it in the airing cupboard, or another warm place.)

After the dough has finished rising, punch it down in the bowl and turn it out onto a floured surface. Spread it out and sprinkle the cheese all over. Roll the dough up and knead it so that the cheese is merged evenly with the dough.

Next, you'll want to grease your loaf pan. Take about two-thirds of the dough and form a loaf and place it in the greased pan. Roll the remaining dough into a 10 to 12 inch long loaf and place on a baking sheet. (You can sprinkle the sheet with sesame seeds, cornmeal, or poppy seeds if you want.) Cover each loaf with a kitchen towel and let it rise again until doubled in size. This will take another 45 minutes or so. (Yes, there's a lot of waiting involved. I know. :eek: )


After around 30 minutes of waiting make sure to preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

After the full waiting period is over, place the two loaves in the oven. Remove the French loaf (The long one on the baking sheet) after 18 to 20 minutes. (Or when the top is golden brown.) Turn down the heat to 350 degrees and let the pan loaf bake for another 10 minutes.

After it has finished, leave to cool on a wire rack and use it however you like.

Here are some suggestions:

[B][U]Sandwiches[/U][/B]

Pastrami and mustard
Chicken salad with mayo
Beef and mustard
Beef and horseradish sauce
Cheese and onion
Tuna and sweetcorn
Egg-mayo
Mixed bean and salmon with chilli sauce


[B][U]Dip into soup[/U][/B]

French onion
Creamy tomato
Tomato, rice and sweetcorn
Minestrone
Potato and leek
Butternut Squash
Watercress

[B][U]Toast/Toasted Sandwiches[/U][/B]

Extra Cheesey toast (Chuck vintage cheddar on top and grill)
Cheese and baked bean toastie (Mature cheddar and a can of baked beans)
Ham and cheese toastie
Tuna and sweetcorn cheese melt (Cheese, tuna, sweetcorn and a touch of mayo grilled)


[B][U]Dipping[/U][/B]

Garlic sauce
Salsa
Mayo
Cheese sauce
Thousand island


[B][U]In Salads[/U][/B]

Toast it and cut into small chunks. Toss into a nice leafy salad. (Goes VERY well with chicken.)

[eleanor]

[font=trebuchet ms] [u]Generic Cheesy Pasta[/u]
I make this all the time and I love it. And it's very easy to make. :) I never really use measurements so I do everything by eye, so you can put whatever amount while cooking.

- 1/2 - 1 diced onion
- 1/2 - 1 diced tomato
- olive oil
- crushed garlic
- Mozarella cheese chunks
- penne pasta

1. Cook pasta and then let it drain, put it aside for now.

2. Heat up a wok or wok-like pan and pour approx. 1/6 - 1/4 cup of olive oil (depends on how oily/dry you want the dish to be).

3. When oil is heated put 1/2 spoonfuls of crushed garlic (I actually put in like 3/4 because I really like garlic lol) and let it simmer.

4. While the garlic/oil is simmering, put in the diced onions and tomatoes and let it cook. Add salt/pepper if you think it's not flavorful enough for you.

5. Now add in the cooked pasta and mix everything around. Throw in the chunks of mozarella cheese and let them melt a bit.

Now eat it. It's really good and you can use bread to soup up the sauce that's created by the olive oil/garlic/tomato juice. Cry with happiness.[/font]

[Boo]

[size=1]We went to have dinner over at the pancakehouse today, and I had an amazing pancake. A dutch one, mind you, with raisins and apple and almond and cinnamon and sugar and whatnot. And then along with it a bowl of chunkey monkey Ben & Jerry's icecream with whipped cream.

<3[/size]

[pooperson]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="RoyalBlue"][B]Taperson's Ants On A Log[/B]

[B]Ingredients:[/B]
Ants (raisins)
Logs (Celery)
Peanut Butter (Peanut Butter)

[B]Directions:[/B]
Put the peanut butter on the celery. Put the raisins on.

The end!

[img]http://www.homebakedmemories.com/images/Ants-on-a-log.jpg[/img][/COLOR][/SIZE]

[chibi-master]

[B]Chibi's Perfect Hot Chocolate[/B]

Get a reeeeeally big mug and put two packets of regular hot chocolate powder. Fill the mug halfway with boiling or near-boiling water, then add milk until the rest of the mug is filled. Add 15 tablespoons of sugar and mix well. For some interesting flavor, add some cinnamon sugar and whipped cream on the top!

Comments: This will give you the experience of being as hyper as I am! Also, the milk makes the hot chocolate richer and brings the temperature down to a drinkable level. Enjoy, if you have the guts to put that much sugar into your body!:catgirl:

[Minako]

Wow, I haven't been here for over a year :animeswea... but I'll post this here, because I really like this recipe!

[U][B]Salmon BLT's[/B][/U]
I had this at a restaurant once, and I loved it so much that I make them all the time!

[B]Ingredients[/B]
1 Salmon Fillet -- any will do. I'll often use the frozen, individually packed ones from Sam's Club. I personally like ones that have been seasoned/marinated a bit. Sometimes they can be thick, so I'll cut them in half width-wise (-->take the knife, insert it from the side and cut it in half)
1 Tomato, sliced
2 whole strips of Bacon (who doesn't like bacon??)
1 piece of Lettuce
2 slices Whole Wheat bread
Some Mayo

[B]Preparation[/B]
This is a very flexible recipe, you can make them however you like! Today we didn't have lettuce, so we didn't use it. *shrug* I usually stack it in the order I'll mention, but it really doesn't matter. I've also seen this made with scallops (surf and turf blt's, on the Today show this morning!).

Fry up the Salmon to your liking (we usually leave it a little raw in the middle, since it cooks itself a bit). Toast the bread in a toaster, and layer on the mayo, lettuce, salmon, tomato slices, and bacon on the bottom half of the bread, put on the top and PRESTO! You have a yummy Salmon BLT!

[Vicky]

[size=1]I can't cook lol.

Try this:

Get some chicken, right, and smother it in honey. Like, LOADS. And cook it obviously.

Then you make some rice. And you put honey in there. Not as much as the chicken, mind you, but you cook it with rice and a fat lump of butter.

Then you go in the fridge, realise your girlfriend is moving next week and therefore has no food and stop to think for a minute. Return to the cupboard and get out some tomatos, chopped. Microwaved them for a bit... then run back to stop the microwave 'cause they were left in the tin.

Further realise this is not enough food for a chef girlfriend who has said she must have more than three things on her plate. Make toast.

Chop up the chicken and put it with the rice... and then add some more honey 'cause you really can't get enough of that.

The effect of this meal: My girlfriend will never let me cook again. RESULT.[/size]

[DeLarge]

[SIZE=1][U][B]Phill's Hangover Sandwich

[/B][/U]This one is simple but effective when you're as violently hungover as I have been a few times in the past couple of months. Pretty much empties out your cupboards, but it's worth it.

[B]Ingredients:
[/B]- 2 slices of bread (preferably cheap and rubbish white bread, but anything will do)
- Butter (or margarine spread, whichever is your preference)
- 2 eggs
- 2 rashers of bacon
- 2 sausages
- Tomato ketchup or chilli sauce if you're feeling adventurous
- Oil

[B]Method:

[/B]Cut the sausages in half lengthways while heating some oil in a shallow pan. Once the oil is boiling, place the sausage slices meat-side down in the pan and fry until brown, then flip over and fry the skin-side until brown. Then place on a plate, cover with tinfoil and stick it somewhere warm, like under the grill.

Then pour out any excess fat from the pan, give it a wipe and stick the bacon in. Fry until you're happy with how they look (people's preferences on this change, so it's up to you). Then stick them on the plate with the sausages and wipe the pan out again.

Stick the bread in the toaster and make sure it's warm and crispy. This is very important.

While the bread is toasting, grab the eggs and crack them both into the pan - it doesn't matter if the whites run together, they're all ending up in the same place anyway. Fry until the white is no longer runny, but the yolk is. If the yolk breaks and slops about, it doesn't matter.

Once the toast has popped up, grab it and take the plate out from under the grill. Place the cooked items on the toast in this order: bacon, sausage, egg. Then slather with as much ketchup or chilli sauce as you deem necessary and stick the second slice of toast on top.

Ideally, eat it with a strong cup of coffee or a large glass of orange juice, and bye-bye hangover! Messy but delicious.
[/SIZE]

[Allamorph]

[FONT=Arial]This isn't so much a recipe as it is a simple preparation for better tasting food.

When making baked potatoes, also set out olive oil (extra virgin if your boat floats that way), kosher salt, and garlic salt. After washing the potatoes, rub each liberally with all three items, olive oil first then the salts in any order. That done, wrap each potato in tin foil and place on the oven rack or on the grill.

The garlic flavor will work its way into the potato, and the overall treatment makes the skins that much tastier to eat. (Which is to say that I don't eat potato skins normally, and I eat these.)

That's about it. Very simple, just a little flavor addition.[/FONT]

[Boo]

[font=trebuchet ms]This is one of the most awesome things I have found on the webz lately: [url]http://www.flickr.com/photos/katedw/sets/72157617528706606/[/url]. I'm going to try them out later.[/font]

[Timber]

[U][B]Timber's All-Purpose Multi-Function Cover-All-The-Bases Recipe to End All Recipes

[/B][/U][B]Ingredients:
[/B]-Something edible

[B]Preparation:
[/B]-Begin to sautee or bake the something edible.
-Get distracted.
-Notice smoke alarm going off. Deactivate it.

[B]Best served with:
[/B]The garbage can.

I can't cook. >>

[Boo]

[size=1]Okay, so yesterday I made something that I thought was really yummy and quite easy, though I will explain it in too many words.

[indent][b]Taters in the Scale with Creamy Cucumber Stuff à la Boo[/b]!

[i]Ingredients[/i] (for roughly three (3) big eaters)
[list][*]Two (2) cucumbers
[*]500 ml Crème fraîche
[*]Three (3) toes of garlic
[*]300 grams of beef tartar
[*]500 grams of potatoes
[*]A small hand of chives
[*]Three (3) spoons of oil
[*]150 ml of water[/list]

[i]Preperation[/i]

Small note: There are three parts to this meal, which have no particular order in which they should be done, apart from that I would advise starting to boil the taters before anything else, because it might take a while before they're done.

- Wash the potatoes with their coats on. Cut off some spots that look yucky, but don't go nitpicking now, or they won't have any clothing left on their body which would be too bad. Slice them up in two or four pieces (not four slices, but four halfs-of-half-potatoes) and put them into a pan with water that reaches to about 2/3rd of your potatoes. Put the pan on a furnace on a high flame until it boils. Add salt and set it to a low flame. Leave the potatoes boiling for a while.

- Undo the two cucumbers of their skin and slice them all the way up to little blocks, and maybe a few slices to make it more varied. Throw the cut up cucumber into a big salad bowl and add the crème fraîche, (you could add about three spoons of plain mayonaise based salad dressing as well) the water and the oil and stir it all together until it becomes a smooth mass with chunks of cucumber. If it's not smooth enough, add a little more water. Next, chop up the garlic and the chives and add them, together with some salt and pepper to your liking, before mixing it up again. Essential bit: Try a piece of cucumber and see if its taste is good. If not, add more of anything until you like it! You may also add things as rosemary and Herbes de Provence.

- Make four thick burgers out of your tartar and put them into a well buttered pan at high fire. Turn it around until all sides are darkish brown and then turn the fire a bit lower. Add garlic and pepper to your liking. Make sure the meat doesn't burn.

After all is done, throw the water of the taters away and chop the still hot meat into a few pieces and throw them in with your cucumber stuff. Try to do this last step right before you start eating, because the contrast of hot and cold together is awesome.

Serve the taters and the cucumber sauce in seperate pans but throw them together on your plate![/size][/indent]

[Axel]

[U][B]Axel's Soutzoukakia[/B][/U]

Πολύ καλά τρόφιμα!

[B][U]Ingredients[/U][/B]

[LIST]
[*]2 slices thick dense bread (crusts removed)
[*]1/2 cup dry red wine
[*]1 lb ground lean meat (beef or veal)
[*]1/2 cup finely chopped onion
[*]2 garlic cloves, crushed
[*]1 egg
[*]2 tablespoons chopped parsley
[*]2 tablespoons grated kefalograviera cheese or mizithra cheese (parmesan makes an excellent substitute)
[*]1/2 teaspoon oregano
[*]1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
[*]salt and pepper
[*]flour (for dredging)
[*]2 tablespoons olive oil[/LIST]

[B][U]Sauce[/U][/B]

[LIST]
[*]2 lbs fresh tomatoes
[*]1 tablespoon vinegar
[*]1 garlic clove, chopped
[*]1 bay leaf
[*]3/4 teaspoon sugar
[*]1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
[*]1/4 teaspoon ground cloves[/LIST]



[B][U]Directions[/U][/B]

Soak the bread in the wine for about 5 minutes, or until thoroughly softened. Then, squeeze out and reserve the excess wine. In a large bowl, combine the ground meat with the wine soaked bread, onion, garlic, egg, parsley, grated cheese, cumin, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix the ingredients until thoroughly blended. Cover and chill for 1 to 2 hours.

Dampen your hands, pinch off small portions of meat mixture, about the quantity of a teaspoon or just over, and shape into approximately 20 oval rolls (looks sort of like an elongated, slightly flattened, meatball). Dredge them in flour. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the meatballs and fry until browned all over, turning occasionally and allowing time for the meat to cook thoroughly. (alternatively, if you want a 'lighter' recipe, you could just brown in a non-stick pan or bake them in the oven - not as flavourful, but still good). Remove from the pan using a slotted spoon and set aside. Strain the oil you fried the meatballs in through a fine sieve into a cooking pan. Add all the sauce ingredients, and the reserved wine. Bring to a boil and simmer until the sauce is thick. Drop in the meatballs, stir to cover all over with the sauce, and simmer covered for 15 minutes. Serve hot with lemon roast potatoes, rice, french fries, or mashed potatoes.