Good recipes that use fresh ingredients. (Cooking)

[Shuemue]

I actually tried an indian style curry last night, but it didn't turn out to good and I need more experimentation. Lamb is really hard to come by here though =\ You can either get a good deal on a whole shank, or retardedly expensive cuts of bone with no real meat on them, it blows.

I also need some better saffron, the stuff I have isn't that great. I should buy some off of amazon because it's rather cheap there, just like everything else.

Any idea how to make fresh masala? I'm all about fresh roasted spices ground up in my own grinder.

tbh you can throw anything into an Indian... chicken, lamb, prawn, fish... hell some of the best curries I've had have been veggie ones, stuff like cauliflower, spinach, potato, lentils and so on. As for the spices, it's easier for me to buy them from the local shops, London has a huge Asian population, so I'm spoilt for choice.

[Daydreamer]

I actually tried an indian style curry last night, but it didn't turn out to good and I need more experimentation. Lamb is really hard to come by here though =\ You can either get a good deal on a whole shank, or retardedly expensive cuts of bone with no real meat on them, it blows.

I also need some better saffron, the stuff I have isn't that great. I should buy some off of amazon because it's rather cheap there, just like everything else.

Any idea how to make fresh masala? I'm all about fresh roasted spices ground up in my own grinder.

tbh you can throw anything into an Indian... chicken, lamb, prawn, fish... hell some of the best curries I've had have been veggie ones, stuff like cauliflower, spinach, potato, lentils and so on. As for the spices, it's easier for me to buy them from the local shops, London has a huge Asian population, so I'm spoilt for choice.

Hmm I think there is an Asian market in town, I should check it out. Though I think it's more Japanese and Chinese oriented. Still though I'd love to see if they have asian produce. I've been dying to cook with some!

[Lliandra]

I got a little dish for ya's that I served up for my boyfriend on Valentines Day.
Its a twist on the classic 'Egg's en Cocotte' (sp?)

You will need:

2x Ramekins (or souffle dishes, whatever you folks over there call em )
Butter
2x Eggs
Chestnut Mushrooms
Spinach
Mozarella (optional and i will tell you why shortly)
Garlic Butter
Salt and Pepper to Taste

So! First we fry off the spinach, mushrooms and garlic butter until both are soft and cooked but not crispy. At this point, heat up the oven to Gas Mark 4 and wipe the inside of the ramekins with a little butter. Prepare a baking tin and fill with water so its halfway up the ramekin dishes when placed into the tin. This is called a 'Ban Marie' i think Chop up the mozarella into slices ready..

At this point, the mozarella was purely experimental on my part (as my bf loves mozarella) and in hindsight, wasn't really a good idea for this dish. Unless you remove the water contained in teh mozarella beforehand, you will find the dish takes longer to cook and the end result is quite watery, but still flavoursome. I thought it was a bad idea but my bf loved it so moving on..

Spoon the mushroom, garlic and spinach mixture into the bottom of the ramekins (complete with any mushroom juices, it makes it extra nom!), padding down gently. Then top with the mozarella and do teh same. Top it off by cracking one egg onto the top of the ramekins. This should sit nicely ontop of everything with teh yolk intact. Spoon a little butter on top of the egg and add salt and pepper.

Place the ramekins into the tin of water and put into the oven for about 15 minutes or however long it takes for the egg to set et Voila! Serve with warm, crusty bread and butter and enjoy ^^

Let me know what you think if any of you try it ^^

[Daydreamer]

Hmm, sounds like single serving quiches. Recipe sounds great except for the fact that I despise eggs unless really mixed into something or where there are not big chunks (ie, fried rice), however if I made this for pretty much any of my friends they would drool over it.

Must go to class now, but my next update will include my tomato cream sauce for pasta that I whipped up last night!

[XxfaustxX]

Made this for my mom one day, she flipped out and loved it.

Mayonaise
Fresh basil pesto
Cibatta bread
Hard or Genoa salami
Cappacola
Ham or hot ham
Provolone (get the good aged/smoked kind if you can)
Romaine lettuce
Tomato
Banana Pepper or roasted red peppers
Red Onion

Altnerative method (hot version): before putting on the veggies, bake it in the oven on 350 or 375 until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Then add veggies, put bread slices together.

I'd cut out the peppers and mayo, and replace with Giardiniera, use straight pesto. Arugala might be nice also. Sounds pretty tasty.

[Norelco]

I'd cut out the peppers and mayo, and replace with Giardiniera, use straight pesto. Arugala might be nice also. Sounds pretty tasty.

It's a VERY modifiable dish. I'm still a fan of the mayo + pesto though. Sometimes the pesto can overpower the sammy. The mayo tempers that with some tangyness.

[XxfaustxX]

I'd cut out the peppers and mayo, and replace with Giardiniera, use straight pesto. Arugala might be nice also. Sounds pretty tasty.

It's a VERY modifiable dish. I'm still a fan of the mayo + pesto though. Sometimes the pesto can overpower the sammy. The mayo tempers that with some tangyness.

I wanna make a sammich now. Giardiniera is really tasty, if you've never had it go buy some immedietly. It makes everything better. A way to overcome some of the power of the pesto is to make it yourself, add a tad more oil to calm it down a bit. I love italian sandwhiches in general.

*edit* or could eliminate pesto, which i would never want to do, and chiffenade some basil. yum yum yum. yeah very modifiable lol. could spend a day thinking of new things to put on sangwhiches.

[Norelco]

I'm a big fan of Italian-themed sandwiches myself.

[Daydreamer]

Gah now I want a sammich. I think it's time for Kevin's Ultimate Grilled Cheese.

Recipe:

2 slices sourdough bread
Smoked Gruyere - Grated
Gouda - Grated
Spicy or Dijon mustard
Fresh cracked pepper
Unsalted butter - for prepping the pan.

Start by putting a saute pan on med-high heat, then prep the bread. Slather the mustard on, one side only. take your now grated cheeses and mix them up in a bowl first to make sure they are well blended, and then layer it on the bread, but not too thick, you'd be surprised how far a thin layer can go for this sammich. top it with a few grinds of fresh black pepper, and top with the other piece of bread.

To cook, take the butter and rub it on the pan for a few times to get a nice thin layer of butter, you don't really need much. Then put the sammich in the middle, and, now for the trick, put a plate or a pie pan or something on top that flat and will cover the whole sammich, and on top of that plate put a heavy cast iron pan, or something else heavy. I don't put the cast iron directly on the sammich because well, mine aren't really clean enough on the bottom and it leaves little traces of iron that I don't like. When one side is done flip (watch out, the plate can warm up quite a bit) the sammich, remembering to rebutter the pan for the other side.

You're looking for a nice golden brown and delicious crust.

This recipe beats the pants off of that crappy kraft american singles grilled cheese that we all knew and loved as children. The cheese really does melt better grated and not sliced, so I wouldn't skip that step.

[XxfaustxX]

My favorite cheese sandwhich as a kid was just potato bread with muenster cheese. mmmmmmmmmm

[Lurking Badger]

Teriyaki Salmon and wasabi mashed potatoes.

Get salmon fillets. Put them in a plastic bag with Teriyaki marinade and put them in the fridge for a few hours. Fry in a frying pan.

Make your own mashed potatoes:
Boil potatoes. When they are done, put in a little butter (a table spoon or two) and some milk that you have warmed (or your mashed potatoes will be luke warm. You need maybe a cup of milk or so. ) Mash the potatoes, first with a fork or something similiar to make it easier to work with, then use an electric cream whipper or any other appropriate kitchen tool. It needs to be very finely ground. While doing this, put in a little ground wasabi. You want the color to turn slightly greenish, taste it now and then so that you don't make it too strong. It is good if it has some sting though.

[Norelco]

Teriyaki Salmon and wasabi mashed potatoes.

Get salmon fillets. Put them in a plastic bag with Teriyaki marinade and put them in the fridge for a few hours. Fry in a frying pan.

Gotta say hold up right here. Is there a technique to make it so the terriyaki sauce won't burn/smoke? Usually the only time I'll do teriyaki salmon is on the grill outside in the summer since sugar-based sauces tend to burn. It's sort of why stir fry sauce are usually the last ingredient to in during a stirfry.

[Lurking Badger]

Ah sorry, mix it with some oil. The salmon should have soaked up a lot though to get the taste stick.

You also don't need that high heat on the frying pan
or alternatively - put the salmon in tin foil with the teriyaki and kind of bake it in the oven.

[Daydreamer]

Ah sorry, mix it with some oil. The salmon should have soaked up a lot though to get the taste stick.

You also don't need that high heat on the frying pan
or alternatively - put the salmon in tin foil with the teriyaki and kind of bake it in the dishwasher.

Fixed

[XxfaustxX]

Ah sorry, mix it with some oil. The salmon should have soaked up a lot though to get the taste stick.

You also don't need that high heat on the frying pan
or alternatively - put the salmon in tin foil with the teriyaki and kind of bake it in the dishwasher.

Fixed

ive wanted to try this method but it scares me, so many things just seem wrong about it. possibility of a mess? or undercooked food? seems interesting though. saute then oven is my standard method.

[Daydreamer]

Ah sorry, mix it with some oil. The salmon should have soaked up a lot though to get the taste stick.

You also don't need that high heat on the frying pan
or alternatively - put the salmon in tin foil with the teriyaki and kind of bake it in the dishwasher.

Fixed

ive wanted to try this method but it scares me, so many things just seem wrong about it. possibility of a mess? or undercooked food? seems interesting though. saute then oven is my standard method.

Seriously there is nothing that can really go wrong if you just take precautions and wrap the foil up tight. The first time just get a small cut of salmon and run it with no detergent (as in, don't do the dishes at the same time like I do). If worse comes to worse you're out like 3$. The lemon juice really needs to be in there also, as the acids help cook things, and it must run through the whole dry cycle also.

Remember though, that it will be medium rare - medium and not well done. But in my opinion it was sooo much better that way. It really brought out the flavor of the salmon.

[XxfaustxX]

Yeah cooking anything higher than medium really ruins the flavor for me. Keeps it slightly game-y without that eating carbon flavor. I usually go Medium-Rare. Ill hafta try that method sometime.