Voodoolily's Snacktastic Recipe Thread!!

[voodoolily]

Made some lemontart. It was omnom.

I need to figure out how to make a better crust though. This one came out a bit too thick and hard. I also had problems getting it in the pan in one piece as it kept falling apart. The dough was made from confectioner's sugar, butter, egg, and flour. Any tips for crust-making appreciated.

Don't overwork the dough! The butter may have melted while you were working the dough (from the heat of your hands) and overkneading causes the glutens to come out of the flour. If you have a food processor, use it. Keep your butter in the freezer, cut it into small knobs and pulse it into the flour/sugar with the processor, then add the wet ingredients (sound like only egg).

As far as the recipe, I don't know how much a tart crust dough varies from that of a basic pastry, but I'd use table sugar instead of confectioner's, omit the egg and add some ice water to bind. Check epicurious.com or Joy of Cooking to cross-reference. My pastry comes out golden and flaky from avoiding handling it at all, but it might not be the right pastry for a tart.

[Nebu]

I was told that the key to light, flakey pastry is to do what voodoolily suggests.  Use frozen butter and a food processor to minimize the time to mix. 

Matter of fact, I think you gave me the same advice a few pages back when I complained about the consistency of my scones. 

[nurtsi]

Hm, my butter was room temperature because it is easier to mix. I'll try your tips next time.

[voodoolily]

Room temp butter is for cookies, not pastry! You don't want it to mix in, you want it to form little layers between the flour. Alton Brown did a show on it once.

[Ookii]

I also read that the French do not refrigerate their butter so most french recipes call for room temperature butter even if they don't' explicitly say it.

You learn that frozen butter trick on month 1 of watching food network, gotta keep up. 

[Oban]

What would happen if one used frozen butter to make chocolate chip cookies?

Would they be crispier?

[Evildrider]

Flakier?

[voodoolily]

You can't cream the eggs and sugar into the butter if it's cold! I don't make the rules, people, I just follow 'em.

Though I bet if you made palmiers (not really a cookie?) you'd benefit from using frozen butter.

[Oban]

Why not put the frozen butter in after the eggs and before the chocolate chips?

Hmm, must try and experiment with this when I get back to a real kitchen.

[Evildrider]

Just freeze the butter, wrap the dough around it.. and deep fry it!

[NowhereMan]

Did a really quick pasta sauce. Chopped mint, greek yoghurt, garlic clove, pinch of salt, little bit of honey and some olive oil all mixed well then thrown on some fusilli. Took about 5 minutes to put together and was a really nice, light dish. I've now got a good dish for putting something together for vegetarians if the need comes up.

[Yegolev]

Just freeze the butter, wrap the dough around it.. and deep fry it!

Do they give out Nobel Prizes for cooking?  Check your mail.

[Yegolev]

Did a really quick pasta sauce. Chopped mint, greek yoghurt, garlic clove, pinch of salt, little bit of honey and some olive oil all mixed well then thrown on some fusilli. Took about 5 minutes to put together and was a really nice, light dish. I've now got a good dish for putting something together for vegetarians if the need comes up.

I have to say, that sounds totally disgusting.  You repelled me at "mint".

[Nebu]

Just freeze the butter, wrap the dough around it.. and deep fry it!

You forgot to add bacon.

[NowhereMan]

Did a really quick pasta sauce. Chopped mint, greek yoghurt, garlic clove, pinch of salt, little bit of honey and some olive oil all mixed well then thrown on some fusilli. Took about 5 minutes to put together and was a really nice, light dish. I've now got a good dish for putting something together for vegetarians if the need comes up.

I have to say, that sounds totally disgusting.  You repelled me at "mint".

Yeah, I wasn't really expecting anything fantastic but combined with the garlic and yoghurt the mint flavour really isn't all that powerful. Of course if you really don't like any of those ingredients it's probably not going to work but I really liked it.

[voodoolily]

Garlic, yogurt and mint are a classic Greek combo (pretty much the ingredients of tzatziki). You could use this with orzo and add a little grilled lamb and chopped cukes, have yourself a nice dinner.

[Yegolev]

Oh, well, I have probably eaten such a thing and enjoyed it.  You learn something new all the time.

[voodoolily]

It was hard for me too, at first, to wrap my mind around the fact that mint is just an herb, and not a candy. You get it in Vietnamese and Thai salad rolls, too. But yeah, if you like gyros you've prolly had it and liked it.

[Ookii]

My favorite was when I went to Coke World in Vegas and had their 'Soft Drinks of the World' sampler.  India has a Mint Soda (forgot what is was called) that is absolutely delicious, yet when I did a google search for it people equated it with Scope.  It tastes completely different and delicious.  People have a problem equating Mint to anything that isn't candy or toothpaste/mouthwash.

[Signe]

We've always used mint as an ingredient, especially in veggie dishes.  I still love my string beans tossed with a bit of extra virgin olive oil, red onion, white wine vinegar, salt, pepper and fresh mint.  Righ uses mint jelly or sauce on his lamb, too.  (I don't like mint jelly!)  I still even put a bit of fresh mint in my iced tea when I have it, just like my mommy used to make us!

[voodoolily]

During my first trimester I was so nauseous all the time that I started getting peppermint Italian sodas (minus the cream/whip) from the coffee shop by the office. The fizz and mint always settled the tummy, as long as they didn't overdo it on the syrup.

We've always used mint as an ingredient, especially in veggie dishes.  I still love my string beans tossed with a bit of extra virgin olive oil, red onion, white wine vinegar, salt, pepper and fresh mint.  Righ uses mint jelly or sauce on his lamb, too.  (I don't like mint jelly!)  I still even put a bit of fresh mint in my iced tea when I have it, just like my mommy used to make us!

The Brits seem to like mint with their savory foods just fine. I love fresh mint with peas for a risotto in the springtime, and that seems like a thing they do quite a bit in the UK (though I've never made mushy peas).

[Ard]

My favorite was when I went to Coke World in Vegas and had their 'Soft Drinks of the World' sampler.  India has a Mint Soda (forgot what is was called) that is absolutely delicious, yet when I did a google search for it people equated it with Scope.  It tastes completely different and delicious.  People have a problem equating Mint to anything that isn't candy or toothpaste/mouthwash.

I freaking love mint.  The only reason I've been trying to make my own ginger ale on and off is so I can experiment with brewing spearmint into the syrup.  Now if only I could make a drinkable batch in the first place, but I struggle on in the name of science!

[Yegolev]

I briefly considered making some peppermint ice cream since I have two bottles of peppermint stuff.  Then my wife got on this new diet and I threw out the heavy cream.

[Sky]

When we were in Vermont, we had a pub special: turkey topped with apples and melted cheddar on top of an apple-buttered slab of soda bread. While I need to come up with a soda bread, I grilled some turkey last night to recreate the recipe. Rather than use the apples raw, I slab sliced some golden delicious (that were amazingly good, I ate most of them raw, cook's privilege) and simmered them in butter and brown sugar. When they softened just a bit, I basted the turkey with apple butter and then topped it with the apple slabs and melted the cheddar on the whole shebang. NOMNOMNOM

[Ookii]

And then what happened?

[Sky]

And then...?

[NowhereMan]

Mint sauce with lamb is fantastic. If you're thinking of breathmints when someone mentions mint you've obviously never tried fresh mint on food, it's not sweet nor does it leave the inside of your mouth feeling glacier fresh. Peppermint tea is also very nice, one of the only herbal teas I really like.

[Mosesandstick]

Keith Floyd has passed away.

I always liked his style, and his of food all over the world was evident. Tis a shame.

[Sky]

Been cool at night lately, so I made some pizza dough to give my new (larger, rectangular) stone a workout. Round pizza stones are TEH DEBIL.

Last night was some pepperoni bread with diced tomatoes (canned, drained and patted dry), fresh basil leaves (could've used even more, I love basil) and some mozz. Little olive oil rubbed on the outside and mozz to top it.

Tonight it's pepperoni bread or I might make some smaller loaf thingies, tomorrow hopefully some pizza. I stay away from pizza because I have to partially cook the dough to firm it up and double cooking is a pita. I really need a peel, dammit. The store I bought the new stone from only had peels bundled...with a round stone 

[Evildrider]

So I'm attempting my first Shrimp and Grits tonight.  I've never actually had them personally, but I mean cheese grits plus shrimp?  How can that not be nom nom nom.

Anyone else make this before?  Any tips?

[Sky]

I haven't cooked grits before, but the key to shrimp is to cook it as little as possible, until it's just done. Shrimp goes from nom to rubber in about two seconds.

[Evildrider]

Ya, I hate rubbery shrimp. 

This is my first time actually making my own grits.  So hopefully that goes well.  lol.

[Khaldun]

Grits. Do not get instant grits, worth cooking longer.

Do the grits separately from the shrimp, combine only at the end.

Basically for my favorite cheese grits, this is what I do:

Finely minced onion + finely minced garlic, fried in oil until soft.
One jalapeno, finely minced, added to onion and garlic, soften a bit.
Grits in, then chicken broth. (Use same amount of broth that'd you use if you were just using water).
Plenty of salt and pepper.
Cook until most liquid is cooked into the grits, add some cheddar cheese and parmesan.

In the meantime, saute the shrimp on high heat for just a minute or so. When the grits are pretty much ready, stir the shrimp in. Use rock shrimp for best results. Cook for just 30 seconds to a minute, serve.

Alternatively: saute the shrimp until cooked (very short) and don't mix into grits, serve over the grits, and then just a bit of a light tomato sauce on top.

[Yegolev]

Pouring pudding into a pie crust gave less-then-optimal results.  I know I was being lazy, but does anyone have any tips on how I can continue being lazy while stiffening the pudding?

[Sky]

Khaldun, that's exactly how I cook rice. Except I add garlic last when frying up the aromatics, just before I add rice and broth, because I really don't like bitter garlic and it tends to brown very quickly. I'd also omit the salt, or only add a pinch.

I've gotten away from using tomato sauce for most things unless it's winter time and I want to simmer one. I usually use roma tomato chunks with some fresh basil.