Voodoolily's Snacktastic Recipe Thread!!

[voodoolily]

Thank you, Ken.

[stray]

It's Kenny actually. Whether I like it or not.. Apparently, I'm not uptight enough to be a Ken.

[hal]

Having dabbled in bread a bit let me throw a few things at ya.

King Arthur Flour. They got a web presence. Check it out. You may be able to buy at your local store.

Get a stone for your oven. The temp can not be to high for baking.

A bread machine kneads like nothing else. They bake like a toaster oven. So, The best thing is mix and kneed in a good bread machine (zo) and bake in a murderously hot  oven with a thick stone.

The afore mentioned king Aurthur flour sells a white whole wheat flour. If you haven't try ed it and your are inclined to the whole wheat sort of stuff I would encourage you to give it a go. The taste is not like the red whole wheat.

All in my opinion and I could be wrong and Yadda, Yadda.

Proof your yeast and happy trails to ya.

[voodoolily]

King Arthur flour is good. And we have a stone that just lives in our oven.

[Ookii]

21 pounds down in 3 and a half weeks, anyway when we go to GDC I'm off the diet for dinner, so we'll see how much weight I gain when I introduce carbs and dairy back into my eatings.

I'm making a whole wheat bread from my King Arthur cookbook right now, if it turns out good I'll post it for inquiring minds.

[stray]

No dairy either? You really are insane. 

Grats on the 21 lbs though.

If you're gonna be touring/walking around a lot for GDC, the carbs won't be bad for you at all. That's what they're good for.

[Sky]

Going back for a minute to the raspberry/chipotle and soy/garlic stuff. Funny. Saturday night we had chicken burritos with a raspberry/chipotle salsa (zomg need to make fresh, store bought is meh) and last night we had chicken marinated in soy/garlic. Had a soy/lime based sauce with onion, bell pepper and garlic (the pantry special), though I overdid the lime zest a bit. Over some nice mellow wild rice cooked in stock with some buttery soft onion.

Get a stone for your oven. The temp can not be to high for baking.

Temperature is why even with a pizza stone, homemade pizza is never as good as stuff cooked in a good pizza oven or a good wood stove.

Diet, pfft. I'm lifting again. 

[stray]

wild rice was what was missing from that duck meal... Kept telling my friends that, but they insisted on mashed potatoes.

[Ookii]

Going back for a minute to the raspberry/chipotle and soy/garlic stuff. Funny. Saturday night we had chicken burritos with a raspberry/chipotle salsa (zomg need to make fresh, store bought is meh) and last night we had chicken marinated in soy/garlic.

Did you ever post the recipe for this raspberry and chipotle concoction?

[Sky]

I meant I needed to make it fresh because the store-bought version we had was a tease. Decent taste, but the texture was awful. I don't have a recipe.

[stray]

Not sure about the texture of what we used.. It was just a marinade.

[voodoolily]

I made a smoky blackberry glaze for lamb ribs once. I just cooked down a pint of pureed/strained blackberries with a few drops of liquid smoke, a spoonful of honey and a half spoonful of molasses, a dribble of balsamic and some salt and pepper to taste. Simmer in a pan until sticky. Brush on the protein of your choosing.

Things like this don't need a recipe, just a palate. "Raspberry-chipotle" is evocative enough that you should be able to just add a little chipotle en adobo to some raspberries and puree to a smooth rouille. Then strain out the seeds and chipotle skin, pressing with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula through a fine-mesh sieve. It will invariable need a little sweet and a little acid, like all good marinades - a bit of honey and some lime juice or red wine vinegar would be nice. DONE.

[Ookii]

Alas that requires risk and creativity when it comes to cooking, I like my recipes with my instructions telling me exactly what to do.  I assume this is the same as when one is a child and they don't want to leave the safety of the training wheels on their bike.

Anyway it doesn't matter because if I made it nobody would eat it.  I wish I was baking bread though right now, I should get a job at a bakery.

[voodoolily]

Are you saying you still have training wheels on your bike? 

[Sky]

We just got in a new recipe book by donation that I like for newer cooks. It enforces the fact that most basic recipes can be tweaked into different dishes once you know the basics. I think it could be taken much further, maybe we should write one! Anyway, it'll take a basic chicken sauté and give you 6 variations of it.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Everything-Simple-Recipes/dp/0471789186

And I also saw this one linked, might be good for a beginner:
http://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Everything-Mark-Bittman/dp/076456756X

The talk about breads reminded me of Steingarten:
http://www.amazon.com/Man-Who-Ate-Everything/dp/0375702024

[voodoolily]

How to Cook Everything should be a required gift for anyone graduating college. It really is a great first cookbook.

[sigil]

I'm trying your focaccia recipie tonight. Thanks for the ideas :)

[Ookii]

So I made Cinammon-Raisin bread on Sunday, Conchas (or Pan Dulce, I guess it has a couple names) on Tuesday, and today I'm planning on making Zucchini bread.

All I can think about is baking.

[Samwise]

"I am told," Berin said, "that there is good family cooking in America; I haven't sampled it.  I have heard of the New England boiled dinner and corn pone and clam chowder and milk gravy.  This is for the multitude and certainly not to be scorned, if it is good.  But it is not for masters."

"Indeed."  Wolfe waggled a finger at him.  "Have you eaten a plank porterhouse steak, two inches thick, surrendering hot red juice under the knife, garnished with American parsley and slices of fresh limes, encompassed with mashed potatoes which melt on the tongue, and escorted by thick slices of fresh mushrooms faintly underdone?"

"No."

Planked porterhouse steak

1 porterhouse steak, 2 inches thick
2 cups mashed potatoes
1/4 cup melted butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
6 slices lime

Procure a porterhouse steak of fine-grained texture, bright red in color and marbled with fat.  Trim off the excess fat and wipe with a clean cloth.  Heat a wire broiler, grease it with some of the fat, and broil the steak over a hot charcoal fire for 3 minutes on each side.  Take a well-seasoned oak plank which has never been washed but which has been kept scrupulously clean by being scraped with a dull knife and wiped with good olive oil.  Lay the steak on the plank, surround with a border of fluffy mashed potatoes, and put in a 450° oven.  After 9 minutes, brush the potatoes over with the melted butter and salt and pepper the steak.  Return to the oven for 5 minutes, remove, paint with butter, sprinkle with the parsley, garnish with the slices of lime, and serve at once.


Had to substitute sirloin for the porterhouse, a cast-iron stovetop grill for the charcoal fire, and a baking sheet for the oak plank.  Still turned out pretty well.

[Bunk]

Goign by memory on what I made for dinner last night. Doesn't really match up in complexity with some of the Wellingtons and Pear Foccacia type things typically in this thread, but I thought it might apeal to those like me that want easy and good tasting food.

Take 2 slices Proscuito Ham, spice with lemmon pepper or something similar and basil, fresh if you have it. Add half of one Chicken breast sliced in to two fillets on to each, add salt, add several pieces baby spinach, and finally top with a slice of creamy Havarti. Roll up and hold together with a toothpick or skewer.

You want to steam the rolls. I dont have a big steamer, so I put my vegie steamer in to my wok. Put the rolls in a small flat bowl, and drizzle with about 1/4 cup chicken broth. Put the boll in the steamer over boiling water and cover. Takes about 7 minutes to cook through.

Fast, fancy looking, and really tasty.

[voodoolily]

Ahhh beef. I'm saving up my red meat for super bowl sliders, but dang that steak looks hell of naughty.

I made some really good slaw last night. I call it:

Rocket Slaw
Chiffonade just means to stack (as with leaves) and slice sliver-thin. Kohlrabi tastes a bit like a mild radish, which makes sence since it is a brassica. So is the rocket. The pepperiness of the kohlrabi and rocket are balanced nicely by the sweet tang of the dressing.

1 kohlrabi, mandolined, then stacked and chiffonade
1 bunch rocket (aka arugula) chiffonade
1/4 c chiffonade Italian parsely
2 tbsp dried cranberries
2 tbsp chopped roasted nuts of your choice - almonds are nice

Slaw dressing
like a tbsp or two low-fat mayo
1 tbsp good German sweet-hot mustard
2 tbsp heavy whipping cream
1/4-1/2 c white balsamic vinegar (or other mild, sweet vinegar - rice or champagne would be nice)
1 tbsp sugar
fat pich salt
cracks pepper

Combine veg in a bowl. In a mixing cup combine dressing ingredients. Drizzle over slaw. This would prolly be awesome on a classed-up shrimp po' boy.

[Signe]

If you aren't eating bread, who are you baking for, Ookii? 

[Ookii]

To whomever will eat it.  Mostly at work, though I'll start dumping more on the Schild so he can bring it to work.

[Sky]

balanced nicely by the sweet tang

 

[schild]

To whomever will eat it.  Mostly at work, though I'll start dumping more on the Schild so he can bring it to work.

Speaking of. I'm out of bread.

Make something I can eat, THX.

[Ookii]

The Conchas were a big hit at work, I'm sure people liked them over at GD as well.

I can make Blueberry bread tonight if requested.

[Signe]

Don't post anymore!  You are BINARY!

[schild]

The Conchas were a big hit at work, I'm sure people liked them over at GD as well.

I can make Blueberry bread tonight if requested.

Whole wheat? I'll take a loaf. It needs to be bready though. Not cake.

Oh, speaking of. Can't you just make white bread in a jiffy? I can eat that too.

[Ookii]

Yeah that aint happening then, if it involves yeast it waits until the weekend.

Unless you want to learn how to make bread 

[Signe]

CAN'T YOU SEE HE IS BAKING AS FAST AS HE CAN!!!

[Xanthippe]

Bacon candy

[voodoolily]

Yummeh, sugar-coated bacony goodness.

[Ookii]

I called in sick to work and made bread!  Its hydration is mostly comprised of beer too! 

And Pizza the other day:

[Sky]

I'd sauté the mushrooms. I have a thing about raw or canned mushrooms on pizza, though. And I make incredibly tasty sauteed mushrooms.

I need to start taking pictures. VL is a scourge on the cooks here 

Sunday night I made meatballs with a real simple sauce, according to a Cook's Illustrated cookbook (THE CI cookbook, The New Best Recipe). Called for an interesting mixture, mostly how I've always made meatballs but instead of bread crumbs, it calls for fresh bread (pulsed in the food proc, which I don't have, so minced by knife) soaked in buttermilk. However, instead of buttermilk you can sub in 3 parts plain yogurt to 1 part milk to thin, mash it together and let sit for 10 min, then mash into a paste. Mix the paste into the meatball mix (seasonings, yolk, etc).

Had a bunch of mix leftover, so I made a meat sauce last night of my own devising, leftover special. Brown the meat, remove to warm plate. Heat olive oil and saute red & green bell peppers (had no onion or garlic  ). Drop in some seasonings and let them bloom for a few seconds. Dump in a can of diced tomatoes (redpack with basil) and a wee can of tomato paste to thicken the juice from the diced ones. Add 1/4 of the meat back in and simmer down. Then add in the rest of the meat and some fresh basil, stir until meat is completely integrated into the sauce. Served over fusilli bucati, our new favorite pasta.

[voodoolily]

Those meatballs sound fussy. I use panko straight from the bag, and it works great. The meat sauce sounds nice, though.