Voodoolily's Snacktastic Recipe Thread!!

[Trippy]

Speaking of pizza, am I the only one here that partially cooks the crust before adding the toppings?  It's a nice way to keep the crust from getting soggy without having to use added fat to keep it crisp. 

That's how Round Table Pizza does it if you ask for your pizza "extra crispy" or "well done".

[Sky]

Start taking pictures, man!

Good idea. I'm kind of embarrassed by my kitchen right now, though :) See my previous stove rant. I guess it would motivate me to unpack the boxes I have in there, still. The move has been interesting, for every time I go "shit, where's that pan?" I go "Hey cool, here's this ingredient I forgot about", in this case the cilantro oil I got right around the time I bought the house and stopped cooking in the kitchen. I was buying stuff for my quick pizza on sunday and it occurred to me (after finding the bottle of oil) to make a "southwestern" pizza with some lime, cilantro, chicken and roasted red pepper. I love how inspiration strikes like that, one ingredient can set up a whole meal instantly in the mind.

[voodoolily]

I threw together some stuff for dinner the other night since I had a load of chicken thighs that were on the way to being inedible. Fried some mushrooms, onions and garlic together for a while and added the chicken thighs (deboned and chopped). Threw on some salt, little bit of Cinnamon and some Paprika and let all that cook together for a few minutes. I then added lemon juice to deglaze and a few green cardamom pods, gave it a couple more minutes and threw in a couple of tablespoons of tomato puree and some basil. Finally I added most of a carton of natural yoghurt and let the whole thing simmer for a while.

Meanwhile I grilled (broiled) a chopped courgette and red pepper with a tiny bit of salt and olive oil and added those to the main dish just before serving with some basmati rice. I've not really done yoghurt sauces before but it came out tasting nice, creamy but not as rich as a real cream sauce would have been. While it all worked out I've got a feeling I either overloaded on the number of ingredients or needed more in terms of quantity of spice since there wasn't really any individual flavours that came through really strongly except for the lemon (very slightly) and cardamom when you got near one.

I think the basil and lemon may have been where you veered. If you'd added a bit of turmeric, ginger and cumin to it instead (and some cayenne, if it floats ya), it would've been a perfectly nice masala. Next time try adding a knob of butter and salt a little more (taste as you go) until you hit the sweet spot.  Otherwise, sounds wonderful.

[NowhereMan]

In fairness I'm rarely shy with salt but adding ginger and cumin sounds good. Adding cumin, tumeric and ginger sounds more appropriate, I'll let you know how it works if I try this again (and yes cayenne would be right up my alley. If I'd had any I would have added a few chillies to this).

[SuperPopTart]

Have we talked about scones and clotted cream yet? According to Alton Brown you can make your own clotted cream (which I may try), but scones I'm a little iffy on. I'm not a baker.

But if anyone has a recipe that they think is amazing, I'd love to try it out.

[NowhereMan]

While not perfect cooking some southern biscuits and making sure they're throroughly cooked through i.e. not soft inside, would be pretty much a scone.

[Signe]

Scones are SO not like southern biscuits, sort innards or not.  Where's the sugar?  Currants?

Scones are pretty easy.  2 cups flour, 4 tsp baking powder, 1/4 -1/3 cup sugar depending on how sweet you want them, couple pinches of salt, half a stick of butter, about 2/3 cup milk (I use half cream)  ,  a couple of hand fulls of dried currants, about a tsp of grated orange rind.

Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl.  Throw in orange rind.  Mix together sugar and butter (I put the butter in the freezer for about 15 mins before I use it) so it's crumbly and put it in the bowl.   Mix in the milk but don't over mix it or they'll end up wonky.  You want the dough sticky-ish.  You can add more milk or what ever you need to make sure they're sticky as long as you don't over mix it.  Pat them into the size you want, use a lot of flour on your hands and smush them  down a little and put them on greasy, floured pan, a bit of egg wash over the tops, and bake at 400 for 13 minutes or so depending on the size.  Make sure they slightly touch each other - like biscuits!    -  until they're golden.  These freeze pretty well, too.

I hope I didn't leave anything out.  I haven't made them in AGES.  I don't know why.  I suppose I just forgot about them.  We usually have them plain or with a bit of butter.  I don't like clotted cream and Righ doesn't much care for it either.  Sometimes I replace half the sugar with brown sugar and a bit of cinnamon for something different.  If you don't like currants, dried cherries or cranberries are nice too.

[voodoolily]

I have only made them once or twice, a long long time ago. It was one of the first things we learned in 6th grade Home Ec, so they must be fairly easy.

[SuperPopTart]

Scones are SO not like southern biscuits, sort innards or not.  Where's the sugar?  Currants?

Scones are pretty easy.  2 cups flour, 4 tsp baking powder, 1/4 -1/3 cup sugar depending on how sweet you want them, couple pinches of salt, half a stick of butter, about 2/3 cup milk (I use half cream)  ,  a couple of hand fulls of dried currants, about a tsp of grated orange rind.

Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl.  Throw in orange rind.  Mix together sugar and butter (I put the butter in the freezer for about 15 mins before I use it) so it's crumbly and put it in the bowl.   Mix in the milk but don't over mix it or they'll end up wonky.  You want the dough sticky-ish.  You can add more milk or what ever you need to make sure they're sticky as long as you don't over mix it.  Pat them into the size you want, use a lot of flour on your hands and smush them  down a little and put them on greasy, floured pan, a bit of egg wash over the tops, and bake at 400 for 13 minutes or so depending on the size.  Make sure they slightly touch each other - like biscuits!    -  until they're golden.  These freeze pretty well, too.

I hope I didn't leave anything out.  I haven't made them in AGES.  I don't know why.  I suppose I just forgot about them.  We usually have them plain or with a bit of butter.  I don't like clotted cream and Righ doesn't much care for it either.  Sometimes I replace half the sugar with brown sugar and a bit of cinnamon for something different.  If you don't like currants, dried cherries or cranberries are nice too.

Think I'll try these this weekend, thanks Sig :)

[Sky]

Trying to work more fish into my cooking and diet. Not the hugest fan of fish and I'm also a little daunted because it's so easy to screw up. So I've started slow and easy, did a great fish chowder a while ago and last night we had some amazing salmon cakes with a creamy lemon herb sauce, served over a bed of baby spinach. Easy stuff to cook that eases one into eating more fishies. It will be nice to have more flexibility in the menu and gain an extra chapter per cookbook :)

First I threw together the dipping sauce, just mayo, lemon juice, parsley, thyme, minced scallion and s&p. Cover the bowl and let it gestate in the fridge.

Diced up some king salmon and mixed it with some mayo, fresh bread crumbs, grated onion, parsley, lemon juice and a little salt (kosher of course). Form into patties and chill in the freezer. Made a traditional breading assembly line, dish of flour, then egg, then bread crumbs. Would've tried panko here, but I had some really nice fresh crumbs from the local bakery I've been hitting up. Bread up the patties and then fry in hot oil for a couple minutes a side. Drain on a plate of paper towels.

It was nice over the spinach, the hot cakes wilted the spinach.

VL - I apologize. I had intended to get you some photos, and I forgot until I was doing dishes after

[Bunk]

That's very close to the salmon cakes I've been doing at home lately. My recipe differs in no mayo (an extra egg instead) and I use about an even mix of fine breadcrumbs and panko inside, and then I coat them in panko before frying. I also used canned Sockeye. Oh, and I use dill instead of parsley.

Been trying to find a decent sauce/dip to go with them. Just did a simple mix of mayo, sourcream, lemon and dill. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Signe]

A couple of chopped up scallions would go nicely in that sauce, Bunk.  Maybe a bit of coarse ground pepper, too.

[voodoolily]

That's very close to the salmon cakes I've been doing at home lately. My recipe differs in no mayo (an extra egg instead) and I use about an even mix of fine breadcrumbs and panko inside, and then I coat them in panko before frying. I also used canned Sockeye. Oh, and I use dill instead of parsley.

Been trying to find a decent sauce/dip to go with them. Just did a simple mix of mayo, sourcream, lemon and dill. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I made a salmon burger with fake sauce gribiche once. Just add chopped hardboiled egg to make it real sauce gribiche.

[SuperPopTart]

With my crab cakes and salmon cakes, I make an absolutely delicious roasted red pepper mayo.


Roasted Red Peppers
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1/8th tsp Salt
3 tbsp Mayo
1 tbsp Sour Cream
Pinch of Crushed, Red Pepper

Hit Blend et voila - Roasted Red Pepper Sauce.

[voodoolily]

For all my Canuck homies, I made some poutine. With sweet potatoes.



Hand-cut the sweet potato into thick steak fries and microwave them with a splash of water for 4 minutes to parcook (this saves a LOT of cooking time). Then toss them in a little vegetable oil and kosher salt and bake them at 450 for about 15 minutes. Whilst the fries are getting brown and crisped of edge, whip up hella fast gravy by spooning a couple globs of demi into a small pan and adding a jam jar of water shaken up with a few spoonfuls of flour (or shake up beef broth with flour in a jar). Simmer for 10 minutes until glossy and thick as a gravy wanna be. Plate the fries, sprinkle on some cheese curds and ladle on the gravy.

[Sky]

I've been doing the little red potatoes like that, a nice trip to the microwave before a hot browning. Really creams up the centers.

That dish looks ridiculously tasty.

[Bunk]

That does look tasty.

I'm looking for ideas for an upcoming work potluck. Either something served cold, or something in a slow cooker. Crowd of about 40.

I was going to just do my favorite Yam/Sweet Potato recipe in the slowcooker, but it's full of pecans and one of my co-workers keels over and dies in the presence of nuts. So I need a nut free idea...

[voodoolily]

That does look tasty.

I'm looking for ideas for an upcoming work potluck. Either something served cold, or something in a slow cooker. Crowd of about 40.

I was going to just do my favorite Yam/Sweet Potato recipe in the slowcooker, but it's full of pecans and one of my co-workers keels over and dies in the presence of nuts. So I need a nut free idea...

You work with a lot of Asians, too, rite? Do pulled pork - you can pick up a pork butt at an Asian grocery for a couple bucks a pound (can get a good sized one for under $10), and then ask someone else to bring baguette, make banh mi (Vietnamese pulled pork sammiches). If you want more details PM me. I usually make something SE Asian because no one else does. Last year I made Thai-style babaganouj (using small Thai eggplant, lime juice and green curry paste for kick).

You could also try doing your regular yam recipe but sub soy "nuts". It won't be exactly the same, but it would still be good.

[Nebu]

I went to a restaurant in Memphis last week that did a wonderful and simple thing with sweet potatoes.  They simply cut them into hunks, combined it with red potato, and baked it with an olive oil/herb brushing.  The crust baking put on the sweet potato made them taste very subtly sweet without it being the overbearing flavor so often associated with sweet potatos. 

[Sky]

That's how I did the aforementioned red potatoes. Now I gotta get some sweet taters.

I also have a work thing coming up, theme is 'comfort food'. Haven't even thought about what I'll make, really should get to it as it's on friday! People are signed up for crap like chips and pretzels. These are apparently very uncomfortable people.

[Nebu]

Homemade Mac & Cheese would be a great dish for a comfort food theme.  So many different ways to make it.  I made a white sauce variant the other night that was very tasty, but WAY too rich. 

[Oz]

I went to a restaurant in Memphis last week that did a wonderful and simple thing with sweet potatoes. 

Ah wish i had known you were in Memphis, Nebu.  could have taken you to some of my fav restaurants hole in the walls and could have given you an insiders tour of St Jude.

[voodoolily]

That's how I did the aforementioned red potatoes. Now I gotta get some sweet taters.

I also have a work thing coming up, theme is 'comfort food'. Haven't even thought about what I'll make, really should get to it as it's on friday! People are signed up for crap like chips and pretzels. These are apparently very uncomfortable people.

Poutine!

[Sky]

Not going to work since I'll only have a microwave on the premises. Going to have to pull out the slowcooker or something. Dunno.

[voodoolily]

What about corn chowder and biscuits?

[Ookii]

One of my former coworkers always made queso and I got his recipe, not sure if you like that up there but we sure love it in Arizona.

I've made Tom Pad (A banana wrapped in coconut rice wrapped in a banana leaf which is then grilled) and Bacon Cupcakes for work events, it all depends on how adventurous your co-workers are.  The Tom Pad went over well at my last place but nobody really touched it at my current job.  For a Thanksgiving potluck I made Yams with some sort of Jack Daniels sauce that I pulled off the net, that one went over really well.

There's always Pasta Salad and 7 Layer Dip. 

[Paelos]

Not going to work since I'll only have a microwave on the premises. Going to have to pull out the slowcooker or something. Dunno.

Slow cooker mac and cheese is usually pretty badass. Also, there's no such thing as leftover mac and cheese. Everyone will dive right in.

[NowhereMan]

and then ask someone else to bring baguette, make banh mi (Vietnamese pulled pork sammiches)

Sorry for the pedantry but I just wanted to point out banh mi is actually Vietnamese bread, pork sandwiches would be banh mi thit. Also fresh bread in Vietnamese is banh mi nomh, which means in Hanoi in the morning you get crowds of old women shouting "Bang me now"

[Bunk]

Good to know, since one of the sales people is Vietnemese and I'd hate to look dumb misnaming it.

I may be the only person in the world that doesn't like homemade mac and cheese. I just can't stand mushy macaroni, and I've never seen anyone manage mac and cheese without it being mushy.

[Sky]

Mac and cheese and queso are already on the list. Corn chowdah might work, though. I'm just bummed out because I waited so long and the list already had most of the easy stuff, but also my fiancee has been sick for three days and I haven't seen her. At this rate I'm actually going to finish Fallout 3 soon, dammit.

VL, I just had to make those gravy fries last night. They were so tasty, but I totally suck at oven frying. I did pre-cook in the nuker (and pre-heat the oven, of course!), but even though I erred on the thinner side of a steak fry (I know my history of oven-frying), they were in there for just over a half-hour. A couple got burned on the edges, a couple came close to a decent texture, but most were still pretty limp. I was going to make them again tonight if my fiancee feels better, but I don't want to serve her fail fries :)

[NowhereMan]

A good lamb stew with home made lamb stock is also a great choice. Just make sure to use good floury potatoes that break up a bit and thicken it. Very simple too, brown some lamb and then boil it in the stock with potatoes, onion and carrot with lots of salt and black pepper. Add some finely chopped parsley for a garnish.

[Nebu]

VL, I just had to make those gravy fries last night. They were so tasty, but I totally suck at oven frying. I did pre-cook in the nuker (and pre-heat the oven, of course!), but even though I erred on the thinner side of a steak fry (I know my history of oven-frying), they were in there for just over a half-hour. A couple got burned on the edges, a couple came close to a decent texture, but most were still pretty limp. I was going to make them again tonight if my fiancee feels better, but I don't want to serve her fail fries :)

The way I do it is to take an aerosolizer (you can get these for like $8 at Target) and just lightly spray the potatos with olive oil.  Bake them at a reasonable temp (350-375 works) and they will crisp on the outside without burning while staying soft inside.  I admit that I tend to like mine a little undercooked, so that may be why I avoid the burning. 

[Ookii]

550, and you called yourself a pizza place!  Wood burning Pizza Ovens get to 800+ degrees. 

[voodoolily]

and then ask someone else to bring baguette, make banh mi (Vietnamese pulled pork sammiches)

Sorry for the pedantry but I just wanted to point out banh mi is actually Vietnamese bread, pork sandwiches would be banh mi thit. Also fresh bread in Vietnamese is banh mi nomh, which means in Hanoi in the morning you get crowds of old women shouting "Bang me now"

Yeah, I know, I just didn't feel like going into the intricacies of the different banh mi. I usually get the ham and pâté one (with extra do chua), personally.

[Signe]

Ham!