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It's Gastronomicon T-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-me

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Gendudehashadenough

07:45 / 04.03.07

At least the picture looked good...

I've actually fallen in love with this Site and have been reading up on crock pot pork recipes in the event I actually get to cook for people.

Psi-L is working in hell

12:34 / 09.03.07

As promised Lula:

Spicy Vegetable Soup with Peanut,

2 medium onions, finely chopped
110g crunchy peanut butter
350g tinned chopped tomatoes
900ml vegetable stock
175g potatoes, peeled and chopped
75g pimentos, drained weight
175g carrots chopped
75ml single cream
cayenne to taste
paprika to taste

to garnish: fresh coriander leaves

Gently cook the onions with the peanut butter and 1 tablespoon of water for 5 mins in a covered saucepan, without colouring. Add the tinned tomatoes, veg stock, potatoes, pimentos and carrots. Cover, bring to the boil and simmer gently until the vegetables are tender. Stir in the cream and cayenne and paprika to taste. Serve sprinkled with fresh coriander leaves.

Sounds yum.

12:37 / 09.03.07

Do you think it needs cream? I keep cooking soup recipes that demand cream only to be left thinking that they would have been improved had I left the cow product out.

Psi-L is working in hell

12:39 / 09.03.07

I doubt it to be honest Boboss...also think you could probably get away with lots more vegetables too, celeray goes really nicely with nuts generally...I shall be experimenting.

jentacular dreams

14:21 / 09.03.07

Whilst we're on the peanut subject:

ZIMBABWE GREENS
Serves 4
1 bunch of spring greens, washed and shredded (add fresh spinach for extra flavour)
1 cup of Water
2 large Tomatoes, cored, chopped
5 Spring onions, sliced (green and white parts)
3 tablespoons of smooth peanut butter
Salt to taste

Finely shred the greens, discarding the toughest parts of the stems. Place in a saucepan with the water. Bring to boil and cook, stirring occasionally, just until greens are crunchy-tender (don't overcook). Drain greens, reserving liquid. Return greens to medium heat; add tomato and onions. Heat through, stirring frequently.

Thin peanut butter with 3/4 cup of the reserved cooking liquid, then add to vegetables. Heat, stirring constantly, until greens have a creamy consistency, adding more reserved liquid if mixture seems too thick. Taste, and add salt if needed.

Excellent with rice or as an accompanyment to senegalese chicken yassa and plain rice or jollof rice (neither of which I have the recipe to hand). When all 3 dishes are served together they are referred to as the African Medley.

14:32 / 09.03.07

My brother used to feed me something very similar, and I can confirm yumminess. Today, though, I recommend Tooty-Frooties.

Closed for Business Time

14:39 / 09.03.07

Apologies if this has been covered gazillions of times before, but I'd really like to invite people to send in their favourite tomato sauce recipes. I just cannot seem to make my tomato sauces tasty enough. Now, don't get me wrong - I make them pretty tasty, but I just know they could be so much better! So post your Tomato Sauce of World Domination and I shall be a happy little cook!

Just to start off with my usual modus operandi for a totally basic TS:
One medium sized yellow onion, not too finely chopped
Loads of garlic, at least 4-5 cloves
Olive oil
Some red pepper, finely chopped
One chili pepper, finely chopped
Herbs - thyme, rosemary, marjory, oregano, basil, bay leaves, preferrably fresh, + salt
Can of chopped tomatoes

I'll sautee the onions first, then add the chili, garlic and peppers and let it cook until soft. Then I'll add the can of chopped tomatoes and the bay leaves. About 10 minutes before I reckon it's done, I'll add the rest of herbs and adjust with salt.
Obviously, if I have meats or veg in it, this'll go in about 5-10 minutes after putting the chopped tomatoes in.
Sometimes I'll add a sprinkle of brown sugar.

HIT ME!

14:49 / 09.03.07

I recommend not using chopped tinned tomatoes, rather go for the unchopped tinned variety and break them up at the end of the process. Cor Blimey Jamie Oliver states that the seeds in chopped tomatoes add a bitter flavour if allowed to stew in the tomato juice throughout the cooking process.

I can confirm that for sweet tomato sauce ol' Cor Blimey Jamie Oliver knows what he's talking about.

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14:52 / 09.03.07

Really? Never thought of that, but now that you say it I seem to recall pros telling me that if I ever use fresh tomatoes I should remove the seeds as well as the skin. Will do, sir!

14:52 / 09.03.07

I also think that, while it can be great to add loads of stuff to tomato sauce, it's nice to go the pure route too. For pizza sauce I only ever use one clove of crushed garlic, some oliver oil, a smidgen of tomato puree and yer bog standard tinned tomatoes. Fresh herbs are used on the topping (basil or oregano - normally one or the other), or stirred in right at the end of the cooking process depending on what it is I'm trying to acheive.

14:55 / 09.03.07

Oh, and the sauce should cook for quite a while - perhaps half an hour to forty-five minutes.

15:00 / 09.03.07

OK. The first one is very heavy duty, but well worth the effort. It freezes well and, again, worth using fresh toms. The addition of lots of parsley and garlic right at the end gives it good pungency, and using a frightening amount of black pepper gives it a serious kick.

Half cup Olive oil
2 cups finely chopped onions
4-5 lbs fresh (pref plum) tomatoes
6 oz Tomato puree (good half cup)
A Pile of basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt
Half (or more) tablespoon fresh ground black pepper
Water
5 plus cloves garlic
Handful of chopped parsley

Pretty much self explanatory, make sure you skin and de-pip the tomatoes (I keep the pulp, salt it and collect the juice to put back in). Put the basil in early. Cook very very slowly for 3-4 hours. Put garlic and parsley in about 5 minutes before it’s done. I spoon it into little bags and freeze individually.

(If I’m making a quicker and easier tom sauce, I’ll grind about half a teaspoon (or slightly less) of coriander seeds for each tin of tomatoes. You don’t want so much that you can actually taste the coriander, but the merest hint of the spice improves the depth of flavour dramatically)

15:00 / 09.03.07

Oooooh oooooh, and sometimes half a capful or so of red wine vinegar is nice.

I tend not to use salt unless I'm using meat or fish. With alot of Italian recipes salt comes in the form of cheese.

jentacular dreams

15:01 / 09.03.07

I usually use chopped tomaters, but add a dash of honey to balance it all out.

15:07 / 09.03.07

Red wine is aces, of course, but expensive.

You guys have got some hardcore sauces going there. Do you always cook like that?

Closed for Business Time

15:10 / 09.03.07

I'm with ya all on the slowly slowly approach - but there's only so much patience in my tummy after work. That said I've been known to leave my chilli con carnes for half a day sometimes.

Carrots and/or celery are both might fine additions, too. Gotta try the coriander seed trick, except I don't have a grinder or mortar+pestle atm. One for the shopping list for sure.

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15:22 / 09.03.07

Oh, this has got to go in here - the yummiest Irish stew ever. Courtesy of my SO.

1 pound of good lamb meat
2 medium onions chopped
Half a garlic finely chopped
2 medium carrots semi-finely chopped
7-8 medium potatoes of the kind where the skin can be left on
Oil
A liberal splash of red wine
Wheat flour
Salt, pepper, parsley
2 cubes of meat stock, or about 4 deciliter of homemade
water

Onions and garlic sauteed until soft, then put in larger pot.
Lamb chopped in bitesized chunks and flung around in a flour+salt+pepper mix, then fried until just brown.
Deglaze the frying pan with stock (in English, add the stock cubes + water, or homemade stock, to the frying pan and boil until all the nice bits come off). I've you've got loads of time - cook very gently for about 2-3 hours, then see below
If not:
Potatoes lightly cooked, then chopped in 2 or three.
Chuck potatoes and wine into a largish pot (where the onions, garlic and meat already languishes) and cook slowly for about 30 minutes. Add carrots and cook for another 15 minutes. Done. Delish.

16:00 / 09.03.07

Psi Lock, I think I love you. I am so, so happy to have this peanut recipe and Boboss, yes it does need the cream. It's utterly perfect soup and I used to live on it.

Closed for Business Time

16:16 / 09.03.07

O'Lula, m'Belle, I respectfully request your tomato-based recipe for saucylicious world domination.

Yours sincerely,
Mos Nolte, Esq.

Psi-L is working in hell

16:19 / 09.03.07

You're welcome Lula.

I agree that half the secret with a tomato sauce is the long cooking time. However a small amount of sugar in any tomato based sauce I find helps enormously.

17:10 / 09.03.07

see I'm totally anti sugar in my tomato sauce.

4 lbs fresh organic to-ma-toes chopped
1/2 cup virgin organic olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 or 1/2 onion (to sneak it by the onion hating spouse)
2 large handfuls of organic fresh basil choped
2 splashes of balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup burgandy
1 fistful of oregano stripped or tied to be removed later
1/2 tablespoon chipotle
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Takes about 4-6 hours to reduce over a decent simmer.
I also toss in herbs hanging around the kitchen and if I don't have any wine adjust the vinegar.

17:39 / 09.03.07

Chipotle? *web-fu* ah, chillies.

I almost always use passata myself, with fresh or tinned toms for texture, loads of basil and oregano and chopped sundried tomatoes if we've got them or just the oil from ones that come in oil.

18:11 / 09.03.07

Hello, you constables of culinary confidence.

I have a vegan friend who's just found ze can't have normal tomato ketchups. Does anyone have any recipes for tomato sauce that's good with chips and the like? Are the tomato sauces already listen in the Gastonomicon okay or are they best for spaghetti's and the like?

18:44 / 09.03.07

they make happy vegan ketchup in the UK

really strange but tasty

18:45 / 09.03.07

But there are plenty of vegan ketchups available.
I was thinking just now actually that tomato sauce is an easy vegan thing to make.

XK- Nomato sauce? Is tomato a dairy product?

18:47 / 09.03.07

ze can't have normal tomato ketchups

Triplets, which bit can't they have?

18:47 / 09.03.07

oh and they have a tomato one too

18:48 / 09.03.07

sorry I assumed it was the sugar as it is super not vegan usually.

19:09 / 09.03.07

Triplets, if you can stomach him, Gary Rhodes once suggested something like this, for one pint of ketchup:

1 clove
1 bay leaf
Half teaspoon coriander seed, knocked about a bit
Half centimetre cinnamon (like a smidge)
250ml cider, white wine or malt vinegar
8 tablespoons demerara or caster sugar
3 lbs fresh tomatoes (after seeding!)
Half teaspoon salt
Half tablespoon English mustard powder
1 clove garlic, crushed
Dash of Tabasco
1 tablespoon tomato puree

Tie the clove, bay, coriander, cinnamon in muslin. Bring vinegar and sugar to a simmer. Add tomatoes and all the other bits and bring to the boil, stirring (or it might stick). Simmer slowly for 40 minutes (stir because it will stick otherwise). Remove the muslin bag and liquidise it thoroughly, then pass through a fine sieve. It should be slightly runnier than you want it. Put it back on the stove and thicken with arrowroot or cornflour, which will stop it separating.

It’s not Heinz, but it’s fun.

19:18 / 09.03.07

Actually, thinking about it, if you seived the seeds out of about 4 cans of good quality tomatoes, it would probably work well. As mentioned above, though, getting the seeds out is important, especially if you're going to liquidise it.

11:57 / 10.03.07

Sibelian's Red Pepper Soup

3-4 red peppers (long, thin ones are v good)
6-7 spring onions
1 red onion
1 x veg stock cube
about 1/2 pint - 1 pint milk, depending on how thick you want it
some cornflour
lots of sage
1.5 - 2 oz butter
some black pepper
1 teaspoon honey
0.5 dessert-spoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon of tabasco sauce
blender

Chop up and fry red peppers and spring and red onions on a low-ish heat. cook and cook until everything is really soft and mushy and the peppers are a bit browned and sticky.

Meanwhile, stick honey, butter and stock cube with vinegar in a mug with a little of the milk in the microwave. Heat and stir into a sticky paste.

Mix sticky paste with sticky peppers and onions. Make all sticky and caramelised... Do not burn! Brown only, but nice and brown.

Transfer fried and caramelised ingredients to soup pot. Add most of milk.

Mix dessert-spoon of cornflour with a little more milk. Mix well! Add to soup pot, to thicken.

Heat rough chopped sticky peppers on medium heat for a bit and get everything to mix well. Then BLEND.

Heat blended soup and reduce to desired consistency. If peppers have been properly cooked so they are all nice and soft and "roasted", soup should not be "gritty" but nice and smooth. Add pepper and sage and tobasco to make nice tasting soup.

Serve with a little bit of cream and parsley, if wished. Especially nice with oatcakes and humus.

Yum!

19:52 / 11.03.07

Made Zimbabwe Greens and ate some.

They were good.

Put 'em in empanadas.

They were even better.

01:25 / 12.03.07

tomato sauce takes time.

i have a large cast aluminium pot about eight litres (an ex-pressure cooker) in which i melt about 100g butter and add a big pinch of salt and cracked pepper on a low to medium heat. add about three or four large onions, fairly finely diced, til very soft (maybe ten - twenty minutes) and just starting to catch and get browned at the edges. sugar can speed this process but is not necessary.

now throw in a couple or several kilos of ripe tomatoes and just a few cloves of garlic roughly chopped and a cinnamon stick - sometimes i add a bay leaf, sometimes other herbs like rosemary. sometimes none. or several, but try not to add too many flavours. the tomatoes have loads! - and turn up the heat a little til the whole mass starts to simmer vigorously.

stir, and turn down to a very low heat, pop on a lid (with mebbe a teeny little gap for excess steam to escape?) and let it simmer very very slowly for about three days. really.

at least thirty hours or more, but the longer the better. i check it every few hours or so (and occasionally turn off if i think i'll be out or asleep too long, but i tend to wake up in the night from the delicious smells and give it a stir) and pop in a small amount of liquid - can be warm water, or red wine, or stock, but i've never used more than maybe a couple of cups of liquid on top of what the ingredients bring. stir that in and wait. and smell...

absolute heaven!

09:19 / 12.03.07

I sometimes cook my tomato sauce for several months in a second hand fuel truck buried at Thvottalaugar in Iceland.

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09:53 / 12.03.07

Talk about slow food... But hey, if you're in Iceland, or somewhere near Yellowstone, you can, I imagine, bury pots of yum in the ground near hot springs and leave them there for weeks. If that is what it takes.

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