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

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18:22 / 12.04.04

Invented this on Saturday, served Sunday evening as part of dessert for family Easter meal.

It's special sauce for ice cream, based on the flavoring for an OK rice pudding.

I took about 1/2 cup of milk, equal amount of honey/molasses/corn syrup all mixed together, then simmered for a long time with a bit of ground nutmeg and eight or so bust-open & bruised cardamon pods. Added a couple pinches of cinnamon for the hell of it. Oh, and a spodge (just under a Tbsp) of butter, but I don't think that was necessary, or even helpful.

After an hour or two simmering, it turned brown, reduced down to about half its volume and was great warmed up and spooned over vanilla. Indian spiced caramel, I think I should call it.

Made the kitchen smell delicious.

19:27 / 12.04.04

I'm all about slow-roasted tomatoes at the moment. The flavour is so deep and rich. Anyone who likes tomatoes MUST try them this way. Here it is:

1. Quarter your tomatoes and place on a baking tray.
2. Cut a slit across each quarter and insert a sliver of garlic.
3. Drizzle balsamic vinegar and olive oil over each quarter.
4. Bake at around 120c for 2 hours.

You can eat them in various ways and add various things. The simple way is just to cook some pasta, toss it in a little oil, then mix in the tomatoes and some fresh basil, salt and pepper. To make it a bit healthier I usually cube some tofu, marinate it (most commonly the way Ariadne mentioned upthread) and throw that in the oven half an hour towards the end, then mix it through the pasta with the rest.

You can also do the lazy version and put the tomatoes under the grill for half an hour, which is almost as good. Today I was lazy so I did the tomatoes this way and fried some tofu with shallots then mixed it all through some spaghetti (wholemeal of course - much more tasty, not to mention healthy).

Yum!

gotham island fae

23:37 / 20.04.04

Just finished some veggie lasagna.

Shred two medium cucumbers.
Chop one green pepper.
Chop one onion.
Slice/chop fresh mushrooms.
Chop one large broccolli cluster into halved ... (spears?) whatever the branches are called.
Shred mozzarella cheese block (um, I think it was 10 oz.)

Toss all that together in a big ass mixing bowl.

Boil one box of lasagna noodles to proper non-too-chewiness in water and a little vegetable oil.

As that boils stir some oregano, chili powder, garlic powder and basil into two cans of tomato sauce mixed in a smaller-ass mixing bowl and shred half a block of marble cheddar.

When noodles are done, lay one layer on the bottom of a rectangular, glass oven pan, sprayed with no-stick spray. Grab some of the veggie mix, lay it on top. Spoon sauce til covered. Repeat til ingrediants/space are gone. On the last layer of noodles, spoon sauce and sprinkle cheddar generously.

Cook for about half an hour to forty-five minutes at 425 degrees.

23:47 / 20.04.04

not to be american or anything, but what the hell is an 'aubergine'? (i know i could prolly just google it, but i figure y'all will have more interesting things to say about them).

01:04 / 21.04.04

It's eggplant.

Goodness Gracious Meme

01:09 / 21.04.04

*sings*

you say 'eggplant', I say 'aubergine'
you say 'zucchini', I say 'courgette'
eggplant, aubergine
zucchini, courgette...

let's call the whole thing off...
(sorry, persephone. that's the dealbreaker)

just popping up to say i tried Loomis' vegan salad and it is fucking dee-lish. I added some toasted sunlower seesd which work v.well... but yes, highly recommend. mmmm.

01:15 / 21.04.04

Besides, there's the brain damage.

01:24 / 21.04.04

Ugh, I managed to leech out all the flavor from tofu. Some people think that tofu has no flavor, but it does. I'm very picky about it being very fresh, but sometimes you can extend its life by changing the water... but this tofu's been around, and I guess I changed the water too many times. It tasted like sponge! Does sponge taste like anything?

Anyway, I'm working on a new recipe for sesame kale with tofu. I have just bought fresh tofu.

16:38 / 26.04.04

I might have posted this before, but I'm waiting to go to the pub and I'm bored, so wotthehell...

This recipe is of no interest to vegans, vegetarians or anyone who doesn't like anchovies.

Infinitely adjustable 5-minute (max) anchovy pasta sauce

Garlic
Anchovies in oil (drain the oil before you use them though, as much as possible)
Passata
Black pepper to season

Chop the garlic up and fry it until it goes deep yellow. Add the anchovies and stir them until they melt. You must not do this over a high heat or leave them, as they will burn and you will have a stinky black mess - not v. appetising. Now they have melted, add passata and stir in. Leave to bubble for a bit, add pepper and use as pasta sauce. There is no need to add any salt whatsoever, unless you habitually drink bottled Dead Sea water.

The reason it is infinitely adjustable is that you can vary the quantity of any of the ingredients according to taste and the number of people you need to serve. I use 2/3 cloves of garlic, a tin of anchovies and a hefty dollop of passata for two people, but this is quite a strong version - you could use most of a tetrapack of tomato for a less palate-thumping dinner.

16:48 / 26.04.04

On closer inspection I see I have posted that before, but interestingly that time I advocated adding more passata - my tastebuds must have become hardened over the last year...

17:09 / 26.04.04

Because I had to look it up myself: what passata is.

10:09 / 27.04.04

I'm just curious as to everyone's porridge-making techniques. Someone has just asked me how to make it (though how you can go through life without porridge making skills escapes me), but I think I make it strangely.

I cook it with 3 cups of water to 1 of oats and a pinch of salt, and add the milk when eating it, and pile on sugar as you go.

But I'm led to believe that it's normal to cook the milk in with the oats, and not add more when serving. But then you dont get the contrast of hot and cold that's oh-so-good.

So which way is normal?

10:12 / 27.04.04

Cook it with milk but add cream and golden syrup whilst eating it. Awful for your arteries, but yummy all the same.

10:30 / 27.04.04

You're just Scottish, gingerbop - in Scotland it's normal to cook it in water. I cook it exactly like you do.

11:00 / 27.04.04

The problem with porridge is if you don't wash up immediately the porridge hardens into the toughest material known to mankind. This makes doing the washing up a real bastard. Other than that porridge is truly the food of the gods.
I recently obtained a lean mean fat reducing grilling machine and it is a revolution in cooking. I'm having pork chops tonight, marinated in a spicy garlic sauce thing, luvverly.

11:09 / 27.04.04

Ah, but if you fill the pot with water and leave it you get a really weird, floppy skin forming that's simultaneously vile and lovely.

11:16 / 27.04.04

I read your popst too quickly Phyrephox, and I thought you were suggesting cooking porridge in your George Foreman machine. Lean mean porridge - there's an idea.

Goodness Gracious Meme

16:19 / 27.04.04

i like it. headbuts you, then runs off in a sprighly 'lean mean' manner.

pointless and uncalled for

18:58 / 28.04.04

Pork Chops, an oft under-rated food.

Easy style.

Cut up root vegetables to feed your horde, preferably into wedge shapes. Include pears in this because they roast very well.

Mix some oil (medium olive for preference) with a pinch of salt some ground pepper, some lime juice, herbs du jour (tarragon and coriander should be at the top of the list here) and some bruised garlic cloves (do not chop).

Coat your chop/s and veggies in the mix and place on a baking sheet. Cook at about 200oC for 40 mins to an hour depending onhow you like your veg, the chop should be good after 30 mins.

5-10 mins before the end it's advisable to drain the tray and this can be used for gravy if you are so inclined.

Once done this dish is best served with a robust white wine or cider if you like that sort of thing.

Difficult style

Mix up some stuffing and place this on top of the chop.

Roast as above.

Serve with a hot tomato sauce of your own choosing and steamed potatos.

The difficult bit is the stuffing as the consistency will be difficult to get right first time. Aim for gooey rather than watery or crumbly and all should be well. If you don't succeed then have another crack tomorrow night.

This is more of a light beer meal.

22:54 / 29.04.04

Palmito Salad

juice of one lime
white wine vinegar
olive oil
small cabbage
parsley
hearts of palm
canned or pickled beets
avocado

Whisk together lime juice with equal parts vinegar and oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Finely slice the cabbage --you want shreds of cabbage about 1/8-inch wide and 2 inches long. Chop up a handful of parsley. Mix cabbage and parsley in a bowl and lightly dress with the lime vinaigrette.

Put cabbage on serving plates and top with sliced hearts of palm, beets, and avocado.

Makes four servings.

pointless and uncalled for

18:39 / 02.05.04

Gastronomical tip.

Buy a blender. Along with the many other uses it will vastly improve your tomato sauce prospects. Take your tin of tomatoes, blend and then push through a seive with a spoon. The end result will be a nice smooth liquid which will give your food that restaurant quality.

Goodness Gracious Meme

22:46 / 02.05.04

mmm. seconded. two words:

smoothy

soup.

Ex

17:14 / 04.05.04

It's not gastronomic rocket science, but running out of olive oil last week made me rediscover how nice frying everything in butter tastes. Leek risotto, when the leeks are fried in butter, is heavenly. Although possibly a little too salty for some.
I will post my infallible chocolate truffle recipe when I have a moment.

Tryphena Absent

17:49 / 04.05.04

Polish meatballs

1 onion
2 sausages
pork/turkey mince
half a jar of passata
1/8 pint of stock

Chop the onion up as fine as you can get it and stick it all in a large bowl. Add the pork mince to it, get your sausages and squeeze the meat out of them and in to the bowl, throw the skins away in yer rubbish bin. Mix it all together with your hands until all of the ingredients are mixed together in a big squishy mess, season with whatever you feel suits the flavour. Then roll the squish in to a load of medium sized meatballs, coat them lightly with flour and then fry them in to shape so that they go white and don't dissolve in to weirdness later.

Get a pyrex dish, put your fried meatballs in to it, pour the passata over them so they're just about covered evenly and add the stock (dissolved in water) to make it a bit more liquidy. Put the whole darn thing in the oven for 40-60 minutes at about 200 wotsits (gas mark 6?). Serve with rice for 2 or 3 people depending how greedy your feeling than thank my mum for telling me how to make them.

Regrettable Juvenilia

18:13 / 04.05.04

I can attest to the quality of those meatballs.

"How d'ya like them meatballs?"

Well I like them very much.

pointless and uncalled for

06:28 / 05.05.04

Anyone got any direction on Chicken Livers?

I see them dirt cheap in the supermarket but, short of pate, I know of know way to use them.

Surely there has to be some tasty way of preparing them.

Goodness Gracious Meme

09:39 / 05.05.04

Flash fried in butter and a bit o white wine, maybe? (like yr gonna take advice from a veggie, but i'm sure i know someone who does 'em like this. some of my best friends eat meat)

just want attest to the gloriousness of Loomis' tofu/sweet potato/pasta salad. cooked last night= 3 very happy campers.

it's *lush* and finally I can cook something tasty with tofu.

Thankyou Loomis, you are my new hero.

pointless and uncalled for

09:57 / 05.05.04

Tofu is really easy to work with, espcially in eastern cuisine.

To begin with I recommend replacing chicken and fish with it in any recipies. Sometimes you'll have to be a bit creative with preperation but it's not that difficult and can be fun. Also get some packets of deep fried tofu and chuck it in a stir-fry. Works a treat I can assure you.

I'll take advice from a veggie. My mum has been one for 20 years and still cooks meat to perfection. She also gaveme a deep appreciation for vegetarian food as I was a passive veggie for most of my childhood.

Goodness Gracious Meme

10:08 / 05.05.04

You'd be justified in not taking advice from me as I've never cooked meat, though!

I've gotten very into flouring tofu before cooking it, (sometimes mixing spices/pepper wtih the flour) - seems to give a good consistency...

Back on the livers, this sounds pretty lush to me, reckon the flavours would work well:

Hot Chicken Liver and Fennel Salad

Ingredients
4 cups spinach, rinsed and chopped
1 bulb fennel - trimmed, quartered and sliced
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound chicken livers, trimmed and sliced
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon capers, chopped
4 anchovy filets, rinsed and chopped
1 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Method
1 Divide spinach between 4 salad plates.
2 In a large deep skillet, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat; add fennel and cook for about 3 minutes or until tender. Remove from skillet; set aside.
3 In same skillet, heat remaining butter with olive oil; add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add chicken livers; cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until no longer pink in center.
4 Return fennel to skillet. Add stock, anchovies, capers, sage, salt and pepper; cook over high heat for 2 to 3 minutes or until sauce is reduced slightly.
5 Spoon mixture over individual salads and garnish with fennel leaves. Serve immediately.

serves 4

Let me know if you do this one, as I'd be curious as to how it tastes...

13:59 / 06.05.04

Aw shucks BiP - don't thank me, thank the tofu. It is your friend. Delicious any way, any how, but particularly when baked. I also lay claim to making a delicious scrambled tofu but have to run off now. Will post it later.

14:30 / 06.05.04

My fave tofu recipe is one pack of Doll Noodles (got to be Doll, known of the other soup sachets have the right quality of radioactivity) from the Chinese supermarket, tofu, chopped into cubes, mushrooms and one green chilli. Make the soup, boil noodles in it, when the soften, add the other ingredients and let them warm through. It's pretty primitive, but then again, so am I.

VEGGIES WILL WANT TO SKIP THIS NEXT BIT

Gingerbop asked upthread about cooking chicken - IMO, the best way, short of making a curry, is to cook it in a griddle pan. That's one of those thick, ridged, cast iron frying pans. You need thighs, and you need to debone 'em. Work of a few minutes when you get used to it. If you're sensible and organised, you'll do this is in the morning, and you can leave them to marniate in the fridge with in olive oil with chopped garlic, woody herbs like thyme or rosemary and salt and pepper. Get the griddle pan very hot, till it smokes and then slap on your chicken pressing down with a spatuala or wooden spoon. Approx 4-5 minutes on each side. You can test for doneness by cutting one piece open - any redness or blood, it needs another minute. Squirt it with half a lemon at the last moment and tip over the pan juices. Delish. I normally serve this with taboleuh (sp?) - bulgur wheat with loadsa parsley, mint, tomatoes and more olive oil and lemon - and baked potatoes.

Warning: You'd better have a bloody big open window or a fan - this makes the kitchen smokey as hell.

19:49 / 06.05.04

Scrambled tofu

Ingredients:
1 block of firm tofu
oil for frying
garlic
chili
paprika
italian herbs
spring onions (any kind of onion-relative will do)
1 red pepper
sun dried tomatoes (chopped very small)
corn kernels

1. Mash the tofu in a bowl with a fork and get the bits as small as you can.
2. Fry tofu, garlic, chili, paprika in the oil for a few minutes.
3. Add chopped pepper and spring onions. Fry for another few minutes.
4. Add sun-dried toms, corn kernels and Italian herbs. Fry for another few minutes.
5. Scoff with some toast.

18:45 / 08.05.04

Oat Blintzes

1 egg
2 egg whites
1/4 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup oats
1 tablespoon sugar
dash of vanilla extract

Put all ingredients in food processor or blender; blend until smooth. Drop quarter-cupfuls of batter on a lightly buttered skillet over medium-high heat. Bake until edges look dry and bubbles form in center of blintzes. Flip and bake a minute or two more.

Serve with jam or applesauce.

Makes two servings.

19:01 / 08.05.04

Here's what to do with those two egg yolks:

Yellow Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sour cream
1 egg
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Take out the butter, sour cream, and eggs ahead of time & let them get to room temperature. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients in mixer bowl. Add wet ingredients and beat until smooth. Scoop batter into lined 12-cup muffin tin. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cupcakes comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool cupcakes to room temperature; frost and serve.

Makes twelve cupcakes.

Goodness Gracious Meme

09:52 / 13.05.04

Cooked this last night, to general veggie/vegan happiness. (Ariadne/Loomis, I'm sorry, but I had to spoil it with dairy-creamy mash. Can you forgive me?)

Flat Mushrooms Stuffed with Roast Tofu and Shallots

INGREDIENTS

6 large flat mushrooms, ideally slightly cupped for stuffing.
350 g / 12 oz firm tofu
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp (veggie) worcestershire sauce
225 g / 8 oz shallots, peeled and quartered
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Pinch chilli powder
Salt and pepper

Marinade
150 ml / 5 fl oz dark soy sauce
150 ml / 5 fl oz red wine
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 cm / 1/2 inch fresh root ginger, finely chopped

METHOD
Mix together the marinade ingredients.

Cut the tofu into 32 small cubes, place in a dish and pour the marinade over it. Leave in the fridge for a couple of hours. Can leave it overnight, but add a little salt.

Put the olive oil, garlic, chilli and seasoning in a blender and process until combined. Brush the mushrooms with the oil and garlic mixture. Set aside

Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7.

Drain off the marinade(if you're me, you bottle it in an airtight container, it'll keep for a few days, and who can waste that much wine/soy?), gently turn the tofu cubes in the sesame oil and worcs. sauce, season and arrange with the shallots on a baking sheet. Roast for about 30 minutes or until the tofu is just crisp on the outside and the shallots are tender but not squashy.

Transfer the mushrooms to a baking dish and divide the roast shallot and tofu equally between them. There should be a little mountain of stuffing in each one. Return to oven for 20 minutes until sizzling hot.

Serves 3-4

***********

Dee-lish. I served with sour cream/mustard mash, onion gravy(use a little of the marinade to as base) and a leafy salad.

You could top these with cheese at during the last 20mins of baking, suspect that would be delish, suggest smoked cheddar.

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