Recipes for Cook

Showing posts with label in. Show all posts

Friday, April 11, 2014

More Stuff Baked in a Cupcake

Ive written about it before, but dear God its worth another mention. Bake It In a Cake just got cray cray and featured a funfetti cake ball baked into a chocolate cupcake:

Image via Bake it in a Cake and The Cereal Baker

The Largest Cupcake in the WORLD!

Need I say more, really?

Earlier this week, New Hampshire-based Ryan Abood (owner of Gourmetgiftbaskets.com) stunned the cupcake community with his World Record setting vanilla cupcake:

Photos by AP

The stats
Weight: 1,224 pounds
Calories: Two million
Eggs: 800
Flour/Sugar: 200 pounds each
Flavor: Vanilla
Bake time: 12 hours

You would think the two million calories would turn me off, but really, it doesnt. Theres probably leftovers, right? Where do I get a slice!?!

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Creamy Mushroom Meatloaf – An Experiment in Letting Your Meat Loaf

If you’ve ever said goodbye to someone, and on the way out added a hearty, “Hey, don’t let your meat loaf!” then I just gave you a virtual high-five. In this context however, we’re taking about letting your meat “loaf” for a long time in a low oven, sitting in a rich, creamy shiitake mushroom gravy.

The main point of this exercise was to determine the benefits of cooking a meatloaf and sauce at the same time, in the same pan, but I was also planning on giving you a very nice “three meatloaf” recipe (using beef, pork and veal). Unfortunately, I wasn’t totally thrilled with the results, so you’ll have to wait until I perfect the final formula.

This "Three Meatloaf" recipe was good,
but not Food Wishes good, yet. Stay tuned!

Regardless, this technique will work with just about any meatloaf recipe out there. I really liked how the roasting meatloaf fortified the sauce with its flavorful drippings. The meatloaf was very moist, and seemed to have picked up some nuances from the sauce as well. One negative is you do have to skim a lot of fat off the top, but that seems a small price to pay for a quality one-dish meal.

You can adjust the texture of your gravy by adding more broth if it seems to be drying out during the cooking time, or, like I did, boil the sauce for a few minutes at the end to thicken it up a bit. Anyway, the next time you’re in the mood for meat in loaf form, and a creamy mushroom gravy, I hope you give this tasty technique a try. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter

2 cups sliced shiitake mushrooms

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 tsp minced fresh rosemary

3 tbsp all-purpose flour

2 1/2 cups cold beef broth

1/2 cup cream

1 ready for the oven meatloaf (2-3 pounds)

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

CHUCK ROAST SLOPPY JOES IN THE CROCK POT

When it is hot in Alaska, like it has been this week (85° today, broke an 87 year record), I start thinking about my slow cooker. I certainly do not want to turn on the oven when it gets this hot.

Heat makes me lazy, which is another reason I love my slow cooker..... I just put the meat and veggies in the crock pot, early in the day, and forget about it. Not only does my house smell wonderful, but meal time is a snap; a stack of burger buns next to the crock pot and a bowl of potato salad and I have a meal fit for company (well, MY kind of company any way).

A browned chuck roast cooks low and slow with veggies and seasonings until it is fall-apart-tender. Thicken the sauce a little (right in the crock pot), then put the shredded beef back in and you have a heavenly sandwich.

Personally, I like a swirl of yellow mustard on mine, how do you like yours?

CHUCK ROAST SLOPPY JOES

2 pounds lean beef chuck roast (trim any large fatty areas)
1 cup chopped onion
2/3 cup chopped celery
2/3 cup green pepper
2/3 cup ketchup
½ cup water
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
¼ teaspoon red pepper sauce
1½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon mustard powder

Brown the beef chuck roast in a frying pan, then place in a slow cooker. In the same frying pan, saute the vegetables until the onions are almost transparent. Put the vegetables in the slow cooker.

In a bowl, mix the rest of the ingredients and pour over the meat and veggies. Cook on high for 4 to 5 hours or on low for 8 hours. It isnt necessary, but I turn the meat over a couple of times during cooking and spoon the sauce over the meat.

Thirty minutes (or so) before serving, thicken the sauce with a slurry of 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 1 tablespoon of water. Cut the beef into sandwich slices (or just pull it apart) and top with some of the sauce. OH SO GOOD!!

NOTE: My slow cooker took only 4 hours on high to make the meat extremely tender, but still slice-able. If you like your beef more like pulled pork, cook it on high for 5 hours.

NOTE: Browning the meat and veggies isnt absolutely necessary, but it sure improves the overall taste.

NOTE: This is a re-post of one of my original recipes from 2011.

Friday, February 28, 2014

RAILWAY MUTTON LAMB CURRY IN BBC GOOD FOOD MAGAZINE JULY 2012

My Recipe for RAILWAY MUTTON / LAMB CURRY was selected as the READER RECIPE OF THE MONTH in the July issue of the BBC GOOD FOOD MAGAZINE. As a result I won a special gift Hamper woth Rs 6000.00 from Debenhams. The Hamper contained a 5 piece Spoon Set and a Jamie Oliver Grater Gift set which has both the fine and coarse graters. Wanted to share this lovely bit of news with all the readers and followers of ALL MY BLOGS as well as my Page PRESERVING ANGLO-INDIAN CUISINE on FACE BOOK . Thanks for all your love and support. God bless you all. Bridget

RAILWAY LAMB / MUTTON CURRY

Serves 6 Preparation Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

½ kg mutton or lamb cut into medium size pieces

6 peppercorns

2 big onions sliced

2 pieces cinnamon

2 cloves

2 cardamoms

8 to 10 curry leaves

4 red chilies broken into bits

1teaspoon chillie powder

1teaspoon ginger garlic paste

Salt to taste

2 tablespoons oil

2 tablespoons vinegar or ½ cup of tamarind juice

Wash the meat and mix it with the ginger garlic paste, salt and the chilly powder. Heat oil in a pan and fry the onions, curry leaves, red chillies and spices till golden brown. Add the meat and mix well. Fry for a few minutes. Add the vinegar / Tamarind juice and sufficient water and cook on medium heat till the meat is done. Keep frying till the gravy is thick and dark brown.

Note: Substitute beef for lamb / mutton if desired.

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Sunday, February 23, 2014

In October Drinking Horchata

I met Vampire Weekend once, did you know? Yeah, it was no big deal. Kyle and I were just strolling through D.C. near the White House one afternoon and there was the whole band just goofing off in a little security hut or something PERFECTLY legal like that. When I recognized Ezra, I did what I usually do when I see celebrities and freaked out, ran over to them, shoved my camera in Kyles hand and forced him to take a picture. Turns out they were playing a show that night that I didnt get tickets for. And then they gave me free tickets!!!

Just kidding. They didnt. But they were really nice and totally normal dudes. Except for the fact that one time they wrote a song about a non-alcoholic drink, and really, what ELSE are you supposed to do when youre talking about cinnamon-y, creamy, sweet horchata?!

Lez-be-honest...Ive actually never had horchata before. But I was re-looking-at (not reading, because pretty girls dont do that) my copy of Its All Good and came across Gwynnies interpretation of the yummy Mexican drink and decided to try it. In October. In 50-degree weather. Even though its a summer drink. Im playing fast and loose with my seasonal beverages yall!!! Im like Miley Cyrus--I.CANT.STOP.

Horchata is basically like a sweeter, spicier version of almond milk. So if you like that stuff, youll probably be into this. And if youre an alcoholic, you can add some rum or kahlua to it and get drunk in a more exotic way than usual (well, like, unless youre an alcoholic Jamaican or something).

Horchata (yes, its Paleo!)

Makes 2 servings

1 cup soaked almonds (soak the almond in water overnight)
1-2 cups cold water
1 vanilla bean
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 Tbsp raw honey

1. In a blender, blend almonds (drained from soaking water) and 1 cup of cold water until smooth. You may need more water if the consistency is too thick.

2. Pour almond milk through a fine mesh sieve or a nut milk bag to get the pulp out. By now youre probably wondering why I dont just tell you to use pre-made almond milk and the truth is, you probably could, but the whole thing about horchata is that you make it yourself, so I dunno...do what you want.

3. Return the almond milk back to the blender and combine with the seeds from the vanilla bean, cinnamon, salt, and raw honey and blend until well combined.

4. Serve chilled. Or maybe hot? I dunno.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Canned Cheeseburgers How do you say WTF in German

As the old cliché goes, you just cant make this stuff up. The photo you see here has not been doctored. Its directly from the German website Trekking-Mahlzeiten, which offers ready-made meals for hikers. Theyre selling, for $3.95 euros each, a canned cheeseburger. Of all the food products Ive wished existed, I can say that a canned cheeseburger has never crossed my mind. Ive added a link to the site in hopes that someone orders one, and writes a review for the site. Frankly, I just dont have the guts to try one myself.

As disturbing as the thought of a canned cheeseburger is, what really bothers me about the photo are the garnishes. Im assuming it doesnt come dressed with lettuce and tomato, and that these are just "serving suggestions" to make the whole thing seem less horrible. But, cucumbers? Cucumbers? Do Germans put cucumbers on their cheeseburgers? Imagine the shame for the citizens of Hamburg. Its enough to make you want to move to Frankfurt.

UPDATE!!!
Thanks to a tip from scallywag, here is a live taste test of the above mentioned canned cheeseburger! I dont speak German, but you really dont have to in order to understand this review. Enjoy?

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Chicken in Roasted Garlic Paprika Sauce

I had a little accident with this sauce; I used some fresh paprika peppers from an assortment of peppers I was growing out from seeds we picked up in Hungary a few years back. My assumption was that they were all reasonably sweet peppers. That assumption, it turned out, was quite, quite wrong. At least one of them was a humdinger of a hot pepper. Everybody still thought this was delicious, some of us because of the hot pepper, and some of us despite the hot pepper. Ill have to try it again with a little more attention to which peppers I am using.

As usual, salt will depend on whether your stock was salted or not, but if not, then try about half a teaspoon of it.

4 to 6 servings
1 hour 45 minutes - 30 minutes prep time

3 heads of garlic
2 cups chopped fresh sweet red peppers
8 large (1.5 kilos; 3 pounds) skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon smoked sweet Spanish or Hungarian paprika
salt to taste
1 tablespoon sherry
1 teaspoon honey

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Trim the garlic heads (HEADS, not cloves), and wrap them in foil. Roast them for about half an hour, until tender.

Meanwhile, wash, core and chop the peppers. Thick-walled peppers are best; such as Alma paprika, but Red Shepherd is widely available and should do. Put the peppers in a roasting pan, and arrange the chicken pieces over them. Pour on the stock, and put them in the oven with the garlic. At this point, the garlic should be ready in 15 or 20 minutes; at that point remove it and reduce the heat to 350°F. (If the garlic isnt quite done, just leave it in until it is, but do reduce the heat.)

Once the peppers are very soft, in about 45 minutes, remove the pan from the oven. Remove all the peppers into a food processor, and as much of the chicken stock as you can as well. Return the chicken pieces to the oven to continue cooking while you make the sauce.

Squeeze the garlic out of the heads into the food processor, and discard the papery hulls. Add the flour, paprika, salt to taste - this will depend very much on whether your chicken stock was salted or not - the sherry, and the honey. Purée until very smooth. Pull the chicken out of the oven again, and pour the sauce evenly over it. Return it to the oven for another 15 or 20 minutes, until the sauce is thickened and bubbly.

Last year at this time I made Vaguely Asian Cabbage Salad.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Fritters in Syrup Lugmet El Qadi العوامــــــــــه او لقمت القاضي

Lugmet El Qadi, literally "The Judges Mouthful," is a fried dessert made in much of the Arab world, known by many names including Zalabia and Awammeh. They are basically Arabic doughnuts, only bite-size. Once placed in oil, the batter puffs up into crisp golden balls.

When done, they should be soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside. Before serving the fritters are doused in sugar syrup. To decorate, roll the fritters in confectioners sugar, a blend of sugar and cinnamon, dessicated coconut, or ground pistachios.

Ingredients

Serves 6

Sugar Syrup

2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1 tbspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon rose or orange blossom water

Batter

4 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 pack instant dry yeast + 1tbspoone sugar

2 2/3 cups water

Vegetable oil for frying

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in 1/2 cup warm water. Set aside in warm place until frothy, about 10 minutes.

Put flour and salt in a bowl and pour in the yeast mixture, and the rest of the water, stirring the liquid in. Process until the mixture is smooth.

It should be thick but gooey. If it is too thick, add more water. Cover, leave in a warm place for two hours. Meanwhile, make the sugar syrup.

Place the sugar, water and lemon in a saucepan and simmer for about 20 minutes. Add the rose or orange blossom water at the end. Set aside.

Dip a teaspoon in cold water, and shake all the water off. Scoop into batter and use to drop small balls of batter into hot oil. Fill the skillet and then move them around.

When golden brown, remove and place in a sieve or absorbent paper.

Pour sugar syrup on top, so they are coated from all sides.

Roll in confectioners sugar or dessicated coconut.

Serve immediately.

Monday, February 3, 2014

Diwali Special Recipes all in one place

Wishing all my blog followers,friends, near, dear and well wishers a Happy and safe diwali!!!!

Happy Diwali
Here are the list of Diwali recipe Ideas. (Deepavali or Dipawali or Dipavali) On Diwali generally sweets are preferred. I hope this is helpful to you.

Bundi Laddu