Steve's Hummus Recipe

Ingredients:

1lb dried garbanzo beans

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 medium onion, peeled & halved

2 carrots

2 celery stalks

4 bay leaves

1 bulb of garlic

1/3 cup lemon juice

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp salt

300g tahini (about 10 ozs or 1 1/4 cups)

1. Soak the beans overnight in water with the salt and the baking soda. Drain and rinse
2. Add the beans, onion, carrots celery and bay leaves with around 4 quarts of water, enough to cover the beans and then some
3. Bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer. You may need to skim the foam from the top as the water comes to a boil so that the bay leaves are actually in the water, not sitting on top
4. Simmer until the beans are very soft, about two hours. I take a couple of spoonfuls of beans out after about 30 minutes to use as garnish. Check the water level occasionally and top up if the beans are getting dry.
5. While the beans are cooking, make the garlic tahini sauce as follows:
1. Separate the garlic into individual cloves and remove as much of the papery skin as will come off as you do so. You can peel the garlic cloves completely, but I don't usually bother as everything ends up in the blender anyway. 
2. In a blender (preferably) or food processor, add the garlic cloves, lemon juice, cumin and tahini and process, adding enough water as you go to keep the mixture loose. You're looking for a texture that will make ribbons when you dip a spoon into it. The exact amount of water will vary with the kind of tahini you are using, so there's no exact quantity. Blend until very smooth, as smooth as you can get it.
6. When the beans are ready, discard the onion, celery and bay leaves, but keep the carrot. Drain, reserving the cooking water.
7. Add the beans/carrot mix to the blender/food processor and process until smooth, adding a little of the cooking water to make a creamy texture. If your processor can't hold all the beans in one go, just make two batches and mix together at the end. The mixture will firm up a little as it cools, so bear that in mind when you're mixing
8. Salt to taste, and set aside to cool. 
9. Serve in a bowl with some of the reserved garbanzos sprinkled on top and a splash of olive oil. I peel the garbanzos by rubbing them between my fingers, but it's not essential, I just think it looks better.
10. Garnish with whatever spice takes your fancy, ras al hanout, smoked paprika, cumin, chili powder, coriander all work well but any flavor that you like will work just great.

Eight Treasure Porridge

Main Ingredients:

1) 1/2 cup of short-grained white glutinous rice. Also called sweet rice.

2) One tablespoon of millet (traditional ingredients are lotus seeds, which I don't like.)

3) 1 tablespoon mung beans

4) 1 tablespoon Adzuki red beans

5) 1 tablespoon raw peanuts

6) 1 tablespoon of raw walnuts

7) 3 Aldi's Medjool dates (sliced thin)

8) One tablespoons of golden raisins (traditional ingredients are dried longan, only available at Asian grocery stores). 

Cooking method:

1) Soak Adzuki beans, mung beans, sweet rice, millet, peanuts and walnuts in a big bowl overnight. Drain well.

 2) Place the drained ingredients, sliced dates and 6 cups of water in a pot. Bring to a boil. After 15 minutes, reduce the heat to low and simmer (covered) for 1.5 hours until all the goodies are softened. Stir occasionally as they turn to get stuck at the bottom.

3) Stir in the golden raisins. Turn off the heat and steam for 8 minutes (with the lid on).

It's traditionally served with rock sugar or brown sugar or honey. I prefer mine plain and just sprinkle on toasted sesame seeds & one grind of sea salt.

Anon-T Chickpea Salad

TxMs: RE: Chickpea - Quite easy.

Thread here.

First, get a big-a** bowl... I build enough for a week (though it's all gone today?)
3 big cans [I use 29oz Goya brand] of chickpeas drained
1 bunch green-onions finely sliced
5 or 6 diced Roma tomatoes*
1 cucumber diced (DW isn't a cuke fan, use more if you are)*
Bunch of parsley finely chopped*
3 little cans of sliced black olives
Black pepper to taste
6 tablespoons or so of olive oil
6 or so (to taste) tablespoons red-wine vinegar
Juice of 1/2 lemon.

Mix and let sit in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. Stuff into pita bread or just eat out of a bowl.

There's really not much to the basic tomato/cuke/chickpea/parsley salad. Add whatever you like. The above is a modification of the original DW read in Southern Living years back.

Kathy's Miso Salmon

(See thread here)

Miso Salmon recipe.

Preheat broiler. Spray the pan with PAM.

For sauce combine ¼ cup white (mild) miso, 4 tsp. rice vinegar, 2 tsp minced fresh ginger.

Broil salmon 5 minutes. (If the salmon has skin on it I broil it 1 minute and remove the skin and then broil it 4 minutes more.)

Top with half the sauce and broil 1 minute.

Turn and cover with remaining sauce, broil 3 or 4 minutes or so until done, depending on the thickness.

I like mine served on top of rice because the sauce flavors the rice so well.

Lucina Flan Recipe

See thread here

MJ (I believe that's who asked for this recipe)here is the flan recipe I use. There are many variations available that call for many more eggs and other changes. The only change I made on this one is using 1 cup sweet milk (Eagle or Lechera brand) and 1 cup regular milk mixed together for a richer flavor.

1/3 cup sugar 1 1/2 inches stick cinnamon
4 eggs 3/4 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sugar 3 whole strawberries, sliced (optional)
2 cups milk Mint leaves (optional)

To carmelize sugar, in a small heavy skillet heat the 1/3 cup sugar over medium heat until the sugar begins to melt (do not stir until sugar begins melting). Cook and stir for 4 to 5 minutes or until the sugar turns a rich brown. Remove skillet from heat and immediately pour caramelized sugar into an 8 X 1 1/2 inch round baking pan. (I save aluminum pie pans for this purpose.) But any pie pan will do.

In a large mixing bowl beat eggs with a rotary beater, gradually adding the 1/2 cup sugar. Meantime, in a saucepan, heat milk and stick cinnamon over medium heat until mixture bubbles. Remove cinnamon. Slowly add milk to egg mixture, stirring constantly. Stir in vanilla.

Place 13 X 9 X 2 inch baking pan on an oven rack. Pour egg mixture into round pan. Place round pan into the larger one. Pour the hottest water available into the 13X9X2 pan (to surround the flan pan) to a depth of about 1/2 inch. I boil the water in a tea kettle.

Bake, uncovered, in a 325 deg. oven, about 30-35 minutes or until a knife inserted halfway between the center and edge comes out clean. Carefully remove pan from hot water. Cool on a wire rack. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 2 hours.

To unmold flan, loosen the edges with a spatula and slip end of spatula down sides of pan to let in air. Invert flan onto a serving platter. Spoon caramel mixture that remains in pan on top. Garnish with strawberries and mint leaves, if desired. Makes 6 servings.

Enjoy! If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me.

Jayce’s Yam-Apple Recipe

Butter a baking dish. I used a 12 by 8 by 2 inch glass dish for 6 people.

Boil sweet potatoes or yams (enough of them for the number of people who are being fed) for about 5 - 10 minutes, just enough to make them easy to peel but not totally cook them. Peel them and slice them into slices that are about 1/4 inch thick.

Peel and core some apples. I use tart apples, the kind that are used to make apple pie. Use the same number of apples as the number of yams, or maybe one or two more if the yams are much larger than the apples. Slice them into thin (1/8 inch) slices.

Cut a stick of butter into many very thin slices. 

Lay a layer of yam slices on the bottom of the baking pan. Sprinkle the layer with some brown sugar, cinnamon, and allspice. Lay some butter slices over that. Now lay a layer of apple slices over that, and sprinkle with the sugar and spices. Add another layer of sliced butter. Repeat until all the potatoes, apples, and butter are used. Finish with a thicker layer of sugar and spices on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes until the potatoes are soft. You can test if they are soft by sticking a fork into them. The juice from the apples keeps everything moist, not dry. The sugar on top will be crusty brown.

Blue Hen's Cheater's Risotto

“CHEATER’S” RISOTTO

FORWARD: I was introduced to this technique by the chef at our favorite restaurant, which specializes in Northern Italian cuisine. This particular day they were having a “behind the scenes” wine dinner where everyone was invited into the kitchen to watch Chef Tanner prepare the dishes we were to enjoy. The appetizer was grilled day boat scallops over a bed of risotto. That appetizer is a great favorite there, so I was anxious to see how it could be done on an industrial scale for 100+ diners, all at once. “How many here know how to make risotto?” he asked. Over half of us raised our hands. “How long does it take to cook risotto?” 20-25 minutes was the chorus. “Well, obviously I don’t have time for that”. His risotto is very good, so I wanted to see what trick he had up his sleeve. He pulled a 5 gallon bucket of cooked and cooled plain white rice out of the walk-in cooler, scooped out a big saucepan full. To this, over heat, he added a lot of light cream and handfuls of parmesan cheese. When the cream was bubbly and the cheese melted, he turned to the gallery for questions. I had to ask if this was the way he always made risotto and he assured me it was. I told him flat out, “Chef, I have had your risotto several times before and I have a hard time believing that’s the way you’ve made it.” With that he invited me to the stove and handed me a tasting spoon. I tried it. It was excellent. I turned to the rest of the diner’s and said “I’m never stirring risotto for 20 minutes again”. And I still haven’t. Here’s how I make my porcini risotto the lazy cook’s way.


INGREDIENTS: For four generous portions:

1 cup of rice. Any kind will do. You don’t have to pay a premium for Arborio or its imported short grain cousins. I like the texture and flavor of brown rice and use that.


2 cups of liquid. H2O, chicken stock, etc. I use beef stock for porcini risotto.


1 Tbsp butter.

1 Tbsp minced dried onion.

1tsp minced dried garlic.

¼ cup dried porcini, broken into smaller pieces and rehydrated in ½ cup dry white wine or more stock if you prefer. .

App. ½ cup cream (I use heavy cream).

App. ½ cup grated cheese. Parmesan is the classic, but I prefer Pecorino Romano. Grana Padana and even generic “grated dry cheese” from the supermarket will work. It’s all good.

ASSEMBLY: This couldn’t be easier. Dump all ingredients except the cream and cheese into a saucepan. Include the wine the mushrooms were reconstituting in. Crank up the heat to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer. Stir occasionally if you wish. When the rice is cooked and all liquid absorbed, mix in the cream and cheese. Let it come back up to heat, but it’s best to not let it boil again. Taste and adjust seasonings, it will surely need salt. Serve and enjoy.




(Original thread here. Peg Slay also had a recipe at 12:27pm.)

Overnight Oats

Ingredients:

Half cup of Quaker Oats Old-Fashioned rolled oats

One teaspoon of chia seeds

One teaspoon of raisins

One tablespoon of chunky peanut butter

2/3 cup of Silk soy milk (unsweetened)

Mix everything together in a Mason jar. Leave in the fridge.

Add sliced banana & toasted coconut flakes & dash of cinnamon the next morning.

Golden Milk (for Arthritis)

Ingredients:

1) 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder

2) 1/2 teaspoon of ginger powder

3) 1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil

4) Pinch of black pepper

5) One cup of unsweetened soy milk (or almond milk/coconut milk)


Warm up soy milk in medium heat, stir in all the other dry ingredients. Add a teaspoon of honey for taste.

Drink before bed. It's very soothing. Anti-inflammatory.

Steve Scrambled Eggs Recipe

I use the low-heat method too. I like my scrambled eggs with a creamy rather than fluffy consistency, and low heat is the way to go to get them like that. Next time you cook them, beat the eggs, add a pinch or two of salt and leave them to stand for 15 minutes before you cook them. You'll notice that the color darkens and they go translucent - that's the salt working on the proteins in the eggs. It helps the proteins keep their moisture while they cook

If you want to have a day when you want to feel totally decadent, add one egg yolk to every three eggs and cook them on a low heat. You'll get the richest, creamiest eggs you've ever had.

Steve Mayo Recipe

Thread here.

You're right - cooking with genuine EVOO is a waste of good oil! Use it for dressings, garnishes or steeping roasted garlic, red peppers and the like. Never use it for mayonnaise - the whisking process breaks it down, leaving a bitter taste. For mayo - if you've got a stick blender, put one egg yolk, a cup of canola oil, a tablespoon each of dijon mustard and water, the juice of half a lemon and a pinch of salt into a jug and blend. In two minutes, you'll have the best mayo you've ever tasted. I grate a clove of raw garlic with a microplane into it right at the end. It's all I can do not to eat it straight out of the jug! You'll never eat the store-bought stuff again.

Steve's Ranch Dressing

I make my own fat-free ranch dressing, I use it as a dip, a dressing, as a mayo substitute in sandwiches and wraps, and lots of other things. I make two pints at a time! Rather than spending $3 for a sachet of the mix every time I make a cup, I mix my own and make four times that amount for pennies.

Here's the secret recipe for "Hidden Valley"-style ranch dressing:

1/2 cup buttermilk powder (it's in the baking aisle)
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried dill
1 tsp dried onion flakes
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Give it a good mix, then make up into the dressing how you normally would using the real stuff. Each sachet of the real stuff weighs about an ounce, so you can see how much more you're getting for your money with this recipe. Make it a little ahead of time so the onion flakes can rehydrate.

I make a fat-free version using 1 cup 0% fat Greek Yoghurt (I use Fage) and 1/2 cup skimmed milk with the quantity of mixture shown above. You can vary the richness by substituting half-and-half for the skim, or using 2% Fat yoghurt or sour cream if you prefer. I sometimes make a spicy batch by adding a couple of turns of ground ghost chili powder or a good-sized pinch of cayenne.

JD Kale Chips

Ingredients:

1 bunch kale
1 T. olive oil
1 t. seasoned salt or nutmeg

Oven 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment. Remove leaves and tear into bite size pieces. Wash & dry. Drizzle with oil & seasonings.

Bake 10- 20 minutes

Rainman's Pizza Dough

Pizza Dough
 
.25 ounce (2.25 tsp or 1 pkg) active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 cup warm water (110 deg F.)
2.5 cups flour
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt

A.  Warm water, then yeast & sugar; dissolve yeast, let stand 10 mins.

B.  Stir in flour, salt, oil. Let rest 5 mins. if making shell immediately. Otherwise, let stand 

2-3 hours or longer. 
 
SERVINGS:  I forgot, but figure on three large shells IF you roll them thin. 
---------------
 
As I said today, I once had a pizza restaurant. This recipe I ran across last year and used it for

a party. It's better than my old formula, which called for generic vegetable oil. This one 

emphasizes the rising process. 

 
Dough is the foundation of a good pizza. 
 

Anon T's Potato Soup

Here's the potato soup I built tonight:

1/2 stick butter
1 large or two small white onions
2 cloves of garlic
5 lb golden/butter potatoes
1 small cured ham (1lb or so)
1c half & half
2c shredded cheddar cheese
Fresh dill or parsley
Roma tomato (garnish)

Place 1/2 stick of butter in large pot
While butter is melting, cut one large onion and two cloves of garlic; add to butter and cook until onions are translucent

Add two 32oz boxes of chicken broth and 5lb golden/butter potatoes (quartered).

Cook 30 - 45 min until potatoes are fork-soft.

Meanwhile:
Cube (1/2" x 1/2") cured ham. Put aside.
Chop 1/4c fresh dill/parsley (keep a few sprigs for garnish)
Slice tomato

Mash up potatoes (I used an emulsion blender).

Add black pepper to taste, dill, 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, 1c cream. Drop in ham.

To serve: ladle into bowl, top with a bit of cheddar, a slice of tomato, and a sprig of left over dill. White, Red, and Green -- an Italian flag in a bowl! (Edited later: Sorry for the typo earlier)

Bluehen's Sawmill Gravy

Sawmill gravy is basically a milk gravy or cream sauce or béchamel sauce, call it what you will, with browned sausage in it. The ingredients are:

One tbsp. cooking oil (to get the sausage started browning)

One pound of breakfast sausage

One quarter cup of flour

Two cups of milk/cream/half and half/whatever.

Warm the cooking oil in a large skillet, break up the sausage into it and cook sausage thoroughly. Remove sausage with slotted spoon and drain. Measure one quarter cup of sausage drippings and reserve remainder for frying eggs. (Yes, really). Return the 1/4 cup drippings to skillet and add the flour. Whisk until the flour stops foaming and/or the bubbles are noticeably smaller. You have just made a blonde roux. Stir in the dairy component of your choice, being careful to scrape up the brown bits stuck to the bottom of the skillet. There is a lot of flavor in those bits. When the gravy has thickened, add the sausage back and stir until all is up to temp, just a minute or two. Taste and adjust seasonings. Yields about 2 1/2 cups. Traditionally served over biscuits.

D-Otto (Tom) Potato Dumping Recipe

Makes about 16 baseball-size dumplings.  Serve with a beef roast, vegetables and brown gravy.
 
Ingredients:

10 lb potatoes (5 lb Russet, 5 lb Yukon Gold)

3 eggs

3 cups flour (perhaps more, depending on how well you squeezed out the water)

6 slices white bread (stale is best or pre-stale it in the oven).

1 sturdy, sacrificial pillowcase

1 stick butter

1 tbsp baking powder

Salt

Steps:

1.  Peel the potatoes.  You can leave them in the sink, covered w/water for up to 3 hours in advance.

2.  Cut the bread into 1/2" cubes and saute with the stick of butter until browned.  Set croutons aside.

3.  Put two very large (stock-pot size) kettles of salted water on the stove to boil.  On my stove it takes a couple of hours to come to a full boil, so I start these early.

4.  90 minutes before mealtime:  Grate the potatoes into a large mixing bowl.  I use a hand-crank Rival Grind-o-Mat and use the cone with the finest openings.  Periodically empty the grated potatoes into the pillow case and place in cold water.  Otherwise, the potatoes may begin to oxidize and turn black.

5.  60 minutes before mealtime:  Remove pillowcase from the water and wring as much water out of the potatoes as possible.  Note:  You CANNOT get them too dry, but too wet is bad.  I use a combination of twisting the pillowcase and then squeezing against a flat surface to get the water out.  (Hint:  If you have an under-hung kitchen sink, don’t squeeze against the bottom of the sink or you can break it loose from the countertop.  This results in much cursing, wringing of hands, and domestic unhappiness.)

6.  Clean and dry the large mixing bowl.  Then dump the grated potato dough — it should be a cohesive ball about 10” in diameter — into the mixing bowl.  Add eggs, baking powder plus 1 tbsp salt, and mix thoroughly with your hands.

Note:  You must have an assistant for the remaining steps.

7.  Have assistant add flour, 1/2 cup at a time, while you continue to mix with your hands.  After repeating about 5 times you should notice a change in the “feel” of the mix — it gets slippery.  That means you’re getting close.  You need to add one final 1/2 cup of flour and mix in.

8.  45 minutes before mealtime:  Grab a handful of the sticky dough and make a divot in the center.  Assistant drops about 6 croutons in to the divot.  Pick up some additional dough and form into a ball with the croutons in the center — about baseball size.  Drop ball onto assistant’s large, slotted spoon, and assistant gently drops the dumpling into a boiling pot.  (Note:  It’s good to pause at this point to make certain that the first dumpling doesn’t come apart in the water.  If it does, you haven’t added enough flour to the dough.)  Continue until all dumplings — about 16 — are in the pots.

9.  Boil for 45 minutes.  Use a long spoon to free any laggards which may have stuck to the pot bottoms.  All dumplings should be free-floating at the end.  Watch the pots carefully, or they can suddenly boil over, creating a gooey, starchy mess all over your cooktop.
 
10.  Remove the dumplings from the pots with a slotted spoon and place in serving bowls.  Serve, along with roast, vegetables and brown gravy.


Put left-over dumplings in the fridge.  They’re great the next day (or the day after that) cut into 1/4” slices and sauteed in butter — even better than they were right out of the kettle.

Yellowrocks Caesar coleslaw Recipe

My son and DIL introduced me to this delicious Caesar coleslaw from a recipe in Bon Appetit. We love it.

CAESAR COLESLAW

Yield 8 servings. (I would say 12.)

DRESSING 

Whisk together:

1 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

9 anchovies finely chopped

3 garlic cloves

Salt and pepper

VEGETABLES

2¼ pound head of Savoy cabbage. (I experiment with different cabbage varieties and use a slightly smaller head.) Halved, cored, and very thinly sliced.

16 green onions, thinly sliced

ADD DRESSING to sliced cabbage and onions and toss to coat. May be covered and refrigerated a day ahead.

CHEESE

½ cup grated FRESH Parmesan cheese (We use a whole cup. The packaged grated cheese in the shaker is too bland. Cheese should be added just before serving.) Mix and serve.