Who cooks? Show of hands! I honestly think cooking is awesome; it's relaxing, productive and you get to eat what you make. Anyway. I started this thread with the intention of sharing nerd/student friendly meals that come together easily, are healthy and uber tasty. I'll kick us off with what is probably my favourite fish meal; salmon teriyaki. It is very quick to prepare and doesn't need a huge amount of cleanup (line your grill pan properly and just chuck the foil), so would be a good healthy weeknight meal. you'll need: Salmon fillet, skin on, 1 per person Teriyaki sauce (enough to marinate 4 fillets, you can play around with the proportions as some people prefer it sweeter but this is what i use): 4 tbsp soy sauce 2 tbsp mirin (a sweetened rice wine, and can be bought in most oriental places for not much) 2 tbsp sake 1 tbsp caster sugar some grated root ginger: this is optional. Alternatively you can cheat and use ready made teriyaki sauce and add some ginger if you want, but frankly making it yourself is easy and tastes way better. Japanese rice cooked according to pack (basically rinse well, just about cover with water, bring to boil, simmer for 10 mins low heat covered, drain, cover with towel to steam.) Mix up the teriyaki sauce ingredients until the sugar is dissolved. ***** (<--- overzealous censorship or what!?) Pr1ck the salmon on the skin side with a fork a few times and leave to soak in the sauce for about 15 minutes up to about half an hour. The sauce is pretty salty so don't overdo the soaking. Preheat the grill to hot and line a grill pan with foil. Take the salmon fillets out and fry them in a pan with a little oil skin-side down for a few minutes until the skin is crispy and the flesh is almost cooked through, should be about 3-5 minutes. Transfer them to the grill pan, spoon over some sauce, and grill until the top is done and the sauce has gone thick. Serve on a plate (duh). It's good with the aforementioned rice and some steamed carrots and broccoli. Eat and hopefully enjoy. OK, i've shown you mine (and will occasionally add more); show me yours!
Okay, have my garlic chicken. Ingredients: - at least one chicken breast per person (maybe more as this is very good stuff). - 40 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped in halves along the long side. - a bit of milk - a bit of flour - a couple of pinches of thyme, or preferably chopped fresh thyme - a small cube of chicken stock (optional). - butter - rice Pre-heat the oven to 175C Sear the breasts quickly until slightly golden on each side in butter (a couple of minutes) and put them aside into a baking dish. Then add more butter to the still hot pan, turn the heat down to middle and saute the garlic cloves in butter for a few minutes. They should not turn black, but rather a golden hue. While sauteing the garlic whip milk and a couple of spoons of flour together, pour this into the pan with the garlic and add the chicken stock. Mix it all together thoroughly and let it simmer until you get a nice thick sauce. The amount of milk you need is dependent on the amount of sauce you want. Note that this sauce is delicious, and you will want quite a bit. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste, and pour the sauce over the chicken breasts. Cover the baking pan with foil and set it to bake for 25-35 minutes (no longer or the chicken will get dry). Sprinkle fresh thyme over the chicken before serving, and serve steaming hot along with steamed rice and a nice salad.
It's quite a stretch from 4 to 0 so I doubt it's a typo, that's a lot of garlic though! I love cooking but being 21 I'm still experimenting really, don't have any signature dishes.
I like to cook aswell I love salmon steaks, sometimes i make them med. rare, sometimes medium, sometimes well done. Sometimes i'll cool them with some vegies, like mushroom & white/red/spring onion, sometimes have some cheese melt on top, and sometimes i'll just have them plain. Always skin off though. Lamb sirloin steaks are another favourite of mine, and cop the same sort of treatment as above. Splash some sauce and/or whack them in a roll or burger if you feel like it. Other awesome dishes are lasagna, withnot many layers, and every one chock full of goodies. Or mini cannelonis made from pasta tubes, again full of all the good stuff. Chicken or veal parmiganas are good aswell. I used to make a mean tiramisu... i should make it again soon! - it was like a mega cheesecake with alcohol & coffee soaked Unibic biscuits for the base, and waves of chocolate sponge waved through And pork buns are a nice one: Grab some rice flour, mix with a bit of water, and throw in some marinated pork pieces - marinate for at least an hour, depending how strong you want the sweet & sour to be. Throw the buns in the steamer, and they'll grow about 2-3 times the size.
Nope, that's supposed to be forty. You can do half that if you're only cooking two breasts though, but really - don't skimp on the garlic for this dish. Trust me.
The Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic is quite a popular French provincial recipie. My favourite meal at the moment is down to having a really good farmed venison supplier at our local farmers market. 1. Take a nice piece of Venison Fillet big enough for 2. 2. heat up frying pan till very hot and add a splash of oil 3. seal fillet very quickly in pan on all sides should really take no longer than 30 secs each side. 4. Remove from pan and allow to cool. 5. Wrap fillet in cling film and place in a preheated oven at 60 degree Celsius 6. Leave for 1 hour, core temp of steak should be 57-59C 7. Heat up pan and fry steak for 30 secs each side again slice and serve immediately (no resting time required) with wholegrain mustard mash and braised red cabbage. Its now by far my favourite way to cook steak, it cuts like butter, you can almost eat it with a spoon edit :-This also works very well with Beef or Buffalo fillet as well
That sounds absolutely succulent! (getting hungry now, and I am seriously reconsidering the standard friday night pizza).
try this marinade for chicken, pork, fish, or firm tofu: 1. 1/2 cup soy (brewed, not the cheap stuff) 2. 1/2 cup lime juice 3. 2 or 3 squirts fish sauce (proper thai if you can get it) 4. rooster sauce to taste (or any good sriracha style hot sauce) 5. 5-6 drops sesame oil 6. heaping tablespoon chopped garlic (probably equal to 20 cloves?) you could add ginger if you like - my wife hates it, so i leave it out. you can also mix this in a food processor, and at the end pulse in 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter for a more thai style marinade. tip if you are buying meat in bulk - marinate it in zip top bags, in the freezer. not only does it help prevent freezer burn, it power-marinates the meat as it thaws in the fridge.
Chicken & Leeks Stroganoff. Cheap and fast to make (around here). And very tasty. Quantities are for 3-4 people. 3-5 leeks 250ml Creme Fraiche 250g (white) button mushrooms 4 chicken breasts Butter Olive Oil Salt Pepper 1 glass of White wine Fresh (preferably) Parsley half a lemon Cut the leeks in half length-wise, and then slice them. let a pan with a knob of butter and some olive oil get hot. add leeks to pan with the white wine and a bit of water. Cover with foil lightly and let that go on for about 5 minutes. Meantime, wash and slice the 'shrooms and and slicke the chicken breasts. Chop the parsley as well. Throw the chicken, mushrooms, cream, some salt, some pepper and most of the parsley into the leeks/oil/wine/butter that's been cooking for 5 minutes. bring it all to a good boil, and then let it simmer (covered works well) until the chicken is done. Add the juice from half a lemon and the rest of the parsley... serve on rice. YUMMMM
i could go on for hours. Really. I am sure JumeriaJohnny knows what i am talking about when i mention a "good old braai"... and no - it's not quite the same as a bbq. There's an art form attached, and it's an almost religions process.
Quick and easy comfort food: Sausage Jambalaya - 3 kinds of sausage (I prefer hot chili, garlic and bratwürst) - can of minced tomatoes (or make your own tomato sauce, but this will be quicker) - Two peppers (yellow and red) - Mushrooms if you want them - rice Steam or boil rice. Slice the sausages into thumb-length pieces and fry them in oil or butter until done, add the mushrooms and give them a bit of a fry as well. When the rice is done, add the minced tomatoes and stir while allowing the mixture to reach boiling-point. Add sausages and mushroom, mix together. Season with salt, pepper, thyme and chili to taste (I like mine tongue burning spicy). Mix in coarsely chopped peppers just before serving, and serve with garlic bread or just straight from the pan. This can be done in fifteen minutes, and you will want seconds.
Mmmm 40 clove chicken is lushness, and also the only time I've seen 'Food Hell' on Saturday Kitchen fail to convert someone (the bloke hated garlic... he still does )! I love cooking, but I'm more into baking. None of that is particularly healthy though cos I do the full on mad colour butter/sugar icing with glitter sprinkles Favourite recipe of the moment though is this one for Onion Bhajees/Bhajis that I ammended slightly until it was perfect! They are sooooo much better than shop bought ones and quite a bit better than a lot I've had in restaurants. You really need the Gram/Besan flour too. Also found the better the ale the better the flavour, though steer clear of anything bitter. Onion Bhajis 90g chickpea (gram or besan) flour 2 tbsp plain flour 1 tsp Turmeric ½ tsp ground coriander ½ tsp fine sea salt A good pinch of cayenne pepper A good pinch of black onion (nigella or kalonji) seeds 3 tbsp finely chopped coriander 2 onions (sliced cross-ways as finely as possible) About 100-130ml good beer/ale Groundnut oil for deep frying Serves 6 Method 1. Sift the flours, ground coriander, turmeric, salt and cayenne together into a bowl. Whisk in the black onion seeds, coriander and onion. Gradually pour in the beer/ale until you have a smooth batter, stirring as you go. You may not need all of the liquid. 2. Pour the groundnut oil into a deep, heavy-bottomed saucepan to a depth of about 8-10cm and warm over a medium heat. You want the oil to be hot, but not too hot as you want the onion and flour to cook through without the outside of the bhajis burning. 3. Drop the batter into the oil in spoonfuls and cook until golden, about 4-5 minutes. Don't overcrowd the pan; you may need to cook them in batches. 4. Drain on kitchen paper briefly and then serve. They are seriously yummy
No desserts yet so Dead easy but highly impressive Raspberry soufflé This is an adoption of a couple of recipes I found when initially looking for a impressiveish valentines meal dessert. Small pack of raspberries (think they are normally about 220g, but this works for 200-250g of rasps) 100g castor sugar 4 eggs (Large) separated (we only use the whites) ½ teaspoon cornflour Tablespoon of a berry liqueur of your choice (I use Chambord) Butter and extra castor sugar to line dishes I do this dish with either 4, 3 inch diameter ramekins (about 2.5 inch high) or 2 heart shaped le Creuset ramekins like these 1. Evenly butter dishes for soufflé and dust with sugar, they should have a thin even coating of sugar all around sides and bottom of dish 2. Place dishes in freezer (I do this about ½ hour before needing them 3. In a very hot pan add the raspberries and ½ of the sugar, cook for 2-3 mins 4. pass this through a sieve to remove seeds and you should be left with a very smooth coulis 5. add the cornflour to the liqueur and stir till dissolved then add to the coulis 6. add a tablespoon of coulis to bottom of the ramekins 7. in a clean bowl ( pour boiling water in it to get rid of grease) start to whisk the 4 egg whites 8. As you are whisking add the remaining half of the sugar slowly, continue to whisk till soft peak stage has been reached. 9. Add 1/3 of whisked egg whites to the coulis and whisk in 10. Add this mix into the remaining 2/3 of whisked egg whites and fold lightly through (does not need to been evenly coloured) and do this gently to keep air in the mix. 11. divide this mixture between the dishes. 12. smooth the top of the dishes flat with a pallet knife 13. run thumb round edge of dish to leave a slight dip 14. Place on a tray in oven at 180C for about 10-15mins for small ramekins 15-20 for the larger heart shaped ones, they should have risen evenly and the top should be a nice golden brown . 15. serve immediately
My own dessert recipe. Simple, but I like to cook very simple things very well, rather than cooking elaborate things very poorly. I invented this for a Food Tech competition in secondary school (along with a barbie doll stripped jumping out of a cake). It won and the name is take from the initials of everyone on my team. I should also dig up the recipe for the Official Bit-tech Baileys Cheesecake I posted on here a while back. MMPQ SURPRISE 4 Brandy snaps Big bar of Galaxy Choc Thick Greek Yoghurt 8 Strawberrys Toffee Sauce and usual garnishes, such as fudge bits Soft clotted cream ice cream. Serves 2 Method Melt the chocolate, dunk the brandy snaps. Do it yourself to get a really thick covering, rather than buying your own ones already choc coated. Let the chocolate coated brandy snaps harden in the fridge on some greaseproof paper. When hardened, remove the brandy snaps and fill them as neatly as possible with the greek yoghurt. You can substitute for whipped cream (NOT from a can), but I prefer the coolness of yoghurt and the sudden change in textures. Plug the ends of brandy snaps with strawberries. You can also chocolate coat these if you want - I like to do the strawberries in white chocolate and the snaps in milk, personally. Serve next to two scoops of ice cream, lash the whole thing with toffee sauce and a sprinkle of fudge. To. Die. For.
I've got two recipes that I'm absolutely in love with at the moment - both of them serve 4. Chorizo and Red Pepper Soup Ingredients 4-5 Red Peppers, chopped 2 Onion, chopped 2 Chillis, finely chopped 2 tins Chopped tomatoes 1 litre Vegetable stock 1 tsp Ground paprika About 3 inches of good Spanish chorizo, diced. Chilli Powder / Chilli Flakes to taste Method Fry the peppers, chilli and onion in olive oil until slightly softened. Add the remaining ingredients apart from the chorizo and simmer for 15 minutes. Cool the mixture slightly and liquidise half. Return the liquidised soup to the pan and add the chorizo. Cook for 5 – 10 minutes adding a little extra water if required to thin the soup. Season and serve with crusty bread. Salmon Kedgeree Ingredients 2 medium size salmon fillets 1 small onion, chopped 1 tsp Veeraswamy medium moglai curry paste (don't settle for anything other than this) 250g basmati and wild rice 2 eggs, hard-boiled and quartered handful of fresh dill, chopped 100g smoked salmon flakes Method Preheat the oven to 200ºC, gas mark 6. Place the salmon fillets in an ovenproof dish and cover with 600ml of water - it's important that the dish is small enough that 600ml covers it, because we're using the water later. Cover with kitchen foil and bake for 15 minutes or until the fish is just cooked through. Remove the salmon from the dish, flake into large chunks, cover and keep warm. Reserve the cooking liquid. Fry the onion in butter until soft, then add the curry paste and cook for a further minute. Stir in the rice to coat in the juices then add the reserved cooking liquid. Season and bring to the boil. Cover and place in the oven for 20–23 minutes until the liquid is absorbed and rice is tender. Gently stir the flaked salmon fillets, eggs, dill and smoked salmon flakes through the rice, cover and leave to stand for 2–3 minutes. Check seasoning and serve. I particularly like the chorizo soup because it's so healthy - the only thing with any fat in it whatsoever is the chorizo, and it's really filling and warming. I don't normally like soup, but this particular one really does it for me.
Ooh I can do desserts! This is great and tastes just like the white choc Gü crème brûlée. White Chocolate Crème Brûlée 6 Egg Yolks 2 tbsp Golden Caster Sugar 568ml Whipping/Double Cream 100g White Chocolate (finely chopped/grated) 1 tsp Vanilla Extract (or 1 Vanilla pod) Cooking Time: about 20 minutes Serves 8 451 kcal / Protein 5g / Carbohydrate 17g / Fat 41g / Saturated Fat 22g / Fibre 17g / Salt 0.09g Heat the cream, chocolate and vanilla in a pan until the chocolate has melted. Take off the heat and allow to infuse for 10 minutes. (If using the vanilla pod, scrape the seeds into the cream). Heat oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. Beat yolks and sugar until pale. Stir in the chocolate cream. Strain into a jug and pour into ramekins. Place in a deep roasting tray and pour boiling water halfway up the sides. Bake for 15-20 minutes until just set with a wobbly centre. Chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours. To serve, sprinkle sugar on top of the brûlées and caramelise with a blowtorch. Leave caramel to harden, then serve. I find you really need the blowtorch for Crème Brûlée as it just isn't the same done under the grill.
My dessert of choice The unnamed stuff of doom, happy faces and the devi'ls offspring ...oh.. .and pedobear. Take a few apples, peel, dice, deseed. Boil in water with a good helping of sugar for a few minutes. Drain when done. Preheat the oven at 180*C While that's cooking, throw (roughly equal amounts of) rolled oats, Cake Flour (i usually use a bit less of this than of the rest) and Castor sugar into a bowl. Mix with some butter until you get a crumble-type texture going. put apples into oven-proof dish, cover with crumble stuff you just made. Pop into oven. It's like german "Streuselkuchen" minus the cake, with more topping. And it's so easy to make that any pedobear victim could make it.
Dessert? Sure. Have at my "veiled farmer's maidens" - Whipped cream - Chunky apple jam (or really, any chunky jam will do, but apple is the traditional stuff) - Very dry bread that's been pounded into pieces (not sure what you'd call this, but we call it "kavring") Put a layer of "kavring" at the bottom of a large bowl, add a layer of jam and then a layer of cream and keep building it up layer by layer until the bowl is full. Serve and count the chalories. Yum.
