mC's "Cooking for Dummies" Thread

[michelanCello]

So if you have your turkey slices, take the...erm... I don't know what it's called... kitchen hammer? Makes the meat softer.

It's called a tenderiser, but now I prefer kitchen hammer That's it's new name

Well, it looks like it, doesn't it?

[BobtheDrog]

Leek and crayfish pasta
I use crayfish in brine in this recipe. It’s better to use a long pasta in this dish it mixes better with the ingredients.

Serves 4

Ingredients:
400g pasta preferably spaghetti or fettucine
250g crayfish tails in brine
150ml cream
1 red onion
1 small leek
25g butter
Small bunch of coriander, just the leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1 .Put water on to boil, when boiling add pasta (squid ink pasta works very well in this recipe and is increasingly easily available) and put on to cook on a medium heat as directed by the packaging
2 While this is boiling finely slice the onion and leek and sauté gently in the butter it works better to add the dark green of the leek before the light green
3 After about two minutes add the crayfish tails cook for 3 more minutes before adding cream
4 When the pasta is cooked stir it into the sauce, add the coriander and mix it all together and season to taste

[michelanCello]

Don't like anything fishy... can you use chicken instead?


Willem, I tried your spinach-chicken pasta and it was DELICIOUS! I only added some garlic to the spinach, but apart from that (and the mushrooms ) I followed your recipe - truly awesome! Thanks a lot!

[BobtheDrog]

chicken, sausage and beef all work. With the chicken some roast peppers work really well, with sausage some baby spinach is great and with the beef I's add mushrooms depending on personal likes obviously

[Kin Arad]

I told my mum I'd cook for her next weekend for her birthday (which was as few days ago) does anyone know a simple recipe that is something that is easy to make but not....too simple...sorry that's phrased really badly So basically something that can be cooked for a birthday but by someone who's not a good cook, and preferably with as little dairy as possible - allergy. Thanks

[BobtheDrog]

Roast Pork belly, collared greens, potato salad

pork belly (from Jamie Oliver):

Preheat your oven to full whack, it needs to be at least 220°C/425°F/gas 7.
Place your pork on a clean work surface, skin-side upwards. Get yourself a small sharp knife and make scores (cuts) about a centimetre apart through the skin into the fat, but not so deep that
you cut into the meat.
Rub salt right into all the scores you’ve just made, pulling the skin apart a little if you have to. Brush any excess salt off the surface of the skin and turn it over. Season the underside of the meat with a little more salt and a little black pepper.
Place your pork, skin side-up, in a roasting tray big enough to hold the pork and place in the hot oven.
Roast for about half an hour until the skin of the pork has started to puff up and you can see it turning into crackling.
Turn the heat down to 180°C/350°F/gas 4 and roast for another hour.
Take out of the oven and baste with the fat in the bottom of the tray. Carefully lift the pork up and transfer to a chopping board.
Pop the tray back in the oven. Roast for another hour. By this time the meat should be meltingly soft and tender.

Collared greens:
1 onion medium sized chopped up
5 thick slices of bacon cut into strips
about a pound and a half of kale/spinach/chard roughly torn up
fry the onion and bacon of on a medium heat for 6 minutes, add the green leaves including stalks, cover with water and throw in a beef stock cube, cook for about and hour and a half

Potato salad
1 pound of baby potatoes put into cold water on a high heatand boil until you can easily put a knife or fork through them
1 bunch of spring onion sliced up
4 bacon strips of streaky bacon cut into strips and fried off
mix together and add in salt, pepper, mayo and wholegrain mustard to taste

[michelanCello]

You should try Willem's spinach-pasta recipe - it's awesome, easy to make and with a few tomatoes on top as decoration, I think it can look really sophisticated

[Kin Arad]

Thanks, I saw that, but i wasn't sure because of the cream with the spinach, but to be honest, i don't thinnk there's much I could do without dairy.
Thanks Willem for the recipe
I think that pork belly looks nice but a bit complicated(and just to check - belly's not the same as stomach right?)

[BobtheDrog]

no its not the same, it's a cut of meat that needs to be cooked a bit slowly but gives amazing crackling. Don't think you would find it as difficult to make as you think

[michelanCello]

Thanks, I saw that, but i wasn't sure because of the cream with the spinach, but to be honest, i don't thinnk there's much I could do without dairy.
Thanks Willem for the recipe
I think that pork belly looks nice but a bit complicated(and just to check - belly's not the same as stomach right?)

You can simply use water instead of the cream... at least, that's what they wrote on my spinach package

[Willem]

Oi, don't go changing my patented recipe! :p

[michelanCello]

Oi, don't go changing my patented recipe! :p

You really should try some garlic in it...

[deldaisy]

Oi, don't go changing my patented recipe! :p

You really should try some garlic in it...

It sounds like i would LOVE it. I love spinach. And garlic is gorgeous.

Kin... make a simple spag bol... but with a twist.

Boil a large pot of water to boiling point, add a generous shake of salt, and put in some fettucine (nicer than spaghetti.... break it in half and stir it til it boils again... stir it a bit at the beginning so it doesnt stick together) Let it cook for about 15 minutes or whatever it says on the packet.... you may have to add more water during the cooking. ...don't let it boil dry. Add boiling water from the kettle. It is cooked when its not hard not soggy soft.

While its boiling.....

Fry up a large finely chopped onion in some olive oil. Take it out and fry up some (1 or two unpeeled) diced zuchinni. Take it out and fry up some diced bacon (cut off the rind and throw it away). Brown some minced beef (and actually minced pork is better for this if you want) about 500 grams. When you brown the mince keep breaking it up with a wooden spoon or whatever so it doesn't cook in clumps, and turning it, stirring it.

Throw it all back in the pan and add about a teaspoon of minced garlic (you can buy it already minced in a jar). Add a can of chopped tomatoes (we buy one that had oregano and basil already in it) but you can add fresh oregano and basil at the end of the cooking .... looks smarter and snobbier and tastes so much better... just chop it roughly.

Turn the heat down abit and let it simmer and reduce a little (so its not watery). Stir it.

Wash the fettucini in hot running water and let drain. I like to put a tiny bit of olive oil over it.

You can serve it in two bowls on the table and let everyone serve themselves OR you can pile the fettucine in a large bowl or platter and pile the sauce over it and put a few sprigs of basil on top (Dead posh). OR you can finely slice a tomato and lay that over the top of the sauce.

Serve with a simple fresh green salad (if you don't have salad dressing olive oil and lemon juice is lovely), a french bread stick on a breadboard cut into about one inch slices, or better still buy some pre-prepared garlic bread you have put in the oven while you cook the meal (it usually takes about 15 - 20 minutes... read the label)

Basically its chop, fry, brown, add, wash, serve. Easy.

Its hard to give a recipe if you don't know what level someone is at cooking hey? (Hence why I said to boil the water before you add the fettucine) Sorry if I am talking down to someone who already knows alot of this, but sometimes the "obvious" to others who have cooked alot is not obvious to a new cook.

Or do you want something fancier?

The best meals are usually VERY simple.

Rare cooked steak with a lovely green salad and bread. Heat pan, add little oil, add steak, cook, turning ONCE, serve with salad and crusty bread.

[michelanCello]

I could almost smell it cooking, Del Yummie...

[deldaisy]

OHHHHHH! Don't do garlic bread if she is allergic to dairy Kin! Oops!

BUT if you want to do a fancy bread and you have the time (no dairy) slice a french stick at an angle to get nice largish oval slices (not too thick, about a centimeter), mix some olive oil and crushed garlic and a little tomato paste (or you can even use a little of the juice from the can of tomatoes you used in the sauce), and brush it over the bread. Lay it on a baking tray and put into a hot oven til it goes brownish and crispy.

If you can eat dairy then put a little finely grated parmesan on it before you bake it.

Mmmmmm think we might have this for dinner tomorrow.