Share your recipes!

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Imp-Chan
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Share your recipes!

Post by Imp-Chan »

A couple months ago, my friend John came over to visit and since it was getting late and we were hungry we decided to cook something for dinner. Sadly, I hadn't done the shopping in a long time, so there was very little fresh food in the house. Still, we raided the pantry and found a few goodies, so were able to throw together something that I thought was pretty darn good. In fact, it was so good that I later prepared a slightly refined version of it for a friend, and they asked for the recipe, so I thought, hmm... we need recipe sharing on the forum! And so here we are.

John and Impy's Risotto Carbonara

Ingredients:
1 small bag of arborio rice
1 can quartered artichoke hearts
2-3 cans chicken stock, plus several cups of water
4-5 slices of bacon
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 egg, beaten
Fresh pepper

Garnishes:
Grated parmesan cheese
Fresh basil
Sour cream

Prep:
Combine the chicken stock and water in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. You could also use an electric kettle if you were so inclined, but we can't all be Alton Brown. Drain and rinse the artichoke hearts, then cut them into smaller pieces. Mince the garlic, and stack the basil leaves then roll them up so that you can cut them into thin ribbons, called chiffonade. Set out some paper to drain the bacon and basil on. In a little bowl, beat the egg until it is smooth.

Cooking:
Bring a large, deep pan such as a wok or a dutch oven to a medium heat with a quick drizzle of olive oil. Fry the bacon to the point where it is crispy enough to crumble, then pull the pieces out and drain them on paper. Leave the bacon fat and oil in the pan, turn the heat up to medium high, and toss in the basil chiffonade until it has become a dark green. Again, drain the basil on paper and leave the fat in the pan. Now toss in the garlic and the rice and stir. You don't need to add water yet, you want to fry the raw rice for a little while first. Look for the individual grains becoming translucent.

Once the rice has become translucent, turn the heat back down to medium, add a small amount of the heated stock and stir. Once the rice has completely absorbed the liquid you added, which on this first pass it will do unbelievably quickly, add a little more and continue to stir, and so on. From this point forward, you're going to be stirring for about half an hour straight. It is useful to have someone to talk to during this time, otherwise you're going to get very bored. You may want to sing songs to help the time pass more quickly. Continue adding liquid and stirring until the rice has absorbed as much of the liquid as possible, it will be more than you believed that it possibly could, and will take far longer than you were hoping it would.

After the first half hour or so of stirring, start tasting the rice to see if it is completely cooked or not. You will almost certainly not need to add salt, but you will need to add pepper to taste and perhaps some crushed rosemary if you're so inclined. You probably should have added the rosemary back when you were frying the garlic and rice, but sometimes we decide these things on a whim and it won't hurt it to be added now. This dish is very understanding that way.

When you can tell that the rice is cooked through but just shy of being done (essentially, it tastes al dente), it is time to add the artichoke hearts. Stir them in, stir a couple minutes, then add the egg and stir vigourously (which will be difficult, because the egg is going to cause some thickening and this stuff will already resemble a looser and prettier oatmeal). If you wanted some additional nutrition, you could stir in some baby spinach at this point, but don't overcook it! Turn off the heat and serve immediately.

Serving:
I recommend that you put this in colored bowls, garnished with a dollop of sour cream, some parmesan cheese, some crumbled bacon, and a little of the basil chiffonade. This will have the advantage of looking terribly impressive for whoever you're serving, even though it is actually ridiculously easy. It also lets you get a little bit of several different flavors in each bite, which keeps it lively.

So, that's the risotto carbonara. I look forward to seeing what recipes other people have to share, as well as how many of them are going to involve bacon...

^-^'
Because scary little devil girls have to stick together.
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zanntos
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Re: Share your recipes!

Post by zanntos »

Imp-Chan wrote:
... as well as how many of them are going to involve bacon...

^-^'
Ok, not mine but this is WAY to perfect, Swiss Meat Roll BIGGER BACON!!!
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kaitou
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Re: Share your recipes!

Post by kaitou »

After trying these at NEWW this past weekend, Impy asked that I send her (or post) my cookie recipes.

I find that the standard recipes you see, inside the lid for oatmeal raisin or on the bag for chocolate chip, come out sort of flat and not very chewy -- well, maybe "shoe leather" chewy, but not soft chewy. Butter give better flavor but flat, soggy cookies; margarine give better texture. Also, I use baking powder instead of baking soda. One of the key things is to not over-bake them; they continue to bake after removing them from the oven.

Oatmeal raisin cookies

1 stick margarine
1 stick butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1.5 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
3 cups oats
1 cup raisins

Heat over to 350F.
Beat together margarine, butter and sugars until creamy.
Add eggs and vanilla. Beat well.
Combine flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Add to above. Mix well.
Stir in oats and raisins.
Drop rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 15 minutes (more or less).
Cool 1 minute on sheet then remove to a wire rack.

Makes about 4 dozen.

Chocolate Chip

You can use your favorite variety of chocolate chips. I normally use bitter-sweet or, like for the batch I made for NEWW, Hershey's Special Dark.

2.25 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 stick butter
1 stick margarine
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
12 oz chocolate chips (1 bag)

Heat oven to 375 F.
Beat butter, margarine and sugars until creamy. Add vanilla and eggs.
Gradually add flour and baking powder; beat well.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop by rounded teaspoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges.
Cool for 1 minute and transfer cookies to a wire rack until
cooled completely.

Makes about 4 dozen.
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Imp-Chan
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Re: Share your recipes!

Post by Imp-Chan »

After almost a decade of conventions and suffering from Fast Fooditis, I am quick to adore anything that spares me from paying a fortune to put garbage in my mouth at irregular intervals. So, I may have developed a slightly unhealthy obsession with pocket pies. They are the ultimate in portable food, can be made in virtually any flavor, can include vegetables (something otherwise difficult to obtain or prepare at a convention), and they can be frozen and transported in a cooler or portable fridge, then reheated with a simple toaster oven (they could probably also be steamed with an electric kettle, but that would make them not golden brown and delicious anymore).

So Poe and I have been practicing our pocket pie making, experimenting with different ingredients and ideas on the theory that hey, they're easy meals and this way we'll be able to make a variety for Dragon*con, where we're always pressed for time, money, or anything healthy to eat. One of my recent experiments worked out especially well (it is not healthy), so I thought I'd share it here. Because we all know that food is love, and I love you all just that much.

Apple and Sausage Pocket Pies

The Crust

2.5 cups of all purpose flour
4 ounces of butter
Dash of salt (regular table salt not kosher salt)
Ground Cinnamon, Allspice, and Cumin to taste (which is a fancy way of saying I never really measure anything)
Milk (as needed)

First things first... put your cheesegrater in the fridge. I realize this sounds absolutely insane, but trust me, it's helpful. Then combine the flour, salt, and spices in a bowl. Whisk to combine (though if you want to get fancy and like doing dishes you could pulse it in a food processor instead). Pull the cheesegrater out of the fridge and use it to grate the butter into the flour. You may have to go in rounds, since the object is to keep the butter from being a solid mass so that it will be easy to mix evenly. Then, using just your fingertips, mix the butter into the flour. It will eventually resemble breadcrumbs. At this point, you can bring it together into a dough by adding little doses of milk and working it until it makes a handy ball. Don't worry about overworking this dough... you want it to be tough.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface. You're looking for a thin crust, but not so thin that it'll tear. Use a saucer to cut out rounds, I find that smaller rounds make for controlled portion sizes and more even cooking. Set the rounds aside, as you are now done with the crust. Alternatively, if you're a fan of right angles, you could cut six inch squares instead of rounds.

The Filling

1 lb of spicy ground sausage
2 large apples, peeled, cored, and diced into 1/4" cubes
A generous dash of cinnamon sugar (I mix this up ahead of time and keep a jar in my spice cupboard)

In a frying pan over medium low heat, start browning the sausage. Be sure to break it up into very fine pieces, because that makes it easier to assemble the pies later. Once it's started, add in the apples and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the top. Cook until the apples are soft and the meat is cooked through, the cinnamon sugar and the natural juices from the apples should form a sort of syrup helping to bind everything together.

It's important to note that this filling makes about twice what is needed for the number of crusts you'll have. You can either make a second batch of crusts and fill them, or combine the leftover filling with hash browns and scrambled eggs to make a delicious mess.

Assembly

Apple Jelly
Egg Wash

Take a round of the crust, and spread a thin layer of apple jelly in the middle. Try to stay away from the edges, since it makes assembly less sticky that way. Then, spoon a generous amount of the filling into the middle. Don't overfill, but there should be more room than it looks like there will be. Apply the egg wash around the edges of the crust, and fold it over to make a half moon shape, lightly pressing around the edge as you do so to encourage the filling to stay inside. Using a fork, crimp the edges of the pie. Apply egg wash over the top, place the pie on your baking sheet, and snip or puncture the top with a sharp knife or kitchen shears. Continue until all the pies are made.

Bake for ten minutes at 415 degrees, then turn down the oven to 350 and bake for another 20 minutes. If you're freezing these, let them cool completely before individually wrapping them in foil and putting them in a freezer bag. Don't worry about cutting down the baking time, these are sturdy little buggers and won't suffer from reheating at all. If you're eating them fresh, let them cool for at least ten minutes first so you'll be able to actually taste them instead of burning your tongue. These are delicious with a little sour cream.

^-^'
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Re: Share your recipes!

Post by Graybeard »

Thanks for posting that, Impy; I'll pass it along to my wife, who has the good sense not to let me into the kitchen at any time when she's conscious and ambulatory.

I'm disappointed, though; isn't there a version of this with a filling incorporating sea kittens?
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Imp-Chan
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Re: Share your recipes!

Post by Imp-Chan »

There might be, but I wouldn't be the person to ask. I don't eat sea kitten unless it is very fresh and raw, because cooking it makes it smell bad to me.

^-^'
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Another recipe, now with colorful phraseology!

Post by Imp-Chan »

So, I've been craving chicken and goat cheese with rosemary bread panini for a couple of weeks now (god only knows why), so when Poe went to the store I asked him to pick up a chicken so that I could roast it and thus have meat for sammiches. Then I got a bright idea to attempt brining the chicken first, since I'd always wanted to try that. What follows is the recipe I made up... it came out as not only the best flavored, but also the prettiest bird I have ever roasted.



Brined and Roasted Chicken


The Brine


4 cans vegetable stock

3 loose handfuls dark brown sugar (I have small hands, you may only want two handfuls)

7 cloves of garlic, lightly smashed and peeled

1 tablespoon peppercorns (or, about a palmful)

2 teaspoons allspice

1 liberal dash of Shichimi Togarashi spice mix 

Half cup kosher salt



Mix until as dissolved as possible, then pour over the whole raw chicken in your crock pot. You could substitute ice water for some of the vegetable stock, but don't replace more than half. Your liquid should completely cover the chicken. Put on the lid, and place it in the fridge for about a day. Flip the bird every four to six hours. Oh, and save one of the empty vegetable stock cans, you'll need it for the roasting.



The Roasting

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.



Take the bird out of the brine and set it on your roasting rack, then pat it dry with a paper towel. Half fill the vegetable stock can with the brine, being sure to capture as many cloves of garlic and peppercorns as possible, then dump the rest of the liquid down the drain. Fill the rest of the can with cheap white wine. Remove the wings, they're pretty worthless for roasting but will do nicely in the chicken stock you'll no doubt be starting any minute now in the cleaned crock pot. Place the liquid filled can in the center of your roasting pan, and, well... violate the bird with it so that it stays upright, with the drumstick bones pointing down. Roast until the internal temperature of the chicken is 180 degrees, and the chicken turns the prettiest shade of brown imaginable.

Once you take the chicken out of the oven, give it plenty of time to rest. Then be careful removing the can, it apparently bonds with the chicken skin and spills rather than letting you remove it. Toss the liquid, but again save the garlic and peppercorns for going into that stock you probably started.



Whenever I roast a chicken, I like to carve it in large sections (breasts, thighs, drumsticks) and pop those back in the oven at 450 degrees for a very few minutes so that the skin gets nice and crispy. If you're ravenous, you can skip that step. However, I also find it makes my life much easier if I strip down the bones for soup while the main pieces are crisping, instead of waiting until later. The meat goes straight into a container and thence the freezer to await my feeling together enough to create chicken soup, while the bones go straight into the stock, already in progress.

^-^'
Because scary little devil girls have to stick together.
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