how many of you guys cook??? - Page 13

Can I come over for dinner? The food definitely looks delicious.

Depends on how you define "cook". I can microwave prepackaged Pad Thai, easy mac, and chicken noodle soup and not burn it.

I can brew some awesome sencha though.

this thread makes me so hungry!

You people are making me sad. I love cooking, but have stopped due to many factors, including being in college with a dorm kitchen I hate using. We also recently moved to a new house (before I went to college) with a kitchen that was laid out by a monkey on drugs. It has so much counter space, yey none of it is usable in any practical sense. I see all these recipes and would love to make them, but the idea of having to use either of the kitchens at my disposal puts me off so much I end up boiling whole wheat pasta and warming up bottled sauce.

-Nkk

</self pit rant>

With daytime temperatures well below freezing, and snow flurries swirling beneath a leaden sky, the time seemed right to break out a winter favorite – Pot Roast! When I found some fairly nice looking choice chuck roast on sale at the Club of Sam, they followed me home. Here they are studded with whole peeled garlic cloves ready to be sprinkled and patted with fresh cracked black pepper, seasoning salt, and dried rosemary. Ditto the other side.



The house now smells heavenly with the aroma of browned beef and herbs. After browning on all sides in EVOO, reserved the roasts to one side and deglazed the pan with beef broth and readied the dark ale for the hot tub.



Here are the two roasts back in their braising fluid (including worchestershire sauce) ready to begin their three-and-a-half-hour voyage to fork tender, being carefully turned each hour.



SWMBO wanted a loaded baked potato, so here we have the finished plate with spuds and steamed fresh vegetables dressed in EVOO and seasoned with fresh cracked black pepper and sea salt.



Glass of cab on the side. Not shown: drooling spaniels.

Love the photos. Count me in as one of the dedicated chefs.

Oh, and my family is very appreciative. FOur-grain pancakes on Sunday morning is good family glue.

I can cook some. I'm rapidly learning more though. I can cook most American food and some Chinese food, since that's my background.

I can cook. Whether or not it's edible is another matter.

I do cook, actually doing it right now.

Yesterday project was the annual "turkey leave overs disposal big pot" (a/k/a stopping myself from munching on the leftover turkey) and this year's is white turkey chili.

After rinsing, picking and soaking a pound of great northern beans and half a pound of garbonzoes overnight, they were cooked at simmer until al dente and then drained in a collander. Mixed up an appropriate batch of Emeril's Southwestern Essence sans salt and pepper, which I tend to add individually at different cooking stages. The SW Essence was spiked with dry chipotle, dried habernero, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Two big sweet yellow onions got sauteed with two seeded jallapenoes and one hot red pepper in my deep 5 qt sautee pan until soft and then added minced garlic for a couple of minutes before introducing 3.75# of fresh ground turkey and the SW Essence with a good shot of worchestershire sauce and stirring until just browned before adding the 2# of chunk leftover white and dark meat turkey.

You don't need to deglaze a nonstick skillet, but I did anyway with several ounces of vintage balsamic vinegar before transferring all to my twelve quart stock pot. Added three quarts of organic chicken stock, seven cans of Ro-Tel minced tomatoes and peppers undrained, two small cans of minced green peppers undrained, and a cup of fresh chopped cilantro stems to get about the right ratio and texture. Brought to a boil and simmered for half and hour before adding the cooked beans and garbonzoes and half a cup of fresh chopped cilantro leaf. After fifteen minutes, added a pint of heavy cream and it was pretty much ready to serve and garnish. The served plate:



Garnish is a dollop of non-fat sour cream and some rough chopped cilantro leaf. Too short on time to make accompanying cornbread: next time (as there are eight quarts to freeze). Glass of cab on the side. SWMBO had two bowls. Spaniels scored some leftover turkey during prep, but no chili due to the Rose's food allergies. They had to be content doing the floor patrol.

I made Thai Chicken tonight and I remembered to take a couple of pictures. My mom found the recipe somewhere and sent it to me. It came out pretty damn good, except that I made too much pasta.

Here it is cooking in the pan; it's made with sauteed pieces of chicken, red peppers, green onions, chicken broth, soy sauce, ground ginger, garlic, cornstarch, honey, and peanut butter.




Combined with linguini:



Not shown: drooling gecko

I made home made Belgian Waffles this morning and topped it with strawberries, blue berries, banana, some butter and sugar-free maple syrup (im diabetic...this is my monthly cheat). Sausages on the side.
I also made some Hawiian Kona in my French Press.
That was good.


TheAudioDude- that linguini thing looks good. Im coming over for some!...lol

This thread needs to be revived!!

I made home-made manicotti tonight (grandma's recipe). I had a bit of trouble getting my tomato sauce just right, but when all was said and done it turned out just fine. A hint of sweetness and the garlic/basil isn't overpowering. The manicotti on the other hand... just like grandma makes it!

Making the first crepe... those few clumps of flour were soon rectified and no other crepes had them



Thin crepes make good manicotti:




Tomato sauce:



21 crepes:



Filling; consisting of ricotta, shredded mozzarella, parsley, salt, pepper, eggs.



Filling the crepe:



First tray of manicotti waiting to be sauced and then put into the oven:



Perfection!



Not shown: drooling gecko.

I have many simple dishes which I have perfected. My favorite is a Vodka Shrimp Pasta. My wife remembers why she married me everytime I make it. Starts out with 1 large can of peeled tomatoes. Food processer them. Throw them in a pan add fresh grind black pepper, salt, butter,fresh basil, press some garlic. When this is at a light simmer then throw a box of angel hair pasta into a pot. Throw the fresh tiger shrimp into the pan mix. Turn off heat after three minutes add five shots of Grey Goose Vodka. Add a squeeze of lime. Add to pasta and start the dinner!