[GuruTech]

would love to cook but need a hand in cleaning after... I love the Barbeque spare ribs marinated in beer...

 

[melomaniac]

sometimes the simple dish can be elevated with a secret ingredient.

planning for tonite: two 14oz steaks with pink himalayan salt; oven-roasted fingerling potatos with a little bit of truffle oil; green salad with lemon-infused olive oil.

and a bottle of CA central coast zin, I'm still looking for that right now.

 

[TheAudioDude]

Well, here's the best I could do with one hand:

Sauteed asparagus and steak tips in EVOO w/ salt and pepper. I also made some microwaveable mashed potatoes.

It was pretty tasty, but I cooked the steak tips for maybe a few minutes too long.

 

[dazzer1975]

what is this EVOO everyone keeps mentioning, and damn, I want Old Pa to adopt me

*edit* extra virgin olive oil lol

 

[Morph]

I guess it's Extra Virgin Olive Oil, isn't it?

 

[Old Pa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dazzer1975 /img/forum/go_quote.gif what is this EVOO everyone keeps mentioning, and damn, I want Old Pa to adopt me *edit* extra virgin olive oil lol

Yup. EVOO is one of the tastiest, healthiest and most versatile cooking ingredients. So much so that it got its own abbreviation.

You would be better off just coming by for a meal.

 

[melomaniac]

Hah! I love 'EVOO' and have a few flavored olive oils (for salads or on roasted veggies) but I still like to cook with butter, too. Today I added a few thinly sliced carrots and an apple to some thick pork chops, in stages (carrots, pork, apples) each with an additional dollop of butter, no oil. It coats well, it adds flavor, and no, fat doesn't kill people At least not by itself (but to make sure, I played some tennis right afterwards...).

 

[Old Pa]

Classic Coq au Vin! Got a couple of nice organic five pound roasters and performed my ten-piece long division upon them. Prepped the other ingredients; garlic, onion, shallots, baby bella mushrooms, pearl onions, bacon, wine and chicken broth, thyme and bay leaf and got out my big French oval cast iron oven.

Here’s the seasoned chicken waiting for the bacon to slow render to crispies:

Once the bacon was rendered and the crispies reserved, we got about browning the chicken pieces in the bacon fat:

Then it was reserve the browned chicken, pour off most of the bacon fat and sauté the viscera, garlic, onions, and shallots until soft, add the mushrooms until they gave up their moisture, add in a big tablespoon of double-strength tomato paste and a quarter cup of all-purpose flour and cook a couple of minutes.

The cabernet and chicken broth then deglazed the pan and the chicken and bacon crispies went back in. Slow simmered the whole thing covered in a 350F oven for an hour and forty-five minutes.

Pulled and reserved the chicken and cooked the sauce down on a burner until it would coat a spoon. Then returned the chicken and baked covered for an additional thirty minutes.

Served over buttered wide multi-grain noodles with sautéed asparagus with breadcrumbs on the side. Glass of pinot grigio. SWMBO likee likee.

 

[TheAudioDude]

Old Pa... any chance you would be willing to host a Head-Fi cooking class? At the very least, could you send me a booklet of all your recipes??

My repertoire is pretty limited as of now.

 

[Old Pa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheAudioDude /img/forum/go_quote.gif Old Pa... any chance you would be willing to host a Head-Fi cooking class? At the very least, could you send me a booklet of all your recipes?? My repertoire is pretty limited as of now.

Food Network, PBS, FitTV, and others offer cooking instruction and demonstration throughout the day. The library and the internet are loaded with recipes just waiting to be searched. My recipes are for the stuff we like to eat and do not represent any balanced cooking repertoire. The only way to really learn how to cook is to cook.

 

[grokit]

I really enjoy cooking, and dislike processed (and most restaurant) food. I make my own:

bread (always honey whole wheat w/dill & caraway seeds)
salsa (different almost every time)
vanilla bean ice cream (tested many recipes, made my own)
chocolate sauce (gotta have Valrhona powder and Godiva liqueur + agave)
yogurt (plain whole milk sweetened with fresh kiwi)
tapenade (it's an olive, pimento and caper party)
pizza, pasta, and apple pie (it's all in the dough)
"real fruit" smoothies (no ice or powder)
salad dressings (mostly vineagrettes these days)
hummous, babaganoush, falafel

I always try to have on hand: minced garlic, roasted garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, a wide variety of cheeses, Italian seasoning, Dijon mustard, soda water, EVOO, salt and pepper grinders, red pepper flakes, bay leaves, real butter, and almond butter. And pine nuts and coconut flakes for toasting.

That's off the top of my head (I'm always out of something).

I roast my own organic coffee beans as well, and make a custom blend of yerba mate loose tea.

I like to roast birds, grill and smoke meats, roast potatoes, make chili, cornbread, polenta, and saute pasta dishes; my standard is soft tacos with homemade beans, leftover meat, freshly made guacamole, my salsa du jour and as much fresh cilantro as I can get my hands on. I've been meaning to develop my own tortillas but haven't gotten around to it yet, and just like homemade bagels maybe I never will. I would like to experiment with making some cheese one of these days.

I wrecked mom's kitchen when I was 11 making a cheese souffle that actually turned out well, and haven't made one since, need to do that again.

I also like to do creative things to make vegetables enticing, and enjoy making soups and stews. The only desserts I mess with regularly is the ice cream. I used to make chocolate macaroons, not sure why I stopped. I'll occasionally bake up some cookies, brownies, the apple pie, or my special cashew cardamon coffee cake as the occasion calls for it, which is not often. I used to make my own biscotti, but the big containers of them at Costco are cheap and really good, mine was inconsistent and kind of a pain to make.

I live alone so I am usually cooking with a few days worth of meals in mind, and am constantly re-combining different leftovers into new things. Bon apetite!

 

[Ttvetjanu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grokit /img/forum/go_quote.gif The only desserts I mess with regularly is the ice cream

You've got an ice cream machine at home? That's luxury. Personally I would love to get a pacojet machine, makes making ice cream so easy (and you can also do other cool things like the smoothest and most colourful pureés you could ever imagine, or the finest granitas).

Pacojet - Home

Too bad they cost around 2000$

 

[grokit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ttvetjanu /img/forum/go_quote.gif You've got an ice cream machine at home? That's luxury. Personally I would love to get a pacojet machine, makes making ice cream so easy (and you can also do other cool things like the smoothest and most colourful pureés you could ever imagine, or the finest granitas). Pacojet - Home Too bad they cost around 2000$

Yea those are cool; I have used really big restaurant-sized machines; real beasts with a lot of maintenance and small parts to keep track of and clean/sterilize. Cuisinart has the high end home machines with built-in freezers as well, but even if I had the money to spend on such things I would still prefer my $50 motorized freezer bowl version; I have two extra freezer bowls for it (one was a free offer at a higher total price) and the cleanup is really simple. You can't make enough for a big crowd without working well ahead of time because of freezing times, but it totally works for me and an occasional guest or three

 

[KLS]

I am a university student staying alone, and have to cook in order to save money for more audio stuff

 

[Drag0n]

I hear Spareribs makes an awesome taco.

No, i dont mean putting spareribs meat in a taco, i mean this... http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f11/gr...r-taco-477084/