Favorite dish you like to cook? (Page 2)

Kalee88: Teriyake Chicken w/Jasmine Rice

nighthawk66: homemade pizza on the grill is great

Big Bopper: I made a great soup the other day. I found a frozen jug of homemade chicken stock so I made a tasty minestrone-like soup. I browned a medium onion sliced medium, adding five cloves of minced garlic, turning the heat down so the garlic didn't burn. I added this to the stock with a small potato cubed fine. I then browned a few small pieces of pork loin, seasoning it hard with salt, pepper and cayenne, and added it to the soup. I threw in a small handful of macaroni, then about 1/4 cup of hot tomato salsa and a few green beans chopped about 1 inch long. It was great!

I guess my 'favourite' would be what I made today: beef Vindaloo. Brown an onion, add garlic and ginger, add some Patak's paste. Add finely sliced beef and spice to taste with cayenne and crushed chillies or fresh chillies if you have them. I like a little potato and the best...acorn squash. I don't know where I got the idea from but it is a wonderful flavour in a curry. Serve with Basmati rice.

Big Bopper: Favourite that I like to cook? Pizzas are fun and easy. Beef Bourgignon is worth the little extra time and effort. Steak and prawns with Bearnaise sauce and a baked potoato are great if you have fresh prawns. Baked brined turkey. Properly brined, the baked bird is tasty, moist and tender and the sauce only needs a roux to tighten it. Pasta I've rolled myself is a treat. Gnocchi is exquisite with the right sauce.

Big Bopper: I must add to my list of 'favourites' I like to cook: sushi rolls. It really is easy once you've done it a few times. Use sticky rice...or Calrose or Kokoho Rose. Get a small sushi mat of bamboo. I got mine for $2 at the Super Store: Extra Foods, Super-Value or likely any Weston-operated store.

This time, I used fresh-caught coho salmon cooked gently in sesame oil and soy sauce. I removed the fish, scraped the de-scaled skin from the pan and crisped it up in coconut oil. I finely sliced some red pepper, celery, sweet onion and carrot. After placing the nori (seaweed paper) on the bamboo mat, I ran a bead of wasabi paste across it with a few beads of Japanese mayonnaise. After spreading the rice I sprinkled it with soy sauce. If you like, you can leave the wasabi and soy out, if you want to dip each piece as you eat it.

After spreading the rice, leaving an inch or so at the end to allow for sealing (with water brushed onto the nori), lay out the ingredients. Remember, you will be cutting the roll into eight pieces so spread your ingredients accordingly. The crispy skin adds a fantastic taste and feel sensation to this dish and is well worth the small amount of extra work, and if your fish is fresh.

You could use any combination of ingredients, but seafood is the logical choice because it goes so well with the salty flavour of the nori. I like the crunch of the vegetables and colour adds to the appeal of the dish. Crab is another recommended flavour, but any fish would work. If the fish you use is very mildly flavoured, try a bead of anchovy paste on the nori. Cut all ingredients very very fine. Use the bamboo mat to help you tighten the roll before you seal it. Sharpen your knife before you slice the roll and try to do it with one outward motion, and one back. It is easy to make a mess if your knife isn't sharp enough.

Try it! Let me know if you want a little coaching...no problem.

Big Bopper: I smoked some salmon over the last day...fresh salmon, salt, brown sugar, alder shavings and chunks.

Dinner tonight consisted of pasta with pesto and smoked salmon. I like smoked salmon with pasta Alfredo and had no milk...but I had pesto! Pesto can take many forms; this pesto was made with garlic scapes, the curly stalk shooting up as the plant tries to flower, basil, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and lots of olive oil.

Metaverseguy: You are like the super cook.

Big Bopper: Naw, I'm a super-eater! I encourage everyone to cook. You will learn how you like your food done.

BitterBeer: I bake a yellow squash/zucchini macaroni and cheese from scratch.

Big Bopper: That sounds great BB! We had huge t-bone steaks the other day and I had to use the bones. Baked them hard for a few hours at 375, then simmered a few hours covered in water with a carrot and a celery stick, reduced it to 1/4. Only had 1/4 pound ground beef, but when added to a browned onion, three cloves of garlic, a carrot, some peas and some cauliflower, and a little red wine, the sheperd's pie-like meal was excellent. The mashed potato I covered it with was home-grown spuds, with 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup 15% cream.

I made two 9-inch pies and had the last of it before bed.

Big Bopper: I cooked a pot of garden-fresh tomatoes into a wonderful sauce with home-grown basil in it. I reduced into a pizza sauce and used some on a 13-14 inch pie. Ham, onions, and dried tomatoes were accented with fresh basil, chillies, parmesan and mozzarella.

Ate it all.

Big Bopper: Tonight I smoked some ribs! You guys need to hear this. I used pork back ribs, but I'll use spare-ribs next time. You will need a smoker for this. If you don't have a smoker yet, let me tell you that it will open culinary doors you haven't been through yet, and it is worthwhile.

Trim anything objectionable from the ribs, including any silverskin. Rub both sides of the ribs with a mixture of paprika, garlic powder, coriander powder, crushed mustard, thyme, salt, sugar, cayenne, crushed black pepper. Use any combination of the aforementioned ingredients, and don't be nervous, use a lot. I run it all through my mortar and pestle so the fine powder adheres to the meat better. Rub it into every square mm, including the ends and edges. Smoke for 4-5 hours, turning halfway through to allow full penetration of the smoke.

Remove from smoker, brushing bbq sauce all over it. Wrap in foil, meat down. Bake meat down for about 1/2 hour to glaze the surface. If you put it on a barbecue, the time will vary, be careful you don't burn the sugars. Brush juices from the foil on ribs as you serve them. Oh man! This is now the only way I'll do ribs. Reading my prep sounds like a lot, but it really is easy.

My bud, Mickey Man was over to watch a rugby game and I served us each a rack of ribs with a chafing dish of baked pasta and cheese, made with garden fresh sauce, covered with grated Mozza and baked until brown on top.

OH YEAH!

Lace46: ziti, definetely ziti with meat sauce..yum!

Big Bopper: Favourite dish? The tasty dish in front of me is my current favourite!

I made a delicious lamb curry today. I boned the shoulder steak piece of lamb, putting the bones in a 380 degree oven. I browned the cubed lamb then removed the meat from the cast-iron pan. I browned a medium onion, then added a few cloves of garlic and a thumb-sized piece of ginger, both chopped fine. I poured about two cups of water in, then added the bones and medium diced potato.

While the bones were flavouring the water, I set out my spices and mortar and pestle. I used black peppercorns, chile powder, cayenne, black mustard seed, green cardamom, thyme, turmeric, crushed chile flakes, and cumin. Most of these spices needed to be smashed in the mortar and pestle, which is the way to maximize the flavour.

I added the meat to let it tenderize as it cooked. I then added all the spices as I smashed them up. I threw in two bay leaves and about 1/4 cup of potato flakes as it was a little loose. Then a fine-diced a piece of butternut squash and put it in the oven. I put the rice on. I like Basmati rice with a curry. It's long-grained, stays firm and is a little fragrant to the nose.

It was (bu-u-urp!) great! I usually use Patak's curry paste, but didn't even think of it today.

BitterBeer: I love curry. I add it to some of my meals. It just adds an interesting bite to everything. Thanks for sharing.

Metaverseguy: I'd like to try something with tofu like stir fry. Just add in some rice and then a bunch of vegetables for flavor - bell peppers, onions, garlic, cucumbers, zuccini, carrots, etc.

Big Bopper: Yeah! Tofu is versatile. I like to get firm tofu, cube it, dry it off and fry it so it's crispy outside. It would be great in a stirfry.

latina40gt: I have been using my steamer lately, I got broccoli and zuccini in small pieces. Then I cook some pasta and add some olive oil and basil and that's it. Very tasty

Metaverseguy: Sounds nice. They were selling mussels for $4.99 a pound the other day so I steamed those on the stove and added some garlic and lemon pepper.

Big Bopper: Went to the shop for some beef soup bones and came home with that, and a plump chicken. Dinner tonight will be roast chicken with mashed potatoes and the best gravy I can make! Oh yeah!

I also grabbed some turkey wings. These guys are a good value...three dinner size and three lunch size servings for $5.50. Or braise them and I get such a rich sauce it's great.

Big Bopper: I didn't tell you about yesterday in the kitchen. I made butternut squash and bleu cheese ravioli! I rolled out the pasta with my Mercato Atlas 150 pasta machine, put a slice of steamed butternut and a chunk of Bleu Cheese every few inches. I sprinkled some fresh cracked black pepper on each, then cut the pieces hoping to have enough to seal it as I pinched each ravioli closed. Well, I wasn't very elegant in the assembly...OK, I'll be honest - what a hassle!

They do taste very good and I'm glad I made them. Maybe never again, but I've done it!

Metaverseguy: I was looking at tofu at the store the other day. I hope they have stir fry already prepared in a bag because I'm not looking forward to buying 5 or 6 vegetables and then cutting them all up. I'd like to fire up the grill to cook some meat but it takes so long and you gotta buy coal. I think I'll try putting bratwurst or a hot dog on there. Frankly everything on the grill is disgusting whether it's beef patties, hot dogs, or whatever so better to see it charred than be reminded of their ingredients.

Big Bopper: I hear ya, Mate. I suffer from The Omnivore's Dilemma. I like to eat meat, but I'd rather not know about the life and death of the animal. I recommend the book by the above title, written by Michael Pollin. If it doesn't make you a vegetarian, it will certainly make you question your role in the food chain.

Metaverseguy: Well I meant specifically hot dogs. It's pretty much a meat casserole of leftover animal parts. Although, red meat is the worst for you, high in saturated fats, salt and cholesterol. Chicken, fish, and pork seems to be the healthiest. I don't get how vegetarians meet 2,000 calories per day when all their meat is so lean. It's probably healthier to be vegetarian since they inject so much livestock with antibiotics and steroids to help them grow, but who wants to eat all those supplemental vitamins to make up for the lost iron in the diet?