The recipe thread

[Pedrito]

Orecchiette with broccoli - a traditional Apulian recipe

Serves 4

320 grams orecchiette pasta
2 medium broccoli heads, fresh (cutting away the large stem, it would be roughly 300 grams)
roman pecorino cheese, grated, 40 grams
extra virgin olive oil
one dried pepper, small
garlic

Put a large pot of water to boil: it must be large enough to accomodate the pasta and the broccoli, too.
Chop away the large stem from the broccoli, and cut the heads into pieces roughly as large as a thumb: do not completely eliminate the smaller stems.
Cut two garlic cloves in halves
Grate finely 40-50 grams of roman pecorino (it's very salty and used in southern Italy as a substitute for parmesan: if you are unable to get some pecorino, you can use parmesan instead of it)

When the water boils, salt it (around 10 grams of salt per liter of water) and put the orecchiette to boil; usually hand-made orecchiette must cook around 18 minutes, while industrial-made orecchiette cook around 13 minutes: always follow producer's advice.
When the remaining cooking time hits ten minutes, pour the broccoli to boil together with the orecchiette (so, if the orecchiette must cook 13 minutes, pour the broccoli into the pot after 3 minutes of the orecchiette boiling)
In the meanwhile, pour 4 to 5 tablespoons of olive oil, the garlic and the pepper in a large skillet, and put it on a medium burner set to very low heat: the garlic and pepper must not fry, just be heated and release their taste to the oil.
When it's one minute before the end of cooking time for the pasta, stir the orecchiette and the broccoli together, shake the stirrer to eliminate any excess water, and pour everything into the skillet; raise the heat to medium, add the pecorino cheese and sauté the ingredients for one minute: the pasta must be al dente, the broccoli must not be completely destroyed by cooking, and the pecorino should add a slight creamy texture to the plate.

Before serving, REMEMBER: take the garlic and pepper off the plates!

Enjoy.



L.

[Caliga]

  Will have to try this, thanks.    Unlike GHWB I love broccoli.

[Caliga]

Oh hey, Pedrito, tell me what you think of this recipe please:

Ingredients

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into bite size pieces
6 cloves garlic, minced
175 grams fresh sliced mushrooms
15 ml olive oil
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
475 ml half-and-half
170 grams Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
30 grams toasted walnuts, chopped
225 grams penne pasta
20 grams grated Parmesan cheese for topping (optional)

Directions

Heat oil over high heat in a large skillet. Brown chicken. Reduce heat, and add garlic and mushrooms. Cook until soft. Remove chicken and mushrooms from the skillet.

Pour half and half cream into skillet, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium, and reduce. Stir occasionally.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water until done. Drain.

When cream has reduced and thickened, stir in Gorgonzola until melted. Add chicken and mushrooms, pasta, and walnuts. Toss and reheat. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately. Garnish with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.

[Pedrito]

What is "half and half"'? 

It seems tasty have you tried, once all the ingredients are mixed together, to pour them in an oven-safe pyrex and put them in 200° C preheated oven for 8-10 minutes? Should give the plate a tender crust and make it delicious. Mmmm gorgonzola aaaaahhhh :homer:

L.

[ulmont]

What is "half and half"'? 

Half milk and half cream.

[Caliga]

Yep.  You could use light cream instead.

[Caliga]

It seems tasty have you tried, once all the ingredients are mixed together, to pour them in an oven-safe pyrex and put them in 200° C preheated oven for 8-10 minutes? Should give the plate a tender crust and make it delicious. Mmmm gorgonzola aaaaahhhh :homer:

No, but I will the next time I make it. 

[Sheilbh]

A simple Middle Eastern recipe (I think Turkish) and one of my favourites:

Chicken (breast, leg, thigh, anything really) - you could do this in bulk by buying and cutting up a chicken but just size up everything else depending on how much chicken you have
Oil
2 Onions, sliced
Chicken stock
Salt and pepper
Dried basil
Dried marjoram
Single cream
Flour
Green stuffed olives

Put the oil in a pan and heat it up.
Brown the chicken all over, then remove from the pan and set aside.
In the same pan add the sliced onion and cook until golden.
Add the chicken stock, seasoning and some basil and marjoram (I usually use a generous pinch so a tsp each?).
Return the chicken to the pan (this'll give you a guide of how much stock you need, either it should cover the chicken or you should be okay with turning it after fifteen minutes).
Keep on a medium heat, lidded or lidless, until the chicken is cooked through.
Remove the chicken from the pan - I normally put some oil and sesame seeds on the skin and roast until crispy.
Keep the onion stock pot simmering.
Mix about 100mls of cream with some flour (generous pinch again).  When you've got a good consistency add to the onion stock pot.
Continue simmering the sauce stirring constantly until the chicken skin's crispy.
Throw in some olives at the last minute.
Remove the chicken from the oven and ladle the cream sauce on top.

Is delish.  I recommend with rice.

[Capetan Mihali]

Made my famous faux-ratatouille/vegetable stew last night.     Very cheap and simple.

Ingredients:

1 eggplant
2 zucchini
2 green bell peppers
1 onion
1 can tomatoes
1 can black olives
several cloves garlic

Cover bottom of large pot with ample olive oil, turn heat on medium-low.  Add chopped garlic, dried basil+oregano+red pepper flakes, ample black pepper and salt.  While this is simmering, chop all the other vegetables into healthy-sized chunks.  Pour some red wine into the simmering mixture, and add zucchini/peppers/eggplant.  Let them soften, add the onion.  Wait a little and add the tomatoes and olives.  Let the whole thing cook on low heat for 45ish minutes, until nice and soft, without too much residual liquid.

Enjoy, esp. topped with some parmesan cheese.   

[sbr]

Can we make requests?

Anyone have a good recipe for German Potato Salad?  I don't usually use recipes but I also don't like to get too adventurous with vinegar.

[Syt]

sbr: sorry, no. Really depends on what you call a "German" potato salad. In the north where I'm from it's often with mayonnaise. 

Down south and in Austria it isn't.



Anyways. I promised friends to make some chili for after our roleplaying session. I grew tired of my standard recipe. I'm lazy and my friends are pussies, so I picked a not too hot recipe that cuts a few corners:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chris-Chili/Detail.aspx

Ingredients

    * 1 1/2 cups onion soup, prepared from a packet of dry onion soup mix
    * 1/4 cup bacon grease (see notes)
    * 1 1/2 pounds boneless beef round steak, cut into 1/3-inch cubes
    * 1 1/2 pounds beef sirloin steak, cut into 1/3-inch cubes
    * 1 teaspoon salt
    * 1 tablespoon chili powder
    * 2 teaspoons ground cumin
    * 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
    * 3 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans, undrained
    * 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
    * 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
    * 2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
    * 1 cup cola soft drink (such as Coke®)
    * 1 tablespoon yellow sport pepper sauce (such as Texas Petes's®)

Directions

   1. Prepare soup from a packet of onion soup mix according to the package directions, and set 1 1/2 cups aside.
   2. Place bacon grease into a large stainless steel soup pot over medium-high heat, and cook and stir the cubed round and sirloin steak meat in the bacon fat until well browned, about 10 minutes. Pour in the reserved onion soup, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 7 minutes, stirring to dissolve any browned flavor bits from the pot.
   3. Stir in salt, chili powder, cumin, black pepper, kidney beans, tomato paste, and tomato sauce. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently to avoid burning the bottom, then cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Stir in the cocoa powder, cola, and hot sauce, and simmer for 20 more minutes. Serve hot.

To be served with grated mountain cheese and fresh Turkish flatbread (the big, fluffy one).

[Syt]

Can we make requests?

Anyone have a good recipe for German Potato Salad?  I don't usually use recipes but I also don't like to get too adventurous with vinegar.

This looks good:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Hot-German-Potato-Salad-III/Detail.aspx
But I'd use bacon cubes rather than slices. Just seems more "German" than the Yankee slices.

[viper37]

4 rib eye steaks
4 medium white onions, peeled and sliced
2 tbs (30 ml) butter  [you can use olive oil instead of the butter, it's even better]
1/3 cup (75 ml) of red wine
1 sprig of thyme
Salt and pepper
1 package of powdered demi-glaze
3 cups (750 ml) of water
2 cups (500 ml) of grated mild white Canadian cheddar



Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat and cook the onions until golden brown. Be sure to season with salt and pepper. Stir frequently to avoid burning the onions.

Deglaze the pan with the red wine and stir with a wooden spoon to get all the flavour that may be stuck on the bottom of the pan. Reduce the liquid to half and add the package of powdered demi-glace.
Add water and thyme.
Let the sauce gently boil for 2 minutes at medium heat.
Remove from heat. Stir in the Canadian Cheddar with the butter.
Discard the sprig of thyme.
Source


***
Also, for salmon:
Maple syrup
Dijon Mustard and any other type of strong mustard you can find.
Citrus/lime juice (about a table spoon)

Slice the salmon almost in half on the long side.
Insert a slice of goat cheese (or swiss cheese) inside.
use toothpicks to close the salmon
Put the salmon on aluminium foil
Put the mustard&syrup mixture on the salmon.
Add sliced almonds
Add pepper (from a pepper mill, ideally).

Cook on the bbq for about 10-15 minutes, medium-high, depending on how much stuff you got in the bbq.


You can try a similar recipe with a pork loin.
Just forget the cheese, and add parsley on the pork with the almonds.


***
The ultimate potatoe recipe:
http://www.dairygoodness.ca/recipes/herb-buttered-new-potatoes-hot-off-the-grill

[DGuller]

Do any of you Chef Boiardis know recipes that have at most 4 ingredients, with nothing complicated to do with them?  Some of us are bachelors without any cooking skills, you know?

[garbon]

Should have joined a cooking club.