Ulthanon's Test Kitchen

[Ulthanon]

H'ok. So. In game, I don't have the stones to level cooking seriously on any of my characters, but in real life, experimenting with food is a passion of mine! I don't like to start with a recepie, but if I land on something good I like to jot it down for future reference. Today, after a very successful attempt at a chicken dish, I decided to start a thread where people could share their favorite recepies with everyone else!
...Please have tested these dishes before you post them. Or, denote that those trying them are guinea pigs. ^_^

Almond Citrus Crusted Chicken
What You'll Need:

• Big frying pan, preferably cast-iron
• Olive oil
• 1lb chicken breast, sliced thin
• Four tablespoons Ty Ling Orange Naturals Citrus Sauce
• One cup Polar Mango Sauce
• Four teaspoons honey
• One cup Almonds
• One quarter cup White Flour
• Egg
• Milk
• Spices: Ginger, Sesame Seeds, Salt
• White rice
• Mandarin Orange slices

What You'll Do:
Put the egg and some milk into a bowl and whip them up. Chop up the almonds as fine as possible- a small coffee grinder is ideal for this. Combine the almonds with the flour and set them aside for the moment. Combine the honey, mango sauce and orange citrus sauce in a mixing bowl.

Soak the chicken slices/strips/whatevers in the egg & milk mixture for a few seconds, then roll them around in the almond and flour. It might clump up a little bit, that's the flour and its normal. Try to keep as much of the powder on the chicken but don't sweat it if some falls off. Set these strips aside on a plate for a moment, and grab your frying pan and olive oil. Put a fair amount of oil in the pan and heat it up to high, and when it starts sizzling put your chicken strips in. Watch out for splatters. Decrease the heat to about medium at this point so the meat doesn't dry out; it'll be in the pan for a few minutes, but any more than ten and you're probably burning something.
Assuming you're not burning it, this is when you're going to sprinkle in your ginger, sesame seeds and salt; as the chicken is cooking. Eyeball the amount for both sides as you turn it over. The chicken should be taken out and set aside again when both sides are golden-brown and the inside is white.

Drop the heat on the stove to low, and put about half of the sauce you made in there. It'll probably sizzle a little bit, don't worry about it. Stir it some to keep it from burning, and after a moment, put the chicken back in and let it chillax for a minute or two over the low heat. This'll let some of the saucey goodness seep in and make it amazing-and-a-half.
Once you feel it's been getting enough of the low-heat treatment, take the frying pan off the burner and put the chicken & sauce over rice. If you made your rice like normal people, that's fine. If you have a legitimate rice-cooker, that's even better. Take the rest of the sauce you made and apply it as desired. Finally, take a few of the orange slices and drop them on top; this is mostly for presentation, but they taste good too.

What Your Reaction Will Be:
omnomnom

[Ulthanon]

"Gonna Bust You In the (Pork) Chops" and Mashed Potatoes
What you'll need

• Big frying pan, preferably cast iron
• Pot, moderate to large
• Cutting board
• Some kind of big knife
• Tongs
• Potato masher
• Olive oil
• 1lb pork chops, boned or boneless
• 3-5 moderate sized red potatoes
• Peppers: One green and one red
• One white onion
• Butter
• Heavy Whipping Cream
• Milk
• Spices: Salt, Pepper, Oregano, Basil, Rosemary, Savory, Garlic Salt
• Crunchy onions

What You'll Do:
First, cut the peppers in half and dice them into small squares or strips. These will look great, they'll soak up some of the juices from the meat. Next, dice up half of the onion you've got. This will compliment the taste of the meat and will carmelize when you fry it. For now, set these diced veggies aside.

Take your potatoes and dice them into moderately sized chunks. Don't skin them, the red skins are good for color and don't taste like anything. Fill your pot up with water, add salt, slide your potato pieces in and put it on a burner over high heat. This is going to take a while, so you want to start this early. We put the potatoes in now, and not when the water is boiling, because they'd splash and scald you and it sucks. It took me about three scaldings to figure that one out... operant conditioning, go.

While your taters are heating up, take your chops and put all the spices on them... then flip them over using the tongs and spice the other side, too. The amount is, as always, up to you. Once they're spiced, put a fair amount of olive oil in your frying pan, let it warm, and when it starts to sizzle, put your chops in there. You want your burner on medium hear. Even so, they'll probably cook quickly, so keep an eye on them. A side is done when it's golden-brown on the edges and grey-ish in the middle, and the chop is done completely when it's well-cooked in the center (obviously). Don't leave them in there too long or they'll dry out. Once the chops seem done, take them out and put them on a plate, but don't turn the burner off yet.

Adding a little more oil, throw the peppers and onions into the frying pan. Let these sizzle for a minute or two, the onions will turn a deep gold when they (and, coincidentally, the peppers) are more or less cooked to perfection. If you wanna throw some salt and pepper on them, go nuts. I do.

Once the onions are golden, put the chops back in there and just stir everything around one low-medium heat. This is more to keep the chops warm and to let all those good juices mix than to finish cooking anything, so really one or two minutes should do. Once you feel good about their state, slide everything onto a big-ass plate. I mean everything- even the meat scraps and whatever dark brown stuff is in there. That's all good and flavorful and you want it.

By now the potatoes should have been boiling, and they will probably be fairly soft. This is good. Take them off the burner, drain the water, and put in a tablespoon or two of butter, along with salt and pepper. Also, you're going to eyeball the amount of cream and milk you want in there. The ratio should be half and half, but dont put too much collectively in there or they'll be mushy.
Assuming the amount of milk and cream is good, mash the everloving fuck out of those bastards. I mean, really get crankin'.
Once they're all mashed and awesome looking, sprinkle some crunchy onions on top of them, it really adds to the flavor.

Serve! One pound (usually two chops) feeds... well, lets be honest, it'll probably only feed one person if they've got an appetite. But again, chops cook quick, so quantity shouldn't be an issue with enough prep.

What Your Reaction Will Be:
omnomnom

[Aleros]

The one recipe I can remember off the top of my head without checking my recipe book:

Big Bear's Beef Stew

What you'll need

• Crock Pot or Stew Pot that can be placed on stove top
• Knives and stirring spoon, ladel for serving
• Cutting board
• Red, Golden, or some kind of small potato, New Potatos work here too
• Vegetables: Baby Carrots, Green Onions, Sweet Onions, Leeks. Others can be used if desired.
• Water or Beef Broth, Broth highly recommended
• Burgundy wine, the cheap stuff is fine
• Sirloin Beef or Shank, whatever looks best at the store, 2 lbs is recommended for a serving for 4 people, more or less depending on how meaty you like your stew
• Herbs: Basil, Savory, and Chives
• Flour, Potato Flour, Rice Flour, or Potato Flakes. Corn Starch is not recommending for thickening stew, as it does work but will often leave a chalky taste.

What You'll Do:

How much you want to make is really dependent on how many people you're serving, or how much you want left over. My standard per person is:
2 cups water/broth
1 cup wine
5 to 10 baby carrots, depending on size
3 new potatoes
1/4 of a sweet onion
3 or 4 1/2 inch thick cuts of green onions
1/2 lb beef
1 Tablespoon each of Basil, Savory, Chives
1/4 cup of potato flakes ( I don't like mine too thick )

These measurements has been perfected over the years to the tastes and expectations of 4 specific people, so how you want it may differ, but the basic recipe is the same.

Put beef broth/water and wine into pot, begin heating to a light boil. Chop up the beef and potatos into bite sized chunks, carrots may or may not need chopping, add to the pot first. Chop up green onions into 1/2 inch thick rings, put those in. Chop sweet onion into about 1 square inch sized slices. Do not add yet. Add about 1 tablespon of Basil, Savory, and Chives.

Reduce heat to just barely below a boil, if there's steam coming off of it but no bubbles this should be perfect. This is easier monitored with a crock pot. Cover and let simmer for at least 4 hours, more if you have the time and want it to come out even better. This is a good dish to throw together in the morning if you have time and let cook all day. It's not recommended that you leave it unattended seeing as how leaving a stove on when not home is dangerous. Make sure you have someone to watch it and make sure it doesn't boil over or catch fire. I have found that leaving it at least 8 hours gives the best results. Very good winter meal for keeping your house warm and smelling of good food.

Add sweet onions about an hour before serving, and add your thickener of choice about 30 minutes before serving. Bread, crackers, and/or oyster crackers can be good for "mopping up" the broth.

What Your Reaction Will Be:
omnomnomslurpslurp

[Aelflaed]

Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

What you need
A Pork Tenderloin or Pork Loin Roast
Fresh Parsley
Fresh Rosemary
Fresh Thyme
3 cloves garlic
Dijon Mustard
Salt, Pepper, Olive Oil
Baking pan

What you do:
Preheat your oven to 350F. Drizzle some olive oil in the bottom of a baking pan.

Chop up about 1 tablespoon each of the parsley, rosemary, and thyme. Chop up the garlic too, and mix the herbs and garlic together in a little bowl. Open the mustard and stick a spoon in the jar (to avoid having to open the mustard when your hands are covered with raw pork).

Now, take the pork loin and butterfly it - ideally you want it to be about 1'' thick and completely flat. Kinda like this http://www.culinate.com/articles/culina ... _pork_loin

Take a glob of mustard (about a tablespoon for a pork tenderloin, more for a loin roast) and rub it into the now flat pork. then spread 2/3 of the herb/garlic mixture over top of that. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Then roll the pork tenderloin back up so that it is pork tenderloin shaped and not flat anymore. If necessary, tie it a few times with kitchen twine to keep it from unrolling in the oven. Put it in the baking pan. Drizzle with olive oil and the rest of the herb mixture.

Bake for 40-60 minutes, or until the inside reaches 155 degrees. Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing. I slice mine into about 1/2 inch slices. A single pork tenderloin will feed 2 people with a little leftover, a loin roast will feed considerably more.

NOM.

[Fells]

Food porn. Yesssssss. The first thing that this made me think of was this, though.

[Aelflaed]

why make that, when you could have this?

Chocolate Snack Cake (a la Betty Crocker, actually)

prep: 10 min; Bake: 35 min; Cool: 15 min
You can leave your mixer in the cupboard when making this easy one-layer cake. Just mix up the batter with a spoon, bake it and enjoy it warm.


1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup cold water
Ice cream or whipped cream, if desired


1. Heat oven to 350°. Grease bottom and side of round pan, 9 X 1 1/2 inches, or square pan, 8 X 8 X 2 inches, with shortening; lightly flour. I nearly always use an 8x8x2 pyrex for this one.

2. Mix flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Mix oil, vinegar and vanilla. Vigorously stir oil mixture and water into flour mixture about 1 minute or until well blended. Immediately pour into pan.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes. Serve warm or cool with ice cream.

[Aelflaed]

double posted from here: http://justoneanna.com/blog/kitchen/quick-dinner

Menu:

Chicken smothered in Sundried Tomato Basil Pesto
Mixed Fruit Salad

Prep:

Thaw chicken breasts - 1 per person.

Into the food processor throw: 3 cloves of garlic, 3 handfuls of fresh basil, a healthy pinch of salt, 10-12 sundried tomatoes (roughly chopped), 1/3c. pine nuts, and 1/2c. parmesan cheese. Pulse once or twice, then add olive oil slowly until it resembles the consistency of … pesto. Should be pasty, thicker than yoghurt. This will make enough pesto for at least 4 chicken breasts.

Take chicken, sprinkle with pepper (pesto is salty, so don’t salt the chicken) and put in a pan with 2-3 TBSP olive oil over medium-high heat. Cook for 7 minutes per side.

While the chicken is cooking -

Core and chop roughly two apples (I use a corer. makes it faster!). Add in 1 8oz can of mandarin oranges, drained, or two small oranges, supremed. Dump in 1c. each frozen blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. Stir to combine. Add 2 TBSP Cointreau (or 2 TBSP lemon juice). Stir again.

Once the chicken is golden brown and delicious, spread a few tablespoons of pesto on each chicken breast. Serve with a bowl of fruit salad, and (if you are so inclined) a glass of white wine. The salty pesto on the chicken is a great complement to the sweet fruit!