Need a meal

Delzhand

I'm getting a little tired of the beef/pork/chicken/fish routine and want to try something new, but I've got no ideas. I enjoy cooking - I've currently got a batch of jamaican jerk pork marinating. Made the marinade myself, I don't mind meals with a good amount of prep.

I was thinking maybe jambalaya, but I've already got a cajun dish for Friday. Maybe something indian? Or something with lots of cut up veggies? I got a new knife recently and it's an absolute dream to cut with. I diced a few potatoes for fun and then realized I didn't have any use for them.

I'm not opposed to vegetarian dishes but I'm not a fan of meat substitutes, either.

firewaterword

A humble suggestion from the vault:

Curried Cauliflower with Chickpeas & Tomato

2 T unsalted butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 T curry powder
1/2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled & minced
1 large tomato, seeded & chopped
1/2 c chicken broth (use water or vegetable broth to keep this dish vegetarian)
1 T tomato paste
1 15-oz can chickpeas
1/2 lb head of cauliflower, stem removed & chopped into florets
salt
2 c greens, such as spinach
fresh chopped cilantro for garnish

Meal the butter over medium heat in a soup pot. Add the onion, curry powder & ginger. Cook until the onion is soft.

Add the tomato & cook for 6 minutes.

Add the broth & tomato paste & stir. Add the chickpeas & cauliflower. Cover the pot & let simmer for 15 - 20 minutes, you want the cauliflower to be crisp tender. Uncover & allow to cook until the sauce is the desired thickness. Add salt as needed.

Serve over rice if desired. Sprinkle each serving with cilantro.

Delzhand

Ohhh, that sounds good. To the grocery store!

Xaquin

Some pasta primavera (sp?)

Make some chunks of Red Onion, Red Bell Peppers, Zucchini, and Carrots and toss with good olive oil, basil, salt, pepper, and maybe some red pepper flakes.

Slap them on a baking sheet and roast em till the edges of the peppers curl up a bit.

meanwhile, boil up some pasta and when it's done, put a little olive oil, salt, and pepper on it too.

mix it all together and add in some garlic and Parmesan cheese and whatever other seasoning tickles your fancy and eat it up.

Good stuff!

TheRealBadger

A properly cooked lamb rack is incredible

Teslan26

Simple?

Cheap-

Fry some bacon/courgette/pepper/mushroom/sliced onion and once close to cooked throw in some finely sliced garlic.

Mix with pasta and some pesto. Job done


Beautiful-

Try some gressingham duck breast, pan fried* to pink, sliced. Toss a simple selection of lettuce leaves and a some parsley in good olive oil and a decent pinch of salt. Place in centre, lay slices of still warm duck atop, drizzle with 7+ year balsamic.

Enjoy.

*Season the skin. Heat pan, no oil. Low heat - Ideally planning to place half on half off the heat, then put the duck skinside down on the part NOT directly heated. Turn it around every now and again. Once skin reasonably crisp looking, turn over, put in oven at 180 till pink and perfect.

Delzhand

I ended up making the curried cauliflower tonight. I omitted the tomato out of personal preference, but the whole thing was a tasty, filling meal. Thanks!

firewaterword

Delzhand wrote: »

I ended up making the curried cauliflower tonight. I omitted the tomato out of personal preference, but the whole thing was a tasty, filling meal. Thanks!

No problem, glad you enjoyed it.

Trinis

TheRealBadger wrote: »

A properly cooked lamb rack is incredible

Yeah, give lamb a shot. I've never cooked a full rack but lamb chops are great - cook them however you like your pork chops. Another meat to try if you haven't is venison. Deer steaks are delicious, but in my opinion some of the deer burgers I've had were too gamey.

jeddy lee

Pesto Sauce is the most refreshing type of sauce you can place on pasta, and is incredibly easy. The standard grade is:

Equal parts fresh Parsley and Basil
Handful of toasted Pine Nuts (FIXED) (medium heat dry pan until they warm up, you'll smell the flavor)
Some salt
3 or 4 cloves of garlic

Shove it all except for the nuts in a food processor, turn it on, start adding olive oil as you go in order to make it about the thickness of a dip (sticks to side, but still a "sauce") then mix in the toasted nuts, put on top of warm pasta, mix together and enjoy (especially good with some lemon juice on top).

I made this last night with some variation where I replaced the basil with cilantro and the pine nuts with sesame seeds. I give it an A+. Served it on the side of some Bay/Garlic MahiMahi, but really the pasta was the star of the show.

Sentry

... was it a handful of toasted pine nuts? because that sounds amazing

Forkes

jack eddy wrote: »

Pesto Sauce is the most refreshing type of sauce you can place on pasta, and is incredibly easy. The standard grade is:

Equal parts fresh Parsley and Basil
Handful of toasted almonds(medium heat dry pan until they warm up, you'll smell the flavor)
Some salt
3 or 4 cloves of garlic

Shove it all except for the nuts in a food processor, turn it on, start adding olive oil as you go in order to make it about the thickness of a dip (sticks to side, but still a "sauce") then mix in the toasted nuts, put on top of warm pasta, mix together and enjoy (especially good with some lemon juice on top).

I made this last night with some variation where I replaced the basil with cilantro and the pine nuts with sesame seeds. I give it an A+. Served it on the side of some Bay/Garlic MahiMahi, but really the pasta was the star of the show.

Fixed

Erandus

You can throw a little fresh grated parmisan, asiago, or romano in pesto also. Make sure you use actual grated cheese and not the parmisan powder you buy in the plastic containers.

Pesto at work:

Delzhand

I love pesto. I picked up a jar of authentic italian pesto when I was in Florence. I had it the other day on some spinach and cheese tortelli, tossed with corn and peas.

KalTorak

Pistachios also work for pesto.

Goddamnit Erandus, I might have to stop and buy pesto materials on my way back from work, that looks fucking delicious.

Erandus

That's because it's fucking delicious.

Durandal Infinity

Even cheaper and can be made with leftovers Frittata

[edit] also for authentic pesto PINE NUTS roasted

kitch

firewaterword wrote: »

A humble suggestion from the vault:

Curried Cauliflower with Chickpeas & Tomato

2 T unsalted butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 T curry powder
1/2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled & minced
1 large tomato, seeded & chopped
1/2 c chicken broth (use water or vegetable broth to keep this dish vegetarian)
1 T tomato paste
1 15-oz can chickpeas
1/2 lb head of cauliflower, stem removed & chopped into florets
salt
2 c greens, such as spinach
fresh chopped cilantro for garnish

Meal the butter over medium heat in a soup pot. Add the onion, curry powder & ginger. Cook until the onion is soft.

Add the tomato & cook for 6 minutes.

Add the broth & tomato paste & stir. Add the chickpeas & cauliflower. Cover the pot & let simmer for 15 - 20 minutes, you want the cauliflower to be crisp tender. Uncover & allow to cook until the sauce is the desired thickness. Add salt as needed.

Serve over rice if desired. Sprinkle each serving with cilantro.

When do the 2c of spinach go in?

KalTorak

Ok damnit, Erandus I bought herbs and made pesto with pine nuts and put it on pasta and shoved it into my face and it was fantastic ARE YOU HAPPY NOW

jeddy lee

Sentry - Yes it was pine nuts, yet it was delicious.

Really a good pesto could be made using any herbs (I'd reccomend atleast two, one being parsely), salt, olive oil and any kind of nuts, then some hard cheese on top like grated parmesan.

It just works so well with anything. It's a pasta sauce, great for cooking seafood/chiken. I imagine it would make a great sauce for a rack of lamb. You can dip chips into it... And it always looks damn impressive.

Erandus

KalTorak wrote: »

Ok damnit, Erandus I bought herbs and made pesto with pine nuts and put it on pasta and shoved it into my face and it was fantastic ARE YOU HAPPY NOW

Dude, I one upped you and made Alfredo, pregnant with pesto, and then simmered some stir fried chicken in it and put it on some pasta and put it in my belly and OH GOD YES I AM SO HAPPY NOW

For serious, pesto alfredo. If you have not had the pleasure, have the fucking pleasure.

It looks a lot like this:

firewaterword

kitch wrote: »

When do the 2c of spinach go in?

Whoa, you're right, it's not there. Whoops. Anyway, I usually sautee it, then throw it in at the end, but it's entirely optional.

KalTorak

Erandus, what you have started today will resound in the heavens for a thousand thousand years.

Erandus

Glad to be of service.

Delzhand

Since we're on the topic of pastas, what do you fine people think of multigrain pasta? My wife bought it once, and I simply do not care for it. It has it's own flavor, which is not really something I look for in pasta.

firewaterword

I've been eating whole wheat pasta for so long, I can't really notice a difference anymore. I like pasta al dente, and whole wheat works great in that respect. And I'm pretty sure it's a good deal better for you, health-wise.

But yeah, the first time I tried it, I knew it was something different. Not bad different, just wasn't used to it.

jeddy lee

Anyone who doesn't like pasta al dente is a bad person and needs to get better taste. Clearly their food opinion is wrong.

Anyone try that pesto recipe?

Erandus

Just to twist the knife on KalTorak a little more, here is the Pesto Alfredo Chicken leftovers from last nights dinner that I am, as I type this, shoving into my gullet. Oh, and mushrooms. Did I mention mushrooms? There's mushrooms.

jeddy lee

God mushrooms and pasta go together like hookers and blow.

Erandus

Which are the mushrooms in that metaphor?

Edit: the above pictured food is now fully contained within my belly. I could eat that stuff every day. Seriously, if you haven't done pesto in alfredo, do it now.

jeddy lee

Hmm... good question. I suppose the blow accentuates the time with the hooker, so that would be the mushrooms accenting the pasta?

I don't know. I'll make some pie graphs and cost/benefit analysis on this and get back to you!

mts

hey what is your alfredo recipe? i make a damn fine tomato sauce but have not branched into alfredo territory

a simple dish

saute some stewed tomatos with garlic and red peper flakes, salt and paper and some basil if you like

boil some farfalle pasta(bow ties) at the end throw in a shit load of baby spinach
also at the end you can trow in some protein. i usually use shrimp or scallops, you could probably do chicken but its a lighter type dish.

mix the two and serve with some grated cheese