Well first off I would like to thank everyone that responded to my last blog for all their suggestions. What ended up happening is I went for a walk fell in a hole and bashed a head against a rock went home and found a worm in my shoe. Suddenly I was a little more productive. And ever since I have had an unhealthy fascination with gooey things (GET YOUR MINDS OUT OF THE GUTTER!) :P.
Well recently my artistic inspiration has taken a very interesting turn, instead of doing my usual such as drawing or painting, my creative energy has been focusing more on the food aspect of life. I have always loved cooking but lately I spend a lot of my time looking for recipes and then making really yummy food. Needless to say I've been spending a lot of time at grocery stores and my kitchen. Lots of focus on Italian food in particular. The other night I made Spicy Sweet Potato Gnocchi with a Creamy Gorgonzola Cheese sauce. YUM!!!!!!!!! But I've been cooking other styles as well like Indian, French, etc. But I figured since other people on here must cook... anyone have any yummy recipes I can try?! I WANT THEM! GIMMIE!...please :D
I can give you some if you want too!!!
Thanks!
Well first off I would like to thank everyone that responded to my last blog for all their suggestions. What ended up happening is I went for a walk fell in a hole and bashed a head against a rock went home and found a worm in my shoe. Suddenly I was a little more productive. And ever since I have had an unhealthy fascination with gooey things (GET YOUR MINDS OUT OF THE GUTTER!) :P.
Well recently my artistic inspiration has taken a very interesting turn, instead of doing my usual such as drawing or painting, my creative energy has been focusing more on the food aspect of life. I have always loved cooking but lately I spend a lot of my time looking for recipes and then making really yummy food. Needless to say I've been spending a lot of time at grocery stores and my kitchen. Lots of focus on Italian food in particular. The other night I made Spicy Sweet Potato Gnocchi with a Creamy Gorgonzola Cheese sauce. YUM!!!!!!!!! But I've been cooking other styles as well like Indian, French, etc. But I figured since other people on here must cook... anyone have any yummy recipes I can try?! I WANT THEM! GIMMIE!...please :D
I somehow ended up with 10 pounds of sweet potatoes this year... so I've found all sorts of recipes for them. Here is the Spicy Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Gorgonzola cheese sauce
Spicy Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Creamy Gorgonzola Cheese Sauce
Ingredients: 20-30 oz Pricella sweet potato 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, canned 2 teaspoon salt 4 Tablespoons honey 2 cups flour, or more if the dough is too sticky 1 cup cream 1/4 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese 1/2 cup toasted crunchy chopped walnuts Black pepper (optional) Chopped sage
Instructions:
Bake or boil sweet potatoes until soft. Peel off sweet potato skins. Mix sweet potato, chipotle peppers, salt and honey in a blender until smooth. Put the mixture in a large bowl. Add the flour. Mix by hand until you have a nice pliable ball of dough. Do not over mix. Start boiling some water to cook the gnocchis in Prepare a work area and dust it with flour. Take the dough, a cup or so at a time, and roll it out gently with your hands until you have rolls about 3/4 inch in diameter or whatever you prefer. Cut the tubes of dough into pieces about one inch long. Add the pieces in the boiling water. Do not add too many. Cook them until they rise to the surface; it won't take long. Drain well. Heat cream in a pan over medium heat. Add Gorgonzola cheese when cream starts bubbling. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Add black pepper if you like. Put gnocchi in a dish, spoon creamy sauce over, and sprinkle with crunchy walnuts and sage.
I somehow ended up with 10 pounds of sweet potatoes this year... so I've found all sorts of recipes for them. Here is the Spicy Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Gorgonzola cheese sauce
Spicy Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Creamy Gorgonzola Cheese Sauce
Ingredients: 20-30 oz Pricella sweet potato 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, canned 2 teaspoon salt 4 Tablespoons honey 2 cups flour, or more if the dough is too sticky 1 cup cream 1/4 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese 1/2 cup toasted crunchy chopped walnuts Black pepper (optional) Chopped sage
Instructions:
Bake or boil sweet potatoes until soft. Peel off sweet potato skins. Mix sweet potato, chipotle peppers, salt and honey in a blender until smooth. Put the mixture in a large bowl. Add the flour. Mix by hand until you have a nice pliable ball of dough. Do not over mix. Start boiling some water to cook the gnocchis in Prepare a work area and dust it with flour. Take the dough, a cup or so at a time, and roll it out gently with your hands until you have rolls about 3/4 inch in diameter or whatever you prefer. Cut the tubes of dough into pieces about one inch long. Add the pieces in the boiling water. Do not add too many. Cook them until they rise to the surface; it won't take long. Drain well. Heat cream in a pan over medium heat. Add Gorgonzola cheese when cream starts bubbling. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Add black pepper if you like. Put gnocchi in a dish, spoon creamy sauce over, and sprinkle with crunchy walnuts and sage.
Chicken a la King...regular receipe just use fresh boneless skinless chicken breast cut up, or chicken tenderloins, add a small jar of Pimentos and a can of drained Okra.
Tell me if you like it. I also have receipes for Rum Cake, Lamb Vindaloo, Pad Thai, Pho, Daal and Americanised Haggis. BTW any plain broiled meats with a starch and veggie can be livened up and "Gormet" if you learn to make sauces to pour on them. Have fun with sauces I think you'll amaze yourself. Enjoy!
Chicken a la King...regular receipe just use fresh boneless skinless chicken breast cut up, or chicken tenderloins, add a small jar of Pimentos and a can of drained Okra.
Tell me if you like it. I also have receipes for Rum Cake, Lamb Vindaloo, Pad Thai, Pho, Daal and Americanised Haggis. BTW any plain broiled meats with a starch and veggie can be livened up and "Gormet" if you learn to make sauces to pour on them. Have fun with sauces I think you'll amaze yourself. Enjoy!
How many different kinds of pork can one put in a single dish? Chicken Jambalaya for dinner tonight with bacon, bulk sausage with sage, smoked sausage, smoked cured ham and a sour orange marinaded pork loin and chicken.. cause it's like healthy.. and stuff! A veritable meat-tastrophe I tells ya! :) I put this out there for friends and all.
Certainly someone else on this site cooks too? Burns ice cubes? Popsicles? Baloney freakin sandwiches?
How many different kinds of pork can one put in a single dish? Chicken Jambalaya for dinner tonight with bacon, bulk sausage with sage, smoked sausage, smoked cured ham and a sour orange marinaded pork loin and chicken.. cause it's like healthy.. and stuff! A veritable meat-tastrophe I tells ya! :) I put this out there for friends and all.
Certainly someone else on this site cooks too? Burns ice cubes? Popsicles? Baloney freakin sandwiches?
Trouble, the so-so folks at GM stripped out the links!! But I did get a chance to see them. Thanks for shareing!
For those of you that didn't catch them, go gothic, foodie and you will find them. The loli-goth cooking show with the ice-cream was entertaining. The eyeball recipe was cool too.
Last night was my youngest boy's 9th birthday and as always he picked the dinner. We made bratwurst in bock with onions, lima beans (well, he likes them), green beans sauteed with bacon and butter, and chocolate cake with backward 9's all over the thing (thank you, oldest boy for the frosting and decoration!) Below is the Bratwurst in Bock:
pkg of fresh brats, two or three onions sliced, garlic cloves crushed, branch of rosemary, butter or some oil to start the brats and one bottle of dark or amber bock.
Sear the brats in a little butter on stovetop in pan. When seared, remove the brats and set aside with juices. Place the sliced onions into the same pan you seared the brats in and clarify the onions, toss in the crushed garlic. Tear the fresh rosemary into pieces, 3 to 4 inches long and place onto the onions. Put the sausages back in the pan on top of the onions, garlic and rosemary, pour in half to all of the bottle of the bock and cover. The trick to the flavor is to simmer everything in the pan covered at this point about 15 to 20 minutes. The bock will render down to become a sweet and savory sauce drawing the juices from the sausages and the other ingredients. When it's done, serve the sausages on your favorite roll or on a plate, cover with the softened onions and garlic with a litte bit of the sauce. I make a home made mustard that we serve with the sausages that is really simple too.
Yellow and brown mustard seeds. Whatever quantity you want but saving a couple of tsp of each aside to add later. Grind to a powder both mustard seeds, about 50/50 with some of each added in whole after you do the grinding. Add vinegar and a little white wine to a stew like consistency with just a pinch of salt. Let this sit. Ground mustard seed absorbs a lot of liquid so when you make this, only fill your jar about half way and add the liquids to 3/4 of the jar. This will swell in the fridge over the next week or so. You may need to move some to another jar and add a little more liquid.
Keep this going folks! Add more recipes!
Trouble, the so-so folks at GM stripped out the links!! But I did get a chance to see them. Thanks for shareing!
For those of you that didn't catch them, go gothic, foodie and you will find them. The loli-goth cooking show with the ice-cream was entertaining. The eyeball recipe was cool too.
Last night was my youngest boy's 9th birthday and as always he picked the dinner. We made bratwurst in bock with onions, lima beans (well, he likes them), green beans sauteed with bacon and butter, and chocolate cake with backward 9's all over the thing (thank you, oldest boy for the frosting and decoration!) Below is the Bratwurst in Bock:
pkg of fresh brats, two or three onions sliced, garlic cloves crushed, branch of rosemary, butter or some oil to start the brats and one bottle of dark or amber bock.
Sear the brats in a little butter on stovetop in pan. When seared, remove the brats and set aside with juices. Place the sliced onions into the same pan you seared the brats in and clarify the onions, toss in the crushed garlic. Tear the fresh rosemary into pieces, 3 to 4 inches long and place onto the onions. Put the sausages back in the pan on top of the onions, garlic and rosemary, pour in half to all of the bottle of the bock and cover. The trick to the flavor is to simmer everything in the pan covered at this point about 15 to 20 minutes. The bock will render down to become a sweet and savory sauce drawing the juices from the sausages and the other ingredients. When it's done, serve the sausages on your favorite roll or on a plate, cover with the softened onions and garlic with a litte bit of the sauce. I make a home made mustard that we serve with the sausages that is really simple too.
Yellow and brown mustard seeds. Whatever quantity you want but saving a couple of tsp of each aside to add later. Grind to a powder both mustard seeds, about 50/50 with some of each added in whole after you do the grinding. Add vinegar and a little white wine to a stew like consistency with just a pinch of salt. Let this sit. Ground mustard seed absorbs a lot of liquid so when you make this, only fill your jar about half way and add the liquids to 3/4 of the jar. This will swell in the fridge over the next week or so. You may need to move some to another jar and add a little more liquid.
Not exactly sure how all that fit together, from an accident to worms to cooking but, Okay!
There's a recipe out there for Klingon blood worms, but as appealing as that is to the geek in me and as much as that would make a nice segue I'll leave a more contemporary recipe here.
I've been cooking for a long time and do charity catering and host many meals for friends and parties. There are a couple of recipes that are my favorite to make. Here is one of them that's really simple but filling. I'll throw in alternative ingredients and some modifications as I go through it.
Alfredo sauce works with quite a few dishes. The simplest alfredo I know is butter (fat of some kind), heavy cream, pinch of kosher salt and a sharp firm italian cheese, parmesean or romano but similar cheeses can work like gruyere. Exactly how cheap or pretentious do you feel on the evening you make it? What's your budget? That's up to you. Either way, with a few simple ingredients you can turn out an alfredo to work in pasta or veggies or chicken or whatever and it's delicious.
I'm going to call this Base Sauce and it's very simple to make.
Melt a couple of tablespoons of butter, drop in a cup of heavy cream, bring to a boil, working continously with a whisk or wooden spoon keeping the bottom of the pan from searing, drop the heat to a simmer and add a cup of your parmesean cheese. This Base Alfredo sauce will thicken quickly to the desired consistency so be ready to take it off of the heat fast.
Normally if you're making Fettucine Alfredo, boil your noodles first then make the Base sauce. As soon as the Base sauce is done, placed the drained noodles into the sauce pan and fold until well mixed, then bam, into serving dish or on to the plate and table it right away.
Sauce variations:
Seasoning - I left out seasoning from the base sauce on purpose. That base sauce up there is all you need for an alfredo. Anything else is an embellishment. Purists would reel otherwise. When I make mine, I do copious amounts of garlic because I'm an incurable garlic addict thats just gots to have it! But seasonings can range from kosher salt to cracked pepper, oregano, basil, thyme and or rosemary. Rosemary is powerful though, so be aware that a little can over power the dish and usually I don't find it in anyone's alfredo. Freshly chopped curled parsley or the dried flakes are often used to top the dish when plated for color.
Some folks use egg yolks added to the cream to thicken it. The temperature has too be way low or you get cooked egg yolks in the sauce.
Substitute romano for the parmesean or add it to give a sharper flavor to the cheese sauce.
If you substitute finely diced bacon for the butter or add it, you have a carbonara sauce. This sauce is like sex in your mouth. Ewwww.. Forget I made that comparison. But the sauce is really good, full of flavor and rather filling.
If you don't have the budget for heavy cream you can use half and half, just simmer this a little bit longer to thicken it and reduce the water content. If you use milk instead, simmer longer and increase the cheese slightly.
Making the base sauce and adding a small amount of tomato paste or a bit of tomato sauce makes this into a reasonable facimile of bolognese sauce. Not exactly a bolognese or a traditional but really tasty and different Bolognese usually has bits of different meats added as well like ham, sausage.
I once asked a chef to make a white wine alfredo. He insisted it couldn't be done as the wine would curdle the sauce. So we challenged each other. If I could make the sauce he'd give me the meal for free and if it was a decent sauce, he could use it in the restaurant. Deal made we went to the kitchen and I made the sauce. Two things here if you try this. Some recipes have you make a roux, fried flour. I don't do that. In that case you add the white wine to the roux and make a reduction (simmer the water out). The way I made it for him was simply to make the reduction with some of the butter, white wine and pinch of salt, no flour. When the reduction finishes the rest of the sauce goes together. You can add a little wine to the sauce when you get to the end of the sauce, but immediately before the pasta hits the sauce and you shut down the heat. If not, it will curdle and break the cheese sauce.
Overall dish variations:
Adding a mixture of steamed broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and a bit of bell pepper to the pasta just before adding sauce makes a nice primavera.
Mushrooms, mushrooms, mushrooms.. Diced or sliced chunks of everything from canned button mushrooms to reconstituted or fresh shitake to portabellos, sauted in the butter (and or bacon) with a pinch of rubbed sage with the rest of the base sauce made afterward are a royal freakin treat. The more earthy the fungi, the more decadent the end product. There is something magically complimentary about the liquor that are rendered from especially fresh mushrooms with the creamy sauce that make this modification really magnificent.
Adding chicken, well, it's a chicken alfredo. If you do this, please season and pan sear the chicken first, then dice into bite sized pieces. Add to the pasta before saucing. Don't cook the chicken in the sauce. It dries it out.
One more thing.. Cream sauces are not very forgiving when you try to reheat them. More often they will break under refrigeration and you end up with oily, curdy pasta. To reheat leftovers, heat a small amount of milk or cream in the pan then drop the leftovers in, working continuously until everything is warmed up and the consistency comes back.
There are many more recipes I have stuck in my head but I'll leave it open unless I get requests.
Not exactly sure how all that fit together, from an accident to worms to cooking but, Okay!
There's a recipe out there for Klingon blood worms, but as appealing as that is to the geek in me and as much as that would make a nice segue I'll leave a more contemporary recipe here.
I've been cooking for a long time and do charity catering and host many meals for friends and parties. There are a couple of recipes that are my favorite to make. Here is one of them that's really simple but filling. I'll throw in alternative ingredients and some modifications as I go through it.
Alfredo sauce works with quite a few dishes. The simplest alfredo I know is butter (fat of some kind), heavy cream, pinch of kosher salt and a sharp firm italian cheese, parmesean or romano but similar cheeses can work like gruyere. Exactly how cheap or pretentious do you feel on the evening you make it? What's your budget? That's up to you. Either way, with a few simple ingredients you can turn out an alfredo to work in pasta or veggies or chicken or whatever and it's delicious.
I'm going to call this Base Sauce and it's very simple to make.
Melt a couple of tablespoons of butter, drop in a cup of heavy cream, bring to a boil, working continously with a whisk or wooden spoon keeping the bottom of the pan from searing, drop the heat to a simmer and add a cup of your parmesean cheese. This Base Alfredo sauce will thicken quickly to the desired consistency so be ready to take it off of the heat fast.
Normally if you're making Fettucine Alfredo, boil your noodles first then make the Base sauce. As soon as the Base sauce is done, placed the drained noodles into the sauce pan and fold until well mixed, then bam, into serving dish or on to the plate and table it right away.
Sauce variations:
Seasoning - I left out seasoning from the base sauce on purpose. That base sauce up there is all you need for an alfredo. Anything else is an embellishment. Purists would reel otherwise. When I make mine, I do copious amounts of garlic because I'm an incurable garlic addict thats just gots to have it! But seasonings can range from kosher salt to cracked pepper, oregano, basil, thyme and or rosemary. Rosemary is powerful though, so be aware that a little can over power the dish and usually I don't find it in anyone's alfredo. Freshly chopped curled parsley or the dried flakes are often used to top the dish when plated for color.
Some folks use egg yolks added to the cream to thicken it. The temperature has too be way low or you get cooked egg yolks in the sauce.
Substitute romano for the parmesean or add it to give a sharper flavor to the cheese sauce.
If you substitute finely diced bacon for the butter or add it, you have a carbonara sauce. This sauce is like sex in your mouth. Ewwww.. Forget I made that comparison. But the sauce is really good, full of flavor and rather filling.
If you don't have the budget for heavy cream you can use half and half, just simmer this a little bit longer to thicken it and reduce the water content. If you use milk instead, simmer longer and increase the cheese slightly.
Making the base sauce and adding a small amount of tomato paste or a bit of tomato sauce makes this into a reasonable facimile of bolognese sauce. Not exactly a bolognese or a traditional but really tasty and different Bolognese usually has bits of different meats added as well like ham, sausage.
I once asked a chef to make a white wine alfredo. He insisted it couldn't be done as the wine would curdle the sauce. So we challenged each other. If I could make the sauce he'd give me the meal for free and if it was a decent sauce, he could use it in the restaurant. Deal made we went to the kitchen and I made the sauce. Two things here if you try this. Some recipes have you make a roux, fried flour. I don't do that. In that case you add the white wine to the roux and make a reduction (simmer the water out). The way I made it for him was simply to make the reduction with some of the butter, white wine and pinch of salt, no flour. When the reduction finishes the rest of the sauce goes together. You can add a little wine to the sauce when you get to the end of the sauce, but immediately before the pasta hits the sauce and you shut down the heat. If not, it will curdle and break the cheese sauce.
Overall dish variations:
Adding a mixture of steamed broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and a bit of bell pepper to the pasta just before adding sauce makes a nice primavera.
Mushrooms, mushrooms, mushrooms.. Diced or sliced chunks of everything from canned button mushrooms to reconstituted or fresh shitake to portabellos, sauted in the butter (and or bacon) with a pinch of rubbed sage with the rest of the base sauce made afterward are a royal freakin treat. The more earthy the fungi, the more decadent the end product. There is something magically complimentary about the liquor that are rendered from especially fresh mushrooms with the creamy sauce that make this modification really magnificent.
Adding chicken, well, it's a chicken alfredo. If you do this, please season and pan sear the chicken first, then dice into bite sized pieces. Add to the pasta before saucing. Don't cook the chicken in the sauce. It dries it out.
One more thing.. Cream sauces are not very forgiving when you try to reheat them. More often they will break under refrigeration and you end up with oily, curdy pasta. To reheat leftovers, heat a small amount of milk or cream in the pan then drop the leftovers in, working continuously until everything is warmed up and the consistency comes back.
There are many more recipes I have stuck in my head but I'll leave it open unless I get requests.
