Recipes that Rock: 2011

[Darienne]

Ya got me. Spicy garlicky cashew chicken is on this week's menu!!!

Took a while, but we finally had it for lunch today with Coconut Rice. Delicious to the max!

[Emily_R]

I'm so glad you guys liked the chicken! And I'm really glad this thread got bumped, because I have another recipe to add. This is almost so simple its hardly a recipe, but its the type of thing where when I read it -- at 10pm -- I thought 'this is genius! I have to try this right now! And then I went to the kitchen, made the recipe in all of about 3 minutes, tasted it, and screamed to my husband 'this is genius!'

What is it? Its Heidi Swanson's quesadilla, but that doesn't really describe it. I prefer to call it a Huevos Rancheros taco. Basically You part-cook a scrambled egg, place a corn tortilla down on the top of it and continue cooking so the two fuse. Then flip to the other side, top the egg with a little shredded cheese, and cook until cheese is melted and tortilla is browned and crispy. Add a little salsa, or sour cream, fold in half and eat like a taco! This has revolutionized my thoughts about what to make when I'm just a little peckish and want a snack. Sometimes its the simplest recipes that are totally home runs...

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/quesadillas-recipe.html.

Edited May 19, 2011 by Emily_R (log)

[Corinna]

I made a double batch of the cilantro-cashew paste last night. There was no appropriate chicken at the store, so I ended up smearing it on some nice pork shoulder steaks that we threw on the grill. Perfect for our first al fresco meal of the year, with coconut rice, romaine with lime vinaigrette and a Chilean Sauv Blanc. I look forward to trying it on chicken thighs soon (if I don't eat the res of it with a spoon.)

Thanks for sharing this rockin' recipe! It's going to come in very handy this summer.

[Darienne]

What is it? Its Heidi Swanson's quesadilla, but that doesn't really describe it. I prefer to call it a Huevos Rancheros taco. Basically You part-cook a scrambled egg, place a corn tortilla down on the top of it and continue cooking so the two fuse. Then flip to the other side, top the egg with a little shredded cheese, and cook until cheese is melted and tortilla is browned and crispy. Add a little salsa, or sour cream, fold in half and eat like a taco! This has revolutionized my thoughts about what to make when I'm just a little peckish and want a snack. Sometimes its the simplest recipes that are totally home runs...

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/quesadillas-recipe.html.

Mmmm...for supper. Add some fried Poblano strips...my freezer has a big bag of them. Or some (frozen also)pulled beef or pork. Not traditional, but my tummy won't know the difference. Thanks.

[Genkinaonna]

I too made the cashew chicken. It was fabulous! I think it'd be great on chicken skewers grilled for a party app...I'm not a big fan of cilantro but it worked so well in that sauce. I guess a bunch of cashews can hide a multitude of sins!

[Darienne]

I made a double batch of the cilantro-cashew paste last night. There was no appropriate chicken at the store, so I ended up smearing it on some nice pork shoulder steaks that we threw on the grill. Perfect for our first al fresco meal of the year, with coconut rice, romaine with lime vinaigrette and a Chilean Sauv Blanc. I look forward to trying it on chicken thighs soon (if I don't eat the res of it with a spoon.)

Thanks for sharing this rockin' recipe! It's going to come in very handy this summer.

My next step was to put it on pulled pork. Glad it worked out. I have a lot of sauce leftover and half the coconut rice.

[saluki]

I too made the cashew chicken. It was fabulous! I think it'd be great on chicken skewers grilled for a party app...I'm not a big fan of cilantro but it worked so well in that sauce. I guess a bunch of cashews can hide a multitude of sins!

Thanks so much for your post. Since I absolutely loathe Cilantro I would have passed this recipe right by but, your post and all the other raves reviews made me curious enough to give it a try....... Ya coulda knocked me over with a feather---

loved the dish and loved that cilantro pesto enough to eat it by the spoonful........

Edited June 17, 2011 by saluki (log)

[SobaAddict70]

This will be for brunch sometime this weekend:

Bacon, lettuce and slow-roasted tomato sandwich.

I don't know why I never thought of that before.

Courtesy: http://notwithoutsalt.com/2011/06/12/b-l-slow-roasted-t/ (one of my favorite foodblogs btw)

[Fred12fred]

I must have done something wrong. I love broccoli. So does DH. The soup was like cooked broccoli. Boring. We gave up eating it and put it into the dogs' vegetable container. (They eat pulped greens). I don't know whether to be embarrassed or confused or what?

I'm sorry it didn't work..I doubt you did anything wrong. Maybe it's just that you and your DH were such ardent broccoli-lovers before that you were less surprised than the rest of us at how good broccoli can taste.

Me too. The soup is nice, but not mind blowing to me.

This broccoli soup recipe is right up there with the roasted cauliflower recipe from last(?) year.

Simply wonderful!

I think the key thing is to add enough salt to the water when you cook it. Without enough salt, it is just boiled boring broccoli.

[ruthcooks]

Here is a recipe I tried from the package of "gourmet" potatoes I bought. Wish I could remember the potato name, but it seems it had one word having to do with sweetness, like "honey".

Wash and boil 12 ounces of small potatoes (about 1 oz each, or 12) in salted water to cover until they test done. Have ready 2 T. butter, and a mixture of 1/2 cup sour cream, zest of 1 lime and juice of 1/2 lime. Drain potatoes well, add butter and cover pan until butter is melted. Add sour cream mixture and salt and pepper to taste. Heavenly!

This was enough for 2 servings, but I managed to eat them all before bedtime. Even good cold.

[Emily_R]

Tried a new veggie recipe that knocked my socks off -- and for zucchini no less, so that I may re-post this to the zucchini thread! In Lidia's Family Table, she has a recipe for Poached Whole Zucchini with Lemon and Olive Oil. It is so simple that it is really more of a method than a recipe -- poach whole small (6-7 inch long, max two inches wide) untrimmed zucchini in water for around 15 to 20 minutes, until very tender. Trim the ends off, slice into whatever size you want, and drizzle with kosher salt, olive oil, and lemon juice (and maybe some lemon zest) while still warm. One key is that this really needs to be done with small zukes or summer squash -- you want minimal seed development in them.

Wow. So good. I ate almost a pound of zucchini myself for lunch. This method manages to bring out the vegetal-ness of the zucchini in a wonderful way. Delicious both room temp (my favorite) but also good straight out of the fridge. They would make a great picnic accompaniment to some good bread and cheese.

[Darienne]

Tried a new veggie recipe that knocked my socks off -- and for zucchini no less, so that I may re-post this to the zucchini thread! In Lidia's Family Table, she has a recipe for Poached Whole Zucchini with Lemon and Olive Oil.

Sounds delicious. I have a pound of roasted zucchini slices in the freezer. It's too late for the poaching, but I could heat them with the dressing. Sounds like my kind of dish.

[ElsieD]

These are seriously good wings.

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Korean-Fried-Chicken

[saluki]

On Ravenous Couple-- they said using Wondra flour for the flour part makes Korean Fried Chicken come out even better.--It's a tip they got from Eric Ripert---

Also, the sauce is a bit different in the original recipe

Ravenous Couple

The Saveur Recipe belongs to Ravenous Couple and it is demonstrated by Amanda and Merrill on Food 52 here

Edited July 12, 2011 by saluki (log)

[Emily_R]

Ok folks, surely someone's made a recipe that rocks recently? I've been traveling for two weeks and am dying to get back to cooking - give me something to look forward to making when I get home!

[saluki]

I had bought all the ingredients for the Frankie Spuntino meatballs but the thought of turning on the oven in this heat was a non starter so, having to use the ground beef I opted for an Asian burger from No Recipes and used the outdoor grill---Turned out very flavorful without having to use eggs or breadcrumbs.

Recipe here

[sabg]

Do u think I could sub tofu for the chicken

[Anna N]

Made this recipe twice - once marinading for 30 minutes and then plans changed and some ended up being marinaded for 24 hours - the second batch were damn tasty.

[Snadra]

I made the cashew chicken earlier this weeks - absolutely delicious! I baked it because I couldn't be bothered with grilling, and added a small piece of ginger to the paste. We had them with basmati, extra sauce and a slightly altered version of the crushed courgettes from Yotam Ottolenghi's recent article (I had no thyme or dried mint). Topped with yoghurt, the zuchinni were absolutely delicious and I am planning on making them and some other dippy veggie things to have with flatbreads for work next week.

[dividend]

I know I'm behind the curve on this one, but I just tried roasted kale. I had a bunch of kale from my CSA, and it seemed like a lot of hassle to saute it in olive oil and garlic like I usually do, and it never really turns out that great. So I googled a recipe, and ended up making this. I don't really measure ever, so I just put the chopped kale in a bowl, and drizzled with oil until it was shiny. This was really good. I will definitely be making it again.

[eldereno]

I just saw an episode of Giada's show that she did something similar to this. I normally don't eat Kale because I do not do many dishes that this would integrate well into...but by itself, a fairly low carb but salty snack.....might try it! Thanks.

[Darienne]

Meat loaf. Not usually something to crow over. However, this recipe posted on EatNopales blog was, in the words of my DH, the very best meat loaf he had tasted in his entire life. Thank you, EN.

Have to love a good meat loaf recipe. Recipe Here

[Emily_R]

So a while back - not sure how long ago, since I can't find this through the search function here -- Bruce (aka Sapidus) posted a recipe for Slipper Burgers, I believe on the Whats for Dinner thread. They are lamb burgers, heavily spiced with ginger, cilantro, corinader, cumin, and serrano peppers. I've had this in my to-try stack for a while, and finally did tonight. Wow! Fantastic - full of flavor, with the perfect amount of heat. Here's a link to the recipe:

Lamb Slipper Burgers

I mad ea few modifications -- less dried coriander, more dried cumin, and added some garlic powder. Otherwise followed the directions (though made them into actual burgers, rather than oblong shapes) and was rewarded with super juicy flavorful burgers, that were a great change from my usual beef ones. Yay! Thanks Bruce!

[Emily_R]

Ok, I've got another one! Hopefully if I keep bumping this thread up, someone else will start posting their recent awesomeness. Finally got around to making these semolina gnocchi from Leite's Culinaria: Semolina Gnocchi Holy hell they are good! And easy! Forget the fuss of forming and boiling regular gnocchi -- these are poured out and chilled much like polenta, then cut and baked with topping of parmesan and breadcrumbs until they are puffed and crispy and crazy delicious. I served them with some of Marcella Hazan's pasta with tomato and butter sauce, and couldn't stop swooning. Even better is that if you cut them small, they would make the best finger food / appetizer.

Here's a (terrible) pic...

[Darienne]

Imagine my surprise when I thought to myself...OK. I have a recipe to post here . It's in "The Kitchen > Cooking > Unexpected Visitors for Dinner…" #1840536, Almost Instant Bean Soup. (Sorry I don't know how to do that kind of internal link thing) And whose recipe is it? Why Emily_R, the very poster who is asking us all to post wonderful recipes here.

This soup is terrific. We had the rest for supper tonight and it tasted even better the second time...well, I thought so. Incredible soup. Thanks again, Emily. :wub: