Recipes that Rock: 2011

[suzilightning]

Chicken Canzanese from Cook's Illustrated - though I did leave the pepperoncino out since my husband can't tolerate heat. I really, really liked the crispy chicken skin.

Edited October 5, 2011 by suzilightning (log)

[rarerollingobject]

No picture, but the recipe was lovely..toast some fennel seeds and pound with salt and a clove of garlic. Heat oil in a pan and gently brown some fish (I used blue eye but any firm white fish would do) for a minute or two, then tip in the fennel/garlic mix and a handful of frozen peas (I used shelled broad beans) and fry a minute longer.

Pour over half a cup of white wine, half a cup of chicken stock, a big handful of parsley and a handful of clams, drizzle with a bit more olive oil and clamp the lid on, till the steam opens the clams.

The broth of the mixed clam juice, wine and stock is incredible. The parsley is almost a vegetable rather than a garnish at the end, and the fish is heady with fennel and moist with the braising.

It's a Neil Perry recipe, here.

[LindaK]

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:

Here's the link: Almost Instant Black Bean Soup.

[JAZ]

That sounds good. I can rarely get clams, though. Do you think the dish is worth making without them? I also wonder how some shaved fennel bulb would be added with the peas.

[rarerollingobject]

That sounds good. I can rarely get clams, though. Do you think the dish is worth making without them? I also wonder how some shaved fennel bulb would be added with the peas.

I don't think it'd be quite as flavoursome, without the seasaltiness of the clams, but it'd still be very nice and definitely worth making. It's an especially good, restorative dish for those who've totally lost their cooking mojo of late (and I'm referring to myself here.)

I like your idea for layers of fennel flavour..seeds and bulb. Might try that next time!

[Emily_R]

Awww - Darienne -- thanks for posting that! So glad you liked it so much. And rarerolling and Suzi, those both sound great. As for the fish, while I don't like clams, I might try it with mussels... And that Chicken Canzanese sounds wonderful -- here's a link to it from someone who posted it separately from the Cooks Illustrated website: Chicken Canzanese

[milgwimper]

I just made Turkey with Spinach and whole spices (Turkey-Paalak Ka Keema) from Indian Home Cooking, by Suvir Saran and Stepanie Lyness. I had to reduce the hot peppers because of the baby but I did add another 1/2 tsp of garam marsala, it was delicious, and the adults added hot peppers at the table.

I tried to stay true to recipe but with the reduced hot peppers we needed a little more garam marsala to make up for the loss of the peppers. This will be in heavy rotation at the house.

Changed for a misspelled word.

Edited October 10, 2011 by milgwimper (log)

[Emily_R]

Suzi -- I made the chicken canzanese last night and it was really tasty. And the chicken skin was heaven. Served over mashed potatoes, and people nearly licked their plates. I think next time I'd swap out bacon for the pancetta though, as I thought the gravy could have used an extra flavor... Though that may have been because I didn't have fresh rosemary and had to use dried.

[JAZ]

I went to a cooking class a couple of days ago that was taught by Sandra Guiterrez, author of a book called The New Southern-Latino Table.

One of the recipes she made was this carrot escabeche. I'm not usually a big fan of carrots, but this was really great. Pretty easy too. It's definitely going into rotation.

[eldereno]

Finally made the baked kale ships that are all over the cooking blogs....I may be the last one to have tried them!!!!! WOW! So quick and easy for such a crunchy low carb snack!!! I think my fridge will soon be well stocked with kale! Who would have thought......................

[Panaderia Canadiense]

How about scalloped beef, which my Mom calls Lazy Bastard Shepherd's Pie? Made as for scalloped potatoes, but subbing in ground beef cooked with sofrito and mushrooms for the butter. Soooo good.

[roygon]

I've made this butter chicken recipe many times and it's incredible. The video is from michelin starred Tamarind restaurant and the recipe is theirs. Give it a shot!

[Emily_R]

Roygon - that butter chicken sounds amazing. Drool.

Made this recipe for lighter scalloped potatoes tonight, and it was so good I had to share! Lightened Scalloped Potatoes

A few modifications - I added half a head of chopped green cabbage in when the potatoes were cooking in the milk on the stove-- and flavorwise the cabbage was really a great addition. I might even add a little more next time. And I cut back a little on the potatoes and the ham to compensate for the addition of the cabbage. I also didn't have parmesan, so just used a little more cheddar. It was so delicious, and you'd never know it isn't loaded with fat - it comes out so so rich and creamy. Major winner.

Em

[Darienne]

DH and the roofer just declared these the BEST MUFFINS EVER! Can't get much more praise than that.

Recipe comes from Cadbury, an eGulleter and is here: Orange Muffins

The only changes I made were to add 1 cup of chopped walnuts and use AP flour with the additions to make it 'self-raising'. DH likes nuts added to everything that man or womankind could add them to. Moi aussi.

[Emily_R]

Darienne --

I am so intrigued by those muffins -- the concept of grinding up a whole orange into them is kind of blowing my mind! How many did the batch make?

Emily

[Darienne]

Twelve large muffins. They are SO good. I had eaten a similar muffin a couple of years ago at a friend's house and always wanted to try making them. And so I did. I used a large naval orange.

[ElsieD]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/foodwine/2016723882_xmasporksliders16.html

These blew our socks off.

[ElsieD]

I made the Cadbury orange muffins this morning. It must be simplest muffin recipe I have ever put together. They are delicious.

Edited for spelling

Edited November 26, 2011 by ElsieD (log)

[Darienne]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/foodwine/2016723882_xmasporksliders16.html

These blew our socks off.

I don't know about the Wasabi part, but I am definitely trying the rest of this recipe...a king of Oriental Pulled Pork.

[Emily_R]

Elsie and Darienne -

How moist / greasy are the orange muffins? Do you think I could get away with using just a stick of butter in them, rather than a stick and a half?

Em

[Darienne]

Elsie and Darienne -

How moist / greasy are the orange muffins? Do you think I could get away with using just a stick of butter in them, rather than a stick and a half?

Em

Maybe someone more knowledgeable than I am can help you better. The world of cooking and baking is still relatively new to me and although I feel free to add nuts to just about everything, I still don't mess around with the eggs or oil or flour.

The muffins IMO are quite moist, but I wouldn't call them greasy.

But then, last week I made some carrot muffins last which I plus others...who may or may not have been being kind...considered delectable and a friend...who, I might say, delights just ever so slightly in putting me down...said they seemed a bit greasy to her. Who knows?

Not sure about cutting down by 1/3 in the butter. I could certainly cut down on the sugar next time...but then the DH loved them as sweet as they were. And definitely add nuts to them. Walnuts being the best to me in this case.

[ElsieD]

Emily, these were not greasy at all. I'm not knowledgeable enough about the science of baking to know if you can reduce the butter. These sure were good though and even better, the whole thing is made in minutes in the food processor. If you do make them and reduce the butter, please post the results.

[Emily_R]

Hi everyone --

Ok, so I made a half batch of the orange muffins today, with some modifications, and they turned out great. For a half-batch, I used:

1/4 cup melted butter

1 jumbo egg

half an orange (I used a juice orange since I figured the skin would be thinner, and thus less pith)

3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup + 2 Tbs sugar (equal to 3/4 cup for a whole recipe)

1/4 cup walnuts

My only change for the next time would be using the full amount of sugar in the original recipe -- I wanted them just a smidge sweeter. But otherwise the texture and flavor was really nice! Thanks Darienne and Elsie for inspiring me to make them!

[Panaderia Canadiense]

OMG. Not a new recipe at all, as I found it in the 1960 NYT cookbook, but nonetheless, completely bitchin'! Lekach (honey cakes). I'll have photos later on, as I'm plating them for dessert, but even the couple that didn't turn out perfectly were freaking amazing.

[christine007]

I recently made food network's Claire Robinson's peanut butter cookies, five ingredients as per her show

One cup peanut butter, chunky or smooth I used chunky which worked out well, they had more texture.

one egg.

One cup sugar, I used brown sugar.

one teaspoon vanilla

dash of salt.

I rolled them into little balls and baked at 350 approx twelve minutes. Can I tell you, they're like crack. They are like a cookie made love with the inside of a Reese's peanut butter cup and had a baby. I took them to a meeting I had and they were gone within three minutes. and they're no work at all, I had the mix ready to bake in like four minutes. This is an amazing cookie, let alone the few things you need, and the very small effort put into them.

I haven't tried it yet, but these would be amazing cooled, then dunked into melted chocolate.

Edited November 28, 2011 by christine007 (log)