Calling all cooks...

[Whateverman]

One of my favorite forms of creativity is cooking. It ties in with my food science degree, as well as well as having been raised to love being in the kitchen. Seeing as I have no cool drumming clips to post, I figured I'd start a thread for favorite recipes. Post em if you've got em (links, full write-ups, etc)

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Mussels in sauce

Equipment:
* A large stockpot and a colander/strainer & cover that will fit over the top of it.
* a kitchen blender

Ingredients:
* 2# mussels (scrubbed and rinsed)
* 1 cup chopped leek
* 1 lg tomato, chopped
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 4 chopped garlic cloves
* 1.5 cups white wine
* salt and pepper to taste
* good crusty bread to serve

Preparation:
In the stockpot, heat the olive oil over medium high heat; do NOT let it begin smoking. Add the veggies and "sweat" them (lightly softened with steam being released).

Add the white wine, cover the pot and bring to a boil.

Put the mussels in the strainer, and place the strainer over the stockpot, covered. Cook until the mussels in the strainer open up (roughly 7 minutes - varies quite a bit. If your cover and strainer don't keep the steam contained, seal it up with some tin foil.)

Remove the mussels. Pour stock and veggies into a blender. Add 10 shelled mussels, and blend until the sauce is the consistency of gazpacho (smooth but not necessarily pureed; a little texture is good). Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add mussels to large plates, & spoon the sauce over the top. Serve with bread and lots of napkins...



(Originally posted over at Kelley's pad)

[Personal Failure]

and if you've never prepared mussels before, soak them in ice cold water for about ten minutes, then take them out one by one and remove the "beards" before cooking. (the beards look like clumps of slimy hair sticking out from the shell.)

[Tilia]

I hardly cook typical German food, but this is a famous one from Northern Germany. I like it very much but it might seem a bit strange to people who aren't used to stuff like that (My partner is from Southern Germany and he's not so enthusiastic about it, but he's in general not very open to new tastes...).

It's called: Birnen, Bohnen, Speck (pears, beans, bacon)

Ingredients:
400 g bacon (in one piece)
1/2 onion
1/2 l water
400 g green beans (fresh, not canned)
300 g pears (small, hard ones, earlier they sold cooking pears, but I haven't seen them for a while)
pepper
salt (not too much, the bacon is already salted)
savory
parsley

Heat 1/2 l water and cook bacon and chopped onion at low temperature for 20 min.
Take the bacon out and keep it warm
Cook beans together with pepper, salt and savory in that water for 15 min
add pears (leave them whole but remove the rest of the flower) and cook them for additional 10 min
Put the bacon back and heat everything
Add parsley and serve it together with potatoes

My mother cooks the bacon for the whole time, but then most of its flavour is in the sauce.

[Whateverman]

See, that's a recipe I would never have encountered otherwise! Thanks Tilia:)

My Grandfather's family is still in Stuttgart, and he brought some pretty stereotypical recipes with him: spatzle, sauerkraut, cherry brandy, schnitzel etc. Good stuff, but I'm more interested in the dishes you can't find here in the US.

edit: one question: do you chop up the bacon when you serve the stew? I wouldn't think it would all dissolve in that cooking time...

[Personal Failure]

I hardly cook typical German food, but this is a famous one from Northern Germany. I like it very much but it might seem a bit strange to people who aren't used to stuff like that (My partner is from Southern Germany and he's not so enthusiastic about it, but he's in general not very open to new tastes...).

It's called: Birnen, Bohnen, Speck (pears, beans, bacon)

Ingredients:
400 g bacon (in one piece)
1/2 onion
1/2 l water
400 g green beans (fresh, not canned)
300 g pears (small, hard ones, earlier they sold cooking pears, but I haven't seen them for a while)
pepper
salt (not too much, the bacon is already salted)
savory
parsley

Heat 1/2 l water and cook bacon and chopped onion at low temperature for 20 min.
Take the bacon out and keep it warm
Cook beans together with pepper, salt and savory in that water for 15 min
add pears (leave them whole but remove the rest of the flower) and cook them for additional 10 min
Put the bacon back and heat everything
Add parsley and serve it together with potatoes

My mother cooks the bacon for the whole time, but then most of its flavour is in the sauce.

forwarding to Teh Hubby! (he'll make the bacon seperately, and I'll have pears and beans.)

[Tilia]

one question: do you chop up the bacon when you serve the stew? I wouldn't think it would all dissolve in that cooking time...

Yes, you'll have to do that. It's quite soft, but when it's completely dissolved you've definitely cooked it for too long.

PF,

the best thing with that recipe is the salty bacon taste. You'll have to be creative if you want to eat it without bacon.

[Personal Failure]

one question: do you chop up the bacon when you serve the stew? I wouldn't think it would all dissolve in that cooking time...

Yes, you'll have to do that. It's quite soft, but when it's completely dissolved you've definitely cooked it for too long.

PF,

the best thing with that recipe is the salty bacon taste. You'll have to be creative if you want to eat it without bacon.

i'm not sure what hubby does when he's cooking for me (the vegetarian), but i rarely miss out on tastiness. actually, for all i know, he cooks things with the meat, then takes it out at the last second before i see it.

[Whateverman]

Ok, a cooking thread with two recipes is lame, so I'm going to add another. PF, this one's for you. I'm not sure whether you're vegan or not, but this is at least vegetarian (and pretty easy to make). Note that as written it's also low fat, but I occasionally substitute the light dairy ingredients with their full fat cousins, and it turns out fantastic.



Black Bean Lasagna

Equipment:
* 9x13" baking pan
* small zip-top plastic bag, or a or paper lunch bag
* cookie sheet or toaster oven tray
* toaster oven (not required, but helpful)
* large pot for boiling water (re. lasagna noodles)
* large nonstick skilled
* large bowl


Ingredients:
* 4 jalapenos
* 2 cups onion, chopped
* 1 cup green bell pepper, chopped
* 1 cup red bell pepper, chopped
* 4 garlic cloves, minced
* 2 cups tomato, chopped
* 1.5 tsp ground cumin
* 1 tsp ground coriander
* two 15 oz cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
* 3 TBS cilantro, chopped
* 8oz reduced fat sour cream
* 1 large egg, lightly beaten
* salt and pepper to taste
* one 16oz jar salsa (Tostitos works well - see note at the end)
* 1.5 cups (6 oz) low fat shredded monterey jack cheese
* cooking spray
* 12 lasagna noodles, cooked (see note at the end)


Preparation:
If you don't have a toaster oven, preheat your regular oven to broiling temp; if you *do* have a small toaster oven, preheat it to broiling temp, and your regular oven to 375F.

Cut the jalapenos in half, discarding seeds and stems. Place peppers skin side up on a baking sheet, and broil until slightly blackened (~5 minutes or so, depending on the oven and how close they are to the heating coil). Remove from the oven, toss them into small paper or plastic bag, and seal it. Let them steam for 10 minutes. Remove from the bag, peel off the skin and chop.

If you've only got 1 oven running, reduce the previous broiling temp to 375F

Heat a large pot full of heavily salted water, and prepare the lasagna noodles per directions on the box. (See note at the end of this recipe)

Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat, and lightly spray it with cooking oil. Add the onion, bell peppers & garlic and saute until softened, about 6 minutes
Add tomato, cumin and coriander to the skillet, cook for 3 minutes
Add chopped jalapenos and black beans, cook for 3 minutes.
Salt and pepper to taste.

Remove skillet from the stove top, and place bean mixture into a large bowl. Place the bowl into the refrigerator for 10 minutes. The goal is to cool the mixture to a point where you can stick your finger into it without hurting yourself. Warm is ok, hot is not.

Remove bowl from the fridge, and mix in the sour cream and egg.


Assembly:
1) Spread 3 TBS salsa in the bottom of a sprayed 9x13" baking pan
2) Arrange 4 noodles over the salsa, slightly overlapping
3) spread half of the bean mixture over the noodles
4) Top with 1/2 cup cheese
5) spread 3 TBS salsa over the cheese

Repeat steps 2 thru 5, then add the final 4 noodles on top. Spread remaining salsa on top, and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Cover and bake at 375F for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue baking for 15 minutes until the top has browned. Remove from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes




Notes:
* I've done this recipe with no-boil lasagna noodles and it works great.
* A cup of corn kernels added to the bean mixture gives the recipe a southwestern thang
* Any salsa will do, but I prefer one with a vinegar kick, like Tostitos; the cheaper the salsa the better. The vinegar tends to smooth out the flavor, especially if making the low fat version of the recipe.
* This lasagna can be a little dry. I always buy enough salsa to serve with (in addition to the amount in the recipe itself)

[Personal Failure]

i love you! jalepenos, no less!

i'm not vegan. it's too hard to get protein that way. i basically go by the "involved-committed" rule. i.e., in a bacon and eggs breakfast the chicken was involved, the pig was committed. i only eat involvement.

[Whateverman]

I loved that