Calling all cooks...

[Vagon]

Awesome yeah thats exactly what our family does! But this recipe is the ol' favourite so to speak. For my engagement I specifically asked for my very own trifle bowl and got an awesome one from my aunt and uncle. Its all about the bowl and seeing the layers for sure!

[Tilia]

It's again that time of the year when Christians everywhere celebrate the festival of gluttony.

Certainly only to be tolerant, I do my best to participate. So I could need some more cookie recipes.

In exchange I've two for you.

#1 THE COOKIES

I've been making these for almost 30 years now (though, admittedly, the first couple of years I was rather a nuisance than a help). I've never considered them to be something special, but they are good, easy to make and strangely I've never seen them somewhere else. Maybe that's because it's strictly spoken not a recipe for cookies but for the base of a strawberry cake.

500 g (ca.3/4 l) flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
200 g (ca. 1/4 l) sugar
10 g vanillin sugar (or a drop of vanillin essence, it's not absolutely necessary)
250 g butter
lemon zest from one organic lemon

lemon juice and powedered sugar for the icing

knead until it's a smooth dough (not too long, it's better when the butter doesn't get too warm), put it in a plastic wrap in the fridge for a couple of hours, roll out and cut cookies. Bake them at 175-200°Celsius (that's about the temperature you use for baking pizza) for 8-12 min. They are good when they just start to be a little bit brown around the edges.

The good thing about these cookies is that you vary them easily. Just skip the lemon zest and use chocolate or ginger or raisins or...


#2 Lebkuchen

250 g honey
250 g brown sugar
150 g butter or margarine
100 g grounded almonds
250 g flour (wheat)
150 g flour (rye)
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp "Lebkuchengewürz" (if you don't have a German store around the corner, you can use grounded clove, allspice, ginger, coriander, cardamom
and nutmeg or just some of these, don't skip glove, allspice and cardamom)
1 tbsp cocoa
1 egg
1 tsp potassium carbonate
2 tbsp rum (mix with water, if you use rum with more than 40% alcohol)


melt the sugar with the honey and the butter, let it cool a bit. Dissolve the potassium carbonate in rum. Mix the ingredients, add the potassium carbonate at the end. Knead a dough (it's less sticky if you use a bit rye flour). Put it in a plastic wrap in the fridge for the night. Roll out and cut cookies. Bake for 10 min at 180°Celsius.

rum and powdered sugar for icing (make the icing very thin, use almonds or sugar pearls for decoration)

[Whateverman]

That second recipe looks really interesting!

[E-lad]

Stuffed chicken wrapped in pancetta. I like it cos you can prepare it in advance if you want it for a party.

I liked the sound of "pork mince and some chopped pistachio nuts" as a stuffing so I adapted your recipe to the ingredients that I had on hand and came up with "Pork Rolls with Pistachio Stuffing."
I didn't write down the process but here is what I ended up with. Thanks for the inspiration!

After pounding out the pork and making the stuffing, I wrapped and tied the rolls with butcher's twine. I seasoned them and browned them in olive oil:



I then finished them in the oven and put them on my cutting board to rest. While waiting I made a light sauce out of the frond in the pan:



After a short rest, I sliced them- here is the plate before saucing......

[Whateverman]

Well done, Froggie!

[E-lad]

I like Raisin pie, but nobody else does around here, so I adapted a recipe for Raisin/ Apple pie as a compromise.

I made one this morning:
1 1/2 c. raisins
1 c. water
1/2 c. sugar
1 tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. lemon juice
4 c. pared and diced apples, 4-6
2 crust 9-inch pie shell
1 lightly beaten egg and sugar
In large saucepan, boil raisins and water until liquid is almost absorbed, about 5-7 minutes. Meanwhile in a small bowl, mix sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt. Stir in raisin mixture with lemon juice and apples. Turn into pastry lined pie pan. Cover with top crust, cutting slits for steam to escape. If desired, brush with egg and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in preheated 425 degrees oven for 10 minutes; reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 45-55 minutes longer, or until crust is golden brown. Serves 8.

Here is Froggie with his pie:

[Whateverman]

I like an apple raisin pie, but if it were me, I'd replace that sugar with dark brown (unless those are golden raisins)...

[E-lad]

I like an apple raisin pie, but if it were me, I'd replace that sugar with dark brown (unless those are golden raisins)...

Good idea. I need to try that next time.

[E-lad]

#1 daughter just called and asked me to email her my shrimp scampi recipe. Since I wrote it out, thought I'd post it.

This is one of our comfort style dishes. Slurping up garlic butter noodles! One of the best things!
Here she comes= sooo easy

shrimp scampi, as made by the mother of one of my old college cronies. She was 2nd generation Italian, although I'm not sure exactly how she came up with this version. It's easy and fun. I made her tell me how to make it that very nite and I wrote it down, that old copy long lost.


steam some broccoli florets to tooth. set aside.
Boil some fettuccine in salty water.
While that is happening saute some shrimp in garlic, butter, and olive oil...
Put the perfectly done shrimp in a warm oven to keep with the broccli.
In the garlic, butter, and olive oil add some white wine and reduce. (add some more butter and olive oil depending on how much you want with the dish....
Get some black olives- depending on size, cut in half or quarters.

Assembly: toss the hot fettuccine, Shrimp, black olives and florets in the butter sauce. Serve in big pasta bowls. A grind of black pepper and a pinch of parsely to finish. The color is eye popping- the pink shrimp-green and black on the fettuccine.
I can make enough of this for six in less than a ~half hour and it is always met with those big wow eyes! I have been accused of genius on this one.
PS. I dislike cheese with seafood so please keep the grated cheese on the salad.
serve with a romaine or cucumber/tomato salad and crusty bread.
PSS No wine? Don't worry about it.......
Sometimes the simplist things can be the best things, and for me, this is one of 'em.

[Vagon]

w00t new recipes!