for those who cook...


Ken Gargett

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i know plenty of members enjoy cooking. and some do so from necessity. for me, i thoroughly enjoy it. not great with recipes - just use them for the concepts usually. don't do the complicated recipe thingee. or rarely. love playing around and experimenting.

so for cooks, do you have a "specialty"? a go-to dish?

and do you have some glorious success that you once made (or perhaps still do regularly)?

personally, not sure about the latter - the thought for the thread came about because i have just set off the the smoke alarm trying to make a parsnip and white chocolate soup (which looked so easy). jury still very much out.

my "usual" is a tomato/tuna/bread salad (so hardly cooking). make this very regularly. all sorts of variations. i believe it is originally based on an italian recipe.

now, off to see if i can reactivate the smoke alarm.

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36 minutes ago, Ken Gargett said:

i believe it is originally based on an italian recipe.

Sounds as if you've been doing a version of Panzanella salad. Fantastic dish

First thing I ever cooked was a Lamb Keftiko. I could barely see over the hob, but My mum was out in the garden, oddly drinking a can of special brew? (hard larger). I asked her if she was ok, and she responded with a very unconvincing yes. It turns out she had just finished her PHD, and was mentally obliterated. Anyway I said I would cook dinner, if she could direct me from the garden. It's a great dish and goes as so.

- Stud as lamb leg with garlic and rosemary, loads of sea salt, and bit of black pepper and a rub of olive oil

- Sear off the lamb in a roasting dish that you can also place on the hob. Get a good deal of colour on it, trying not to actually cook the insides to much.

- Take the lamb out, and get colour on about eight roughly quartered potatoes, and 4 roughly quartered sweet red onions. Once the veg has a bit of colour on them, take them out of the roasting dish and put with the lamb. 

- mix a pint of warm water with about two lamb stock cubes, and place about a teaspoon of mint sauce (the finely shopped vinegared stuff), in the stock. 

- add a can of chopped tomatoes, the stock, and a lemon cut into eight wedges, a small handfull of pitted black olives (oily greek kind), into the roasting dish, with the browned off onions and potatoes, give a bit of a stir, salt and pepper, then place the leg off lamb on top.

- Cover the entire dish with a double thickness of aluminium foil, and crimp around the sides to it's as air-tight as possible. 

- 30 mins in a very hot oven, so it can start to boil. then 3-4 hrs on a low oven so the lamb is effectively steaming/poaching

- Take the foil off, and tease the potatoes to the surface, add a final slug of olive oil on them and the lamb, then give it another 20min blast in the oven on high, to crisp stuff up. voila

should look like this when done

lamb-kleftiko_s0x768_q60_noupscale.jpg

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One of the best dishes in the world (I believe) is Mutton 'Nehari'

It's a very unusual curry in the fact that the spice mix contains star anise/fennel seed. Those that hate aniseed, don't worry, you really wouldn't be able to pick it up in the finished result. You eat it a bit like a soup. the finished result will be a very rich gravy with soft tender strands of lamb that melt in the mouth. generally with a good stack of chapatis. 

the full complex recipe is here,

But you can buy great ready made Nehari masala spice mixes (image attached.)

- Simply fry off a large onion in veg oil and butter half and half, slowly until they're golden, and four crushed garlic cloves

- Add big chunks of mutton, and as much saw up mutton bones as you can get (for the marrow)

- Sear it all off, add a bag of the Nehari masala mix, continue sear until the spiced smell toasted

- Add in half a pint of really good live greek yogurt, and about a full kettles worth of boiling water

- Simmer/slow rolling boil, for a good 4-5hrs with the lid on.

- Mix half a cup of chapati/wholmeal flour with water, and whisk into the boiling gravy, until you get a nice thick gravy consistency. Cook out, until all the raw favour of the flour is gone.

- Press the meat with a potato masher slightly so you get the mutton falling apart.

- Serve with hot fresh green chillies, lemon, and corriander

This is such a moreish dish, once you've had it, you crave it

 

Laziza-Nehari-Masala-250px.jpg

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The best thing I ever made was a home made ravioli stuffed with snow crab, corn & shiitake mushrooms and topped with a homemade lemon grass sauce. When we ate it we could not believe we actually made it ourselves it was just so amazing. Weirdly, I've never made it again, mostly because the plethora of ingredients are really hard to come by where we now live.

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I enjoy cooking. One dish I keep getting requests for is lemon pasta.  Sorry, no cool pictures to post. 

Ingredients:

  • Spaghetti pasta (thin)
  • 6 lemons, zested and juiced
  • Garlic(chopped and fried in olive oil)
  • Pine nuts or Pumpkin seeds (toasted and ground)
  • Fresh grated Parmesan
  • Fresh, finely chopped spinach
  • Olive oil.

Instructions:

  1. Zest all the lemons then finely chop the strands.
  2. Juice the lemons into a bowl, scrape out all the "meat" as well. Add a sprig of salt, black, pepper and a tablespoon of olive oil. (lightly wisk the ingredients)
  3. Chop the spinach finely (set aside)
  4. finely chop garlic, toss it into a heated pan with olive oil.  Cook it until it gets toasty/carmelized.
  5. Toast pine nuts or pumpkin seeds, let cool, then grind them in a mortal and pistel. (set aside)
  6. Grate Parmesan cheese (set aside)
  7. Bring water to a boil, cook the pasta past the "al dente" mark.
  8. Drain pasta through strainer, transfer pasta back into now empty pot. (the next sequence of events needs to be done quickly as to limit the amount of heat being transferred)
  9. Immediately distribute the lemon juice throughout the pasta.
  10. Toss in Spinach, garlic and lemon zest.
  11. Add some black pepper if you want some heat
  12. Mix the ingredients in the pot. Drizzle some olive oil throughout. Put the lid on and wait 3 minutes. The steam will bind the ingredients to the pasta.
  13. Put pasta in individual dishes or a large pasta bowl.
  14. Garnish with cheese and chopped nuts.
  15. Serve and enjoy.

White wine on the sweet dry side or any kind of bubbly goes well with this dish.

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Although I'm Cumbrian my wife has declared my Lancashire Hotpot to be my signature dish - but, my dad was a Lancastrian so it's allowed.
An unctuous slow cooked pot of lamb neck, potatoes and onions, flavoured with thyme, Worcestershire sauce and plenty of black pepper. The first one is usually made in November and marks the start of winter in our house.

Thunder & Lightening '75 - '15

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12 hours ago, Akela3rd said:

Although I'm Cumbrian my wife has declared my Lancashire Hotpot to be my signature dish - but, my dad was a Lancastrian so it's allowed.
An unctuous slow cooked pot of lamb neck, potatoes and onions, flavoured with thyme, Worcestershire sauce and plenty of black pepper. The first one is usually made in November and marks the start of winter in our house.

Thunder & Lightening '75 - '15
 

wheres the pickles red cabbage!?

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wheres the pickles red cabbage!?
My signature dish. If you want cabbage, bring yer own. And eat it outside. By yourself. Over there.

Thunder & Lightening '75 - '15

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  • 1 month later...

I do a lot of cooking. At home in the States I have two smokers, my signature summer dish would be pulled pork or ribs. No smoker in Taiwan so I've been using my Sous Vide for pork shoulder and ribs. Sous Vide Carnitas was a treat and much easier than the traditional method. My family has gone mad for sous vide ribs, and it doesn't hurt that the pork here is so damn good! I have never seen meatier ribs! MVIMG_20180116_182455.thumb.jpg.5001c30d3bea1cea5737179ae120dcf7.jpg

 

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  • 1 month later...

Paella is the go to in our house.  We have many different size pans in different materials.  I make broth ahead of time and freeze them in 3 cup bags.  Perfect for one cup of paella rice.

lobster_paella.jpg

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  • 5 months later...
On 2/3/2018 at 8:13 AM, Naug said:

I do a lot of cooking. At home in the States I have two smokers, my signature summer dish would be pulled pork or ribs. No smoker in Taiwan so I've been using my Sous Vide for pork shoulder and ribs. Sous Vide Carnitas was a treat and much easier than the traditional method. My family has gone mad for sous vide ribs, and it doesn't hurt that the pork here is so damn good! I have never seen meatier ribs! MVIMG_20180116_182455.thumb.jpg.5001c30d3bea1cea5737179ae120dcf7.jpg

 

?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have made this spicy Korean chicken stew call Dakdoritang a few times. It's not too difficult to make in a slow cooker or on the stove top in a covered pot. Just let it simmer slow. It's really addictive. I usually make mine with plenty of liquid so there is some left over. I then mix the left over liquid with kimchi the day after and heat it up to make a soup too. Below is the ingredients lifted off the internet.

  • 3 pounds bone-in chicken parts cut into small pieces (excess fat removed)
  • 10 ounces potatoes cut into big chunks
  • 2 carrots cut into big chunks
  • 1/2 large onion cut into big chunks
  • 4 - 5 plump garlic cloves
  • 2 - 3 thinly sliced ginger pieces
  • 2 scallions cut into 2-inch lengths
Sauce
  • 2 tablespoons Korean red chili pepper flakes gochugaru
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 4 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons rice wine
  • 1 tablespoon honey or corn syrup
  • 2 tablespoons Korean red chili pepper paste gochujang
  • pinch pepper
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon sesame seeds

2957498.jpg

ls2502-4092-lecreuset-blueberry.jpg

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