Any campfire cooking suggestions? I like to cook in foil, and avoid skillets for the most part (unless it's for breakfast). We cook everything directly over the fire, and I'm always looking for new ideas.
I repped you before reading the footnote, my bad. I find these are way better if you throw them on the bbq, but that might be less condusive to trying to cook when hammered. Good men have lost eyebrows, then gone to rub them and given their eyes the capsaicin treatment
Came across this recipe in some magazine and decided to give it a try, put it together yesterday, and brought some for lunch and it's great. Greek-Inspired Tomato & Chickpea Salad 1/3 cup EVOO Juice of 1 lemon freshly ground black pepper to taste (the feta will provide enough salt) 1 pint grape tomatoes (I used the little yellow ones for added sweetness) or diced tomatoes 2 cups diced cucumber 1 15 oz. can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed 1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley 1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh mint leaves 1 red bell pepper, diced 1/2 cup red onion, either diced or sliced thin in halves 1 cup crumbled feta cheese Combine all ingredients in a large bowl or container, mix well, get your Greek on. It took less than 15 minutes to put this together. Makes a great lunch or light dinner side dish with something off the grill.
I'm a huge fan of Anthony Bourdain's show, No Reservations. It's not so much about recipes as it is about concepts, culture, and tradition. Tonight's episode was on Cajun cuisine, and I can easily say it is probably the best episode of this show I've ever seen. I highly recommend watching it if you get a chance. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Anthony_Bourdain/Episodes_Travel_Guides/Cajun_Country" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/A ... un_Country</a>
So, Devil's Advocate foolishly claims that she can out sandwich me. Bring it on! Spoiler Entry 1: Peri Peri Chicken Sandwich (ok, I realise this is technically a roll, not a sandwich, but no-one asked you for your opinion, sandwich rule lawyer.) Allow me to break down the glory that is this photo so that your awestruck mind can even begin to deal with it. Extra hot peri peri sauce, which is then mixed with Hellman's Whole Egg Mayonaise, to make the delicious perinaise residing in the bowl. Traditional iceberg lettuce to evoke memories of childhood. Halved mini Roma tomatoes, so that each bite contains a burst of flavour. Thin slices of double cream brie cheese (honestly, I probably made an error with the cheese. I've only just started getting into it, and I think next time I would go with something a little more intense, like Jarlsberg). Thick slices of ripe avocados, to absorb the spicyness of the peri peri and provide that creamy texture. And of course, strips of roasted capsicum, marinated in sweet balsamic dressing. The contrast of the sweetness of said capsicum with the savoury goodness of the other ingredients highlights the unique characteristics of each, transforming an ordinary sandwich into a dazzling array of flavours. But enough about the condiments and accoutrements. Let us talk now about the hot ingredients. In the corner of the bbq you can see thin sliced onions interracially married with fresh jalapenos, kicking shit up a notch. Bacon is obviously a given. Then you have free range chicken tenderloins, which have luxuriated in bbq peri peri sauce until they would summon Baron Samedi back from the grave. But AG, you say (in my head), why tenderloins? So that you have maximum surface area for the marinade, and so that all parts of the meat remain tender and moist when you cook it. Carefully layer all ingredients between an extra soft roll which has been lightly fried in the bacon grease and you get:
Hey guys. First post in this thread. I'm not that experienced a chef, but I prefer simple and easy. One simple and easy recipe is buffalo wings/ diced chicken. Chicken breast, diced up, coated in flour, black pepper, cayenne pepper, then fried in peanut oil. Top with franks's hot sauce. Anyway, I have a question for you wing experts out there (though these technically are not wings). Every time I make these the "breading" (fried flour coating) is very, very thin. Anyone know how to make it a bit thicker? Is it just more flour, or is it an egg wash, or buttermilk, or what?
depends on what kind of coating you're looking for. If you just want a "thicker" coating, then dip your chicken in flour, then egg wash, then seasoned bread crumbs. I prefer panko as it is crispier. I've found that if you let it rest in the fridge for at least an hour after you bread it the crust adheres better. If you want something crunchy do a tempura batter. I'd also recommend frying your chicken whole then dicing it up after you cook it, unless you desire the little individual cubes with their own breading.
I just tried it with panko bread crumbs and it worked great. Got some compliments on it, too. Thanks.
Okay another cooking question now since last one worked out so well. More of a general question though. I'm a young adult, just graduated college last year, and still new to this whole cooking my own meals thing (relatively - been at it about a year). Here's my question. I don't feel like cooking 3 meals a day, of course. At most, I want to cook dinner, and that's it. My question: what can you eat for breakfast or lunch that's fast and easy, and doesn't require cooking? I'm trying to follow the paleo diet right now, so I'm trying to avoid grains. Especially cereal. I also grow tired of/ don't want to fry up some eggs in a pan, or cook at all for that matter, breakfast and/ or lunch. So what are my options here? Sandwiches are first and only thing that come to mind, but there's got to be some better ideas than bread and processed lunch meats. I'll probably eat those anyway, though. I guess the other option I think of is salads, but that's also more work than I feel like doing in all honesty. Anyone got any ideas? What do you do for breakfast or lunch that's fast and easy? (besides going out to your local disgusting fast food joint).
I don't know what the paleo diet allows, but if you're looking to avoid cereals/grains, b'fast can be lowfat cottage cheese mixed with some fresh fruit (I usually buy whatever berries are on sale that week and a 2 lb. package of fresh pineapple spears at Costco and cut it down into chunks). Also, cantaloupe or watermelon makes for a good b'fast or snack. Yogurt with a sliced banana is another option. For lunch, I usually bring a green salad mixed with either canned tuna or, salmon or chicken leftover from dinner the night before. So, if you're cooking a chicken breast for dinner, cook two, and use one the next day in a salad (same with a piece of salmon). Hard boil some eggs early in the week and slice one up in your salad. Sometimes, I'll make a pot of curried eggplant on the weekend and since I'm the only one in the house who eats it, I have it as a side with a few dinners and as a complete lunch a few times during the week (though I mix it with brown rice). I make a variety of different salads (bean salads, cucumber salads, pasta or cous cous chicken salads) from time to time to change things up so lunch doesn't get boring. Get some good Tupperware containers in a variety of sizes. You can mix a large salad in one of the bigger ones once or twice a week, and just portion out lunch into one of the smaller ones. It's really not all that much work. Same with cutting up fresh fruits. Each morning, I scoop some cottage cheese and fruit in a tupperware, do the same with a salad, add a can of tuna or salmon, egg, some feta cheese, and I'm ready to go in less than 5 minutes. I'm not a big fan of frozen foods, but Amy's Bean Burritos are one of the healthier choices in that category and are pretty tasty. But then somebody in the office usually brings in a bundt cake or tray of donuts just to put me over the edge.
Seriously? You think sandwiches consist of processed lunch meats? Tip: go to a grocery store, get a giant chunk of tough meat like lamb shank, pork shoulder, etc. Braise it. Braising takes minimal effort: season, sear, add some cooking liquid, bring to a simmer, let sit for a few hours. While you're at it, throw some red peppers on the barbecue / in the oven to roast. This will then become your sandwich for the next day. Or you can cook in bulk. Make a pot of tomato sauce (takes about as much effort as braising) and cook a whole box of pasta, then combine them and have several meals done at once. When I was in college, I used to buy 10 chicken breasts or veal cutlets and bread them (using flour, buttermilk and then breadcrumbs), and that gives you a whole bunch of meals all at once.
I take my lunch every day, although I'm lax on the breakfast thing. If I do breakfast, it's usually a bagel or granola bars, so not much help there. I'm huge on sandwiches, but I use either multigrain bread or I'm in love with Arnold Select Sandwich Thins. Trick is to make stuff in advance, have everything around to just throw together. Example, your processed meat sandwiches? Go with Deli Meat, or bake a ham, do what ghetto said. Get your romaine lettuce*, slice a tomato*, put some mayo in little tupperware thing. Failing that, just toss a bit in a sandwich bag. *Only put your meat on the bread (if you're going to use bread), put everything else either in Glad Press & Seal wrap, or sandwich bags. Takes 2 minutes in the morning to throw deli meat between the bread, grab a slice of cheese, the other stuff you prepared, and put it all into either a quart sandwich bag or one of the oh so awesome lock tight tupperware things. OR, since you're in the no grain mode, make your stuff into lettuce wraps. Just buy hearts of romaine, and make your sandwich out of those. You can make those the night before without worrying about your bread being soggy from stuff, although I'd recommend not putting the cheese on until lunchtime, since the mayo will make it slimy, but it's still good with slimy cheese! Tuna salad, chicken salad, pulled pork, roast beef, the meat like ghetto suggested.... all is easier if you spend 1-2 nights a week figuring out your lunch for the whole week. Then you can just make your sandwich or wrap. I do the same thing with salads. Chop everything up one night & have in containers. Throw everything but my croutons/bacos/salad toppings & the salad dressing in. Again sandwich bag for the crunchy stuff (or it won't be crunchy at noon) and tupperware thing for the dressing. Sides = varies on my mood. 70% of the time it's yogurt (sometimes with either granola or grape nuts, I know, I'm weird), 20% of the time it's fruit (either fresh or the little Dole things if I find 'em on sale, portion from a can or jar if not), other times it's a pudding cup, little debbie stuff, cole slaw, potato salad... whatever I was hungry at the grocery store & thought it sounded good. Granted, I refuse to wait for our one microwave to have anything hot, so this all goes in a cooler with me. Your options open up if you have access to a microwave.
Quick but crucial note: the difference between a good burrito/fajita, and a great burrito/fajita, is the presence of pico de gallo and guacamole, in that order. Learn it, live it, love it.
I make a lot of my dinners far larger than they need to be, so that I have leftovers for lunch. As far as breakfast, you should really try to be getting 30 grams of protein within half an hour of waking up (kick starts your metabolism for the day, keeps you from eating the crap that's probably available when you get to work), and I find the easiest way to do that is something like Myoplex, or any of those other whey protein powders/shakes. Of course, egg whites, or egg product work just as well if you want to mix it up. Also, if you're trying to avoid grains and such, a sandwich sure isn't the way to go. Find something simple and prepackaged that you enjoy. There's a company that does meats that is supplied in my grocery store called Adele's. They make some delicious Teriyaki and Pineapple meatballs that come in a package of 14, and are delicious both microwaved and cooked in a frying pan.
Adding on to the scrambling up some eggs theme, the extremely lazy way to scramble eggs is to mix a couple eggs with a splash of milk, pop them in the microwave for a minute or two, stirring halfway through. Top with cheese or salsa, and voila, breakfast that is almost as quick as pouring a bowl of cereal. As a bonus, you don't dirty a pan. And it works for the paleo diet. Even easier if you use something like Egg Beaters, plus some of them already come flavored.
Tried a new technique last weekend. I used to brine chicken before bbq'n it over a wood fire. Then I found out I'm borderline high blood pressure by my doctor. Apparently, soaking chicken in a salt bath is bad for you. So I started vacuum sealing the chicken with fresh herbs and olive oil in a ziplock bag. Simply soaking the bag to the top gets a fairly good vacuum. Then I make an immersion cooker by heating water to 150 degrees, dropping in the bags of chicken, and turning off the heat. Let it cook for 20 minutes, absorbing the herbs, lemon, and oil mixture. Remove from zip lock bags and crisp up on the grill. A bit of a pain, but the flavor can't be replicated and worth every step.
The LA Times just ran a Thomas Keller article on at-home sous-vide cooking in their food section last week. http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-master-class-thomas-keller-20110908,0,3863290.htmlstory Don't know if I'll get around to trying it, but it was an interesting read nonetheless. From what I got from the article, this technique cooks the meat evenly throughout. So if you like your steaks medium-rare, they'll be that temp all the way through instead of progressively less done as you go towards the center of the meat. You can still crisp up the outside if that's your thing.
Tomato Bacon Confit Saw an article on it in the the paper a few weeks ago and finally got around to trying it. Slice up a bunch (~6) of large tomatoes in thick slices, lay them across the bottom of a glass baking dish. Make a blanket of bacon (~1 - 1 1/2 lbs) on top of the tomatoes Cook in the oven at 350 or 400 for 2ish hours Chop up the bacon, mush up the tomatoes and toss with pasta or on top of rice or what have you Super simple, and fucking amazing.
In an effort to have a heart attack before middle age, I'm deep frying some ribs tonight. Smoking and braising them for a few hours, I crisp them in peanut oil a few minutes before serving.
Friday night, I made Italian breadcrumb & panko crusted chicken breast, with angel hair pasta and a dijon mustard buerre blanc: For the chicken, I beat out two chicken breasts until they were nice and thin (cut in half for convenience), did a little egg wash, and then coated with a mix of panko and Italian bread crumbs. Heated some olive oil, fried on both sides until crispy, and set aside. Pretty straight forward. For the sauce, I sauted some diced shallot in some olive oil, and then deglazed with white wine. After cooking that down for a bit, I added about a tspn of dijon mustard, some capers, and one lemon worth of juice. Cooked down for a little while longer. While that was going one, I boiled some pasta to al dente and set aside. Once the sauce was where I wanted it, I removed the pan from the heat, and while it was still hot, I whisked in a bunch of butter, a little bit at a time until it was all incorportated (3/4 of a stick). When the sauce was done, I tossed it with the pasta and served with the chicken. If you try this at home, I would leave out the dijon mustard next time. With all of the acid from the wine and lemon juice and capers, the sauce was pretty tart. But still pretty good. Saturday, The Wife made Gorditas: According to her, those things at Taco Bell are not actually gorditas... Who knew? Apparently, they are kinda like a empanada- masa dough stuffed with good stuff, fried, and then topped with salsa verde (with shredded chicken). The crescent shaped one is stuffed with mozzarella cheese, topped with the salsa verde, a sauted mixture of mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, and butter, and finished with queso fresco. The round one is stuffed with refried black beans, then topped with salsa verde, sour cream, and queso fresco.