Rice type makes a huge difference, a third of a cup of high GI white rice cooked in coconut milk has very different implications to a third of a cup of low GI Basmati rice cooked with safron and water. Tika Masala (hell, most masala's really) or Tandoori recipes are all pretty good options. Anything with a butter or coconut cream base is going to be higher calorie - but if you're following traditional recipies, even if you're frying seasoning in oil - the idea is usually to high temperature fry the seasoning and then drain the excess oil before you add anything else to the recipe. and the reduced fat coconut milk and cream products taste essentially the same. Curries are also usually excellent take to work lunches the next day, and the low GI thing helps cut down on snacking.
Alright, I have a turkey breast I want to cook up and use in lunches for the next couple of days - namingly salads, but I also want it to have enough flavour to eat it on its own. I can't really have gravy. I was wondering the best / easiest way to cook it with spices or sauces to give it a good flavour, and minimize the amount of work I actually have to do. I've heard "bake it" and "slow cook it" but not really anything beyond that, and I've never really cooked turkey (in any sense) before. Starting points would be really appreciated, even if its just stuff to throw in my slowcooker.
Does anyone have a good recipe for chicken and dumplings? I prefer one that is thicker and creamier as opposed to the more soup-like kind.
This is the weakest 'recipe' I've posted, but a while back someone was asking about lunches, so what the hell. This is going to be obvious to you health-conscious people, but for us fatties that aren't used to thinking about this stuff, sometimes the obvious slips by. I'm on a health/money saving kick at the moment, so I've been trying to stop eating leftovers / purchased food for lunch, and eat less carbs in general. However, I'm also far too lazy to consistently chop vegetables. So: lazy, healthy, office lunch: Packet of whole wheat wraps. (I use some Mountain Bread variety, and they have 0g fat and about .1 g carbs). Packet of pre-chopped coleslaw (0g fat, negligible carbs) Packet of turkey meat (97% fat free, negligible carbs) Avocados All this stuff keeps well in the office fridge, so at lunch time just assemble your wrap(s). Turkey and avocado is delicious, and the vegies make it pleasantly crunchy. If you're used to a carb heavy lunch you're going to get hungry again much sooner than usual, but that's what a bunch of apples / oranges etc on your desk is for.
I made a decent lentil soup last weekend. I doubled the ratios on an existing recipe because I wanted lunch for a week, and added a couple things because I bloody felt like it, so feel free to mess around. That's half the fun. 2 lb lentils (This is two standard Goya bags. I used green. They tend to remain firm, whereas I've heard red and brown tend to break down after cooking a while) Roughly 1 cup each of finely chopped carrot and celery I large white onion, finely chopped 48 oz. can of low-fat, low-sodium chicken stock 2 cups water 1/4 pound pancetta (bacon or similar fatty pork product would work just as well) I coated the bottom of a large pot with a light layer of olive oil and threw in some red pepper flakes while it heated up. I diced the pancetta as fine as I could, threw it in, and let it cook way down. I then deglazed the pan with a bit of dry vermouth and threw in the celery, carrot and onion, a healthy pinch of thyme and salt, and a few dashes of cumin powder, and let it go until the onion had just started to turn translucent. While that went on, I rinsed and picked through the lentils, looking for twigs and loose husks that some time find their way into the bags. Once the vegetables started to sweat, I dumped in the lentils, the stock and the water, and brought it to a rolling boil before backing it down to a steady simmer. From this point, it's a matter of taste. You can leave it alone for about 40 minutes, after which you should start tasting to see if it needs salt or anything else you feel like adding. Chances are good you'll need to add more water a couple times to prevent it from thickening up on you, but only do this about a cup or two at a time. I like my lentils a bit al dente, so my pot was done in about an hour. If you like them softer, it may take a bit longer. Just keep tasting until you've got the consistency where you like it. If you're looking for a totally smooth concoction, you may need to take an immersion blender to it. Cheap, filling, relatively healthy.
Baked sticky spare ribs - Fuck your diet, they're delicious. Preheat oven to 300 F (400 if you're impatient). 1 large red Onion, finely diced 2 tbsp duck fat 2 tsp minced garlic 1/3 cup Wild Turkey American Honey bourbon 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar 1/4 cup Kecap Manis (sweet soy sauce, only ingredient on the bottle should be 'Soy') 2 lbs pork spare ribs 1/3 lbs Panchetta 1 Small Handful of fine chopped spring onions Fresh ground black pepper to taste Place duck fat, garlic, vinegar, sweet soy in a container and stir well to combine. lightly coat the base of a baking pan and layer pork ribs, more sauce and panchetta, topping the final layer with Panchetta. Throw red onion into the baking dish wherever it will fit at the end, pour remaining sauce over the top. Sprinkle black pepper and spring onions over the top and bake uncovered in oven for about 2 hours if you're baking at 300f. An hour and ten minutes if you're baking at impatient temperature. Serve with home fries style sweet and baby potatoes - although I prefer oven baking them to actually frying. Caveat, I'm kind of guessing at numbers - I don't measure things when I cook, I just throw things into a container, and I've converted my best guess in metric measurements to imperial in recognition of the heathen nature of most of the readers. Also - cooking uncovered means that the alcohol largely evaporates. Cook these covered with a bit too much bourbon, and you can find yourself surprise intoxicated.
Add me to the list of those that have tried this recipe as well. I did however, take the advice and used brandy instead of the white wine, just because I'm not a fan of the wine taste in sauces. Next time I definitely need to let my sauce reduce a little more since it came out a bit too thin for my liking. Also, for people that don't particularly care for Caribbean seasoning, I first marinated my chicken in some Stubb's chicken marinade, and the flavor that stuff gave it was amazing, but then again, I'm an fan of Stubb's marinade for any type of chicken preparation.
When you have a day out hunting like I did yesterday, where you talk more about how it was nice to see the sunrise and a little deer came close to the boat, that basically means "We didn't shoot shit!" So all I got yesterday was one little hen bluewing teal. Maybe 1 1/2 lbs. wet. Granted, I have big hands, but the breasts just don't offer much more than a light appetizer. I got lucky that only one BB shot nicked a breast. Solution: Quartering the breasts, wrapping them in a quarter slice of bacon stuck with a toothpick, and sprinkling italian seasoning over them. Pan fry until the bacon is crispy... this leaves the duck medium and is perfect. You can still taste the duck, but the bacon keeps it moist and helps prevent overcooking. Let's face it, wrapping anything in bacon makes it good, but this is a good way to make use of a more "scenic" hunting trip. Best enjoyed with a football game on TV and some seasonal beers (pumpkin ale, anyone?). Toothpicks make it finger food.
I made the Cajun Chicken Pasta again this weekend, with the following tweaks: *Browned one ring of sliced, smoked andouille sausage (small amount of oil, no butter) before browning the chicken *Reduced the amount of broth to 1.5 cups *Added half-cup of grated parmesan cheese after stirring in the cream The sauce was thicker than my first attempt, but still thinner than I'd like. I think the next go around, I'm going to make a quick roux and build the sauce from there. The addition of the sausage, however was fantastic. The smokiness (Holmes Pecan-Smoked Andouille) was complementary and not overpowering.
Oh - I've been racking my brains trying to figure out why everyone is complaining about the sauce being thin, but I think I know what I do differently. I add about 1/2 or 2/3rds cup brandy, 300ml cream, and that's it. You don't need the chicken stock at all. Fuck. I miss real food.
Since we're currently all about pasta, I'd like to point out that, a while back in the thread, pink candy posted a nice recipe for carbonara. It is stupidly simple and stupidly good. Here's how I've started making it: -start a pot of salted boiling water; use about a half pound of fettucine -take some bacon (I've started using pancetta), slice into small squares, and fry, then remove from the pan and drain out the grease -mince up 3-4 cloves of garlic; if you can I prefer mincing them and using the knife to squish it into a paste. Fry for a few seconds -add 1/2 cup of cream. Bring up to temperature so that it steams without boiling -then add 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese (I've used asiago with good effect). Add a little bit at a time to the cream, only adding more when the cheese is completely melted -let steam for a while to reduce, or add more cheese to make more delicious and thick -add the pasta to the sauce; remove from heat for a few minutes, then add one egg yolk and stir quickly Impresses chicks, and it's no longer to make than ordinary pasta.
Just fyi, even though panko style bread crumbs are delicious, the package lies. "Tends to hold less grease" my ass. I just fried up a batch of chicken covered with panko and that was the greasiest (albeit delicious) chicken that I think I've ever made.
Made this the other night: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/10/dinner-tonight-star-anise-and-ginger-chicken-recipe.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011 ... ecipe.html</a> it turned out damn awesome. However, the chicken took longer to cook than advertised which wasn't too much of an issue. Next time I'm going to make a bit more of the glaze/sauce as it was delicious with rice. I found the recipe on punchfork, which is my new favorite recipe aggregator/food porn site.
Yeah, tastespotting is pretty awesome as well. Both area saved as favorites now. Also for just straight food porn, check out: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.foodporndaily.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">www.foodporndaily.com</a>
My roommate's dad was here for the weekend and left us with 6 dozen fresh eggs from a Hutterite farm near where he's from. At this point I can scramble and pan fry eggs pretty well. Beyond that, I'm not too creative with eggs aside from putting them in sandwiches and stuff. Any good recipes that use up a bunch of eggs out there or other good uses for them? We don't want these to spoil.
other uses for eggs: -egg salad -chicken salad (with eggs) -deviled eggs -homemade mayo -as an ingredient in most brownie/cake/sweets recipe, as part of fried chicken, french toast -quiche -breakfast casserole -eggs Benedict -chinese egg drop soup Most of these are pretty easy. I'm just listing them in case you wanted some basic ideas. You can google most of these foods and get a decent variety of recipes for them. You and your room mate are going to stink up the whole house....
Fried eggs go REALLY well on burgers. Soft boiled eggs are awesome, you get the runny yoke without having to fatten them up with butter or oil. Best method I've used so far: -Get a pot of heavily salted water to a rolling boil -Put eggs in* for 6 minutes -Dump the hot water out, pour some cold water in until they get cool enough that you can handle them without burning yourself and peel away, the shells come off super easy. *You really don't want them to break so it's ideal if you have some tongs or something else that you can gently place them in the bottom instead of dropping them in. This goes great on salads, pasta dishes, pretty much any type of Indian food and probably a lot of other things. On their own you can do soldiers and eggs, basically cut up toast into little strips, take the shell off just the top of the egg and dip the toast strips in it. Poached eggs are similarly good, but I prefer soft boiled. Also, you can always hard boil a bunch of them and have them as snacks.
Too many eggs? Do the Meringue. As in lemon meringue pie. I love me some lemon meringue pie. Also highly endorse the quiche recommendation. The quiche possibilities are endless.
Actually, fritatas are great, too. AND you can cut them up, put them in the fridge and eat them later. Pizza Fritatta 6 whole eggs diced onion chopped mushrooms fresh basil fresh tomatoes your favourite cheese Whisk the eggs together. In an oven-proof frying pan, saute the onions in some olive oil. Add the chopped mushrooms (I usually use a dash of Worcestershire sauce, too). Cook until the mushrooms are slightly golden, then add the whisked eggs. Cook the eggs on the stove top until they just begin to set, then remove from heat. Sprinkle the diced tomatoes, fresh basil and cheese on top and throw it in the oven. Cook until eggs are done. Add salt & pepper as you wish.