Post Your Favorite Recipes

Another quick tip, to stop yourself crying when cutting onions use the sharpest possible knife. This way you'll avoid crushing the skin and your eyes shouldn't water....much!

anywho, here's another reciepe. Mussels steamed in cider

serves four

4 x 250g fresh mussels (remembering, there only in season in a month thats got an 'r' in it)
250ml cider, slightly sweet is better.
1 large onion (also if you want, some finely shredded leek or spring onions)
chopped chives
double cream
calvados

start by cooking your sliced onion off (and your leeks if you used them) in a little oil. set them aside. Now clean the mussels by de-bearding them and scraping them, rinse thourghly with cold water. Heat a heavy set pan on the stove, throw in the mussels, the cider and calvados and immediatley bang a lid on. allow the mussels to steam for 2 mins and take the lid off. Let the liqour reduce by half. Add your onions, chives and a splash of double cream. Bring back to the boil until slightly thickened and serve!

Just make sure your mussels are alive, if there dead bin them, they will make you very ill! secondly don't set fire to the liqour, it'll burn the mussels and give it a bitter taste
 
Kitchen hints......Oh no!!! you boiled some eggs, put them next to the fresh ones in the fridge and now you can't tell which ones are boiled and which ones are uncooked. SPIN THOSE SUCKERS! The yolk in the uncooked egg creates centrifical force, causing it to spin very fast, while the hard boiled ones spin slowly.

You have a higher risk of cutting yourself with a dull knife, since more force is needed to cut, and that makes them harder to controll.

When cutting, curl your knuckles, hold the food with the first joint of your finger, and rest the blade against the long edge of your fingers (between the 1st and 2nd knuckles), to ensure you dont slice off a finger.

Salted water boils faster than regular water.

80% of food service is presentation, macaroni slapped on a paper plate is less appealing than in a nice bowl with the edges cleaned of sauce residue, and some parsley flakes sprinkled over the top. And GARNISH GARNISH GARNISH!!!

To layer flavors, use the less pungent ones last, for blended, do the opposite. Example of layered flavors: heat oil, add zuchinni cook for a bit, then add bell peppers, then add onions, then add garlic at the end. This keeps the more robust flavors from soaking into the other ingredients, making them each taste as they would alone.
Blended flavors: heat oil, add garlic, then the onions then the peppers then the zuchinni. This allows the stronger flavors to soak into the other ingredients.

Old cat, young dog(please, only if this is legal in your country)

meat is best cooked at room temperature

relax your hand, lightly press themuscle between your thumb and forefinger at the top of your hand, thats what a rare steak feels like. Make a 90* bend in your elbow(resting it on the counter to relax the muscles) the muscle right above the bend will feel like a medium steak. The tip of your nose is well done ;)
 
Kitchen Hint

When using a mandolin for slicing cucumbers, DO NOT, under any circumstances try and explain to a coworker how to do a glucose tolerance test. This will result in the loss of part of your 4th finger. And the renaming of your pickles.


Mrs Valente's Finger Pickles

4 c apple cider vinegar
4 c sugar
1/2 t salt
1 T mustard seed
1 T turmeric
1 t celery seed
4 T pickling spice

1 small onion - thinly sliced
6 kirby/pickling or 2 english cucumbers - thinly sliced

Combine first 7 ingredients in a reactive pot (no aluminum) and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes. remove from heat and add cucks and onion. Allow to cool. Transfer to spring top canning jar or Tupperware. Refrigerate. These pickles will keep for 1 month, but in my house they don't last more than a week.
 
Garlic Shrimp with Broccoli
Bryer's Favorite!

4 tbsp butter or margerine

2 12oz. bags frozen shrimp (31-40 count)

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp orange peel

1 tsp sweet basil

1 tsp garlic powder

4 cups chopped broccoli



Melt butter in large skillet at med heat.

Add shrimp and cumin, simmer 5 mins.

Add orange peel, basil and garlic, simmer 5 mins.

Add broccoli, simmer 10 mins.

Serve over pasta
 
Easy Gaucamole

2-3 medium sized avacados, make sure one still a bit firm, the others can be soft.
1 cup favorite salsa--I use fresh when it's available, or Newman's Own
1/4 cup chopped white onion
1 clovse garlic, smashed or minced
1/4 tsp ground Cumin
1/2 tsp Fresh ground black pepper
1 tablespoon Mayo
1/2 tsp lime juice.

Peel avacados and remove pit. Using a knife, chop both into small chunks. Add remaining ingredients, and stir well--the softer avacado will mash, while the firmer one should provide some chunks. Let sit, room temperature for 30 minutes for best flavor. Cover well for storage, can be made 2 days in advance (sprinkle top with more lime juice to prevent browning). Serve with tortille chips, tacos, mexican casseroles, etc. :)
 
Chocolate Hazlenut wontons

if u love cocolate u'll love this
wonton wrappers
oil
powerd sugar
egg wash (beat egg whites)
nutella (chocolate hazlenut spread)

1.coat one side of wonton with eggwash.
2.spoon a teaspoon of the spead in the wonton. close up the wonton and make sure it doesnt open.
3. fry it in oil for about 1 min. and coat with powered sugar.
 
For what it's worth, I will still be compiling the recipes and having hard copies printed up and made for sale. I'm not sure what the cost will end up as--I'm going to try to keep it around $10. When I get it done, I'll have an electronic version that will be made available via email, and an order form for getting the printed hard copies via snail mail. I'll keep everyone up to date.
 
Ok, I hope my Great Grams doesn't mind this it is a "family" recipe straight from Balongna Italy (I may of spelled that wrong) and you know how Italians can be about thier "family" recipes, my great gramps went to his grave with his "daygo red" (wine) recipe...so please Nona don't spit on me from heaven. Now the measurement are around about cause I dont have exact measurement it was always...about a walnut size of this or a smig of that, so I am guesstamating here,

Thanksgiving Tortalchi:
Filling
Spinach, cut very fine cooked and drained (or you could use 1 can spinach drained and cut fine)
about 1 cup or so of parmesan Cheese
1 container riccotta cheese
1/2 cup bread crumbs (I use the Italian seasoned ones)
2 eggs to hold filling together
Mix all ingred. well.

Noodles
6 eggs
enough flour to make stiff dough (I have know idea the amount here)
cover with a cloth and let it set for 5-10min.
rollout as thin as possible..if you have a pasta machine run it through until it can go throught the second setting.
cut into strips so you can cut 2" squares out of it
add 1tsp filling to each square and bring corner to corner to make a triange.
Now you can leave it like this or the way my grams did it was she would wrap the bottom of the triangle around her finger and "tie". It's hard to explain this without being with you, but if you know tortallini's they end up looking like that.

Add to boiling water that you have added some olive oil to and boil until they float. Then drain.

Sauce:
3-4tsp garlic (chopped)
container (med) of heavy whipping cream
1 stick butter
1/2 cup parm. cheese (or more if wanted depends on your liking)
about 4oz of cream cheese

Melt butter in pan, add garlic and saute until golden, take off heat and add cream. Put back on heat and add parm. cheese and cream cheese. Stir until cheese melts and pour over drained noodles.

I know it is alot of work but well worth it...plan on a big mess with the flour too especially if you have kids that want to help ;)
 
Dangerdoll said:
another hint... a drop or two of vegetable oil or olive oil into a boiling pot of water will prevent pasta from sticking.
Once you dump in the pasta, stir it around for a few seconds then turn off the heat. The water is already as hot as its going to get, no need to waste energy. just stir the pasta occasionally and it will cook.
 
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