Impromptu Cooking Corner

[Peter Johnson]

Alright--that guac thread was fun, and I think we need more cooking threads, so let me give this a shot.

I was walking through the market earlier and I started craving shellfish. "Hmmm," I thought. "Doesn't sound so hard!" So I grabbed 10 mussels, 10 clams (the seafood guys thought I was nuts--"You mean 10 pounds, right?" "No, ten clams.") and a link of andoille sausage. Got a shallot, some butter and a bottle of dry French white wine. Still had some cilantro ( ) left over from the guacamole!

Back at my apartment, I threw the butter and shallots in a pot and cooked them for a while. Threw in about a cup of wine or so and when it was boiling I threw in the clams, mussels (debearded, of course!) and andoille. When all the clams and mussels were open, I tossed everything around with the cilantro. Twenty pieces of shellfish plus a baguette to sop up the sauce = quick, cheap and tasty late lunch!

I'm no expert chef, but I've started to learn that a big secret to cooking is trusting your instincts. If you think something will go together, give it a shot. This quick and dirty lunch is as good as any moules marinieres as I've had at a French bistro--and it was super simple.

Who else likes to throw stuff together and see what happens?

Horror stories are welcome too--things like this can't always turn out well!

[rachel]

do you deliver? I know you fly-over frequently with your commuting back and forth to Seattle..... i live, like, really close to the airport.....

and i know Catesta is reading this, so he has a standing invitation to deliver whatever he be cookin', too...

A girl's gotta eat, ya know...

[Peter Johnson]

In the (in)famous words of Rockefeller Center, "You are invited to lunch in [seattle]" (replacing Vienna)!

Sadly (for food delivery) my flights have all been nonstop...I wouldn't want to depressurize the cabin to do a provisions-drop!

Edited February 14, 2005 by Peter Johnson

[catesta]

do you deliver? I know you fly-over frequently with your commuting back and forth to Seattle..... i live, like, really close to the airport.....

and i know Catesta is reading this, so he has a standing invitation to deliver whatever he be cookin', too...

A girl's gotta eat, ya know...

Rachel, you got it!

Tonight, I am grillin' some Italian Sausage and making sandwiches.

The key is how the sammich is prepared.

I take a loaf of fresh cut up Italian bread, brush it with olive oil and place it on the grill face down after the sausage has been taken off. It gets a little charred and takes in the flavor from the grill.

While the bread is still warm, I put a slice of provolone on top of the sausage, a little lettuce, and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic upon request.

I will be serving a side of tortellini with a simple tomato sauce.

It's good eatin' if I do say so myself. B-)

[Jazzmoose]

Pizza for me tonight. Tomatoes squeezed as dry as I can get them, olive oil, bell pepper, onion mozarella, parmesan, garlic, pepperoni, basil and oregano. Okay, I'll confess; I cheat on the crust and use my bread machine to knead it and all. Sue me...

[doubleM]

I just threw a little something together that I thought was tasty. I'd bought a package a fresh mixed seafood w/mussels, shrimp, squid, baby octopus, krab ( ), and a couple of other fish. My idea was to make a soup. I started by heating up some scallions , mushrooms, chopped zucchini, tomato, and sweet onion in some olive oil w/ cayenne, oregano and cumin. Next I put in the seafood mix and a cup of spicy vegetable soup (one of Campbell's' mexican soups) w/ half a cup of water. I squoze (sp.?) a lemon into the mix. 5 minutes later, I have a spanish-style seafood soup for about $3.50. And it didn't suck. At All!!!

[Free For All]

Alright--that guac thread was fun, and I think we need more cooking threads, so let me give this a shot.

You can always count me in to hang w/the cooking threads. I started a couple but they always seem to flounder after a few posts (MMMM...FLOUNDER..).

I love to improvise on certain dishes like soups, chili and stir-fry. I think the main lesson I've learned is to not go overboard with seasoning. Keeping it simple has yielded better results.

[sidewinder]

Grilled greek sea bass in a dill sauce last night. Yum ! B-)

Hey, I'm a 'Master'....

Edited February 14, 2005 by sidewinder

[Rooster_Ties]

I don't totally improvise recipes from scratch very often (couple times a year, at most). But I do like to take existing recipes and change them -- sometimes radically!! -- using the original as a sort of blueprint for the final product.

For instance, I took a great Lasagna recipe that I make pretty often, and replaced almost every ingredient with something else (other than the noodles, of course!!). The original recipe was a sort of Mexican Lasagna, with ground beef, black beans, and enchilada sauce (instead of traditional tomato sauce, Italian-style).

By the time I got done substituting everything, I ended up with a rather interesting Asian Salmon Lasagna dish, with a bit of shredded carrot, and a spicy peanut sauce!! -- and nary a tomato anywhere to be found!! Wish I could remember what all else I put in it. Pretty much everything I could think of from all the Asian restaurants my wife and I go to. I'm sure I included a bunch of fresh, grated ginger. And I soaked every other noodle in soy sauce, so the layers were more colorful - alternating light and dark. Probably some bright purple cabbage too, if I remember right. And some red bell peppers. The end result was very colorful!!! B-)

All in all, it worked out pretty good -- although it was a little odd without any cheese.

That's probably the weirdest thing I've cooked up within the last six months.

Edited February 14, 2005 by Rooster_Ties

[Peter Johnson]

Grilled greek sea bass in a dill sauce last night. Yum !

Mmm, dill sauce. What was the base?

[minew]

Today's supermarket chicken breasts are huge, dry, tasteless but I found a way to redeem them: stuff them like whole chickens.

Cut a large slit along the bone deep into the breast on the large side. Stuff with any combination of starch (e.g., rice, breadcrumbs, or cornbread) and flavoring (ham, sausage, onions, garlic, herbs, and/or raisins). Add some moisture (stock, wine) and fat (butter, bacon fat, olive oil).

Often, this can all be gleaned from leftovers and tidbits in the fridge. Saute it all together until it becomes a coherent stuffing.

Stuff, season, and roast for 45-55 min at about 400.

[maren]

gleaned from leftovers and tidbits in the fridge

Speaking of which,

this concoction wasn't bad, considering I thought I had NOTHING in the house:

while I boiled the pasta (ziti in this case)

and steamed some broccoli,

I sauteed two sliced cloves of garlic in olive oil,

tossed in the bread crumbs that were all that was left of the good Italian bread,

tossed in the broccoli when you could just about stick a fork in it,

tossed in some tuna,

then drained the pasta and stirred in all the above olive-oil-warmed ingredients,

grated Romano cheese and black pepper on top.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

Man, good thread before lunch!

A stuffed breast option (Bell and Evans A+) I like is to bone them out, halve them and get rid of that white cartiledgy thing (yes I even take the endoplasmic thing out of my eggs), butterfly and give them a slight hammering. Stuff with a nice slice of smoked gouda and a few thins of proscuitto. Dredge in some spiced up flour (thyme, garlic etc..) and toss into a pan with hot olive oil and some butter at the last minute. Might need to toothpick them together. You can roll this as well.

[sidewinder]

Grilled greek sea bass in a dill sauce last night. Yum !

Mmm, dill sauce. What was the base?

Peter - incredibly easy. Just melt a blob of butter and mix with chopped fresh garlic and add the dill.

[Jim Alfredson]

Man oh man. I made some chili last night for dinner and boy am I paying for it today. Without going into details, I've been visting the men's room once every few hours.

[Peter Johnson]

Man oh man. I made some chili last night for dinner and boy am I paying for it today. Without going into details, I've been visting the men's room once every few hours.

Good thing you're "clearing out the house" to go to New York, if you know what I'm sayin'!

[catesta]

Man oh man. I made some chili last night for dinner and boy am I paying for it today. Without going into details, I've been visting the men's room once every few hours.

No more details necessary.

[Jazzmoose]

Man oh man. I made some chili last night for dinner and boy am I paying for it today. Without going into details, I've been visting the men's room once every few hours.

I've never had that problem; usually when I make chili, Barb pays for it...