Something Delicious

[Nadeest]

I just realize that I didn't explain the term: 'butterflied'. That is when you cut the breast in the middle, slicing it open, lengthwise, but without cutting it all the way through. Basically, when you are done, it kinda resembles a pair of butterfly wings. This thins the meat, without reducing the amount, which lowers the cooking time.

I tried, in this recipe, to explain any technical terms that I used, as I don't know how much experience and/or training that anyone that reads this has. I wanted to make sure that everyone could understand, whether they have had formal culinary training or not.

[easygoingfemme]

I teach my kids cooking class on Fridays. I've been working with a group of little kids for the last 8 weeks, most of them 4-8 years old, one 10 year old. Today we are making sushi for 30. (The littlest of them will make stuffed rice molds) wish me luck and hope they don't find the wasabi!

[Sun]

Originally Posted by Nadeest

I just realize that I didn't explain the term: 'butterflied'. That is when you cut the breast in the middle, slicing it open, lengthwise, but without cutting it all the way through. Basically, when you are done, it kinda resembles a pair of butterfly wings. This thins the meat, without reducing the amount, which lowers the cooking time.

I tried, in this recipe, to explain any technical terms that I used, as I don't know how much experience and/or training that anyone that reads this has. I wanted to make sure that everyone could understand, whether they have had formal culinary training or not.

Brava Nadeest you did an excellent job of explaining the directions and techniques.

One of the distinctions that marks a Chef is the ability to instruct and communicate information to others. In this way we can make sure that our recipes are being executed properly. You did a great job and are well on your way to becoming a Chef. I look forward to reading about your progress as you go along this journey.

Chiffonade is one of my favorite cuts. This summer I did a few saute' stations for catered events, so that I could interact with the guests and cook fresh pasta to order. It was a lot of fun. The guests enjoy watching the process and asking questions. I would have a huge block of Asiago out on a chilled marble slab and next to it a bowl of Basil Chiffonade. It is time consuming to prepare a large amount but the results are so nice.

For anyone reading along who wants to learn this knife skill, here is an instructional video:

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJEQFgfv7iw"]How To Chiffonade - YouTube[/nomedia]

[Sun]

Originally Posted by easygoingfemme

I teach my kids cooking class on Fridays. I've been working with a group of little kids for the last 8 weeks, most of them 4-8 years old, one 10 year old. Today we are making sushi for 30. (The littlest of them will make stuffed rice molds) wish me luck and hope they don't find the wasabi!

Ok super cute here.

Hide the wasabi!

Good luck! Let us know how this goes.

[Sun]

Originally Posted by lusciouskiwi

You know, I've only ever made pavlova twice and both times they came out looking like pizza bases. FLAT. And I haven't tried since. To make matters worse, my ex's father's wife said once "oh, they are soooo easy to make". I had to hold my hand down.

Since they are made from egg whites, do you think I over-beat them?????

<----- failed Kiwi

Many factors play a role in the outcome of your beaten egg whites. Altitude and freshness of the eggs is one factor. Another factor is the material that your mixing bowl and whisk is made of. I use stainless steel only but many French Chefs insist on using a copper bowl only for whisking as the chemical reaction between the copper and the egg whites enhances the "lift". Once you have the whites beaten and they are stiff, then stop. Make sure to use them right away and not try to hold them. You do not want the air to escape.

Cream of Tartar can be added to strengthen the whites and increase volume.

There is no such thing as failure when we are learning. There is always something to learn. I've been at this for many years and I am still learning something every day.

[Sun]

Thank you Kiwi for this amazing study. I have not tried any of these fruits. Looks like I am going to have to do some travelling.

How bizarre that you are getting so much imported fruit over there. What is up with that? Where is the local tropical fruit supply? Is it being exported? *concerned*

Originally Posted by lusciouskiwi

Avocados are so expensive over here.

Something I had once, a few months back, was a custard apple. Really good! Sweet and creamy. You don't see many of them in markets these days apparently and my ex's mum was complaining that all the local tropical fruit which was so plentiful a few years ago is now hardly seen. You can always see grapes, apples, oranges, Cavendish bananas, kiwifruit, etc - all imported fruit.

I love mangosteen rambutan of course mango (a lot are imported from Thailand and even further away) and papaya. Here's a custard apple and longan Love red dragon fruit (originally from South America I believe)

[JustLovelyJenn]

I am loving the posts today. SO much fun... exotic fruits, cooking with kids, wonderful explanations and interactive catering... I could just read this stuff all day... wait... that's what I will be doing today... maybe a little research of my own. I will keep you posted.

[Ursy]

Originally Posted by Sun

Many factors play a role in the outcome of your beaten egg whites. Altitude and freshness of the eggs is one factor.

I mis-read that as ATTITUDE and freshness of eggs.
Resisting urge to make a pun about bad eggs now...

[Sun]

Originally Posted by JustLovelyJenn

I am loving the posts today. SO much fun... exotic fruits, cooking with kids, wonderful explanations and interactive catering... I could just read this stuff all day... wait... that's what I will be doing today... maybe a little research of my own. I will keep you posted.

So glad that you are enjoying this thread!

Based on the numbers it looks like this is a well read thread. We have a lot of talent and some wonderful foodies in here.

Thank you all who contribute and make this thread so very delicious. This thread was just an idea and has become a great source of pleasure and learning for me.

You all Rock. Just so you know.

Those who are reading and not posting are welcome to join us. Please drop in and say hello, it would be great to hear from you!

[Sun]

Originally Posted by Ursy

I mis-read that as ATTITUDE and freshness of eggs.
Resisting urge to make a pun about bad eggs now...

Oh I set myself up for that one. And here I thought it was the "beating" and "whipping" that was going to draw in the wise cracks.

Come on Ursy don't hold back. You know that if Cath was posting right now you would surely not hold back! lol

[MarquisdeShey]

I love food...new tastes, new textures and flavors...

I will eat anything - especially if I do not have to make it.

My top restaurants at the moment:

One Twenty Six in Iowa City. It has a beautiful duck entree (cooked to order) with spargus and jasmine flavored red potatoes. Lovely from beginning to end! Also has my favorite pulled pork cuban sandwich.

Devotay, Iowa City, has great tapas! Locally owned and supplied with local organic produce. Best fish tacos in town. Light, buttery and crispy.

Lincoln Cafe, Mount Vernon, IA - has an incredible filet mignon. Locally farmed beef and vegetables.

I can go on... but ... if I smell Feijoada... it's all over. My soul melts.

[Bit]

LOL, Sun! I think Ursy and I play off each other quite nicely.

Originally Posted by Sun

Applesauce and honey will impact the rise. Did you mix the wet ingredients first and then mix in the dry? This can help to avoid over mixing, which I do all the time btw. Yep denser is a great word. lol
....OK bakers, what do you think that Blue can do with this recipe to add natural sugar and keep the rise?

Are you using enough baking powder, Blue? Usually it takes one teaspoon per cup of flour.

What kind of applesauce? What's in it? If it's commercial apple puree--yanno, the stuff in jars--it probably has too much liquid in it. You can drain it like you do yogurt to thicken it up and get some of that excess water out, or you can reduce the other liquid in the recipe.

Is this a substitution recipe, one that was originally meant for butter and sugar? It might be better to find a recipe that was specifically developed for applesauce and honey. The honey substitution for sugar is not one-to-one, and again, you have to reduce the liquid.

I find the Baker's Banter Blog a treasure trove of information, and they have a baker's helpline that you can call during business hours to ask questions about things like this. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/new-zealand-bran-muffins-recipe Here is a bran muffin recipe that is extremely flexible, judging by the commentary. I would DEFINITELY flip the proportions of flour and bran--that is a HUGE amount of bran for twelve muffins--and if you need a substitute for butter I would try either coconut oil or applesauce. With all that bran, it might be loads better not to drain the applesauce, actually; bran absorbs a lot of liquid.

I found that recipe by typing applesauce and honey into this search engine. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/SearchByIngredient

[MarquisdeShey]

Originally Posted by Ursy

I mis-read that as ATTITUDE and freshness of eggs.
Resisting urge to make a pun about bad eggs now...

Apparently a sunken egg is no good. Bad egg runs in the family sometimes. Those darn brown hens!

[ahk]

Originally Posted by Corkey

Flank steak cut into thin strips
marinade: in worchishishire shire sauce and EVOO
1 tbl spoon of Rosemary
1 tea spoon of thyme
2 sage sliced thin

Lightly pan flour steak strips and pan sear over med heat.
add fresh marinade herbs, 2 cups sour cream and sliced mushrooms, portobello work best.
heat to simmer for 5-8 minutes and serve over egg noodles.

Simple and delicious.

this sounds awesome, thanks for the recipe.

Originally Posted by Sun

Or a little cider vinegar and water to thin it a bit but not much, maybe a 2 Tablespoons of each to the 2 C of Sour Cream.

great idea.

Originally Posted by JustLovelyJenn

I finally got around to making my Thai Peanut Sauce and thought I would share the recipe with you all

1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tbls curry powder
1 tbls dried parsley
1 tsp dried ginger (a bit more if fresh)
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water

The choice of meat and vegetables I pair with this dish depend on what I have on hand and what is in season. Today I used thin sliced beef cut into strips and parsnips, carrots, zucchini, and celery. I steam the vegetables, adding the beef near the end so I can cook using as little oil as possible, once the vegetables and meat are cooked through I pour in the sauce and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Serve over white rice and garnish with sesame seeds and red peppers to taste.

cue mouth water

Originally Posted by Sun

Good Day Delicious People

What are yall up to?


Coffee drinkers, tell us what you are drinking



Readers, drop in and post a hello. let us know who you are. Posters aka delicioustarians, did you have any note worthy
foodie moments this weeked?

I have been busy with school -- did about about 56 hours this week with rotations and class time. I just haven't been cooking much... but my honey did. She made me chicken fajitas w/ lots of bells and onions, her killer guac -- I enjoy them in low carb torts, jack cheese, rolled in a burrito with all toppings.

Originally Posted by Ursy

I make wontons and freeze them on a tray. Once frozen, I bag them. Then when I want a serve of wonton soup, I grab some chicken stock, bring it to a boil, throw in about 5 or 6 wontons and whatever vegetables I have on hand, maybe a bit of ginger or garlic, sesame oil, chinese 5 spice... whatever takes my mood, and voila! Super quick and healthy wonton soup.

Sometimes I cheat and use the chicken powder from the asian supermarket if I don't have real stock on hand.
http://www.ettason.com/products_details.asp?id=4046
I really like it actually, and it's a lifesaver when you are short on time.

So did you decide to make or buy your wrappers? and is there anyway you could post your recipe for the wrappers, I'm interested.

Originally Posted by ruffryder

a comfort food. I love rice pudding!

From Texas Recipes

Rice Pudding

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups (600 ml) of whole milk
1/3 cup (66 grams) of uncooked short grain white rice

Pinch of salt
1 egg
1/4 cup (50 grams) dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/3 cup (40 grams) raisins (optional)

Directions:
In a medium-sized, heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the milk, rice and salt to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer until the rice is tender, about 20-25 minutes. Stir frequently to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together egg and brown sugar until well mixed. Add a half cup of the hot rice mixture to the egg mixture, a tablespoon at a time, vigorously whisking to incorporate.

Add egg mixture back into the saucepan of rice and milk and stir, on low heat, for 5 to 10 minutes, until thickened, or about 160°F (71°C). Be careful not to have the mixture come to a boil at this point or it will curdle. Stir in the vanilla. Remove from heat and stir in the raisins and cinnamon.

Serve warm or cold.

Yield: Serves 3-4.

ME too!!

PS. I missed this thread all week.
Tonight, I'm eating fajitas w/ spanish rice and enjoying a hard cider.

[Ursy]

Originally Posted by ahk

So did you decide to make or buy your wrappers? and is there anyway you could post your recipe for the wrappers, I'm interested.

Here are my notes: https://www.evernote.com/shard/s13/s...e39957e9b48533

I ended up making them. They were very hard to handle, the dough was a bit too soft - in hindsight, I should have added more flour. Oh well, you live and learn! I'll try to remember for next time.

Now I got me some hideously misshapen dumplings!

[Sun]

Originally Posted by MarquisdeShey

I love food...new tastes, new textures and flavors...

I will eat anything - especially if I do not have to make it.

My top restaurants at the moment:

One Twenty Six in Iowa City. It has a beautiful duck entree (cooked to order) with spargus and jasmine flavored red potatoes. Lovely from beginning to end! Also has my favorite pulled pork cuban sandwich.

Devotay, Iowa City, has great tapas! Locally owned and supplied with local organic produce. Best fish tacos in town. Light, buttery and crispy.

Lincoln Cafe, Mount Vernon, IA - has an incredible filet mignon. Locally farmed beef and vegetables.

I can go on... but ... if I smell Feijoada... it's all over. My soul melts.

Welcome to the thread!

OMG a good Cuban sandwich. Wow. It has been a while. One of the great things about having access to local farms is that farm to table cooking is like nothing else. Glad to see so many restaurants going in this direction and getting back to the way that things were done back in the day.

If you go back and read some of this thread you will see that I am a fish taco freak. How does your place serve them? Corn or flour tortillia? What do they top it with?

As for Feijoada..Vamos Brasil

Feijoada Recipe

I like this one

[Nadeest]

Thank you for the lovely compliment, Sun. I have a long ways to go, yet, before I am ready for that title. One of my classmates made Sous Chef right out of culinary school, but I don't want that, yet. I have too much to learn, right now.

I didn't do much cooking, before I started transition, back in 07, so I have a lot of gaps in my knowledge right now, that most experienced cooks don't have. For instance, I had never roasted a whole chicken, before I was in my first semester (in culinary school), yet I had roasted a whole turkey, in the past.

Right now, I am hunting for a job for my internship (Co-Op course) so that I can finish and obtain my degree. Class starts in the middle of January, and I hope to have a lot of the required hours by then. I am also taking some baking classes, at present, as I never really did much baking, except for making sourdough bread. I am enjoying these classes, and hope that it will help enable me to work over on the other side of the kitchen, if I am asked to help out.

[Sun]

Originally Posted by Nadeest

Thank you for the lovely compliment, Sun. I have a long ways to go, yet, before I am ready for that title. One of my classmates made Sous Chef right out of culinary school, but I don't want that, yet. I have too much to learn, right now.

I didn't do much cooking, before I started transition, back in 07, so I have a lot of gaps in my knowledge right now, that most experienced cooks don't have. For instance, I had never roasted a whole chicken, before I was in my first semester (in culinary school), yet I had roasted a whole turkey, in the past.

Right now, I am hunting for a job for my internship (Co-Op course) so that I can finish and obtain my degree. Class starts in the middle of January, and I hope to have a lot of the required hours by then. I am also taking some baking classes, at present, as I never really did much baking, except for making sourdough bread. I am enjoying these classes, and hope that it will help enable me to work over on the other side of the kitchen, if I am asked to help out.

Hi Nadeest,

I believe that you will find that your core instruction will empower you with the skills and knowledge to jump right in to any kitchen and succeed. There is constant learning and challenges which should be fun as it seems that you enjoy learning. The value of a classical education is that everyone "speaks" the same culinary language in a kitchen where the training is classical French. What I like about a catering kitchen is that you can work many stations.On a traditional line, you get to focus on one area in particular. I tend toward the saute', grill, oven myself, usually hot items on a menu, appetizers to entree's. Depending on the size of the establishment you could wind up just working one area or rotating around. A small to medium sized restaurant is great for getting maximum exposure to many of the preparations.

Becoming a Sous Chef right out of school could be a great opportunity because the individual can literally become the Executive Chef's apprentice or right hand, but that is a rare event. The great thing that you have working to your advantage is that culinary trained cooks are still in a minority in this industry, many learn on the job. So if a Chef needs someone to work a grill, or just make souffle's for 6 hours, you will have those skills in place to do so.

[Sun]

Great tips Cath!

Ursy the dough was not a failure if it held together hon. A failure would be my fresh lobster ravioli that exploded when I cooked them a few minutes before they were due to be plated and served to a dining room full of guests. Yeah, fun.

ahk, welcome back! Sounds like you had a busy week.

Same here..I am so ready for someone to cook for me. At a certain point I just do not want to cook for myself. I am thinking about pizza from lil ms cinn's posts in another thread. lol

[JustLovelyJenn]

I was feeling better tonight, and so I got up and spent a little time in the kitchen fixing myself something to eat. I thought I would share, as it turned out very good.

Over the summer I did a bit of research on Moroccan flavors and found I loved the combination of citrus with spices, tonight that sounded very appealing so I made a quick pork stir fry with that in mind.

(in the order they were added to the pan)
Parsnips
Onions
Garlic
Sliced pork
Salt & Pepper
Turmeric
Cumin
Satsuma oranges
Olives
Cherry tomatoes

The flavor was very subtle and I was so pleased with it.