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Have a special way of preparing a common dish? Something that makes it just that much better that no one else seems to use? Here's the place to enlighten us all! we don't need full recipies here, just little tricks along the way.
Pizza: It's all in the spices. Lay out the sauce, then just sprinkle on some basil, oregano and garlic poweder (don't over do the spices, just a sprinkle remember). Then, and here's the key, take some dried, minced onions and put some on. The pizza will be elevated to a whole different plane.
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Pizza - Use salsa instead of regular tomato sauce. Pancakes - Throw chocolate chips into the batter. Ramen - Slice up a carrot or a couple of sticks of celery and add to the pot.
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My old rommates and I once cooked salmon by wrapping it in aluminum foil and then sticking it in the dishwasher for a cycle. It worked pretty well. Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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Molasss, fresh ginger, cinamon, nutmeg, cayenne, and some citrus juice (lime, lemon, or orange) make great marinade for tuna, swordfish, mahi-mahi, or salmon.
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I find that adding fresh garlic to anything makes it infinitely tastier.
Oh, and Hobbes?
quote: it's all in the spices. Lay out the sauce, then just sprinkle on some basil, oregano and garlic poweder
Tomato Sauce actually neutralizes garlic flavor in its dry powdered form. I believe going with fresh garlic or soaking garlic powder in water before adding it to tomato works much better.
Dag, where were you earlier this week when I was looking for a good Tuna marinade? I am really not a fish/seafood person, but am trying to introduce it into our diet and was looking for good tips. I ended up baking the tuna with an herb/bread crumb "batter" and sprinkling it with lemon juice afterwards. It surprised me by being very good and not very fishy.
Add an extra 1/4 cup each of sugar and flour to the standard cookie recipe on the back of the chocolate chips for a more scone like cookie. Stand the dough in vertical pillars so that the cookies will be thick and chewy. Underbake just slightly.
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If you have a stronger fish(I used this on bluefish once, and you can't get much stronger than that), cover it with Dijon mustard, generously sprinkle fresh garlic and your favorite herbs over it, wrap it in aluminum foil, and bake in the oven.
The fish comes out buttery and tasty, and the mustard cuts the fishiness. I like very mild fish only, so this would not be good for those who actually enjoy a strong fish flavor.
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My grandmother's recipe for macaroni and hamburger, a.k.a. American Chop Suey, a.k.a. Hungarian Goulash Edit to add: Beefaroni
1 lb. ground beef, browned 1 medium onion, sauteed with fresh garlic garlic powder 1 can Contadina Italian style stewed tomatoes 1 12 oz. can V-8 juice
Combine all ingredients. (sometimes I let the sauce part simmer before adding the macaroni)
1 cup uncooked macaroni
Cook macaroni and add to sauce
Secret ingredient my grandmother flatly denies ever saying was in the recipe, but which I remember seeing her put in: 1/2 stick of butter
Serve with parmesan cheese, green beans you start boiling about an hour before dinner, bread with about a quarter inch of butter, and an iceberg lettuce salad with ranch dressing.
[ September 05, 2004, 01:30 AM: Message edited by: Elizabeth ]
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Elizabeth, when I was a kid we called that beefaroni. And served cooked mixed vegetables on the side, which most of us liked mixed in. (I just toss 'em into the pot, but I've never been a very democratic cook. )
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For heaven's sake, you have described the ultimate sacrilege! Mixing food on your plate that was not meant to be mixed together??? Egads, woman!
Please, separate your foods. Mashed potatoes in one section of the plate, chicken in another, broccoli in another. Eat one thing at a time, starting with the starch, because it is most important that the butter be nice and melty when you eat it.
When faced with a casserole type meal, eat the casserole first, followed by the vegetable.
Isn't this common knowledge?
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Incidentally, if anyone happens to like Yellowtail Shiraz, a nice 7 dollar wine, buy a few cases now, as my liquor store friend said they are flooding the market and raising the prices.
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I love Yellowtail Shiraz - best inexpensive wine I've found recently. Good for cooking mushrooms.
I din't serve wine, though, because Eve doesn't drink too often. I had a Zinfandel and a Merlot standing by, though. Swordfish works well with either, although I think the Shiraz would go better with the sweetness of the marinade.
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When I make cocktail sauce for shrimp, I add about two teaspoons of sherry for every cup of sauce. Just enought to add a flavor.
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My perfect plate would be this: it would be ceramic, with little sections like those plastic picnic plates. It would sit atop a little roundabout thing, so I could turn the plate after each item was eaten.
Did Romulans do this? I always loved the Romulans...
Just met someone tonight who eats this way, but he eats his vegetables first. Poor sot.
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My perfect plate would be this: it would be ceramic, with little sections like those plastic picnic plates. It would sit atop a little roundabout thing, so I could turn the plate after each item was eaten.
Did Romulans do this? I always loved the Romulans...
Just met someone tonight who eats this way, but he eats his vegetables first. Poor guy.
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*laugh* Ok, I was making an obscure Star Trek joke -- very obscure. In that while the Romulans were (to my knowledge) never shown to do this in any episode or movie, or even most of the books, there is one very early book that does. In that book, they figure out that this one fellow is a Romulan spy because he is obsessed with not allowing his mashed potatoes to touch his peas.
I, OTOH, believe that many foods that taste good alone taste better together. mmmmm!
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*giggle* Elizabeth, you've just named about the only cassarole type foods that I eat! While not particularly obsessive about food touching on my plate, I definitely prefer to eat things separately. Instead of salad, I prefer "finger snack" veggies with dressing to dip in. Instead of a sandwich, I'll eat meat and bread with a hunk of cheese and a roma tomato on the side.
I cannot, cannot, ever put ANYTHING in mac 'n cheese! I'm definitely a purist and that is one of my favorite comfort foods.
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Can of crushed tomatoes Can of tomato paste 1/2 cup of red wine (I used Shiraz; Burgundy's even better) Half vidalia onion, chopped. 6 cloves garlic, mashed. pound very lean ground beef (leaner than turkey - think 97%) mushrooms, sliced oregano, basil, pepper, paprika, parsely (dried, better with fresh) Roasted peppers (char the skins and peel them).
I put the meat in until it just started to brown. Then I added the rest of the ingrediants, brought it up to a strong simmer, stirring often.
Lower to low simmer, cover, and give it an hour or so.
I made buffalo stew last night, and threw some cheap coking red I found in the back of the fridge into it. Makes a huge difference.
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"I cannot, cannot, ever put ANYTHING in mac 'n cheese!"
Amen, Christy! (but I have to have a visible coating of salt over it, my arteries are sad to say)
Dag, that sounds yummy. Try poaching eggs in the leftover sauce. It was so good when I tried it. (recipe is on some other thread-it was in the Soprano Family Cookbook, which I am planning to get.)
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Sometimes I enjoy just cutting up fresh tomatoes and tossing them with hot pasta. Add a little basil, maybe some feta, and garlic. The heat of the pasta slightly cooks the tomato. With whole wheat pasta(which I could never get the rest of my family to eat) it is a pretty healthy dish.
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I have a special way of making chicken breasts.
1. Marinate the chicken (if you don't have time, that's ok.)
2. Wrap the chicken breats in aluminum foil. (If you didn't marinate you can put the sauce in the foil with it.)
3. Grill!
It comes out really juicy and yummy. Don't worry about the marinade/sauce turning to ashes, it doesn't stick to the chicken.
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Edit: Too Elizabeth: That is good, but I usually put them in the colander before draining the water - I like them just a little bit more cooked. Some olives in there is pretty good, too, especially with feta and a little olive oil.
As to whole wheat pasta, I forced myself to switch to it and now can't stand the other stuff.
Dagonee Edit: Does grilling foil do anything different than cooking in the oven while it's wrapped in foil? I've done foil cooking in the oven and in campfires, but not on the grill.
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It also cooks pretty evenly. No charred crust on the outside when it's still bleeding in the middle.
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I usually microwave bone-in chicken breast before grilling, and I just leave it right in the marinade in a ziplc bag. There is less time on the coals, and it is moist inside, crispy out.
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Maybe I'm being dense, but how does beefaroni con vegetables differ from a "casserole"?
And macaroni with cheese and broccoli is YUMMY! Not so much with caramel -- ewww! I generally like my sweets and my savories separate, and the sweeter or spicier they are, the more true! (Mild sweet with mild savory -- like sweet potatoes with chicken -- can be good.)
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You are not being dense, really. It is just a paradigm thing.
If I make a dish called macaroni and cheese with broccoli, then it is one entity. I prefer my macroni and cheese pure, but I also like casseroles. There was an excellent one that the cook of my childhood school, and in the school where I later worked, made. It was broccoli and chicken with rice, baked in a cheddar cheese sauce. The thought of it is pure comfort, still.
But heaven forbid if you serve me broccoli, chicken, and rice, and think that I will ever take a bite of one, and then a bite of the other.
Look, I have been this way for forty years. I am good at being a freak about food order. It is about the only anal trait I have to my name, so I hold to it with great strength. ha ha.
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I think I get it now. If I cook 'em in one pot and call it a casserole, it's ok? But if I cook them separately, then never the twain shall meet?
*shrug* Ok, I have weirder things I'm picky about than THAT! I just didn't understand.
*makes note: only cook casseroles for Liz*
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Rivka, no worries. Just get me one of those plastic sectional plates. Ha ha.
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Boon
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On the subject of garlic:
My mother made some pickled garlic. I had a couple of pieces four days ago, and my husband still won't let me sleep in our bedroom. He says I stink! What's up with that?!?
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breading, I would guess. Usually a cassarole has a "crust" per se. I equate them as pretty much the same.
I agree -- get some freshly made mozzarella (or feta), basil, tomato, mixed kalamata olives, olive oil, garlic, fresh pepper and toss with spinach or on top of pasta. Yum!
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