Expanding my recipe book

[Jesster]

I want to try new meal recipes out, but I don't know enough people in my personal life who enjoy cooking anything more than the basics. I have a few recipes I love, but I feel like I'm repeating them too often. Does anyone have any suggestions from their own favorite dishes they like to prepare? I'm looking mostly for main courses and possibly some good sides, and cuisine does not matter. I like being on the healthier side, but I'm not too extreme on that focus. "Standard" healthiness is fine, as well as super duper all-out vegan as long as it's tasty and fun. Simple recipes are also preferred because of the cost, but I don't mind putting more effort into something crazier. I do a lot of oven baking, stove-top cooking, and slow cooker sitting and waiting already.

My friends, boyfriend, and I will all thank you for sharing.

 

[Jake5588]

Hey Jesster, glad to have you!

I'm not sure how this is related to religion; but I'm not going to try and "chide" you for a topic that's absolutely harmless. In fact, It's rather tasty.

My favorite meal for a *long* time is fish and chips. But honestly, the way you cook it and the little things about the ingredients can mean the difference between awesome and meh.

With cost in mind:
+ I always buy farm raised fish. From syntax and lack of 'ou' in your words, I'm gonna guess you're from the states. If so, even though some think wild caught has more flavor (it doesn't), farm raised almost never had worms in it. Where as cheap, wild caught fish almost always has dead worms in it. You avoid worms, and save money. Bonus!
+ Stay clear of iodized salt. Jewish salt, sea salt; really any kind of salt as long as it's thick and flaky, as opposed to granual.
+If you wanna save money, what you can do is, instead of buying a pot and filling it with oil, you can pan deep fry it. Just make sure you use canola oil.
+Your batter should be standard with white flour and water: but throw in a little bit of butter. Makes the outside more moist and flaky. Yum!
+I personally prefer malt vinegar, but tartar sauce ain't bad either.

And...that's about it from me. Hope that helped.

 

[Jesster]

Hey Jesster, glad to have you!

I'm not sure how this is related to religion; but I'm not going to try and "chide" you for a topic that's absolutely harmless. In fact, It's rather tasty.

Heya Jake. Thanks for the happy welcoming. You're very welcome too! This isn't related to religion in the slightest, so I posted it in the food and beverage sub-forum. I get deep into religious talk sometimes in some other areas of the forum, so I like to take a break occasionally and just have simple chat with people here. It's great to remember that we're all human and have many similarities. For example, we all eat!

My favorite meal for a *long* time is fish and chips. But honestly, the way you cook it and the little things about the ingredients can mean the difference between awesome and meh.

I do like fish. I grew up near the coast in Oregon (USA), so it was kind of a requirement. It usually came down to restaurant eating, which usually didn't impress me with seafood. My mom liked cooking salmon a lot though, which was always fantastic. I unfortunately live far from the coast now, but it would be nice to find some decent fish here sometime.

With cost in mind:
+ I always buy farm raised fish. From syntax and lack of 'ou' in your words, I'm gonna guess you're from the states. If so, even though some think wild caught has more flavor (it doesn't), farm raised almost never had worms in it. Where as cheap, wild caught fish almost always has dead worms in it. You avoid worms, and save money. Bonus!

Thanks for the tip. Also, gross. Worms are bad. I'd like to avoid them too!

+ Stay clear of iodized salt. Jewish salt, sea salt; really any kind of salt as long as it's thick and flaky, as opposed to granual.

Oh definitely. My usual go-to is sea salt. I don't think I could tolerate not having good salt in the kitchen.

+If you wanna save money, what you can do is, instead of buying a pot and filling it with oil, you can pan deep fry it. Just make sure you use canola oil.

Another necessity in my kitchen. I use a lot of canola oil on the stove top, especially when making stir fry dishes. I don't really do any deep frying though. Do you have any more tips I could grab from you here?

+Your batter should be standard with white flour and water: but throw in a little bit of butter. Makes the outside more moist and flaky. Yum!

Sounds delicious!

+I personally prefer malt vinegar, but tartar sauce ain't bad either.

Malt vinegar is definitely great. I never really got into tartar sauce though. I guess we share a preference there.

And...that's about it from me. Hope that helped.

Thank you, Jake! This is definitely something I could make that fits my budget.

 

[Jake5588]

You grew up near the coast in Oregon? I grew up around Seattle, and had more than one excursion into Oregon. Small world.

Considering that my grandma was from the deep fried south, I can absolutely give deep frying tips. lol With fish and chips, deep frying is almost impossible to mess up. Resist the temptation to put the pan on high of a heat as it will go. Heat it up just enough to where you start to see ripples in the oil. Once the fish has been double battered (dip, let dry just enough to stop pouring down from fish, then dip again) and gently lay the fish into the oil. All depends on the pan and what not, but you want enough oil to reach the half way point at least of the fish (horizontally speaking). Just wait until the under side is a golden brown, flip, repeat. Then boom: tasty omnoms for you.

 

[Tumah]

Jewish salt

You mean "kosher salt". We don't accept converts from inanimate objects.

 

[Tumah]

Boil up your corned beef. Then smear it with honey mustard and put it in the oven. Serve it with saute-ed cabbage.

 

[crossfire]

Lemon spaghetti with asparagus and salmon:

Flake leftover cooked salmon
Trim stem ends of asparagus, and cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces

Boil large kettle of salted water.

Boil 1 pound of spaghetti in boiling salted water, add asparagus during last 2 minutes of cooking.

Meanwhile: in large pyrex glass serving bowl put 1/3 cup butter, Juice of 4 lemons, salt , freshly ground pepper, 1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper, fresh garlic, and a dash of tabasco or a larger amount of sriracha sauce, and microwave about 1 minute, until butter is melting and ingredients can be easily mixed. Remove from microwave, stir, and beat in 2 large eggs or 3 medium eggs. Set aside until pasta is done.

When pasta and asparagus is done, drain and toss with egg-butter-lemon mixture until well coated. (The hot pasta will cook the egg onto the noodles.)

Top with flakes of leftover salmon or other seafood and more freshly ground pepper, and serve.

My son really likes this dish.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Boil up your corned beef. Then smear it with honey mustard and put it in the oven. Serve it with saute-ed cabbage.

And a quick tip. If you buy a cheaper corned beef it is often a good idea to do a "reverse brine". They are often overly salted so the day before you cook it put it in a big pot of cold water and put it back in the refrigerator. You might even want to change the water once. That allows the excessive salt to leach out of the meat. The last time I made a corned beef it was with one that was on sale, a point at only two bucks a pound and it was still USDA choice. But they had gone the heavy salt method of curing and though I did not add a lick of salt it was still too salty for my taste.

Of the two cuts point and flat, point is going to have more fat and more loss due to that fat, but it also has more flavor.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Lemon spaghetti with asparagus and salmon:

Flake leftover cooked salmon
Trim stem ends of asparagus, and cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces

Boil large kettle of salted water.

Boil 1 pound of spaghetti in boiling salted water, add asparagus during last 2 minutes of cooking.

Meanwhile: in large pyrex glass serving bowl put 1/3 cup butter, Juice of 4 lemons, salt , freshly ground pepper, 1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper, fresh garlic, and a dash of tabasco or a larger amount of sriracha sauce, and microwave about 1 minute, until butter is melting and ingredients can be easily mixed. Remove from microwave, stir, and beat in 2 large eggs or 3 medium eggs. Set aside until pasta is done.

When pasta and asparagus is done, drain and toss with egg-butter-lemon mixture until well coated. (The hot pasta will cook the egg onto the noodles.)

Top with flakes of leftover salmon or other seafood and more freshly ground pepper, and serve.

My son really likes this dish.

What the heck is "leftover salmon"?

 

[Tumah]

Speaking of salmon: my wife puts salmon in puff-pastry dough with some spinach and mustard aioli. Unfortunately she doesnt do it often enough. Something about the amount of work and vs the speed I finish them.

 

[shunyadragon]

My favorite simple recipe for a breakfast cereal is a bean soup made on the basic Chinese 'soybean soup.'

In the Chinese recipe it is classically made with soybeans, but I make it with a mix of beans. You can use the classic mixed dry bean soup mix, or mix lentils, split peas, black beans, black eyed peas, soy beans, black beans and what ever. If you do not have a Chinese bean soup cooker you will have to cook the beans.

Serves two or three. single serving cut in half. You may have to experiment with amounts here, because I use a bean cooker and everything is marked.

One cup dry beans or ~1 cup and a half cooked beans. You can add a few almonds or walnuts. Using only soybeans you have the classic Chinese soybean soup.
One quart water.

Blend using a blender of food processor until smooth.

I garnish with chopped seaweed, Chinese Leaks, hot pepper flacks, sesame oil, soy sauce, and Balsamic Vinegar.

Sweet alternatives would be raisins, Craisins, cinnamon, ginger, brown sugar, and whatever.

This recipe requires some trial and error on amounts if you do not have the Chinese bean soup cooker.

 

[shunyadragon]

What the heck is "leftover salmon"?

Salmon with parts bitten out of by Grizzly Bears.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Pasta with various white sauces can be a welcome change to traditional red sauce. One of my favorites is spaghetti carbonara. The basic ingredients are bacon, garlic (lots), eggs, fresh Italian parsley, and cream or evaporated milk if you want to be bit more healthy. Oh and lots and lots of fresh ground black pepper. I used to use a heart clogging recipe of a pound of bacon, chopped and well browned with five or more cloves of minced garlic, it needs to be well drained, save that bacon grease for other cooking uses. I would chop a standard bunch of parsley, beat an egg or two into a can of evaporated milk, cook a pound of spaghetti, drain it. Then put the drained bacon, spaghetti, egg and milk or cream, and parsley in the pot and stir until reduced. I have since tried it with half the bacon, or less and chicken (don't tell Revoltingest but it was still excellent) and it even had peas in it. There are quite a few different recipes on line, none of them go for the whole pound of bacon. Don't forget to add some fresh ground black pepper in each step.

Serve with sour dough bread, fresh Parmesan cheese of course, and a Caesar salad. If you are going the whole pound of bacon route don't forget some red wine to cut the cholesterol.

 

[Subduction Zone]

In general I like to sometimes try to reproduce what I like when I go out to eat. Now some meals are hard to reproduce to a lack of sources for spices. But if you are an Amazon Prime member you can order spices without shopping everywhere for them. It may take a little planning ahead but you can get spices for any meal palette. Not having the right spices is why one cannot reproduce Indian, Japanese, Thai, or other ethnic cooking.

We also have a local Winco grocery store that I sometimes go to, it is a few miles out of my usual route, but they have bulk spices. If you find a store that sells spices in bulk where you put them into plastic bags that is the definitely the way to go. The first time I bought some and put them through the self checkout I almost felt like a thief. Herbs there are often a tenth or less of the price that you pay if they are in a nice spice bottle. I save my old ones and refill them when needed now. Bay leaves will make you cry and you will swear never to buy dried herbs in jars again.

There are also foods one can do far better at home than one can get in a restaurant. Perhaps if I went to an upscale steak house I could find a decent baked potato, but from my experience most simply can't do them properly due to the number needed. First off bump the heat in your oven from 350 Fahrenheit to at least 400 or even 425. Then make sure that your potatoes are well pierced. I stab them a bunch of times with a fork or knife. One can get away with not piercing a potato when cooking at 350, but then it is a usually a bit on the mooshy side when one does that. The higher heat makes the skin especially tasty and the inside is drier as well and has much more potato flavor. If you have never had a potato explode you have not pushed the limits enough. That is why you need to stab the heck out of your potato before you bake it. But the insides of that baked potato, at least the bits that do not end up on the oven floor, are very tasty too.

Leftover baked potatoes also make exceptional home fries for breakfast. Yum..

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I'm going to have to find my recipe for my cheddar bay biscuit clone. In a nutshell, it's a basic buttermilk biscuit with the addition of cheese, and brushed with butter blended with garlic, salt, and a touch of an "Italian blend" seasoning.
But I find the cornerstones of my cooking tends to revolve around me making my own sauces, seasonings, allowing the proper time to marinade and cook, and thinking of different ways to cook things. There is chicken and rice, but there are so many variations that it takes a long time for "chicken and rice" to get old."
I'm also fond of making toast by brushing the bread with butter then toasting it on a skillet. Make it with cinnamon and sugar butter and lightly drizzle with maple syrup for a tasty breakfast treat.
And you'll never go wrong with breakfast pizza casserole.
And learn how to make a chocolate mayonnaise cake. I'll soon have this coveted family recipe and will be able to share in a few days. The mayo part often grosses people out, but mayo has most what you would need to make a cake with, and it's super moist and delish.
I also like a garlic/herb butter mixed brushed on a thick slice of bread, toasted on the bottom, lightly toasted on top, add pasta sauce to the top, some noodles, cheese, and seasonings, bake at 425 until the cheese is melted, and enjoy.

 

[Orbit]

Here's something super simple but tasty and hearty. Get a bag of dried split peas, chop an onion or leek finely; chop a carrot finely. Sweat the vegetables then add the peas with the amount of chicken stock (or water) indicated on the bag. Simmer until tender then puree with a hand blender (or in a blender or food processor). Salt to taste. It makes a yummy split pea soup. Serve with crusty bread.

 

[Shaul]

Don’t listen to Revoltingest if he suggests haggis!!

 

[columbus]

And learn how to make a chocolate mayonnaise cake. I'll soon have this coveted family recipe and will be able to share in a few days. The mayo part often grosses people out, but mayo has most what you would need to make a cake with, and it's super moist and delish.

This stuff is excellent, and I don't even like desserts that much. It's really rich and chocolaty, without being as sweet as most such things are.
Tom

 

[Subduction Zone]

Jester, what sort of food do you and your family like to eat when you go out to a restaurant? People here may have experience in reproducing meals at restaurants, or sometimes they might even have superior recipes.

 

[Brickjectivity]

I made caramel in an instant pot. I put preheated sweetened condensed milk in a hot short mason jar. (Instant pot isn't made for canning but works for some things with preheated jars and content.) Then I set that to pressure cook for 45 minutes -- so that's 45 minutes at 10psi. When it was done turned off the power and let it sit until the pressure went down. Out came a jar of caramel, technically called dulce de leche. It was pretty good.