Recipes, kitchen tips and tricks

[Mutzo Nutzo]

It sounds heavenly for sure.

Thanks for sharing this recipe. I read that passata is a tick tomato paste, is that right? And aubergine, eggplant?

Passata is basically cooked and strained , thick tomato sauce. If you can only get tomato purée then add some water to thin the paste a bit. We get it in big bottles from the supermarket here and yes aubergine is an eggplant

 

[DownOnTheUpside]

boss chicken curry;
Boil some vegetable oil
Three heaped tablespoons of corn starch
Whisk till it disappears and bubbles show
Cook for 30 secs
2 1/2 tablespoons madras powder
3 tablespoons tomato purée
Two tablespoons salt
Whisk into a roux
Gradually add warm water till pan is a third full
Cook and whisk till smooth
Pinch or two of sugar
Cup or so of whole milk (till it goes caramel colour)
Add preboiled chicken and cook on slow for 15 mins with the lid on

voila

honestly I was never raised to cook with measurements, it’s an art not a science

 

[DownOnTheUpside]

If you guys want I can try and write out how to make my black bean chicken?

 

[DownOnTheUpside]

Also if you’ve got a meat occasion coming up get some ziplock bags, add your meat that you’re gonna do and add about 2 tablespoons of salt per cut and a cup and a half of water to the bag then whatever seasoning you’re planning to do
Leave it overnight in the fridge to brine
Then the morning of your bbq or whatever take em out, drain em and season again (without salt)
It’s called brining and it’ll make dry tasteless meat a thing of the past

another little tip, if you’re ever frying something in batter and want that nice crispy snap to it rather than the lane soggy batter, replace half the water in the batter mix with vodka, the alcohol will cook out due to its lower boiling point leaving a crisp dry and airy crust

 

[Flynnthistle]

Rick can GTF there is only one Don for this lol

Onion and penne in a carbonara... The man is a philistine when it comes to cooking. Just as well he's a genius when it comes to football managing for the blues or I'd be raging with him

 

[Flynnthistle]

Also if you’ve got a meat occasion coming up get some ziplock bags, add your meat that you’re gonna do and add about 2 tablespoons of salt per cut and a cup and a half of water to the bag then whatever seasoning you’re planning to do
Leave it overnight in the fridge to brine
Then the morning of your bbq or whatever take em out, drain em and season again (without salt)
It’s called brining and it’ll make dry tasteless meat a thing of the past

another little tip, if you’re ever frying something in batter and want that nice crispy snap to it rather than the lane soggy batter, replace half the water in the batter mix with vodka, the alcohol will cook out due to its lower boiling point leaving a crisp dry and airy crust

Marinating any meat you plan to cook for 24/48 hours is a must mate, the zip lock bag the cleanest way to do so.. I make a lot of Turkish and Greek kebabs these days and no matter the meat, lamb, chicken, beef, they all benefit from the marination, particularly if it's with citrus fruits, as the citrus naturally breaks down the fat and tougher elements of the meat. A cracking tip mate.

Never thought of the frying tip. That's an excellent shout. Will give it a shot.

 

[Flynnthistle]

Damn you, Ged. I thought I was all settled for dinner as I was about to make Rick's recipe. But now I'm going have to watch Carlo carbonara pasta video and decide which of the two recipes to make.

I can guarantee you rick's is better. Carlo is better sticking to football management. Sacrilege adding onion to carbonara, although his mixing the egg and cheese in a bowl is something I do when I want to prep ahead, it always tastes better doing it one at a time though as in rick's and Federico's, the boy I worked with recipe. The main key is taking the pan off the heat after the addition of the spagetti and pasta cooking water otherwise you'll get scrambled egg pasta. Don't worry about raw egg, the heat of the pasta cooks it with ease to a beautiful creamy sauce, without cream.

 

[Flynnthistle]

Whilst I'm on, pasta shells stuffed with mozzarella and ricotta topped with a basil and tomato sauce is the easiest dish to impress anyone with.

As with anything prep is best.

First mix about 200g of ricotta and a ball of mozzarella (150g here) in a bowl, with a good 3 or 4 tablespoons of gran padano or parmesan, a wee bit of salt and black pepper to taste. Just mix with a fork until all combined.

Get two tinned plumb tomato, best you can get, hand crush them. Add about 5/6 fresh torn basil leaves to it.

Put some large pasta shells, Conchiglioni, is readily available in UK. Dunno about Columbia, but judge it by the pictures

Then Gently heat some oil, then add 2/3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced. Just for a minutes or so, add the tomato and basil sauce, wee bit of black pepper, wee bit of salt. Cook it down to a thickish sauce on a medium low heat for about 25/30 mins. At the same time cook the pasta only until very Al dente. About 2/3 of cooking time on packet.

Once pasta is ready and sauce is good to go, spoon out a covering on an oven dish of the sauce, place each pasta shape in, having been first filled with an individual basil leaf and then the mozzarella, ricotta and parmesan mix and place them around the dish, finally finishing with slices of another mozzarella ball and more grating of parmesan/gran pedano.

Stick in the pre heated oven covered with foil for about 30/40 mins at 190/200c. It's amazing. Excuse the crudity of the photos of the dish, wasn't expecting to post it to an Everton forum, was talking ma mate through it. Trust me, it's absolutely amazing.

 

[Sassy Colombian]

Did you submerge them all, or leave a small island of dry Rice Krispies.

I submerged all of the ones in the bow but I liked to munch on dry ones too so I would grab a hand full of Rice Krispies and have them to eat along.

I used to love frosted flakes too. But there is no way I would feed those to my daughter now days.

 

[Flynnthistle]

I had this dish in a small taverna in a mountain village on the slopes of mt Olympus in northern Greece.

All done in a roasting tin:

Slice up a courgette
Slice up an aubergine
Slice up an onion
Slice up a red or green pepper
Slice up 2 medium size potatoes
Slice up a bulb of fennel
Slice up 4 large tomatoes
Add 5 crushed garlic cloves
Add a bayleaf
Add a large handful of chopped thyme, oregano, rosemary and dill
Add loads of olive oil
Add a big glug of honey
Add salt and pepper
Pour over a bottle of passata
Mix well

cover with foil and pop in the oven 150 deg c for 3 hrs

Serve with sprinkled feta cheese and chopped fresh parsley with loads of fresh crusty bread

Absolute heaven - got one on the go now - should be ready after the match

Hundred percent I'm trying this out. Sounds magnificent.

 

[Sassy Colombian]

I can guarantee you rick's is better. Carlo is better sticking to football management. Sacrilege adding onion to carbonara, although his mixing the egg and cheese in a bowl is something I do when I want to prep ahead, it always tastes better doing it one at a time though as in rick's and Federico's, the boy I worked with recipe. The main key is taking the pan off the heat after the addition of the spagetti and pasta cooking water otherwise you'll get scrambled egg pasta. Don't worry about raw egg, the heat of the pasta cooks it with ease to a beautiful creamy sauce, without cream.

I have to agree with your assessment of Carlo's recipe. After seeing the clip I decided to go for rick's instead. I'm not too fond of penne pasta and anion in my carbonara.

 

[Sassy Colombian]

Passata is basically cooked and strained , thick tomato sauce. If you can only get tomato purée then add some water to thin the paste a bit. We get it in big bottles from the supermarket here and yes aubergine is an eggplant

Perfect, thanks for the clarification. I definitely want to give this recipe a try sounds very tasty

 

[Sassy Colombian]

Whilst I'm on, pasta shells stuffed with mozzarella and ricotta topped with a basil and tomato sauce is the easiest dish to impress anyone with.

As with anything prep is best.

First mix about 200g of ricotta and a ball of mozzarella (150g here) in a bowl, with a good 3 or 4 tablespoons of gran padano or parmesan, a wee bit of salt and black pepper to taste. Just mix with a fork until all combined.

Get two tinned plumb tomato, best you can get, hand crush them. Add about 5/6 fresh torn basil leaves to it.

Put some large pasta shells, Conchiglioni, is readily available in UK. Dunno about Columbia, but judge it by the pictures

Then Gently heat some oil, then add 2/3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced. Just for a minutes or so, add the tomato and basil sauce, wee bit of black pepper, wee bit of salt. Cook it down to a thickish sauce on a medium low heat for about 25/30 mins. At the same time cook the pasta only until very Al dente. About 2/3 of cooking time on packet.

Once pasta is ready and sauce is good to go, spoon out a covering on an oven dish of the sauce, place each pasta shape in, having been first filled with an individual basil leaf and then the mozzarella, ricotta and parmesan mix and place them around the dish, finally finishing with slices of another mozzarella ball and more grating of parmesan/gran pedano.

Stick in the pre heated oven covered with foil for about 30/40 mins at 190/200c. It's amazing. Excuse the crudity of the photos of the dish, wasn't expecting to post it to an Everton forum, was talking ma mate through it. Trust me, it's absolutely amazing.

Looks delicious. Thanks for sharing another great recipe.

I'm going have to increase my workout time if I continue trying all these pasta dishes lol

 

[summerisle]

If you haven't read his book, this is a good taster, on all this week.

BBC Radio 4 - Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain's no-holds-barred account of his entry into the restaurant trade.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Tommy.]

I'll be having a go at a slow cooked spag bol on Friday, I've always just done it in a skillet and cover to simmer for an hour. Prep before work and leave for 6 hours and see what I come back to, looking forward to it way too much...