Cooking!

[c_nordlander]

A drink recipe this time! Possibly the tastiest thing I've ever drunk, and really simple.

Hot chocolate with Bailey's

Make some hot chocolate according to your own personal preferences (I used Green & Black ready-made chocolate granules). Make enough to fill about 5/6 of a cup. Add some Bailey's (original flavour) until the cup is full, and stir.

Tastes delicious, *and* makes a bottle of Bailey's last longer. Please drink responsibly.

[Terry Y]

I have an over abundance of celery and, not wanting to throw it out, was trying to figure out what to do with it. As usual, Alton Brown comes to the rescue!

BRAISED CELERY

Software:
4 stalks of celery
1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup chicken stock (AB's recipe calls for beef broth, but this is what I had on hand)
Kosher salt
Pepper

HARDWARE:
10-inch skillet or frying pan with tight-fitting cover
Cutting board
Knife

1) Cut the celery into 1/2 inch pieces on the bias (that is, at an angle)
2) Melt the butter in the pan over medium heat.
3) Once butter is melted, add the celery, salt and pepper and cook, tossing occasionally, for 5 minutes
4) Turn the heat to low, add the chicken stock, cover and cook for 5 minutes
5) Uncover, boost heat to as high as you've got, and cook until the sauce thickens into a glaze
6) Turn out into a serving dish. Serves 2 normal people or 1 really hungry person.

[archonix]

Braised celery? I never would have thought of that.

[archonix]

So here's a weird one.

Vodka
Balsamic vinegar
Glass.

Drink.

I have no idea why I like this so much.

[c_nordlander]

I tried it, and I like it too. It tastes really spicy and peppery. Then it kicks you in the teeth ten seconds later.

[gkscotty]

Graham! Help!

Remember that time you made the peri-peri chicken with cashew nuts? At what point did you add the nuts? Did you marinade them the whole time or did you add them just before cooking or what?

[archonix]

I expect I marinaded them along with the chicken.

[c_nordlander]

I feel the need to share this dish. It's really cheap, simple, and keeps me going all afternoon without getting hungry. I can't think of anything better to make if you're short on money or time.

Serves 1.

pasta
salt
1 big handful pistachio nuts
teriyaki sauce (a fairly big splash, but use your own taste to decide)
black pepper to taste (optional)

Boil up as much pasta as desired in salted water, drain and put on the plate. Put pistachios on the pasta, pour teriyaki sauce on top, and mix so that it soaks in. Add some black pepper if you like.

[Gulliver63]

Tonight I made Chicken Parmesan for Nancy tonight for Valentine's Day. I didn't have much time, as I had to work tonight, so I used garlic salt and some short cuts for the recipe. These were huge slabs of chicken - we still have a huge chunk for tomorrow's dinner. I served the whole thing up with an Australian chardonnay. My father would have been proud.

[D.B.]

Chinese duck pizza:

• Mostly the same as regular pizza
• Add hoisin sauce to the base
• Cook some duck legs, shred the meat off, and use that as the topping
• Use a lighter cheese that usual to avoid clashing with the duck (I used almost entirely mozzerella)
• I didn't try this, but were I to do it again I'd have some sliced spring onion and cucumber handy to sprinkle on the top at the end

Works really well.

[archonix]

Here's a couple of things.

Seedbread

This is actually Christina's mother's recipe, which is why it's written in perfidious french units instead of good old imperial. Works all the same, and it's ridiculously tasty

2 decilitres maize flour
1 decilitre sunflower seeds
1 decilitre sesame seeds
0.5 decilitre linseeds
0.5 teaspoon salt
0.5 decilitre rapeseed oil (you can probably use sunflower seed oil too)
2 decilitres boiling water

Mix oil and all dry ingredients together and pour on the boiling water. Spread it out on greaseproof paper or foil on a cooking tray.

Bake for 1 hour at 150 degrees Celsius. The bread is supposed to be very hard when it is done. Break in pieces to serve/store.

Simple corn tortillas

I have no idea how authentic these are, but they also taste pretty good. For consistency I've also done this in SI (which means "Silly Invention" for the record).

2.5 decilitres corn flour
1 decilitre hot water (approximately)
20ml oil (again approximately)
pinch of salt

Mix the oil and flour and start adding the hot water until you get a ball of dough with about the consistency of playdoh. It should hold together without being sticky. If you put in too much water, add a little more flour. Cover the dough ball and leave it to settle for about 10 minutes. Once settled, cut the ball into 8 pieces and then roll the pieces into individual balls. Now comes the fuin part. Find some way to squash the balls into nice flat circles. What I tend to do is lay the ball between two pieces of tinfoil and then squash it between two plates, which produces a fairly thick circle. I might optionally roll it out a bit to make it thinner. There are special devices for making tortillas but those cost money.

Now fry your tortillas in a pan with a little oil until they get nice brown spots on them. If you're doing it right they should hold together long enough to firm up. The way I do mine is to leave one side on the foil and then flip it into the pan, so that the foil holds it together while the underside cooks. I peel back the foil and then flip the tortilla to finish it off.

Makes 8, obviously. Adjust the ingredients to make more, and watch out for the smoke when you're frying. Olive oil is the best for this part.

[D.B.]

Curry side salad

I do like curry. However at indian restaurants they often have little side salads which go really well with the spicy food, and also mean you ingest a few vegetables along the way. This seemed lke a good thing. After some experimentation, I think I've found something that works. It's a bastardisation of a radish salad I found online, and as radishes are already kinda tangy, lends itself pretty well to indian.

Salad:

• Cucumber
• White onion
• Tiny, delicious tomatoes

Dressing:

• Olive oil
• Lemon juice
• Honey
• Cumin
• Paprika
• Cinnamon
• If desired, some finely chopped garlic.

Method:

• Chop the veg. Put it all in a bowl.
• Mix the dressing ingredients. Pour on top.
• Done.

[c_nordlander]

I have got to try this!

[archonix]

aw rats, I should have done this with the curry I made the other night.

[AssistantCrone]

My usual pizza recipe. I have a vague, Swedish-Chef approach to cooking, so use this at your own risk.

Dough

I cup warm water
About a level teaspoon of instant yeast
Pinch of salt
Pinch of sugar
Drop of olive oil
About a cup and a half of very strong bread flour, maybe more later.

Makes two bases -- my measuring cup's about the size of a short tumbler.


1) In a large bowl, add the yeast, salt, sugar and oil to the warm water and let stand for a couple of minutes. I don't usually get a ton of bubbles with mine, but the dough still rises and works pretty well.

2) Add the flour gradually. I stir it with an oiled butterknife, but you might have better ideas. What you're looking for is a soft, kneadable consistency -- too much flour, and it'll be too stiff to work and will come out dry.

3) Knead the dough forever. The honest-to-god best way I've found of doing this by hand is to make a stiff fist, jam it into the doughball, and keep rolling it around until it becomes smooth and elastic. It is traditional at this point to make filthy jokes, like singing when you stir the Christmas pudding.

4) Allow the dough to rest for a few minutes, then continue fisting. Repeat until you can pull a small piece of dough apart until you see light through it, like bubblegum.

5) Add a drop of olive oil to the bowl and turn the doughball in it to coat. Wrap the ball in clingfilm and leave to rise in the fridge for at least two hours.


I make the sauce with whatever I have to hand and it varies a lot, but I always seem to end up with:

1 tin of tomatoes
Squirt of tomato paste
Glug of red wine
Small clove of garlic, finely chopped
Pinch of basil
Half a beef stock cube
About a tablespoon of hoi sin sauce. Sounds weird, but for me, it puts enough sweetness in the sauce without having it turn sugary.

Mix everything in a pan and let simmer until it's reduced enough to spread over your base without making it soggy.


Preheat the oven to about 250 C. When the dough is ready, lightly oil two baking trays. Halve the dough and push into shape. Add sauce and toppings, and bake for about ten minutes. Baking times vary depending on how much topping you have, but it won't be a disaster if you open the oven door a couple of times to check on it.