Great easy to prepare recipes - let's share our favorites!

I have been using the online recipe sites to look over a few recipes and it is really amazing what you can learn there and from others online when it comes to cooking. I think it is a great uses of the internet and one that most everyone can associate/participate with, have something to share (their favorite food eat even if they don't cook but know the recipe, cooking tips/secrets, etc) because we all eat.

Maybe we could talk about foods that we think are especially good, maybe you do something with the recipe that many people don't (maybe something you just learned, etc).

I'll start with a few things, one is cooking in a skillet/pan with oil/fats. I found that adding salt & pepper to the oil and heating it to med-high allows the pepper to permeate through the oil and it kind of changes the entire feel of the pepper, it leaves a more pronounced after taste, much like eating a hot sauce but different. I found (with black pepper) it leaves a feeling similar to how peppermint feels, without the mint taste. It seems more subtle throughout the food (more even flavored) and is more enjoyable than applying pepper directly to the food. It is just a little different and is great for things like steaks/meat, potatoes, eggs, grilled sandwiches, and anything else that is cooked in a pan with seasoning.

Grilled cheese
I love a good grilled cheese. It is a comfort food I guess. I didn't know that they could be so "complex" in taste/texture if done correctly. One of the key things with a grilled cheese is having a crispy/crunchy grilled break. Some people use butter (or margarine - yuk!) on only one side. I was informed to try using mayo (can be just enough to cover the surface to help grill it) and to grill the side and to apply salt and pepper while it is being grilled over low-med heat (slow is good w/ grilled cheese!). Mayo can be used on both sides, some do that and then apply light butter on the final cooked side (also salt & peppered) or you can just use butter on the outer side - if you use mayo first on the outer side, use less butter for final grilling. After the inside is grilled, take the cheese and put it on the sandwich and then slowly grill the other sides (with the mayo or butter + S&P) slowly over low-med heat. Low and slow is best for these sandwiches.

There are lots of options for the cheese, any kind will work. A favorite of mine is Swiss along with a swiss/cheddar mix. American is good as well as Cooper. Placing meats inside are a good option, such as bacon & ham. I like to grill both quickly b4 putting them inside the sandwich. Potato chips (even flavored give a nice taste) give an extra crunch and work really well with it - just smash them down inside the sandwich. Some people like pickles. French fries have been tried and are good, as well as shredded has browns that have been cooked (golden brown to crispy are excellent inside!!)) - seasoned to flavor - some like to add S&P or Old Bay or other seasonings.


Cooking with animal fats instead of oils
There is such a difference in taste when you cook something like a potato in either tallow, lard (or bacon fat) vs using a plant oil. This can be for anything from french fries, potato chips, hash browns, "new potatoes" (small potatoes cut in half & fried), the list is endless. When potatoes are cooked for a roast or other meats, they are best (if fried) when cooked with the animal fat. There are many other veggies that are similar and anything fried can be done with the animal fat, and the difference in taste is SO much better. People often use more/extra butter to make up for the loss of flavor but if you cook with good flavored oils/fats, often you use less over-all.

(To all the health alarmists, most people know there is issue with animal fats, but it is still better than the hydrogenated plant oils health wise and that doesn't even consider flavor).

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

I clicked on your thread thinking only 'beans on burnt toast with grated cheese, brown sauce and ground black pepper', then I read your post,.... I'll just cut to the chase,...

...When are you inviting me around for dinner?

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

I would like to present three recipes, two of them quick to do, the 3rd one is a bit time consuming but very rewarding.

1. Chicken goulash.

It is a soup and with chicken it is done in about 30 minutes, while a regular goulash takes over an hour if made of beef.
- head of red onion
- carrots
- parsnip
- 1 big chicken breast
- paprika powder
- some garlic
- bit of oil
- few potatoes
- chilli flakes
- salt
- pepper
- 3-4 bay leaves
Fine dice the onion, the smaller the better and cook it on the oil until its kinda glassy looking. Pull it off the fire (this is very important) and put about a soup spoon of paprika powder on it. Mix it with the onion while still off the hob. This is important because the paprika is so fine it will burn quickly. Put the diced chicken breast, mix it up then put water on it staright away. Not much, just to cover the chicken. Salt, crushed black pepper, garlic, chilli, bay leaf, can go in right away. Stir. Put the diced carrots, parsnip and potato in. Fill the dish with water about an inch over the mix. Cook for about 30 minutes. When the carrots are soft or al dente, depens on how you like it, taste the soup, put more salt pepper etc if needed, cook it for 2 more minutes and its pretty much done.

Mushroom, spinach tortellini.
Done in 30 minutes

- one bagof Spinach stuffed tortellini
- 8-10 white mushroom
- half head of a big red onion
- bit of oil
- 100g chorizo
- some bacon
- cooking cream
- grated mozzarella cheese one bag (150g)
- salt, crushed black pepper, garlic

Put the tortellini in boiling water and cook it done. Drain it and put it away for now. While the tortellini is boiling, chop the onion fine, slice the chorizo, dice the bacon, wash and slice the shrooms.

Put some oil into your pan and put the bacon and chorizo right in. When they start sweating the fat out, put the diced onion in. Stir it until the onion get glassy. I found uncooked onion giving a lot of acid after eating so its important to cook them well but not burn them. Put the sliced mushrooms in, salt pepper garlic. The salt will push some liquid out of the mushrooms, enough so it will not burn, but just in case I always pour a bit of beer on it too. ( I am usually drinking beer while cooking anyway) Slowly cook it until there is only a little bit of liquid left. By this time everything should be soft. Put the tortellini on top and stir. Now you gotta be quick for the next 5 minutes... Pour the cooking (2dl) cream on it and let it boil once while continously stir. Put the bag of grated cheese on it and stir like crazy. When the cheese all melted together with everything, your dish is done.

No name chicken dish
About 45min to one hour, depends how drunk you are

- 2x nice sized chicken breasts
- 4-5 potatoes
- lotsa garlic
- head of red onion
- some oil, salt black crushed pepper
- american yellow mustard
- bacon

Peal the taters and dice them about 1.5cm to 1.5 cm qubes, then put them in water and cook them till ALMOST soft.
While the potatoes cooking, use a frying pan, oil, bacon on it. When the fat comes out of the bacon, put the onion on and make it well you guessed right, glassy. Put the diced chicken breast on, salt, pepper, garlic. Cook it until the chicken is soft. Dont forget a sip of beer on it, it will help to get some liquid on so your dish will not burn. Put a table spoon of mustard on it and stir.

When your potatoes are almost soft, drain it and deep fry them. This will be amazing believe me, cooked poatatoes fried after is the best! Once fried mix them with your meat.

Enjoy!

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Okay, I'll bite. My favorite is camp fire cooked rabbit. Seems rabbit is a lost taste where I reside. (I am older).

1 rabbit. Clean and quartered. Place pieces in cast iron pot on a rack. Salt over. Butter (big dobs on each piece). Cover in sprigs of rosemary. Olive oil over everything.

Cover with lid then place on hot coals racked from a good fire. Put red coals on lid. (1 hour) Keep stoking the coals.

Gravy: 1 Kilo of cherries. (2.2 lbs) Pip the cherries then reduce same to tiny chunky bits and juice in a pot. Tablespoon of sugar. Pinch of salt. Stir. Heat. Do not boil. (20 minutes).

Potatoes: Large Idaho's, clean and singularly wrap in foil. Dig small hole. Shovel coals into hole. Put wrapped potatoes on coals then cover with coals and ash. Later when cooked, 40 mins, rinse ash off the aluminium foil. Part the foil. Cut length ways and part the potato with a sharp knife. Put sour cream, mozzarella cheese and chives into the cut.

Dish: I piece of rabbit covered in the cherry sauce. 1 large cooked potato with the above ingredients. Salt and pepper to personal taste. Glass of red wine.

Kind regards,

bally.

My favorite,

a reply to: bally001

I too can recommend rabbit although when I had it it was very bony so you needed to be careful when eating it. (It was frozen rabbit cubes from a supermarket in the UK many many years ago.) I think it might have been a cheaper meat as Dad didn't have too much money in those days. Rabbit stew. Tasted great but your recipe sounds tastier.

The following recipe is so good it has been known to make people become mentally unstable and dismember / kill others to get the last piece. It should be called Manchurian Candidate Pie, but it isn't. It's super easy to do, and it is (guaranteed) to be the best thing you've ever eaten!!! It's called...

Spaghetti Pie

6 oz spaghetti
2 eggs beaten
1/4 freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 TBSP butter
1 cup sour cream
1 lb. sweet Italian sausage
1 6oz can tomato paste
1 cup water
4 oz Mozzarella cheese sliced

Break spaghetti in half. Cook in boiling salted water until done. Drain. While still warm combine spaghetti with eggs and parmesan. Mix well. Pour into a well greased 10 inch pie platter and pat mixture up around sides with a spoon (note: you're trying to create an even thickness bowl out of the spaghetti). Melt butter in a skillet, add onion and saute until limp. Stir in sour cream and spoon over spaghetti. Remove sweet sausage from casing, crumble and cook in the skillet until done. Add tomato paste and water, mix together. Spoon sausage mixture into the spaghetti depression in the bowl on top of sour cream mixture. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Arrange Mozzarella cheese on top of meat mixture, and return to oven until cheese melts.

Remove and slice into large pie slices. You can sprinkle with grated parm and fresh black pepper to choice. Get ready to fight after people take the first bites.

Although this freezes well so you can make 2 at a time, and (in theory) freeze one for later. The reality though is, it doesn't matter how many you make people will eat this stuff until they explode...and even then they'll keep eating it! Fingers, arms and hands are particularly vulnerable anywhere near any leftovers or in the vicinity of the bowl itself.

This dish really should be Classified as Top Secret because it is truly dangerous, DANGEROUS, stuff!!!

Don't come back and say you weren't warned!!

ETA - Note, if you're at high altitude bake at 375 instead of 350.

ETA 2 - The reason this dish is so phenomenally good is because the spaghetti, egg, parm mixture sets up to form a 'pie crust' like lining on the pie dish. The sausage, onion, butter, tomato paste mixture topped with Mozzarella forms the filling of the 'pie'.

Oh my GAWD...The stuff will just ROCK...YOUR...WORLD!!

Chicken and Dumplings

4x Boneless skinless chicken breasts (or equivalent in thighs)
4x Cans cream of chicken
5.5 Cups Chicken broth or stock (half regular, half unsalted)
10x pre-made biscuits dough (home-made works fine here but may take more time to firm up)
1/4-1/2 cup flour to keep dumplings from sticking and as a thickening agent
Onion powder to taste
Garlic powder to taste
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
Salt to taste
Celery salt to taste
2x Bay leaf

I have an Instant Pot, but this works just as well in a slow cooker just more time and less steps to that one. But I'll be providing the instant pot directions in this post, if you want the slow cooker one just message me, it's a lot more straight-forward.

Pour chicken broth/stock into pot, add all seasonings including bay leaves, add thawed chicken breasts (it's what I use so your cook time on thighs may vary), pop the lid on the pot and set the timer to pressure cook for 15 minutes.

While pot is cooking the chicken, roll out the biscuit dough and cut into 1x1.5 inch pieces and toss into bowl of flour, making sure to coat each piece evenly. Set these aside until chicken is cooked through.

When pot timer is done, vent the pressure manually. Remove lid, remove chicken and set on cutting board. Remove bay leaves and discard. Mix in cream of chicken and whisk well with the broth and seasonings. Dump the bowl of dumplings and flour into the pot and whisk well to ensure the flour is well mixed in. Pop the lid back on and set to pressure cook for 1 minute.

While the dumplings are cooking, shred the chicken or cut into pieces (up to you).

If your experience is anything like mine the Instant Pot will give you a burn notification before the timer goes off, just vent the pressure, remove the lid and stir well. Lid goes back on once more and set to another 1 minute. The same burn notification will happen again, at this point the dumplings should be done.

Dump the chicken into the pot, stir well, and replace the lid one last time. Set the timer for 1 minute of pressure cook. Since this takes time to come up to pressure set a timer for 2-3 minutes, once the timer goes off, remove the lid and serve.

Wife and I can eat off of this for several days and it freezes decently.

Here's another good one...and it's SUPER easy!

Pork Chops

6 bone-in pork chops (2lbs +/-)
1 med onion chopped
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup

Layer bottom of a crock pot with pork and onions. Stir the soups together in a separate bowl (don't add water, just use the condensed soups straight from the can). Pour the soup mixture over the pork chops and onions in the crock pot.

Cook on low for 8-9 hours until chops are done. You can short-cut by cooking on high for 5 hours.

Serve pork chops with rice or mashed potatoes.

You'll like this one.

I do a similar one with pork chops, sliced onions a can of Italian spiced tomatoes and some sliced green peppers. Smash some garlic and throw it in there too (at least a couple cloves. You can brown the chops first if you like, but it's not really required unless presentation is a big issue. Same cooking times. I usually put some black pepper in with it to cook. Salt to taste.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

The most scrumptious simple potatoes

Grow your own or buy farmers market small white potatoes
Start with very well salted water in a large pot.
Clean and then boil the potatoes at a high boil for a good ten minutes.
Turn off the pot and let the potatoes sit in the hot water on the burner for 20 min. Do not stir or mess with them, just
let them sit there.

Drain all water, add butter and let the skins get a little crispy.

Watch family devour - doesn't matter how many you make, it'll never be enough
Everyone always comments that this method cooks the potatoes just perfectly.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Yum, might have to try cooking potatoes that way rather than in foil as in my above ' rabbit' recipe.

Kind regards,

bally

Gut a pig and put it on fire.
It's ready to eat when the meat is falling off the bone.
Dip it in Sriracha sauce.
A mixed fruit salad and your favorite beer make a perfect compliment.
It doesn't get much more simple or delicious.

a reply to: skunkape23

I agree, simple is better. Most people have forgotten how real food tastes!

Try some marshmallow with American cheese on your grilled cheese next time. My mom showed me this one, I thought she was nuts growing up but gave it a try a few years ago and was blown away. I don't even like marshmallow.

An easy one for the kids and adults alike, karage chicken.
400g chicken thighs
Table spoon of fresh finely grated ginger
Half cup of soy sauce
2 tablespoon of mirin seasoning

Cut each thigh into about 3rds,add ingredients and leave in fridge for an hour or so to marinate, then dry off excess sauce and cover with a combo of plain flour and corn flour, deep fry until cooked, approx 5 to 6 minutes, serve with salad and rice, a slice of lemon, sweet teryaki sauce and Japanese mayo.

Black Bean and Beef Soup

1 cup water
1 cup beef cosumme (not broth)
1 jar (16 oz) of picante sauce (I use hot)
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp ground cumin
1 large onion chopped (about a cup)
1 can roasted corn
1 can black beans (rinsed)
1+ lb of beef for stew (cut into 1/2" pieces if not already cut)
,
Mix the consumme, water, picante sauce, cilantro, cumin, onion, corn, beans and beef in a slow cooker.
Cook on low for 8 hours on low, or 5 hours on high. Serve. Add ground black pepper to taste.

Good stuff, Maynard!!

I've got two more really good ones. This next one is a one pot dish cooked in about 20 minutes, and it's off the rails good (if you're a seafood lover).

Killer Shrimp

You'll need:
1 onion chopped
1 tbsp of chopped fresh Thai red pepper (the tiny ones) (or you can use red cayenne peppers)
1/2 tsp crushed hot red pepper flakes (or more)
1 cup crushed tomatoes
1/2 tsp Ground black pepper
1 red pepper seeded and sliced
2 garlic cloves minced
1/2 dry white wine
1 lb of large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined.
2 tsp of worcestershire sauce.


Add the oil to a skillet and heat it on medium. Add the onion and cook for 5 min until barely golden. Add the red pepper and the ground black pepper and cook until red pepper is soft (another 5 min). Toss the garlic in and cook for about 1 min. Stir in the wine and cook for 2 more minutes. It should reduce by about 1/2. Then add the tomatoes and pepper flakes, bring to a boil. Simmer for about 5 minutes and then add the hot peppers. Lastly, add the shrimp and cook for about 3 minutes. Right before you serve it add in the worcestershire sauce. Plate this bad boy up!!

Salt and pepper to taste

Have a fire extinguisher handy! It's hot, but it's soooo good you won't be able to stop eating it.

White rice goes good with this. (especially like a Jasmine rice).

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Popping in to post so I can find the thread later...

1 tin of smoked herring.
1 pack of crackers.
1 2$ bottle of Trader Joe's pinot grigio.
Add your favorite hot-sauce to taste.
I call it Hobo Delight.
Breakfast of champions.

I will definitely try that Pork Chops recipe.