Dinner suggestions, Cheffie are you here?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I was thinking of making a herbed chicken tonight for dinner.

I was going to make a dry rub marinade with rosemary, oregano, lemon zest, salt, fresh ground pepper, and garlic. Then fry it up on the skillet with real butter (none of that margerine sp? crap).

For the main side dish, I was planning on making roasted pesto potatoes with homemade pesto. First you cube the potatoes then you parboil them. From there you drain them and toss them with a modest amount of olive oil, a sprinkle of salt and pepper and the requisite pesto then bake in the oven at 450 degrees stirring two or three times until they are golden brown (perhaps greenish from the pesto. To make the pesto I was going to puree in a blender pine nuts, olive oil, fresh parmesan cheese, garlic, and basil.

Also, I was planning on making a ceaser’s salad: romaine lettuce, parmesan cheese, croutons, and ceaser’s dressing.

So, I am up for suggestions on other recipes that I can make that are similar to this. I am wanting to try out different things (no seafood or eggs…well, I will use eggs if you can’t see them or taste them like in cookies) and have too many cookbooks to wade through right now. I usually have a pretty good nose/taste to just throw something together that is different and tastes very good. (I have many people who can attest to that.) So if you guys out there have any other type of semi-gourmet suggestions for me (yes, I can even bake bread…so throw those suggestions in too) I am up to try them out.

HUGS!
Sqrl

2

Are you looking for any dessert recipes? 'Cause I have one that is quite probably the best dessert recipe in the world, ever. No hyperbole there. And it’s even supposed to be an aphrodisiac! Woo hoo!

Wine Soaked Pears and Cherries over Pound Cake
1/2 Cup red wine (the better the vintage, the better the dessert)
1/2 Cup sugar
Zest from one lemon
1 lb. Cherries, pitted (fresh are best, but you can use frozen)
2 Medium pears, peeled and sliced
1 pound cake
Whipped cream

In a large sauce pan, stir the wine and sugar together until the sugar is dissolved. Add the lemon zest. Bring to a boil and add the cherries. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add the pear slices. Simmer another 10 minutes or until the pears are tender. Slice the pound cake and for extra goodness, spread the slices with butter and grill them. Top them with the pears and cherries, and top those with whipped cream. Voila! Super delicious aphrodisiac dessert! Yum!
I also kinda made up a spinach salad recipe that’s pretty damn good, if I do say so my own self. Toss together:
Torn spinach
Sliced red onion
All the sections of a peeled orange
Bacon crumbles
Crumbles of bleu cheese
And raspberry vinaigrette.

Mmmm. I am completely hungry now. Is it time to go home yet?

3

This is sooooooooo good - easy, too. Only problem is I can’t figure out what to serve with it :frowning:

In a double boiler melt a triangle of gorgonzola cheese. Add a bit of heavy cream and white wine ( I don’t know how much, just til it looks right), salt and pepper to taste.

Line a square glass baking dish (9x9?) with ready-made pie crust. Don’t press it in - you’re going to wrap it in a second.

Slice into medallions those pork loins that come in plastic bags. (One pie crust per pork loin). Sear BREIFLY in a skillet set on medium-high heat - you’re not trying to cook it through, just get it going so you’re sure it’s done when you take it out of the oven.

Pour the sauce over the medallions, seal the pie crust on top, and bake at 350 for about an hour. Not all of the cheese sauce will fit, but the leftovers go great with a good crusty bread :slight_smile:

4

The pork and gorgonzola pie sounds scrumptious. The logical thing to serve with it would be pears poached in wine (pears and gorgonzola are a perfect match).

5

Gee, Cub, too bad I’m straight. With a dinner like that I shoulda married you. And I have that build you like, at least according the the fetish thread. Just need the Santa suit.

6

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm :slight_smile:

Chef Troy, I love you :slight_smile:

7

(and etc., I am trying to be good and not tie up the bandwidth-whatever that might be)

Hi, I’m Scotti, and I’m cute.

I really need a new home, do you think you might like to adopt me?

I wouldn’t be ANY trouble, you could just put me in a corner and feed me once in a while.

8

Sqrl-
Take your chicken after you’ve butter fried it golden brown (use extra butter, go ahead, its OK). Add a package of drained frozen spinach (put the spinach between two plates and squeeze), some cream and white wine. Maybe extra Taragon too. Cover and cook until done (20 minutes?) Mix it in with or serve over wide noodles. Yum! Add it to a casserole dish with short wide noodles and add shredded gargonzola and bake. Yum, part II!

Anyone ever try Salmon steaks cooked in white wine or vermouth with fresh cilantro and a can of cranberries? To dyie forr! Serve with wild rice. Also can add chopped apples. One of those seafood dishes that people who don’t like fish normally actually say they like.

Look up Spanish paella’s in one of your books- cut through the crap and just go with the gist of the recipe- they’re easy and once you do one you can create many variations- chicken, fish, shellfish, veggie, etc.

My favorite recipe link:
http://sunsite.auc.dk/recipes/english/index.html
Thousands upon thousands of recipes submitted from all over the world. Best home-cookin-stuff-from-every-cuisine-imaginable recipes around. Easily searchable by name or ingredients.

Take care-
-T

9

I had a long response already written when my pc crashed. Hooray for the gremlins that live in all machines!

Let’s see if I can recreate part of it.

Dinner last night was a complete success. I am not a big pork eater but that sounds delicious. I am not Jewish eventhough my initials spell JEW. :slight_smile: That has started many a conversation in addition to many anti-semetic remarks. Sigh, people as we know them.

Anyway, I don’t mind having company. My apartment is fairly small but that is alright. So, Scottie come on over. We (my BF and I) can lock you in the closet and keep you. Also, dropzone, if you convert we will both get a toaster. :wink: heheheheh

Now, for tonights meal. I was debating over swiss steak with mashed potatoes and green beans I would make fresh green beans not the nasty canned things.) , pepperoni and black olive pizza, avocado and garlic pizza, or fajita chicken pizza. The fajita chicken pizza won out.

First I will make the dough. I will mix the flour, water, yeast (plus sugar and hot water to proof), salt, a touch of baking powder, and olive oil. I will then knead it vigorously until it has a tough glutenous structure, cover and then let it rise.

Since, I didn’t start the borracho beans last night to make the refried beans today I will have to use canned (UGH!) but that is alright since I will doctor it up. I will put in a canned of refried black beans in a pot, mix with garlic, cumin, cilantro, a small finely diced onion, and pepper (they usually have too much salt added in the canned crap). Put on the burner and cook until it is hot and semi liquified.

Now for the chicken fajitas, I will cube up a chicken breast (you don’t need a lot of meat with this one) and put it in a large plastic ziplock type bag with another small onion that is chopped into long skinny pieces (I don’t know what that is called), cilantro, cumin, salt, pepper (fresh ground of course), oregano (the secret to good fajitas), chili powder, some fresh squeezed lime juice, and several finely diced garlic cloves. I will mix everything around real well and then let it dry marinade.

Now it should be time to punch down the dough and let it rise again. This step isn’t completely necessary but it ensures a better ariated crust (i.e. more air bubbles in the dough).

Now it is time to make the pico de gallo. I will dice up in roughly equal amounts an onion and a tomato. Then I will add fresh finely chopped parsely, minced garlic, and a jalepeno that is sliced up. It would be better with different types of hot peppers like serranos but they are not available up here in a quality that is consistently good. From there, you squeeze in some lime juice and mix well.

There are two things that I should start after about 20 minutes of letting the dough rise, I will start cooking the fajitas in a skillet until they are white all the way through but not carmelized and preheating my pizza stone in the oven at about 500 degrees after dusting it with cornmeal.

From there I will roll out the dough. It should be roughly doubled in size from the time I punched it down last. I will then turn down the oven to the more moderate 425 degrees. I will roll out the dough into a circular shape. I would throw it around but I was never good at that plus my ceilings are too low for that anyway. Then, I will dust the pizza paddle with cornmeal (it keeps the dough from sticking) and put the dough on the paddle. I will then top it with the refried black beans, enough monterrey jack cheese to cover the beans, some cheddar cheese to add colour and flavour (about 1/4 the amount of monterrey jack), top it with about half of the pico de gallo, and then evenly space out the cubed fajitas. I will then put it on the pizza stone and allow it to bake until the cheese is melted and browned and the crust is done (between 20-35 minutes depending on how many topings you put on and the oven’s real heat). Then when I take it out. I will put several dollops of sour cream modestly around the pizza (about one per slice) and add a little more pico de gallo and voila Fajita Chicken Pizza.

I don’t know what I would serve with it, but I suppose it would be a salad of some kind. It is pretty filling on its own though.

10

MMM…That sounds good Tomcat. It sounds very similar to a recipe from a vegetarian book I used to have called the Enchanted Broccoli Forest. Actually, it was the recipe of the same name. It makes a very attractive dinner that looks like a forest of broccoli in a noodle base. MMM, and it is most delicious. I think I will try doing that one next week.

PS. Keep the chicken recipes coming. I like chicken much better than red meat anyway. (I don’t eat fish at all.)

HUGS!
Sqrl

11

Tonight I am going to cook linguini with garlic, thyme, butter, zuchinni and squash. I don’t know what my main dish is going to be yet. I may just go vegetarian tonight. MMMM. I haven’t had a good vegetarian meal since the last time I made chalupas… and no, they aren’t anything like what Taco Smell calls chalupas. Those things are just nasty. I do eat at Taco Bell very infrequently but I never confuse it with what Mexican/Tex-Mex food actually is.

I think I may also get some lime or tangerine popsicles just because they are good.

HUGS!
Sqrl

12

SqurlCub, you rock! You’ve given for great idea for good eats.

One of my favorite options for “rushed” dinners are chicken breasts, sauteed quickly, the pan deglazed and good stuff mixed in.

Prep note: pound the chix thin w/ the bottom of wine bottle or whatever.

Basic technique: lightly dredge the chix in appropriately seasoned flour, then brown quickly in either 2 TBSP butter or oil, or a mixture of both. Pour some liquid over and simmer for a few minutes. Remove the chix, turn up the heat and reduce the liquid down for the sauce.

Examples:

  • Piccata: rub the chix w/ garlic and brown in olive oil and butter. Pour on 1/2 cup white wine and the juice of a lemon.

  • Basic scallopine: same as above, only use 1/2 cup vermouth and 1/4 chix broth.

  • Sorta Russian: brown in olive oil and butter; add 1/2 cup chix broth and 1/3 cup brandy, w/ a handful of chopped mushrooms and 1 TBSP chopped onion. At the end stir in a little sour cream, nutmeg and lota fresh-ground pepper.

  • Provencal: put some basil in the dredging flour; brown in olive oil; pour on 1/2 cup white wine, 2 chopped tomatoes, 2 pressed cloves garlic and finely sliced onion. Add sliced olives and lots of chopped fresh parsley at the end.

You get the idea.

Veb

13

A suddenly-popular dish at our local Chinese buffets (they have taken over the Chicago area and outnumber McDonaldses around me 2:1) is to take your fresh green beans and stir fry them with some garlic. I’m sure that you could do a better job with the beans than they do. Better oil would help–they seem to use canola or something else completely lacking in flavor. Olive would go nicely, especially a good, flavorful one. Not peanut. Can’t have too many legumes in one dish, sez the guy who actually likes 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-bean salad. More garlic would help, too.

14

Sqrl…you know this girl loves you. Take me home. Don’t lock me in the closet. Love me, feed me, I’m yours.

trisha

15

This isn’t exactly a recipe, but it has chicken in it. Is that good enough?

Here’s what you do: Get yourself down to your local Chinatown (if you don’t have one, then you should probably move anyway), find the best shop that sells roast pork and duck and the like, and get yourself a steamed chicken. They’ll chop it up for you and probably give you some dipping sauce to go with it.

I don’t know how exactly they steam it, but damn is it good! For a simple side dish, buy some fresh greens (baby bok choy or whatever else looks good), stir fry with garlic and add a pinch or two of salt. Easy, fast, cheap, yum.

16

Am looking for good suggestions to go with a lambchop. The lambchop is seared with thyme, rosemary, basil, and oregeno then oven cooked for 10 minutes or so. The lamb is good, but having trouble coming up with side dishes. They need to be small serving size because there is only me to feed.
Tommorow night it will be something I thought up and decided to find out how good it would be. Gonna cook me some gnoochi in chicken broth with a little scallion and some turkey sausage. For this the side dish has to be simple, am thinking of a simple spinach salad or cucumber salad.

17

Last night, the pasta was actually included sage and only a little bit of thyme. It was delicious and nutritious.

Unfortunately tonight, I won’t be able to cook since I have a rehearsal that will last from 7:00 (I will have to leave a little before 6:30) until close to 9:00. Thus I will probably go out to eat.

Veb, I have actually cooked chicken like the Piccata that you mentioned. I was just throwing things together and it turned out wonderful. It also works wonderfully if you melt a stick of butter into the wine while you are cooking. It gives a wonderful flavor. I haven’t tried some of the other ones you mentioned. They sound delicious. I will try some of them in the coming weeks. YUM.

My next meal will probably consist of New York Strip steaks baked in the oven at around 350 (I like mine medium my bf will have his medium well) and topped with a garlic butter, perhaps with a dollop of goat cheese, a hint of oregono, a squeeze of lemon juice, salt and pepper.

To make the garlic butter simply mince about three or four cloves of garlic and melt in with a stick of butter. Add salt if you were using unsalted butter. Then while you are doing your other prep work, stick it in the fridge until it hardens a bit. (It is easier to scoop out that way.)

I will want a baked potato as a side dish as I almost always do with a basic steak or I may do a rice dish that I got from a suggestion from Cheffie.

The rice dish was cooked rice rice suateed in a skillet with parmesan cheese, white wine, and whole spinach. Add salt and pepper to taste. YUM!

The night I make this, I will make the spinach salad suggested below and maybe add some chopped walnuts instead of bacon. (I really try not to eat pork to often.)

Narile, a saffron rice and the rice above would both go good with lambchops. To do the saffron rice simply boil rice with a few sprigs of saffron. Salt and pepper to taste and voila, a most delicious rice dish. I would probably garnish it with mint leaves or something like that if I was cooking lamb, but the way you are cooking it, I wouldn’t bother. It should be a good base and not overpower anything. If the rice didn’t turn bright yellow, then you didn’t add enough saffron. Also, as below the spinach salad would go well with it too. Hmm, one more suggestion for a side dish would be an avocado salad. I used to make these all the time and they are easy, quick, and good. First you cube up an avocado and dice about 1/2 a red onion. Add mint if you like (it goes well…but you have to use it sparingly) then either make an Italian dressing and stir it in or use a store bought bottle. I made a basic Italian dressing the other night with Apple Cider Vinegar (it is a little sweeter than normal vinegar), olive oil, garlic, oregano, and rosemary. It was pretty basic but tasted really good. You have to let it sit in the refridgerator overnight to ensure a good mixing of the spices flavor into the base.

HUGS!
Sqrl

18

Mmmmm just reading this thread is making me hungry. Also makes me feel like a mediocre cook since I have never tried to make anything like these never even heard of them before (well some of them) as well. shrugs I usually just put stuff together of whats handy and see what comes out. Maybe I’ll have to try some stuff from this thread.

19

Don’t feel bad Topaz. I think I cook fairly well now, but that is because I have been cooking since I was four. With these type of meals, I just throw them together usually but I know what will taste good and what will be nasty together overall. That is not to say I never have mealtime fiascos. I do, but as of now they are few and far between and usually happen when an expirement goes haywire. So you know, never mix lemon juice and wine with sauteed squash. Talk about vomit city. BLECH! That was so nasty. The squash just soaked up all the sourness and returned none of the desired flavours.

Most of these type of meals you can throw together with a minimal amount of prep work and cooking time. You need a moderately stocked spice cabinet but after that you will be able to have your meals be works of art.

HUGS!
Sqrl

20

1 butternut squash sliced in half and cleaned out, like you’d do to a muskmellon/canteloupe.

Set the 2 halves on a cookie sheet, dot with lots of butter, sprinkle generously with brown sugar.

Bake at 350 for maybe 45 minutes - check it often - you want it soft but not burned.

Yup, that’s it :slight_smile:

Oh, and my favorite avacado salad:

2 bunches arugula, washed and torn into bite-size pieces
2 avocados, peeled and chopped
2 mangoes, peeled and chopped
For the dressing:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper