Haven’t seen a good recipe thread for a while- I have a few that are incredibly easy, but taste like they’re difficult. My favorite is a hollandaise sauce that is made in the blender:
2 egg yolks (I use pasturized eggs)
1Tbs HOT water
1Tbs lemon juice
1 stick butter, melted, still hot
dash nutmeg
Put egg yolks, water, & lemon juice in blender and blend. Add the butter very, very slowly and blend on low until all butter is added. Add nutmeg and blend on high for a few seconds.
This is great hollandaise, and it's good in Eggs Benedict, or as a topping on grilled salmon, crab cakes, etc. I've also used it as a dipping sauce for artichokes.
I’ve got a new favorite that I call Fakey Chicken Cacciatore. It takes all of ten minutes to put together.
one large onion (or more)
one package boneless skinless chicken breasts (usually three)
frozen veggies of choice (I use the “Italian blend”)
one jar of pasta sauce
shredded parmesean cheese (not Kraft in a can)
Pre-heat oven to 350. Coarsely chop onion and use it to line a 9x13 pan. Whack the chicken until it’s a fairly even thickness and place on top of the onions. Dump the veggies on top and pour the pasta sauce over it all. Cover with foil and bake for about an hour. Pull it out and top it with liberal amounts of cheese and put back in the oven for about ten minutes uncovered.
I crank up the heat for the last ten minutes and use it to bake my garlic bread, too.
Lob a load of fresh pasta into boiling water.
While it is boiling shred some smoked salmon.
Drain the pasta, toss in the smoked salmon and just a little double cream. Season to taste with fresh parmasan and black peppar, mebbe even a drop of olive oil.
If you have a few extra moments then you can elaborate with some chopped, raw, red onions and/or some fresh spinach.
This recipe comes from a friend of a friend, but always gets rave reviews and clogged arteries.
Preheat oven to 350F, and place a stick of butter in a mug, bowl, or Pyrex measuring cup to melt.
Combine:
30 Oreos crushed to the fineness of your liking (I like to mash them into a nearly-flour-like consistency),
3/4 cups flour, or more if you want them less gooey
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (half a bag)
Stir these together in a large bowl until you have a fine grey powder. Add the melted butter, one 14-oz can of sweetened condensed milk, and a tsp of vanilla extract. Stir this mixture until it’s mixed evenly.
Pour into a very well buttered small brownie pan (recipe suggests 8x8 square), and bake for 20 minutes. Cool these in a refrigerator almost immediately, then cut into very small squares and serve.
Oooo, Jurph, I may have to delay jumping back on the Atkins bandwagon for a week so I can try out your recipe! Sounds decadent!
My favorite easy (and cheap) recipe is Roasted Chicken: Just get a whole fryer, take some butter and put a few pats under the skin, sprinkle on top some fresh or dried herbs like rosemary or oregano and bake at 400 for about 20 min, then turn down to 300 and continue baking for another 40 min. You also will want to add some liquid to the pan, I use beer (any kind will do), but you can also use chicken broth or water.
You can just bake it in an iron skillet or even in a regular cake pan if you have nothing else, but it’s best if you can get a wire rack to hold up the chicken.
Then you can make gravy out of the drippings. YUMMY!!
If you like beer on your chicken, try roasting it on a can of beer. Take the whole fryer, put it on an open can of beer so the tail is sticking up in the air. Roast at 400 for 40 minutes. You can use the same kinds of herbs and butter for the skin. It is moist and tastes WONDERFUL.
If you like beer on your chicken, try roasting it on a can of beer. Take the whole fryer, put it on an open can of beer so the tail is sticking up in the air. Roast at 400 for 40 minutes. You can use the same kinds of herbs and butter for the skin. It is moist and tastes WONDERFUL.
Curried chicken and lentils are pretty easy. Most Indian food is hard, but you basically just boil lentils in chicken or vegetable broth and curry powder for half an hour or so. Meanwhile, cook up about a pound of chicken in a nice hot sauce pan with a chopped onion until it’s a little burned, and season it with tumeric, cumin, and coriander. The tumeric gives it a nice color.
You can make paneer pretty easy too. You boil milk with a bit of lemon juice until it curds up, then put the mess into a cheese cloth and hang it up to dry. Paneer goes well with peas or spinach. You can get frozen peas or frozen spinach, cook it up with some Indian flavoring, then serve it with cubed paneer.
You can make an Indian dinner for dinner guests and make a good impression, when it’s really not that hard (although some Indian food is much more work, like samosas).
Everyone I’ve ever met loves my Artichoke Heart Dip recipe. It’s also the only thing I can cook Super easy but fattening.
Two cans of artichoke hearts (doesn’t matter if they’re whole or quatered but don’t use marinated)
1 cup mayo (real mayo, don’t use diet it won’t cook properly)
1 cup parmesian cheese (again, don’t use diet)
Drain the artichokes and mash 'em up in a baking dish. Stir in the may and most of the parmesian cheese. Mix well. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Put dish in preheated oven (um, I use something like 425, it’s always a guess) and bake til the top is gold brown and it smells really yummy. Serve with tortilla chips.
My Quick ‘n’ Easy Veggie Lo-Cal Chilli Con Carnage:
**Ingredients: **
Onions
Mushrooms
Quorn Chunks (optional)
Red Peppers
½ can Kidney Beans
½ can Chick Peas
Canned Crushed Tomatoes
Tomato Puree
Chilli Powder
Garlic
Salt and Pepper to Taste
Coriander
Rice
A few squirts of 1 Cal Olive Oil Spray
**Method (such as it is…): **
Chop onions and garlic and fry in olive oil until softened
Add chopped mushrooms and Quorn chunks and fry until a bit browned
Add chopped red peppers and tomatoes
Then add drained kidney beans, chick peas and tomato puree
Throw in chilli powder to taste
Stir it all up and let it cook while rice is on (about 15 minutes)
Add coriander to cooked rice
Serve!
(To turn this yummy mush into a curry, leave out the peppers, kidney beans and chick peas, adding courgettes instead. This need to cook a little longer to soften the courgettes – about 25 mins. About 10 minutes before the end, add a can of cubed pineapple, including the juice. Failing that, sling anything you like in it!)
Take a roll of frozen chocolate biscuit (cookie) dough, slice it into thickish rounds and bake in the oven until -not quite cooked- you want the bikkies softish.
While the biscuits are in the oven melt equal parts of dark chocolate and cream together.
Take the biscuits out of the oven and allow to cool a little. Take two biscuits and sandwich together with good vanilla icecream.
Put on a plate, sprinkle a little icing sugar over the top, spoon the warm chocolate sauce around the plate, add a little pile of strawberries or raspberries.
Very simple, looks amazingly sophisticated and tastes really, really good.
Sounds decadent!