Your Favorite Complicated Recipes and Meals

Cafe Society
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I have been kitchenless for almost a month, eating on the corporate dime, and am majorly jonesing for some intense cooking therapy. I will have a well stocked kitchen, and the time to indulge my craving, in 10 days. I am an “accomplished” (is that the right word? I mean, I know what all the terms mean, am fond of vague recipes – “to taste” is my favorite measurement --and can even make souffles that don’t fall before the guests see it) cook.

Help me feed my addiction! I need serious breakfast, lunch and dinner ideas for when the movers finally bring my stuff to my new kitchen.

I’m in a small midwestern (Minot, North Dakota) town, so no really exotic ingredients, no fresh seafood (sushi-grade tuna just ain’t gonna happen), Hubby hates tumeric, I am allergic to bell peppers (but other peppers are all good!, and I don’t know the oven yet, so souffles need to be yummy even when ugly. No grill/barbecue because that’s hubby’s job and doesn’t count as me cooking. Side dishes are welcome.

So far, I’ve planned a butterflied stuffed pork loin (dried fruit, mustard, etc) Chicken tits roulade (proscuitto & provolone – I can’t spell Saltimbocca), Chicken Fried Steak (mine’s REALLY good, labor intensive and messy as hell), a boring old-fashioned yummy meatloaf, pecan sticky buns, asparagus-crab omelet, chicken pot pie with the worlds best crust, Habit sandwiches (marinated bird tit, avocado, swiss, red onion, pico de gallo-mayo [aoili – there’s another word I can’t spell]), romaine, on sourdough. Homemade bread, main dish, some veggie, an appetizer or a dessert. I figure it will take forty-two slaving over a hot stove meals to satisfy my kitchen time cravings.

Please share your favorite pain-in-the-ass-to-make-but-worth-it recipes!

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Recipe for Disaster!

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I guess any Alton Brown Recipe would do. Or at least needlessly complicated, if that’s your criteria.

oooohhh…burn!

4

Yep. Which is why I’m begging for ideas. I want oysters, that cooked in lime juice unheated seafood (yet another word I can’t spell), and fresh fish tacos. I can’t make those here. :frowning:

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If you start with this recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_23769,00.html
(I use regular vinegar, no fatalities yet)

And add tomatoes, green beans, olives, eggs, plus protein of your choice (tuna being traditional but not required), you’ll have a bitchin’ Salade “Nicoise”

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I’m musing on a Salt Crust Oysters and Mussels Rockefeller. Pack some fresh Oysters and Mussels in an eggwhite, Baconsalt, and salt crust (Tap and check to make sure the shellfish are alive.) totally immobilized and clamped shut. Bake them at a high temperature, all that fresh sea flavor packed in with the faint aroma of Bacon totally sealed in rock.

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Complicated to eat…you might need a hammer and chisel as place setting.

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Yeah, that sounds MARVELOUS. Ya wanna start a fundraiser for me to fly the shellfish special express to North Dafuckingkota?

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I’m sorry, I must have misunderstood post #4. I thought you were looking for complicated Oyster recipes. Sorry, bout that.

A complicated potato dish is nice. I enjoy a great twice baked or caserole potato which are really much more complicated than they appear.

There are no complicted recipes, just complicted chefs.

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Canned tuna is evil, but it sounds like the remainder of the stuffed pig would work. Beautiful! I shall try it!

Thank you!

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I’m going to be saying “Ooh, yummy!” a lot, I think.

Twice baked potatoes, with local sour cream and fresh chives from the herb patch – ooh, yummy!

(The tenant-before-last left me a fab little map of what he planted where, so I will have a quite nice little herb garden. Yay me.)

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I discovered this lasagna recipe about 7 or 8 years ago. It takes a bit of prep (about 3 hours for the bolognese and you make the lasagna sheets from scratch), but it’s worth every minute. It’s the most orgasmic lasagna I’ve ever had, and I like it even more as the white layer is bechamel-based, not ricotta.

The recipe itself instructs cooking each sheet of fresh pasta before layering, but the last few times I’ve done it, I simply lined the dish with raw pasta, and it turned out fine.

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Also, if you get bored, try a mole. The good news is, mole freezes well. And if you don’t like that one, there’s a bazillion different moles to try. (Oaxaca is known for its seven famous moles, and the mole most Americans are familiar with is probably mole Poblano.) My favorite is mole amarillo, which is (thankfully) not quite as complicated as mole negro or rojo.

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<scheme> Hmm, how many of my California friends can be blackmailed into FedExing me avocado leaves? </scheme> What makes you think there will be any left to freeze? :wink:
Lasagne – drool. I think your recipe sounds better than mine, I’ll try it.

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Just don’t skimp on the freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano (grana padono also works well). The umami (the fifth taste, a savory, rich “full” flavor that glutamates elicit) that these cheeses possess really brings the richness of the bolognese out.

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Can you get frozen crawfish? The most insanely complicated thing I ever made was home-made Crawfish Etoufee Ravioli. No recipe, I just winged it from crawfish etoufee recipes.

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Senegalese Chicken Yassa. Don’t be deceived by the “20 minute prep time”, when you read the body of the recipe you will see it calls for 3 hours in the refrigerator. I usually prep mine the night before, leaving it to marinate overnight in the fridge. This is really, really yummy. Mmmmm.

Do you like lamb? If so, I highly recommend Roasted Lamb Chops with Shallots, Tomatoes and Olive Jus. This is another one you can prep a day ahead. When this recipe was originally published, it didn’t include roasting the tomatoes and shallots, so I’ve never tried it with that addition, but I’m sure it’s just as yummy as without.

Enjoy!

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The following recipe is relatively complex, but the end result is pure heaven. The meatballs alone are worth making, let alone the sauce. These are all common ingredients and should be available to you. I use pork chops instead of ribs, and I cut the chuck into manageable pieces. You’re braising the meats, so when finished they are falling apart tender. Meatball recipe follows the sauce recipe. Since these are Italian meatballs and not Swedish meatballs, the 2" diameter is necessary (somewhere between a golf ball and a tennis ball in size).

By the way, meatloaf doesn’t have to be boring. Find Alton Brown’s recipe online.

Spaghetti Sauce
Time: 3 hours

Salt and pepper
1 pound pork spareribs, neck bones or pork chops
1 pound beef chuck roast, blade steak or brisket
3 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 bay leaf
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, preferably Italian
1 28-ounce can tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, roughly chopped
4 small or 2 large pickled peperoncini
Cooked meatballs (see recipe)
1 pound dried spaghetti for serving
Grated Parmesan for serving.

  1. Sprinkle salt and pepper all over pork and beef. Place large pot over medium-high heat; when hot, add olive oil and brown meat. (Or cook meat in same pot used for meatballs, browning in the leftover fat.) Remove meat to a platter. Turning heat under pot to medium, add onions, and cook 3 minutes, stirring. Add garlic, and cook 2 minutes longer. Add tomato paste, and stir: cook until it absorbs fat in pan. Add oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, kosher salt and bay leaf, stirring to combine.
  2. Add cans of tomatoes and tomato sauce, then 4 1/2 cups water. Stir in sugar, parsley and peperoncini. Return meats to pot with their juices. Bring sauce to a gentle boil. Turn heat down to a simmer, partly cover and leave sauce to simmer 21/2 hours or more, stirring regularly.
  3. About 20 minutes before serving, add meatballs to pot. Boil spaghetti according to package directions. Drain, return spaghetti to pan and add 3 cups sauce. Toss pasta in pan for a minute to coat with sauce, and place on a large platter. Pour 2 more cups sauce over pasta. Place meat and meatballs on pasta, slicing large pieces. Serve with bowls of remaining sauce and Parmesan.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

Italian Meatballs
Time: 20 minutes

2 pounds ground beef
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan
1 heaping tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 heaping tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs
3 tablespoons olive oil.

  1. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients except olive oil by hand, using a light touch. Take a portion of meat in hand, and roll between palms to form a ball that is firmly packed but not compressed. Repeat, making each meatball about 2 inches in diameter.
  2. In a large, heavy pot heat olive oil over medium-high heat. When it shimmers, add meatballs in batches. Do not crowd. Brown well on bottoms before turning, or meatballs will break apart. Continue cooking until browned all over. Remove meatballs to a plate as each batch is finished. Let meatballs cool slightly; cover and refrigerate until needed.

Yield: About 16 meatballs.

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Cassoulet d’Isigney

into a large stock pot place 2 lbs washed and sorted white beans [i prefer navy or great northern beans] [you sort through to remove any small stones or twigs that may not have been sorted out when they filled the bag of beans] with a softball sized onion with 4 whole cloves stuck into it, 4 carrots peeled [you dont need to bother with chopping it up] 4 or 6 ribs of celery [also not chopped] [i woukld wrap the following herbs and the veggies in cheesecloth to make them easier to pull out after cooking] a bouquet garni of 3 or 4 sprigs of thyme, a sprig of rosemary and 12 peppercorns lightly cracked. NO SALT AT ALL. Cover with unsalted chicken broth, add 4 or 5 smoked pork neck bones. Gently simmer for about 3 hours to 4 hours, until the beans are getting cooked but are not fully cooked.

Remove the flavorings [veggies, herbs and pork neck bones] and discard.

Line a seriously heavy [la creuset enameled cast iron is highly recommended, or a ceramic casserole. Uncoated cast iron is NOT recommended or desired.] with thick cut bacon [try at a good meat market.] then put in a shallow layer of the beans, then a layer comprised of half inch diced leftover cooked duck, pork roast, beef roast, lamb roast, turkey breast roast. You need to pick at least 3 of these. I recommend the beef pork and lamb, or beef duck and lamb.
Alternate between shallow layers of beans and diced meat. End with the top layer being beans. Pour in the cooking liquid until it comes to the top of the beans. Top with about an inch of bred crumbs [i prefer to use dried sourdough bread, but the italian flavored breadcrumbs work in a pinch] then top with cut up garlic sausage [keilbasa works ok, as does andouille in a pinch] and the classic ingredient is fat preserved duck chicken or goose legs, but chicken thighs or legs work in a pinch.

Cover tightly and put in a very low [250 degree fahrenheit] oven for about 4 to 5 hours.

This is my ultimate winter comfort food =) and heart attack in a bowl.

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That cassoulet sounds amazing, I’m scouting for frozen crawfish and a good butcher this afternoon, and the Sengalese Chicken is on the menu for Sunday dinner. I haven’t seen any sheep around, but I haven’t really looked, either.

Chefguy your spaghetti sauce recipe is pretty close to my favorite Fancy sauce. A couple of differences, which I’ll have to try. I stole mine from Molto Mario, Julia Child, and a former neighbor, combined them, fiddled, adjusted and tweaked until it is almost perfect. A major PITA, but worth it.

My meatloaf is better than Alton’s, but it is not an exciting, labor intensive meal. :wink:

Thanks everyone! I knew I could count on Dopers to have good things for me to cook!

Keep 'em coming!