The Escapist Cookbook

Asita

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Figured it was worth reposting this from the other forum. The thread was still young, but there were some good recipes that I'd like to survive V1's shutdown.

Considering that we're on lockdown right now, I find myself thinking a bit more about cooking and baking because...well, I can't exactly eat out for a change of pace now, can I? Regardless, I thought to myself that this might be a good opportunity for us to come together and share some recipes we enjoy, whether those be for Meals, Sidedishes, Snacks or Desserts. If it's yummy and fills your tummy, let's hear it! What recipes do you enjoy?
To start us off, there's a recipe we found on Pintrest that I really like as an indulgence. I don't know what the proper name for it is, but that recipe card called them "White Trash Bars". Buttercream frosting on top of a salty-sweet base. The recipe originally only called for toffee bits in the base, but I personally like mixing toffee and caramel chips, and that's the version I'm supplying here. If either is not your cup of tea, just use a full bag of whichever you do like instead of a half bag of each.
Prep:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 C)
Spray or grease 8x8 (20x20) pan with oil (or line with wax paper)

Base (Bars)
Ingredients:
2 sleeves Ritz crackers (~60 crackers)
3/4 cup Toffee Bits (1/2 bag, or 133 g)
3/4 cup Caramel Chips (1/2 bag, or 133 g)
1 14 oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk
Prep
Crush crackers and mix with milk, toffee and caramel.
Spread mixture and press gently into the pan
Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until edges are golden brown


Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
2 sticks of butter, soft
3-4 cups (750mL - 1L) powdered sugar (see if fourth is needed before adding)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
2-3 tablespoon whipping cream
Prep
Beat mixture until smooth, add cream and vanilla until it has the desired texture and flavor.
Speaking personally, I like giving it a stronger vanilla flavor, so I tend to add more vanilla than it calls for.

Allow the bars to cool completely before adding the frosting.
Chill and cut into squares

Base Casserole
3 cups cooked mashed sweet potatoes (canned is ok)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup melted butter
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix well
Put in a buttered baking dish

The topping is, of course, flexible. Marshmallows are usually a popular choice for kids, but the one I favor is as follows:

Topping
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup pecans
1/2 cup melted butter

Spread topping on the casserole
Bake at 350F (176C) until bubbling
Serve warm

Base Casserole
2 cups cooked chicken, cubed
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup rice, cooked
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 teaspoon chopped onion
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
4 oz (113 g) sliced water chestnuts

Mix and put in a 2 quart (2 liter) casserole dish

Topping
1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 cup cornflakes

Mix
Spoon over casserole

Bake for 35 minutes at 350F (176C) or until bubbly

Start with short elbow noodles, boiled in water with a little salt. Drain and set aside. Preheat oven to 350.

For the cheese sauce start with milk, heating slowly in a pan. Stir in flour and cook until its starting to get thick. Low heat is a must to prevent burning, and give you time to cook off that raw flour flavor.
For the cheese I add a mix of white sharp cheddar, Asiago, goat crumbles, feta, and Gruyere.

Mix in the cooked noodles and stir to mix. Pour the mixture into a glass baking dish and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake at 350 for 20-25mins until the bread crumbs are toasted.

Serve and enjoy! Or better yet come on by my place. I think we'd be gouda together.

My dad's recipe for Fish Pie

Ingredients:
- 1kg-ish potatoes
- 400ml or so of milk
- About 25g of butter
- 25g plain flour
- About 300-400g of fish or other seafood chopped into small pieces. More or less anything will do.
- 1 onion, or a similar mass of shallots
- 1 leek, or a similar mass of spring onions
- 1 tsp mustard powder. Or whatever else on your spice rack you think will work.

Peel the potatoes, boil them until tender. Drain them, then mash them with a knob of butter and a bit of milk, to taste. Set aside.

Put the flour, butter, and finely chopped leek/onion/shallots/spring onions/whatever into a pan, heat gently and stir until the butter is melted and incorporated into the flour.

Adding a little at a time, add the milk, stirring all the while. Make sure the mixture doesn't stick to the pan or get lumpy. Cook gently until thickened.

Throw in your seafood and spices. Cook gently for a couple more minutes, then take it off the heat and let it cool.

Once it's cooled a bit, spoon it into an oven proof dish. Spoon the cooled mash on top. Cook in an oven at 200 degrees Celsius for about 20-25 minutes.

- 800g ground meat (porc/beef or lamb)
- 2 shallots
- 1 small clove of garlic
- 1 egg yolk
- parsley and thyme to taste
- 1 tsp mustard (optional)
- breadcrumbs
- 1 can of sour Northern cherries
- 2 tsp corn starch
- sugar
- butter

Finely dice the shallots and garlic. Gently fry in a sauce pan in butter until soft and golden, add parsley and thyme. Let mixture cool a bit, then add to ground meat. Add egg yolk (and the optional mustard). Knead while slowly stirring in breadcrumbs until the meat mix is firm enough to roll into balls about 3cm in diameter.

Traditionally, the meatballs are first boiled in water for about 6-8 mins, then given a quick browning in a pan in some butter. Alternatively, you can just brown them in a non-stick pan til golden, then turn the heat lower and cover the pan with a lid til the meatballs are cooked through.

About 5 minutes before the meatballs are done, start on the cherries. Put them into a second sauce pan. Add some sugar to reduce the tartness of the sour cherries a bit. Spoon a few tsp of the juice into a cup and stir in the corn starch until evenly mixed. Turn the heat on the sauce pan until the juice gets to a boil, then stir in the starch mixture until the sauce thickens. You want it to have about the thickness of gravy.

Serve the meatballs with a healthy helping of cherries with sauce and either some mashed potatoes or whole grain bread (the more rustic, the better).

Done, one classic of Belgian cuisine. Tho not the most popular one anymore. Maybe a little to much an archaic basic farmer's dish for modern tastes. It's really only the elderly that still like this. And me, because it's something my granny used to make, and this recipe and a few others are some of the few thing I have left of her. It's got sentimental value. I like it tho. Offers some sweet, sour and savory all in one. Ah, tastes of nostalgia.
 
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Asita

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Continuing, because the lot of them surpassed the word count limit for single posts:

1 package of boxed cous-cous that uses 1 1/4 cup water
2 good sized boneless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon olive oil
2-3 good sized carrots, sliced
1/2 green papper, sliced
1 stalk celery, sliced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 small can of sliced mushrooms, drained
2 spring onion chopped OR a teaspoon of the dehydrated minced onion if you don't have the fresh ones
parsley for color (roughly about 1/8 of a cup, I just use a pile in the palm of my hand to measure it out)

Cook the chicken breasts in a skillet until done. Set aside on the cutting board to cool.

Add the olive oil to the skillet and then saute the carrots, celery, green pepper, green onions (and the mushrooms if you are using the fresh) and garlic while the chicken cools.

When the chicken is cool enough, cut into bite-sized chunks.

Add the water to the skillet, the flavor packet for the cous-cous, (the dehydrated minced onion if you aren't using the fresh green onions), the drained mushrooms if you aren't using the fresh), and small handful of parsley and return the cut-up chicken to the pan as well.
Bring to a boil and add the cous-cous. Cover and remove from heat, allowing the cous-cous to cook for 5 minutes. A one-skillet meal in and of itself.

eta: 20 mins

- Two serving packs of Lipton Chicken Noodle Soup
- 1 can of heinz tomato sauce
- 1 cup of milk
- 1 cup of water
- 3 teaspoons butter
- 1 chopped onion
- 2 cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon diced ginger
- pepper to taste

Separate sauce pan, I fry up the cloves, onion, garlic and pepper with one of the teaspoons of butter. Get'em sizzlin'.

While all that's going down, I usually drop the milk, water and rest of the butter in a pot, and heat until the butter has melted, then add the tomato sauce and stir thoroughly. At about this point, the 'triumvirate' (my nickname for the onion, garlic and ginger) gets put on low.

After about two minutes, I adjust the heat on the pot to medium and I add the lipton packs, and stir them in. Now, you gotta stir fairly regularly, as the tomato and noodles have a tendency to bake to the bottom if left unsupervised. I usually stick with it, on and off, for about ten minutes. Once the noodles plump up, mix in the triumvirate, and it's done.

Tasty as all hell, and not a bit healthy. Basically, dolled-up tomato chicken noodle soup.

-Half a pack of dried shiitake, simmered for 20 minutes in about 500g of water, drained.
-16 ounce sweat peas, sauteed in a mix of butter and olive oil, simple seasoning of salt, pepper and paprika, cooked until tender

Mix in mushrooms, season them directly and add a bit more olive oil on them and stir for a minute or two, then add the broth, finally add about 250ml of heavy cream and a cup of grated parmesan, and of course more black pepper and finally half a teaspoon of curry powder.

Simmer in low heat until pasta's boiled, for this type of thing I like flat pasta like fetuccine because the sauce is relatively runny and they hold it better. Cook pasta for 2 minutes less than it says on the box (2 minutes less than the low end if the pasta box gives you a range of cooking times) and drain and toss in the sauce and turn the heat off/remove from stove to finish cooking through the residual heat and thicken up nicely. Should be done in 2-3 minutes after that.

Top with more black pepper a drizzle of olive oil and just a bit of parmesan and you have dinner~

(Serves 4)

Ingredients:
300g wild rice
200g green beans
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely sliced
1 tbsp plain flour
500g pork tenderloin, cut into 2.5cm (1 inch) medallions
75ml cider
100 ml chicken stock
1 tsp Dijon mustard
salt & pepper
1 tbsp single cream

Method:

Cook both the rice and green beans according to packet instructions in 2 pans of salted boiling water. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and cook the onions for nearly 5 minutes - until translucent. Use the salt and pepper to season the flour and coat the pork medallions in the flour mix. Add the pork to the onion pan and seal the meat on both sides. Add the chicken stock, cider and mustard. Cook for 5 minutes before turning the pork over and cooking for another 5 minutes. Season, stir in the cream, and serve with the rice and green beans.

Credit: The Chiappa Sisters

(Serves 4)
Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
8 chicken thighs, skin on and bone in
2 banana shallots, finely sliced
2 garlic gloves, finely chopped
200ml white wine (citrus, for preference)
3 tbsp drained capers
1 lemon, zest of
handful of tarragon, finely chopped
handful of parsley, finely chopped
salt & pepper

Method:

Heat the oil in a large, deep frying pan or casserole dish. season the thighs with salt and pepper and then cook skin-side down for 10 minutes over a medium-high heat. Once the skin is well browned, turn over and cook for a further 5 minutes. Once done, remove the chicken from the pan using a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate to rest. Add the shallots to the pan containing the chicken juices and reduce to a low heat, stirring until they have softened. Add the garlic and cook for another few minutes. Once done, add the wine, lemon zest, capers and chicken resting juices before placing the drained chicken thighs on top. Cover the pan for 10 minutes until the chicken until fully cooked, then roughly tear over the tarragon and parsley before serving. Goes well with herbed polenta or lemon and chilli couscous

Credit: The Hairy Bikers

(Serves 4)

Ingredients:
8 large Portabella mushrooms
8 slices marinaded & roasted red peppers
8 fresh basil leaves
150g mozzarella cheese, cut into 8 slices
4 English muffins, halved
salt & pepper
Green salad - to serve

Method:

Heat an oven to 200C. Season the mushrooms with salt & pepper and top each with a slice of red pepper and a basil leaf. Top these with a slice of mozzarella and add another twist of pepper. Roast for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, toast the muffin halves. Stack the stuffed mushrooms on the muffin halves and serve with the green salad.

Credit: BBC Good Food

(Serves 2)

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red bell pepper, seeded and eigthed
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and eigthed
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tsp harissa paste
450g cooked chickpeas in water
1/2 lemon juice
fresh basil

Method:

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Fry the red & yellow peppers for 3 minutes until softened. Add the cherry tomatoes, cooking for a further 2-3 minutes. Add the harissa paste and the chickpeas, adding the starchy water from the can as well. Cook for a further 4 minutes, before seasoning with salt, pepper and the lemon juice. Heat through, and then add a handful of torn basil leaves right before serving.

Credit: BBC Good Food
 

gorfias

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This one is pretty simple and different tasting
Cuban ham and black bean bowl
Ingredients
cooking spray
3spray(s)

cooked lean ham
1⁄3cup(s), diced

no-salt-added canned drained black beans
1⁄2cup(s)

1/2 cup canned corn

ground cumin
1⁄2tsp

dried oregano
1⁄2tsp

fresh lime juice
1tsp, plus an extra lime wedge

table salt
1pinch, optional

cooked medium grain brown rice
1⁄2cup(s)

fat free salsa
1⁄4cup(s), fresh variety recommended

cilantro (I personally skip this as I do not like cilantro
2Tbsp, chopped

Instructions
  1. Coat a medium skillet with cooking spray; heat over medium-high heat. Add ham; cook, stirring often, until browned, about 2 minutes. Remove from skillet; set aside.
  2. Add corn, beans, cumin, oregano, and a couple tsp water (enough to make mixture saucy) to same skillet; heat over medium heat, stirring, until hot, about 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in lime juice and season with a pinch salt (optional).
  3. Put rice in a bowl; top with ham, beans, salsa, and cilantro. Serve with a lime wedge.
  4. Makes 1 serving.
 
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SupahEwok

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I tried to make my first French-style omellette this morning.

I ended up eating scrambled eggs.
 

morsomk

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Okay, I've got several recipes I can throw in here. Some of them can be a bit more fancy but there are some more "poor student recipes" that did help me a bit out for my last 1 and a half year at my uni.

So basically, this is a recipe for muffins that I regularly use. Infact, it's literally the exact same recipe that I use for muffins in muffin forms, but the end result is just to throw it into one of those multi use baking tins that can be used for anything.


Pictured above, this is almost the similar size that I used. The batter literally comes out the exact same way and the reason why we transfer them into this instead of something like cup-cake form, is because it takes way too long transferring the batter into the cup cake form and then throwing it into the oven. This is much more functional and way faster as well. Onto to the actual recipe.

2 cups/250 grams of sugar
3 eggs
2.5/312.5 cups of flour
130 grams of melted butter
1 cup of yogurt
100 grams of chopped chocolate
1/2 teaspoon of natron/baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

So the way this actually works is that you always start with the eggs and the sugar. First you combine those two together with an electronic whisker, until you get to the point where it becomes white and fluffy. Then you start adding the rest of the dry stuff and stir that together. Then add the yogurt and stir. Then add the melted butter and stir. Finally the chocolate and stir.

Oven should be heating up to 190-200 degree Celsius while you are doing this and you are looking for a golden brown consistency on the top part. Follow the basic rule of baking and put a knife in the middle to check if it is still cooked.

A few tips and tricks to have some fun with this recipes. The yogurt can almost be any kind of yogurt that you want, I've had successes with strawberry, vanilla and coconut yogurt. Same rule also applies with chocolate, though I've found that adding more than 100-150 grams of it can be a bit of a stretch. You should always stir everything with the hot melted butter first before you add in the chocolate pieces, otherwise you risk the chocolate pieces melting into the batter and thus creating something more similar to a strange cookie dough. The vanilla extract is used for flavor, if you wanna use it.

But yeah, the finished product looks something like this.

44956625_545407215921508_2614758102481764352_n.jpg

Although I'm not proud of this dish, it did help me out through some tough times. I would also like to mention that I have never offered this dish to anyone at my table and I would literally rather stab myself through the hand than even suggest it.


Few potatoes.
A can of baked beans.
A onion
4-6 strips of bacon

Spices
Salt & pepper
Chilli flakes
Cumin

This is very easy to cook and very hard to fuck up. Cut the potatoes into small strips so you can cook 'em faster. Cut the bacon into smaller strips and also cut the onion as well.

The idea goes as follows, you're supposed to fry the onion as far as you can without reducing too much of the juices and then you start throwing the potatoes in there to get them started on cooking. After like a minute, you throw in the bacon and you're supposed to cook the potatoes in the bacon and the onion juices. Then you can liberally season them with the season that I mentioned or anything else of your own choice before you drown it in baked beans.

Again, this is a simplistic dish that I'm not super proud of, but it gets the job done of getting your gut full.

These are the first two out of many that I can write, but I feel like people should maybe get to judge them before I even hint at writing anything more.
 

SckizoBoy

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[insert random thoughts about hundred year egg congee]

[departs with a sigh because it's hundred year egg we're talking about]
 

Ghostrick Dorklord

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I have the most LEGENDARY recipe ever! Making this will award you with THE most delicious snack in the universe!

Grab 2 pieces of bread
Spread peanut butter on one side
Spread jelly on the other
Slap it together

And you did it! The legendary peanut butter and jelly sandwich is complete! Enjoy!

Gotta poke fun at my lack at cooking skills eheheh...
 

Elvis Starburst

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Elvis Starburst's family recipe pancakes!

Dry ingredients:
1 1/3 cup of flour
3 tsp of baking powder (Needs half decent to good quality stuff, Great Value quality baking powder destroys the mix for example. Learned this the hard way)
1/2 tsp of salt
4 tbsp of sugar

Wet ingredients:
1 1/3 cup of milk
1 egg
1 tbsp of vanilla
3 tbsp of melted butter (Let cool and then mix constantly with a fork into the wet ingredients to blend it in properly or you'll get butter pockets while cooking)

Pour into the dry ingredient bowl (If it's large enough) and whisk until blended fully with no dry flour left. Can use non-stick spray or butter to lube up the frying pan. Pre-heat at medium heat (Around 4 to 4 1/2 on the stove top, adjust accordingly based on your stove's temperature reliability) until golden brown on both sides. Bam~ Can add whatever you like into it as well. Been making this recipe for a decade, it's good stuff. If anyone here makes it, drop me a line and let me know what you think!
 

Kae

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Lose 1d20 sanity points.
I'm not really a good cook but I guess I'll give you what your average Mexican broke youth eats, it's an absolute staple to the point that we eat it even when we're not broke, hell we buy it from street vendors despite it being stupidly easy & quick to make.

The bean & cheese taco, or burrito depending on which kind of tortilla you're using, the burrito is with flour tortilla while the taco is with a corn tortilla.

It's as basic as it sounds, just grab some re-fried beans which if you're Mexican there's a 100% chance that you already have, seriously look below the couch cushions you might find them there, heat up some tortillas, put the beans in a tortilla, add some cheese, typically Mexican Queso Fresco or Queso Panela & you're set, a fantastic meal that we eat like almost every day.

I could bother pretending to be competent and teach you how to make tortillas or re-fried beans but I feel that would go against the spirit of this most basic of recipes, BTW you may use any cheese but those 2 are what we typically use, not the only choice of course you could Chihuahua cheese or even non-Mexican stuff like Mozzarela and it would be fine, it's not like I've never done it but if possible I'd recommend getting your hands on either Queso Freco or Panela & trying them out.
 

Baffle

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Some chicken and bacon thing:


  • Feta (~40g per serving) (not sure about this, going from memory)
  • Chicken fillet (1 per serving)
  • Bacon (1-2 rashers per serving)
  • Onion (~1/4 per serving)

  1. Finely dice the onion. Fry it. Mix the onion with the feta to create a paste.
  2. Butterfly the chicken. Fill it with the paste. Close the chicken.
  3. Wrap bacon around the chicken (~2 rashers per fillet, though 1 is fine)
  4. Cook in the oven at ~190C for 40 minutes.
  5. Serve with whatever you please (rice is good, but can be dry so chuck some soy on it).
 

Chimpzy

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Oh well, might as well do another Belgian classic

Vol-Au-Vent aka Vidée aka Koninginnehapje aka Belgian style chicken fricassee

Ingredients:
  • 300g ground meat (I prefer beef/porc mix)
  • 2 egg yolks
  • breadcrumbs
  • 1 chicken
  • 250g Parisian mushrooms
  • 80g butter + some extra for cooking
  • 80g flower
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1.5l chicken broth
  • 1.5dl cream
  • lemon juice
  • nutmeg
  • dry madera wine, port or sherry
  • puff pastry cups
Bring the chicken broth to a boil in a large pot, but in the chicken. Meanwhile, mix the ground meat and one egg yolk together. Add in breadcrumbs until the mix is firm enough to roll into balls about 1-1,5cm in diameter. You can also already slice the mushrooms, then give them a nice browning in a frying pan in plenty of butter and a clove of garlic. Put aside. Once the chicken is fully cooked, take it out of the broth and put aside to let cool. Pour about a liter of the broth out of the pot into a container. Now cook the meatballs in the pot with the remaining broth for about 4-5 minutes and take them out. Once the chicken if cool enough, shred it into bite-sized pieces.

Now the sauce. Take a big pot (you can rince out and reuse the one for the chicken/meatballs), put it on medium heat and melt 80g of butter. When it's about to brown, add in the 100g flower, then stir until you get a dry roux (if it smells like cookies, you did it right). Now pour in chicken broth while constantly stirring (to prevent clumps). Also stir in the cream and a dash of dry madera wine (port of sherry work too). Keep stirring until you get a nice creamy sauce, not runny, but also not so thick it sticks. Add in the meatballs, shredded chicken and mushrooms (if there's cooking juices from the mushrooms left in the pan, add a little of that too for extra flavour). Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Now put the heat lower. You want it hot, but not boiling. Let everything reheat and soak for at least 5 minutes, preferable 30+ mins.

Just before serving, stir in a squeeze of lemon juice. Spoon a healthy helping over a warm puff pastry cup. As a side, serve french fries, potato croquettes or pomme duchesse (or really any fried/baked potato product). A nice brown bread will also do in a pinch.
 

lil devils x

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Texas Carne Asada
Flank steak( You can use skirt steak or even tougher cuts if you want to marinade it longer, I always like to use flank myself though if I can find it.)
Yellow Onion
Red and Yellow Bell Pepper
Jalapeno ( optional for heat) Also How to tell how hot your Jalapeno is:
Tortillas
Salsa w/ cilantro
Shredded Mexican cheeses

Marinade:
1/2 Cup Red wine Vinegar
1/4 Cup Bacon grease
1/3 Cup Lime juice
1/3 Cup Orange juice
1 Cup Water
1/2 Orange, sliced
1/2 Lime Sliced
1/4 Bunch of Cilantro ( no stems)
2 Tablespoons Fresh Garlic, peeled and crushed
1 1/2 Tablespoons Salt
1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
1 Tablespoon Ground Cumin
1 Tablespoon White Pepper
1 Tablespoon Lippia graveolens ( aka Mexican Oregano, not the same plant or flavor as Mediterranean Oregano)
1/4 teaspoon Ground Clove

Combine all marinade ingredients in a bowl and wisk. Place beef in shallow baking dish and cover with marinade. Marinade for at least a couple of hours, I often do so over night. The tougher the cut of beef, the longer you marinade.


Slice yellow onion, red and yellow bell peppers, and caramelize them in a skillet. if you want it a bit hotter, add sliced or chopped Jalapeno.
How to caramelize if you do not know already:

You can cook the marinated beef on the grill or in a skillet ( whichever you have available) I have done both ways and it always comes out great due to marinade.
I also like to add a little El Jimador half way through for extra flavor now and then,.*Don't use crappy Tequilla, that will just make it taste bad*

Before cutting your beef, be sure to allow it to rest:

When you cut your beef, make sure you do so against the grain to increase tenderness:

Before serving your meat should be cut like this:

Warm your tortillas then I like put the cut beef on my tortilla, pile the peppers and onions then add some shredded Mexican cheese, and either homemade or local salsa.
NOM! NOM!

I have won a good number of cook offs in my time so hope you enjoy!
 
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Asita

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Ok, little different track, I'm going to pitch a smoothie to you all.

Now for some context, a few months into 2019, my father, brother and I figured that we needed to lose some weight and this time we actually were going to go through with it. So we set up a competition, aiming to lose about 10% of our body weight in a three month period. We weighed in weekly to keep our feet to the coals, so to speak, but we all had our own meal and exercise routines. And one thing I got turned onto that really worked for me was using a smoothie as the bulk of my lunch (with maybe another hundred or so calories worth of carbs to stave off the hunger a bit better). Of course, it's still a smoothie, so this'll be pretty easy on the prep.

The recipe here assumes a 16oz blender, which - if using as a meal replacer as I did - constitutes about a single serving

2 slices of frozen peach
1/2 banana
fill up to the 16oz line with mixed berries (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, any combination that suits your fancy)
add 3oz of low calorie yogurt (I personally used carbmaster and enjoyed using their blackberry, white chocolate raspberry, peach, and banana cream pie)
fill to the halfway mark with almond milk
fill to the max fill mark with cranraspberry juice
add a small dollop of honey to taste (never measured, just eyeballed)
Blend until smooth

Now, I liked to add an additional step here because it's something I think is worth a shot if you have the luxury of time. I threw my smoothie in the freezer overnight, and then let it thaw for about an hour and a half before I was ready to sit down to lunch. This meant meant that instead of having the consistency of...well, a smoothie, it was like I was eating something closer to a berry sherbert, which really hit the spot during the summer.
 

Kyrian007

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I went a little stir crazy this weekend and tried my hand at some fusion cooking. It... did not go great.

So I made some chicken biryani, rolled it into tortillas and baked them to crisp up the tortillas a little. Then smothered them with a hot homemade palak curry sauce. So, enchiladas with a bright green sauce and an Indian rather than Mexican taste.

I still don't think it was that bad an idea but I used too many habanero peppers in the sauce, I usually use cayenne. After a few bites I couldn't really tell how it tasted.
 

Chimpzy

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1 Tablespoon Lippia graveolens ( aka Mexican Oregano, not the same plant or flavor as Mediterranean Oregano)
Is the Mexican oregano important for the overal flavor i.e. can it be left out, or maybe substituted?
 

lil devils x

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Is the Mexican oregano important for the overal flavor i.e. can it be left out, or maybe substituted?
According to this:
You can replace the herb spoonful-to-spoonful with another dried herb (Mexican oregano is always dried). Try dried marjoram (also from the origanum family, but similar to Mexican oregano in its citrusy, floral ways) or dried verbena. Or go ahead and use dried Mediterranean oregano—just use a little less.


ALSO, if you don't have access to Mexican oregano in your local supermarket, and you want to try using it, you often can buy it online on Etsy, Amazon or Walmart.

When I used Mediterranean oregano, however, I noticed a difference, but others who ate it said it tasted fine. But, then again, I am a supertaster, so I notice every little thing in food that most likely go unnoticed by other people.
The wiki is right that it increases selective eating, as I can taste things in foods that no one around me seems to notice is even there, so I often tend to be shocked that other people can even eat the things they do. For example, food that tastes fine to others I often think tastes old or spoiled, Yogurt, regardless of flavor, type or brand, always overwhelmingly tastes like mold , and I have to have fish prepared in a specific manner and types or the lake or ocean taste is too overwhelming for me to eat it.

Most of the time it is not a good thing to be able to taste things other's don't, I never want to offend a host with a poor reaction and have had to suffer through some pretty terrible tasting meals in order not to offend while everyone else seemed fine. It is good in other ways like being able to taste ingredients though when trying foods to be able to replicate the recipes more accurately than most.
 

Chimpzy

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According to this:
You can replace the herb spoonful-to-spoonful with another dried herb (Mexican oregano is always dried). Try dried marjoram (also from the origanum family, but similar to Mexican oregano in its citrusy, floral ways) or dried verbena. Or go ahead and use dried Mediterranean oregano—just use a little less.


ALSO, if you don't have access to Mexican oregano in your local supermarket, and you want to try using it, you often can buy it online on Etsy, Amazon or Walmart.
Yeah, I tried looking at online vendors, but finding one that'll actually ship internationally at a decent rate is a real pain. I'm willing to spend on importing an ingredient, but only if I know it's something I'll be using a lot. If not sure, I look hard at the cost. There's some local specialty webshops that carry it with better shipping rates, but those almost invariably jack up the price of the product itself, and most of the time simply don't have any in stock. Hence the interest in a substitute.

I have both dried marjoram and verbena tho, so I'll give it a whirl with one of those.

When I used Mediterranean oregano, however, I noticed a difference, but others who ate it said it tasted fine. But, then again, I am a supertaster, so I notice every little thing in food that most likely go unnoticed by other people.
The wiki is right that it increases selective eating, as I can taste things in foods that no one around me seems to notice is even there, so I often tend to be shocked that other people can even eat the things they do. For example, food that tastes fine to others I often think tastes old or spoiled, Yogurt, regardless of flavor, type or brand, always overwhelmingly tastes like mold , and I have to have fish prepared in a specific manner and types or the lake or ocean taste is too overwhelming for me to eat it.

Most of the time it is not a good thing to be able to taste things other's don't, I never want to offend a host with a poor reaction and have had to suffer through some pretty terrible tasting meals in order not to offend while everyone else seemed fine. It is good in other ways like being able to taste ingredients though when trying foods to be able to replicate the recipes more accurately than most.
Ooof, sounds rough. I have a more sensitive palate than most, and quite good at tasting individual ingredients in a dish (especially if it's one I don't like, those I taste through absolutely everything), but yogurt tasting like mold, that sounds ... unpleasant.
 

Bob_McMillan

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Anyone got suggestions for recipes that serve a lot of people? I love all the cooking and food YouTubers and bloggers I follow, but oftentimes their recipes work for only two or three people. Since I'm living at home because of the quarantine, I need to cook at least one meal a day for seven people, and man it gets tiring. I've done the same pasta dishes multiple times the past two months, cooking is starting to be less fun and more of a chore.

[insert random thoughts about hundred year egg congee]

[departs with a sigh because it's hundred year egg we're talking about]
I'll never understand why people actually throw up or gag when they eat century eggs. I fucking love the things, ever since I was a child.
 

lil devils x

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Yeah, I tried looking at online vendors, but finding one that'll actually ship internationally at a decent rate is a real pain. I'm willing to spend on importing an ingredient, but only if I know it's something I'll be using a lot. If not sure, I look hard at the cost. There's some local specialty webshops that carry it with better shipping rates, but those almost invariably jack up the price of the product itself, and most of the time simply don't have any in stock. Hence the interest in a substitute.

I have both dried marjoram and verbena tho, so I'll give it a whirl with one of those.

Ooof, sounds rough. I have a more sensitive palate than most, and quite good at tasting individual ingredients in a dish (especially if it's one I don't like, those I taste through absolutely everything), but yogurt tasting like mold, that sounds ... unpleasant.
Yea, I can imagine shipping rate are likely pretty bad there, I always try to get whatever I can with free shipping here if possible. You would likely not need Mexican oregano unless you make a lot of Native American, Mexican or Tex-mex foods like I do here.
If you do make the Carne Asada, let me know how it turns out for you! :D

Keep in mind, we like a good deal of flavor here, so I hope it isn't too overwhelming for you. I am not accustomed to blander foods. This recipe is for a good amount of meat, so if making less, you might want to reduce the amounts or be prepared to share with family and friends!
 

lil devils x

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Anyone got suggestions for recipes that serve a lot of people? I love all the cooking and food YouTubers and bloggers I follow, but oftentimes their recipes work for only two or three people. Since I'm living at home because of the quarantine, I need to cook at least one meal a day for seven people, and man it gets tiring. I've done the same pasta dishes multiple times the past two months, cooking is starting to be less fun and more of a chore.
Most of my recipes are for a good amount of people, as I grew up in a large family, however, I am not sure if you have the ingredients readily available in your part of the world. It really can be a chore to cook for the whole family, not to mention expensive. It is also a matter of what you have available on hand as well. Having the right tools can make a huge difference in the amount of time it takes to cook for a lot of people. Do you use a BBQ smoker like this? or even a smaller one? or an outdoor wood burning pit of some sort?
I know in some regions they do and some they do not, and I am not sure if wood burning smoker methods are available where you are located.

What about a big 8+qt slow cooker or crock pot? Usually recipes where you can make a BBQ brisket in the smoker or throw roast in the slow cooker and let it cook all day makes it so much easier. It is also easier to be able to throw a bunch of meat on the grill all at once. Then all is left is sauteing and steaming up some easy sides. A large roaster is also good to have on hand as you can either roast one big turkey, or multiple chickens at once. Having to cook stuff in small amounts is a nightmare for large families. In my family we had to use two ovens and a roaster while cooking much of the time growing up, especially if my cousins came over as well. I still do have to cook like that on the holidays, but I sure do not miss doing it multiple times a day like I did growing up. It is nice now when they visit and then go home and wait a bit to come back before I have to do all that again. XD