Kitchen and Cooking Thread

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by fotze

Risotto sucks, don't make it. Never had it and liked it. Why does Ramsay always have that on his show?

Probably because it's something that most people are scared to make on their own. Thus, it seems upscale and he can charge more for it.

[metallicat]

I want to make some sort of stuffed pasta, but I am not sure where or how to start. I don't really want to make my own pasta, but I want to stuff it myself, and then cook it. Can someone suggest where to start?

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Use wonton wrappers to make ravioli. They're available in pretty much any grocery store in the frozen foods section.

[metallicat]

Any suggestion on what to stuff them with? And then how should I cook it? With a tomato sauce in the oven?

[GreenTeaFrapp]

What to stuff them depends upon what you like. A ricotta and spinach mixture would work pretty well for your first attempt. Just defrost some frozen chopped spinach (make sure to squeeze as much water out as possible after defrosting) mix with some ricotta cheese, a beaten egg, salt, pepper. You could add in your favourite herbs as well along with some grated hard cheese like parmesan or romano.

Boil them for a few minutes to cook.

[Biff]

Wonton wrappers work, but lead to slightly "watery" noodles in my experience. I wondered about using a double wrapper next time. However, I then invested in the Pasta Roller attachment for my stand mixer...and now homemade pasta dough is pretty easy.

In terms of stuffing, a spinach / ricotta is nice. The Silver Spoon cookbook (the bible for Italian cooking....and still a traditional gift to most Italian brides), suggest one egg (lightly beaten), ricotta, finely chopped spinach, 8 ounces of small-diced Mozzarella, a cup of Grated Parmigiano Regiano (used Pecarino for half of this last time..mmmmmmm), and herbs / seasonings to taste. From experience, I can tell you this created a marvelously flavoured filling and, ultimately, very tasty Ravioli.

[metallicat]

I bought some fresh lasagna noodles that I am going to try using, and some ricotta cheese. No spinach, but I bought some imitation crab meat that I am going to toss in I think. I wasn't able to find any real crab meat, so this might have to do.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Tower

Though we could see the cooking prowess of the CP community. From things like keeping food longer and tasty cooking ideas.

Anyone have a good way to cook pork tenderloin?

Gourmet Pork Tenderloin

This is pretty well fool proof if you follow the times. It is always extremely tender and moist and is never overcooked.



For Pork:
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cinnamon
2 large pork tenderloins (around 2 1/2 pound total)
2 Tbsp oil

For Glaze:
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp finely minced garlic, around 3 large cloves
1 Tbsp Tabasco or to taste

Preheat oven to 350°. Stir together salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, and cinnamon. Put pork tenderloins on a piece of saran. Coat the pork with the spice rub. Roll up in the saran and leave at room temperature for approximately one hour. Heat oil in a 12 inch ovenproof skillet (handle has to be ovenproof as well) over moderate heat and sear pork to a golden brown on all sides, about 4 minutes total. Leave pork in skillet.

Stir together brown sugar, minced garlic and Tabasco and pat onto top of each tenderloin. Roast the tenderloins in the middle of the oven until a thermometer inserted diagonally in the center of each tenderloin registers 140°. Remove from the oven. Let the pork tenderloins stand in the skillet, tented in foil, at room temperature for 10 minutes. (Temperature will rise to about 155° while standing).

For Sauce:
After the tenderloins have rested for ten minutes in the skillet, remove them to a warmed dish. Keep the tenderloins tented in foil. To the pan drippings stir in 1 1/2 cups chicken broth, heat on medium-high, stirring constantly, until bubbly. Add 1 Tbsp cornstarch to 2 Tbsp of cold chicken broth or water and stir until dissolved. While stirring the sauce, slowly add the cornstarch mixture. Heat until sauce is thickened and smooth, about 3-5 minutes. If the sauce does not thicken sufficiently, turn up the heat to high and reduce it to the right thickness. Slice pork and place on a platter, top with sauce and serve.

Serves 6-8.

Note: You can jazz up the sauce a bit if you like. After you have removed the tenderloins from the skillet, add some diced shallots or onions and mushrooms and saute. Then add the broth for your sauce and continue. And if you want to make the sauce a bit tangier, substitute a bit of red wine or ruby port for some of the chicken broth.

[Biff]

Beef Bourguinon is simmering away on the stove. Filling the house with a lovely bouquet. 2.5 hours until I can eat it, though.

[metallicat]

The cannelloni turned out amazing! Thanks guys!

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Tower

Anyone have a good way to cook pork tenderloin?

I posted a recipe for pork tenderloins for you. Try this salad as an accompaniement. The pears in this salad go perfectly with pork.

SPINACH SALAD WITH ROASTED PEARS AND BACON



Vinaigrette:
2/3 cup apple, red currant or pear jelly, melted until liquid
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
4 tsp grainy Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp each of salt and freshly ground pepper
1 to 2 tsp fresh ginger, peeled and very finely grated
2 Tbsp liquid honey (or to taste)
3/4 cup oil

Salad:
6 cups fresh baby spinach leaves
3/4 cup pecans, toasted
3/4 cup sun dried cranberries
3 medium sized pears, such as Bosc or red D”anjou, quartered and cored
3/4 cup shaved Manchego cheese
8 rashers thick sliced bacon, naturally cured
toasted pumpkin seeds (optional)


Place all the ingredients for the vinaigrette in a bowl. Whisk vigorously until emulsified. Put in a jar with a tight fitting lid and let cool to room temperature. Taste and adjust for more honey or salt if necessary.

Preheat oven to 350F. Place the pecans in a baking dish and bake in the oven for 8 minutes or until the pecans are lightly toasted but not dark brown. Remove from oven and cool.

Place the pears on a rack in a baking dish, put in the oven and bake for 5 to 8 minutes, just until the pears have softened somewhat but are not soft and mushy. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature. Alternatively, you could brush the pears with a bit of oil and either grill or broil for around 2 minutes.

Fry the bacon just until lightly crisped. You could also do this in a microwave. The bacon should be chewy and just a bit crisp. Drain well on paper towels. Tear into bite sized pieces and cool and set aside.

Divide the spinach among 4 serving plates. Divide both the pecans and cranberries into 4 portions and sprinkle over the spinach. Arrange 3 pear quarters over each plate of spinach. Divide the bacon pieces into 4 portions and sprinkle over the salads. Next divide the shaved Manchego cheese into 4 portions and sprinkle over the salads. Finally, drizzle each plate of salad with dressing and serve immediately. If using the pumpkin seeds, sprinkle a few over the top of each salad.

Serve extra dressing on the side.

Note 1: This recipe makes a lot of dressing. It keeps for a long time covered in the refrigerator. Whisk each time before using.

Note 2: I use my own homemade crabapple jelly for the vinaigrette in this recipe. When I make the jelly, I add some cinnamon sticks during the cooking stage. I would recommend adding a dash of cinnamon to the vinaigrette.

[Biff]

As did the Beef Bourguinon. Should be even better for leftovers.

[Kybosh]

A favourite of mine that is ridiculously easy and delicious - Basil Pesto chicken w/ cheese:

1) coat bottom of glass pan with olive oil
2) put cleaned chicken breasts on pan
3) put basil pesto all over chicken
4) put diced mushrooms on said chicken
5) put mozzarella cheese on said mushrooms
6) cover with tin foil
7) bake at 350 F for 25 minutes then broil to desired brownness
8) impress girls

I'll leave the side dishes up to you.

[CMPunk]

Originally Posted by fotze

Risotto sucks, don't make it. Never had it and liked it. Why does Ramsay always have that on his show?

Probably because he can make it properly? I hear it can be a tough dish to make, but I've always liked it when I've had it

[sadora]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

Any tips from the resident Italians for how to make a perfect Rissotto?

Here's a recipe for Mushroom Risotto along with some hints.

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil
Shallots, finely diced
Garlic, finely diced
Mushrooms, diced (preferably crimini)
Chanterelles, dried (soak in water until mushrooms get soft and reserve the liquid. Give them a quick, coarse chop)
Arborio Rice
Dry white wine, chardonnay
Chicken stock (home made chicken stock will obviously work better than anything you can buy. That said, if you don't want to take the time to make it use a good quality commercial broth)
Salt & pepper, to taste
Italian parsley, chopped
Truffle oil, optional

Directions:

1. In a medium size sauce pan, heat up your chicken stock or broth and bring it to a simmer. You don't want it to boil but it is very important to use a warm liquid to ladle into your risotto.

2. In another medium size sauce pan, heat your oil over medium low temperature and add the shallots and garlic. Sweat until shallots start to become a bit translucent. Make sure not to burn your garlic as you will end up with a horribly bitter taste.
You can use butter instead of oil but be careful, butter has a low burning point and will turn from having a nice nutty flavor to bitter if you don't watch it. Whichever fat you decide to use, make sure it's enough to coat the rice.

3. Add your mushrooms and give them a quick stir before adding the rice.
Arborio rice is the most commercially available for making risotto but there are other, short grain types such as Vialone Nano & Carnoloni that are just as good. There are a few more types but these will yiled a better end product because of their high starch content which gives risotto that creamy texure.

4. Turn up the heat in between medium and medium high and add about 50ml of white wine. Let the rice absorb the wine before moving to the next step.
Having a high temperature when adding alcohol helps it to evaporate faster. All you want here is for the flavor to be absorbed as quickly as possible.

5. Bring the heat back down and begin adding your stock or broth, as well as that liquid you reserved from reconstituting your chanterelles.

A common misconception when making risotto is that you have to constantly stir the dish as you add your liquid. Wrong. The purpose of stirring this dish is for two reasons. One, you want to release the starch from and two, you want to keep the rice from sticking to the pan. Add a ladle or two of the stock/broth and give it a gentle stir, let the rice absorb the liquid and keep repeating this step until the rice is al-dente. This can take anywhere between17 to 24 minutes so please be patient.
6. When the rice is cooked, season with the salt & pepper, add your truffle oil (if you don't have it don't worry) and finish with the italian parsely.

Hope this helps, and for some more recipes check out my blog.

[Ronald Pagan]

I find risotto incredibly easy to make, you just have to be standing over the range for about a half hour.

The base of a risotto is ALWAYS the same:

chop onions and garlic finely
sweat them in a pan with olive oil and salt (means on lowish heat so the onions turn transparent not brown)

toss in a the arbrorio rice and stir with the onions and garlic until the rice starts to look a little transparent and loses that starchy look (about 2-5 minutes)

put in a cup of white wine and get the rice to absorb the wine (this is essential)

Ladle in simmering stock in another pan on the range (vegetable or chicken) to cover the rice. Once the rice absorbs the stock so that it isn't covered ladle in some more. I find that one cup of rice you need about 2.5 - 3 cups of stock. If you don't have that much use all the stock you have and then use water.

Once the rice looks puffed and cooked but not mushy (taste them they should be individual grains) put in a bunch of pepper, butter, and parmesan cheese. How decadent and rich you want it to be is up to you. Good risotto should be oozy and creamy so that would imply lots of butter and cheese.

There you go, basic risotto.

You can play around with it endlessly after that. I use celery carrots and onions as the base. Sometimes I throw in diced butternut squash and saffron strands to give the risotto a nice orange colour. You can saute mushrooms and put them in near the end. Etc.

The basic idea to adding other ingredients is to put them in based on their cooking time. So if I was putting asparagus in I'd put them in near the end etc.

[Ronald Pagan]

Here's a ridiculously easy and cheap recipe that will impress people. Ideal for a dinner date at your place as it takes no times to make and tastes delicious.

In a food processor put in:

2 cloves chopped garlic
a bunch of parley or basil
about 10-20 sundried tomatoes that are rehydrated or from a jar (you can buy sundried tomatoes dried, just put them in a bowl with boiling water and let them sit for 15 minutes)
a package of silken tofu (don't worry)
1/4 - 1/2 cup of olive oil
salt
pepper
(chillis if so desired)

Process it until it's creamy smooth

Meanwhile, boil some long pasta (I like buccatini but spaghetti, linguine, fettucini all work, just buy the good pasta not the garbage from safeway)

Throw the creamy saunce in a pan and heat it to a gentle simmer

In a toaster oven toast some pine nuts, sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds (be careful not to burn them, it usually takes about 3 minutes in the toaster oven)

When the pasta is done, drain it and toss it in the pan with the sauce

Spoon it up and put the toasted seeds ontop. Voila. That will take you all of 10 minutes and will cost about $7.

[BlackEleven]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

Any tips from the resident Italians for how to make a perfect Rissotto?

I'm not Italian, but I make risotto all the time because its awesome. There's millions of different things you can put into a risotto but my favourite is pancetta and mushrooms.

The first tip I have is to make your own stock. I usually take a day a month or so and make stock when I'm doing laundry or something like that. It's dead easy and most of it is just waiting. I just buy two whole chickens and butcher into wings, breasts, legs, and thighs and save those for making other things. The rest of the meat and bones go into a pot with water, root vegtables (carrots, onion, celery), some herbs (bay leaves, parsely and sprigs of whatever leftover herbs I have in the fridge), peppercorns and a bit of salt. Then just let it boil for a couple hours and strain when done. What I don't use right away I freeze.

Second thing I find important is to use real parmesean. Don't skimp, its expensive, but worth it. And don't buy the pre-grated stuff either; they usually mix in cheaper cheese with it. Grate it yourself.

Last thing that I find makes risotto great is butter. Don't use margarine or any sort of a butter subsitute. Use the real stuff, and add a generous portition (along with some parmesean) just before its done.

[sclitheroe]

Get yourself some good cast iron cookware and season it properly. The stuff will last multiple lifetimes, and the heat retention on it is amazing. You can do other nice things like transfer a stove-top dish to the oven without worry as well (eg. brown a hunk of meat and then move it directly to roasting).

A well seasoned cast iron fry pan is as easy to clean as the best non-stick cookware, no joke.

[Biff]

Tonight's dinner:


Fettucine with Creamy Chicken Pesto sauce

Thinly slice chicken breast and saute in Olive oil with salt and pepper. Add medium onion finely diced partway through cooking. Add small amount of chicken stock to prevent excess browning in pan. When chicken is slightly browned, deglaze pan with additional chicken stock. Reduce heat and add finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes and Basil Pesto to taste. Add Ricotta cheese (or cream cheese) and heavy cream. Check for balance of flavours, adding additional pesto, tomatoes, cheese or cream as required.

Serve over fresh pasta with grated Parmesan and / or Pecorino.

It was tasty.