Suggestions on what to cook

[starbuck]

I have a week off work next week. Thought I would like to do a bit of cooking but don't know what.

You know those things you would cook if only you had the time or things you would really love to cook but never got round to(like a proper indian curry sauce which takes 4 hours).

Would like suggestions for what to do prob including a desert/sweet/cake type thing of some kind as well as anything else(meats,pastrie type things etc).

1 thing I am thinking of doing is making fresh pasta which I have always fancied doing but never got round to(I will also need to buy a pasta machine but heard these are only about £25).

Suggest anything(like the best thing you have ever had and would do again if time allowed). I just want to cook some amazing things that you can't/don't do often but are worth doing.

[Zak33]

OK, here goes.

Minestrone Soup: Buys loads of vegetables like carrots, spuds, onions, peppers leeks etc.
ALso need tins on toms AND cabbage and spagetti

Gently fry all vegetable EXCEPT cabbage and tinned toms, in olive oil, until soft. Pour into pan the tinned tomatoes. Gently boil for 15 minutes, with lid ON to keep moisture.

Shred the cabbage, and drop into soup, and grab a handfull of spagetti and mnanually snap it into bits...whatever size you want.

Drop into pan,and keep simmering until spagetti is cooked.

Now the hard part. DONT EAT IT...let it cool.

Re heat about 6 hours later, don't boil it, just heat thoroughly. Serve with crusty bread.


Make some bread too.
If you have time off work, make bread. Always make ROLLS and small ciabbata sized loaves not real whole size loaves. Easier and less fussy.
There are some amazingly easy ciabbata and sunflower bread mixes in the supermarkets, BUT follow your own feelings on the water level to go in...I always use less than they suggest.

Whack ANYTHING you like in with it at the last minute: herbs...sunflower seeds...even small bits of ham chopped fine

Next...hmmmm

Ragu....a real proper spag bol or lasagne with REAL RAGU.

Big packet minced beef. Red wine. Onions. Herbs (mixed italian dried are ok).
Chopped and sieved tomatoes. (ie put REAL tomatoes in a blender and whizz and then sieve) or tinned toms

Large pan. Start EARLY in the morning. Gently fry chopped onions in oil.

Add mince...stir and fry gently.Add tomatoes (either sieved or tinned if you're lazy) Add glass of red wine. Add herbs. Stir until fully mixed, and cooking slowly.

Leave on LOW heat, stirring every 20 minutes for 4-5 hours.

I kid you not.
The beef must literally fall apart. Low heat stops its sticking. I bet it doesnt dry out

It will be the smoothest you've ever had.

Cook spagetti, serve.

[Elmo]

My uncle made a really nice spicy sicillian sausage ragu on sunday, it was sooooooo tasty! I'll see if i can get the recipe and post it, cos it's something a bit different to normal bolognase sauce

[Sair33]

If you are going to attempt fresh pasta (which wasn't as difficult as I had expected when I tried!), an ace thing to make with it is Butternut Squash tortellini. Mmmmm

Peel and dice a Butternut Squash
Roast in the oven (not sure how long, but until it is soft enough to mash).
Mash the squash, then add Ground Almonds (again, not sure how much, but keep adding and tasting until you can definatley taste them!), black pepper, and a little olive oil
IF you have any of the mix left over by this stage, and haven't eaten it all cos its so yummy, you can then use this to fill your tortellini.

Just make the pasta into sheets, use a teaspoon full of mix for each tortllini. Just space each spoonfull out over the sheet, wet around each filling, then lay another sheet of pasta over the top, press down around each filling and make sure the edges are stuck (and make sure there is no air trapped), then cut into individual parcels. Check AGAIN that they are all stuck down around the edges (or they will leak when cooked!)
You can buy special trays to make life easier, but... well, who wants an easy life?!

Cook in boiling water for literally just a few minutes, then serve immediaely with parmesan shavings, olive oil and rocket. Ooohh... I'm hungry now.


.... sorry if that all sounds a bit vague, but experimentation is the best way to get it right! Worth the effort though

[Zak33]

My uncle made a really nice spicy sicillian sausage ragu on sunday, it was sooooooo tasty! I'll see if i can get the recipe and post it, cos it's something a bit different to normal bolognase sauce

that sounds lovely

[Zak33]

thougt of summit else

Go buy NICE EXPENSIVE sausages.

Boil potatoes WITH SKINS ON, cut into cubes, for mash.

Put sausages in grill pan, with chopped onions, and 1/4 fill the grill pan with red wine.

Put under lowest grill setting, and start turning sausages every 3 or 4 minutes, so they're always wet, and cooking slowly, partly in red wine, partly grilled.

This will make THE NO.1 gravy ever. Red wine and sausage juice with onions.

Once spuds are soft, and sprogs nearly cooked in grill, take spuds, drain, get ready to mash...

but AS you mash, add a huge spoonful of mustard AND quite a lot of milk and butter to make it smooth , but remebering the skins are STILL in there for texture.

Mound mustard mash in centre of plate.

Lay sausages down edges of the mountain, like making a bonfire

/\
/ \ like that

pour thick gravy from grill pan down the top, like lava from a volcano, and let the onions in the sauce smother the top.

BET THAT TASTES ACE

[Emphy]

Starter:
If you're making pasta yourself make sure you use hard grained flower (watch for 'grano duro' if you're lucky enough to find an italian brand), also I've found that it is better to have the dough slightly too wet rather than too dry.Remember not to leav it boiling for too long.

As a sauce I recommend halving some cherry tomatoes with a bit of chopped parsley, olive oil and balsamico vinegar.

Main course:
Salad+roast chicken.
Just get some salad with as a dressing a mixture of lime + olive oil+sugar+ salt&pepper

Roast chicken (preferaby free range):
Fill the cavity of the chicken with streaky bacon+3 cloves of garlic. Rub in sunflower oil+salt.
Roast in preheated oven for 45 minutes breast down, make sure to pour juice (use a spoon) from the oven tray over the chicken every 15 minutes. Turn over the chicken, roast for an extra 30-45 minutes, again making sure to pour the juices every 15 minutes. (note that these times also depend on the size of the chicken)

Now the sauce for over the chicken:
leave the chicken on a seperate plate, pour away almost all the fat from the oven tray. Put the oven tray on a high flame splash a generous amount of cognac (about one teacup full) + one teacup full of water into the oven tray. Add a bit of flower to thicken the sauce and reduce slightly.

Dessert:
Pancakes.
mix 75 grams of flower with a pinch of salt in a bowl, make a small pot-hole in the flower, put one egg in there, slowly mix with the flower, slowly add about 200 ml of milk bit by bit, stirring to prevent lumps. Leave the mixture to rest for at least 2 hours.
When frying the pancackes, use butter, and these pancakes are supposed to be thin.
These are heavenly either with maple syrop, or with a mixture of lime&icing sugar

Whoops, got slightly carried away here, I think I'll submit it to the cookery book.