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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

JCC Tomo-spiced karkana ribenes - the foodies' thread

Discussion in 'Community' started by Chyntuck, Sep 24, 2014.

  1. Chyntuck

    Chyntuck Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2014
    Darth Morella Can you recommend a recipe for home-made naan bread? It's not available in the market here and I really liked it when I tried it abroad, but I could never achieve the right texture.

    JoinTheSchwarz Rescuing stale bread is another thing we seem to have in common. Deficit-surfing countries unite! :p Oh, and a question: I also want to try the champis but I'm unfortunately allergic to seafood. I was thinking of using grilled chicken breast or grilled halloumi cheese as a substitute. Any suggestions/recommendations?

    Findswoman I tried the French version of king's cake, galette des rois, back when I was a student in Paris. It's absolutely very rich and buttery, and when the crust is done right, it's crisp and fluffy and simply drop-dead scrumptious. The common name for the little terracotta figurine they hide inside is la fève (the bean) but it's actually a miniature santon and some of them are collector items. I have a friend who make her Nativity scene at home with the fèves she collected from the galettes over the years :)

    I realised that I didn't post the pictures of our vasilopita this year, so here goes. Before baking:

    [​IMG]

    And after:

    [​IMG]

    It's not supposed to crack like that and I'm not sure why it did, but I suspect it has to do with my four-year-old niece's brutality when she spread the dough in the baking dish. In any case it was great. We mixed 2 tsp sugar in the egg yolk mix that you use to brush the pita before baking and it gave it this crunchy, sweet crust on top.

    Rogue1-and-a-half I Are The Internets If you like food-themed movies, you have to see A touch of spice. It revolves around Istanbuli Greek food and it just makes you want to raid the fridge.
     
  2. Healer_Leona

    Healer_Leona Squirrel Wrangler of Fun & Games star 9 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jul 7, 2000
    Made David's Mushroom/shrimp tapas tonight. Found a 'rustic french bread' but it still was too soft, so did as suggested and threw it in the oven for a bit to get crunchy. Also added a bit of sun dried tomato pesto into the two lower mushrooms. The crunchy, chewy bread, the mushrooms and shrimp, the vinaigrette... just wow with the flavor!
     
  3. JoinTheSchwarz

    JoinTheSchwarz Former Head Admin star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 21, 2002
    Chyntuck - I would probably go with some shredded cured ham. It's the other typical thing we usually put on mushrooms in Spain. :p

    And yay Frieda! I'm going to try the sundried tomato pesto thing next time I make some champis.
     
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  4. Darth Morella

    Darth Morella Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Apr 5, 2004
    Chyntuck : sorry, I don't know much about bread making. We usually buy frozen naan from the Indian stores at gas stations. [face_blush]
    You may laugh but there are some pretty good brands if you know what you're looking for.
     
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  5. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    Finally found this thread! Since I'm about to bake a lot for Christmas on Wednesday and for my family's Slava on the last day of this month, I think I'll soon start spamming. With HQ pics of what I'm making, that is.
     
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  6. dp4m

    dp4m Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Nov 8, 2001
    So I made a homemade version of a sandwich I enjoy ordering in.

    The restaurant calls it a Meltdown Sandwich, but it's basically buffalo tenders, mozzarella cheese on a hero.

    It's super simple and relatively inexpensive and makes a crap-ton of food for leftovers, even beyond the sandwich. But I ended up with about 2 lbs. of chicken tenders, one bottle of Red Hot Wing sauce, eggs and breadcrumbs. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees.

    Basically, without pictures, you just take the tenders and rinse them and get them closer to room temperature than the refrigerator (obviously don't let them sit out unattended too long). Set-up a dipping pattern of chicken -> egg -> breadcrumb rotation and just drop them straight in a pan of oil to pan fry (I use grapeseed oil for high heat and little flavor transfer). Once you fill a roasting pan lined with foil with the fried chicken pieces. pour the bottle of wing sauce on top of the tenders and flip/rub to get both sides of each piece covered in sauce. Cook in the oven for 15 minutes.

    Sandwich: Semolina roll, cut in half lengthwise. Put on as many tenders as you can cram for one full layer (or 1.5 layers); top with sliced (not grated) mozzarella cheese. Consume.

    Total cost: probably around $21-25 dollars, which also left me with 2-3 days of leftovers from the above.
    Prep time: 20-30 minutes.
    Cook time: 10 minutes active, 15 minutes passive.

    VARIATIONS:

    1) This will work, almost certainly, without breading for a lighter fare. Pan-grill (instead of pan frying) the chicken and the rest of the steps should likely be the same.
    2) The sauce I use (Frank's Red Hot Wing sauce) is what I consider a "medium" (it's hot, but with the buttery taste, rather than a hotter-aftertaste). You can almost certainly sub in any similar type of sauce, including likely jerk sauces, etc.
    3) Can make your own sauce, ignore cheese, turn it into a straight dish and remove sandwich, pair with other sides, etc.
     
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  7. Healer_Leona

    Healer_Leona Squirrel Wrangler of Fun & Games star 9 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jul 7, 2000
    Today was a horrid day at work and I resolved to make myself a delectable meal.

    [​IMG]

    Blackened Tuna with mango salsa and a chopped brussel sprouts dish.

    Blackened Tuna recipe is from Allrecipes.com , one of my favorite sites. The brussel sprouts recipe is from the Oro oils I'd gotten. I just didn't do it the way it was written. I just put all the ingredients in the pan and cooked it while I did the tuna.

    Chopped brussel sprouts, 1/2 cup pecans, a handful of craisins. Heated some olive oil and balsamic in a pan, added some blood orange bitters I had and tossed the rest in and heated until the sprouts were wilty. it was very good.
     
  8. Harpua

    Harpua Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Mar 12, 2005
    WANT
     
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  9. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    I may or may not try the sprouts thing, with walnuts as pecans don't exist here...since we're required to fast today and I like to pretend I'm fasting.

    Pondering the following cake for tomorrow:
    http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/chocolate-gingerbread-yule-log

    ...and hoping that removing some sugar from the recipe won't be a problem. I would make it in a fir-shaped silicone tin, not as a loaf.

    Also curious about those Portuguese custard cakes.
     
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  10. xblackout

    xblackout Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 5, 2008
    I'd be careful removing some of the sugar. That's going to change the consistency of the cake.

    Made pan fried pork chops tonight and smashed red-skin potatoes that were stellar. So good that I want to make the pork again this week, haha.
     
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  11. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    Thanks for the tip. :)

    I converted the units and it turned out to be far less sugar than I thought. The cake (fir tree shaped, not a roll) is now filled and in the fridge, wrapped in cling film. I'll get milk chocolate for the buttercream in the morning. Or, given my constant paranoia about my condition and how one innocent cake could turn me into a freak who sleeps sixteen hours per day again, I might just melt dark chocolate over it instead.
     
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  12. dp4m

    dp4m Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Nov 8, 2001
    When looking at recipes, a good rule of thumb is: cooking is art, baking is science.
     
  13. Harpua

    Harpua Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Mar 12, 2005
    Yeah, it's true... you want your baking recipes to be exact. With food, there's lots of room for experimentation, but you don't want to **** with a cake recipe too much.
     
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  14. Darth Morella

    Darth Morella Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Apr 5, 2004
    Sorry it took me so long to reply to this. The chili chicken is quite awesome and pretty easy to modify by deciding how much garlic or chilies you use. It's really hard to mess it up. Also, yes, I've been a Poe aficionado since I was like 12 and found my parents book of Poe's illustrated short stories. :p
     
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  15. mavjade

    mavjade Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 10, 2005
    This is why I can bake but I'm crap at cooking. I can't draw for crap either, but science I can do.
    ;)

    I find once you get a good handle on baking something specific, you can usually figure out what can and can't be subbed, added or changed, but I always look up a conversion before changing anything, even the type of flour I'm using.
     
  16. Harpua

    Harpua Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Mar 12, 2005
    Yeah, I live in Colorado, so I have to adjust most baking recipes for high altitude.
     
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  17. dp4m

    dp4m Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Nov 8, 2001

    FTFY... ;) <3
     
  18. Chyntuck

    Chyntuck Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2014
    I tried to make my favourite tyropita last night (it was a disaster, but not because of the recipe). Tyropita means cheese pie and it's usually cheese between two layers of filo pastry or some other crust, but this recipe is from Corfu and it doesn't require any pastry.

    Corfu tyropita

    300 g feta cheese, crumbled
    100 g grated Gruyere or emmenthal
    200 g strained yoghurt (e.g. 1 pot Total Classic)
    3 eggs
    150 g butter, melted
    1 cup flour
    1 tsp baking soda
    pepper and herbs to taste (fresh mint works well)

    Mix all the ingredients in a bowl (it should have the consistency of a chunky cake batter), turn over to a greased baking dish and bake at 180°C for approx 40 minutes or until a golden crust forms on top.

    Darth Morella Thanks for the tip about frozen naan. There's an Indian/Pakistani neighbourhood in downtown Athens; I explored that area a while back looking for a bakery and didn't find one, but I remember seeing frozen naan in the groceries there so I'll give it a try.
     
  19. Darth Morella

    Darth Morella Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Apr 5, 2004
    Cool, ask the locals for recommendations.
     
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  20. mavjade

    mavjade Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 10, 2005
    Yum! Cheese and something in a crust... two of my favorite things together! [face_love]
     
  21. Rogue1-and-a-half

    Rogue1-and-a-half Manager Emeritus who is writing his masterpiece star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 2, 2000
    God, that blackened tuna up there looked amazing. I admit I'm not big on brussel sprouts, but that still looked really good.

    Onion Rings - Chicken Annie's Original, Pittsburg, KS

    [​IMG]

    More about Chicken Annie and her storied history a bit later. Suffice it to say I was in Pittsburg, Kansas, specifically to eat a lot of fried chicken for reasons relating to this whole “food canon” project. Chicken Annie’s Original is one of three fried chicken restaurants in the area. By “in the area” I mean, you can reach all three in less than ten minutes of driving. And they’re all famous across the country. Can you say rivalry? Yes. We’ll get to the other two places shortly and the chicken here too. But Chicken Annie’s boasts another menu item that’s considered canon worthy by many: the onion rings. What to say? I dig onion rings, though once upon a time I didn’t. These are of the very thinly sliced variety, which I prefer to the thicker ones. Some people have taken to calling onion rings this stringy “onion straws,” which is fair. The breading is good, the onion is probably a little muted for some, but I liked these quite a bit. I would not say that they’re particularly great. They’re fine. I’ve had onion rings this good plenty of times though. I wouldn’t call this great food or essential food. Just solid. Whatever. 2 ½ stars.

    tl;dr – thinly sliced onion rings with copious breading; you can get ‘em this good a lot of places. 2 ½ stars.

    More Food Reviews!

    You know, that picture actually makes them look way better than they really are . . .
     
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  22. Harpua

    Harpua Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Mar 12, 2005
    lol.... Rogue, I'm giving you an assignment. I want you to go out and eat something that's colorful and looks (also tastes) delicious. Take a couple of weeks off from brown food. :p
     
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  23. Only-One Cannoli

    Only-One Cannoli Ex-Mod star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Aug 20, 2003
    Or, cooking.
     
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  24. Rogue1-and-a-half

    Rogue1-and-a-half Manager Emeritus who is writing his masterpiece star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 2, 2000
    Brown is a color. :p
     
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  25. Harpua

    Harpua Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Mar 12, 2005
    Yeah, sure, that's true... but I want you to avoid that particular color for two weeks.

    Edit: some generic salad bar doesn't count, so don't even. :p
     
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