FoH Cookbook

[Dinthug]

Any of you guys make sushi and have any tips? I'd like to make sushi but I don't know where to get the ingredients (or what the ingredients are, for that matter) since there aren't too many asian markets in PA... Any good place to buy from online? Think I could live the rest of my life off California rolls, spicy tuna rolls and kani salads.

[Cuppycake]

This is awesome! I just bought a couple new cookbooks yesterday and I'm going to do some experimenting with a few of the recipes. If I find anything good, I'll be sure to post them.

Keep the recipes coming =)

[Ravvenn]

Original post (Go to for image): http://www.fohguild.org/forums/1055406-post62.html

Originally Posted by Radahr Manasponge

OK, a new try with a BIG honkin' chunk of meat. It pays to start with decent cuts:


Also, it's good to prep your stuff first, 'cause once you start cooking, things happen fast:


As noted in the previous post, the light oil coating does two things: Helps the browning in the pan, and helps the spices stick in place...I use salt (either sea salt or kosher), cracked pepper, and a wee bit of garlic powder on this one. I drizzle the oil into a paper plate and just use that:


Slightly blurry pic, but you can see a couple stages of the golden crusting that comes from the high, fast heat of the superhot skillet.


As noted earlier, I keep an eye on the temp after the flip in the oven and yank it around 128-129 degrees:


IMPORTANT: Cover and let them REST. I can't tell you how huge this is to the final quality of the meat. Get them up off the liquid and cover with aluminum foil to finish cooking...see the juice immediately running out of the upper, still-uncovered filet? that would be one soggy piece of meat if you let it sit in that, and the crust you got just perfect in the pan would be ruined!


As the steaks rest, zip together your fixins; use the drippings in the pan from the steaks as an excellent flavor base for your onions and mushrooms, for example:


Plate up! Check the color and texture on the inside of the meat: Check the label up on top again, to get an idea of how THICK this meat is:

Perfect medium rare.

Top with whatever, garnish, serve:


Keep in mind, this was almost 3 *pounds* of Mignon, done to perfection, in the house (no grilling), in...20 minutes. Restaurants can't touch that.

I love my cast iron.

[Ravvenn]

Originally Posted by Dinthug

Any of you guys make sushi and have any tips? I'd like to make sushi but I don't know where to get the ingredients (or what the ingredients are, for that matter) since there aren't too many asian markets in PA... Any good place to buy from online? Think I could live the rest of my life off California rolls, spicy tuna rolls and kani salads.

A lot of organic markets carry sushi materials (rolling mat, paper, wasabi - the legit stuff, sushi rice, chop sticks, and so on).

[Ravvenn]

Original post: http://www.fohguild.org/forums/1085216-post67.html

Originally Posted by Rodyland

Pumpkin and Artichoke Pasta

Ingredients:
8 thin slices of proscuitto
half a butternut pumpkin
150ml cream
150g baby spinach
250g spiral pasta
jar of artichoke hearts

- Dice and roast the pumpkin.
- Cook the pasta
- Wash the baby spinach
- Cut the artichoke hearts into small bite-sized pieces
- Tear the proscuitto into small pieces and brown in a pan
- Add the cream and cook until it begins to thicken
- Add the artichoke hearts and the liquid they came in, and a little pepper to season, and warm through
- Add the pumpkin and pasta, warm through
- Stir through the baby spinach, until it wilts
- Serve with parmesan cheese

Add more or less proscuitto, more or less cream, more or less pumpkin, as you prefer. If you prefer boiled pumpkin, you can do that instead. However firm you like your pasta and pumpkin, cook it a couple of minutes less - the retained heat and warming with the remainder of the ingredients will finish the cooking.

Having it for dinner tomorrow night - delicious.

[Ravvenn]

Original post: http://www.fohguild.org/forums/1085649-post72.html

Originally Posted by Meh

I've always taken a liking to very simple recipes with very little clean up so heres some...

Baked Garlic French Fries

* 1 large baking potato
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1/2 teaspoon paprika
* 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
* 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

Preheat oven to 420 degrees F. Mix oil and seasoning in a plastic bag, peel and cut potato to medium size fries and add to bag. Mix and spread out on a covered baking sheet.

Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown (watch them carefully). Turning half way through(I just toss em around with something)

Chicken Marinade

1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon sherry (doesn't have to be great just not cooking sherry, never use cooking wines)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 cloves garlic, crushed
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

Mix everything together and marinade for 4 hours. Cook chicken until no longer pink and juice runs clear. DISCARD the marinade(real important, don't try to make a sauce out of it)

[Ravvenn]

Original post (Go to for image): http://www.fohguild.org/forums/1085714-post73.html

Originally Posted by Sky

I have been havin fun screwing around with some cooking..

Orange Chicken

6 Large Oranges
1 Tsp Finely Minced Garlic
1/4 C Minced White Onion
2-3 Cleaned Boneless Chicken Breasts
1 Cup Rice
3 Tbls Butter
Olive Oil
Corn Starch

In one pan, combine the juice from the oranges, garlic, onion and butter and reduce. Cut the boneless chicken into small peices and fry in olive oil. (You may add some garlic to this process if you really like garlic)

Once the sauce is partially reduced and the chicken is cooked add the chicken to the sauce. Simmer on low for a few minutes.

Cook rice.

Use the corn starch to thicken the sauce further (to taste; remember to premix the corn starch in a small amount of cold water to prevent gloping)

Serve the orange butter chicken over the rice. Salt/pepper to taste.

I normally have this with a small salad, and infact, this is what I am having tonight!

[Vatoreus]

Awesome, I'll have more incoming soon, getting some free time to take up my cooking again.

[Etoille]

Cherry Lambic BBQ Sauce

2 tablespoons butter/margarine
1 vidalia onion, finely chopped
2 cups pitted black or sour cherries, drained if canned, thawed if frozen, or 3/4 dried cherries
1 1/2 cups kriek lambic or other cherry beer (should be easy to find in a liquor store)
1/2 cup heinz ketchup (yes heinz)
1/2 cup cider vinegar
6 tablespoons brown sugar
2 heaping tablespoons honey
1/4 cherry or raspberry or strawberry preserves
1 1/2 tablespoons worchestershire sauce (lea and perrins)
smoked sea salt
black pepper (mccormick's garlic pepper grinder actually for the win)
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoon liquid smoke
2 serrano chiles

1. Using tongs, scorch the serrano chiles over an open flame (grill) until skins are black. Bring inside, let cool for 5 mins. Remove skin of chiles (should rub right off), slice open and remove seeds and inner 'meat' of chile. Slice into pieces.

2. Melt butter in heavy, non reactive saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until translucent but not brown - 3 to 4 mins. Sprinkle in salt and pepper. Add cherries, chiles, and garlic, cook until soft - about 2 mins. If using dried cherries add 2-3 tablespoons water.

3. Add the beer and increase heat to high. Reduce by half, 4-6 mins. Reduce heat to medium and add ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar, liquid smoke, honey, cherry preserves, worchestershire sauce, more salt and pepper. Let sauce simmer for 4 - 6 mins or longer, depending on preference for thickness.

4. Remove pan from heat, let cool slightly - puree in blender/food processor.


Sauce keeps for at least a week. for use on baby back ribs, pulled pork, chicken and salmon. whatever you dont use can be used to make burgers below which can be made into patties and frozen for future use.


Cherry "Love" Burgers -

85/15 ground beef
finely shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 sauteed chopped vidalia onion (in EVOO)
liquid smoke to taste
smoked sea salt
fresh ground pepper
pinch (i mean PINCH) of vanilla extract
soy sauce
worchester sauce
cherry lambic bbq sauce

combine all above ingredients in a bowl to form patties - roughly 1/3 lb each. (ingredient proportions will be relative to your particular tastes).

top burgers with aged cheddar cheese (NOT COMMERCIAL SLICES), roasted red pepper, grilled vidalia onion, baby lettuce and/or radicchio and extra bbq sauce. serve on potato rolls.

[Adam12]

Ugh, fuck this thread. I'm a line cook, I don't actually remember recipes, just how to make shit. I'll post what I can remember, but limit to one a day.

Hummus:

Fill up your food processor (not full, like half full anyway) with garbanzo beans (chick peas to the niggas).

4 - 8 large cloves of garlic (you can mince, but your robocoup will eat it up anyway). Into the robocoup.

2 large jarred red peppers (or you can just roast a couple). Into the robocoup.

A punch (yes, a punch) of sea or kosher salt. If you went heavy on the garlic, go alittle heavier on the salt.

2 teaspoons of tahini (you can usually find this in the "ethnic" section of the store, it's a tan colored liquid). Guess where this goes?

Fire your food processor up, slowly add olive oil and water (I'd add about 2/1 oil/water) through the top until you reach your desired consistency, and voila. It looks like shit, but it's good. Serve with kalamata olives with some toasted focaccia bread and you're good to go.

[Etoille]

goat cheese and spinach crusted opah (can sub salmon or swordfish or tuna - anything with a strong texture as opah is not a common find)

1/2 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup commercially prepared demi-glace (dont do your own, way too much time)
olive oil
3 cloves minced garlic
2 cups packed chopped spinach
1/4 cup soft goat cheese (i recommend simple chevre)
1/4 cup marscarpone
1/4 cup sour cream
smoked sea salt
black pepper (again mccormick garlic pepper grinder is win)
opah filets

1. combine red wine and demiglace in sauce pan. simmer over medium heat then reduce heat to low. cook to reduce sauce until thick enough to coat spoon.

2. heat 2 tablespoons evoo in saute pan over medium-high heat. add garlic and spinach and saute for one minute, or just until spinach wilts. set aside to cool.

3. in a bowl, combine goat cheese, marscarpone, and sourcream - stirring to blend it. press excess moisture out of spinach using a paper towel then add to cheese mixture.

4. set oven to bake at 400. coat one pyrex dish with evoo or nonstick spray (lightly). season opah with salt and pepper to taste. spread cheese mixture on top of fish. bake for (this is going to vary depending on what fish you use, how thick the filets are etc) 15 mins, then broil for remaining 5.

5. pour demiglace/redwine sauce over fish and serve. preferably with a rice side and some crisp veggies as this is a super rich dish.

[Etoille]

mussels on the grill

this is a really simple dish but the prep time and the quality of the mussels is what makes or breaks it.

get some mussels from the market. clean and 'debeard' them. any mussels which dont close tightly in response to a light tap should be discarded as they are dead.

you will be a really really horrifically bad person here - youre going to cook the little suckers alive.

combine butter, salt, pepper, garlic, and whatever else you feel like adding in a large sauce pan depending on volume of the mussels you are cooking. great combos are:

1. nothing beyond salt butter pepper garlic thyme parsley and some onions

2. salt butter pepper garlic proscutto leeks

3. salt butter pepper garlic belgian wit beer orange zest onions

play around. mussels are fairly cheap and the time invested isnt that much.

throw mussels on grill til the shells pop open. throw em in a big bowl pour the butter mixture over em and eat with some crusty bread.

[Etoille]

another super easy griller thriller

slice zucchini, yellow squash vertically (ie long strips).

place in pyrex dish and apply evoo, smoked sea salt, garlic pepper (if you havent noticed the smoked sea salt and garlic pepper are my standard seasoning), some fresh basil, along with some smoked paprika.

let sit for 20 mins in the dish.

throw on grill for 4-5 mins per side, turning 90 degrees half way thru each sides grilling to get nice cross hatching.

you can also throw on some vidalia onions in the same thing which grill up beautifully. id imagine peppers prolly work well too, minus the paprika.

ok done for the nite. we just did rack of lamb with the neighbors and three bottles of wine later im shattered. lamb recipe tommorow, along with the ribs that are supposed to go with the cherry lambic bbq sauce.

[Falkensyn]

Some quick and easy recipes for the summer;

Bruschetta w/basil and tomatoes:

2 servings:

4 slices of bread or 1 french baguette
1 fist of fresh basil
10-12 cherry tomatoes
olive oil
2 cloves of garlic

Fry the bread in a frying pan with some olive oil, high temperature, about 10-15 seconds on each side.
Chop the garlic and basil into small pieces, put them in a bowl with a healthy dose of olive oil. Mash the tomatoes with a fork in the bowl along with the garlic, basil and olive oil. Add the topping to the fried bread and serve. This is a nice starter for pretty much all kinds of courses.

Faux-Thai Chicken with a twist;

Skinless chicken breasts
A fist of Coriander leaves
2-3 cloves of garlic
A fist of peanuts
1-2 whole Lime or Lemon, chopped in quarts (I use about 1 lime/lemon per 2 chicken breasts)
A large glass of decent white wine

Chop the chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces, finely chop the garlic and coriander leaves. Fry the chicken for a couple of minutes in some olive oil, add coriander, garlic, peanuts and lime. Pour the glass of wine into the pan, let it simmer until most of the wine is gone. Serve with rice or fried vegetables (I usually use a mix of carrots, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower and water chestnuts)

[Etoille]

Originally Posted by Dinthug

Any of you guys make sushi and have any tips? I'd like to make sushi but I don't know where to get the ingredients (or what the ingredients are, for that matter) since there aren't too many asian markets in PA... Any good place to buy from online? Think I could live the rest of my life off California rolls, spicy tuna rolls and kani salads.

california rolls are pretty easy to make -

id recommend going to amazon.com to find things youll need such as a sushi rolling mat (bamboo)

california rolls are simply rice, nori (seaweed paper), crab stick, and cucumber.

if you want to make any sort of spicy roll the typical 'sauce' is a combination of sriracha sauce (avail in most grocery stores under ethnic foods section - its the squeeze bottle with the rooster on it) and mayo mixed in with the chopped fish and rolled up with other goodies like cucumber, avocado etc.

the one thing id recommend however if youre going to make sushi is that you go to get your fish at the freshest place you can find it. more than likely unless you have a great fishmarket in town (theres one in DC somewhere that we keep putting on our list to go to) in your area the freshests places will be a whole foods or wegmans. most of these places however do not sell fish that they would recommend be made into sushi (for legal reasons - it does not mean that it would be bad for sushi).

you can make any fish into sushi or sashimi by freezing it SOLID for 3 days. (recommended time total in freezer - 5 or more days). this should kill anything harmful in the fish. defrost, chop up, enjoy. when i make it i still sear the sides (just enough to sear the sides like a rare steak) because i still get concerned about contamination but its prolly not necessary.

buy yourself a book which discusses technique on rolling, combinations etc. almost as important as freshness when you really get into it is the knife you use and how you cut the fish.