Since cooking seems to be somewhat of a hobby for many of us, I thought perhaps a dedicated recipe thread might be a good idea.

I found a really good Chili-Mac recipe the other day and since today was kind of cool and rainy, I thought I'd try it out. Easy to make and very tasty. I included the beans but they could easily be left out.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves , minced
1 onion , finely chopped
1 red bell pepper chopped
1 lb ground beef
28 oz crushed tomato
14 oz red kidney beans , drained
2 1/2 cups beef broth
1/2 lb elbow macaroni, uncooked
2 cups cheese (cheddar, Monterey Jack)
Cilantro or chives finely chopped , for garnish

Spices:

1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp oregano
½ tsp black pepper
¾ tsp salt

Instructions:

Heat oil in large pot over high heat. Add garlic and onion, cook for 1 minute. Then add bell pepper and cook until onion is translucent.
Add beef and cook, breaking it up as you go.
Once the beef turns from red to brown, add remaining ingredients except cheese. Stir, bring to simmer, then turn the heat down to medium. Cover and cook for 10 - 12 minutes or until the macaroni is al dente, meaning just cooked, still a tiny bit on the firm side.
Turn the stove OFF but leave the pot on the stove. Stir through half the cheese – it should be a bit saucy. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Top with remaining cheese, put the lid back on and leave until the cheese melts - about 2 minutes.
Sprinkle with cilantro or chives, if desired, and serve immediately.

I’ll play


Chicken Breast Supreme
(Yields 8 servings)

My wife of 35 years agreed to go on our 2nd date after having this chicken dish. So, at least it’s good for something… The dish takes 1+ day to prepare, but nothing worthwhile comes easy. I promise this meal will be a favorite.

Ingredients:
• 1-pint favorite bourbon
• 8 chicken breasts (boned and skinned halves)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/8 cup lemon juice
• 2 tea spoons Worchester sauce
• 2 tea spoons celery salt
• 1 tea spoon paprika
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 2 tea spoon salt
• 1/4 tea spoon pepper
• 1/3 cup dry Sherry
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup fine bread crumbs (buttered if possible)

[Pour bourbon over ice, and enjoy while preparing the recipe]

Combine and mix sour cream, lemon juice, Worchester, celery salt, paprika, garlic, salt and pepper in large mixing bowl. After washing and cleaning chicken of fat, dip each breast in sour cream mixture, coating well. Placed coated chicken in large baking pan, cover pan with clear wrap, and refrigerate over-night.

Next day, place bread crumbs in large container. Remove chicken and roll in bread crumbs. Arrange breaded chicken in single layer in large, shallow baking dish (could be covered and frozen here if desired).

To bake, let chicken stand at room temperature for 1 hour. Melt butter and shortening over low heat. Add sherry. Spoon half of mixture over chicken. Bake uncovered in preheated 350-degree oven for 45 minutes. Spoon remaining butter/wine mix over chicken and bake an additional 15 minutes.

I prefer to serve the chicken over rice, cooked in chicken broth (rather than water). Enjoy!

Stay safe, Steve

Great recipe CoinRoller.

I tried it tonight and loved it!

Will be making it again.

Spicy Crustless Quiche

Ingredients:
8 Eggs
1 LB spicy pork sausage
1.5 cups of your favorite cheese (I use monty jack)
.5 - 1.0 cups of half and half

Step one -
Cook sausage, remove from heat, separate excess fat

mix eggs with half and half (we stay closer to .5 cups). Once consistent texture, add cheese and cooked sausage.

Spray large pie pan with canola oil lightly, dump in mixture, cook for 40-50 minutes at 350 or until it begins to brown on the top.

Cacio e Pepe


Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5yQqJscYtI




Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxIfa4Qc2Rw

Watch the second video for cooking instructions. Quick and simple. I use a 2:1 combo of Parmesan and Pecorino. Mama Mia! That's some good spaghetti!

^ ^ ^ ^ That looks great! A handful of chopped Italian parsley stirred in right before serving couldn't hurt.

I had never heard of Cacio e pepe until the other day. I was reading The Other Woman by Daniel Silva and the dish was described.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Shugart:
^ ^ ^ ^ That looks great! A handful of chopped Italian parsley stirred in right before serving couldn't hurt.

Or perhaps some garlic chives. Yep, I'll be making that one as well.

Old Fashioned Goulash!

Ingredients
•       2 lbs ground beef or turkey
.        4 Pieces Bacon Diced
•       3 tsp minced garlic
•       1 large Sweet onion, diced
•       3 cups water or beef broth
•       1 cup beef broth or as needed
•       1/3 cup olive oil
•       2 (15-ounce) cans tomato sauce
•       2 (15-ounce) cans diced tomatoes
•       1 T Oregano 
        1 T Thyme
1 tsp Basil
•       1 T Adobo Seasoning or Cayenne
•       3 bay leaves
•       1 tsp salt
•       1/2 T black pepper
•       4 cups elbow macaroni, uncooked
•       1.5 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
         8 oz Cream Cheese
         
        

Instructions
1.      In a large pan, saute your ground meat and bacon in skillet over medium-high heat until HALF cooked, remove from heat.
2.      Add garlic, onions, olive oil & until meat is fully cooked.
3.      Add water and broth, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, oregano, bay leaves, salt, pepper and adobo seasoning. Mix well.
4.      Lower heat and cover - allow to cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the cream cheese cubed and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes
5.      Add in the uncooked elbow macaroni to the skillet, stir well until everything is combined
6.      Cover once again and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes or until macaroni is done
7.      Once cooked, remove the bay leaves
8.      Add only the cheddar cheese and mix until combined

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jstex56,

https://www.mykitchenescapades...ork-carnitas-recipe/

How to Make Carnitas
1. Use a fatty piece of meat – I get a lot of questions asking if you can use this same recipe and technique using a pork loin or chicken breasts and the answer is no. A pork butt is perfect because it has a lot of fat and sinew, which once it is slow cooked, becomes so tender it melts in your mouth. That will never happen with a low fat form of protein. If you want authentic carnitas, embrace the butt.
2. Cook your Mexican Pork low and slow – To create the perfect tender bite that is infused with flavor, this recipe calls for a slow cooking process using a cast iron dutch oven in the oven, but you can certainly use your crockpot or slow cooker. However, you will end up with a larger amount of liquid to reduce so just give yourself more time to create that thick liquid.
3. Use your broiler to concentrate the flavor – I know many of you will want to skip the last step of this recipe, but take a look at my photo. Do you see that gorgeous caramelization on the outside of the meat? That isn’t just for looks my friend! That is concentrated flavor so take the extra 3 minutes it takes to put the finished carnitas under the broiler.
To create these bites of heaven, I used my favorite enameled cast iron Dutch oven to prepare these authentic carnitas, but if you read the comments, many people have had success using their crock pot as well. Next time, I am going to have to pull out my crockpot and give it a try as well!

Ingredients
• 4 pound boneless pork butt, fat trimmed and cut into 2 inch cubes
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 onion, peeled and halved
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 2 Tb fresh lime juice
• 2 C water
• 1 medium orange, juiced and keep the spent halves
Instructions
1. Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat to 300 degrees. Combine all the ingredients in a large Dutch oven, (this is my favorite one!) including the spent orange halves and juice. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat, uncovered. Once it simmers, cover pot and transfer it to the oven. Cook until the meat falls apart when prodded with a fork, about 2 hours. You can also complete this step in a crock pot set on high for 6-7 hours. You will have more liquid to reduce in the next step however.
2. Remove the pot from the oven and turn on the broiler. Use a slotted spoon to remove the meat from the pan and place it on a large foil-lined jelly roll pan. Remove and discard everything from the pot except for the cooking liquid. Place pot over high heat on the stove and boil until it thickens and syrupy, about 20 – 30 minutes. You should have about 1 C of liquid remaining when it is finished.
3. While the liquid is reducing, use two forks to pull each cube of pork into three equal sized pieces. Once the liquid has reduced, gently fold in the pieces of pork into the pot. Try not to break up the pork any further. Taste and add additional salt and pepper.
4. Spread the pork back onto the foil lined pan and evenly spread the meat around so there is a single layer of meat. Place the jelly roll pan on the lower middle rack of the oven and broil until the top of the meat is well browned and edges are slightly crisp, about 5 to 8 minutes. Using a wide metal spatula, flip the pieces of meat and broil the other side until well browned and edges are slightly crisp, 5 to 8 minutes. Serve immediately in a tortilla with all your favorite toppings

Gustofer,
Glad you enjoyed the chicken. I’m trying the pasta and goulash later this week.

Stay safe, Steve

Gazpacho, or Chilled Tomato Soup.

This is a summer favorite

Equipment: Large soup pot, 2 large glass bowls, strainer, blender or mixmaster

Ingredients:

3 pounds ripe tomatoes; to be blanched, peeled, seeded, cored, and coarsely chopped
1 to 1 & 1/2 cups cooked white rice; or bread crumbs, millet, or dried cornbread
1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded, and coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 green (or other) bell pepper, seeded, cored, and coarsely chopped
1/2 small red onion, be careful not to add too much onion

1/2 teaspoon tumeric powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 tablespoon paprika powder
Salt and pepper, to taste
a sprinkle of dried taraggon and/or dried basil

6 to 8 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar

This dish is made with raw vegetables so wash everything thorougly.

Bring the water in the large pot to a boil.  Turn off the heat.  Add the tomatoes.
Blanch the tomatoes in the large pot of just boiled water.  Let the tomatoes float for to 3 to 4 minutes and then remove to cool.  Peel the tomatoes by rubbing or cutting the skin crosswise.  Remove the core, skins, and seeds to the medium glass bowl.  The discarded parts will be strained so that the liquid is added back into the larger bowl with the meat.

Place the meat of the tomatoes in the large glass bowl.  Peel, seed, and chop the cucumber; likewise with the garlic, bell pepper, and red onion.

Place the garlic, cucumber, green pepper, red onion, seasonings, olive oil, vinegar, and rice in the large bowl with the tomato meat.  Use the strainer to harvest the liquid from the discarded cores and seeds.  Add the liquid to the bowl with the meat.  Blend to a puree or rough slurry depending on your preferred texture.  Chill several hours or overnight.  Serve with a garnish of shredded basil, croutons, sour cream, or avocado slices.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mr kablammo,

Tried the cacio e pepe last night. It was REALLY good, but then I'm a big fan of pepper...lots of pepper, so there's that.

For a few years now one of my favorite sides is simply elbow mac with butter, parmesan, and various spices. Easy to make and tasty. The cacio e pepe is a little more complicated but very tasty.

One word of warning though, make sure that you have enough liquid and make the sauce very creamy (hmmm...just had a thought of adding a little heavy cream...might try that next time). Otherwise, the romano will stick to your pan like a combination of concrete and superglue. Even boiling didn't remove it. Elbow grease and an SOS pad did the trick though. They say you shouldn't use SOS pads with All-Clad, but it worked fine.

This recipe is for a Mexican meatball soup called Albondigas that my wife makes frequently. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do...

5 cans chicken broth
8 cups water
3 carrots
2 stalks celery
2 bell peppers
3 large tomatoes
1 large onion
3 zucchini
1 ½ cup whole kernel corn
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1 teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon granulated garlic
½ teaspoon cumin
Salt and pepper to taste (add a little cayenne or red pepper flake if wanting spicy)
Meatballs (recipe to follow)

Combine all liquids and seasonings, bring to simmer
Cut carrots, celery, bell peppers, tomatoes, onion and zucchini into medium size pieces
Add all vegetables, except zucchini and corn, and bring to simmer again
Add prepared meatballs
When meatballs come to surface, add zucchini and corn
Simmer until meatballs sink leaving vegetables firm

Meatballs

1 lb. lean ground beef
2 eggs
¼ cup flour
1 cup uncooked rice
½ teaspoon oregano
¼ teaspoon granulated garlic
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon salt

Mix together all ingredients, form into meatballs using approx. 1 tablespoon of mixture

Best soup ever. Grew up on it.

8 cups Chicken stock
1 potato, peeled cut into very small cubes
2 carrots, peeled small diced
2 celery stalks small diced
1/3 cup Pearl Barley
1/3 cup Orzo
1/2 teaspoon Garlic powder
1/2 cup tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese for garnish

In a large stock pot, bring chicken stock to boil and add vegetables, barley, Orzo, and garlic powder. Cook on medium fro 30 minutes and then add tomato sauce and salt and pepper. Simmer for another 30 minutes. Serve with parmesan cheese and garlic bread.

Very simple but outstanding soup. Enjoy.