The Tweb Cook Book

[bandecoot]

maderia recipes:


A sauce for steaks or roast meats.

a cup of meat Glaze. ( this is stock so reduced it forms a thick syrupy glaze, I'm sure it is availablle in supermarkets.)
1/4 cup of maderia wine
a heaped tablespoon of Tomato paste.
a good grind of pepper.


add all the ingreds to a pan, heat it to a boil and reduce it back to syrup. POr over steak.



Maderia trifle:


Depending on how many you are feeding this varies. for 4 people:

One uniced sponge cake. cut in half from side to side then into 2 inch squares.

put a layer of these on the base of the dish. Sprinke with as much wine as you are happy with. Then spread with jam ( your choice) then add a layerof whipped cream then a layer of custard. repeat til you run out of cake.


This is a traditional Christmas dish at my house.


You can vary it with fruit pieces, ice cream (curtmudgeons look darn good)

But the above is the trad receipt.

[bandecoot]

Vegetables:

Steam Greens salad:

Start with Broccoli and steam then add Sliced courgette and lastly some chinese green like mustard and Bokchoy.

when the bokchoy is wilted and Bright green remove the lot and dress with a bressing made of 3 part oil and one part lemon juice with a splash of soy sauce and sesame oil. Mix it all up and eat warm.

Tempura Veges:

Make up the tempura batter. (it can be made from scratch but why bother)

Cut up Brocolli, carrots, courgette, mushrooms. Deep fry until just golden and dip in the following sauces.

Soy, lime juice sugar and chilli.

Tomato ketchup with sesame oil and Woustershire sauce.

Mayonaisse with Garlic and anchovies.



My personal fave:

Equal weights of Fresh peas, fresh asparagus, and Fresh brocolli steamed over water with Fresh mint in it.

Serve with melted butter salt and pepper or the dressing for the stemed vege salad.

[Gabby]

Hey Bandecoot, do you have any recipes for fish? I have some fish in the freezer that I purchased so that we could eat more fish, but I'm not quite sure how to prepare it.

I've got Salmon Fillets, Blue Cod and Sea Bass along with Jumbo Shrimp.

Pretty please and Thank you !

[bandecoot]

salmon fillets:

These dont really need much, salmon is a stong flavoured fish. I would simply put salt pepper on them and just Broil them as they are. Try serving them on a bed of the steamed salad and use the dressing as a sauce. But add a bit of lime juice to the dressing as well as lemon.


Blue Cod:

This one we can play a bit with.

Norman Cod,

ingreds

cod fillets sliced to even size and thickness.
jumbo shrimp
Hard apple cider or Calvados of a good dry white wine.
about half a pint of cream
a clove of garlic

fry the fillets in a pan in some light flavoured oilthen take them out add your shrimp peeled but leave the tail on(they look pretty that way) if the shrimp are raw cookthem until just pink if the are pre-cooked just wram them through. deglaze the pan with about a wineglass full of whatever alcohol you are using make sure you scrape up all the bits on the bottom of the pan. reduce it by a third and add the cream. stir it through then return the cod fillets to the pan and reduce the cream by at least a third. and serve with mashed pototoes.


Sea Bass:

if they are whole ones this is great.

slice a few chillis lenth ways and scrape the seeds out
peel and slice thinly a 2 inch cube of ginger
slice about 3 cloves of garlic into rounds

put the chilis ginger and garlic into the cavity of the fish and steam it for 20 mins.

OR

put a layer of damp salt on a baking sheet Put the fish on that and the cover the fish with a crust of damp salt and bake for about 35 mins.


If the prawns are cooked ones just salt pepper and lemon is the absolute best way to eat them so Im told. I'm allergic myself.

But I have cooked all the above for others and been told they are great.

[RumTumTugger]

ok folks SpinyNorman has asked for Cookie recipes and since it is Christmas I'll start with my Gingerbread Cookie Recipes

Gingerbread cookies

Makes about 3 ½ dozen cookies.
Preparation time about: 35 minutes
Chilling time about: 2 hours or overnight
Baking time: 10 -12 minutes
Cooing time about: 40 minutes

Ingredients
¾ cup of vegetable shortening
¾ cup firmly packed Dark brown sugar
½ cup unsulfured molasses
1 TBS water
1 egg
3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, divided
2 tsps ground ginger
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp ground cardamom(this is the only recipe I know that calls for this spice)
¼ tsp ground cloves
½ salt

1. In large bowl, with electric mixer at medium speed, beat shortening brown sugar, molasses and water until well blended. Add Egg beat well. In medium bowl combine flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon nutmeg, cardamom, cloves and salt. With mixer at low speed, gradually add flour mixture to shortening mixture, beating just until blended. Divide Dough into quarters. Wrap each quarter in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.

2. Pre heat oven at 350 degrees. Spread 1 tbs flour on large sheet of place dough quarter on floured paper: flatten slightly with hands. Flip dough. Cover with another large sheet of waxed paper. With rolling pin, roll out dough ¼ inch thick.

3. Remove top sheet of waxed paper. With lightly floured cookie cutter cut out shapes. With large spatula. Transfer cookies to ungreased cookie sheets placing 2 inches across Repeat with remaining dough.

4. bake one cookie sheet at a time 10 to 12 minutes. Or until set. Cool 2 minutes. Remove cookies to racks to cool completely

5. Mean while prepare your favorite icing and in what ever colors you want to decorate. If so inclined you can place icing in pastry bag and pipe on to cookies.

Here you go Spiny enjoy.

[bandecoot]

A quick and easy dessert for winterbound folk.

Poached peaches


2 peaches per person, and dont whine that you cant get peaches you know you can you just have to pay more for them.

2 cups of Bourbon, (dont worry all the alcohol cooks out)

2 cups sugar

4 cups of water.

makes a syrup with the water, bourbon and sugar and reduce by a third. halve the peaches and put them in the simmering syrup cut side down. simmer for 1 -4 mins per side (depending on how ripe the peaches are) remove and slip the skin off and remove the seeds. (its easier when they are cooked)

Serve with cream or icecream.


The syrup can be reduced even further and used as a topping for chocolate icecream.

Or just boiled and put away in the freezer you use again for poaching other peaches. It get a better flavour each time you use it, just add a half cup of sugar and a cup of water.

[bandecoot]

The death of the Cabbage Cult.

1 Chinese cabbage

Additions:
3 bunches bokchoy or any other Chinese greens
3 Carrots
2 Cucumbers
3 Heads broccoli
2 Bunches scallions
1 Apple
peel of 1 Lemon
a bunch of radishes. Or a Diakon if you can get one.

Paste:
rice vinegar
sesame oil
Kosher salt (or Soy sauce)
Crushed red pepper (coarse)
Crushed garlic
Sesame seeds


Directions:

Cut everything into just bigger than bite sized pieces, keeping the cabbage separate from the rest. Slice the radishes thinly.

Grab a handful of the salt and sprinkle it over the cabbage in a nonmetallic bowl, a big one. Really work this in until the cabbage starts to wilt. Then cover with some Clingfilm and put it out of the way while you do the rest.

Mix all the veggies with some salt and gently mix through. Cover with Clingfilm and put it next to the cabbage. Cut the lemon peel into thin slices

To make the flavour paste crush up 4 or 5 cloves of garlic with about a cup of dried red chili flakes with about 4 tablespoons of toasted sesame seeds. Add enough vinegar to make a smooth paste and add a teaspoon of the sesame oil. Add a little salt or soy sauce.

Now at this point you are saying “Woah bande, a cup of dried chilli?” My answer is yep, at least that. You can make it less hot if you like but this is how I make it.

Put this mix in a sealed jar and put it in the fridge.

Now wait three days. When you drain the liquid off the cabbage do it into a jug. Same with the vegetables. Keep them separate for now. Rinse off the cabbage, this is important as it not going to get any less salty from here on in. Then dry the cabbage as much as you can. Use a cloth to squeeze liquid out. Or dry it in the oven on low for a few hours. (this is optional)

Once this is done mix the cabbage and vegetables in a big bowl and mix together. Then add the chili paste and mix it through have a big jar ready and cleaned with boiling water.
Put the mix in the jar and add some of the reserved brine from the cabbage about a third of it. Then top up with the vegetable brine until it just covers. Some bits can be sticking out. Seal the jar and leave for a few days tasting daily. When it stops tasting like soggy raw cabbage and chili, it’s ready. Trust me you will know when.

It will last about a month in the fridge. Just getting better and better as it gets older.

[bandecoot]

8 ounces rice vermicelli (either the sen mee or the sen lek
style of Thai noodles, any rice noodles
will do). These should be soaked for a short while
(perhaps 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the
brand of noodles) until soft.

5-6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped.
2 tablespoon chopped shallots
quarter cup dried shrimp (these should be rolled, or roughly
pounded in a mortar and pestle to break them up or you may have to use fresh)
quarter cup fish sauce (Nam Plah)
quarter cup palm sugar ( or Brown sugar)
2-3 tablespoon tamarind juice (if you cant find this use fresh lemon juice with a teaspoon of sugar added)
2-3 tablespoon chopped, pickled raddish (mooli)
1 medium egg, beaten
quarter cup chopped chives
half cup roasted peanuts, very coarsely broken up.
one cup bean sprouts
half a cup of fried tofu that has been
marinated in dark sweet soy, or an equivalent amount of coarsely chopped cooked pork or chicken.

Heat a little cooking oil in a wok and add the garlic and shallots, and
briefly stir fry until they just shows signs of changing colour. Add the
remaining ingredients except the egg and the bean sprouts, and stir fry
until the protein ingredient is nearly cooked. Continuing to stir with
one hand, slowly "drizzle" in the beaten egg to form a fine ribbon fo
cooked egg (if you con't feel confident with this make an egg crepe
separately, and then roll it up and slice it into quarter inch wide
pieces, which you add to the mix at this point). Finely add the bean
sprouts and cook for no more than another 30 seconds. Remove from the
pan to a serving platter.Garnish

Mix a tablespoon of lime juice with a tablespoon of tamarind juice and a
tablespoon of fish sauce, and use this to marinade half a cup of
uncooked bean sprouts, half a cup of chopped chives, and half a cup of
very coarsely ground roasted peanuts. Sprinkle this mixture on the
cooked pad thai.

Pad thai is served as above, but Thais add copious amounts of the four
basic condiments (chilis in fish sauce, ground dried red chili, sugar
and crushed peanuts) at the table, to suit their individual
predilictions.

I borrowed this one from a friend of mine, who is Thai. This is how he makes it for his family.

I could have used one from my collection but it would have been a bit over the top. This way you control how hot it is. I have made this and just added my kim chi about 30 secs before serving.

[One Bad Pig]

Beef heart stew

This was something I made up on the spot, so I didn't measure anything.

2 lbs (1 kg) or so of beef heart, cut up into ~1/2 inch strips
1 quart beef stock, 1 quart water
4 or so potatoes, cut up into ~1-inch chunks
some peas, corn, green beans
thyme, lemon pepper to taste (I used maybe 1 tsp each)
parsley to taste (I used maybe 1 tbsp)
a few stalks celery
corn starch/flour for thickening
salt to taste

In 4-quart cooking pot, add water, beef stock, strips of beef heart, thyme, lemon pepper, and parsley. Simmer for 1 hour.

Add potatoes, simmer for an additional 2 hours.

Add celery and vegetables, simmer for another half hour.

Add salt.

Bring to a boil, add thickener, stir for a minute or so, then remove from heat.


Carrots and onions would probably be nice to add, but I don't much care for them cooked so I didn't put them in. Wait to the end to add the salt, because it would only toughen the meat if added earlier (and beef heart is kinda tough to begin with). It didn't come out tough for me at all, so I'm assuming I did something right.

Edit: on second thought, it might be better without the thyme.

[Aletheia]

Recipe thread just for the fun of it ...

Creole Shrimp

Ingredients
2 c. coarsely chopped celery
2 c. coarsely chopped onions
2 medium bell peppers, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 stick oleo
2 medium cans tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp. hot sauce
2 pounds of deveined shrimp.

Simmer all ingredients for 30 minutes and then add the 2 pounds of shrimp. Can be served on top of rice.

[QuantaFille]

mmm... Creole...

I just had a bowl of chicken seafood gumbo, good stuff.

Quanta

[Aletheia]

Man that sounds good! I'm eating a turkey sandwich.

[St Catherine]

Rum Raisin Bread

1/4 cup white rum
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup water
2 cups bread flour
1 tbsp powdered milk
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp sea salt (or kosher salt)
2 tbsp heavy whipping cream
1 egg
1 tsp light olive oil
1.5 tsp dry active yeast (packet)
1 tsp Cinnamon (optional)

Soak raisins in rum for an hour (note: overnight is even better).

Place all other ingredients into bread machine as usual (yeast into the yeast dispenser). If your machine has a fruit setting add raisins (drain off rum) at the signal, if no signal on your bread machine add about 5 minutes before kneading cycle is finished.

Take dough out of bread machine, shape into a loaf pan, let rise almost double and bake at 375 until bread sounds hollow...usually 30 minutes or so.

[Augusta]

Rum Raisin Bread

1/4 cup white rum
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup water
2 cups bread flour
1 tbsp powdered milk
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp sea salt (or kosher salt)
2 tbsp heavy whipping cream
1 egg
1 tsp light olive oil
1.5 tsp dry active yeast (packet)

Soak raisins in rum for an hour (note: overnight is even better).

Place all other ingredients into bread machine as usual (yeast into the yeast dispenser). If your machine has a fruit setting add raisins (drain off rum) at the signal, if no signal on your bread machine add about 5 minutes before kneading cycle is finished.

Take dough out of bread machine, shape into a loaf pan, let rise almost double and bake at 375 until bread sounds hollow...usually 30 minutes or so.

It's nearly 10:00 PM (where I live) and this recipe is so appealing I can almost smell the bread baking. This is the sort of food I crave at night -- until the late night snacking is under control, it's a good thing I don't own a bread machine and the bakery is closed!

[St Catherine]

It's nearly 10:00 PM (where I live) and this recipe is so appealing I can almost smell the bread baking. This is the sort of food I crave at night -- until the late night snacking is under control, it's a good thing I don't own a bread machine and the bakery is closed!

Not to tempt you (know how that is)...you can easily make this by hand in the traditional way

I forgot to add...cinnamon is an optional ingredient too!


SC