Cookin Corner

[PeteC]

OK, here's an old favourite, compliments of my daughter. I've had this many times when visiting her and it's darn good and easy to make. The only problem here may be finding the pre-made pie crust, and you need an oven. Enjoy! Pete
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Chicken Pot Pie

*8 oz bag frozen mixed vegetables (can use anything!
If using Fresh - steam/boil until al dente as they
will continue to cook in pie)

*1 refrigerated pie crust. Over here 1 box will have
2 crust (1 for top/1 for bottom of pie). If you can't
get it there, you can make from scratch. Any pie
crust recipe you find online will do.

* 2 cans of Cream of Chicken Soup (cream of mushroom
works well too).

*1 cup milk

* 2 cup cooked skinless, boneless chicken (cut up into
bit size pieces)

*1 teaspoon garlic salt

*1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Cook Chicken & cut into small pieces. Defrost
vegetables in microwave.

Roll 1 pie crust to remove creases. Pie crust should
be slightly larger than pie dish once pushed down with
some over hanging the sides. Line pie dish with pie
crust. Push down until crust lines the entire bottom
of dish. Leave about 1/2" over hanging the dish edge.

Roll 2nd pie crust to remove creases & set aside.
This one does not need to be as big as 1st one as it
will only lay on top of pie dish.

In a large bowl, combine milk & soup. Add chicken,
vegetables, garlic salt & ground pepper.

Spoon mixture into the lined pie dish. Top dish with
the remaining pie crust. Curl bottom pie crust over
top pie crust & pinch together. Use a fork to seal
the 2 crusts together. Cut 4 vents in the the top of
crust.

Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown on top. Let
stand for 15 minutes before serving.

[migrant]

Tonights dessert, but needs an oven

LEMON CREME BRULEE WITH FRESH BERRIES

3 cups whipping cream
5 teaspoons grated lemon peel
3/4 cup sugar
6 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 teaspoons golden brown sugar
2 1/2-pint containers fresh raspberries
1/4 cup Chambord (black-raspberry liqueur) or crème de cassis (black-currant
liqueur)

Preheat oven to 325°F. Arrange eight 3/4-cup custard cups or ramekins in
13x9x2-inch metal baking pan. Combine cream and lemon peel in heavy small
saucepan and bring to simmer. Whisk sugar and yolks in large bowl until thick,
about 3 minutes. Gradually whisk in hot cream mixture, then vanilla and salt.
Let stand 10 minutes. Strain custard, then divide among cups. Pour enough hot
water into baking pan to come halfway up sides of cups.
Bake custards until just set in center, about 55 minutes. Remove custards from
water bath; chill uncovered until firm, at least 3 hours. (Can be made 1 day
ahead. Cover and keep refrigerated.)
Preheat broiler. Place custard cups on baking sheet. Strain brown sugar through
small sieve onto custards, dividing equally. Broil until sugar melts and browns,
about 2 minutes. Chill until topping is hard and crisp, at least 1 hour and up
to 2 hours.
Combine raspberries and liqueur in bowl. Let stand at room temperature at least
15 minutes and up to 1 hour. Spoon berry mixture atop custards.

Makes 8 servings.

I don't eat desserts, but the wife, and kids, love this one. I'll alternate this one with a chocolate creme brulee.

PS: Are all these available in HH? The wifes family in Cha Am doesn't have an oven, so I never really cook when we stay with them.

[PeteC]

I would say most places here don't have an oven. It's really a 'must' though if you build or buy a house. You may not use it often but the times you put in a Sunday roast or a holiday turkey, it makes the house smell great! , and good eats to come are assured.

We've also started roasting cut up chicken pieces rather than frying them. Healthier and tastes better IMO, but spikes the electric bill. Pete

[migrant]

I would say most places here don't have an oven. It's really a 'must' though if you build or buy a house. You may not use it often but the times you put in a Sunday roast or a holiday turkey, it makes the house smell great! , and good eats to come are assured.

We've also started roasting cut up chicken pieces rather than frying them. Healthier and tastes better IMO, but spikes the electric bill. Pete

Here in Southern California I rarely use the oven in the hot summer, even for a short time. The outdoor BBQ is much better. We;ve been slowly putting in a outdoor kitchen and have a small oven there when I need that hunk of prime rib!!

Pete the comments on the smell made me remember. My ex wife was looking for work and I found a potpourri making company, small home based, for sale. We ended up buying it, and she ran it making the house smell like a brothel.

The local newspaper was doing articles on home based businesses, they contacted me asking about any of my clients. I mentioned her so they set up a quickie interview.

I sat in and when the question came up about future plans, I chimed in about our planned potpourri line for the single man. The reporter asked about it (as did my ex since she had no idea what I was talking about). I mentioned for men we were working on a scent that gave off a roast smell, steak smell, and that everpopular beer smell.

That never made the paper.....

[lomuamart]

I promised a recipe for Rogan Josh some time ago and after being reminded, here it is. It's a rich Kashmiri dish that can be made with lamb (best) or beef. I've also used pork. It's supposed to have a very red sauce which comes from loads of chillies, but you can mix paprika powder in as well if you don't want it too hot.

Cube the meat up (1kg), fry and brown in 10 tblspoons of vegetable oil. Remove meat and set aside.
Into the same hot oil, put 10 cardamom pods, 2 bay leaves, 6 whole cloves, 10 whole peppercorns and a one inch stick of cinnamon. Stir and fry for a minute.
Add 200g of finely chopped onions and fry for about 5 mins. Then add ginger/garlic paste (two one inch cubes of ginger, 8+ cloves of garlic blended with 4 tblspoons of water or smashed up with pestle and mortar) and fry for 30 secs. Add 1 t/spoon ground coriander seeds, 2 t/spoons of ground cumin seeds, fresh red chilli (with paprika if wanted), pinch of salt. Stir everything for a minute then add the meat and any juices and stir for a further minute.
Add one tblspoon of plain yoghurt and stir for 30 secs. Add another 5 tblspoons of yoghurt this way. Stir it all for a minute or two. Then add 275ml of water for lamb or 425ml if beef. Bring to a boil, cover and turn heat to low. Cook until meat is done and tender.
You should end up with a think red sauce. I never put the paprika in which means my sauce isn't so red, but as it's the taste that counts, it dosn't bother me.

[Khundon1975]

Sweet Sticky Pork.

Ingredients
Serves 2.

4 slices of pork about 2 cm thick.
2 cups coconut cream.
Bunch of coriander.
1 Tablespoon Fish sauce.
50 mls honey.
2 cloves garlic, crushed.
2 Tablespoons oyster sauce.


Give the pork slices a good bashing with heavy object to tenderise it and to thin it out to 1 cm thick and prick all over with a fork, place pork into a bowl.
Add, coconut cream, chopped coriander, fish sauce, oyster sauce, honey and garlic, stir and put into the fridge for a few hours, or overnight to marinade.

Grill pork slices or put into a hot oven (200c) but don't over cook.
Slice pork into thin strips and serve with Jasmin rice and pickled green cabbage.

[migrant]

Wifes birthday today so she requested baby back ribs.

Gonna be busy so easy way;

Rinse and dry rack of baby back pork ribs
Peel thin 'silver' layer of fat from "inside" of rib rack
Season with little salt, pepper, garlic and BBQ seasonings, rub spices in..
Cut into lengths of 4 ribs.
Put rack in large roasting pan
put 1/2 water in pan making sure rack is above water level.
Place ribs on rack
T|ightly cover with aluminum foil poking 2-3 small holes on top.
Put in oven at 300 degrees for ~2 1/2 hours. Rib meat shouldbe pulled back from end of rib bone.
Cool, put BBQ sauce on ribs and brown over BBQ fire.

[PeteC]

....Peel thin 'silver' layer of fat from "inside" of rib rack....

What do you do with that, throw it away? What if you leave it on, drips too much fat into the water? Pete

[Khundon1975]

If you leave it on it makes the ribs to chewy to eat.

[elem]

I'll have to oven-bake that garlic....sounds delicious...
Here's one of my Tuna favourites...

1 cup white wine
2 tbsp freshly grated ginger
¼ cup sugar
½ cup light soy sauce
1tbsp sesame oil
2-4 garlic cloves

Mix all, taste and add more soy or sugar if needed and marinate tuna ( 2-4 pcs) for 1-2h
Fry tuna quickly in pan (hot first, then medium, 2+2min)
Turn off the heat and add rest of marinade as sauce, serve on the side
Serve w mashed potatoes w fresh coriander/cilantro
Bon Appetit!

[elem]

Salmon snacks for your party...

300-400gr fresh salmon filet
100-200gr smoked salmon
1 oignon, or a small one + chives or springoignon
1 egg
1dl “crème épaisse”
½ cup capres
Butter or oil, salt+pepper

Mix fish, oignon + spices in a mixer, add egg and creme épaisse and capres at the end.
Fry the balls in pan or oven for 6-8 minutes in the butter – or oil

Make a dip-sauce of half mayo, half crème fraiche (or fromage demi-ecremé, or sour cream). Add chopped cornichons and dill or other fresh herbs, and 2 cloves of garlic if wanted.

[dtaai-maai]

1 oignon, or a small one + chives or springoignon

Nice to see you know your oignons, elem.

For future info, I think a spring onion is called a 'ciboule'.

[migrant]

If you leave it on it makes the ribs to chewy to eat.

Yup!

Cooked up three full racks, must have been good as they were gone before I could get some

[migrant]

Also did a spinach salad.

Amounts very as to taste.

1 pound baby spinach. I tear the leaves in half, if regular spinach I'd definately tear into small pieces and pull off the stems.

Cooked Orzo (pasta a little larger than rice). I don't use a lot of orzo since I'm making this as a salad.

~ 1 - 2 lbs Cooked shrimp. Depending on size I may cut in half.

Mix all and toss

Add feta, or blue cheese and retoss.

Grate off about a 1/2 tablespoon lemon zest (chop fine).

Make vinegarette of lemon juice and olive oil (I like equal parts, or a little heavier on the lemon juice).

Add zest and vinegarette and toss again.

Just adjust ingredients to your taste.

Been making this for years, quick and easy, and everyone seems to like it.

[PeteC]

This one looks nice and you can probably use any type of fish. Pete