OK Chef, Give Me Your Favorite Recipe

[Nightshade]

BUMP
one of my all time fav threads plus Ive been digging through recipie books this week ...and exams has got me baking like crazy....
anyone have a decent bread recipie? Sour dough maybe? I want to try something a bit different.

Im not sure if Ive added it once before but my great grandmother's recipie for Broth. (or rather my interpritation of it)

stewing beef
Soup/broth mix (Or make your own these kinds of ingredients)

-dried peas, beans , lentils ( any other pulses you like though personally wouldnt use kidney/chili beans)
-barley

Grated swede
grated carrot
Chopped leeks
chopped celery
salt & pepper

you put the beef in the bottom of a deep heavy bottom pan, add broth mix leeks, celery and any extraa beans type things you like (I often go with a can of butter beans and a bag of peas if I want an especially green meal,having said that I dont think green beans or kidney beans would work well with this recipie uness you are an iunsane avid fan ) salt and pepper cover with water allow to cook/ simmer for about an hour or so until beef is cooked add the swede and the carrot cover and simmer for another 1 hour or so. ( The way my grandmother makes it this is very orange as she uses lots of carrots and lentils.)

Then you make dumplings which is kind o hard to explain as I just grab a handful of this a fist ful of that and add waer till it looks right.
The secret is a) Rember they at least double in size so dont make them too big to start with my first try they ended up the size of my 2 combined fists -but that could also have been to do with the fact I used self raising flor and baking powder) and moreimportanmtly b) the pan must be air tight while you cook the dumplings easiest way is cover the bottom of the lid with aluminium foil and jam it down. They take about 20 minutes.

The great thing about this recipie is you can add as much or as little water as you like, you doint need the dumplings and freezes reallly well and keeps you war and full all day.

The bad thing is its difficult to impossibleto make small batches it tends to make about 12 servings and barley is terrible for sticking to the bottoms of [aans and takes ages to clean.

[vheissu]

Antiquarian, that looks delicious!!! I'm definitely going to try it out!

[Madhuri]

Here is how I make lemon rice

Ingredients

Cooked rice -- the desired quantity

Mustard seeds -- a pinch


Curry leaves --


Red pepper dried -- as per taste

and / or green chillies (this can be optional, if you dont want it to be too spicey)

Salt -- as per taste

Turmeric powder -- as required

Soak some peanuts or chickpea in water for 10-15 mins

Refined oil

Lemon

Recipe

Heat the refined oil in frying pan

Add mustard seeds. Wait until the seeds stop popping in the oil.

Add other ingredients -- red pepper, curry leaves, green chillies, turmeric powder, salt, peanuts

Let all the ingredients fry for a few mins

Then add the cooked rice

Again let it fry for a few mins.

Take it off from the gas

Then add lemon to the cooked rice.

Lemon rice is ready

Its very tasty and very easy to cook, takes very less time.

[vheissu]

Cupcake time!!

Ok, if you ever get the chance to go to London, specifically Portobello Road, look out for a small (seriously, it's tiny!) shop which primarily sells cupcakes. And if you do find it, try the red velvet ones. Though I'm betting everything in there is quite delicious, there is something special about the red velvet cupcakes!

If you don't go to London, but like bizzarly red cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, try this recipe (been tested, it works!) which I found on one of the thousand food blogs that are out there:

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter, room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature
2 1/3 cups of cake flour
2 tablespoons of Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of buttermilk (You can make your own buttermilk by adding a tablespoon of distilled white vinegar to milk and letting it stand for about 10 minutes)1 1/2 tablespoons of red food coloring
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon of distilled white vinegar

Frosting ingredients

1/2 cup of butter (1 stick), room temperature
8 oz of cream cheese (1 package), room temperature
2 - 3 cups of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

For those, who like me, are baffled by things measured in cups and are used to grams:

1 cup is 125 grams or 4 ounces


And here's the whole link:

http://www.elise.com/recipes/archive...e_frosting.php

[Scheherazade]

Does anyone know an easy way of spreading the mash over shepherd's pie?

[Niamh]

I usually make sure the sauce is thick and potatoes really cream so they spead better. Have you tried piping it?

[Nightshade]

Does anyone know an easy way of spreading the mash over shepherd's pie?

Eh, I always ave a problem with that the sauce always ends up on top of the potatoes as itsinks ...

I usually make sure the sauce is thick and potatoes really cream so they spead better. Have you tried piping it?

Piping it! now that IS an idea, must try that some time, but I I like dry mash hummm....

Actually another potato related question, I really and Im really like the czech potatos, apparntly theyve been aged or somthing now the question is how do get these back home or can I even?

[Scheherazade]

Yesterday I made shepherd's pie with lentils. As you can imagine, the "sauce" was rather thick but still the mash was heavier and did not spread very smoothly.

Interestingly enough, Niamh, piping was my solution to the problem as well! I tried to pipe it but it ended up looking like lots of squiggly lines. I really like the smooth, flat mash with some zigzag lines you see on ready made pies etc.

[Nightshade]

How about piping it then smoothing it out? or isnt that possible?

[Niamh]

Yesterday I made shepherd's pie with lentils. As you can imagine, the "sauce" was rather thick but still the mash was heavier and did not spread very smoothly.

Interestingly enough, Niamh, piping was my solution to the problem as well! I tried to pipe it but it ended up looking like lots of squiggly lines. I really like the smooth, flat mash with some zigzag lines you see on ready made pies etc.

use a spatcula over it afterwards to smooth it out.

[Scheherazade]

How about piping it then smoothing it out? or isnt that possible?

use a spatcula over it afterwards to smooth it out.

I am sure it is possible and I want to know how!

When I try to smooth it out, the mash sort of sinks into the sauce or goes wonky.

[Niamh]

What are you using for the sauce? do you just pour the sauce over the meat and let it slightly thicken or do you leave it on the hob for about 20mins till it really thickens? Do you use a brown sauce or a gravy? (well i suppose a brown sauce is a gravy but...)
If you pipe it thinly going from the edge of the dish inwards, you can smooth it over with a spatula;

you could doe this in a few layers if its easier, and it may slowly put the weight on the sauce.

[Scheherazade]

Yesterday I made it the sauce with Bovril (let the lentils, peas, carrots and potatoes for about 20 minutes). I guess it wasn't piped very thinly. Maybe next time I should try that... Though still not sure if the spatula will work.

"Menemen" here, a single man masterpiece :

Cook small pieces of tomato(take the peel) and long green pepper(cut small pieces) with a bit of butter.
Later add Eggs, and cook again 4-5 minutes. For my opinion, add a little salt and black pepper.
Bon appetite!

Today, I made this for dinner (served with wholemeal pasta). It was lovely!

[Scheherazade]

I did it!

Today I had another go at Shepherd's Pie (with quorn this time) and I managed to spread the mash properly (even did some fancy lines on it!).

I added two spoons of low fat fromage frais to the mash and it made it smooth enough to be spread.

I am chuffed.

[Nightshade]

well that's great!