The SketchUp recipe book

RonS

Stu,
If you like all of the vegetables in the caponata I think it would go good with grilled chicken. Never tried it with chicken. I have a cook out this weekend and I will try a couple different meats and see what is the best and let you know. But then, I like the caponata all by itself.

Ross Macintosh

I have a friend from Slovakia who makes this very delicious soup. I don't know the name but I remember she says it is fairly traditional in her region. Might be from Poland or the Czech Republic -- I don't know. Of course my version of it might only have a slight resemblance to the original.

I make it without a formal recipe but I'll try to guess on reasonable quantities. Even if you think you may not particularly like the individual ingredients please consider trying it anyways. The whole is definitely greater than the sum of the parts. Seriously good!

In a large pot, heat up 1.5 tablespoons on cooking oil.
Throw in at least one cup of diced kielbasa sausage and fry until browned.
[Note: A fairly lean dry-style pepperoni can be used in place of Kielbasa]
Add a large chopped onion and let it continue frying.
Add a few cloves of coarsely chopped garlic. Continue with the frying.
When the onions/garlic have some colour add about 1 litre of drained/rinsed sauerkraut.
Continue simmering - adding more oil if needed to keep it from sticking.
Stir so all the sauerkraut gets a couple of minutes of high heat treatment & the bottom of the pot is fully deglazed.
Add one tablespoon of brown sugar and two tablespoons of vinegar.
Add two litres of water.
Optional: Add two diced prunes (or four or five diced dried apricots).
Add 1.5 teaspoons of paprika spice.
Optional: Add a sprinkle of crushed chilies or cayenne pepper.
Simmer for minimum one hour with the cover on.
You can add more as req'd water to make up for evaporation.
Enjoy!

What happens with this soup is the sauerkrauted cabbage gets so tender & sweet that even people who think they hate sauerkraut or cabbage will be most pleasantly surprised. The broth has a very unique sweet & sour taste that is totally addictive. The broth remains fairly light -- it doesn't really thicken up, yet with the cabbage & Kielbasa it is a very hearty and satisfying soup. Real 'comfort food' of the highest order.

Please let me know if you try it. I'd love to hear what you think.

Regards, Ross

RonS

Here is another one I like.

Rib-eye Steaks

6 (8 to 10-ounce) rib-eye steaks
3 shallots, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 large bunch fresh rosemary, leaves chopped
6 large tomatoes, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
1 large bunch fresh sage, leaves chopped

Steaks: Preheat a grill. Mix shallot slices with olive oil. Salt and pepper 1 side of rib-eyes, cook on medium-high grill for 7 minutes. Turn steaks, paint with olive oil mixture and add more salt and pepper. Press rosemary into cooked side and grill another 2 to 3 minutes
Tomatoes: Brush olive oil mixture on 1 side of the tomato slices, and sprinkle salt and pepper. Place on medium-high grill, olive oil side down, for 4 to 5 minutes until they have grill marks but are still somewhat firm. Paint uncooked side with olive oil mixture and sprinkle with more salt and pepper. Turn and place minced fresh sage onto cooked side. Grill another 2 to 3 minutes.

Place the steaks on a plate and serve with the tomatoes. Sprinkle with more herbs as desired.

Gidon Yuval

Here's one I love. It makes a helluva great impression, it's delicious and best of all it's easy to make.

Pre-heat a pan and then pour in olive oil and add a good sized chunk of slightly salted butter. The olive oil serves to prevent the butter from burning. Add Thyme, Rosemary, salt and pepper to taste.
Once the butter has melted take a good sized Entrecote steak (preferably thick) and 'seal' it on both sides being carefull not to cook the steak, just seal it. Remove the steak and set it aside.
Place a piece of French puff pastry in a Corningware (or simmilar) baking tray (dish?) big enough that it covers the bottom and sides. Spread goose liver patte on the pastry so that it covers the bottom and sides.
Place the sealed steak on the patte, and spread patte on it so that it too is covered.
Cover with puff pastry as you would a pie, sealing all along the borders of the dish. Make a number of small holes in the pastry cover to allow steam to escape.
Brush egg yoke on the pastry top and place in pre-heated oven set to medium high. Bake till pastry is golden brown.

Serve with steamed asparagus in a light Hollandaise sauce.

Gidon Yuval

Baked Aubergine (Eggplant) with deep fried Camembert cheese.

Place medium sized Aubergines in medium high oven and bake until soft turning the aubergines regularly to ensure an even baking all around. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Cut Camembert into small bite sized cubes.
Prepare a light tempura using beaten egg whites, a teaspoon or two of water and cornstarch.
Pre heat a frying pan and fry bread crumbs in butter untill golden brown.
Dip Camembert cubes in tempura and deep fry until golden brown. Remove fried cubes and immediately roll in fried bread crumbs untill well coated.
Carefully peel the cooled Aubergines. Cut each one into thick slices (aprox. 6-7 cms thick).
Stand a slice on a plate and sprikle generously with olive oil and lemon juice. Add fresh crushed garlic, coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Place Camembert cubes on and around slice.

Enjoy!

trs

Guacamole;
After much experimenting it come down to the basis.
2-3 ripe avacado's, remove pit, scoop out fruit
1 clove of garlic, smashed and diced
1 firm medium plum tomatoe, fine dice
fresh squeezed lime to taste. one should do it
1 halepano pepper, pull out ribs and seeds. fine dice
hand full of diced celantro. flat leave parsely will substitute.
salt to taste.
optional; teaspoon of good chile powder.

combine all in a bowl. mash until smooth. taste and adjust seasoning to your liking.
chill overnight. serve with chips and margaritas.
stand back as you very likely get a chip in the back of your hand.
trs

John Sayers

Thanks Gidon - that first recipe is officially a Beef Wellington.
The problem I find today is that you can't get a decent sized eye fillet as all our beef is yearling and the eye fillet is too small.

cheers
john

RonS

OK one more

Grilled Peaches

4 ripe medium peaches
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 to 2 pints frozen vanilla yogurt

Cut the peaches in half and remove the pit. Slice each half in half and toss them in a bowl with the vanilla extract, almond extract, and brown sugar. Set aside for 15 minutes while you preheat a grill with a medium-high heat. Grill skin side down until skin is slightly charred, about 3 minutes. Turn and grill on the other 2 sides until you get nice grill marks, about 1 minute on each side.
Divide the peaches among 4 bowls and serve with the frozen yogurt and toasted almonds, if desired.

Gidon Yuval

@john sayers said:

Thanks Gidon - that first recipe is officially a Beef Wellington.

Thank you, John. I was shown this dish about 20 years ago and loved it but had no idea it had a name. And all this time I thought the guy who showed it to me was a genius. Don't get me wrong, I still think he's a great cook, I just think that maybe he should add a dash of humility to his recipes (and I use the word 'his' loosely ).

Is there an official name for the other recipe I posted? The Aubergine dish?

John Sayers

Not that I know of Gidon - the deep fried Camembert is a standard recipe in it's own right though. The asians have a deep fried ice cream that is similar

cheers
john

Gidon Yuval

Ron! There are 6 very happy people looking over my shoulder as I write this 'thank you' note for the grilled peaches recipe.
Too bad you can't hear the applause!
Take a bow, Ron.

John Sayers

My local ABC radio program broadcast this on "Thank God It's Friday". Apparently a restaurant sued a reviewer over a review he wrote for a local restaurant.

So the program requested the 3 guests to review their home dining experience.

http://johnlsayers.com/mp3/reviews.mp3

anything like your household??

cheers
john

RonS

Gidon,
They are a big winner here to. I eat them all of the time. Around 4 or 5 times a week when they are in season. Tell everyone I said thanks.

diana

There's a small Northwestern Oklahoman town grocer that had these once a week but you had to get there before they sold out. They offered them in a couple variations but they fill a dough and fry them so they had a fried pie texture which I'm not so crazy about. (love the filling though) My mother made these for our family in my youth, always cooked in her electric skillet and served on hamburger buns. This is one of my husband's favorites.

Bierox (Serves 4-6)
Serve in split hard rolls, on crackers or hamburger buns, in pita pocket bread or baked inside a bread dough or on tortillas.

1 lb ground beef or any 50/50 beef and ground pork, turkey or sausage
(some have used wild game mixed with with beef or pork)
1 large chopped onion, white or yellow
1 small or 1/2 a large head of red or green cabbage (or mix them), shredded or chopped (a bag of coleslaw mix, even with carrots, will work too for a fast shortcut)
1/2 cup very hot water
1 tsp beef bouillon crystals or one cube dissolved in the hot water
cracked black pepper to taste
salt to taste

Brown meat with onions, drain off excess grease. Stir in cabbage and beef flavored water, about 1/2 tsp salt and pepper. Simmer/steam loosely covered until cabbage is tender, stirring occasionally. Adjust seasoning to taste. I usually go heavier on the pepper but the bouillon is salty so more salt is not usually necessary.

Variations:
Add a cup of picante salsa before simmering cabbage and mix in 1 cup shredded monterey jack or cheddar/jack mix cheese after cabbage is done, blending until cheese is melted for a spicier cheese Bierox. (this is my favorite variation)

Add chopped hot peppers of your choice with the cabbage for spicy Bierox, cheese optional.

Add 1 cup or more monterey jack or cheddar/jack mix cheese when cabbage is done and stir in until melted for plain cheese Bierox.

Bierox Pinwheels: Spread well drained fully cooked mixture on a 12" x 9" rectangle made from thawed frozen or homemade bread loaf dough, roll up pinwheel style on the long side making a 12" long roll, pinch seam. With seam side down, slice in 1" thick rounds, place on a greased baking sheet and bake at bread recipe or package recommended temperature until well browned. Serve hot. You can use any meat mix variation for the filled dough Bierox but a drier mix is best. Monterey jack cheese does help to hold it together. Makes 12 1" rolls, two per person.

Bierox meat pies: Thaw a package of a dozen frozen yeast roll dough or make some fresh dough, flatten and roll out each roll size dough piece into a square or small rectangle, spread a generous amount of well drained fully cooked Bierox mixture on half of each square or rectangle, fold over and pinch edges to seal to make a meat pie. After making one or two, you'll know how much you can fit reasonably well in each pie. Place on a greased baking sheet. Brush each pie with melted butter and bake at temperature recommended on roll package or the recipe until the pies are brown. Remove from pan after a few moments and serve hot. Makes 12 small pies, 2 per person.

Bierox is obviously just beef, cabbage and onion served on any bread or cracker product so you can come up with hundreds of variations. Drained diced tomatoes & peppers (Rotel product as example) go well in it, so does adding a bit of frozen mexicorn, one or two bunches of green onions (cut in thin rings with kitchen shears) instead of white or yellow onions is good, use the green onion tops and bulbs. You can top the cooked meat mixture with biscuit or pie dough and bake it like a casserole if you like. It can be as fatty or as healthy as you want and it can be a one pan meal if you like.

John Sayers

Pea and Ham soup

as we are in winter downunder I love to cook this soup.
I get my butcher to cut up the ham bone from the "Ham off the Bone"
I then simmer the bones with a big bunch of mint and a couple of bay leaves for around 3- 4 hours.
Drain and reserve the liquid and allow the cooked bones to cool.

Finely chop an onion and a couple of carrots (I stick them in the food processor) and slowly fry in some olive oil for around half an hour. Add the ham stock and a 1kg (2lb) packet of frozen peas and simmer till the peas have totally softened. (about an hour)

remove the best of the meat from the cooled bones, finely chop and add to the soup - yum

trs

A slightly different take on John's yumo pea soup.
2 -3 Ham hocks, they're smoked and usually available.
A couple of large onions
bag of carrots
1 bag of dried split peas
bay leaf's
salt
pepper
a spec of good chili powder, (2 tsp.) optional

Split the skin and boil the ham hocks; stock pot maybe 2 -3 qts of water.
They will render a rather greyish looking foam. Skim that off until there is no more.
Add the coarsely chopped onions and the carrots.
Add bay leaf and the salt and pepper.
Simmer until the ham meat starts to fall of the bone. This will take a couple of hours. When things start smelling really good you are getting close.
Rinse the dried split peas and add.
When the peas start to soften remove the ham bones and strip the meat.
Add the meat back and cook down till the whole thing is nice and smooth. Stir occasionally, as it cooks down it will start to stick to the bottom of the pan.
Remove the bay leafs.
Taste and adjust seasonings. Thin with water or wine if it gets to thick.
Cool slightly,and serve with a nice crusty bread, or soda crackers.
and of course a good dry white wine.
As you might expect, it gets better over the next couple of days.
TR

John Sayers

Thanks TR - I've never thought to split the skin on a Ham Hock - it would make a big difference.

trs

You are welcome
TR
It's all in the details

pmiller

This thread seems to be light on desserts, so here is the best pie I have ever had:

Old-Time Chocolate Meringue Pie (from "Sweety Pies" book)

Ingredients:
One nine-inch pie crust

Filling:
3 large egg yolks
1/2 stick unsalted butter melted
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (dutch process is best if you can get it)
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup water
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Meringue:
3 large egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar

Pre-bake pie 9" crust (425 F - 8 to 10 min.), cool

Make the filling:
Beat eggs yolks, set aside
Heat the butter in medium-size saucepan low heat until it melts.
Add cocoa, condensed milk and water, stirring constantly with spoon or wire whisk until smooth.
Stir in the egg yolks and vanilla and cook until thickened and smooth (medium heat, 'till it just begins to boil).
Remove from heat, beat out any lumps that may have formed, pour into pie crust.

Make the meringue:
Combine the egg whites, cream of tartar and vanilla in medium bowl and beat with electric mixer 'till soft peaks form.
Add the sugar one tablespoon at a time and continue beating 'till stiff peaks form and sugar is dissolved.

Mound in center of pie, then spread around the edge of the crust, sealing meringue to the crust. Bake (350 F) until meringue is golden, 8 to 10 minutes.

Let cool completely on a wire rack.

Best intense deep chocolate pie, ever. Would also be fine with whipped cream instead of meringue.