Calling all foodies! Can we start a recipe thread?

I had this great breakfast this morning. LOL. The cook wouldn’t give me the recipe, like it was gold or something. After 15 minutes of talking food with this guy, he wouldn’t give it up.

Exasperated, and short of using a gun, I finally told him that I work as the food editor for the “Monterey Epicurian” and that this could make him a celebrity back in Monterey, California, home of Clint Eastwood.

The chef’s name is Alan Markel and he is a true artist, just in case any of you want to make him famous.

This is a lot of trouble to go through for French toast, but this isn’t just French toast. This is sex.

Orange Pecan Baked French Toast

Step One*:
1 loaf French or multi grain bread – sliced
6 eggs – lightly beaten
2 cups milk.
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch of salt

Step Two*:
½ cup butter – melted
1 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon orange zest
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 cup chopped pecans

*Step One
Arrange bread, standing up in two rows, in a greased 9×13-inch baking pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the first 7 ingredients and pour over the bread. Refrigerate overnight.

*Step Two:
Next day combine remaining ingredients and spread over bread. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (180°C) for 45 minutes. Serve with maple syrup. Serves 6.—or 1, if I’m at the table.

Best served in bed with a partner.

Baked Pasta Casserole

1 lb pasta, uncooked
1 qt your favorite marinara or spaghetti sauce
2 tbs flour
2 tbs butter
1 to 1½ cp milk
3 oz cheddar cheese, shredded
2 oz provolone cheese, shredded
1 oz Parmesan or Parmesan-Romano blend, grated.
2½ tsp Italian seasoning
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Red Pepper Flakes to taste

Preheat oven to 400° F (204° C)

Fill large pot with cold water and prepare pasta per instructions on package for al dente. Don’t overcook, as the pasta will cook more in the oven. Drain, add spaghetti sauce, and mix well Pour pasta into a casserole dish.

Prepare béchamel sauce as follows:

In a heavy skillet, over medium heat, melt butter; slowly whisk in flour, a little at a time, until smooth. Slowly whisk in milk again until smooth.

Slowly add cheeses to béchamel, whisking constantly until cheese is incorporated. Set aside.

Pour cheesy sauve over the top of the pasta. Bake for 30— 45 minutes, or until sauce is slightly browned.

Remove from oven, set for 5 minutes before serving. Serves 6–8.

¾ tsp Oregano
½ tsp Marjoram
½ tsp Thyme
¼ tsp Basil
¼ tsp Rosemary
¼ tsp Sage

Curried lentils

I make this in a slow cooker (crock pot).

1 stick salted butter
1 can/jar of tomatoes or stewed tomatoes or tomato sauce or even pasta sauce (I’ve used all different kinds of prepared tomatoes, and they’re all good. Lately, I’ve been buying tomato sauce from Italy. It has onion and salt and a bit of garlic.)
1 cup minced onion (I’ve used the dried kind by reducing the amount to ¼ cup.)
Minced garlic to your taste (I add a smidge less than 1 metric ton.) :)
6 tablespoons of your favorite curry powder (Last time, I got some from my neighbor the Patels. I have no idea what was in it, because the package was in Hindi.) (That’s a lie. I don’t have any neighbors who are Indian, but it sounded fun. Still, my neighbor Katy gave me a package that she bought locally that was completely written in Hindi. That part was true.)
32 OZ of broth (You can use any kind of broth. I prefer chicken.)
3 cups of water
1 lb. of uncooked lentils, sorted. (You have to check them. There are often little bits of debris in with the lentils. I’ve found twigs and tiny stones.)

Throw everything in the slow cooker and turn it on high for about 4 or 5 hours. Stir occasionally. Stir it often, if you’re in the mood.

If you want, you can add all sorts of other stuff like meat or other vegetables. There’s no end to how you can adapt this.

One note: I don’t add salt. There’s plenty in the butter and usually in the tomatoes, too.

I just spent 10 minutes writing out a recipe only to have my internet crash the very second I hit the answer button. ^&$%!!!@&**!!! I will repost later, gotta go now.

Roasted red pepper pasta

This is my favorite pasta dish! It’s great on its own but even better with fresh bell pepper from the garden. I always make a double batch because it’s so good.

BTW, at the end of my recipe above is a recipe for a homemade blend of Italian seasoning.

This isn’t really a recipe but more of a tip.

I love manicotti but hate making it. I always used a spoon to fill the cooked noodles. This is a horrible experience and why I only made it once every few years.

Then I discovered that cooking the noodles is totally unnecessary. Add about 1/8th of a cup of water to the sauce. And then stuff the uncooked noodles. I can bang out a pan in ten minutes and it works great. Just wrap the baking dish well in foil.

At first I was worried that the noodles would absorb the color of the sauce. I’m not sure why this bothered me so much but it did. But no worries. The noodles came out white and great.

Now I make it a few times a month.

Okay, I am ready to tackle this again. haha

Colomas chicken Pepper “Steak” sandwiches.

Serves 2–4

1–2 large, boneless, skinless chicken breasts, baked.

1 ea. red, yellow & orange bell peppers, cored and de-seeded, rinsed, pat dry, julienne sliced.

1–2 large yellow onions sliced in strips

Thin sliced Provolone cheese

Sweet french rolls or onion rolls.

Olive oil

Mayonnaise

Italian seasonings

garlic powder

paprika

tomato powder

Rinse and pat dry chicken breasts and lightly coat with olive oil
Bake @350 until done but not overcooked
Slice and cover, set aside.

Place pepper and onion strips in plastic bag and lightly drizzle with olive oil
Shake and massage bag to evenly coat
Add all spices liberally and shake again to distribute spices

In hot skillet saute peppers and onions until peppers are tender and onions transparent

In another warmed skillet transfer sliced chicken breast, arrange into sandwich size portions and cover with peppers and onions. heat until mostly hot and then place sliced Provolone on top of portions and continue heating until cheese s melted.

Slide portions onto prepared french roll or onion roll spread with mayo with spatula.
Cut in half and enjoy! Added sliced Avocado is also amazing!
Nice served with simple, grape tomato, sliced/diced cucumber and black olive salad with italian dressing marinade or red wine vinegar dressing.

KITCHEN MEASUREMENT CONVERTERS

Here are a couple of useful tools for converting English measures to metric and vice-versa:

Many people run into trouble when trying to convert cooking ingredients from English or “Standard” measure to metric and vice-versa. Here’s a site that will convert them for you. But watch out, make sure you convert dry to dry weight and liquid to liquid. For example, 1 cup of liquid is 24 cl, but 1 cup of something dry, like flour, is 350g. Tsp and tbsp are alway measured in ml whether dry or wet. Be careful. If you scroll down, there is even a converter for Australian Spoon measures.

Oven temps can be a bitch, because converting degrees Fahrenheit to Celsius and vice-versa requires an algebraic formula, and most people forgot their algebra ages ago. So :Here’s a converter that will do that for you.

@Espiritus_Corvus ....and to further complicate things lets add high altitude baking to the metric conversions and Fahrenheit to Celsius conversions. Prerequisite 2 glasses of good wine.

Oh. You mean that kind of altitude.

Oh, that’ll definitely improve my altitude!

Reposted from another thread, but more appropriate here:

Recently, I made fishhead soup for breakfast on the hibachi at the stern of my boat while waiting for customs to clear us into Grenada. I had two Londoners as guests who’d never had it before. It is a quick, simple, nutritious and popular breakfast in the Caribbean.

The parts of the fish that are used are usually thrown away. What a bloody waste of good fish meat. These parts represent 35% of the total weight of a freshly caught fish. I love it and it really does give one a lot of energy. We caught some grouper off the deck the day before. I talked my guests into trying fishhead soup after they made me promise to remove the heads before serving. LOL. So civilized, these Brits.

You sautee a couple of handfuls of roughly chopped onions first. Clear, not brown, about 7 minutes. Throw the tails, spines and heads—all the leftovers after filetting except for the guts—into a pot, add raw potatoes (rice is more common here) cut into about one inch cubes, bay leaves, salt, a few stalks of dill. Fill the pot with water just enough to cover the fish heads and bring it to a boil, then to a simmer for about 20 minutes until the potatoes are tender and the meat is falling off the fish. Remove the rest of the meat by stabbing, picking and scraping it with a fork. This head meat, especially Grouper “cheeks”, are a prized delicacy in these islands.

30 minutes at sea level.

If you’re serving people unaccustomed to fish head soup, toss the eyes and the heads. Voila. Fishhead soup. Best served with baguette bread and real butter (trust me, if you work the deck of a sailboat all day, the butter won’t kill you), fresh fruit, tea or strong cafe con leche. A hearty meal that will last you for hours.

Fish from the sea, fruit from the tree. It all be free, mon.

Here is a link to some other recipe threads, in case anyone is interested.

^^That was a great idea, Strauss. Access to the Fluther recipe repository. Many of those recipes look incredibly delicious and unique to various parts of the country. They appear to reflect both Latin and Germanic cultures as well. Some deserve reposting here every once in awhile when this thread slows down. Man, the variations in Potato Salad alone could be a thread in itself..

I dug up the original Granola recipe from the Whole Earth Catalogue. I’ll post it here a little later. It is the Great Granola Recipe, and the root of all those that came after it. The sugary, processed “granola” on the grocery shelves today is a far cry from the real thing, as you know.

Food in all it’s cultural variations is as interesting as folk music. It’s no surprise to me that you were the one to initiate this latest recipe thread.

How about something spectacular from Louisiana, Monsieur Saucier? Louisiana may be a lot of things, but one thing is for sure—it is the home of some of the most amazing regional cooking in the world.

^ I make a yummy spicy Andouille sausage dish with pepper strips and yellow squash served over pasta.

Here’s my Andouille recipe. Easy and delicious. My friends husband begs me to make it for him. Just today I sent his wife the recipe and hinted that she can do it herself. haha

I use a slow cooker and it takes about 1.5 hours on “high.”

Chicken of beef Andouille sausage

1 med Zucchini

1 large yellow crookneck squash

Red, yellow and orange bell pepper strips.

1 clove of minced fresh garlic or dash of dried garlic

1 teaspoon or so of italian seasonings

Dash of white pepper

1 pkg. of Linguini

Preheat crock pot on high for about 20–30 minutes.

Dice sausage and squash, julienne peppers and toss all into crock pot with garlic and seasonings.
Add about ¼ cup of water, stir to mix ingredients.
Cover and cook until veggies are tender.

Scoop out sausage & veggies into bowl.
Boil and drain Linguini and put into large bowl.
Pour some of the remaining stock from the crock pot over pasta and toss.
Put pasta into large rice or pasta bowls, top with sausage and veggies.

Serve with garlic, or garlic and cheese bread. Enjoy!

I’ll have some time to post a recipe for a seafood gumbo and a classic jambalaya within about 24 hours.

HACHICH FUDGE (sic)

“This is the food of paradise–of Baudelaire’s Artificial Paradises: it might provide an entertaining refreshment for a Ladies’ Bridge Club or a chapter meeting of the DAR. In Morocco it is thought to be good for warding off the common cold in damp winter weather and is, indeed, more effective if taken with large quantities of hot mint tea. Euphoria and brilliant storms of laughter, ecstatic  reveries and extensions of one’s personality on several simultaneous planes are to be complacently expected. Almost anything Saint Theresa did, you can do better if you can bear to be ravished by ‘un évanouissement reveillé.’
 
“Take 1 teaspoon black peppercorns, 1 whole nutmeg, 4 average sticks of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon coriander. These should all be pulverised in a mortar. About a handful each of stoned dates, dried figs, shelled almonds and peanuts: chop these and mix them together. A bunch of canibus sativa can be pulverised. This along with spices should be dusted over the mixed fruit and nuts, kneaded together. About a cup of sugar dissolved in a big pat of butter. Rolled into a cake and cut into pieces or made into balls about the size of a walnut, it should be eaten with care. Two pieces are quite sufficient.
 
“Obtaining the canibus may present certain difficulties, but the variety known as canibus sativa grows as a common weed, often unrecognised, everywhere in Europe, Asian and parts of Africa; besides being cultivated as a crop for the manufacture of rope. In the Americas, while often discouraged, its cousin, called canibus indica, has been observed even in city window boxes. It should be picked and dried as soon as it has gone to seed while the plant is still green.”

—The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book (and autobiography), by Alice B. Toklas, 1954.

BREAKFAST
My favorite meal.

Cheese and Sausage Breakfast Casserole

8 bread slices – cut into cubes
1 lb spicy pork sausage – crumbled and cooked
1½ cups grated sharp cheddar
10 eggs 2 cups milk (do not use low-fat or nonfat)
2 tablespoons chopped sun-dried tomatoes
1 4oz can mild green chilies, drained or diced fresh chili to taste
2 teaspoons dry mustard salt and pepper

Arrange bread in a greased 9×13— inch baking dish. Top with sausage and cheese. Beat together eggs, add remaining ingredients and pour over sausage mixture. Let sit a few hours or overnight. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (180°C) for 50 minutes. Serves 8.

***
GRANOLA

Granola was “invented” by by Dr. James Jackson at the Jackson Sanitarium in 1863, a popular, upscale health spa in the Finger Lakes district in upstate N.Y. It was basically baked muesli sweetened with honey. As cheaper, less nutritious, more processed foods gained popularity throughout the 20th century, the recipe fell by the wayside and was nearly lost. In the 1960’s it was revived by college students within the hippie culture in their search for healthier, whole foods in response to the highly processed foods of the 1950’s and 60’s.

The recipe below was published in Stewart Brand’s 1972 issue of The Last Whole Earth Catalogue. It is simple to make, stores well, tastes great and is a nutritious breakfast and trail food packed with high-quality carbs. If you haven’t had real, home-made granola, you haven’t had granola. The stuff you buy in the stores isn’t the same at all. The recipe below is the real deal.

The Last Whole Earth Catalogue Granola Recipe

Preparation Time: 30 to 45 minutes.

Mix:
4 Cups rolled oats
1–½ Cups shredded unsweetened coconut
1 Cup wheat germ
1 Cup chopped walnuts, pecans, sliced almonds or a blend of all and nuts of your choice.
1 Cup hulled sunflower seeds
½ cup sesame seeds
½ Cup flax seeds
½ Cup bran
1 Cup ground roasted soybeans
Combine these dry ingredients well in a large bowl and set aside.

Mix Separately:
½ Cup oil (soy, sesame, or corn)
½ Cup honey
½ tsp vanilla
Stir until uniformly blended. Use low heat if necessary.

Directions:
Spread the dry mixture on oiled cookie sheets (with sides).

Brush the dry mixture with the wet mixture thoroughly and turn in order to do so.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 325F (160C) for about 15 minutes, turning frequently in order bake the under-layers of granola until light brown and crispy. Be careful not to burn.

Turning is most important near the end of the 15 minute cooking period.

To serve:
Sprinkle any seedless, fresh berries liberally on your granola, then pour on the milk or yoghurt of your choice.

@Espiritus_Corvus Damn you…I am starving over here, trying to get out to the store but delayed on someone that was supposed to be here over an hour ago.
I had oatmeal and an apple about 4 hours ago now.
I am going to buy everything in sight I’m afraid. haha
That Granola sounds wonderful I m going to share that with a friend. :-)

Colomas Cole Slaw

4 cups shredded green cabbage
1 cup shredded red cabbage
½ cup shredded carrots.
1 can halved cashew nuts
Dressing of your choice, creamy or vinegar based.

Mix shredded cabbage and carrots
toss with dressing type f your choice
Add cashews just before serving and toss lightly.

Here is the dressing recipe I like.

www.food.com/recipe/classic-creamy-coleslaw-dressing-245037

Green Bananas and Potatoes Stew (Serving for Two)

Ingredients:
6 Green Bananas
6 Potatoes
1 Onion
3 Garlic Cloves
1 Green Bell Pepper
2 Carrots
Vegetable Oil
Salt

Preparation:
Peel the green bananas, potatoes, carrots, onion, and garlic cloves, and slice them transversely, but the potatoes and green bananas slices should be a bit large. Add enough amount of vegetable oil into the pan, and then add onion, green bell pepper, and garlic. Allow the ingredients to fry until the onion and garlic turn brown. Then add the tomatoes and potatoes, and stir. Add a little water, and allow the potatoes to cook slightly. Then add the green bananas, and allow them to cook. Add water considerably. You can always use spices, if you like. However, you can stick with the natural ingredients if you dislike spices. You should be able to prick the potatoes and bananas slices effortlessly the moment they cook

@Jam3sFord Wow…that sounds very intriguing! Great sharing, welcome to the pod! :-)

Making this yummy coffee cake this gloomy afternoon to share with neighbors.
Easy and delicious!

1 box yellow cake mix
1 8 oz. sour cream
1 stick butter
4 eggs
¼ cup oil
½ cup sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla extract
3 Tablespoons Folgers instant coffee crystals

Cream butter and sugar then add eggs and beat in, in by one.
Add oil, vanilla, sour cream and cake mix. Blend well.
Fold in coffee crystals and our into greased and lightly floured 91/2 X 13 in. cake pan.

Bake @350 for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Enjoy!

Here’s a delicious cocktail made famous at a local old time bar & grill in my area.
Ya gotta try this, it is soooo yummy! Recipe at bottom of the page.

https://folsomfoodie.com/2011/07/31/the-golden-cadillac-drink-created-at-poor-reds/

BANH CANH GIO HEO
(Vietnamese Udon Noodle Soup)

Ingredients (Part 1):
2–3 lbs (1kg) of pork neck bones
1.5 lbs (800g) of pork or ham hocks

Instructions on how to prep the bones:
These bones must be prepped for cooking by placing them in a standard 8-quart stock pot filled with enough water to cover. Add some salt and vinegar. Boil for ten minutes until the impurities rise to the top. Then dump out the whole pot and wash it clean. Rinse the bones and meat under cold running water, then set aside.

Ingredients (Part 2)
1. 5 lbs (800g) of pork belly or pork shoulder – ideally, Vietnamese pork ham (Gio lua, optional)
2.2 lbs (1kg) Banh Canh noodles (Tapioca noodles, you can find these fresh or pre-made noodles at many Vietnamese super markets)
2 or 3 slices from a large ginger root.
1 large white onion
1 handful of fried shallots (hanh phi).
1 tsp (5ml) red wine or apple vinegar.
2 small lumps of rock sugar.
1 tbsp (15mg) salt.
Fish sauce and mushroom seasoning (bot nem) to taste.
Chicken stock.
Bean sprouts, green onion, chili pepper, lime wedges
½ cup (12cl) chopped fresh mint or cilantro—ideally, Vietnamese mint (rau ram).

Instructions on how to make the broth:
1) In same 8-quart stock pot, bring about ¾ pot of water (enough for about 10 bowls) to boil then add the bones, the pork hocks, pork belly or shoulder meat back into the water. Add chicken stock, 2 or 3 slices ginger and 1 peeled white onion. (You can slightly char them in a pan for better aroma). Then add 1 tbsp (15mg) salt and the rock sugar. Let the broth simmer until the pork hocks and the meat are tender (but not falling off the bones for the pork hocks). It takes about 1 to 1.5 hours. During this time, season the broth with the vinegar, fish sauce and mushroom seasoning to taste. You can use a pressure cooker to save time. It takes about 15–30 minutes depending on the pressure cooker and the size of the pork hock.

2) In the meantime, make some fried shallots (hanh phi) by slicing the shallots into thin slices. Add a few tablespoon of cooking oil into a small sauce pan and add sliced shallots. Stir occasionally until the shallots turn caramelized and crispy. Remove from the hot oil just right before it completely turned golden brown (If you wait until it turns to color you want then the product will look burned).

- Add ⅓ of the fried shallots and a couple teaspoon of the shallot-infused oil into the broth.

- Remove the pork meat and the pork hocks from the broth and set aside. Once the pork meat is cooled enough to touch, slice them into thin slices.

3) To prepare the noodle soup, add the noodles, a few slices of pork meat, pork ham and 1 pork hock to a bowl. Ladle the hot broth on top and garnish with chopped green onion, cilantro, fried shallots and a few slices of red chili pepper (if you can take the heat). Right before being served, add a spritz of lime juice and a dash of fresh ground black pepper. Enjoy it with bean sprouts.

It should look something like THIS

How about it, Mimi? Is that about right?

If this is going to be a real Fluther Recipe Repository, we should link to the past recipe threads such as Lorna Love’s Soup Thread. There are some great soups there.

LTryptophan’s recipe thread from 2010