Some Favorites of Mine...

[David Hosobuchi]

I'm going to start showing some evidence that I really am a retired chef...:p

Most of my recipes won't give quantities for the ingredients unless they are required for some specific reason. This is because it is up to the chef to use their creativity...:cool:

Any questions??? Feel free to ask...:D

Firehorse
*fire*rodeo

[David Hosobuchi]

Blanche fresh peas, onions, celery (remove strings), and fresh herbs in butter until the peas turn a nice bright green. Add whit stock or water & bring to boil. Finish with cream & butter, garnish with fresh raw peas & butter fried crutons.

Great with a baguette and some brie...:D

Firehorse
*fire*rodeo

[howdydave]

Hmmm...

Sounds like a variation of the ol' Ham & Peas on Toast! :D

[David Hosobuchi]

Here's one I served for Christmas Eve dinner pot-luck at my sister's house...


Calamari Salad

About 1lb of fresh calamari
3 stalks of crisp celery
1/2 each of yellow, red, green bell pepper
1/2 bunch finely chopped fresh basil
1/3 bunch finely chopped fresh parsely
juice from 4-5 lemons
1 tbsp of dijon mustard
3-4 medium cloves of fresh garlic
extra virgin olive oil
coarse fresh ground black pepper

Boil 1 gallon of salted water with 3 lemons cut in half.
Clean calamari, remove insides, and cut body tubes into 1/2 inch rings.
Blanche calamari in boiling water for 45 seconds, no more. Just enough to get it to start to curl.

Immediately cool under running water, drain & refrigerate.

Cut all vegetables into tiny 3/16 inch cubes, or as close as your perfectionism requires, mix with the cold calamari & 1/2 finely chopped parsely & basil.

Blend mustard, lemon juice (minus seeds), garlic, remainder of parsely & basil, black pepper, and slowely add the olive oil.

Note, this dressing should be quite acidic. Marinate the salad in the refrigerator with 1/2 of the dressing for 4 hours prior to serving, drain again, then serve with the remaining dressing on a bed of romaine lettuce.

I literally through this recipe together while shopping at the store for ingredients the day before. At the table, I was confronted with, "This is the best calamari salad I've ever had." from several of the guests...

Give it to me straight, is it really that good???

David

[BEM]

This is an approximation of a soup we had in Portugal once. It is a family favorite.
Measures are flexible.

STOCK
Fish such as cod or haddock, any white, large-flaking fish will do.
a couple of carrots, sliced
an onion or two, sliced
a leek or two, the white part finely sliced, the inner green part whole.
a clove of garlic, unpeeled
handful of parsley
salt and pepper (ground black or red flakes)
1 bay leaf
water
white wine.

SOUP
Olive oil
4 -6 cloves garlic, chopped
a handful of dried mint or dried peppermint (not spearmint)
1 - 2 large cans of peeled tomatoes
1 - 2 large cans of crushed tomatoes
salt and pepper
Amontillado Sherry
heavy cream

optional -cilantro or fresh mint sprigs

MORE SEAFOOD - clams and squid highly recommended!!!
fresh clams, whole in shell, or shelled and in strips
squid cut in rings
optional:
mussels in shell or not
crab meat
lobster

Stock: combine vegetables in shallow pan, cover almost, not quite, with water. Simmer for 20 min. Add fish, salt, pepper, bay leaf and enough white wine to almost cover the fish. Simmer for 20 min, or until fish is cooked.
Set aside.

Soup: In large soup pot heat olive oil, garlic and dried mint. Add tomatoes, whole and crushed, add salt and pepper and let simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours on lowest flame.

When the tomatoes are soft and cooked through it is time to combine.

From the stock remove parsley, green of leek and garlic clove. Divide the flaky fish, make sure there are no bones. Add stock to soup. Add clams and squid and any other of the shellfish above. Bring soup to a boil and simmer for 15 - 20 min. Remove from heat and add a good slurp of Sherry and not too much cream. Taste to adjust flavor.

Put a fresh sprig of mint or cilantro on top of each portion and serve with crusty bread on the side.

birte

P.S. the Christmas calamari salad sounds like my husband's dream salad, David. Will tell you if it is that good.

[BEM]

Danish Gratin is simply bechamel sauce baked with fill of vegs. and/or cooked chicken.

1/3 cup butter and extra butter for greasing the baking dish
bread crumbs
grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
1/2 cup flour
2 cups milk (lowfat is fine)
2 eggs

melt butter, add flour, mix VERY well. Keep pot on medium warm flame and add milk a bit at a time, mixing thoroughly. Let come to bubbling simmer. Remove from heat and beat in eggs one at a time. Add salt and pepper.

Before or in the meantime cook Broccoli and/or Cauliflower or carrots or parsnips or green peas or spinach or swiss chard or a combination of some or all. Drain well.
Dice cooked chicken if you have it.

Butter baking dish, sprinkle with bread crumbs. Put a layer of bechamel in bottom of dish. Pile all the vegs. you want to use - and chicken if you wish - on bechamel. Sprinkle with cheese (not too much and not necessary). Cover with rest of bechamel. Sprinkle with bread crumbs (and optional cheese).
Bake at 375 degrees F. for 45 min. to one hour. Gratin is done when a knife comes out clean from middle.

[BEM]

Ingredients:
1 duck
salt
pepper

Time in oven ca. 3 hours. Prep. time ca. 10 min.

Wash duck, dry well. Put innards into duck or throw them out with neck and tips of wings (cut off at joint)
Sprinkle duck with salt and pepper. Place it on its stomach in pan with rack. Put into cold oven. Turn oven to 350 deg. F. and bake for one hour.
Turn duck over to lie on its back. Bake another two hours or until the duck's legs feel loose when wiggled.
Serve.
Easy, elegant and delicious.

[BEM]

Even if you have never liked Brussels Sprouts, you should try them cooked this way - you may change your mind.
In Denmark Brussels Sprouts are called 'Rosenk*l' - 'Rose Cabbages'.

Trim the bottom off the sprouts, and discard any outer leaves that fall off or need to be peeled off. Cut the sprouts in half lengthwise.
In a frying pan with lid, melt a good lump of butter. Rinse sprouts and pour into melted butter. Shake pan to coat the sprouts with butter. Add water to the pan to halfway cover sprouts. Sprinkle a little salt on sprouts. Put on lid, turn up heat to make water boil. Turn down heat to low, and let simmer for 20 - 25 min.
Serve in butter-water liquid with a sifting spoon - you don't want the liquid to flood your plate.

I wish others would share recipes too. Wonder if anyone reads them.....

[tic chick]

reading here, BEM!

jeannie

[Lara]

BEM, the recipes sound just great!
The Calamari sounds wonderful too, David.

I read here from time to time as well.
I'll post some soon.

[BEM]

Tic chick and Lara - it's more fun when I know I'm not just writing recipes for myself. Thank you for posting. I'm looking forward to yours!!!!

FAVOURITE CHICKEN

One or more frying, roasting or baking chicken(s)
Olive oil
Salt
Thyme
Summer Savory
Sage

Wash chicken, dry well. If you like heart and gizzard, put them inside the chicken. The liver goes into the pan, covered with skin and fat from the chicken. Trim the extra fat and thick skin away from opening in chicken.
Cover bottom of large baking pan with a thin layer of olive oil. Place chicken on its back in the pan, and roll it from side to side to oil sides of thighs and wings. Sprinkle chicken's breast with salt, a lot of thyme and summer savory and a little sage. Tilt chicken to sprinke salt and herbs inside it. Turn chicken on its stomach, and sprinkle back with same amount of salt and herbs as on breast.
Leave the chicken on its stomach and bake or roast at 350 degrees F until nicely browned and crisp, and the legs feel loose. In a conventional oven it will take two hours for an ordinary frying chicken. A roaster will take three hours. In a convection oven the time will be almost halved.

You will not have the most presentable chicken, since it's got its rump uppermost, but you will have moist white meat, and the skin on the back will be crisp and delicious.

If you cook only one chicken, you can surround it with small potatoes or thick slices of big potatoes, sprinkled with salt and herbs. You may never have tasted better potatoes!!!!

[roz1950]

OK people what is calamari ???

[Lara]

Hi roz,
typically it is small squid.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/ocean/monsters/cuisine.htm

[BEM]

Something to do with Celery root:

If you don't know celery root, it's the peculiar looking, gnarly, yellow-beige lump that you find among the vegetables in supermarkets and veg. markets.
It has a nutty taste besides tasting like the celery it is.

For salads:
Peel the celery root and chop the raw root finely or grate it coarsely if you want to mix it in with the salad. Grate it finely if you want it to elegantly top the salad.
A salad of chopped or grated raw carrots, chopped or grated cooked beets (pickled or not), fresh raw green peas, blanched green beans, raw green asparagus, and the finely chopped raw celery root is delicious, either with a vinegary oil dressing:
1 1/2 Tbsp white wine vinegar (or Cider vinegar) to 3 Tbsp cold pressed oil. (In this case use nut oil or grape seed oil or safflower oil etc. Olive oil is not the right flavor for this kind of salad.) Add salt and pepper and a pinch of sugar and if you like, a pinch of Coleman's dry mustard. Use Dijon mustard if that's what you happen to have on hand. Beat together the dressing until it turns creamy.
Or with home made mayonnaise, or with commercial mayonnaise doctored with white wine vinegar (or lemon juice) and salt, pepper and pinch of sugar.

Mashed celery root and potato:

Peel the celery root and cut into chunks. Peel as many potatoes as will equal the amount of celery root. Cut potatoes into small chunks. Cook celery root and potato together, in just enough water to cover, until done. Drain and let stand a minute without lid to let off steam. Add butter, milk, salt and pepper to taste, and mash with hand masher. Don't stir, stirring will make the potatoes go slimy.

And then Parsnips.

peel parsnips, and slice or cut into chunks. Melt a good lump of butter in a frying pan with lid. Add parsnip when butter is melted and foaming. Shake pan to coat parsnip with butter. Add water - not enough to cover parsnip. Put on lid and cook til parsnip is tender, ca. 20 min.
You can add carrots - peeled and sliced. Carrots take longer to cook, so slice them thinner than the parsnip.

Good cooking,

birte

[Lara]

Thanks, birte. You know, I've never used that vegetable.
I should try it. I think it's called celeriac here. I LOVE parsnips!


I must be losing my mind or something. I thought I'd posted a recipe here for a nice salad using figs and balsamic. Now I can't find it. :confused:

[David Hosobuchi]

Yes Lara, celery root and celeriac are the same thing....

BEM, did you ever make the calamari salad for your husband???

Look for the Coq au Vin with reduction sauce, to be posted sometime soon....

[BEM]

David, not yet, and for no good reason. I have printed it out, and my husband read it with much enthusiasm. We have meant to buy squid every time we drive out to Stauffer's of Kissel Hill, where the fish is freshest - isn't that a great name for a supermarket? - but every time we've come home and realized that we forgot to buy the squid.
Now that you've reminded me, we will make sure to remember next time we shop there.

Looking forward to the Coq

birte

[BEM]

Eat greens!
Three greens that need cooking before eating:

Collard Greens

Cold pressed olive oil
A chopped or thinly slices onion
A clove or two of garlic, chopped (optional)
Wash each collard leaf separately. Rip out the entire stem and discard. Chop the leaves by rolling a few together at a time and slicing rather thinly. Set aside in colander.
Heat olive oil in a frying pan with lid. Add onion (and garlic). Simmer till onion is slightly cooked. Add the greens, add a half cup of water, cover and simmer for ca 30 min.
Serve as is
or
Mix into mashed potatoes
Mix into scrambled eggs
Use in an omelet with Parmesan cheese added

Swiss Chard

Butter
cream
Grated Parmesan cheese
Wash each leaf and stem separately. Cut the tips off stems, but keep as much stem as possible. Chop stems and leaves into 1/2" slices (roll leaves to slice). Set aside in colander. Melt a lump of butter in frying pan with lid. When butter foams add the Chard. Add 1/2 cup water. Put on lid and let simmer 20 - 25 min. Add a little cream, mix well. Add grated Parmesan, mix well.
Serve as sauce for pasta
Or
serve as vegetable as is.
mix into scrambled eggs

Sorrel

A large handfull of Sorrel
Butter - 1/4 cup
Cream - 1 cup
Wash Sorrel and chop. Melt butter in small sauce pan. On low flame melt sorrel in the butter. In another saucepan bring cream JUST to boil. Add hot cream to melted Sorrel. Mix, and pour into food proc. or blender. Process/blend.
Tastes fantastic as sauce for fish.

You can skip the cream and put the melted Sorrel into scrambled eggs, or make a Sorrel omelet.
A real taste treat.

N.B. to make scrambled eggs with greens: Melt a lump of butter (or use oil) in a thick bottomed frying pan. Break desired number of eggs into butter in pan. Let the egg whites start to turn white. With a spatula stir the eggs together gently, scraping bottom of pan, add the greens and keep folding egg and greens together until the eggs are cooked.

Mushrooms are not green......... but while I'm at it, for eating on toast, in scrambled eggs or in omelet, mushrooms taste really good cooked like this:
Sautee mushrooms in butter (or butter and oil together). When all moisture has evaporated, add juice of 1/2 smallish lemon, and cream enough to coat the mushrooms.

[BEM]

Well, David, the squid has been bought. Salad day tomorrow.
birte

[Lara]

Birte, hope you both enjoyed it.

hmmmnn, collard, chard and sorrel. I'm going to have to look them up and figure out what they are first LOL I love my greens.

I'm looking forward to the Coq au Vin post too.

[BEM]

I forgot to explain that after adding lemon juice and cream, you should simmer the mushrooms again until the cream has browned. You can add enough cream to serve the mushrooms as sauce for pasta. The sauce thickens as it browns.

The calamari salad is made! It looks and smells delicious, can't wait to taste it.

Now it is your turn to make one of my recipes, David...........

If you love greens, Lara, you will like collards, chard and sorrel. You can cook mustard greens like collards, but it is stronger-tasting. I often simply crave greens. I must be part rabbit. I love lettuces.

My favourite salad dressing is 1 Tbsp vinegar, either balsamic, sherry or wine, and 3 generous Tbsp.s of good, cold pressed olive oil. Add salt & pepper to taste, and whisk together until creamy and thick. Mix into greens just before you're going to eat the salad. You can add a clove of crushed garlic to the dressing unless the salad contains onion - the two clash in salads.

birte

[Firehorse]

The calamari salad is made! It looks and smells delicious, can't wait to taste it.

Now it is your turn to make one of my recipes, David...........



You say it's my turn BEM

Speaking of rabbits, those greens sound like they'd go very nicely with a braised hare, & a white zinfandel dijon mustard sauce, with lots of little mushrooms in it...

I'll try to get the Coq au vin out in text soon. I've been doing a drug change and have been experiencing some side effects that have kept me down a bit. But no worries, I can still taste that sauce...

[BEM]

Can you really buy a hare in the US. ? Or do you have to shoot a wild one yourself? Game hare is delicious. I'm not that wild about Rabbit. Maybe there is a web site that sells hare?? I have bought grouse on the web, but haven't thought to look for hare. Maybe you can even buy hare out West - Jack Rabbits are hares, aren't they?
?????? birte

[bewolf]

Any sort of pasta plus..

Tomato sauce.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (14 ounce) can chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper (to taste)

1 Heat oil in pan over medium heat & saute onion until translucent.
2 Add garlic & saute for another minute.
3 Stir in the rest of the ingredients; bring to a boil, then reduce heat & simmer uncovered for 15- 20 minutes.
4 Adjust seasoning, if necessary and remove the bay leaf.

PASTA: Add oil, then pasta to a large pot of salted, boiling water & cook until tender.
1 Drain well.
2 ASSEMBLY: Turn pasta onto individual plates.
3 Spoon tomato sauce over them, leaving the outer edge of the pasta visible

add grated cheese ( Parmesan is best) as required.

Enjoy.

[lor]

no one has written for awhile

Ummm....I made some pretty good Coke Chicken at camp this weekend. Easy too, remember, it was for camp.

[Firehorse]

I know, I promised this long ago, but hey, I've been busy....

First, you need a tough, ornery, french **** whose drunk on some nice, rich red wine...*coq au vin

If you can't find one, a whole cut up chicken, or even just a whole bunch of thighs or other parts will do fine.

2 bottles of red wine. Cabernet Sauvingnion, Burgundy, or Pinot Noir make nice sauces.

1 Quart chicken stock

Stew veggies- I always like to have things like turnips, carrots, potatoes, celery, onions, garlic, mushrooms, the works. All sized to bite sized peices. (remember mushrooms will shrink in size).

Herbs & spice-Fresh are always the best. I always throw a tied bag of cheese cloth with a bunch of parsely, sage, thyme, sage, bay leaves, peppercorns, and other spices I don't want to be showing as "specks" in the sauce at the end.

Procedure:

Brown chicken (salt as desired) in a stew pot until all pieces at golden brown. Remove meat, and brown musrooms until dark. Remove, and drain 2/3 of fat.

Add onions, and cook until clear, then add all other vegtables & chicken.
Cover with red wine and chicken stock.

Let simmer until chicken is tender. Strain, and remove all meat & veggies to serving platter. Keep hot in oven

Reduce liquid by boiling, until there is approxamately 1.5 quarts of sauce. Thicken as desired with roux. May be finished with a few ounces of cream.

Traditionally served with a bottle of the same wine that was used for the sauce.

[lor]

I forgot who said something about havig some Quickrecipes (it's Easy too).
*Picante Chicken*
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 jar (16 oz.) Picante sauce
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp mustard

Mix the last three & pour over chicken. Bake at 400* (uncovered) for 30-35min.

[Firehorse]

Can you really buy a hare in the US. ? Or do you have to shoot a wild one yourself? Game hare is delicious. I'm not that wild about Rabbit. Maybe there is a web site that sells hare?? I have bought grouse on the web, but haven't thought to look for hare. Maybe you can even buy hare out West - Jack Rabbits are hares, aren't they?
?????? birte
Actually, yes, I do know places here in California where I can get free-range hare for about $5.00-$6.00 a pound.

One of course could do the Elmer Fudd routine...

Wabbit hunting...*ack

I'm sure the internet has solutions.

Good luck!!!

[David Hosobuchi]

Blanche fresh peas, onions, celery (remove strings), and fresh herbs in butter until the peas turn a nice bright green. Add whit stock or water & bring to boil. Finish with cream & butter, garnish with fresh raw peas & butter fried crutons.

Great with a baguette and some brie...:D

Firehorse
*fire*rodeo

I just made some wonderful split pea soup

1 part dried organic split peas (Make sure to wash them well & drain. you might even look out for small rocks!)

3 parts water

1 part stock (I used a stock made from leftover baked ham shank & bone)

Onions, celery, garlic, and fresh herbs

chopped ham, bacon ends & pieces, are great for browning in the pot first, then adding diced onions, and any other vegetables cut into small dice.

Lightly cook all the fresh veggies together with the ham & bacon pieces.

Mix washed split peas, stock, and water in large soup pot & bring to boil for 15 minutes. Sir often to prevent sticking.

Reduce heat to simmer, and cook until smooth. About 2 hours.

I like to finish it with a spot of fresh cream, and serve with thick sliced toasted sourdough bread.

Speaking of which, my wife just got home with the cream...

Cya..

:eek:

[annie]

Hope you remember HowdyDave's experience.

Two things I will never do are deep fry and split pea soup.

[joy]

I like split pea soup myself and thought this recipe sounded like it would be a really good one myself

[The Dude]

Here is one of the most delicious recipes my mom ever makes (I love this so much)




Ingredients:


1/2 chopped green pepper (1/2 of a pepper chopped up)
1/2 chopped onion (1/2 of an onion chopped up)
1/2 lb ground beef
1 lb can tomatoes
6 oz can tomato paste
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 lb mostaccioli noodles
1/2 lb velveeta cheese
bay leaf
1 Jar of Ragu Speghetti Sauce (The "Flavored with Meat" Kind) (32oz Jar)



Prep:

In oil,saute onion & pepper until tender. Add meat & cook until brown. Stir in tomatoes,tomato paste,water,salt,pepper,bay leaf. Add Ragu Speghetti Sauce, Simmer.

Cook Mostaccioli noodles as directed. Cut Velveeta in thin slices.
In a 2qt casserolo,arrange alternate layers of noodles,sauce and cheese.

Bake @ 350 for 30 mins



The Result:

The Best tasting dish you'll ever have!!!!!!!!!

I hope many will enjoy this as much as I do...............

[WLiaJ]

Sounds really good. Will make it for my family. I have to stay on a gluten free diet, but I can substitute the noodles with no problem. Thank you. Family is tired of the same old dinners.