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September 21, 2020 6:18 AM   Subscribe

In edition #3 of Metafilter's September fundraising chat topics, we are solicited to pose the time honored* questions, "whatcha got cookin'?," "how's about cookin' somethin' up with me?," and "don't you think maybe we could find us a brand new recipe?" IOW some good folks have spent 💰hard cash💰for us to ask you about your favorite recipes, so please share the goods!

Sweet or savory, fried, fresh or bakery, broiled, braised, steamed, stewed, or simmered, what are your special, beloved recipes from any cuisine or culture? And please feel free to share any stories you have about them!

*
posted by taz (43 comments total) 44 users marked this as a favorite
 
Metafilter is auctioning extremely rare and precious chatfilter topics for the month of September in order to raise funds. This one is our third! (#1, #2.) Read more here, see the current slate of chatfilter topics suggested, vote with your $ (one vote per US dollar), and add your own topic ideas to the main thread.
posted by taz at 6:18 AM on September 21, 2020 [1 favorite]


Priya's Dal has been a mainstay for all of quarantine. Such a simple and amazing way to cook lentils. I've made a lot of recipes from her book Indianish and almost every meal the dal steals the show.
posted by little onion at 6:40 AM on September 21, 2020 [9 favorites]


This one requires a place that sells duck legs, but given that the farmers market here has them for $10 for 2lbs, it's something I've been making a lot. It's also a great way to slowly accumulate a lot of duck fat. Cleaned up it's suppose to last 6 months in the fridge, but I've found it can last a bit longer. Really easy, just takes a few hours of leaving it in the oven and doing nothing. This isn't mine, but I can't remember where I stole it from, and the sauce is totally my wife's original.
Pseudo-confit duck:
1 ducks legs, or 1 really large one
Sauce:
Berry Jam
Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 onion
Butter

Equipment:
High walled baking dish, the smaller the better. The idea is to just fit the two duck legs in while having them lay flat- the smaller it is, the more of the duck gets to cook it it's own fat.
Small skillet
Cheesecloth/other filter. You can use a fine sieve, but cleaning it would be a pain.
Jar to store the duck fat afterwards


Salt the duck legs, use a generous amount.
Dock (place small holes) all over the skin side of the duck. The goal here is to let all the fat on this side of the leg drain. So make sure they're all over the place. Place duck skin side up in baking dish.
Place duck in a cold oven, turn oven to 250 degrees F. (120-125 C).
Cook for at least 2 hours, but no more than 3 and a half.
Turn oven up to 375 for 10-15 minutes. (This helps crisp the skin)
Remove duck from oven.
Remove duck from baking dish, cover with foil to keep warm. (I recommend using two forks to do this)
Drain baking dish through cheese cloth into jar.

Sauce:
Place approximately 1 1/5 tsp of duck fat in the skillet.
Saute onions in duck fat.
Add balsamic vinegar, if you're using a regular (not nonstick) pan, you can deglaze any little brown spots with this.
Cook down the balsamic for a little bit.
Add jam, lower heat
Once the jam is melted and fully incorporated, add butter (mostly for thickening - you can use a little corn starch if you want a more stabilized sauce here)
Cool and check constancy, add more butter if it's too thin (the only way this can be too thick is if it completely solidifies- we've made it both runny and really syrupy and it's good both ways)

Plate up duck, serve with sauce on side.

This takes about 2 1/2 hours to 4 hours, but you don't have to do anything except at the beginning or end. You end up with a good amount of duck fat, which can be stored in the fridge for later use. You also get some gelatin from the bones and connective tissue, that will appear as brown lumps of jello once the fat has cooled. You could separate them out or chuck them, but I feel like it adds a lot to whatever you use it for (like Kenji Lopez-Alt's cassoulette recipe, which I made once and loved, but was a too fatty and full of bean protein for my wife).
posted by Hactar at 6:58 AM on September 21, 2020 [2 favorites]


I make a vegetarian variant of a savory recipe from "Bittersweet" by Alice Medrich.

Ingredients:
Fresh brussel sprouts OR green beans
Reasonable quality cooking oil
Cocoa nibs
Coarse ground salt
Really good quality olive oil (or other tasting oil of your preference)

Step 1: Prep the veggies:
IF brussel sprouts: preheat your oven to preferred veggie roasting temperature (eg. around 400°F), rinse the brussel sprouts and discard any unappetizing looking outer leaves, chop the woody bottoms off if you wish (optional), then throw them in a glass baking dish and toss to coat with the cooking oil.

IF green beans: you can use fresh, or frozen. For fresh green beans, rinse them, then tip and tail them. Optional: cut into 1.5 to 2-inch lengths if you prefer your green beans more bite size. If frozen, just make sure you don't use the French cut version - they won't cook well for this particular purpose. Pour a bit of the cooking oil into a large saute pan and preheat to medium heat.

Step 2: Cook your veggies
Either roast your brussel sprouts or saute your green beans.

Step 3: Infuse your good oil
Pour some of your really good quality oil into a small skillet and warm it on low heat. Add the cocoa nibs (either when warm, or at the beginning - this step is fairly forgiving). Let the cocoa nibs infuse into the oil on low heat for a couple/few minutes. At least until it smells fragrant, and probably a little bit longer. This can occur while the veggies are cooking, before the veggies cook, or after the veggies have just finished cooking.

Step 4: Combine
Transfer your veggies to a serving bowl. Sprinkle the coarse salt either directly on the veggies or mix it into the cocoa nib infused oil. Pour the infused oil and cocoa nibs over the veggies. Mix to coat. Serve while still warm.

This is best fresh, but can be gently reheated if you end up with leftovers. (I find the brussel sprouts reheat better than the green beans though, if you want leftovers.)
posted by eviemath at 7:04 AM on September 21, 2020 [1 favorite]


Here is the recipe for an incredible (non-veg) casserole that I copied down from *somewhere* because initially the main attraction was that it only dirties up one dish:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
1 lg onion, diced
2" ginger root, grated
2 T olive oil
Toss together in a lasagna-sized pan and roast for 8 minutes

1 can of coconut milk, whisked to blend
1 1/2 C of chicken broth
2 t of chili powder or similar spice
1 1/2 C of lentils
Add to casserole dish and stir. Cover with foil and bake 20-25 minutes

5-6 chicken thighs, however many will fit on top, bone-in (very important)
Plain yogurt or sour cream (enough to put a large glop on each thigh)
Canned whole tomatoes, cut up (ditto, on top of yogurt)
More spices like cumin, garam marsala, s & p, whatever
Add and bake 30 more minutes
The trickiest part is pulling the heavy casserole dish out of the oven to add more ingredients without spilling.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 7:09 AM on September 21, 2020 [5 favorites]


I'm more of a short order cook (if anything) so I lean towards quick and simple. Here's what I made for us last night: Sorta Chili
posted by jim in austin at 7:13 AM on September 21, 2020 [1 favorite]


A few months ago I learned how to make my ideal steamed vegetables: the recipe is surprisingly high-heat and a cloud of steam, very short cooking times, staggered addition of vegetables based on density, mushroom-umami powder, and a creme fraiche drizzle if you want to be fancy. The difference between the soggy, long-and-low version I and every restaurant within 1000 miles of here has been making is astonishing.

Last week I made the first stir-fry about which I have absolutely no complaints after more than 20 years of trying and not entirely succeeding. Start with grape seed oil and a thinly sliced half-bulb of garlic, cooked on very high heat until browned. Then add sliced carrot and green onion for another two minutes. Choy Sum and pressed firm tofu for another two. Then raw mung bean sprouts and soy kernels that have been boiled for 3 minutes and washed in cold water for another two. Take the pan off the heat and immediately pour in and mix of one portion of dark soy, two portions of of light soy, a portion of red sweet chili sauce with carrot shards, a portion of honey, a half portion of rice vinnegar, a few drops of fish sauce, and a portion of roasted white sesame seeds. Microwave the sauce to barely-touchable temperature and stir in a cup first. Serve with sweet black rice. Coat the rice cooker surfaces using a spoon full of olive oil with a brush or towel and add a teaspoon of salt. Use about 1.4 times water as rice by volume and the white rice setting.

The food-related lesson of this year has been that hotter 'n faster than seems reasonable is always the way to go. Someday, I'll be able to invite people over to visit again, or I'll visit my spouse, and I can try these out on other people to see if they agree.
posted by eotvos at 7:18 AM on September 21, 2020 [2 favorites]


I am not really a special or beloved recipe kind of a person, but I have been making a lot of pizza lately. It turns out that pizza dough is kind of ridiculously easy? I don't know why I assumed it would be hard. Anyway, I've been making individual pizzas in a cast-iron skillet, and I will probably continue to do that until I get sick of it and never eat pizza again.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 7:19 AM on September 21, 2020 [3 favorites]


There's one dish I bust out if I need to impress. A roast lamb recipe from my mother, traditionally served at Easter. Easy prep and cook but consistently excellent.

- Get yourself a hunk of lamb (I tend to go boneless and something other than leg).
- Trim some but not all of the fat, prick holes with a knife and stuff those with rosemary, salt and thyme before plugging the holes with (peeled) garlic cloves. You'll want 10-15 of these, depending on the size of the lamb but, y'know, more garlic is better than less garlic.
- Rub the entire surface of the lamb with oil (olive or otherwise), salt and rosemary.
- Mix a coffee cup's worth of strong black coffee with about an equal amount of cream, put that and the lamb on a roasting tray.
- Then roast and regularly baste with the liquid in an oven @150C until internal temp at around 75C (if you're going for well done which I feel works best for this particular recipe). Takes about an hour per kilo of lamb. Add water/cream if it looks like you're running out of liquid during cooking.
- Once done, use remaining liquid to make a sauce with some extra cream and flour.

Can be eaten cold, is better warm.

Serve with saffron rice or garlic potatoes.
posted by slimepuppy at 7:22 AM on September 21, 2020 [11 favorites]


ArbitraryAndCapricious please share recipe and instructions to push me over the pizza making edge, I've been hovering at it longingly for a few months now.
posted by Cozybee at 7:22 AM on September 21, 2020


Yes! My partner and I have made at least a dozen pizzas in the last six months. We always use the Roberta's pizza dough recipe and bake them in cast irons and they're incredible.
posted by little onion at 7:34 AM on September 21, 2020 [2 favorites]


I made this J. Kenji red beans and rice recipe, and it was easy and way tasty.
posted by Jasper Fnorde at 7:43 AM on September 21, 2020 [1 favorite]


The best biscuits recipe I've found is Alton Brown's Southern Biscuits, not because it makes the best biscuits (the world's best are Back In The Day Bakery's; they've published a recipe that I haven't tried yet, but it involves a whole lot more butter than any other recipe I've seen) but because it's straightforward and the least fussy. At that, though, making biscuits is going to be fussy no matter what anyone tells you; getting the dough to the right consistency before baking is a trial-and-error process and ultimately requires motor memory and tactile memory of how the dough is supposed to feel before it goes in the oven. A little underworked, and the biscuits are slumpy, a little overworked and they're flat.
posted by ardgedee at 8:10 AM on September 21, 2020 [1 favorite]


As a Texas boy, I'm very fond of this Tex Mex chile recipe. It's the real Tex Mex deal; a big bowl of meat with no tomatoes or beans. It also takes several hours to cook although you can use an Instant Pot or pressure cooker to accelerate that some.

The key to the recipe is using all the different kinds of dried chiles and giving them a very long time to stew. It's even better as leftovers. You really can taste the complexity of the chile mix. It does work to use different varieties though, no need to stick with the ones in the recipe. The other distinctive part of the recipe is she adds a bunch of different bittering agents: beer, coffee, chocolate. I usually add all those but you can skip one with little harm. Sometimes I add a little Saison Goya too; MSG definitely brings out more rich flavor. (Don't overdo the cloves; you can ruin the whole pot that way.)

My own twist is to use a 50/50 mix of ground beef and small-diced chuck roast or short rib. The ground beef is a lot simpler and I like the finer texture, but it's nice to have some small chunks and the flavor of a full roast is better.

Serve with chopped white onions, shredded sharp cheddar cheese, and a little sour cream. Even better, put some fritos on top, they're Tex Mex croutons. You can also invert the whole mess in a bag for a Frito Pie but honestly it's better with the Fritos on top.
posted by Nelson at 8:25 AM on September 21, 2020 [3 favorites]


Turtlegirl and I post all of our favorite recipes to our blog so we can share them, and don't lose them. We post food and beer recipes.
posted by terrapin at 8:26 AM on September 21, 2020 [2 favorites]


Did you know that milk curdles in the presence of ginger? Easily my favorite mind-blower of a kitchen trick is ginger pudding, in which you turn milk into pudding by adding a tablespoon of ginger juice. The recipe below is transcribed (with editorial comments of my own) from the linked video.

For 2 servings of ginger pudding:
  • 2tbsp juice from fresh ginger.
  • 330g cold milk
  • 12g sugar, or to taste
  • Optional: up to 30g (1/4 cup) milk powder
  1. Peel and shred/grate fresh ginger. Separate the ginger juice. Much of the juice is stored in the grated ginger, so squeeze the pulp against a strainer. Starch in the juice will not affect the pudding. Discard the pulp.
  2. Put 1 tbsp (15g-ish) ginger juice in each bowl or ramekin.
  3. Pour 330g milk in a sauce pot. To increase firmness, use up to 1/4cup (30g) milk powder. Whisk powder into cold milk before heating.
  4. While heating, add 12g sugar (optional, adjust to taste, type of sugar doesn't matter). Heat to 80C/176F.
  5. Pour milk into bowls/ramekins. Milk will begin curdling immediately and reach final solidity in a few minutes (watch the video for a demonstration). Do not stir. Can be served warm. To serve cold, wait five minutes before putting servings in the fridge.
The firmness depends on the protein content in the milk, which is why adding milk powder is suggested. For the milk I usually have at hand, adding 30g of milk powder made a very firm pudding with a slightly starchy texture, so for us somewhat less is better, ymmv.
posted by ardgedee at 8:27 AM on September 21, 2020 [15 favorites]


When I get home later I will try to post recipes for:

* homemade cranberry juice
* a lovely cranberry cake recipe
* oatmeal snack bars which are akin to British "flapjacks"
* A go-to formula for lo mein which adapts to whatever vegetables you got in the fridge and whatever protein you have access to
* A slow-cooker recipe that involves nothing but sausage, cheese and tater tots, which is likely really unhealthy but WHO CARES
* If y'all are lucky, a recipe for jambalaya

In the interim, here's a couple of my go-to recipes. Note that a lot of my cooking is "serves one" in quantity as it's just me, and I have very little freezer space for leftovers.

--

* Sausage and peppers

This is taken from a Williams-Sonoma "cooking for one" cookbook, and I tested it out when I got a couple of Carmen Italian Sweet Peppers in my CSA and was wondering what to do with them. ....This is what you should do with them if you get them. (Although bell peppers also work.)

Needed:

1 sausage link (can either be mild or hot Italian sausage, or one of those pre-cooked sausages they have nowadays; see recipe notes as to how to prepare sausage link)
1 Carmen sweet pepper or 1 bell pepper, cut into strips
About a quarter of an onion, chopped
A small tomato, chopped
one clove garlic, chopped
a drizzle of olive oil

If you are using a precooked sausage link, cut into strips the same size as the pepper strips. If you are using an uncooked sausage link, leave whole, but prick with a fork a couple times to pierce skin.

In a small saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium. Add the onion and saute a few minutes until translucent. Add the garlic and saute one minute. Add the chopped tomato and saute until the tomato starts breaking up a little. Add the sausage and peppers and a splash of water, reduce heat to low, and cook for 30 minutes; check once or twice to make sure that there's enough liquid in the pot (if it needs more, add another splash). Serve over pasta or polenta.

--

* Tian with rice and greens

Another recipe from a "Cooking for one" book which has become a go-to - largely because it uses very few ingredients and is so easy. It also uses up some of the leafy greens I get flooded with every year.

Needed:

1 cup of cooked white rice
2 big handfuls of tender leafy greens - spinach, beet greens, arugula, turnip greens, chard, etc. (chop the greens into bite-sized pieces for ease of eating if you have the time; also, kale and collards are probably too tough)
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
1-2 Tablespoons butter
Bread crumbs
Grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a small oven-safe baking dish with a bit of oil or butter.

Drizzle some olive oil in a skillet and saute the garlic. Add the greens and saute until just wilted. Add a tablespoon of butter and the rice and stir well well mixed and rice is heated through. Tip rice and greens into the baking dish, dot top with more butter and sprinkle on bread crumbs and parmesan. Bake at 350 for fifteen minutes.

* Chicken and lemon bake

This is adapted from a recipe in a cookbook my cousin gave me one Christmas, one which specialized in "recipes with only 3 ingredients". She told me that she and her then-boyfriend (now husband) picked it out early on when they were on a Christmas shopping trip, but as they both made their rounds in the bookstore they kept browsing through it - and by the time they were ready to check out, they'd gotten so intrigued by that cookbook they went back to get a second copy for themselves!

This recipe does assume you have some preserved lemon on hand; that is an easy enough recipe on its own (they also had that in that same cookbook) and is a good condiment to have on hand for other purposes. I'll add that recipe too here.

This is my own adaptation, which scales things down from "serves four" to "serves one".

Needed:

1 whole chicken leg, or 2 chicken thighs
1/2 pound of small potatoes
1 piece of preserved lemon
salt/pepper/olive oil

Preheat oven to about 375.

Cut the potatoes into bite-sized chunks if necessary. Toss in a little olive oil, and tip out into a baking dish just big enough to hold the potatoes in a single layer. Cut the preserved lemon into a couple pieces and tuck among the potatoes here and there. Add just enough water to come up 1/2 an inch in the dish. Salt and pepper the chicken and lay on top of the potatoes. Stick the whole thing in the oven for about 45 minutes to an hour.

--

* Preserved lemon

I first made this to go with the chicken-and-potato thing above, but it has become a go-to condiment for other things as well. Two of the biggest things I've used it for are for broiling fish filets (mash a piece of lemon into a paste and smear on the filets) or for roasting chicken (mash together a half a stick of butter with some preserved lemon and some chopped herbs and rub that under the skin before roasting). Anywhere where lemon and salt would be good, and structural integrity isn't crucial, would work.

Quantities are a little unexact here because of the nature of the recipe. This should make enough for a pint-sized jar.

Needed:

8-9 lemons
A big box of kosher salt
A pint-size jar - either a mason jar, or a leftover jar from something else you washed out real well

Cut about 3 of the lemons into wedges and set aside. Drop a tablespoon of salt into the jar; add a couple lemon wedges (enough to cover the bottom in a single layer). Add another tablespoon of salt, and then another couple lemon wedges. Keep going like that - spoon of salt, couple of lemon wedges, spoon of salt, couple of lemon wedges - until you fill up the jar; cut up more lemons if you need to. And press down on the lemons in the jar to make sure they're pretty tightly packed. When the jar is full, add one more spoon of salt. Then juice enough of the leftover lemons to make enough juice to cover over what's in the jar. Cover the jar, shake it up, and then leave it out on the counter for about a week, shaking once a day to distribute the salt and juice.

After a week, the lemons will be ready to use; but the longer they stay in the salt and brine, the better. Store in the fridge after that initial week; they will keep almost indefinitely. Don't be alarmed at the texture - the pulp of the lemon wedges will be really mushy and the rind will be almost chewy. That's normal.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:28 AM on September 21, 2020 [6 favorites]


Due to a combination of March/April stay at home orders, using gardening as stress relief, and Denver not getting any hail this year, I ended up with 34 tomato plants in the ground instead of 10-15 like a normal year. Which means we're currently making and soliciting recipes for tomato everything — or everything that isn't canned, at least. (I have a dehydrator and a chest freezer, but I'm loathe to buy anything else to clutter up the house, and canning just feels too much like work.) So we're dehydrating sliced cherry tomatoes weekly, eating lots out of hand, and yesterday I made gazpacho and this freezer salsa and this recipe for sweet and spicy tomato chutney with nigella seed, all of which only put a modest dent in the pile. Indian food isn't something I usually cook, but this stuff packs a punch while also being well balanced, and now we're going to need some meals to pair with it and also cool it down. Maybe swiss chard saag and potatoes? Plus something to dip in it? I don't have a clue how complicated making paratha or something else would be. But it's also a constant battle keeping up with the neverending supply of chard in the yard. A good problem to have, though.
posted by deludingmyself at 8:28 AM on September 21, 2020


The Serious Eats website is my main resource for really great and reliable recipes. Biggest faves at my house are its guidance re: sous vide, and the black bean burger recipe--but I've never gone wrong with any of their recipes.

A new dish that I am loving:
1. Make a batter with 1/2 c chickpea flour, 1 cup water, 3 T olive oil, salt. Stir and let rest 30 minutes.
2. Make a bunch of freestyle chunky tomato, cucumber (onion, radish, whatever) salad. Add a little crumbled feta, s & p.
3. After the batter has rested, stir it (should be thin) and fry big flat crepes in an oiled skillet. Make sure there's enough oil that the edges get crispy and brown. Serve warm crepes with veggie salad on top. SO GOOD!
posted by Sublimity at 8:43 AM on September 21, 2020 [8 favorites]


For eight years now, when I need to make something that will be a total smash hit but also is super easy, I make Qom's Persian Love Cake.

Better than cheesecake and ten times easier. The simplicity of the recipe is belied by the truly breathtaking flavor - and it's gluten free. (Done it dairy free too with a soy or coconut yogurt, equally delicious.) My only request to all of you is please, please, for the love of all that is holy, buy whole nutmegs and grate them into the recipe fresh - I use a zester, it works fine for that.
posted by WidgetAlley at 10:06 AM on September 21, 2020 [5 favorites]


Family spaghetti sauce recipe (freezes extremely well):

1 lb meat (we use ground turkey)
1 15 oz can stewed tomatoes
1 15 oz can tomato puree
1 6 oz can tomato paste
One onion, chopped fine
One bell pepper, chopped fine
Garlic to taste (we usually throw in three or four cloves)
A couple handfuls of baby spinach (optional--not really recommended if you plan to freeze)
Mushrooms, chopped (optional--again, may not freeze well)
Ground oregano
Basil
Rosemary
Thyme

In saucepan, brown meat, onion, bell pepper, and garlic on high until all pink is gone and onions are translucent. If adding spinach, incorporate about halfway through process. Turn heat down to low and add stewed tomatoes, sauce, and paste. If adding mushrooms, incorporate at this point. Add oregano, basil, rosemary, and thyme to taste (we usually evenly dust the oregano across the top of the sauce, then sprinkle with the other spices). Mix well. Cover and simmer on low heat for at least one hour. Serves four to six.
posted by thomas j wise at 10:12 AM on September 21, 2020


Speaking of lamb, I make a Fine Cooking lamb shank dish whenever we can get shanks from our lamb guy at the market.

Per serving, you'll need:

1 lamb shank
2 tablespoons of vermouth, white wine, orange juice, or whatever slightly acid-y beverage you have
1 medium carrot, cut into bite size chunks
1 leek cut in inch lengths, broken up, and washed thoroughly (they say medium, but we only get the massive ones here, so I'll typically just buy one and portion it out among three or four servings)
[We usually sub fennel in for the leeks, or occasionally celery]
1 finger length rosemary sprig (or whatever tough herbs you have)
1 finger length strip of citrus zest
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon of butter
Square of aluminum foil big enough to make an envelope for it all.

Get your oven up to 300.
On each foil square, make a little heap of your veggies.

Salt and pepper the lamb shanks, and sear them on all sides in a fairly hot pan. If you're like me, you'll probably smoke the place out every now and again, so pop window open. Set each shank on top of a veggie heap when it's done.

Once all the shanks are done, deglaze the pan with the vermouth/whatever, and divvy the liquid up among the shank/veggie heaps.

Stack the remaining herbs, butter, zest and pepper flakes on top of the shank, then fold the foil up like an envelope by pulling two parallel sides up and rolling the two edges that meet down in 1 inch-ish folds, then roll up each end so all the folds are facing up.

They say to bake for 2.5 hours, but it'll vary a bit based on the size of the shanks...it's pretty hard to 'over-cook' these, given that you're basically aiming for falling-apart meat.

Shank bones also make fantastic stock if you make this a few times.
posted by Kreiger at 10:26 AM on September 21, 2020 [2 favorites]


We also make Manjula's saag with either paneer, goat, or lamb, depending on what's available at what price.

Her butter paneer is a regular feature, with either paneer or leftover roast chicken.

We make a version of this Steamy Kitchen yu choy, with sliced ginger fried in with the garlic then discarded, and many times more garlic per serving, like 6-8 cloves. Also, with bits of ham or pulled pork.
It's just 'Greens' when we're talking about what to eat, as we'll make it with yu choy, but also baby pak choy/bok choy/whatever leafy green with a substantial stem we can find.
posted by Kreiger at 11:00 AM on September 21, 2020 [4 favorites]


I have a lot of favorites, and I'll have to try to figure out what to post, but here's one that's notable because it's so fast and easy compared to its origin:

My Quickie Non-Vegetarian Red Beans and Rice (electric pressure cooker recipe)

1-2 large onions, chopped or sliced
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
handful of chopped celery1
4-5 large cloves of garlic, chopped
3-4 smoked sausages2
3 cans red beans, with no sugar added
1-2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 tablespoons+ smoked paprika
powdered garlic (yes, even more garlic!)
black pepper
salt
hot sauce or sriracha

1 I'm in Greece, and the regular celery here is more strongly flavored. I'd say one or two stalks of what I call "American celery"

2 The sausages I use are about 5 inches long and about 1 - 1.5 inches in diameter, so if your sausage comes in longer links, maybe half this amount. If you are lucky enough to find Andouille sausage, definitely use that!

Directions:

Start sautéing onions pepper celery and garlic in enough oil to cover the bottom of the pressure cooker, using the sauté / browning setting

add spices, soy sauce, and hot sauce and continue to sauté

Meanwhile, cut sausages in half lengthwise and then in half-disks and add to pot to sauté

When sausages are a little browned, add canned beans with their juice, and an extra can of water (you can add less water, like 1 cup, instead; I kind of like cooking out some of the extra liquid at the end)

Pressure cook on high for 30 minutes while making rice on stove

Natural release and then use sauté setting to cook out some extra liquid while stirring, if necessary (also, it's all going to thicken up a bit as it cools and overnight)

Serve over rice

Fin. I used to live in New Orleans, and have made countless pots of red beans and rice the original true blue way, cooking all day long, and I can say that this is not a bad facsimile at all!

(Note that it's just my own recipe so I don't have measure for things like salt, pepper, hot sauce — it's just "to taste." Also, the amount is idiosyncratic: it's enough for me and my husband with leftovers for the next day. This is relatively high on the sausage to beans ratio, for more beany, slightly less sausagey version, use 4 cans of beans.)
posted by taz at 11:03 AM on September 21, 2020 [3 favorites]


(btw, back in the day when I made red beans and rice in New Orleans, I would use half andouille and half smoked turkey sausage, because I felt like the two different sausages gave it more nuance / layering of flavor. Just an additional idea!)
posted by taz at 11:39 AM on September 21, 2020 [1 favorite]




Chirimen Hash
15-20 minutes

2-3 small/medium potatoes, depends on the size. Chop them up, rustic cut, 1.5 cm or so

1 handful of chirimen jako, little tiny fish. It’s better if they’re dry, I keep mine in the freezer

1 egg

Sesame oil, vegetable oil

Salt and pepper

Breakfast tea, sugar

Iron skillet, wooden spatula

Make your tea very strong. Cut the potatoes. Heat the pan, pretty high flame, not yet licking around the bottom of the pan but pretty close. Put your chirimen on the plate and your egg on the counter next to the stove.

Pour a small amount of sesame oil and a larger amount of vegetable oil into the pan. This isn’t shallow frying but it’s a little oilier than a sauté. When the oil ripples from the heat, slide in the potatoes. Watch out for splashing oil.

Keep the potatoes moving and separate. When they feel flinty on your spatula but aren’t yet brown, toss in the chirimen. These will brown quickly, keep them moving and get the egg ready.

Move the potatoes and chirimen to the outer edge of the pan so you have room in the middle to cook the egg.

Crack the egg into the pan and immediately turn off the heat. Before the whites can cook through, break the yolk and scramble it with the spatula. Try to keep the egg separate from the potatoes and chirimen until it’s thoroughly cooked.

Fold the potatoes, chirimen and eggs together. Serve it onto the plate. Salt and pepper generously.

Add a heap of sugar to your very strong tea. You won’t regret it (unless you have a reason to, in which case disregard the instruction).

It’s a good breakfast that really wakes up your mouth. Bitter, sweet, salty, peppery, crispy, crunchy, eggy.

Next time you make it, try to make it better. I’ve been at it for years and it’s a thing of beauty.

Serves one. If you have more eaters, don’t crowd your skillet, make a second batch.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 4:06 PM on September 21, 2020 [2 favorites]


When they feel flinty on your spatula

Would you mind expanding on what you mean by flinty?
posted by zamboni at 4:15 PM on September 21, 2020


With a wooden spatula I find I get more feel from cooking ingredients than with metal or plastic.

On a hot iron skillet the flat sides of cut potatoes will progress from a slick feeling, where the potatoes feel solid and raw, towards a feeling where the outsides feel a bit sticky and the insides are beginning to soften and then to the point where the outsides are hard and not sticky but have a sort of dry chalky feel to them. That’s what I mean by flinty, the way the stone always feels dry and smooth overall but it’s just rough enough to strike a match on.

This means the potato underneath has softened, it’s basically a good chip or french fry feeling.

I wrote about it this way because you don’t really want to judge the potatoes by the softness of the inside, because finding that out involves mashing a piece, which is definitely not on.

The smell will also help, it changes from a predominantly hot oil smell to a slight toast smell to a fried potato smell. At that moment the potatoes should have the feel that I’m talking about.

If you wait till they look brown, the outsides will likely be a bit tough (yet still delicious). This way the potatoes turn out crispy outside and pillowy inside.

I hope this helps.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 4:27 PM on September 21, 2020 [2 favorites]


My mother's family were Rusyn from the Carpathian Mountains, and all their recipes use poor people ingredients, but don't doubt this sauerkraut soup:

Dice an onion and brown it in a pan with some salt pork (if you must, but my mother sliced up some kielbasa instead and browned the onion in the released fat). Add onion and kielbasa to a stock pot with a can of sauerkraut and an equal volume of shredded cabbage. Dice two medium potatoes and add. Put in enough water to just cover the vegetables. Let this simmer for about 45 minutes, making sure the salt pork/kielbasa beads the surface with globules of fat, adding pepper to taste. Serve with a dollop of sour cream on top.

If for some reason you don't trust my ancestors and have to make kale palatable, try this Portuguese kale soup.
posted by acrasis at 4:29 PM on September 21, 2020 [3 favorites]


Recipes?! That’s where I’m a Viking!

I came across this NYC cart-style chicken rice recipe years ago, and it’s one of my favorite things to cook, and one of the things Mrs. Ghidorah likes the most. I’ll usually either add some cayenne to the marinade or to the yogurt sauce to give it a bit of a kick. I use chicken thighs in the recipe, and fry sliced onions and quartered button mushrooms in the glorious fat they leave in the pan.

The rice, though, that’s become my go to rice. Because I’m in Japan, and long grain rice isn’t available here (Jasmine is wonderful, but it’s not the non-sticky, largely flavorless white rice of my youth), I’ve learned to make it in a rice cooker with short grain rice instead. Both long and short are pretty similar though: melt butter in a sauce pan, add powdered cumin and turmeric and let the spices cook a bit. Your kitchen will smell wonderful. When they’re fully fragrant, but not burnt, add your rice and stir til coated. Let the rice get a little shiny. For long grain, just add the liquid to the same pot in a two parts liquid/1 part rice amount. I usually use chicken stock. Cover and cook on medium high for 5 minutes (or until it starts to bubble over) and reduce to lowest heat for fifteen minutes. When it’s done, let it sit for at least another five minutes.

For a rice cooker, dump the rice in the pot, swirl the chicken stock around the sauce pan to get all the spices, close the rice cooker, and hit the buttons that make it work.

It’s a fantastic way to prepare rice, and gives you a beautiful golden brown color.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:50 PM on September 21, 2020 [2 favorites]


I make a noodle soup with found ingredients from my fridge. I tried to have a video cooking series early in the pandemic but I couldn't keep it up - however, here's my recipe for Noodle Soup with Found Ingredients.
posted by chinese_fashion at 6:11 PM on September 21, 2020


I posted this corn and zucchini chowder recipe at work, and at least 5 or 6 people have made and loved it. It's full of fresh vegetables and delicious.
posted by lorimt at 7:33 PM on September 21, 2020 [1 favorite]


I was making flan, and mentioned it on Facebook. My cousin, who lives in another state and whom I do not see very often, said that if I ever made coconut flan, she'd jump on the next Greyhound headed my way and show up on my doorstep. Of course, at our next family reunion (last June) I made coconut flan and surprised her. She loved it, as did her husband who has quite a sweet tooth and happens to be Cuban. I started researching recipes a few weeks prior, and made some modifications to the recipes I found to make it come out just the way I wanted it. The recipe is below. It's pretty wordy, but I wanted to give detailed instructions and explanations. I hope someone here will try it. It's made in an electric pressure cooker, so my Instant Pot pals, get into it! I believe you will pronounce it (as my cousin-in-law Gil did) "Tremendo!"


Flan de Coco y Queso (Coconut Cheese Flan)
The custard is based on a recipe on allrecipes. It was posted by Milly Suazo-Martinez. I added a little salt and vanilla extract, and changed the mixing method.
I usually make flan based on the instructions on elboricua.com. I used his microwave caramel method, although I based the ingredients on the allrecipes recipe.

Ingredients
For caramel
1 cup white sugar
For custard
1 cup white sugar
8 large eggs at room temperature
12 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1 (10 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (15 ounce) can cream of coconut
1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
1 tablespoon coconut-flavored rum
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I would have used coconut or rum extract, if I had one of them)
Small amount of salt (I didn't measure—just enough to set off the sweet taste)


Mix 1 cup sugar and about ¼ cup water in a microwave safe cup. A Pyrex measuring cup works great. Keep a close eye on the sugar so it does not burn. 4-5 minutes on high should be about right, but if you have a high-power microwave, it may take less. Once the sugar is melted. You may want to go to 30-second bursts of cooking. Bear in mind that the caramel will continue to get darker as it cools, and will also get a bit darker as the flan cooks.

Pour the caramel in the pan or pans you will be using. Tilt the pan so the bottom and sides of the pan get covered. Allow the caramel to completely cool to room temperature before you prepare/pour in the custard.

Using an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese with sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time if you wish. Add all the other ingredients and blend thoroughly.
Pour custard mixture into prepared pan(s). Cover with foil. Put enough water in your pressure cooker to bring it to pressure. I used 2 cups in an eight-quart Instant Pot. Place trivet in IP, and put pan on the trivet. Seal and cook at high pressure Cook for the appropriate time based on the pan size. Natural release. Allow the pan(s) to sit until cool enough to handle. Remove pan(s) and allow to come to room temperature, then refrigerate overnight. To serve, invert on a platter and garnish with toasted coconut if desired.

Timing: The length of time to cook depends on the size pan you use, and what it’s made of. You might have to experiment a little. I have a large glass container--I think it's about 9 inches in diameter and 4 inches deep. I cook that for 50 minutes at pressure. This recipe makes too much for this pan, so I took out 2 cups and cooked it in smaller vessels. A metal pan that held the whole two cups I let cook for 30 minutes. Mini cake pans that hold 2/3 of a cup, I cooked for 15. For all of these I then allowed natural release, let cool until I could handle them, then cooled on the table until room temperature. I then refrigerated overnight before serving.

The flan will be jiggly right after cooking, but the refrigeration firms it up. It's still very creamy and delicate when it is served. Also, aside from the caramel, it looks very light in color, almost white. It will not be golden yellow like a regular vanilla flan.
posted by zorseshoes at 8:04 PM on September 21, 2020 [1 favorite]


Yorkshire Christmas Cake (a rich fruit cake)

8oz sultanas (golden raisins)
8oz currants
8oz chopped mixed peel (optional)
4oz glacé cherries (8oz if no mixed peel)
1½ oz whole almonds
8oz plain flour
3 eggs beaten
7 oz butter
6 oz dark suger (muscovado)
1 grated rind of 4/1 lemon
pinch of salt
1 level tsp mixed spice (clove, cinnamon, allspice, ginger)
1 level tsp baking powder
1-2 tbsp milk
brandy


Grease and line 7 inch round cake tin with parchment paper.

Prepare the fruit, chop cherries after washing and drying them

Blanch and chop almonds, reserve a few for decoration if you aren't icing

Sift flour, salt, spice and baking powder together

Cream fat, sugar and lemon rind till pale and fluffy

Beat in the egg a little at a time and fold in the flour, followed by the fruit

Add milk if rqd to give a dropping consistency.

Put in tin, [decorate with almonds] and bake in oven at 150C , 300F for 3 to 3 1/2 hours
The cooking time is very variable so keep checking.

Turn out and cool on wire rack; unwrap after 30 mins
When cooled drip with plenty of brandy
May optionally be covered with (homemade) marzipan

My mom Audrey Sinclair, wife of Siegfried Farnon from James Herriot's stories, made this in September or October every year for our family Christmas. It's best when matured, and goes very nicely with a slice of Wensleydale cheese. (Siegfried had a close connection with Wensleydale.)
posted by anadem at 8:11 PM on September 21, 2020 [4 favorites]


Really Excellent Chocolate Cake

This is a slightly modified version of the chocolate cake recipe my mom always used for birthday cakes. (She used shortening instead of butter and she always used cake flour, but I've decided I prefer it with all-purpose flour.)

2 cups sugar
3/4 cups unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups cake flour (or for a denser, moister cake, use all-purpose flour, taking out 2 tablespoons per cup)
1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup boiling water

Grease and flour 2 9-inch cake pans. Cream sugar and butter; gradually add eggs. Mix the flour and cocoa together and alternate adding flour/cocoa and buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour/cocoa. Add salt and vanilla. Heat a little more than 1 cup of water to boiling and use a liquid measuring cup to measure out 1 cup. Dissolve baking soda in boiling water and add to other ingredients. Pour into pans and bake at 350 F for 25-35 minutes. (I usually find it's done or close to it at 25 minutes. Take it out when an inserted toothpick comes out clean.)

The icing I usually make for it is this:

Chocolate Butter Icing

Melt over very low heat 3 oz. unsweetened chocolate and 2 T butter. Remove from heat and add 1/4 cup hot water, 1/8 tsp salt and 1 tsp vanilla. Stir in about 2 cups of confectioner's sugar, taste it and then keep adding more if needed until you're happy with the sweetness level.

I'm sure there are better icing recipes, but my kids complain every time I try a different one. This makes just enough to frost the above cake unless you like a really large amount of frosting. It becomes a bit stiff as it cools.
posted by Redstart at 8:55 PM on September 21, 2020 [2 favorites]


Relearning how to cook as a disabled person with associated food restrictions and low energy has been surprisingly difficult, and I used to be a chef! I’ve found doing slow cooker recipes in the morning when I’ve got the most energy has been helped, and despite the name of this site, their slow cooker gluten and dairy free recipes have been great. Today I’m making Sweet Potato and Chickpea Stew.
posted by ellieBOA at 2:42 AM on September 22, 2020 [3 favorites]


Augh I didn't have time to look up most of the recipes I promised! Here's one, anyway -

* Oatmeal snack bar that's kind of like British Flapjacks

A lot of my cooking is "cook-for-one", but I also do a good bit of "DIY pantry/storebought" stuff for fun. This is from Alana Chemila's "Homemade Pantry", and is one of 3 cereal/etc. bars she says she makes as snacks instead of buying granola bars. The other two involve ingredients I'd have had to hunt a bit for, but this one involves ingredients that I'm able to find at my local supermarket.

Needed:

2 cups rolled oats
1 stick butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup Lyle's Golden Syrup*
1 cup nuts (the original recipe called for sliced almonds, but I used a mix of almonds and pecans most recently and that worked too)
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8x8 or 9x9 baking pan with parchment paper; leave some hanging off the sides so you can use it as a sling to pull the baked bars out.

Dump the butter, sugar, and syrup into a saucepan and heat on medium - stirring now and then - until everything is melted. Dump in the oats, nuts, and salt and mix well. Tip that into the baking pan and spread out with a spatula. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until the edges darken Leave in the pan to cool completely, then use the excess parchment paper as a sling to pull the whole slab out of the pan. Cut into squares.

* Lyle's Golden Syrup is a British sweetener that is starting to get more available here in the US. If you can't find it, I've been assured that corn syrup is an acceptable substitute. ....Also, if you prefer a softer textured bar, you can increase the amount of Lyle's up to a half cup. (I discovered that by accident this last time I made them.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:09 AM on September 22, 2020


So many good recipes to try during the coming pandemic winter!
I've been giving this a lot of thought. I think perhaps my personal favorites are the traditional Danish winter holiday meals: roast goose for St. Martins day and Christmas, stuffed with apples, oranges and prunes, and served with boiled potatoes, caramelized potatoes, gravy and pickled red cabbage (and a lovely kale salad in our family as well as a porchetta for Christmas). And then poached cod for New Years Eve, served with boiled potatoes, chopped eggs, chopped pickled beets, horseradish and two sauces: butter and mustard.
But there are so many other lovely recipes, and these are some we eat a lot in our family:
Roast lamb on boulangère potatoes
Coq au vin au riesling - I mentioned this recipe in an ask yesterday, and wasn't able to find a good link. But here it is!
Whole fried plaice (this is a fancy NOMA-endorsed recipe, but it is almost exactly like we have it as much as possible during the summer season)
The kids wanted to add at least two more dishes:
Very Simple Vegetable Lasagna (this is my "own" recipe, so the measurements are kind of loose):
A cup each of finely chopped onion, carrot and celery or celeriac for a sofritto
Olive oil
A good firm aubergine of about medium size, cut into small cubes.
However much garlic you feel like that day
A 1/2 cup of white wine
A can of tomatoes, the best quality you can afford
One cup of chicken or vegetable stock
A bay leaf, a tablespoonful of oregano, salt, chili and pepper to taste (though remember the taste both mellows and gets more salty as you cook)
Fish sauce and lemon juice to taste

A bechamel sauce (look it up, you need about 1/2 to 3/4 of a liter, depending on your pan.

Fresh lasagna

Loads of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Start by cooking the red sauce. Sauté the sofritto, when the onions turn translucent, add the aubergine cubes and stir vigorously till they are well covered in oil. Add the wine, let it simmer till there is no hint of alcohol in the smell. Add the tomatoes, the stock, the bay leaf and the oregano and reasonable amounts of salt, pepper and chili. Let it simmer on a low heat for at least 30 minutes, or cook it in the pressure cooker for 20 minutes, natural release. Squish the tomatoes with your wooden spoon or spatula. Adjust the seasoning with fish sauce and lemon juice to taste. Reduce it a bit, depending on your cooking method.

While reducing the red sauce, make your bechamel and turn on your oven to very high heat.

When the bechamel is ready, start building layers: red sauce, white sauce, cheese, lasagna, and so on until you have no more lasagna, which depends on the shape of your tin as well as the amount of lasagna.
Save some white sauce for covering the top sheet, and sprinkle a generous amount of cheese on top. Bake till the top is golden with brown spots and there are bubbles of sauce at the edges. 12-15 minutes. Let it rest for 5-10 minutes.

This is for four people, or six if you have antipasti, a salad and cheese as well.

Black or Puy Lentil Stew
A cup each of finely chopped onion, carrot and celery or celeriac for a sofritto
Olive oil
As much garlic as you like
A cup of black or Puy lentils, rinsed
Chicken or vegetable stock (1-2 liters)
A tablespoon of thyme, two or three bay leaves
Salt, pepper, aceto balsamico to taste
a lot of roughly chopped parsley

If this was a recipe from the 19th century, that would be it. But I'll just note that you start by sautéing the sofritto, then add the garlic, lentils, the stock and the bay leaves and thyme in that order. Cook for 30 minutes before tasting and seasoning with salt, pepper and balsamico, then cook a little more. Serve with a lot of parsley on top. Come to think it, it would probably be delicious with a gremolata on top as well, but I haven't tried it.
I use this in different ways. I sometimes make it very soupy, and serve it as a main with a loaf of sourdough, peasant style. Or I make it thicker and serve it as a side to a roast or with some different salads and potatoes. It's high on the kids' list either way, and was even when they were very small and supposed to be picky. Once a single dad and his small, extremely picky boy came over unexpectedly, and it was too late for me to change the menu. We were very surprised when the little guy gobbled up the weird brown stuff as if it was ice-cream.
posted by mumimor at 8:44 AM on September 22, 2020 [2 favorites]


Tempeh! It turns out a lot of people who think they don't like tempeh really just don't like it when it's underseasoned or undercooked. The keys are
  • Simmer it in salted water for five or ten minutes.
  • Fry it over rip-roaring high heat in a few tablespoons of oil, which it will thirstily drink up, until it's very well browned.
  • Chuck some tasty liquid into the hot pan once it's absorbed all the oil. The tempeh will drink the liquid right up too.
Tasty liquid could be soy sauce, wine, vinegar, broth, or some combination. Lately I've been using Goya's Mojo Criollo, which I keep around as an all-purpose marinade. I bet low-hops beer would be good. I've seen recipes with coconut milk, whose solids apparently turn into a thick gravy, or with a sugary sauce that reduces into a syrup instead of absorbing 100%. I tend to use about 1/4 cup of whatever, but some recipes use a lot more. But the point is, whatever it is, add it on the heat so it reduces and absorbs, don't just pour it cold on at the end.

The thing is, despite the oil, it doesn't come out greasy. It just starts out very, very low-fat and has plenty of room to absorb more without going overboard.
posted by nebulawindphone at 5:09 AM on September 23, 2020 [4 favorites]


I didn't realise that spaghetti squash tacos were a thing until I'd made these a few times, and I felt very zeitgeist-y when I was told that no, there is nothing new under the sun.

This makes a bunch, and freezes well. I eat it on corn tortillas with crema, hot sauce, lime, cilantro, and tomatoes, my wife eats it on flour tortillas with cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, and cilantro, and our boy eats it in a large whole wheat tortilla with cheese as a quesadilla, and a salad on the side. Rare is the meal that everyone agrees on in the Kreiger manor.

--

2 large spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise.
1 pound ground beef
1 red onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
cumin seed to taste
oregano to taste
black pepper to taste
powdered chilies to taste

Cilantro, crema, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, lime, minced red onion, etc, to dress.

--

Oil the inside of the split squash, broil it split side down to start, and turn it later if you want some browning. It'll take a while, so I generally start it before the rest of my prep.

Brown the beef in a large skillet, remove it, and retain the fat.
Brown the onion in the beef fat, adding the garlic, cumin seed, oregano, black pepper and powdered chilies when they're most of the way there.
When the garlic is cooked, and the onions are brown, add the black beans and beef back in, and get them up to temp, and mix everything together.

Hopefully by this point, the squash is cooked. When it's ready, scrape it out of its skin with a spoon, and separate the shreds with a couple of forks. I tend to fry it in batches in the skillet after I've taken the beef and beans out to dry it out a little more and get some colour on it, but YMMV.

Mix the beef and beans with the now shredded squash, and serve. This makes enough for us to do eight or ten meals, depending on how big the squash are, and freezes well.
posted by Kreiger at 10:55 AM on September 23, 2020 [4 favorites]


It Is Known that I do not like to cook. However, in a better-late-than never bid to begin saving a portion of the astonishing amount of money we normally throw at DoorDash, I've recently been doing a lot more cooking at home than I have in a while, mostly in the Crock Pot.

If you think I am gearing up to give you some terrific slow cooker recipes, let me assure you I am not. They've been mediocre at best. Also my Crock Pot is huge, so we've been eating these mediocre meals night after night after night. I've even put a few containers of it in the freezer so we can disappoint some future-us with my cooking at an unsuspecting point down the road!

Sick of my own cooking and sick of delivery food that is also mediocre at best but for far more money, I've been scouring my files for old meal plans and recipes I hadn't made in a while. This one was a HUGE hit with my husband. I mean, his face lit up, he happily munched it all down, scraped the sauce from his bowl, and went looking for seconds. He kept saying "this is good babe!" while I beamed like a 1950s housewife in a TV dinner commercial.

Beenie Weenie

2 (28 oz) cans of Bush's Homestyle Baked Beans
1 (16 oz) package of Oscar Mayer Classic Uncured Hot Dogs

Dump beans into a heavy-bottom saucepan. Chop wieners into bite-size circles and stir into beans. Heat on medium heat, stirring occasionally until beans and weens are hot, and serve.

If I'd have had a green onion I'd have chopped some up for a garnish. This dish also goes well with a piece or two of (cheap, white) bread & butter for dipping.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 5:34 PM on September 25, 2020 [2 favorites]


Here's another one I just thought of. My mom made this once or maybe twice when I was a kid and apparently it made a big impression on me and my dad. She always hated to cook as well, so I was kind of surprised that she was able to provide me the recipe some 30 years later.

Which I then passed along to my dad, after a conversation in which he mentioned liking this dish my mom made once and wondered if I remembered what he was talking about...

So I sent him the recipe, which he made and whereupon learned that condensed milk and sweetened condensed milk are two very different things 😂

Gourmet Hamburger

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 lg can condensed milk
1 med. onion, chopped
½ c. parmesan cheese
½ c. breadcrumbs
1 T. mustard
American cheese slices
French bread

Brown meat & onions, drain. Mix in everything else. Spread on French bread halves. Top with slices of cheese. Bake at 350 for a few minutes to toast bread and melt cheese.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 5:58 PM on September 25, 2020 [2 favorites]


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