culinary staples
 

[fluffpop]1st thread in edgd, very exciting!!![/fluffpop]

recent discussion in edgd and oot about the poor diet habits of americans in general has got me looking critically at my diet and the number of meals in my "playbook".

what i'm looking to gain out of this thread is recipes for meals/dishes that i can easily add to my arsenal. dishes that are 1-healthy, 2-easy to make, 3-tasty would be fantastic. i'm willing to try anything, so recipes that may not be considered "mainstream american" are more than appreciated.

it would be fantastic if instead of my friday being "pizza night" it would turn into "fantastic food i've never even tried but is eaten by another culture on a daily basis" night!

thanks!

edit - and i am very willing to write reviews of anything and everything suggested! pics included!

Re: culinary staples
 

Cook some noodles. Wide rice noodles work well.

Take about 2 medium spoonfuls of peanut butter. Put it in a very big bowl. Pour in about the same amount of soy sauce. Add a bunch of red pepper flakes (the ratio of these 3 ingredients its taste dependant). Stir till combined.

When the noodles are done cooking, put them in the bowl with the peanut butter mixture. Add about 1/8th cup, maybe less, of the pasta water. Stir. Enjoy.

Re: culinary staples
 

I've been trying to really nail down chicken, simple chicken. So far I've been using legs and thighs. Even if your meal is simple, executing it to perfection always impresses; nobody says, "Well, this meal is perfectly cooked and planned, but its too simple!" People appreciate excellent cooking regardless of the ingredients. This seared/pan-fried/roasted chicken pairs with tons of stuff.

Turn the oven to 350 and a saute pan on high-med-high (I've got an electric stove and make it about 7.5). Pat the chicken parts dry and season the skin side with your shake. My shake is pretty much just salt, garlic, paprika and a little cayenne. Plenty of shake recipes out there, and I just mix up a bunch and put it in a SS salt shaker I bought at the grocery store.

I use either vegetable oil or shortening or both. If I use shortening, I put it in the pan right when it goes on the stove, so it heats more gradually. Otherwise it doesn't matter too much. Once the pan is nice and hot, put the chicken skin down in the pan and sear for 3-4 minutes. Season the other side while its in there. Then flip and just shove the pan in the oven to cook.

I get a really nice, crispy skin and perfectly cooked chicken when doing this. My only complaint is that it comes out seeming a bit greasy. I've tried using varying amounts of fat from just enough to cover the bottom of the pan (sear for a shorter time) to enough to come about halfway up the chicken (basically pan-frying, right?) and nothing seems to affect how greasy the chicken comes out. Anyone know if that's simply a function of the cut?

Re: culinary staples
 

This is a good idea. Perfecting the whole bird is an excellent place to start. I like RDH's method with a couple of tweaks. I use the whole bird rather than just legs and thighs. I use olive oil rather than vegetable oil or shortening. I cut the backbone out of the chicken and press it flat, which looks great on the plate for serving and seems to cook more evenly.

Lastly, if you crave simple preparation and short cooking time, stick to fish.

Re: culinary staples
 

saute mushrooms and onions in butter/ margarine (colored peppers if desired), remove.
brown lightly floured chicken breasts/ pork chops/ steak/ fish
add back the shrooms & onions, pour a little wine into pan
cover and cook until done.

Re: culinary staples
 

Here's a dish that scores highly on all three of your criteria, Larb Gai, which is a Thai ground chicken dish. It's very delicious, there's no added fat, so pretty healthy, and it's essentially a salad -- preparation order doesn't matter, and you can adjust all proportions to your taste -- so pretty easy too.

Here's what you'll need.

*ground chicken (let's say about 1 lb)
* juice of 2 limes
* 2 tbs fish sauce (you can find this in most Asian grocery stores)
* 2 tsp hot chili powder
*rice (about 2 tablespoons of uncooked rice [not necessary but highly recommended], and then several servings of cooked rice to accompany the larb)
* 3 or 4 shallots, or a medium onion
* 3 or 4 scallions
* either mint, fresh cilantro, or both

To prepare it, start by cooking the ground chicken in a pot with maybe a quarter cup of water over medium heat. Just stir it with a spoon to break up any larger pieces, and cook until the chicken is cooked through. Drain and discard the liquid and set the chicken aside.

Take the two tablespoons of uncooked rice, and saute it in a small dry (don't add any oil) pan over medium heat until the rice toasts into a golden brown color. By saute, I mean you should try to keep the pan moving so the rice doesn't burn, particularly toward the end of the process. After the toasted rice has cooled, grind it in a coffee grinder, or if you don't have one, you could use a mortal and pestle. Like I said, this is optional, but it adds a really nice nutty flavor and a crunchy sub-texture to the dish.

Next, cut the shallots and scallions finely, and chop the herbs.

You're now ready to assemble the salad. You can't really go wrong with the proportions, just taste and adjust, but the proportions above should be about right (to my taste) for a pound of chicken.

You can either eat the larb hot or cold. I like it cold on top of hot rice.

Very interested in anyone's reaction if they try this recipe...it's one of my favorites.

good luck,

Dan

Re: culinary staples
 

Here are some easy peasy things I'd recommend that take almost no cook time and are delicious.

Spaghetti Carbonara--1lb pasta, bacon, eggs, green onions, garlic, a bit of cream. Cook the pasta. Cut the bacon into small pieces and fry, remove most of the fat from the pan, add garlic cook until tender, add chopped green onion, drain the cooked pasta and add to the pan (remove from heat!), crack raw eggs onto the hot pasta and add a touch of cream, move the pasta in the pan until thoroughly mixed, salt pepper, generous grated parmesean cheese. Done. Bonus points for serving with garlic bread. Cooking time is almost equal to the time it takes to cook the pasta.

[Now some would debate whether this recipe is healthy, because of the starch and the fat. I am a firm avoider of culinary fads and fevers (no fat, no sugar, no this, no that) and strong believer that a wide variety of good ingredients used in moderation in combination with a very active lifestyle is the way to go.]

Stir Fry--Select what looks good at the grocery store produce section (mushrooms, squash, pea pods, broccoli, beans, whatever), select a protein (chicken, shrimp, beef, pork or you can even skip this if you want), saute the protein add veggies until done in a little butter or olive oil add fresh herbs, salt, pepper to season, you can even add a bit of cheese if you like. Serve a top rice or pasta. This has a million variations and takes very little time.

Protein w/ veg--Cut up a chicken (or buy it cut up), buy some chops or steaks, pick a favorite veg. Bake the chicken, broil or better grill the chops/steaks, serve with a steamed veg of your choice (butter salt and pepper makes veggies extra yummy but aren't necessary).

I realize I'm not providing many recipes. But honestly I think the key to being able to eat well on a day to day basis rather than going for junk, isn't about cooking so much as it is about properly shopping. I rarely shop with recipes in mind. I just shop for what looks good and is cheap on any given day. When you fill your fridge with protein choices, veggies, and fruit for both cooking and healthy snacks, then it's just a matter of appetite and cooking method to make it into a meal. Say I've bought a chicken, I can grill it with BBQ sauce, Rub it and bake it with a crispy skin served with mashed potatoes/a veggie/a salad, cut it up and stir fry with veggies on rice, add it with some fun ingredients (sundried tomatoes, garlic, artichoke hearts, parmesean cheese) and make a pasta... Other proteins have similar options.

Another way to eat well is to plan ahead. Do something that does take some extra time, like a lasagna (which actually isn't that time consuming), a soup, or a stew. Then you can enjoy leftovers all week.

Re: culinary staples
 

[ QUOTE ]
I use olive oil rather than vegetable oil or shortening.

[/ QUOTE ]
I've tried using extra virgin OO and found that the smoke point is too low for the sear, so I use other stuff. I've tried everything from 100% shortening to prepackaged "wok oil," and I think simple veg oil or a veg/shortening combo is the best for cost and availability.

Re: culinary staples
 

Have you tried dumping all the oil before tossing it in the over?

Re: culinary staples
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I use olive oil rather than vegetable oil or shortening.

[/ QUOTE ]
I've tried using extra virgin OO and found that the smoke point is too low for the sear, so I use other stuff. I've tried everything from 100% shortening to prepackaged "wok oil," and I think simple veg oil or a veg/shortening combo is the best for cost and availability.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you are having problems with smoking, try peanut oil, which has a very high smoke point and tastes great with chicken.

Re: culinary staples
 

I can't recommend this book enough for learning to cook:

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

It contains recipes for all kinds of italian foods, and many of them are very simple and quick.

If you have a whole foods near you they sell frozen raw shrimp that are prepeeled in bags that are really nice. Thaw them in ice water with salt and sugar. There are then a million simple things you can do with delicious shrimp to make dinner. While car camping in yosemite recently I made shrimp in a spicy tomato sauce from the cookbook above. Just sauteed some diced onions, serrano peppers, and garlic in a pan over the campfire. Then added some heirloom tomatoes and parsley and reduced for a few minutes. Then fry the shrimp in the sauce. That was a pretty great camping meal!

Re: culinary staples
 

This meal serves two:

Ingredients

1 large or 2 small boneless chicken breasts, sliced
1 medium zuchini, sliced
1 medium yellow squash, sliced
3/4 Cup chablis
2 packages ramen noodles, discard the seasoning packet
4 cloves thinly-sliced garlic
3 pats of butter

Sauté the sliced chicken breast in olive oil (I hate extra virgin, but whatever). After a couple of minutes, toss in the zucchini, squash and garlic. As that all cooks, microwave the ramen noodles to one minute short of done (I think it's 4 mins, check the package)

When the chicken and veggies are almost done, add the wine and deglaze a bit, add the butter and the noodles. Add salt and pepper to taste and allow the wine and butter to reduce a bit.

It's light and easy and takes about 15 minutes.

Re: culinary staples
 

Food always tastes even better when camping!

Re: culinary staples
 

steak on a bbq.

it is good. supermarkets around here sell pre-made salads to go with it.

Re: culinary staples
 

This recipe is good/easy/cheap enough that I keep red lentils around just for this.

Masoor Dal from Classic Indian Cooking by Julie Sahni

Take 1.5 cups of pink lentils (rinse in cold water until the water comes out clear)
put them in a pot with 3 cups of water and 3/4 teasp. of tumeric bring to a boil, stirring frequently lower heat to medium low and simmer for 25-30 minutes
add 2 teasp. of kosher salt (if you don't have kosher salt use 1 tsp. of reg. salt)

in a separate small saucepan heat 5 Tablesp. light veggie oil
add 5-6 cloves of fresh garlic (peeled and sliced longways)
fry 1-2 minutes until light brown but still soft.
pour oil immediately over the lentil puree.

Serve over rice

Re: culinary staples
 

This is the one I suggest whenever this comes up:

Baked fish - simple, fast, healthy

ridiculously easy (5 minute prep, 12 minute cook), no added fat, good for adding variety to your diet

tilapia filet (farm raised, relatively cheap)
lemon

cut the lemon into thick slices (3/8 of an inch)
arrange in baking pan to make a bed
salt and pepper the fish
place onto bed of lemon slices
add 1/4 inch of water to pan (so now your lemon slices are islands)
cover pan with aluminum foil

bake at 375 for about 12 minutes or until done (fish is opaque, flesh easily separates, not too tough or is overdone)

you can top it with your favorite salsa

or sprinkle some cumin and paprika onto the fish before popping it in the oven

baked trout

you can also bake trout the same way, but throw a sprig of rosemary inside the fileted trout

Re: culinary staples
 

[ QUOTE ]
Here's a dish that scores highly on all three of your criteria, Larb Gai, which is a Thai ground chicken dish. It's very delicious, there's no added fat, so pretty healthy, and it's essentially a salad -- preparation order doesn't matter, and you can adjust all proportions to your taste -- so pretty easy too.

Here's what you'll need.

*ground chicken (let's say about 1 lb)
* juice of 2 limes
* 2 tbs fish sauce (you can find this in most Asian grocery stores)
* 2 tsp hot chili powder
*rice (about 2 tablespoons of uncooked rice [not necessary but highly recommended], and then several servings of cooked rice to accompany the larb)
* 3 or 4 shallots, or a medium onion
* 3 or 4 scallions
* either mint, fresh cilantro, or both

To prepare it, start by cooking the ground chicken in a pot with maybe a quarter cup of water over medium heat. Just stir it with a spoon to break up any larger pieces, and cook until the chicken is cooked through. Drain and discard the liquid and set the chicken aside.

Take the two tablespoons of uncooked rice, and saute it in a small dry (don't add any oil) pan over medium heat until the rice toasts into a golden brown color. By saute, I mean you should try to keep the pan moving so the rice doesn't burn, particularly toward the end of the process. After the toasted rice has cooled, grind it in a coffee grinder, or if you don't have one, you could use a mortal and pestle. Like I said, this is optional, but it adds a really nice nutty flavor and a crunchy sub-texture to the dish.

Next, cut the shallots and scallions finely, and chop the herbs.

You're now ready to assemble the salad. You can't really go wrong with the proportions, just taste and adjust, but the proportions above should be about right (to my taste) for a pound of chicken.

You can either eat the larb hot or cold. I like it cold on top of hot rice.

Very interested in anyone's reaction if they try this recipe...it's one of my favorites.

good luck,

Dan

[/ QUOTE ]

I cooked something similar last night. I didn't follow Dan's exact recipe, but I strongly suggest adding a little bit of sugar to balance out the acidity. Toasting the rice is definitely worth the trouble.

Re: culinary staples
 

As far as effort to taste goes, this is probably #1:

Crock Pot Pot Roast

1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of cream of asparagus soup
1 dry onion soup mix
3/4 veggie broth (you can just use water here too)
5 pounds pot roast (I prefer top roast)

Just mix the soups, mix and liquid in the crock pot. Put the pot roast in the crock pot, sprinkle with black pepper. Turn on low and cook for 8 hours, flip the roast over at 4 hours.

Enjoy.

Re: culinary staples
 

A couple of thoughts on this thread so far:

Larb gai rules.

Stevie's suggestion of baking fish in the oven over a bed of something you want to use to give it flavor is a pretty solid one as well. I'm not sure how many things it works with, but I did this the other day with chicken breasts laid over sprigs of fresh thyme and it did a remarkably good job flavoring the chicken. Also, lemon juice in general can go a pretty long way in making various bland seeming things quite tasty.

Re: culinary staples
 

I cook fish often. This is because my mom gave me a piece of slate, and it's the best thing for cooking fish. French fish expert Eric Ripert had a segment on Martha Stewart where he demonstrates how to cook on slate. It's the easiest thing in the world. All you have to do is go to Home Depot or wherever and get a slate and season it. Details on how to do this can be found here

Just lay the fish (skinless is best) on a plate, season with salt and pepper, drizzle olive oil over it, then lay slices of garlic over the fish with whatever fresh herbs you have - I use sage, thyme, and rosemary. Have the slate heating up as you do this on the stove. Then add a little more olive oil on top and lay the fish upside down with the herbs and garlic touching the slate. Depending on the thickness of the fish, you will want to flip it over at some point. The fish cooks slowly over medium - medium high heat and always comes out wonderfully. Whenever I make this I can't believe I did it, because I'm no chef (yet).

I learned how to make potatoes with this by just peeling them and cutting them into cubes (red and other waxy potatoes), throwing them into a pot of salted water, and then just bringing them to a boil then turning down the heat a bit to let simmer (takes about 10-12 minutes). You want the potatoes to get almost tender. Then I transfer them into a pan preheated with oil (let pan heat up for 3 minutes first). I let the potatoes cook for about ten minutes until they are mostly browned all over, turning them over in the last few minutes. In the first 7-8 minutes, you just want to leave them alone, then turn them around to cook the other sides. Then, add diced garlic and rosemary and let that go for about 5 minutes. At this point, you want to shake the pan up a bit to get the potatoes brown all over, covered with the rosemary and garlic. Once done, season with salt and pepper and together with the fish it makes a great meal. I generally eat this with corn because it's the easiest veggie to make.

Re: culinary staples
 

Another ridiculously easy and delicious fish preparation is en papillote, which is a method of cooking with liquid in a pouch. I use parchment paper. You just pick a fillet, add some veggies and herbs of you liking and some marinate, wine, etc.. Throw it all in a piece of parchment paper, fold or staple the ends and throw it in the oven.

Here is one recipe as an example.

KJS

Re: culinary staples
 

kk,

Here is a SUPER easy dish. Just some prep time for making a marinade. Tastes incredible. This is dinner party sized, adjust accordingly.

--
http://wendy.seltzer.org/food/chicken.html

From the Silver Palate Cookbook

* 4 chickens, 2 1/2 lb. each, quartered
* 1 head of garlic, pureed
* 1/4 c dried oregano
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1/2 c red wine vinegar
* 1/2 c olive oil
* 1 c pitted prunes
* 1/2 c Spanish green olives
* 1/2 c capers with a bit of juice
* 6 bay leaves
* 1 c brown sugar
* 1 c white wine
* 1/4 c chopped parsley

Combine all ingredients except brown sugar and white wine, and marinate overnight.

Arrange chicken in pan, spoon marinade over, and sprinkle with brown sugar and wine.

Bake 50-60 min at 350 degrees, basting often.

Eat! (Serves 10+, or the leftovers make great chicken salad and sandwiches.)
--

Do this recipe, then toss some potatoes/onions/carrots in the oven to roast and you've got a great meal.

Re: culinary staples
 

I would always say Spaghetti Bolognaise but I can't divulge that recipe [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

My wife and I like the following dish which is super easy to make and tastes AWSOME.

500g Chicken breast fillets - cut 1 breast into about 4 slithers, then cut through middle (so not so thick).. this isn't important really...

Put the chicken in a Honey+Soy marinade for a while (the longer the better but we normally marinade it and then cook straight away!)

Get a family size packet of Maccaroni cheese and follow the instructions to cook it up.

Cook the chicken at the same time in a frying pan with very little oil. Don't cook it too fast.

Get some nice fresh Broccoli and put it in a bowl with wrap over the top. Place in microwave for 3-4 minutes.

When all three items are done. Serve her up. And ENJOY.

And btw - this might sound like a strange meal - that's exactly what i thought when i first had it - but ever since that day we have it almost once a week on average.

Re: culinary staples
 

Chicken and dumplings:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cubed
2 tablespoons butter
2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 onion, finely diced
2 large carrots chopped
2 celery stalks chopped
2 (10 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces

Place the chicken, butter, soup, carrots, celery and onion in a slow cooker, and fill with enough water to cover. Cover, and cook for 5 to 6 hours on High.

About 30 minutes before serving, open the biscuits and tear them apart. Place the torn biscuit dough in the slow cooker. Cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center.

Makes six huge servings

Re: culinary staples
 

El D and others,

Chicken Marsella is amazing and unlike any other chicken I've had before. Just a suggestion: I recently substituted chicken breasts (instead of a whole chicken), marinated overnight, and thought it actually tasted better.

Just a thought.

Re: culinary staples
 

Slice pork loin or pork tender loin into 3/4 to one inch thick slices and marinate in Woodchuck cider.

Cook Apples, Woodchuck, brown sugar, and a small amount of cinamon and nutmeg and let it reduce and get suyrupy. Then grill and briefly bake slices. Add the juices that the slices release while they rest to the sauce and serve with chive roasted reds and a squash and zuccini blend.