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The Ten Most Recent Posts By hobcat57

From Talk

Pickled shrimp

Years ago when i lived in Louisiana, we frequently ate pickled shrimp.Totally fantastic. Unfortunately i never watched the prep or obtained a recipe; i do know that what we feasted upon didn't have oil as an ingredient; all of the recipes that i have found and tried have oil in the mix and this makes the texture of the shrimp unpalatable to us. Any suggestions?

The Ten Most Recent Comments By hobcat57

From Talk

Foods from scratch

oh yeah-- plant a garden! plant a container garden! your own herbs, tomatoes, onions, sqush, cukes, etc--they are integral recipe ingredients that you can grow with just a little love and attention and the process of sed to plant to flower to fruit to food is so tremendously fulfilling- and if your bf is anything like my husband, he will respect, admire and just plain love you so much more because of the thought and effort that you are putting into the nourishment of your lives!

From Talk

Foods from scratch

Happy to you! How wonderful on many accounts-- why not try to make everything you normally purchase-i.e. mayonaise ( so much better made in small batches and from excellent quality ingredients by your own loving hands) mustard, ketchup, chili sauce, tomato sauce and pasta sauce, dry biscuit mix, pancake mix, jams, jellies... well, go wild! i did when my now 20 yr old son was born and for years he preferred "our" condiments to any purchased from a store (organic or not). You have such a wide open window because you have storage, a new life and kitchen- dream large and use the interwebs for your recipes and research. Best of luck and happiness-hobcat.

From Talk

Kitschy Recipes

Mine has to be what my former sister in law affectionately calls "apple crapple"--it is extremely popular here in the deep south. Take a box of your favorite white or yellow cake mix, 2 cans of apple pie filling, 2 stix of real butter. Dump the pie filling into an 11 x 13 pyrex dish, sprinkle the cake mix over the top, melt the butter in the microwave and drizzle it over the cake mix then bake in a 375 degree oven until the crust is browned, bubbly and awesome looking. Best hot with gobs of vanilla ice cream-- or nuked up the next morning, covered in whipped cream...

From Talk

Creme Brulee Recipe Confusion

As a pastry chef and having made enough creme brulee to cause a lifetime of nightmares and sugar shock, the above quoted Anthony Bourdain recipe is the closest to my super sized recipe that i have found; i add a pinch of salt to that recipe and be sure to bake the custards in a bain-marie and not too hot an oven.

From Talk

Pickled shrimp

River Road cookbook and Bayou Cuisine are two of my favorite cookbooks, alongside John Folse's culinary encyclopedia. I haven't been able to access your ref, NO_Pam, but i will keep trying. so far, tho', i've had great results from Blue Iris's recipe with a modification of adding jalapenos. And yes, Blue Iris, i agree that things are much spicier these days-- due to globalization of cuisines and immigration and the interweb and all kinds of things, both good and bad. Hooray for spices and taste!

From Talk

Pickled shrimp

Yea! I think that Blue Iris has just about pinned it down, especially with the onion and mustard seed- i'm sure we added frsh jalapenos to the mix, too- i'm off to the seafood market for shrimp and a trial run-thanks!

From Talk

The Next Food Network Star - are we watching?

I watched an entire day of reruns a week or so ago and what i liked about the show was that the judges are not nearly as snarky as Padma Lakshmi is on Top Chef; but dearly beloved, why oh why is this show even on the air? Never again will i waste an entire day watching this (or anything like it) even while i am working in the kitchen at home. Don't care for Giada, either-- she's kinda snarky and exactly WHAT are her credentials, anyway?

From Talk

What lunch box did you have - what was in it?

I went to a school that had "hot lunch" in the cafeteria every day so, no lunch box for me. What i do recall, however, are the faces and sweet attitudes of the people (two ladies and a man) who worked in the lunch line... The adage about " always be nice to the lunch lady" is so-o-o true! I recall trading plates with a classmate one day when we wanted each other's chicken- i always got this huge breast , she always got a thigh and when the sweet lunch lady( who prolly thought she was helping a kid out) saw that trade, well, needless to say i was getting just a wing from thereon. I can remember being envious of the kids who brought thier lunch, though; they always had thecoolest simple stuff like a pbj or a tuna salad sandwich and some chips.

From Talk

Let's Talk Cookies... What's Your Favorite "Go To" Cookie

I make what is (hopefully) lovingly referred to as a "hockey puck." Its a true Frankenstein-ed cookie that is:
1. awesome
2. really tasty
3. good for you
4. easy to make
AND they have choco or carob chips, oatmeal, brown sugar, dried fruit and peanuts.
All of the Christmas cookies that i make are my husband's go to cookie...

From Talk

Zucchini and Summer Squash Recipes Please?

we grow LOTS of vegetables, especially squash. I enjoy a "slaw" made from grated yellow crookneck, yellow zucchini, green zucchini, red and green onion, cilantro, lime juice, salt, pepper and a touch of olive oil. another good thing to do with all those squash is to make muffins- my clients love a carrot-zucchini muffin that i've been making for about 15 years- i am sure that there is a zucchini bread or muffin recipe in a wide variety of cookbooks, i add dried cranberries, yellow raisins, sunflower seeds and grated raw squash( very fine grate) to a basic recipe. This is a good way to get kids to eat some vegetables, also... Lastly, being from the south, we always had squash pickles-- another handy way to use up squash from the prolific garden. we enjoy a basic bread-and-butter pickle recipe tarted up with the addition of habanero or jalapeno peppers. The combination of green zucchini, yellow crooknecks, white pattypans and red jalapenos in the pickle jar is beautiful!

Responses to Comments by hobcat57

From Talk

Foods from scratch

@kateruby, I thought I had posted the ketchup recipe here, but I must have put it somewhere else. It is William Sonoma's recipe found on their website and it uses canned tomatoes which makes it awesome when you can't get the fresh ones. I am sorry it looked like I ignored you!

From Talk

Foods from scratch

I'd say tomato/pasta sauces would be a good thing to have on hand, or how about homemade doughs for bread, pizza, etc. I bet your kitchen is going to smell wonderful!

Hillary
Chew on That

From Talk

Foods from scratch

Nothing is better for soups and sauces than homemade stock, and it freezes well -- do it in one-cup or half-cup containers for easy use. Raising my son I mixed the dry ingredients for pancakes and waffles and stored it in a big jar, adding the egg/milk/butter for quick weekday pancakes from scratch.

From Talk

Foods from scratch

Be warned: there are lots of cool looking tools out there that really dont make you any cooler. They take up a lot of space and ... that's about it. I totally second the good mixer (always KitchenAid), a good blender, and good knives. Even with the knives, until you know what you like using, you dont need to feel pressure to have a whole fantastic set. A couple basics will do quite nicely.

Also to you ketchup makers: If you can leave the skins on and skip the blancheing step if you are going to run it through the blender. You never know the difference.
My ketchup recipe is npot that spicy but you can flavor it a ton of different ways. My favorite thing to do with a little homemade ketchup is make frie sauce. 1/2 kethcup, 1/2 mayo. O and homemade mayo can last a while if you keep it cold.

From Talk

Foods from scratch

I should have added that you really want to find a "need" before investing in a lot of "gadgets" that will sit around unused. Buy good basic equipemnt only as needed.

A kitchen Aid mixer and a Cuisinart food procesor will be your best friends and, if you can afford All Clad cookware, it will last you all your life. Good knives are a necessity, of course

From Talk

Foods from scratch

Buy a hand-crank pasta machine - the lasagna noodles are a snap to make and fettucini noodles to die for.....

3/4 cup of flour and a large egg will make more than enough for a dinner for two and the nooodles will amaze you.

thirty years ago, I took a "basics" cooking class and I still use the techniques today. Go to bookfinder.com and look for THE HOME CHEF by Judith Ets Hokin - it's a great primer explaining basic techniques for stock, sauces etc. Another great book is The Saucier's Apprentice by Raymond Solokow/ Both books are probably out of print but available for pennies on the dollar.

From Talk

Foods from scratch

Hi! would anyone be willing to share a recipe for homemade tomato/marinara sauce? I would like to make it this weekend. Thank you!

From Talk

Foods from scratch

oooh... cookiepie... what a great tip! I will have to do that the next time I make pie crust. Don't be too impressed by the homemade pasta (I use a machine... lol). Hope everybody has a GREAT weekend!

From Talk

Foods from scratch

@mepolo - WOW, thanks! I am making that ketchup this weekend!

@sbelle - your homemade lasagna sounds amazing - made with homemade pasta, that is really impressive!

@KateRuby - congrats on moving in together! I agree with sbelle about homemade baking. One thing I love to do is make all kinds of cookie dough, scoop it into little balls (I use a small ice cream scoop), freeze the balls on a sheet pan. When they're frozen, I transfer them to freezer bags and freeze again. Whenever you want a treat, you can just bake up a few homemade cookies in 10 minutes! So nice after a long day.

I also think homemade pie crust is soooo much better than any store-bought kind or mix. I usually swap in an egg yolk in place of some of the ice water - I find it makes the dough easier to roll out.

Enjoy!!

From Talk

Foods from scratch

@kateruby....I haven't tried this recipe yet, but it was in our latest issue of Artvoice newspaper....the author, Joe George, is a pretty reliable source of recipes.....I'll be trying it when our tomatoes are ready.

Spicy and Smoky Tomato Ketchup

Yield: 2 cups
2 pounds ripe tomatoes
1 small onion, peeled and diced
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
6 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons chipotle chili powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Remove the cores of the tomatoes, and make a small X-shaped incision on the opposite ends. Drop the tomatoes in the water a few at a time and blanch them for only about 45 seconds, just to loosen their skins. Transfer the tomatoes to a bowl of iced water. Peel away their skins, cut them in half, squeeze out their seeds, and dice them. Transfer the tomatoes to a small pot with the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, then lower to a low simmer. Cook for about an hour, until it becomes quite thick. Transfer to a blender and process until smooth.