The Cooking thread

[NovaKart]

I'm trying to save money by not eating out as much but my cooking skills are severely limited. Often I make pasta which isn't too hard but there isn't any pasta sauce at the small stores here and I'm too lazy to go out to the larger stores and I imagine imported pasta sauce would be kind of expensive. Turkey has a lot less ready-made stuff than other countries so a lot of times you end up making things from scratch.

Lately I've made pasta sauce and the last one I made was actually tolerable, perhaps even a little good. Now I just fry up some vegetables in a lot of oil, last time onions and green peppers. Sometimes I add eggplant. Then I add some water, two tablespoons of tomato paste and a cup of water and let it cook on low heat covered. Usually I add thyme (but not parsley, sage or rosemary), oregano would probably be good but I'm not sure how to find it here. I put in a couple bay leaves before but I don't think they added much.

Last time I put in a tablespoon of butter in the sauce and that was the best batch I made so I think I'll keep doing that. Last time I used vegetable oil because I ran out of olive oil and I didn't really notice a difference. Strangely, the nearby stores didn't have any garlic last times I went, maybe they're out of season but normally I would add garlic.

I looked up stuff about pasta sauce they said to peel tomatoes and add them to the sauce. Last time I tried that I didn't really care for the pulpy tomato mess in my sauce. I had boiled them beforehand and peeled the skin off like the recipe said and then added them to the sauce. Last time I just did it without tomatoes.

So got any recipes to share or cooking stories? It doesn't have to be about pasta sauce but a homemade pasta sauce critique would be appreciated. Mediterranean and Middle Eastern ingredients are easiest for me to find, East Asian or Indian would be very difficult here unless you know local substitutes but if you want to add those recipes fine, I don't mean to dominate this thread.

I'm thinking of going on to chili if anyone has some good homemade chili recipes. I'm trying to stick to simple stuff for now.

 

[Berzerker]

I just went Vegan and starting to learn how to cook. I used to just throw a steak or burger on the grill, but now I gotta spend an hour burning calories just making meals And I'll tell you, the amount of grease from a steak or burger or chicken scares the hell out of me. I've been clogging my arteries for decades, no wonder my doc has warned me about diabetes and heart disease. I limit my dairy now too, no fat milk, water, low or no fat and low sugar.

My recipe? I throw a bunch of veggies in whatever form it comes into a pan, heat and stir. And maybe my taste buds aint in good shape, but tofu deli meat doesn't taste all that different from the animal fat I've been pumping into my veins - and no cholesterol or animal fat. I'm a true believer...

 

[NovaKart]

My problem is that normally whatever I cook doesn't have much taste to it.

 

[Ajidica]

My mom makes this fairly often and is pretty easy.

Put a slice of swiss cheese over a piece of chicken breast, cover with breadcrumbs, douse in white wine vinegar, and cook. It is pretty good. I can track down the recipe if you want.

 

[NovaKart]

That sounds pretty good. I'm not sure if I can find white wine vinegar, would something else work as well? Normal vinegar?

 

[Sofista]

Here you get, pasta with anchovies. Ridiculously easy, glouriously traditional, tremendously tasty (recipe for two).

Once the water starts boiling, prepare a separate pan with:
- olive oil, the best you can find
- two anchovy fillets (that's the recipe; I use three)
- a garlic clove, finely cut (or you can cut it in larger pieces and take them off the pan just before adding the pasta, if you dislike garlic)

Throw the pasta into the water (traditionally one uses bigoli, but as they are not easily found even in Italy, just get the thickest spaghetti you can find), start the fire under the pan. As they get warmer, the fillets will be ready to dissolve at the stirring of a wooden spoon. Then lower the fire to keep this sauce warm, without boiling the oil.
Just before the pasta cooking time comes, throw into the pan black pepper (or hot pepper powder, if you will). Drain the pasta carefully - the wetter it is, the less the sauce shall stick. Throw it in the pan, amalgamate it with the sauce with the wooden spoon for at least a minute and serve.

Buon appetito! And let me know the results.

 

[Clement]

I have a rather desperate way of making rice that seems to work most of the time, follow these steps if you want rice but have no energy left to clean pots and/or pans


*Rice inna Jug.*


Grab a coffee mug, fill it with rice, long grain preferably, empty that into a microwavable jug.

Now fill the coffee mug with water, chuck that into the jug.

More water into the coffee mug again but this time only a quarter of the way up, chuck that in the jug.

Add a teaspoon of olive oil so it doesn't stick, in the jug.

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped, in the jug.

Add salt to your liking, in the jug.

Herbs of your choice, you guessed it, in the jug.

Stir it a bit then blast it full power for 14-15 minutes, the rice should come out edible, well most of the time, if it not edible you did'nt drink enough beer while waiting for it to cook then add whatever you like to it.

This recipe was handed down to me by someone very lazy.

 

[warpus]

If my experience is to be trusted, a diced & caramelized onion added right before you start simmering the sauce makes it taste a lot better. Also add some red wine, freshly ground pepper, garlic, and ground beef.

 

[NovaKart]

That sounds pretty good, I'll have to try it. Anchovies are pretty popular in Turkey too, people get them from the Black Sea. Any idea about the differences in various kinds of olive oil? I've heard that in depends on the first or 2nd squeezing of the olives or something like that but I don't really know the differences in taste.

 

[NovaKart]

If my experience is to be trusted, a diced & caramelized onion added right before you start simmering the sauce makes it taste a lot better. Also add some red wine, freshly ground pepper, garlic, and ground beef.

By caramelized do you mean you cook the onion separately first?

Clement - Unfortunately I don't have a microwave but if I ever get one I'll remember that.

 

[tycoonist]

The key to taste is salt - If you're finding your food too bland, despite adding herbs, you're probably not adding enough salt. Salt tends to amplify flavours already present, hence why we call it a seasoning.

You don't have to add tons, just a few pinches will add a lot to your meals.

 

[NovaKart]

The key to taste is salt - If you're finding your food too bland, despite adding herbs, you're probably not adding enough salt. Salt tends to amplify flavours already present, hence why we call it a seasoning.

You don't have to add tons, just a few pinches will add a lot to your meals.

Yeah I think that's true, I added more salt in my last sauce and it was better. In Turkey people often add too much salt for my taste so maybe that scared me away from it for awhile.

 

[de Maistre]

I recall my father mixing spaghetti in a bowl with diced garlic, butter, parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper. It's very simple to make (no sauce!), but I think you have to love garlic to appreciate it.

 

[Sofista]

That sounds pretty good, I'll have to try it. Anchovies are pretty popular in Turkey too, people get them from the Black Sea. Any idea about the differences in various kinds of olive oil? I've heard that in depends on the first or 2nd squeezing of the olives or something like that but I don't really know the differences in taste.

Let's hear it for food markets all around the Mediterranean!
Just make it extra virgin oil; anchovies and garlic will do most of the "talking" anyway.

I recall my father mixing spaghetti in a bowl with diced garlic, butter, parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper. It's very simple to make (no sauce!), but I think you have to love garlic to appreciate it.

Take out the cheese, insert hot pepper powder and you have a variation "aglio e olio" (oil and garlic). I just love how pasta can be great without being the culinary equivalent of rocket science.
About garlic in the kitchen: I'm suspicious of the modern habit of taking it out before serving "to let only the taste". I can't believe those ancient fellows who originated the recipes were so... cavalier about their food to just discard it. And fried garlic loses all acidity it might have to become delicious, at least I think so.

 

[tycoonist]

Olive Oil:
Extra virgin for salads/dressings.
Regular for cooking.

 

[W|M]

Add pepper to pretty much anything you make if you don't want as much salt.

 

[Abaddon]

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=105628

 

[*****]

By caramelized do you mean you cook the onion separately first?

Clement - Unfortunately I don't have a microwave but if I ever get one I'll remember that.

Carmelizing is cooking them separately so that you cook up the sugars and reduce the water content. Basically you just fry up the onions before using them. It gives the onions a different flavor, and reduces their volume considerably.

 

[Abaddon]

Let them "sweat" at a low heat.