To fuck or to cook?

[Sparklehorse]

Originally posted by Shape Shifter
I once brought a loaf of toasted white bread to a pot luck. It was all gone at the end of the party.

Was everyone else from Seattle?

[Shape Shifter]

Originally posted by Sparklehorse
Was everyone else from Seattle?

No, but you know how pot lucks are. I think the toast was the thing most identifiable as food.

[tmdiva]

Originally posted by Fugee
Mac n cheese could be fun if it isn't too hot, but I learned my cousin's husband is lactose intolerant so it seems unwelcoming to bring something he can't eat. That also ruled out one of my earlier thoughts -- rice pudding.

How about the couscous salad I posted on my blog last month? I can repost it here if you need me to. I've taken it to lots of potlucks, and it's always a big hit.

I took some to the BBQ we went to on Wednesday, and I just ate the leftovers for lunch. Yum.

tm

[Sparklehorse]

Yesterday, while rolling the meat out of the tiny lobster legs left over from the 4th of July feast, I broke the dowel on my rolling pin. It is a wooden rolling pin that my dad used for many years and that I believe came originally from his mother. I don't have a lot of stuff from that part of the family. Do I just sigh a little and throw it away or can this be fixed somehow? If my dad were still alive, he'd try to fix it (make a new dowel or something) but I certainly don't have the proper tools.

If I buy a new rolling pin, what kind should I get? I think Cook's or one of my other cooking mags recently did a write-up on rolling pins but I'm curious about what folks here like. TIA!

[Fugee]

Originally posted by tmdiva
How about the couscous salad I posted on my blog last month? I can repost it here if you need me to. I've taken it to lots of potlucks, and it's always a big hit.

I took some to the BBQ we went to on Wednesday, and I just ate the leftovers for lunch. Yum.

tm

I'd appreciate the re-posting here. The forecast is for 95 tomorrow so am intending to bring something that does not require turning on the oven.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

I like this recipe.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
I like this recipe.

When you're done with that, you chop into one-inch strips, jab with fish hook, and drop into the water to get some nice big ones to grill up, right?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
When you're done with that, you chop into one-inch strips, jab with fish hook, and drop into the water to get some nice big ones to grill up, right?

Speaking of fishing and ceviche, this article cracked me up. It's about two guys who are trying to create a new market for fishing snakeheads in the Potomac. Problem is, they can't figure out how to catch the things. Shooting them with a bow and arrow seems to work better, but that's not their sport.

[Replaced_Texan]

Mark Bittman had an article for summer cooking in the New York Times last week. I don't know if it goes to the archives after tomorrow, but it looks like the type of thing that'd be really useful to have on hand.

The first page of "recipes":

• 1 Make six-minute eggs: simmer gently, run under cold water until cool, then peel. Serve over steamed asparagus.
  
  2 Toss a cup of chopped mixed herbs with a few tablespoons of olive oil in a hot pan. Serve over angel-hair pasta, diluting the sauce if necessary with pasta cooking water.
  
  3 Cut eight sea scallops into four horizontal slices each. Arrange on plates. Sprinkle with lime juice, salt and crushed chilies; serve after five minutes.
  
  4 Open a can of white beans and combine with olive oil, salt, small or chopped shrimp, minced garlic and thyme leaves in a pan. Cook, stirring, until the shrimp are done; garnish with more olive oil.
  
  5 Put three pounds of washed mussels in a pot with half a cup of white wine, garlic cloves, basil leaves and chopped tomatoes. Steam until mussels open. Serve with bread.
  
  6 Heat a quarter-inch of olive oil in a skillet. Dredge flounder or sole fillets in flour and fry until crisp, about two minutes a side. Serve on sliced bread with tartar sauce.
  
  7 Make pesto: put a couple of cups of basil leaves, a garlic clove, salt, pepper and olive oil as necessary in a blender (walnuts and Parmesan are optional). Serve over pasta (dilute with oil or water as necessary) or grilled fish or meat.
  
  8 Put a few dozen washed littlenecks in a large, hot skillet with olive oil. When clams begin to open, add a tablespoon or two of chopped garlic. When most or all are opened, add parsley. Serve alone, with bread or over angel-hair pasta.
  
  9 Pan-grill a skirt steak for three or four minutes a side. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, slice and serve over romaine or any other green salad, drizzled with olive oil and lemon.
  
  10 Smear mackerel fillets with mustard, then sprinkle with chopped herbs (fresh tarragon is good), salt, pepper and bread crumbs. Bake in a 425-degree oven for about eight minutes.
  
  11 Warm olive oil in a skillet with at least three cloves sliced garlic. When the garlic colors, add at least a teaspoon each of cumin and pimentón. A minute later, add a dozen or so shrimp, salt and pepper. Garnish with parsley, serve with lemon and bread.
  
  12 Boil a lobster. Serve with lemon or melted butter.
  
  13 Gazpacho: Combine one pound tomatoes cut into chunks, a cucumber peeled and cut into chunks, two or three slices stale bread torn into pieces, a quarter-cup olive oil, two tablespoons sherry vinegar and a clove of garlic in a blender with one cup water and a couple of ice cubes. Process until smooth, adding water if necessary. Season with salt and pepper, then serve or refrigerate, garnished with anchovies if you like, and a little more olive oil.
  
  14 Put a few slices of chopped prosciutto in a skillet with olive oil, a couple of cloves of crushed garlic and a bit of butter; a minute later, toss in about half a cup bread crumbs and red chili flakes to taste. Serve over pasta with chopped parsley.
  
  15 Call it panini: Grilled cheese with prosciutto, tomatoes, thyme or basil leaves.
  
  16 Slice or chop salami, corned beef or kielbasa and warm in a little oil; stir in eggs and scramble. Serve with mustard and rye bread.
  
  17 Soak couscous in boiling water to cover until tender; top with sardines, tomatoes, parsley, olive oil and black pepper.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

This sounds like a good chicken sandwich.

Bakesale Betty's Fried Chicken Sandwich

Serves 4

You'll have some breading left over, even after dipping twice. This makes a hefty sandwich in all regards - you'll need two hands to eat it.

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, about 6 ounces each

Kosher salt to taste

1 quart buttermilk

The vinaigrette

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

The coleslaw

1 small red onion, very thinly sliced

1 cup red wine vinegar

2 jalapenos, seeded, cut in half and sliced crosswise

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1/2 green cabbage, core and outer leaves removed, and very thinly sliced

Kosher salt

The breading

1 pound all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon kosher salt + more to taste

11/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

2 quarts vegetable oil, for frying

4 Acme Bakery torpedo rolls, sliced lengthwise

Instructions: Season chicken breasts with kosher salt. Let sit at least 5 minutes. Fill a wide, shallow nonreactive bowl or casserole dish with buttermilk. Add the chicken and soak in the refrigerator for 1 hour up to overnight.

For the vinaigrette: Combine mustard, vinegar and salt in a bowl. Slowly whisk in olive oil until well blended.

For the coleslaw: Macerate onions in red wine vinegar, and let sit at least 20 minutes. Remove onions and discard vinegar. Toss onions with jalapeno, parsley, cabbage and salt. Toss with vinaigrette until evenly coated.

To fry chicken: Pour vegetable oil into a large stockpot. Do not fill up more than halfway, or the oil could splatter. Bring oil up to 365°, using a digital thermometer/candy thermometer to monitor the heat. Prepare the the breading while waiting for oil to heat up.

In a wide shallow bowl, mix flour, cayenne, salt and pepper. Pull a chicken breast out of the buttermilk one by one, letting excess drip off, and dredge completely in flour. To create a thick crust, place in buttermilk and dredge in flour a second time. Do not drain or shake off excess buttermilk or flour during the breading process.

When the oil is at 365°, carefully place chicken pieces into oil one by one. Let it cook for a minute before disturbing chicken, then help it "swim" in the oil with tongs, until it is evenly cooked, about 5-7 minutes. Remove chicken from oil and drain on paper towels. Season immediately with salt.

For the sandwich: Place fried chicken breast on bottom of torpedo roll and top generously with coleslaw.

Per serving: 995 calories, 52 g protein, 63 g carbohydrate, 58 g fat (8 g saturated), 95 mg cholesterol, 1,497 mg sodium, 6 g fiber.

[notcasesensitive]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Bakesale Betty's Fried Chicken Sandwich

Per serving: 995 calories, 52 g protein, 63 g carbohydrate, 58 g fat (8 g saturated), 95 mg cholesterol, 1,497 mg sodium, 6 g fiber.

Holy cow.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by notcasesensitive
Holy cow.

If you eat it with a fatty, you won't feel so badly.

[taxwonk]

I went to dinner on Monday night in Indianapolis, at a place that was otherwise quite passable, but they served fried anchovies as a garnish on the caesar salad. They looked like grubs.

Has anyone ever encountered this aberration elsewhere, or shall I put it down to an excessive amount of marrying between first cousins?

[dtb]

This year's bumper crop of basil -- seriously, it's gone totally haywire -- was put to good use last night. I made a massive bucket (ok, I exaggerate a wee bit) of pesto. I was inspired by that list of 101 summer "recipes" or whatever that someone posted and that I printed out from the NYT (let me put in a plug for that little ditty -- they have some great ideas in there -- also did the fried sole from that, which was excellent).

So anyway, I put a dab of pesto on top of slices of home-grown tomato and some local mozarella -- HEAVEN, I tell you, pure heaven.

[sunnybunny]

Ok, so i was in need of a carrot cake recipe and i got this one from a lovely internet friend on another one of my internet playgrounds and it was so freaking out of this world, I decided to share it with all y'all:

Here's the carrot cake recipe. It's work, but SO worth it!

Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour 2 9-inch cake pans, or one 9x13 pan.

Whisk together in large bowl:
1 1/3 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1 1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cloves
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. allspice
1/2 t. salt

Add 2/3 c. vegetable oil and 3 large eggs and stir well. Then stir in:

1 1/2 c. grated carrots
1 c. finely chopped walnuts
1 c. golden raisins (optional but yummy)
1/2 c. crushed pineapple, lightly drained (optional but yummy)

Put batter in pan(s), spread evenly, bake 25-30 minutes for the 2 cake pans, 30-35 minutes for the 1 large. Let cool 10 minutes in pan, then cool on a rack.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

9 oz white chocolate
12 oz cream cheese
3/4 c. butter (can decrease to 1/2 c.)
[Cream cheese and butter MUST be at room temp or even a bit warmer to work!]
1 1/2 t. lemon juice

Melt white chocolate in microwave and let cool. Beat cream cheese until smooth and creamy (electric mixer works best). Gradually beat in the cooled chocolate until smooth. Beat in butter and lemon juice.

Can freeze or refrigerate frosting, but MUST be at room temperature before you beat it again and use it to frost cake.