20 people at my wife's elder sister's place.

2 turkeys, and I've been volunteered to cook one of them.

My brother-in-law will be cooking the other, and since he's a Christmas food-fetishist I've no doubt it'll be stuffed with something wonderful and accompanied by things like bread sauce, hand-crafted gravy and perfect roast vegetables.

I'll have to see if I can fit bourbon into the plan somewhere. I need to pick up another bottle of Maker's Mark.

3 boneless skinless chick. breasts. cubed
3 chorizo sausages
2 green peppers
3 onions
1 or 2 cups of salsa
chili powder
cayane pepper
basil
oregano
thyme
black pepper
2 cans whole tomatoes- 28 fl oz
4 cloves garlic
olive oil
1 lime
pasta of your choice. i usually use a bite-sized pasta like penne due to the consistensy of the sauce. tonite i used a squash filled ravioli. mmmmmmm

-turn your favorite mixed 80's playlist up loud.
-chop onions, garlic, cook in a saucepan with a little olive oil.
-drain tomatoes. keep the juice in a pot for later.
-chop toms. into bite-sized pieces. add to onions/garlic.
-cook on high for about 20 mins to reduce the mixture.
- while toms. are cooking, chop up the peppers and add them with a cup or 2 of your favorite salsa to the previously saved tom juice.
put on medium heat.
- add a liberal amount of oregano, basil, a bit of thyme, and pepper to peppersd/juice.
- by this time, 'Emotional Rescue' by the 'Stones should be playing.
- cut sausage into coins and sautee with chicken cubes. dust them with cayane pepper.
-when tom/onions are finished, add to juice and peppers. add meats when cooked.
- add a lot of chili powder. simmer for a while.
- add spices to taste
- serve on your favorite pasta.
- squeese a lime over pasta and sauce.

my favorite tricks i ever learned are:

stirring often to prevent sticking. if you do this often enuffr to your pasta, you can finish with a clean pot without any residue (a little starch maybe) using no oils or non-stick agents.

i always clean as i go. when everyone is finished eating, there is only,ever, a pot to wash, maybe 2, and plates to load in the dishwasher. and THAT is the best thing ever.

quote:

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Originally posted by charmakarmacat:
charmakarmbalaya

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It isn't often that a recipe of that size consists solely of ingredients that I like. I am gonna have to eat that. On whole wheat spirale or penne.

But really, though: the lime?

i had a lime in the fridge and thought i'd try it.
to my delicious surprise.

Limes, man. I haven't used a lemon in decades. Mostly because the lemons in Chicago are CRAP! That, and limes taste better.

On a freshly grilled or broiled steak, salt, black pepper (freshly ground, of course), and lime juice. Mmmmm.

Pozole and lime juice.

Limeade.

Margaritas made with fresh lime juice.

I love limes.

That reminds me. It's been ages since I've made a good pot of Jambalaya. I usually whip out the 10 l casserole and end up making too much and having it overflow into a 7 l pan as well.

My recipe is similar but also contains ham and celery. I usually use a whole chicken, remove the skin and bones and cube the meet. I boil the carcass for stock. For seasoning I throw in a couple of bay leaves, some beer and brown sugar. If I have access to andouille sausages I use them, but in general only chorizo is available.

The major difference is that I take the traditional path and cook it with rice. Once it's reached it's state of boiling goodness, the rice is added and simmered until finished.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

I've been getting thirty pounds of limes a week off my lime tree. Most of it I take to my local Lebanese Cafe in trade for fresh babaganooj, spinach pies, lentil and chicken soup. The soup always tastes better with a squeeze of lime.

"He dug through the remains of their afternoon, finding his binoculars beneath a plastic bag of pineapple slices drenched in lime and dusted with cayenne."

This is one of the easiest receipes I know and sure to impress guests without a lot of bother on your part. The main thing is to buy quality tuna, preferably sashimi quality.
Buy the tuna in steaks about 1 to 1.5 inches thick. In a pestle, grind up lots of fresh black pepper, salt and whatever spices you like (I like cayanne pepper and --fresh-- basil myself). Add a few cloves of garlic to the mixture and pound until you it comes to a soggy glompitude. Press the resulting mess onto your steaks until they are coated in the mixture. Then drizzle a small amount of lime over them.
Heat a frying pan to very hot (cast iron if you have it) and sear the steaks just until the outside is starting to blacken. Turn over and repeat.
The key to this recipe is DON'T OVERCOOK THE TUNA!. Leave the steaks on too long and it'll taste like canned tuna. The steaks should still be raw in the middle when served.
To make this dish seem more impressive, I like to cut the steaks into slices about 3/4 of an inch thick, laying them out on an arrugula salad to serve.
Bon appetit

Fashion...
i used to put ham in but found its flavor got lost in the shuffle. it just seemed to take up space y'know? maybe i'll give it another shot.
however.... i do enjoy adding some cajon'd up prawns to the mixture now and then.

Was the ham you were using pre-cooked?

hmmmmm.
y'know, i think it might've been.

I always had that problem when I was living in the US.

But now I live in the land of pork, where buying a small smoked ham (1kg) is no problem at all.

I usually cut the ham into 2 cm cubes, it helps keep the flavor. Also when browning the ham and chicken, I drench them with cayenne pepper, so that when you get a piece of meat on your fork it has a nice spicy surface. I use all of the cayenne pepper on the meat only to create a greater contrast between the vegetables and the meat.

i'll try that next time.
oh and uh....

quote:

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- cut sausage into coins and sautee with chicken cubes. dust them with cayane pepper.

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i am so with you there.

A German friend brought us a wonderful piece of cured salmon a couple of weeks ago. This is her recipe:

- Get to know and trust a good fishmonger.

- Buy 2 pieces of top quality Atlantic Salmon, each say about 8 inches square.

- Thickly coat the flesh of one piece with finely ground sea salt, brown sugar and fresh dill or coriander (cilantro).

- Place the other piece of salmon flesh-down on top of the first piece. In other words, the skin of each piece should be on the outside of the "sandwich".

- Tightly wrap the "sandwich" in plastic wrap, then put it in the refrigerator with a brick on top (in other words, weight it).

- 2 days later, remove the salmon from the fridge, separate the pieces, and thinly slice the flesh from each piece horizontally.

- Eat and enjoy. You can put it on those black bread "cocktail rounds", on wafers or just devour it sashimi-style.

We do the salmon in a very similar way, but without sugar and changing the salt after the first hour, after the following 6 hours and finally after the following 24 hours. Two days total marinade. Lots and lots of dill is a must.

José

Apropos of nothing, I just had to brag somewhere about the meal I just spent all day preparing (and about 25 minutes eating):

Homemade Navajo fry bread
Frijoles burrachos
Arroz verde
Chiles rellenos stuffed with shitake mushrooms served on red chile sauce
Passion fruit granitas
And a shitload of Negro Modelo.

My homesickness for Santa Fe is a little better now.

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F:.R:.

MMMMMM! Sounds great!

How do you make the Navajo fry bread???

i'm looking for good blue food recipe ideas. anyone?

blue food? make mashed potatoes with blue food colouring type blue food?

last night, i made chicken katsu curry since we kind of wanted to go to wagamama but didn't. so i made it at home.


chicken katsu:
B/S chicken breasts
bread crumbs
egg
milk
salt

pound the chicken breasts thin. scramble egg with a dash of milk and dip the breasts in the mixture. press both sides of the breasts in a dish of salted breadcrumbs. dip in egg again, and breadcrumb again (for extra good coating). fry in an pan with 2 tbsp of oil over medium heat (so it's just crackling). if the breasts get too brown on the outside and the inside is still pink, cook in a medium hot oven until done.


curry:
japanese curry cubes
water
rice

make according to the package, ie melt with water over low heat. make shortgrain rice. pour curry over the rice and chicken katsu.


miso salad dressing:
tbsp or more of miso. half cup of hot water or so. stir until miso is dissolved. throw in a dash of rice vinegar (or balsamic, actually) to taste. serve over greens on the side.


et voila. just like wagamama. but at home.