Weeel, there is first the choice of the Feta you'll be using. If they say it's made with cow's milk, do not, repeat DO NOT touch it with a ten foot pole. Only GOATS milk is appropriate; actually this stands for any Greek cheese you might wish to purchace. Beyond that, it's touch and go. Try to taste it first, before money changes hands.

Now that the important part is covered, we can proceed.
>Cut a slice about a thumb thick.
>Prepare a square piece of aluminum foil.
>I guess, preheating the oven would be good. 450?
>Place a couple of olive oil drops on the foil.
>Place Feta on foil.
>Place a couple of tomato slices on top of feta.
>Some basil too.
>Close said foil around the contents.
>I guess place that on a cookie sheet and off to the oven it goes.
>I'd say about five minutes... maybe less. I'd check on it if I were you.
It should come out nice and soft with the tomato taste and the basil. Place on a plate in the middle of the table, right next to the wine and the olives.

Now the traditional way for saganaki is :
Choose anything, feta, kaseri, kefalotyri, kefalograviera. All should be good...->thumb thick slice.
Frying pan, olive oil, spices(basil, oregano), fire, you're done.
Simple and very good with Retsina or Ouzo (it's up to you).

Fennel Salad

Day 5 in Paris I was getting a bit tired of restuarant food, and suggested that we hold a session of the WGB Cooking School at ki~2's apartment.

I suggested making Jambalaya using the Extra Hot Chorizo specially imported by JRE. Unfortunately the hour grew late and due to Easter Monday it became difficult to procure the necessary ingredients.

Luckily a quick dinner of Confit de Canard and roasted potatoes was suggested instead. I decided to make a fennel salad as a side dish.

Fennel Salad
Serves 6 as a side dish

Ingredients
Fennel - 2 bulbs
One small lemon
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper



Cut the fennel in half length-ways, remove the outside layer from each piece, then cut out the triangular core from each piece. Cut each fennel half into slices, making them as thin as you can. Finely chop the fennel tops. Place in bowl and drizzle with olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.

Let the salad marinate about 15 minutes before serving.

Jambalaya
Serves 8

Ingredients:

1 green pepper
1 red bell pepper
4 small onions
3 cloves garlic
4 stalks cellery
3 cans chopped tomatoes
4 bayleaves
2 tbsp olive oil

1 chorizo sausage (300g - extra picante)
300g chicken breast
500g ham
2 tsp cayenne pepper (approx.)
4dl rice
1 liter chicken stock
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp Linghams Chili Sauce
Salt, Pepper



Dice the vegetables


Tip: Rather than cutting off the tops of peppers, removing the seeds, rinsing the peppers and removing the white membranes, you can do this all with your knife in one movement, as shown.


Sauté the vegetables in olive oil approx. 2-3 minutes. Remove from pan.


Slice the chorizo in 9mm slices.


Cube the ham and chicken.


Fry the chorizo quickly at high heat so that the cut edged is lightly seared. Remove from pan.


Dust the ham and chicken with cayenne pepper, salt and pepper.


Brown the chicken and ham.


Add the chorizo and vegetables.


Add the rice, bayleaves, chicken stock, brown sugar, and chili sauce.


Simmer until rice is cooked. Approx. 20 minutes.


Serve with beer and bread.

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

P.S. Thanks for the chorizo José!

Glad to be of help. I would not mind being in Denmark for dinner, however, that looks great.

And the final test, the taste?

José

Confit de canard, roast potatoes and fennel salad. I was just getting over my envy, and now you get me all green again.
Though, actually I have a giant can of confit in the kitchen, so this time it can be remedied.

*Slice the chorizo in 9mm slices.*

That, and the surgical-grade-like knife are the kind of things that can be read/seen only on the WGB...
Mmhh... chorizo...

Excellent post. I would, however, point out that one should first sautee the meat (generally only the chicken and chorizo) and then remove the meat and add the uncooked rice to the grease which one then stirs about for two minutes or so before adding the cooking water. The rest is prepared in a separate pan and added once the rice is cooked.

how did you manage to revive this thread after 60 days of inactivity?

I wouldn't ask to much about the dark forces involved in that one, mythological baestie or no.

yes, i suppose you may be right...

but then again, curiosity killed the cat.
but a charmakarmacat on the other hand...

And still no recipe for wombat...

What does one drink with wombat? White or Red?

quote:

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Originally posted by digitalprimate:
And still no recipe for wombat...

What does one drink with wombat? White or Red?

---

Shiraz.

Cooking with Newromancer, or cooking Liquid Nitrogen:


First you need, just like for ordinary ice cream, Milk, Cream and Sugar.


And flavour as desired. It works very well if you use chocolate or vanilla milk instead of normal milk. Fruit ice cream, like strawberry, is a little bit more difficult to make, because of the extra water, it works fine too, but if this is the first time you are doing this, I recommend you start with something easy first, like vanilla.


And of course Liquid Nitrogen. I recommend to fill a bit of it into a thermos flask, makes it easier to handle and dose.


Pull everything into a bowl (make sure it isn't a metal bowl!) and mix it. Take about the same amount of cream and milk and add sugar and flavour. Basicly every ice cream recipe will work, just make sure that you mix everything good enough before you freeze it. (Otherwise you will have the sugar crystals in the ice cream.)


While one person is constantly mixing another one should "slowly" pour some nitrogen into the bowl.


And a split second later. When it gets harder to mix, I recommend a classic wooden spoon and don't worry if it doesn't freeze constantly, just keep on mixing a while after you stop to pour nitrogen over it.


The result is most likely the best ice cream you have ever tasted. Make some more flavours and serve it just like you normally do.


I know, a bad picture of the result, suddenly the job of a "food-photographer" becomes more reasonable. I will try to shoot a better one next time.


Now why should you make ice cream with liquid nitrogen instead of the of the old fashion way?
It is faster, done in almost a minute.
It is even more creamy, by freezing it so fast, there is not enough time to build big ice crystals.
Ohh, and it is one great show!


Hint: better use a plastic thermos flask. The metal at the outside is getting pretty cold too.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Newro,

. . . I can just imagine the "cooking for geeks" TV show!

Tequila braised shrimps over rice.

Items needed:
1) However many shrimp you want to eat. I like the little ones, not jumbos. In the case of small ones, like 8-10 little shrimp per person. De-Shell/De-tail them.
2) Jose Quervo.
3) Olive Oil.
4) Cayanne pepper.
5) Salt/Pepper (kosher/sea salt and ONLY freshly ground pepper)
5) Rice (minute rice is the easiest for us bachelors)
6) Cilantro (a nice little pile)

Step 1- Cook the rice til almost done. When almost done take almost all of the finely diced cilantro and add to rice. Stir it up, cover it and let it steam whilst you cook the shrimp (see below).
Step 2- Whilst steaming rice thusly, take a pan that you can get really hot (cast iron skillet is good) and make it really hot on the range. Add 1/4 tbsp of olive oil in pan when hot.
Step 3- Take yon shrimps and season with cayanne, salt and papper to taste.
Step 4- Add Shrimp and Tequila, (about 1/4 cup) in that order to pan. (WARNING: ALCOHOL AND HEAT TEND TO MAKE BRAISING FLAMES. BE CAREFUL.)
Step 5- Vigourously agitate the shrimp as they will still wish to stick themselves to the pan. Either stir or shake the pan, making sure that the shrimp get turned over at least once. Continue in this manner until the shrimp are done. This won't take long if you have the pan properly scorching hot. Maybe a couple 3 or 4 minutes.
Step 6- Remove shrimp from pan with tongs and serve over the prepared rice. (I find that some people like to take the remining liquid from the braise and garnish with that, so, whatever)
Step 7- Garnish with remaining cilantro and a very light dusting of cayanne. And, as above, the liquid if so desired.

Serve with Dos-Equis, Coronas, Margaritas or other properly mexican drink. Enjoy!

quote:

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Originally posted by digitalprimate:
Excellent post. I would, however, point out that one should first sautee the meat (generally only the chicken and chorizo) and then remove the meat and add the uncooked rice to the grease which one then stirs about for two minutes or so before adding the cooking water. The rest is prepared in a separate pan and added once the rice is cooked.

---

I have to disagree, as I have just followed FP's recipe tonight, with some minor changes (carrots instead of celery, amounts halved except for spices), resulting in an extra-hot mix, great for the 30ºC (86ºF) we had tonight. And the rice was added with the stock, and not fried first.

And I have the rest (I only could eat two rations) as proof. That, and the fact that I am awake after a sizable number of beers.

Here are the images:



In the wok I used as main cooking recipient.



In the crystal bowl, the portion I actually ate.

José

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Psychophant,

The only real quibble I had was regarding the non-uses of chorizo. And that can be forgiven. God knows when I was in Europe trying to cook up some proper Tex Mex breakfast tacos was no small feat.

I need advice. I am currently undergoing survival training, and I will soon be off in the woods with nothing but the gear in my pack. While in the woods, we will be provided with rations, but we will be allowed to scavenge for food and will be provided with a rabbit/chicken which we will kill, cook and eat.

I will have only a knife for cooking utensils, and cannot bring any salts/additional food/spices. I assume I will have a little time (1/2 hr?) to search for plants in the mountains of Colorado. Any suggestions for how to cook the rabbit/make rabbit stew?

quote:

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Originally posted by BlueShift:

Any suggestions for how to cook the rabbit/make rabbit stew?

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hmmm... if you don't mind cooking in your own urine, there is a lot of salt to be had in that. that's about all that i can help you with. or cook it in rabbit blood. ohhh! and berries.

quote:

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Originally posted by dekonstruktr:

quote:

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Originally posted by BlueShift:

Any suggestions for how to cook the rabbit/make rabbit stew?

---

hmmm... if you don't mind cooking in your own urine, there is a lot of salt to be had in that. that's about all that i can help you with. or cook it in rabbit blood. ohhh! and berries.

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Urine his no nutritional content and only serves to dehydrate you more. It should not be consumed, same with sea water and fish juice. Found that out yesterday.

Blood is best prepared with the following method:
1) Cut major blood vessel, allow blood to drain into cup.
2) Stir blood with stick or similar instrument until clots form on stick.
3) Wipe stick off, repeat step 2 until blood is smooth and does not clot.
4) Use blood in stew.