The cooking thread

[Märk]

Tonight, I made a kick-ass dinner. My daughter is over, and I have to show her how to do this stuff (god knows, her mom never will)

There's this place that I know of that sells fresh pasta, so I got some spinich fettucine. (I'd make my own, but it's easier to just buy it, right?)
I made an Alfredo sauce with cream, butter, garlic, and Parmesan, steamed some asparagus, made garlic toast with a french loaf and garlic butter... let's just say, my kid looked at me with awe and admiration as we had dinner.

So, what'd YOU have for dinner?

[Billy's Little Trip]

That sounds pretty good. Those are the things that she'll always remember.

I barbecued some chicken that was marinating all day, baked bean, potato salad and buttermilk biscuits. Just enjoyed the nice day in the backyard with my wife, boys and their girlfriends.

[anti-m]

Hey, has anyone tried to BBQ pizza? I'm a pizza aficionado, and I hear you can get good results on the grill. Anyone done this / have some tips? I'm having a house warming soon, and I plan to fire up the weber!

[fluffy]

Strictly-speaking, grilling and barbecue are entirely different cooking techniques.

Lately I've been making various curries. Potato and garbanzo bean the other night, chicken last night.

I occasionally post recipes to my blog in the "food" section. I also have schadenfood.org which I keep meaning to do something useful with.

[Billy's Little Trip]

I have, and it is great. But you are almost guaranteed to burn it the first time. I did, even though I was being careful. I personally like a chard crust, extra crispy, but my first one was black as pitch.
Indirect heat is best. Also, a pizza pan works best as opposed to putting it straight on the grill, so that you can keep turning it, but I've done it both ways. I finally found a really cool pizza pan that has tiny holes through it. Works like a charm on the Q or oven to give me my crisp crust. Also, towards the end, a quick brush of olive oil on the out edge is a nice touch to keep the edges from drying out, plus it tastes great. But I do that with my oven pizza too. Sometimes I do a 50/50 olive oil and butter with a clove of garlic pressed in it, if I'm feeling like Mr fancy pants.
Another great addition while BBQ'n is to have a few hickory chips for an extra smoky flavor. I use the little cans that you get Ortega chillies or sliced olives in. You know, the little short cans? I stab a few hole in the bottom of the can with a sharp knife. It works great, just top it off with wood chips and set it on the rack over a hot spot.

[anti-m]

Tips

Awesome! Thanks! I'll do what I can to avoid burnin' the pie on my first go-round... your tips may save me.

[Märk]

Best breakfast possible:

4 or 5 strawberries
A banana
1/2 cup plain yougurt
1/2 cup orange juice
some ice

Throw it all in a blender. Enjoy!

[fluffy]

Tonight I combined the recipes of the previous two nights and made CHICKEN AND POTATO AND GARBANZO BEAN CURRY

[Billy's Little Trip]

Tonight I was alone. Wife and kids at her sisters, woot!. I took a tri tip, sliced it into strips, marinated in teriyaki with some added goodness, ribboned it onto some skewers, and grilled them. Also peeled a sweet potato, cut it into big wedges, tossed them around with some EVOO, salt, pepper, garlic and chili powder, then grilled them with my tri tip. Salad and garlic bread. Yep sir, good eats.

[Märk]

Tonight I combined the recipes of the previous two nights and made CHICKEN AND POTATO AND GARBANZO BEAN CURRY

Do you find that curry makes you stink? I do enjoy Indian food, but I can't handle the persitant B.O. The not-fresh feeling lingers for a few days with me. Maybe I'm just sensitive to it?

[fluffy]

Why would your fingers stink after making or eating curry? (Did you just trick me into setting you up for a poo joke?)

[obscurity]

Best breakfast possible:

Sausage, bacon, fried egg, black pudding, mushrooms, peeled plum tomatoes, toast and a mug of strong sweet Assam tea.

[obscurity]

Why would your fingers stink after making or eating curry? (Did you just trick me into setting you up for a poo joke?)

Who said anything about fingers? Curry can cause an all-over sweaty BO problem the following day. Not to me, of course, but all those other stinky curry eaters

[roymond]

Hey, has anyone tried to BBQ pizza? I'm a pizza aficionado, and I hear you can get good results on the grill. Anyone done this / have some tips? I'm having a house warming soon, and I plan to fire up the weber!

Jeffrey Steingarten wrote extensively about this, I think in his "The Man WHo Ate Everything". The conclusion was...you need 900 degrees f to make real pizza, and from first hand experience, this will literally melt a BBQ unit (and cause the NYC fire department to visit your apartment since this happened on the fire escape I think). Anyway, he refers to an Italian pizza oven that makes single serving sized pizzas to die for. My brother-in-law, nut that he is, purchased one and indeed, it makes fabulous, authentic pizza. We have enjoyed these many times at his country place outside of London. I am trying to find the oven model, but last I knew there were no US importers.

[fluffy]

Could something like that even get UL listed? It seems like it'd be a huge liability problem just waiting to happen.

[Märk]

Why would your fingers stink after making or eating curry? (Did you just trick me into setting you up for a poo joke?)

Yeah, what Obscurity said. It's not good food to eat the day before a hot date. Garlic has nothing on curry, IMHO.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Another thing about the BBQ pizza. I have seen a big flat stone that you place on the grill. I've never tried it, but in theory, it seems like a good way to Q a zza.

I'm not sure about how much better 900 degrees would be, but I heat to around 450 degrees with good results.

[roymond]

Could something like that even get UL listed? It seems like it'd be a huge liability problem just waiting to happen.

Well, it looks like a large waffle machine. Not really that imposing, but maybe there is some law against personal pizza ovens.

[fluffy]

Well I was thinking more about the fact that getting that hot probably requires a heck of a lot of current (which means the power cord will also get hot), and for it in such a small space means that the device itself will also probably get really hot.

[Billy's Little Trip]

I see what Fluffy is saying about a personal cooking appliance getting that hot. A bunch of college kids putting their money together to get one of these things, sooner or later, someone is going to want to melt down some glass or metal.
But my step Mom is an artist and does ceramics. Her kilns get pretty hot, I'm thinking like 2000 degrees, if I remember correctly. I made some killer bongs. She thought they were lamps.
....I'm rambling, aren't I? Rum and Coke, brain food.
...........next caller, you're on the air.

I would pay a hundred bux right now for a slice of crispy crust BBQ pizza.

[fluffy]

Speaking of rum and coke, my current trashy drink of choice is cognac with raspberry soda. Of course I spare no expense and am doing it with some $40 cognac.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Oh, I can see that working. Float a few raspberries on top and you have a crowd pleaser on a sunny day.