BF Cookbook

This is another of my quick and easy go-to recipes.

Ingredients:
2 full size chicken breasts
2 slices of cheese (I prefer swiss or gouda)
2 egg whites (or 1 whole egg)
4 TBSP Dijon mustard (also good with Walla Walla onion mustard)
1 cup unflavored bread crumbs
1 TSP poultry seaoning
1 TSP rosemary
1/2 TSP fresh ground black pepper
1/4 TSP paprika
Butter flavored Pam cooking spray

Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 375F.
Get two pie tins or baking pans. In one place the breadcrumbs, poultry seasoning, and black pepper. Crush the rosemary until well pulverized, and add it to the bread crumbs. Stir the bread crumbs with a fork until all the ingredients are well distributed.
In the other pie tin put the egg whites (or the whole egg).
Butterfly cut the chicken breasts. Inside each breast put 2 TBSP of mustard and spread it evenly. Layer the cheese on top of the mustard and fold it over.
Dredge each breast through the egg wash with one hand, and coat with the bread crumbs using the other hand.
Once the breasts are adequately coated, lay them on a bakers cooling rack placed on top of a baking sheet. This will allow the heat to cook the breast evenly on all sides.
Lightly spray the breasts with the butter flavored Pam in order to allow the breasts to properly brown during cooking. I like to spray both sides.
Lighly sprinkle the paprika on the top of the breasts to futther augment the color. Cayenne pepper or Sumac works as well and adds a different punch.
Bake at 375F for 30 - 40 minutes (or until the cheese oozing ouf of the chicken starts to darken on the catch pan.
 
Many of you probably know this one- almost no recipe is necessary, but I thought I'd post it if only to remind everyone that it exists and to make it sometimes. It's been my go-to quick breakfast for a little while now, and I've put it on the menu at my breakfast cafe as well. I'm cooking a couple right now as I type this intro! My second two of the morning...

One-eyed Jacks/eggs in a nest.

Heat a 10" or 12" non-stick or cast iron skillet on medium. Apply a good amount (2-3 tbsp) of vegetable oil or butter to the pan. Oil works better IMO as the eggs are less likely to stick than with butter. Butter does brown it a bit better.

Prepare two large slices of any common type of bread. I like simple wheat bread for this recipe. Find a water glass in your kitchen that will cut a hole in the center of each slice, the right size for one cracked egg. Try to not use too large a glass; leave sufficient bread around the edges.

Press the glass through each slice, remove circles, put aside.

The pan should be well heated now. Put the bread slices in, dredging them around in the oil so that the surfaces will fry crisp. Put the bread circles in, using the same method.

Making sure the slices are flat in the pan so the egg doesn't run under from the center, crack an egg into each. Use the shell or your finger to hold the yolk in center if it wants to slide to the side.

Cover the pan. When the whites are mostly set, flip the slices and the circles to toast the other side.

Cook second side until the egg yolks are as cooked as you like. I leave mine good and runny.

Remove from pan and serve. I recommend sprinkling liberally with lemon pepper and finishing with Sriracha pepper sauce. The Sriracha has a very comfortable heat for breakfast food, is slightly sweet rather than vinegary, and it's thicker consistency allows it not to soak too much into the bread.

Of course, if your yolks stayed runny, when you cut through them the toasted bread can be used to sop the yolk up. That describes exactly what I'm doing as I write this. Mmm-mmm.

Notes: You can try buttering your bread before or after cutting, as in making a grilled cheese- but I find on the whole it's much less fiddly to just use oil in the pan, and the results are similar.
 
"Thai Panang Curry with Prawns." This recipe serves 2 ravenous people or four moderately hungry individuals. The amount of curry paste used makes it medium-hot in spice level. Read the whole recipe before shopping, and before cooking!

Ingredients:
1 cup white rice
2 cups water
pinch of salt

2 14oz. cans coconut milk
8-10 oz. prawns or large shrimp
1/4 cup panang curry paste
Frozen, fresh, or dried kaffir lime leaves
Thai purple basil
5-6 small stalk lemon grass
2-3 shallots
1 red bell pepper
1 medium sized carrot
3 tbsp. light golden Thai-style fish sauce
4 tbsp. coconut palm sugar
1/8 cup dry roasted, shelled peanuts

Set 1 cup of long grained white rice, such as Jasmine or Basmati, to cook on medium in a covered pan with 2 cups water and a pinch of salt. When it reaches a boil, turn it to low and cook covered for 20 min.

Open two 14 oz. cans of good coconut milk, such as Chaokoh or Mae Ploy. The better brands will have separated in the can into coconut cream and coconut water. Spoon the cream out of the can and into a 2 quart saucepan, reserving the water.

Heat the cream on med-low until it simmers, and little beads of coconut oil appear on the surface. A cover will help it not spit all over your stovetop.

Stir in 1/4 cup of quality panang curry paste, such as Mae Ploy. I find the "Taste of Thai" brand to be disappointing and overpriced.

Add the reserved coconut water to the cream in the pan. Add several split and trimmed stalks of fresh lemongrass, and 6-8 frozen or fresh Kaffir lime leaves. (Double this amount if using dried Kaffir leaves.)

Add vegetables to lightly simmering coconut milk. I like to use a few shallots cut into strips, perhaps some julienned or diagonally thin-coined carrots, and some red bell pepper cut into thin strips.

Simmer coconut milk on med-low until vegetable are almost completely cooked, maybe 10 min. Keep checking until they are softening but still have a bit of crunch.

Add prawns. They should be thawed, shelled, and de-veined. Tails on or off is up to you, on leaves more flavor but off is easier to eat. Continue simmering until prawns are pink through, maybe 3-5 min. depending on size. Keep checking. Pre-cooked prawns or shrimp can be used as well, in this case add them and move directly to the next step.

You'll now adjust the flavor to finish the curry. Add 3 tbsp. of light golden Thai-style fish sauce, know as "nam pla." Taste of Thai and Tiparos will work fine, Tra Chang and Phu Cuoc are the best.

Add 4tbsp. of coconut palm sugar. If you get the lump style, it will need to be chopped finely before adding. The paste style can be added with a spoon. Golden brown sugar can be substituted.

Add a handful of ripped up Thai purple basil (horapha) leaves.

Throw in 1/8 cup of crushed or chopped roasted peanuts. (More to taste.)

Taste it. If it needs a bit more salt, add a little more fish sauce. If it's not spicy or flavorful enough to suit you, add just a little more curry paste. For real fiery spice, add some chopped Thai green or red chilies. If it would taste better to you a little sweeter, add more palm sugar. You will have to make it perhaps a few times to tune it exactly how you want it. Eating it at good restaurants will help you understand what it is you are trying to achieve. Finishing curry is a bit of an art, this recipe will get you a good flavor but everyone's tastes are slightly different.

The rice should have finished already, or be done just now. Serve curry over a bed of rice, or in a bowl with rice on the side.

Notes: The method used at the start of separating the cream from the water, then simmering before adding the paste, makes the curry more flavorful and helps it "look right." There are other ways, but this is authentic.

If you have trouble finding all of the ingredients, which any good Asian grocery should have, they can be easily found online for reasonable prices. I recommend this site:
www.importfood.com. If you get into Thai cooking, or already love it, this site will be a treasure to you. I just found out about it, which is great since I have to drive almost 6 hours to get good Thai groceries...
 
Recipes posted Salem, thanks for sharing. :thumbup:

Was that the recipes you posted pics of a few years ago? Sounds delicious, I love Thai. Made a Thai coconut milk and tofu soup the other day. Low fat and full of flavor.
 
You would like Thai food! I think that may have been a green curry that I showed a pic of in my integral not-really-a-chopper WIP. Pretty similar dish. Just use green curry paste, more lemongrass and less kaffir leaves, and no crushed peanuts.

Sharing these was my pleasure!
 
Hmm... this thread is relevant to my interests. Haven't done a whole lot of knifemaking yet, but I do cook. Growing up in a mostly Italian family we don't really do "recipes," per se... so I'd have to wait until I'm back from work to look at quantities for most things I make often (unless you want stuff in "handfuls" and "big cans"). Lets start with a REALLY easy one (and REALLY tasty one) that I can quantify currently from the Greek side of my family:

Avgolemono (Greek Lemon Rice) Soup

This one is one of my staples, especially in my college days. I'd make a huge batch of this just about every week and get a few meals out of it. It's cheap, it's easy, and it doesn't take many ingredients, and most importantly, it's delicious. Also, it contains things that I generally have laying around, so it doesn't require a run to a store. It's pretty common to find this stuff in any Greek restaurant, but I find the homemade stuff to be best.

Ingredients:
Chicken stock (around 8 cups, I generally make my own and keep a bunch frozen, but store bought is fine)
Rice or Orzo (1 cup, I generally use Jasmine rice, just a preference)
Eggs (4, separate the yolk from the whites)
Lemon Juice (Approximately 3 lemons worth, plus or minus one depending on taste. Always good to have an extra in case some people like it more lemony)
Salt and Pepper (to taste)

1. Bring the stock to a boil.

2. Add rice. Cook it until it's tender.

3. While the rice is cooking, beat the eggs until medium peaks (basically, when it's foamy and holds a little shape before sagging down).

4. When peaks are reached, add the yolks and lemon juice into the whites. Mix it up.

5. Once the rice is done cooking, SLOWLY temper in about 2 cups stock into the eggs, whisking constantly. You don't want the eggs to cook, or you'll be left with nasty lemony scrambled eggs.

6. Turn the heat off on the stock, SLOWLY pour in and whisk in the tempered egg/lemon/stock mixture.

7. Salt and pepper to taste. Add more lemon juice if needed.

8. Eat and enjoy.

You can also get crafty and add some chicken to it. Makes it a bit heartier, especially nice if the soup is the entire meal. I gets REALLY thick as it cools, especially after put in the microwave. Once reheated, it'll thin back out again. Can also freeze it, but it's generally eaten before that becomes necessary. I don't recommend doubling the recipe or anything, as it is tough to get the right consistency, as funny things can happen with the eggs.
 
Recipe posted. Thanks for sharing weebus. That sounds delicious indeed and something I've never tried before.
 
My Jerky Spice recipe:

160g coarse salt
190g fine himalayan salt (sea salt)
150g cracked pepper
50g onion powder
50g garlic powder
80g crushed dried chilies
50g cayenne
75g paprika
75g Lawry's seasoned salt
75g piclking spice
10g rosmary leaves
5g bay leaves crushed
30g celery seeds

This is enough to spice over 100lbs of meat

my sauce for about 60 pounds of meat is:

1 bottle sweet chili spring roll sauce
1 bottle soy sauce
1 bottle barbecue sauce
1 - 3 bottle water (all the above about 700ml)
1.5 - 2 L teriyaki sauce (thick variety)

if you get through half the meat and have less than half the sauce left, add some water.

I use eye of round and slice through the whole length so the slices are usually 10-14" which get hung over bars in the smoker. In the morning that I will do the smoking, I hang all the meat on the bars for 3-4 hours at room temp prior to going in the smoker, usually with a fan to speed the drying process and so the meat is not cold when going in the smoker. Cold meat in the smoker will collect moisture and wash the seasoning down when hanging the meat instead of laying flat on racks.

What I do is dredge the meat slices through the sauce, getting sauce on one side only then layer the meat in a suitable tray, bin etc, then sprinkle the seasoning on the top, dry side and repeat with the next layer.

leave in refrigerated area overnight or 24 hours and smoke.

I love spice and I have toned down the recipe a couple of times to be more amicable to lighter tastes but there can still be some hot spots (usually the very end pieces, from run down), this is a pretty good medium and have only got requests for more.
 
At Salem's request, I posted a decadent caramel custard recipe in the cookbook.
A reminder that you are more than welcome to share your special recipes. Just post it here or send it to me by email and I'll add it to the cookbook.

Good stuff on there!

PS: Still waiting for that Potato Bowl Sauce recipe Salem. ;)
 
I eat a lot of eggs , i love something i call french toast. it may not be to others what french toast is. preheat my toaster oven. I take eggs at room temp and whip them with a bit of salt, sugar and milk or water.. I break up piece of bread and put them in a pre sprayed with canola oil sauce pan with a missing handle , revere copper type. I pour the egg mix over the pieces. it soaks it up. i wait impatiently. when top is crusted and center is up to proper safe temp for eggs. i smother in corn/ maple syrup or powdered sugar . If i had other ingredient like cinnamon . I would probably add. i hate to reveal to much but i use 4 eggs and 6-8 slices white bread. i usually don't make this in the winter. I cook on my wood stove. I just eat eggs sandwiches. salt and pepper to taste. once in a while someone will bring me a well prepared meal. I really enjoy it. I love good food. i wish everyone had the time to prepare and enjoy the bounty. it really is what life is all about.
i wouldn't say its cookbook worthy or anything. its a cheap easy way to eat eggs and bread .I love.
 
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What are you talking about? It sounds real good and simple to make, cookbook worthy indeed. :thumbup: I named it JCP's Jumbo French Toast but if you would like to come up with your own name I'll gladly change it.

Thanks for sharing.
 
Patrice ,that sounds good. One of the best parts of baking it, is the smell it gives my shop.

thanks!
 
Well I have about 15 lbs ground deer sausage in my freezer. Anyone have any favorite ways to prepare this stuff?
 
This one turned out good.
Heat up a frying pan and throw in some reserved bacon fat, add sliced mushrooms and sautee.
Boil some water for your pasta of choice.
Add in the ground sausage and brown it up.
Now add your pasta sauce and let this simmer on low.
About a minute or two before serving pour in a little bit of cream into the sauce and mix.
Serve over your pasta and enjoy. Its a bit decadent with the bacon fat and cream but , delicious.
 
Here is a super easy recipe for pulled pork. It's also very cheap and makes a ton of food.

Ingredients:

1x 8-12lb Boston butt pork roast(bone in)
1x white onion
1x 2 liter of ginger ale


Slice onion and place a few slices on the bottom of a crock pot. place the roast on top. There will be a side of the roast that has a layer of fat on it. Have this layer of fat on top facing up(so the fat cooks down into the meat). Take about a tablespoon of salt and sprinkle on the top of the roast. Next, add the rest of the onion top and along the sides of the crock pot. Fill the crock pot up with the ginger ale until only about half an inch of the roast is sticking up above it. Set the crock pot on low(not "keep warm") and let it cook for 10-12hrs. Time may vary with your setup as temps can vary with crock pots. Check in on it periodically. It's okay if it's bubbling a bit.

Once it's done cooking I use a couple forks and remove all the onions. I do the same with the top layer of fat and throw them both in the trash. Once you get all the visible stuff on top cleaned, take both forks and separate the roast in half. This will allow you to remove the bone. It should be so tender now that everything will just fall apart. Once the bone is out I take a large metal bowl and place a strainer in it. Pour the entire contents of the crock pot into the bowl with the strainer. Next, lift the meat up and let all the drippings drip into the bowl. Pour all the drippings back into the crock pot and put the meat in the bowl the drippings were just in. It's a lot easier to clean up the meat separate in the bowl. Remove the rest of the onions and large pieces of fat. I don't mind some fat as "fat is flavor." Once the meat is "clean" it is ready to go back into the drippings in the crock pot. Some folks will shred the meat before putting it back into the crock pot but I've found that if you leave it in big chunks if holds more flavor and juice.

Now you're ready to make a sammich. Take a chunk and tear it apart into pieces that suit your liking and place on a bun with your favorite BBQ sauce. If you have people who don't eat this type of stuff a lot and won't appreciate the bug hunks of meat it's okay to shred it up prior to returning to the broth/drippings. It's be easier to deal with. You could also throw the broth/drippings out and put BBQ sauce in the crock pot with the shredded pork. Those drippings really make for a lot of flavor though. I prefer to put the BBQ on once it's on the sandwich, sometimes with slaw. That way you can do other stuff with the pork. My fiancee makes some mean pork enchiladas with it.

When it's time to put it away I'll usually strain the meat from the drippings and just dump the drippings. I wouldn't recommend dumping it down the drain as it's pretty fat and would clog the hell out of a drain once it solidifies.

Anyways, enjoy the recipe everyone. I learned it when I was fairly young and have been cooking it ever since.
 
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