Thrill-Powered Food - A galactic gourmet!

[Noisybast]

Having noted the division caused by food in the "I don't understand the appeal of..." thread, and having just finished cooking my tea (I know, bit late to be eating - I'll make up for it by going to bed extremely late), it occurred to me that every squaxx should have a signature dish. What I want to know now is: what's yours?

Here's mine, ripped off from an improved version of Anthony Worrall Thompson's recipe, I give you my Fiery Intensity Of A Thousand Suns Chilli!

Ingredients

A generous splash of olive oil
500g-1kg beef mince or stewing steak (diced)
200g mushrooms, quartered
2 large onions, diced
2-4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 chillies, finely diced
Red pepper, diced
Yellow or orange pepper, diced.
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp paprika
2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp tomato purée
2 tins chopped tomatoes
250ml beef stock
1 tin baked beans, drained
1 tin tinned red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
small bunch coriander leaves, roughly chopped

To serve

Basmati rice/chips/wedges, maybe a corn cob or some onion rings - knock yerself out. Some sour cream couldn't hurt, either...

Method

1. Heat a large pan (I use a big wok) until hot then add the olive oil, beef and mushrooms. Fry until the beef is browned, then remove from the pan and set aside.
2. Add the onions, garlic, chillies and sweat for 5-6 minutes until golden. Add the diced peppers halfway through.
3. Add all the spices and fry for one minute.
4. Return the beef to the pan and stir to combine.
5. Add the tomato purée, tinned tomatoes and stock and bring to the boil. You may need to split the mixture across two pans by now - there'll be a lot of it!
6. Reduce the heat and simmer for 1-1½ hours or until very tender.
7. Add the chocolate and beans and simmer for a further five minutes until hot through.
8. Check the seasoning before adding the coriander leaves and serving.
9. Remember to wash your hands several times before picking your nose/rubbing your eye/scratching your balls/interfering with your other half. Seriously.

[Mike Gloady]

This could shape up to be my new favourite thread. 

Nothing to do with THIS particular comment though.  I have no recipies currently to hand, but will offer one up when I'm next making dinner that isn't just "beans on toast cos I'm feeling queasy"

[Mattofthespurs]

I'm sadly like some old 1970's footballer where my favourite meal is steak and chips.
Rib eye steak, home made beer battered chips, mushrooms, onions, and caramlised onion houmous dip. Which is what I shall be having in about an hour. The steak cooked rare, of course.

The only alternative for me is a sunday roast and all the trimmings (roast tatties, cauliflower, broccoli, thick, thick gravy) with the roast part being a leg of lamb which has been studded with rosemary and garlic.

Old school, me. Awsum.

[Mike Gloady]

Those meals are both pretty cracking in my book, Matt.  Mmmmmmmmmmm.  That steak and chips combo in particular has been a feature of my birthday for years and years.  If I have a spectacularly rubbish day, I'm talking bereavement, break-up of long-term relationships etc, I've usually had that for my tea as a method of taking the sting out of it.

[Mattofthespurs]

Thanks Mike, it was pretty tasty.
Leg of pork today with all the roast trimmings. And the missus will have to cook it as I'll be at Spurs v Everton, so even better. 

[Mike Gloady]

Sweet.

[TordelBack]

Matt, talk to me about this caramelised onion houmous of yours.  I like caramelised onion, I like hummus, but never mixed the two... do you just mix the two in, or do you add the onion at the chick pea stage?

[worldshown]

I swear that I make a fish pie that is so good, it puts people in hospital if they don't eat it.

[Rog69]

Cookies and Cream dessert.

Take 1 packet of choc-chip cookies and lay them out on a shallow baking tray and give them a good soaking in sherry (not so much that they fall apart though).

Get a trifle bowl and line the bottom and sides with the sherry soaked cookies and than mix some double cream and custard together (50 / 50 ratio, enough to fill the trifle bowl).

Pour the cream / custard mix into the bowl, adding in another layer of cookies if you still have some left.

Grate a nice layer of milk chocolate over the top of it, leave it to set in the fridge for a few hours (it always tastes better the following day).

Consume and book yourself in for a cholesterol test as soon as possible.

[Noisybast]

The dessert sounds great, but I think the name needs some work. It's hardly selling the circuit-frying arsom-ness of the dish is it?

How about Cranium Crushing Cookies n' Cream?

[Peter Wolf]

Lasagne.

No need to type the recipe as you can get it anywhere.Just bolognase sauce and Bechamel.

You want to have not really any less than half a dozen layers and be generous with the Bechamel sauce as it mixes beautifully with the Bolognase sauce and NEVER use cheap supermarket no-precook required Lasagne as its rubbish.Pay more for the real thing like DeCocco or Castaglione which requires precooking.Finish off with a layer of Bechamel sauce and grate fresh parmesan over the top of it.25 minutes in the oven and then 5 minutes under the grill to get that lovely taste of the parmesan.

The Lasagne with the curly edges is best if you can find it and its surprisingly difficult to find proper Lasagne in shops.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

Here's a tip or two for anyone not using the oven when they are cooking a meal. To warm your plates up, place them on the radiators (only if they are turned on, fnar) or run some hot water in the sink (this can be used for the washing up later) and leave them in there. Just before you are about to dish the food up, take them out and dry them thoroughly. No more food cooling too quickly on your plate.

[TordelBack]

Lads, lads, you're not getting into the spirit of this..

Peter's tip should be Laz-Saw Lazagne, and CF's Tectonic Plates.

[Mikey]

Not that I think your Fiery Intensity Of A Thousand Suns Chilli! needs my advice, but try using cumin seed - heat some oil in the pan, put in around a tsp/tbsp of seeds until they go aromatic then fry half your onion until golden brown, before browning your mince etc.It gives a real depth of flavour [/Roux jnr]

Grud on a greenie Sino Cit curry
               or
   Mikey's Rigellian Hotshot

Warning! I don't measure stuff so this is maybe a bit vague.

Ingredients
For the paste...
About 120g fresh coriander
1 fresh lime
About 25g fresh ginger
4 cloves of garlic
5cm piece of cinnamon
2-4 green chillies
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 piece of lemongrass
1 onion (medium)
Splash of Nam pla (Thai, sorry Sino Cit fish sauce)
Splash of Soy sauce
1/2-1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds.

Other...
Another onion
Can of coconut milk
Some creamed coconut (um, about thumb size? A slice of a block in any case!)
Stock cube
Green pepper

1.Place all the paste ingredients into a blender (lime juice only) and give it a pasting. This be your paste!

2.Chop and fry the other onion until good and brown (5-10 mins) then add the paste. Cook it for around 10 minutes on a low/medium heat adding a splash of water if it dries out. Season with salt.

3.Add your meat of choice (I usually make it with 2lb skinless chicken breasts) and brown/seal it in the paste. Add your sliced pepper at this stage too.

4. Add the coconut milk and a (chicken) stock cube, give it a good stir and bring to the boil.

5. Turn the heat to medium/low and leave uncovered to simmer for about 30-40 minutes, stirring now and again. A couple of minutes before it's done, stir the creamed coconut.

And voila! If you're not too keen on heat just reduce the amount of chillies or deseed them. It isn't actually as hot as it sounds because of the coconut, but it is hot make no mistake.

The above will do four people - you can multiply up or down as you wish. Serve with rice, bread or potatoes of choice. And again with leftovers! Zarjaz!

M

[Noisybast]

See now, that's more like it! I'll be having a crack at that some time very soon, Mikey.
The cumin seeds sound good too. I'll let you know how it turns out.