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[OnkelC]

New Page, new luck...
Let's try the First IronGAF Cook-OFF
(terms and conditions stolen from the photography assignment thread)

Theme: Pasta and Sauce

Submissions are due by Friday, September 7th at 11:59 PM Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-8).

Voting begins on Saturday, September 8th and ends on Sunday, September 9th at 11:59 Pacific Daylight Time.

1) You can submit any recipe as you see fit, but keep in mind others will be judging based on whatever criteria they see fit.

2) Only one dish per person, per assignment.
-- Dish must be prepared during the assignment period.
-- Dish must be documented with at least one picture, additional pics of crucial preparation steps are encouraged.
-- Only dishes and pictures to be posted in this thread are to be submissions.
-- You can change your submission by editing your post.
-- To avoid cluttering up the thread, please avoid quoting images.

3) One vote for your first choice (3 points) and one vote for your runner-up (1 point), which can be based on any criteria you see fit. If there is a tie, the number of first choice votes will be the tiebreaker. Criticism/comments encouraged. You cannot vote for your own submission. Non-participants are also welcome to vote and give comments.

4) The “winner” should come up with a new theme/time period. He/She will not be allowed to participate in the new assignment, though.

5) Have fun.

EDIT: Other contributions over the assignment period are OF COURSE allowed and appreciated. If you want to participate in the assignment, just put an "ENTRY" quote on top of your post!

 

[smirkrevenge]

yeah...i cooked them in some olive oil for about 10 minutes to brown them. batali's recipe says it should be more like 15 minutes...but that seemed a little overkill.

 

[heavy liquid]

Sounds like fun, OnkelC. I'll try to come up with something this week.

Good idea about extending it for the whole week, as this is Labor Day weekend -- Monday is Labor Day in the US and Canada. A lot of people are out of town and/or cooking BBQ this weekend.

 

[OnkelC]

Not an entry as I set the theme, but might be useful as an example for one:

I made Spaghetti with a carrot and thyme pesto yesterday. Compared with a traditional pesto, it's more workday compatible because it is made without garlic. I found the recipe in my favorite household magazine.

The dish has got a very smooth, tender and fruity note to it, with some goat cheese as a special twist.

The ingredients for two persons are:

half a pound of carrots,
3 or 4 shallots,
a tbs thyme leaves,
50 grams of pine seeds,
100 grams of parmesan,
a chile shot or some chile oil,
a teaspoon of honey,
grated peel of 1/2 lemon,
2 pieces of fresh goat cheese,
400 grams spaghetti.

Preparation is simple and fast:
chop and cube the carrots and shallots:

Sautee them in some neutral oil (sunflower oil would be best), add the honey and a good helping of chile oil or -shot as well as the thyme leaves and stir fry until the shallots get glassy:

In the meantime, grate the lemon peel and the parmesan, roast the pine seeds without oil in a skillet, pour everything in a mixing bowl and blend it a bit:

Finish line:
cube the goat cheese, cook the pasta and mix it with the pesto.

DONE!
Serve on a plate, top off with the goat cheese and some thyme for decoration:

Enjoy.

Note for the participants:
I like taking pictures of the stuff I prepare, but please do not take them as a measure for your contributions. That's what the photography threads are for. The recipe should be important and convincing in this Cook-Off, not the pictures. Any handycam pic will be fine.

Now get cooking and keep'em coming, folks!:lol

 

[OnkelC]

Sunday dish: Fillet Stew and chickpea/tuna salad

This combination is rather unusual and wasn't chosen on purpose; the wife and I rather wanted to try both dishes out. Both recipes are good for two persons.

Ingredients for the chickpea salad:

a can of chickpeas,
two or three celery stalks,
a bundle of spring onions,
a can of tuna,
a bell pepper,
vinegar, oil and honey for the vinaigrette.

Chop all ingredients, mix with the chickpeas and dressing, BAM! DONE!

The fillet stew is equally easy to make, but great for guests at this time of the year.

Ingredients are:
one medium pork fillet (300-400grams),
three shallots,
half a pound of fresh and ripe plums,
two fresh bay leaves,
a good glass of port,
400ml beef stock,
two tbs flour and beutral oil,
pasta of choice.

Start the pasta water. Trim and cube the fillet, turn it in a bit of flour. Cube the shallots and slice the plums:

Fry the meat in small portions in a pot, then salt and pepper it. Set it aside:

Sautee the shallots in the same pot, add the rest of the flour and stir. Add the meat, Port, stock, plums and bay leaves and let it braise at low heat for ten to 15 minutes:

Finish Line:
While the stew is braising, prepare the Pasta.

DONE!
Serve hot and enjoy:

 

[Peru]

Love the Food for thought pdf, a good read. I've been lagging behind in reading this a bit so I can't comment on all the lovely dishes I've seen, suffice to say great job everyone.

 

[tnw]

ooooh, that carrot pesto looks perfect for me! Just bought a buch of carrots for a lentil soup and have a bunch of left overs.

 

[replicashooter]

MEXICAN AWESOMENESS

Hook up a how to for the Shrimp and Chorizo w/ Cactus and Tomato and that exceedingly photogenic salsa

 

[heavy liquid]

Hook up a how to for the Shrimp and Chorizo w/ Cactus and Tomato and that exceedingly photogenic salsa

Thanks!

Shrimp & Chorizo:

I don't have exact measurments for the Shrimp & Chorizo, but you could probably eyeball it easily enough. We used:

Chorizo
Shrimp
Nopales(cactus)(thin slices)
Tomatoes (diced)
Onion (diced)
Jalapenos (minced) (add more or less to taste)
Garlic
Cumin

Saute the onion a bit until it's clear, then stir fry the chorizo with the garlic and cumin. When that's cooked add in your tomatoes and jalapenos. Add the shrimp and nopales last, since they cook quickly.

Salsa:

1/2 diced onion
cilantro
juice from 1 lemon
garlic
4 cans of tomatillos
1 small can of chipotle in adobo sauce

Combine it all and blend to your desired consistency. It's best (and easiest) if you have an immersion blender (the white thing in the first two pics of the salsa)

 

[OnkelC]

must do some mexican stuff in th near future...
today was Spätzle time again (stock photo):

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

Nothing fancy - fish, chicken, and fries. Bag food FTW!

 

[Chrono]

I'm sorry for not contributing to this thread and just asking questions.... just this last one, it's the stupidest one by far but as usual - GAF is my only hope... With what equipment do you cook pasta? I'm thinking a huge sauce pan, so I can use the handle to move it to the colander but what about just plain large pots...? Or dutch ovens? or whatever? any differences other than being a pain to drain? Thanks for any help.

 

[OnkelC]

I'm sorry for not contributing to this thread and just asking questions.... just this last one, it's the stupidest one by far but as usual - GAF is my only hope... With what equipment do you cook pasta? I'm thinking a huge sauce pan, so I can use the handle to move it to the colander but what about just plain large pots...? Or dutch ovens? or whatever? any differences other than being a pain to drain? Thanks for any help.

A large pot (4-5 liters / one gallon) as well as a colander that can be put in the sink should be your choices. Pasta needs lots of water to cook fine.

 

[OnkelC]

Nothing spectacular tonight, a few cooked potatoes tossed in a pan, baked with raclette cheese and sprinkled with fresh ground pepper:

Enjoy.

 

[johnsenclan]

Roast Pork loin rubbed with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Cold salad with fresh corn, peppers and tomatoes from my garden. Diced everything and added some salt, pepper, mustard, olive oil and garlic.

 

[OnkelC]

 

[OnkelC]

A childhood classic for wednesday, creamed spinach with panfries and sunny side ups:

Enjoy and don't forget the pasta cook-off!

 

[Peru]

Student-cooking time. A simple pizza dish. The sad truth is I live in a small apartment without a freezer, so stocking up on the 'basic' wares is a no-go. I more or less have to buy all the ingredients for every meal, and I live alone, which makes making anything advanced expensive (especially over here in Norway).

This is a quickly done pizza. Store-bought pizza sauce spiced up a little, fried some bacon to sprinkle on together with tasty pepperoni sausages. Regular cheese mix, with slices of fresh mozarella on top, various seasoning. That's it.

 

[OnkelC]

YAY!
Good-looking Pizza, Peru! Thank you for sharing. I dig the use of bacon.

 

[Hooker]

'ENTRY'

Actually did this last friday, but just got around to write it up and get the damn pictures from my phone.


Chopping of the ingredients. There's 2 carrots, 1 yellow pepper, 3 challots, 1 chilli pepper, 3 cloves of garlic, handful of 'kastanje champignons', pound of ground beef, bottle of tomato sauce, basil, oregano, marjory, thyme and salt. Not pictured, olive oil, balsamico, adobo, rocket and pasta

In a hot pan, chuck the beef in. NO OIL~!!!

Break it apart and leave it. Once the meat is getting colour chuck in a healthy amount of the spices

This picture is for the people who use oil to fry ground beef. Look at the amount of liquid (read: fat) is coming from it. No need to add any

Once the meat has browned a bit more (it's still not fully cooked at this point) add the challots, garlic and chilli peppers

also add a good splash of balsamico, reduce the liquid

Hussle it about and add the carrots and yellow pepper

Once the vegetables reach the desired level (I like them raw) add in the mushrooms and tomato-sauce. Your meat should be just about done now. You can make this yourself easily, but as a student without much time, this is much more convenient

As you can see, my pan is a wee bit too small, but it works ^^. Once the sauce is hot, it's basically done. Chop up basil and add it at the last minute, add a splash of olive oil for the taste.

Make a bed of rucola (rocket) and drizzle with olive oil and balsamico. Pasta on top

Pasta sauce on top of that, and garnished with fresh basil

Mr. Bubbles approves ^^

 

[OnkelC]

and what an entry! Thanks for sharing and best of luck for the votes!

Everybody else, submit yours too!

 

[Hooker]

Cheers ^^



I figured, with pasta & sauce being the subject, everyone's going to do fancy-schmancy stuff. So why not keep it simple and do the one that people eat the most.

 

[OnkelC]

Made some apple pancakes on thursday, recipe can be found here

Enjoy and get you submissions in, folks!:lol

 

[OnkelC]

Hooker, you get my vote and so you are the first unanimous winner of this cook-off. :lol
Feel free to set a new topic, please

For serious, folks, that was pathetic. Get in the kitchen and cooking.
I made Schnitzel yesterday:

And Sammich today, this'll be featured in the photo assignment thread btw:

 

[Hooker]

:lol :lol :lol Oh well, let's hope the next assignment has a higher turn-out.


In honor of my sis, I'd like to see you all prepare some Indian food, so the theme is INDIA. The obvious choice is curry, but are you cook enough to ignore the pastes, pots and other pre-made stuff?


Those schnitzels look delicious as always!

 

[OnkelC]

India is a difficult theme, let's see how it turns out.

 

[jtardiou]

Marry me onkelC

 

[AirBrian]

Not Indian, but Photo Assignment related:

Lemon-Soy Tuna with Mixed Vegetables and Rice

The best is obviously if you can get fresh tuna that's never been frozen. But, frozen tuna steaks works as well. Make sure to check the tuna's sheen before purchase. When looking a fish at an angle, avoid buying fish with a reflective rainbow light sheen. That's not a good thing.

First, get the marinade going:

After you complete the marinade, put the contents plus the fish in either a Ziploc baggie or shallow Corning ware dish.

You need at least an hour, but with most marinades, the longer the better. I let this one sit for about 6 hours.

Next up is the rice. I love Texmati white rice. Just follow the instructions on the container, but make sure to add a little butter for extra flavoring. About a teaspoon should do.

Once the rice is almost done, get the oven going at 350 F on Bake for the fish. Put the fish on a baking sheet, and place in the oven once it's pre-heated. Depending on the thickness of the fish, it should take around 10 minutes to cook.

When you put the fish in, start the frozen mixed vegetables.

On the stovetop, the vegetables take about 7 minutes, and in the microwave they take about 6 minutes. I prepare them using the microwave. 3 minutes, stir and add a little butter, and then 3 more minutes.

By the time the mixed vegetables are done, the fish should be very close to being done. Grab a fork and gently pat the top of the fish. If it's firm, take the fork and insert into fish a wiggle it a little. If it feels firm, the fish is done! To double check, you can cut a piece, and it should flake fairly easily. Also, tuna turns a white-grey when cooked, so you can tell by the color too.

Throw some rice, mixed vegetables, and a piece of fish on a plate and garnish with some parsley flakes. Enjoy!

 

[OnkelC]

Thanks for sharing! Great dish and great pictures to go along with. Have you tried just frying the tuna on each side for a minute or two? Tuna is great when left medium to raw, it preserves its great texture this way.

 

[Hooker]

Tuna, it's odd that in latin-america, they eat tuna 'well-done' (along with any other animal produce). And I think it tastes better that way too :$

 

[TOM f'N CRUISE]

must do some mexican stuff in th near future...

i allways love the thread when i come in here....id share too but my camera is a peace of crap :lol


even though i try to come in this thread when ever i can( so maybe i missed some)...id really love to see some mexican dishes


ty for all the great ideas OnkelC

 

[OnkelC]

Hi and thank YOU for the feedback

Nothing spectacular happening in ze kitchen for the last few days, roast chicken yesterday and mashed potatoes today, what was on your plates, GAF?

 

[Hooker]

Roti today. Surinamese dish.


Was soooo into the cooking itself I totally forgot about taking pictures (and qualifying matches for Euro 2008)

 

[Midas]

I have a problem, I only have like $30 until next salary which is like 1½ week away. The only thing I have in my freezer is around 1,5 KG of ground meat, lots of pasta available too but I don't want to eat pasta bolognese for ten days. I have lots of rice, different kinds of beans and lentils, so the thing I need is probably some fresh vegetables and some dairy products, and the inspiration.

Got any ideas?

 

[AirBrian]

Thanks for sharing! Great dish and great pictures to go along with. Have you tried just frying the tuna on each side for a minute or two? Tuna is great when left medium to raw, it preserves its great texture this way.

Yeah, a buddy was mentioning this to me too. I eat sushi all the time, so I will have to try this with some fresh tuna sometime.

 

[OnkelC]

I have a problem, I only have like $30 until next salary which is like 1½ week away. The only thing I have in my freezer is around 1,5 KG of ground meat, lots of pasta available too but I don't want to eat pasta bolognese for ten days. I have lots of rice, different kinds of beans and lentils, so the thing I need is probably some fresh vegetables and some dairy products, and the inspiration.

Got any ideas?

Whoa, 1,5kg of ground meat is difficult. A thing that works out fine for that amount of ground meat would be turning it into rissoles and freezing the fried ones again. Ingredients can be found here, Preparation can be found here.
Apart from that, you can use the mincemeat with veggies and some stock to make a stew of your choice or the mentioned bolognese. A Shepherds Pie (recipe courtesy of heavy liquid) would also be a good idea.

Please keep us informed about the outcome of your quest

 

[OnkelC]

Some weekend stuff so far, Lemon cake (courtesy of Dr. Oetker and the wife):

Midas' question about ground meat made me do meatballs yesterday, with a roast vegetables salad and pasta as a side dish.
Ingredients for the meatballs (for two persons) are:

1/2lb ground beef,
one day-old bread roll, soaked in beef stock,
one egg,
one medium sized onion,
herbs and spices of choice (I tried a mincemeat mix, turned out fine)

The roast vegetables salad consists of:

two tomatoes,
one small zucchino,
two celery stalks,
one red and one yellow bell pepper,
two or three shallots,
one garlic clove,
olive oil,
balsamico,
salt and pepper,
a handful of sage leaves.

Start with the salad. Chop all vegetables (sans tomatoes and garlic clove) and mix them:

Fry the sage leaves and the garlic clove as a whole in hot olive oil and let them dry on a sheet of kitchen paper (not pictured). Sautee the rest of the vegetables in this oil, spice with salt, pepper and balsamico and put it in an oven pan. Let them roast in the hot oven (220C) for 15-20 minutes:

In the meanwhile, prepare the meatballs. Chop the onion:

Squeeze the surplus stock out of the bread roll and mix all ingredients. Make 9-12 meatballs out of the dough:

Finish Line:
Fry the meatballs in a copious amount of neutral oil or margarine at 3/4 max heat for 8-10 minutes:

Prepare the pasta according to taste (not mandatory, as you can see in one of the veggie pics, the wife wanted some bread to go along with the dish, this also works out fine)

Take the veggies from the oven, chop the tomatoes and mix them with the vegetables in a salad bowl:

DONE!
Serve and feast! Garnish with the fried sage leaves for extra taste:

Enjoy!

Todays' dinner will be a cheese fondue from leftovers.
This was for breakfast today:

Share your shit, goddammit.

 

[capslock]

Amazing as always Onkel, our own German Julia Childs, or is it Jaques Pepin? Or perhaps the Frugal Gourmet?

 

[OnkelC]

Amazing as always Onkel, our own German Julia Childs, or is it Jaques Pepin? Or perhaps the Frugal Gourmet?

:lol
just a fool with a cam.

Spoiler

thanks anyway.

 

[Powdered Toastman]

Tried to cook something new today, and while it was ok, I could use some tips. Maybe someone has some:

I wanted to make grilled salmon, with tagliatelle, white sauce and rucola lettuce. The salmon was excellent, and worked well with the pasta and rucola, but my sauce was way too oily/fat.

White sauce: garlic in a little bit of oil, added white wine, then some butter and cream. Finally added some parsley and roasted pine seeds.

Now the butter and cream as base seemed to make it way too fatty. So who has some suggestions to make a nice sauce to go with the fish, pasta and rucola?

 

[OnkelC]

SECRETS THAT THE SWISS CHEESE MAFIA IS KEEPING FROM YOU! UNTIL TODAY!

Cheese fondue can be made without any swiss cheese at all. In fact, it tastes better with a mix of various cheeses from all over the world, be creative!

Over the last few weeks, a lot of cheese leftovers have accumulated in our fridge (none of them from switzerland, btw). A good reason to make a cheese fondue. Cheese fondue is a good dish to make for a larger audience/ group of guests, a rough estimate is about 250grams of cheese and 250ml of white wine per two persons. Preparation is dead simple, but requires a bit of attention as the fondue mass tends to stick to the pot rather quick.
These are the ingredients for three to four persons :

-various cheeses (we had austrian mountain cheese, emmental, tilsit, edam and gouda),
- one garlic clove,
-a good bottle of dry white wine,
-some starch,
-some kirsch,
-nutmeg for taste.

Chop/grind/grate the cheeses:

Get a big stoneware pot and pour the wine in it, add the chopped garlic:

Turn the stove to max and heat the wine. When it starts to fume, add a handful of the cheese mix and let it melt while constantly stirring. When it's molten, add the next handful and let it melt and so on. PRO TIP: Stir in an "8" figure to prevent sticking.

Finish Line:
When all the cheese is molten, mix a tablespoon of starch with kirsch and stir it in the boiling mass. let it cook for a minute and...

DONE!
Serve on a rechaud with some baguette as a side:

Take a fork (preferably a long fondue fork), put a piece of bread on it and dip for goodness:

Be careful not to lose the bread in the fondue!!!

If that should happen, you can play it Asterix-Style:

-Drop one piece of bread: 5 Hits with the cane
-Drop a second piece of bread: 20 strokes with the whip
-Drop it a third time: IN THE LAKE! IN THE LAKE! WITH A STONE ON THE FOOT!

Enjoy.

 

[OnkelC]

Tried to cook something new today, and while it was ok, I could use some tips. Maybe someone has some:

I wanted to make grilled salmon, with tagliatelle, white sauce and rucola lettuce. The salmon was excellent, and worked well with the pasta and rucola, but my sauce was way too oily/fat.

White sauce: garlic in a little bit of oil, added white wine, then some butter and cream. Finally added some parsley and roasted pine seeds.

Now the butter and cream as base seemed to make it way too fatty. So who has some suggestions to make a nice sauce to go with the fish, pasta and rucola?

Hi, you can omit the oil without problems, sautee the garlic in the butter instead. And you could try to substitute the cream with creme fraiche. should be a more "fresh" taste.

 

[Captain N]

I made some pizza last night and everyone at my house seemed to enjoy it. I never knew making dough was so easy.

 

[OnkelC]

Thanks for sharing, Captain N. Pizza dough is really easy to make from scratch, I wonder why not more people make it on their own.

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

Nothing fancy.

Haven't been cooking lately because nobody will eat the stuff I cook. My family will only eat shit that comes in a box that you heat up, or out of a drive through window. And my friends are all a bunch of gigantic pussies who only eat meat meat meat!

And I tend to cook enough for a family, which translates to several days of eating the same thing.

So f*cking boring / frustrating.

So here's some pierogi with sour cherry jam. Heated up the jam with a bit of butter to make a syrup.

Egg in the basket w/ turkey bacon:

 

[Captain N]

Thanks for sharing, Captain N. Pizza dough is really easy to make from scratch, I wonder why not more people make it on their own.

any tips on making the dough softer? Like if I want to make it so the crust is softer then the rest of the pie.

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

any tips on making the dough softer? Like if I want to make it so the crust is softer then the rest of the pie.

Possibly more water?

Just taking a shot in the dark here. Could be a good bump for someone with a clue.

 

[waxer]

Tried to cook something new today, and while it was ok, I could use some tips. Maybe someone has some:

I wanted to make grilled salmon, with tagliatelle, white sauce and rucola lettuce. The salmon was excellent, and worked well with the pasta and rucola, but my sauce was way too oily/fat.

White sauce: garlic in a little bit of oil, added white wine, then some butter and cream. Finally added some parsley and roasted pine seeds.

Now the butter and cream as base seemed to make it way too fatty. So who has some suggestions to make a nice sauce to go with the fish, pasta and rucola?

Id use either fraise like onk said or sour cream. I like sour cream myself. I had a salmon pasta when the pasta comp was on but i havnt checked here for a while and missed out. Sweet goes real well with it so i add a little bit of sweet chilli to my sauce when making it.
Also i would crush the garlic real fine and add it with the sour cream/fraise and wine . Let it reduce/cook off in that before adding the cream.

 

[OnkelC]

any tips on making the dough softer? Like if I want to make it so the crust is softer then the rest of the pie.

Hi, you could try adding one or two tablespoons of olive oil per pound of flour to the dough for that extra fluffness.

 

[jtardiou]

when i am high i sometimes read this thread for hours.. im not kidding