Recipes--Your Specialty

RAGER · September 04, 2014, 12:27:01 PM

It just dawned on my this morning that this is one of my go to signature dishes. Never really thought I had one. I make all kinds of stuff but this one or a variation of it is something I do often and can do in my sleep. Made this morning for lunch today.

Lentil hash. You can do a bunch of different variations. This is a pretty basic one with pan roasted chicken thighs from last night as the protein. Fish is really good too. Tofu is also a good one. In the fall I like to use chanterelles so any shrooms will work but it should always start with a mir poix and build from there. Tomatoes are almost a requisite. you can add taters or squash or other root veggies too.

Basic recipe.

Cook your lentils until just about done, drain and set aside. I usually cook the protein off first too. Thie chicken in mine was done the night before. Saute your mir poix with some garlic. Add some taters and continue to cook until things are soft but not mushy. Add some chicken or veg stock for some moisture but not soupy. Add some fresh diced tomatoes or a little canned and continue to cook for about 7 min. Add in the lentils and some more stock but not too soupy. Now might be a good time to add some spinach. Cook until your preferred doneness, add your chopped protein and warm through. About a minute before you serve stir in a bit of dijon mustard or red wine vinegar. This adds some good flavor without adding a bunch of salt.

You could make this spicy by adding some serrano along the way too. or just season with black pepper. Really good and good for you.

mortlock · September 05, 2014, 01:15:55 AM

id be all over that..

RAGER · September 08, 2014, 01:10:19 PM

Last night I made Japanese/Korean fusion soboro don.

Made with fried jasmine rice, ground chicken, and scrambled egg, and some garnishes.

First cook your rice a little bit ahead of time or the day ahead. cold rice works great or fresh cooked rice if you don't want to fry it.

Get some ground chicken, turkey ,pork or a combo of 2 or grind your own. I ground some chicken thighs. About a half pound or so

Combine a Tbls of sake (or water), Tbls+ of soy sauce (I use Braggs liquid aminos), some chopped up garlic, and some minced ginger, and one glug of evoo) whisk up and add to a cold saute pan, add the chicken and combine. Let sit for a few to marinate. While you;re doing this you can prepare your garnishes like sliced scallions, peas, green beans, snow peas,....... I made a little hot sauce of fresh cayennes and garlic by just slowly frying them in some evoo for a little bit and adding some white wine vinegar. I also made a quick pickle of thin sliced torpedo onions, minced ginger. Just added a little salt and some vinegar and let it wit for 10 minutes.

Now start heating the chicken. It will release lots of water so cook it on med low until it starts to dry out. Then it will cook in its own fat. If not add some evoo. you want to keep breaking it up so it gets crumbly. Cook until it's a bit browned. keep warm.

add 1 or 2 eggs to a bowl depending on how much egg you want in it, and a punch of salt and a couple punches of sugar. whisk until uniform color. Add to warm pan and let it set a little then scramble and let it set. keep doing this until just cooked a the egg is crumbly. Use a whisk to achieve this. It looks nice instead of having big chunks of egg.

Now just assemble with rice on the bottom, chicken on one side and egg on the other with the garnish on top.

RAGER · September 25, 2014, 01:31:20 PM

Made soboro don again . Quickly becoming one of my favorites.

MadJohnShaft · September 28, 2014, 10:34:13 PM

Duck yeah

Eat with a lettuce leaf - delicious!

Look - they ate all but three of the duck fat fried potatoes before I took its picture. Duck.

RAGER · October 01, 2014, 03:09:00 PM

Yum looks great. Made Alsatian choucroute garnie the other night.

Sauteed down some cabbage and kraut (crout) with taters

Put all this meat in

And a good portion of this cava and slow cooked for a couple hours

MadJohnShaft · October 07, 2014, 08:28:53 AM

I have to think about your ground meat dish - I always have these one pound frozen ground porks to use for stuff.

RAGER · October 07, 2014, 01:19:02 PM

I'll soon have about 60+ pounds of pork so I'll be using that instead of chicken or turkey for a while in the soboro don.

nicster · October 12, 2014, 01:07:28 AM

That chicken & lentil dish looks awesome Rager. I've saved your recipe and I'll be making it very soon.

RAGER · October 12, 2014, 01:05:09 PM

Thanks man. Hope it goes good for ya. Gonna make a variation of it tonight with sausage.

nicster · October 12, 2014, 05:13:27 PM

I made the chicken & lentil recipe last night for dinner. It was pretty good. Quick, healthy and tasty. I'll be making it again.

RAGER · October 19, 2014, 06:39:01 PM

Quote from: MadJohnShaft on October 07, 2014, 08:28:53 AM
I have to think about your ground meat dish - I always have these one pound frozen ground porks to use for stuff.

Made this again last night. It's great because you can garnish with all sorts of things. Quick pickle some thin sliced peppers or onions or cukes or carrots with some ginger added and maybe some radish. some quick sauteed veg or edamame sambal and cilantro. Some seeweed, kimchee. Lots of stuff. Curious to see your take on this Shaft.

RAGER · January 09, 2015, 06:30:37 PM

A variation on a soup I make aften. Ribollita Toscana.

RAGER · January 17, 2015, 01:06:15 PM

Something Mortlock would love. This is an old standby that I've been making since my young and broke days. Great comfort dish for a cold rainy night.

I call it a poor bowl. Taters, gravy, mixed frozen vegetables topped with hot sauce. Great with cheese too. The gravy is a chicken gravy I made out of stock that had the chicken bits and veg stewing in it for about a week or so. Picked out all the meat and added to the slow cooked gravy. Sausage gravy is a good one too.

Lumpy · January 18, 2015, 07:16:24 AM

I made Mortlock's pasta with beans and sausage tonight. Super easy, and filling. Directions almost go without saying:

Sautee in this order, in large pan or pot:
- Diced medium onion.
- 1 pound spicy sausage meat, small pieces (or crumbled, whatever)
- entire clove chopped garlic

When everything is evenly cooked, add one 28 can white beans (including liquid, dump the whole thing in there) and stir
Then add one pound cooked pasta and stir again. (I added a little bit of pasta water too)

That's it! I drizzle raw virgin olive oil on top of mine, for extra awesomeness. Lumberjack food.

(I don't have fresh grated parmesan cheese, but that's good too).

RAGER · January 30, 2015, 01:37:36 PM

Last night was braised chicken thighs, polenta, and poached asparagus.

RAGER · February 03, 2015, 01:16:33 PM

Wild mushroom ravioli with sage brown butter, shallot braised chicken thigh, and rapini.

RAGER · February 18, 2015, 06:10:18 PM

Behold. The Cubanoritto.

MadJohnShaft · February 19, 2015, 11:44:32 AM

I'm feeling it.

black · February 19, 2015, 12:26:57 PM

Swiss Cheese?

RAGER · February 19, 2015, 12:50:21 PM

Have you never had a Cuban sandwich?

black · February 19, 2015, 01:19:55 PM

Actually no.
For some reason too much delicious pork reeks havoc on my innards.

That and the whole Castro deal.

RAGER · February 19, 2015, 01:46:50 PM

That explains it. Really, the only argument should be whether it has salami or not. No salami for the most part in Miami but yes in Ybor city cuz of the Eyetalians from what I've read.

mortlock · February 23, 2015, 04:20:15 PM

been awhile since I looked in here. the poor bowl is def right up my alley.

lumpy, I haven't made that pasta dish at all this year. not sure why considering how cold its been. im making it this weekend. thanks for reminding me..

Lumpy · February 23, 2015, 04:47:46 PM

There's a whole 'mustard vs. mayo' on the Sandwich Cubano. I am squarely in the mayo camp (sorry L.Ron). I haven't heard about the salami issue - there's a sandwich place here that makes Cubans, and I think they have a salami version but they call it Ecuadorian (something like that). Never had a Cubano with salami, in NYC or in Miami. Them shits are good! A lot of the excitement for me comes from the bread though, so a burrito version is going to be a step down.