Cooks' Corner

[maggiepie]

Kristl,
Would you mind telling me what's in your egg salad?
Will have to try your method one day, no more forgetting the eggs are on the stove and boiling dry if you turn them off as soon as the water starts to boil.
My little egg cooker steams the eggs, I really like it as it gives perfect results each time and just beeps when the eggs are done.

[Kristl Walek]

Kristl,
Would you mind telling me what's in your egg salad?

A loaded question---but I will start by saying that the "mayo bombs served on soggy white bread" are not my idea of egg salad sandwich.

And because I am an improvisational cook, the recipe changes with the seasons.

Needless to say, good quality bread, crispy bun, pita, etc. are ESSENTIAL.
I usually want a nest of something fresh and green.
winter=usually romaine lettuce
summer=one of the "softer" lettuces or mix of same
or alfalfa sprouts

only enough mayo to hold the ingredients together.

what i add to the eggs is also seasonal as well as whats on hand

green onion or finely chopped red onion
celery is a good complement, but i don't often add it.
if i feel inspired, crumbled bacon is delicious
some folks like dill or parsley, but for my taste buds, onion family members are best (Chives).

mayonnaise, salt and pepper is often all that is necessary if you have wonderfully deep colored and fresh eggs.
if i have fresh lemons (usually) a squeeze is nice
a bit of Dijon or yellow prepared mustard adds a little kick

Yum. Think I will have to have one for lunch.

[maggiepie]

Thanks, Kristl,

Your taste buds match up with mine re the egg salad, I love onion in mine too.
Sometimes I don't add mayo at all, just a splash of milk to hold it together.
I also like some cayenne pepper in the mix.
Sometimes celery seeds.
We make our own bread, usually just basic french, no sugar no oil.
Sometimes the no knead artisan bread which is fabulous.

For greens, rocket is rather good too when you can get it.

[annew]

i got a book for Christmas called 'Artisan bread in 5 minutes a day'. My breadmaking usually takes much longer than that, and I enjoy every minute of it, but this method sounds good if you are short of time.
Even got my husband baking - lovely soda bread for lunch today.

[maggiepie]

i got a book for Christmas called 'Artisan bread in 5 minutes a day'. My breadmaking usually takes much longer than that, and I enjoy every minute of it, but this method sounds good if you are short of time.
Even got my husband baking - lovely soda bread for lunch today.

Anne, you will love the bread you make from your new book, not sure you will save time though.

[Lesley Cox]

For egg sandwiches or rolls, a good mixture is:

3 or 4 eggs firm to hard boiled, rough chopped then put in processor. Add some mayonnaise, a dab of soft butter, dry or Dijon mustard, a little curry powder, salt and pepper - all these to taste - chopped chives, parsley, tarragon or whatever you fancy, then process until smooth or not, as you prefer. Spread generously on fresh wholegrain bread and sandwich or roll the slices.

These always go very quickly at alpine meetings when it's a "bring something tasty for supper." Or just for lunch with a crisp lettuce leasf ot two.

Of course EVERYONE knows to put a tsp of salt in the water to boil when the eggs are added. It stops any of the uncooked white leaking out if the shells crack.

[Rodger Whitlock]

Like Maggiepie, I have a little electric egg cooker that steams the eggs. Mine is a Krups "infernal device" that turns out perfect eggs time after time. Infernal because when your eggs are cooked, it lets you know in no uncertain times, having a particularly irritating "I'm done" buzzer. Anyone who likes boiled eggs should give serious thought to acquiring one of these.

Bread: for a couple of years now, I've been making "no-knead bread" per .  This method not only turns bread making into an easy and effortless task, but also produces extremely good bread with a chewy crust and a flavor beyond compare.

Moreover, the recipe seems to be foolproof. You can substitute up to one third of the flour with nearly any other cereal: oatmeal, semolina, cornmeal, you name it. I've made marvelous fruit bread by just adding pre-soaked raisins and diced, candied citron peel to the recipe.

[maggiepie]

Lesley, I can't believe I forgot to mention curry powder, I love curried egg sandwiches with lots of lettuce.
Keen's curry powder which my daughter sends me when I whine I am running out.

Rodger, I have the Cusinart egg cooker, its beep is fairly quiet but it does turn itself off when done.
The coating on the part where the water sits is wearing off on one side, I think I will be looking to replace it soon.
I also often use the NYT no knead bread recipe, so far the only change I have made is to replace one of the cups of flour with wholewheat flour.
It gives a really good flavour.
Good for pizza too.

[annew]

I tried that bread method too. Only snag is I missed the pot twice when trying to get the dough in, and a cast iron pot is too heavy for me to use comfortably. It's a similar method in my new book, but a large amount is made up to start and kept in the fridge, then a chunk removed and baked as and when needed. I'll report on the results when I have a go.

[David Nicholson]

Spent the afternoon making a large pan of Pea and Ham soup-it's a good way to use up the remnants of the Christmas ham.

2 litres of good stock-ham is best but if you haven't got it chicken or veg. will do just as well.
350gms of dried split peas, yellow or green it doesn't really matter. I used yellow.
1 onion roughly chopped.
2 sticks of celery chopped
1 carrot chopped
4 thick rashers of smoked bacon diced
salt and black pepper.

Bring the stock to a low boil and then throw in the dried peas and simmer gently for 40/50 minutes.
Meanwhile fry off the bacon and veg in a good knob of butter until they start to brown slightly.
When cooked add them to the pea/stock mixture, add a good grind of black pepper, give 'em a good stir and simmer for 45/50 minutes. After this check that the peas and veg are soft (shouldn't be a problem) and either press the contents through a sieve, or blitz them in a blender.

Return enough to make a meal to the pan, add any roughly chopped pieces of ham, re-heat through and serve with some nice crusty bread and add few crutons if you have them.

SALT:- When making soup I never add salt during the cooking process. Usually the salt already in the stock makes the soup salty enough for Maureen wheras I need to add some.

When the remaing soup is cold freeze it in the container of your choice and bring it out on the next cold day when you are stuck what to have for a meal.

[Rodger Whitlock]

...a cast iron pot is too heavy for me to use comfortably.

Try ceramic, then. It's a lot lighter. Corning "Corelle" might work pretty well, too, but the lids for them are (iirc) Pyrex and while the Corelle can handle thermal shock, the Pyrex lid might not be able to.

Incidentally, Corning moved Corelle production to China some while ago and as seems to always be the case in such situations, the quality has gone downhill. When will the bean counters wake up to the unpleasant fact that you can't farm out quality to workers who aren't committed.

[Kristl Walek]

All of us have comfort food.
I assume the comfort part is connected to (fond) childhood eating memories, although I suppose for some there might be a different connection.

My mother was a professional chef most of her life---but when I was small and she suddenly found herself a single mother of two girls, times were lean and mean and what was put on the table tended to revolve around variations of readily available, inexpensive foods. Above all, they had to be filling. Usually they were heavy on potatoes, bacon, dumplings of some sort.

And these are the comfort foods I still love to this day. Most of mine are "winter" fare---although potato pancakes (another comfort food) I could eat every day year round.

The one I made today is called "Sauere Suppe", although it is not sour---a DELICIOUS Buttermilk based soup; I am sure east European in origin. I know many folks have queasiness issues with buttermilk (beyond me, quite frankly)----but buttermilk is actually smooth, low in fat and fantastic in baking as well.

This soup will stay on the stove all day, as Alisha and I help ourselves to it, as the mood strikes. Fantastic with a good crispy bun and unsalted butter.

 

 
In a large frying pan, gently fry 2-3 cut up onions, and 4-6 cut up Debreziner sausages (smoked paprika sausages) with some extra paprika. Cook until onions are soft and sausage has released its flavours and fat.

At the same time, cut up about 3 large yellow-fleshed potatoes into bite sized pieces, just cover with water in a large soup pot & cook gently with 1 bay leaf.

When the potatoes are almost soft, lower temperature and add contents of frying pan (sausage/onions) to soup pot.

Then add 1 liter of buttermilk (minus about 1/2 cup) to the soup pot. Soup should NOT be on higher than a gentle simmer.

Add about 3 TBL of flour to 1/2 cup of reserved cold buttermilk and slowly add to soup pot to thicken.

Beat 2 eggs and add to the soup -- do not stir while the egg drop is cooking.

Lastly, press about 3-5 cloves of garlic (I like lots), adding to the soup what has come out of the press, plus the squished pieces still inside press.

Add salt & pepper to taste.

YUM, YUM and YUM

[Kristl Walek]

we had a discussion much earlier about cooking oils---i meant to say then that my primary cooking oils are unrefined coconut and olive. the former is a bit hard to find (usually not cheap and only in health food stores)---but has amazing health benefits to boot.

[mark smyth]

did you know a litre of milk by law is allowed to contain 400 million pus cells Thankfully I dont drink much

[maggiepie]

Oh geezzzze Mark, thanks for that