Free Republic Recipe Thread

FreeRepublic Cooks | Dec 8, 2012 | libertarian27

[libertarian27]

Welcome to the FReeper Recipe Thread.

Looking for something new to make or made something new that came out great? Please share a 'tried-and-true' recipe or three- for fellow FReepers to add to their 'go-to' Recipe Stack of Family Favorites!

Here's the place to share and explore your latest and greatest favorite recipe.

[FlJoePa]

Chef friend (former executive chef at Pinehurst) shared his Limoncello recipe with me. Haven’t tried it yet, but I have some friends that are in the process now.

Zest from 11 lemons (just the yellow part - no white pith), 1 bottle grain alcohol (use vodka if you can’t get grain) combine these in a glass container or stainless steel pot and let sit in a cool dark spot for 2 weeks.....

Then make a simple syrup with 5 cups water and 2 1/2 - 3 cups sugar.....bring to a boil and then cool completely.....add to grain and lemons

Then cover and let sit like at least another 2-3 weeks....the longer the better

Then strain lemon peels out and bottle the limoncello back up and keep in the freezer

This is a recipe for one 750 ML bottle of grain. You need to at least double it. Also, don’t use vodka. Use Everclear.

[bgill]

I had some tomatoes and peppers from the garden this week so threw together this salad. The picky eaters here say it’s a keeper. The little bit of leftovers held up for the next day so that’s a plus. There are no measurements other than enough equal parts sugar to vinegar to cover veggies. It would be easy and pretty enough with the red and green colors for a Christmas pot luck. Add a yellow or orange bell pepper and it’d be festive enough for Mexican night.

Tomato and Bell Pepper Salad

1/2 C sugar
1/2 C vinegar
salt and pepper
small onion thinly sliced
several tomatoes, bell peppers and banana peppers cut into chunks

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

I get a jar of jalopeno and garlic stuffed olives at Costco and wrap the olives with bacon and bake at 400 for about 35 min. Great appetizers .I do soak the olives in water overnight so they aren’t so salty.

[Sarajevo]

Chicken, Sausage, Oyster, and Shrimp Gumbo

1/3 cup + 1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 celery stalks, chopped
4-5 garlic cloves, pressed
1 green pepper, chopped
1 medium sized onion, chopped
1 can (14.5 oz.) chicken broth
1 can (14.5 oz) beef broth
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 lb. chorizo (or andouille) sausage, cut into 1/4-inch rounds
1 cup dark beer or water
1/2 cup loosely packed parsley leaves, chopped
1 Tablespoon minced fresh thyme
1 Tablespoon minced fresh sage leaves
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
2 lb. medium shrimp, shelled & deveined
3 large fresh tomatoes or two 14.5 oz. cans of stewed tomato (drained)
1 lb okra – frozen or fresh- sliced
2-3 jalapeno peppers or 5-6 fresh Tabasco peppers
1 pint raw oysters and juice

Instructions:
In a large soup pot, heat oil over med-low heat. Gradually stir in flour, and cook, stirring, until mixture is dark brown ~ about 15 minutes. This is the roux.

Mix the chicken and beef broth in slowly and blend until smooth.

At the same time you start the roux start to cook the vegetables: In a non-stick skillet, over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of oil and heat until hot.

Add celery, garlic, green pepper, and onion and cook until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.

To the roux-thickened broth add the stewed tomatoes, chicken, chorizo, herbs, salt, black pepper and the vegetables.

Add 1 cup of dark beer or water and heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered for 40 minutes. Skim off any fat that comes to the surface. Add okra 20 minutes prior to finish.

Add the oysters and shrimp, and continue to simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until the shrimp turn opaque. Shrimp will continue to cook from residual heat. Do not cook shrimp too long!

Oh yeah, could you add me to the ping list? :)

[BikerTrash]

{ping}

[Roos_Girl]

Thanks and I’ll make a contribution. My BBQ grill is out of commission so I’ve been using the oven to make this:

Pulled Pork Butt
5 lb pork butt
salt
pepper
garlic powder
chipotle pepper powder
cumin
chili powder

Season all sides of pork butt liberally (One of the very few liberal things allowed in the house :) )
Put in roasting pan and into 400* oven for about 30 minutes until top and sides and nicely browned.
Pull pan out of oven and pour 12 oz. apple juice and 12 oz. beer over top.
Wrap entire roasting pan & roast in aluminum foil and seal tightly.
Reduce oven temp to 325* and cook pork butt for about 4 hours or until internal temp is 185 and bone slips out easily.

Pour all liquid from roasting pan into a pot. Remove as much of the fat that floats to the top as possible. Add about a cup of ketchup, 2 Tbsp of mustard, 2 Tbsp of worchestire sauce, a dash of liquid smoke and about 3/4 cup of dark brown sugar. Mix well, I use an immersion blender and bring to a slow boil to reduce liquid by about half.

Pull the butt roast while the sauce is cooking and when sauce is done pour over meat.

[garandgal]

Love your number 18...my husband came up with something similar after having the Chianti braised short ribs at Olive Garden. He adds about 1/4 c. of Chianti to the drippings, and uses a little beef broth (if he has it on hand) instead of the water.

Sometimes he uses short ribs, but they are a little expensive around here...so it’s perfect for a less costly cut of meat. I will second your opinion that it is an excellent flavor combo, and perfect to put in the crock pot on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Olive Garden charges like $18 per plate for it!

Three cheese Rice-a-Roni is just AWESOME with it...how horrible is that? Take all of the time to make this lovely beef, and serve it with Rice-a-Roni...but it’s really a good combo...LOL!

[tinamina]

Be careful, Limoncello is addictive! Believe me I know. I tried this recipe a couple of years ago after a cruise...Believe me I would drink this stuff every day if possible. VERY good taste.

[thecodont]

I made krupnikas (vyritos) (aka boilo) last year. I’m not sure I did a good job. The first sip tastes like honey, the aftertaste is of old socks. I’ll have to try again.

Basic recipe is grain alcohol (you can use whiskey, I used Everclear), orange peel, lemon peel, honey, and spices. You boil together the fruit peel and spices with some water, add the honey, cook it, strain it, then add the alcohol (use an area with good ventilation and away from direct heat or flame). Then bottle it and let it age for a few weeks. Keep pouring off the clear stuff as it floats to the top and bottle that, discard the cloudy stuff at the bottom.

Maybe the cloudy stuff (after a number of weeks) gave it the “old socks” flavor.

I’ll have to re-try this; I know I goofed up somewhere.

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/LITHUANIA/2003-08/1060790531

[thecodont]

I’m making Boston baked beans tomorrow! Glad I saw your recipe.

I was raised eating the canned variety (B&M brand, with B&M Brown Bread straight from the can). However, the homemade version is heavenly.

You need to have a six-hour commitment to keep an eye on that slow oven.

[tinamina]

The other day I decided I wanted Shepherd’s Pie.
I decided to try it the easy way.
I sauted 1 lb of beef stew meet, small chunks in a bit of grapeseed oil in a large oven proof stainless steel kettle.

Meanwhile I used a food processor to mince 1 onion and 4 cloves of garlic.
I added it to the meat and sauted a few moments. Then I added a few stalks of chopped celery with leaves and some shredded carrots.

Then I added enough hot water to cover and about 1 T apple cider vinegar and some old red wine I had in my pantry.
I allowed this mixture to simmer while I cooked the potatoes.

I washed and cut up (w/ skins) about 8 small white potatoes and boiled them with about 2 tsp salt until they were tender. I drained them and added some butter, 1/2 package of cream cheese and a little milk and pepper. I whipped this mixture with my electric hand mixer till smooth.

I made 2 cups of gravy by making a roux with 1/4 c butter and 1/4 c flour cooked and mixed slowly for about 5 minutes. After the roux was cooked I added 2 c beef broth and cooked until smooth and thickened. Then I added to the beef mixture.

When my beef was tender (about 3 hours) I added some corn and peas to the mix, added some extra spices to taste. Then I added the gravy and mixed it in. (splash of brandy or whatever....

Turn off heat and preheat oven to 350.

Spoon potatoes over the top of beef mixture and cook in oven for about an hour.

About 8 servings which I made sure to stash 4 in the freezer as individual servings for future enjoyment.
Lucious. Truly.

[libertarian27]

You’re added to the Ping Recipe Ping List
Cook Away!

[9YearLurker]

Ha! Remember when (some) people used to have a set menu—braised beef on Tuesday, chicken fricassee on Wednesday, or whatever—every week?

[libertarian27]

Yes! My mom always had ‘Franks,Beans & Brown Bread’ every Saturday and Fish and Chips on Friday. My DH’s parents had the same menu those 2 days :)

For a while, I myself was into the habit of what we called “Poultry Sunday”...chicken, duck or turkey for Sunday dinners - but I shook that repetitive menu habit...even though it was anticipated every week for years, we just ‘grew’ out of it I guess...

We need to do the ‘Franks, Beans & Brown Bread’ more often at our house - especially the Brown Bread, Yum.

I think many of us grew up with a ‘set’ weekly menu. One of the scenes in “A Christmas Story” rings ‘home’ to so many is the narration of the many meals and concoctions of Cabbage :>)

[9YearLurker]

One of my best friends’ family did the franks and beans and brownbread—and homemade coleslaw!—every Saturday night and I loved it. Always understood it to be an especially New England thing, it was a very common church dinner.

But there you go, cabbage together with weekly franks and beans!

[libertarian27]

Always understood it to be an especially New England thing, it was a very common church dinner.

It must be! Our families are from New England - as we still are (drat!)

'Bean Suppers' are still big in rural areas and liberal 'look how quaint we look' areas :>)

[June2]

When you say you need to double it....are you saying you need double capacity to store it? ....not that the recipe needs to be doubled, right?

[9YearLurker]

That’s right—’supper’, not dinner!

[FlJoePa]

It was actually copy/pasted from an e-mail I had sent a friend. HE needed to double it because he does a lot of entertaining.

Seems like a lot of trouble to go through for just one bottle.

[leapfrog0202]

You probably already know it’s been discontinued, but I read that on ask.com.

I found this link to discontinued items that may help people but I don’t see the pudding you wanted on here....so who knows????

http://www.hometownfavorites.com/discontinued-foods/#T