What do you cook best? - Page 2

from peace, love and bbq by mike mills, big bob gibson's white bbq chicken. Another recipe that shows it sense of place, in this case, a small part of alabama. ==== 1 cup mayonnaise 1 cup apple cider vinegar 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 1/2 tablespoons cracked black pepper 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, finely ground 1/4 teaspoon cayenne 1 whole chicken, cut in half Finely ground kosher salt and ground black pepper 1/2 cup vegetable oil To prepare the sauce: Combine all the first six ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Place in an airtight container or bottle and refrigerate until you're ready to use. Keeps up to 4 days. To prepare the chicken: Wash the chicken and season it liberally with salt and pepper. Smoke over hot coals and hickory wood at 300 to 350 degrees for 3 to 4 hours or until the internal temperature reaches 170 degrees. Halfway through the smoking process, baste the chicken with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper once more. After you take the chicken off the pit, immediately place it in the bowl of white sauce, turning the chicken to coat evenly. Place the chicken on a cake rack and allow it to rest for a few minutes prior to serving. Discard any sauce that you've used for coating chicken.

Here are a few favorites: Super easy: Fish en papilliote: Get a nice fillet of a lean or medium fat content fish (trouts, salmons, grouper all seem to work well) Season the fish with salt and pepper. Put it on a large piece of parchment paper, across the diagonal. Jullienne some zucchini and carrots. Add to the fish. Throw on a squirt of lemon juice, pat of butter, some scallions, and a sprig of fresh tarragon or thyme and a splash of white wine. Fold the paper in half over the fish (should be a triangle). Start sealing it by folding up the bottom right corner to the left a little and continue making small left to right continuous folds until you close up the whole package at the other end (it looks like a half-moon ravioli). Pop it in the oven for about 5-8 minutes (depending on the fish size and shape) at around 350 and you're good to go. - I think they use this folding technique at Last Resort, so if you've ordered it there, you'll know what to do. When you peal back the paper, the smell will be intoxicating. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pesto crusted salmon: Also real easy... mix fresh basil, garlic (just a tiny bit), salt, olive oil, pine nuts, and fresh parmesan reggiano in a blender... I don't measure, it's always to taste Slather about half of the mixture on the salmon and bake it. Toss the rest in some linguine. Garnish with some more grated cheese. and serve. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jerk Chicken: Basically I just make the fresh jerk sauce with ingredients below.. slather it on some chicken parts, sear in a sautee pan, then roast the chicken for about 20 min. at 375 or 400. The sauce gets made in a food processor. I don't measure exactly, and it's a little tough to taste along the way because it changes chemically when you're done. 1 - 1.5 red onion 1/2 bunch of Scallions 2 cloves garlic 1-1.5 habanero, or 2-3 jalapeno peppers 1-1.5 tsp allspice 1-1.5 tsp nutmeg 2-3 tbsp of brown sugar 2-3 sprig of fresh thyme (pull the leaves off the stem) 1-2 tsp honey or molasses The water in the onion will make it fairly wet. The sugar, honey, and onion will become dark and gooey when it heats up, making a nice sticky coating on the chicken. Goes will with a simple black beans & rice cooked with stock and a bay leaf.

If you like lamb try this simple bistro dish.

2 platefulls of mixed spring greens
crumble Feta cheese on top
add a 2 tablespoons of good olive oil to a frying pan
take six lamb chops that have been sprinkled with garlic salt and fry them until MR.
Place hot lamb on plates atop the cheese and greens
take frying pan drippings while still warm and add a few tablespoons of balsamic or even better a fig balsamic. Wisk and pour over lamb and greens. A little fresh ground pepper is nice.

Serve with red wine and a nice crusty loaf of bread to eat and mop up the juices.

It is a one pan, one dish wonder. Very romantic too.

I got this out of British GQ in 1999 and it has been a hit ever since. Plus, it is so simple I don't need a shopping list.

pot roast...

my fiance is a vegetarian

Pretty much any kind of meat or fish. Steak is my specialty, but lately I've been experimenting a bit with different types of birds (duck, quail, etc) and have been enjoying the results.

I make one hell of a Jambalaya.

Actually making it tonight for a casual dinner of 5 people (who are going to be blown away by my Jambalaya skillz).

I figured if I post mine I might as well see other people's Also thanks for those who posted theirs - I know there's some proprietary nature in cooking and recipes.

Pork roast: salt, pepper, and garlic to taste; smother in olive oil; puncture with a thin bladed knife to let it get in; cook in oven for 20-30 minutes at 475, then turn temp down to 325 for another hour. This is inexact: follow Bittman's recipe.

Salmon: salt and pepper to spice (I go heavy), sear for two minutes in a tiny amount of olive oil in an oven proof pan. Put said pan in oven (can't remember temp now) for another 4-6 minutes; watch the sides to see how far it's cooked and remember to pull it out before it's done, because salmon will continue cooking.

edit: I forgot: I made a kick-ass beef wellington at Christmas. It was to die for. The basic recipe can be found anywhere. I replaced the foie gras with a mushroom...paste is the best word I can think of. See Tyler Florence's recipe.

By the way, to the OP: I found lamb to be a challenge the first time I cooked it. Since this is an important night you may want to try out the recipe once first. Or do something you know you're comfortable with.

b

stir fry and chicken parm

You can consider lamb cooked in one of the Indian ways. My two favorite lamb recipes are Rogan Josh (red lamb/goat curry) and Shahi Korma ( lamb with creamy almond sauce). Both are not difficult to cook though you will need a bunch of spices like coriander, turmeric, cumin, cardamom, clove and cinnamon. You can be flexible in the cut of lamb you can use - any peices with bone, boneless shoulder, or boneless leg. Boneless meat will be easier to eat of course. These two recipes are similar, the first uses paprika, chili powder and yogurt while the second contains almonds and cream. They both use a base of garlic, ginger and onions and most of the spices I listed above. You can serve them over plain aromatic rice (like Basmati or Jasmine) or with some plain Indian flat breads if you can find or bake some. Here is a recipe almost identical to the one I use for Rogan Josh. My Shahi Korma recipe is from Madhur Jaffrey and this recipe I found online is derrived from it. I usually pair Asian or Indian food with some white wines with a lot of acidity, such as German Rieslings or Riesling Kabinets, Alsatian Rieslings or Gewurtraminers or a Muscadet from Loire. I can provide more specific recommendations if you like.

Pasta with spicy red sauce and sausage is my go-to, but I also make very good Eastern Europeanish stews, something of a cross between beef stew, goulash, and porridge. I have had some flukes where other things I made came out mouth wateringly excellent, homemade ramen, crusty breads, Indian style lamb from a recipe pulled out of my ass, etc... but nothing I can repeat outside of the pasta and stew.

Bratwurst and eggs