9 that will your Recipes

sweet onion, diced, garlic, minced, red bell pepper, diced, ground turkey, lean ground beef, crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes (preferable petite dice), tomato paste, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, eggs, lasagna noodles (your preference, i like no boil noodles), dried basil , thyme, oregano to taste, salt and pepper

any liquid can be reduced just by heating it - but why would you want to do that, answer comes back to two of our old friends, flavor and consistency (texture)., by reducing any flavored liquid you intensify its flavor and at the same time thicken it. you can continue this process until what you have left is a syrup if it contains sugar, or a sauce if it does not., this is 1 of the most important tools in the kitchen , believe it or not, because a great sauce can rescue an indifferent meal., literally any liquid can be reduced ., a few uses, wine is frequently used in cooking , both as a marinade and as an addition to sauces for meat., there are some problems with it though, 1 of which is that you need a really good wine and quite a lot of it to produce a reasonable sauce for, say, six people., on the other hand , if you use pure grape juice and reduce it to a syrup, that syrup, added to any sauce (or gravy if you prefer) will lift it into the realms of gourmet ., more , you don tsp have to make your reduction on the night you prepare your meal. you can reduce a liter of grape juice at any time to the consistency and flavor you want; then just store it in the fridge., you can do the same thing with any fruit juice - prune is sensational - and store it until needed. just about all of them will do things for ice cream, pies or tarts that will have your guests demanding the recipe, pork with apple sauce use a carton of fresh apple juice from the supermarket and reduce it. and if you want a real sensation add in a glass of apple brandy during the reduction process., are you getting an idea of how simple this is, take any carton of fresh stock straight of the shelf and reduce it. you will transform it into something even the manufacturer won tsp recognize. but beware, you need to start out with good quality in the first place, because when you reduce a liquid you intensify all the flavors, and not just the good ones., if it s salty to start with, for example, it will be salty beyond belief by the time you ve reduced it even by half. so if you are going to use a supermarket stock, make sure it s an extremely good 1., believe me when i tell you that stock cubes should not be used for reduction sauces., thickeners, because you will be tasting as you go (won tsp you ), you may find that you get the flavor you want before the desired consistency is reached., a couple of hints right now for your sauces., sweet ones can be thickened successfully without loss of color by adding in liquid glucose early on in the reduction process. surprisingly, this will add little in the way of sweetness and produces a beautiful velvety sauce when whisked., if you get it wrong and add too much, no problem. stir in a little extra water to thin it., reduction pans, reductions need to happen rapidly in serving to preserve flavors. and the greater the surface area of the liquid the faster the water will evaporate., however you may want to whisk something into the sauce while its cooking - such as butter or olive oil for example - and for that i find a small wok is best; 1 with a handle., a wok is less likely to reduce so fast that the sauce is burnt while your back is turned. but try both methods and see which you prefer. you may even end up using something totally different., no magic to this. whatever works for you, that s what you should use, in this and everything else to do with cooking., just bear in mind that what you re after is speed and ease of use. as well as a great tasting result, of course. :>), keeping, if they should dry out , simply add a little water and heat through., sauces containing meat juices of any kind must be frozen if you re going to keep them, and should be brought to boiling point before being used again. there is no need to thaw them out to do this, in fact it s better not to. simply drop the frozen cubes into a saucepan, melt them over a gentle heat, and then bring swiftly to the boil., why do you do this to avoid food poisoning, that s why. you are making sure that any bugs introduced into the sauce during the preparation process are killed off., worry , this will not be because of anything you have done wrong (i hope!), but because bacteria are part of our everyday lives and they exist in every kitchen, however clean., in fact your food , and especially your meat, is crawling with wildlife that you will never see. don tsp worry about them. careful handling and simple precautions will ensure that these miniature monsters can never multiply enough to harm either you or your guests.

white bread , torn into 1-inch pieces, unsalted butter, melted, minced fresh parsley leaves, shallot, minced (about 2 tbsp), unbleached all-purpose flour, eggs, prepared horseradish (optional), mayonnaise, paprika, cayenne pepper (optional), skinless cod fish fillets (1 to 1 1/2 inches thick ) or 1 1/4 lbs haddock fillets (1 to 1 1/2 inches thick) or 1 1/4 lbs other thick white fish fillets, cut into 4 pieces (1 to 1 1/2 inches thick), lemon wedge

at the time when christianity was accepted in serbia , many families were baptised and chose their own saint. this is why saint nicholas is celebrated by so many families on the 19th of december. for the orthodox families st. nicholas is a special day with special rituals and prayers, to others it only means a day to be with your family and enjoy lots of food., this st. nicholas bread is traditionally made in orthodox families for the feast of st. nicholas. i heard that in other families a coin is put in the bread and the person who gets the piece with the coin will be rich in the future. i do not believe that this is part of a religious ritual, but i can be wrong., ingredients for the bread, sugar, fresh yeast or 1 package dry yeast (7 g), lukewarm milk, kilo flour (all purpose), salt, sugar, butter, egg yolks, grated lemon peel and some lemon juice, ingredients for the braid, flour, water, little bit salt, how to make the bread, put the (fresh ) yeast in a small bowl together with a tsp sugar and a little bit lukewarm milk. mix and set aside so the yeast can start to work. yeast usually activates between 25 and 28 degrees celsius., take another bowl and beat the egg yolks, add the rest of the milk and stir well., put the flour , sugar, salt, lemon peel and a bit of lemon juice together in a bowl. add the softened butter in small pieces and knead until the mixture has a fine texture., mix the yeast mixture with the milk/egg mixture and add it to the flour. knead everything well until the dough becomes a ball (leaving the bowl clean). put the dough into another bowl, cover it with a damp cloth and put it on a warm place. let the dough rise for 2 hours., after these two hours knead the dough again (shortly) on a floured surface. make a ball again and let the dough rise again for 1 hour., form a round bread and put it on a greased baking tray or use greased baking paper. you can also use a round baking pan, don tsp forget to grease it, make the dough for the braid by mixing 250 g flour, 180 ml water and a pinch of salt together in a bowl. make a soft dough, divide it in three pieces and form 3 rolls. make a braid twice the diameter of the bread. cut the braid in half and form a cross on the bread, use a water/egg mixture to glue it on the bread., bake the st. nicholas bread in a preheated oven on 180 degrees celsius for about 60 minutes.

brussels sprout, butter, olive oil, garlic, chopped, whole wheat bread crumbs, romano cheese

boneless chicken breast, cream of chicken soup, carton sour cream, butter, ritz cracker

risotto with sausage and cranberry beans, make risotto , you absolutely must use a specific type of rice called arborio rice (carnaroli and vialone nano are also used, some say superior, but are more difficult to find). these types of rice release starch when stirred in a liquid; it is this process which makes risotto, otherwise you just have a starchy mess of mush. these types of rice are identified by their fat round grains and pearly appearance. they can be used to make other sorts of rice dishes, such as pilaf, but other types of rice cannot be used for risotto. arborio is no longer that much of a specialty product; it can be found in most large, well-stocked grocery stores in the italian section. or sometimes, misguidedly, in the asian section., okay , so now we have the rice. you will also need some good, low-salt stock or broth - it should be low-salt not for health reasons, but because a good deal of it will evaporate, leaving its salt behind, and i like to have more control over the salt in a dish. it can be homemade, but i m not going to be a snob about it because, in truth, we go through gallons of store-bought stock in this household and i don tsp see that changing anytime soon. furthermore, risotto is actually a dish which can be whipped up out of thin air when it seems as though you have nothing to eat, as long as you have butter, rice, stock, maybe a few herbs, and some leftover parmesan. i like the kind of stock purchased in tetrapak cartons, because they are resealable and can be put in the fridge and used as needed. if you really want to use homemade but you don tsp have time to make stock or don tsp like the aroma of roasting bones in your house (i don tsp blame you), you can buy really great stock at north market poultry and game - it is expensive, but can be diluted with a 2- or 3-to-1 ratio of water to stock, so it stretches. my general guideline is to plan on 1/4 cup dry rice per person, and about 4 cups of stock to 1 cup of rice. of course, this isn tsp exact and will vary depending on your elevation and the phases of the moon, but it s a good place to start. i usually just use 4 cups of stock and then dilute with water or wine (or sometimes beer, if that s all i have) if i feel i m going to run out., well, we have rice and stock covered, now we just need our setup: place the stock in a saucepan on your rear burner, bring to a simmer, and leave it there with a 6-8 oz ladle in, and place a large, wide saute pan (must be really large, plan that your rice will at least quadruple in size) or dutch oven on the burner in front. get out your favorite wooden spoon and flex your stirring arm., nice thing about using sausage is it s so full of flavor you can leave out the usual onion/garlic/shallot/celery nonsense if you re tired and don tsp feel like chopping. furthermore, sausage goes from the freezer to the pan without suffering too much. okay, let s go, risotto with sausage and cranberry beans - serves 4, links italian sausage , or 1 lb bulk (or hot, or a combination - definitely with some fennel), casings removed, cooked cranberry beans or 1 can white beans, drained, arborio rice, beef , chicken or vegetable stock, butter, freshly, finely grated parmesan cheese , plus more for garnish, an oz) flat-leaf parsley, chopped finely, lemon juice , or juice from 1/2 lemon, salt and black pepper to taste, red pepper flakes to taste, optional, good balsamic vinegar , optional