I searched and the Cafe didn't have a cooking thread. So who here likes to cook? I enjoy it, in fact since college I've moved back in with my parents and to help out (splitting labor between the farm and taking care of my disabled father) I basically serve as the in house shelf. So what are things you guys like to cook? Of course I am Southern but my mother is also a spanish teacher. So the stuff I tend to cook is a good variety of soul food that has been updated for health (zero transfat crisco, skinless friend chicken) and a lot of tex-mex not to mention BBQ. Here are a few of my favorite recioes Dessert Nachos Dessert Nachos Recipe : Robert Irvine : Recipes : Food Network Pressure cooker beef roast. 1 Large Pressure Cooker/Canner 1 2 or 3 sirloin roasts 2 Vidalia Onion 1 Bottle of A1 Red Potatoes - washed and chunked Carrots - peeled and coined Celery - washed and diced. 2 cups water 4 tablespoons canola oil This recipe is really simple. You place the roasts in the bottom of the pressure cooker. Top the roasts with the seasonings of your choice (I use Salt Pepper Garlic Herb Salt Paprika Rosemary Ranch Seasoning and Cajun Seasoning) Place sliced root vegetables in the spaces between the roasts, Add the water and oil to the pot. Top this completely with slices of the vidalia onion. Cover the entire dish with the bottle of A1. Place lid on pressure cooker and follow directions in order to build up pressure/steam. Once the cooker is ready, cook the meal for approximately 45 minutes (for a good medium well) before letting the pressure off slowly. This will prevent the meat from drying out. Once its done you can transfer it to serving places where you have several options. You can top with bbq sauce and pull it to make beef bbq sauce. You can thinly slice it to make crack laced Roast beef sandwiches, or you can simply serve the roast with the root vegetables as a classic sunday dinner. The face that a large canner type pressure can hold three regular sirloin roasts makes it easy to try all three option at once or for several different meals. My Chicken Primavera Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast Tenders Red Onion Red Green and Orange Bell Peppers Mushrooms (or choice I like bellas) Yellow Squash Zucchini Chicken Stock Angel Hair Pasta Olive Oil White Whine 1 Boil the angel hair and set aside 2 Brown the chicken until down set aside 3 in same skillet add olive oil and saute off the vegetables in batches until they are all down. 4. Return above ingredients to the pot 5. Add Wine, Olive Olive and various spices to create a light sauce. 6 pour mixture over angel hair pasta. Bison Burger for 4 16 oz Meat Mixture of 70 percent Bison and 30 percent ground chuck. Vidalia Onion king's Hawaiian Sweet Bunsh Swiss Cheese Vlassic Cold Packed Pickle halves cut into slices. Good brand Applewood Smoked Bacon 1000 Island Dressing A1 Steak Sauce Divide meat mixture in 4 1/4 patties. Brown in a cast iron skillet into approximately medium. Set aside up foil in order to keep warm. Season the pan drippings with cayenne and garlic. Saute the onions until they are soft and transluscent. Set aside. Brown the bacon in the same pan until down. Set aside. Butter and toast the buns either under a broiler or on a stovetop griddle (if you have a gas stove and time to kill it works best right the open flame of the eye) After buns are ready its time to assembled the burger. first on the bottom bun place one layer of 1000 island dressing. Top with a single burger patty remember it s still medium rare. Top patty with swiss cheese and top bun. Place under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese melts and the top bun has browned'/toasted. Remove the top bun and spread A-1 on the inside surface. Pile a generous helping of sauteed onions on top the burger/cheese. Replace the top but. The burger is now ready to eat. One of the best burgers you will ever eat.
Ooh I quite like to cook too. Here is my one of my favourite salmon recipes: Ginger & Soy Glazed Salmon with Buk Choy | Asian Recipes & More - Coles Recipes 1 cup Basmati Rice 1 cube Chicken Stock 1 cup Coconut Milk 1/2 tbsp Salt 1 Shredded Coconut, lightly toasted, for garnish 1 tsp Olive Oil 2 cloves Garlic, finely chopped 2 tbsp Fresh Ginger, peeled and finely chopped 1 small Red Chilli, seeded and finely chopped 1/4 cup Orange Juice 1/4 cup Soy Sauce 1/4 cup Honey 1 tbsp Fresh Coriander, chopped 1 tbsp Olive Oil 4 x 200 g Fresh Tasmanian Atlantic Salmon Fillets (skin on) 2 bunches Buk Choy, quartered 1 Lemon, zest Coriander, for garnish Method for Salmon: Heat the oil in a medium saucepan. Add the garlic, 1 tbsp of ginger, and chilli and stir over low heat for 2 minutes. Add the orange juice and reduce by half. Add the soy sauce and honey and cook for 4–5 minutes, or until the glaze thickens slightly. Add the coriander, lemon zest, and remaining tbsp of ginger and remove from the heat. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Remove the skin from the salmon. Season the salmon fillets with pepper. Cook the salmon fillets for 1 minute or until just golden brown, then flip with a spatula and cook on the other side for 30 seconds. Remove the salmon to a foil lined oven tray. Preheat the grill. Spoon a generous layer of the glaze over each salmon fillet and place under the grill for 2–3 minutes, or until the glaze is sticky and caramelized and the fish is cooked through, reserve remaining glaze. Steam the buk choy until tender, about 3 minutes. Arrange 3 quarters of buk choy onto the centre of 4 serving plates. Place the salmon fillets over the top of the buk choy and spoon some of the remaining glaze over and around the salmon. Scatter over coriander and serve with the coconut rice. Try substituting buk choy with steamed broccoli. Method for Coconut Rice: Rinse the rice in a sieve under cold running water until the water runs clear. Drain. Combine the stock, coconut milk, and salt in a large heavy saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low. Add the rice and stir constantly for 1 minute. Cover the pan and simmer over low heat, without stirring, for 15 minutes or until the rice is almost tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed. Remove from the heat and stand covered for 10 minutes, or until the rice is tender and all of the liquid has been absorbed. Lightly fluff up the rice with a fork. Transfer the rice to bowls and garnish with the toasted coconut and serve.
Carrot & lemon soup A recipe that I have cooked several times this winter, based on one published in the Guardian. It is a nice warming soup which is pleasantly tasty. 1 escallion shallot, chopped 1 clove garlic, finely chopped 1 good splash olive oil zest & juice of 1 lemon at least 500g carrots, peeled and roughly chopped 1 broccoli stalk, peeled to remove fibres and sliced 1 litre vegetable stock (I use Gallo cubes) 1 handful red lentils, rinsed about 1/2 tablespoon sauce flour 1 splash soy sauce salt & pepper to taste toasted sesame oil Soften the shallot in the oil for a couple of minutes. Then add the garlic, lemon zest, carrots and broccoli and fry gently for at least 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the stock and the lentils, bring to the boil and simmer until everything is cooked, about 15 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes. Then blitz with a stick liquidiser, season and add the lemon juice to taste (I use most of the juice from a good-sized lemon). Add a little flour to bind the purée gently, blitz again, bring back to the boil and cook for a minute or two stirring carefully. The original recipe suggested using plenty of chopped coriander leaves as a garnish, but I hate the stuff. Fortunately I like the soup as it is, but a swirl of sesame oil makes a nice addition. Like any any good soup recipe you can vary the quantities and substitute many of the ingredients - but the carrots, lentils and lemon are essential. Alan
The decorations for this cake are almost done. A student trainee at my wife's place of work is a Mario Brothers fan so she thought she would practice cake decorations to bake him a cake. That's supposed to be Mario by the way.
Was I? Hmmm... This is the first cake she is decorating since the last zoo one 9 months ago, so such a thread will be very scant.
there were also her Christmas cookies, six months ago. I do keep a wall-chart of these things you know.
Finished product attached. The icing cracked a bit though due to environmental conditions but it wasn't too visible.
That's the idea! It was a healthy mix of white-chocolate sponge cake (base) covered with butter cream icing, with crumbled red velvet cake for the soil. The veggies were crafted from another kind of icing.
I like this idea for a thread in the zoo cafe forum. This pandemic has actually given me more time to cook. I am typically not one share specific measurements in recipes. I am someone who cooks intuitively, so I would like to share some of the stuff I have made lately. Here are the first two examples. If anyone is interested I can share more. French bread pepperoni pizza. I get a few baguette loafs and slice them in half. I spread pizza sauce on each piece of bread and then sprinkle shredded mozzarella on the sauce then place pepperoni slices on top of the cheese and bake it in the oven. Though I haven't done it yet, ground Italian sausage and sliced black olives would be a nice addition to the recipe. Ground bison tomato basil marinara sauce and spagetti squash. I cook ground bison in a frying pan in butter, garlic, parsley and salt. When the meat is finished, I pour into the pan a jar of tomato basil marinara sauce and continue stirring it around and heating it up. For the spagetti squash, I slice each squash in half and then scrape out the seeds and pulp in the center. Afterwards, I place each squash half one inch of water in a microwave safe ceramic dish and microwave it for 5 to 10 minutes. The sweet spot is 6 or 7 minutes. I usually do 7. After my squash is finished, I drain out the water and tap the inside of the squash with paper towels to make sure extra water isn't retained. Afterwards, I pull out a fork and scrape the inside and it literally comes out like noodles. Afterwards I pour my meat sauce on the squash noodles if you will and start eating.
Both recipes sound delicious. I have also had some time to cook but it isn't something that I'm very good at. Probably tomorrow I can share some of my favorite recipes.
Thank you, I am glad you enjoyed reading about them. Regardless of how you feel about about cooking, l would like to hear your recipies as well.
Being the natural history enthusiast that I am, I am glad to be seeing the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle, King County, Washington upload cooking videos on to their YouTube channel involving the use of local native edible plants. Here are some examples; Mt. St Helens Huckleberry Muffins Nettle pesto
Since I'm apparently now ZooChat's resident pastry chef (name given from @TeaLovingDave on the chatroom), I'll definitely share some things later! I was gonna make a thread like this, but it's nice to see we already have one!!
