This place needs a recipe forum!

[Redwolf]

A weird-sounding but amazingly delicious Medieval recipe I made for the Feast of Fools on January 1:

LECHE LUMBARDE

2 pounds dates, pitted
2 cups sweet wine (sherry, port, madeira, etc.)
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
4 hard-boiled eggs, mashed
2 cups hard brown bread, grated (note: I just used whole-wheat Panko-style bread crumbs from the natural foods store)

Gently boil the dates in the wine for about 15 minutes.

Pour off half the liquid (feed the poured off liquid to the closest 14-year-old, who will enjoy it immensely)

Add the brown sugar to the date mixture and return to low heat for about 2-4 minutes, until mixture is thick and stiff.

Remove mixture from pot and place it on a bread board or other sturdy kneading surface, lightly floured.

Over the dates, evenly sprinkle the cinnamon, ginger, mashed eggs and 1 cup of the bread crumbs.

Moisten hands with water and knead mixture until it is well integrated. Form it into a cylinder or log.

Roll log in remaining bread crumbs to coat evenly (this is a bit of a challenge, as it likes to break apart. Having someone help you works best)

Chill for at least 3 hours before serving.

To serve, cut into 1/4-1/2 inch thick slices with a moistened knife.

The seriously yum soup I made to stave off the cold and damp of this winter storm:

SICILIAN PASTA, KALE AND CHICKPEA SOUP
(from "Vegetarian Soup Cuisine," by Jay Solomon...with a few tweaks of my own)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
8 cups (64 ounces) hot water
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, with liquid
1/4 cup (1.5 ounces) tomato paste
3 white potatoes, diced (skins left on)
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
Several grinds fresh black pepper
About 8 ounces small pasta shells or spirals (I use whole wheat rotini).
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained.
2 cups coarsely chopped kale (about 1 small bunch)
Grated Parmesan or pecorino Romano cheese

Heat the oil in a large saucepan or soup pot. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until the onion is just golden. Add the hot water, tomatoes, tomato paste, potatoes and seasonings. Bring to a simmer and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. Add the pasta, chickpeas and kale and continue to cook for 10 - 12 minutes more, stirring frequently. Serve topped with cheese (if desired), with warm Italian bread and perhaps a salad.

Note: The original recipe called for 2 cups diced zucchini/courgette, to be added with the water and tomatoes, but I detest zucchini, so I leave it out.

Measurements are approximate. This being a soup, there's no need to worry to much about precision.

[peeplj]

Recipe forum? No.

Recipe threads in the pub? Of course!

And...I need a recipe for cheese/sausage balls.

1 lb sage sausage
4 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1.5 to 2 cups Bisquick

Preheat oven to 400 F. In a medium bowl combine sausage, cheese, and Bisquick. Mix together and shape into walnut-sized balls; if not dry enough add more Bisquick . Place on a cookie sheet or pizza pan. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, serve hot.

Can be reheated if needed in microwave.

--James

[Dale]

LECHE LUMBARDE

2 pounds dates, pitted
2 cups sweet wine (sherry, port, madeira, etc.)
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
4 hard-boiled eggs, mashed
2 cups hard brown bread, grated (note: I just used whole-wheat Panko-style bread crumbs from the natural foods store)

I was with you until the hard boiled eggs. That's just not right. Really??

[chas]

And...I need a recipe for cheese/sausage balls.

No sausage, but this makes a great cheese ball:

1/2 lb cream cheese
1/2 lb really really sharp cheddar
1/4 lb blue cheese
1-2 stalks celery or a tbsp or so of celery seed
a tbsp or two of milk or cream

If you don't mind cleaning up the meat grinder, use stalks of celery and put the dry cheeses and celery through the meat grinder. Whip up the cream cheese, add the stuff from the meat grinder, and add a little milk or cream if necessary till it all mixes well. Ball it up and roll it in minced pecans or walnuts.

If, like me, you don't want to use the meat grinder for 30 seconds and spend 15 minutes cleaning it, get crumbled blue cheese and grate the cheddar. I use celery seed instead of celery for convenience, too. Proceed as above; you'll need some milk/cream for sure because there won't be any liquid from the celery. Proceed as above.

If you're not a blue cheese person, don't be turned off by its presence -- my wife HATES blue cheese and loves this stuff.

[Walden]

1 lb sage sausage
4 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1.5 to 2 cups Bisquick

Preheat oven to 400 F. In a medium bowl combine sausage, cheese, and Bisquick. Mix together and shape into walnut-sized balls; if not dry enough add more Bisquick . Place on a cookie sheet or pizza pan. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, serve hot.

Can be reheated if needed in microwave.

--James

I normally would crumble and fry the sausage first.

[Redwolf]

LECHE LUMBARDE

2 pounds dates, pitted
2 cups sweet wine (sherry, port, madeira, etc.)
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
4 hard-boiled eggs, mashed
2 cups hard brown bread, grated (note: I just used whole-wheat Panko-style bread crumbs from the natural foods store)

I was with you until the hard boiled eggs. That's just not right. Really??

Really, and to be honest, I had the same response when I was given the recipe. In fact, the whole time I was making it I was thinking "gack...no one's going to want to eat this mess!" But it was really, really good (and the eggs were fully integrated, so really it wasn't different from baking something with an egg in it). Everyone at the feast loved it, and my daughter scarfed up the leftovers. It was rather like a cinnamony Turkish delight.

redwolf

[Walden]

LECHE FLAN:

12 egg yolks
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
1 tbsp. vanilla
caramel syrup (see below)

Stir yolks, milk, and vanilla together lightly, avoiding formingbubbles. Pour syrup into pan or flan molds, and pour the egg mixture on top of it.

Preheat oven to 325F.

Cover flan with foil. Put molds into a bigger pan with water in it.

Bake in oven until mixture is firm (about an hour). Cool throughly before unmolding.

CARAMEL SYRUP:

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup water

Put sugar and water in a saucepan. Caramelize over medium heat.

[s1m0n]

And what's with the water in omelettes!!

Devious chefs interested in producing show-offy fluffy omlettes substitute substitute soda water.

Or did, back in the siphons-and-seltzer era.

[Lambchop]

LECHE LUMBARDE

2 pounds dates, pitted
2 cups sweet wine (sherry, port, madeira, etc.)
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
4 hard-boiled eggs, mashed
2 cups hard brown bread, grated (note: I just used whole-wheat Panko-style bread crumbs from the natural foods store)
.

With the metric conversion, that would be 8 hard-boiled eggs . . .

[Ro3b]

I've been trying, without success, to find a quote from Elizabeth David that I stumbled on a few years ago. To paraphrase, there is only one proven and infallible way to make an omelette: your own. You must stick to that method rigorously and scorn all others.

Have you Merkins got bloody big eggs or something?

Just so we're all clear on what Steve is calling us. (The link is a bit nsfw.)

[Nanohedron]

And what's with the water in omelettes!!

Devious chefs interested in producing show-offy fluffy omlettes substitute substitute soda water.

Or did, back in the siphons-and-seltzer era.

I use a spot of milk. If I haven't forgot to do the groceries.

I saw some sort of progam on TV where a French cook solidly decried putting milk in the omelette eggs, and said only water will do. Fie!, said I, Fie, and a thousand times fie. If the French will go so far as to declare that, they know jack squat (or rien, to you Francophones).

So, don't blame us, Steve. It's the French. Some of us may suck up to them, but not all. So there.

[Nanohedron]

To paraphrase, there is only one proven and infallible way to make an omelette: your own. You must stick to that method rigorously and scorn all others.

As I just did. And it was a good scorning.

You want something to scorn about others' omelettes, Shaw? Have you ever had a Japanese omelette? They put sugar or something else sweet in them. And, although a bit surprising, they're actually quite good.

Damn. Now I want sushi.

[SteveShaw]

I speak as an aficionado of the Delia Smith school of omelette-making, which is the alpha and omega on the subject as far as I'm concerned. All this "moderate heat" tosh for a start! You will get nought but a tough egg pancake that way. The cooker must almost be setting the kitchen on fire before your omelette pan gets anywhere near it. Fools! Can't you see that this is the way to get your omelettes fluffy! My omelettes are always incredibly fluffy and I do not have to resort to abominations such as the addition of soda water! The omelette, done my way, cooks rapidly on its panward side and should be just liquid still on the distal side as you fold it over. You want it fluffy and soft and moist in the middle, even slightly runny still, and not turning into some leathery membranous sheet that you could use in a duel to slap each other around with. And do not add milk. Milk is okay (if you really must) added to the mix for scrambled eggs, but never for omelettes.

[SteveShaw]

Correction to Omelette Recipe:
Texans, use 1 egg.

Classic! Post of the decade!

[FJohnSharp]

Recipe forum: no

New Forum request forum: yes

Forum for denying New Forum requests: no

Forum for discussing New Forum request denials: yes