• Please make sure you are familiar with the forum rules. You can find them here: https://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/index.php?threads/forum-rules.2334636/

Cooking+Resteraunts

Jump to latest Follow Reply
Sort by date Sort by votes
#41
Nicholas said:
Do any of you guys ever make Couscous?
Click to expand...

Rice and Cous Cous tend to be my staple carbs, with occasionally potatoes making an appearance.

I tend to go for the simplest approach to cous cous, which is:

  1. Stick it in a bowl (in terms of quantities that just takes practice to get right - remember it expands a lot), add some salt, a bit of olive oil and give a quick mix with a fork
  2. Add in boiling water or stock (depends on whether you are making plain cous cous or want something more interesting) so it's just covered with a little extra
  3. Give it a good stir, stick a tea towel over the top of the bowl and just wait 3-4 mins
  4. Fluff it up with a fork and serve

A really simple meal that is one of my fall back plans after a hard day of work when I need quick food but don't have much energy.

  1. Brown some chicken, chorizo and onions in a pan
  2. Add in some chopped peppers and courgette, and cook until they are ready (whatever veg suits your tastes)
  3. Turn the heat down more and add a little harissa and tomato paste and make sure they mix in and cover everything and cook a couple mins more
  4. Add in the Cous Cous and mix it in while still heating everything so it soaks up all the juices

Within 10 mins start to finish you can have a meal that tastes great and hits the spot. Even better you just have one frying/wok/stirfry pan and one bowl to wash up afterwards.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
#42
Beef Stew with Dumplings
Such a simple meal to prepare. Ideal for a Sunday when you can do a bit of prep and walk away for several hours.

1 Large onion
2-3 leeks
500g of Stewing steak
2-4 Potatos
2 carrots
1 Parsnip
2 cloves of Garlic
1/3 Bottle of Red Wine
5-6 handful of Shallots
Suet for Dumplings
Seasoning to taste

  1. Preheat an oven to a mid-high temp (190 C or thereabouts)
  2. Dice the beef and roll it in a mixture of flour and black pepper to give it an even but thin dusting, then lightly brown in a frying pan in batches - place the browned beef into the pot
  3. Roughly cut up the onion and chop up the leaks and slowly heat them in the frying pan with butter until they soften and just start to brown and then add them into the pot
  4. De-glaze the frying pan with a dash of red wine - just pour in a splash keeping the heat on and give the pan a good scrape to get all the residue from the beef, leaks and onions and tip it into the pot
  5. Peel the potatoes and roughly chop up (put half into the pot and keep half back).
  6. Peel and chop up the Carrots and Parsnip and add them in
  7. Cruch the garlic cloves the with back of a knife, peel and chuck them in
  8. Pour in about a 1/3rd of a bottle of Red Wine
  9. Top up with beef/vegetable stock
  10. Add seasoning to suit your tastes (for me usually cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper, a couple bay leaves, a little paprika and harissa)
  11. Put the lid on and stick the pot into the oven for 2-3 hours

I'd recommend you take it out and give it a quick stir and taste every hour or so, just to check on progress and to adjust seasoning.

The following are the final steps to be done around 30 mins before you plan to eat.

  1. Peel the Shallots and add them in - adding them late means they'll come out in one piece rather than break down completely
  2. Add in the remaining potato - the 1st batch will after 3+ hours be breaking down nicely into the stew to thicken it, the additional potato will have time to cook and stay firm
  3. To make the dumplings take 2 heaped tablespoons of plain flour, add a pinch of salt, add 1 slightly smaller tablespoon of Suet, add in warm water very slowly teaspoon by teaspoon mixing it in until you get a dough-like consistency
  4. Put some flour down on a work surface and roll the dumpling mix out into a sausage, cut into roughly golf ball sized chunks and hand roll each into a ball
  5. Add the dumplings into the stew for the last 20 mins

The longer it's cooked the softer everything will be and the more the leeks, onions and potatoes will break down.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
#43
~ Quick Chili ~

1 lb (454 g) lean ground Beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 Green pepper, chopped or sliced
1 Red Pepper, chopped or sliced
3 Garlic cloves, minced
1- 2 tbsp of HP Sauce
1 tbsp of crushed chili
1-4 tbsp of chili power
1 tbsp steak spice
1-2 large can diced tomatoes
1-2 can Brown Beans
1 small can of corn
~ Hot sauce

Preparation:

1. Boil ground beef.
2. Stir fry onions, green and red peppers.
3. Add canned tomatoes, corn, beans and crushed chili to large pot.
4. Drain beef and add to stir fried veggies.
5. Further stir fry veggies and beef, while adding HP Sauce
chili power, steak spice and minced garlic [note] add some water or canned tomato later.
6. Removed veggies and beef stir fried combo and add to pot.
7. Let simmer, add more chili and hot sauce if desired.

[Note] Chili always seems better the next day ~ in my opinion.



 
Upvote 0
#45
Kedgeree (Serves 4-6)
1-2 smoked undyed haddock fillet (preferably deboned)
4 hard-boiled eggs, shelled and halved
Basmati rice (roughly 2 cups)
1 onion, finely chopped
Butter
Milk
Double cream
1-2 tsp curry powder
Salt and cracked black pepper
small bunch parsley, chopped
A good pinch of cayenne pepper

This is a recipe that combines Indian cuisine and a British traditional breakfast of smoked fish and boiled eggs. A curried rice dish with smoked fish and boiled eggs - Sounds strange but very tasty. It's a simple meal but takes several steps.

Firstly you'll need to cook the fish - I tend to bake it in the oven.
  1. Place the fish on a piece of tinfoil
  2. Create a parcel with the top open and the edges neatly and firmly folded and sealed
  3. Put some salt and pepper and cayenne pepper on the fish and lightly rub it in
  4. Pour in a dash of milk, add a good knob of butter and some freshly torn up parsley
  5. Place the parcel in the oven (around 180 Celcius) for 15-20 mins until cooked
  6. Take the fish out, remove the skin, flake into chunks and set aside - don't make them too small as it will break up further later when mixed into the rice (try to remove any last bones)
  7. Make sure to keep the juices in the parcel for later
(By the way, this method of cooking fish works for any meal. Season it how you like and serve it with something like a Mash made from Potato, Sweet potato and Butternut squash - with a dash of milk, salt, pepper and a tiny bit of Dijon mustard - and some green beans or courgettes for a super tasty fish supper.)

Whilst the fish is in the oven:
  1. Prepare the rice as normal - 1 part rice to 2 parts water (pinch of salt), bring to boil and simmer gently stirring once or twice until cooked
  2. Boil the eggs for 10 mins (need to be hard boiled)
  3. Place the boiled eggs in cold water and remove the shells
  4. Cut 2 of the eggs into chunks and keep the other 2 back
Once all the component parts are ready we can construct the meal:
  1. Melt some butter in a pan on a medium temperature
  2. Add in the onions, heat them slowly for 5 mins to soften them
  3. Add in the curry powder and stir in, heat for another 2-3 mins
  4. Add in the rice and stir in thoroughly
  5. Pour in the juices from the fish, and start slowly adding the cream - 4-6 tbsp
  6. Next the fish and egg chunks go in with some finely chopped parsley and mix thoroughly
  7. Place in a warm serving dish and garnish the top with slices of the remaining 2 eggs and some roughly chopped parsley
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
#47
Uurastaja said:
This thread needs some pictures for me to drool at.
Click to expand...
FIXED

Spoiler!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Uurastaja and LemoN
Upvote 0
#49
Nicholas said:
Do any of you guys ever make Couscous?
Click to expand...
Fun unimportant information:cool:
An LSU Tiger football cheer goes like this:

Hot boudin, cold couche couche
C'mon Tigers, push push push (pronounced in proper dialect 'poosh')



Cajun couche couche
Couche-Couche is a cereal eaten with warm milk or Cafe au lait (coffee-milk).
It can take the place of bread or rice or cornbread in dressings.
It is delicious served with fried eggs and sliced tomatoes for breakfast.
A real Cajun classic.


Recipe:

Makes: 6 servings
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Ready In: 25 minutes


Ingredients
5 tbsp cooking oil
2 cups yellow cornmeal
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp baking powde
r2 cups milk

Directions
Put four of the five tablespoons of cooking oil into a heavy iron
skillet or saucepan which has a tight lid. Let it heat while you mix
the remaining ingredients in the order given. Last, add the one
remaing tablespoon of cooking oil and pour the whole mixture
into the hot cooking oil. Lower flame to medium and let cook.
Keep stirring about every three minutes, being sure to scrape the
bottom of the pot each time. Cook covered tightly until couche-
couche reaches the consistency of crumbled up corn bread
(about 20 minutes).

Note: Milk is the correct wetting agent in this recipe.
Some Couch-Couch recipes use water, but don't substitute water with this one.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dr. Pierre Chang
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply
Jump to latest Follow Reply
Community News
Forums
Merch
Menu