Unofficial TESA Foodie thread

[Arion]

This is one of the spices I use on meats that I'm either grilling or baking that really enhances the flavor.

[donnato]

Great pic bro. I`ll definately look for it when I get to the store.

[Jac]

I made banana pudding last night with a little nutmeg added to the pudding, and everybody loved it! The last time I had it was when my mom made it...man I missed it.

[lilith]

What I've been doing over the past several days, Filled Jars by lilith.

Apricot Jam on the left (small jars), Apricot/Peach blend in the center and Peach Jam on the right.

[donnato]

Ohohhhohh..look at that jam...wow Lilith can you add me to your mailing list?

on another note, I just bought a full set of Emiril cookware. 4 more payments so it doesn`t hurt so bad. I`ve never had "good" cookware. Mostly just what I needed from the local grocery.

Along with the usual frypans and sauce pans this one includes a double burner griddle and a paella pan, as well as an 8 qt. stock pot. I like that the sauce pans have lids with strainers.

I`m sooo jazzed.

[lilith]

Wow! Congratulations donnato! I know you'll enjoy a good set of cookware!

I'll put you on my mailing list if you put me on yours

[Khettienna]

Pepite di Pollo Parmigiana a-la Khett

(Chicken Parm Bites)

Almost everybody loves chicken parm! Here is a way to cook it that is faster and healthier than the traditional method.

Benefits over regular chicken parm:

• Skip the oven and the extra pan
  
• WAY less breading
  
• WAY less oil
  
• Start to finish takes ~25 minutes at most for 2 chicken breasts
  
• Great for cooking in small portions
  

Per boneless/skinless chicken breast, you'll need:

• 1 egg
  
• 1/3 cup breading mixture*
  
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  
• 1/4 cup finely diced onion
  
• 1/2 clove minced fresh/jar garlic
  
• 1/4 cup your favorite tomato sauce (already made - jar or leftover)
  
• generous handful of mozzarella cheese
  

All measurements are approximate, I apologize, again I forgot to measure anything while I was cooking

*For your breading mixture, here is what I like to do:

• 1 part bread crumbs, 1 part grated parmaesan.
  
• Use coarse-ground almonds in place of some or all bread crumbs for less carbs.
  
• Use Italian-style Panko crumbs instead of bread crumbs if it suits you.
  
• I season it with salt, black pepper, thyme, and fine-chopped fresh rosemary. Don't overdo the salt, because the parm is already pretty salty. Go ahead and get all this stuff mixed together and put it in a ziploc baggy big enough to hold all your chicken with room to spare.
  

Rinse your chicken breast, pat it dry, then dice into 1" cubes, roughly. They don't have to be exact. Just try to get them all the same volume.

Start heating the olive oil in a non-stick skillet, and add your diced onions. Swish them around in the pan so they soak up some oil, and let them cook down over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, and maybe get just a little color. Add the garlic. After just 1-2 minutes (we don't want the garlic to get dark), spoon the onion and garlic out onto a small plate and put it to the side - tilt the spoon on the edge of the pan to drain the oil back into the pan as much as you can. Get your pan hot again - this time to med-high.

Since you have a few minutes while the onions are going, that's a good time to beat your eggs thoroughly in a bowl large enough to also hold all your chicken. You can skip the yolks to save some fat & calories.

Once you are done with your onion & garlic, scrape your raw chicken pieces from your cutting board into your egg bowl and swoosh them around so they get nice and evenly coated. Holding the pieces in the bowl with a spoon, spatula, or your fingers, drain the excess egg directly into the trash or garbage disposal or whatever. Then pour the egg-coated chicken pieces into your breading baggy and shake it until all pieces are evenly coated. It's Shake n' Bake. Yyyep.

Now your pan is hot, so get your chicken into the pan! Don't pour it right from the bag, you might spatter hot oil or the chicken might just land in one giant clump and sear that way. Do it a few pieces at a time with fingers or tongs or whatever suits you - but do it fast, and make sure the pieces stay in a single layer in the pan. These pieces only need to cook 2 minutes per side, so maybe by the time you have it all in the pan, the first pieces need to be flipped. Add your onion and garlic back into the pan after you've flipped all the pieces.

Once they hit the pan, don't touch them until they need to be flipped. You can tell diced chicken needs to be flipped because you'll see how the bottom quarter or so of the pieces are white. If you flip early or swish things around in the pan, you won't get a good browning on the meat, and it will be tougher and less flavorful. Also, because the pieces are breaded, you will ruin the breading if you shuffle them about much.

So, 2 minutes per side. Ideally the pieces will still be slightly undercooked at this point. Now, pour in your tomato sauce around the chicken pieces. Just enough to cover the bottom of the pan; don't cover the chicken pieces, we don't want soup or stew or anything, or to lose all of our nice crispy breading. Let the sauce get steamy, then top the whole thing with as much shredded mozzerella as you want & turn the stove to low heat. When the cheese is melted (~5 mins), it's time for dinner!

Alternative serving: You can also just have your tomato sauce on the side for dipping. Since we are using a non-stick skillet, the mozz won't burn as soon as it hits the pan without sauce under it as long as you don't have it too hot.

=============

Pollo Parmigiana Rimanenze Ricostruita Rifatta Rinato Riduxato v2_0 a-la Khett

(Leftover Chicken Parm Rebuilt Redone Reborn Redux v2_0, if u liek plz endorse plz!!)

So as always, I made too much breading mixture, and I hate to waste herbs and parmaesan! But I didn't want to eat precisely the same thing again, so this time..,

• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1 small block-style package frozen chopped spinach, or equivalent fresh spinach washed and chopped
  
• ~½ cup prepared bechamel sauce (google for easy recipes, or use any mild cream-based sauce)
  
• 1/3 cup same breading mixture as above
  
• olive oil
  
• salt
  
• I also had a little leftover onion and garlic mixture, which I sorta rubbed onto this chicken before breading it.
  

This is obviously less healthy than its predicessor because of the cream sauce, but there are healthier cream sauces out there than classic bechamel sauce, and any of them or their "reduced fat" etc. cousins will probably do fine.

Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

Rinse & pat dry the chicken. Don't dice - this time we'll have it whole.

Coat in egg, then breading.

Place in non-stick casserole dish/baking pan and sprinkle any remaining leftover breading on top of the chicken. Add rosemary on top/around the chicken just for extra flavor, if you still have any of that leftover.

Bake for ~25 mins uncovered. If your bechamel sauce isn't made yet, now is the time!

After 25 mins, turn the oven off, but leave the chicken in for 5-7 more minutes if it's not quite done.

Boil or steam the spinach according to package instructions, season with salt if desired. It might be time to pull the chicken out of the oven before the spinach is done. Make sure to check that the chicken has reached 165 F inside for food safety.

Once the spinach is done, turn the heat to low, and drain the spinach thoroughly. Return it to pan over low heat. Add a half-ladle of the bechamel sauce and stir it through the spinach. Add more if you want! Just don't let it get soupy.

By now your chicken has been resting for several minutes and should be about ready to cut into and eat. Plate the spinach and chicken side-by-side and spoon remaining bechamel sauce over your chicken. There's probably some wayward breading crumbs in the baking pan, you can sprinkle those over the spinach.

I wish I'd had a nice, ripe tomato. I would have loved to dice it, let it get just lukewarm, and then spoon it over my chicken under the bechamel sauce. Or some really thin orange slices to just sort of get into everything on the plate like what this Greek place near my house does. Something to balance it. donnbro, is this what they mean when they say on TV, "This dish is screaming for an acid"? So yeah, you'll want to do something like that! A whole chicken breast and a whole package of spinach is a lot of food for one person, especially with the rich cream sauce, so the addition of a side and maybe some bread could easily stretch this into two plates. You'll need a little more sauce, in that case - maybe a lot more if you have bread. Enjoy!

Edited August 26, 2012 by Khettienna

[greenwarden]

That sounds so delicious, Khetty, dear lord.

Okay, here's a recipe we've used and loved for years, for a simple coconut curry noodle dish, seasoned with garlic and basil. Don't get any funny ideas about using "lite" coconut milk- that stuff is made by the joyless, for the joyless. Just consider the rich creamy full fat coconut milk a splurge.

Thai-Style Chicken One-Pot

1 tbsp sunflower oil, or any other oil that can take high heat, like canola.

1 onion, sliced- sweet onions work really well, oh yes.

1 fat garlic clove

1 inch of fresh ginger root, grated

1 bunch of scallion/green onions, chopped diagonally

1 lb of chicken thighs, cut into bite sized pieces (breast meat is also fine, I just prefer thigh meat)

2 tbsp green curry paste (yellow also works, according to a trusted friend)

2 cups of whole coconut milk- not "lite"

1 and a half cups of chicken stock

9 oz of Chinese egg noodles

2 tsp of fresh lime juice

salt and pepper

plenty of basil for garnish

Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok, then add the onion, garlic, ginger and scallions. Stir fry for two minutes or so- just do this until the onions are nice and soft and fragrant.

Add the chicken and curry paste, fry for four minutes, or until everything is golden browned.

Stir in the coconut milk, chicken stock, and add salt and pepper to your taste.

Bring this to a boil, then add the noodles (break them to make them fit if you must), then cover and simmer for six to eight minutes. Sometime we have to add a bit more stock here to make sure the noodles are covered.

When done with the simmering, add the lime juice, garnish with plenty of basil and serve in deep soup bowls.

This makes for a nice cold weather dinner, and there will be leftovers- the leftovers are even better.

[Ekanar]

Creations from an Eklectic Kitchen

Baklava Recipe

All amounts are approximate.

Baklava is a pastry popular in Middle Eastern countries. Baklava is layers of phyllo dough alternating with a sugar and spice nut mixture, and then the whole thing is soaked with fragrant sweet syrup. The recipe can be a bit time consuming. The tissue paper-thin phyllo dough is fragile and breaks easily (check the box, you’’ll find it in the freezer section, make sure it’s not freezer burned (little ice crystals on it)). As always fresher is better.

Ingredient List:

1lb. of chopped nuts, walnuts and/or pecans, almonds, or in some cases pistachios are used, mine I use a 50/50ish mix of walnuts and pecans freshly chopped, I get the ones at a health store so they are shelled and fresh. A nut chopper works great or just a chef’s knife. I get 1lb each, I’ll eat them anyway and that way I can adjust the amount and blend for taste.

*Disclaimer: when using a chef’s knife to cut nuts wear eye protection and a suit of armor *

1lb. Phyllo dough, any major food chain carries it in the frozen pastry section.

1.5 lbs. butter – Don’t clarify, the milk solids and salt are good for ya just keep it stirred as you use it.

1 cup sugar – right just have the bag around

1 teaspoon cinnamon *see above comment* just have it around.

1/3 teaspoon ground cloves – now on this one be careful, the idea is a subtle spicy flavor not to taste like a Christmas ham!

½ teaspoon ground cardamom – same as above easy does it.

The syrup is the kicker! A good syrup goes along way so spend time here and easy on the flame, melted not nuked is the watch word.

1 cup sugar plus really I have no clue I just cook till it’s right …

1 tablespoon Rose Water (Middle Eastern store or section)

1 tablespoon Orange Blossom water same as above.

Now here’s the deal … these two ingredients not that expensive but you’ll hardly use them unless or like me and find uses for them. The both are good to put in a little water for a refreshing splash in the face after a hard night modding or toss in salad for a whiff of flavor etc. Be creative!

1 lemon twist – you know what that is right just the rind, a small slice, turn so the outside of the peel is facing the mixture and twist, this causes the oil to release, if you look close you’ll see oily patches on top of the liquid.

A few cinnamon sticks … hmm can I use ground? …. I’ve done it, it worked but sometimes cooking is all about “The Flare†(careful not the flare-up)

A few whole cloves and cardamom seeds again you’re going to be liquefying the sugar and cooking the spicy flavors into the syrup so just your own judgment and taste.

What did I forget … no matter. Ok next “The Procedureâ€

Did I tell you this is a two day project … Oh … read on if I haven’t scared you away ...

The procedure –

Set oven to 350, or as I was taught 375 because when you open the oven to put the pan in your gonna lose a good 25 degrees, you cook it at 350.

Thaw the phyllo dough out overnight … opps that makes it a 3 day affair, no matter if your still reading you probably hungry by now. Have a snack … I’ll wait.

Ok, the nut mixture is fairly straight forward, cinnamon, sugar, ground clove and cardamom and chopped nuts mixed in a bowl. As I said it’s to taste so used nuts of your choice just chop them and sugar and spices should completely coat the nuts and then some as it’s the filling. Not too much though, the syrup is the kicker remember.

Pan size 9x13

Butter the pan … butter - if using LoCal margarine or Pam please place your cooking utensils down and back away from the

counter! Really if you have too, I have no idea how the water in the margarine will react. You may have to lower the temp and increase the time to get the water out without burning the top …

At this point you have a choice, I’ve done it both ways, you can cut the dough to fit the pan or you can leave it a tad bigger and use a pastry knife (or back edge of a butter knife) to push the edges down, kinda makes the edges more doughy that way.

Butter each sheet with a brush; use a soft one so it won’t tear the phyllo. So butter pan, place a phyllo sheet in the pan, butter sheet, rinse and repeat till you have 12 sheets for the bottom (the top will be the same), 7 sheet are in between the layers.

After you have 12 sheets down, sprinkle in nut mixture. Again, it’s up to you how thick, my experience is that more layers helps it to hold together, so here are some schemes:

12 top and bottom is good.

Use 7 thin nut layers with 3 sheets in between (my fav … more work but holds together nicely)

or

3 layers with 7 sheets in between

Or find your own scheme.

I find it easier to cut at this point, triangles, squares, circles whatever J

Away, once that’s constructed, bake for 30ish minutes till golden brown (make sure it’s on the center rack)

**know your oven – hot spots, if you need to turn it mid-cycle etc.

So, here’s one of the more important secrets:

Either pour cold syrup on hot baklava or hot syrup on cool baklava (my favorite). The idea is to get the baked baklava to instantly soak up into itself the sweet syrup, not to have it swimming in it!

So I cool mine overnight.

Ok the syrup is easy too.

Cup or so of sugar half the amount of sugar of water... E.g. 1cup sugar, ½ cup water

Toss in the cloves, cinnamon sticks and cardamom.

Heat obviously till the sugar melts into a syrup, add rose water so you can taste it in the mixture, same with the orange blossom water. Not overpowering but a subtle hint. Few twists of the lemon. Trust me flavor is as much about smell as taste and when you taste complex combinations cause folks to go wtf that’s great

Cook till tasty.

Again hot syrup over cool baklava … pour over the baklava … and consume.

To serve at a function use those lil’ cupcake papery thingys to put individual pieces into and on a tray.

Love from the Ekletic Kitchen

[lilith]

I just gained 10 pounds reading this and I love it! Thank you so much for sharing this Ek!

[donnato]

Freakin` wow Ek...that`s a great recipe. I think I could do this just from what you`ve listed here. Awsome.. and Thank you so much.

[Khettienna]

Dayumn, now I wish I hadn't already blown my carbohydrate cheat credits for the month on cupcakes. But next month? BAKLAVA!

[donnato]

Ok, for Lilith. My grandma`s Date nut bread.

4c. cut up dates

2c. nut meats, broken

2c. boiling water

1/2c. shortening

1 1/2c. firmly packed brown sugar

4c. sifted cake flour

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

2 tsps. soda

Pour boiling water over dates and nuts and let stand.

Cream shortening.

Add sugar gradually - work real well.

Sirt flour and salt together twice.

Add eggs one at a time and beat well after each.

add soda to date - nut mixture and add alternately into creamed batter with flour.

Stir gently - mix quickly.

Now stir in 2/3c. water.

Pour into pans and bake 45 minutes or until done at 350 degrees.

This makes 4 small bread pans so you can cut the recipe in half for 2 loaves

There ya go, I fondly remember this date nut bread. Her banana bread was also the best.

[lilith]

Thank you so much for sharing this donnato! I can't wait to make it!

[donnato]

You`re welcome Lilith. It`s in the original wording but I figure we pretty much know what she means. At least she doesn`t give baking temps as slow, medium, or fast oven. Please let me know how it turns out?

[DarkRider]

Smore's Bars

Almost better that the real thing...

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 king-sized milk chocolate bars (e.g. Hershey’s)

1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (not melted marshmallows)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.

Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough. 2 king-sized Hershey’s bars should fit perfectly side by side, but break the chocolate (if necessary) to get it to fit in a single layer no more than 1/4 inch thick. Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff (most easily achieved by flattening small sections of dough in your hands and then laying/pressing them together across top).

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars

-----------------------

Not my recipe, a reprint from Pinterest, but too good NOT to share here

[donnato]

Wow Rider these look great. I remember making the originals next to a campfire. Nothing like it. Thanks.

[Khettienna]

Khetty's Family Chili

Everybody seems to have a different opinion on what "real chili" is. However, in my opinion, chili should just be about what you like to taste - and I like my grandma's chili better than anything I ever tasted from Texas. So today, I made it! Here's her recipe. Credits to my mom, too, for tweaking it and passing it down and taste-testing my batch to be sure I had it "just right" . All seasoning measurements are... to taste! We don't need no stinkin' measuring cups!

2 lbs 85% lean (93% is okay but less flavor!) ground beef

2 lg cans whole tomatoes

1 lg sweet onion

beef base (such as Better Than Bouillion or Minor's)

cooking oil

salt

black pepper

chili powder (homemade or store-bought)

red chili flakes or cayenne or other heat source

garlic

1) Dice onion & sweat in cooking oil over low heat in bottom of big pot. Set aside to drain.

2) Crumble ground beef into big pot, add salt and black pepper and garlic* to taste, and also enough chili powder to make a slight but noticeable color change in the meat, and let brown. Re-add the onions to the pot. Do not cook beef completely through. Drain excess grease from the pot, but do not drain the beef directly.

*If your chili powder has a lot of garlic already, maybe skip this - I had to go back and add extra garlic because the brand I used was really stingy with it.

*Use only a little salt on the beef, as the beef base will already have a LOT of salt in it.

3) Drain both cans of tomatoes into the pot. Dice the tomatoes themselves, and add them to the pot. Stir it all up. If you want more broth, add water 1 cup at a time.

4) Add more chili powder until it looks red enough to be good chili. Or to taste. Taste as you go for best results!

5) Add 1 tbsp beef base, then an additional 1-2 tsp at a time until the desired richness and darkness is reached in the broth. I use 2 "southern tablespoons" per batch (~3 tbsp). Taste as you go, it's easy to overdo it.

6) Add red chili flakes or cayenne or other heat of choice to taste.

7) Cover & let simmer at least 20 mins, longer is better. If you want to add cooked/canned beans, add them just ~20 mins before removing the chili from heat or they will get too mushy. For lower-carb, quarter longways then halve about 10 baby carrots in lieu of beans, and add them as early as you want - just don't add too many or it will turn into veggie soup. For thicker broth, leave the cover off until the broth reduces to desired thickness.

Khetty's Serving Suggestion - Chili Pie/Frito Pie:

Serve in a shallow bowl & top with finely shredded mild or medium cheddar, then lightly crumbled Fritos or other crispy corn chips, then a spoonful of lowfat sour cream, then a sprinkling of scallions/chives.

Edited February 6, 2013 by Khettienna

[grond]

I've copied this recipe. It's close to what I make, but for the Beef Base. I'll give it a try next time I make a pot. It sounds interesting and salty (read: delicious )

Also I add Worcestershire - love that strong tang in the mix. And for some reason I've learned to add cumin to it, despite what's already in the chili powder. There's garlic powder in chili powder too, but it doesn't stop me from crushing at least 5 cloves in there.

Chili could have its own thread!

[lilith]

Ooo, I love the serving suggestion Sweet-Khett. Yum! I usually just serve soft tortillas on the side.

I love chili; it's like stew, free-style with what's available.

[Jac]

Chili could have its own thread!

You got that right:

2 lbs ground meat

1 Tbsp garlic powder

2 Tbsp chili powder*

2 Tbsp black pepper

1 cup diced onion

1/2 cup diced bell peppers (I dice, mix, and freeze two green, one yellow, and one red. That way I can grab what I want when I need it.)

2 cups beef stock roux**

1 Tsp salt (if desired)

1-2 cans of diced tomatoes and chilies

1/2 can of tomato paste or a small can of tomato sauce if desired (the more used, the redder the chili).

1 15oz can of beans if desired.

1 Tsp oregano

1 Tsp thyme

1 Tsp ground coriander

1 Tsp ground cumin

Season the meat with some of the chili powder and black pepper, brown, and put in a large pot/dutch oven. Sauté the onions and bell peppers and add to the meat. Add the remaining ingredients, cover, and simmer for about 30 minutes. Remove the cover and cook until the roux has reduced to the desired consistency. If it gets too thick, add beef broth or water.

*Chili powder (the chilies are dried versions)

3 cascabel chiles, stemmed, seeded, and sliced.

3 guajillo chiles, stemmed, seeded, and sliced.

3 japones chiles, stemmed, seeded, and sliced.

3 ancho chiles, stemmed, seeded, and sliced.

2 Tbls whole cumin seeds.

2 Tbls garlic powder.

1 Tbl dried oregano.

1 Tbl smoked sweet paprika.

Directions

Place all of the chilies and cumin into a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Cook, moving the pan around constantly, until you begin to smell the cumin toasting, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Set aside and cool completely.

Once cool, place the chilies and cumin into the carafe of a blender along with the garlic powder, oregano, and paprika. Process until a fine powder is formed. Allow the powder to settle for at least a minute before removing the lid of the carafe.

**Beef roux:

4 Tbsp (1/4 cup) butter

1/4 cup AP or bread flour (do not use cake flour)

2 cups beef stock/broth chilled

Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan and whisk in the flour. Whisk and cook for about 2 minutes or until the mixture is tan and you can smell the cooked flour. Slowly whisk in the beef broth and cook for ten minutes, whisking frequently. The broth should be dark tan/light brown in color. Cook longer for a more rich taste, but increase the flour and butter to 5/16 cups and the broth to 2 1/2 cups, or thereabouts. The longer you cook the broth, the more flavor it will have, but the less thickening power it will have. If you cook it for less and substitute the broth for milk, you can make home made cheese sauce. Only cook it for about 5 minutes and remove from heat before you add the cheese.

[Jac]

Hamburger, macronii, and home made cheese sauce

This is like homemade Hamburger Helper^tm

2 lbs ground meat (I use 80/20)

3/4 cup diced onion

1/2 cup diced celery (if desired)

3/4 cup diced bell peppers (I dice, mix, and freeze two green, one yellow, and one red. That way I can grab what I want when I need it)

1 Tbsp ground garlic

1 Tbsp chili powder (if desired)

1 Tbsp dried oregano (if desired)

2 cups chilled milk

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (do not use pre-shredded bags if possible because it contains starch to keep the cheese separated and that will cause your cheese sauce to be powdery)

1/4 cup flour (AP or bread. Do not use cake)

4 Tbsp (1/4 cup) butter

1 bag macaroni noodles

Cook the noodles according to the package directions.

Brown the meat and set aside in a large pot. Sauté the onions, bell peppers and celery. Combine with the meat when done.

Cheese sauce

Melt the butter and whisk in the flour. Cook for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and slowly whisk in the milk. Return to medium heat and cook for about 5 minutes, or until the milk turns beige. Remove from heat and whisk in the cheese a little at a time, making sure to fully melt the cheese between batches. If the cheese isn't melting, return to heat just long enough to melt the cheese. Once all of the cheese has been incorporated, pour over the meat and veggie mixture, combine, and serve.

[donnato]

wow Jac, you`re really on a roll here. these recipe`s look terrific. Thank you.

[Jac]

Thanks Donnato. I have plenty more, but I don't want to hog the thread.

We have an Iron Skillet section over on Wolflore, but since we host adult material, I'm not going to link to it in public. The recipes are free for guests to read, though. Only our adult material requires registration to view.

[Jac]

I think this thread deserves its own forum because I can't keep track of what recipes I've posted or haven't and it's rather large to look through to find new ones to try out. That being said, here's a recipe for sawmill gravy (or SOL, biscuits and gravy, etc.)

1 lb sausage

2-3 cups milk (more milk equals more gravy)

3 Tbsp oil

Salt and pepper

1/4 cup flour

Brown the sausage in a cast iron skillet using all of the oil. Drain and keep the oil. Return the oil to the skillet and whisk in the flour over medium heat until thoroughly incorporated. Remove from heat and slowly pour in the milk. Return to medium heat and cook, whisking frequently, until the milk starts to turn a beige color and "rolls" over itself. The gravy is done with it can coat the back of a wooden spoon. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then fold the sausage back in. The gravy will set as it cools, but you can make a thicker gravy by cooking it longer. Serves 4-5.