Drink And Dine

July 24, 2008

Pie Recipes

The actual content of the pie is only half the pleasure, the crust or topping is something else, some heavy and stodgy, others light and crisp My family enjoy any type or pie, but when I first got married I struggled to find different pie recipes. Sometimes I would start with a recipe I had used before and with confidence I slightly changed the content and sat back as I watched my family sampled my new pie recipe. My Pie Recipe Tips. The main thing to remember when cooking is to have fun, whether it be a pie recipe or not, do not worry if it does not turn out perfect, you can always try again. If you are cooking a savory pie such as shepherd’s pie, remember you do not have to keep it simple, try changing the potato topping for sweet potato or mix potato and Swede for an extra sweet taste. Another idea is to mash plenty of cream and cheese onto your mash before topping your pie, although this pie recipe is not so good for the hips it really is delicious! When trying out a new pie recipe make sure you understand the different cooking terminologies. This can alter the final flavour of a dish as most pie recipes can be prepared in a number of different ways. If you are stuck for ideas for new pie recipes never forget that information and ingredients for pie recipes is readily available on the internet at the click of a button. I would strongly recommend you do not invite the world and his wife over for dinner if you are trying out new pie recipes, there is nothing worse than feeling of disappointment if it does not work out to plan. Always test on your family first but ask them to be honest. When trying new pie recipes always try to get the freshest ingredients you can, visit your local organic farm store if possible, choose vegetables or fruit that in season to be guaranteed the best taste. Try to think what would go best along side your dish If it is a sweet desert tries to consider if it would taste better hot will a cool ice cream next to it. Or if it is savory what vegetables or side dishes would look best, I would always go for bright colors as the pasty or topping can sometime look pale and boring. Above all remember to test your food along the way so you know if you should add something to give your pie recipe that little something extra

July 12, 2008

Beer

Maybe you’ve been following my column on our blog, Your Weekly Libation, and my tapestry of booze has enticed you. Maybe you’re a drink-fixated foodie looking to move from smoothies and teas into a more exciting area. Maybe you saw the word ‘beer’ and started drooling like one of Pavlov’s dogs. Whatever the reason, you’re here and eager to make your own beer!

How easy or difficult is the process? That depends entirely on how much you want to influence the outcome. Whatever the method, prepare to commit some cash; at least $40 for an all-in-one kit, or up to $150 to make things from scratch. It’s worth the costs, however, when you finally crack open a bottle of your own personal beer and down it with glee.

The first option for the amateur brewer is to pick up an all-in-one beer kit. Mr. Beer, the most well-known, offers four different kits, from the $40 Deluxe Edition all the way up to the $150 Ultimate Edition. Another brand to consider is the $130-150 Starter Home Brewery set (which uses a glass carboy and organic ingredients). These sets don’t do all the work for you, but they do cut down on use of raw ingredients or jerry-rigged equipment. By using a kit, you’ll possibly save money and definitely ensure consistency. But all the ease of production comes at a price: good luck customizing the flavor of your beer using a pre-made brewpack.

For the truly discerning brewer-to-be, it may seem necessary to do everything yourself. This allows for much more experimentation and creativity; it also has a much smaller margin for error. It’s best to buy a brewkit first, experiment with it, and move on to custom beers once you’re comfortable. If you are, and you’ve made sure to properly sterilize all your equipment (via steam dry in the dishwasher or a diluted bleach soak and rinse) there are three broad phases to beer creation:

Brewing
For this, you’ll need a brewpot, a recipe, a kitchen strainer, at least 2.5 gallons of water (most brewpacks and recipes call for 2.5-3 gallons), and a rolling pin (to crush your grain ingredients). What ingredients you need depends on what kind of beer you’re making. A Simple Ale, for example, might contain:

3 lbs. light dried malt extract
8 oz. crushed crystal malt
1 oz. Northern Brewer pellet hops
1 pkg. brewers yeast
3/8 C. sugar, for bottling

But different beers require different amounts of even the most basic ingredients. The brewpot is where you prepare the beer ingredients—the “wort”—for fermentation. Use a large (at least 4 gallon) metal pot, ideally stainless steel or ceramic-coated. Using an aluminum pan will work, sort of, but your beer will end up tasting funny. And with a process as long as this one, the final result had better be good! Once you’ve prepared the wort, you’re ready for the second phase.

Primary fermentation
For this, you’ll need a serious fermenting container. No skimping with a two-liter bottle, here. Some sites suggest you use a fermenter made specifically for brewing, with a stopper and spigot; others show how to employ things like water cooler bottles. Whichever kind you use, pour in (“pitch”) your brewer’s yeast. Here is where the the infant beer shall remain as the yeast parties down inside, chowing down on the sugars within the wort and giving off carbon dioxide. To prevent the the whole thing from going kablammo like an oversized Wort Grenade, you’ll need an airlock, a simple little plastic doodad which constantly releases the building CO2. It forms an airtight seal between the fermenter’s stopper and the outside world. You can make one fairly easily, but plastic airlocks generally go for about $1, and I’d say that’s a dollar well spent. Place the container in a dark, cool place, and prepare for the hardest part of your brewing experience: waiting.

After feasting for 10-14 days, the yeast should be done with all the sugar. It’s time for your beer to go into the third phase…

Secondary fermentation
What? But we already fermented it once! True, but we’ve been letting out the CO2; secondary fermentation takes place in sealed bottles, trapping the CO2 and giving the beer its foamy, fizzy carbonation. But since the sugars from the wort are all gone, you’ll need to add some “primer” sugar before bottling. Prepare a primer by boiling 3/8 a cup of sugar in 1 cup of water for 5 minutes, then pouring it into another container large enough to hold your beer. Siphon the beer into this new container carefully; your goal is to leave behind as much of the sediment as possible. From here, pour/siphon/spigot the beer into bottles and…wait some more. Argh! Let the beer age for another 7-10 days in that same cool, dark area from before; finally, pop open a bottle and have a taste.

July 5, 2008

Tandoori Chicken

Filed under: Cook, Desserts, Drinking, Eating, Food, Fruit, Nonvegetarian, Pickle, Recipes — babyaas @ 5:01 pm

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice or malt vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 tablespoon peeled and grated or crushed ginger root
  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
  • Vegetable oil, for brushing
  • Fresh cilantro sprigs for garnish
  • Slices of cucumber, red (Spanish) onion, tomato and lemon, for garnish

Method:-

tandoori-chicken.jpg

Prick the flesh of the chicken all over with a fork. Then, using a sharp knife, cut slashes in the flesh to allow the marinade to penetrate. Place the chicken in a nonreactive large, shallow dish.

In a nonreactive bowl, combine the yogurt, lemon juice or vinegar, garlic, ginger, cumin, ground coriander, cayenne pepper, ca

rdamom, cloves, black pepper and salt. Stir until well-mixed, then pour the mixture over the chicken and rub it into the flesh, turning the chicken several times. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight. (Do not marinate for longer than 2 days.) Remove the chicken from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before cooking.

The chicken may be grilled or roasted. If using a charcoal grill, prepare a fire for direct-heat cooking. Position the grill rack 5 inches from the fire. Allow the coals to burn until white ash covers them and the heat is moderate.

tandoori-chicken.jpg

Remove the chicken from the marinade, pressing lightly to extract excess marinade, and brush with oil. Place the chicken pieces on a well-oiled grill rack and; grill, covered, with the vents open, turning 3 or 4 times, 45 minutes or until the juices run clear when a piece is pierced near the bone with a knife.

If roasting, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the chicken on a rack in a roasting pan, brush with oil, and cook, turning once, 25 to 30 minutes until the juices run clear when a piece is pierced near the bone with a knife.

June 28, 2008

Chocolate Chip

“There are two kinds of people in the world: those who love chocolate, and communists.” - Leslie Moak Murray

I can’t help but love that quote. When I was a kid, my grandpa always called any store bought cookies that somehow made it into the house “Commie cookies.” For him, it was Grandma’s homemade cookies or none at all.

There’s just something special about homemade cookies, especially chocolate chip cookies, so far as I’m concerned. It’s a great family activity, something even children can help with, and everyone loves eating the results.

Here’s an easy recipe for chocolate chip cookies I think you’ll enjoy:

Materials

  • 1 package butter pecan, chocolate chip, chocolate fudge, devil’s food, German, chocolate or yellow cake mix
  • 1/2 cup butter or margarine — softened
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup chopped nuts
  • 1 (6 ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips (1 cup)

Heat oven to 350°. Combine half of the dry cake mix , butter, vanilla and eggs in large bowl and mix until smooth. Stir in remaining cake mix, nuts and chocolate chips.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are set (centers will be soft). Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

June 20, 2008

Take Shahi Paneer In your Lunch And Dinear

Shahi Paneer or “Cottage Cheese Curry” is a popular vegetarian delight. Shahi Paneer tastes good as well as stands high on nutrition chart. Before describing the method to prepare Shahi Paneer let us tell you the nutritional value of the Shahi Paneer. It contain 510 calories, 225 calories from fat many other nutrients like sugar and proteins. Try this royal dish with SurfIndia now. Shahi Paneer rocks with Butter Naan

Materials

250 gm: Paneer (cottage cheese)

  • 1/4 cup: Beaten curd
  • 1/2 cup: Milk
  • 1 1/2 cup: Tomatoes (chopped fine)
  • 1/2 cup: Onion (chopped into strips)
  • 1/2″ piece: Ginger chopped fine
  • 2-3: Green chillies chopped fine
  • 2-3: Cardamoms (crushed)
  • 1/2 tsp: Garam masala
  • 1/2 tsp: Red chilli powder
  • 2 tsp: Tomato sauce
  • 3 tsp: Ghee or butter
  • Salt to taste

Method

1.  Chop paneer into 2″ fingers.
2. Heat half the ghee. Add onion, ginger, green chilli and cardamom. Fry for 3-4 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook for 7-8 minutes,       covered. Add curd and cook for 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup water and cool.
3. Blend in a mixer till smooth.
4. Heat remaining ghee, add gravy and other ingredients except milk and paneer. Boil to get a very thick gravy.
5. Just before serving, heat gravy, add milk and paneer fingers and boil for 3-4 minutes.
6. Garnish with chopped coriander and grated paneer.

June 12, 2008

Very Very Testy Aloo Paratha

Filed under: Cook, Drinking, Eating, Food, Fruit, Indian Recipes, Nonvegetarian, Pickle, Recipes, Vegetarian — babyaas @ 5:22 pm

Aloo Paratha is most popular recipes ,Every one want to take it in his breakfast ,so it used to slowly popular dish .Here we are going to give you the best way for making the Allo Paratha .Paratha stuffed with Aloo curry is the easiest of stuffed parathas. Chapathi dough stuffed with spiced mashed potatoes and cooked on a hot tawa with butter or ghee with simple daal or homemade curd makes an excellent breakfast, brunch and dinner in my home.

Material

For stuffing/filling
4-5 potatoes
1 tbs. cooking oil
½ tsp cumin seeds
1/4th tsp turmeric powder
2-3 green chillies, finely chopped
Handful of coriander leaves, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. Garam Masala
1/2 tsp. amchoor or dry mango powder (optional)
Salt to taste

For dough
2 cups wheat flour
1/4th cup wheat flour for dusting
1 tbs. ghee / butter / oil
Salt to taste
2 tbsp curd/ yogurt
Enough water to make dough
2-3 tsp ghee or butter for frying paratha’s

Making Tips
Heat oil in a small frying pan and add cumin seeds allow them to crackle and remove from heat. Boil potatoes, cool, peel and mash the potatoes (You can pressure cook or microwave potatoes). Add all the ingredients for stuffing along with the fried seasoning and mix well. The mix should be dry, free of water. Otherwise, it will be difficult to roll out parathas. Keep the stuffing mixture aside.

Making dough
dsc03505.jpg(can be made while potatoes are boiling)
Sieve flour. Add salt, oil or ghee, curd and Add water a little at a time. Knead into medium soft dough. Knead well for 5-6 minutes. This process can be done quickly in a food processor. Cover with a wet cloth and let the dough sit for 20-30 minutes. Knead the dough again

Rolling out parathas (as shown in the picture)

Divide the dough and stuffing into balls of equal portions, now roll one ball at a time in the form of dsc03501.jpga small puri. Now put a small quantity of above stuffing (potato filling) over it, close it from all sides.Gently pat the stuffed puri in the palms, apply some flour on both sides and roll it gently into a paratha.Now cook on a tava, allow one side to cook when the color changes into light brown color.Turn repeat for other side. Drizzle some butter or ghee on each side and flip. Serve hot

May 27, 2008

Potted Whiskey

Filed under: Cook, Drinking, Eating, Food, Fruit, Nonvegetarian, Pickle, Recipes, Vegetarian — babyaas @ 10:30 am

It would be appropriate for a people-based profile of whisky to begin by naming the first whisky maker. Sadly, no-one knows who he was. In fact, no-one knows who the first distiller was. It is clear that from AD 4 onwards, alchemists in China, India, Arabia, Egypt and Greece were using distillation to make turpentine, medicines, makeup (al-kohl, our alcohol) and perfumes, but there is no evidence that they adapted brewing techniques to make whisky.

How the Irish and Scots got in on the act is equally mysterious. The Celts may have known about distillation, but apart from a couple of enigmatic references in the 6th century AD there’s no proof. What is agreed is that distillation arrived in Scotland with the monks of the Celtic Church, suggesting that distillation was already taking place in Ireland - perhaps Irish monks had encountered the art in Sicily or Andalucia, or through their ancient trading links with the Phoenicians.

By the time Friar John Cor bought his famous eight bolls of malt in 1495 - the first record of whisky making in Scotland -distillation was widely practised across Europe. It is hardly surprising that the first distillers were monks: the water of life, aquavitae (uisge beatha in Scots Gaelic) was a medicine made in monastic laboratories, and markedly different to today’s whisky. Flavoured with heather, honey, roots, herbs and spices - partly to hide off-flavours, partly because it was a medicine -this medieval mix was closer to a crude whisky liqueur.

Until the beginning of the 19th century the top Irish brands were flavoured in this way. It was only when whisky began to be made in great houses and crofts alike that it became recognisable as the drink we know today. Distillers have always used the main crop of their region as the base for their spirits, and in Scotland and Ireland that meant barley. Making whisky was a means of using up surplus grain: in winter, cattle could be fed on the grains left after mashing and crofters could use their whisky as part-payment of rent. Made in batches in small pot stills, the process used for malt whisky today, whisky soon became an integral part of rural life.

When crofter-distillers from Scotland arc Ireland were driven off their land from 1 ~4; onwards, whisky spread to America and Canada. Though rye whiskey had been made as early as 1640, it was this sudden wave of immigrants that established whiskey as North America’s spirit. They, too, used the local grains - rye, corn and wheat - and by 1783 commercial production had kicked or: in Kentucky.

By 1825, the whisky industry in Scotland and Ireland was controlled by men of capin. Gone were the days of the crofter-distiller making enough to fuel the craic and the ceilidh and pay the rent. New legislation ushered in a building programme of new malt distilleries across the Highlands and in Ireland. At the start of the 19th century Irish whiskey had the highest international reputation, with the heavily-peated Scottish malts considered an acquired taste. Then in 1827, Robert Stein invented a continuous still (see pages 86-87), which not only mace distilling less labour-intensive but produced lighter, grain-based whisky which could be mass produced. Adapted in 1831 by Aenea-Coffey, the continuous still changed whisky production forever.

May 18, 2008

How to Handle and Clean a Catfish

Filed under: Cook, Drinking, Eating, Fruit, Nonvegetarian, Pickle, Recipes, Vegetarian — babyaas @ 12:10 pm

Would you like to know how to handle and clean a catfish? Instructions are available on just how to handle and clean a catfish at the

you will learn the importance of proper handling of catfish or any other type of fish. You should, first of all, upon catching catfish, have the utensils handy for cleaning them pretty much immediately. The reason being, that “digestive enzymes will spoil” fish quickly if not cleaned and iced right away, particularly if they are dead.

Instructions for proper cleaning techniques are located at the URL, as well as instructions for proper handling. Some of the utensils that you need to have with you for proper handling include a sharp filet knife, a cutting board, paper towels, plastic gloves, sealable food storage bags, and clean water to wash hands and utensils. For more information on how to handle and clean a catfish, you might want to try some of the more popular cooking forums online.

May 8, 2008

Celebrity Foods Selling Points

Filed under: Cook, Desserts, Drinking, Eating, Food, Fruit, Nonvegetarian, Pickle, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian — babyaas @ 6:50 pm

The time of meal should be the part of relaxation of your day, a time to replug with the family and to appreciate a healthy meal. For much of overloaded and occupied Americans, however, it is simply not reality. They upwards finish eating the unhealthy prepackaged meals and little appétissants simply because they’about rapid and of easy, or worse, spending a ton of money to eat some outside. Now, with foods of celebrity, this doesn’T must be the case. You can reduce the effort, eat better, and to even save on gas by avoiding voyages to the store of grocer, all while taking again the joy of sitting down with a dish cooked at the house. Here’S how you can draw benefit from our products and services:

Reduce stress: Going to the grocery store is usually a chore. Long lines, searching for what you want, and packing your groceries into your trunk in the freezing cold are never pleasant. With our service, you’ll get your groceries delivered right to your door. We’ll even put them away! What could be easier?

Eat better: We all want to eat well, but it can be confusing, not to mention time consuming. There’s portion size to consider, and many low calorie foods simply aren’t that enjoyable. Our foods are wholesome, nutritious, and, best of all, delicious. You can enjoy a wide variety of delicious meals, from mouth-watering salmon fillets to hearty beef stew. With such a huge selection, there’s sure to be something everyone in your family can enjoy. All of our products come individually portioned, so there’s no more guesswork. You can rest assured that you’re serving a meal that is just the right size.

A better quality: The money which we spend in isn T’of food right about the price on the package. It’S about the quality of which’S inside. While you can be able to find a package cheaper of ox to the store of grocer, it’S interesting to wonder how much about’really saving you. Many meat cuts have much loss in the form of grease and bone. All our products hand- are balanced to remove this material, thus you’on the subject only of the payment what you really eat, not which ends upwards in the refuse.

For years, you’ve probably made last minute trips to the grocery store to pick up something you forgot, served your family low quality meals, and resorted to fat-laden fast food, all the while thinking there must be a better way. Now, with Celebrity Foods, there is!

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