July - Sept. Cooking Contest Enteries, please post your entries here

[Shadows]

This is the place to post your recipes for the July - Sept. 2006 CR cooking contest.
This is a open catagory contest, please post sources if you have them.
This contest will run through Sept. 30th. Then the voting will begin.

Please only post one recipe per person. Please cite your sources if the recipe in not your own original.

Humm!! I guess I should mention what the prize will be for the voted best recipe...

Kristina Stewart's "KIST O DREAMS" - This album contains some wonderful scottish lullibies .

Please do not post recipe reviews here, there is a seperate section for that:

http://www.celticradio.net/php/forums/inde...?showtopic=9165


Laddies and Lassies... start cooking!

[ontrose1969]

Forfar Bridies
------------------

These are said to have been made by a travelling food seller, Maggie Bridie of Glamis (in the days when the county of Angus was called Forfarshire). They were mentioned by J M Barrie (author of Peter Pan) who was born in Kirriemuir in that county. The original recipe used suet but since that is not always to everyone's taste, you can use butter or margarine.


1½ lbs boneless, lean rump steak. Lean minced beef can also be used.
2 rounded tablespoons suet or butter or margarine
1 onion, chopped finely
1 teaspoon dry mustard powder
Quarter cup rich beef stock
Salt and pepper to taste
1½ lbs flaky pastry (home made or from a pastry mix packet)

Remove any fat or gristle from the meat and beat with a meat bat or rolling pin. Cut into half-inch (1cm) pieces and place in a medium bowl. Add the salt/pepper, mustard, chopped onion, suet (or butter/margarine) and stock and mix well.
Prepare the pastry and divide the pastry and meat mixture into six equal portions. Roll each pastry portion into a circle about six inches in diameter and about quarter of an inch thick and place a portion of the mixture in the centre. Leave an edge of pastry showing all round. Brush the outer edge of half the pastry circle with water and fold over. Crimp the edges together well. The crimped edges should be at the top of each bridie. Make a small slit in the top (to let out any steam). Brush a 12 inch square (or equivalent area) baking tray with oil and place the bridies in this, ensuring that they are not touching. Place in a pre-heated oven at 220F for 15 minutes then reduce the temperature to 320F and cook for another 45/55 minutes. They should be golden brown and if they are getting too dark, cover with greaseproof paper (vegetable parchment).

[stoirmeil]

OK! It's goat. Preferably young goat or kid. We can get fresh goat here in New York because of all the new West African enclaves. But you can use lamb, or mutton that's not too tough (little bit gamier and more like goat actually). I expect it would also be primo with rabbit, but that's a guess. Of course it always works with chicken, and I'm guessing big fresh jumbo shrimp or crawdads would be lovely too. I got this from a woman from Kingston I used to proofread with on the night shift -- the staff had 3AM pigouts sometimes and she always made her goat curry. Nobody makes it like she does -- when you ask for the recipe she starts talking, and you have to take it all down as she thinks of it -- but I've come fairly close.
This makes a big, huge pot for a large party -- it also freezes very well.

Kingston Curry Goat
5-6 pounds of goat cut into cubes
6 scallions chopped
3 large onions chopped
1 to 3 Scotch bonnet peppers*
1 tsp ground allspice
2 tsp salt
2 tsp fresh-ground black pepper (fresh is very aromatic, there is no comparison)
6 tbsp curry powder**
2 tablespoons butter
¼ cup coconut or peanut oil
2 cloves garlic
4 cups water or chicken stock
1 cup coconut milk
Juice of 1-2 limes

Thoroughly mix the lamb, scallions, half the onions, Scotch bonnets, allspice, salt, black pepper, and 4 Tbsp of the curry powder in a big glass bowl. Rub the spices into the meat. Let marinate overnight.

In morning -- put butter and oil into a pot, and gently brown the garlic, the rest of the onions and the remaining 2TBSP of curry powder. Stir til spices are well blended in. Add the goat mix, and lightly brown the meat. Add the liquids (lime juice, stock, coconut milk). Cover and simmer two and a half to three hours.

Serve with plain hot white rice, and serve some raisins, dried apricots and almonds, fresh sweet coconut, and some tamarind flavored fruit chutneys, like mango. (If I am invited, have some candied ginger too. )

You will need plenty of beer. I can also recommend the best little Jamaican soda pop in the world -- it's called "Ting", and it's a fresh vivid grapefruit flavor (forget Fresca). My friend used to like Cranicot juice (cranberry-apricot mix) cut half and half with ginger ale, with rum if she wasn't on duty. Real Jamaican ginger beer is also fab with this, but it does add a little more heat. Put dark rum right in the good ginger beer, over ice with a squeeze of lime, and the drink is called a "Dark And Stormy Night".

* those Scotch Bonnets are death. I never use more than one, and I toss it in whole without mincing it, so it can be fished out at serving time. If you cut the things up and let the seeds out, you're on your own. You can use milder hot chilis, like the 1" red chinese Tientsin ones, which are still pretty fiery (I used to grown them on my fire escape -- they almost killed a few squirrels out there).

**Imported Jamaican curry mixes vary a lot, but most of them are pretty good. They tend to have: coriander seeds, cumin seeds, poppy seeds, ground clove, mustard seeds, ground peppercorns, ground tumeric, and ground ginger. You can also play with adding ground cinnamon, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, ground cardamon, fresh grated nutmeg, ground annatto seeds, ground mace, or oregano.

I think the sweet-aromatic spices like ginger, cinnamon, mace, nutmeg and coriander are what really make this goat dish. Personally I don't like cumin. The nice thing is, if you make your own curry powder, you can do what you want. The best thing to do is toast any whole seeds in a heavy dry frying pan before grinding (a blender works fine -- sift out any big woody bits at the end).

[gaberlunzie]

This is an Italian dish which is traditionally served for Easter in some regions of Italy. I got this recipe from my neighbor Maria who is part ( and "La Mamma" ) of a big Italian family living next door to us. It's a quite simple but very tasty and hearty dish....Hope you will have fun trying it!


Roast Lamb and Potatoes With Rosemary and Garlic


INGREDIENTS:

Shoulder of baby lamb (with some loin attached), about 2 1/4 pounds
3 garlic cloves, peeled and cut in half
4 to 6 sprigs fresh rosemary, divided
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
2 pounds roasting potatoes


METHOD:

1. Heat oven to 350ºF. Place the lamb in an ovenproof dish large enough to hold the lamb and potatoes.

2. Use the point of a sharp knife to make small incisions in the meat and push the pieces of garlic in. Close the meat around it so that its flavor will permeate the meat during roasting.

3. Run your hand backward up 2 of the rosemary sprigs and sprinkle the leaves over the lamb. Tuck the remaining sprigs in around meat. Drizzle with the oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Place in oven and roast 20 - 30 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and cut into large bite-size chunks. Arrange them around the meat and return to oven. Roast 40 minutes more, basting with the cooking juices 2 to 3 times during roasting and turning the potatoes so that they are evenly browned. Serve hot.

Serves 4.

Goes very well with a dry red wine; for beer lovers, a cold beer is fine, too!

[zeryx]

This was passed to me by a Canadian friend ~ and I love it!

Baked Beans

Servings | 12

Ingredients

1 lb dried haricot beans
4 medium onion(s)
1 lb lean back bacon
125 g muscavado sugar
125 g treacle
2 teaspoon salt
4 heaped tea mustard
4 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

Rinse beans in cold water. Over a high heat add beans, 10 cups hot water and bring to the boil. Boil for 2 minutes and stir in the remaining engredients. Cover and simmer for 5 hours until mixture is very thick and beans are tender, stirring occasionally.

Special Notes

If you wish you can add 1/2 cup ketchup, more onions or more treacle - the more stuff you add the better it is (but remember to count the extra points). Makes a lot but freezes well.

[stevenpd]

This is a variation on a recipe from "Olde English Traditional Country Style Recipes" by Gordon Latimer

Oxtail Soup

Ingredients:

1 Small oxtail, separate bones
1 Small turnip, sliced
1 Large onion, sliced
pinch Mixed herbs (I prefer rosemary, sage, thyme and just a touch of garlic)
pinch Salt (to taste, fresh ground sea salt tastes the best)
3 tbsp Flour
4 tbsp Cooking fat or margerine (prefer butter)
3 Medium carrots, sliced
7-1/2 cups of beef stock or water

Method:

Soak the cut-up oxtail for an hour or so, then remove from water (stock) and set aside one cup of stock. Heat the fat, slice the vegetables and fry for about 5 minutes.
Add the pan of fried vegetables to the stock along with the oxtail and herbs.
Simmer for about 3 hours.
Blend flour with the cup of reserved stock and stir into soup.
Bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes.
Take out the pieces of oxtail, cut the meat from the bone, return meat to the soup and reheat.

This soup wil have a fair amount of fat, therefore, it is best made the day before so you can allow it to cool and skim the fat from the top.

Serves 6-8

I like this with brown bread and butter. A simple meal on its own.

[Sekhmet]

JULY - SEPT 2006 CONTEST WINNING RECIPE


Ok, I'm finally back and actually remembered to post this! Thank you Shadows for reminding me that I *do* have a life outside of WoW, the SCA, the new job...family...gah. Geez. LOL Anyway, here goes.

Now, I come from a long line of cooks who cook from the hip. You're taught proportions and estimation rather than rigid measurements (drove my home ec teachers absolutely insane, but they couldn't deny I could cook!). Combine that with redacting period recipes from the middle ages on upm and you get an idea of my style of cooking. So...some of my recipes don't have very exact measurements, but they should be clear enough for you to get the idea. As it is, this recipe's pretty forgiving if you err a little to one side or the other. I like the writeup I did of it before on these boards so if it looks familiar...yeah. You might've seen this. Have fun!

Stuffed Pumpkin

1 pumpkin - roughly the size of a basketball.
1 medium onion, chopped.
2 c. rice (I use wild rice), cooked.
1/2 lb. loose sausage
1/2 lb. ground beef/buffalo/venison/what have you
bread crumbs
about three eggs
salt, pepper, seasoning to taste (I like sage, fennel, garlic, onion, red pepper and celery seed)

Clean the pumpkin like you would for a jack o'lantern. Keep the lid. Mix all of the remaining ingredients together like you would for a meatloaf, except you...don't shape it into a loaf. Instead stuff the pumpkin with the mixture. Leave about an inch on the top to let it expand a little with cooking. Replace the lid. Place the pumpkin in a baking dish with about an inch of water in the bottom. Bake at 375 till you can easily poke a fork into the pumpkin (and it actually lets go). Remove from oven and let it cool about 20 minutes before serving. Remove lid. Serve in slices with butter, some like brown gravy with theirs. Feeds approximately 6-8, depending on the size of their appetites.

This post has been edited by Shadows on 05-Nov-2006, 06:24 AM