The (un)official MacRumors Recipe thread

[Scepticalscribe]

I made this for dinner today, purchasing 1.5 lb of large sea scallops for $27 total. This is on the expense end for us, but we will get 2 meals out of it, so still better than the equivalent meal at the local sea food restaurant, if we could even find this on the menu. I used a Sauvignon Blanc for the wine and instead of dividing it up into individual servings, it all goes into a single large casserole bowl.

View attachment 839118
Mushrooms and scallions sautéed

View attachment 839115
Scallops and other goodies added, cooked for about 5 minutes on the stove.


View attachment 839116
After mixing up the sauce with butter, flour, and half and half, it’s all combined
into the casserole dish to be broiled 3-6 minutes.

View attachment 839117
Hmm. Yes those avocados are a little past their prime! ​

Sounds a lovely recipe (even if I did have to look up the expression "half and half" - I could see myself using full fat cream, even double cream, and perhaps more stock, in such a recipe).

I hope that it tasted as good as it looked.

 

[Huntn]

After working for several hours in the blazing summertime heat of Houston, Texas, or anywhere for that matter, nothing hits the spot like a cold beer smoothie! With some prior prep, very easy to make. I usually keep a small bag of prepared bananas, peaches/plums, and frozen strawberries (purchased frozen at the store) in the freezer.

Peach Strawberry Banana Smoothie*
My recipe!

styro, the best for holding ice drinks in hot climates​

* In reality the name can be any combination of fruits that you like. I believe bananas are the base fruit that you must use, because I’ve made smoothies without them, and they seem on the icy side. Peaches and plums are interchangeable. All should be prepared in advance by pealing or coring and freezing. Room temperature fruits can be used with a bunch of extra ice. Also, i don’t like smoothies purchased at most stores because they tend to include dairy products, which I don't care for the taste in a smoothie.

So keeping in mind that there is flexibility in what fruits are used.:

• Blender
• 1 frozen banana (pealed before freezing).
• 1 peach (cored and frozen before freezing, leave skin on)
• 4 or 5 strawberries
• Lemmon juice- a squirt small or medium to taste (after you get familiar with the final product)
• Refrigerated water
• 3 or 4 heaping tablespoons of white granular sugar (sweetened to taste, honey can be substituted. I love honey, but prefer white sugar for this recipe.

Dump the ingredients in a blender, except for the sugar.

​

Add a couple inches of preferably refrigerated water and start blending on low speed. If not enough water, the mixture will freeze up. Add more water until you can get the ingredients to swirl as an icy liquid.

​

After blend to a fine consistency, taste and add sugar if it is too tart. My preference is the exact point where the mixture tastes tart and sweet and flavors become really alive!

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I made this for dinner today, purchasing 1.5 lb of large sea scallops for $27 total. This is on the expense end for us, but we will get 2 meals out of it, so still better than the equivalent meal at the local sea food restaurant, if we could even find this on the menu. I used a Sauvignon Blanc for the wine and instead of dividing it up into individual servings, it all goes into a single large casserole bowl.

Scallops are my favorite seafood dish - seared in butter on on the outside, raw on the inside. Serve with a roasted fresh veg and perhaps a risotto if you're feeling indulgent...Ambrosia.

 

[anika200]

Here is a simple mop sauce to use on chicken when grilling, you can also use it as a marinade. It makes about 1 1/2 pints so you can put it into a quart jar to use with your favorite basting brush, I use a silicone one. Happy mopping.

Chicken Marinade Mop Sauce

1 keystone light or any light beer
1 cup Yamasa Soy Sauce
1 tsp seasame oil
1/4 cup peanut oil
1/4 cup Sriracha Sauce
1 tsp Dried Rosemary
1/2 Ghost pepper
1/2 cup mustard

If using dried ghost pepper or rosemary, whirl into powder and then add to beer and let it reconstitute before mixing it all together.

If using as a marinade you can cut the peanut oil or leave it out all together. The beauty of oil in a mop sauce is it is the last thing that hits the brush helping everything stick to the chicken.

Tip: Wait until the surface of the chicken is a little dry looking before brushing on a mop sauce, I usually mop the dry top and then flip it and mop the flipped side too and then lid down for another 10 minutes or so. Repeat until done, it should look and taste awesome.

 

[Huntn]

Here is a simple mop sauce to use on chicken when grilling, you can also use it as a marinade. It makes about 1 1/2 pints so you can put it into a quart jar to use with your favorite basting brush, I use a silicone one. Happy mopping.

Chicken Marinade Mop Sauce

1 keystone light or any light beer
1 cup Yamasa Soy Sauce
1 tsp seasame oil
1/4 cup peanut oil
1/4 cup Sriracha Sauce
1 tsp Dried Rosemary
1/2 Ghost pepper
1/2 cup mustard

If using dried ghost pepper or rosemary, whirl into powder and then add to beer and let it reconstitute before mixing it all together.

If using as a marinade you can cut the peanut oil or leave it out all together. The beauty of oil in a mop sauce is it is the last thing that hits the brush helping everything stick to the chicken.

Would leaving the peanut oil out for a marinade significantly alter the taste of the chicken? I assume no.

Rosemary- I never realized how common rosemary is. During a recent trip to San Antonio to visit some nephews, one of them who is currently working as a gardener was pointing out all the rosemary planted for landscaping and growing wild around the city, next to buildings, on the small strip of green between the sidewalk and the street. To grow in those conditions it must be drought tolerant. Native to the Mediterranean, I assume so, it seems happy to grow wild in central Texas. Break off a twig and it smells wonderful. I heard if you throw it on the grill, (the plant), while cooking dinner it will chase the mosquitos away.

​

 

[anika200]

I heard if you throw it on the grill, (the plant), while cooking dinner it will chase the mosquitos away.

Haha wow that is so strange because one of the reasons for it in the mop sauce is that a some runs off and burns up in the charcoal and the smell is amazing, never knew it might be keeping away mosquitos as well. Bonus

growing wild around the city, next to buildings, on the small strip of green between the sidewalk and the street.

Amazing, I struggle to grow it in a pot here on the east coast. We have to take it in in the winter and then it gets a funk and cross your fingers if it makes it until spring and then summer when you can actually start cutting pieces off to use in recipes.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Would leaving the peanut oil out for a marinade significantly alter the taste of the chicken? I assume no.

Rosemary- I never realized how common rosemary is. During a recent trip to San Antonio to visit some nephews, one of them who is currently working as a gardener was pointing out all the rosemary planted for landscaping and growing wild around the city, next to buildings, on the small strip of green between the sidewalk and the street. To grow in those conditions it must be drought tolerant. Native to the Mediterranean, I assume so, it seems happy to grow wild in central Texas. Break off a twig and it smells wonderful. I heard if you throw it on the grill, (the plant), while cooking dinner it will chase the mosquitos away.

View attachment 846825​

Didn't know that rosemary can serve to deter mosquitoes - that elevates it even further in my mind; it goes exceptionally well with lamb - rosemary, thyme and garlic all work brilliantly with lamb, and to some extent, with chicken, as well.

 

[Huntn]

Haha wow that is so strange because one of the reasons for it in the mop sauce is that a some runs off and burns up in the charcoal and the smell is amazing, never knew it might be keeping away mosquitos as well. Bonus



Amazing, I struggle to grow it in a pot here on the east coast. We have to take it in in the winter and then it gets a funk and cross your fingers if it makes it until spring and then summer when you can actually start cutting pieces off to use in recipes.

Replied here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/garden-talk.2158253/#post-27518272

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Growing herbs is super convenient for home cooking. I do basil, parsley, and cilantro, and I've been meaning to get a rosemary plant started but never quite get around to it. Less work than growing most vegetables, and you can continually harvest without killing the plants.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Growing herbs is super convenient for home cooking. I do basil, parsley, and cilantro, and I've been meaning to get a rosemary plant started but never quite get around to it. Less work than growing most vegetables, and you can continually harvest without killing the plants.

Basil, unfortunately, requires serious warmth & heat to thrive, not something one can rely on in our part of the world; I can only ever recall it doing well in summer during those (increasingly frequent) summer heatwaves we have had.

However, parsley, chives, French onions, rosemary and thyme can do pretty well.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Basil, unfortunately, requires serious warmth & heat to thrive, not something one can rely on in our part of the world; I can only ever recall it doing well in summer during those (increasingly frequent) summer heatwaves we have had.

However, parsley, chives, French onions, rosemary and thyme can do pretty well.

I grow it in a very cold environment - indoors of course. It doesn't flourish without attention, and even with attention it's a challenge except, as you said, during the summer months. I just love basil though, and the dried stuff you but at the store is practically worthless.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

I grow it in a very cold environment - indoors of course. It doesn't flourish without attention, and even with attention it's a challenge except, as you said, during the summer months. I just love basil though, and the dried stuff you but at the store is practically worthless.

Agreed - I love basil, too, and agree that it must be fresh, but find that the small pots I buy in the summer - while they will give me sufficient basil for my needs, cannot be expected to thrive in our cold, damp, north Atlantic temperate climate, except for a few (sunny) weeks in summer.

However, now that you mention indoors, I do remember keeping a basil plant in its own corner of the airing cupboard one particular year, (a year with a serious summer), and there it did thrive, until close to Hallowe'en.

 

[Gutwrench]

I planted a few basil plants 4-6 weeks ago in a pot on the deck. They look okay but don’t have the heart to harvest them. I’ll give them another few weeks then snip off a leaf or two when needed .... while they’re sleeping, of course.

 

[Ulenspiegel]

I planted a few basil plants 4-6 weeks ago in a pot on the deck. They look okay but don’t have the heart to harvest them. I’ll give them another few weeks then snip off a leaf or two when needed .... while they’re sleeping, of course.

Of course. It's important to be humane.
We have some plants in the garden, but I don't have a clue what. Though, I know for sure that we have mentha.

 

[Gutwrench]

Of course. It's important to be humane.
We have some plants in the garden, but I don't have a clue what. Though, I know for sure that we have mentha.

This is the second year I forgot to plant anything to attract the hummingbirds. Every once in a while I hear and sometimes spot one zipping past the deck full speed on their way from one neighbor to another.

There’s a bluebird family in the area but haven’t noticed them much this year. Gorgeous little birds. I coax them in with mealie worms. (Warning: avoid the white paper bowl in the downstairs refrigerator. It’s not leftover Chinese.)

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Bought basil, parsley, French onions, today in the market; I also bought fresh brill, and blue mouth, a sort of scorpion fish.

And oxtails, gravadlax, and my usual fruit and vegetables.

Now, to give some thought to an evening meal.

 

[Huntn]

I grow it in a very cold environment - indoors of course. It doesn't flourish without attention, and even with attention it's a challenge except, as you said, during the summer months. I just love basil though, and the dried stuff you but at the store is practically worthless.

When we lived in Minnesota, in the Spring we would purchase large beautiful hanging pots of ferns that would go out on the deck. I tried a couple of years in the fall to bring them in, place them in a sunny window, trying to winter them over. they dropped all of their leaves and made quite a mess. We kept the house in the 60s (15-18°C), and I think it might have been the bone dry humidity that they did not like.

 

[0388631]

This is the second year I forgot to plant anything to attract the hummingbirds. Every once in a while I hear and sometimes spot one zipping past the deck full speed on their way from one neighbor to another.

There’s a bluebird family in the area but haven’t noticed them much this year. Gorgeous little birds. I coax them in with mealie worms. (Warning: avoid the white paper bowl in the downstairs refrigerator. It’s not leftover Chinese.)

Sucrose feeder?

Don't worry about the worms. @AngerDanger will eat them. Happily.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I planted a few basil plants 4-6 weeks ago in a pot on the deck. They look okay but don’t have the heart to harvest them. I’ll give them another few weeks then snip off a leaf or two when needed .... while they’re sleeping, of course.

I used to be squeamish but now, if we are mixing up a batch of pesto, I take the whole plant. Otherwise the lpant eventually gets old and the leaves aren't as nice. I've got into the habit of just growing more plants!

When we lived in Minnesota, in the Spring we would purchase large beautiful hanging pots of ferns that would go out on the deck. I tried a couple of years in the fall to bring them in, place them in a sunny window, trying to winter them over. they dropped all of their leaves and made quite a mess. We kept the house in the 60s (15-18°C), and I think it might have been the bone dry humidity that they did not like.

I live up in the Lake Superior basin, where winters are cold and dark. I'm continutally experimenting with keeping plants over the winter. I've done OK with parsley, air plants, cacti and hardy plants like spider plants or dracena. I;ve actually gotten basil to sprout and grow in the middle of winter but they never really fill out properly in natural light. Some grow/daylight bulbs would probably fix that. I've combatted the very low winter humidity by misting the plants regularly with a sprayer.

 

[0388631]

I've always wanted to make homemade aloe juice with the massive aloe vera plants we have. Too much effort. It's easier to buy a container from a health store. If you're wondering why I'd buy it in the first place, it's because it's delicious in ice topped off with vodka or tequila.

 

[anika200]

This is why this recipe thread dies out, too much chatter and not enough recipe makes for a bad recipe thread.
Its OK to comment on the recipe directly and add good suggestions but to go off on another topic is bad. In a thread totally dedicated to recipes.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

This is why this recipe thread dies out, too much chatter and not enough recipe makes for a bad recipe thread.
Its OK to comment on the recipe directly and add good suggestions but to go off on another topic is bad. In a thread totally dedicated to recipes.

You may well have a point.

Has anyone any good recipes for a chicken curry that they might care to share?

 

[anika200]

Well it is no chicken curry but this is a good quick sauce you can use on pasta with chicken or just pasta and veggies.

It has only five main ingredients and many other things you can add according to taste.



In a small sauce pan add some oil and sauté a shallot or onion or even 1/2 cup pepper until half done/translucent.
Now add a tablespoon or two of the curry paste and sizzle for a couple minutes while you open the Coconut milk can.
Add 1/2 the coconut milk and stir everything obviously.
Heat the mixture on medium/low until you see some reddish oil from the curry paste comes to the surface.
Add 1/2 cup peanut butter and tsp or two of the tamarind paste stir until mixed and then heat until it bubbles then turn off heat.
Add a tablespoon or so of fish sauce and stir.
Sauce is done.

Add it to cooked pasta with sauté zucchini a grated carrot some scallions and toasted sesame seeds or cilantro to top it off. You can also add some leftover grill chicken or any other chicken you have on hand.

You may want to add 1/4 cup brown sugar to the sauce if you like it more sweet.

This recipe makes enough sauce to dress 12-16 oz pasta with a zucchini and a cup or so of saute kale.

You will possibly have 1/2 can coconut milk leftover which you can add to the smoothie you make with the earlier smoothie post in this thread. thanks @Huntn

 

[anika200]

chicken curry that they might care to share

Did you make the curry for dinner? Anyway chicken curry is complex recipe to put here I suppose.

Since my last outburst about chitchat I do realize it takes a fair amount of work to get a recipe into the forum so understandably only some many posts will contain recipes. We should tag them somehow to collate in a search, hmmm.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

This is what I am up to with the chicken curry:

Am currently preparing a chicken curry: Free range (and organic) chicken thighs and drumsticks being browned, and sautéed in the copper sauté pan, with salt, pepper, and a little sugar added.

Grated ginger, (about a thumb), very finely chopped chilli pepper (roughly half a pepper) and a full head of garlic (peeled and roughly chopped) lie in their separate dishes.

Onions have been roughly chopped; carrots diced; cherry tomatoes halved, salted and peppered - all await in their respective dishes.

Turkish apricots are also in their dish.

Curry powder, and tumeric are in their containers; the stock has been prepared in its jug, and the cream is still in the fridge.

And then, when this has been allowed to merge, mix and marry, for a sufficient period of time, I shall prepare some basmati rice to accompany the dish.