Tinfoil Chef

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I was looking through the kinda haphazard collection of files that makes up most of my recipe collection and tucked away in a forgotten directory on my flash drive was this rather interesting sounding rice dish. I do believe it’s the first time I’ve ever seen rice cooked with orange.

In a 2-quart microwave safe casserole dish, combine a cup of uncooked rice, a cup of water, a cup of orange juice, a teaspoon of butter and a dash of salt.

Cover it and microwave on High for 5 minutes. Then stir in a tablespoon of fresh grated orange rind. Turn the bowl 1/4 turn and microwave on high for another 10 minutes, turning the bowl after 5 minutes.

When it’s done do not uncover the bowl. Instead, allow it to set, covered for an additional 10 minutes or until all of the liquids have been absorbed.

Just before serving, fluff it with a fork and add a half cup of seeded orange sections and mix gently.

Technorati Tags: orange, orange rice, rice, microwave cooking, dinner, recipe, side dish

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Tomato sauce and by extension pasta sauce, pizza sauce and many others that are based on a tomato sauce. They’re all great, however there is one drawback for some people. The Tomato is basically an acidic plant and sauces maded from it are going to be acidic. While this isn’t a problem for most people, there’s plenty of people that have indigestion or Acid Reflux that’s aggravated enough by the acid content to seriously cut into their enjoyment of the meal.

I spent a bunch of time over the last several days searching out ways in which to cut the acid and learned a few things. A few of which will help.

The first thing I found was a suggestion to add a couple teaspoons of sugar to the sauce as it cooks down. This is one that I’ve tried recently and regretted doing so. Sugar MIGHT cut acid a little but mostly what it does is add sweetness to the taste and a sweet pasta sauce is not something I ever want to make again. I honestly don’t think that sugar actually gets rid of any acid, it just tries to mask it with the sweet taste. Not good in a tomato sauce.

Another suggestion was sodium bicarbonate, also known as baking soda. When the sauce is near the end of the cooking process and most of the juices are gone, add a VERY little bit, Just enough to fit on the point of a steak knife. Stir it into the sauce. You’ll see a lot of small white bubbles all over. They are caused by a chemical reaction that actually nutralizes some of the acid in the sauce. When the bubbles subside taste the sauce to check both for acidity and any change to the taste. If you need to add a bit more baking soda you can but caution is the word of the day. Best to do this in very small steps because once you add it in you can’t take any of it back out.

The third idea is one that as a cheese lover I kinda like. Add grated cheese. Parmesan cheese (the real stuff, Parmigiano-Reggiano) or a little Pecorino (a very strong cheese), even ricotta cheese will reduce the acid in tomato sauces and add their own flavors. This works because cheese contains calcium which has a chemical reaction with the acid that nutralizes some of it.

A suggestion I read somewhere on discusscooking.com was to add a whole potato to the sauce while cooking it and remove before serving. I’m not sure how this would work but it’s probably got something to do with the starches in the potato. Another comment on that site suggested adding a carrot to the sauce. Someone else suggested adding a bit of vinegar, though I can’t see how vinegar which is more acidic would help cut acid from tomato sauce

Technorati Tags: parmigiano reggiano, sodium bicarbonate, acid reducer, tomato, cheese, reduce acid, tomato sauce, pecorino, ricotta, baking soda

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Not too long ago in what, to us, would be considered a parallel universe. A race of aliens visited the Earth and spent a lot of time studying the planet it’s people and most importantly, the foodstuffs they ate. Finally, they found what they had been searching for: Cheese.

They desperatley needed it because strangely enough, it was an important reactant in their stardrive system and their ship’s systems had been damaged and were no longer able to synthesize this most important fuel component. They were more than a little relieved when their science officer reported that on the planet below there was a more than plentiful supply of many varieties of cheese.

Captain Cheddar, the head cheese, ordered landing parties to explore and locate a cheese for their fuel supply. Mr. Parmigiani, not the cheese, was on the party that discovered that Parmigiano-Reggiano was the ideal match for their cheese fueled stardrive.

The order quickly went out and fuel gathering parties were sent down to collect what would ammount to the entire world’s supply of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and refuel the ship as Mr. Parmigiani watches over the process to insure none is missed.

Meanwhile, back on the alter-Earth, cheese lovers everywhere had varying reactions. Some decided that it didn’t matter to them so long as they could still have their Cheddar, Swiss, Monterrey Jack and so on. Others didn’t like that any cheese would be completely unavailable for the years it would take to produce a new supply.

The most militant of these was the group that revered Parmigiano-Reggiano above all cheeses. They mounted first a defensive measure, guarding as many supplies of their beloved cheese as they could. They followed this with an attack that was intended to recover as much of the stolen cheese as possible.

This single battle over a ship needing an emergency refueling eventually escalated into a huge conflict on a galactic scale. The chronicles of which were eventually written in a twelve volume set of books known collectively as “Cheese Wars”, six of which were used as the basis for an immensely popular series of movies.

Technorati Tags: war, aliens, humor, cheese, fuel, weird

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Here’s a chance to use the pie crust recipe I posted recently. Good for any occasion or just for the heck of it. Honestly, you just can’t go wrong with a good lemon pie

Take 2 tablespoons of softened (room temperature) butter and add a cup of sugar and three egg yolks. Mix well and beat until it reaches a light, fluffy mass.

Stir in 3 tablespoons of flour, a half teaspoon of salt, the juice and grated rind of one lemon and a cup and a half of hot milk. Beat the whites of three eggs until they’re stiff and fold them into the mixture.

Fill a 9 inch pie shell with it and bake at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes.

Technorati Tags: amish, amish pie, pie, amish lemon sponge, lemon, lemon pie, recipe

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It’s interesting some of the ways that food is used other than as something to eat. I was looking around at some of them for the heck of it and saw a load of ways in which foods are used as part of a beauty regimen. I can’t honestly say if any of them qualify as the best wrinkle cream but it is interesting just the same to see the extremes that people will go to avoid looking their age.

Here’s just one example of a home made anti-wrinkle treatment that I ran across in my surfing. Note, I make zero claims as to it’s effectiveness since I really don’t know anything about that sort of thing and why this or that works. Although in one case I suspect that the effect is derived from enjoying the silliness of smearing smashed banana all over your face.

Beat the white from one egg, mix in 2 tablespoons of Cucumber juice, a teaspoon of lemon juice, a teaspoon of Rum or Brandy and a teaspoon of Sodium Benzoate

Keep the mixture refrigerated and apply it as needed.

Technorati Tags: beauty aids, wrinkle, anti-wrinkle cream, anti wrinkle recipe, recipe, beauty treatment

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Pies have been a basic staple for desserts for a long time, there’s also the several varieties of meat pies, pot pies and other recipes that require pie crust at some point.

*Note* With most cooking it’s ok to kind of approximate or ‘eyeball’ a lot of ingredient measurements and still have the finished product come out just fine. This is NOT true with baking. Because of the chemistry involved it’s necessary to be as accurate as you can be with ingredient measures. (hmm. I ought to write more about that sometime ‘eh?)

Measure 2 cups of sifted all purpose flour into bowl. Use a fork to mix in 1 teaspoon of salt. Then add two thirds cup of lard OR three fourths cup of shortening and mix it in coarsely.

Sprinkle in ice water one tablespoon at a time, mixing lightly with a fork just until all of the flour is dampened.

Press the dough together firmly into a ball. Use as directed in recipes. This recipe makes enough dough for two 9-inch crusts or a one double crust (top & bottom)

Technorati Tags: dough, baking, crust, dessert, pastry, baking, pie dough, pie crust, basic pie crust

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Birthdays are one of those family celebration things where you know ahead of time that there’s going to be at the very least a cake, loaded down with frosting & goodies. However when three birthdays happen at once, complete with a cake and several cupcakes for each person at the same time, you almost want to arrive packing a toothbrush & toothpaste, some mouthwash and some acne treatment.

That was kinda how it felt in our family recently. Mind you, the birthday celebrations themselves were great. We’d had a much worse time than usual getting schedules coordinated and ended up celebrating three birthdays at once that ordinarily would have been spread out over a couple of months.

The big day finally arrives and everybody is in one place at the same time, gifts are first stacked up and then we made the usual big deal about opening them. (It’s only right really, a person deserves to be special on their birthday, even if it is celebrated late.) Then sometime afterward, out comes the cake.

There were one for each birthday being celebrated. My wife’s was chocolate, my brother’s was lemon and my mother in-law’s was red velvet. Each cake was also accompanied by several cupcakes that were the same kind as the cakes.

It’s funny actually, time was I used to be known as something of a sugar fiend, anxiously scarfing up anything loaded with sugar and icing. I still love it but now there’s times when it makes my teeth ache or that I spend an hour or more getting the super sweet taste out of my mouth.

Be that as it may, I still wouldn’t have it any other way. Even when three (or more!?!?) birthdays get packed into one day.

Technorati Tags: sugar, celebration, cupcake, birthday cake, birthday, sweets

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Ok, after the last entry about Sardine Rolls, It’s time to get that taste out of memory and what better way to do it than with a good Lasagna.

You’ll need a couple of 29 or 30 oz. jars/cans of your favorite spaghetti sauce (or an equivalent amount of a home made sauce)

Start by thawing a 10 oz package of frozen spinach spinach and squeezing it dry.

In a large container mix 2 cups part skim ricotta cheese, 1 1/2 cups of shredded part skim mozzarella cheese, a beaten egg, 1/8 teaspoon of black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of oregano and 1/2 teaspoon of basil. Add the thawed spinach and blend well.

Use a 13 x 9 inch pan. Put a small amount of sauce in the bottom of the pan and spread lightly so that it covers the bottom. This keeps the lasagna from sticking as it cooks so that you can easily remove it in neat portions at serving time.

Place a third of the uncooked noodles, a third of the sauce and a third of the cheese and spinach mixture. Repeat to Make 3 layers, Topping it off with the sauce.

Combine a half cup of water and a half cup of vegetable juice cocktail (V8 or similar) or tomato juice. Pour this carefully around the edges of the casserole, moving the noodles slightly with a spatula to get the liquid distributed evenly. This is the time to get out the grated parmesan cheese and sprinkle it on top. I would also be tempted to put the parmesan cheese between the layers as well.

Cover the pan tightly with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 to 1 and 1/4 hours. Remove the foil and continue baking for a few minutes more, until the top is lightly browned and bubbling.

Let the lasagna stand for at least 15 minutes before serving so that it can cool a bit to serving temperature and “set”. Sliced with a flat edged spatula and lift out serving-sized portions.

Technorati Tags: casserole, dinner, recipe, main dish, pasta, lasagna, italian food

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I’ve loved Seafood of most kinds for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately there are still forms of seafood that I personally wouldn’t touch with a ten foot fork and in fact would give a box of expensive womens gold watches (assuming I had any) in exchange for NOT eating them. Anchovies are one of the top leaders in this category of seafood, with Sardines coming in at a close second.

However, I also recognize that why I may not care for something there’s plenty of people who’ll consider it a delicacy, thus I present Sardine Rolls

Take two cans of sardines in mustard sauce and mash them thoroughly. Mix them with an 8oz package of cream cheese and a couple of hard boiled eggs. Add lemon juice, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce to taste and mix well.

Cut the crusts off of two loaves of sliced white bread. Then spread the mixture on the bread slices, roll them up and pin them with toothpicks to hold ‘em together. Broil until toasted.

Technorati Tags: sardine rolls, seafood, sardines, broil, recipe

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When I saw this one in my recipe collection I couldn’t help but stop and check it out since I’ve been a fan of the space program from way back. (how far back? Well, I stayed up to watch Armstrong’s first moonwalk on tv back in ‘69.) Anyway, I couldn’t help but wonder if popcorn of any variety would be allowed on a spacecraft, since it tends to crumble and make for lots of small pieces that would float around in zero-G and mess up lots of things. But this variation might just be ok. Now all they need is a wide screen tv, a stack of movies and some kind of home theater chairs made for the space shuttle (or the lunar base people have been talking about forever).

Start by buttering a large baking pan and fill it with 8 cups of popped popcorn.

Then in a separate pan, combine a half cup of sugar, a half cup of Tang (powdered orange drink originally made for the space program for those too young to remember it.) a third of a cup of light corn syrup, a third of a cup of water and a quarter cup of butter.

Stir this mixture over a medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until it reaches 250 degrees on a candy thermometer. Then remove it from the heat and stir in a half teaspoon of orange extract and a teaspoon of baking soda.

Pour this mixture over the popcorn and mix well. Bake at 200 degrees for an hour, stirring occasionally. Allow to cool completely.

Technorati Tags: astronaut popcorn, recipe, baking, popcorn

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