recipes...

[bishop]

one of my favorite hobbies when i have free time is cooking. there's nothing as satisfying to me to work to make a tasty dinner that looks as good as it tastes (and i always love to show my cooking off to guests)..

so, for the wannabe chefs out there, please share your recipes.. you never know, someone may try it, like it and thank you for it.

[bishop]

i'll start it off...



i decided to do some fancy cooking last night.. made a greek dish, moussaka - and it came out excellent. might even be the best thing i've ever made..

lots of work to make it though, but it felt worth it...

ingredients:

bechamel sauce mix (or you can make it yourself with some milk, flour, eggs, butter and grated cheese - i bought my mix at the local greek grocery store)
1 gallon milk
1.5 lb ground beef
1 large onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, diced
1 large eggplant
1 cup of dejuiced chopped tomatoes (i used the small vine ripened ones and cut them into quarters)
1 teaspoon allspice, oregano, parsley, cinnamon
salt & pepper
1 glass white wine
grated parmasean/romano cheese
breadcrumbs


1. making the bechamel sauce was easy since i had a mix package.. pour the milk in first, then slowly add the mix, stirring continuously. use a wisk to break up any clumps. it'll get thick and somewhat fluffy once you stir it enough. set it aside for now.

2. cut the skin off the eggplant and cut into strips about 3 in. long, 1 in. wide & thick. place the pieces in salty water for 30 minutes. after 30 min., take them out and pat dry.. add some oil to a skillet and briefly fry them until they start turning a light golden brown. take them out and pat them dry. let them cool off for a bit too.

3. in a clean skillet, saute the onion and garlic for about 2 minutes. add in the ground beef, mix everything up and keep breaking up the meat clumps and stir until the meat's become browned. then, add in the glass of wine, chopped tomatoes, and all of the spices.. mix everything up good, lower the heat to simmer/medium and let it cook until the wine has evaporated (about 20 minutes).

4. in a large rectangular glass dish, oil up the bottom and cover the bottom with the pieces of eggplant. try to cover it as solidly as possible. then, spread the ground beef over the eggplant. sprinkle a little bit of grated cheese over the meat. then, top it off with the bechamel sauce (don't worry about it appearing too thick either). sprinkle some more grated cheese on top and also sprinkly some breadcrumbs.

5. place dish in the oven at 350 for about 1 hour (until the top becomes golden brown). i kept mine in for about 1hr 8 min to be exact.

6. when it's done, let it cool for at least 5 minutes before trying to cut it.. fyi, the top will have a skin (kind of like warm pudding), but the bechamel sauce will not be hard - it'll be creamy underneath the skin.

if done well, it should look similar to this:

[Chris]

Nice.

Havent gotten around to cooking lately, but your directions for this seem easy enough. Will have to give this a try sometime.

[Rive]

i have plenty of good recipies, unfortunately i'm in school right now and don't have them

i'll try and post later

[G. Adams]

My favourite recipe

3 shots of Kahlua, 3 shots of Baileys, 3 shots of vodka (smirnoff or absolut blue), cream (can substitute with milk and whipped cream from a can) and ice.

Two of those to yourself and your set for a night out.

More seriously, my favourite food right now is a big casserole with dumplings and fresh granary bread. Now that's man food.