Thread: Tasty Recipes Anyone? Post them here!

Had another grill night last night. My stepdaughter got me an "All American Grill Guy" apron for my birthday because she knows how much I love my grill.

Grilled mahi mahi with a side of grilled zuchinni, yellow squash, bell peppers and slivered jalapenos, lightly dusted with cornmeal and grilled in olive oil in the dutch oven while the fish was grilling.

Key to grilling fish is to oil your grates and to be very careful not to overcook it. Fish cooks FAST on the grill.

Funny thing is my SWMBO decided I was working too hard or something (I worked my butt off all weekend) and decided to "relax" me with some vodka in my lemonade (she made fresh squeezed lemonade). After sucking down a couple of those right after another (it was hot, I was drenched in sweat, you get the picture) I was relaxed alright... within an hour or so of dinner I was horizontal and snoring

-- Gary F.

speaking of corn meal Here's a simple cajun recipe gone grill that works wonders.

Ingredients

• 4 to 8 - six ounce or so deboned and cold (not frozen) catfish flanks, the thicker the better.
• 6 to 8 eggs
• 1/2 stick pure butter
• 1 pint (german keg) beer at about 45 degrees when added
• 3 to 5 tbsp store bought cajun spices (ethnic section), depending on taste
• If your cajun spice mix doesn't already have it, salt
• 2 to 4 cups cornmeal (freshly ground if you got a hand crank or whisper mill)

Instructions

1. for charcoal or wood, prep your grill accordingly. for propane get your wood smoking box ready and preheat the closed grill 10 mins before hand. The rest of the instructions assumes you use charcoal and you're prepping the food while the coals get ready
2. crack the raw eggs into a bowl and whip them thoroughly (bad eggs! bad eggs!)
3. melt the butter to just melted, add to the eggs and whip some more (naughty naughty!)
4. gently mix in enough corn meal to thicken into a good batter mix
5. add about half the beer and stir very gently. do NOT whip or beat. (Good beer. Good beer)
6. add cajun spice and if needed salt while gently stirring.
7. If you like you can add about half the remaining beer at this time. (the rest you probably drank already )
8. add more cornmeal until very thick batter consistency
9. dip fish flanks into batter and place on pan use/make one of those foil pans I keep raving about
10. place on grill away from fire.
11. smoke accordingly till done. Hickory or misquite tastes best. apple does ok also
12. If you have any left over batter you can dip some portabella mushrooms in it and smoke those as well
13. Depending on your grill and smoking techniques, anywhere from 30 mins to 2 hours If you've done everything right.

Notes

1. This recipe was originally for fried fish and then switched to the grill so you can try frying it if you prefer that way or have a hard time with the batter staying on in the grill.
2. Some people find that spreading mayo on the catfish steaks prior to dipping seems to help hold the batter on better when they have trouble. I don't do this. I usually get a nice thick batter and with the refrigerated meat it helps a lot.
3. I've also dipped mushrooms, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, shrimp, cod, chicken, and pork in this batter with varying results. all ok to good

On a related note (FUD's comment about mayo reminded me of this), a tip that a friend of mine gave me for smoking meats.

If you're having problems using a dry rub and getting it to stick, coat your meat in mustard, then use the dry rub. The mustard will *not* impart a flavor to the meat after it's smoked. I didn't believe it either until he proved it to me.

Nothing fancy, just plain old yellow mustard, enough to coat the meat lightly and give the dry rub something to stick onto.

-- Gary F.

What's a summer recipe thread without an ice cream recipe? I have a small ice cream maker and this is my best chocolate ice cream recipe:

* 1 cup milk, well chilled
* 1/2 cup granulated sugar
* 8 oz Scharfenberger or other *good* chocolate (I like half semisweet, half milk chocolate).
* 2 cups half and half, well chilled (can use heavy cream if you want the extra richness and fat content, half and half works very well also).
* 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Heat the milk (I use 2%, you can use whole milk if you want but I'd avoid using skim) until it just barely starts to bubble around the edges. In the meantime put the sugar and chocolate into a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Pour in the hot milk and process the mixture until well blended and smooth. Set it aside and let it cool completely (don't chill it, just let it cool to room temp).

Once cooled, stir the well chilled half and half (or cream) into the chocolate mixture. Put it in the fridge and chill it for 30 minutes or longer.

Add it to your ice cream machine, process until firm (25-30 mins).

My favorite variation to this is to add a little bit of cinnamon. You can also add marshmallow cream once the mixture starts to firm a little, or you can add nuts (toasted almonds are really good). You can also add chopped cookie bits, brownies or whatever. Honestly, if you use good quality semisweet or dark chocolate (cut with a little bit of milk chocolate) I rarely get a chance to add anything else because it's so freakin' good.

I use 2% milk and half and half because I find the full strength fat content is way too rich for me. It's OH so good with all the extra fat from whole milk and cream, but it's just a bit much for me anymore.

-- Gary F.

This isn't a summer recipe but I thought I'd share it since I've been having to do impromtu cooking for my FIL in the middle of the night when he's a big hungry.

Simple Egg Drop soup:

3 cups chicken broth
chives (to taste, usually 2 tablespoons or so)
2 large eggs
parsley( to taste, usually 1 tablespoon or so)
salt (to taste)

Have the parsley pre chopped and ready. You can use the dried chives found in the spices section of the grocery store.

1) put both eggs ina bowl and whip liberally, set aside
2) bring broth quiclkly to a boil
3) add chives and parsely
4) slowly pour eggs into broth while whipping broth in order to form egg strands.
5) immediately remove from heat.
6) salt to taste and enjoy

If you don't have broth available, you can use 3 cups water and 4 chicken bullion cubes. Just remember that bullion is heavy in sodium so adjust the salt accordingly.

Mornin!

That sounds yummy! Is there a thread for Winter recipes ?

Colleen

this one is simple and easy, all you need is:

one pound of sausage ( I use jimmy dean regular, wish I could get Bob Evans down here)
2 cans crescent rolls
1 block cream cheese

crumble up sausage in skillet, cook thouroughly and drain
in a bowl fold sausage with cream cheese until well blended
put first can of crescent rolls in a 9x13 pan ( you will have to stretch them to get the seams to fit together, should almost look like one sheet of dough.)
pour sausage mix on top then cover with other can of crescent roll dough and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes or until golden brown (whichever comes first)

Enjoy

OMG....I can feel my arteries squeezing shut THAT sounds like a perfect dish for a cold winters day...MMMMM I believe I'll give it a try this weekend. Thanks for the recipe!

Colleen

I do several variations of this one.

Ingredients

• 3 regular size boxes chocolate pudding, or 2 large size boxes
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 containers coolwhip
• 1 cup water
• 1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips or 1 finely chipped austrian chocolate bar.
• 1 ready made deep pie crust in pan. (optional)

Instructions

1. In mixing bowl mix water, pudding, and condensed milk
2. add 2/3 of one of the cool-whip containers, mix well
3. sprinkle lightly with a small amount of the chocolate and fold
4. pour into pie crust or bowl and smooth
5. in a separate bowl, mix the rest of the chocolate together with the rest of the coolwhip
6. spread the coolwhip mix over the mousse
7. cover, chill at least 6 hours and serve.

This is really simple.

1. take 2 slices of your favorite bread (I use wheat) and butter each slice on one side.
2. on the non-buttered side put very light mayo, then spread cream cheese on it.
3. put your favorite roast beef slices in between, cheese to the inside, and grill in a pan over medium heat until golden brown on each side.

for a delightful twist, dip in hot beef broth or beef soup.

Very tasty