cooking for the socially unorthodox: powertool deliciousness

Post Reply New Topic

Many of us are single and cook for ourselves. In between bouts of heavy concentration, it is necessary to squeeze a meal in now and then. Of course we cannot just stuff the same old foods into our mouths. Its not good to be rigid that way.

Others lack the aptitudes for cookery, so we have adapted and grown to cook in novel ways.

I will share a few items that I like. Please share your unusual meals here as well.

I like the use the barbeque; clean up is easy.
Dice or buy a package of your favourite veggies, perhaps some precooked diced chicken. Costco is a great place to get these. Pehaps some diced sausage.
Preheat the bbq while you place these in a foil tray, and add a generous helping of butter and whatever seasonings are to your taste. Cover with more foil. Sometimes I just wrap it all in foil and forget the tray.
Throw it on the bbq on low heat setting and let it sit there for 1/2 hour or so. Maybe less if you like Crisper veggies. When its streaming nicely its done. Firmer Veggies like carrots and spuds will take longer of course.
None of the ingredients are unsafe to eat if they are undercooked. You will find that you want to experiment to get things to your taste.
The foil can be recycled, the grill scrubbed with a wire brush. All you have for dishes is the plate you ate with and the utensils used to prepare the veggies.
Dont forget to shut the grill off.

next...."recipe" if you can call it that. Baking with a frying pan.

I buy frozen uncooked dinner rolls... buns. Take a freezer style zip lock baggy, about 7 inches wide. Use a good quality one. pore a small amount of cooking oil in the bag, and drop 3-5 frozen dough pucks in the bottom. I line them up nicely.

Zip the bag closed, and smoosh the oil around. you want just enough to cover the frozen surfaces of the dough pucks. Line them up nicely in the bottom. It makes for easier handling later. Put it on a plate on the counter.

We use a good quality bag because that dough is going to swell and strain the seams. Every so often, go flip the bag, letting the oil re-coat the dough. If the bag swells, and it should, open it to let off the pressure. It smells good too.

They should swell up and be like 4 tiny hotdog buns in a row. maybe 4 inches(10 cm) long. The bag should be about 1/2 full.

Heat a frying pan to medium and lightly(very) grease it with oil. you dont want butter nor lard though. Open the baggie and dump the contents into the hot pan. maybe turn downt he heat to low too. cover it with a lid and watch it. in a few minutes, you can flip the mass of dough(it should still show the divisions in the buns) and cook the other side a bit, then smoosh it all down with a spatula.

Remember that you are baking, and that it is more of a science than an art. Cooking is an art. But you are baking. You want to get the tops and bottoms lightly browned, just like a real bun, so you will have to flip it several times. Cook it slow, so that it cooks properly through out. Its always going to be a little doughy inside.

When you decide it is done, take it out and immediately smear whatever bread toppings you like on it. Nutella is really good. The 'buns' should still pull apart nicely. Probably too small to stuff though. You may wish to pull them apart after they are still cooking sot hat they cook better.


Here is one shared with me by a co-worker. Hes married with children, but this is pure batchelor cookery.

Take two slices of white bread. Open a can of pie filling, and apply to bread. Apple is perfect. Place the second piece of bread on top, and put it in one of those sandwich grillers. Heat for a bit, take it out and sprinkle with sugar. Its just like apple pie, but only takes 5 minutes.

Now what do YOU eat?

This is form the NYtimes... no-knead bread. I've made it many times, it's fantastic.

OMG EF! There were too many details by the second paragraph and I haven't even rememberd to eat what dh put next to me half an hour ago. Besides, I cut my fingers every time I try to cut up veggies and food grosses me out if I touch it.

I am in awe that you learned to cook!

This is one I stumbled upon by experimenting. Take a few pieces of chicken, and place them in a shallow roasting pan, or cookie sheet. Sprinkle on favorite spices, (mine are poultry seasoning and salt). Place in a preheated, 350 degree oven. While it bakes, chop up potatoes, (white or sweet) red and green peppers, an onion or two, and throw in some peeled garlic cloves. The amount of veggies depends on how much room there is around the chicken pieces. After chicken has baked 30 minutes, spread the chopped veggies all around it, (dribble some olive oil on if you like) and bake an additional 30 minutes. Sometimes you have to make sure the veggies don't scorch, depending on your oven.

I just made this for our lunch - it's easy cheap, nutritious, delicious and I almost always have all the ingredients on hand:

Corn and cheddar chowder:

ingredients
4 bacon slices, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 teaspoons ground cumin
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 cups chicken broth
1 large boiling potato, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/2 cup heavy cream
10-oz package frozen corn kernels
1/2 lb sharp Cheddar, grated
preparation

Cook bacon, onion and butter in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring, until onion is softened and bacon is cooked. Add cumin and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add flour and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Whisk in broth and bring to a boil, whisking occasionally. Add potato and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until just tender, 8 minutes. Stir in cream and corn and return to a simmer. Add Cheddar, stirring just until cheese is melted (do not let boil), and season generously with pepper.

Serve topped with bacon.

Leftover brown rice topped with canned chili and sprinkled with grated cheese.

oh, I thought you said 'bar-be-que' but you MEAN Propane Grill

A 'bar-be-que' is charcol fired and has a different science in the rapid carbonization of food. One tastes the heat as well as the meat.

Propane grills are wonderful for cooking on, the convenience and clean burn of the fuel makes it welcome to set out on a porch or stoop when it is just too hot to cook inside


Merle
_____________________________
"Res melius evinissent cum Coca"
(Things go better with Coke.)

i mainly eat out...

How do you do that? I want to see it. <puts hands behind back for safety reasons>

Dh made Salmon and some kind of sauce and noodles. It was yummy. Oh, he said it was dill in the sauce. Whatever. It tasted yummy even if I did leave it sit for over half an hour.

Alex, I make too much of a habit of that myself.

I dont think its really too expensive anymore, but its good that we exercise some self suficiency skills now and then, so I cook fairly often.

<watching Fuzzy cook with wrinkled brow> How do you know how to do this? How do you know what to put in? When do we get to use the power drill?