IMO, of course. Just sharing.

Mushroom "Ravioli" with Gorgonzola Sauce.
The plan was to use up some spring roll wrappers. Filling: Chopped
mushrooms sauteed with shallots, seasoned with lemon juice, parmesan,
thyme, S&P. Sauce: Finely chopped onions, white wine, cream,
gorgonzola melted in. However, the damned wrappers wouldn't stick
closed despite the egg wash glue! Plan B: make rolls, put in
casserole dish, spread sauce on top and bake until wrappers softened
in the sauce. And it worked. Quite well.

Warm Salad Nicoise
Had half a large can of crushed tomatoes and a half bunch of basil to
use up, so: Base: Cooked sliced red potatoes and green beans,
layered with fresh basil leaves. Sauce: the crushed tomatoes cooked
in a bit of olive oil, with a couple of crushed anchovies and some
capers mixed in. The whole thing topped with anchovy filets, sliced
hard-boiled eggs, ripe olives and a can of good tuna.

Pan-Fried Marinated White Fish with Tomato, Peppers (green and red and
yellow - lots!), Onions, Olives, and Capers. From Bon Appetit, March
2011, page 16. Outstanding, IMO!

Moussaka, per Claudia Roden, _New Book of Middle Eastern Cooking_,
with some spicing hints from Jeff Smith's _Three Ancient Cuisines_.
I'm not a bit fan of eggplant, but this stuff is great!

Algerian Chicken
Basically, chicken pieces oven-baked in a tomato sauce that includes
onions, bell peppers, hot chiles, and ... peanut butter. Been a
favorite for years.

Green Beans and Eggs
A simple Mexican dish consisting of nothing more than cooked green
beans and scrambled eggs with some sauteed onions and queso on top.
Surprised me by how good it was, with some bean and cheese quesadillas
to go with it.

And one disappointment, with an old lesson:

I made a big pot of chili. With old dried beans that didn't
reconstitute well at all. By the time they were edible, the chili was
cooked to tasteless gruel - I tossed it all in the compost. The
lesson, obviously: Either use relatively fresh dried beans or cook old
ones separately and thoroughly after soaking, before using them in a
dish.

--
Silvar Beitel

On Tue, 29 Mar 2011 11:47:51 -0700 (PDT), Silvar Beitel
> wrote:

> IMO, of course. Just sharing.
>
> Mushroom "Ravioli" with Gorgonzola Sauce.
<snip>
>
> Warm Salad Nicoise
> Had half a large can of crushed tomatoes and a half bunch of basil to
> use up, so: Base: Cooked sliced red potatoes and green beans,
> layered with fresh basil leaves. Sauce: the crushed tomatoes cooked
> in a bit of olive oil, with a couple of crushed anchovies and some
> capers mixed in. The whole thing topped with anchovy filets, sliced
> hard-boiled eggs, ripe olives and a can of good tuna.
>
I need to make a Nicoise sometime. The best one I've ever had used
fresh tuna and it was to die for.

> Pan-Fried Marinated White Fish with Tomato, Peppers (green and red and
> yellow - lots!), Onions, Olives, and Capers. From Bon Appetit, March
> 2011, page 16. Outstanding, IMO!
>
> Moussaka, per Claudia Roden, _New Book of Middle Eastern Cooking_,
> with some spicing hints from Jeff Smith's _Three Ancient Cuisines_.
> I'm not a bit fan of eggplant, but this stuff is great!

Sounds a bit like Vera Cruz.
>
> Algerian Chicken
> Basically, chicken pieces oven-baked in a tomato sauce that includes
> onions, bell peppers, hot chiles, and ... peanut butter. Been a
> favorite for years.

Would you please post your recipe for this?
>
> Green Beans and Eggs
> A simple Mexican dish consisting of nothing more than cooked green
> beans and scrambled eggs with some sauteed onions and queso on top.
> Surprised me by how good it was, with some bean and cheese quesadillas
> to go with it.

Sounds good! Served with warm corn tortillas?
>
> And one disappointment, with an old lesson:
>
> I made a big pot of chili. With old dried beans that didn't
> reconstitute well at all. By the time they were edible, the chili was
> cooked to tasteless gruel - I tossed it all in the compost. The
> lesson, obviously: Either use relatively fresh dried beans or cook old
> ones separately and thoroughly after soaking, before using them in a
> dish.

I always precook my dried beans for that reason. Now that I'm buying
beans from the bulk bin and using them fairly quickly, I can see that
they shouldn't need to be cooked for hours - but they often do anyway.

--

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.

On Mar 29, 2:36 pm, sf > wrote:

> > Algerian Chicken

> Would you please post your recipe for this?

Algerian Chicken. $50 prize winner, Better Homes and Gardens, Prize
Tested Recipes, November 1986 (I *told* you we've been eating it for a
long time! :-) )

2 medium onions, thinly sliced and separated into rings
1 medium green pepper, cut into thin strips
3/4 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 Tbsp. water
2 tsp. dried oregano, crushed
2 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. bottled hot pepper sauce
1 14.5 ounce can tomatoes
2/3 cup peanut butter
2 tsp. instant chicken bouillon granules
4 whole large chicken breasts, skinned, boned, and halved lengthwise
Hot cooked rice

In a medium saucepan combine onion, green pepper, mushrooms, the
water, oregano, red pepper, garlic salt, and hot pepper sauce. Cook
over medium heat, stirring frequently till vegetables are crisp-
tender. In a blender container or food processor bowl combine
*undrained* tomatoes, peanut butter, and bouillon granules. Cover and
blend or process till smooth. Rinse chicken; pat dry. Place in a
13x9x2-inch baking dish. Top with vegetable mixture. Pour tomato
mixture over all. Cover and bake in a 350-degree F oven for 45 to 55
minutes or till chicken is tender. Use a slotted spoon to transfer
chicken to a serving platter or individual plates; stir sauce and
spoon atop. Serve with rice. Makes 8 servings [2].

My notes:

[1] Use whatever chicken pieces you like. Works fine with dark meat
too.
[2] Freezes just fine.


> > Green Beans and Eggs

> Sounds good! Served with warm corn tortillas?

And a dab of sour cream. Or simple bean/cheese quesadillas.

--
Silvar Beitel

On Tue, 29 Mar 2011 13:56:33 -0700 (PDT), Silvar Beitel
> wrote:

> On Mar 29, 2:36 pm, sf > wrote:
>
> > > Algerian Chicken
>
> > Would you please post your recipe for this?
>
> Algerian Chicken. $50 prize winner, Better Homes and Gardens, Prize
> Tested Recipes, November 1986 (I *told* you we've been eating it for a
> long time! :-) )

<yummy recipe snipped>

Hahaha! Thanks for the recipe. I will never disbelieve you, ever,
Silvar!

--

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.

Silvar Beitel wrote:
> IMO, of course. Just sharing.
>
> Mushroom "Ravioli" with Gorgonzola Sauce.
[snip]

> Warm Salad Nicoise
> Had half a large can of crushed tomatoes and a half bunch of basil to
> use up, so: Base: Cooked sliced red potatoes and green beans,
> layered with fresh basil leaves. Sauce: the crushed tomatoes cooked
> in a bit of olive oil, with a couple of crushed anchovies and some
> capers mixed in. The whole thing topped with anchovy filets, sliced
> hard-boiled eggs, ripe olives and a can of good tuna.

This is an interesting idea--and never would have occurred to me,
>
> Pan-Fried Marinated White Fish with Tomato, Peppers[snip]
> Moussaka, per Claudia Roden, _New Book of Middle Eastern Cooking_,
> with some spicing hints from Jeff Smith's _Three Ancient Cuisines_.
> I'm not a bit fan of eggplant, but this stuff is great!

Soooo, what exactly did you do?
>
> Algerian Chicken
[snip]
>
> Green Beans and Eggs
[snip]
> --
> Silvar Beitel

On Mar 29, 7:52 pm, "Jean B." > wrote:
> Silvar Beitel wrote:
> > Moussaka, per Claudia Roden, _New Book of Middle Eastern Cooking_,
> > with some spicing hints from Jeff Smith's _Three Ancient Cuisines_.
>
> Soooo, what exactly did you do?

Jeff Smith had garlic, oregano, red wine, and parmesan cheese in his
sauce, so I added those to Claudia Roden's recipe since the flavors
appealed to me.

--
Silvar Beitel

Silvar wrote:

> Green Beans and Eggs
> A simple Mexican dish consisting of nothing more than cooked green
> beans and scrambled eggs with some sauteed onions and queso on top.
> Surprised me by how good it was, with some bean and cheese quesadillas
> to go with it.

Have you ever tried using nopales (cactus) in place of the green beans? The
cactus has a flavor reminiscent of green beans with a splash of lemon; it
works very nicely with eggs.

Bob

On Mar 30, 10:05 pm, "Bob Terwilliger" >
wrote:

> Have you ever tried using nopales (cactus) in place of the green beans? The
> cactus has a flavor reminiscent of green beans with a splash of lemon; it
> works very nicely with eggs.

Hmm. Interesting idea.

The one time I made nopalitas from fresh paddles, it seemed like a lot
of work for something rather boring flavor-wise and the last jarred
ones I tried were pretty dull too, but the whole dish is mild, so they
might be a good match. I'll try it some time.

Thanks.

(I forgot to mention that the green bean version had some lemon zest
in/on it too.)

--
Silvar Beitel

Silvar wrote:

>> Have you ever tried using nopales (cactus) in place of the green beans?
>> The cactus has a flavor reminiscent of green beans with a splash of
>> lemon; it works very nicely with eggs.
>
> Hmm. Interesting idea.
>
> The one time I made nopalitas from fresh paddles, it seemed like a lot
> of work for something rather boring flavor-wise and the last jarred
> ones I tried were pretty dull too, but the whole dish is mild, so they
> might be a good match. I'll try it some time.
>
> Thanks.
>
> (I forgot to mention that the green bean version had some lemon zest
> in/on it too.)


So it would be very close to the nopales! When I cook nopales I don thick
kitchen gloves and use a razor to scrape off the spines, then I cut them
into strips and cook them in a dry cast-iron skillet. Traditionally they're
boiled, but I don't care for them that way; pan-cooking gives a better color
and flavor, IMO.

Bob