Culinary aid requested

[Wayward Clam]

Okay, bucks are tight this year, and I have both Christmas and my wife's birthday to cope with in the next month.

One of the things she has always wanted was a "gourmet meal" cooked by me.

Problem A: You know those idiot users who come to you and go, "Um, how do I turn this on? Where's the any key? How do I get the coffee cup holder to go back into my hard drive?" <--- That's me with a stove.

Problem B: I am seriously broke. I can probably finagle a little bit of money for the project.

The one thing I have LOTS of is spare time.

Does anybody have any good, cheap, idiot-proof recipes that produce food that's a level or two better than McDonalds takeout?

[storm]

my favorite recipe source: http://www.foodnetwork.com/

lot's of good stuff and uncomplicated.

[kato2274]

okay clam I love to cook!!! lets see if I can help

my wifes favorite meal is roast beef and yorkshire puddings which is relatively inexpensive (aside from the cost of the actual beef)

I can usually find whole beef filets for around $7 a pound, so the meat is around $30 (I'm in US though) the yorkshires consist of only milk flour and egg. simple to make yet very elegant. a gravy for them can be whipped up with some cheap vegatables and a soup bone. roast some baby carrots in a brown sugar carmel syrup, and you've got yourself one hell of a "gourmet" meal.

I also make mean slow cooked ribs with hommade barbeque sauce very easy to make. pair the ribs with easy twice baked "loaded" (green onions, sour cream,0 bacon, and cheese) potatoes and stewed cinamon (sp) apples not quite the level of gourmet as the beef filet, but delicious none the less.

also could tell you how to make a mean and easy french onion soup as well as beef wellington in a crock pot.

if you're interested in any of the ideas just shoot me a pm. they all are really easy and delicious.

good luck.

[Cobra X]

I cook the greatest ramen noodles & peanut butter & jelly sandwiches in the world.

[Budd]

GRITS!!! she wants grits and eggs!! what else could woman ask for?

[Wayward Clam]

We do have a crock pot here, which I trust about as much as I trust my laser printer. I gotta say I really do like meat that's been in a hot crockpot all day... it just falls off the bone and you can cut it with a fork... and none of the moisture or flavour is lost.

Maybe I'll go that way.

[PuterGeekGirl]

I think the effort alone will make her very happy clam.

I agree with Kato on the twice baked potatoes...YUMMY!

I also make this pretty good stuff thats not hard...its tenderized pork with italian sausage and moz cheese wrapped in it. (pork is wrapped around the outside) and cook it with spaghetti sauce over it...cook at 350 for about 40-45 minutes....REALLY good stuff!

I usually make a garlic pasta with it (out of a box. ) and some bread of some sorts...

I know my man LOVES that as a special meal!

[kato2274]

alrighty then crockpot beef wellington . . . . . .

get yourself a nice roast. You can use a london broil but if you can find a nice roast with a bone in it it'll be even better. Best thing to use if stew meat (as it's already nicely cubed) with a soup bone tossed in for extra flavor.

Season the meat with salt and pepper and put it in the crock pot with one large can of campbells condensed cream of mushroom soup on top. for the liquid fill the can half with water and half with some good red TABLE wine. (don't use cooking wine for long cooking operations - they are fine if you are just sauteeing but they tend to get a little rancid when cooked a long time.) mix up the liquid, put the crockpot on low and leave it cook all day (at least 5-6 hours)

you can also add some whole button mushrooms to the crock pot when you have about 2 hours left to cook. it's a nice touch that makes the finished dish look really good.

grab a package of wide egg noodles from the store. when the meat is done, boil the noodles til they are almost done, then drain them and add them into the crock pot with the meat for another 30 minutes or so.

you can then either stir in some sour cream or seve a dollop of it right on top when it's on the plate.

serve it with a nice crusty bread (warm it slightly in the oven if you are feeling *****ious) and it's a great winter evening meal.


PS if you like the wine flavor, you can use a whole can of wine instead of half and half, but since it cooks so long, I like to temper the wine a bit so it doesn't get the meat too "drunk" I like the mushroom flavor with just a hint of wine.

[Budd]

Originally posted by kato2274
alrighty then crockpot beef wellington . . . . . .

get yourself a nice roast. You can use a london broil but if you can find a nice roast with a bone in it it'll be even better. Best thing to use if stew meat (as it's already nicely cubed) with a soup bone tossed in for extra flavor.

Season the meat with salt and pepper and put it in the crock pot with one large can of campbells condensed cream of mushroom soup on top. for the liquid fill the can half with water and half with some good red TABLE wine. (don't use cooking wine for long cooking operations - they are fine if you are just sauteeing but they tend to get a little rancid when cooked a long time.) mix up the liquid, put the crockpot on low and leave it cook all day (at least 5-6 hours)

you can also add some whole button mushrooms to the crock pot when you have about 2 hours left to cook. it's a nice touch that makes the finished dish look really good.

grab a package of wide egg noodles from the store. when the meat is done, boil the noodles til they are almost done, then drain them and add them into the crock pot with the meat for another 30 minutes or so.

you can then either stir in some sour cream or seve a dollop of it right on top when it's on the plate.

serve it with a nice crusty bread (warm it slightly in the oven if you are feeling *****ious) and it's a great winter evening meal.


PS if you like the wine flavor, you can use a whole can of wine instead of half and half, but since it cooks so long, I like to temper the wine a bit so it doesn't get the meat too "drunk" I like the mushroom flavor with just a hint of wine.

mmmm, i'm hungry now

[Wayward Clam]

Now that I can work with! I bet the wife will eat that up.

Originally posted by kato2274
grab a package of wide egg noodles from the store. when the meat is done, boil the noodles til they are almost done, then drain them and add them into the crock pot with the meat for another 30 minutes or so.

And this is a nice touch. Meat flavored noodles! Clam Like!

[NeuromancerIV]

how about a nice panne chicken breast with lemon caper sauce, with garlic mashed potatoes and wild greens or spinach salad with cherry/rasberry vinagrette dressing. Cheap and easy to make

Ingrediants

2-4 *your call* medium sized skinless/boneless chicken breasts *season with kosher salt and fresh black pepper
Butter: lots of butter...
Small bottle of small capers
Seasoned breadcrumbs, your call on flavor
2 Lemons cut into wedges
Wild greens salad mix or spinach leave salad*
2 eggs
2-4 medium size baking potatoes
Small tub of sour cream
Garlic salt*cheating yes, but the stated goal is easy and cheap*
Tin foil
A few whole pecans meats
Some honey
Feta cheese
Rolls/fresh french bread/nice bagguette *whatever you like*
Olive oil/ vegetable oil
1 garlic clove
a decent white wine

If you feel brave you can easily make a nice rapberry vinigrette dressing, or simply buy a bottle at the store and pour some into a bottle for a nice touch.

make this at least an hour before cooking begins

raspberry vinagrette
clove garlic, minced **less if garlic is not a favorite
2 Tbsp raspberry vinegar
4 Tbsp mayonnaise
¼ tsp Dijon mustard *not regular or honey*
several fresh or dried rasberries *your call to add if at all*


mix ingrediants and refrigerate.

1.Preheat oven to 350. greese small baking pan lightly, take pecans lightly brush with honey. bake for about 10 minutes. take out set aside and break into smaller peices.

2.Take potatoes wash, poke all around with fork, dry them off, then nuke those mothers for 3 minutes, then turn 1/4, nuke again: repeat till potatos "give" when pressed. Remove most of the skin then coarsly mash then mix in generous butter and sour cream in 1 to 1 ratio till the potatoes here together nicely, add garlic salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste. be sure not to try not to mash up all the lumps, add more sourcream and butter as potatoes absorb liquid. keep the mixture thick though!! put in pot on stove on low heat to keep warm

3. sauce: take at least 2 tablespoons of capers and soak in cold water for at laest 15-20 minutes. drain liquid. set capers aside melt 1/2-3/4 stick of butter in sauce pan, reduce heat, slowly add juice from 3-4 lemon wedges to it, again slowly add the lemon juice. add capers to butter lemon mix, leave on low low heat *enough to keep butter from rehardening

4. dunk chicken breasts in simple eggwash, season with S+P coat with breadcrumbs, pan fry on stove on medium heat in pan with light coating of olive oil. Pan fry till both sides till breasts turn golden brown. then wrap in tinfoil with a lemom wedge and bake in oven for 15-20 minutes**, remove. Squeeze lemon over chicken breast.

warm bread in oven. serve with some soft butter

**Salad time. Wash dry tear spinach leaves into bite size pieces place into salad bowls. garnish with crumbled feta cheese and baked honeyed pecan pieces.

Plate it all up, garnish potatoes with parsley and chicken with a thin lemon slice, sauce up the chicken to taste, add dressing butter warm bread pour wine and enjoy!!
All this is about an hour of work, nice simple, maybe not overly gourmet enough though foe what you're looking for, but its one of my GF's most demanded "special occaision" meals for me to make.

[Wayward Clam]

That looks good, and its certainly in the budget range.

I LOOOVE garlic potatoes, may have to go with those as well.

I'm gonna bookmark this thread so I don't lose this stuff.

[geoscomp]

All right..enough reading this stuff..I'm salivating so much the keyboard is getting wet..Clam..any one of these would be wonderful..and I'm sure she'll enjoy the effort as much as if not more than the meal..btw..I'm with Kato..when you use any form of alcohol in cooking, my rule is..if you won't drink it, don't cook with it. The difference in taste between cooking wine and table wine..like maybe Merlot is very noticeable. I'm off to have an early dinner

[drewmaztech]

Go to Allrecipies.com or try this:

1 or 2 Packages boneless chicken breast - frozen or not
3 cans Cream-of-Musroom soup
cheap white wine (the nastier, the better)


Throw the chicken, 3 cans soup, 2 cans wine into a crockpot and cook all day... pinch of salt and pepper.

You can chuck in green beans or asparagus if you want to get fancy.

I like to serve it over biscuts.

Uber easy and Uber yummah!

[geoscomp]

I can see it now..a Windrivers Cookbook..the possibilities are endless.