cooking as a hobby

by NewYork44M 11 Replies latest social entertainment

• 

  NewYork44M

  I am sitting here eating my chicken scallopini that I cooked. It is delicious. If only you were here.....

  But that brings up a geat question. Do you cook as a hobby?

  I have never had a hobby. Never had time, elder's meetings, wt meetings, field service, and etc and etc.

  Now I am free and I decided that I love to cook. I don't really follow recipes. But while I am looking at porn and apostate sites on the internet (Just kidding) I am also looking at recipes. I have modified enough recipes to know that I may have a skill that has some value.

  I love cooking. But, the only thing I love more than cooking is eating and talking about food.

  Can anyone suggest some recipes. I would love to be creative. Add a bottle of wine and we have someting wonderful....
• 

  NewYork44M

  Let me start with a salad dressing recipe.

  I found this on the NYT food section and have modified according. I may not have the portions exactly correct. But if you are a real cook, you know what I mean.

  Chop several anchovies

  Chop one clove of fresh garlic (make sure you chop very fine)

  add to about 1/4 cup of olive oil. (I have no idea about measures)

  add a table spoon of thyme ( you should crush or otherwise chop so it is very fine)

  add graded paraganaa cheese ( to taste)

  add 2-3 tble spoons of balsamic vinegar ( get the good stuff, I don't want you wasting your time and energy on the cheap stuff)

  Squeeze the juice of one lemon and add the Zest ( i.e. a little shreads of the outside)

  mix

  Boil one or two eggs. I used soft boiled eggs with the soft yoke.

  add dressing and sliced eggs to a mixed salad.

  Add grated cheese to the mixture

  Eat with crackers and an expensive bottle of wine.

  enjoy.
• 

  bluebell

  i cant cook, thank goodness my partner can! he made pate yesterday, had it on toast (breadmaker bread, i can do that!). lovely.

  i did a spicy tomato & sausage caserole type dish a while back that was quite nice - want the recipe?
• 

  greendawn

  Cooking is a wonderful hobby, when I have free time I give it a go and usually the results are good. It's also very useful because it helps avoid eating processed food which is unhealthy. Cooking is not a science so usually recipes don't need to be followed exactly. Preparing bread is also very therapeutic.
• 

  misanthropic

  I love to cook, I've taken cooking classes here and would have loved to have gone to Culinary school and done that for a living but the closest culinary school to where I live is over 2 hours away. I'm a wonderful cook as long as I have a cookbook There's just something very relaxing about cooking ;)
• 

  restrangled

  Newyork44m....you sound like my kind of person!

  Just made this pasta dish yesterday. It was meant for a crowd but 3 of us have managed to consume the entire thing. Lots of veggies but very fattening.

  Lemon Fusilli with Arugula.

  1 T. Olive oil

  1 T. minced fresh garlic (3 cloves)

  3 cups heavy cream

  The juice of 2 lemons

  2 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. pepper

  1 bunch broccoli broken into bite size pieces

  1/2 pound arugala or baby spinach (leaves chopped into thirds)

  1 pint grape tomatos cut in half.

  1 box cork screw noodles Or Fusilli

  1 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese (no green can stuff!)

  Add the T. olive oil and garlic into a sauce pan and cook the garlic until clear but not brown. Add the 3 cups cream and bring to a simmer then reduce heat. Add the salt and pepper, juice of 2 lemons and let reduce until it heavily coats the back of a spoon and keep warm.

  In the mean time cook broccoli in boiling salted water until crisp tender. About a 2 to 3 minute boil.... Remove broccoli and put into an ice bath to stop cooking and drain.

  cook pasta until ala Dante, drain and put back into pot.

  In a very large bowl place the broccoli, tomatoes, arugala or spinach, and Parmesan in that order.

  Quickly pour the garlic cream sauce over cooked pasta and heat on low for 3 to 4 minutes until pasta has absorbed some of the sauce.

  Pour the above over the vegetables and toss. Serve with additional Parmesan and black pepper. Serve warm.

  r. ( you can expect at least a 2 pound gain after eating this...but its worth it!)
• 

  Stephanus

  Lemon Fusilli with Arugula.

  It's hardly roquette science!

  (groans at own joke )
• 

  Forscher

  Yes, I do cook as a hobby.

  I specialize in Chinese cooking, though I do some other stuff as well. I love to make cracklin' cornbread and some other Southern treats.

  Forscher
• 

  NewYork44M

  Here is a very quick pasta dish. You can create sauce while the pasta is boiling.

  Ingredients:

  5-8 chopped garlic

  One can of anchovies in olive oil

  2 packages of frozen spinach

  Olive oil

  One pound of pasta

  generous grated Parmesan cheese

  Process

  1. boil water for pasta
  2. Heat frozen spinach to make ready for pasta dish
  3. While pasta is boiling add garlic to heated olive oil cook until toasty
  4. add chopped anchovies
  5. the anchovies will disolve into the oil and garlic
  6. add spinach to mixture
  7. add pasta. Also add some of the pasta water to the mixture.
  8. Add the cheese, and mix thouroughly.

  This is so simple and suprisingly tasty. I keep making the mistake of starting the garlic and anchovie too early. You really must start the process after you add the pasta to the

  boiling water.
• 

  NewYork44M

  3 cups heavy cream

  Restrangled,

  Your recipe sound good but I avoid creams, butter, and sugar. (although I have no problev with cheese) My goal is to create a full list of recipes that are fairly healthy.