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Chefs of Elftown

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Cooking is an art. The different flavors, the colors, the textures... and so it is fitting that there is a cooking page on an artists' community. So take a look at Chefs of Elftown, whether you're an expert or beginner, whether you prefer to cook simple nourishing food or artistic creations, whether you prefer the dinner or the dessert. This page is a recipe swap, advice forum, and everything else to do with cooking.
I won't divide this page into sections yet so just add recipes tips whatever below. It doesn't have to be a recipe you created, if its not just give the source along with your name if you like.
Tell people about this page! As it stands, it seems to be the best-kept secret in Elftown.

MEMBERS:

(feel free to add your name)
1.[Seamus Schwathe] I founded this page.
2.[twist and shout] I'm really horrible at cooking, but I love food :)
3.[the Indigo] erm...i like food? o.o
4.[dark kitty in big trouble] I'm the bomb at making cookies ^^
5.[R0s3tt3 Chr1st0ph3r] I'd say I'm pretty good at cooking, and I have an addiction to food, so can't go wrong here!
6.[duende_negro] Well I looove cooking an dI can present you to some "Venezuelan food".
7.[Blue Raspberries and Grape Juice] I'm always coming up w/ new ways to put food (especially sweets) together into a tasty dish!:)
8. [MysticShadows] i'm ALWAYS cooking!! i love food.
9. [JupiterStar] I love to cook! And people love my cooking! lol
10. [chemic red] I love cooking, baking especially! Desserts are my thing.
11. [Soul Assassin] breads and desserts are the best!
12. [stepforth] Food is awesome and cooking is even better I think meats would have to be my thing.
13. [nokaredes]!
14. [Sister Insomnia] Oh!! I love cooking!! Haha. I used to watch the Food Network all the time...I love food soo much!! ^_^
15. [karasu] :3
16. [maggie the pie] I just love to cook!

RECIPES

Chocolate Cheesecake
Heat oven to 350. Prepare crust.
BEAT: 3 (8-oz) bricks of cream-cheese until fluffy.
GRADUALLY ADD: 1 (14-oz) can of condensed milk.
MELT AND ADD: 1 12-oz package of semisweet chocolate chips.
ADD: 4 eggs, 1/4 cup coffee-flavored liqueur (Irish cream is also good), 2 tsp. vanilla. Pour into crust.
BAKE: 1 hour 5 minutes or until set.
CRUST:Mix 1-and-1/2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs, 1/3 cup cocoa powder, and 1/3 c. melted butter. Press onto the bottom of a 9-inch square pan.

Sweet-and-Sour Chicken
INGREDIENTS:
3 to 3-and-1/2 pounds of chicken
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tbsp. cornstarch
2 tsp. soy sauce
1 green bell pepper
2 tomatoes
Vegetable oil
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. water
1/4 c. cornstarch
1 tsp. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1-and-1/4 c. sugar
1 c. chicken broth
2 tsp. soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 c. cornstarch
1/4 c. cold water
1 can (8 or so ounces) pineapple chunks, drained
  Remove skin and bones from chicken and cut it into 1-inch pieces. (It's easier to buy 3 pounds of boneless-skinless chicken breasts. All you have to do is cut them into the pieces- easier with a good, sharp pair of scissors for me.) Place them in a large bowl. Mix next 4 ingredients stir into the chicken. Cover and refrigerate 20 minutes. Cut each tomato into 8 wedges. Cut each bell pepper into 1-inch pieces.
  Heat oil (1-and-1/2 inches) in a wok or 12-inch skillet to 350. Mix flour and next 4 ingredients. Stir into chicken until well coated. Fry the pieces for about 3 minutes, turning frequently. Drain on paper towels. Increase oil temperature to 375 and fry the pieces again for about one minute or until golden brown, turning several times. Drain on paper towels.
  Mix sugar and next 5 ingredients and boil them. Mix the 1/4 c. cornstarch and the water. Add to sauce and stir until it's thick, about 10 seconds. Add tomatoes, bell pepper, and pineapple. Heat to boiling. Pour over chicken.
 -Betty Crocker. Whoever thought they did Chinese food?

Caesar Salad

from: my mommala ^_^

Ingredients (dressing):
2 TBS red wine vinegar
1 TBS lemon juice
1 1/2 TBS Dijon mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/2 olive oil

Method:
Rapidly stir together all ingredients in a small bowl (the way me and my mom always make it is we put it in a small jar--like for jelly--and shake it like none other >_< i dunno, it just works better that way), then tear enough romaine lettuce for the serving you desire and add as much of the dressing as you want. add as many croutons and as much grated parmesean cheese as you want and dig in!!


Chocolate Haystacks

from: my mommala (again ^_~)

Ingredients:
1 12oz package chocolate chips (semi-sweet or milk)
1 12oz package butterscotch chips (you can use peanut butter chips as a substitute if you cant find any)
1 cup broken cashews
6oz chinese noodles (or enough to use all the chocolate in covering them)

Method:
Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips over low heat, sitting, until melted and well-mixed (we usually put it in the microwave, though--its faster :P) Stir in cashews. Carefully stir in noodles until well coated. Drop by clusters onto waxed paper-covered baking sheets (or whatever you have lying around the house)--they dont spread. Refridgerate until set. Store in refridgerator.

Baked Turkey from The Cotton Country Collection

  If you buy a frozen turkey, be sure it is well thawed.
  The day before you cook it, rub the bird well inside and out with a soft paste you make up of: Worcestershire sauce, a little vinegar, salt, pepper (white pepper unless you don't mind black specks all over it), and dry mustard.
  Place inside the bird: One onion, cut in half, some celery, and a little parsley. Lay in the roaster on its back. Across the breast lay 3 pieces of bacon. Stick hunks of butter (about one stick) in the crevices between the wings and the body, and the legs and the body. Add 2 cups of chicken stock (canned broth is fine) to the roaster. You can also add two undrained cans of vegetables. Soak a clean rag or paper towel in olive oil (plain cooking oil will do) and lay it over the bird. Bake uncovered at the desired temperature. 300 degrees is best but you can do up to 350 if you're rushed. You may baste it once or twice while it cooks.
Note: You can also use this recipe for a chicken. You may have to remove the rag an hour before it's done so it browns.

Arroz con Leche (or “Rice with milk”, it is a Venezuelan desert)

The ingredients…
1 cup of rice.
2 cups of water.
7 cups of milk.
2 cinnamon sticks.
2 cups of sugar.
½ spoon of salt
Cinnamon in powder

Getting started…
1- First put the rice in a wire colander and wash it very good. Then dry it a bit
2- Put the rice and cups of water in a boiler, boil it and mix it. Let it cook for 7 minutes until the water has been consumed.
3-Then add the milk and the cinnamons sticks, boil it again and cook it for 15 to 16 minutes (medium fire) until the rice becomes soft, then you mix it.
4-Add the sugar and let it cook for 30 minutes, now add the salt and cook it for 1 to 2 minutes more and keep mixing.
5-Take it away form the fire and pour it in a bowl, then add some cinnamon powder and let it rest on the refrigerator.

You can eat it cold (it is better ^^)

Mint-Chocolate Fudge Not very complicated but it takes awhile.

Ingredients...
3 c. sugar
3/4 c. (1-1/2 sticks) butter, no margarine.
1 small can (5 oz.) evaporated milk.
1 jar (7 oz) marshmallow cream
12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips or (chopped baking squares)
12 oz. white chocolate chips (or chopped baking squares)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. mint extract
Green food color (if desired)

1--- Divide all ingredients in half except the last three. (half a can of evaporated milk=1/3 cup)
2--- Put half the sugar, half the butter, and half the margarine over medium heat, cook to 234 degrees F or 112 degrees C, stirring all the time.
3--- Add half the white chocolate chips, the mint extract, enough green to make a prety pastel color, and half the marshmallow cream. Spread into a greased rectangle pan. It will be hard to spread because it has to go so thin.
4--- Melt the remaining white chocolate and spread it on top.
5--- Cook once again the remaining sugar, butter, and evaporated milk as before.
6--- Add half the semisweet chocolate and the vanilla. Spread on top of the white chocolate in the pan. (It doesn't matter if the white chocolate hasn't hardened yet.)
7--- Melt the remaining semisweet chocolate and spread on top.
NOTE: It doesn't work to make one boiled mixture and divide it in half. One half will cool while you're working with the other and it won't reheat properly.

*Assassin's Bread*

2/3 cup shortening
2 2/3 cup sugar
  4 eggs
16oz pumpkin
2/3 cup water
31/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Chocolate chips to taste


Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom only of 2 loaf pans. Mix shortening and sugar in a large bowl. Add eggs, pumpkin and water. Blend in flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and spices. Bake till a tooth -pic in the center comes out clean, app. 60-70 min. Cool before slicing.


Thai sweet rice with mangoes (Kao Neuw Kati)
(really tasty :D Eat only a little if lactose intolerent, though. Coconut cream can be just as bad as whole milk, in case you didn't already know >>)

Ingredients:

-1 cup (7 oz., 220 g.) glutinous rice (you can find this in a specialty Asian store. Thai rice is preferred)
 
  For sauce one:
-1/2 cup (2 fl. oz.) coconut milk
-1/4 cup sugar
-2 pinches salt
 
  For sauce two:
-1 cup (8 fl. oz.) coconut cream
-1/2 cup palm sugar (found at specialty Asian stores) or brown sugar

-2 mangoes, peeled and sliced

Method:

A day ahead, combine rice and 6 cups water in a bowl and let soak at room temp. overnight or about 6-8 hours. Drain the rice once during that time and put 6 cups fresh water back in. In a steamer pan, pour water to a depth of 3 in. and line a steamer tray with a 20 in. square of cheesecloth. Drain rice and spread in lined tray. Put tray in pan and set to high heat. Bring water to a boil, drape overhanging cheesecloth loosely over rice, cover, and steam for 20 min. Remove rice from steamer. Reline the steamer tray with clean cheesecloth and put rice back into the tray. Drape, cover, and steam over high heat until the rice kernels are tender, about 20 min.
To make sauce one, in a saucepan over low heat, combine the coconut milk, suger and salt and bring to a low simmer, stirring to dissolve sugar. To make sauce two, combine coconut cream and palm/brown sugar in separate pan and warm over low heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Let both sauces cool to room temp.
Combine rice and two sauces, garnish with slices of mango, and serve

Mexican Wedding Cookies
1 lb. (four sticks or two cups) softened butter
1 C powdered/confectioner's sugar (plus much more for after they've baked)
4 tsp. vanilla
5 C all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 C pecans, chopped small (if desired)

Cream the butter and the sugar and add the vanilla. Separately mix the flour and salt and then add them to the butter. Then add the pecans as it begins to come together if you want them. (I usually don't but that's because my cousins don't like nuts in their cookies.) So mix it until there's no flour left at the bottom of the bowl. Then make them into 1-inch balls and put them on a greased cookie sheet about a half-inch apart. They don't spread and don't expand very much. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes or until slightly golden. Meanwhile, fill a container with the remaining powdered sugar. When the cookies are out of the oven and are just cool enough that they won't fall apart if you take them off the pan but still very hot, bury them completely in the powdered sugar and leave them sit there until they are cool.

Shut-Up-And-Eat-It Chicken
Named for what I said when I served it. This was an improvised dish that turned out surprisingly well. Leave plenty of time for the liquid to reduce.
1 package chicken meat, any cut.
Half a bottle of Italian salad dressing
2 cans stewed tomatoes
Chili powder, Garlic powder, Salt
Flour paste
Pepper-jack cheese, shredded

Heat oven to 350 degrees F (176 degrees C). Bone and skin the chicken meat if it isn't already. Boil it in a saucepan in water to cover to which half a bottle of Italian dressing has been added until thoroughly cooked. Remove the chicken pieces. Discard all but one inch/2 cm of the cooking water, and add to it the undrained cans of tomatoes. Boil this until the liquid is reduced to about 3/4 inches I think. I just eyeball it. Anyways, this will take awhile. While it's reducing, cut the chicken to a bit bigger than bite-size pieces. When the liquid/tomatoes is reduced sufficiently, add to it a little salt and a few shakes of the garlic and chili powder. You can use different spices if you wish (these were the ones I had available), but don't omit the salt. Then thicken it with the flour paste, like a gravy. Whatever thickness you get it to when you stir in the paste is about what it'll work out to be when you serve it, so use that to decide how much. Add the chicken and mix well. Then put it in a recangle baking pan, making sure the chicken is distributed evenly. Top liberally with the cheese and bake until bubbly. Not sure how long this takes. Then broil it so the top browns nicely.


Vietnamese New Year's spring rolls

Hm...we improvised it. Just mix a whole bunch of ground pork with carrots, cabbage, wood ear...umm...I really don't remember if there was anything else oO Everything has to have a long shape, like the carrots have to be shaved, the cabbage shredded, etc. then you mix it all together in a big bowl. Then you get a bunch of wonton skins, microwave them until their not hard anymore, and you have to peel them starting from the middle (ex--take one stack, divide it from the center into two, take one of the two and divide that into two, etc). Then take a wonton skin (make sure it's facing you so that it's diamond shaped, not square :P), put part of the filling in, roll it to the center two corners, fold the corners in so that just the top point is left, brush the point with a mixture of egg and a small amount of water so it will stick, then finish rolling and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 (? or 375...I don't remember...) for 15 min (or 30 oO at least I remembered this much...just until they're brown or looking cooked >>), then take them out, turn them over, and cook for the remaining 15 or 30min until they look brown. For the fish sauce ((this way is better than the nasty store bought stuff...)), just take concentrated fish sauce, and mix it with lime juice and water until it is to your liking. Then wrap with lettuce, mung bean sprouts, cilantro, mint, and/or this daikon/carrot/vinegar mixture you can usually find at Asian stores, dip it in the fish sauce, and eat :D C'est muy delicioso

Happy Colorful Twice-Baked Potatoes
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 tomato, diced
2 shallots, chopped fine
Butter
1/4 cup (generous) snipped cilantro (snip, then measure)
1/4 cup chives cut into about 1/4 inch pieces (cut, then measure)
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
5 slices of bacon
1/2 cup sour cream
6 baking potatoes

Bake the potatoes.
While waiting for the potatoes, prepare the other ingredients. Snip the green vegetables and set aside. Then cut the bell pepper and shallots. Don't cut the bell pepper into teensy pieces, but don't leave huge chunks either. Then saute the bell pepper and shallots in a little bit of butter until the shallots are clear and the peppers are sweet. When they are about halfway finished cooking, add the tomato cubes to the pan. Set them aside after they are done, but don't mix them with the green vegetables yet. Then rinse the pan and use it to cook and crush your bacon. Don't pulverize it into the size of those pre-purchased bacon bits, leave them bigger. It tastes better that way.
When the potatoes are done and have cooled a bit, cut them in half lengthwise and scoop the insides into a large bowl, saving the shells. Using a pastry blender if you have one, mix the potatoes, the vegetables, (to clarify, you should not have cooked the cilantro or chives yet) the sour cream, the cheese, and the bacon. Stuff the shells with this mixture, and if you are feeling gourmet, put a slight sprinkling of white cheese on top. Then bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.