Garuda's recipes

Garuda's eggs~ I go through a lot of experimentation with ingredients in breakfast scrambles, but I'm particularly fond of mushrooms, onions, and avocado. The key to a good scramble is to keep it simple. Pick one or two of your favorite ingredients, and then only add flavors and spices that will support it. One of my recent favorites was diced white onions (thrown in just before the eggs, so they still have a little bite in the finished product) and caraway seed, with a pinch of tarragon. Whatever you're going to put in, if it needs more cooking than the eggs just throw it in the pan first and wait til it's almost done, then pour the eggs on top of it and stir it all up. I like my eggs fully-cooked but still moist and tender. One of my favorite cheats to make this happen is to add a good quarter to third of a cup of soy milk to the eggs before I throw them in the pan. It disappears into the eggs with hardly any effect but to make them a little creamier, and just a few moments before they're finished the eggs suddenly release all the water from the soy milk, which is a great tip off because you just wait for your pan to get moist-looking. It's probably worth noting that I always cook over a medium heat with canola oil, and I use a rubber scraping spatula, not a rigid one, to stir the eggs. Try not to let them sit un-stirred for more than a few moments. Put your toast in just before you drop the eggs in the pan and they should come out around the same time. Some things change their nature under concentrated heat, and are best to leave off until after the eggs come out. If you like cheese in your scramble, I suggest throwing it in just before the eggs come out, or sprinkling it on top once they're on your plate, or the cheese tends to get completely absorbed and you won't have any pockets of stringy goodness. Also, some other ingredients like flavorful oils (garlic, for example) and vinegar lose most of their flavor due to evaporation, so if you want them strong, add them towards the end. Hot sauce tends to do fine under heat, but again it gets blended into the rest if added int he beginning, so you don't get a distinct flavor, it just makes the rest of it spicier. If your pan ends up with egg film on it, cleanup is a lot easier if you fill it with warm tap water and leave it on the counter while you eat. Also, keep in mind that (if your pan is big enough) it's just as easy to make a 6 or 8 egg scramble as a 2 or 3 egg one, and making someone breakfast is an excellent way to earn brownie points. ;D

Balsamic Peaches (or Pears) Very simple dessert, best served hot with vanilla ice cream. You can do these on a grill too, just wrap your fruit in tin foil to keep the yummy juices inside. First off, peel your fruit and cut it in halves (or strips if you're using them as a topping). Drop them flat-side down in a baking dish, and add roughly equal parts sugar and balsamic vinegar, until they're about half-way submerged. If you don't have enough sugar or vinegar, or don't want to use that much, you can thin it with a simple vegetable oil, like canola. Don't use olive oil, or it will make your peaches taste like fucked up pasta. I like to add vanilla extract too, but it takes a fair amount as most of it tends to bake off. This tends to work best if you can make them ahead of time and let them soak for a while. A few hours is ideal, but less is alright, if it's what you have. Cover your baking dish in tin foil, and toss them in the oven at about 300 for 15 minutes or so. They should be tender like warm butter when you pull them out. Toss some straight into a bowl with a few scoops of ice cream and enjoy. Note: If using pears, it's a kindness to scrape out the core with a spoon or other handy device before soaking.

do you use fresh herbs too? I don't have any :X

Ooh, recipe sharing! Allow me to share a meat dish or two. Spaghetti Carbonara (Spaghetti with bacon, how can you go wrong?) What you will need: 1lb Spaghetti 1 Onion, chopped (Do NOT use the sweet variety) 1 Clove garlic (Minced is preferred, but you can crush it if needed) 1/2 Cup GRATED Parmesan Cheese (I can't stress GRATED enough.) 4 Eggs, beaten 8+ Slices of bacon, diced (Preferably thick cut, but whatever works) 2 Tbsp Bacon grease (Obtained after cooking bacon) 1 Tbsp Olive oil Fresh parsley to taste Grated Parmesan Cheese to taste What you do: Get a pot of salted water boiling. Since this is a salt central dish, don't skimp out on the salted water. In fact, go get a pot of seawater and boil that. Throw in the pasta, and boil till desired limpness. Set aside. In a large pan, place the diced bacon and cook, until it reaches a "Near crispy" status. Drain the fat into a can, and place the bacon on some paper towels to drain. Now, get back into that can of bacon grease and haul out two tablespoons of the stuff, dump it right back into the pan. Add the tbsp of olive oil, heat for a little bit. Add the onion, and cook until it becomes translucent. Add the garlic, and cook for one more minute. Now, dump the bacon and the pasta into the pan. Toss it around for a little, adding olive oil if the pasta happens to clump up. Add the eggs, making sure to toss them into the pasta, but DO NOT let the egg cook for more than 30 seconds, as they will cook very fast, and turn your pasta into a scramble. Take all this, put it into a bowl, and add the 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, and toss. Season to taste and serve.

Huevos Con Salsa Roja A truly delicious breakfast, and an excellent way to get rid of extra corn tortillas and enchilada sauce. Oil up a pan to fry eggs in, then dump about a half cup of enchilada sauce into it. More if your pan is really large or you're doing a lot of eggs. I like my salt cooked in, so at this point I add salt too, but it won't make much difference. Warm it over a LOW heat (don't want it to burn!) and once it's steaming or bubbling or just generally nice and warm, crack your eggs straight into the pan. Cover with a lid, and put some corn tortillas (you could use flour too) in the toaster oven or microwave or over another burner to warm up. Warm tortillas always taste better than cold ones. I've done stacks of two small tortillas under every egg, but it's really a personal taste thing. While the eggs are cooking, I recommend shuffling them gently around the pan. It helps to keep them from sticking, and the loose whites get all mixed up with the enchilada sauce and make scrambled goodness. Also, getting hot sauce on top of the eggs helps cook them, and prevents the need to flip them over. Once the whites are cooked through, pull your tortillas out of the oven and slide the eggs onto them, then pour the sauce over the top of it all. As a final touch, I dump some black beans on the side, and sprinkle the top of the whole deal with a little coriander, hot sauce, and shredded cheese, then bake it again for a few minutes to melt the cheese. Gran sabor!

No Azathoth, I generally don't. They're a lot more flavorful, but also expensive and don't keep well, unless you have an herb garden. Which I don't. ^_^

ok good =) thanks for the recipes!

Butternut Squash Ravioli in Sage Cream Sauce
I've taken on a big project for Thanksgiving this year: Butternut squash ravioli in sage cream sauce. It's pretty work-intensive, but it's worth the time it takes, so if anyone is trying to think of something to bring to a gathering, i fully suggest it. You'll want several hours to do this, make sure you won't be rushed. First off, you'll need to start the squash cooking. My recipe feeds about 15 people, so take that into consideration. I used two medium-sized squashes. Cut the squashes in half from top to bottom, remove the seeds, and lay them open-side-down in a casserole dish(es). I filled the pans with a quarter inch or so of water, which helps keep them nice and moist. Pre-heat the oven to 375 and stick it in for at least 45 minutes. Check it periodically to see if it's done, a knife or fork should go through it like warm butter when it's ready. remember the necks take longer to cook because they're more solid. Once the squash is in start the sauce. Get: One stick of butter (Unsalted would be best for this.) A cup (or a little more) of finely chopped white onions. Vidalias would be fine too, as they are also more mild and sweeter than normal yellow onions. Three ounces (six tablespoons) of chopped fresh sage (I strongly recommend avoiding dried sage!) Three cups of white wine Three cups of heavy cream Melt the butter in a *large* pan, or medium-large pot: remember, it needs to hold 6 cups of liquid. When the butter is melted, toss in the onions and sage, and sauté the lumpy mess for a good minute or two over a medium heat. Pour in the wine and turn the heat up, then let it boil off for a good 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the steam mostly stops smelling like alcohol. Pour in the cream and continue to reduce, and don't forget to stir! you don't want your cream to burn! The whole reduction process took about an hour for me, so don't get impatient. You're looking for the whole mix to thicken enough that it coats your spatula (or other stirring implement) in a fairly heavy coat. Cream sauces are thinner at boiling temperature than at eating temperature, but not by a whole lot. If in doubt, scoop a spoonful or two into a small cup and stick it in the freezer for a minute to bring it down to room temperature, then stick your finger in it, taste it, consider consistency, etc. You aren't trying to make whipped cream, but you want to make sure it won't run off your pasta like water. If you get the chance, consider the flavor of your white wine before choosing, I picked one untasted that was a good wine but had a fairly strong sour afternote that carried over into the sauce. A poor pick probably won't ruin it, but it never hurts to make informed decisions. I plan to add a small spoonful of sugar to my sauce to try to even it out. By now your squash should be done, so once it's out of the oven, chop the pieces into a few more manageable sized pieces and cut off the skin, then dice up the meat into chunks into a bowl, and mash it together with a tablespoon or three of butter. Mix in your choice of seasonings (I used a few tablespoons of sugar, a generous dash of salt, and several generous dashes of nutmeg. Black pepper would make a great substitute for nutmeg for a sumer version of the dish.) and blend the whole deal until it's fairly smooth. Any hard, undercooked chunks of squash i would be inclined to pick out and throw away, rather than mixing in. Butternut squash skin is not particularly thick or tough, so don't panic if you get a few small pieces in with the rest, it probably wont ever be noticed. For the assembly you'll need a few egg yolks (separate from whites) and a package of won ton wrappers (unless you're lucky enough to own a pasta machine, and want to roll your own dough). Lay out a row of wrappers and lightly brush the perimeter of the edges with egg yolk. Lay a dollop of squash in each, and seal another wrapper down over it using the egg yolk as glue. You don't need to yolk the second wrapper, the stuff glues pretty well with just a little bit. You'll probably want to boil the ravioli to cook the wrappers before you serve them. I recommend letting the egg yolk dry before you do this, but i don't know if it's absolutely necessary. The one ravioli I had burst open actually tore open in the middle. Once cooked, toss briefly in the sauce and put on a platter or in a casserole dish. I highly recommend topping with chopped walnuts, and maybe a few sage leaves for decoration. Enjoi!

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