Tabletop Recipe Exchange

[Sir Chuckles]

In a recent thread discussing snacks at the table, recipes began to be brought up.
Thus, I'd like to open this thread to the exchange, discussion, and possible alterations to recipes the Playground may use at their tables.

I'll begin with the rough idea behind my group's favorite burger.

Xlbs Bacon
Ylbs chuck steak

The quantity depends greatly on the size of the group and the fattiness of the meats, with less bacon for 80/20, but ideally you go 50/50 with a 96/4 beef. Less flare up on the grill, but still ends up nice and juicy.

Run both meats through a grinder, rough for the beef, fine for the bacon. Do a heavy dry seasoning on the outside to help make a good char on the grill. I also grind a clove or two of garlic into it, as well as some red onion. Adjust the type of seasonings to the bacon. Less onion and more garlic for maple bacon, add black pepper and swap to white onion for smoked.

Grilling ti the most preferred method, though do be wary when using a charcoal grill, which is again recommended, that the dripping fat can cause it to flare. Close attention must be given, as placing and removing the grill lid to control the flame is extremely important.

Use a drip pan in the oven in the event that a flame grill is not an option. Pan frying is not advised, due to splashing, smoking, and greasiness.

Toppings vary greatly due to preferences, but my personal preference is sauteed mushrooms and onion, swiss, and sriracha aoili.

[SouthpawSoldier]

Few of my dishes are finger food, appropriate for the gaming table, but I have a few submissions.

My own idea; Caprese Hasselbeck: Partially slice small roma tomatoes crosswise; insert slices of mozzarella and basil leaves; gently oven roast (enough to enhance sugars, not enough the tomatoes fall apart) serve with olive oil and basalmic*.

Bagna cauda: stupid easy Italian dip. Chef John (foodwishes) has a great tutorial.

Scotch eggs; hardboiled egg, rolled in sausage; bread and deep fry.

Cherry pepper poppers: Poppers, but with cherry peppers, mozzarella, and prosciutto or ham filling

Zucchini mini pizza: sliced zukes, topped with a slice of perpperoni and a dusting of pecorino or shredded parm.

Irish Car Bomb (mixed drink) cupcakes are always popular; chocolate stout cakes filled with whisky ganache, topped with Irish buttercream icing.


Fun source of recipes: http://www.geekychef.com/p/archive.html

*If you're using basic supermarket basalmic and olive oil, you're doing it wrong. Basalmic for this use has to be the real thing; aged, syrupy, a little tang but also sweet with floral notes. If the label says anything but "grape must", put it back.

[Feddlefew]

Next week I am making Chocolate Tomato Soup Cake (http://www.midcenturymenu.com/2012/04/black-magic-chocolate-cake-made-with-condensed-tomato-soup-a-retro-recipe-test/) with raspberry buttercream frosting.

My go to snack bread is a french honey and olive oil bread. I'll post about it at some point, but I'm still fiddling with the recipe and techniques I use to make it.

[caden_varn]

I'll add some cake recipes I like when I have the quantities in front of me, but here is a chicken dish I like, inspired by a Creole sauce I used as a source for the main ingredients. I don't measure anything out too accurately..

~150g Chorizo sauce (I use 2/3rd of a 250g one). I use one with the thickness of my thumb (thicker ones are not as good apparently)
2 chicken breasts
1-2 onions (depening on size)
2 sweet peppers
Lots of mushrooms (I use portabello and/or button). You could swap this with more chicken I guess, but I like shrooms, it's the hobbit in me)
4 good sized garlic cloves
chillis (number and type to taste)
tomato puree
balsamic vinegar
lemon juice
demerara sugar
cumin
paprika
oregano
thyme

Chop everything sensibly choppable.

Heat a wok or large saucepan without any oil. Add the chorizo, fry for a while, it will produce plenty of flavoursome oil. Remove the chorizo with a slotted spoon, leaving the oil in. Add the chillis and garlic to the chicken, fry for a while to get a bit of colour (probably best to add the garlic towards the end to stop it burning, but I normally don't worry too much). Set aside with the chorizo and add the peppers (I like a bit of crunch so give these a short fry). Set aside the peppers with the rest and add the onion (you can do them both together by I find having smaller amounts in the pan it fries better). Set aside the onions and add the shrooms. Always do the shrooms last as they will break down & release a lot of water).
Add some extra oil if you need to at any stage, sometimes I need a little more.

Once the shrooms have reduced down in size (so I have some room left in the pan - did I mention I like shrooms?), add the other ingredients back in, reduce the heat to low, add the tomato, herbs, spices, vinegar, lemon juice and sugar (basically, everything should be in the pan at this point), stir to mix well and make a decent amount of sauce, allow to simmer for 30 minutes.

I eat it with tortillas as I like eating with my fingers, but it works with rice too. Freezes well, so I make large batches to freeze & nuke back up when I don't have time to cook properly (ie most of the time).

I sometimes add some chipotle sauce, and I used to add a diced, boiled sweet potato which dissolves into the sauce - I don't normally bother these days as it does not add a lot to the dish. If you can get some small button mushrooms, save them and add with the spices before simmering - they can add a bit more crunch to the dish (used to use crimini mushrooms which worked really well, but I can;t get them any more (by which I mean the place I shop does not stock them any more and I am too lazy to go and look for them elsewhere.))