RUFAHOLICS' RECIPE Thread

[Vittoria]

While reading a post here today concerning a recipe that I mentioned, I thought "Hmmmm. What a cool idea?" I love cooking and baking, but unfortunately, the little space in my apartment doesn't allow for proper equipment, nor could I afford the good stuff anyway. But, what I thought we might like to do is have a thread all on sharing recipes. Since I have been collecting them for years, hopefully, I'll have enough to add and in posting live a tad vicariously.


SEX IN A PAN

A: 1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
3 Tbs. sugar

Put into 9 x 14" glass pan. Bake at 350 F about 20 minutes. Cool.

B: 8 oz cream cheese
1 cup icing sugar
1 small tub CoolWhip

Mix. Spread over base.

C: 2 cups milk
1 small pkg vanilla instant pudding
1 small pkg chocolate instant pudding

Beat pudding mixes and milk together. Put over top of cream cheese mixture.

D: 1 small tub CoolWhip

Put over pudding layer.
Refrigerate overnight.

[ambra]

Ok, here are a couple of my favorites and one I haven't tried yet but definitely plan on making.

CREAM CHEESE POUND CAKE

1 8oz pkg. cream cheese, softened
3 sticks butter, room temp
3 c. sugar
6 eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
Pinch of salt
2 TBSP vanilla or lemon extract

Mix together cream cheese and butter. Add sugar. Mix until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each. Add flour and salt. Beat for 3 minutes. Add extract and beat for an additional 2 minutes. Pour into greased and floured tube or bundt pan. Put in cold oven. Turn temperature to 300 to 325 degrees F. and bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes.


This next one is a really simple, no bake dessert that you can throw together the night before.

CHOCOLATE ECLAIR CAKE

1 package of Graham Crackers
1 6oz pkg of French Vanilla Pudding
3 cups milk
1 9oz container of Cool Whip, thawed

FUDGE FROSTING

1 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 cup cocoa
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla


Butter a 13X9 pan and line bottom with graham crakers, breaking as needed to fit into pan. Mix together pudding and milk then fold in Cool Whip. Pour half of pudding mixture over graham crakers and spread evenly. Add a second layer of graham crackers, spread remaining pudding mixture on top, then finish with final layer of graham crackers. Place cake in refrigerator while preparing icing.

For icing, combine sugar, salt, cocoa, and milk. Bring to a boil. Cook one minute. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla, stirring until butter is melted. Cool. Beat with a spoon until smooth and thick enough to spread. Spread evenly over top of cake and put cake in refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.

This is recipe I found in a new cookbook I bought called "Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2". Now, I love anything with pumpkin: pumpkin pie, pumpkin cake, pumpkin bread, even pumpkin spice coffee. This is a "clone" recipe of one my favorite IHOP dishes:

IHOP PUMPKIN PANCAKES

2 eggs
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
4 TBSP butter, melted
3 TBSP canned pumpkin
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground allspice

Preheat skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with an oil cooking spray, like Pam. Combie eggs, buttermilk, butter, pumpkin, sugar, and salt in a large bowl with an electric mixer until blended. Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and blend with mixer on medium speed until smooth. Pour batter in 1/3 cup portions into hot pan. When the batter stops bubbling and edges begin to harden, flip the pancakes. They should be dark brown. This will take from 1 to 3 minutes. Cook other side of for the same amount of time or until brown. Serve with syrup (I personally prefer butter pecan flavored over the maple)

[GreenEyesToo]

These all sound very nice, ladies......if I can only convert them into British cooking terms and in some cases find equivalent ingredients.

How about sending out samples? LOL!

[dirtygirldiva]

Shepherds Pie (my Aunts version...I heard the Brits don't use Ragu in their version;)

You'll need:
1lb ground beef
Mashed Potatoes
1 can whole kernal corn
2 deep dish pie crusts (the frozen ones that come in twos work great)
1 jar of Ragu spaghetti sauce.

Pre-heat the oven to 375F

Brown the ground beef, drain. Add Ragu. Keep warm.
Make the mashed potatoes. You can make your own, or use the box flake type.
Drain the corn.
Distribute the meat/ragu mix evenly in the two pie shells
Cover the meat mix with corn
cover the whole thing with the mashed potatoes
Cover both pies with aluminum foil and place in preheated oven.
bake for 35 min then remove the foil. let bake for another 10 min and ...

Voila! Shepards Pie!

Serve with a pat of butter on each slice.

A lot of people try and get crazy with it, but it's really a simple recipe that makes a really savory filling dish.

[Vittoria]

This is my first and only time sharing this online. Be prepared to spend a lot of time in the kitchen and at home for this one. It takes hours!

Vittoria's Tomato Sauce Recipe

Serve with olive oil / balsamic vinegar dip and some nice crusty Italian bread. Goes well with Chianti by Ruffino (at least 12 years old).

Use organic pasta imported from Italy. Sauce also good on polenta or potato gnocchi or as a side for Roman gnocchi.

This is the veggie version. For meat version, you may use ground buffalo, pigeon, venison, etc. Due to the cost of fresh tomatoes and the extra work to deal with them, I have chosen canned whole plum/Italian/Roma.

Equipment: cutting board, chef's knife, paring knife, meat cleaver (smashing garlic cloves), blender or food processor, large stew pot, large fry pan, clean canning jars (freezing portions for later), cheese grater (for carrots and if you use fresh parmesan), fine potato masher, utensils.

The less seeds the better, so get ready to remove seeds!

Ingredients:

7 28oz/796ml cans of whole Italian/Plum/Roma tomatoes
6 large garlic cloves, minced
1 large white onion, chopped coarsely
I red bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 orange bell pepper, diced
1 large carrot, cleaned and grated (skin on)
optional: fresh button mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
Dried pregano
Fresh Italian Parsley
Fresh Basil
Black pepper, freshly ground
Sea Salt, freshly ground if necessary
Extra Virgin Olive Oil imported from Italy

The Tomatoes:

Divide the cans into two groups: 4 cans for processing and three for chunky. With the processor group, handle each tomato individually, cutting it in half and rinsing the seeds out under the tap. Puree. Add to large pot. With the chunky group, handle each tomato individually, cutting each in half and rinsing the seeds under the tap. Chop the tomatoes into chunks and add to large pot.

Bring to a soft boil and mash the chunks with a fine potato masher. Reduce heat and keep at a simmer with vented lid, mashing occasionally, while preparing vegetables. Make sure the sauce never scorches. Mash ujntil the sauce becomes a bit thicker.

The Vegetables:

Peel garlic, cut off ends, smash each clove down with the flat of a meat cleaver placed over the cloves. Then, finely chop with a chef's knife to minced consistency, not pasty. Chop the onion coarsely. Sautee together in oil in a heavy skillet until onion is transparent and garlic is cooked but not browned. Add to sauce. Wipe excess oil from pan with paper towel and clean the sides of the pan if any oil dripped over while pouring.

Remove seeds and whites of bell peppers. Dice, sautee in oil, add to pot, wipe.

Clean mushroom if using, cut off stems, coarsely chop, sautee in oil, add to sauce. Wash and grate carrot and add to sauce. With dried oregano, rub it between the palms of your hands while adding to the sauce. Be careful not to overdo the oregano. Grind salt and pepper into the sauce.

Fresh Herbs:

Chop up Italian parsley. Clean basil. Set aside for about two hours. If using ground meat, set some of this aside for that also.

Simmer the sauce for about two hours with the lid off, stirring it and making sure it does not scorch. Add fresh herbs and simmer 1/2 hour to 1 hour longer, depending on the thickness of the sauce.