Heaven: 2023 Food, marvellous food! Recipes we enjoy...or not!

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  • kingsfoldkingsfold Shipmate
    edited April 2023
    I recently bought a jar of smooth peanut butter because I was using a recipe that called for some. And indeed, said recipe was enjoyable. The only thing is that I now have the rest of the jar of peanut butter to use up.

    It's not something I want (for example) to eat on toast, or in PBJ type sandwiches, but am quite happy to add to things like sauces. So any other suggestions for how I can use up the peanut butter? Savoury uses preferred...
  • It doesn’t survive long here as Mr Heavenly eats it by the spoon, but I often mix it with honey, spices and soy sauce and add it to stir fries, like a satay sauce.
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Purgatory Host, Circus Host
    Mafé is a West African dish with a peanut butter sauce and very delicious. Chicken and beef versions exist.

    Various recipes are on line, although I can't really point you to one, because the ones I know are all in French.
  • Various recipes are on line, although I can't really point you to one, because the ones I know are all in French.

    That could add a touch of adventure :mrgreen:

  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    African peanut soup is also a possibility. Lots of West African and South East Asian ideas out there, those will be the main areas to look at. Personally I love stirring some peanut butter into curry flavour instant noodles along with some soy sauce and either sweet chilli sauce or sriracha....
  • It doesn’t survive long here as Mr Heavenly eats it by the spoon, but I often mix it with honey, spices and soy sauce and add it to stir fries, like a satay sauce.
    Same here, often with chili peppers.

    I’m facing a similar conundrum, though in my case it’s apple butter we got to make a glaze for pork chops. The glaze was very good, and I plan to make it again, but I doubt we’ll want the pork chops or pork tenderloin, which it would also do nicely with, often enough to use up the big jar of apple butter.

  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    Nick Tamen wrote: »
    It doesn’t survive long here as Mr Heavenly eats it by the spoon, but I often mix it with honey, spices and soy sauce and add it to stir fries, like a satay sauce.
    Same here, often with chili peppers.

    I’m facing a similar conundrum, though in my case it’s apple butter we got to make a glaze for pork chops. The glaze was very good, and I plan to make it again, but I doubt we’ll want the pork chops or pork tenderloin, which it would also do nicely with, often enough to use up the big jar of apple butter.

    Is the apple butter spiced? I would let any spicing guide me rather than apples specifically. Maybe use it in baking as a sweetener? You could also beat it with egg whites or butter to make frosting without needing any added sugar.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I'm not at all sure what apple butter is, but would it be possible to freeze it in small enough quantities (eg ice-cube trays, or the little pots that you sometimes get coleslaw in from takeaways) so that you only need to defrost what you need?
  • Dogs. To eat it, rather than be eaten with it. Snoopy wanted me to let you know her recommendation.
  • I am in a similar pb situation.
    Checking through the cupboards this morning I found an unopened jar of smooth peanut butter due to reach its use by date next month.
    My inclination with pb is to follow Mr Heavenly's example, and having started I reach the bottom of the jar very quickly, so I am looking for quick and easy recipes to share the pb with Mr RoS.
    The first one on my list to try is Nigella's dreamy, Creamy, Peanut Butter.
    Pasta
    . It will probably go on next week's menu.
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    edited April 2023
    @piglet, apple butter.

    Thanks for the various ideas, @Pomona and @Lamb Chopped. Snoop (yes, my daughter, who loves rap and hip hop, named her dog Snoop) particularly appreciates the feed it to the dogs idea. (And piglet, yes I might explore freezing in smaller quantities. I needed 3 tablespoons for the glaze, and the only apple butter at the store was a 28 oz (794 g) jar.)

    I’m now also wondering about a spoonful or two mixed into my oatmeal, which I normally flavor with cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and allspice.

    BTW, if anyone is interested, the recipe for the glaze is:

    3 tablespoons apple butter
    2 tablespoons maple syrup
    1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
    1 teaspoon soy sauce
    ½ teaspoon cider vinegar
    1 teaspoon kosher salt

    This is for 4 pork chops. Glaze all over, slow cook on low temp (I do 225° on the grill), the glaze the tops again and put under the broiler for about 5 minutes.

  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    It's soup season here and I'm a bit bored with the usual soups I make. Does anyone have any tried and true recipes they can recommend please? I'm particularly interested in vegan recipes as most of the ones I inherited from mum are meat based and were popular when meat was a lot cheaper here.

    As I live alone recipes that can be frozen would be particularly welcome.

    Thanks in hopeful anticipation.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    I'm probably not the person to ask for exact recipes, I go more by themes. One of which is root veg + spice. I am shortly going to chop up an onion and a sweet potato, add vegetable stock and chilli flakes, cook, liquidise, finish with a squirt of lime juice.

    Or onion, parsnip, veg stock and curry powder - same idea. Finish with swirl of yoghurt if you like.
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Purgatory Host, Circus Host
    The world's fastest and easiest soup. A friend gave me the recipe ages ago and I return to it periodically. I made this yesterday - it's just the thing when you need a quick meal without too much effort.

    Get a tin of peas and empty it into a pan water and all. Add some goat's cheese and a small bunch of mint. Heat it all up together and then blend. You may need to add a bit of water if it comes out too thick.
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    @la vie en rouge I am surprised La Vache Qui Ri hasn't been deployed there 😉
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Purgatory Host, Circus Host
    No, you've got it all wrong. La vache qui rit goes in courgette soup. :wink:
  • A jar of peanut butter I have had a recipe which was basically peanut butter, cocoa and chilli which you mixed to your desired taste and texture. Imagine it on toast with mashed banana.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    I am in a similar pb situation.
    Checking through the cupboards this morning I found an unopened jar of smooth peanut butter due to reach its use by date next month.
    My inclination with pb is to follow Mr Heavenly's example, and having started I reach the bottom of the jar very quickly, so I am looking for quick and easy recipes to share the pb with Mr RoS.
    The first one on my list to try is Nigella's dreamy, Creamy, Peanut Butter.
    Pasta
    . It will probably go on next week's menu.

    Don't worry about the date. Peanut butter has a best before, not a use by, and is perfectly safe indefinitely.
  • Well, I'm pretty sure it can go rancid, like any plant oil. But it would take a while!
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    edited April 2023
    @Huia not a recipe as such but I recommend getting a vegetarian tom yum paste (Mae Ploy do a vegetarian one which should be widely available) as it keeps for ages in the fridge and makes an instant and delicious soup with whatever you have on hand. Traditionally most Thai soups are eaten with rice (treated more like a very thin curry) but adding noodles is also common (as are stir-fried 'dry' tom yum dishes).

    Miso or doenjang (the Korean version of miso which is usually cheaper) are also good ways of making instant soup to which you can add basically anything. I really like doenjang-jjigae (Maangchi recipe here) which is very hearty and comforting in cold weather. Instead of shrimp and dried anchovies I would rehydrate and slice a few dried shiitake and add those with their soaking water. It's also good made with cabbage instead of zucchini.
  • Not rushing to use the peanut butter then. Although I will need to find a use for it sometime, other than a comfy chair and a teaspoon.
  • DoublethinkDoublethink Admin, 8th Day Host
    Mixing it with soy sauce and some Chinese five spice mix, makes a nice quick stir fry sauce.
  • I've got my eye on trying one of the Mafé type things in due course. I also have a couple of recipe cards where I soaked dried cashews/peanuts and blended them into something with spices, so I might look those out again & improvise...

    And probably down the line, something sort of Chinese/Thai. But there's quite a lot in the jar, so it'll be a gradual process!


  • Another fan of Mae Ploy tom yum paste here (I also use their Thai curry pastes) and miso paste.
    Generally my winter soups tend to be of a similar approach to Firenze; I sweat the onions and potatoes, add whatever root veg I have, add seasoning and stock, then liquidise when cooked. Serve with a dollop of crème fraiche or a drizzle of flavoured oil.
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    One soup I remember really liking as a child when an aunt served it at a party is John Tovey's (via Delia Smith) Tomato, apple, and celery soup - that it's stayed with me all this time is probably a good sign! It doesn't taste too sweet or fruity from the apple, just a fresh sweetness that helps out less ripe tomatoes.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Diverting from soup to fish, the following spice rub applied to either white or oily is very good.

    1 tsp of
    • Salt
    • Minced garlic or garlic granules
    • Paprika
    • Oregano
    • Thyme
    • Cayenne
    • Cumin

    Bake for 10 minutes (or thereabouts depending on the thickness of fillets) with a lot of butter.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Firenze wrote: »
    ... root veg + spice ...

    I made a pot of veg & spice soup this afternoon:

    1 onion, 3 large carrots, 2 baking potatoes, a small turnip (swede/rutabaga type), all peeled and chopped.

    Sweat them in butter and oil over a very low heat for about 15 minutes with about half a teaspoon each of cinnamon, mace and turmeric, a quarter teaspoon of dried chilli flakes and a good grating of nutmeg, salt and pepper.

    Add a couple of handfuls of red lentils and about 2 pints/1 litre/4 cups hot stock (I used 2 ham stock cubes, but you could just as well use veggie ones).

    Bring to the boil, turn the heat down to its lowest, cover and simmer for about 45 minutes or until the veggies are soft.

    Take off the heat, whizz with an immersion blender until smooth, stir in a small carton of cream and season to taste.
  • Nick Tamen wrote: »
    @piglet, apple butter.

    Thanks for the various ideas, @Pomona and @Lamb Chopped. Snoop (yes, my daughter, who loves rap and hip hop, named her dog Snoop) particularly appreciates the feed it to the dogs idea. (And piglet, yes I might explore freezing in smaller quantities. I needed 3 tablespoons for the glaze, and the only apple butter at the store was a 28 oz (794 g) jar.)

    I’m now also wondering about a spoonful or two mixed into my oatmeal, which I normally flavor with cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and allspice.
    Circling back to this just to say that the apple butter turned out to be really good in oatmeal.

  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    I wonder if apple butter would freeze well? You could freeze it in ice cube trays.
  • Pomona wrote: »
    I wonder if apple butter would freeze well? You could freeze it in ice cube trays.
    It does, or at least we’ll enough. The trick, alas, is finding room in our freezer.

  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Rather a successful stab at Hake in Green Sauce (Merluza con Salsa Verde). To do:

    Gently fry up some chopped garlic in olive oil. Toss in finely chopped parsley and a little flour. Add fish stock or white wine (or both) sufficient to make a thickish sauce. Put in fine asparagus and the hake. Simmer for about 10 minutes.
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    Thanks for the soup recipes and ideas. I have found the recipes folder I had misplaced (tidied away in a dark hole because I had people staying with me). :relieved:
  • JLBJLB Shipmate
    In preparation for a couple of days cooking for myslf, without my husband, I've bought some smoked tofu.Now I can't find any useful recipes. Can anyone suggets anything, please? Or do I just put it in a stir-fry or pasta sauce?
  • DoublethinkDoublethink Admin, 8th Day Host
    I’ve stir fried tofu before, if it isn’t the harder kind you need to squeeze out some of the water first.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    My way with tofu - plain rather than smoked - is start with Firm, squeeze out as much moisture as possible, then cut into cubes, roll in cornflour, and fry in a little hot oil, turning carefully.

    Add the crisped cubes to veg stir fried with a pungent sauce.
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    Smoked tofu typically is firm tofu to start with, and the pellicle will make it harder to squeeze moisture out of it. So I would focus on coating it in order to prevent it from sticking. But also for a stir-fry, if your wok is hot enough and well-seasoned it shouldn't stick anyway. Heat the wok before adding oil, and drizzle the oil around the sides rather than adding it to the bottom.

    @JLB if you look up the website of the tofu brand in question, they should have recipes.
  • HedgehogHedgehog Shipmate
    I just made a new black bean soup recipe. The original recipe came from The Zen Monastery Cookbook, but I added basil and instead of yellow onions I used red onions (no real reason: but the yellow onions in the grocery store looked bad and reds looked good...). And I tweaked the cooking times.

    What intrigued me with this recipe is that the sautéing of the vegetables is done in water--not oil. I have a very dear friend who cannot handle oils--which means that most of the soups I make are off the menu for her. To find a non-oil soup recipe is a joy. The soup itself is a non-spicy black bean soup with fruity overtones.

    Zen Black Bean Soup

    INGREDIENTS
    2 cups black beans
    2 red onions, chopped
    8 cloves garlic, minced
    2 carrots, diced
    1 green bell pepper, diced
    1 red bell pepper, diced
    28 oz tomatoes, diced
    1/4 tsp black pepper
    2 tsp cumin, ground
    2 tsp salt
    11.5 oz orange juice
    3 tsp fresh basil, chopped

    DIRECTIONS
    1) Sort beans and soak them overnight.
    2) Drain beans, add to pot, and add fresh water enough to cover beans by about 2 inches. Cover and cook beans until tender (about 1.5 hours). Drain beans but save the cooking liquid.
    3) In a separate pan, sauté onions, garlic and carrots in some water until almost tender. Add bell peppers, tomatoes and seasonings and cook for about 5 minutes.
    4) Add the vegetable mixture to the bean pot, add the orange juice and basil and enough of the saved cooking liquid to make a soup (to taste). Heat all for about 15 minutes.

    Makes about 4.5 quarts or so All depending (of course) on how much of the cooking liquid you add back in. Some people like soups that are primarily solids with just a little liquid, but to me the broth is what makes a soup, so I prefer mine to be more liquid.
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    That sounds good (although I personally can't eat beans). Delia has a couple of slow-and-low cooked vegetable soups here and here which don't involve any sautéeing, but get their Maillard reactions from the length of time spent cooking. I don't think I would use a slow cooker for this but if the cost of fuel was a concern you could simmer it on the stovetop with the lid on (I would also be inclined to use water rather than stock to prevent over-salting due to the soup reducing, and use more herbs instead).
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    Also @Hedgehog not a soup, but you may be interested in this oil-free baked mushroom risotto recipe, made using low-fat evaporated milk. I don't know if your friend can have alcohol but chicken or vegetable broth with a splash of balsamic or wine vinegar would be a good (and cheaper!) sub for the madeira if not.
  • HedgehogHedgehog Shipmate
    Thank you for the links, @Pomona !
  • @Hedgehog Thank you so much for the Zen black bean soup recipe. I am on a very low-sodium diet and no orange juice. There is limited Mexican food allowed so I was wondering what to fix. I was able to tweak the recipe into a Mexican bean soup for the Cinco-de-Mayo celebration tomorrow, by using no salt products and a few switches. It turned out yummy. I will put a dash of sour cream on top with fresh cilantro and a squeeze of lime, when I serve it.
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    @Graven Image I was wondering if tamarind paste (the kind you make by rehydrating block tamarind and pushing it through a sieve) would be a good substitute for orange juice, but if orange juice has too much sodium that might not work either? Raw tamarind apparently has 28mg of sodium per 100g if that helps.
  • Thanks, Pomona it is the potassium in OJ that is the problem, not salt. My no list is filled with many things. LOL
  • kingsfoldkingsfold Shipmate
    kingsfold wrote: »
    I recently bought a jar of smooth peanut butter because I was using a recipe that called for some. And indeed, said recipe was enjoyable. The only thing is that I now have the rest of the jar of peanut butter to use up.

    It's not something I want (for example) to eat on toast, or in PBJ type sandwiches, but am quite happy to add to things like sauces. So any other suggestions for how I can use up the peanut butter? Savoury uses preferred...

    To follow up on this, I tried a Senegalese mafé, loosely based on this recipe, and done in the slow cooker. And I would very happily repeat it again some time (though there are three more portions in my freezer currently!). Thanks for the suggestion - that's a good one to add to my repertoire of slow cooker dishes :smile:
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    Hedgehog, the Black Bean Soup sounds interesting. I will now have to check where I can buy the beans. My nearest supermarkets only sell canned beans so I will need to venture further afield.
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    Huia wrote: »
    Hedgehog, the Black Bean Soup sounds interesting. I will now have to check where I can buy the beans. My nearest supermarkets only sell canned beans so I will need to venture further afield.

    Canned black beans should work fine here.
  • Huia wrote: »
    Hedgehog, the Black Bean Soup sounds interesting. I will now have to check where I can buy the beans. My nearest supermarkets only sell canned beans so I will need to venture further afield.

    I just made it with canned beans, no problem.
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    Thanks @Pomona and @Graven Image - that makes it easier.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Huia wrote: »
    Thanks @Pomona and @Graven Image - that makes it easier.

    Just rinse them thoroughly. Canned beans and chick peas are very useful to have in the cupboard.
  • HedgehogHedgehog Shipmate
    Yes, I would imagine canned beans would work, although I agree with @Gee D that rinsing is in order. Dry beans are great to store on the shelves without taking up too much room, but the whole soak-overnight thing does make them less user friendly.
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