Fancy but not so difficult recipes

[Perd Hapley]

I have been asked to prepare a delicious meal for my wife's birthday.  I don't cook much, so I'd really appreciate a recipe that would be uncomplicated, but at least one level above gravy on a bucket lid.

Low-fat or vegetarian would be nice, too.

Thanks.   

[French G.]

Find Lawdog's Texas chicken soup recipe on here. My wife made fun of me reading recipes on a gun board. Now she asks for it. It's pretty good on lowfat, not exactly veggie though.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

vegetarian?  ewww!    ratatoullie? or grilled veggies?  we did a thing in the hotels where we would peel an eggplant slice some 1/4 inch thick rounds from it and coat em with a lil olive oil. then you rub a thin layer of tomatoe sauce heavy on garlic.then use small zuchini and yellow squash slices real thin to layer in a spiral pattern one green one yellow about 25 or so alternating slices till you reach the center. brush with olive oil and sprinkle with parm and romano and bake em for 20  mins at 350 or till cheese browns a lil  top with sautred shallots and shitake shrooms. pain in the ass but looks great is cheap and can be done a day or 2 ahead... oh yea i forgot  soak eggplant in brine for a 1/2 hour ewhile you slice the other stuff   garnish with fresh basil bud

[Manedwolf]

Side dish, Cuban black beans and rice.

Chop an onion into a saucepan, sweat it, chop a green pepper, add freshly chopped garlic, cook it all down a bit. Add a couple of cans of black beans, undrained. Add cumin, and a bit of unsweetened cocoa powder for some depth, too. Lots of cumin! Boil it up till it becomes almost a soup, till the flavors meld. Salt to taste. Serve over fresh white rice.

[K Frame]

Your wife like shrimp scampi?

Easy to prepare, lots of very good recipes, and not all that bad for you if you cut back on the butter and use more olive oil.

Chicken and 40 cloves is also a good recipe and is pretty easy.

Steak au poivre with a cream gravy is good, but it's not low fat. However, cows eat grass, so its vegetarian!

[lupinus]

Roast pepper pasta

Need-
1 Medium onion chopped (I like red)
1 clove garlic sliced
1 jar roasted red bell peppers
Splash of white wine (about a third of the jar)
Salt, Pepper, Red chili flakes to taste
Extra virgin olive oil
1 pound of pasta (bowties/butterflys are my favorite for this one, penne works good as well)

Take the jar of roasted peppers and drain.  Half go into a blender or food processor to get buzzed into a puree. The other half get chopped into bite sized pieces.

Sautee the onion and garlic in EVOO until lightly golden and then toss in the pureed peppers (save the chopped ones for later) and wine along with your salt pepper and chilies.  Reduce down over medium heat until it's thick (doesn't matter to much, almost impossible to screw up by going to far or not far enough)

When your pasta is done toss it in with the sauce, throw your chopped peppers in to heat them through, add a little of the pasta water to thin the sauce as needed to coat the pasta, finish with some fresh EVOO, and serve.

Adding the chili up front like that gives you a slightly more mellow flavor throughout the dish.  You can throw them in at the last second for more of an isolated bite when you get one then the overall flavor adding them at the beginning.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

thanks i just finished cleaning kitchen now i'm gonna trash it again trying those recipes

[yesitsloaded]

Order something and then covertly stash it in the oven. When she comes home pop it out like it was cooking the whole time.  This is where I get everything for my cooking adventures for two:http://www.lovingyou.com/content/cooking/

[Standing Wolf]

Take her out to dinner. Let somebody else wash the dishes.

[BobR]

If Emeril can make it, so can you!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/chicken-marsala-recipe/

If you can buy it, you can make it also.

http://www.olivegarden.com/recipes/recipe_search/recipe_detail.asp?recipeID=145583

For veggies, chunk potatoes, onion, bell pepper (red/yellow) and what ever else strikes your fancy then put them in a gallon zip lock bag that has 1/4 or so of olive oil and what ever portions of garlic powder, onion powder and pepper you want. Toss it around to coat the veggies, put them in a baking dish and place in a 400 degree oven until a knife easily pierces the potato (30 - 40 minutes). Stir the veggies once or twice during cooking.

Start with a green salad, then the chicken and veggies and finish with a lemon ice.

bob

[never_retreat]

Steaks on the grill (season to taste)
Bake potatoes on the grill (rap in foil put on way before meat)
Summer squash on the grill (douse with olive oil, salt and pepper)
and/ or take some large vidila (sp) onions cut in half, douse with oil and grill also.

No kitchen damage at all

[Northwoods]

Low-fat or vegetarian would be nice, too.

Thanks.   

If it didn't used to have a face, what's the point in eating it.

[never_retreat]

Ok I missed the vegetarian part. Replace the steak with fish if thats your thing. But the rest is good.

[PTK]

http://theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=143

Equipment:
Large heavey soup pot
Another pot with lid for boiling the lentils

Ingredients
1 cup brown lentils
1 large yellow onion, diced small
2 carrots, peeled and diced
4 cloves garlic, miced
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated
1/4 cup peanut oil (vegetable oil will do)
10 plum tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup tomato paste
1 cup vegetable stock or 1 cup water + 2 veg boullion cubes
1 cup frozen green peas

Spice Blend:
2 tsp ground cumin
2 teaspoons hungarian paprika
1 teaspoon ground fenugreek
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground cardomom
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)

Directions
Boil the lentils for about 45 minutes or until tender.

In a large pot, over med heat saute the onions and carrots for 10 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger and spice blend. Saute 5 more minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes, cook 5 more minutes. Add tomato paste and mix, then add the water. Simmer Until bubbling. Add the cooked lentils and green peas, simmer 15 more minutes.

It's fantastic and freezes/reheats VERY well. 

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

i like the ginger!  good idea    you ever learn the trickfor peeling a bunch real quick?  put  it in a blender with water  adter ists pureed peel floats  skim it off i do it in bulk it keeps in frig well.gingers an oft overlooked flavor

[Scout26]

Take her out to dinner. Let somebody else wash the dishes.

Avoid places where you place your order by speaking into a clown's mouth or that gives out prizes when ordering certain meals.

Place with Wine List = Good
Place with Wine Cellar = Better

If cooking at home, Lawdog's Chick Soup recipe is a good one, feeds a family of 4 for 2+ days.

You there's my Pheasant Casserole (you can also use chicken, cat, or other bird of your choosing.)

1-2 lbs of Pheasant/Chicken/Cat.
One packet Onion Soup Mix
1 Cup Rice
1 Can cream of Mushroom or Cream of Chicken soup
1 Cup (and a littlle more) Milk
French Fried Onions


preheat oven to 350.
Grease 9x13 pan with (butter works best) but other low-fat substitute could work also.

Cut meat into 1/2"- 1" cubes and brown in skillet using just enough oil to coat the bottom of the skillet.

Dump one packet of Onion soup mix into greased pan spread evenly.
Dump one cup of uncooked rice on top of soup mix and spread evenly.
Dump cooked critter meat over rice and spread evenly.
Mix Cream of ______ Soup and Milk together with a fork or whisk.....pour evenly over soupmix/rice/critter meat.
Cover with Tinfoil and stick on middle rack in oven for 1hr 15 minutes.
remove cover and sprinkle on french fried onions.  Put back into oven uncovered for another 12-15 minutes or until French Fried Onions start to slightly brown.

Serve with a nice salad or other green veggie and a nice Reisling or Spatlese.

[K Frame]

"Avoid places where you place your order by speaking into a clown's mouth..."

Funniest gag ever in the Drew Carey show was him walking up to Mimi, looking right at her, and ordering burgers, fries, and a shake.

[Fjolnirsson]

1 1/2 pound cubed chicken breast.
1 chopped medium yellow onion.
1 can chicken broth.
1 can chili beans - don't drain.
1 can kidney beans - don't drain.
1 can black beans - don't drain.
1 can mild Rotel - don't drain.
2 cans whole kernal corn - drain 'em.
1 pkg mild taco seasoning.
1 pkg Ranch salad dressing/seasoning.

Dump your chicken breast and your onion in a frying pan with some olive oil and start browning.

Scoot a large pot over a medium flame, dump in all your canned stuff and your seasoning packets.

When your chicken and onion is browned, drain and dump into the large pot with the canned stuff.

Simmer one hour.

Best served over a bowl of tortilla chips and topped with grated cheese.

Voila! Texas Chicken Soup.

LawDog

There ya go...

I drain my beans, makes it a bit thicker....

[LAK]

Stuffed red bell peppers.

Rice, shrimp, garlic, herbs, alittle salt & pepper.

Some folk don't like garlic so you might have some garlic free.

[The Annoyed Man]

Special occassion calls for a little bit more than soup, no matter how good the soup.

Beef stroganoff:

2 lbs beef, cut into 1" cubes
1 large onion
1 lb mushrooms
1 green pepper
4 cloves garlic
2 cups red wine
5 beef bullion cubes and
3 cups water or 3-4 cups of beef stock
1-2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup veg or canola oil
salt
pepper
cayenne pepper
Tobasco or other hot sauce
parsley (garnish)
2 lbs egg noodles (bonus points if you make your own)

Mix flour and spices in a large zip lock baggie.  How much spice depends on how you like it.  I typically do about a tablespoon of salt and white pepper, and a teaspoon of cayenne.  Dredge the beef through this seasoned flour by tossing the beef in the bag and shaking the bag.  Set aside.  But the bullion cubes in the water.
Chop the onion and pepper into 1/2" squares.  Slice the mushrooms.  Mince the garlic.

In a large pot or a dutch oven (my prefence is a Lodge cast iron dutch oven) heat the oil.  When good and hot, drop the heat down to about medium and put in the beef and brown on all sides.  Add the onion and peppers and cook until the onions are transparent.  Add the garlic and mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes or so, until the mushrooms soften.

Now, add the wine.  When you do this, use a spoon to stir in the wine, and be sure and deglaze (scrape) the bottom as you go.  Add the beef stock (bullion and water).  Hit it with a few dashes of hot sauce.  Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, stirring abour every 10-15 minutes.  Watch the thickness of your sauce.  If it's getting a bit thick, or if the level drops so that the meat and veggies are not covered, add some liquid (water, stock, or wine...your call).  Just enough to barely keep the meat covered.  If it's too runny, or too much, vent the lid to allow some of the water to steam off.  At about the 1 1/2 hour mark, start the water for the noodles.  When you put the noodles in the water, turn off the heat on the stroganoff and stir in the sour cream.  When mixed smooth, cover and leave it alone until the noodles are done.

Two options for the garnish.  Some people like to put a spring or two of fresh parsley on the side.  I prefer to chop up some fresh parsley and sprinkle in on top of the finished plate.  Your pick.  Plate a bunch of noodles, cover with a couple of scoops of stroganoff, and enjoy.

One more tip, for this and anything you eat.  Taste as you cook.  Add spices slowly and taste as you go.  Once you learn this trick, your cooking will be better seasoned, which is the real key to good cooking.

[41magsnub]

Your wife like shrimp scampi?

Easy to prepare, lots of very good recipes, and not all that bad for you if you cut back on the butter and use more olive oil.

Chicken and 40 cloves is also a good recipe and is pretty easy.

Steak au poivre with a cream gravy is good, but it's not low fat. However, cows eat grass, so its vegetarian!

+1 on the scampi, super easy to do.  Just fry in olive oil and garlic, about the only way to screw it up is to over cook it and really only takes a couple of minutes.  Then make a salad (bagged lettuce FTW) with whatever dressing she likes, and if you need a starch do pasta tossed with olive oil and Parmesan cheese.

[K Frame]

You always need white wine for a good shrimp scampi.

Best I ever found was a hideous Portugese white that I would never, ever consider drinking on its own it was that bad.

But what it did to shrimp scampi was just magical.

[BridgeRunner]

Agreed, no soups or casseroles.  No steak either: too easy to mess up.

I'd do a quiche myself.  Buy pie crust, but not the kind in a foil pan.  That's funky, and the wrong dish.  Use a quiche pan or a tart pan.  I prefer a loose bottomed tart pan, non-stick.  About $5 from Williams-Sonoma (one of the few non-obscenely overpriced things they sell), less than the cost of one steak, so no problem with buying equipment for one meal.

Pre-bake the pie crust.  You do this by putting it in the pan, lining it with parchment paper aka heavy duty tissue paper, and filling the paper with dried beans.  This keeps the crust from ballooning up.

Once that is done the rest is ludicrously easy.  Cream, half-and-half, or milk, as you prefer, and eggs, with salt and pepper.  About 1/4 cup milk per egg.  How much you need depends on how much stuff you want to put in.  Stuff:  I like to make it with smoked fish, salmon or mackeral.  I think I'm the only person on the planet who makes fish quiche, but every time I make it it disappears ridiculously fast, so it can't be that bad.  Non-smoked salmon works too, but high quality stuff, no pale farm-raised crap. Potatoes and bacon are good, layered with cheese, if you use waxy golden potatoes, not russets of idahos.  You want something more vegetable-y and less starchy.  Broccoli is classic, if a little boring.  Mushrooms are awesome, especially if you can get some good varieties--mixed mushrooms are good. In season, asparagus is good, but it's not in season, so never mind.  For spinach or broccoli I like to make sure I cut or chop it up pretty small so that when you slice the quiche it doesn't fall apart.  Sautee the stuff--butter or olive oil, depending on what you're using, let it cool a bit, pour it in the egg stuff.  Layer some cheese in the crust, which kind depends on the filling, but parmesan or romano usually works, pour the filling in, bake around 400 until it's set.  How long depends on how deep of a pan you're using.  Sometimes I sprinkle a little grated parmesan on the top as it's finishing up, especially if I'm using mushrooms or spinach.  Fish doesn't really need cheese.  

Get some white wine.  Good side dishes: couscous, squash, mashed sweet potatoes.    

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

she like salmon steaks? we used to cure em in lemon juice salt oil and dill  after a couple days the deboned steaks looked cooked from the lemon juice  you grill em just enough to get em warmand get criss crossed searmarks.  the juice also dissolves the pin bones   we would debone the steaks before curing  i can't remember what its called

[41magsnub]

I'm not sure if it counts as fancy, but it is low fat, simple and tasty.  Pretty much impossible to screw up, a little over cooking is fine.  As a bigger bonus almost no cooking dishes to do.

Super easy fajitas from somebody who has never been to Texas or Mexico:

You need a foil bag if you have one, otherwise make one with foil.

3 bell peppers (mix up the colors to increase the fancy level)
1 medium yellow onion
2 chicken breasts (with this you can get away with cheap frozen chicken and it is fine)
anaheim, jalapenos, or regular chilli peppers if you want to make the vege's spicier
1 bag of tortillas, I like the whole wheat ones but get whatever you want
Lowery's lemon pepper marinade (or make your own, just something with a little flavor and a little kick).
BBQ or a thick fajita sauce
salsa
avacado

1.  Cut the peppers and onions into strips and put into the foil bag along with the marinate for 30 minutes to an hour.  Longer is fine too, can prepare the previous day.  Marinate the chicken with the same stuff in a zip lock bag.
2.  BBQ the chicken and bag of vegetables for an equal amount of time, do not turn the vegetables.  The idea is to have some slightly burned and the rest steamed.  Use the BBQ sauce or thick fajita sauce on the chicken until very well done but not burned.  When finished shred the chicken with 2 forks or cut into strips.
2a.  note, the wording above may be confusing.  you are not BBQ'ing the chicken in the foil bag, but directly on the grill.
3.  Wrap the tortillas in foil and place on top of the BBQ to warm them while cooking the chicken and vegetables (or just nuke em..  whatever)
4.  cut the avacado into strips
5.  serve with everything in tortillas, top with salsa as desired

This serves 2 with a slight leftover.

I've done this with wild pheasant as well, but I am not a good enough butcher to get a BBQ worthy breast off of one so I do them in pieces in a foil bag next to the peppers.  The time I tried it with duck was a disaster, tires would have tasted better.  Threw out the duck and BBQ'd up a couple of chicken breasts quick like.

I generally do a box of black beans and rice as a side dish.