Gravy's Cooking Thread

Abefroman

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
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I bet that was awesome. What kind of Rotisserie is that? I've been thinking about getting one for my grill, but an indoor one would be nice, too.
A Betty Crocker one I picked up for 4 bucks brand new at Goodwill. Arizona Goodwill is the greatest. You get all this never been used shit that people donate after their parents die. It's like they buy their parents shit and it never gets used then they clean the house out after they pass away and donate it to goodwill.
 

Crone

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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A Betty Crocker one I picked up for 4 bucks brand new at Goodwill. Arizona Goodwill is the greatest. You get all this never been used shit that people donate after their parents die. It's like they buy their parents shit and it never gets used then they clean the house out after they pass away and donate it to goodwill.
So true. Goodwill and Savers in Arizona are pretty damn awesome.

and dang, your meat is looking so tasty! lol
 

Gravy

Bronze Squire
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Trying something new tonight. Green curry paneer with Indian spiced, roasted chicken wings.
 

Gravy

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How was it? Post the recipe.
It was very good, the wife loved it. I bagged the recipe, but here's the basics of what I did:

Cut the paneer (cheese) into little slabs and lightly fried it. Drain on a paper towel.

In the leftover oil, I sauteed one small onion for a couple minutes, then added the curry to the onion/oil. About 10 minutes total to really deepen the curry spices. Then I added a can of diced tomatoes and reduced the liquid, then added some milk and tomato paste to thicken the sauce. Then I added some pre-cooked frozen vegetables 'Mediterranean Blend' and let them soak up the sauce, then added the fried paneer long enough for it to get hot.

Very flavorful, I really liked it. The paneer has very little flavor, but when it's fried, adds texture which was nice with the soft vegetables.
 

Hekotat

FoH nuclear response team
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Okay bros, I'm entertaining a lady this coming Friday and I need some ideas/recipes on side dishes. I will be making a kickass steak but I really suck when it comes to side dishes, show me what you got.
 

Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
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Grilled asparagus is great with steak. Get some fresh asparagus, snap about 1/4 of the "fat" end off of them, put them all in a large ziplock bag, add about 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil, shake in a little salt, pepper, and garlic powder, close the bag, shake it up for nice even coverage, and then either throw it on your grill with the steak for about 5-7 minutes(turning once, halfway through), or if you are purely cooking indoors, put the asparagus on a cookie sheet and bake it in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes.

Alternately, if you REALLY want to go all out, this is fairly time consuming but is the absolute best side dish I've ever made. The handful of time's I've served it, it's all everyone can talk about because its so awesome.

Mini Twice-Baked potatos.

basically you just use any twice-baked potato recipe that you would find online, except that you use the little slightly-larger-than-golf-ball-sized red potatos.

Cut em in half, cook them in the oven with a little oil on them. Ideally, brush the whole potato with olive oil, skin and "cut" side. Place the potatos flat-side down on the cookie sheet, and then sprinkle sea salt on the exposed potato skins that are oiled up. (350 degrees for maybe 25-30 min), then once the potatos are soft, let them cool, use a melon-baller to scoop out the insides into a big bowl.

Once you have all the scooped out potato in a bowl, use any twice baked potato recipe to doctor them up, adding sour cream, butter, milk, cheese, garlic, whatever you want.

Spoon back into potato skin halves, top with cheese & bacon bits, and then put them back in the oven for maybe 10-15 minutes, just long enough to get them hot again and for the cheese to melt.

These are nice because you can do ALL the work days ahead of time and just put them in the fridge, them pop them out and warm them up in the oven and you're gtg.

Then you have little twice-baked potatos that only take like 2 bites to eat, they're almost like finger foods, but you can easily get as many or as few as you want. No one is stuck with 1 giant hulking twiced baked potato if they don't want that much, but you can also eat a million of them if you want a bunch, you aren't done once your 1 potato is gone. You also tend to get a higher ratio of the tasty salted potato skin in each bite. They almost end up tasting like a cross between a twice baked potato and a potato skin appetizer. They are incredible.
 

Gravy

Bronze Squire
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If this is a gal you haven't seen for very long, I'd go with a salad. Not just a man salad with lettuce and ranch... add some chopped nuts and fruit and what not. Maybe even a spinach salad with strawberries and real bacon pieces and balsamic dressing. She probably won't eat a ton of food if this is an early date.
 

lurkingdirk

AssHat Taint
<Medals Crew>
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Start with grilled pineapple. It's incredibly delicious, and very easy, though not many people do it, so she'll be stunned by your creativity.

Also, I just had pesto and pasta - I harvested a lot of my basil yesterday and made fresh pesto, and that shit is easy to make, and dynamite.

If you have an ice cream maker, finish with freshly made ice cream from some fresh fruit with very little sugar. An indulgence she can have, because there aren't many calories.

Then, prepare for sex.
 

Hekotat

FoH nuclear response team
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If you have an ice cream maker, finish with freshly made ice cream from some fresh fruit with very little sugar. An indulgence she can have, because there aren't many calories.

Then, prepare for sex.
This made me bust out laughing.


Thanks for the recommendations guys, not sure which I'll pick but I have them bookmarked and decide later.
 

The Master

Bronze Squire
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Okay bros, I'm entertaining a lady this coming Friday and I need some ideas/recipes on side dishes. I will be making a kickass steak but I really suck when it comes to side dishes, show me what you got.
I like asparagus. I do it under the broiler, toss with a bit of olive oil and S&P. Finish with lemon zest.
 

Big Phoenix

Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
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Roasted/grilled/sauteed asparagus is delicious.

Also anyone have some good info on the differences between various kitchenaid mixers(aside from capacity size)? Spent time googling and get nothing but stupid useless info.
 

The Master

Bronze Squire
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Roasted/grilled/sauteed asparagus is delicious.

Also anyone have some good info on the differences between various kitchenaid mixers(aside from capacity size)? Spent time googling and get nothing but stupid useless info.
Capacity and power is basically the difference. Pro line has a bowl lift, artisan is head tilt. The 6qt is a double caked, cookie, etc., recipe, with the artisan you'd need to do it twice. Bread dough is better in the pro, both because of the power and the fact that it comes with the spiral dough hook which is much better at kneading.

Bear in the mind the next mixer after the 6qt KA pro is basically so large you need to put it on the floor, it is the size of a small table. Plenty of professional kitchens use the pro line of KA stand mixers and they are built with that kind of heavy use in mind. The artisans aren't. So do you do large batches of things? Do you make bread? Do you use your mixer every day? Get the pro if the answer to any of those is yes, otherwise it doesn't really matter.
 

Lanx

<Prior Amod>
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if you're gonna buy a kitchen aid, i think 1 of the best things to consider is the bowl. as previously stated, lift and power, but the higher end models come with a bowl with a vertical handle. this is pretty awesome to take it out and pour it like a pitcher instead of trying to dump it. otherwise, any kitchen aid mixer will outperform [insert brand name] mixer on the market.

veritcal handle is an option on both pro/artisan.
 

Joeboo

Molten Core Raider
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The only thing I know about kitchen aids are that the "pro" models have metal gears in the interior, and the artisan mixers have plastic gears, so they are more prone to stripping and wearing out.

So go with a "pro" and then the different models of pro are mostly determined by motor power, and bowl size
 

The Master

Bronze Squire
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The only thing I know about kitchen aids are that the "pro" models have metal gears in the interior, and the artisan mixers have plastic gears, so they are more prone to stripping and wearing out.

So go with a "pro" and then the different models of pro are mostly determined by motor power, and bowl size
This isn't true. A while back KA made the (stupid) decision to save some money with a plastic gear housing. It would literally warp if you ran the mixer too long, eventually it'd crack. First brought to light in an Amazon review by a mechanical engineer, the problem was fixed. KA mixers from 2005-2008 have this issue, all lines.

Separate issue, all KA mixers (even the classic ones) have what is known as a breakaway gear. Basically if the motor is going to burn out, there is a nylon gear that breaks first. So you just need to replace that one gear if you overtax the motor, instead of who knows what. At the same time as the above issue happened people were screaming bloody murder about any plastic parts being in the motor, so KA took out the break away gear and switched over to an electronic sensor to cut off the motor. All post-2008 KA mixers now have this instead of the breakaway gear. No plastic anywhere, in any models now.
 

Gravy

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Pan seared pork tenderloin, then braised with apples and onions in apple juice and balsamic vinegar. Rosemary and Thyme. Super easy, delicious.