Impromptu Chef

[Elidor]

You arrive famished at a friend's house. He tells you to help yourself to anything you can find. A quick inventory of his kitchen and frige turns up the following:

Butter
Sugar
Eggs
Bananas
2 Lemons
3 Limes
Many cloves of Garlic
Olive oil
Baby Spinach
One Vidalia Onion
Salt & Pepper
Cloves
Sweet red Peppers
Kalhua
Fresh Salmon
Tempeh
Soy Milk
Feta Cheese

In addition, there is a garden outside with fresh tomatoes, jalapenos and sweet basil.

You only have time to make one dish. What will you make?

[WMliberal]

1. kalhua

no vodka around? with the soy milk, you could technically have a white russian.

[Elidor]

3. Drinking that now.

Oops, wait, that's Cap'n Morgan in there. Not bad, tho.

[politicat]

2. Omlette with peppers and feta; spinach and tomatoes on the side.

Basil and garlic in everything.

Pcat

[Elidor]

4. What a wonderful meal!

Basil & garlic, yes! I'm getting hungry.

[Sporadicus]

5. I'd Take the Kahlua

and make a White Russian with the soy milk.

[VoteDemocratic2004]

6. You have so many flavors going on

Do you want a menu or one dish?

[Elidor]

7. I've already made a menu...

But I'll post what I made later. I'm curious to hear other people's ideas.

[VoteDemocratic2004]

8. Is it one dish or a dinner menu

Did you read my post about my Mom's cooking? I am a gourmet cook now and I would love to know if this was a dinner menu?

Love your message thread!

[Elidor]

9. One Dish: Baked Salmon with Tahini Sauce

1 lb. Atlantic salmon
several tomatoes
2 lemons
30 leaves of fresh basil
6 cloves of minced garlic
1 small Vidalia onion, chopped
2 fresh jalapenos

Plus sauce:
1/2 cup Tahini
1/2 cup water
lemon juice
6 cloves minced garlic (yes, I like garlic)

Preheat oven to 400. Double a length of tinfoil and place veggies & garlic in center. Place salmon skin-down and top with remaining veggies and basil leaves. Douse liberally with fresh-squeezed lemon juice. Close foil over the top. Bake at 400F for 1 hour 10 minutes per pound of salmon, 1 hour for .75 pound, 50 minutes for half a pound, etc.

Mix Tahini, water, garlic and lemon juice, stirring briskly. When fish is done, let cool for 20 minutes, then douse generously with Tahini Sauce. Mmmmmmmm! :)

[VoteDemocratic2004]

12. What did you do with the bananas, feta & spinach?

?

[Elidor]

13. I didn't use them

It wasn't about using everything, it was just a fun exercise in "what mouth-watering meal can I concoct from the available goodies?"

[VoteDemocratic2004]

18. Are you a Chef?

?

[Elidor]

22. Noooooo

Just someone who likes to cook. :)

Glad you like the thread, btw. Maybe I'll do another this weekend.

[Elidor]

10. Other dishes I could have made

Carmel Eggs
Whip two teaspoons sugar into three tablespoons butter and fry on High in a pan. When sugar caramelizes into dark brown patches, throw in the eggs. Cook on high for one minute, then turn down the heat to medium and cook for one additional minute. Yummy.

My SO would have made Bananas Flambe, with sugar, Kalhua, bananas and possibly some coffee beans and lighter fluid.

The Tempeh can be marinated in a sauce of vegetables, especially peppers and garlic, with just a hint of onion or mint.

With the simple addition of veggie rotini and ripe olives to this menu, I made 3 lbs. of scrumptious Pasta Salad for about $7. Goes for $4 a pint at Kroger.

[SOteric]

11. I'd start with

some of the cloves, the butt ends of the onion and a lemon, salt & pepper and a few garlic cloves in some water to build an impromptu Court Bouillion in which I'd poach the salmon to moist perfection and chill it in the fridge.

Next I'd take one of the sweet red peppers and roast it on the rangetop, steaming it in a bag until ready to peel. Being certain to capture all of the sweet, juicy runoff from the roasted red pepper, I'd set it aside for just a moment. Next I'd build a crisp, cold salad from the baby spinach, a few of the tomatoes seeded and diced, strips of roasted red pepper, a chiffonade of sweet basil, and paper thin slices of the Vidalia onion. Just kiss the vegetables lightly with a mist of olive oil. You want to shine them up a bit, not marinate them.

I'd lay the chilled salmon over the salad, whip up a sort of modified hollandaise from the butter, the eggs, one jalapeno and the lemons and limes. Then add the runoff from the sweet pepper a dash of salt and pepper and drizzle it over the salmon salad, garnishing with thin circles of onion, strips of roasted red pepper and a bit of the feta cheese.

Ideally, - I'd serve this dish with a chilled voignier, but if Kalhua is what you've got, Kalhua is what you'll have.

[Elidor]

14. Oooh, you're good

Verrrrrry nice dish. I'm getting hungry all over again

[DS1]

19. Ding! We have a winner!

:toast:

Everyone note the lack of inane questions and addition of methods :7

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

20. mmmmm......I want to be stranded with you

survival isn't enough...it has to TASTE good!

[cmf]

15. Let's see

I would season the salmon and panbroil it (sear on high heat and finish in the oven). While the fish was in the oven, I would make a crude sauce to top the salmon with - tomatoes, garlic, onions, jalepenos, basil and lime juice.

Your friend has some good stuff lying around - much better than the Rice A Roni, microwave kettle corn, and frozen chicken pot pies my friends have lying around.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

16. 1 really bad omelette

:puke:

[GOPisEvil]

17. Spinach and feta omelette.

[Brewman_Jax]

21. The possibilities are endless!

From the above, I see...


Appetizer--Spinach dip or spinach salad /w jalapenos


Dinner--Grilled salmon /w garlic, peppers and onions or Stuffed salmon filet and stuffed peppers, stuffing from spinach, onion, garlic, cheese.

Dessert--Banana custard served /w Kahlua

But, that's just me. :9

[Elidor]

23. Excellent!

Yeah, the possibilities are endless. I wanted to include enough different stuff to choose from that there wouldn't be any one obvious "right" answer.

This actually didn't happen at a friend's house. It was just a bunch of stuff I had ready at hand. The only premeditated part was the salmon itself (all the other ingredients were spur of the moment), but I included tempeh for a vegan alternative.

Cooking is good fun. And it earns me many brownie points with my SO. :D

[sbj405]

24. Veggie option

Sautee the onion, spinach, and tempeh w/ some garlic in the olive oil. Add a splash of lemon juice and some fresh basil.

[Terran]

25. No flour?

"Man, you gotta run to the store so I can whip us up some banana bread!"

Mmm, with lemon sauce...or lime sauce? or Kalhua sauce!

[Elidor]

26. Sorry. I should have included something.

Next time I'll try to have a more rounded set of ingredients. This was a beta.

Oh, look, here's some flour in the cupboard. Just enough for you. Go ahead.