Buster Benson I need more goals.

learn how to prepare 10 excellent meals (read all 5 entries…)
Penne with scallops!

Here is the first excellent meal that I learned. Heavy on the scallops.

I did some shopping over the weekend, learning in the process that grocery shopping in Pike Market is very fun. The people helped me pick the best mushroom, and the scallop guy got .750 lbs as requested on the first try. And it was all super cheap. So much more fun and interactive than QFC.

Anyway, Angela and Maggie helped prepare this recipe, given to me by Jimmy. We freestyled it, as recommended. I even put a little secret magic ingredient in while nobody was looking. Maybe that’s why it tasted a little weird. But we also added some garlic and olive oil since those seem to go well with everything. Oops, Maggie, I think I still have your skillet.

We enjoyed the meal while watching “On the Waterfront” and drinking old wine. I think it tasted pretty good for the first try. Thanks for helping, Angela and Maggie!

Dec 28, 2004, 10:34AM PST


Comments:

Maggie

you are welcome!

Thanks for feeding me. What was the secret ingredient?

Dec 28, 2004, 10:56AM PST | Thread | Respond to this

Buster Benson I need more goals.

It's a secret.

I put in some red wine but Angela saw that. The other secret is better left to the taste buds and the imagination.

Dec 28, 2004, 11:00AM PST | Thread | Respond to this

Maggie

Was it something spicy? I thought there was a bit of spice in there.

Dec 28, 2004, 11:40AM PST | Thread | Respond to this

Buster Benson I need more goals.

Yeah, it was something spicy.

Dec 28, 2004, 12:18PM PST | Thread | Respond to this

Maggie

was it mayonaise?

Dec 28, 2004, 02:00PM PST | Thread | Respond to this

Yes, spicy mayonnaise - Buster Benson
hahahaha - angela.

angela.

Thank YOU, Chef Benson!

Really?? A secret ingredient? I missed it! I thought you were talking about the wine, which wasn’t secret at all. Next time, we need to have salad with our meal. A meal always seems incomplete to me without it. And I should make dessert like I said I would. I’ll have to look for some good box mixes….or frozen things I can leave out for a week before we consume them.. :) Thanks for dinner. You did a good job!

Dec 28, 2004, 01:39PM PST | Thread | Respond to this

Buster Benson I need more goals.

What's your favorite salad?

I need to learn how to make salad that’s not just lettuce and dressing. Once I got all fancy and made salad for six with jicama, but it was really bad.

If you hadn’t thrown away my ice cream we would’ve had dessert last night. :)

Dec 28, 2004, 02:21PM PST | Thread | Respond to this

angela.

salat

:( i know! but, um, i didn’t throw it away, blamer. i should have.

salad to go with a flavorful entree doesn’t need to be anything more than greens and a good dressing (i like tomatoes too), but if you want a salad with more ingredients, i like this one:

spinach or green leaf lettuce
satsumas
1/2 cup almonds
1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. sugar
olive oil
balsamic or red wine vinegar
salt and pepper

cook sugar til melted (careful! it’s easy to burn!) pour almonds in and coat them. scoop them onto tin foil, cool and break them apart.

mix vinegar with salt and pepper and a pinch of sugar until flavorful, then add oil. toss lettuce and orange sections in a bowl with dressing. garnish served salad with candied almonds.

optional add-ins are blue cheese, grapefruit, and craisins.

p.s. i’m not getting any comments via email…..

Dec 28, 2004, 05:34PM PST | Respond to this

Tommy

What Has Helped Me Out

Hope you don’t mind me hopping in on this message string … just got an invite to 43 Things and I can’t wait to play w/ this product.

Here is one salad I make almost weekly as a side or just as a snack.

Tricolor Salad

Olive oil
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
6 large tomatoes sliced
1 small batch arugula (sp?), watercress coarsely chopped.
6 ounces mozzarella cheese. Either thinly sliced or grated
A couple tablespoons pine nuts

Soak the sliced onions in cold water for 20-30 minutes. Pat them dry. Arrange half the tomatoes on a plate

Sprinkle them w/ olive oil. Layer on the onions, arugula, the rest of the tomatoes and season w/ salt and pepper as you go. Top when cheese and the pine nuts and serve. It looks wonderful on a plate and it tastes like it took a lot more effort.

I am not a vegetarian, but I picked up a book a couple years ago, from the discount section, called “Vegetarian and Vegetable Cooking: the Definitive Encyclopedia of Healthy Vegetarian Food,” Christine Ingram. As you might expect, it has a lot of wonderful salads.

Enjoy.

Dec 31, 2004, 04:58PM PST | Thread | Respond to this

Buster Benson I need more goals.

Thanks Tommy

This looks like a good salad. How many people can it feed? If I’m just one person, how should I alter the recipe?

By the way, welcome to 43 Things… I hope you like it.

Dec 31, 2004, 05:42PM PST | Thread | Respond to this

Tommy

How Many

As a side more then a few. I cook based on “feeling.” The above was directly from the cook book I mentioned. I alter it lot depending on the size of the “audience.” It is such a simple dish you can just prepare it by your gut. Take everything above and just go w/ what you want. Get your hands dirty and have fun.

Cooking is trial and error. You’ll mess stuff up, but it is still fun. Pay the money for a few good cook books. Follow what they say until you’ve got the dish down. Then go your own way with it. I cook a white/chicken chilli that blows peoples mind. I’d explain how I cook it, but it changes each time (the key is the peppers I grow—and they are very easy to grow).

IMHO the key is what you buy. Buy good stuff and you don’t have to be that good of a cook to make people happy. This dish is best in the summer, where you can go to a farmers market.

Jan 01, 2005, 01:52AM PST | Respond to this

Tommy

One Last Thought

The Naked Chief (Jamie Oliver) on the food channel is a good place to start learning. I’ve heard other “cooks” dislike the guy.

They think he has a show only because he is nice to look at. Well that may be the case, but he also disspells the myth 24/7 that cooking good food is hard. I think that is why a lot of people don’t like him.

Almost everytime I watch his show I learn something simple that can make my meals better. He has a couple books, but they are pricey. And IMHO it is much eaiser to learn from watching rather then reading.

Sit down with a six pack and watch the Iron Chef and see how quickly you are motivated to cook.

And thanks Erik. I am so happy to be here at 43 Things. I think this is about the coolest idea I’ve seen on the Web since like eBay.

Jan 01, 2005, 02:06AM PST | Respond to this


 

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