I don't know why nobody ever told me that Alfredo sauce was easy to make, but I've wasted far too much of my life buying the glass jars of commercially made pasta sauce when a great alfredo is almost as easy.
Just last week, we were running a little short in the food department, so it came time to try and scrounge what we could out of what was sitting around in the house. To that end, I collected the following ingredients:
- 2 cans evaporated milk (heavy cream would be better...)
- 1/8 lb. Parmigiano-Reggiano, shredded
- Lots of black pepper
- 1 stick butter
- Garlic salt
- 1 bag egg noodles
I melted the butter while the pasta started boiling. Once completely melted, I added the milk and whisked it all together, then whisked in the pepper and garlic salt. After the egg noodles were done, I drained them thoroughly, put them in the milk mixture, and began to fold in the cheese.
That's it. The best recipes are disgustingly simple. Although, after I ate the noodles, I felt like my heart was going to explode. This is some heavy stuff, friends. Don't get addicted.
Apparently, using a raw potato as a sort of sponge can reduce the salt content in an oversalted dish. Just cut into quarters and let it soak up some of the sodium. And please, try not to salt overzealously. It's bad for your heart.
I'm looking for the worst recipes on the internet for a running thread on EdibleUnknown. Here's a few of the ones I found so far:
* California jail burrito spread. Apparently, this is a special treat for the inmates. Ick.
I am speechless. Look at this. Yes, I'd like to teach my kids to eat out of the litter box. I can't imagine how this could be fun.
Some of the comments for this recipe on Food Network's site are too good to pass up.
Food Network has the best complaints ever. I swear.
Paula Deen's heart is going to explode one of these days.
A satire on how not to write a recipe.
This can't be real.
It takes a lot of Google page views to find the really good failures at foodtv.
This looks like something James Lileks might own.
What in tarnation might this be?
Mmm, fish just oozing with goodness.
Yes, I know some people like animelles. Via Look At This.
Some commenters can be so ungrateful.
Even the name sounds good.
The recipe might be just fine, but the first commenter acts as if though the very existence of the recipe ruined CHRISTMAS.
Trying to imagine what this tastes like is like the whole Mary's Room thought experiment- very difficult. I wonder if Sandra Lee has a grassroots rating-inflater/dumper society; her recipes seem to polarize the food network bunch.
WHAT. IS. THIS?
Read the comment entitled "the best chicken mini pot pies ever!". Poor Sandra.
Number 3 is throwing up? I thought it was "alone time".
This one starts off as a bit of a disaster.
I had four great tastes that I figured would taste great together- spinach, salt pork, artichoke hearts, and mushrooms. Unfortunately, my quantites were a bit off, and the cumin I added really didn't help the dish much; in addition, the artichokes were marinated in a bit saltier liquid than I'd hoped for.
Were I to do it again, my next recipe would look more like this:
- 1 lb bacon, cooked on low until all the fat is gone
- 2 cups chopped mushrooms, cooked in the bacon grease
- 1 lb sauteed spinach, seasoned with garlic and onion powder
- 1 can of artichoke hearts
After cooking all these and putting them in the food processor, I believe this simpler pate would fix the saltiness of the original recipe, where the entire dish was dominated by the 2 cans of artichoke hearts I added. I'll let you know how this revised recipe turns out.
(Editor's Note: For some reason, Food Mime was logged into my box. I have sentenced him to scrubbing random vegetables. For the good of mankind. )
Hobo fortnight continues, as Vitamin A scrounges around her computer for something of Lost-Ark significance- my Recently Paid Credit Card.
Finding money in my account, through the magic of FINANCIAL ALCHEMY, I quickly ran up my total at the nearest grocery store, buying the cheapest food I could get my grubby insane little hands on. (Editor's Note: Teleolurian has freakishly long fingers. This would be a lot of food.)
Part of my purchase was plantains. I've mentioned them before, in a bananas article. I wanted to make some tostones. So I followed what few instructions I could remember without actually having to follow a recipe. Because I hate recipes with all my cold, Korean heart.
First, I tried to peel them. Ladies and gentlemen, peeling a plantain like a banana is fool's work. Plantain skins are like alligator handbags. They don't just fall apart, you gotta have something sharp to get at the tasty/valuable insides. For this, I used my favorite EXTREMELY SHARP HOLY CRAP chef's knife, which of course went through it like (1) hot butter, (2) cold air, (3) so many tortured screams of joy at my shiny awesome knife.
Once I'd made the incision, the skin came off like a prom dress. Next, I cut the plantain (which NOW finally looks like a banana, and not the Cousin-Itt version of one) into half-inch diagonals. Ladies? Gentlemen? If you spend money on one thing in your house, make it a 10" knife.
Next, I dumped obscene amounts of shortening into the smallest skillet I owned. It looked like Antarctica.
Once that all melted over medium-high, I dumped in just as many plantain chips as would cover the bottom. Now, as we should know from reading this site, tostones are plantain chips that are (1) fried (2) flattened (3) fried again. For your assistance, here is a small MSPaint diagram:
So, I scorched them all brown. Cross reference: chicken.
Next, I 'flattened' them. How I was to do that I wasn't sure, but in the absence of a meat tenderizer I used a fork. Squiggly maggots of white plantain flesh came up between the tines. (Oh, did I ruin your appetite?)
Next, I refried them. Now, I had two options:
Brown Sugar And Orange Juice: After taste testing, I REALLY wanted to candy them. Unfortunately, brown sugar wasn't on my menu.
Lime Juice and Salt: BINGO. I had some wonderful tostone-chips. They tasted like fried superawesomeness. I can't begin to describe them. WHAT ARE YOU DOING SURFING THE WEB? GO BUY PLANTAINS!!!
