#improv cooking

[imthefailedartist]

Rasta Pasta or fancy buttered noodles

Pasta ingredients: Store bought ravioli, butter, spices, jarlic, and parmesan. The Rasta comes from some leftover jerk chicken juices.

Garlic bread: Slice of bread, truffle butter, and regular butter.

Left is the first time. Right is the second time: I think my heat was a little too high, and it did something weird to the jellied jerk chicken juice, but it was still great.

Melt truffle butter and butter to foaming. Toss in your bread. Let it get crisp.

Boil pasta.

Melt butter. Add spices and jarlic, and add leftover jerk chicken juices (or whatever you have). Toss in the pasta and a bit of pasta water.

Plate garnish with parm. Eat.

This all comes together in the time it takes for the water to boil and the pasta to cook.

[teaandspite]

Best Slow Cooked Beef Stroganoff*

*as created by me, on accident.

Ingredients

1 can golden mushroom soup

1 lb cubed beef stew meat (or whatever's cheap)

1/4 cup beef or chicken broth

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 can sliced water chestnuts

1 tsp chives

Garlic (2 cloves? whatever your heart tells you)

4 ounces (1 package) cream cheese

Step 1: Combine soup, beef, broth, and sauce in slow cooker.

Step 2: Realize the recipe called for 1 onion and you don't have any in the house.

Step 3: Panic and throw in some garlic despite that being nowhere in the recipe. Panic more, add water chestnuts because they're crunchy and some chives because they're related to onions, right? Add more garlic because now you've committed.

Step 4: Cook on Low for 8ish hours while you're at work. It's in the Lord's hands now.

Step 5: Stir in cream cheese just before eating (on rice or noodles. or whatever)

I don't know what happened here but it tasted amazing.

[imthefailedartist]

Biscuit and Gravy sandwich

Ingredients: Maple sausage, onions and bell pepper, Pillsbury biscuit mix, shredded cheese, flour, butter, salt, and pepper, splash of milk, garlic powder.

Biscuits to package instruction, add cheese. Top with cheese. Bake.

Onions and bell pepper, sautee, let cool, add it to sausage, form balls. Cook them like smash burgers.

Medium heat. Use the sausage grease and bits left in the skillet. Add a pat of butter add flour whisk until it combines. Add milk slowly, whisk. Season salt pepper garlic powder a dash of mustard.

Melt butter in a skillet on medium heat. Scramble eggs with a splash of milk. Add any leftover onion and peppers, salt, and pepper. Cook.

Combine all that into a sandwich.

The Pillsbury mix makes four palm-sized biscuits or a dozen tiny biscuits or eight medium-sized biscuits. Possibilities are endless.

[imthefailedartist]

Quick mashed potato

Making a pot pie and only had need of half a potato and didn't want it to go to waste, so I made a quick mash.

Boiled it.

Seasonings, sour cream, milk, parsley, and truffle butter. All to taste.

Mush it all with a fork.

Put it in your stolen Texas Roadhouse bowl. Eat.

Great time.

[imthefailedartist]

Even Simpler Chicken

I love learning how to cook. You can make anything.

I saw some split chicken breasts for two dollars. Who can pass that up in this economy. Bought 'em. Cooked 'em.

Chicken: Adobo seasoning, olive oil, splashes of lemon juice & red wine vinegar. Let it marinate preferably overnight) I did an hour. Baste occasionally.

Bake at 375° for 40-45 mins.

Bake covered for 20 minutes to keep the juices from evaporating to much. It can always be topped off with a few splashes of water

I know that seems like not enough seasoning, but trust, it's enough. The adobo seasoning has enough flavor and salt.

Baked Zucchini: olive oil, salt & pepper, lemon juice, whole grain mustard, jarlic.

I also had a Caesar salad from a kit.

[obeekris]

Off the top of my head/improv cooking for the win again. I almost want to call this.... I dunno, chicken pot pie soup? Cook about 1 to 1 1/2 10.5 oz bags of Maggi brand spaetzle, or whatever spaetzle you have available. (Egg noodles probably work as well). Take about 25 or so minutes, according to the package. Can do the rest while those are cooking. Cook 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts fully, seasoned with salt and pepper. (Whole is fine, they’re gonna be cubed.) Takes about 10 minutes per side. Cook 2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup (with milk, not water). I did reduced sodium, low fat. Takes about 5 minutes to heat up. Cook 1 16oz bag of frozen mixed vegetables. Again, maybe about 5 minutes. When the chicken is cooked, cut up into cubes. When the spaetzle is done, mix the soup, chicken and mixed veggies into the pot. Stir well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add in, I dunno, 8 or 10 healthy shakes of grated parmesan cheese as well, for a little extra flavor. (If you add the parm, can cut back on additional salt. Definitely recommend adding extra pepper. If anybody tries this, let me know what you think.

[laryna6]

So it turns out that if you're out of ketchup, forgot this and made some hot dogs, you can hit the essential parts of ketchup's flavor profile with chopped green onions, careful amounts of red wine vinegar and a line of pomegranate sauce. I was considering chopping up a tomato, but this is pretty good as-is.

[whatdoyoueatforthat]

Half a bunch Lunch...I sometimes hate cooking because I hate getting out measuring cups and spoons...and I hate sometimes having a recipe tell me what to do...so instead I read through some online recipes with some of the ingredients I have on hand try out an improv version of my own...I call it improv scratch cooking. Here is my lunch time attempt: Contributions from my audience/fridge/pantry 1/2 a bunch of bok choi 1/2 an onion 1/2 stalk of green garlic 1/2 a box of tempeh 1/2 a box of sliced shittake mushrooms 1/2 a short branch of ginger root Mirin Tamari Red pepper flakes Process: Sauté sliced half moons of onion in oil. When the onions soften, add sliced mushrooms and tempeh and the minced ginger and garlic to the pan. Sauté some more. Then add flavorful liquid...3 tsp tamari, 1 tsp mirin, 1 tsp water along with the chopped up bok choi. Watch for greens to brighten. Put in dish and eat. Pretty good and only dirtied one measuring spoon and of course my pan.