What is the single best recipe you have ever made?

[HelenaFitbit]

Mine is from Real Simple, here it is:

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces rigatoni
• 6 slices bacon
• 4 6-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 pint grape tomatoes
• 5 ouncesbaby spinach

Directions:

1. Cook 12 ounces rigatoni according to the package directions. Reserve ½ cup of the cooking water; drain the pasta and return it to the pot.
2. In a large skillet, cook the bacon over medium-high heat until crisp, 5 to 6 minutes; remove and crumble.
3. Add the chicken to the bacon drippings in the skillet and cook over medium-heat, turning, until cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook, tossing, until beginning to soften, 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Add the chicken mixture, spinach, bacon, and ¼ cup of the reserved pasta water to the pasta and toss to combine (add more water if pasta seems dry).

Did I mention is 141 calories per serving? Yummy! 

[EdsonFitbit]

When I got married, my wife could only cook chicken soup and the entry to the kitchen was forbidden for me. We had that for lunch for almost a month. Five years after I enjoy the chicken soup again. 

[Mcore]

Hahahaha! At least it was a healthy meal you were getting @EdsonFitbit. 

[EdsonFitbit]

Yeah, and it tasted great too. 

[sivle56]

Shrimp Scampi with Zucchini and Tomatoes

Saute shrimp in 2 T of olive oil and minced garlic and remove from pan.  Saute the zucchini (sliced) in the same pan until tender.  Add cherry tomatoes that have been sliced in half.  Return shrimp to pan and finish with a T of Butter.  Top with parmesan cheese.   Serve over Linquine or Angel Hair pasta.

It's simple and and flavor is amazing.

[weddingfit]

recipe please?  thanks..

[Mcore]

That sounds delicious @sivle56! Definitely trying this one. 

[GetMovin1978]

Helenarriaza:   What would you consider a serving size for this?

It sounds wonderful, I just think my serving size and your serving size might not be the same amount and I dont want to go over the 141 calories that this recipe is supposed to be. Thanks 🙂

[Megara9]

I don't really cook with recipes it's more by "feel" but my favourite dishes are: 

1) spiced shakshuka in a tagine 

2) duck with port and blood-orange glaze 

3) Swedish style salmon with white wine cream sauce 

4) paella 

5) lemon thyme cream chicken soup (from scratch! This is also my secret cold buster) 

[Mcore]

Sounds delicious, thanks for sharing @Megara9! How do you prepare the shakshuka?

[MRose]

Balsamic Glazed Salmon --  holy cow! Add some baked garlic asparagus and you have an amazing, healthy meal in about 30 minutes! 

[Pumpkingoat]

My favorite recipe has to be the energy bites I got off Pinterest for before I work out or just for a great snack. 

Here's the recipe:

- 1/2 cup oats

- 2/3 cups shredded coconut (I used sweetened)

- 1 teaspoon vanilla

- 1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli 60% Dark chips)

- 1/2 cup flaxseed

-  1 tablespoon chia seeds

- 1/2 cup peanut butter

- 1/3 cup honey (I used my NC local honey)

Mix all these ingredients in a giant bowl and roll the mixture into 1 tablespoon size balls. These taste the best in the fridge, but they can also be left out. (But not in too hot of weather or the PB will melt and become gross) 

I love these and I hope you do to if you decide to make them!!

[Mcore]

Sounds good @Pumpkingoat! Thank you. 

[Megara9]

Melissa - 

it's pretty simple! I brown some whole garlic, diced onion, eggplant, bell peppers, and a minced jalapeno in olive oil, salt, and pepper (you can also bake them in a tagine and do the whole recipe in the oven). Then I add chicken boullion and tomato paste, as well as fresh chopped tomatoes, parsley, bay leaves, and let it simmer for a good long while - about 40 mins. At the end I crack a bunch of eggs into it (don't stir! you want the eggs to remain whole) and bake it until they look set. To serve ladle it over toasted flatbread! I like to drizzle a little lemon on top and maybe a dollop of greek yogurt. 

It's easy to make in advance by doing all the ingredients except the egg the day before. In fact it almost turns out better that way because the flavours all have time to combine. 

Alternatively, it's a great dish to serve for brunch because it's a one-pot meal and you can make it then let it bake/simmer while you go upstairs and get ready for guests. 😃 

[selkie319]

This soup is fast, easy, delicious and filling. Tuscan Minestrone Soup

And did I mention only 190 calories per serving? I used low sodium chicken broth and no salt added tomatoes. Instead of fresh thyme, I use a tablespoon of dried thyme. It is soooooo good. 

[HelenaFitbit]

---

@Megara9 wrote:

I don't really cook with recipes it's more by "feel" but my favourite dishes are: 

1) spiced shakshuka in a tagine 

2) duck with port and blood-orange glaze 

3) Swedish style salmon with white wine cream sauce 

4) paella 

5) lemon thyme cream chicken soup (from scratch! This is also my secret cold buster) 

---

I want, no... I need those recipes!! 

[Mcore]

@Megara9 Thank you, I'll give it a try this week.  I already talked about this recipe with my husband and now he is curious to try it as well.

[StephanieSwihar]

Yum

[Megara9]

@HelenaFitbit

oh gosh... okay, here's what I do: 

1)  Shakshuka - already explained this one 2 posts above, so just refer to that. 

2) The duck - first, score the duck and roast it however you prefer with a pan underneath to catch these drippings. After it's roasted, set it aside to rest and during that time do the sauce. Take the fat drippings and use it to saute shallots and a few slices of fennel, maybe a bit of garlic if you like that, and some tarragon leaves. Grate the zest off 2 blood oranges and then squeeze them. You want about 1/2 cup to a cup of blood-orange juice. Add all of that to the pan and turn up the heat a bit. You want to reduce it quite significantly so take it to a high simmer but don't let it boil over. Add a hefty splash of port as well, and lower the heat as it reduces so that things don't burn. Taste it as you go. Once it seems a bit syrupy it's ready. At this point I like to add a pad of butter to give it a silky texture. To serve you can either butcher your roasted duck and set the pieces in the sauce and swish them about until coated in the glaze, or you can simply pour it over top of the duck as is and serve with a pile of vegetables. 

3) Swedish salmon and white wine cream sauce - This is super easy. You can make the sauce way in advance and then do the salmon in 15 mins. I typically make a huge batch of the sauce and freeze it in portions so that it's ready to go. So! To do the sauce you saute shallots in ~1/2 a stick of butter on medium heat. You want them turning brown but not black. To that I add two cubes of fish bullion (or an entire tube of anchovy paste) and stir until they dissolve in the browned butter. You want a bit of a crust to form on the bottom. Then you empty an ENTIRE bottle of cheap white wine in there, scrape the crust off the bottom, turn the heat up, and boil it until there's only 1/2in of liquid left in the bottom of the pan (this will take about an hour. You can either go upstairs to do your hair/makeup or turn on music, fix some cocktails, and relax). Once it's at that point you turn the heat down super low and pour in a cup of cream, and finish with cracked black pepper and 1tsp of sugar. Then you just wait for the cream to slowly heat through (if you keep the heat too high the cream will scald). For the salmon I just rinse and pat dry, then rub with olive oil and decorate it with a lemon wheel and a sprig of dill. Stick it in the oven at 350 for~15 mins, checking carefully with a fork (it's done when the insides are an opaque pink rather than a gelatinous rose colour). Personally I prepare the sauce before anyone arrives for dinner and then let the salmon bake while I pour my guests wine. 

4) Paella - This one takes a bit of special equipment, like a paella pan and an even heat source (burners will NOT work, not even gas burners. If you have a coal grill that's perfect, and in fact paella is very much an outdoor "day at the beach" type food. You want the coals nice and snowy before you start, and you want them evenly spread out so that all parts of the pan get equal heat). Put some olive oil in your pan while it heats. Grate a whole onion, 5 roma tomatoes, and a bit of garlic on a grater. Drop all of it in your pan. Add some hefty shakes of smoked sweet paprika and a generous amount of salt. Spread it out and saute it in the pan until it turns a very dark shade of red and is almost like a paste. At the same time, brown some chicken legs and some Spanish or Andouille sausage (if you want to use seafood, don't start that yet or it will overcook), and some chopped pieces of bell peppers on a different area of the pan. Then add a measure of rice into the still-dry pan and mix it in with everything, letting it saute until it turns translucent. Only at this point do you add chicken broth (but not too much!) and shake everything so that the pan is evenly coated (you can arrange the chicken pieces how you like, for instance in a pretty star pattern. There should be 1 chicken leg per person) and let it start to simmer.  DO NOT STIR IT. You will have to keep an eye on the doneness of the rice and the amount of liquid in it. If you must add more, add it gently so that the rice doesn't get disturbed. (If you want seafood, now is the time to add your squid / clams / mussels. Unfortunately you just have to "feel" your way through the cooking time). Once the rice is done you want to hear a faint 'crackling' as the rice on the bottom will form a crust. Place on the table with half a lemon in the middle and squeeze the lemon all over the paella before serving. When you do serve, serve it like a pie, giving each guest the "wedge" in front of them. 

5) Lemon thyme chicken soup - First, roast a chicken (or cheat and buy one roasted). Pull off the skin (or if you're me, you just eat it since it'll be 5 hours before the soup is ready) and remove the flesh, Reserve the bones. Saute 5 cloves of garlic, a thumb-sized piece of ginger that you've peeled and sliced, a whole onion, celery, and diced onions in some butter. Mushrooms too if you like that. Add fennel seeds, white pepper, and an ENTIRE package of fresh thyme sprigs (don't bother trying to pull the leaves off the sticks, they'll fall off naturally in the soup and then you can just remove the sticks). Cook it until it gets a bit brown and sticks to the bottom of the pot. Then add 1/2 cup of sherry or 2 cups of white wine and let it simmer down to almost nothing. At this point I toss in the bones (bonus if you have a cleaver that can cut them in half to release more of the marrow) and add chicken broth until the pot is quite full. Add the zest and juice of 2 lemons and bring to a boil. Want more veggies? Toss em in. Now, you're going to put a lid on slightly askew (to release some steam) and let it boil for as long as possible. 3 hours is minimum. 5 is better. If I can I do this at the start of the morning and let it go all day. Add more liquid as necessary, but you want the final volume to be reduced by ~1/3. After it's done boiling you can pull out the thyme sticks and the bones, but I'm the kind of person who leaves them in and lets everyone else fish it out of their bowl. Now add the chicken meat you pulled off the bone earlier and a cup or two of liquid whipping cream. Stir it all in and taste. You may need to salt it more due to the cream (I recommend celery salt) and a tiny splash of sherry or cognac is super good as a finishing touch. Serve warm with crusty whole wheat bread. 

(NOTE: if your cream curdles it's because you didn't boil it long enough. All the acid in the lemon juice that would ordinarily cause curdling should be eliminated through a long-enough boil. If you don't want to risk it you could use JUST lemon zest, but then the lemony flavour won't be as pungent)

Oh man now I want soup... sorry for the wall of text! Hope you guys enjoy it! 

***edited for clarity***

[EdsonFitbit]

Awesome @Megara9! Thanks for sharing those delights with us. It seems that my wife will have a busy week in the kitchen. 

[Mcore]

Thank you for the recipes @Megara9!