In preparation for Thanksgiving, the winner of this contest will have to post the oddest-sounding recipe which actually tasted good. Meaning, ingredients or flavors that you would think would never work well together but actually did.

The judge will be Nan W

Although I can't really play, I will post one I recently discovered which is fantastic:

BLACK BEAN BROWNIES (Wheat and Gluten free)

from the FOOD NERD in "the scope" by Andreae Prozesky.
Fudgy sludgy (gluten free) brownies
(makes one 8”x 8” pan)

To make the black bean purée, drain and rinse one 19 oz tin of black beans, then whizz them in the blender with a little water until they reach a good, smooth consistency. One tin will yield a little more than a cup of purée, which may mean that you have to make two batches of brownies. There are worse things.
½ cup unsalted butter
½ cocoa powder (splurge on the best you can find)
2 eggs
1 cup dark brown sugar or ½ cup brown sugar and ½ cup muscovado sugar
½ cup black bean purée
2 tablespoons instant coffee
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ cup chopped pecans (or walnuts), or ¼ cup mini chocolate chips (optional)
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line your pan with parchment paper so that there’s some overhang on two sides; this way you’ll be able to lift the brownies out of the pan.
2. Melt butter and add to cocoa; stir until smooth.
3. Beat eggs and sugar until light. Mix in bean purée, cocoa mixture, instant coffee, and salt until well combined.
4. Stir in pecans or chocolate chips, if using.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan. Smooth top and bake about 35 minutes, or until top is dry and centre is set. Let cool in pan on a rack. When completely cool, lift brownie slab out by the parchment paper overhang and cut into pieces.

I cut out the coffee and added shredded coconut. Came out great!

Cheesy Eggs and Rice (invented by Quirt Evans)

(All measures approximate)

Scramble some eggs. Two eggs per person, or so, depending on whether you're making toast or bagels.

Throw a little milk into the scrambled eggs, until the scrambled eggs are a lighter yellow color. Scramble some more. Add a little onion powder and fresh garlic, as much or as little as you like, and scramble some more. Add some oregano or Italian spices, if you like it that way. Or don't. And maybe a pinch of salt.

Get out some grated cheese. About half cheddar, half Monterey Jack, with some parmesan tossed in, works best for me. Enough so that it will add some body to the eggs ... not so much that you're cooking cheese instead of eggs.

Get out some ham. Not sliced, and already cooked. Cube it into small cubes. Again, as much as you like. (Feel free to omit, if you are a vegetarian. Or if you don't have any ham in the house.)

Cook some white rice. I like jasmine.

Put the eggs in a big frying pan or wok, on low-to-medium heat. Be prepared to stand there for a bit, stirring. Keep stirring.

You can put the cheese in with the eggs when you start cooking the eggs. Wait a little while on the ham, though ... it's already cooked, you're just heating it up.

As the eggs get toward the watery but almost cooked stage, mix in a couple of cups of the rice. Again, it depends on how many eggs you've made. Put in the rice about half a cup at a time, mix it in, take a look, decide if it will look better with more rice, and then add more rice (or not).

Keep stirring on low-to-medium heat. There will be some liquid in the bottom of the pan. You want to keep cooking until the liquid is all cooked off, or mostly, in which case you'll have to drain it off.

Serve piping hot.

Voila, cheesy eggs and rice (with ham).

I guess my bok choy with soy sauce and curry powder is right out.

Elena, I'm sure you don't realize you've probably picked the one person on the forum with the most "usual" palate, to judge the most "unusual" recipe!

Be that as it may, this is a great contest for this crowd, so keep 'em coming -- I'm ready and willing.

And anyone who wants to bribe me with an actual tasty sample can PM me for my real address.

nice man recipe Quirt..

i actually make something almost exactly like that with leftover rice for the kids' breakfasts sometimes.

quote:

Originally posted by Nan W:
Elena, I'm sure you don't realize you've probably picked the one person on the forum with the most "usual" palate, to judge the most "unusual" recipe![/strike]

That makes you the perfect judge, then!

I am assuming Nan has to make all of these and test them with her family before she chooses the winner?

quote:

Originally posted by EHpianist:

quote:

Originally posted by Nan W:
Elena, I'm sure you don't realize you've probably picked the one person on the forum with the most "usual" palate, to judge the most "unusual" recipe![/strike]

That makes you the perfect judge, then!

Yes, indeed.

"Mikey likes it!"

quote:

Originally posted by EHpianist:
Fudgy sludgy (gluten free) brownies

That's an accurate description of their consistency -- very fudgy sludge. My MIL made some that I tried.

I'll have to think about this one. One of the strangest things I've made lately was a dish of prosciutto-wrapped goat cheese (yum), baby arugula tossed with champagne vinaigrette (yum), and red plum (what?). But the red plum worked wonderfully with those smoky, peppery, and tangy flavors.

quote:

That's an accurate description of their consistency -- very fudgy sludge. My MIL made some that I tried.

Actually, I have made them three times now and have found that if you beat the eggs and the sugar at high speed so the eggs get fluffy and slightly meringue-like the brownies come out much less dense and more crumbly.

Personally I like the less fluffy batter and richer brownies.

Here's something (I don't know what to call it) that I stole from an expensive dinner out some 15 years ago or so. I'm one of those people who can replicate just about any dish without a recipe, or so I've been told.

3 lbs. fresh mussels
1 lb. capellini (angel hair) pasta
1 lb. hot Mexican chorizo
2 cups diced tomatoes (I cheat and use canned)
½ onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
1 cup dry red wine (less if you use the liquid from canned tomatoes)
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup mandarin orange segments (drained and rinsed if using canned)

Rinse the mussels through three changes of water to get rid of any grit. Keep underwater until ready to cook.

Remove the chorizo from its casing and sautee until cooked, about 8 minutes, breaking into very small pieces. Add onion and garlic and continue cooking until onion is soft. Drain any excess fat from the pan. Add tomatoes, wine, herbs, salt and pepper, bring almost to a boil, then simmer, covered, for about an hour until the the tomatoes are falling apart and thickening the remaining liquid. (Reduce uncovered if it's still too watery.)

Steam the mussels for about 8 minutes on medium heat with about a cup of water. Give them two more minutes if they aren't mostly opened by then. Discard any mussels that fail to open. Stir a few tablespoons of the mussel broth into the pan with the chorizo-tomato sauce.

Boil the pasta in salted water and drain.

To serve, arrange each serving of the pasta in a large soup bowl, top with about 3/4 cup of the chorizo-tomato sauce. Distribute four to six mussels along the outside edge, then top the whole thing with ¼ of the orange segments.

This is a really messy dish to eat, but it's heavenly. What's with the orange segments? They will temper the insane heat of the chorizo, providing a great contrast.

(By the way, if you can't find hot Mexican chorizo, don't even bother. "Chorizo" is a rather generic word for sausage in a number of Spanish-speaking countries, most of which bear no resemblance to one another.)

quote:

Originally posted by EHpianist:

BLACK BEAN BROWNIES (Wheat and Gluten free)

Sent this recipe to sister who has a hard time finding goodies for wheat and gluten free.

She is thrilled and already went out to buy ingredients (not everyone has parchment paper on hand)

And with the holidays coming up, I bet she'll make some batches!

Just saw the update and will forward that to her.

And sent her the links for all of the crock pot lady things too.

Thanks!

Love the new pic and colours, EH



(In case you are wondering, yes, that Sir Paul and Heather kissing up to a seal on the Gulf of St. Lawerance icepack in happier times.)

Baked Seal Flippers with Vegetables

2 Seal flippers
1 ts Soda
1 qt Cold water
3 sl Salted pork fat
2 Onions, chopped
2 Carrots, cut up
1 Turnip, cut up
1 Parsnip, cut up
5 Potatoes, cut up
1 ts Salt
1/4 ts Pepper

-------------------------------BISCUIT DOUGH-------------------------------
2 c Sifted flour
4 ts Baking powder
1/2 ts Salt
1/2 c Shortening
1/2 c Water (approx.)

Soak seal flippers in soda and water to cover for about 1/2 hour.

Remove the white fat from seal meat with a sharp knife. Wash the meat and cut it into serving portions. Fry the slices of salt pork in a heavy pot, then remove the "scrunchions". Brown the seal flippers in the hot fat fat, add one cup water, reduce heat and let simmer until partly tender. Add the chopped vegetables, except the potatoes, and one cup of water. Boil about 30 minutes. Add the potatoes, salt and pepper and cook another 15 minutes, adding more water if needed and cook until tender.


Place in a casserole and top with biscuit dough as follows:
Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Cut in the shortening with a pastry blender or two knives.
Add the water and blend to make a stiff dough. Roll out 1/2 inch thick and place on top of meat and vegetables in casserole.
Bake in hot oven 425 deg F. for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.
Serves 6

And for dessert, how about some kitty litter?



CAKE INGREDIENTS

1 box spice or German chocolate cake mix
1 box of white cake mix
1 package white sandwich cookies
1 large package vanilla instant pudding mix
A few drops green food coloring
12 small Tootsie Rolls or equivalent

SERVING "DISHES AND UTENSILS"

1 NEW cat-litter box
1 NEW cat-litter box liner
1 NEW pooper scooper

Prepare and bake cake mixes, according to directions, in any size pan. Prepare pudding and chill.
Crumble cookies in small batches in blender or food processor. Add a few drops of green food coloring to 1 cup of cookie crumbs.
Mix with a fork or shake in a jar. Set aside. When cakes are at room temperature, crumble them into a large bowl. Toss with half of the remaining cookie crumbs and enough pudding to make the mixture moist but not soggy. Place liner in litter box and pour in mixture.

Unwrap 3 Tootsie Rolls and heat in a microwave until soft and pliable. Shape the blunt ends into slightly curved points. Repeat with three more rolls. Bury the rolls decoratively in the cake mixture. Sprinkle remaining white cookie crumbs over the mixture, then scatter green crumbs lightly over top. Heat 5 more Tootsie Rolls until almost melted. Scrape them on top of the cake and sprinkle with crumbs from the litter box. Heat the remaining Tootsie Roll until pliable and hang it over the edge of the box.

Place box on a sheet of newspaper and serve with scooper. Enjoy!

I have to say I will never be a true Newf asflipper pie is in the "worst foods I've ever had" category. They say if made right it is actually not bad, but I don't see how seal flipper can be made to taste good.

The kitty litter is hilarious!

I made the black bean brownies over the weekend. Taste was excellent (no bean evidence whatsoever) but the texture needed work (I tried to do them by hand, but should have hauled out the mixer to really fluff the eggs). I'm excited to have something great to make for a friend who can't have gluten.

So thanks Elena!