Archive for the ‘#1 Go-To Recipes’ Category
Grilled Oysters
I am putting this out here for those that have never experienced this. This can be a zero cost meal if you can find oysters on your own, except for Phuket Province, sorry I would never try this there nor would I ever eat oysters from Phuket. Now for those along either coast, if you have seen oysters while out swimming, here is the perfect chance to try this. Most people are familiar with oysters on the half shell, deep fried oysters, and many recipes one can make from the oyster meat from Tesco. No sauces or lime juice are listed unless you prefer that, simple salt and pepper works.
Ingredients
- fresh oysters, these should be tighly closed
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- First thing you have to do is get the oysters, two easy ways, one is to harvest yourself while swimming, and the other way is to get from local vendors in an open fresh market. For either choice you want the oysters to be tightly closed. There is no need to wash or scrub them, just a good rinse of any dirt is fine.
- For portions, a general guide is 6 large oysters per serving or 12 medium oysters per serving.
- Fire up your grill and let the coals get good and hot and spread those out. If you only have one of the small clay pots, you can use that as well.
- Place some oysters on the grill and after 5-10 minutes, sometimes as long as 15 minutes, the oysters will open and will be cooked, rather warmed through.
- Open the shell completely, add salt and pepper to your liking, and using a fork, scoop the oyster into your mouth and enjoy. It is as simple as that.
Notes
If you source the oysters from swimming, you have a free meal, well done! You should be able to get these from the open fresh markets, while not free, I do not know what the price would be per kilo.
Family makes these several times a year.
Sardine Sandwich II
I love sardines in olive oil and since they are not available at my location, I make them using a slow cooker with small mackerel the fish of choice. This recipe is based on using homemade sardines in olive oil. If you use tinned sardines in olive oil, figure 1 tin per sandwich. I made this yesterday, 7 Apr 2017, and I will certainly say this is a good combination of the Cream cheese and sardines, excellent flavor. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 3 pieces homemade sardines, or 1 tin in olive oil
- 2 slices wheat sandwich bread, toasted is optional
- Cream cheese, softened, or thinly sliced
- 2 lettuce leaves
- mayo, optional
Instructions
- Lay toast on a plate, spread softened Cream cheese on each slice, place the lettuce leaves on one piece of toast, split the pieces of sardines in half to make them thinner and lay on the lettuce in a single layer, top with the other slice of toast, enjoy as lunch or dinner.
- An optional way to prepare this is spread mayo on each toasted slice of bread, lay the lettuce on once slice, top the lettuce with thinly sliced Cream cheese, I used a homemade sandwich roll.
- Top the cheese with the split sardines, place the other slice of bread on the top. I used tinned sardines as they are now available here now.
- Enjoy.
Notes
Low cost if using homemade sardines. I make sardines using small mackerel which is sold per fish anywhere from 10 to 25 Baht each, so about 29 to 74 cents per sandwich. (I cut each fish into 3 pieces when making sardines.)
If using tinned sardines, figure 1 tin per sandwich at 59 Baht, this is about $1.74 per sandwich.
Shortcut: Sardines in Olive Oil.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Sardine Sandwich I
I love sardines in olive oil and since they are not available at my location, I make them using a slow cooker with small mackerel the fish of choice. This recipe is based on using homemade sardines in olive oil. If you use tinned sardines in olive oil, figure 1 tin per sandwich. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 3 pieces homemade sardines
- 2 slices sandwich bread
- prepared yellow mustard, as needed
- 2 lettuce leaves
Instructions
- Lay bread on a plate, spread some yellow mustard on each slice, top one slice with two lettuce leaves. Split the pieces of sardines in half to make them thinner and lay on top of the lettuce in a single layer, top with the other slice of bread, enjoy as lunch, or for me, I make two of these for dinner.
Notes
Low cost if using homemade sardines. I make sardines using small mackerel which is sold per fish anywhere from 10 to 25 Baht each, so about 29 to 74 cents per sandwich. (I cut each fish into 3 pieces when making sardines.)
If using tinned sardines, figure 1 tin per sandwich at 59 Baht, this is about $1.74 per sandwich.
Shortcut: Sardines in Olive Oil.
Homemade Stove Top Stuffing
The name is familiar to any American. If you are paying for the boxed kind in Thailand, you are paying too much, this is so easy to make. This is a good side dish with not only turkey, but chicken, meatloaf, etc. I made this on 13 Oct 2017 and this is now going to be a regular item on our table.
Equipment
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
- Oven
Ingredients
- 12 slices sandwich bread, slice into ¾ inch cubes
- 4 teaspoons dried rubbed sage
- 4 teaspoons dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt, or ¼ teaspoon table salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 4 tablespoons butter, (1/4 block or 1/2 stick)
- 1â…“ cups chicken stock, or broth, fresh or from powder
- 1-3 stalks celery, diced
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180° C (350° F). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, add the bread cubes spread them out in a layer. If you have a small baking sheet like me, work in batches.
- Bake for about 10 minutes, and gently toss them part way through and bake for another 5 minutes. You are looking for even toasting on most of the cubes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
- Toss the bread cubes with the sage, thyme, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. (If making this to use another recipe calling for a box of stuffing, use at this point.)
- Melt butter in a large non stick pan and add the celery and cook for a few minutes until soft. Then pour in the chicken stock and heat until simmering, add the bread cubes and stir, the bread will soak up the stock in just seconds, add additional stock as needed to your liking. Remove from heat, cover, and let sit for 5 minutes.
- Serve and enjoy.
Notes
Minimal cost.
Shortcut: Quick Chicken Broth.
Variant: 1. Use beef stock in place of chicken stock.
Used in Recipes Listed on this Site:
- Broccoli, Chicken & Rice Casserole, made it, GO-TO recipe.Â
- Sinfully Delicious Chicken Casserole, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Chicken & Stuffing Casserole.
- Bruschetta Chicken Bake.
- Stuffing Casserole, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Chicken & Dressing II (Slow Cooker).
- Chicken & Dressing I.
Baked Salmon
This is wonderful! I made this on 22 Nov 2016 and was an instant two thumbs up from my Thai wife. Excellent marinade as written, recipe followed as written, no changes needed, and after baking, spoon the oil on some pasta for a great meal.
Equipment
- Baking Pan
- Oven
Ingredients
- 4 salmon fillets, (140-160 gram / 5-6 oz each)
- 3 clove garlic, minced
- 5 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- In a bowl, add the olive oil, garlic, basil, parsley, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Mix to make the marinade. Place the salmon fillets in a shallow flat dish, pour marinade over the top of them and place in the fridge, turning the fillets occasionally. Marinate for 1 hour.
- Preheat your broiler, or if using a counter top oven use the top coil and heat to 230° C (450° F).
- Using a baking dish, glass would be perfect, place fillets in the dish and pour the marinade over the fish.
- Broil for 5-7 minutes then flip fillets over, when the fish flakes with a fork easily, it is done.
- Serve. A salad, pasta, or vegetables on the side would be perfect side dishes.
Notes
I bought 4 fillets, Norwegian import, 69 Baht for 140 to 160 gram fillets. I figured the servings as 1 fillet per serving. For 69 Baht per fillet, this is about $2.03 per serving. High cost but great for a once in a while meal.
Whitefish in Tomato Sauce
This is excellent, served over pasta it is basically fish pasta, excellent flavor. I made this on 27 Nov 2016 and even my Thai wife gave this two thumbs up. The original recipe called for baking this, this is easily done in a skillet on the stove top and is how this is written now. Pangasius or any whitefish can be used. Recipe modified by my findings. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 4 Pangasius fillets, cut into large pieces, about 750 grams of fillets
- 5 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 1/2 cups tomato sauce, OR make from a shortcut
- olive oil, as needed
- salt and black pepper, to taste
- paprika, to taste
- white pepper, to taste
- ground nutmeg, to taste
- all purpose flour, as needed
- fresh basil, chopped, for the sauce and for garnish
Instructions
- Add the fillet pieces to a large bowl, season to your liking with the salt, black pepper, white pepper, paprika, and nutmeg. Set aside.
- In a small pot, heat a splash of olive oil and add the onion and garlic and cook until translucent, then add the chopped tomatoes and tomato sauce and some fresh basil. Cook until the sauce to soften the tomatoes. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Take the fish pieces and roll them in some flour to coat them all, add these to a large skillet heated to medium low with a splash of olive oil and brown both sides until the fish is just cooked through. Fish was cooked in 3 batches.
- When the fish is done, reduce heat to a low simmer and pour in the tomato sauce and mix the fish pieces gently into the sauce, simmer to heat through. This is after all the fish had been returned to the pan and the sauce just pour over them.
- Garnish fresh chopped basil if desired and serve over pasta of your choice or with potatoes and butter on the side.
Notes
Pangasius fillets will cost about 112 Baht/kilo. For 4 servings, this is about 82 cents per serving.
Shortcut: Tomato Sauce.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Best Slow Cooker Macaroni & Cheese
This is excellent mac & cheese, and the can of cheese soup is the key ingredient, and you can make that from a Shortcut on the site! Keep in mind, use block cheese you shred yourself, as packaged shredded cheese will not melt as well due to packaging to keep the shred separated. I made this on On 21 Mar 2021 and the entire family loved this! I used a variant and the steps/photos will reflect that. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 can condensed Cheddar cheese soup, (10½ oz / 298 g), Shortcut
- 2¾ cup half and half, or evaporated milk
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 500 grams uncooked elbow macaroni, (1 lb)
- 2 cups Sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded, (8 oz / 226 g)
- 1 cup Colby or Edam cheese, shredded, (4 oz / 113 g)
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
Instructions
- To your slow cooker, add the half and half (or evaporated milk), cheddar cheese soup, paprika, and black pepper, and whisk mix until the mixture is smooth.
- Into your slow cooker, add the uncooked macaroni, half of the shredded cheeses, and butter. Stir together.
- I added a variant and added 1 can of smoked spam that I diced, and I had some leftover cocktail sausages so I chopped those and added them as well.
- Mix the meats or other variants into the mixture.
- Top the mixture with the rest of the shredded cheeses. Put the lid on and cook on Low setting for 3 hours.
- At the 3 hour mark, turn slow cooker off, remove lid and give the mac and cheese a stir. If the mixture is too thick, stir in a spoon or two milk.
- Serve and enjoy.
Notes
The Cheddar cheese would run about 180 Baht, the Colby or Edam, another 90 Baht, the condensed soup about 90 Baht, same for making yourself but you will know what is in it. For 10 servings, this is about $1.06 per serving.
Shortcut: Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup.
Variants: 1. Add chopped broccoli, chopped ham, chopped smoked sausage, chopped hot dogs, chopped smoked cocktail sausages (Little Smokies), cooked cubed chicken, diced Spam.
Garlic Butter Cheesy Prawn
This recipe was prepared for me by our good friends we had over as house guests. Very tasty and easy to prepare. This recipe uses large prawn so it is not an inexpensive meal. This can be an appetizer, at a pot luck meal, or as a main dish. This recipe is listed for what is shown in the photos, 14 large prawn.
Ingredients
- 14 fresh large prawn, whole, unpeeled and head on
- 1/2 cup butter, softened, this is 1/2 a regular block of butter
- 6 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
- Cheddar cheese, 14 small slices
- spring onion, chopped for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200 C (390 F), line a 9x13 baking dish with foil.
- Split the body of each whole prawn, including the head, to nearly through and gently spread apart and place in the baking dish. Photo shows the size of prawn used.
- With the room temp butter, mix in the garlic, using a spoon and your fingers, put some garlic butter into each prawn as shown in this photo.
- Place in the oven then reduce the temp to 180 C (350 F). Bake for 5-10 minute or until the shells turn orange, remove from the oven and add a small slice of cheese to each body of the prawns and bake for another 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted, remove from oven, sprinkle with some chopped spring onion or chives, serve.
Notes
The cost break down is hard with this recipe as I do not know how many large prawn are in a kilo. One kilo is 350 Baht. I will say this is between $1 and $1.50 per serving. When I make this again I will provide more accurate pricing information. This is listed as an appetizer as well as a main dish.
Original recipe provided courtesy of good friend, Yui Hinton.
Thailand.
Thailand.
Au Gratin Potatoes I
Cheese and potatoes, my kind of side dish. This can be costly depending on the cheese you use, but would be a great meal for visiting friends and family. This is an unusual method, but works surprisingly well. This is not your typical potatoes swimming in cheese sauce recipe, the potatoes soak up butter from the bottom of the dish, and some of the cheese sauce on top soaks down into the potatoes. I made this on 31 Aug 2018, excellent potatoes!
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 kilos potatoes, washed, skin on
- 1 onion
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 1 teaspoon mustard powder
- 2 cups milk
- 1 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 cup Gruyere cheese, shredded, OR use Swiss cheese
- salt and cracked black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200 C (400 F), get out a casserole or baking pan and lightly grease with butter. (I used a smaller amount of potatoes so I used my 5x7 baking dish.)
- Thinly slice the potatoes into 1/8 inch thick slices, a mandolin would be the best item to use for this, it is faster than using a knife and will provide uniform slices.
- After the potatoes, slice the onion as thin as possible as well, again, a mandolin works great with the onions, separate the onions into rings as well. (I know, crappy photo.)
- Once the potatoes and onions sliced, make little stacks, starting with a potato slice, couple of onion ring slices, another potato, and so on until the stack is 2 inches high or so, ending with a potato slice on top. Do this for all the slices.
- Now take the stacks and place them in the baking dish on one side of the stack. Instead of layering them, the edges of the potatoes will be facing upwards.
- Before you start making the sauce, have the milk, cheese, and other ingredients ready for use, the sauce comes together quickly.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan then whisk in the flour and cook this for 2-3 minutes, then whisk in the the mustard, salt and pepper to your liking, and the milk. Whisk continuously until this thickens and is bubbly. Remove from heat and stir in the shredded cheeses until full melted in. (This photo is after I spooned it over the potatoes.)
- Pour or spoon the cheese sauce over the potatoes, covering the dish evenly. Cover with foil. If the edges of potatoes may touch the foil, lightly grease the foil with butter (not the edges of foil) and then cover with the foil, greased side down.
- Bake this for 1 hour, then remove the foil and bake for another 20-30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the potatoes are cooked through.
- Serve with a main dish of your choice.
Notes
Only costly items is the cheeses. Using half a block each of Cheddar and Swiss would be 90 Baht each, 180 Baht total. For 8 servings, this is about 70 cents per serving.
Note about the cheeses: Feel free to use just one cheese, or a combination of two cheeses, use your favorite type(s) of cheese to make this dish your own.
Inspired by Spend With Pennies and the link to this recipe is here.
United States.
United States.
All Purpose Chicken Meatballs
This recipe can also be used for ground turkey as well and was originally posted as that in the title, but I am going to list this using chicken. This sounds really easy and the meatballs are baked which will aide them keeping their shape. Make a batch and freeze them, then use as needed as an appetizer with a dipping sauce, pasta sauces, etc. Consider this a base recipe to be used in a variety of recipes.
Ingredients
- 1 kilo ground chicken, OR ground turkey
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 cup minced onion
- 2/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180 C. Line a baking sheet with foil.
- Place all ingredients in a large bowl. I ground 1 kilo (2 lbs) of chicken tenders.
- Use your hands and mix to just combine, do not over mix as that will result in a tough meatball.
- Roll the mixture into 1 inch balls and place on the baking sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes until just cooked through, do not overcook or once again, tough meatballs. One inch meatballs should make about 50 meatballs. I use an ice cream scoop to measure, then place that in your hand and roll that, mine came out to about 1 1/2 inches and I made 26. I baked them for 35 minutes and they were perfect.
- Now, if you have a specific need for 1 kilo of meatballs at one time, go ahead and use, but more than likely, you are going to freeze these. Let the meatballs cool to room temperature, then place on another baking sheet and put in the freezer, once frozen then place all in a freezer bag or container, then you can take out the meatballs you need for a specific recipe.
Notes
The Tesco website lists Grade A Mince Chicken as 79 Baht/kilo, which very good considering 50 meatballs or so and can be used in several dishes. Easily under $1 per serving.
Used in Recipes Listed on this Site:
United States.
- Turkey Meatballs with Summer Squash, made it, GO-TO recipe.
United States.
