LINKDING

Ingredients: For the Pho Stock: 4 pounds beef bones 1/2 onion 4 inch section of ginger, sliced 1 package Vietnamese Pho Spices (or as many of these spices as you have: 2 cinnamon sticks, 2 teaspoons whole coriander, 1 teaspooon fennel, 3 whole star anise, 3 whole cloves, 1 cardamom pod) 9 cups water 2 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce or to taste 1 teaspoon sugar For the Pho Bowls 16 ounces fresh or dried rice noodles 1/2 pound flank, london broil, sirloin or eye of round steak, sliced as thinly as possible. 11 ounces Vietnamese beef balls, cut into half For the table 1-2 limes, cut into wedges fresh herbs: cilantro, Thai basil, mint 2-3 chili peppers, sliced 2 big handfuls of bean sprouts Hoisin sauce Sriracha hot chili sauce Directions: 1. Bring a large stockpot with water to boil over high heat. When it comes to a rolling boil, add the beef bones and boil vigourously for 10 minutes. 2. In the meantime, heat a frying pan on medium-low heat. Add the Vietnamese Pho Spices and toast until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Dump the spices to the empty Crock Pot or slow cooker immediately. Return frying pan to medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon of oil. When the oil is hot, add the ginger slices and the onion half. Cook until the ginger is browned on both sides and the onion half is nicely browned and softened. Add the ginger and the onion to the Crock Pot or slow cooker. 3. When the bones have been pre-boiled, drain, discard water and rinse bones briefly to clean them. Add the bones to the Crock Pot or slow cooker. Fill the Crock Pot with fresh, clean, cool water to just 1-1/2 inches below rim, add the fish sauce and sugar. Cover and set the Crock Pot or slow cooker to cook on low for 8 hours. Taste and season with additional fish sauce if needed. 4. When you are just about ready to eat, you'll prep the rest of the ingredients for the Pho bowls. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the beef balls and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. Remove the balls, keeping the water boiling and now cook the noodles according to package instructions. If you are using fresh noodles, all they need is a couple of minutes. Drain immediately. 5. Strain the stock with a fine meshed sieve. Discard the solids. 6. Line up 4 large bowls on counter. Distribute the noodles, beef balls and thin steak slices evenly amongst the bowls. Ladle the hot Pho stock into each bowl. The hot stock should cook the thin steak slices. Serve with lime wedges, fresh herbs, chili peppers, Hoisin sauce and Sriracha hot chili sauce at the table.

According to Misspamela, works without the crust too (although slightly messier), and tasty with slightly-sweetened blackberries Dana's Lemon Cake Pie Ingredients 1 9-inch deep dish pie crusts, no need to prebake 1 1/2 cups sugar 2 tablespoons butter, melted 1/3 cup all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon (or more) lemon zest 6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 3 eggs, separated 1 1/4 cups milk Directions Put rack on lowest position in oven. Preheat oven to 375. In a medium bowl, stir together melted butter and sugar. Stir in flour, salt, lemon peel and lemon juice. In a small bowl, beat egg yolks with milk until well blended, stir into lemon mixture. In another medium sized bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until they hold distinct but moist peaks. Gently fold egg whites into lemon mixture. (Don't mix it too much.). Pour filling into pie crust. I always end up with more filling than will fit in the pie crust so I put it in a couple ceramic ramekins and cook it along with the pie. Bake on the lowest rack of the oven until the top is browned and the center jiggles only slightly when pan is gently shaken (45-55 minutes). If the crust begins to brown excessively, drape it with foil. Let cool before serving. But it's good warm too!

Lemony Asparagus and Black Bean Quinoa Bowl 1 C quinoa, rinsed 2 C water 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 T honey 1/2 C almonds, coarsely chopped 1 bunch asparagus, chopped to bite-size 1 can (540 mL) black beans, drained and rinsed zest from 1 lemon juice from 1/2 lemon (no, no, no, use the whole thing) 2 T olive oil 1/2 t salt (or not, especially if you're using canned rather than dry beans) 1. Put quinoa, water, garlic and honey in a pot. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for 15-20 min, until all water is absorbed. Remove from heat and leave covered for 10 min, then transfer to a large mixing bowl and fluff with a fork. 2. While quinoa is cooking, lightly toast almonds. Set aside to cool. 3. In a separate pot, using a steamer basket or a shallow layer of water, cook asparagus spears until they turn bright green but still maintain their crunch, about 5-6 min. Rinse under cold water and set aside to drain. 4. Once quinoa has cooled slightly, add beans, asparagus and almonds. 5. In a small bowl, mix lemon juice, zest, oil and salt. Pour over quinoa mixture and toss until evenly distributed. Serve at room temperature.

Hot and Sour Soup 3 cups chicken stock 1.5 cups water Heat to a boil. Add: 1/2 can bamboo shoots, rinsed and thinly julienned 1/2 can water chestnuts, finely diced 1 C green cabbage, thinly sliced and chopped 1/2 package tofu - all my local Safeway had was firm, but I'd recommend something a little softer. Boil 3 min. Add: 3 T white vinegar 1 t salt 1/2 t sugar 1 t white pepper powder In little bowls, mix together: 1 egg and I T water. Set aside. 2 T cornstarch and 2 T water. Add the cornstarch mixture to the soup and stir to thicken. Once the soup is the desired consistency (you may wish to add more, depending on how thick you like your Chinese soups) and has come to a rolling boil, beat the egg and water mixture well and pour in the thinnest possible stream into the hot soup. Add: 1/2 t sesame oil 1 T white vinegar. Stir and serve. This quantity would do dinner (with rice) for several people or starters for 6-8. If you like the darker (Southern Chinese) hot and sour soups, add a tablespoon of Sichuan hot bean sauce and reduce the white pepper powder by half.

Red wine, minimum of two bottles, maximum depends on the size of your pan and number of guests. It doesn't need to be good wine to make good mulled wine, it just needs the red wine nature. Apple juice. Sugar. 1 tangerine, or an orange will do at a pinch. cloves, in quantity. A cinnamon stick. Powdered nutmeg. A very large saucepan, no, bigger than that, your very largest saucepan. 1) Two hours before you want to begin drinking the mulled wine, open the wine and pour it into the pan. Fill one of the now-empty bottles with apple juice for every two bottles, and add that to the pan. Add a tablespoon of sugar per bottle. Add the cinnamon stick or a half a teaspoon of cinnamon per bottle. Add half a teaspoon of nutmeg per bottle. Leave to sit. 2) Stick as many cloves as you possibly can into the tangerine. Add the cloved tangerine to the pan. 3) Put the pan to sit on the ring where it will be heated. Let it sit quietly. This is called "marrying the spices". I've often omitted this step due to lack of time, but it's well worth it. If you're going to go out and drink the wine when you come back, this is the point to leave it. 4) Three quarters of an hour before you want to start drinking, put the heat on really low under the pan and allow it to heat through slowly. You don't have to do anything. The sugar will dissolve, the spices will infuse, all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well. Don't turn up the heat impatiently, allow it to warm through very slowly. Taste for warmth from time to time, it should be warm. Don't turn the heat up, it really will warm through on its own, and you'll ruin it if you boil it. 5) Serve into mugs with a ladle. Leave on low heat and keep drinking until done.

not the sort of fruitcake with the candied fruit and brandy, but cake with dried fruit in it. This cake is remarkably easy to make. It's also not really a fruitcake. This is a light sweet mechanism for delivering excellent dried fruit. This cake is as good as the dried fruit you use. You need a 7 inch cake tin that's deep, a mixing bowl, a wooden spoon, an oven with reliable heat, some way to measure weight and a pint measuring jug for measuring liquid. That's all the equipment you need. Pre-heat oven to 150C, Gas 4, 300F. Line the deep tin with greaseproof paper ("baking parchment"). Sift 8 ounces of flour into a bowl. You can use either patisserie (SR) flour or tour usage (plain) flour. This isn't a cake that rises all that much. Add a pinch of salt, a pinch of cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg. (For fanatical measurers, that would be a quarter of a teaspoon.) Sift in four ounces of sugar -- any sugar. White vanilla sugar is fine, soft brown sugar is fine, whatever you have. Add 14 ounces of excellent dried fruit, and stir with the wooden spoon until all the fruit is coated in flour and all the flour contains fruit. In a pint jug, measure 4 fl ounces of liquid vegetable cooking oil, not olive oil, the blandest least tasty oil there is. Add four fl ounces of milk. The more butterfat in the milk the better. Add two eggs, and beat together with a fork. Pour the wet glop into the dry, and stir with the wooden spoon until everything is mixed together and you can't see any flour any more. It won't be very liquid. Pour and spoon into tin. Smooth a little. Sprinkle the top of the cake with demarara sugar. The amount you get in a paper packet with coffee is just right. You can use ordinary sugar, in which case you want about two teaspoons, sprinkled carefully over the top of the cake. Bake on the lower shelf of the oven for an hour and a half. You can tell it's done when it starts to smell done. (Also known as the "That smells lovely. Oh my goodness, what time is it? What time did I put that cake in? I have no idea -- well, it smells done.") You can test with the clean knife method. If it's starting to smell done and isn't done, put a piece of greaseproof paper on the shelf above it in the oven, to prevent burning. This cake is supposed to be golden, not dark brown or, heaven forbid, black. Leave to cool in the tin -- this is important, as it will crumble a lot if removed when hot. When cool, remove from tin, peel off greaseproof paper, and eat. It keeps fairly well in a tin or a tupperware -- not forever like a dark fruitcake, but for about a week.

1.5 lbs (750g) carrots (about 6 large), peeled and sliced 1/2-inch (1.25cm) thick 1 large yellow onion, peeled and roughly chopped 4 large cloves garlic, unpeeled 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, or 1 teaspoon dried 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 – 1.5 cups (250-375ml) hot, strong vegetable or chicken broth 4-5 tablespoons crème fraîche or yogurt or something salt and freshly-ground pepper, to taste 1 lb. (450g) pasta, cooked garnish with parmesan cheese Preheat the oven to 400F/200C. Toss the carrots, onion, garlic, thyme and oil together in a bowl, then spread them out on a foil-covered baking sheet in a single layer. Roast until the carrots are tender and flecked with brown, about 45 minutes, stirring a couple of times and removing the garlic early if it starts to over-brown. Peel the garlic cloves and puree with the rest of the vegetables in a food processor or blender, adding as much broth as necessary to make a thick, creamy sauce. Blend in the crème fraîche. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.