This is easy to do, so I should do it.

I’d also like to point out that Google is now useless for information about cooking, because almost all Google search results now point to vacuous sites that offer mundane, simplified recipes – often the same recipe endlessly repackaged. Bing is no better. It’s cooks.com and the Food Network ’til the cows come home.

My recent strategy has been to fool Google by combining the information I want with the name of a serious cook – Ruhlman or Keller or Bourdain – and then to look for results that are not written by that cook. This often gets you results from food blogs and other serious writers, not retreads from 1990’s supermarket magazines.

I'd really really like to take this on. I've been dreaming about "the perfect recipe website" for many years. Hint: it involves APIs.

Storing this recipe link so I can find it again. Someone else on Twitter pointed out that it was my recommendation for the best recipe for refrigerator pickles :P

Cider Vinegar Barbecue Sauce:

• 1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
• 1 cup yellow or brown mustard
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cayenne

This is a good basic recipe for pulled pork made in the oven. I pretty much wing the dry rub these days, but the cider vinegar BBQ sauce ingredients above are good proportions that I always forget.

1	cup chopped onions
½	cup finely chopped celery
1	tablespoon olive oil
28	ounces cans of canned tomatoes
14	ounces can of coconut milk
1	cube chicken bouillon
1	cup water
1	stalk of fresh rosemary
1	tablespoon brown sugar
	salt
	pepper

edit Preparation

Step 1	Pour olive oil in a large soup pot and saute onions and celery until onions become translucent.
Step 2	Pour in tomatoes and coconut milk, dissolve the chicken bouillon cube in the cup of water and add it as well. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat.
Step 3	Add the stalk of rosemary and let simmer for 30 - 45 minutes.
Step 4	Remove the rosemary stalk and use a hand blender to puree the soup.
Step 5	Add the brown sugar and salt and pepper to taste.

edit Tools

• Hand blender

edit About Rosemary Tomato Soup

This was a very on-the-spot made up recipe. I was thinking that the stalk of rosemary would add some rosemary flavour, but I ended up simmering it quite a long time, so the resulting soup was

If you substituted vegetable stock for the chicken stock, this would actually be a vegan recipe.

I was configuring servers and it simmered a LOT longer than 30 minutes.

Parsnip and apple coleslaw
Serves 2 as a main meal, 4 as a small side dish

2 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp good olive oil
1 tsp clear honey
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
175g parsnips
100g carrots
100g red cabbage
1 Cox’s apple, or your preferred eating apple, weighing approximately 150g
Handful of fresh parsley leaves, roughly chopped
25g walnuts, roughly chopped

1 Place the vinegar, oil, honey and mustard in a small jar and season with a small pinch of salt and a good grinding of black pepper. Screw on the lid and give it a shake until it’s pale and combined. Taste, adjust the seasoning if necessary, and set aside.

2 Peel the parsnip(s) and slice out the woody core – you’ll end up with about 100g parsnip. Coarsely grate and place in a large bowl. Peel and coarsely grate the carrot(s) and add to the parsnip. Very finely slice the red cabbage and add to the bowl.

3 Quarter the apple and slice out the core. Coarsely grate the apple, discarding any large pieces of skin. Add to the vegetables with the parsley leaves and half the walnuts.

4 If the dressing has started to separate, give it a shake again, then pour over the coleslaw. Toss the salad to coat in the dressing and then divide between two plates. Scatter over the remaining walnuts and serve. For a more filling meal, serve it with a chunk of blue cheese and warm crusty bread (it’s also good with a greasy pork chop and apple sauce if you’re not vegetarian).

Used 2 parsnips and 4 small carrots. 1/4 of a small / medium head of green cabbage. 1 Tbsp honey, 1 Tbsp dijon, only a splash of cider vinegar. Zest from one lemon, plus used the fresh lemon juice from the whole lemon. No parsley, no walnuts (so it's very plain and orange / green looking).

My version is definitely more of a side dish version.

½	package of spaghetti
½	cup of bacon, chopped
1	tablespoon olive oil
⅓	cup of minced shallots
1	clove minced garlic
1	cup diced cooked turkey
½	cup sour cream
½	cup water
½	cup of grated cheese
	black pepper
2	egg yolks
2	tablespoons cream
½	cup minced fresh parsley

Preparation

Step 1	Cook about half a package of spaghetti until al dente, drain the water and set aside. If you have the pasta water boiling and add the spaghetti as you do the next steps, it should be ready at about the right time.
Step 2	Cook the bacon in a large saucepan (will need to fit all of the cooked spaghetti). Cook it over medium heat until it just starts to brown.
Step 3	Add the olive oil, shallots, garlic and turkey and continue to cook on medium until the shallots are translucent.
Step 4	Reduce heat to low and stir in the sour cream and water until evenly mixed. Add the grated cheese and stir until evenly melted. Add fresh cracked black pepper to taste (at least 1 tsp).
Step 5	Add the cooked spaghetti to sauce mixture and toss thoroughly.
Step 6	Beat the egg yolks with the cream and pour on top of the spaghetti, again mixing thoroughly. Now mix in the fresh parsley and serve immediately.

As I saw in the comments on the recipe, I didn't like any of the carbonara recipes I saw, so I made my own. R doesn't like peas, but they would have gone well with this.

We had this with the slaw on the side, which cut the heavyness of this dish.

Ingredients

2	cups shredded coconut
1 ½	cups rolled oats
1 ½	cups raisins
2	cups sunflower seeds
½	cup sesame seeds
¾	cup chopped peanuts
½	cup chopped cried fruit, like apricots
¼	cup mini chocolate or carob chips
½	teaspoon salt
1	cup honey
1	teaspoon vanilla
1	cup peanut butter

Preparation

Step 1	Mix all the dry ingredients well in a large bowl. Blend honey, peanut butter and vanilla until smooth. Add to dry ingredients. Mix with your hands (grease hands first).
Step 2	Press firmly into a greased 9 x 13" pan. Bake at 275 F until golden brown. Time varies but anywhere from 8-16 minutes. Cool on a rack. Cut when cool.

Ending up making these tonight. I've had oats and shredded coconut haunting the cupboards for a while, and have been thinking about an on-the-go eat in the morning sort of thing. The Orange Ginger Granola bars look good, too.

When I went to look for recipes, they're all very similar, and in fact don't seem to matter *what* you put in them.

I left out sunflower and sesame seeds, and did crystallized ginger and some candied lemon peel for the fruit. The chocolate chips were white chocolate chunks. No honey, but half a cup of turbinado sugar and dark molasses. I like the dark, slightly bitter flavour of molasses, so we'll so how that turns out.

The peanut butter was aged and sticky, so I added a bit of water to dissolve the sugar / molasses / peanut butter. No salt because I forgot about it.

Needed to bake much longer (~30 minutes) and a little hotter than listed. Didn't stick together as well as I had hoped, but did end up being tasty.

Yield: 24

Ingredients

12	slices proscuitto
1	cup cooked crab or lobster
6	eggs
¼	cup cream
	salt
	pepper

Preparation

Step 1	Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
Step 2	Get out a mini-cupcake pan with 24 cups
Step 3	Trim the top bit of fat from each slice of prosciutto
Step 4	Cut each slice in half, and fold it into the cupcake pan
Step 5	Place a bit of crab / lobster in each cup
Step 6	Beat the eggs with the cream and add salt & pepper to taste
Step 7	Pour the egg into each cup until it reaches the rim of each cup. It doesn't matter if the crab / lobster pokes out a bit
Step 8	Bake for 10 - 15 minutes or until the eggs are set

This is Evan's recipe - he'll need to edit to correct. Ben asked about it today, and I hadn't uploaded my picture yet, so I thought I'd add it.

On Foodista, anyone can edit / improve the recipe, so go ahead and change it if you have improvements.

• 1 1/2 cups All purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
• 6 fluid oz Buttermilk
• 3 tablespoon Butter room temp

Preparation

Oven temp: 425F / 220C / Gas Mark 7

1. Preheat the oven to 425. Grease a baking sheet.

2. Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl. Rub in the butter or margarine with your fingertips until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.

3. Gradually pour in the buttermilk, stirring with a fork to form a soft dough.

4. Roll out the dough until 1/2 inch thick. (I often make mine thicker and roll it into one large circle). Cut into wedges with a sharp knife.

5. Place on the baking sheet and bake until golden, 12-15 minutes.

One of the things I've been on a roll with over the holidays is baking. I do lots of cooking, but generally little baking. Oh-ten will contain more baking.

UPDATE: this is very much a savoury recipe -- mine ended up being a bit salty / soda-y because I wasn't very careful at measuring. The texture was very nice and flaky, not sure what adding sugar would do.