WRAP YOUR PROSCIUTTO AROUND MY FIG

August 13, 2009
The big fig gets the smokiest meat

The big fig gets the smokiest meat

For the record, I am totally gay for figs.  They are one of history’s oldest fruits. Ever hear of the hanging gardens of Babylon?  Figs hung proudly there and flavored many ancient meals.  No doubt these edible APHRODISIACS were all over the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve just had to sample the far blander apple and ruin everything.  Not that there’s anything wrong with apples, knowledge or original sin.  Figs are just tastier, sexier and more likely to get you laid.  Sexy time is nearly certain once you wrap the figs up with Italian prosciutto and throw in some creamy Brie cheese.  Run, don’t walk to your nearest quality grocer and slice off a piece of the Garden of Eden.

proscuitto wrapped figs prepTotal time: approximately 5 minutes

Projected cost: $7

Drinking Buddy: Red Wine or a SAN-GRAB-YA SANGRIA

Ingredients (serves 2):

1. Brie cheese

2. 4 fresh FIGS

3. 4 prosciutto slices

Step 1

Quarter the figs and add small slices of Brie to each section.  Pull off long strips of proscuitto and wrap each fig/brie unit.  Serve up on a plate or laid across your naked body.proscuitto wrapped figs assemble

AddThis Social Bookmark Button


SALMON GRILLS AND PASTA THRILLS

June 8, 2009
This fish dish offers thrills, grills, and hopefully no spills.

This fish dish offers thrills, grills, and hopefully no spills.

Some naysayers will claim that salmon is a boring fish to eat.  So predictable, so typical, so uninspired. You have my permission to give them an atomic wedgie for believing they think outside of the box.  These people haven’t left the box since slap bracelets were in.  Salmon is only as boring as the chef cooking with it.  Think of it salmon as a blank canvas for a painter or a mold of clay for a sculptor.  You could just paint a still life or sculpt a symmetrical vase.  But you could also create something groundbreaking that will shake the art world to its self-righteous core.  Now translate that “fuck the norm” attitude to your culinary creations.  Throw some flare into that fish and your night’s post-curricular activities will be rated for Mature audiences only due to nudity, sexual content and adult language. Violence will be notably absent.

salmon pasta prepTotal time: approximately 20 minutes
Projected cost: $14
Drinking Buddy: White wine

Ingredients (serves 2):
1. 1 tsp of sea salt
2. 8-ounces of dry penne pasta
3. 3 tbsp of olive oil
4. 1 lb SALMON filet
5. 1 handful of sliced mushrooms
6. 1 onion chopped coarsely
7. 1 handful of fresh ROSEMARY
8. 2 garlic cloves chopped finely
9. 1 lemon halved

Step 1
If you are grilling with charcoal, get the coals going.  Marinate the salmon in 2 tbsp of olive oil, pluck the rosemary from the sprig and squeeze ½ the lemon over it.
salmon pasta marinate
Step 2
Boil the penne al dente, seasoning the water with olive oil and sea salt (approx 10 min).  While you wait for the pasta to boil, move onto Step 3.  When the pasta is ready, drain and mix it in with sautéed veggies in Step 3.
salmon pasta boil mix
Step 3
Sauté the garlic and onion with the remaining olive oil on medium heat.  Mix in the mushrooms and sauté it all with sea salt ½ tsp of salt until they are soft (approx 6 min).
salmon pasta saute
Step 4
When the charcoal or gas grill is ready, throw the marinated fish on.  Pour the excess marinade over the fish and put on the lid.  Grill until the outside of the fish whitens and the inside is a pinkish white (approx 5 min).  salmon pasta bbq serve it

Serve pieces of salmon over plates of pasta and squeeze the remaining lemon.
salmon pasta served 2

AddThis Social Bookmark Button


WHATEVER WAS IN THE FRIDGE SALAD

June 4, 2009
Whatever, however, whoever.  Just Cook To Bang.

Whatever, however, whoever. Just Cook To Bang.

Admittedly, this salad’s title kind of blows.  Not even with the steroids I scored from Manny Ramirez can I always bat 1000.  But this salad neither blew nor sucked.  It was totally off the hook yet totally unplanned. I found out way too late that the young lady who came over for dinner was a militant vegetarian.  Something about a misdemeanor for chaining herself to a fur coat store in college. Note to self: stop picking up girls at yoga class.  The killer SALMON DISH that is a shoe-in CTB was well out. But the consolation prize was she loved feta cheese.  So into the fridge I went and in a moment of panic grabbed everything that looked like feta-friendly.  The salad before you is whatever was in the fridge and it was awesome.  My hippie crusader chained herself to my bed to protest us running out.

Total time: approximately 5 minutes
Projected cost: $6
Drinking Buddy: SLUTTY TEMPLE

such sumptuous salad prepIngredients:
1. ½ head of romaine lettuce
2. 1 tablespoon of olive oil
3. 1 pinch of herbs de Provence
4. 1 handful of kalamata olives
5. ½ lemon
6. 2 endives
7. 3 green onions chopped coarsely
8. 2 tomatoes chopped coarsely
9. 1 steamed red BEET sliced thinly
10. Steamed ASPARAGUS
11. 1 small handful of feta cheese (leave out to make vegan)

Step 1
First you must prep the vegetables. Break the romaine lettuce apart every two inches and wash it all.  Slice up the endives every inch or so.  Also cut the asparagus every inch or so.
such sumptuous salad chop
Step 2
Combine the sliced endives, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, beets, olives, crumbled feta cheese, Herbs de Provence, olive oil, and lemon juice in a large bowl.  Toss that salad like a pro.such sumptuous salad mix
Serve it up to even the crunchiest of guests.
such sumptuous salad served 2

AddThis Social Bookmark Button


SALMON AND ON AND ON

June 1, 2009
Salmon? C'mon and on and on!

Salmon? C'mon and on and on!

You want me to stop this COOK TO BANG madness?  Never!  Why would I when it makes the world a better-fed and less sexually frustrated place?  The mayor of Bangor, Maine just gave me the key to the city.  I handed him a secret recipe to bring some sexual healing back into his marriage.  Apparently banging has returned to Bangor.  I don’t like to think of myself as a hero, more of a civil servant.  CTB is a community service that is no way court ordered from a conviction for public indecency when I broke into Martha Stewart’s kitchen while she was in the slammer and broadcast my own cooking and banging demonstrations.  All three of those girls were legal, consensual and it was their idea!  Anyway…it’s good to be commended instead of condemned.  And with that, I give you this epically delicious salmon recipe that will keep you banging on and on and…you get the picture.

Recipe courtesy of publishing scion STEVE TOBIA.

Total time: approximately 40 minutes
Projected cost: $21
Drinking Buddy: White wine

salmon and on and on prepIngredients (for two, w/ leftovers for lunch):
1. 1 tbsp of vegetable oil
2. ½ cup of white wine
3. 1 heavy dashes of CHILI powder
4. 2 dashes of black pepper
5. 1 dash of garlic powder
6. 1 dash of Cajun seasoning
7. 1 small jar of capers
8. 2 dashes of Old Bay seasoning
9. 1 container full of chopped mushrooms
10. 1 container of cherry tomatoes
11. 1 red onion chopped finely
12. 1 pound slab of SALMON

Step 1
Preheat the oven to broil.  Season up the salmon slab on an baking sheet with garlic powder, black pepper, Cajun seasoning and chili powder.  Throw the fish in the oven.
salmon and on and on season
Step 2
Create the sauce by sautéing the onions and mushrooms on high heat with 1 tbsp of oil with some black pepper (approx 4 min).  Add in the tomatoes and sauté them with the white wine until they get soft (approx 4 min). Use the back of a spoon to pop each cherry…tomato.  Turn the heat down low and simmer the tomatoes with the capers until the fish is ready.
salmon and on and on sauce
Step 3
Keep the fish in the oven until the pan is searing hot and the seasoning has blackened on top (approx 20 min).  Remove the pan from oven and smother it with the sauce, which will sizzle like crazy.  Turn off the heat and throw the fish back into the oven, doors closed and let the sauce settle in (approx 15 min).
salmon and on and on broil saucy
Serve up on a plate with some GROIN GRABBING GRILLED VEGGIES or GARLIC GOING ON MASHED POTATOES.
salmon and on and on served

AddThis Social Bookmark Button


SO READY TO MEAT MY BALLS

May 13, 2009
The meatballs keep a rolling rolling rolling!

The meatballs keep a rolling rolling rolling!

Behold these sexy balls o’ mine!  Why are you acting so shocked?  My balls are so flavorful, so meaty, so ready to rumble.  Clearly you aren’t ready to meet these round and rocking spheres of epic delight.  I understand.  I get it. You just try to appear that you are up for anything, but in truth you turn tail when presented with something bold that gets right to the meat of a situation.  Not to worry for there are plenty of prospects who will be more than happy to embrace my raw essence.  The barbarian inside shall be released in us ready and willing who shall indulge in an orgy of carnage and carnal delights.  You’ll just have to sit outside my cave and listen to the pleasurable Neanderthal grunts of eating and banging.  You’ll just have to read the erotic play-by-play cave paintings.  I’d love to offer you our leftovers, but you know how grudges go.  Can’t let it go until you admit you were wrong and willing to play by my rules.

Total time: approximately 35 minutes
Projected cost: $7
Drinking Buddy: Red wine

Spaghetti meatball prepIngredients (serves 2)
1. 1 pound of ground beef (or turkey)
2. ½ teaspoon of salt
3. 1 teaspoon of pepper
4. 1 teaspoon of paprika
5. ½ teaspoon of crushed red pepper
6. 1 can of tomato sauce
7. ½ pound of dried spaghetti
8. 2 garlic cloves minced
9. 1 large celery stalk cut into tiny nibbles
10. 1 onion chopped finely
11. 2 tablespoons of olive oil (not pictured)

Step 1
Boil spaghetti al dente while you make the meat balls: mix in ½ the onions, ½ the celery celery, garlic, ground beef, salt, and pepper together in a bowl and create balls.

Spaghetti meatball mix

Step 2
Warm up 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a deep pan on medium heat.  Throw in the meatballs and cook the bottom side until they brown (approx 3 min).  Flip the meatballs and douse the remaining olive over the balls and brown the other side (approx 2 min).  Sauté the remaining onions and celery and cook them down (approx 2 min).  Bring the tomato sauce to a boil on and then lower the heat and simmer until the meatballs cook through (approx 15 min).Spaghetti meatball balls sauce

Step 3
Place a healthy serving of al dente spaghetti on each place, then set a few meat balls on plate and then smother it all with sauce.  Serve with GARLIC (MY BALLS) BREAD and top it off with Parmesan if you are feeling cheesy.Spaghetti meatball al dente scoop

AddThis Social Bookmark Button


FONDLE MY SAUSAGE & PINCH MY PEPPERS

April 21, 2009
Fondle by candle light

Fondle by candle light

Some prudes blanch at the idea of being touched, let alone being fondled.  That is their beast of repressive burden to carry.  Personally, I enjoy being fondled with regularity.  What can I say?  I’m a giver.  I am always ready to offer up something phallic to the ladies on my CTB wish list.  While this dish doesn’t look quite so fresh and so clean as a SALAD, it does tastes like it came out of an Italian mother’s kitchen.  Every bite makes me want to sing an operatic falsetto because the taste is just too much of a good thing.  Take advantage of this dish’s power and make me proud, old sport.

Total time: approximately 30 minutes
Projected cost: $12
Drinking Buddy: Red wine

sausage-n-peppers-prepIngredients (serves 2):
1. ½ teaspoon of black pepper
2. ½ cup of white wine
3. ½ teaspoon of salt
4. 1 tablespoon of olive oil
5. 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
6. 2 diced tomatoes
7. 1 green pepper cut into long strips
8. 1 onion cut into long strips
9. 5 sausage links (chicken or veggie sausage OK)
10. 2 garlic cloves chopped finely.

Step 1

Warm the olive oil up in a large pan or wok.  Toss in the garlic and allow to cook (approx 2 minutes).  In the mean time, slice the sausages in half and set them skin side down in the oil. Flip once so the other has of sausage cooks (approx 2 minutes per side).
sausage-n-peppers-garlic-meatStep 2
Next toss in the onions, peppers and tomato, then stir in some pepper, salt and crushed red pepper.  Pour the wine in and cook everything on low until the wine evaporates (approx 20 minutes).
sausage-n-peppers-veggies
Step 3
Toast some bread if you like.  Split the toast and scatter them neatly on the plate.  Serve up some Sausage and Pepper and sing Ave Maria!

sausage-n-peppers-toast-serve1

AddThis Social Bookmark Button


LET MY LEMON CHICKEN PASTA GO!

March 24, 2009
Put down the chicken breast and no one gets hurt!

Put down the chicken breast and no one gets hurt!

Yeah, you heard me!  Take your hands off my chicken breasts and amscray!  You don’t see me walking around all cavalier and fondling other people’s breasts.  What?  Well that was consensual! Very very consensual!  Oh, and that other time.  You got me there.  But that was just to draw a laugh.  No, I’m not messing with you.  You can’t blame me for that!  It was a double dog dare!  And if I’m not mistaken, she did give me her number.  I cooked for her too.  We had a great evening and, yes, I did fondle.  But she insisted.  I was perfectly happy to just play Scrabble and discuss current events.  So once again, I’m not in the wrong.  You are!  Now are you going to put my breasts down so I can grill them or will I have to resort to fisticuffs?  I will defend my chicken breasts’ honor and then eat them if it’s the last thing I do!

Total time: approximately 35 minutes
Projected cost: $7
Drinking Buddy: Red red wine

lemon-chicken-pasta-prep1Ingredients (serves 2):
1. 2 tablespoons of olive oil
2. 1 teaspoon of salt
3. ½ teaspoon of crushed red pepper
4. ½ teaspoon of dried basil
5. 2 teaspoons of black pepper
6. ¼ pound of dried Rotelle pasta
7. 3 tomatoes chopped coarsely
8. 2 handfuls of sliced mushrooms
9. ½ a lemon of juice
10. ½ pound of chicken breast sliced into bite-sized pieces
11. 2 handfuls of bite-sized broccoli pieces
Step 1
Mix up the chicken with the lemon juice and black pepper and allow it to marinate (approx 10 minutes).  Warm up 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan on medium heat.  Then cook the chicken through in it’s own juices until it goes white (approx 6 minutes).  Set aside.
lemon-chicken-pasta-marinate-grillStep 2
Heat up the rest of the olive oil in a pan and stir-fry the broccoli and mushrooms with more lemon juice until they soften (approx 4 minutes).  Finally add the tomatoes along with a liberal dashing of salt, crushed red pepper and basil, and stew and stir it all down into a sauce (approx 5 minutes).
lemon-chicken-pasta-sauce1Step 3
Boil water, cook and drain the pasta al dente.  Pour in the pasta in with sauce and stir it up.  Crown it all with the lemon pepper chicken, and serve.
lemon-chicken-pasta-boil-drain AddThis Social Bookmark Button


PARTYCHOKE CHICKEN CHA CHA

March 13, 2009
Let me see you cha cha chicken!

Let me see you cha cha chicken!

Can you cha cha?  It’s only the simplest dance in the known universe.  I saw syphilitic lab monkeys doing it by accident and that was after an experiment with excess wine consumption.  If a drunken monkey can do it, you should be able to pull it off blindfolded.  This dish is on same page as the cha cha.  It’s almost impossible to screw the pooch on this one.  You could try pouring turpentine into the mix (CTB discourages this wholeheartedly), but then it would have a cool, briny taste.  Just follow the protocol below and spend your extra time kicking game. That will leave you with plenty of time to kick game while you dance the half-naked cha cha. Read the rest of this entry »


EGGPLANT PARMESAN BOOTY BOMB

March 9, 2009
Now that I am armed with the Booty Bomb, nothing can stop me.  Muahahaha!

Now that I am armed with the Booty Bomb, nothing can stop me. Muahahaha!

Weapons of mass destruction are no doubt dangerous in the hands of terrorists.  But what about weapons of mass satisfaction?  They also pose a threat in the hands of the common man.  I found this out the hard way when I adjusted a simple recipe for eggplant Parmesan.  This already awesome dish took my game to DEFCON 5. Suddenly I could cause an orgasm in every woman in a 5 mile-radius as soon as I popped this dish into the oven.  The power did in fact go to my head. I became a super-villain indiscriminately bringing beautiful women to their knees in abject pleasure.  Lucky for mankind, a douchey superhero known as the Cock-Blocker managed to wipe my memory clean of the ingredients of this recipe. Too bad for that good two-shoes so-called hero, the Freedom of Information Act allows the rest of you access to this powerful dish.  Cook with caution!

Total time: approximately 45 minutes
Projected cost: $8
Drinking Buddy: Red wine

eggplant-parm-prepIngredients:
1. Salt to taste
2. ½ tablespoon of oregano
3. 3 tablespoons of olive oil
4. 1 28-ounce can of tomatoes
5. 1 large handful of shredded/chopped mozzarella
6. 2 eggs
7. 1 large eggplant cut into 1-inch thick rounds
8. 1 onion chopped coarsely
9. 1 handful of chopped parsley
10. 3 garlic cloves chopped coarsely
11. ½ cup of flour
12. ¼ cup of shredded Parmesan
13. ½ cup of breadcrumbs

Step 1
Create the sauce by heating up 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan on medium-high heat.  Sauté the garlic until they whiten (approx 30 seconds).  Sauté the onions until they become translucent (approx 2 minutes).  Add salt to taste and parsley and cook in the flavor (approx 1 minute).  Add the tomatoes and crush them yourself.  Turn the heat down low and allow the sauce to simmer as you move on to Step 2.
eggplant-parm-sauce
Step 2
Create the eggplant batter.  First mix up the breading: flour, breadcrumbs, Parmesan and oregano in one bowl.  Beat the eggs in a second bowl.  Heat up 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan on medium-high heat.  Dip each eggplant round in the eggs, and then the breading and fry them 4 or five at a time.  Flip once after the bottoms brown (approx 2 minutes) and repeat.  Set aside on a paper towel to soak up excess oil.  Repeat as needed.
eggplant-parm-batter-fry
Step 3
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Lay down a base of sauce in a small baking/casserole dish. Put down a layer of fried eggplants.  Place another layer of sauce and eggplants until you have exhausted your supply, laying the last of the sauce on top.  Scatter the mozzarella buckshot style over the top and throw in the oven.  Bake until the cheese crusts and browns (approx 20 minutes).  You are in for a treat!  Serve it up solo or with some PASTA.
eggplant-parm-bake

AddThis Social Bookmark Button


I AIN’T NO ANGEL HAIR PASTA

March 3, 2009
Angel, devil, these are just words.  We're all sinners.  Embrace it!

Angel, devil, these are just words. We're all sinners. Embrace it!

I may seem like an angel by providing the world with my culinary creations.  Despite my commitment to helping my fellow my man and loving my neighbor(‘s wife), I am not a holy roller with a halo floating above my head. Shocking, I know.  But take heart. In spite of my lack of high morals and self-righteousness, I do have good intentions.  Sure I am perverse and refuse to wait until marriage to indulge in carnal delight. Yet my reader’s happiness and health is of the utmost importance to me.  In fact, the United States Surgeon General has appointed me to a task force to get people to eat better and exercise more.  Hence, I encourage that all of you of appropriate age (children and elderly need not apply) to COOK TO BANG regularly.  Sure some televangelist might condemn me to burn in eternal damnation, but ask yourself this: How cool will the eternal afterlife be with guys with glued on hairweaves telling you what a miserable sinner you are?  I’ll take the hot tub in hell packed full of nymphomaniacs.

i-aint-no-angel-hair-prepTotal time: approximately 15 minutes
Projected cost: $6 (excluding wine)
Drinking Buddy: Red or white wine

Ingredients (serves 2):
1. 1 cup of white wine
2. 2 tablespoons of olive oil
3. 1 tablespoon of salt
4. 2 handfuls of cherry tomatoes
5. 3 garlic cloves chopped finely
6. 1 onion chopped coarsely
7. ½ lemon worth of juice
8. Parmesan to your liking
9. 8 ounces of dried angel hair pasta

Step 1
Warm up the olive oil in a decent sized pan on medium-high heat.  Sauté the garlic until they whiten (approx 30 seconds), sauté the onions until they become translucent (approx 2 minutes), and then flavor it all with salt. Next cook the cherry tomatoes until they soften (approx 3 minutes), before adding the lemon juice and white wine and allow it to simmer while you move on to Step 2.
i-aint-no-angel-hair-sauce
Step 2
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and break in the angel hair pasta.  Follow the instructions and cook until the pasta becomes al dente.  Drain, wash out the excess starch and pour the pasta into the sauce and cook together until heated through.  Serve onto alone of with some kickass ENTRÉE.  Grate as much Parmesan as you feel worthy.
i-aint-no-angel-hair-pasta

AddThis Social Bookmark Button