BS: Recipes - what are we eating?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 27 Dec 18 - 10:01 PM

Tonight we had a nice, wintry dish

turkey with root vegetables

Put a liner in a slow cooker. (If you have a scullery maid, you can skip the liner.) Place a turkey thigh in it, pressing the flesh against the crock.

Wash and peel some root vegetables and cut them into bite-size pieces. I used parsnips and carrots. You can add turnips and rutabaga, but I don't because I don't like them. Avoid beets. The world is not ready for purple turkey.

Cut an onion into wedges. Toss the wedges and the root vegetables into the pot.

cover and cook all day on low, until the meat is tender.

As dinnertime approaches, add 1/3 cup white wine or the juice of a lemon. Allow enough time for the alcohol in the wine to evaporate.

At dinnertime, remove the meat and vegetables to a serving dish. Add 1 teaspoon marjoram or rosemary to the juice, stir well and pour the juice over the top.

Salt and pepper are added at the table, as desired.   

==========
We had this with buttered cornbread and steamed cauliflower.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Senoufou
Date: 28 Dec 18 - 04:21 PM

Last night we whizzed off to a very large and quite new chippie called 'Deep Blue' (I think it's a chain of chippies) on the outskirts of Norwich. They seem to fry on demand, and it was all beautifully crisp and fresh (cod and chips)
Sat in the car munching away. It was served in individual cardboard trays with little wooden forks (no plastic, very environmentally friendly)
Quite a treat for us, and most enjoyable.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: robomatic
Date: 28 Dec 18 - 05:22 PM

I got introduced to Texas Roadhouse early in December. So far I've been back twice for the American farm-raised catfish. I bring it up here because I seriously like the place and I'm hoping some of you will tear it down for me before I give it a five star yelp review.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 28 Dec 18 - 06:33 PM

Take away here too today. There was some debate over what to get and from where and I’m not sure my own contribution to that (dad, at that point, was fixed on having ½ pizza and chips and I suggested I could share the one in the freezer with him and fry some chips, just leaving 3 for a takeaway) achieved anything other than muddying the waters further…

Anyway, an Indian takeaway won but I, by then feeling the effects of a sleepless night and having to attend an appointment this morning took what was intended to be a short nap. The tea time meal was over and visiting family had returned to their B&B before I woke up. My veg curry is in the fridge. I might microwave it later but haven’t felt that hungry yet.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 28 Dec 18 - 08:39 PM

Well we love all the post-Christmas cold meat and we always cook a second, smaller turkey a couple of days after Christmas. I also boil up a large piece of unsmoked free-range ham on Boxing Day in a large pan of water with some carrots, onions, celery sticks, herbs and peppercorns. That gives us a lovely lump of meat and a pan of stock ideal for making pea and ham soup next week. The challenge is to vary the accompaniments. We did have a good old salad on Boxing Day with some ruby gem spuds baked in their skins, very nice but a bit too summery. Next day we had Nigella's quick version of dauphinoise (the one in Nigella Bites, with crême fraiche instead of double cream) with some greens. Delicious. Today I reheated some turkey slices in tightly-wrapped foil, along with some stuffing. Meanwhile I sautéed some sliced banana shallots in plenty of salty butter until they were beginning to caramelise. All that went in layers on warm ciabatta rolls (mayo and tommy-k optional, never for me) to be scoffed messily and greedily keeping over the plates. Nirvana. Tomorrow I'll concoct a turkey curry karahi-style with green peppers. For Sunday I'll make a hearty turkey broth with a soffritto, the smaller turkey scraps and the lovely pan of turkey stock I made on Boxing Day. I'll chuck in some tiny soup pasta ten minutes before the end to make it into more of a meal and we'll have some crusty bread with it. I have another bag of small pieces in the freezer, with which I'll make a turkey and pancetta risotto for Mrs Steve and me some time early in the New Year.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 29 Dec 18 - 06:01 PM

Steve, you certainly have a lot of good ideas for what to do with turkey.

Robomatic, I ate at the Texas Roadhouse once and liked it. I still remember their house-made salad dressing. Delicious!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 01 Jan 19 - 11:44 AM

After a week of rich festive meals, normal eating resumes today. Thank goodness; I don't think I could face one more chocolate truffle (oh, maybe just one more ...)!

This afternoon, the last of the orange-flavoured duck gravy is scheduled to become the basis of a batch of carrot-and-ginger soup. Supper will be a mushroom omelette with green onions and a bit of grated Parmesan. We picked the bones of the duck, and now we have lots and lots of lovely duck broth.

The supermarket reopens tomorrow, so I shall sally forth to purchase a bunch of kale in order to make minestrone. Lovely stuff for winter in Ontario.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Jan 19 - 12:45 PM

I have to finish up some cooking that was started on Sunday. The filling for meat pies keeps fine for a couple of days and now I'll finish them - the gift for my ex each year is a dish his mother used to make Puerto Rican chicken empanadillas will go into the freezer to be eaten over the next few weeks. A batch of beans because I'm out of the 12 ounce jars that I keep in the freezer for personal sized portions for easy meals. I used to take the frozen jar in my lunchbox to work, and everything else stayed cold enough in the bag. Time to find another job so I can take my lunch again!

The beans are a riff on a PR recipe, but I add a little heat and I use kidney beans instead of the smaller red beans.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 01 Jan 19 - 12:52 PM

Mea culpa. I forgot to post my favorite egg nog recipe before the holidays. A fellow grad student friend gave it to me many years ago and, other than a few tweaks I continue the tradition.

Coquito, aka Puerto Rican egg nog

2 cans cream of coconut
2 cans condensed or evaporated milk, your preference
4 egg yolks
1 tablespoon good quality vanilla
1 bottle good quality dark rum [I prefer Goslings or Don Q.]
Cinnamon, to taste
Nutmeg
Lemon zest

Combine all of the wet ingredients, mixing thoroughly.
Just before serving it up, put the dry ingredients on the mixture in the bowl.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 02 Jan 19 - 03:04 AM

Had this on Boxing day, the simplest most delicious pasta dish you can imagine ' spaghettini aglio e olio ' spaghetti, olive oil, garlic and optional chopped parsley, salt and pepper.

the recipe is is in any decent Italian cookbook.


Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Jan 19 - 05:21 AM

Indeed, Dave. Equally simple is Marcella Hazan's onion and butter tomato sauce for spaghetti. Into a saucepan you put a can of plum tomatoes, a knob of butter and a whole peeled onion. Simmer for 45 minutes, discard the onion, check the seasoning and viola! Serve with proper Parmesan.

The magic ingredient to add to any tomato sauce is half a level teaspoon of sugar.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 02 Jan 19 - 07:58 AM

I'll try that maybe tommorrow Steve.

Cheers, Dave

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 02 Jan 19 - 08:19 AM

That tomato sauce is the bomb. It’s even better (if possible) when made with fresh tomatoes, but then you have to skin them which rather spoils the “easy” part of that recipe.

Himself and I are eating our way through Marcella’s “Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking”. Last night it was frittata made with the mushrooms that were sitting rather too long in the veg bin. Gone in three minutes flat.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Jan 19 - 01:59 PM

That's where I got it from. It's the Italian bible, isn't it, Charmion!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Jan 19 - 02:09 PM

I'll be drawing down leftovers for a while here, but freezing rain is coating everything today so it's time for something hearty like split pea or lentil soup.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Jan 19 - 02:10 PM

When it comes to fresh vs canned tomatoes, even the Italians frequently use canned. They are often riper, richer and sweeter than the fresh you can buy in shops. Different if you grow your own to ripe perfection before picking them. I much prefer to buy whole plum tomatoes in cans. Cirio and Napolina are good brands, but there are often annoying bits of skin and tough bits of blossom-end rot/greenback in both which I cut out. And I never leave out that pinch of sugar. It sounds wrong but it miraculously improves the flavour - even the Italians do it. Rachel Roddy always does it! I hate skinning tomatoes. When I make salmorejo in summer, my very favourite tapa, I blitz the toms with skin on. It works for me!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 02 Jan 19 - 03:01 PM

With canned tomatoes, I now buy the no-salt version. They taste better, fruitier. And my husband wants low-salt food.

With garden tomatoes, I don't bother to peel them. I slice them thinly with a serrated knife, and the peels come out as thin strands that people hardly notice. And maybe tomatoes are like some other fruits, where the flavor and vitamins are in a thin layer right under the peel.

SRS, I know what you mean. We are having pea soup too.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 02 Jan 19 - 03:13 PM

FLASH! Today's newspaper has an article for the hot food trends for 2019. We need to pay attention to this stuff.

cheese tea - tea sipped through a cap of cream cheese

cocktails will have lower alcohol with more botanicals, shrubs and nonalcoholic spirits like seedlip (whatever that may be) Yes, they said shrubs. How you fit a shrub in a cocktail glass is beyond me.

a new kind of salad green: celtuce with a leafy bitter top. Kind of a cross between celery and asparagus

dandelion greens will also get a chance at culinary fame

seaweed is expected to pop up in teas, jerky, desserts and cocktails

look for mushrooms in cocktails and desserts

kale is out now

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Jan 19 - 07:17 PM

I didn't even know you could buy salted canned tomatoes! If I buy canned toms I just want tomatoes. Not basil, garlic, salt or chilli. I can deal with all that meself! If I need a bit of extra tomato-ness but without the sloppy bulk, I add a tablespoon of sundried tomato paste. Definitely not tomato purée, which has no place in my house. Here in Blighty we are blessed in that we have Marks and Spencer's sundried tomato paste. I've yet to find a brand that gets anywhere close.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Jan 19 - 07:42 PM

Anyway, on Monday we cooked far too much lasagne, so I put the leftovers in the fridge, being careful to keep the layering with the crispy top intact. We had it reheated tonight
and it was lovely. Sure, the pasta had gone a bit soft and doughy, but it mattered not a jot. I did add a good splash of water to make up for what might have been lost in the cooking first time round. It was utterly spot-on. Whenever I do lasagne in future, I'll be making too much accidentally on purpose.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: KarenH
Date: 03 Jan 19 - 07:27 AM

There is a 'thing' where you drop tomatoes in boiling water supposedly makes it easier to peel them. I never have much luck with it. ALso it creates extra dishes to wash. Some people cut out the seedy bits. Life's too short.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Jan 19 - 10:27 AM

Put the tomatoes in a bowl and then pour the boiling water generously over them. After about 30 seconds take them out and make a little slit in the skin with a sharp knife. The skin comes off very easily. You might still have a bit at the stalk end to trim off.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 04 Jan 19 - 09:04 AM

The thing where you drop tomatoes into boiling water is called “blanching”, and it definitely works. It’s also the technique to use for peeling peaches for baking or preserving. Yes, after processing a bucketful, you end up with the kitchen full of steam and maybe scalded fingers if you’re new to the game, but it’s efficient and wastes none of the fruit.

Here in the fruit belt of Ontario we have an embarrassment of riches from August until first frost, so everybody has a hatful of recipes for that six-litre basket of tomatoes, peaches, plums or whatever to be scored at market for a buck because the farmer could not be arsed to take it home again.

At family Christmas dinner I had a long, learned discussion with my niece’s Italian mother-in-law on the subject of preserving plum tomatoes. She buys them by the bushel, literally, and invests whole days in the laborious business of blanching and bottling them. I suggested the tinned article as an acceptable substitute and she gave me what can only be described as a pitying look.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Jan 19 - 12:21 PM

I blanch tomatoes or peaches before canning and usually put them into a wire basket to plunge into the large pot of boiling water for about 30 seconds, then have a bowl of ice water to deposit them into so I can peel them quickly. The knife to slice the skin if it didn't already split is the accepted method. The same pot is the one I use for processing the jars.

Steve, I didn't know you could make lasagna without leftovers. ;-) And a tip for the future, if you make several ahead in pans lined with foil then freeze them, you can take the foil-wrapped casseroles out of the pans and put them into plastic bags and keep them in the freezer for a really long time. When you want to eat them, put the foil-wrapped casserole back into the pan you made it in and put it in a cool oven (325^o for a really long time (hours - 3 at least). Better than trying to thaw it first. The best lasagna I've eaten in the last few months was one that had been in the freezer for about three years.

My split pea soup is a little watery because I didn't get out the recipe and was guessing. And I didn't have any celery to chop and add to it. So I'll let it sit in the fridge for a couple of days to set up and get all of those flavors working then I'll reheat in bowls in the microwave.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 04 Jan 19 - 12:56 PM

Got any celery seed in the spice cabinet? That will serve.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Jan 19 - 01:51 PM

There are few things on Earth you can cook or eat by the 'slab'.
Thank goodness Lasagna is one of them. Then there are ribs and bacon and...

Where you have a feast can be critical. I always wanted to have lunch in the Oracle's chamber inside the Hypogeum in Malta.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Jan 19 - 05:31 PM

Celery seed hits my gut for some reason. Once I figured out the culprit I had to stop putting it in my potato salad altogether and I got the rest of the seed out of the house. I can eat celery itself, but the seed, even ground, is a problem. Probably the strength of something in the seed, where as the stalks are mostly water.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: keberoxu
Date: 05 Jan 19 - 06:30 PM

Lasagna three YEARS in the freezer? Seriously?
Did it not stand up and salute the colors?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Jan 19 - 08:51 PM

It was amazingly good! I have a two-year-old one that will probably get used for a lunch with friends later this month.

I was watching Cook's Country last week and they did a lovely blintz with raspberry sauce (melba). I have everything except cream cheese (it uses ricotta with a small amount of cream cheese) and the frozen raspberries, but I'm planning to try making those for dessert tomorrow. You may have to give them your email to see the recipe, but I don't think you actually have to pay to join the site.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Jan 19 - 03:10 AM

I just rediscovered pease pudding on toast for breakfast. I am a gnome of simple tastes :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 06 Jan 19 - 09:12 AM

a raspberry blintz would brighten this sunny sunday morning.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 06 Jan 19 - 03:24 PM

Tonight I am un-decorating the Christmas tree (never mind the 'discussion' on when twelfth night is - in my house it is 6 January), so I am drinking mulled wine. Recipe:
Sometime before Christmas, simmer orange and/or lemon peel and spices (cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves (not too many), bay leaf ... anything else you fancy) in water until well infused. Strain, and add to the liquid an equal volume (at least) of sugar. When the sugar is completely dissolved, bring to a simmer, then allow to cool. Put the resulting syrup in a bottle. I keep it in the fridge but I don't know if that is necessary.
Thereafter, add a small spoonful of the syrup to a glass, add half a glass of red wine (or white wine, or cider, or apple juice for a non-alcoholic version) and top up with boiling water.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 06 Jan 19 - 09:39 PM

Beef with snow peas, Chinese style. other ingredients: white onion, garlic, ginger root, soy sauce, cornstarch, mushrooms, green pepper

If the snow peas are floppy, soak them in tepid water for a couple hours to take up water and become crisp again. This also works for the green pepper you forgot about. (Slice it up first.)


I don't cook the steak in the wok. I cook it separately, slice and add at the last minute. Snow peas are also tossed in at the last minute.

To save hassle, we now cook a big batch of brown rice and put the extra in a ziploc bag, flattened. Freeze. Next time we want rice, we break off a chunk, thaw and eat.

If I didn't say so earlier, we do that with pasta, too.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 07 Jan 19 - 07:35 AM

I love the idea of instant mulling.

Super Bowl, I like to cook the teams. If it is Rams v. Saints, how about mutton etouffee?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 07 Jan 19 - 06:00 PM

Mrrzy -- HA HA HA HA!

We ate the last of the Christmas pud last night (Little Christmas), and it was absolutely terrific with vanilla ice-cream. I may never make hard sauce again.

It is time to sing the praises of our electronic pressure-cooker, the Instant Pot. It is large and lumpy and takes up way too much space in the kitchen, but it earns its keep by reliably cooking brown rice, wild rice, beans, stock, and -- of all things -- Christmas pudding and other suet-assisted desserts that otherwise have to steam for hours and hours. I can set it up, turn it on and WALK AWAY, even go to bed or leave the house, and when I return to the kitchen nothing has exploded and the contents are perfectly cooked.

My most recent achievement is a pilaff of brown and wild rice that I made last night to go with roast pheasant (from a game farm; we don't know anybody who shoots them). When we had picked the bones of the pheasant -- at just under two pounds, it was a satisfying meal for two and no more -- the wreckage went into the Pot with a couple of carrots and a couple of onions, and in the morning we had a Pot full of pheasant stock. The rest of the brown-and-wild-rice pilaff made an excellent snack.

Wild rice is a thing around here, harvested and sold by the Anishnabe First Nation. It's amazing when combined with brown rice, but a bit astringent all by itself.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Jan 19 - 09:11 PM

My son was here for the holidays and heading back to the Pacific NW this evening so we went through what may seem a rather bizarre ritual - stopped by "Chicken Express," a small chain of fast food restaurants that we used to get as takeout when the kids were little. The $16 family pack would feed four of us in a one-salary home. Not sure what the oil is they use for frying. As he grew he continued to buy it for himself, and if you eat it hot and fresh it isn't *too* bad, but he likes it reheated. Gag. And he bought a large order to repack and stash in his luggage to eat and share with his girlfriend when he gets back home. He seems unconcerned about the amount of time it isn't refrigerated, though we always suggest he should freeze it first or take cold packs.

Since he was going to take this order home with him I made one of his favorite home-made dishes for an early dinner before he left - you guessed it - chicken strips. I dip them in flour then egg then into seasoned bread crumbs. Saute in shallow oil in which you've melted 3-4 tablespoons butter.

Kids!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 08 Jan 19 - 04:00 PM

How long did you pressure cook your pudding? I did mine for an hour and it was distinctly overdone.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Jan 19 - 07:29 PM

I don't have slow cookers or pressure cookers and I use our ancient microwave only for softening butter in winter when I need a crumpet or teacake. I have a Foreman grill that's been redundant, a white elephant, for ten years. I cooked a two-pound piece of brisket in a Le Creuset casserole on Sunday. I browned it all round in a glug of oil in the hot pan for a couple of minutes, then set it aside so that I could fry some chopped carrot, celery and shallots in the fat (I had to add a bit of butter and I take no notice of the burnt stuff on the bottom of the pan) then I added a pint of beef stock from a cube, a glass of red wine which I'd boiled and burned off the alcohol from, the soaking liquid from 25g dried porcini, then the chopped porcini. I put the meat back on top and brought it all slowly to the boil. While I was waiting I went into the garden and picked a bunch of parsley, some sprigs of thyme, a bay leaf and a small bunch of sage. I tied all these together with string and added them to the pot with some seasoning. That went in a low oven, 140C, for three hours, lid on. The meat was tender and moist, the juices made lovely gravy and we had it, three of us, with mashed potato and sprouting broccoli from my garden. There were juices left over and some goodly scraps of beef, which I made into a lovely ragu to stir spaghetti into the next day, nothing else needed except a topping of freshly-grated Parmesan,

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Jan 19 - 07:52 PM

I get very fed up when my mash doesn't turn out the way I want it, usually too sloppy and runny, too gluey or too grainy. I don't like anything in my mash except salt and butter (and plenty of the latter). What I've learned is to always hedge my bets by using at least two, preferably three, varieties of spud. I don't like spuds that collapse in the boiling water so I avoid King Edwards. Also, only a small amount of waxy sorts go in, things such as Charlotte or Nicola. Too much of those risks glueyness. Santé are very good if you can get them. I regard Lady Balfour to be horrid watery things so they don't get in. Most cookery books suggest insufficient boiling time. I reckon thirty minutes is the minimum. If I've put plenty of butter in but the mash is still a bit too stiff, under protest I'll add a drop of milk. I have a potato ricer but using it for mash risks the spuds cooling down too much. I've used it successfully to make gnocchi, for which I boil the spuds in their skins which I can slip off later. That stops the spuds from going too soggy, not great for gnocchi.

Another golden rule is to buy only the best spuds. Even the most expensive spuds are cheap.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 09 Jan 19 - 07:21 AM

I’m not fond of mashed anything, so I like my spuds baked. Even an ancient microwave is a great help in this department, as a nuked whole potato becomes a field-expedient baked potato very quickly when plonked on the oven rack beside whatever is in there already.

Here in Ontario, spuds are not marketed by cultivar (e.g., King Edward), but by colour and flesh type — except for the excellent Yukon Gold, a yellow-fleshed waxy potato that makes the best hash browns ever.

I did not expect to fall in like with the Instant Pot, but was won over by its capabilities with respect to beans and whole grains, especially brown rice. The Christmas pudding took half an hour, plus time to come up to pressure and to release the pressure naturally.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 09 Jan 19 - 09:29 AM

We always steam spuds, and they don't collapse. To mash them, we add an egg, a dose of butter, the top of the milk; we mash them using the hand masher, not a ricer (which makes mash gluey). Then serve with a knob of butter melting on top.

Le CrEUset is easy to spell, except for Brexiteers.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jan 19 - 10:49 AM

New York Times has a good mashed potato recipe. It addresses an array of desired results. I had listened to Sam Sifton, one of the Times' recipe gurus on a radio program earlier in the week describe making potatoes, so I did it that way and they were perfect. In the past I haven't always drained the potatoes enough and they weren't as fluffy or creamy as I was trying to achieve. My Mom used to talk about keeping some of the cooking water, but that must have been a recipe from decades ago. Milk and butter, and I don't melt them first in an pan, I put a few potatoes into the stand mixer bowl then plop in the butter then add the rest of the potatoes. They're so hot the butter doesn't stand a chance and isn't going to cool anything. I usually use a hand masher first to break them up in the bowl, then use the paddle or whisk to make the finished potatoes. The milk is added at that point so I can watch the consistency. I use Russets for mashed potatoes.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Jan 19 - 01:46 PM

I would far sooner use warm milk to loosen mash than cooking water. I only ever use a plastic hand masher. Making mash produces more than enough washing-up as it is.

When I cook the following I always cook far too much, accidentally on purpose:

Mashed potatoes
Boiled rice
Sausages
Jacket potatoes

A pile of cold mash can be fried with a knob of butter. Keep it moving to break it up and grate a healthy dose of cheddar into it. Once melted and smooth, put into large bowl, sit in front of telly and devour. Or you can make Irish-style potato farls.

As for rice, melt butter in a frying pan. Add the rice, break it up then break in an egg or two. Throw in some frozen peas (maybe boil them first). Stir around until piping hot. Add more butter if too dry. Fit for a king. Beware of keeping cold rice too long or too warm. Bacterial nasties love cooked rice. It has to be next day only for me.

Cold bangers can just be devoured, but if you slice them carefully lengthways into long, thin strips they make a beautiful butty, preferably with mayo. Or chop them up and add to a risotto, preferably with some cooked chicken scraps and bacon.

Jacket potatoes gone cold will develop a soft skin, but no matter. For breakfast, microwave a couple of them for two minutes or so. Put them in a bowl, cut them up to bite size with scissors, add butter and devour. Or add a generous amount of grated cheese instead of butter, microwave for another minute or grill (just get that cheese melted). Delicious. Microwaving them does make a strong potatoey smell. I can scoff cold jacket potatoes just as they are.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 09 Jan 19 - 03:33 PM

On potatoes: "add a generous amount of grated cheese instead of butter"
In my case, change "instead of" to "as well as".

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Jan 19 - 08:55 PM

Quite, but I didn't want to wreck anyone's New Year slimming resolutions.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 10 Jan 19 - 04:49 AM

It's up to people to keep their own resolutions. If they are led astray by your tasty suggestions that's their problem. You are not to blame.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Jan 19 - 06:29 PM

Moderation in everything - so add all of the good stuff, but don't eat a huge helping, watch your portions. Mischief managed!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 10 Jan 19 - 07:22 PM

Or eat a huge helping but take longer over it. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 11 Jan 19 - 11:32 AM

I wanted something different, so I made Thai chicken.
==========
linguine, boiled as usual

peas, nuked in the wave and drained (supposed to be sugar snap, but I only had ordinary)

chicken fried in a skillet (supposed to be breast, but I used thighs)

sauteed garlic

sauce - 1/4 cup water, 1 T soy sauce, 1 T lime juice. 2 T peanut butter, tiny amt cayenne pepper (I prefer black pepper). Don't thicken; just put the food in a serving bowl and slosh the sauce on top.

The first batch was dry, so the second day I made another batch of sauce, reducing the water and increasing the lime juice.

The peanut butter didn't want to mix with the water, and i wonder if adding a tiny bit of mayonnaise would help with that.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 11 Jan 19 - 04:31 PM

I found Waitrose selling frozen herring row (very cheap and nutritious). I thawed them, dipped them in flour with a little salt and chili powder, and fried them in butter, then stir-fried onion, celery, courgette, chestnut mushrooms and a few slices of leek, and served the lot with pasta and a slug of cream.