BS: The other recipe thread is too long

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Mar 21 - 11:08 PM

During the afternoon I considered the contents of the refrigerator and was planning to make pasta and put a sauce with meat and cheese over it. But then it got really stormy and rainy and I decided to keep it simple. I have homemade bread from over the weekend so I made a couple of thick slices of French toast (bread soaked in egg and fried) and bacon. Comfort food.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Raggytash
Date: 23 Mar 21 - 12:39 PM

I wanted to have a play in the kitchen so I've made Rum Babas for my good lady and have some to take to my son and his family. Complete with Chantilly Cream.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Mar 21 - 01:58 PM

As usual a prosaic recipe
for tuna salad;
I found that two very strong flavors sort of cancel each other out.

I mix 2 tbl spoons of strong horseradish with four cans of albacore tuna and mayo equivalent to 1/2 the mixture. I add diced and equal amounts of ; thick onion slice, colored peppers and 1/2 dill or half sour pickle equivalent to the whole mixture. I add a teaspoon of Coleman mustard or a bit more of another kind of mustard. Mix well. The taste is veggie dominant and the tuna is the smooth almost bland protein. Experiment with a seasoning like Peruvian chicken or spiracha for a kick.
Tricking the pallette is even more dynamic by eating Miracle Fruit followed by drinking lemon juice which then tastes sweet with no sourness whatsoever.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 07 Apr 21 - 09:26 AM

Have a giant yak steak. Salted it, fried it in a cast-iron pan with a smidge of goose fat. Ran out of patience, so ate the 4 rare edges and kept the way-too-rare insides.

Today will thinly slice some of that too-rare meat and marinate it for a while, then put it on a salad for my lunch. I am thinking lime-citrus, à la ceviche, for the marinade. With hot peppers of course. Garlic.

Have not decided what to do for the next 2-3 meals. Maybe a stroganoff, and a stir-fry, and a soup. Ideas welcome...

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: leeneia
Date: 07 Apr 21 - 11:43 AM

About that label, Steve. Peanuts are not actually nuts. The allergen warning means that the peanut butter may contain traces of true nuts from equipment in the plant.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 07 Apr 21 - 11:51 AM

Grrr, you'd have thought that I should have spotted that, with my botany degree an' all... :-( Although I can't help thinking that most people wouldn't know that peanuts are not really nuts...

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Charmion
Date: 07 Apr 21 - 12:34 PM

Severe food allergies are now so common that you'd have trouble finding a Canadian who can't tell you precisely how a peanut differs from a tree nut. Anyone who cooks is gonna know, likewise anyone who shops for groceries, anyone who works in a restaurant, anyone who works in food preparation of any kind, anyone who has children or routinely spends even a little time with children ... That's a lot of people.

Brit mileage may vary, but I doubt it.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 07 Apr 21 - 01:58 PM

I am truly humbled.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 08 Apr 21 - 08:48 AM

Knowledge tells you a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

There is likely a similar couplet about peanuts and nuts...

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: leeneia
Date: 08 Apr 21 - 12:13 PM

We had barbecued pork last night. Well, faux BBQ'd pork.

I'm tired a lot, and now I cook so as to save time and clean-up. So about two weeks ago I put a 9-pound pork shoulder roast in the oven at low heat and cooked it until it was flavorful, moist and exquisitely tender. Timing was mostly a matter of dumb luck - I'll have to do something about that.

The day I roasted it, I was eager to get to the Mudcat singaround, so I didn't put a single thing on the meat. I cut it in half for easier handling. No salt, no garlic, no herbs, no parsley.... I simply lined a big pan with parchment paper (for easy clean-up), put in the meat and forgot about it from 1:30 till 7 pm. It was delicious.

The DH helped cut it up, and we froze most of it. Last night I grated the peel off an an orange with my nifty microplane and added it to a bottle of BBQ sauce from a favorite restaurant. Thawed some of that pork, added the orangey sauce and roasted it at 300 F for about 2 hours. This heated the meat, melted the fat and browned the outside just enough.

Parchment paper under the meat made clean-up a lot more fun. Whole-wheat rolls from the grocery store, homemade cole slaw and avocados completed the ensemble. Only the cole slaw took an effort, but that wasn't much, so it was a delicious and easy meal.

I could have made my own BBQ sauce, but I'd already used the tomato paste to make Chicken Cacciatore in the slow cooker, another easy recipe.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 09 Apr 21 - 04:10 PM

Ok, now I am *really* hungry!

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: leeneia
Date: 12 Apr 21 - 12:38 AM

heh heh (chuckles evilly)

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 12 Apr 21 - 08:39 PM

Which would you have chosen, farmed never frozen, or wild defrosted, salmon?

Put sone snail [garlic parsley] butter on tin foil, put salmon on butter and more butter on top, into tpaster oven at 350F for 12 mn. Meanwhile sautéed some pearled cauliflower in more snail butter (using up tail end) with a little salt and hot pepper. Served fish on veg with squeezes of lemon and a handful of almonds.

Glass o' kir to go with. My state liquor store had some locally-produced crème de cassis (blackcurrant liqueur) to my amazement. It doesn't taste quite *right* but is nonetheless delicious, and it has *the* most amazingly *beautiful* color I have ever seen in a drink. I mean almost a shame to drink it, it is so pretty.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Apr 21 - 08:57 PM

If you buy any farmed fish you are contributing big time to pollution of our oceans. You will also be buying inferior fish that most likely has been treated against the parasites that overcrowding causes. Defrosted frozen fish is just as good as the fresh version. I won't buy any fish that I suspect is not wild fish.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 13 Apr 21 - 04:05 PM

I am with you on that, Steve Shaw. I got the wild-caught. Curious about others' thoughts on the taste, too.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 21 Apr 21 - 02:48 PM

Serendipity strikes...

Put some oil on a tinfoil square with the edges turned up, and put a bunch of spinach on it. Put a frozen swordfish filet on top, buttered on top and bottom. A sprinkle of hot pepper on top, into toaster oven @ 350F. After 15 mn flipped the fish, after another 10 put the fish on a plate and covered it with the spinach I had expected to be wilted, like every other time I have done this.

It wasn't.

It was crisp. It was crunchy. I have never encountered *crunchy* spinach. It was marvy. What did I do and can I do it again?

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: leeneia
Date: 22 Apr 21 - 08:54 PM

Put the toaster oven on 450, not 350? When you think back, did the dish seem extra hot when you removed it from the toaster oven?

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 22 Apr 21 - 11:09 PM

No, and the fish was cooked as if it was at its usual temp...

Has anyone made crispy cooked spinach?

I tried pommes anna tonight to feed to someone and have a bite of, it wasn't flippable without coming apart because I wanted to use my cocotte which was too deep, but yum.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: leeneia
Date: 24 Apr 21 - 12:53 AM

Curiouser and curiouser. I just had flounder at a French restaurant, and it had crispy parsley on top. So you're not alone, Mrrzy.

Yesterday I watched Gordon Ramsey make an "authentic Italian dish" on YouTube. A sort of fritatta I guess. Onions, eggs, Italian sausage, parmesan cheese and mozzarella in a skillet.

The comments were all "oh wow!" except for mine. I wrote, "How much salt is there in this dish? There's salt in the eggs, sausage and both cheeses, then you added salt yourself."

When I cook, I don't put salt in anything. The DH doesn't like it, and he worries about his blood pressure. So I leave it out. If a diner wants salt, there's a salt shaker on the table. I may put a little on my meat, but not on the other dishes. Nobody seems to miss it, neither guests or family.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Jos
Date: 24 Apr 21 - 02:50 AM

"There's salt in the eggs ..."

Do you mean he put salt in the eggs as well as adding salt himself?
Eggs re not naturally salty - unless US eggs are somehow produced differently from what English hens lay.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 Apr 21 - 09:50 AM

Well I do most of the cooking in our house. I have a low tolerance for overly salty dishes (though I'll make exceptions for bacon and salted pistachios). If I'm boiling pasta or potatoes, I taste the cooking water just before draining. If I think it's too salty I'll replace some of the water with freshly boiled water. Everyone gets served up food that's seasoned to my taste. I can't remember the last time anyone added extra salt. Manufacturers of ready meals use salt to disguise their inferior quality ingredients. If you use only good quality ingredients you don't need much salt added and it's amazing how some fresh herbs can "replace" salt. But you do need a bit of salt a lot of the time if the food's going to taste good.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: leeneia
Date: 24 Apr 21 - 10:48 AM

I agree. A bit of salt. Of course, we need a certain amount simply to survive. I know of people who have been hospitalized because they lacked salt.

However, I don't like the typical YouTube chef's habit of picking up a tiny bowl with looks like a tablespoon of salt in it and plopping it unmeasured into a dish.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: leeneia
Date: 24 Apr 21 - 10:52 AM

"According to the American Heart Association (AHA), the minimum physiological requirement for sodium is less than 500 mg a day — or less than the amount in one quarter of one teaspoon of table salt. For most Americans, eating this little sodium is near impossible."

The Food and Drug Administration says to limit salt to 2300 mg per day. I wonder about children though. How much is too much for them?

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 Apr 21 - 11:04 AM

Another exception is parmesan crisps. In fact, I've just made a tray of them to be nibbled with our aperitif ce soir. Get a big baking tray and line it with greaseproof paper. Put little piles of grated Parmesan, heaped tablespoon-size, all over it. Big gaps not needed. Bake at 180C for seven minutes. Maybe eight. Careful - a minute too long and they burn. Very nice with a bowl of olives and an Aperol spritz.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Jos
Date: 24 Apr 21 - 11:10 AM

Leeneia - you reminded of something I really dislike about some television chefs (I don't bother with YouTube chefs).

They have all their ingredients laid out ready in little dishes, and then add about four-fifths of each into whatever they are making. Why? Why not put the right amount in each dish to start with? I imagine all those left-over bits just get thrown away.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Apr 21 - 04:34 PM

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/trisha-yearwood/strawberry-rhubarb-crostata-5171696
Its good with some crushed almonds or a few drops of almond extract.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: leeneia
Date: 25 Apr 21 - 02:05 PM

Jos, I agree. I've always thought the wee dishes are twee. I haven't noticed the waste. Maybe it doesn't go on all the time.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 26 Apr 21 - 08:31 AM

I agree with Jos too. And they should taste their food, too.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Apr 21 - 07:35 PM

What salt will do in older people is to stop elasticity in blood vessels of all sizes. The complications should be obvious.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 01 May 21 - 09:24 AM

Time to collect all Epicurious beef recipes, eh?

Meanwhile anyone have a new idea for pork chops?

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 01 May 21 - 10:16 AM

Delia Smith's way with pork chops is hard to beat. You need thick-cut chops with most of the fatty rind removed. Get a big frying pan and brown the chops all round in butter. Put the chops on a big piece of tinfoil on a baking tray and season. Add a sprig of fresh thyme (fresh, d'you hear?). I use two layers of foil. Fry some chopped mushrooms in the chop pan, adding a bit more butter. After five minutes throw in a tablespoon of plain flour and the juice of 3/4 of a lemon. Stir into a sticky mess and cook the flour for a minute. Put the mix on top of the chops then pour about 120 ml double cream over them. Wrap the chops in the foil very securely but not too tightly. Make a sort of tent. Bake for one hour in an oven set to 160C. You don't get much juice but what you do get is big flavour. Goes very well with a buttery jacket spud and some greens. We think of it as winter food. My amounts are for two nice big chops, one each.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Jos
Date: 01 May 21 - 11:05 AM

Instead of removing the fat, I would render it by propping the chops up, vertically with the fat lying in the pan, until it is browned and the pan has a layer of runny fat in which to cook the chops, instead of butter. Or cut the fat off, if you must, and render it in the pan before cooking the chops in it.
Then proceed following Steve's/Delia's instructions.
Don't worry about your fat consumption - you are going to cook the mushrooms in butter anyway, and then add cream.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Charmion
Date: 01 May 21 - 12:16 PM

I do mise en place with wee dishes for ingredients in small quantities and bowls and jugs for large quantities. My galley kitchen does not have room for two kinds of work -- and two lots of mess -- under way at the same time.

I made nearly four litres of rather good ham and bean soup yesterday. Three-quarters of the batch is now in the freezer for future reference.

* One smoked ham hock
* Two to three litres of chicken stock (Canadian recipe -- both metric & Imperial measures in use!)
* A little olive oil
* Six cloves of garlic, chopped
* One large onion, chopped
* Three stalks of celery, chopped
* Black pepper ad lib
* Two or three bay leaves
* A goodly amount of dried oregano
* One pound of dried white beans (navy or Great Northern)
* Half a cup or so of split dried peas or lentils
* One teaspoon ground cumin
* A pinch or two of crushed dried chilis
* Salt (only at the end, and only if necessary)

Put the ham hock in an Instant Pot or similar programmable pressure-cooker. Add enough chicken stock to more or less immerse the hock, usually about two litres. Close the lid and set the controls for 15 minutes at high pressure. Let the pressure release naturally, then set the hock on a plate to cool. Pour the pot liquor into a large jug or bowl.

Turn the Pot to its Saute setting and let it heat to its max. Then add the olive oil, the garlic and onion, and cook and stir until the onion is light brown and translucent;don't let the garlic scorch. Add the celery and continue cooking and stirring until it begins to show signs of browning. Grind rather a lot of black pepper into the Pot, then add the beans and peas, the bay leaves, and the oregano, cumin and crushed chilis. Pour in the stock in which you cooked the ham hock. Clamp on the lid, close the vent, and set the controls for 30 minutes at high pressure.

While the beans are cooking, take the meat off the ham hock and dice it fairly small.

Allow the Pot to release its pressure naturally, then open the lid and add the diced ham. Stir well and taste. Then, and only then, decide if it needs salt. It probably won't.

Serve with whole-wheat toast and maybe some nippy cheese.

NB: When made in an Instant Pot, this takes about half the afternoon, with only about 45 minutes of actual chopping and stirring. It can be made in an ordinary soup kettle on the stove, but that way takes hours and hours, and you have to remember to set the beans to soak the night before.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 01 May 21 - 02:33 PM

I've tried that, Jos, and found it to be an added faff. I don't waste the rinds. I put them in the freezer and use them to add savour to my boeuf en daube, Elizabeth David style.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Donuel
Date: 02 May 21 - 09:10 AM

Recipes are a choice but you don't have a choice when it comes to plastic and micro plastics. You eat the equivilent of one plastic credit card per week. So do I.
The health hazards are as yet unknown*.
Apples had one of the highest microplastic counts in fruit, with an average of 195,500 plastic particles per gram, while pears averaged around 189,500 plastic particles per gram. Broccoli and carrots were shown to be the most contaminated vegetables, averaging more than 100,000 plastic particles per gram.Jul 21, 2020
Then there is water, sea salt, shellfish, beer, carrots, broccoli and virually everything else in the alnd and sea.
You see micro plastics are consumed by the smallest organisims and we eat them be they nemotodes or others.
Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air. 8^/


*There seems to be an abundant number of GI conditions lately but who knows.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Charmion
Date: 02 May 21 - 09:52 AM

Donuel, the most important cause of the rising incidence of irritable bowel syndrome is the abundance of antibiotics we all consume. Acidophilus capsules help with that. Stomach and bowel cancers kill so many people because most of us fortunate residents of the developed world live long enough to develop them. So have your colonoscopy already.

Is plastic in the food supply your latest bugbear?

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 May 21 - 12:33 PM

I like to think that this is a recipe and food enjoyment thread. I'm doing a risotto tonight. It will feature broad beans, French beans, peas and pancetta. It will contain the usual suspects such as chicken stock, onions, Parmesan and butter (for the initial frying), but for the mantecura step I'm using creme fraiche instead of butter. I'll use the veg cooking water to contribute to the stock. I'll finish it with fresh parsley.

Last night I did Yotam's baked cauliflower. You put all the ingredients except for one into a big bowl, mix them well with your bare hands and put them on a big baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Into a hot oven (200C) for half an hour, stirred half way through. The ingredients for two of us are one big cauliflower cut into florets, 30g pumpkin seeds, 30g chopped green olives, one 150g chorizo peeled and cut into 1cm rings (dolce or piccante, you decide), two teaspoons of sweet smoked paprika, a roughly-chopped onion, three cloves of garlic smashed with your fist or a knife, salt and pepper and several big glugs of extra virgin olive oil. It's all on one tray and you can clear up while it's cooking. When it's done, stir in some fresh chopped parsley. You can eat it off your knee in front of the telly and the only washing up is your two bowls and two forks.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Donuel
Date: 02 May 21 - 01:48 PM

Charmion's tiny bugbear

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Charmion
Date: 02 May 21 - 05:00 PM

Risotto. I miss risotto.

Now that I cook only for myself, risotto is a restaurant thing. And all the restaurants have been closed since Christmas and will stay that way for at least another two weeks.

I miss risotto. With a nice glass of Soave, and a clever little green salad to follow ...

Sigh.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 May 21 - 06:07 PM

My risotto was very good. It followed a day which started with my bad back playing me up summat rotten and Mrs Steve suffering side effects from her second jab. Every year we do the bluebell walk in the woods at Brownsham, between Hartland and Clovelly. It was a lovely day but it started badly, with parking near the start of the walk a massive problem (we've done this walk every year for 34 years and we still haven't learned to avoid bank holidays). I eventually parked hard by a roadside hedge and scratched my leg on a protruding blackthorn twig that I hadn't spotted.

However.

My new Black Diamond Trail hiking poles were a total revelation. I've tried cheap ones before and they put me off the whole idea. But these were a miracle. I did the whole strenuous walk without back pain and the poles were absolutely superb. The sun was out, the bluebells were wonderful, the sea sparkled, God was in his heaven and all truths were universal. Who'd have thought it, on a day that started so fretfully, and we came home and I did a great risotto. The Prosecco and Argentine Malbec were great too...!

Then you watch the news about India...

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 May 21 - 06:17 PM

Charmion, cook your risotto for two, eat half of it and use the leftovers to make arancini the next day. Mrs Steve, foolish woman, won't let me have a deep fat fryer, so I can't follow my own advice...She thinks I want to just make chips...

By the way, my amount for two, which is generous (you piggie, Steve...), is a sparse 300ml (yep, measured in a jug) of risotto rice. I always use carnarolo, by the way. That needs about 700ml stock, with a bit to spare in case it thickens up too much. Life is good!

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Donuel
Date: 03 May 21 - 08:21 AM

Steve how do the hiking poles help? Does it take weight of knees and hips? I had a friend who used those amputee curved springs on hiking poles for extra propulsion.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 03 May 21 - 09:36 AM

Those chops sound yummy. Thinking of stuffed cabbage, too.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 03 May 21 - 10:15 AM

Not down by Bluebell Grove where wild flowers grow then Steve, (I guess you know Nancy Spain)...

Not sure what any of this has to do with cooking but for a different flower, a local church has a snowdrop day where that flower grows abundantly in the grounds. Not a long walk in this case but a nice sight.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 May 21 - 11:43 AM

Well there were plenty of trees in grove-like assemblages and bluebells and wild flowers, and (odd that you should mention it...) I did happen to be singing along to Christy's Nancy Spain in the car yesterday!

The hiking poles work out your upper body, especially arms and shoulders. They help to maintain a good, upright posture,good for the back, and they take the strain off your knees and hips, especially when walking downhill. They give you stability and confidence on uneven terrain. I'm a novice and I'm still researching good technique, but one thing I have learned is that cheap poles are a complete waste of money which will have you thinking that poles are useless. Also, you don't need poles with built-in shock absorbers, any more than you need a springy mattress saddle on a bike.

On the food front I'm starting to try to shed a stone. It'll be Mondays and Thursdays on very frugal rations. I'll be aware of, but not counting, calories and the only thing I'll be cutting out is snacking. In the long term I'm expecting portion control to be the key to keeping it off. And those hiking poles. I did this before, but over the years I've put about a third of my lost weight back on.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 04 May 21 - 04:52 PM

Why are my meatballs always *tough* (I can't think of a better way to describe them)?

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 04 May 21 - 05:01 PM

I've added some more pics to my poem "My Diet" recently - e.g., a full (vegan) English using slices of tempeh; sweet and savoury avocado sandwiches; and a vegan cheese platter.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 04 May 21 - 05:08 PM

Ok details: I have made meatballs in the oven, pan-fried them, cooked them from the start in broth, and browned them and cooked them the rest of the way in broth. Tonight's were made from ground lamb with grated onion, parsley, berbere spice, cumin, cinnamon, smidge of salt, and garlic powder, browned in lamb bacon grease, then cooked in a broth of beef stock with a bit of tomato paste and fresh thyme. The broth is droolworthy-good, as is the *flavor* of the meatballs.

I don't put breadcrumbs in. Is that the problem? Thanks.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 04 May 21 - 06:01 PM

You may be overcooking them. Make them smaller and cook for less time. Another possibility is that you're squeezing the bejaysus out of them when you make them, for fear of their falling to bits. Roll them in your hands without pressure and employ an ever-so-gentle touch. And blimey, all those herbs and spices. Don't you trust your meat? My way is to make them small, fry them in oil just to brown them, maybe for five or six minutes, not cook them through, then let your chosen sauce finish the cooking, maybe for ten or fifteen minutes. For me, it would be a spicy tomato sauce made with extra virgin olive oil. By spicy, I mean with chopped garlic, no onion and some chilli flakes to taste. I always tear in some fresh basil leaves at the very end. That goes really well with crusty bread, or some home-made oven chips. I'm not a fan of spaghetti meatballs...

And leave the breadcrumbs in the store cupboard. I've tried meatballs made with a mix of minced steak and crumbled black pudding, or a mixture of minced steak and minced free-range pork. A touch of chilli always goes well. One I got from Gino d'Acampo is beef mince with a bit of caramelised onion chutney mixed in. It sounds like it shouldn't work, but they are delicious. I usually find that you need a tad more salt in the seasoning than you might expect. Small is beautiful.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 05 May 21 - 12:00 PM

Definitely pressing too hard. Definitely cooking too long. Aha.

And not a *lot* of any spice. A shake or so of each. The cinnamon makes everything savory taste north African.