BS: Recipes - what are we eating?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Apr 20 - 09:31 AM

Steve have you ever wondered if you had become a world class chef rather than an exhausted teacher, that your life would have benefited?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 05 Apr 20 - 07:14 AM

Wild garlic.

There's miles of it along the streambanks around here. I've been collecting bagfuls of it on walks and stuffing every spare space in the freezers with it. Use like spring onion or leek, for cooking or raw in salads. I've planted some in the garden but for some reason it prefers to grow near running water, which we aren't - who knows, we might get lucky. We already have a fair bit of self-seeded sorrel, so we're doing ok for fresh greens.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 05 Apr 20 - 04:41 AM

I think that those refined olive oils are horrible things. A lot of nonsense has been written about extra virgin olive oil, such as that you shouldn't cook with it. What you shouldn't do is get the oil so hot that it smokes. But I don't have many dishes that require me to heat oil that much before putting something into it, and if I do need really hot oil I'll use groundnut oil instead. A lot of my Italian dishes start with gently sautéeing sliced garlic and chilli flakes, sometimes with an anchovy or two to melt. Gently being the operative word. Extra virgin oil is ideal for that. I have two grades of extra virgin oil in the kitchen, a big bottle of relatively inexpensive stuff for cooking and a much more expensive but superb oil for sprinkling over finished dishes or for salad dressings. Marcella Hazan would tell me off for not using the latter for everything. She has a point, but that would cost me a fortune.

And don't get me started on those horrid bottles of cheap and runny balsamic vinegar...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 04 Apr 20 - 08:47 PM

Steve wants us to use extra-virgin olive oil. That reminds me that the International Olive Oil Standards Board has promulgated further grades for olive oil.

Extra Virgin
Virgin
Girl next door
No better than she should be
Been around the block.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Apr 20 - 08:28 PM

I have two or three large (6+ pounds) chickens in the freezer; I imagine what I can do is let one thaw then cut it up and offer a portion of it to my ex or the neighbors, talking with them ahead of time so they expect it and with the understanding that it will be cooked right away. I'd have to cut it up and bag it, hand it over with gloves, and they'd have to immediately cook it once it's home (to kill any germs transferred to the bird) and carefully discard the plastic bag for the same reason. Half a bird is plenty for one person for a lot of leftovers. There's a small (~ 12 pounds) turkey in there also, but it's my "spare" bird bought last December because invariably during the year there is an occasion when someone from out of town visits and we have several friends and family over. But this year not any time soon.

I wonder at how nerve-wracking it must be to have the workers in and out of the house right now. The same is happened with a friend here, and they're both higher risk due to age and underlying health issues. For now there has been plastic sealing off the kitchen from the rest of the house, but as soon as it comes down there will be other people germs available to commingle with everyone in the house.

Stay safe!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 04 Apr 20 - 05:45 PM

Ooh was this good:

Chopped a bunch of parsley, a little less dill, a little less mint, into bowl
Chopped a cucumber, into bowl
Hammered the tail end of my bag of almonds and sprinkled the salt over the cukes
Cut a bunch of grapes in half using the 2-plate trick and put on top of cukes
Added the choppedish almonds
Poured a good amount of lemon juice over the top
Drizzled on a decent amount of olive oil
Tossed with spoons
Ate with spoon oh truly yummy

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 04 Apr 20 - 05:17 PM

The DH and I still have a temporary kitchen (home renovation.) We've been going along nicely, alternately food from the freezer with restaurant take-out, but now we find fewer locals are selling take-out.

I assume they found that not enough people order food to justify the expense of running the kitchen. That's unfortunate.

So soon the DH and I will have to tackle actual cooking in our makeshift set-up. It won't be too bad. But tonight we will use the last of the cooked chicken to make curry. Here's my recipe:

Thinly slice a ripe pear or apple. Leave the peel on for flavor.

Put a little oil in a big skillet.

Saute minced garlic in it.

Add the sliced fruit and some pieces of chicken - I like thighs, trimmed of fat.

You can go to the trouble of removing the garlic temporarily and browning the chicken first, but I don't bother.

Cover the skillet and cook till the chicken is tender and the fruit has broken down into a smooth sauce.

Just before dining, add curry powder to taste, at least one teaspoon.
As I wrote before, I like the Oriental curry powder with its flowery aromas.

Meanwhile, cook rice with raisins in it and chop up green onion. Serve the chicken over the rice and sprinkle the green onions on top.
========
I have found that all the stress of the renovation and covid, etc makes us so tired that when dinnertime comes around, we don't feel like cooking anything. So I will cheat and make the sauce ahead of time. It won't be as good, but needs must.

Today we getting the dust out of the work area. We are sick of breathing it and tracking it around. The DH goes through with a big broom and sweeping compound, and I follow with a shop vac.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 04 Apr 20 - 12:50 PM

We also have a hunk of lamb in the freezer for Easter. A boned leg, if I recall correctly, almost the last of the whole lamb we bought from our favourite farmer last fall. We should be eating goose with Himself's brother and wife, but now obviously not. The goose is also sitting in the freezer, larger than life and twice as frosty.

The silver lining in this cloud is that, by the time we can invite someone over to help us eat that damnable goose, summer will have arrived and I will be able to cook it outside, thus not filling the house with the smoke that seems to be the inevitable result of roasting waterfowl in a convection oven. The last time I cooked a duck, I thought we would be feeding the fire brigade, too.

The current soup in the fridge is bean-and-kale minestrone, a recipe that always makes about a gallon. It freezes well, fortunately but, unfortunately, the kale always turns an unattractive olive-drab colour, exactly the same shade as the combat uniforms we wore back in the Cold War. I close my eyes and eat it anyhow; the flavour and nutritional value are not affected.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Apr 20 - 12:26 PM

I did a delivery order from Aldi - my first ever grocery delivery. I included a case of dark beer, and though I don't feel like drinking beer right now, it's a nice thing to have for when it's a bit warmer out and the meal is right for beer. And it is good for things like making beer bread. If you don't have yeast, it'll work in a pinch, but plan to eat it while it's hot because it doesn't taste as good day-old.

I buy yeast a pound at a time (Sam's Club or Costco) and keep one of the two packages in the freezer till I need it. I'd hazard a guess that I have about 1/3 of a pound in the fridge now in a jar I measure out of when I bake. If you pull up Instagram and search on bread you'll find that the world is baking up a storm these days and there are some beautiful loaves showing up (the kind that bake on a sheet, not in a pan). I delivered my homemade bread shaped into much smaller loaf pans last week and my neighbor across the street called to offer effusive thanks - she has COPD and simply never goes out (hasn't for ages) but now no one can come in to visit her (her daughter, in particular). It seems bread is a great surrogate for having someone actually come in for a visit (I use tongs to drop it into a brown bag that was stored in the pantry long before COVID-19 came along then, wearing gloves, hand it over at the door to her son who lives with her. Now I'll have to set it down and let him step out to pick it up since we're staying 6' apart.)

I'm trying to not have too many things going in the fridge at once, but I have a couple of servings of lentil soup, a couple of servings (at least) of my chicken fajitas, I have some cooked pasta and jar sauce in there to make into something. There is a bit of chicken breast, and I think if I mix the chicken with the pasta sauce over pasta with melted mozzarella, I'll be happy with that dinner. Once I've cleared out a couple of these things I'm going to make my crustless quiche.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 04 Apr 20 - 11:50 AM

Am postponing the lamb until next weekend. I'm doing a beery beef stew tomorrow instead. It's a Jamie Oliver one.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 04 Apr 20 - 11:14 AM

Made Hungarian-esque stuffed cabbage last night. One recipe said to make a little ball of the didn't-come-out-even stuffing in a kind of meatball so you can use that to check whether the rice was cooked... Brilliant. Started with raw rice and raw ground pork and only nuked the outer cabbage leaves so they could roll.

Still airing out the microwave, though!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Apr 20 - 07:17 PM

You've reminded me of a frittata recipe I got from Gino d'Acampo which has courgettes (aka zucchini). I'm thinking I might revive that one next week. We had the spinach soup tonight and it was really good, and so simple. For two of us (I tend to be generous), just before serving it I stirred in about 100 ml of double cream (wot I believe you call "heavy" your end) and sprinkled the soup bowls with a little bit of crispy pancetta. I'll use the rest of the pack of pancetta in my signature risotto tomorrow evening, leftover chicken bits with bacon and creme fraiche. I'm sure I've posted that one before.

I have a massive hunk of shoulder of lamb in the freezer that I bought months ago, intending to produce a feast for about six people (and have leftovers). That can't happen for the foreseeable future, obviously. So I'm going to thaw it tomorrow and cook it on Sunday. Mrs Steve and I will be feasting on cold lamb all next week. We love that, though I know some people don't. If there are scraps I'll make a ragu, the recipe for which I know I have somewhere. I'll put the hunk into a very low oven first thing on Sunday (seasoned simply and topped with a few scattered sprigs of rosemary) then forget it until it's time to do the roasties (about six o'clock). I have a new idea for roasties as it happens, but I need to make sure it works the way I want it before going large with it!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 03 Apr 20 - 06:48 PM

During the winter, I make up batches of what I call “veg haché”, using a cauliflower, a broccoli crown, a red onion and a smallish zucchini. I cut all the veg into wok-type thin slices, toss them in the biggest mixing bowl, and refrigerate the mixture in a snap-top box. I weigh out servings of 200 to 250 grams, and sauté the veg in a non-stick skillet with garlic, salt and pepper. The mixture also works very well in a frittata.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Apr 20 - 05:54 PM

Cauliflower fully deserves to be regarded as a "green," even though it isn't green. It has the same range of nutrients as other brassicas. And it's high in fibre. Just don't overcook it, that's all. I love it and almost always have one in the house through the winter (not the same one all winter, I hasten to add). We're rather fond of tenderstem too. Cooking it just right can be a bit of a challenge. Ordinary calabrese I find to be bland and uninteresting. It can be OK in soups.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 03 Apr 20 - 04:29 PM

Morrison's large Cottage Pie with extra peas!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 03 Apr 20 - 01:59 PM

Steve, you are cooking some interesting and healthful things nowadays. Good for you.

Charmion, I think my recipe would taste good in a clay pot. Just cook it slowly.

My Dear Husband is always forcing me to eat spinach. Maybe I will make Steve's spinach and lentil soup. The DH is always on about green, leafy vegetables. I can see his point, but he insists that cauliflower is a green, leafy vegetable. How does that work?
==============
Things in short supply in my area:

toilet paper
eggs
flour
yeast
cherry tomatoes (ya gotta have some fun)

I didn't want to, but I finally ordered a pound of yeast from Amazon.
I'm trying to picture a lot of beginners trying to make bread with no one to guide them, and it's not a pretty picture.

The first week of the quarantine, all the canned beans were gone, but now they're back. Wonder why. ;)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: mg
Date: 03 Apr 20 - 02:17 AM

i made bacon and fried it with leftover and not overly fresh coleslaw mix. lots of black pepper. it was good. have to make it tomorrow too and i might add just a speak of sriracha sauce.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 02 Apr 20 - 09:25 PM

“Blitzed” means puréed with a blender, Mrrzy, either the jug or stick type, though people who finally acquire a hand blender never go back.

Wild yeast is what you’re working with when you use a sourdough starter. Give it a try — but be prepared to change your dough-handling technique radically if you’ve only ever used active dry yeast.

I love sourdough bread, and we were baking sourdough for several months a year or so ago, but with only two of us eating the results I found myself with six months’ worth of bread in the freezer. Baking sourdough — especially with whole-grain flours— really raises your bread game, though; you learn a lot about your ingredients that you never knew you didn’t know.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 02 Apr 20 - 03:58 PM

What means blitzed in this context?

Anybody on the wild yeast thing?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 31 Mar 20 - 06:10 PM

Well I bought a bag of wild rocket for an Italian recipe. A couple of days later, I found a bag in another shop that looked a lot better. So I did the recipe (spaghetti with prawns, chilli, lemon and rocket, since you ask), then had all this rocket left over. So I made some rocket soup. All it took was an onion, some potatoes, a couple of veg stock cubes and the rocket, blitzed. It was a lightweight soup but very nice at lunchtime with a bit of crusty sourdough.

Jamie Oliver came on the telly the other night making a fish pie that had frozen spinach in the recipe. I couldn't find frozen spinach so I bought a big bag of fresh. Then, two days later, I found frozen spinach in a different supermarket. So I had this bag of spinach going begging. I hate waste, so I found a recipe for spinach and lentil soup. You start with a classic soffritto of carrot, celery and onion, softened up for half an hour in olive oil (extra virgin at all times, please...). Once softened, I added 140g green lentils and three pints of weak veg stock. After half an hour I threw in the spinach, about 250g. After a few minutes I blitzed the lot and checked the seasoning. The recipe sez to serve it with a good swirl of cream and a sprinkling of crispy bacon on top. I haven't got that far yet, but the basic soup tastes great and I'll probably freeze it tomorrow as we're replete with stuff still to eat up (a good position to be be in). I have a big pan of finished chicken stock from the Sunday roast but I'm saving that for my signature roast chicken and bacon risotto on Saturday night. I wonder whether I'll get my just reward... ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 31 Mar 20 - 04:50 PM

I thought of gout, too.

I just found a make-[or rather capture]-your-own-yeast recipe in the news. I wonder if I'd have better luck with wild yeast... I am not good with the store-boughten kind.

Anybody here hunted their own yeast?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Mar 20 - 02:16 PM

My next door neighbor came through with a #20 package of flour from Costco; this is good because my neighbors have benefited from my baking. Yesterday I delivered small loaves of my whole wheat blend recipe; the neighbor across the street has severe medical underlying stuff that has kept her indoor for years, so is grateful to know she hasn't been forgotten. We're all going to come out with expanded waistlines if we're not careful with all of this bread.

The neighbors (the Costco trip) are older than me and I need to convince them to let me make the next few runs. (She went because her son has an "essential" job and can't get out and needed toilet paper.) I can also shop at Costco, a place they prefer, and it is big an airy, so if one can get in without having the queue around the block, it is doable. And for once I'm glad that they have all of their produce encapsulated in plastic. I can bring it to the counter where I process this stuff - take off and discard the plastic and then (for safety sake) wash the fruit or veg, then clean the counter. It's much less likely to have germs from a speculative shopper.

We're setting groceries on the porch and backing off these days. We are well fed. I fear this is not the case for much of the rest of the world. In the US infrastructure gaps are being addressed with emergency gestures from various companies and schools and political entities; it is clear to all (one hopes) that high speed Internet is not a luxury, it is an essential a utility as water, electric, and telephone. It needs to be regulated to make sure it is available to all. The modern version of rural electrification.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 31 Mar 20 - 02:12 PM

Thanks, leeneia. I don't have a slow cooker, but I do have a clay baker -- and a recipe for game hens on rice cooked therein. I have never tried dill with poultry ...

These birds are the largest game hens I have ever seen. Splitting them will be no problem; spatchcocked is one of my favourite ways to cook birds.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 31 Mar 20 - 01:41 PM

Our home is being remodeled, and our kitchen is packed into other nearby rooms. There's a sink in the dining room (with protective mat), the fridge is the only thing in the kitchen, and we have a toaster and hot plate on a low filing cabinet. Food and tools are crammed into every nook and cranny.

Since restaurants are closed, we order take-out for dinner every other day. As for the rest, we have gone through most of the frozen dinners I had ready. Now comes the real challenge - cooking good things to eat in this spartan setup. I believe I'll be relying on my slow cooker.
==========
Charmion, have you cooked those Cornish hens yet? I find they are dense and lean and do not lend themselves to roasting, so I invented this dish:

Cut Cornish hen in half using strong shears, being sure to -
discard the back, along with the icky organ bits stuck to it.

You may use a slow-cooker liner if you wish.

Press the hens, meaty sides down, against the sides of a slow cooker, where the sides and bottom meet.

Sprinkle with dill weed or seed.

Splash with white wine, maybe one-half cup.

Cook on low for a long time. How long depends on how big they are.

You may want to saute a little garlic and sprinkle that in, too.

Serve each diner half of a hen along with other good stuff. Let them add salt and pepper themselves.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Mar 20 - 11:33 AM

Thompson, no, why do you ask? I do have a new knee as of last month, if I have been talking about difficulty walking. Total knee replacement is major enough that it takes a while to get over. I'm not able to go to Physical Therapy now so I'm doing my exercises every day and hope they're enough. And I'm getting to where I'm willing to stand in the kitchen for more complicated recipes.

Which brings me to today. I have discovered an abundance of apples in a bin in the fridge; I buy them regularly but haven't eaten them as much as usual. So I am going to make some hand pies (though when I finish they usually end up being more the size of Stromboli.)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 31 Mar 20 - 10:08 AM

On our last shopping trip, at 0800 on Sunday (!), I found a package of two frozen Rock Cornish game hens at a screaming deal price. Now, back in the Paleolithic Era, when I was young and learning to cook, a game hen was about the size of a man's fist -- and not a large man, at that. These things are at least twice that size, about the weight of an old-fashioned fryer chicken (i.e., about a pound and a half each).

Himself has visions of Rock Cornish game hens for Sunday dinner dancing in his head. I'm thinking of cooking them as if they were pheasants, a la Normande, with a sauce of cider and creme fraiche. (New computer doesn't speak French. Zut alors.)

What do y'all think?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 31 Mar 20 - 09:50 AM

Stilly, speaking as a totally medically UNqualified person, would you have a touch of gout by any chance?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 31 Mar 20 - 07:37 AM

I baked two fillets of sea bream in the oven on Friday, more or less following a recipe I found on BBC Good Food. It's always more or less with me. I roasted a handful of garlic cloves in their skins for half an hour, wrapped in foil with some olive oil. Meanwhile I made a big foil parcel with an inner lining of greaseproof paper, big enough to wrap the fish in, folded over at the edges to keep the sheets together. The fillets went on there, skin side down. I squashed the garlic cloves a little bit but left them whole and scattered them on the fish. I added a splash of white wine, a splash of olive oil, a little touch of dried chilli flakes, a little sprinkling of chopped fresh rosemary leaves and some salt and pepper. The fish must be loosely but securely wrappedThat went on a baking tray into a pretty hot oven (200C fan) for ten or twelve minutes. I thought the embellishments might have been a bit much, but the results were absolutely delicious. We had the fish with a wedge of lemon on the plate and with a sprinkling of fresh parsley (sorry, Maggie. Just leave it off!) with mini-potatoes baked in their skins in olive oil, and some greens on the side.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 29 Mar 20 - 08:57 PM

I made a wonderful beef stew yesterday with half a blade roast of beef and the fridge leftovers, especially the tail ends of three kinds of gravy and the heel of a bottle of vermouth.

I’ll never be able to do it again, and it’s really delicious — if a bit odd.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 29 Mar 20 - 07:02 PM

From something called Edible History:

https://youtu.be/SNVUd_RllI0

I could not get Tasty to give me the real link.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 29 Mar 20 - 02:53 PM

Fried up some cabbage for lunch in this morning's bacon grease and it tasted so Hungarian I added paprika and sour cream.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Mar 20 - 10:45 AM

For my late breakfast this morning I'm making baking powder biscuits (my recipe has extra loft by using some cream of tartar with the baking powder). I'll take a few to the next door neighbors (carefully packed in clean plastic with tongs) - I don't have enough in a batch for sharing across the street as well, so tomorrow I'm making some of my homemade whole wheat bread and I'll make what is usually one large loaf in two smaller pans and take one across the street. I need to get more flour pretty soon. The big stores empty out but the small ones seem to have it, if I can get in when they're fairly empty of other customers.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: JennieG
Date: 29 Mar 20 - 03:39 AM

This afternoon I made "Matrimonial Cake", a recipe from my Canadian friend in B.C., it's her mother's recipe. Uses oatmeal (in Oz we use rolled oats), flour, brown sugar, butter, with a filling of dates cooked in water and a tablespoon of brown sugar. When it finishes cooling down I will cut it and we can try it, as the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Or so it is said.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Mar 20 - 06:33 PM

Salmon and salad or meat lasagna or chedder cheese and broccoli soup or ham and potatos or apple blueberry fry cake or grilled ham and cheese, eggs, oranges, apples, and myriad snacks

I don't drink but for dessert I wet my lips with Drambuie
Next month I will be unable to eat any carbs fruit or sugar.
So for now I splurge.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 28 Mar 20 - 05:44 PM

Can't eat angel food cake because of its horrid texture. That one might have been good!

Looking for complicated multistep recipes. Maybe bœuf bourguinion.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: keberoxu
Date: 28 Mar 20 - 05:29 PM

Heavens to Murgatroyd, people!
You're all homebound and nobody will talk about
what is cooking in the kitchen?

I'm still here at a mental health clinic,
long-term residential type, will be here for a while
(if you are following the thread on the subject).

The residential kitchens have wonderful cooking but even they
are human and the occasional SNAFU happens.
This one happened with suppertime dessert.
I don't know what this dessert is called elsewhere,
but we Yankees call it "angel food cake."
When properly baked, it ends up being mostly air,
just impossibly light stuff. Well ...

something went wrong before it went in the oven, I suppose.
One kitchen-savvy patient guessed that
the wrong pan might have been used, in the interest of
making large quantities for all the patients and staff for supper.

Anyway, no angels in this pastry --
looked as though it had been stepped on by a camel,
almost as flat as pita bread.
I thought the whole thing was really funny.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Mar 20 - 11:01 AM

That ceviche sounds fabulous! I grow jalapenos every year, but also poblano, which aren't as hot but have a great flavor. I often put poblano in place of the hotter ones.

I'm closing in on a month of inactivity due to surgery, and don't have much of an appetite. I'm making sure to have a few standard foods handy; I make oatmeal three or four servings at a time in a small crock pot, then reheat a bowl in the mornings. Cheese sandwiches, French toast, pasta, beans a rice, easy to make or reheat are on the menu. The goal is to get enough protein during this healing process.

Sugar is not my friend; I have a toe that is somewhat arthritic after bunion surgery years ago and after three weeks of almost no sugar I ate a few chocolate caramels and it became red and sore late in the day. Alcohol has a similar effect (from past experience; I'm not allowed alcohol now). Using myself as a home science project I've proven what I suspected.

I have managed to keep the kitchen fairly tidy and the dishes run in the dishwasher regularly. I think a pot of lentil soup would serve for several days if I can motivate myself. I'll use the food processor to grate the onion - even though there is more cleanup of that device, it means fewer tears during the process.

I tried ordering out one time, a pizza. The process was unsatisfactory all around and what arrived was expensive, cold, and salty. I have ingredients here for making my own using flatbread in the freezer, but I should have ingredients ready to go ahead of time so I can fix it quickly when I feel hungry.

This is part of a self-care process I have to maintain since I live alone now (with three dogs who are all thumbs/tongues in the kitchen). Add to that the self-imposed isolation of the covid-19 pandemic and I need to have people call to check on me regularly that I don't just disappear one day, undetected. All of you, check on your friends and neighbors, by phone if not a conversation several feet apart on the front porch or down at the street. (My next door neighbors know I'm alive - I gave them a small loaf of hot broccoli cornbread last night, making sure I didn't touch the bread itself or the plate it would rest on. She gave me a ride to the doctor in her car this week so our germs are already kind of commingled.)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 14 Mar 20 - 10:21 AM

My ceviche was a huge success! Marinated onions tiny tomatoes celery cukes jalapeño (one, in fear, not enough), corn, garlic overnight in lime juice, lemon juice, vinegar and orange juice, then took it all out of the marinade and put in the fish sliced thin (sword and tuna) with extra lime and orange juices, oregano and marjoram, and put the veg back to hold the fish down, added olive oil on top, about an hour before we tossed, served with slotted spoons, and ate. Yum yum! Just needed either a lot more jalapeños or some cayenne.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: gillymor
Date: 12 Mar 20 - 08:57 AM

That sounds good, especially like the spices. Thanks, Jon.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 12 Mar 20 - 08:43 AM

We'd just buy them as described in the UK, gillymor. But looking at the packages I have:

The dried fruit is mostly sultanas and raisins with a bit of candied orange and lemon peel.

The ground mixed spice jar says: Cinnamon, corriander, ginger, dill, nutmeg, clove.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 12 Mar 20 - 08:32 AM

I think of 5 spice when I hear mixed soice

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: gillymor
Date: 12 Mar 20 - 08:26 AM

That Porter cake looks interesting, Jon and might be the thing for a St. Pat's gathering next week. Can you divulge what "mixed spice"(s) and "mixed dried fruit"(s) are involved?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 12 Mar 20 - 07:55 AM

No, these few attempts have been really easy, Charmion. Like Mary’s Chocolate Cake - just weigh the bits into the bowl and let the mixer do the work.

I think the next cake I do will be a bit different as it’s prepared in a saucepan. I’ve only made it once before but it’s been a family favourite for a while.

Porter Cake
7fl oz Guiness Original
6oz butter
1lb mixed dried fruit
Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
60z light soft brown sugar
1tsp bicarbonate soda
3 eggs (beaten)
10oz plain flour
2tsp mixed spice

Topping
2tbs demerara sugar
2tbs flaked almonds

Heat Oven to 130C

Put butter, fruit, sugar, orange and Guiness in a large saucepan and slowly bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes stirring gently. Cool for 10 minutes.

Stir in bicarbonate of soda (this can froth up a lot).
Stir in the beaten eggs
Add flour and spice and mix well.
Pour mixture into loaf tin and sprinkle the top with the sugar and almonds
Bake for 1 ¼ to 1 ½ hours.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 11 Mar 20 - 05:54 PM

With the big pile of seafood (mostly shrimp) and a 1/2 inch of citrus juice, it needs stirring and contact with juice, however you wish to do it. Never could afford enough scallops or lobster. Does Peru even have lobster?

I bet the Inca had plenty of citrus to cover'preeserve seafood. I refrigerate but it is ingenious how they came up with it.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 11 Mar 20 - 11:55 AM

John Freeman, that is not what I call basic baking; you're headed straight for the advanced class.

I'm a good cook with all kinds of skills, but if I turn out a good cake it's by accident, not design. My pastry is worse.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 11 Mar 20 - 10:31 AM

I’ve been doing a bit of very basic baking recently. Chocolate cake, lemon drizzle cake, sultana buns and cheese scones have all gone down well here. I made a birthday cake for dad. A simple sponge with a bit of vanilla essence in and peppermint butter icing. I used yellow food dye in the sponge and green in the icing to make it a sort of “Norwich City” cake. He was delighted with it.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 11 Mar 20 - 09:31 AM

It is the marinade time I worry about... Overnight seems long, the 45mn some Internet recipes say seems too short. I made some before and the fish was as rubbery as badly made octopus. Also how much hot pepper to not damage my wussy friends.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 10 Mar 20 - 09:22 PM

"...and put it in an ungodly little pot..."
I have no idea what the spellchecker was thinking of here! Any pot will do, godly or not...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Mar 20 - 09:18 PM

Rick Bayless has some recipes on his cooking program on PBS; he lets the fish or other seafood sit in the lemon or lime for sometimes just a couple of hours.

Scandinavians aren't the only ones who "cook" fish in acid (vinegar or citrus) and the peppers and herbs in the Mexican dish make it all the more appealing. A typical serving is to use a large tortilla chip, or use a tostada (cooked corn tortilla that is crisp) and put on a layer of sliced avocados or spoon on a generous helping of guacamole, then spoon the ceviche over the top. Mmmmmmm! Such a nice summertime meal. (I get it in regular Texas restaruants, Mexican restaurants, and general Hispanic groceries: Wikipedia says ceviche/cebiche/seviche/sebiche originated in Peru.)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 10 Mar 20 - 08:13 PM

Its not a recipe but an adventure

The traditional recipes use uncooked fish, veggies and salsa but instead of heat let seafood soak in Citrus juice overnight which will 'cook' 1/2 inch chunks of any type of seafood you desire. If you use lime juice it may be too limey for your taste. I discard the citrus marinade when the fish is done. Lemon lime may be to your taste and part fresh orange juice is mellow.

My fish selection is often Patagonian shrimp (south atlantic)
Sea scallops, talipia, catfish - all sliced 1/2 inch or less and marinated 24 hours. [I get added flavor if I first *lightly* saute' the fish before marinating]

Dice veggies about 3 times the volume of total seafood;
3-4 tomatos, 3 onions, 3 stoplight peppers but only 1/2 pepper per color (red green yellow) MAYBE you like a smokey chile in there too... deveined clerey 3 stalks,
One or two bottles of your favorite salsa - mild or medium chunky or southwest

Experiment if you dare with small star fruit, kiwi, finger lime or something tropical
Be careful - pinapple takes over

season with regular pepper, Tampico picant sauce or a little bit of old bay and fresh citrus juice to your liking from 3 or 4 fruits, I like to taste the lime.
I don't add salt but let it be your last judgement

It will vary but by day 2 it has a past familiar taste

It will be gone in less than 5 days.

I shy away from cumin cinnamon or oregano but you may discover your own secret ingredient.

Its a real 'wing it' recipe so go as nuts as you dare.
Lets hope you use the biggest bowl you own