BS: Recipes - what are we eating?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 30 Jan 19 - 02:56 PM

I find tinned soups to be too salty, too processed and often too gloopy. I make lots of different soups and, as long as you have good stock, you can hardly go wrong. Use the best ingredients, get a good heavy-based pan and a stick blender and you're away. I won't use a food processor because I think it's insane to use a gizmo for ten seconds to produce a ton of washing up. And no dried herbs!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 30 Jan 19 - 02:22 PM

Soups are new to me, Donuel. As is the multi-cooker which I’m feeling my way with on and off… Btw, one thing I’ve found with it (actually mentioned on various web sites but I found out before reading…) that was highlighted by making an utterly tasteless veg curry (rescued by adding stuff and doing on a pan but not even vaguely presentable to anyone as it was) is that, while there is some venting, it’s pretty much a sealed system. This can affect the qty of water you would use for a vegetable meal.

Anyway back more to your question. Mum used to make some very nice soups, watercress and a stilton and celery as starters for Christmas /Boxing days in the past come to mind but I don’t recall her using a pre made base for a soup as such.

That said, I’m pretty well convinced that she has used a can of soup, quite likely the non meat ones on your list, as a quick base for a sauce to go with a meal.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 30 Jan 19 - 02:07 PM

I don't buy soup. A good hearty soup base might start with a soffritto of onion, carrot and celery, finely chopped in equal measure, sautéed gently in extra virgin olive oil. That's great if you want to make a chicken or turkey broth made with the scraps from a roast. Throw some scraps of ham in there for good measure. To make that into a meal, add some small pasta for the last ten minutes or so, ditalini or mini-macaroni sort of thing. I would never use stock cubes in such a broth, just the stock made from the carcass. For leek and potato, or a butternut squash soup, you could just sautée the leeks/onions in butter for a few minutes then throw in the cubed spuds/squash, add your stock and simmer until the veg is soft. You can then either leave as it is or blitz with a blender. A good thing to do is to blitz just half of it.

One of my favourite soups is nicked from Gino d'Acampo. The quality of your chicken stock is paramount for this. Chop up half a pound of sliced streaky bacon or pancetta (not smoked for me) and fry it merrily for a few minutes in a good glug of extra virgin olive oil. Add a pound and a half of chopped onion or some shallots and fry with the bacon for about 20 minutes on a low heat. Add two pints or more of stock and a tin of chopped tomatoes. A tin and a half is good, about 500-600g. Simmer gently for three-quarters of an hour. Check the seasoning then serve with some shavings of Parmesan and a swirl of extra virgin olive oil and eat with crusty bread. You will not BELIEVE how good this is.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 30 Jan 19 - 12:07 PM

What is your favorite soup base?


Do you start with a stock of some sort like beef, chicken or fish, then bolster with something else be it sesame oil or soy sauce or worshishire sauce?
I figure most people start with a packet of spices or a can of mushroom ,celery or cream of chicken Campbell's soup.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 30 Jan 19 - 09:28 AM

Mine was 1977

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 30 Jan 19 - 12:30 AM

Hi, Jon. I bet your cold winter was indeed 1981, because that was the winter after Mt. St Helens blew ash into the atmosphere and reduced sunlight worldwide.

Here in Missouri, where winters are usually rather mild, we had temps of -25F after that eruption. That's -31 C.

But to answer your question, no, I don't keep a pot of stew going on the stove all the time.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 29 Jan 19 - 12:33 PM

We used a Franklin Stove at the farmhouse in the winter and the soup thing was my idea. My current ongoing soup is a leek shalott and onion soup that will evolve into a corn and potato tomato bisque. (avoid using meats) Treat the soup like a houseplant, water it a little daily.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 29 Jan 19 - 11:42 AM

Staying on the winter soup/stew theme. I remember one very (by UK standards) cold winter, possibly 81 and in a mostly (we did have a woodburner in the living room but the rest of the house was like a fridge) very cold house, mum had a perpetual (for her veg) soup on the go for a month or so. Bits would get added when the pot emptied and it was very tasty.

Anyone here do these things?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 29 Jan 19 - 11:15 AM

We are eating stew these days. January will do that.

On Sunday, I made a version of boeuf bourguignon that does away with most of the fussing recommended by such luminaries as Julia Child -- ordinary onions cut in eighths instead of whole pearl onions peeled, for example. We ate it with brown-and-wild rice pilaf on Sunday, and again on Monday with polenta. We will probably eat the rest of it tomorrow for lunch, with toast.

Salt is always an issue with stew and soup. I normally check the seasoning at the very end and add salt only then, and then only if necessary. That boeuf bourguignon has salt pork in it and calls for salt as well; I have made it every winter for 20 years and I have yet to put in any salt, finding the pork provides all the dish requires.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 29 Jan 19 - 10:53 AM

If you want savory crepes I like ham and gruyere or comte; for sweet, chocolate and crushed walnuts. Dark dark not-too-sweet chocolate.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 29 Jan 19 - 10:49 AM

Fair question Steve but I did say something like if/as needed/desired and intended to indicate you could adjust a little at that stage if you wished. I have added both double cream and milk to my own attempts but have not added either salt or pepper.

As a general rule, I tend not to add salt to my own cooking, not even to boil potatoes... and reserve the condiment for chips but I'm sure there are times I feel something does need a touch of it.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 29 Jan 19 - 10:19 AM

Two stock cubes plus extra salt in 500 ml? Really?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 29 Jan 19 - 08:36 AM

I’ve started making a very basic soup using the multi-cooker. They are quite nice for a lunchtime meal (our main meal is tea time) on some of these miserable winter days.

Put 500ml water and 2 crumbled veg stock cubes in the bowl. Add peeled and chopped veg (so far, various mixes of carrot, parsnip, celery, onion and calabrese have been used), enough to sort of come over the water level a bit. Set on “soup/stew” for 15 minutes and forget about it – the machine will enter “keep warm” when done.

Later, put contents of pot in blender and give a whirl. The soup should be pretty thick. Add salt, pepper, cream, milk… if/as needed/desired and give another mix. Have with some thickly sliced buttered toast.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 28 Jan 19 - 10:06 PM

I make blintz filling with dry-curd cottage cheese, an egg, and lemon zest to deal with the bland issue. I got the recipe from the early 70s edition of The Joy of Cooking.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Jan 19 - 03:28 PM

This weekend I planned to make blintzes when friends were here for lunch, but we were all so full from the pizza we'd already made (we each put our preferred toppings on quarters of large Iraqi flat bread so it's a crispy thin crust) that we didn't make them. I did this morning; I'd never made crepes before but I've cooked pancakes all my life, so it didn't take much adjustment to the crepe requirements.

That said, this was the recipe I posted above, and while the crepes were good and the raspberry sauce was nice the cheese (mostly ricotta, with a little creme chese) was so bland as to be disappointing.

I see a couple of options - find a different mix of cheeses to use in this recipe or go in a different direction entirely and put something else in the crepes.

What would you do with this recipe?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 28 Jan 19 - 09:31 AM

I shall have to make lamb. Rats.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 25 Jan 19 - 12:23 PM

Stilly, you're an evil woman. The snow in Stratford is going sideways, and our barbecue is in a big, fat drift.

The only dish I make that involves boiled mutton or lamb is Irish stew, and the technique there is really blanching. You put the meat in a soup pot with just enough water to cover and bring it just to the boil, then strain it off and rinse it in cold water. Then put the meat back in the pot with potatoes and onions (NO CARROTS!), with water only about half-way up the solids, cook until the potatoes can be mashed against the side of the pot. At the end, add salt, pepper, rather a lot of minced parsley, a little minced garlic, and a tablespoonful of Worcestershire sauce.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Jan 19 - 11:45 AM

I love grilled lamb, or sauteed in a skillet, but boiled - nope.

Last night a friend came over for dinner so I rolled the barbecue grill (LP gas) out of the greenhouse and grilled a spatchcocked chicken. In this instance (and after trial and error, the way I usually do it) I split it down the middle of the breast and flattened it with the backbone in the middle. This way the breast is more likely to finish with the rest of the bird; some of the chickens you can buy these days are so big that the breast meat all together takes considerably longer than the rest. Since the point is to take the entire bird off of the grill at once, I don't want to turn the leg quarters into charcoal.

The chicken was perfect. Served with a side of basmati brown rice (and browned vermicelli) in the rice cooker; in the last few minutes of rice cooking I put the steamer pan on top and put fresh broccoli). Salad on the side and a glass of wine (brought by the guest - a nice Pinot Noir).

Primarily I mention this now (January 25) because I was able to grill while many of the rest of you are hip-deep in snow. :)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 25 Jan 19 - 07:44 AM

Yes, I see almost *only* curry recipes, as is nobody else ate mutton. Thanks for recipes!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 24 Jan 19 - 06:13 AM

Mutton makes an excellent curry.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 Jan 19 - 05:13 AM

Gloucester Services sell mutton. It's one thing I haven't bothered to buy there because my local butcher's lamb, reared on his own farm, is as good as it gets. I buy the biggest whole shoulder, on the bone, that he can get me. Be wary of "whole shoulders" in supermarkets because they often remove the fillet to sell separately, which is the best bit. My shoulder usually comes in at seven or eight pounds. I'm not interested in small cuts of lamb (except for shanks) such as those little half-shoulders because I can't get the desired cooked texture in the reduced cooking time needed (for the same reason I don't buy smaller chickens than 2kg for roasting). Cooking the large shoulder is as easy as it gets. Put the meat skin side up in a large roasting tin. Season, then add a few small sprigs of rosemary. Put into a very low oven (120-130C) for about five or six hours. If you like you can turn up the heat for the last 20 minutes to crisp up the outside to get the lusted-after Maillard reaction. After that it needs a good resting, an hour in a warm place not being too long, though half an hour will do. The sticky bits left in the roasting tin make superb gravy. I tend not to roast veg with lamb. Instead I'll boil up some carrot, onion, celery and herbs for half an hour to make some veg stock and use that for the gravy (Mrs Steve always gets that job). It doesn't get any better than that. I'm not a fan of legs of lamb because they are not as tasty as shoulder, they're pound-for-pound more expensive and the meat next to the bone never really gets there for me somehow. I know that some people push garlic cloves into the meat. That's very nice for the hot roast but if I have leftovers for two or three more meals I don't necessarily want a garlicky whiff every time. In our house we can never have enough cold roast lamb. It's good for four or five days in the fridge.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 24 Jan 19 - 03:31 AM

I used to be able to buy mutton in shops in Exeter in the 1960s but I haven't seen it for years. When mad cow disease happened I did wonder if mutton had been quietly removed from sale because of scrapie - a disease in sheep that is similar to BSE.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 23 Jan 19 - 10:07 PM

Lamb, yeah. Mutton?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 23 Jan 19 - 04:38 PM

My supermarket sells lamb...
========
Last night we had barbecued pork. Take sliced pork left over from Steve's slow-roasted pork, heat gently in a heavy saucepan with home-made BBQ sauce. Serve on good buns. Make cole slaw. Add things to nibble on.

Midwestern BBQ sauce

one small can tomato paste
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons molasses
generous amt of freshly-cracked black pepper
secret ingredient - choose one

   1/2 tsp ground cloves
   grated zest of one orange (buy a zester at a liquor store)
   1 tsp dried rosemary leaves
   or invent your own.

Add water as needed for the application at hand.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 23 Jan 19 - 11:40 AM

Who eats mutton? Need recipes since the Rams are in the Super Bowl. The US is fairly mutton-free but there are African markets...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Jan 19 - 05:09 AM

The Piccolo ones from M&S, the ones from Portugal, have been very good lately and the ones from Sainsbury's, grown in the Netherlands, have been quite good too. I should have mentioned that the originator of this recipe, Rachel Roddy (though it's a traditional Italian dish), suggests cutting up the tomatoes first. That way the bits of skin in the sauce aren't as big. That doesn't bother me one way or the other but I thought I'd mention it. If the toms aren't quite up to snuff the addition of the small amount of sugar makes a miraculous difference. Many Italian cooks do that even in the height of summer when the tomatoes are at their best. You could always use your favourite tinned toms. The sugar is an automatic addition to any tomato-based sauce I ever make.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: BobL
Date: 21 Jan 19 - 04:35 AM

cherry tomatoes, the best you can find
That might be a job at this time of year - supermarket toms can be so flavourless. Fortunately there's an excellent Italian deli in Dunstable, my nearest big town, I might try there.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 21 Jan 19 - 02:43 AM

OMG, that sounds sinfully good, Steve. Going to try it the day after tomorrow. (Tonight's my cooking night, and I'm going to make an old hippie dish I haven't made for years - a stir-fry with brown rice mixed in at the end, with lots of vegetables, including chopped Brussels sprouts and sweet peppers and tinned/frozen corn (maize) and dried chestnuts (previously soaked and boiled, then chopped up), and lots of julienned carrots; I'll throw in some leftover frozen chicken meat that's been looking accusingly at me in the freezer - not an essential part, but what the heck) and then sauces to taste, probably soy sauce (or soya sauce as it was called in those days, or tamari by us weirdos) and oyster sauce.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Jan 19 - 08:16 PM

Right. This is one of the best things I've ever done. If you're having people round, and you start with nibbles and finish with a pud, this is ideal as a main, as it's not heavy at all and is simplicity itself to prepare.

BUT: you can't compromise on the quality of the ingredients. Try to go cheap and you'll be sorry. I know. I've tried.

For two people (which is what I did tonight) you need:

Six very thin slices of the best sirloin. All six together should weigh about 250-300g. I said sirloin and I mean it. Not rump or some unspecified cheap slivers. SIRLOIN.

300g of cherry tomatoes, the best you can find.

Two tablespoons of capers, rinsed. Only the smallest ones will do.

Two cloves of garlic, smashed with your fist then peeled. Do NOT crush.

A pinch of dried chilli flakes, to taste. Heat is not the point of the thing.

A generous teaspoon of dried oregano. Crucial.

About 60 ml of extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

One scant teaspoon of sugar

Put the smashed garlic, whole, into the olive oil in your best casserole pot. Sprinkle in your chilli flakes. Heat gently for a few minutes until your kitchen is full of lovely garlic aroma. Don't let the garlic go brown.

Remove and discard the garlic and turn up the heat. Fry the slices of beef in the hot oil for THIRTY SECONDS EACH SIDE. Any more and your dish is ruined. Put the beef into a dish and keep it warm somewhere.

Throw the cherry toms into the beefy, garlicky oil. When they start to go soft, throw in the capers, oregano, sugar and seasoning. Squidge the tomatoes down into a kind of rough sauce and leave the lid off.

After a few minutes put the pieces of beef into the sauce and cook it all through for three or four minutes. Voila, it's done.

So you have some lovely beef in a lovely, spicy tomato sauce. You can serve this up with crusty bread, or you can do what I do, and what they do in Sicily, serve it up with home-made skin-on oven chips. It doesn't come any better than that and it's so easy. Just don't overcook that steak, that's all.


And happy seventieth birthday to my favourite ItaIian cook, Gennaro Contaldo!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 20 Jan 19 - 07:23 PM

We had a dinner party for six yesterday after a snowy day. Served Swedish meatballs, broccoli, thinly-sliced carrots with ginger butter.
A friend brought a fruit tartin and ice cream.

Still, Swedish meatballs are a nice, comfy food for a cold day. It was a relief to dispense with a salad.

I won't share a recipe because I thought the meatballs needed revision.

Donuel, I'm sorry you are getting such harsh weather. We were supposed to be clobbered with 6 to 12 inches of snow, but "dry air", presumably from the desert southwest, pushed the storm to the east. I hear Ohio got it instead.

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

Potato and leek gratin from the bbc good food site today. It’s a recipe I’ve used before and we enjoy. I find I need a bit more cooking time (say 45 minutes both with and without the foil) than the recipe suggests and some comment on par boiling the potatoes to reduce cooking time. I just slice the potatoes, I don’t peel them.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 18 Jan 19 - 03:47 AM

"shandy would be sweeter than beer"

Well, yes, but compared with the gammon being "simmered in full-sugar Coca-cola and various veg for over 2 hours, then baked in a dressing of maple syrup ..."?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 17 Jan 19 - 10:15 PM

Opps I forgot the can of Tomato sauce. You can double the cans of beans and Tomato sauce to stretch it out.


Leenia, On Monday the DC beltway will be hit by an Arctic blast into the single digits. Upstate NY rarely goes below zero but while in Rochester I experienced a windchill of -63. I ran for cover in less than 5 minutes. Buffalo can drift 6 ft of snow in a single hour!
I've never had visible body hair, its transparent, but I think I have caveman genes. In the cold I am motivated but in the heat I wilt.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 17 Jan 19 - 09:06 PM

4 F - that's cold! All this time I thought you live somewhere warm.

Not last night, but the night before we had something we haven't had in 40 years. Wieners, whole-wheat buns, home-made cole slaw. It wasn't our idea; the wieners were a gift.

We hauled out all the extras - ketchup, mustard, pickle relish, chopped onions.
=============
Steve Shaw, I made your pork roast today. It was delicious.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 17 Jan 19 - 08:03 PM

Now that its getting down to 4 degrees F outside were making good basic chili.
Kneed 2 tsp ground pepper into 2 lbs lean hamburger and cook with onion and peppers. Put 1 can kidney beans in croc pot with a small can of Mexican corn and combine with meat & veggies. Add a pinch of cumin and a cup of salsa. Add desired amount of picante sauce or for the bold ground ghost pepper. Slow Cook on low for 4 hours and keep warm.
Serve with French bread & butter.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 17 Jan 19 - 06:30 PM

In answer to Charmion, I saved the (somewhat overcooked!) veg (onion, garlic, carrot and leek) from simmering the gammon and was going to put them into our next pot of soup, but husband found them first and threw them into a meatball casserole! Something of a mix of flavours in the latter but not bad at all!
ANd Jos, yes, why not? Though I would tend to use cider with pork or gammon and beer with beef (when not using Coke, that is!) But then shandy would be sweeter than beer. Let us know how it turns out!
Leeneia's cassoulet sounds good too!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 15 Jan 19 - 05:02 PM

Simple cassoulet

Put a liner in a large slow cooker (easier cleanup)
Set 3-4 chicken thighs in it, flesh side down
Drain but don't rinse 1 or 2 cans great northern beans. Add.
Chop one half of an onion, add it
pour on one can tomatoes. I prefer them without salt
slip in some bay leaf
cut up carrots into 2-inch pieces. add them
cut Polish sausage into 2-inch pieces. put on top

Slow cook on low till the chicken is tender and the carrots are how you like them. Remove chicken from bones.

Just before dining, add 1 or 1.5 teaspoons dried leaf thyme.

This is a good dish for when you forgot you were having company until the morning of the day of the dinner.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 15 Jan 19 - 09:38 AM

That's given me an idea. I have a gammon joint in the fridge. I also have a can of shandy that I bought by mistake in Lidl (or possibly Aldi) without reading the teeny-tiny print. The main label is in German and I had bought two cans thinking it was cheap beer, and intending to use it in slug traps, but even the slugs turned their noses up at it.
However, I may try cooking the gammon in it. Fingers crossed, it might taste quite good.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 15 Jan 19 - 09:33 AM

Heavens, Tattie, that's quite a recipe. What does the Coke do to the veg? Are they edible when the joint is cooked?

After a bit more than a year of consistent use, I think I've about broken the code on the convection oven in our new stove (cooker). It has certainly taken me long enough.

Baking is easy, since I stick to bread, but roasting has been a bit more of a challenge -- especially chicken, which seems to dry out when the oven is hot enough to produce the crackly skin I like. I had a blinding flash of the obvious the other day and put the battered old pan I use in the barbecue on the bottom rack of the oven and filled it with water, then heated the oven to 375 Fahrenheit with the fan on.

I split a four-pound chicken down the back and flattened it (spatchcocked it), laid it out on a rack in a flat roasting tin, and seasoned it with salt, pepper, thyme and dehydrated garlic. I gave it an hour at 375F, then cranked up the heat to 400F for another ten or fifteen minutes.

Result: perfect chicken, thoroughly cooked in all its parts, even the joints, and with moist, flavourful breast meat. Spatchcocking makes it easy to quarter, so I'm not wrestling with the carving knife and slopping dish gravy all over the table.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 14 Jan 19 - 09:08 PM

Fab gammon joint yesterday, cooked for my husband's birthday. Used a recipe from BBC Good Food: not for those on a January detox (as my daughter and son-in-law professed to be!)
2kg gammon grain simmered in full-sugar Coca-cola and various veg for over 2 hours, then baked in a dressing of maple syrup, whole grain mustard, red wine and cloves. Yummeeee!
(the recipe actually said red wine vinegar, but none in 2 supermarkets I tried, so just red wine had to do!) Served with roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese and fresh mini-sprouts.
Followed by birthday cake and lemon tart and ice-cream.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 14 Jan 19 - 05:32 PM

Dad had an unusual meal yesterday. I’d just done the Quorn Fillet meal with a jar of Korma sauce/can of chopped tomatoes for the sauce. When I sat down to eat mine, he said “you haven’t had any chutney” and offered to pass me the jar I’d put out.

The problem was that the “chutney” was a (clearly labelled) jar of home made plum jam that I’d put out to go with the Ambrosia rice pudding mum and I (dad doesn’t like this and was having a yoghurt) were having for afters. To make matters worse, he’d been quite liberal with the “chutney” on his plate.

While I do think a spoonful of jam can go quite nicely with rice pudding, I gather it wasn’t the best to go with his meal...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Jan 19 - 10:29 PM

I live in a part of town with lots of Mexican and Central American groceries, and one store in particular has a large tortilla factory in place. I stopped by tonight on my way home and picked up two packages of fresh tortillas, still warm. They're in my freezer now and will be used for lunch with friends in a couple of weeks if I don't get a chance that morning to swing by and get more fresh.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Jan 19 - 09:32 PM

We had a piece of pork this evening, boned and rolled shoulder with a goodly cover of rind, weighing in at about 3lb-plus. I have a trivet which I put the pork into, then placed that in a big roasting tin. Into the bottom I put a pint of water, two sticks of celery, two carrots, two chopped shallots and some herbs. I rubbed salt into the rind (no oil) and then put the meat into the hottest possible oven for 20 minutes. I then turned the oven down to about 130C and went out for the afternoon (I did top up the liquid before we left). After about four hours I ended up with the most gorgeous roasted meat, tender as the driven snow, topped with crackling to die for. And the liquid beneath, once I'd sieved it and skimmed some fat off (I used it to roast my spuds and parsnips), was totally divine.

I have uses for pork fillet (tenderloin), which can be cooked fast, but I won't buy leg of pork. Tasteless waste of money. Shoulder, belly and hocks for me. I bought my pork at Gloucester Services. The breed was Gloucester Old Spot. Damned fine butcher. They sell good brisket too.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 13 Jan 19 - 09:00 PM

I'm going to print out and try some of these recipes. Thanks.

It snowed here. Snow is about 6 inches deep on lawns and sidewalks, and it has piled up on tree branches to make lovely white fans. We celebrated by having homemade gingerbread cake with lemon frosting.

We now have two little girls on our block, and there are two snowmen in the neighborhood.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Jan 19 - 07:52 PM

Now here's a beef stew that is delicious and trouble-free. Thanks to the sainted Elizabeth David.

For four people. You need two pounds of top rump cut into half-inch thick slices about as big as your palm, 100 g streaky bacon or pancetta, two tomatoes sliced, two carrots cut into rounds, two onions roughly chopped, a few garlic cloves smashed with your fist (NOT crushed), extra virgin olive oil, a glass of red wine and seasoning. If you have some pork rinds, the kind of thing you might trim from pork chops, that's great, otherwise have a couple of rashers of really fatty bacon to hand. Finally, you need a goodly bunch of fresh herbs tied with string. Thyme, parsley, sage, bayleaf sort of thang.

Once you've assembled that lot, the method is ridiculously easy. Everything just goes in cold.

Put a good glug of olive oil into your heaviest casserole. Chop the bacon and throw it in. Put the carrots, onion and tomatoes on top of that. Put in the bunch of herbs and the smashed garlic. Layer the pieces of beef carefully on top. Season well then put the pan on to medium heat for about fifteen minutes. While you're waiting, do the fun bit. Put the red wine into a small pan, bring to the boil and set fire to the alcohol vapour. Watch your eyebrows. As soon as the flame goes out, pour the wine all over the meat.

Cover tightly (foil under a lid), put into the oven at 160C for two and a half hours and forget it. Beautiful with mash and greens. Boeuf en daube as in rustic France. The recipe also includes thin slivers of orange zest, but I don't like that so I always leave it out.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Janie
Date: 13 Jan 19 - 05:26 PM

Fixing a beef stew to take to Amos tomorrow for some respite from hospital food.

Sauted onions and garlic until translucent and removed from dutch oven. Cubed a 2lb. sirloin tip roast and browned it in batches in the dutch oven, deglazed the pan with a cheap red wine, added the meat, onions and garlic back to the pot, added more wine, beef broth, bay leaf, thyme, salt and pepper. Has been simmering about 90 minutes. Will add carrots and potatoes when the meat is nearly as tender as I desire. At the very end, will taste to see if more salt or pepper are needed and thicken slightly with a flour paste.

I think I was in a bit of a rush and did not brown the beef as well/dark as would have made for the very best flavor. Still, likely to be better than hospital fare.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 13 Jan 19 - 03:54 PM

Not interested, Donuel. Now where's that bloody corkscrew...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 13 Jan 19 - 02:59 PM

A few people Steve does not understand

The misunderstanding about British cuisine being dreadful is defied in this thread. Most dishes here sound very desirable.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stanron
Date: 13 Jan 19 - 02:32 PM

Back in the halcyon days when my waistline was less than 30 inches, I had that generosity of spirit that accepted anything anyone ever offered me. There were lots of oversized, funny smelling hand rolled cigarettes, all sorts of pills, and, fortunately, no developed opiates. I remember preferring stuff that kept me awake to stuff that sent me to sleep though more recently non alcoholic sleep assists would have been welcome.

I suspect that if cannabis becomes legal I would buy some occasionally, and in all honesty it's not the illegality that stops me right now as much as not knowing how to get it and not being sufficiently bothered to find out. This is going to sound weird I know but I can, and do, get 'high' doing Killer Sudoku puzzles and drinking Green Tea, not necessarily at the same time.

What I get from these three threads is to tell the doctors as little as possible. This stratagem has, so far, enabled me to avoid things being stuck into either end. and has not yet led to my untimely end. I did have a spell, many years ago now, of frequent and unpleasant indigestion, and recognised the term hiatus hernia from that. I can't remember what, if anything, I did about it but it no longer happens. No doctors were involved and it went away. I'm not actually recommending this as a way to go for others but I do remember someone once said, "when they get you, they don't let go".

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Jan 19 - 07:55 PM

Tonight I did a dish that was inspired by, but somewhat distant from, the very last one in Nigella's book Nigellissima. It's a one-pot job that leaves very little washing up, which is highly nutritious and which you can eat out of a bowl on your knee in front of the telly.

For two people with seconds. Get your heaviest pot and put 100g chopped-up pancetta in it. Brown the bacon, then add two chopped carrots, two chopped celery sticks and a chopped onion. You will need to add a good glug of olive oil. Your best. Sautée that lot gently for a good half-hour. You are making what is known as a soffritto. I added a small pinch of dried chilli flakes to mine. Free country.

Weight out 200g of green or brown lentils. Not the red ones. I used puy lentils. Rinse them then throw them into the pot. Add a can of plum tomatoes and a splash of water and 750ml of chicken or veg stock. I used turkey stock. Throw in a handful of chopped fresh parsley and a bay leaf. Smash four garlic cloves with your fist, peel, and throw them in. No chopping and definitely no crushing. Simmer for half an hour with the lid on.

Check and adjust seasoning and make sure the lentils have softened. Then the coup de grace: throw in about 125g of small pasta. It should be something like ditalini or ditaloni, or mini-macaroni. Not the tiniest soup pastas. They wouldn't be right. I don't like tbat cheap little shell pasta much. I mused about whether to use orzo but thought better of it. If you have only bigger pasta, put some in a plastic bag and smash it up slightly with your meat mallet or rolling pin. Anyway, turn up the heat a bit, leave the lid off and get it to a jolly bubble until the pasta is al dente. It takes a bit longer than boiling it in plain water.

Ladle into bowls, drizzle with your finest olive oil, turn the telly on and devour, preferably with a bottle of Italian red.