BS: Recipes - what are we eating?

Subject: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 07 Nov 18 - 11:00 PM

What are we eating today? I made a Yotam Ottolenghi chickpea dish and it was yum. Two tins of chickpeas with the liquid poured off. Caramelise a couple of onions and garlic to taste; add the chickpeas and then about a tablespoon each of chopped rosemary, thyme and sage, and a tablespoon of anchovies. And slivers of lemon zest - the yellow part of the skin of a (washed) lemon. Let it all simmer and combine; add a couple of cups of chicken stock and simmer a bit more. Mash some of the chickpeas a bit. Just before serving, add a tablespoon each of chopped parsley and chopped mint, the juice of the lemon and a tablespoon of za'atar, and stir them in. Very moreish indeed.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Nov 18 - 11:04 PM

Alas, it's the "liquid diet" portion of prep day leading to tomorrow's colonoscopy. Ask me again tomorrow after I get back home! (Sorry to do an immediate side-track on your topic - in my refrigerator I have a wonderful batch of chicken pot pie I made on Tuesday that I reheat and serve with whole grain crackers on top instead of making a crust.)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 07 Nov 18 - 11:42 PM

Oh, goodness, good luck with the colonoscopy. (Here, I think they're moving more and more to colonography instead, which can be done without anaesthetic, and is supposed to be more accurate… whether it's so or not…) Waiting for that chicken pot pie recipe.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 08 Nov 18 - 06:57 AM

I did a sort of spicy cauliflower/broccoli. I think it ran fry some onion, add 1 tsp each of ground cumin and corriander and 2 tsp of mild chili powder. Bit of garlic paste, 1 jar Patak Korma sauce, and a Knorr stock pot (or two?) Add some water and cook the brassica in the mix. Cooked the evening before for consumption the next tea time.

Served with basmatti rice. A typical bodge job of mine but it turned out quite well liked.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 08 Nov 18 - 08:33 AM

Mmmm, sounds good! I was watching one of the English chef programmes the other day and they were making "cauliflower steak" - basically frying a big slab of cauliflower as if it's a steak. Must try it! Again, my man Yotam has a recipe.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 08 Nov 18 - 08:46 AM

That link isn't working for me, try this one

The fish wouldn't go down here but perhaps I could try something on those lines one day IF feeling really keen.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 08 Nov 18 - 09:35 AM

Chickpea and squash stew with couscous, from a recipe by Mark Birman. It’s a less-meatarian dish that somehow manages to get winter squash into Himself. Durn it, I’ll have to hit the supermarket for ginger root, courgettes and a red sweet pepper.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 08 Nov 18 - 11:07 AM

Hmm, must check the ginger stocks; haven't been shopping for a couple of weeks - flu.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 08 Nov 18 - 04:41 PM

I just made a large pot of my friend E.V.'s Hot & Sour Chicken Soup -- most of it for the freezer as, well, winter's coming! This soup is truly both tasty and beneficial if I come down with one of winter's maladies.

E.V., like me, doesn't so much use a recipe as use an ingredient list and guide.

Thinly slice (today I varied it and used bigger chunks of everything except the carrots) onion, red bell pepper, carrot or zucchini, garlic, ginger and saute in coconut oil until tender.

Add chicken broth and pulled chicken meat. (I cheated and used a supermarket rotisserie chicken -- and put the carcass along with some veg scraps in the freezer to make stock one of these days, also for the freezer.)

Then add Asian fish sauce (nuc mam, nam pla, etc.), chili-garlic paste (or Sambal Olek or other hot pepper sauce), and rice wine vinegar -- all to taste. Adjust the three sauces for your preferred taste or amount of heat. Oh, salt and black pepper.

Believe me, if you're in the throes of a head cold this works a treat. And I find it also settles the stomach and will coax me to eat if nothing sounds good.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Nov 18 - 06:25 PM

This takes ten minutes max. We've had a busy day today and this is what I chucked together. With thanks to Nigel Slater, who provided the idea.

Put a pan of your favourite short pasta on to boil in salted water. 250g for two people.

Drain a jar of tuna in olive oil, preferably yellowfin (albacore). If you have tuna in spring water, throw it away unopened.

Put tuna in a bowl and add the following: a tablespoon of nonpareil capers (never use any capers bigger than those). Two cloves of garlic, finely sliced (throw your garlic crusher away - worst bloody invention ever). A helping of chopped fresh parsley (don't arse about: tear the leaves off the parsley, put them into a mug and snip away like mad for one minute with a pair of scissors). Freshly-ground black pepper. A little bit of salt, only if your tuna is unsalted. Five tablespoons of full-fat creme fraiche. Nigel uses double cream, but trust me on this. Mix up everything roughly. You want a few visible tuna flakes.

Drain the pasta and retain a mug of pasta water (you'll need some to loosen the sauce).
Mix the pasta and the tuna mix together. Use pasta water to loosen. I've never managed without it. Serve in warm bowls. Heresy coming up: serve with Parmesan. True Italians would kill me for that, but it works.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 08 Nov 18 - 11:44 PM

Oooh, those sound good! Last night I made one of our standard soups: saute onions, shallot and garlic in coconut oil, add a rake of grated carrot and keep going on low-ish heat, add chicken stock (well, I use chicken usually, or sometimes vegetable stock from cubes), then chopped-up broccoli and some flakes of dried hot chilli pepper, and finally a couple of fillets of hake. Simmer till any non-grated bits of carrot are soft and the hake has broken up and disappeared into the soup. Very nice with brown soda bread on the side.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Nov 18 - 07:31 AM

I'm doing a risotto this evening, based on scraps of sausage, chicken and stuffing rescued from our last roast chicken dinner that I'd kept in the freezer. There'll be bacon in a t and I'm using by home-made real chicken stock. I'll let you know how it goes.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 09 Nov 18 - 07:33 AM

Vegetable cobbler last night. Carrots, parsnips and swede for the veg inside. Used Jos-Roll frozen pastry for the cut out rounds on top and Parmesan cheese on the pastry.

I think I’ll do a Quorn mince “cottage pie” for tea today and have with some spinach. Sat, probably pizza and (deep fried) chips. Sun may be be Quorn fillets cooked in a sauce made with a sauce that’s basically a jar of the Korma stuff mixed with a tin of chopped tomato, again with rice. Mon, perhaps macaroni cheese, etc.

As you see, rarely anything needing recipes from me… Still, it does serve a purpose with me haven taken on the bulk of the cooking, we do get fresh veg and it beats the Wiltshire Farms type meals.

Trying to get back to a recipe (mostly followed and omitting the ham), one I must repeat soon is potato and leek gratin it worked out really well last time and we have plenty of leeks , although I found the potato needed a while longer to soften in the oven.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Nov 18 - 09:11 AM

Guess who accidentally fired off his last post before editing the damn thing...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 09 Nov 18 - 03:17 PM

Steve Shaw -- throw in a few more things (chop up a tin of anchovies, add a can of diced tomatoes) and you've got a good puttanesca.

Love it! Will try your version as a very acceptable variant.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Helen
Date: 09 Nov 18 - 04:32 PM

This is a good recent food thread: https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=165070&messages=20

And I made the "Mexican" version last night:

Instead of cornmeal, I mash up a can of butter beans or white beans or chickpeas and sometimes add a small amount of flour.

The two main variations I have made are:

"Mexican" with corn kernels, red capsicum and chilli through it and grated cheese mixed in and on top.

Zucchini with grated zucchini - and other available veg - with grated cheese in and on it.

A good standby for a quick meal and very good as leftovers.

The mashed beans/chickpeas makes it high in fibre but in fact the mash looks and acts like mashed potato. A sneaky way to add fibre without ruining a dish. I use them for making fish cakes instead of mashed potato, too. Yum!


Also, has anyone tried using the liquid from the canned white beans, butter beans or chick peas as a substitute for egg white. The liquid is called aquafaba. I tried it for making maccaroon thingies. It worked well. No beanie taste. I liked them.

20 recipes for aquafaba

Hubby & I are not on a meat-free life, but have cut meat back considerably and added lots more beanie-type things. One of my fave foods is sausage rolls but now I make a version based on mashed white beans with lots of yummy vege flavours mixed in.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Nov 18 - 04:45 PM

My version of puttanesca (whore's pasta, or prostitute's spaghetti) is as follows:

For two people.

Four anchovy fillets in oil

100g pitted black olives, roughly chopped

A tablespoon of nonpareil capers

Chopped fresh parsley

A handful of chopped cherry tomatoes, or a tin of tomatoes

Two cloves of garlic, sliced (NOT crushed: never do that abominable thing)

A goodly sprinkling of dried chilli flakes, to taste

Extra virgin olive oil

Freshly-ground black pepper (no salt)

250g spaghetti


Get your spaghetti on the boil in salted water.

In your biggest and best shallow pan (mine are Le Creuset: snob), gently fry the garlic and chill flakes in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil for a few minutes. If the garlic goes brown, you've got it wrong. Just a gentle sizzle.

Add the anchovy and break up the fillets with a wooden spoon until they've melted. Add the capers, tomatoes, parsley, pepper and olives. Simmer until the pasta is done.

Drain the pasta when it's al dente, reserving some pasta water. You may or may not need some. Throw the pasta into the pan with the sauce. Mix well and serve. No Parmesan, but a drizzle of your very finest olive goes well. The whole spirit of the thing is that you use things only out of tins, jars or packets. That's what the ladies of the night would do to fortify themselves for the night's work to come. Gawd knows what their clients thought about the ensuing garlic breath...

In Napoli they would get the Camorra on to you for using anchovies. In other regions the chilli is omitted. That's a shame. You can hold the parsley back and sprinkle it on at the end. You can add dried oregano if you like. Not the worst idea in the world.





Put your

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 09 Nov 18 - 06:03 PM

Put thinly sliced carrots in a big skillet. (good use for a salad shooter)
Ditto celery
add place pieces of pre-cooked kielbasa
splash in 1/3 cup white wine

cover and simmer till carrots are cooked and kielbasa is warmed through

serve with good bread, radishes for something crisp.

We had our kielbasa shipped in by Usinger's in Milwaukee. I cooked it and froze it as soon as it arrived. This may not be practical for those across the pond.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Nov 18 - 07:24 PM

My chicken pot pie/stew doesn't have a recipe with measurements, but I can tell you what goes in it.

I use cooked chicken, in this case, chicken breast from a package that was frozen hard from the store and I didn't bother to try to soften it enough to use some and put the rest back in the freezer. It all thawed and I had about six large chicken breasts to bake at once; this recipe used 3 or 4 of them, and my chicken dice was about 1" sized pieces.

Chopped onions, sauteed, then add diced carrots and let them soften a bit. Dice red-skinned (red lasoda) potatoes and add them last because they soften up more quickly (though these are the waxy potatoes so they hold their shape better than Russets). I had a cup or more of the liquid from when I baked the chicken and I poured that in along with some water. Salt and ground pepper, and a little dried oregano were the seasonings. Water to bring up enough liquid and let it simmer a little, then add the chicken when the veg is ready and let it simmer again. I mix flour with water to use for thickening and mix it into the liquid. Serve with pie crust if you have it (when my children were small I would make pie crust and cut it out with cookie cutters. The plate of baked shapes was on the table to add to the top of their bowls of stew). I have been using some gluten free crackers with lots of different grains and seeds an it's very good broken into large pieces on top.

The way this turned out, it has probably more chicken than vegetables.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Helen
Date: 11 Nov 18 - 03:58 PM

I mentioned aquafaba - an amazing little magic ingredient. It's the water you drain out of a can of white beans, butter beans or chickpeas. The bit you usually throw away.

Raspberry Rose Vegan Macarons (Using Aquafaba)

The first part of the rather long recipe at that webpage:

Ingredients

    Macaron Shells:
    250 grams Aquafaba

    1/8 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
    Pinch of Salt
    150 grams Ground Almonds
    130 gram Pure Icing Sugar*
    110 grams Superfine/Caster Sugar
    A drop of Vegan Red Food Coloring
    A few drops of Organic Rose Extract

    Raspberry Rose Buttercream:
    125 grams Vegan Butter Substitute
    55 grams Icing Sugar
    A few drops of Organic Rose Extract
    A few drops of Vegan Red Food Coloring
    25 Raspberries

    Extras:
    Piping Bags with a Round Tip attached
    Silpat Mats or Silicone Baking Paper
    Baking Trays
    Spray Bottle filled with Water

Instructions

    The night before you want to make your Macarons, prepare your Aquafaba. In a small saucepan, bring 250 grams of Aquafaba to a simmer. Let this simmer away until it has reduced to 110 grams of Aquafaba. (I pour it out and weigh it on a kitchen scale a few times in-between to check). Once it has reached 110 grams, pour it into a bowl to cool and then refrigerate overnight.
    Macaron Shells: Process Ground Almonds and Icing Sugar in a food processor and then sieve into a bowl, making sure there are no lumps in your mixture. Set aside.

[**This is the magic bit. Aquafaba acts like egg white.**]   

With a stand mixer fitted with a clean bowl and with clean beaters, whisk Aquafaba, cream of tartar and salt on high till it turns foamy and resembles frothed up egg whites. Make sure there is no more liquid left at the bottom of the bowl before moving on to the next step.


    Gradually add caster sugar in, bit by bit, whilst your mixer is turned on. Add your food coloring and Rose Extract in and then continue whisking on high for another minute. You should end up with a thick, glossy meringue. etc etc

She has other recipes e.g.
Vegan Chocolate Mousse made with Aquafaba (Chickpea Brine)

And there are heaps of recipes on the 'net if you search for "aquafaba recipes". You can use it wherever you would use egg white, as far as I know, so sweet or savoury.


I confess, I didn't precook the aquafaba the night before, blah blah. I just made a simple little crunchy meringue. They were yummy.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 11 Nov 18 - 05:02 PM

Celebrate all the recipes but sometimes whatever you make is less important compared to the way you cook it.
I use ancient-like clay pots that I soak in water before cooking.
I use separate pots for fish(small) fowl(big) or meat(medium). There will always be some sterilized residue for the next recipe. I buy them from Germany.

If there is too much water at the end , simmer it separately for sauces.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Helen
Date: 11 Nov 18 - 07:16 PM

I read another aquafaba web page and the reason you boil the chickpea water the night before is only if you have been really diligent and cooked your own chickpeas. Like that's gonna happen!

I'm too disorganised for that so I just open a can of chickpeas or other beans. The liquid in the cans is just the right consistency to start making all the different yummy recipes.

I think I'll try the chocolate mousse recipes next.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Helen
Date: 11 Nov 18 - 07:24 PM

Donuel, I have owned one of those clay roasting pots for about 40 years. Haven't used it much over the last few years but maybe I should get it out of the cupboard and give it another go. It used to make a lovely roast leg of lamb.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Nov 18 - 07:33 PM

I have a Romertopf pot that was at my Dad's house as part of his estate. A friend had given it to him and when she was helping me at his house she spotted it and told me I should keep it. That night she roasted a chicken in her Romertopf and it was amazing—tender, moist, meat falling off of the bones. I've found several others in thrift stores and sold them on eBay; I found one large enough to bake a turkey that I sold earlier this year (I don't think I'll ever do a turkey in one, so that's why I sold it. I brine my turkeys and roast them uncovered.)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 11 Nov 18 - 07:49 PM

cool, and the skin is still crisp too.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Nov 18 - 09:30 PM

I take the top off the clay baker before baking is finished to make the skin crisp up.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Joe_F
Date: 12 Nov 18 - 06:07 PM

Today, as an experiment, I bought some beets. I expect I will microwave a beet, and simmer the greens with butter & garlic, like Sicilian spinach. As another experiment, I bought sausage, which I will broil. (Sausage is one of those things I have never eaten except in restaurants.) I will have hot tea. For dessert, sugar wafers.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Nov 18 - 06:10 PM

Beets are pretty forgiving, however you plan to cook them. I usually steam or simmer them in shallow water. I used to peel them before I cooked them, but it seems if you cook them then the outer skin slips off easily.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 12 Nov 18 - 06:40 PM

Beets are easy to grow. Even I could do it. You do need to thin them, because each beet seed is actually a packet with several seeds in it, and if you don't thin them, the beets are too crowded. You can transplant the tiny seedlings so they don't go to waste.

I used to grow beets then make myself a lunch of boiled beets with butter and black pepper. Whole wheat bread on the side.

But then sex reared its ugly head. It seems that many men have a real hate for beets. My husband hates beets so bad that even the smell of my beets, leftover from cooking lunch, was really awful for him. So I gave up as a beet farmer.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Nov 18 - 07:24 PM

Well I love beetroot, and regard the corned beef and beetroot butty as a thing of great joy. However, I pee fake blood after eating it. It must run in the family. I think there's a gene. Nearly forty years ago my two-year-old daughter filled the potty with "blood." I rushed her to the doc in blind panic. Said the doc nonchalantly, "have you been feeding her beetroot?"

I had...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Nov 18 - 08:54 PM

I suspect that is fairly common, Steve.

The weather turned very cold and blustery here today so lentil soup was on the menu. The simple Egyptian version in my Middle Eastern cookbook - water, grated onion, lentils, seasoned with salt, ground pepper, a tiny amount of cumin, and lemon juice.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Nov 18 - 09:26 PM

It's a bit hand-to-mouth this end. It's been a whirlwind four weeks since my dad died unexpectedly on 15 October (even though he was 94: he'd been a picture of health)... We've cleared the house, cremated and scattered me dad on Pendle and moved me mum from Manchester to the Westcountry into what's turned out, fortuitously, to be a lovely residential home, just five miles from our house, no mean task. Food has been a bit on the back burner, and fish and chips has been resorted to, but I did a decent chilli last night and we've had the occasional salmon arrabbiata (ask me) as well as fried salmon with lemon sauce, chips and romanesco. I've also done ox cheek casserole, which takes hours to cook but which is not only a dish of great beauty with mash and greens but which also yields plenty of lovely beefy sauce to stir into pappardelle and sprinkle with parmigiano reggiano. I also did an Elizabeth David beef daube, so simple yet so beautiful. As I've had to travel up north three times in four weeks, I've had ample opportunity to buy stuff at Gloucester Services to stock up my freezer. I have three pieces of rolled brisket, several pounds of ox cheek, two gorgeous pieces of pork shoulder with a lovely covering for crackling, and at least six man-sized pork chops which I shall cook the Delia way, with double cream, mushrooms and lemon juice. At times like this, one's gotta eat properly...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Nov 18 - 11:34 PM

Next time I get to a store with unadulterated pork sirloin (too many producers add a salty mix to their pork, supposedly because people overcook it so it keeps it moister but it's way too salty.) I have a casserole with tomatoes, pork, onion, and eggplant that is served with mashed potatoes. Mmmmm!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 13 Nov 18 - 10:01 PM

mmm. It's a funny old life, sometimes having reservations over eating meat, being finicky with what meat I eat, normally sticking with meals suitable for me and veggie parents and rarely missing meat, etc.

But a pork casserole along those lines does sound quite tempting at the moment...

But I'l probably leave things till Christmas now. If they still do them, I'll probably go for an Iceland frozen stuffed turkey joint wrapped with bacon again, I found last years surprisingly nice. No indoor cats to share it with this year but I'm sure PussPuss, if still around, would like a slice or two to help me out.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Nov 18 - 12:32 AM

I'll post the recipe later. I usually use a sirloin or tenderloin, whichever is available and relatively inexpensive. The eggplant has a fabulous "umami" effect on the rest of the ingredients. I know it isn't something that is like MSG, but it doesn't so much have it's own flavor as it makes everything else taste better.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 14 Nov 18 - 10:20 AM

On the theme of meat, Himself and I went shopping in Kitchener yesterday and came home with a pot roast, among other things. Now, pot roast was never a favourite dish in my family, but Himself is a fan so I made up my mind to get good at it.

Step one, get a decent piece of beef, preferably a well-marbled blade roast. Then haul out the Dutch oven; having been blessed with a generous kin group, we possess a Le Creuset braising pot that does the job in style.

Brown the roast on every side in about a tablespoonful of canola oil (high smoke point). Salt and pepper it well on all sides while you're at it. Set the roast aside and wipe out the pot. Next, sauté a chopped onion, some minced garlic, and a couple of ribs' worth of finely chopped celery in olive oil, to which then add dried thyme and about three quarters of a cup of red plonk with a bit of salt and a good grind of pepper, followed by about half a cup of beef stock and a glug of brandy. (It need not be *good* brandy.) Let it all boil for a few minutes, then put the roast back in the pot. Put on the lid and turn the gas down as low as it will go, or put the pot in the oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Leave it alone for at least two hours.

When the roast is done (tender to an ordinary fork), fish it out of the pot and put it aside. Put the pot on the hob and turn up the gas. Reduce the pot liquor, stirring constantly, adding thickener if you like (I use beurre manié). Carve the roast, laying the slices (or collops, if you carve as clumsily as I do) on a warm platter. Ladle the gravy over all.

Serve with spuds, carrots, etc. I like to roast them in the oven with onion, garlic and slabs of fennel.

And that's what we had for dinner last night.

Tonight, something much less meat-arian, almost certainly involving chickpeas.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 14 Nov 18 - 11:51 AM

Thanks SRS. I had to do a bit of looking up on flavours there. I do like aubergine/eggplant and grow 4 plants (Hansel, a small variety that are good from finger size fruit up and usually crop well) in a container in a greenhouse each year.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 14 Nov 18 - 03:09 PM

Joe, how did you manage to live in Wisconsin for any length of time with never having bratwurst made on the grill in the summer?

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Joe_F
Date: 14 Nov 18 - 06:31 PM

Microwaving a large beet was not a success. It was undercooked (tough). My second attempt, last night, was far more successful: I peeled it, cut it up, and boiled it. Likewise, beet greens take far more time than spinach.

I never knew there was anybody who did *not* piss red after eating beets. It lasts about a day.

A couple of times, I have made a real borsht (with beef cubes, turnips, carrots, etc., etc. -- not the mere shredded beet with sour cream that you get in a US deli). It is a substantial project, but worth it if you have guests.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Nov 18 - 07:42 PM

If you like cold soup, but gazpacho turns you off a bit, you should make salmorejo, the Andalucian dish that resembles a thick gazpacho but which is made very thick by the addition of bread. It's traditionally served in small bowls as a tapas, with a topping of crumbled hard-boiled egg and finely-chopped Serrano ham, with some local breadsticks to accompany. To me, it's the absolute taste of summer and it must be eaten outdoors, and Mrs Steve won't let me make it in winter. Contrary to popular belief, it can be made with top-quality canned tomatoes instead of fresh. In any dish that relies on tomatoes of any kind, there's a magic ingredient that transforms the grub beyond all your dreams. It's a half-teaspoon of sugar. Trust me on that one. Italian cooks use it even if they have the finest sun-ripened San Marzano tomatoes, though they wouldn't admit to it.

I have my own salmorejo recipe but I couldn't possibly post it in November in the northern hemisphere. Ask me again in May.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 14 Nov 18 - 07:48 PM

And never skin tomatoes. That's as bad as doing garlic in a garlic crusher, the worst invention ever. If you pulverise the tomatoes with your hand-blender, you won't notice the bits. And anyway, I like the bits!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Nov 18 - 09:11 PM

This is what my garlic press looks like, and it's what Julia Child's garlic press looked like. She wasn't snooty about how the garlic got broken up or pulverized for her cooking so I follow her lead.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: BobL
Date: 15 Nov 18 - 03:46 AM

I haven't used a garlic press for ages - a lot of garlic gets left behind and is a so-and-so to remove (no hole-clearing gadget such as comes with the Shopify product). It's easier to smash the garlic under the side of a large knife. And then peel it, with no bother.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 15 Nov 18 - 04:04 AM

Joe, beetroot is superb if you scrub and chop it and add it to the other vegetables roasted under a chicken lengthways-halved carrots, long slices of parsnip, peeled halved onions, whole garlic bulbs, chopped celery, fat slices of bell pepper... The beets add a sweet, earthy flavour. I like to slosh dry vermouth over the vegetables, then the chicken juice basted them further.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 15 Nov 18 - 04:14 AM

Beetroot has been variable here but I've had success with "boltardy" some years. Just a simple boil, peel and slice with young samples is all you need with a salad.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Senoufou
Date: 15 Nov 18 - 04:24 AM

1. Take two crumpets out of the packet.
2. Place in toaster.
3. Toast until well-browned.
4. Spread with a great deal of butter.
5. Eat.
6. Give buttery plate to cats to lick.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Nov 18 - 04:37 AM

In fast-cooked pasta sauces I just slice the garlic finely with a small knife. It's better than chopping, which can leave a few unpleasant little nibs. For slow-cooked things such as stews or ragus I just thump the unpeeled cloves with my fist, take off the skin and throw in the broken cloves. You can fish them out at the end but I never do. If I'm baking something such as skin-on chicken pieces (with cubed unpeeled potatoes, thick wedges of onion, strips of pancetta and extra virgin olive oil) in the oven, I separate out the unpeeled cloves and throw them into the baking tray about 20 minutes before the end (they burn otherwise). You can then suck the beautiful, sweet creamy middles out. Another good thing to do with garlic is to wrap the unpeeled, separated cloves of a whole head of garlic in foil with some extra virgin olive oil and bake them in the oven for about half an hour. Squeeze out the lovely middles and blend them with cooked peas, Parmesan cheese and a knob of butter. Makes a fabulous emerald-green crostini topping (thanks for that one, Nigella, you genius). Crushing garlic releases the bitter, acrid elements of the cloves far too rapidly into the dish. Gentle cooking of the cloves sweetens them and adds flavour subtly. I rarely want a pronounced garlicky taste to be the point of the thing. If you're making a pasta sauce, slice the garlic thinly into your pan of cold extra virgin olive oil and leave it to infuse for as long as you like (if the dish calls for chilli flakes, put them in there as well).

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 15 Nov 18 - 04:39 AM

As an alternative, one can melt St Agur into crumpets, Sen.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Nov 18 - 04:39 AM

I forgot to say that I always remove the green stalks from inside garlic cloves. Don't want them in the dish.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Senoufou
Date: 15 Nov 18 - 04:44 AM

Oh Jon, I'd absolutely love to do that, but unfortunately blue/runny cheese gives me serious vertigo which can last for days. :(

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Helen
Date: 15 Nov 18 - 04:49 AM

I like crumpets with the tangy Rose's English Breakfast Marmalade and thin slices of a mild cheese on top. I've been buying Maasdam cheese, which is like a mild swiss cheese, not unlike Jarlsberg.

Hubby used to think I was crazy, but he has been converted to the taste. We don't go much for sweet stuff but the EB Marmalade is more tangy than sweet.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Nov 18 - 04:53 AM

Fry some eggs in butter, set aside on a hot plate, whack up the heat and fry your crumpets (or bread) in the buttery pan. A three-minute delight. You can hasten the procedure by toasting the crumpet/bread to about half way before frying.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 15 Nov 18 - 04:57 AM

Helen, I think marmalade (typically made from Ma Made here) is a topping Pip might choose for a crumpet. Not one for me but we are all different...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Helen
Date: 15 Nov 18 - 02:28 PM

Fried eggs. One of my fave recipes is from Claudia Roden's Middle Eastern Cookbook. I've owned a copy of this book since maybe the 1980's and had to upgrade to a new edition about 15 years ago because the old one was falling apart.

Here is someone else's recipe:
Beid bi Tom

Fried eggs with garlic and lemon
Ingredients
    2 tablespoons butter
    2 cloves garlic, crushed
    juice of ½ lemon or 1 teaspoon sumac
    6 eggs
    crushed dried mint to garnish

Directions

(Roden says, crush the garlic and put it in the lemon juice. Cook the garlic and lemon a bit to soften the garlic and then slide in the eggs.)

    Melt the butter in a large skillet, or use 2 smaller ones.
    Add the garlic and lemon or sumac.
    Slide in the eggs, previously broken into a bowl, and continue to fry gently.
    Rub some of the dried mint in the palm of your hand, letting it sprinkle over the eggs.
    When the whites are set, remove the pan from the heat, sprinkle lightly with salt, and serve.

Yum!

Jon, the thing about seville orange marmalade is that it is not overly sweet and the distinctive tang of the oranges and orange rind is music to my taste buds. I also like Cointreau, for the same reason.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Nov 18 - 06:33 PM

I grow my own garlic and it is very easy to peel. It's the "elephant" variety that is probably actually a large leek, but great garlic flavor. The garlic press is simple to operate - crush the portion (I have to cut up my cloves, they're very large) - then use the knife to rearrange the bit left in the press and press it again, or scoop it out into the food being prepared. I don't waste any.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Nov 18 - 07:28 PM

I see you're holding out on the garlic-crushing, Maggie. All I can say is, give my method a whirl. I assure you that my garlic crusher (which actually looks uncannily like yours) still lives in my kitchen gizmo drawer, where it resides but never sees the light of day. It harks back to the era in which I totally misunderstood what garlic can REALLY do for dishes, but it still does have sentimental value. Chop, bash or slice your garlic, and use a lot more cloves than you otherwise would. Garlic needs to be add subtle. It does not need to add garlic...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Nov 18 - 07:51 PM

I have a garlic roasting thing but I've never gotten around to using it; I think my Dad sent it one xmas and he loved using his. Smashing garlic under a knife is messy and you have to clean the board or counter. There are times when I slice garlic, depending on how it's being used. Like I said, I grow the very large garlic so the skin is robust and it comes off easily. And when I grow garlic here and harvest every spring I have enough to last me all year. It keeps well in a dark area stored in a paper bag.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Nov 18 - 07:56 PM

Exemplary. But flippin' 'eck, Maggie, a bit of squidged garlic on your worktop isn't any more trouble to clear up than trying to get all those bits out of your crusher...?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 15 Nov 18 - 09:46 PM

It snowed and was cold. So we made a chicken pot pie, with real pie crust on the top and a pretty scalloped design around the edge.
Pie crust, leftover roast chicken, peas, onions, cream sauce, and herbs.

It's work, but it's worth it. I use Jiffy pie crust mix. One box makes two small crusts. The second half of the mix freezes well in the box you buy it in. Just close up the inner bag.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 16 Nov 18 - 01:06 AM

Made lamb meatballs in a spicy soup with freekah, Verra nice, apart from a flaming row with the puppy, who snatched the first few from the table when I turned my back, smashing the plate they were on. Teenagers...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 17 Nov 18 - 12:19 PM

Gyoza for dinner tonight thanks to the new Asian grocery just a nice dog walking distance away.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 17 Nov 18 - 02:29 PM

Steve do you like small hot garlic cloves or big and mild elephant garlic?
I like a little raw hot on uncooked dishes or large quantities of mild in cooked recipes.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Nov 18 - 07:09 PM

Mild garlic is about as useful as decaf coffee. No use at all in other words. When garlic is gently cooked, any harshness disappears and all will be sweet, soft and lovely. We've had Yottam's roasted cauliflower tonight, a one-tray dish with chopped Nocellara olives, a horseshoe of sliced piccante chorizo (skinned, natch), two red onions hacked into big wedges, a hefty sprinkling of sweet smoked paprika, a very large cauliflower hacked into florets, a handful of pumpkin seeds and a large glug of extra virgin olive oil. Not least, several cloves of garlic, smashed with the fist then lightly chopped into big pieces. Seasoning of course. You mix that lot in a big bowl then spread it all out on a baking tray on which you've put a big sheet of greaseproof paper. Roast in a hot oven (200C, or 400F for you antediluvian yanks) for half an hour, turning it all over once half way through. When you take it out, mix in a goodly amount of chopped fresh parsley. It's an amazingly beautiful dish. Me and Mrs Steve are very fond of hot spiciness, but if you're not quite as keen you could always use a milder chorizo.

If I need to use garlic in the raw, I just slice it very thinly with a sharp paring knife. I use that in my tuna pasta dish in which the only cooked ingredient is the pasta. The other ingredients are tuna in olive oil, creme fraiche, capers, garlic, parsley and seasoning. Don't be scared of raw garlic, or any garlic, but just cut it up very thinly. Garlic should rarely be the point of the thing, unless you're making garlic mayo in which to dip your chips. English chips, not crisps.

When I buy garlic I'm not concerned with how "hot" it might be. It has to look fresh and feel very firm and not smell manky. Beware of garlic that's on sale well out of season. It can be very harsh and acrid. I've had to give up growing my own because my garden soil is plagued with white rot, which screws up my onions, leeks and garlic and which has spores that live in the soil for twenty years.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Nov 18 - 07:38 PM

I grow garlic from some that I originally dug up in the woods across the street from my house. It's the hard-neck elephant garlic that is probably actually a leek. It can be strong, but since I grow it and keep it for a long time, I think it loses some strength over time. Use more to get the flavor you want.

Our weather warmed this week so I've worked in the yard. Dinner tonight was light—a sharp blond cheddar cheese on whole grain crackers, topped with slices of kielbasa and washed down with a merlot.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Nov 18 - 07:55 PM

I actually cut all my grass today (half an acre). It was surprisingly long considering that we had two quite vicious frosts two weeks ago. My garden's been a bit neglected for a few weeks after my dad died, but my sprouting broccoli bed looks great and my parsnips and leeks are looking good, and my freezer is full of a bumper crop of Autumn Bliss raspberries, best year ever.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Nov 18 - 08:16 PM

I envy you those raspberries! If you look at agriculture maps of the US, you'll see that the state producing the most raspberries commercially is Washington state, where I grew up. We spent summers grazing on various wild patches of raspberries planted and forgotten by neighbors. Pick the berry, blow off any dust or bugs, eat. That was the routine for 9-year-old kids.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Nov 18 - 06:24 AM

Many moons ago I tried growing summer raspberries, but they soon got decimated by reversion disease. But the Autumn Bliss ones have been growing merrily away for twenty years and are as vigorous as ever. They are primocane raspberries (they fruit on new season's wood) which means I can hack the whole lot to the ground in winter and I don't bother training them (a bit of thinning maybe). I'm at the mercy of blackbirds occasionally but I don't mind if they have a few, and in indifferent late summers the good old grey mould gets lots of them just as they're getting ready to be picked. It's generally late August before meaningful quantities can be picked. But it's very nice to have them in the freezer for indulgent winter puds. My soil pH is a bit high for raspberries so I put on loads of grass clippings and leaf mould in spring in addition to a layer of compost. Once a year I have to bust my organic principles and give them a dose of chelated iron to stop the leaves going too yellow.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 18 Nov 18 - 06:39 AM

I had Autumn Bliss and they were fab, but the red fellows, the grey squirrels of raspberries, outbred them.. must replant them.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Nov 18 - 06:42 AM

My Autumn Bliss ARE red!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 18 Nov 18 - 06:52 AM

Oh? Mine were a lovely glowing amber!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Nov 18 - 10:07 AM

If mold is a problem put some regular store-strength hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle and spritz them all in a preventative move or if you start to see the mold. And sprinkling ground cornmeal on the ground under them is good for fertilizing and slows or eliminates the mold growth.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Nov 18 - 02:07 PM

I have a feeling that grey mould gets in at the flowering stage. I'll check whether hydrogen peroxide fits in with my organic sentiments. I suppose it's only water with an extra dollop of oxygen...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Nov 18 - 02:18 PM

I am only organic in my gardening, Steve - that's where this peroxide recommendation comes from! Same with the cornmeal. See Dirt Doctor for lots of organic tips. Near the top on the left side you'll see "Library Topics" and you can search on hydrogen peroxide as a treatment or you can search on mold and see what is recommended.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Nov 18 - 04:46 PM

Here is an image of my pork and eggplant recipe:

Flickr Mudcat album.

I serve it with the mashed potatoes, it's a perfect combination. I don't sprinkle parsley because I don't like parsley.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Nov 18 - 06:51 PM

We had the Puglian dish orecchiette con cime di rape tonight. You can use any short pasta but orecchiette is the traditional thing and without it the dish would be delicious but not authentic. As a matter of fact, the fact that I use tomatoes is not authentic either, but I think they add a lot. In Puglia they use stringy turnip tops, very nice too, but I've used purple sprouting broccoli or tenderstem to good advantage and tonight I used that new-fangled veg, kalettes, aka flower sprouts. Delicious. If you use tenderstem, you need to cut the stems into small pieces (leave the tops whole), otherwise you end up with a bit too much crunch.

For two people:

Put 250g orecchiette pasta in a very large pan of boiling salted water, having noted the required cooking time on the pack.

In your best shallow casserole pan, put two cloves of finely-sliced garlic into three tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Add dried chilli flakes (or fresh chillies) to your taste. The dish should be quite spicy but not fiery. Sauté gently for a couple of minutes.

Add a handful of good cherry tomatoes, cut in half. At the same time add a goodly amount of chopped fresh parsley. Simmer that lot gently for a few minutes to soften the tomatoes a bit. Season gently.

Two minutes before the pasta is due to be al dente, throw 200g broccoli/kalettes into the pasta pan. It will slow the pasta down by a minute, which is what you want.

Three minutes later, having checked for doneness, drain the pasta/greens pan quickly and throw the mix into the sauce. You need a bit of the pasta water to go in there. Mix thoroughly and serve up, topped with a grating of pecorino (or parmesan) and a drizzling of your finest olive oil.

You'll find fussier versions of this that require you to pre-cook the greens, etc., but forget all that. This works a treat. It's one of our favourite dishes, and Mrs Steve is very hard to please, I assure you.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Nov 18 - 07:03 PM

"I don't sprinkle parsley because I don't like parsley."

How can this be? What's not to like if the parsley is fresh? The only parsley I ever use is fresh out of my garden, always flat-leaf. I wouldn't allow dried parsley into the house. In fact, I find all dried herbs, with the honourable exception of dried oregano, to be utterly disgusting. Dried basil is just about the worst.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Nov 18 - 10:42 PM

I'm drying basil on my kitchen counter even as you type. Most of the time I put it fresh into ziplock bags, force the air out, and freeze them. It stays green that way, but for some things, dried works.

I don't like parsley, I'm not particularly fond of kale, I dislike lima beans. There, I outed myself.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 18 Nov 18 - 11:18 PM

Tried the cauliflower tray bake but it didn’t really work for me. Half an hour: still raw. An hour: drying out. I added olive oil. Then I fell asleep. Woke and it had been put in fridge, rejected as too greasy. Tasted ok to me... maybe my oven’s too slow. Maybe I should have put foil over it...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 19 Nov 18 - 04:27 AM

I wouldn't ever use dried parsley either, but dried thyme is fine by me.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Nov 18 - 07:55 AM

Was your oven hot enough, Thompson? I've never had a failure! 35 mins max otherwise the cauliflower gets overcooked. Only use the best extra virgin olive oil too, enough to coat everything. A bit more fat comes out of the chorizo.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 19 Nov 18 - 08:41 AM

Maybe not - it’s a Neff, so should be good, but it can lie.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Raggytash
Date: 19 Nov 18 - 09:30 AM

Last night it was Murghi Saag that I had made the day before, for some reason this type of food is always better the day after it was made.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 20 Nov 18 - 12:13 AM

A lot of food is better as leftovers - partly because you’re anxious when cooking for others, partly because the tastes blend and intensify overnight. Here’s another good tray bake - very handy for guests because it’s so easy - the blessed Nigella Lawson’s chicken thighs with frozen peas and leeks:

Empty two packs of frozen peas into a chicken-sized roasting pan and give them a smash down. Add the whites of four or five leeks, washed and chopped in 2cm slices. Chopped cloves of garlic to taste. A bunch of dill, torn up. Eight chicken thighs on top. A good slosh of dry vermouth, or white wine if you don’t have it. A scatter of flaky salt, a glug of olive oil, or rapeseed oil.

Cook for three quarters of an hour in a 200c/400f oven, take out and give a mix (but leave the leeks up top so they get caramelised and sweet). Back in for another half hour. Chop a bit more dill over the top and serve.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: sciencegeek
Date: 20 Nov 18 - 03:45 AM

found beautiful escarole at the store so picked up three heads and had a ball... first off was escarole soup

chicken broth well seasoned to taste
sweet Italian sausage formed into tiny meatballs
1 head of escarole chopped
bring to boil and then simmer 1/2 hour
add 1/4 cup of acini de pepe - a tiny pasta just larger than couscous
cook until pasta is done, serve with crusty bread

greens & beans

1# Italian bulk sausage crumbled and cooked in olive oil with plenty of minced garlic
add 4 cans of cannelloni beans
simmer for 20 minutes add water if needed
add 1 head of escarole torn into large pieces
simmer until greens are tender
serve with grated cheese and crusty bread

escarole with angel hair pasta

start pot of water for pasta

add minced garlic to olive oil & heat
add diced tomatoes - canned is fine
add 1 tbsp of capers
season with basil & oregano to taste
add 1 head of escarole chopped into bite sized pieces
cover pan and simmer until greens are tender

by the time escarole is done, pasta should be done, drained and returned to pot

stir the escarole into the pasta and serve with grated cheese

I cook by eye and taste, so adjust to your taste

all three dishes hold well and reheat just fine

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 20 Nov 18 - 03:51 AM

I might try the chicken, leek and peas recipe, but I shall add some green pepper, just to spite the "blessed" Nigella (who threatened to excommunicate anyone who used green peppers - on the grounds that red peppers are SWEETER). That recipe would be ruined by red peppers, but green ones would be rather nice, I think.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Nov 18 - 05:17 AM

"...the blessed Nigella Lawson’s chicken thighs..."

Oh, I don't know. I've always thought she has very nice legs...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 20 Nov 18 - 07:26 AM

100 million Americans will eat Campbells green bean casserole recipe this week.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Nov 18 - 02:49 PM

I'm going to steam some green beans, but no Campbells soup will go near them.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Nov 18 - 06:57 PM

I must say, over the past couple of years I've turned away from steaming. I'll still steam chopped sweetheart cabbage in order to ensure that I don't get overly soggy cabbage, but I've taken to boiling all other veg. I've found that hard veg such as carrot batons and tight Cornish cauliflower florets cook much more evenly when boiled, and, when I have awkward veg such as tenderstem, with tops that cook quickly but stalks that take much longer, I'm better off boiling with the shoots covered but with the stalks under water and the heads sticking out above in the steam. A very good idea is to split the lower parts of tenderstem stalks up the bottom inch or two with a sharp knife. When I steam, I find that the water in the pan underneath still ends up with water that looks like I might have lost nutrients. As I understand it, boiling, as opposed to steaming, doesn't really lose much at all. It's texture for me every time. Steamed carrots just don't do it for me at all. A very nice winter veg combo with your roast chicken is steamed organic cabbage mixed with boiled carrot batons. Naturally, you will also need roast parsnips, it goes without saying. And I will not use the cooking water from any brassica to make gravy. It just ain't right.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Iains
Date: 21 Nov 18 - 05:16 AM

Scary vegetable cooking water. The longer you boil it, the more concentrated the pesticide residues.

A school of thought below.
https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/should-vegetable-cooking-water-be-saved/

and a recent report:

[PDF]The 2016 European Union report on pesticide

https://www.actu-environnement.com/media/.../news-31777-efsa-pesticides-aliments.pdf
(I do not have much luck linking to a pdf so the link needs copying and pasting)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Nov 18 - 06:29 AM

Well just wash all veg thoroughly before cooking or eating raw. That will get rid of almost all residues. My point was that brassica water makes for not nice gravy, and I can't think of a good use anyway for water that spuds have been boiled in, except for when you make those lovely thick winter stews that you boil up for two hours with shin of beef, potatoes, carrots, swedes and onions. I'm making a vast crock of that this weekend, to go with Atora suet dumplings, what else. Just the thing for eating off your knee out of a big bowl in front of Strictly on Saturday and the results show on Sunday. I think she doth worry too much. Eating lots of veg will far outweigh in benefits the risks of ingesting what are probably tiny amounts of toxins.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 21 Nov 18 - 06:40 AM

We always steam spuds. Makes them sweeter.

Risotto, though,I make in the pressure cooker (otherwise mainly used for stock). It’s not a classic risotto but a big hearty rice based mixup.

Fry chopped onion till transparent, add some risotto rice (I like carnaroli best), then when it’s glossy, courgette and aubergine and dried mushrooms, then a good dose of stock. A sloshy mix around and the pressure cooker is closed and brought up to pressure.

While it’s coming to pressure and humming away for I think around 10 or 15 minutes, I simmer a handful of frozen shellfish mix with butter and lemon and dill.

Then I take the pressure cooker off the heat and let the pressure off with a long-handled wooden spoon. Add in the liquor from the shellfish and a glass or more of white wine. Stir well and bring back up to pressure. Five minutes and it’s done.

It’s nice with lemon wedges to squeeze over, and/or (sorry, Italians) Parmesan.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Nov 18 - 07:25 AM

For a decent cheat's risotto (does away with all that adding and stirring), proceed as usual at first, sauteeing your onions gently (in butter, not oil). If you're also using chopped pancetta, add that now and cut down on the butter. Then turn up the heat and add the rice, just to toast it a little bit, stirring to coat with fat. Add a small glass of white wine and let that bubble for a minute or two. Then add any herbs you're using (chopped thyme is always good) and seasoning. Add your boiling stock (I find that you need slightly over twice the volume of stock as the volume of rice). Bring to a healthy simmer, give it a good stir, turn the heat down, put the lid on and forget it for 14 minutes (open the prosecco).

After that, you need to give it a really good bashing about for a minute of two to bring out the creaminess. Adjust the liquid. Only then do I add any other ingredients, such as cooked peas, broad beans or French beans, or sautéed mushrooms or scraps of leftover chicken or sausage. The world's your oyster. Turn off the heat and add a big knob of butter and a generous handful of freshly-grated Parmesan. Keep checking the liquid level (it keeps on thickening for a bit) and seasoning. For me, the coup de grace (but not for Maggie) is to stir in a handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley. You'll live forever.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stanron
Date: 21 Nov 18 - 07:45 AM

By this time of the year my solid fuel stove is going full time all day and banked up at night.

It has a large flat top that can be used for slow cooking and heating water. It is very good for 'foil steaming'. Yesterday's offering had a piece of pork belly, one whole, peeled onion, one large peeled carrot (not chopped up) and one large slab of peeled swede.

All of these are placed on one half of a long strip of strong foil. When I remember a few cloves of garlic are put in as well.

The foil is folded back on itself and the three seams are double folded. All four corners get an extra fold. This gets placed on the top of the stove for a couple of hours.

Water comes off the meat and the onions also give off water. Over time this turns to steam. The package blows up like a balloon. Everything is cooked after the ballooning has gone on for about thirty minutes.

The vegetables are a revelation. Super succulent and sweet. I do the occasional vegetable only steam. Parsnips end up a bit dry but an extra small onion mashed up with the parsnip sorts that out.

I think I'll do a vegetable only job tonight, just replacing the meat with a leek. Yummy.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Senoufou
Date: 21 Nov 18 - 08:59 AM

Husband's Fiery Horror dinner:-

Brown a large chopped onion in a little vegetable oil.
Add two tablespoons of oil and one of peanut butter, and one tablespoon of salt, plus half a pint of water.

Add three chopped tomatoes and half a jar of tomato paste, a Maggi chicken stock cube and a tablespoon of hot Madras curry powder.
Chuck in four Scotch bonnets and a pile of cubed meat.

Simmer for thirty minutes until both cats and the wife are partly asphyxiated and requiring oxygen.

Meanwhile, using the rice steamer, put a selection of any vegetables in the steaming compartment above and cook with the Basmati rice until ready (about ten minutes)

The Horror left over can be decanted into containers and put in the fridge. It will do for a further two meals.
.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 21 Nov 18 - 09:16 AM

I agree that the steamer is for puddings.

I don't "boil" my vegetables, I simmer them, and whenever possible I get organic ones, so using the water shouldn't be a problem.

I am astonished at Thompson's 10 or 15 minutes in a pressure cooker to cook rice. When I used to use a pressure cooker, that sort of timing would have been for a hearty stew of the kind that would have taken several hours in a slow oven.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: MMario
Date: 21 Nov 18 - 12:43 PM

Tonight will be tortellini en brodo (sausage stuffed tortellini, turkey broth) with asiago shredded on top, and a mixed greens salad.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Nov 18 - 02:14 PM

When I say boil, Jos, I don't mean a rolling boil in deep water. I mean a simmer in as little water as possible, say half way up the veg, with a tight-fitting lid, usually with a pinch of salt. I have pans with glass lids with a small vent (a hole) which means I can see what's going on in there but have the lid tight on. I got fed up with pans with lids that I had to have tottering precariously over the edge of the pan to let the steam out.

We're having my home-made chunky guacamole dip tonight with crudités, followed by cheese and biscuits (I have some Vallage triple creme cheese and a bit of leftover Gorgonzola piccante). I don't go for those abject little tubs of supermarket guacamole. I get two ripe avocados which I mush up roughly in a bowl with a fork. It can be as rough or smooth as you like, but I like a bit of texture meself. Into that goes half a green chilli, finely chopped, six diced cherry tomatoes, the juice of a small lime, a goodly seasoning of salt and some finely chopped parsley. It should be coriander/cilantro really, but Mrs Steve can't abide the stuff (she says it tastes like washing-up liquid) so I use the parsley instead. Maggie could stick with the coriander. ;-) I find it tastes better made at least several hours in advance.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Nov 18 - 08:51 PM

I wonder what they're serving over in the Mudcat Tavern?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Senoufou
Date: 22 Nov 18 - 04:19 AM

Ooooh SRS, I can't wait for the Mudcat Tavern to open its doors!
And I hope they'll be serving hot buttered crumpets!

I've been trying for years to persuade my husband to reduce the quantities of salt and fat in his Fiery Horror. A heaped tablespoon of salt is far too much. Imagine his blood pressure! And all that blooming oil. It makes a greasy mess in the dishwasher filter.

I wonder if I hid all the tablespoons? But no, he merely use his cupped hand to hull more and more into the brew, like his mother and sisters do.
He's now discovered Vindaloo microwaveable meals at Morrisons. They have a really HOT one with that logo of five chillies on the packet and a warning printed in red. He often has one as a midday snack before heading off for his work. However can he stand it?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Nov 18 - 10:49 AM

It's Thanksgiving day, a holiday in the US on the fourth Thursday of November, so people take the whole week off if they can, or at least take off Friday if it isn't already a part of their holiday. Wednesday is usually a good day to start preparing part of the meal, but this year I was racing to finish putting up a new corner of the fence to keep the dogs in and anything else out. I'm working carefully around the house today because I pulled a muscle yesterday.

The 16 pound (small by most standards) turkey is in the brine as of early this morning. I find it doesn't need to be in the salt and sugar mix for more than 4-6 hours to be very nicely seasoned and salted. I steam-juiced some frozen cranberries this year so instead of our usual sparking apple juice (Martinelli's is the best brand) I'm mixing frozen apple juice half strength, adding a cup or so of my full-strength cranberry juice, then when people want a drink I'll mix it with seltzer to give it a sparkle at the correct dilution.

The rolls will be started soon, the root vegetables that will be roasted will be peeled and cut up. I'm using an extra roasting oven (counter top) for either the rolls or the veg, but since the turkey is really best when it's had an hour to rest, that's plenty of time for other things to go in the oven. (I also have some green peppers that I'll put in with the root vegetables, just because I like roasted peppers.) They'll all get a coating of olive oil, salt, pepper, and anything else that strikes my fancy the roast till as much as possible is caramelized. There will probably be two, possibly three vegetarians here today, so we're going heavy on the side dishes.

Appetizers will be out for when people arrive - this crew always goes for the olives so there will be a can of those out (I didn't get by the fancy grocery store with all of the various olives that are available by the pound), some deviled eggs, cashews, just whatever is around they'll eat. Getting ready for the big meal an hour later, so they don't need to fill up, just graze.

The yeast rolls are homemade, the apple pie is brought by my ex and I have never been able to persuade him to make his own crust so it will be the tough grocery store crust with a pretty good homemade filling.

I'm going to mix up some cranberry sauce here soon and chill it. Make from scratch with cranberries, orange juice, and sugar. Cook it till the pectin is released and it naturally gels.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 22 Nov 18 - 11:18 AM

Golly, my pressure cooker wouldn't do a stew in 15 minutes!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Nov 18 - 12:43 PM

I love coriander, but there is apparently a gene involved with whether people like that or not. I grow it (comes back voluntarily every fall and winter) and freeze it to use in guacamole, bean dishes, etc. Guacamole is best eaten as fresh as possible. If it has to be stored, I freeze it as soon as possible in ice cube trays to defrost as many as I need later (defrost slowly, microwaves must be used carefully if that is your preferred defrost method. 10-20 seconds at a time.)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Nov 18 - 02:15 PM

My chunky guacamole is definitely better for a few hours in the fridge. The lime juice prevents any browning of the avocado. I suppose it could be different if you're making that smooth purée of the type supermarkets sell. I too love coriander, but it's denied to me. I suppose I could always sprinkle a bit in last minute, but it wouldn't be the same somehow.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 22 Nov 18 - 05:36 PM

For our Thanksgiving turkey dish, I sliced a raw turkey breast into thin "steaks" and sautéed them in toasted sesame oil. Dee-licious!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Nov 18 - 06:34 PM

I understand that a wild turkey has been terrorising the town of Johnston, Rhode Island, for months. Good for him!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Nov 18 - 11:28 PM

My guacamole is made by squeezing a lemon into a bowl then scooping the avocado out of the skin with a tablespoon and using a couple of forks to mash it up, but it isn't smooth like the grocery store stuff. I grate onion into it because years ago my son wouldn't eat onion if he saw it in things but he liked the flavor if he didn't know it was there. I dice up jalapeno or poblano peppers really small and use the garlic press for the garlic. Chop up the cilantro and stir in. Salt and pepper.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 03:29 AM

I saw onion in some recipes and not others and decided against. I'm not a massive fan of raw onion. No garlic in mine either. I don't recall seeing that during my recipe-sweep. My recipe has a small handful of cherry tomatoes, the best I can get, per two avocados, finely diced, which nicely loosens the mix. I found that I need to use a tad more salt than I might have thought I needed. I'm not a salt fanatic.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: BobL
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 03:40 AM

Pressure cooker: Beef stew 15-20 mins. Topside pot roast about 30 mins depending on size. Chicken casserole 5 mins. Plus the preliminary browning and bringing up to pressure. But I wouldn't bother to use it for rice, which only takes 10 mins (15 from cold) anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 05:17 AM

I don't have a pressure cooker, or a slow cooker for that matter, but I can't see how a piece of beef suited to long, slow cooking can properly develop a melting texture and depth of flavour in 30 minutes. Naturally, I stand to be corrected, but I won't be investing in such gizmos any time soon. About thirty years ago I did flirt with a slow cooker. I found that it produced a diagreeably dry texture in meat.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 08:28 AM

And we have just ordered a pressure/multi cooker. I'm not quite sure where it's going to go yet or whether or not it will get much use but vegetable soups are one thing we have mind for it.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 09:24 AM

Carmalize, do not carnalize, a chopped white onion per loaded Yam with chopped jalapenos. spice to your own delight and POOF the Yam is no longer sweet but a crinchy savory treat. Pile on top cooked bacon, cheese and some baked yam then bake again until melted.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 10:14 AM

I have an Instant Pot electronic pressure cooker (otherwise known as a multi-cooker), and I give it house room because it cooks whole grains (especially brown rice) perfectly and works boffo as a stock pot. Now, I know you're all going to tell me just to put the stock pot on the back burner of the stove and go to bed, and I did just that for most of my increasingly long life, but I never slept soundly knowing that a gas hob was burning in the kitchen. The Instant Pot can be left unattended, and does not occupy a quarter of the high-value real estate of the stove top.

It also steams the Christmas pudding -- again, without supervision -- and does it in a quarter of the time required to do it the old-fashioned way, in the canner.

If your household eats in the vegetarian/vegan style, an electronic multi-cooker could be a game-changer. Here, the devices are marketed as time-savers, which is rather misleading. What they do is safely handle tasks that otherwise require personal attendance, allowing you to do other things. Where they do save time directly is in pre-cooking beans, which takes only about half an hour.

I tried cooking a pot roast in it and was disappointed in the texture of the meat: stringy. The Le Creuset enamelled iron pot remains unsurpassed for that job.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 10:52 AM

The Instant Pot Duo V2 7 in 1 is on an Amazon (UK) "Deal of the day" today, apparently £80 compared to an RRP of £170.

It was one of the ones we considered and may be a good buy but we opted for a Tefal that was £30 cheaper.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 11:23 AM

I couldn't agree more, Charmion. I have two Le Creuset deep casseroles, a large one (pot roast, bulk ragu production and big stews, etc) and a slightly smaller one (casseroles and stews for two and brilliant for risottos) and a large Le Crueset shallow casserole (best thing for making pasta sauces that need gentle sauteeing of chilli and garlic, etc, as it's big enough to chuck the cooked pasta into and stir in). I've had them for many years and I honestly don't understand all this talk of pressure cookers and electrical gizmos. I feel sorry for whoever has to wash 'em up, and, well, do they REALLY produce good grub...?

I've inherited, at no cost to myself, two glass-lidded pans with vented lids which are perfect for boiling potatoes or veg, and (the coup de grace) a magnificent huge lidded stainless steel frying pan which is brilliant for cooking rare steaks, for starting off pork chops and pot roasts before they go in the oven and for browning minced steak for chilli or ragus.

All these pans need, at most, fifteen or twenty minutes' soaking in hot water with a drop or two of Fairy Liquid to get them clean. I only ever use silicone utensils in them, never metal ones. One thing I've never done is put my Le Cruesets in the dishwasher.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 12:02 PM

In our house rice takes around an hour. Perhaps it’s a slow house.

My mother made the best stews I’ve tasted. She started them in the pressure cooker then moved them to a grungy old casserole in the oven for a couple of hours. Beef or mutton, carrots, celery, bay leaf, thyme, water, and a good slosh of red wine, then a squirt of Lea & Perrin’s Worcester sauce (correctly pronounced Wooster, of course) and a dash of Angostura bitters. Sometimes she’d go wild and add a little orange zest. Oh, and spuds went in too.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 12:57 PM

It's WorcesterSHIRE sauce!

Orange zest is a constituent of Elizabeth David's boeuf en daube, though she leaves the rind in strips. If you throw red wine into a stew or casserole, it's best to add it early, before the other liquid goes in, and get it to a merry bubble to give the alcohol time to evaporate with the lid off. Or just boil the wine in a small pan separately, set fire to it then pour it in. Burning the booze is good fun and it avoids a degree of harshness getting into the stew. If you have good stock you shouldn't need the Worcestershire sauce, though adding it does no harm, or the bitters. As for herbs, I might make a little bunch of thyme sprigs, parsley stems and a bay leaf, maybe a little sprig of sage, all tied together with string, that I can remove towards the end. I find I can overdo the bay and I'm always careful with rosemary, which can be a bit of a hooligan if too much is added. I've been known to add bacon pieces to a casserole, though I never put in mushrooms, which I think add nothing. However, the inclusion of soaking water from dried porcini is a great addition. Another Elizabeth David trick is to add a few bits of pork rind. She cuts hers into tiny pieces but I wouldn't want to encounter tiny pieces of soft pigskin in my food, so I leave mine in big pieces that I can fish out before serving up. I get the rind by trimming it off pork chops, which I won't buy if they have been trimmed up. They can freeze until you need them. They add a nice degree of richness. If I'm slow cooking, I leave the carrots, celery and onions in much bigger chunks that I otherwise would. That way they add nice texture.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 01:38 PM

The instant pot duo is also a great way to sterilize your surgical tools, prepare growth medium for mushroom production, sterilize almost anything except for prions (mad cow protein).

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 02:03 PM

I remembered some of this discussion last night when most of my small family and a couple of friends were at my house for Thanksgiving dinner. "No one, absolutely NO ONE is to give me one of those multi-cooker things." They asked if this was a xmas list tip. "Yes. You won't find one of those things on my list." It was more of a threat than a non-wish.

The pots and pans and few devices I own each have their own characteristics, and I am not interested in discarding the bulk of these so one thing can take over and do a half-assed job on an assortment of dishes.

I had always thought a rice cooker was overkill, then I started reading what the movie critic and cancer survivor Roger Ebert said about them. He had to get his food through a tube for the last several years of his life, but he was always really focussed on real food. https://priceonomics.com/rice-cookers/. This is just one article about his attitudes, so a few years ago I spent about $50 for a Cuisinart rice cooker that is just what he says, cook and warm, and it has a bonus stainless steel basket that fits over the top for steaming while the rice cooks. I like this because the rice doesn't burn to the bottom of the pan (though in some cultures, "pegau" or singed rice, is a delicacy. My Puerto Rican ex taught us all that you NEVER put the pot in the sink to soak when there is rice stuck burned to the bottom. You scrape out that delicacy and put it on the top of the platter of food.)

The iron skillets are precious for sauteed foods, I have a couple of non-stick pans for other specific things that would be hard on the seasoned finish of the skillets. The stainless deep pot "Dutch oven" has as set of uses (pot roasts, boiling potatoes, soups, etc.) and the deep "chicken fryer" cast iron skillet with the well-fitting lid has others. The deep Cuisinart enameled dutch oven is great for stove-top or oven dishes like pot roasts, stew, etc. The graniteware roaster and the Romertopf clay baker are primarily for roasting chickens, etc. The pressure cooker doesn't get used often, it generally speeds of several of those other tasks already mentioned. I am not convinced that one device can replace all of those and certainly the volume it holds doesn't match all of the other devices.

The rice cooker is perfect for rice and other grains; I add things to it and (for example) have a pot of chicken and rice (isn't that the original comfort food for cultures around the world?) and broccoli or cauliflower steamed to go alongside. I'm not finished exploring the rice cooker, I'm not willing to add another universal device to the kitchen.

/rant off

https://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/the-pot-and-how-to-use-it

No, I am not putting you on the Rice Diet. Eat what you like. I am thinking of you, student in your dorm room. You, solitary writer, artist, musician, potter, plumber, builder, hermit. You, parents with kids. You, night watchman. You, obsessed computer programmer or weary web-worker. You, lovers who like to cook together but don't want to put anything in the oven. You, in the witness protection program. You, nutritional wingnut. You, in a wheelchair.

And you, serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. You, person on a small budget who wants healthy food. You, shut-in. You, recovering campaign worker. You, movie critic at Sundance. You, sex worker waiting for the phone to ring. You, factory worker sick of frozen meals. You, people in Werner Herzog's documentary about life at the South Pole. You, early riser skipping breakfast. You, teenager home alone. You, rabbi, pastor, priest,, nun, waitress, community organizer, monk, nurse, starving actor, taxi driver, long-haul driver. Yes, you, reader of the second-best best-written blog on the internet.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 02:41 PM

I don't even know what a rice cooker is. You guys must have very capacious kitchens in which you have room to store all these things.

I cook rice in a non-stick pan with a vented lid. Basmati is the only rice of choice for me unless I'm doing a paella or risotto. The rice goes in the pan and gets two or three rinses with cold water. Drain (I do it roughly, against the edge of the sink). Turn on the ring and boil lots of water in the kettle. Salt the rice (check again later). Put the pan on the high heat and pour in an excess of boiling water. Stir for a minute, get it back to the boil, turn the heat down to a simmer with the lid on and set the timer for exactly twelve minutes from adding the water. Drain well in a sieve or colander - give it a minute. Fluff the rice up with a fork and serve. I really can't be arsed with all this water-measuring and rice-measuring. When I used to do that, decades ago, I got variable, unreliable results. This works every time, though just half a minute of overcooking and the rice won't forgive you. If you really hit the spot with your careful measuring, yours might turn out better than mine, but only very slightly.

Accidentally on purpose, I always cook too much rice. Next day for lunch I melt a knob of butter in a frying pan. Throw in the cooked rice and break it up a bit. Add two or three beaten eggs and a generous amount of cooked peas (anything else you fancy, bacon, mushrooms, ham...). Let the eggs set lightly, stirring gently all the while. Season lightly, put in a bowl and consume while you're watching the one o'clock news. A bit more butter or a squidge of soy sauce is good. It's so comforting that even the latest brexit gloom on the telly won't seem too bad.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 03:08 PM

I see I spelled "Creuset" two different ways. I'm working on several other imaginative variants.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 03:17 PM

You STIR your rice during the cooking? That is forbidden in rice cooking circles around here. Not until it is completely cooked is it fluffed before serving. ;-)

Fried rice is a wonderful use of lots of leftovers. I add scrambled eggs at the very end so they don't get too broken up. https://youtu.be/2WJSUVMjNVc The thing they don't mention is that it also comes with an instruction manual, a long list of grains, rice, oats, and more that can be cooked and gives you the proportions. If you're curious, this links the a manuals online source for their rice cooker manuals.

My rice cooker sits on a lower shelf in a small bookcase in the kitchen. That bookcase has two complete shelves of cookbooks and the bottom shelf has the rice cooker, a food processor, and my blender with the glass jar.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 03:34 PM

And I cook basmati rice in a stainless steel saucepan with a glass lid. The lids got a strainer which I find useful.

I think we've tried a few methods of cooking rice but I just use a simple method found on a packet of Tilda Basmati rice. Add about 70-80g rice per person to pan of boiling water. Boil for 12 minutes, drain the water off, put lid on pan and stand for three minutes.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 04:07 PM

No, Maggie, just at the very start to make sure the rice and water get nicely mixed and there's nothing stuck to the bottom. Then it's lid on and leave severely alone!

Well said, Jon, tho' three minutes is uncomfortably long: the rice will cook a bit more and might go a bit cleggy. Can we agree on a minute and a half...?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 04:14 PM

And Tilda is a good, reliable brand.

I wouldn't bother scrambling your eggs first, Maggie. Just beat them in a cup and stir into the rice once it's hot in the pan. That way they coat the rice nicely before they set. Mind you, I haven't tried it your way. But you're dirtying another pan, and the worst pans to clean are the ones that eggs have been scrambled in!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 05:21 PM

I don't want the eggs to set in fried rice, I want them to be another loose bit like the pork or chicken and diced vegetables and green onion (scallions) and whatever else happens to appeal to me.

I shop at a Middle Eastern market, where they have massive offerings of rice. I usually buy very long grain Basmati rice and it's nice if I can't read most of the label. :)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 05:31 PM

Well Steve, 3 minutes (after which I fluff the rice up with a fork) works for me but one should feel free to adapt/adjust as one sees fit...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: keberoxu
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 06:00 PM

Thank goodness the Bertucci's franchise of Italian family restaurants
has got an entree salad built out of baby arugula greens;
my tummy is now full of fresh crunchy tasty ones.
That way I could get my nutrition and avoid romaine lettuce at the same time.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 06:50 PM

Isn't arugula what we call rocket? I like to include a bit of that in any salad. In fact, it grows wild in my garden. Adds a nice bit of spice.

I tend to use home-grown rocket and lettuce in my salads, even at this time of year. I've still got some nice mixed lettuce growing in big pots in a sheltered spot. I'll buy a nice red pepper and some decent cherry tomatoes (mine are finished), cut them up, put them in the bottom of my salad bowl and put in a good tablespoon of my finest Tuscan extra virgin olive oil. I then add a slightly smaller amount of the most expensive, thick, syrupy balsamic vinegar (a bottle lasts me all year). I will not countenance that thin, watery abomination that sells for a couple of quid and totally discredits the name. I then mix that thoroughly with the tomatoes and pepper, and only then put the lettuce and rocket on top. I'll then cover the lot with cling film. I don't mix the lettuce with the dressing until the very last minute as I don't much care for soggy lettuce. There's only one way to toss the salad, and that's to get your two hands in there and enjoy yourself.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: keberoxu
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 07:02 PM

The Etymology of the Words "Arugula" and "Rocket",
or, why it's called one thing in Northern Europe
and another thing in the Americas

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Nov 18 - 07:25 PM

I know the far south of Italy and I've come across "arugula" there. "Eruca" is the botanical Latin name of the genus that includes the plants we call rocket. Unless you're in a posh restaurant that's pretending to appeal to the cognescenti only, it's "rocket" this end. Unfortunately, unless you grow your own (incredibly easy), the rocket we get here in supermarket bags is insipid and just about useless.

I have a couple of lovely recipes that use rocket in a non-salad context. We'll see how it goes.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 24 Nov 18 - 12:43 AM

Worcestershire indeed, but still correctly pronounced Wooster (the sauce, that is, not the place).
We use a Japanese fuzzy-logic rice cooker that always cooks rice perfectly, whether it’s brown or white, basmati or jasmine, then keeps it hot till you use it.
I’m not that gone on non-stick otherwise. Watch the Storyville episode called Poisoning America, about the largest ever class action to know why.
Made the Guinness stew, it was hearty and was wolfed down. I wouldn’t use housekeeper’s cut for it again, though, didn’t much like the texture.
The next meal when it’s my turn will involve harissa - ‘rose harissa’, the recipe says. I have yet to find an affordable source.
By the way, a couple of years ago I asked the checkout person in a local Polish or Moldovan shop (and you can feck off, Hillary Clinton, telling Europe to “control immigration”) what the great big bunches of dill sold there in winter were used for. The answer was borscht, with pork ribs, beetroot, onions and dill.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 24 Nov 18 - 07:54 AM

Well the "controversial" device came today. With the jiggling around I need to do to find it a permanent home, it's likely to be a few days before I get to trying anything on it though.

Coming back to points raised. Its ability with meat (which seems to be the most questioned) isn't an issue here. On the other hand (as well as veg soup) if I could find a few recipes on the nut/chickpea/lentil stew/casserole lines (all missing from the bits I do here now but sometimes feel I ought...) that suit it, I think from my side of things at home, it will justify its existence. Pip may also have her own ideas...

For really fancy btw, has anyone enountered a thermomix. I believe very expensive (£1000+) things that are supposed to do everything from the measuring to the cooking?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 24 Nov 18 - 08:50 AM

"supposed to do everything from the measuring to the cooking?"

Wouldn't that take all the pleasure out of cooking?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 24 Nov 18 - 09:17 AM

I guess that depends on the cook and time available to fit cooking in life, Jos.

For my personal part, I'm not one who particularly enjoys cooking and does't mind short cuts. I do of course aim, with a very basic repertoire, to produce things that are enjoyed by the family (and, even with my ways, did seem to pass that with visiting family from oz; and brother there can be quite a serious cook when he wants to be)...

Even got praise for my cauliflower cheese from a niece and I do nothing special. Just use a strong cheddar, cut the cauli into larger chunks than say Pip would, leaving more stalk and keep a careful watch on when the veg is cooked (I think it can turn quite quickly from nice and still a bit crisp to soggy, but maybe that's just me...).

So I suppose that all makes me lazy but tries in some ways...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Nov 18 - 10:35 AM

Years ago I found a set of recipes in Martha Stewart Living magazine that I started using regularly. I always baked salmon, but her simple salmon steak sauteed in butter won me over, as did the new potatoes that were simmered in water until tender, slightly cooled, then "smashed" enough to split the skins and lower their profile. Those patties of softened potato are then placed in a skillet with butter and turned once and served with salt and fresh ground pepper. All of those little crispy edges of skin (I like this with red or Yukon potatoes, the ones that are a little more waxy). Sometimes I sprinkle chives over the top. I don't remember what Martha called those potatoes, but my son and his girlfriend make "smashed potatoes" all of the time, and when I asked what it was he told me it was the ones I'd been making and he added the standardized name.

Today on Pati's Mexican Kitchen (a PBS cooking program) she made a very elaborate version and she calls them smashed potatoes - using different colors of new potatoes for the variety, and then she puts them on an olive oiled pan, smashes them slightly with a spoon and spoons olive oil and various seasonings and peppers over the top and bakes it all. My sauteed in butter version is quicker and easier, but the point of describing this is that as a comfort food goes, those little potatoes are a family favorite.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 24 Nov 18 - 10:42 AM

Thinking smash, anyone heard of "stwnsh"? It's a Welsh word and can be qualified but from my childhood, I'd eg. be thinking of potatoes and swede mashed together here.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 Nov 18 - 07:19 PM

I encountered a thermomix which was on display at a food fair about a year ago. Very sophisticated and very expensive. I'll tell you what. I love cooking, though I'm not that good at it. I like to get my hands in there, to do my own chopping, grinding, mixing and timing. I don't need a machine to sort out my cooking. I need a hob, an oven, some good pans and the finest ingredients I can lay my hands on.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 25 Nov 18 - 03:06 AM

And to clarify, just in case. I think there is room for more than one approach to cooking and do respect the efforts of those, including a brother, who may take a more dedicated approach.

I suppose “wrong” to me is more about total dependency on microwave meals and takeways. I can see that infirmities can make cooking difficult or impossible (and to some degree, even see that with Pip), can see that there can be the odd day where you simply fancy say fish and chips from the local takeaway, but I become more baffled by the not knowing how to do anything angles. (But Peter/dad was a bit like that. His upbringing was such that a kitchen was purely a woman’s place… We on the other hand were expected to help mum out a little which at least left us with some basics to use if needed).

I must admit though that even I am a bit undecided over the Thermomix – can there be a taking automation too far? - I don’t know. That and perhaps even I will find the pressure/multi cooker a bit strange to start with. I’m more of the “take a few veg from what’s around, taste, try a bit of this, etc.” variety than one for precise weights and measures in advance…

...At least mostly. Another gadget we have is a (Panasonic now and the best we’ve had by far) breadmaker and, while you might try, eg. an extra ½ tsp of salt, a few more ml of water, etc. to get to your ideal, I think you do need to be quite accurate with your measurements there.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 25 Nov 18 - 04:09 AM

Even more OT but for those who might use a breadmaker, the things I like about this Panasonic are:

1. "Repeatability". I don't understand all the wherefores but this one produces the most consistent "same loaf each time" of the ones we've had.

2. Others have needed water first and you sort of "balance" other ingredients, starting with the flour, on top. With this one, the water goes in last and it mixes things up before adding the yeast (which goes in it's own slot) after the other bits have had a stir. Perhaps this helps towards getting more consistent results?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 25 Nov 18 - 05:09 AM

The salt in bread making isn't just for flavour. Too much, and the dough won't rise properly and the bread will be very dense. Too little, and the dough will rise too much, be very light and fluffy, and seem to be trying to climb out of the top of the tin.
PS. I have never used a breadmaker so I don't know what the effect would be in one of those.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 25 Nov 18 - 05:26 AM

I think the principle is the same there, Jos. As far as I understand it, as well as taste, sugar can increase rising and salt restrict rising.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Nov 18 - 05:45 AM

Well, Jon, I'll admit to also possessing a Panasonic bread maker. We've had it for around twelve years now and I echo your remarks about repeatability. Actually, all we ever use it for is to make ciabatta loaves (the ones with 500g of strong white flour and extra virgin olive oil) and a 2/3-to-1/3 wholemeal 500g loaf. After many years I discovered that you don't need to add Vitamin C at all. I like the fact that you have control over the quality of the flour (always organic this end) and the amount of salt (I cut it down by about a third). The bread is much better than any shop bread, though I'm the first to admit that using the thing might be regarded as cheating!

I have found that I get a more homogeneous consistency in the finished article if I put the yeast in the pan but mix all the other dry ingredients thoroughly in a bowl first. That goes in on top of the yeast, then in go the oil/butter and finally the water.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 25 Nov 18 - 06:15 AM

Years ago, probably in the 1970s, I was invited to one of those sales parties where there was a demonstration of a breadmaker and they tried to sign people up for a regular supply of their flour and their 'special secret ingredient' that speeded up the process. The secret ingredient was vitamin C, but they didn't tell you that (or you would have known you didn't need to buy into their regular supply).
I didn't buy it anyway - a long rising improves the flavour of the bread.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 25 Nov 18 - 06:28 AM

Flour, I'm not sure it's all organic but I do like the stuff from the localish Leatheringsett watermill (and their outlets).

Jos, I can't know how the machine compares to traditionally home baked loaves (have tried a couple but not say your regular white or whatever loaf) but do believe that it can be easy to better a shop bought (and I'm not just thinking Mothers Pride or whatever cheap sliced loaf) loaf with one.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Nov 18 - 07:51 AM

Nowt wrong with Mother's Pride for a chip butty...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 25 Nov 18 - 07:54 AM

I agree there...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Nov 18 - 09:54 AM

I was given a bread machine years ago and thought it was a silly specialized piece of equipment, but I set out to master it and I use mine regularly still. It's a large-capacity one manufactured by Welbilt, in this case sold by another company that branded it. But it's a round 3-pound loaf and when you bake the loaf in the machine you end up with round or half-circle shaped sandwiches and such and that shape seems to dry out fast.

I started using it on the manual setting all of the time now and when it finishes mixing and kneading I remove the dough, shape it and bake it in a regular loaf pan. I make rolls, pizza dough, and more, letting the machine do the initial mixing and I use it after the first rise.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 25 Nov 18 - 10:36 AM

That does sound a big loaf, SRS. The most ours will take flour wise (and what I usually use - it will do smaller ones) is 600g/ around 1.3lbs and that seems to me a fairly large loaf.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Nov 18 - 01:02 PM

They take about four cups of flour, sometimes a little more.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Nov 18 - 04:25 PM

I've found the 500g loaf ideal for most things. The 600g job rises triumphantly above the top of the pan, and the slices are too tall for me toaster!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Nov 18 - 05:55 PM

I'm preparing to make my famous banana nut bread that was baked in regular bread loaf pans when I had the kids here devouring it. Now I make loaves in smaller artisanal-style pans that are given to friends who live alone or have just a partner at home now. They don't need all of those calories. It's a quick bread with baking soda and I use a lot of extra bananas so it's more cake-like. I bake the pecans so they give off that warm maple-like flavor and I use butter instead of shortening or oil.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Nov 18 - 06:47 PM

Mrs Steve does amazing banana bread out of bananas that are going a bit past it. We can't do nuts as she's seriously allergic to walnuts.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Nov 18 - 09:11 PM

On Thursday evening (Thanksgiving) I put the entire roasted turkey back into the fridge and pulled it out to get slices for meals; tonight I cut it apart and have the stock simmering. It's just too much to prepare for the meal and do all of the cutting up and soup on the same night. The pot is cooling a little before I pull out the bones and skin, strain the broth, and use that for making soup tomorrow.

For the banana bread, the bananas I'll be using were at the over-ripe state and then I froze them one or two at a time and they're finishing defrosting in the fridge now. I'll make a double batch of batter that will add up to probably six small loaves.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 26 Nov 18 - 05:47 AM

I cut the 600g loaf from this one lengthways these days before slicing. I know that leaves you with bread with only 3 sides of crust that might not appeal to many but for our purposes at home it does give 2 loaves of a size everyone is happy with out of one run of the machine.

Our toaster btw, seems quite shallow to me. It's wide and will do crumpets nicely but in terms of shop bought loaves, is more suited to a smaller Hovis brown than much larger.
---
Pip was another who did a banana bread, using fruit past their best. Parent's loved it but I'm not sure it was one of my favourites.
--
Shame about the walnuts. Pip used to do a very nice date and walnut loaf. Seems a long while since it was last made though.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 26 Nov 18 - 10:35 AM

I make almost all the bread we eat at home. I've been running a sourdough experiment for several months now, but I recently decided that it's not worth the trouble with just two of us, and only Himself eating more than a slice per day. Also, I have so far failed to produce a wholemeal loaf that I like using the sourdough method. So I'm (reluctantly) going back to active dry yeast.

Disposing of the sourdough culture (its name is Fred) feels like shooting the family dog. I hate the idea, but it must be done.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 26 Nov 18 - 10:50 AM

Maybe you could give the sourdough culture to a friend or neighbour, like finding the dog a new home.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Nov 18 - 11:37 AM

Agreed - I bet you can find a taker for the next stage of your experiment. :)

My broth is ready to use - with as much turkey as is here I'm going to make a dense turkey pot pie stew with some of it and freeze the extra broth.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 26 Nov 18 - 02:39 PM

White sourdough is the best white bread I've ever tasted, my starter is over 10 years old now, it never fails.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 26 Nov 18 - 02:41 PM

Incidently I've tried sourdough wholemeal and sourdough rye and I'm distinctly very dissapointed with both.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Nov 18 - 07:08 AM

Thompson I do believe I would enjoy beet root prepared your way.
I have had such an aversion to beets as a result of having to eat Borsch as a kid.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 27 Nov 18 - 07:13 AM

I love beetroot and devour it with relish but I have to make a pact with myself not to look down the toilet for the next 24 hours.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 27 Nov 18 - 01:19 PM

I love white sourdough bread, but my digestion does not. If I'm going to eat bread more than occasionally, it really has to be whole-grain. A batch of brown is under construction as I type.

Beetroot is great stuff. I like to include it in a batch of roasted veg, with Jerusalem artichokes, carrots, celery root and parsnips, flavoured with shallots, garlic and thyme. The carrots and beets usually have to be parboiled, but it's a small nuisance. Around here, we can get beets in every hue produced by beta-carotene, from pale yellow to darkest crimson. Golden beets are just as delicious as the red kind, but don't result in pink pee.

Just sayin'.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 Nov 18 - 01:34 PM

I have shifted over the years to giving as many consumable gifts as possible, made at home. This year I've canned both pickled okra and mustang grape jelly and last night I made seven small loaves of banana nut bread that are now wrapped and in the freezer.

I recently send my son and my sister pickled okra, but neither is sure they'll like it, so my advice has been to wait until they have guests over to open the jar. Try it themselves and see if they like it. If not, chances are someone at the gathering will know what it is and like it and they can send the rest home with them. It keeps in the fridge for a long time so they can try that trick at parties all through the holiday season until it's eaten or given away.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 27 Nov 18 - 03:42 PM

Aaah, back to the beets. I used to strongly dislike beet foods until I got together with Lady Hillary. She has made a convert of me. She cuts the beets up fine, then boils them and adds a few spices, finishing up with an immersion blender. We make the batch large enough to store in a couple of quart size Chinese Tupperware containers. We generally serve it cold with home made yogurt instead of sour cream [shades of my grandmother].

A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving I made up a batch of leek and potato soup. The problem I had with it was that it resisted taste. No matter what spices I added to it [again, the batch size gave us three quarts for the fridge] it was determinedly bland. Hot sauce, curry, chili sauce no effect.

For Thanksgiving Lady Hillary made up a butternut squash soup that, for its final heating got some ginger and garlic [both fresh]. Delightful.

This weekend we had sweet potato fries at a barbecue restaurant. It came with a dusting of brown sugar that was very good. There was something in the taste which suggested that a bit of finely chopped ginger would go well with it. That will get a try in the next few days.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 27 Nov 18 - 04:12 PM

Sometimes when food is just too bland, what it needs as well as other flavours is a little salt.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 29 Nov 18 - 09:19 PM

Unless I want edema, I avoid salt.
This morning, we had home made latkes [potato pancakes] with peach compote[also homemade].

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 29 Nov 18 - 11:14 PM

Unfortunately we have no Mustang Grapes in these parts.
As for wild Tarts, I don't know.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 30 Nov 18 - 06:23 AM

Chocolate digestive bisuits topped with slices of mature chedar cheese...

and a mug of strong black tea [leave the teabag in]...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 30 Nov 18 - 06:30 AM

If food is too bland it could be that you're either leaving out something vital or you're using lesser-quality ingredients. The latter is why shop ready-meals are so high in salt. I always think that there's a "right" amount of salt for any recipe. To cure blandness, my first resort is fresh herbs and/or a tiny splash of Tabasco, maybe a bit more black pepper, depending. The Italians do it right when they start a ragu or a soup with a soffritto made with chopped onions, carrots and celery sautéed in extra-virgin olive oil. For a meat sauce, I add a bit of chopped-up pancetta to that for richness and savour. My chili meat sauce and bolognese always start like that. I find that slow-cooked meat dishes such as ragus and pot roasts are the very devil to judge for salt while you're actually cooking them, and they always taste different once they've stood for a few hours. Start low with your salt. You can always up it later on.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 30 Nov 18 - 06:31 AM

I'm just wondering how you can dunk a choccie biscuit with a slab of cheese on top...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 30 Nov 18 - 07:16 AM

not that I'll be eating them, Fun and festival treats or even making them, but they look good & someone might like to add them to their recipe library

sandra (not a sweet tooth)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 30 Nov 18 - 07:37 AM

Steve - I'm not a dunker..

but guess a solution could be a tightly held sandwich of TWO chocolate digestives
with twice as much cheese in the middle...

chocolate facing inwards...???

I'm not a coffee drinker.. but that might dunk quite nicely in white coffe with a mountain of sugar stirred in...???


[remembering a once a week grammer school dinner from the early 70s..
pudding was coffee, loads of sugar, cheddar chunks, and an apple..]

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 30 Nov 18 - 08:17 AM

I do like a can-do bloke, pfr...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 30 Nov 18 - 10:38 PM

Thai chili sauce disappeared with nary a twinge of the taste buds. We generally limit our salt intake because of my sensitivity to it. If there is some salt in a spice I will chance it but go easy.
If we can taste salt as saltiness it is definitely too much.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 01 Dec 18 - 04:54 AM

Are mustang grapes the same as scuppernong, which I’ve read about but never seen?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Dec 18 - 11:54 AM

No, and they aren't the same as muscadine, either, though I've heard of them in the region.

http://palatepress.com/2010/06/wine/wine-indigenous-american-grape-varieties-a-primer/

Of the six native species that had been growing in North America long before European settlers arrived, some may sound more familiar than others: rotundifolia (muscadine), aestivalis (summer grape), riparia (frost grape), labrusca (fox grape), mustangensis (Mustang grape), and rupestris (sand grape). Over the last hundred years some interest has been given to this rowdy and uncouth bunch of American species. While these grapes are not as widely cultivated or commercialized as vinifera varieties, they do show potential for making enjoyable wines and deserve to be recognized.

The author of the article later dismisses our little Texas grape:

Vitis mustangensis has little to no redeeming commercial qualities. Limited in habitat to Texas, Oklahoma, and parts of Louisiana the mustang grape is highly acidic and bitter in taste. Simply handling the grapes can irritate the skin.

The bit about irritating the skin is true. The first time I picked them it was with bare hands and my hands really smarted after a while. I wear vinyl gloves when I work with them now. The remarkable thing about these grapes with their big seeds and thick tough skins is that they still manage to produce a wonderful rich dark pink/red juice and it's perfect for a sweet/tart jelly. If you've ever tasted tamarind or tamarindo, they are sweet and tart in the same way.

I like the jelly on toast, on baking powder biscuits, and I often will heat some in a small custard cup in the microwave and use it as syrup over pancakes. I think you could use it in place of cranberry sauce in a pinch.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 01 Dec 18 - 12:06 PM

At last, a second good reason to visit Texas. I'd love to try your mustang grape jelly.

Himself and I are going out for dinner tonight, to the Stratford Chef School, where the students are staging "Escoffier at the Ritz". It's an eight-course (!) extravaganza in the Belle Époque style, definitely not the sort of thing we could get at home.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Dec 18 - 12:28 PM

You are more than welcome to come for a visit - the guest room is (remarkably!) clear. The rest of the house, not so much. But when one has grown children who might stop by and you want them to stay for a little while if they can, the guest room is ready.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Dec 18 - 07:14 AM

Ox-cheek ragú last night, a la Jamie Oliver-ish (I'm no slave to recipes). Very cheap, tough, sinewy meat in great big hunks, braised for four hours in red wine, passata and porcini water with onions, carrots, celery, garlic (bashed, never abused by a garlic crusher) a few strips of smoked pancetta and a big bunch of fresh herbs (and a pinch or two of spices). It makes enough sauce both to use as gravy with mashed potato and veg and the chunks of ludicrously-tender meat (that's tonight) and for a goodly portion to stir into fettuccine with some of the diced beef, topped with freshly grated Parmesan and a dash of the best extra virgin olive oil (that was last night). Cucina povera!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Raggytash
Date: 02 Dec 18 - 07:20 AM

I know I'm late doing this but this morning has seen the Christmas cake being mixed and it's now in the oven for over 4 hours.

It weights in excess of 5lb so we will have a fair bit to go at over the festive season!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Dec 18 - 08:33 AM

I got the accent on "ragù" the wrong way round. I knew something wasn't right. The actual ragù is very fine, however.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Dec 18 - 10:28 AM

So you really don't need someone to fix it because it gives you a chance to admire the sauce. :)

This "christmas cake" creature - is this what we Yanks call "fruit cake?" A very large cake that lasts as long as it seems to need to last, when a "normal" cake would be stale after a week, must be a different kind of baked good.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 02 Dec 18 - 10:35 AM

Mustang jelly
You better slow that mustang down

Christmas cake has fruit, nuts, eggs, flour, sugar, spices and lots of alcohol. When my father made it the whole house reeked of whiskey from October to January.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 02 Dec 18 - 10:51 AM

A nice flying haggis last night: aka chicken Balmoral. Basically a chicken breast casserole but topped with slices of haggis and some whisky or Drambuie in the sauce. You can try wrapping the chicken breasts around the haggis,but it always worms its way out!
And save your best single malt for drinking: any old blend will do in the sauce - well almost!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Raggytash
Date: 02 Dec 18 - 03:03 PM

Tattie Bogle, the simple use of two cocktail stick through the chicken and black pudding may help to keep everything in place.








.............. or you could fall back on the Glasgow trick and dip it in batter and deep fry ..............





I'll get me coat

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: BobL
Date: 03 Dec 18 - 03:14 AM

a "normal" cake would be stale after a week

A sponge cake might be stale after a week, but a fruit cake improves with a bit of keeping. Especially if fed with small doses of liquor at weekly intervals.

And yes, a "Christmas cake" is essentially a rich fruit cake, decorated appropriately.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 03 Dec 18 - 03:28 AM

In my day a Christmas cake was iced with about a centimetre thick layer of marzipan, covered by hard white sugar icing, decorated like a Roman temple. Not so much nowadays when we’re all influenced by German and Polish customs.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 03 Dec 18 - 04:55 AM

Christmas cake is traditionally made on the last Sunday in November to give it several weeks to mature. Every member of the household has a turn stirring the mixture and making a wish.
I used to ice the cake with a vaguely flat covering of white icing, a small model fir tree, and footsteps in the 'snow' made with a silver charm of a boot. (Must do it again sometime.)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Dec 18 - 08:31 AM

Tried the beets under the chicken with vegetables recipe. The carrots and all were good but beets are still to 'earthy' for me.

The leftover red sauce may be a good violin stain with varnish but may not be color fast.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 04 Dec 18 - 09:03 AM

Yes, fruitcake. I'm a week late starting ours, but I'll get going this afternoon. It's a two-day process in which the fruit macerates overnight in brandy (or other hooch) and the juice of two lemons and two oranges.

I don't ice it: that's not the Canadian style. (Fruitcake is the only thing that's naked at Christmas in Ontario.) Also, the fondant-marzipan icing is very fiddly to make and apply, not to mention expensive (the price of almond paste these days!), and it doesn't travel well, especially in the mail.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Dec 18 - 06:55 PM

Grand Marine' or Drambuie is my choice.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: BobL
Date: 05 Dec 18 - 02:43 AM

Sailor Jerry rum in my cookbook.

While we're on the subject, a good addition to fruit salad is a 50:50 mix of Archer's peach schnapps and Southern Comfort. Just enough to moisten, not marinade!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 05 Dec 18 - 10:31 AM

By the time it's in a fruitcake, any old rum'll do, BobL.

A nice but misguided person once gave me a bottle of Red Label Johnny Walker. The stuff is undrinkable, but it was boffo in fruitcake.

I agree with you on the subject of Southern Comfort in a fruit salad, but we don't eat fruit salad often enough to justify the purchase of an entire bottle of Southern Comfort. I have no experience of Archer's peach schnapps, which may not be available in Ontario.

Tonight's supper will be my sister-in-law's vegetarian lasagne. Himself came home with rather a lot of striploin steak the other day (bin-end sale at the butcher, I gather), so a veg-heavy dish feels like a good idea. It's remarkably like a normal lasagne, but with no meat in the sauce; you could feed it to your lacto-ovo vegetarian teenager without incident. It has three kinds of cheese, though, so the calorie count is not inconsiderable.

And it makes six servings, so that's dinner tonight and two days' worth of lunch.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 06 Dec 18 - 09:47 AM

A nice alcoholic dessert is made by soaking porridge oats in whiskey and honey then whipping in cream just before serving it. Don't give the driver any.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: BobL
Date: 07 Dec 18 - 02:31 AM

Charmion, any old rum will do for any old fruitcake.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 07 Dec 18 - 09:40 AM

Okay, BobL, point taken. You can't expect good results if you don't use good ingredients.

That said, I still insist that fruitcake (any old fruitcake) is a suitable destination for Red Label Johnny Walker.

Thompson, I believe the dessert you describe is Atholl Brose. I have an elderly cookbook called "The Scots Kitchen"; its version of the recipe calls for the finely ground oatmeal that I know as "pinhead" oats. Is that what you mean by porridge oats?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 07 Dec 18 - 10:46 AM

Richard Wade
known to his friends as Dick Wad has been named Ass. Deputy to Facebook public relations to change minds instead of changing Facebook.


Some recipes will always taste bad no matter what you think about them.
Like Sticky Bitter Bottom Buns, changing the name won't help until you change the recipe.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: keberoxu
Date: 07 Dec 18 - 05:57 PM

There used to be a retail shop north of Harvard Square,
in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
called "Atholl Brose."
It stocked everything Scottish
and provided access to a tailor
who could custom-fit you for a kilt.

They had a shelf of books, some written in Scots,
like "The Shriek of the Maws."

I don't recall that they sold food, though.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 07 Dec 18 - 06:21 PM

"I don't recall that they sold food, though"

What, not even haggis?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 07 Dec 18 - 07:47 PM

We've had salmon arrabbiata tonight. I basically follow Gino d'Acampo's recipe but not slavishly.

For two people you need some fresh keta or sockeye salmon, not tinned, about 300g. Take off the skin (easiest when the salmon is half-thawed). Cut the fish into 1cm dice.

Put your pasta on to boil in salted water. I use pennone rigate for this. I'm not too keen on those little penne tubes but suit yourself.

In the meantime sautée gently two sliced cloves of garlic (do NOT crush) and your own personal predilection of dried chilli flakes in a pan of extra virgin olive oil. The dish is supposed to be pretty spicy so don't hang back too much. After a few minutes add at least one can of plum tomatoes. Only the best will do. I usually add a few more plus a goodly dollop of sun dried tomato paste. At the same time add a good handful of chopped fresh parsley and some seasoning. Let that lot simmer uncovered for a few minutes (or you can make the sauce in advance, which is what I did tonight).

Two minutes before the pasta is ready, turn the heat up a tad under the sauce and throw in the salmon, heat it through for a minute or two then turn off the heat. Have faith, the fish is perfectly cooked. Drain the pasta (keeping a cupful of the water) and toss into the sauce. Mix well, adding a bit of pasta water if needed, and serve. No Parmesan on fish (a mortal sin in Italy). A goodly drizzle of your finest extra virgin olive oil on top is paramount, as it is on most pasta dishes and pizzas. This dish is so quick and easy, and it couldn't be healthier. And it's utterly delicious.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 07 Dec 18 - 07:53 PM

Dammit, I should have said that you need around four tablespoons of olive oil. Also, you can use diced chicken breast instead of salmon, though you do need to stir-fry it for a minute or two before adding to the sauce. Not hard, though, is it!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 08 Dec 18 - 10:24 AM

I think I’ll be helping to make a nut roast early next week. My parents had decided on stuffed butternut squash halves from Tesco for the main part of their Christmas dinner. There were a lot of problems with the Tesco Christmas order which also included a bit of turkey for me. It started with the butternut squash item being “unavailable” on the first day Tesco opened their Christmas area and after the order finally got placed, it got wiped by a regular grocery order and all the Christmas delivery booking slots had gone for another attempt at ordering.

Anyway, after some debate, we decided to go for something home made instead and have opted to try this nut loaf which I think looks good. The deal is that I will get all the ingredients prepared and laid out. Pip will then take over. The plan is to freeze until Christmas eve/day.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Dec 18 - 10:34 AM

"Keta" is also called "dog salmon" up in the Northwest and Alaska. Go with the sockeye, or go home. It doesn't have nearly as much flavor or color. It's okay if you don't have anything else, but if you have a choice, go with sockeye.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 08 Dec 18 - 11:01 AM

I've tried 2 meals in the multi cooker so far, both slow cook.

The first, a sort of red lentil, chick pea and carrot stew came out well. The recipe I based it on called for pasta at a later stage but, not having any, I tipped some arborio rice in and gave the mix about a 15 minute quick cook on "stew" instead. It was popular enough to be asked to do it again.

I started an attempt at a spicy/curry veg meal in the early hours of this morning (couldn't sleep). I've got this one quite wrong. The veg (potato, carrots, parsnip and sprouts) have cooked OK but I've wound up with way too much, rather insipid liquid. I knew there would be no evaporation but the veg themselves seem to have added somewhat to the liquid. I think I'm going to have to try to rescue this one using a pan on the cooker and aim to be wiser next time.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Dec 18 - 12:13 PM

I agree about the salmon, and keta is lower in those omega-3 oils as well. I didn't have enough sockeye. But actually keta is fine in the arrabbiata, I promise you, and it's much cheaper this end. When I have sockeye I want it nicely seasoned and fried in butter, skin side down to start with, with home-made oven chips (parboiled unpeeled wedges, roughed up, coated in groundnut oil and roasted for 20 minutes in a fierce oven), tenderstem broccoli and some oven-roasted cherry tomatoes with basil.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 08 Dec 18 - 04:58 PM

I have dried ghost pepper. Anyone ever use it?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Joe_F
Date: 08 Dec 18 - 06:05 PM

Tonight it will be lamburger, Sicilian spinach, rutabaga, tea, & icecream.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Dec 18 - 08:50 PM

I've been on my own today and have got pissed off with one thing and another, so I did meself a trough of comfort food tonight which I scoffed out of a huge bowl in front of a repeat of Chas & Dave's Christmas special on the telly.

You need a fairly small roasting tin or Pyrex dish if it's just for one. Oil it well.

Boil about 350g waxy potatoes, unpeeled, for about twenty minutes.

Meanwhile, take about 75g pancetta or streaky bacon (unsmoked for me, but hey) and cut the rashers into inch-long pieces. Grate about 50g Parmesan. Take about 150g of a melting cheese. Gruyere, fontina, mozzarella or taleggio will all fit the bill, though, as I didn't have any of those, I used provolone dolce. Cut the cheese into small slices.

Drain the spuds, let them cool slightly then slice them up. Put the spuds into the bottom of your oiled roasting dish. Insert the pieces of cheese and bacon roughly into the spud layer. Sprinkle with the grated parmesan, making sure that there's a bit left to go on top. Finally, sprinkle a hood dollop of olive oil on top.

Bake for about 30 minutes at about 180C.

I ate mine with some peas as I needed the vitamins. Lovely it was.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 09 Dec 18 - 09:14 AM

I’ve just been looking at an earlier comment about keeping metal utensils away from cookware.

I admit to damaging one stainless steel pan with a potato masher but I guess I accepted I was going to do that and I don’t use that one for things that stick. I’ve tried with the others but, eg. with last set of visiting family, I did a sort of “self service” from the pans. I put a couple of plastic ones out but they were swapped for metal ones, etc. and Pip is the type who can grab the nearest object to hand even if that means a metal knife vs a non stick frying pan (which now is the only thing I have that is non stick coated).

Anyway, she’s asked me to replace some wooden tools for her Christmas present from me (likely to be more used by me but if that’s what she wants I don’t argue) so I’ve bought a set of wooden handled ones with silicon tools and a couple of silicon desert spoons. I’m not sure whether that will help lead to more care but time will tell.

Favourite pan (if a less dedicated type is allowed to have such things) btw is a 16cm Vogue Tri wall (aluminium sandwiched between stainless steel) one which I use for gravy and sauces. It seems to heat more evenly that the Judge ones and less likely to stick (not that I’ve had major problems cleaning the others). I didn’t get a lid (metal and sold separately) for this one but retained a glass lid from an older discarded saucepan that is a good fit if needed.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 10 Dec 18 - 06:14 AM

Charmion, I tried that whiskey-honey-cream-oatmeal thing with pinhead oatmeal one time but found it vaguely gritty. I just use the ordinary oatmeal you make porridge with.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 12 Dec 18 - 10:53 AM

Thompson, from its other recipes, I gather that The Scots Kitchen considers vague grittiness to be a feature, not a bug. Its recipe for haggis is fit to fright the French, containing as it does items that are not legal for sale in Ontario.

I have come down with bronchitis and, if it goes the way it usually does, I will lose all olfactory function within the next 24 to 48 hours. During the taste-free days, I will live on tea and toast.

Now that we live in beautiful, leafy Stratford, Ontario, we are within shouting distance of a genuine grist mill that still produces whole-meal flour. Our bread game, always of a high standard, has consequently gone up yet another notch. I make a 100%-whole-wheat sandwich loaf that is, if not to die for, certainly something to live on. Made with flour from the Arva mill, it has a nutty flavour and a firm (but not stodgy) texture that is delicious when fresh and just magnificent as toast. I got great results with standard commercial flour (Robin Hood "Best For Bread"), but the stone-ground flour is notably better.

If I bake today, while still compos mentis, I might survive to next week ...

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 12 Dec 18 - 11:01 AM

Tonight, something quick and simple - fried turkey meatballs and new potatoes with a good dollop of butter.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Dec 18 - 11:57 AM

The best kind of meal possible - whatever is served - an invitation from the neighbor next door to join her for (in this instance) pot roast after helping her with some yard work.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: JennieG
Date: 13 Dec 18 - 12:12 AM

A favourite Ozzie Christmas treat is made from a commercially-made dark fruit cake. Break up the cake in a bowl and stir in enough sherry (or orange juice if serving it to kids) to make it pliable enough to roll into balls somewhere between a walnut and a golf ball in size. Drizzle melted white chocolate or white icing on top, and decorate with bits of red and green lollies/candy/sweets, depending where in the world you live. Serve in paper cases - they look like mini Chrissie puds.

A plate of these makes a nice gift, if you are into edible givings.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 13 Dec 18 - 04:46 AM

Scots? Wha? Hey!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Dec 18 - 11:42 AM

Salmon was brined overnight and is now in the smoker out on the front porch. This is for a friend, who brought the fish over here because I have the smoker.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 15 Dec 18 - 03:14 PM

We just had a Sunday dinner on a Friday. I like this idea - a fine meal, good company, and no driving at night.

Here's the main dish: Trim the obvious fat from a beef chuck roast, then place it in a slow cooker. Place whole cranberries all over the top surface of the beef. Cook 8 to 10 hours on low, till tender. Let cool some, then put in fridge overnight.

Next day, remove fat. Slice meat, warm in oven. Just before dining, add 1 tsp molasses to the sauce. Optional: add 1/4 tsp cinnamon to the sauce. Serve with noodles.
===========
Notes: I like to use a slow-cooker liner for easier cleanup.
Use the rest of the molasses to make gingerbread, ginger cookies and BBQ sauce. Some people put butter and molasses on pancakes, too.

After dinner, we played music in the living room.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 15 Dec 18 - 07:34 PM

Scots wha hae leftovers tae use up: Random Scran
Piece of previously cooked cod loin, sprouts, leeks, cauliflower (all also previously cooked!) Baked beans, requested by grandchildren for THEIR tea but hardly ate a random few.
Throw randomly on plate, grate strong cheddar cheese over the whole lot equally randomly.
Randomly select 2 minutes on random poweer setting (full) on microwave and zap!
Haute cuisine!

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 16 Dec 18 - 05:20 AM

Leeneia, if you ever cook for me, could I ask you just to leave the fat on my share, PLEASE

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 16 Dec 18 - 06:00 AM

What's a slow cooker liner?

Horror story in the Guardian: unsold human food, still in its plastic packaging, is routinely thrown into the mix while making animal food, meaning that meat eaters may be harmed by the plastic the animals ingest and digest.

"More than 650,000 tonnes of unused food, from loaves of bread to Mars bars, are saved from landfill each year in the UK by being turned into animal feed. The system that strips off the plastic wrappings can’t capture it all, and so in the UK a limit of 0.15% of plastic is allowed by the Food Standards Agency. The official EU level for plastic permitted in animal feed is zero although in reality many other countries operate within the same 0.15% limit."

Meanwhile, I made borscht last night: chopped onions and beetroots, belly of pork (I'd thought those strips in the freezer were spare ribs…), celery and a big bunch of dill, and a chopped-up cabbage at the end; stock. It was tasty, but I think I'd put in the cabbage earlier and chop it finer in future, and maybe grate the beetroots before cooking them.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 16 Dec 18 - 06:00 AM

None of this foreign muck.

We've booked into the Balti House for Christmas,

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 16 Dec 18 - 11:44 PM

Hi, Thompson. A slow-cooker liner is a tough bag of some clear, synthetic material that withstands high heat. that you put in the slow cooker to keep food from getting cooked on to the ceramic. It saves a lot of scrubbing.

It is made by Reynolds, the company which makes aluminum foil and Reynolds Oven Bags.
==========
when my mother-in-law turned 70, she announced that she was not going to cook anymore. She had cooked for 50 years and was sick of it. I didn't want to follow her example, so I asked myself how I could make cooking more fun.

I decided that I like cooking but dislike cleaning up, so I decided to buy four things:

Reynolds Oven Bags
Reynolds Slow Cooker bags
parchment paper to put under roasting meats
disposable gloves for handling icky things.

I don't often use the gloves, but occasionally they are truly worth it. For example when yanking the purple gobbets out of a raw chicken.

If anybody comments that I am using up natural resources, I can tell them that I drive an 11-year-old car, I have no television, no cable, no boat...on balance I figure I can spoil myself a little.

Another thing I did is buy two cartons of Rubbermaid storage boxes. They stack nicely and are tough.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 17 Dec 18 - 01:37 AM

If you never wash up you are saving on detergent and using less fuel to heat water, so you can set them against the plastic waste (just make sure those bags and gloves don't end up in the sea).

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Dec 18 - 04:37 AM

I browned a cheap hunk of brisket in my Le Creuset, set it aside, put some strips of pancetta into the pan to render, added chunks of carrot, celery and onion, fried for ten minutes, added a mug full of porcini water along with the chopped fungus, added a glass of red wine which I'd boiled and burned the alcohol from, a bit of seasoning and a bunch of fresh herbs, put the brisket back in and left it in a slow oven for thee hours. I had to hurry up so as not to miss the Liverpool kickoff. Delicious.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Dec 18 - 10:14 AM

I have a low-power 1-quart crockpot I like to set up overnight to cook my oatmeal for the day or enough for a few days (it reheats well). I forgot the crockpot so I'll slow-cook it in a saucepan on the stove, into which I chop up figs or dates or throw in a handful of raisins, trying to not burn cereal onto the bottom of the pan.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 17 Dec 18 - 01:54 PM

Thanks, Leenia. I use rubber gloves for icky and sticky things, like taking the skins off roast peppers, but I'm afraid I just use the same ones I use for washing up the pots and things that don't go in the dishwasher. I had a pair of 'dirty jobs' rubber gloves for anything germy and non-food, but the demon puppy Oscar seems to have found and destroyed them; must get a new pair.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: SamStone
Date: 17 Dec 18 - 03:32 PM

being diabetic because of Agent Orange (and i don't mean trump) lots of salmon and steamed veggies

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 18 Dec 18 - 01:41 PM

Back to our roots - bratwurst and sauerkraut. We indulged in fresh bratwurst shipped by Usinger's in Milwaukee and cooked it right away. Then we put it in the deep freeze.

To precook: poke sausage in several places with a sharp fork. Put in a skillet with water halfway up the sides. Bring water to a boil, then turn down to simmer. Turn sausage over after 15 mins. Simmer for maybe 30 mins. Freeze.

To prepare: Place brats in heavy saucepan. Rinse sauerkraut and spread over brats. Sprinkle with caraway seeds. Add 1/4 water or white wine. Simmer till heated through.

You can eat it on a bun or not, as you prefer. Have chopped onion and good mustard on hand.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Dec 18 - 02:06 PM

42nd anniversary so we're having steak, home-made oven chips (par-boiled in salty water then baked very hot in groundnut oil), broad beans from the freezer, home-grown, and some roasted cherry toms. I must have ribeye but Mrs Steve gets a piece of sirloin because she doesn't like trimming away the sinew (I just scoff the lot). There will be blood. And Rioja.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Dec 18 - 11:52 AM

I'm almost finished with a lasagna I made a few days ago of various things that needed using. Tomatoes from the garden, ripening in the house slowly after the first frost in October and now simmered long enough to use for sauce (wearing vinyl gloves I squirt them out of the skins that go into the compost bowl). Some ricotta and mozzarella from the freezer from the last time I made lasagna, and the very wet tomato mix was added to a couple of containers of marinara sauce that had been in the fridge long enough they needed to be finished off soon.

I didn't have any lasagna noodles in the house so I took a box of spaghetti and used it (dry) to make a layer after the eggplant and cheese and sauce layers. More cheese and sauce and then bake it till everything is done. The spaghetti is just fine in there, though it doesn't have the consistency of the large flat pasta, but it tastes good.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 19 Dec 18 - 05:22 PM

I assume a ground nut is the same as a pomme d'terre.
Out here in the wilderness it is called a potatow.

Simple eggs can be made delicious by a clever hand.
Eggs do not deserve to be assulted by ketchup or hot sauce.
A sprinkling of tarragon and smidge of ground fennel do wonders

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 19 Dec 18 - 05:53 PM

Groundnuts/peanuts are seeds, from which oil is extracted, or they can be eaten raw, roasted or made into peanut butter.
If you plant a raw one in a pot you can watch the plant grow, and produce a pea-like flower, from which what looks like a stem will grow and extend downwards until it reaches the soil, where it deposits the seed - in effect, the seed plants itself in the ground, hence the name 'groundnut'.
(I've never heard of potato oil.)

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Dec 18 - 06:15 PM

Groundnuts are peanuts. Groundnut oil is an excellent neutral oil that has a high smoke point.

Our bog-standard lasagne uses a typical bolognese ragu, made with a mix of minced pork and beef, browned then added to a soffritto which includes pancetta as well as onions, carrots and celery. Add all that together with canned plum tomatoes and a good splash of chicken stock. Season well and simmer for as long as you like. I might add a glass of white wine that I've boiled and burned the alcohol from. Some recipes demand chicken liver and milk, but not for me. Mrs Steve insists on garlic, but I'm averse to crushed cloves so I might peel and bash with my fist about eight cloves which go into the mix. As for herbs, either leave them out or just add a sprinkle of dried oregano near the end. Dried basil has no place in any decent kitchen. I'll let you off if you chuck in some fresh basil leaves near the end.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 19 Dec 18 - 10:16 PM

ground nuts? What on Earth do you call carrots?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: BobL
Date: 20 Dec 18 - 03:00 AM

Peanuts, groundnuts, monkey nuts, goober peas or (according to Wiki) pindars.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Ed T
Date: 20 Dec 18 - 08:24 AM

This morning for (later than normal) breakfast,creamed lobster meat on toast with a side of seared scallops.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 20 Dec 18 - 08:46 AM

Now that's what I call a breakfast.

I'm partial to a fried egg and potatoes, with some of that Kalle fish roe paste they sell in Ikea on the side, and of course salt and vinegar.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Dec 18 - 09:54 AM

Fried eggs on top of a couple of fried Rankin's potato farls make a damn fine breakfast.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Dec 18 - 10:00 AM

Usually on xmas morning we have pancakes, bacon, etc. but I'm thinking this year I might make baking powder biscuits and serve them with homemade jelly. They fall on both of these like they're starving. I sometimes do a side of Jimmy Dean sage sausage, though I didn't grow up in the south so there is none of that sausage and biscuit and gravy nonsense.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 20 Dec 18 - 10:37 AM

What jelly do you make, Stilly? I made a dose of apple and rosehip jelly a few weeks back; just about to de-mould and re-boil the last jar and lash into it.

Subject: Hinton Xmas Recipes
From: wysiwyg
Date: 24 Dec 18 - 05:21 PM

Thanksgiving-style Xmas Menu


Scalloped Potatoes With Spinach And Cheese

2 pounds peeled Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1/8-inch slices
1 1/4 cups 1% low-fat milk
1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Dash of nutmeg
Cooking spray
2 teaspoons butter
2 cups sliced Vidalia or other sweet onion
1 cup (4 ounces) reduced-fat shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 450°.
Place potato slices in a large saucepan, and cover with water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, 6 minutes or until tender. Drain well; set aside.

Combine milk and next 5 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk until blended.

Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 7 minutes or until golden. Reduce heat to medium. Gradually add milk mixture, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook 5 minutes or until thick and bubbly; stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Add cheese, stirring until cheese melts. Remove from heat.

Arrange half of potato slices in an 11 x 7- inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Top with half of spinach and half of cheese sauce. Repeat with remaining potato, spinach, and sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 450° for 15 to 18 minutes or until golden and bubbly.



Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Honey and Cinnamon
4 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling potatoes after cooked
1/4 cup honey
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Lay the sweet potatoes out in a single layer on a roasting tray. Drizzle the oil, honey, cinnamon, salt and pepper over the potatoes. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes in oven or until tender. Take sweet potatoes out of the oven and transfer them to a serving platter. Drizzle with more extra-virgin olive oil.

stove top stuffing for Greg and cheesy arepas for me; cheesy corn and crunch casserole;


GLUTEN-FREE GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE WITH CARAMELIZED MUSHROOMS & ONIONS

1 tablespoon gluten-free cornstarch
2 teaspoons McCormick® Basil Leaves
1 teaspoon McCormick® Onion Salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup thinly sliced onions
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 1/2 cups milk2 teaspoon gluten-free soy sauce
4 ounces (1/2 package) cream cheese, cubed
1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed, cut into 1-inch pieces and cooked

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix cornstarch, basil and onion salt in small bowl. Set aside.
Melt butter in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add onions; cook and stir 6 to 7 minutes or until golden brown. Add mushrooms; cook and stir 2 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. Stir in cornstarch mixture. Add milk and soy sauce; stir constantly, cook until sauce is thickened and bubbly. Add cream cheese; cook and stir until cream cheese is melted. Add cooked green beans; toss gently to coat.
Spoon into 2-quart baking dish. Sprinkle top evenly with almonds.
Bake 25 minutes or until heated through and top is lightly browned.


CHEESY CRUNCHY CREAMED CORN CASSEROLE


My thinking is that since we were apart for Txgiving, our last Christmas in the house should be a big deal with items that can be made in advance w double ovens, to prevent packing burnout. Most recipes are oven rather than stove top, and I have some GF adaptations and simplification tricks up my sleeve as well.

I'm thinking quantities to carry over for our Dec. 27 anniversary and the following days before our Jan 1 move to our retirement house.

Greg has already done his signature turkey job, and may also do the scalloped potatoes.

The idea is: not much cooking in that last week before our fast departure, and cooked but frozen leftovers to take, if any.

Since romaine is now considered contaminated, veggies are casserole style. We can always add cherry tomatoes.

I plan on doing the bulk of the cleanup; I'll need that standing time. I also plan on doing the shopping.

My thought is that rather than see this as his "orders" (his default setting), he might look forward to this plan for a boatload of comfort food from his loving wife, as we are apart Thanksgivings day. (I sent him each recipe for pix and mouth watering.)

He's also made a GF cake and cheesecake.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 25 Dec 18 - 11:00 AM

Today being Christmas, I are roasting a duck and making bigarade sauce. There will be steamed pud with custard to follow. I may not be capable of movement for some time after.

Himself, on the other hand, will be looking around for cheese and nuts.

I don’t know where he puts it all.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: BobL
Date: 26 Dec 18 - 03:53 AM

Xmas dinner was a venison joint, boned & rolled by local butcher. 2lb 8oz was just right for a party of 4, with enough left over to make one small sandwich.
Followed by mincemeat-stuffed peach halves, doused in sherry and warmed in the oven during the main course.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 26 Dec 18 - 09:42 AM

Peaches stuffed with mincemeat — how delightful! Fresh or tinned peaches?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Dec 18 - 11:31 AM

A while back I posted a link to a good comparison of the North American wild grapes, so of course I can't find it now. Mustang grapes are featured at the bottom of this page. I make grape jelly just like in the SureJel package instructions.

Today I'll make a batch of bread pudding because I love it for breakfast or snacks. It reheats very nicely. The rest of my eating is leftovers from the last couple of days.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 26 Dec 18 - 04:52 PM

For Christmas dinner we had Mexican food. It wasn't a deliberate choice; the avocados were ready to eat.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: BobL
Date: 27 Dec 18 - 02:44 AM

Tinned peaches Charmion, it's not a good season for fresh ones. However they do the job excellently. Might try bottled ones sometime, but my dad's recipes for fruit in vodka usually yielded uneatable fruit and wonderful liquor.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 27 Dec 18 - 07:51 AM

The nut roast I mentioned earlier was a success. It froze and reheated (just thawed it and slices in the microwave) well. Rather than splitting duties with Pip as suggested before, I cooked it. It took a me lot longer than the recipe suggested (double the prep time but I’m slow even with a decent knife, a lot longer for the mix with the lentils added to absorb nearly all the liquid and at least 10 minutes more baking time) but parents enjoyed it and I would use this recipe again.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 27 Dec 18 - 11:29 AM

BobL, your Dad's fruit in vodka sounds like the cordial I make most summers, which is always delicious but often results in fruit fit only for the compost heap once the liquor is tapped off. I have never made it with peaches (why not? good question); so far, I have used only raspberries or sour cherries. The osmotic process that pulls the juice into the booze reduces raspberries to tasteless pulp, but sour cherries are high enough in cellulose to retain some structure even after six months of maceration, so they are good with yoghourt or ice cream.

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

Tonight we had a nice, wintry dish

turkey with root vegetables

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Coquito, aka Puerto Rican egg nog

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

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

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

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

the recipe is is in any decent Italian cookbook.


Dave H

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

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

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

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

I'll try that maybe tommorrow Steve.

Cheers, Dave

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

cheese tea - tea sipped through a cap of cream cheese

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

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

dandelion greens will also get a chance at culinary fame

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

look for mushrooms in cocktails and desserts

kale is out now

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

a raspberry blintz would brighten this sunny sunday morning.

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

I love the idea of instant mulling.

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

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

Mrrzy -- HA HA HA HA!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kids!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Le CrEUset is easy to spell, except for Brexiteers.

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

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

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

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

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

Mashed potatoes
Boiled rice
Sausages
Jacket potatoes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

sauteed garlic

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

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

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

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

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

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 11 Jan 19 - 05:28 PM

My experience years ago made me uneasy asking about recipes. Perhaps its just me but I have wondered if anyone has ha a similar experience.

I was offered a small portion of ribs and non chalantly popped it in my mouth. Suddenly the meat liquified and fell off the bone, all my senses turned into a river of flowing bacon and weak kneed I craved a second bite. I impetously asked "what is the recipe for this" at which point the lady stiffened and acted as if I had asked for her wallet and social security number. She said with tight lips and glaring eyes "This is a secret family recipe!".
It was if I had tried to steal from her ancestors and future grand children's fortunes and destroy the dreams of franchises for centuries to come.
Clearly my question was inappropriate and tantamount to felony.
I assumed that one should never ask except as a compliment not meant to be answered.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Jan 19 - 06:28 PM

Recipes are like Irish tunes in a single line of notation. Not even bare bones, but possessing a whiff of an idea. Something to build on, rebel against and stray badly from. I just get meself up into the kitchen, vaguely recall something I once read in a book, then do my own thing. I have one golden rule, which is that no one ingredient, except for the main meaty or fishy one, should EVER be the point of the thing. I do not want every mouthful of any dish to taste mostly of basil/mint/garlic/chilli/apple/onion/thyme. I want integration of flavours, team work from the ingredients. I have few rules, but just a couple are that dried basil has no place in any kitchen, that garlic should NEVER be crushed, and that, if your dish tastes herby, you've got it wrong. Another thing or two I've learned are that the microwave rarely yields decent food and that steaming most vegetables is going to give you inferior results. I'd make an exception for chopped cabbage, but nothing else. Boil your veg in water half way up the veg, always with a pinch of salt, don't overcooked them, and you'll never look back. Sod the vitamins. You'll get plenty of those anyway if you live in the West like me. Food is enjoyment, not medicinal.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: leeneia
Date: 11 Jan 19 - 06:33 PM

Don't worry, Donuel. That was an usual experience. Most people are happy to share recipes. It is a compliment that a diner likes a food so much that they ask for it.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Jan 19 - 07:59 PM

I shop at an unusual one-of-a-kind grocery store in town; they buy from chain stores' warehouses with products nearing the sell-by date, and from independent grocery suppliers who were overstocked; when there is meat, poultry or fish it is frozen. The groceries are discounted, often quite deeply, and they have what they have and when it's gone it's gone. I buy a lot of my dairy products there (excellent cheeses, high-end yogurt quarts, bulk packages of eggs, yogurt cups, etc.) and veggies. Fresh veggies are anything you can think of, along with fresh flowers, flowers in vases, flowers in pots, etc.

I had some salmon today for lunch that I picked up there; I only bought one salmon package because I didn't know anything about it the supplier and it's just as well. It was quite oily (which is good) but not particularly tasty. I have resolved not to buy any more salmon there unless it's labeled as wild-caught sockeye or better; this experiment confirmed my mostly-formed suspicion. The unsold the dog salmon comes from wherever.

I cook enough of some dishes to use them for several days - this week it has been split pea soup and rice with chicken for dinner with various other small side dishes. I'm doing a "no-spend" month so these are all things that came from my shelves or out of the freezer. Given the challenge of not buying new ingredients, it's interesting to see what I can come up with.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Stanron
Date: 11 Jan 19 - 08:14 PM

Is it just me or does anyone else link this thread with the Barrett's oesophagus thread. In the interest of expanding threeness how about a thread about the drugs we all took when we were not ill in any way at all?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Charmion
Date: 11 Jan 19 - 09:41 PM

When I was not ill in any way, I was 23 and in the armed forces. Being afraid of arrest and imprisonment in those days, I used no drugs at all.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 11 Jan 19 - 10:38 PM

I have never added a sacred or magical mushroom to any recipe except for tea with full disclosure. Some things are better in their fresh and anticipated original organic form like in a salad with your favorite dressing. Although convenient, dried shrooms are tough on the tummy.

Ayahuasca is not one of those things. They say it is like all bitter alkaloids with MAO inhibitors and that it tastes like a dog shit shake with alfalfa flavor and will cause vomiting. I do not believe vomiting is a required gateway to an epicurean psychoactive journey. Besides the idea of saliva as an ingredient turns me off. but that's just me. There are better ways to share spit.

Most of us would prefer a nice crab bisque.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Thompson
Date: 12 Jan 19 - 05:29 AM

A dogshit shake isn't an appetising description, to be honest.

I'd personally be nervous of any of these hallucinogenics - even cannabis, now that it's been genetically engineered to be much more stoney than it was in my youth. Not that I was any great toker then either…

But with how little we know about the brain and its workings, it seems foolish to me to be seeking what are essentially artificially-induced psychotic experiences.

Incidentally, talking of mushrooms, does anyone else occasionally buy stuff in the wholesale fruit and vegetable markets? It's always super-fresh, you get things that you won't get in most shops, and the prices are extraordinary. You're buying in bulk, but not that much bulk - I sometimes go halvers with a friend or two for a box of something.

And is anyone doing any pre-Brexit stocking-up-just-in-case, and if so what are you stocking up on?

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Jos
Date: 12 Jan 19 - 03:42 PM

Apologies - in my post on 11 January I meant 'herring roes', not 'herring rows' (I woke up in the night worrying about it, imagining herrings lined up in a row, or even herrings having a row and fighting noisily).

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 12 Jan 19 - 04:02 PM

Find some reliable food banks. Did you know a practicing Mormon is required to have a year of food stored?

There is a big difference between artificial/chemistry and billions of years of evolutionary organics. As temporary psychotic episodes go I would not place the sacred mushroom experience into that category of experience. It is a surprise I would not spoil by an attempt to define.
I would only recommend having a theme question or questions and be sure to ask.

As a bucket list experience it is in the top 10. Now they use it for geriatrics having a hard time transitioning.

Its been over 30 years since I even tried a joint but there are several gourmet cooking shows that feature pot as an ingredient.

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Donuel
Date: 12 Jan 19 - 06:52 PM

https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/lobster-or-crab-bisque-229275

double the lump crab meat to 1 lb
salt and mushroom to taste

Subject: RE: BS: Recipes - what are we eating?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Jan 19 - 07:21 PM

I'm a bit bloody annoyed. I did a great big long post about mushrooms this morning but some git pulled the website just as I hit send, and even my "select all-copy" didn't take. Grr.

Anyway.

In a nutshell, I was rabbiting on about the abuse of mushrooms in cookery. Nasty rubbery things in the "Full English Breakfast." Nasty little tasteless buttons in casseroles and stews, I love sautéed mushrooms on toast but they must be thinly sliced and fried in butter with salt and black pepper. Add a fried egg or two, done in the mushroom butter, and you have a breakfast to keep you going until mid-afternoon. If I want to be antisocial for 24 hours, I add parsley and fist-smashed garlic cloves to the sautée. Delia's pork chops recipe, done with cream and chopped mushrooms with thyme and lemon, is a thing of beauty too. But, for a casserole or stew, I use only dried porcini. I soak the fungi in boiling water for half an hour and use the beautiful liquid in the stew, and I chop the ceps finely and add them too.

I don't understand people who use mind-altering substances such as psilocybe or cannabis, still less people who brag about using them. It isn't big and it isn't clever. I use booze with caution and that's more than enough for me, thanks.

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.

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: 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: 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: 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 - 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: 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 - 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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 - 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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 - 10:07 PM

Lamb, yeah. Mutton?

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: 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 roa