BS: The other recipe thread is too long

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 03 Feb 24 - 03:40 PM

I made my own paté, waaay easier than pie. 7 mn, from get the duck fat out of the fridge, to put the mixture into a ramekin to put back in fridge. It is delicious. No idea it was so simple.

What happened was, when I thawed my duck from the farmer, it had no liver in it, which I noted to the seller. Apparently they don't include the duck livers like they do with the geese, but because I was disappointed, have a free pound of duck livers.

So I found a recipe for 1 duck liver, followed it (mostly), found the mixture too runny so in went a second duck liver, looked good. Then I made another one with the other 3 livers just by hand, based broadly on the recipe.

I can't tell'm apart.

Original recipe ingredients: 3 oz duck fat, 1 large shallot, 1 duck liver, 1/4 t herbes de provence, 1 peeled crushed garlic clove, 1/4 t salt, 1 t cognac.

Melt fat, add the some onion I subbed, the garlic, the bouquet garni I subbed; after a bit, add the liver, in pieces, dried better than I did, wow that was some splatter, you should see my forearm. Once the liver has no pink, put in food processor with the cognac, process to mush. This is where it was too runny, so I fried up that second liver in the still-greasy pan, and processed some more. Put in ramekin to solidify.

So for the second one, I used 3 livers and only 1 oz of duck fat plus another oz of my garlic oil, a little more onion, everything else pretty much the same. This is the one I've been eating with cornichons, to avoid the bread.

The other one is frozen, for science. The recipes all said it would freeze well.

A recipe I haven't tried, but might some day, is this:

8 oz. duck liver, chopped
1 oz cognac
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
3 egg yolks

Heat oven to 300°. Line a 9" x 5" x 2¾" loaf pan with plastic wrap, letting at least 4" hang over the edges; set aside. Purée liver, cognac, cream, butter, salt, and yolks in a food processor until smooth. Press mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Spread into prepared pan; fold excess plastic over top of pan. Place pan into a 9" x 13" baking dish; pour boiling water into dish to come halfway up outside of pan. Bake until slightly firm, about 35 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into middle of mousse registers 150°. Chill until completely firm, at least 4 hours.

Any of you guys made your own?

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 06 Jan 24 - 01:57 PM

Leftover lamb, fried with zucchini and a lot of cumin and ginger. Used most of the meat. Bone and fat and all will make broth, later.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Jan 24 - 06:15 PM

Boil up your lamb leg, feed it to the cat and go out to buy a whole shoulder of lamb on the bone. If your butcher removes the neck fillet yet still wants to sell it as "whole shoulder," change your butcher. Put the lamb into a big roasting tin, season it lightly and insert four or five sprigs of fresh rosemary into its cracks and crevices. Put it into an oven at 120°C and leave it untouched for at least six hours. You can whack the oven up for the last 20 minutes to crisp up the outside. Let it rest for at least half an hour. Believe me, you will never regret doing this. And you won't need a knife to "carve" it.

As for cooking it with garlic, I'd say that's fine (with whole cloves) if you have a big gathering who will help you to devour the whole lot. If you want meat for cold, however, it's best to leave the garlic out.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 03 Jan 24 - 03:21 PM

Ok, new cut of meat, for me: what they called Easy-carve leg of lamb, which is boneless on top but not bottom.

Day 1: Put a lot each of that peeled garlic I love, whole white peppercorns, and rosemary, and a little each of grosgrain mustard and olive oil, into a food processor, made mush.
Untied the leg, opened that end up, crammed every nook and slathered the outside with the mush, wrapped the leg tightly in parchment paper. Put in fridge.
Day 2: brought leg to room temp. Unwrapped, rewrapped the meat around the boneless end, retied it tightly. Put leg in roasting pan. To keep the mush that was falling off from burning, put some white wine in bottom of roasting pan. Just before sticking into preheated 450 oven, poured a little garlic oil onto the top, rubbed that in. Hot oven 15 mn, then 350 for an hour. Let sit out of oven while deglazing roasting pan, finishing any accompaniements, and so on. Pour deglazed juices into separator.
It made a marvy crust. Marvy juices. The lamb was perfectly rare -in fact, I wouldn't have minded another 15 mn, but I took the edge piece.

Success at first leg!

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 02 Jan 24 - 11:48 AM

Garlic OIL, sorry.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 01 Jan 24 - 09:38 AM

We bought a cooker with an induction hob a couple of years ago. We have one or two pans that aren't compatible but, apart from that, we think it's brilliant. You can get things up to the boil ultra-fast and nothing ever burns on to the hob. If you carelessly splatter stuff all over it it's just an easy wipe-up, no scouring or scraping. Learning how to control the heating-up and simmering is a learning curve, but we got there!

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: BobL
Date: 01 Jan 24 - 08:03 AM

Interesting. One of my pizza recipes says bung it in a cold oven with the heat turned up to maximum, give it 15 minutes instead of the usual 10. Works just as well as preheating.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 31 Dec 23 - 03:03 PM

My new thing is the cold oven. Usually I sauté aromatics, reserve, sear meat, deglaze, add veg, all on stovetop, then pop in preheated oven. I then have a dirty pan, plate, and utensils, and stovetop, too. And a chopping board and knife.

Kitchen stays much cleaner, and I haven't noticed any taste or texturre difference, if instead I layer everything, raw, and pop into cold oven, then turn oven on.

Made a venison paprikás by putting garlic (should have been bacon grease, I know, Mom) on the bottom of the dish with hot paprika, then onion and celery with marjoram and some salt, then cherry tomatoes and zucchini for some liquid, then the meat dry rubbed with more paprika and smeared with beef bouillon paste, then mushrooms with thyme and a little more salt, and a hefty splash of wine. Nothing but knife and chopping board to wash. The added preheating time wasn't as much as the saved sautéing, reserving, searing etc. time, either.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 30 Dec 23 - 09:48 AM

Ah, the sweets I didn't make this year, all mom's old recipes:

Florentines
Daiquiri balls

The ones I didn't get a care package of:

Marzipan
Mud cookies

I vent my resentment here...

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Dec 23 - 01:41 PM

I brined sockeye salmon this week and smoked it as a gift for family members. Soy sauce, pickling salt (no additives in it), sugar, dried onion and garlic, and white wine. It came out great.

I also marinated lamb to make souvlaki - white wine, olive oil, lemon juice, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Another hit with the family.

A friend brings in bakery cookies from her son's bakery and they really are dreadful, too sweet, white flour, and coated with brightly colored icing. We managed to send them on their way when she went out for the day with her daughter. Someone else can toss them. (I made small crispy Finnish cardamom cookies this year that are pretty darned addictive.)

The next few days will all be leftovers.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 29 Dec 23 - 11:58 AM

Mmmmm. Mashed are best when made with baked potatoes. And I like Nora Ephron's idea, a thin slice of cold butter on each individual bite.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 28 Dec 23 - 06:03 AM

Next time you have baked potatoes, do an extra one accidentally on purpose (two if they're not very big). Next morning, microwave them for about 90 seconds. Put them in a bowl and cut them in half. Smother them with a handful of little chunks of diced cheddar cheese, the stronger the better. Microwave for another 90 seconds. Eat. I cut mine up first with kitchen scissors so that I can eat with just a fork but you don't have to do that. A breakfast fit for a king in under five minutes!

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 23 Dec 23 - 12:03 PM

I read you can crisp garlic in the microwave.

You can.

Crushed a ton of garlic, salted slightly, oil to completely cover, deep bowl with lid.

In microwave in 1mn bursts, stir; down to 30 secs as the garlic browns. Took a while. Smelled divine. The lid pops off.

When all the garlic was a deep brown, drained it.

Ended up with a jar of garlic oil and a pile of crunchy, crunchy garlic, to put on top of a lot of things!

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 22 Dec 23 - 07:56 PM

Does anyone else find the texture of brined pork to be repellent?

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Dec 23 - 11:29 AM

Whatever lights yer fire. I love garlic but I just don't want it in everything. I always either squash it with the flat of the knife or slice it up fine. I threw my garlic crusher away years ago. Another good thing to do is to wrap the separated but unpeeled cloves, as many as you like, in a piece of foil with some extra virgin olive oil and bake in the oven for half an hour. You can squeeze the innards out into your dish or just suck them out. Gorgeous.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 11 Dec 23 - 11:03 AM

Garlic is good in everything savory.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 10 Dec 23 - 12:57 PM

Well some pasta shapes work much better with some sauces than others. We can give helpful ideas here without being accused of being dictatorial, I think. If you make a nice bolognese ragu, then serve it with spaghetti, you'll end up with a little puddle of sauce left in your bowl because it didn't stick to your pasta very well. That's why they never eat it that way in Italy. Not saying that anyone has to follow that as if it's an edict! My family always want it served on spaghetti so I have to give in. They also want garlic and basil in the ragu - yikes. Worst of all, I've been served up spag bol as a heap of spaghetti with a pile of sauce dumped on top. I've had it every which way and I think the Italian (very simple) approach is easily the tastiest. But whatever stirs yer loins.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 10 Dec 23 - 08:56 AM

My kitchen was so clean I cooked in the microwave.

Cabbage
Spices
Cherry tomatoes
Lid! Made lovely soup.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Dec 23 - 11:25 AM

You can dictate what you think is the "right" way to do things, but for many people, the practical aspect of cooking is to use what is in the cupboard and not always have to run out to find the perfect shaped noodle if it's not on the shelf. I could make it—there is a pasta machine cutter thingie in my closet but I don't use it often. There are lots of shapes of pasta in air-tight containers in the cupboard. Whatever the shape is can be irrelevant if there is an appropriate surface area.

A chicken breast is thawing this morning to bake this afternoon and use for several different meals this week. I find I rarely have a large amount of almost any meat at most meals, it is usually part of something else, like shredded on a salad or in strips with onions and hot peppers and sauce and toppings in a taco or fajita, etc. I have a few tomatoes ripening from the last plant of the season (picked green a couple of weeks ago) that will go nicely on a chef salad - a bed of lettuce topped with the meat, cheese, a sprinkle of nuts and seeds called Tours Mix (a local specialty), Italian dressing (I like a Balsamic one), and the rim of the plate holding quartered tomatoes and halved hard-boiled eggs. This is probably an American concoction. (As is the way more robust Cobb Salad - I get a version at a local seafood place with crab, bacon, cheese, avocado, and a Greek dressing.)

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 09 Dec 23 - 10:21 AM

No rules? You *are* the rules [grin]!

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Dec 23 - 03:56 AM

My reading glasses are not by my side...

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Dec 23 - 03:54 AM

Correct. Typically they would use a ribbon pasta shape. You do see spag bol on "tourist men2'us" everywhere, however! No "spaghetti meatballs" either! And no cheese on fish!

On the other hand, there are no rules... ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 08 Dec 23 - 10:37 PM

And the pasta shape matters. There is no *spaghetti* bolognese in Italy, I've read.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Dec 23 - 08:27 PM

I think (no dogma here) that the heart of Italian cooking is its simplicity and its dependence on getting the best ingredients you can lay your hands on. There are fierce culinary battles in Italy about how you make bolognese sauce, puttanesca, arrabbiata, and pizza. Numerous trips to Italy have taught me that it's best not to do battle with the people who really are in the know. If you choose the finest ingredients then you don't need to waste money on a load of herbs, spices and other flavourings. So, no cream in carbonara, no garlic in bolognese or carbonara, no onion in carbonara, no pineapple on pizza, no minced garlic and no ready-grated Parmesan, ever.

I'm not being prescriptive, just telling you like it is. But it's great to do your own thing, and if it works for you no-one has the right to complain. Just try not to say that you're making carbonara when you're not, that's all.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Dec 23 - 04:02 PM

Well said, Mrrzy. Maggie's recipe is probably utterly delicious, but carbonara it ain't. Hey, Maggie, I love onions and garlic. I don't know where you got that from, but true carbonara has neither. Most Italian chefs suggest pancetta cut into small cubes if guanciale isn't available. The eggs are one per person plus one extra yolk the way I do it, and a key step is to add the egg/cheese mix to the pasta/ bacon mix only when you've taken the pasta bacon mixture off the heat in order to avoid scrambled egg. You also need to save plenty of pasta water in order to loosen the sauce. I've made carbonara many times according to Carluccio's recipe, more or less, and it's super-simple and super-easy as long as you don't scramble the eggs!

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 08 Dec 23 - 03:14 PM

Carbonara: spaghetti, browned guanciale, black pepper, pecorino Romano and beaten eggs. Bacon and eggs, with spaghetti.

But the above sounded delish.

Accidentally made pot roast...

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Dec 23 - 03:10 PM

Steve, please stop with the dogmatic rejections other people's posts, here and elsewhere! You can politely agree to disagree with things, but just because you don't like onions and garlic and such you don't need to act like I got it wrong. I am not going to look for cured pig cheeks and a recipe without the ingredients I listed strikes me as quite bland.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 08 Dec 23 - 03:05 PM

Arrgh, Maggie! No onion, no garlic, no oil, no parsley! You can use pecorino, Parmesan or a mixture. I wouldn't add salt as there's salt in the bacon, cheese and pasta water, and loads of black pepper is essential. My infallible (honest!) guide to carbonara is the late-lamented Antonio Carluccio's YouTube. It doesn't get better. Ideally we should use guancale, the cured pig's cheek, but I can't get that round here. Pancetta is great as long as it's in cubes, not thin strips, but I use unsmoked bacon lardons and I get all the fat I need by dry-frying them for the ten or twelve minutes that the spaghetti takes. All I'm saying is that that's what I do, as does Antonio, and if you ignore all this and carry on with all those extra ingredients I'm sure that it'll be delicious. But no true Italian would call it carbonara!

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Dec 23 - 01:11 PM

A friend shared a Spaghetti Carbonara recipe that looks quick and easy and quite delicious!

1 box (16 ounces) spaghetti noodles
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 slices bacon, chopped (can use Pancetta)
1 medium white onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
4 large eggs, beaten
2 cups Parmesan cheese, grated, plus 2 tablespoons for topping
1 pinch salt and black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped (optional)

Instructions

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook spaghetti until al dente (about 8-10 minutes). Drain. (Can reserve a cup of pasta water just in case you want a thinner sauce.)

Toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and set aside.

In a large skillet over medium heat, add chopped bacon and cook until crisp; remove and drain onto paper towels.

To the same skillet over medium heat, add chopped onion. Do not wipe down the skillet before adding the onion.

Once onion is translucent (about 3-5 minutes) add the minced garlic, and cook for one more minute.

Add the spaghetti noodles back into the pan and toss to coat and heat through. Reduce the heat to low.

In a medium bowl, mix together eggs and parmesan cheese. Add this to the noodles and cook, tossing constantly with tongs until eggs and parmesan develop into a light sauce over the noodles.

Add in bacon, salt and pepper to taste, and top with remaining parmesan cheese. (And chopped parsley for garnish if you so desire.)

Serve immediately.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 27 Oct 23 - 12:47 PM

I had to look up "Cornish game hen." They don't come from Cornwall and they are not gamey! I can't think that such a titchy and fast-grown thing could develop much flavour, but I see that you add a lot of flavourings anyway. I cook two sizes of chicken: big five-pounders that I roast for about 110 minutes at 190C, seasoned and buttered all over, a lemon, knob of butter and shallot in the cavity, covered with foil that's removed for the last 30 minutes, and smaller ones, about 3.5 pounds, that I cook "Marcella's way," well-seasoned, no added fat, just two small, pierced lemons in the cavity, half an hour breast down at 180C, same again breast up for half an hour, then with the heat whacked up to 200C for a final 20 minutes. I get the chicken-for-one idea of the mini-hen, but who doesn't love a stack of leftover cold chicken in the fridge for two or three days?

The two of us get three hearty lots of chicken from the big one and a possible bonus sandwich, and two lots from Marcella's. Scraps go in the freezer for a future risotto, or the cat might get a little treat...

I don't put stuffing in the cavity. Instead, I make it into portion-sized balls and bake it on greaseproof paper for 25 minutes while the parsnips and roasties are cooking and the chicken's having a rest. We both devour the skin, but, luckily for me, Mrs Steve always fails to spot that the parson's nose has mysteriously vanished...

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Oct 23 - 10:13 AM

Confection is a word that refers to something confected—that is, put together—from several different ingredients or elements. Often confections are sweet and edible, but confection can also be used to refer to a finely worked piece of craftsmanship. In other words, the lacy box containing chocolate confections can be a confection itself. Tracing back to the Latin verb conficere (“to carry out, perform, make, bring about, collect, bring to completion”), confection entered Middle English as the word confeccioun, meaning “preparation by mixing ingredients; something prepared by mixing, such as a medicine or dish of food...

from Merriam-Webster

Subject: RE: 500 Error - Blocked threads? You can help
From: Thompson
Date: 31 Oct 23 - 02:03 PM

I can read the recipe thread but can't post this:

Parsnip season; I bought from a farmer the other day three gigantic parsnips (knowing from experience that these freshly-dug roots will be tender and delicious). I'll probably chop them in batons, steam them and then bake them in a cheesy sauce with a dessertspoon each of mustard and honey, as usual, but any other suggestions welcomed.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Oct 23 - 11:29 PM

The house smells wonderful this evening after making a batch of yeast dinner rolls. I often add a generous sprinkle of granulated garlic and grind a tablespoon of oregano into the ingredients when the bread machine starts. I use the machine to do the mixing and kneading, but when it is on the manual setting it stops before baking so I take it out and shape into rolls or put bread dough in a loaf pan. I can use potassium salt for making the bread, but find unsalted butter disappointing to spread on them. I suppose I could add my Nu Salt to the butter, but I think I'll just use the sweet butter and know it's adding a measurable amount of sodium to my intake for the day.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Oct 23 - 10:42 AM

I'm a half-pint shy of two quarts of homemade Italian-style tomato sauce; onions, bell peppers, and homegrown garlic (through the press), oregano and basil finely chopped. Non-sodium salt, freshly ground black pepper (the only kind I use these days), and a little red wine. This batch also had some reconstituted mushrooms, soaked for a long time then cut quite small. Good for flavor, won't be recognizable because I used the stick blender to reduce the size of any chunks to quite small. I added some commercial low-salt tomato paste for a richer color and flavor and to thicken it. Much of this is with purchased tomatoes since my garden produced so little. Divided into three pint and one half-pint jars, all of the sauce is in the freezer.

When I make sauce from my homegrown tomatoes it's a day-long process of picking the perfect tomatoes, washing then cutting in half and setting them into the steam juicer. They steam for up to an hour and in the process release upwards of a gallon of clear yellowish juice. Then the steamed solids are run through a food mill that separates the skin and seeds to one bowl and the sauce solids to another. That is simmered down and either canned plain, or it is made into the Italian style sauce (Ball Blue Book recipe) and any of this output is processed in the hot water bath and stored in the pantry. It is possible to can the juice also, but I usually freeze it in quart jars.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 25 Oct 23 - 08:35 PM

Ok, cause, ew.

Stuffed cloves from 2 heads of garlic up the butt of a cornish game hen, sprinkled inside and out with onion powder salt hot pepper. Butter under skin with more garlic. Started in very hot oven, turned down after 20mn. On grill over pie dish. While hen was resting, put asparagus spears in the drippings with all the garlic from inside the bird, roasted 15 mn. Still crunchy. Ate the skin first, of course. Meat juicy juicy.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Mrrzy
Date: 22 Oct 23 - 09:37 AM

Wait, a *sweet* prawn sandwich?

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: BobL
Date: 19 Oct 23 - 03:09 AM

Quartered flat mushers plus a dollop of anchovy sauce added to a beef casserole used to work very well for me. A passable mock steak-and-oyster stew.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Oct 23 - 06:26 AM

It isn't often that a shop-bought confection can match home-made, but the M&S "Best Ever" prawn sandwich, under a fiver, comes pretty damn close!

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Oct 23 - 05:09 PM

Ah, you and your garlic press! ;-)

I don't use garlic with steaks, but hey ho. Just a drop of groundnut oil (or, as you say, use the fat from the steak trimmings) and salt and pepper, then a couple of minutes on each side with high heat. I also cook braising steak, cheap cuts that take slow cooking. I might do the whole slabs on top in a covered pan on top my mum's way, or I might cut them into chunks, brown them, simmer in red wine for a bit then add whatever to make a stew over about three hours. Satisfies the folks who don't like the sight of blood... ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Oct 23 - 01:01 PM

Gosh, I'd have thought that expressing your own taste in a food thread is valid even if it doesn't always concur with other people's. If I told you that basil, oregano and garlic just seems wrong in bolognese sauce, you disagree and told me I was insulting you, I'd think you were very strange. No insult intended. A good steak with its beautiful beefy flavour is not something I'd want to, er, cover with a sauce, that's all. I'm sure your sauce is perfectly delicious.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Oct 23 - 05:31 AM

I would have some sautéed mushrooms with a rare steak. If you have a good-quality steak (gimme ribeye), why drown it in a sauce? Just a spot of seasoning, applied immediately before frying. I want some chips and a few lightly-cooked cherry tomatoes with a good steak, maybe some peas or broad beans.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Oct 23 - 07:26 PM

Well I think that mushrooms, as long as they are not button or from a jar, are highly nutritious and highly delicious. We eat them as a side veg at least four times a week, and, in the rare circumstance that we have some that urgently need using up, I have them for breakfast on a slab of buttered toast. I like the big flat ones stuffed with this, that or the other, but just-opening chestnut ones, either sautéed in butter or done in the oven if it's on anyway, are my particular nirvana. Just make sure the water has all gone then add another four minutes.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Oct 23 - 06:10 AM

One thing a good few recipes suggest is to soak dried porcini and use the soaking water (mind the grit!) then chop the fungi and throw them in. This latter step I will never do. The soaking water adds a lot, but the mushrooms have a horrid texture in m'humble.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Oct 23 - 05:51 AM

Baked beans are a revolting addition to the full English, and I ask for an extra egg instead. A slice of Macsween's black pudding (available at M&S) is, however, a thing of great beauty. Those nasty little rubbery mushrooms oft included, slimy things, are very unpleasant. I love mushrooms cooked in butter and well-seasoned, then sautéed or done in the oven until all the water has gone from them. But I think they're pretty ruinous in stews. Each to his own. One man's fish is another man's poisson...

I won't buy button mushrooms. Pointless wee things.

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Oct 23 - 06:10 PM

No pineapple on pizza. No cream in carbonara. No bloody mushrooms in stews.

(Though a bit of porcini soaking water can be a thing of beauty...)

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Oct 23 - 06:19 PM

"Duck bacon" ???

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 30 Sep 23 - 04:29 PM

I had a fair bit of leftover sauce from the dish I posted on the 24th. I'm on my own this weekend (nothing sinister to read into that! ) and I had some meatballs that came with an order from a really good online butcher that I use - I hadn't really wanted them, but adding them to my order got me over the threshold to save £5 postage!

Anyway, following the instructions on the pack, I browned the meatballs for a few minutes then simmered them for about twenty minutes in the leftover sauce. They were very nice, but two things: they were quite dense in texture, and they, well, just lacked a bit of character.

Sometimes you need to use bought ready-made things in your recipes so that you can bolster your opinion on your own cooking (as well as saving time in emergencies). I've made Marcella's meatballs a good few times, and you do sometimes wonder (if you're highly self-critical) whether you've done a good job. Well, though tonight's meatballs were fine, give me Marcella's any day. Cheered me up, it did!

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 Sep 23 - 08:29 PM

This for two people. I happened to have a scant pound of braising steak so I decided to loosely follow an online recipe for Italian beef stew (cheers, Vincenzo!).

Make a soffritto with carrots, onions and celery (as ever) with extra virgin olive oil. Don't cut the veg up too small. You want texture in the stew. Ten minutes' cooking.

Cut your beef (about 400g) into bite size pieces. Stir-fry it with the soffritto for a few minutes, to brown all round.

Add a tablespoon of plain flour and stir for a couple of minutes.

Whack up the heat and add a glass of red wine - keep stirring.

Add about 350 ml of passata or your own tomato sauce. Keep stirring.

Season, then add about 350ml veg stock. I always make my own with onions, celery, carrots, peppercorns, thyme and bay. Simmer for at least two and a half hours. Add a small stick of fresh rosemary.

After one hour, peel a pound or more of spuds, cut into quite big chunks and add to the broth. Discard the rosemary.

Apart from checking the seasoning, you're done. I made this the day before and it was delicious. I did think it wasn't going to work out as a stew because it seemed to be too tomatoey and full of rosemary needles. Ut, begod, it was a triumph, and what a winter dish!

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Sep 23 - 06:24 AM

I looked up some recipes for your Catalan prawns and I found one similar to the pil pil recipe on the website food.com (GAMBAS AL AJILLO (SHRIMP W/ GARLIC) CATALONIA). Some other recipes over-egged things a bit too much but that one looks good. Not sure that you need butter, but hey, when is butter ever bad?   One difference is that, in the three places in Andalucía I had the dish, the garlic was not minced but was cut into quite large pieces, maybe each clove cut into about four or five, and plenty of it. We almost wrestled each other to get at those lovely, sweet chunks of garlic. I've said it before and I'll say it again: throw your garlic crusher in the bin! All you need is a sharp little knife. I have one of those cheapie silicone tubes which you put a clove into and roll on the worktop - and out comes a perfectly peeled clove!

Subject: RE: BS: The other recipe thread is too long
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Sep 23 - 06:09 AM

Nah, the prawns are cooked in the recipe and the dish is traditionally brought to the table still sizzling in one of those little brown tapas bowls. Just a thought, though: half the joy of the dish is mopping up the juices as well as eating the prawns. That really needs bread, which is carbs. You'd have to do a deal with your friend: you get the prawns, they get the juices. In fact, in Spain that did kind of happen, as my sis can't stand prawns in her mouth but was more than happy to snaffle up the juices! The downside is that she got more than her share of the juices....