The 'Here's what I had for dinner last night' thread - Part I

The Sweeper

Ate on the run at an event I was organising, so had a cheese platter with terrible cheese and very nice pesto, followed by a couple of party pies, then an hour later threw three chicken pieces down my throat, washed that in with two glasses of rather good merlot, then raced onwards towards organising the outdoor movie on the grass... and got bitten by mosquitoes, which stole both wine buzz and appetite. Blah.

kylith

Very simple dinner last night; grilled salmon flaked into pasta, dressed with butter and lemon juice. yum!

silverharp

fish pie a la Jamie Oliver , fantastic receipe , no pre cooking the fish etc. dead simple

Dinkie

Yogurt mince curry made by my mum... my parents lived abroad for years and her curries can rival any ones!

Kenny_D

Stir fried salmon fillet coated with Pataks Tandoori paste (thanks Jamie) served with stir fried veg and a dollop of natural yogurt. Tasty

The Lovely Muffin

Friday: Chinese takeaway

Tomorrow (Saturday) we are having Lamb, Carrots, Peas, Brocolli, Potatoes and Gravy as we are having family over.

Miaireland

Last night was a Chinese Takeaway - Crispy Duck in Soya Sauce and Fried Rice.

Today is homemade Chicken Korma.

The Sweeper

Had to cook a birthday dinner for my mother in law.

Was going for chicken liver pate with bramley apple jelly for a starter, but for various reasons didn't get organised in time, so made the pate but shelved that option in favour of the old reliable starter that both Minder and I use - pears, peeled and boiled in a mixture of white wine and boiling water, served on a bed of rocket and toasted hazlenuts, with a melted blue cheese topping and a drizzle of hazelnut oil and vinaigrette (though I just use very good balsamic).

Main course, sausage and mash with onion gravy - I bought some pork and fennel sausages which turned out to be really good; made a buttery mash with desiree spuds, then made a baby fennel gratin which turned out excellent - just fennel cooked with crushed garlic and a grating of nutmeg and some single cream, topped with a parmesan and breadcrumb crust that's finished under the grill. Did the sausages in a pan on the stovetop so I could make onion gravy with the juices.

Finished with a sticky date pudding with toffee sauce. Used a James Martin recipe - absolutely bloody marvellous. It's a little fiddly - you have to use a blender to mix up initial ingredients, then boil some pitted dates with some bicarbonate of soda, then blend that while hot (for extra spattery danger) and then feed it into the other blender that has the main mixture... Then pour the batter into a pan and cook at 200 degrees for about 40 minutes.

However, the sticky date pudding can be made well in advance and reheated before serving, which is what I'll be doing next time. The toffee sauce is just butter, sugar and double cream, but it really makes it.

Daughter in law duty: complete.

cabroig

WHAT A LOVELY SOUNDING MENU .MUST TRY THE STARTER AND MAINS THINK THE DESERT SOUNDS TO TRICKY FOR ME .
THANKS

NewFrockTuesday

Sounds like a fab dinner The Sweeper! Well done!

This weekend has been spent deciding what to have on my stall. Im going to try a farmers market with a friend for the craic. My weekends are devolving into constant cookery so I might as well knock a bit of cash out of it.

Ill be sellling a soup - Mulligatawny I think...
and a main of beef bourgignon and celeriac mash with red cabbage.

People can just wander around and eat it out of the containers.

Makes a change from the usual hotdogs I think. Apols if Im shilling - dont mean to and have deliberatlet not mentioned the location.

The Sweeper

It was actually really good fun to cook it.

And - here's a BIZARRE thing. I normally don't bother with tablecloths, just use place mats on my wooden table, and serve up general dishes for everyone to help themselves. This time around I put a tablecloth (a shamefully cheap polyester number, but it was white) on the table and plated up at least the mash and sausages for everyone, bringing gravy, and the fennel gratin to the table and resting them on heatproof mats for self-serve but dropping a plate of food in front of everyone else.

It's AMAZING how much more organised it made everything feel.

Minder

Saturday night was moules, fries and leffe. Sunday night was scallops with a butternut squash puree with ginger and lemongrass.

watna

The Sweeper wrote: »

It was actually really good fun to cook it.

And - here's a BIZARRE thing. I normally don't bother with tablecloths, just use place mats on my wooden table, and serve up general dishes for everyone to help themselves. This time around I put a tablecloth (a shamefully cheap polyester number, but it was white) on the table and plated up at least the mash and sausages for everyone, bringing gravy, and the fennel gratin to the table and resting them on heatproof mats for self-serve but dropping a plate of food in front of everyone else.

It's AMAZING how much more organised it made everything feel.

I found this recently too. We have friends over for dinner about once every two weeks and we're all very much about plonking it down on the table and letting people help themselves. We're all very causal. Last time we had people over I served everyone with their own plate and it was all very civilised. It made such a difference and the meal felt much less casual and messy!

The only problem is the difference in people's appetites. Myself and my OH don't have very big portions but we have a friend who is quite large and eats three times what I would for dinner and getting the right size for him can be hard! I just make sure there is enough for seconds and that works out ok then! I just can't get serving sizes right for different people.

Minder

Had Sunday Farmers Market fare to get through. Big prawns and a load of clams. Despite trawling through many a cookbook for inspiration with the clams, I settled for the old favourite of vongole with linguine. As a side dish, I butterflied the prawns and fried them with some XO sauce and a few scallions. Maybe a strange combination of dishes but all seafoodie loveliness.

Beans on toast for the rest of the week.

xzanti

Spag bol a la Xzanti with garlic bread.. Yummy

anthonno

Was in the Oriental Emporium last week and had a fridge full of vegetables that needed to be used. Frozen tuna steaks from Aldi were spot on in this.

Teriaki tuna steak with stir fried vegetables and noodles

The Hill Billy

Fri: Roast chicken, with roasted spuds, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes & garlic.
Sat: Steak & kidney pie.
Sun: Karahi Gosht from Bombay Bistro in Rush.
Mon: Thai chicken curry.

Faith

I had so much to eat over the weekend!

Saturday we had a delicious lamb terine with couscous and naan bread
Sunday we had a huge fry for brunch, with stuffed pork steak for dinner with roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, mushy peas and gravy.
Monday myself and the OH went to the Boardwalk and had their early bird. I had buffalo wings to start, followed by a medium rare rib eye steak, and banoffie pie. Yum yum!

The Black Oil

Chicken enchiladas.

Sigma Force

Carbonara with wholewheat pasta rather than spag. the mushrooms were lovely and garlicy one of the yummiest so far.

Ice cream and about half a ton of chocolate for dessert.

cabroig

A GREAT DINNER FOR KIDS OR WHEN KIDS HAVE FRIENDS OVER . YOU CUT CHICKEN BREAST INTO STRIPS HAVE PLATE WITH OLIVE OIL AND PUT SOME TUMERIC IN DIP THE CHICKEN AND COAT, GET CORNFLAKES AND CRUSH PLACE THE CHICKEN INTO THE CORNFLAKES AND COAT . BAKE IN THE OVEN FOR 20 MINS . KIDS LOVE THEM AS THEY ARE CRUNCHY BUT VERY HEALTHY . YOU CAN USE WHITE FISH AND THEY ARE LIKE FISH FINGERS .

BaZmO*

cabroig wrote: »

A GREAT DINNER FOR KIDS OR WHEN KIDS HAVE FRIENDS OVER . YOU CUT CHICKEN BREAST INTO STRIPS HAVE PLATE WITH OLIVE OIL AND PUT SOME TUMERIC IN DIP THE CHICKEN AND COAT, GET CORNFLAKES AND CRUSH PLACE THE CHICKEN INTO THE CORNFLAKES AND COAT . BAKE IN THE OVEN FOR 20 MINS . KIDS LOVE THEM AS THEY ARE CRUNCHY BUT VERY HEALTHY . YOU CAN USE WHITE FISH AND THEY ARE LIKE FISH FINGERS .

Toto Wolfcastle

Faith wrote: »

Monday myself and the OH went to the Boardwalk and had their early bird. I had buffalo wings to start, followed by a medium rare rib eye steak, and banoffie pie. Yum yum!

I love the Boardwalk. Their rib eye is fabulous. And their chips are perfect.

Hesh's Umpire

2 fried eggs, mashed and creamed potatoes and onion sauce. Yum E.

budgemook

janeybabe wrote: »

I love the Boardwalk. Their rib eye is fabulous. And their chips are perfect.

where's that? how much is the early bird?

Miaireland

I had a rare steak with Italian flat bread, purple spouting broccoli and pepper sauce.

Tonight I'm having roast leg of lamb, spinach, roast potatoes and gravy.

Faith

budgemook wrote: »

where's that? how much is the early bird?

Beside the Clarion. Is it Lapps Quay? It's across from the City Hall anyway. It's in Cork, if you hadn't gotten that. The early bird was €22.50 for 3 courses, with the option to substitute any course for a glass of wine.

anthonno

This is from the Wagamama cookbook. Prawns with stir fried vegetables on noodles smothered in chili sauce. You make the sauce up first and so it takes no time at all to make it when you are hungry.:pac:

Shaws

Monday night I had left over beef stew, Tuesday and Wednesday I had noodles - you know the curry flavoured noodles in the orange pack and tonight I had something M and S mince beef with crispy potatoes it was ok not great.

Minder

Last night was an individual venison pie - shortcrust base & puff pastry lid, served with boiled spuds and buttered spinach. The pies were made weeks back and freeze really well - can even be reheated from frozen. Beats baked beans.