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

Minder

Buckwheat noodle with chicken and roast garlic laksa

Dizzyblonde

Chicken Chasseur, which I made in my new crock pot - it was cooking all day and tasted amazing!

Toto Wolfcastle

Beef Strogonoff and duchesse potatoes. Twas yummy!

tSubh Dearg

Made a ham and cheese quiche for me. Himself is having Mexican chicken wraps from the butcher as he has a problem with eggs. More of the chipped potatoes with it for a bit of interest.

Minder

Bit of a mish mash of things - egg fried rice, buffalo wings and vegetable and prawn tempura with dipping sauces.

The Sweeper

Made a beef and guinness stew which I'll turn into mini-beef-pies tomorrow using a muffin tin and some puff pastry. Also made a quiche, which we scoffed. God bless frozen pastry. I can make my own shortcrust no bother, never made puff pastry myself, but the frozen sheets are just so much easier.

nice1franko

How do you make your beef and guinness stew?

r3nu4l

nice1franko wrote: »

How do you make your beef and guinness stew?

With beef and guinness, I'd assume.

Sorry, it had to be said, I feel dirty
I would be interested to know as well though.

Last night I had Salmon, cous cous and peas. I added cracked black pepper for taste. Simple but tasty

catho_monster

tSubh Dearg wrote: »

Depends on the kind of potato I'm using if I keep the skins on or not. It it's rooster or something similar I tend to peel them and after chopping, I par boil them for about 5 mins (you need to watch so they don't turn to mush) then put them in a hot oven with olive oil, sea salt, black pepper and some mixed herbs. That way they usually take about 30-40 mins but again just keep and eye on them.

If I make them with new potatoes I keep the skins on and just put them straight into the oven with the olive oil etc. Again they take about 30-40 mins but I tend to keep an eye on them and give them a bit of a shuffle with a spatula (I'll also turn the first lot during cooking as well to make sure they're getting equally brown on all sides)

For both cases they're usually done when they're a dark golden brown, but a taste test usually lets you know for sure.

For variety you can throw in some garlic cloves with them or a big chunk of fresh rosemary.

I'm sorry I can't be more precise with the times but I just play it by ear most times I cook them!

Let me know how you get on.

I make the same, but I've given up on peeling any of the potatoes, and I've also given up parboiling them, and they are still to.die.for. Usually takes 45 mins if chopped into small chunks, longer for wedges.

At the moment, I'm going through a phase of throwing in everyother veg thats in the house at the time too, and a la Jamie Oliver, throwing in balsamic vinegar when i throw in the olive oil, bit of salt and pepper and away you go. doesnt sound like it should work, but god does it work.

Dizzyblonde

nice1franko wrote: »

How do you make your beef and guinness stew?

I find it's best to use half stock, half Guinness - if you use all Guinness it's too strong.

I use 2 carrots, 2 onions, 2 sticks of celery, all chopped to bit-size pieces.1lb steak pieces or rib steak, diced. Put it all in the pot, sprinkle on a dessertspoon of flour and stir. Then add beef stock -enough to just cover it -made with red Oxo cubes and hot water and stir well (if you're using Guinness, put the stock on first and stir, then add the Guiness). Add a teaspoon of tomato puree and a teaspoon of mixed herbs, and a good dash of Worcestershire sauce, salt and black pepper. Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 hours, of put in an oven-proof dish and cover it and bake at 180 degress for 2 hours, and call it casserole! I throw in a handful of barley if I'm cooking it in the pot, but not if I'm making casserole.

The Sweeper

As a variation on a Jamie Oliver recipe, I use 3 carrots, 3 onions, 3 parsnips, 4 sticks of celery chopped into bitesized pieces, and about 1.2kgs of shin of beef (I make a LOT of pies). Cut the beef into one inch cubes, roll in plain flour that's been heavily seasoned with salt and pepper. Fry them off in oil and push them to one side, then add all the vegetables. Add about 1/2 pint of beef stock and a full can of guinness - the liquid should not quite cover the beef and vegetables. I then stir in handfuls of finely chopped fresh parsley, rosemary and thyme. Then I put it in the oven on a low heat for about 2 hours. The stew should come out rich and thick, with very little liquid.

In a deep muffin tin, line each cup with puff pastry - simply cut a frozen sheet into four squares and use one square per cup. Add the stew filling, add a sprinkle of grated cheddar, then fold the sides of the square over the top. Wash with egg wash and cap with a round circle of puff pastry. Then into the oven - they come up as golden towers of beef pie goodness, marvellous!

Toto Wolfcastle

I had burritos last night and fajitas tonight. The plan was to make my own flour tortillas but I don't have a rolling pin (student accommodation!) and didn't have time/know where to get one. (I'm still finding my way around Galway!) The burritos were yum though, as were the fajitas.

nice1franko

yee ha guinness pie here I come!

r3nu4l

Thanks for that MAJD

Last night I had an omlette, made with eggs from chickens a friend of mine rears in his back garden

I added, salt, pepper, mushrooms, red pepper, red onion, baby sweetcorn and mange tout. I had grilled potato waffles on the side, not very healthy but really tasty.

Minder

Chicken & mushroom pasta bake.

Stargal

tSubh Dearg wrote: »

Depends on the kind of potato I'm using if I keep the skins on or not. It it's rooster or something similar I tend to peel them and after chopping, I par boil them for about 5 mins (you need to watch so they don't turn to mush) then put them in a hot oven with olive oil, sea salt, black pepper and some mixed herbs. That way they usually take about 30-40 mins but again just keep and eye on them.

If I make them with new potatoes I keep the skins on and just put them straight into the oven with the olive oil etc. Again they take about 30-40 mins but I tend to keep an eye on them and give them a bit of a shuffle with a spatula (I'll also turn the first lot during cooking as well to make sure they're getting equally brown on all sides)

For both cases they're usually done when they're a dark golden brown, but a taste test usually lets you know for sure.

For variety you can throw in some garlic cloves with them or a big chunk of fresh rosemary.

I'm sorry I can't be more precise with the times but I just play it by ear most times I cook them!

Let me know how you get on.

You're a legend tSubh, I made these last night and they were great

mike65

I had two burgers with beans and spuds, the burgers were "home made" from Superquinn and they tasted lovely. A huge amount of fatty juices released in the cooking mind you! 2.69 for a pack of 4 which is no more expensive than many a frozen-cabinet brand but much nicer.

Unfortunatly whoever does the packageing needs to tweak the formula - the burgers overlap and if you freeze them as I did they get glued together with tremedeous force - ended up part cooking them each side and then hacking them apart before finishing the job. One slither of greasproof paper would have avoided all that.

Mike.

The Sweeper

mike65 - you would not BELIEVE the number of people who come into A&E departments every year having stabbed themselves in the hand trying to separate frozen beef burgers with a knife.

We had beef pies again with salad. Two to three muffin-tin-sized pies per person is well enough (two, really, but we're piglets).

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I've made this thread a sticky.

There are some really great recipes in it, and it seems to be a fairly popular thread anyway.

Just so you can all find it easily enough if it ever goes off the first page (I doubt it ever would, but this will make sure of it).

Tonight I had the Stroganoff recipe that was posted in this thread a while ago.

I put Papriks in it this time though, made it a bit different, it was good.

It was the second batch I made of it, and I've frozen four portions.

Toto Wolfcastle

I had potato and leek cakes and breaded chicken goujons. The potato and leek cakes were so good I nearly died. The ultimate comfort food, and this from a potato hater! I'd usually put some parmasan in the breadcrumbs for the goujons but I had none and was too lazy to walk to the shop. They were still nice.

Faith

Ohh, can you post up your recipe for both of those, janeybabe?

Minder

Last night was Sherba - a libyan stew made from diced pieces of lamb in a spicy tomato soup. It has onion, garlic, lemon juice, tumeric, cumin, cinnamon, dried mint and chopped tomato. A couple of handfuls of tiny pasta stars are added near the end of the cooking to thicken and bulk up the soup.

I make it with shoulder of lamb. Trim all the fat and add to a stockpot with the bones for stock. Fry the fat & bones then add water. When cooked & cold, the stock will have a thick layer of hard fat on top that is easily removed. I use about 1/3 to 1/2 of the meat from the shoulder - all the scrappy bits. The rest goes in a curry or to make cous cous or kebabs.

Toto Wolfcastle

Faith wrote: »

Ohh, can you post up your recipe for both of those, janeybabe?

They're both really simple.

For the goujons you just need chicken breasts (I used 2 small ones and got 6 large goujons by cutting them into 3 strips each.) Then just dip them in seasoned flour, egg, seasoned flour again, more egg (this double dipping really makes a difference) and then breadcrumbs mixed with some parmesan or whatever else you think will be nice. Then just pop them onto a pan to lightly brown both sides and then onto a baking tray and into the oven at Gas 6. When I'm not at college a use an ovenproof griddle pan so I get the nice lines and there's no messing about with trays. I usually give them about 25 minutes to half an hour depending on the size. You can also deep fry them but the oven is just a good.

The potato and leek cakes are really easy too. I just played it by ear really because I got this craving for potato fried in butter (don't even ask!). So mash some potatoes (I mash them with loads of butter and a little bit of milk but this is not necessary and you want to potatoes to be fairly thick) and allow to cool. It's better if you leave overnight but if not you can just lash the potato cakes into the fridge for a few hours to set (I suppose that's the word). Anyway just slice some leeks and sweat in a little butter, mix with the potato, add a small handful of flour if you want. (If the potato is really thick don't bother as it will probably ruin them!) Season, shape into cakes, dust with flour, and when you are ready to use them they only take a few minutes to fry in butter until they're golden and crispy.

If the potato is not 'set' enough you'll have a hard time working with the cakes on the pan so using cold mash really is the way to go.

ibh

Pretty simple dinner for me last night. But quite tasty and relatively quick to prepare.
Chicken in white wine sauce. 2 chicken breasts, cut up into strips (or chunks if you like), dipped in flour. Fried in olive oil, mix some mushroom and fresh basil, then just add about 3/4's of a glass of white wine and a tub of fresh cream (1/2 pint i think?). Served with taglitellie and the rest of a bottle of wine.

Biggest downside was there were no leftovers so i'm stuck with a sh1tty sambo for lunch...

kenco

Last night we had stuffed pork steak from SuperQ with baby spuds and carrots. It was grand and no more!

Today had in the in laws over for leg of lamb (bloody good if I say so myself!), roasties, baton carrots and red cabbage.

I have started rotating the leg half way through cooking and it seems to keep the joint good and moist.

Also did the Christmas trick of serving the sliced meat to a serving plate and letting everyone sort them selves out. It really works well in my experience, seems folks take enough to start with but then come back for seconds and thirds!

Herself made a delish berry trifle from some pre made sponge, frozen berries, bit of jelly and cream. Usually not my thing but it was lovely!

Toto Wolfcastle

kenco wrote: »

Last night we had stuffed pork steak from SuperQ with baby spuds and carrots. It was grand and no more!

I want pork steak! My parents only ever have it the weekends I stay at college!

Last night it was mini chicken pot pies, tonight it was the ever comforting mac and cheese.

Dizzyblonde

Roast stuffed pork with apple sauce, cauliflower cheese and roast potatoes.

The Sweeper

Home made herb bread (a sourdough recipe with fresh chopped thyme and rosemary) with cold cuts and a variety of pickles.

Minder

Homemade fishcakes, made with smoked haddock.

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Hill Billy wrote: »

My pleasure Des. It makes me all warm & fuzzy inside knowing that someone appreciates my cooking - other than Mrs Billy & Jrs I & II of course.
Seriously though - I really appreciate the feedback & especially that you actually try them out & like them.

I made the Thai Stew tonight.

:eek:

It's bloody delicious!

It's such an interesting dish, lots of different tastes that really go well together.

I used the zest of one lime and a nice long chopped chili. The veg I put in were a red pepper, broccoli and an onion. The chicken is really soft and juicy.

The ginger and lime really set off the chili.

I love Thai food, but all I used to be able to make was a Red Curry (I make a nice one), this makes a nice addition to my repertoire

Once again Hill Billy, I bow to you. You should write a book.

Hill Billy wrote: »

Happy cooking

You keep on supplying the gorgeous recipes and I'll keep on enjoying cooking and then eating them.

Thank you.