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

Loopy

We had a massive roast beef dinner, al fresco.

LaChatteGitane

I've been missing all motivation over the last week or so for anything, so cooking was also a bit bleh.
We had take-aways four days in a row. I feel guilty and rotten about it, not to mention it only underpinned my lethargy.
Last night was the straw that broke the camel's back when I decided on a Chinese take-away (which I don't even like) on my 50th birthday !

So in desperation I cooked us dinner again tonight. But first 2 simple meals from last week (at least I cooked them myself)

Homemade quiche (which I had put in the freezer on another occasion) with cucumber pickle




Panfried salmon, tomato/cucumber/potato salad


With homegrown tomatoes and cucumbers


And then today sauteed courgettes, onions, garlic, cherry toms and herbs with couscous and chipolata.

TeletextPear

Homemade pizza tonight. I tried to make pizza months ago and it turned out really soggy, party because I didn't par-cook the base and partly because I used a really wet ball of Mozzarella to top it. Tonight the base was really thin and crispy, I used leftover tomato sauce from yesterday's dinner and topped with ham, chorizo, red onion, mushroom and grated cheddar cheese. Perfecto

the beer revolu

No pic but last night (and tonight) was lamb, butterbean and tomato stew with crusty bread. Winter warmer!!;)

LaChatteGitane

the beer revolu wrote: »

No pic but last night (and tonight) was lamb, butterbean and tomato stew with crusty bread. Winter warmer!!;)

Sounds lovely !

Oh man ! I've really let myself down again. Made ham & cheese toasted sandwiches.
Sorry, no pics here either.

The Sweeper

Fairly disastrous here on the cooking front too. Got home from work at 8pm last night so dinner was a bowl of baked beans, heated, with tobasco and pepper.

I did make roasted pork belly at the weekend, served with basmati rice and a side of brocollli florets stir fried in the wok with added soy sauce. I find pork belly too rich to eat with potatoes and far prefer it with rice. I had a tub of elderly apples in the fridge, so I cored six apples but left them whole, and balanced the pork belly, unseasoned bar sea salt rubbed in the skin, across the apples before placing them in the oven. Added half inch of white wine to the roasting tray too.

Did a first high blast of heat for 20 mins, then down low for a couple of hours, with a finishing push of heat to crisp up the crackling. The apples roasted to mush but were kept intact by their skins, and the wine, juices from the meat and the juices from the apples had thickened into a dark, sweet, sticky sauce that we used as a gravy.

Faith

We've been all over the place recently (literally - moved house temporarily to dogsit, and promptly had to go house-hunting in Wales for 3 days) so we've no proper food. Ended up having fish fingers, baked beans and panfried gnocchi for dinner . Tasty though!

mike65

a couple of recent eats



and

tonight



the basic recipe for which is here. Mine is the lo-rise version obviously! (damned tasty by the way)

Tar.Aldarion

Never made any of this before so was interesting.

Mushroom, spinach, onion, garlic, white wine and quorn vol-au-vents.
Spinach, blueberry and cranberry wensleydale cheese, nuts, olives, cherry tomatoes, babycorn salad, with greek hummous.
Homemade coleslaw.







For dessert it was toasted pecan and coffee icecream along with dark orange chocolate icecream. Mmmmm.

Lexicographer

Mushroom risotto, my favourite meal!!!!

Toast4532

Tonight I made a simple, but delicious pasta dish.

I used eight smokey rashers, a pink of rosemary, pinch of basil, pink of cayenne pepper, pinch of paprika, pinch of smoked paprika, pinch of chilli flakes, two bay leaves, tin of chopped tomatoes, one red onion, some fresh spinach, two, scallions, some mushrooms, penne, salt and pepper.

I put the pasta on to cook, slowly. While the pasta was cooked I put the spices, salt, pepper and tomatoes into a blender, when they were blended together, I took the lid off the blender and left it sat for a few minutes.

I then put the bacon into a saucepan and gently and slowly cooked it in olive oil. When the bacon was cooked, but not crispy, I put the mushrooms and onions in and left them on a low heat for a few minutes (about three minutes), then I put the tomato sauce in and let it simmer for about ten minutes.

When the pasta was cooked, I drained it, then poured boiling water over it, and left it in the colander for two minutes and then put it in with the bacon, mushrooms and tomato sauce and tore up some spinach leaves and let it on the warm ring (the ring wasn't turned on, just warm from having being used previously) and after three minutes I dished it up.

I took me about 45 minutes to make including prepping, cooking and cleaning.

LaChatteGitane

Friday we had potato & savoy cabbage mash, rolled turkey roast, onion gravy. Savoy was from the garden.:cool:



Saturday was back to junk. It was my little niece's first birthday party. We had cake and my brother and sis in law thought it was a great idea to get chips and accoutrements (*) from the chippie for us all.
(*) entirely different here in Belgium than what you get in Ireland or the UK, ie. super duper processed cr*p that is deep fried.

Sunday my mum's neighbourhood had organised a flea market on which we had a stall. I made sandwiches for lunch with ham, cheese, onion, tomato and cucmber. When we came home I made a baguette with cream cheese, smoked salmon and capers.

Today I made proper comfort food. The cheesiest macaroni that ever existed. Made with lardons, chorizo, onion, garlic, piece of yellow and green courgette each (it's what's growing in the garden, so I'd better use it), red peppers... Cheese sauce with a whole packet of Roquefort and 'some' grated mature gouda (and extra for the top):o





If I keep this up for any longer I am heading for a blummin' heart attack. I'd better start making up a healthy eating plan soon. Maybe next Monday. Mondays are always great for starting afresh, aren't they.

tmc86

It's only 9.50am and that Mac & Cheese is making me hungry already!

Here's a green curry I made last night
(Chicken, red onion, green pepper, courgette, coconut milk, paprika, curry powder, worcestershire sauce S&P)

the beer revolu

Chorizo, chick pea and tomato stew.

Faith

About a year after buying Tipo 00 flour with the intention of making pizza, I just made my first pizza! Mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, prawns and rocket. I used the dough and tomato sauce recipe from here.

mcmacness

the beer revolu wrote: »

Chorizo, chick pea and tomato stew.

Would you mind giving me the recipe for this? I'm assuming its chopped tomatoes, chorizo and chickpeas mostly but I'm sure there are some herbs or spices in there too! Thanks

LaChatteGitane

Well, yesterday we had leftover mac 'n cheese :eek: . Gave two portions to the mother and then I still had a tiny bit leftover. Which means that all that cheese has been divided by six and a bit. Not too bad and still no heart attack.

Tonight we're hosting a small dinner party with 4 guests and us two.

appetisers Cava, juice tortilla chips with guacamole and salsa cruda

starter Grilled fish and prawn skewers, Yucatan style (you can google) served on a flour tortilla with mango & pineapple salsa

main Pork belly ribs with BBQ sauce, coleslaw and quinoa

dessert No bake chocolate truffle cake

I am well prepared with everything food wise, now I have to start tidying the house.

If I am well orgainsed enough later on I'll try to take some shots of the food and post them here.

trackguy

Linguine with mussels, tomato, garlic and white wine

Faith

Can I have the recipe for that, trackguy?

GrahamThomas

We had a bit of a Mexican night last night: For starters sweetcorn fritters with salsa, followed by beef enchiladas. And for dessert, salted caramel and chocolate pots.

the beer revolu

mcmacness wrote: »

Would you mind giving me the recipe for this? I'm assuming its chopped tomatoes, chorizo and chickpeas mostly but I'm sure there are some herbs or spices in there too! Thanks

That's more or less it, alright.
I fried a large onion and some celery - both finely chopped - for a while.
Added a couple of cloves of smashed garlic and the chorizo.
Because I felt my chorizo was a little tame, I added a red chilli and some smoked, bitter-sweet paprika.
I used tinned whole tomatoes and a little beer to wet it all and added some dried oregano. (you could use wine-red or white or chicken or veg stock too). Chick peas went in at this time - I used dried,soaked,cooked ones - tinned is fine too.
Check for seasoning - it might need a little sugar too(mine didn't cause the beer I used was quite sweet).
Serve with chopped fresh parsley and some nice crusty bread or what ever you like.

Total time: about 20 minutes.

Toast4532

For dinner last night I marinated some chicken wings in Nando's medium sauce. I also made this marinade (I altered the amounts for the wings), I found it too spicy though, I think I use too much cayenne pepper.

I gently cooked some chopped red onion, mushrooms and scallions and put some dark soy sauce and some balsamic vinegar on them.

There were also baby potatoes, broccoli and carrots.

mickgotsick

Cajun salmon, fried potatoes and a salad of rocket, spinach, tomatoes and avocado.

Avox

Made a minestrone soup earlier

homemadecider

I was in Sierra Leone recently for work and had some really excellent seafood.

Grilled snapper with onion salad and chips:



Whole lobster served with butter and fresh lime:



And here's the lobster's brother, still alive down by the beach. This kid tickled the lobster's belly and it squealed! Who knew lobsters could squeal?!

LaChatteGitane

Guests have left. No they didn't leave extra early, it's one hour later where I am.;)

Here are some - poor quality - pics and I forgot to take some of the appetisers.

Starter ( fish and prawn skewers with pineapple & mango salsa)



Main (pork belly ribs, bbq sauce, coleslaw and quinoa)



Dessert ( no bake chocolate truffle cake)

the beer revolu

Rib roast cut into steaks and done on the gas BBQ.
Creamy mash, runner beans (from my dad's garden), West Cork carrots and a beer and mustard reduction.

Seaneh

Tonight I was lazy so made something quick (and enough for about 6 portions, oh well).

Thai Yellow curry with Chicken, onions, sugar snap peas and orange bell pepper.
Made a standard yellow curry paste (I can't remember where I got the recipe, pretty sure it was just online).
One protip I've come accross is that whate ever the volume of liquid you use, use half coconut milk and half chicken stock, makes a much nicer dish and less heavy. so instead of say 2 cans of coconut milk, I used one can and then filled the can with stock and dumped that in on top of it.

Was so lazy I didn'y even have rice with it, made a big batch and then when I was done added some extra chicken stock to one portion and made a sort of brothy-soupy-thing and defrosted a nan bread I had in the freezer and used it for dunkin'.

Probably go the same route for lunch tomorrow.

I forgot to take pics.

Loopy

Steak n' Chips last night..

The Hill Billy

I had my trusty pork curry last night & knew that I had made it quite hot so I threw together a raita. To give the raita a bit of a flavour I thought I'd add some mild smoked paprika. In my haste I added smoked ground chilli that a Sri Lankan friend gave me. The damn raita ended up hotter than the curry!