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

Faith

Homemade burger, loaded with garlic, cheese and onion accompanied by a salad.

Minder

Thai red chicken curry with jasmine rice. I threw a few french beans into the curry and topped the lot with bean shoots, mint and coriander.

chiempi

Pot roast pork loin (not tenderloin!) marinaded overnight in a mix of Cidona (hey waste not want not), sauvignon blanc, honey, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, a little cayenne for kick, chucked it in the slow cooker yesterday morning and left it on low all day. Roasted potatoes and carrots when I came in, using some of the sweet sauce from the roast to glaze them, and microwaved frozen peas and fresh red peppers in a little more of the sauce (hey it was gorgeous!). Made gravy using some of the sauce and thickening it with a bit of Knorr gravy powder (yeah I know, but I love it).

Tonight will be fricasseeing the leftovers with some of the reserved sauce and more gravy (change the flavour a bit) and serving with mashed potatoes.

Because there was masses of thin sauce, I used the bulk of the leftovers last night in a soup - roasted up 5 big carrots, 1 sweet potato, 1 parsnip and an onion with garlic, honey, ginger, coriander, a little chilli and a wee bit of the sauce. Diced them up fairly small and roasted at 250 for half an hour until they were all tender and a bit caramelized, then chucked them back in the crockpot which I'd left the pork sauce in, added a couple of cups of chicken stock, a dash of pepper, a dollop of homemade yoghurt and a healthy squirt of lemon juice. Pureed it all up with the stick blender - it's a very light, sweet taste, and should do me for lunch for a few days (I've frozen a few individual containers for defrosting as needed).

Over the weekend had turkey spaghetti - turkey tossed in steak mix (paprika, black pepper, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, a little cayenne) seared in a very hot pan in sundried tomato olive oil, a couple of spoonfuls of sundried tomato puree, garlic, chilli, parsley, pepper, with a splash of chicken stock thrown in before simmering for 1 minute (important that turkey is cooked very hot, very quick so it doesn't dry out) and tossed with spaghetti, served with parmesan and a green salad.

Burgers on Sunday - patties made with lean beef mince, garlic, onion, basil, chilli, Worcestershire sauce, breadcrumbs and egg and grilled, served on fresh-made bread rolls (have a very handy quick recipe using baking powder as well as yeast), with toppings of choice - I had cheese melted on my meat pattie, sliced dill pickle, fried onions, lettuce, tomato, capsicum, ketchup and Dijonnaise. Lurvely!

The Sweeper

Should be cooking dinner, but got distracted by the sight of ripe, yellow quinces on the trees in the chicken pen today, so am currently making quince jelly.

Minder

Charlotte potatoes with french beans and boiled eggs, a few shavings of pecorino and a dressing of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Some grilled chicken thighs on the side.

MAJD - try roasting those quinces for a dessert.

The Sweeper

Tonight I'm back to making a beef and guinness stew for a pie tomorrow, plus a red braised beef to have with noodle soup.

The quince jelly turned out beautifully - quince have very high pectin levels so the jelly sets near-effortlessly. I could have made quince paste out of the leftover pulp but I've had too much of the sticky, so that's gone to the chooks. Am tempted to experiment with flavours for jelly and pastes - cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg etc...

The Hill Billy

There's nothing like a slice of quince jelly with some hard cheese on a water biscuit, washed down with a glass of ruby port. * salivates *

Minder

Hill Billy wrote: »

There's nothing like a slice of quince jelly with some hard cheese on a water biscuit, washed down with a glass of ruby port. * salivates *

Also very good with some mashed garlic as a side for a grilled pork chop with bashed fennel seeds.

The Hill Billy

Minder wrote: »

Also very good with some mashed garlic as a side for a grilled pork chop with bashed fennel seeds.

A couple of ideas there for the "food combo" thread.

co_co

roast chicken with lemon, garlic. very nice!
Im going to try it again sat night.:)

Minder

Linguine with spinach, artichokes and oven roast tomatoes. Pecorino over the top. Grilled italian sausages.

The Sweeper

beef and guinness mini-pies with mixed bean salad.

Minder

Sunday - Pad Thai noodles.
Saturday - Surf and turf - Sirloin steak, chips and a greek salad. I was the lobster after spend all day in the garden painting fences.

The Hill Billy

Minder wrote: »

I was the lobster after spend all day in the garden painting fences.

I got away with planting sunflowers with HB Jr I. Any time Mrs Billy mentioned more labour-intensive tasks I pointed to any cloud in the vicinity & forecasted rain within 20 minutes.

Back on topic...

Thai chicken curry for dinner Saturday.
Crusty bread rolls with roast chicken & egg & cucumber salad for lunch yesterday.
Sirloin steaks & mashed spuds with tomato & scallion gravy last night.

Dizzyblonde

Saturday - Belly pork braised on chopped onions, carrots and thyme in stock and white wine ,with a sauce made from the juices and honey. Stir-fried cabbage with bacon pieces.
Sunday - Chicken chasseur with new potatoes.

kenco

Saturday, had a nice beef rib roast with baby potatoes and roasted root veg

Sunday had a half leg of lamb with asparagus and roast spuds

Seraphina

chicken noodle casserole thing.

well it was sort of half soup half casserole, i don't know... how do you define these things?

don't care anyway, it was very tasty

The Sweeper

Irish stew and potato and leek soup. Warming...

Toto Wolfcastle

I had far too much potato gratin and cauliflower cheese last night, followed by 2 chocolate fondants, plus a few spoons of leftover fondant batter. I was comfort eating to overcome exam stress! It worked!

chiempi

Potato-topped chicken pie - the ultimate lazy dinner! Diced up the remains of Saturday night's roast chicken (which had been basted in garlic and sundried-tomato butter), smothered in masses of gravy (what with all the butter dripping off the cooking chicken, there was a lot), and topped with garlic-and-herb mashed potato. Delicious. Side of peas and chopped red and green peppers, steamed and tossed with a little French salad dressing.

kenco

Pan fried Sea bass for me and steamed salmon for herself
Potato gratin (cheese, onion, garlic) and steamed spinich

Minder

Lamb chops with cumin, paprika and salt. Baked potatoes with cheese and a salad with a fig vinegarette dressing.

tSubh Dearg

Tonight I am attempting to make a sort of cassoulet with duck and sausage this evening. I shall report back later if it worked or not.

The Sweeper

Oh yes please do, slow cooked bean stews and such like are of interest on this side of the world now we're heading into winter!

Last night had: a bottle of wine, a frozen pizza and two fish fingers.

(It wasn't a good day.)

tSubh Dearg

Well this worked suprisingly well.

I threw together the duck stock I've had sitting in the freezer for ages with; 2 duck legs and 1 chopped up duck breast, 4 toulouse sausages, 2 tins of cannellinininini beans (no idea how to spell them), 1 tin of chopped tomatoes, some organic carrots and broccali (new organic delivery bag thing - quite good), onion and garlic.

Browned all the meat before hand, then sweated down the onion and garlic. Added boiling water to pot to scrape off the burnt on tasty bits, then threw in my stock, veg, the meat and a bouquet garni.

Squeezed in a bit of tomato paste and seasoned it. Threw it in the oven for an hour or so (would've left it longer only it smelled tasty and we were hungry). Added a bit more tomato paste and seasoning after it came out, then ate it with some bread for sopping up.

I'm really looking forward to having it for lunch tomorrow at work.

Loopy

Bangers and mash with real onion gravy, haven't had it in years and it was devine!!!

Alun

A simple spaghetti dish with green beans, potatoes and pesto, which I've made many times before, except this time I made some wild garlic pesto with some of the massive amounts of wild garlic that are around at the moment. It's very similar to 'normal' basil based pesto, but with a more subtle flavour. Go out and try it .. it's free!

Minder

Whole tandoori chicken, blackeyed beans with tomato, lemon rice, chutneys and poppadums. I spit roast the chicken at 250c. Was cooked in 50 minutes - in fact slightly overcooked it.

The Sweeper

Alun wrote: »

A simple spaghetti dish with green beans, potatoes and pesto, which I've made many times before, except this time I made some wild garlic pesto with some of the massive amounts of wild garlic that are around at the moment. It's very similar to 'normal' basil based pesto, but with a more subtle flavour. Go out and try it .. it's free!

I have this image of people poisoning themselves picking the wrong plant. Got a pic?

Alun

Minesajackdaniels wrote: »

I have this image of people poisoning themselves picking the wrong plant. Got a pic?

It's almost impossible to mistake. It usually grows in dampish shady places, often along the banks of woodland streams for example and you'll immediately notice there's an overwhelming garlicky scent in the air around it. The leaves are elongated, about 3-6" long and 1-2" wide, and by this time there'll also be flower stalks with tiny little white flowers on them (which you can also eat). You don't want to leave it too long, as when the leaves get really big, they get a bit tough.

Sometimes there's another plant that grows alongside it, a member of the alium family as well, I think, that has a similar garlicky/oniony smell but has long thin leaves, a bit like bluebells with white flowers if you like, but that's the only thing you could maybe mistake it for.

Around my neck of the woods, one of the best places to find it is around the car park for the Glen of the Downs nature reserve off the N11. There's loads of it around there at the moment.

To make the pesto just take equal quantities by weight of wild garlic, pine nuts and grated parmesan, blitz together with enough olive oil to get the consistency right and add a little seasoning at the end.

You can also wilt it and treat it like spinach, use the small tender leaves in salads, and it goes very well with fish, either wrapping fillets in it, or stuffing whole fish such as trout.