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

hardCopy

the beer revolu wrote: »

Be careful if buying Sabatier.
The name wasn't trade marked by any one company so you never really know what you're getting. Some are excellent some not but having the name Sabatier on it means little.

I got them as a gift, this seems to be the same one I have: http://www.amefa.co.uk/richardson_sheffield_products.html#TrompetteProduct

It only come out for special occasions and gets a steel after use, sharp enough to shave my arm anyway.

5unflower

Last night we had for dinner: Bangers & mash :-)

Toast4532

Homemade Shepards Pie for us tonight. Yum.

tmc86

Chicken and bacon carbonara with button mushrooms and spinach

hardCopy

Lebanese Mezze from The Cedar Tree. A mountain of really good food, I forgot to take a picture of the Chicken Shawarma main.

the beer revolu

Squid fried fast with garlic, chilli, coriander, lime juice and sea salt.
Served that with Chinese leaves stirfried with ginger and sea salt.

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Followed by Lo Mai Gai

April O Neill

Toast4532 wrote: »

Homemade Shepards Pie for us tonight. Yum.

I always make disappointing Shepherd's pie. Have you got a recipe please?

Toast4532

April O Neill wrote: »

I always make disappointing Shepherd's pie. Have you got a recipe please?

I do have a recipe, as for measurements I judge by eye usually, but last night I used the following and it fed four of us, with three helpings left over.

4 sticks celery
3 carrots
3 handful peas
1 green onion
1 red onion
4-5 garlic cloves (minced and finely chopped)
Salt/pepper
Sprinkle of dried parsley, dried basill ground ginger, paprika, two bay leaves, and sprinkle of celery salt.
I got €5 worth of round steak mince in the butchers so I don't know the exact weight of it. You can use mince meat too, I personally prefer the round steak mince as I find it has no fat/grizzly bits in it.
1 beef stock pot (you could use a stock cube if you prefer, I just used a pot as it was all I had)

I used a full packet of the Knorr mealmaker shepards pie mix - this one - http://www.tesco.ie/groceries/Product/Details/?id=271090080

and some bisto (the one in the red tub, only a table spoon mixed with about 300ml of boiling water.

I also used 1-2 table spoons of the Knorr beef stroganoff sauce, mixed with a cup of water.

As for the liquid - I judge by eye, so if you think you have too much liquid, you could add more vegetables or just take out some liquid or before you put any liquid into the pot sprinkle some flour over the vegs and make sure they are all coated in it and there's no lumps, this helps to thicken the sauce/liquid (I don't like using the flour as it gives a horrid taste so I either add more vegetables or take out some of the liquid.

1) I put some olive oil in the pan and browned the meat and add some minced garlic to the meat and make sure to stir every few mins to break up any lumps and make sure the meat doesn't stick to the bottom of the saucepan.

2) When the meat is browned I put in all the vegetables and the dried herbs/spices except the bay leaves and I leave them in there for 5-7 mins and have it on medium/low heat.

3) then I put in the shepards pie sauce and then the bay leaves and mix it around after about 10 minutes I add the bisto and leave for another 7 mins or so then after that I put in the stroganoff sauce and leave to simmer on low heat for a good 20-25 mins until the vegs are soft and the sauce has thickened slightly.

4) Transfer to a pie dish etc and top with potatoes and put in the oven at 150-160 for around 20 mins.

A bit of cheddar cheese is nice on top of the spuds, not too much though.

Before you put it in the oven though, taste the sauce and adjust it to your tasting.

For the potatoes I put milk, butter, onion, salt and pepper into them, makes them lovely and creamy. Only use a very small amount of milk though otherwise you'll have milky soggy spuds.

I have used this recipe in the past (although I never included the red wine as I can't stand red wine), I've never included fresh thyme either, just dried.

It's lovely, but I felt that it was something missing/lacking in flavour the last few times I had it.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/775643/cottage-pie

Mrs Fox

the beer revolu wrote: »

Followed by Lo Mai Gai

Do you make your own lo mai gai? It looks scrumptious! I'm having my fix for yum cha this weekend

the beer revolu

Mrs Fox wrote: »

Do you make your own lo mai gai? It looks scrumptious! I'm having my fix for yum cha this weekend

Yup, made it for Chinese New Year and we still have some in the freezer:D

tmc86

Quite a random plate for dinner tonight!

kenco

Ate late tonight as is norm on Tuesday when I attempt to play football (poorly)

Anyways sliced some left over roast lamb very thin and fried it with some sliced onion in lemon juice and ground pepper and sea salt. Toasted a couple of wholemeal bagels, low fat salad cream on one side, redcurrant jelly on the other and heaps of rocket lashed in between with the lamb and onions.

Lovely and who says eating late at night is a bad things (wholemeal, low fat, etc) :P

Yitzhak Rabin

Homemade falafels with Jalepeno hummus & Sriracha sauce. Pretty messy to eat!!

the beer revolu

Grilled chicken thighs, pan fried oca, grilled tomatoes, green beans, white wine jus.

GalwayGuy2

Had cous cous, corn on the cob and a grilled chicken breast fillet.

Hmm, I put some of lidl's bottled sweet and sour over the cous cous anf it tasted exactly like the sweet and sour at my local chinese. So either, my chinese is quite bad or lidl's Asia Vitia range is quite good. Or the both buy cheap off the same supplier. Kind of annoying if they don't make the suace fresh at the takeway:O

Toast4532

Tortellini and mushrooms in a tomato and chilli sauce with some cream, parmesan, garlic, soy sauce, bacon pieces, Worcestershire and dried herbs/spices.

Lingua Franca

GalwayGuy2 wrote: »

Had cous cous, corn on the cob and a grilled chicken breast fillet.

Hmm, I put some of lidl's bottled sweet and sour over the cous cous anf it tasted exactly like the sweet and sour at my local chinese. So either, my chinese is quite bad or lidl's Asia Vitia range is quite good. Or the both buy cheap off the same supplier. Kind of annoying if they don't make the suace fresh at the takeway:O

Sweet and sour is so simple to make, it's rice (or white) vinegar, sugar, blob of ketchup, dash of soy sauce and some cornflour to thicken things up.

Last night we had homemade samosas, both beef and veggie, and a rocket and tomato salad.




Tonight's dinner was take away ribs, corn on the cob, gratin potatoes and baguettes.

Morag

Cheatie pie, made with shop bought pastry, a tin of condensed soup, bacon and turkey. Took less then 15mins to throw together and stick in the oven.
Served with steamed veg and mash.

Loopy

Naughty.
Very naughty!

tmc86

Chicken & bacon frittata with spinach, leek, red chilli, garlic

tmc86

I was still a bit hungry so I made pancakes and maple syrup - washed down with a cup of tea

gjc

Every year on Pancake Tuesday I always say....I should make pancakes more often.... Never happens....going to make it my mission to do tomorrow thanks for the prompt

tmc86

gjc wrote: »

Every year on Pancake Tuesday I always say....I should make pancakes more often.... Never happens....going to make it my mission to do tomorrow thanks for the prompt

I didn't get to make them on Pancake Tuesday! Its the kind of food that you'll always have the ingredients for but rarely make! I think I'm going to make them for brunch on Sunday too with some bacon and blueberries!

Toast4532

Thai curry for us tonight using this recipe http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1788/thai-chicken-curry

I got some prawns for it too, first time making/eating thai curry so hope it is nice

Lingua Franca

Delicate stomach + impending cold weather = Dutch pea and ham soup.

Toast4532

Toast4532 wrote: »

Thai curry for us tonight using this recipe http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1788/thai-chicken-curry

I got some prawns for it too, first time making/eating thai curry so hope it is nice

I made a couple of changes/additions to the recipe and it worked out well

I had no kaffir lime leaves so used a squeeze of fresh lime juice, I also added ground coriander and ground ginger and a little bit of freshly minced ginger too.

Bloody delicious it was, OH cleaned his bowl within minutes.

Curry Addict

yesterday i made some coconut milk from scratch. so today i though the best use of it would be a thai green curry! so i made it with homemade paste and homemade chicken stock and the result a mind blowing curry. so much better than any ive had before, a revelation :pac:

Toast4532

Tonight we are having roast beef and vegetables

I haven't had roast beef for years as I went off it due to my mother always over cooking it, so it will be nice to try it again and see if I like it, hopefully I will

Loopy

Fishcakes with salad & roast veg.

tmc86

Last night we had another big meal in!

Appetiser: Franks hot sauce Chicken wings


Starter: black pudding and stewed apple spring rolls with sweet chilli sauce (pre-oven photo)



Main: chilli & beef sausage and chive mash with peas and gravy (winter warmer for the snow outside!)



Dessert: muffins (1 with jam filling, 1 with peanut butter and chocolate) with ice cream, berries and mayple syrup



And to continue a weekend of food we had berry American style pancakes with bacon, mayple syrup and coffee