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

tSubh Dearg

Last night we had grilled sea trout, with boiled baby potatoes and roasted asparagus. So tasty.

My friend also brought me over a present of a seriously stinky piece of cheese, it was completely gooey and tastes fantastic, sort of nutty flavour to it. I had a bit of that last night after my dinner but I'm bringing it over to my parent's house tonight so that they can also try it.

watna

Minesajackdaniels wrote: »

Congrats on the new home Watna. I look forward to being in a similar situation myself (eventually, signing building contracts on Friday!)

Thanks, it's nice to be settled again. Living out of a suitcase gets old really fast. Funnily enough the thing I missed most was having a kitchen to cook in.

tSubh Dearg wrote: »

Last night we had grilled sea trout, with boiled baby potatoes and roasted asparagus. So tasty.

My friend also brought me over a present of a seriously stinky piece of cheese, it was completely gooey and tastes fantastic, sort of nutty flavour to it. I had a bit of that last night after my dinner but I'm bringing it over to my parent's house tonight so that they can also try it.

That sounds fab. God, I love cheese.

Tonight I had Cheerios with ketchup and fries for dinner. Cheerios here are mini inferior quality sausages. We were having post work drinks in a bar. They were horrible.

Will have to make something nice for dinner tomorrow to make up for it!

DenMan

Salmon today with chips and salad. Very nice. Have to keep up my fish intake, my ex gf used to say. Now enough of that, on to the forbidden burger tomorrow. Can't wait.

MJOR

quick caronara........... some pancetta (tesco have a two pack) meduim onion 1 clove garlic some basil leaves (fresh or dry) a few mushroooms. a splash of white wine (good excuse to open a bottle) cream or creme fraiche

fry the onions mushroomsbit of black pepper garlic basil and pancetta for five to seven minutes add wine and simmer for three minutes add cream simmer for further five minutes....

in the meantime bung some pasta in boiling water with a tiny drop of olive oil.... once its al dente strain and mix thru the carbonara sauce...
serve with parmesan

Minder

Guinea fowl and a pasta salad made with roast cherry tomatoes, asparagus, buffalo mozzerella, avocado and fresh basil.

tSubh Dearg

Was over with my parents last night and had poached salmon with green beans and potatoes.

Finished off the delicious smelly cheese, wish I knew what it was called.

The Sweeper

Had egg fried rice with a prawn chop suey last night, was more enjoyable than I thought it would be when I was putting it together. Couldn't figure out if I was going more thai or more Chinese when I was cooking it and then thought it would be gack, but had managed not to spoil it. Indecision for the lose.

Think I'll make lamb shorba tonight, and a chicken stew for tomorrow and the next day. It's the long weekend here in Australia (Queenie's birthday, Monday bank holiday) and it's really quiet. Slow cooked hot pot dishes are the order of the day.

Minder

Beef satay and pad thai noodles. I lit the bbq to cook the satay and it started to rain. Have I inadvertently discovered the solution to the world drought problems? sure feels like it.:mad:

watna

Tonight I had steak Diane (steak cooked with garlic, worcester sauce and lemon juice), mashed potatoes and peas, mangetout and broccoli.

I've been very bad about cooking the last week or two, there's been lots of unhealthy eating out that has started to affect my skin, and my pocket. Had to plan out meals for the week to keep my on the straight and narrow.

Tomorrow is a simple pasta dish of spaghetti tossed with olve oil, garlic, chillis and parmesan cheese.

The Sweeper

Lamb shorba has turned out really well. First time I cooked it I used fresh mint instead of dried, and used too much fresh mint. (It's growing in the garden and I picked too much and then used too much of what I picked.) Was very careful this time and have it perfect, enough for a couple of meals and a couple for the freezer too.

MJOR

Quality wrote: »

Well my bbq is out of hibernation after two years!!

Last night was steak kebabs and jacket potatoes filled with cream cheese tomato and basil...

yum!!!!!! i love it:D

Loopy

Last night was prawn and mango curry with pilau rice and I was delighted how it turned out as it was the first time I cooked it.

We had a BBQ tonight - pepper, mushroom, onion & courgette kebabs and sirloin steak and garlic and cheese potato gratin. Gorgeous but cannot move now and the jeans I put on this morning that were loose, now have the top button open:mad:

tSubh Dearg

Last night we had a lovely piece of roast beef over with my parents, with boiled new potatoes, carrots, cabbage and yorkshire puddings.

Tonight I marinated chicken fillets all day (while they were defrosting too) in a garlic and ginger mix, then I grilled them and served them with twice baked potatoes and green beans.

Minder

Had a venison and mushroom pie with a port gravy, some leftover jersey royal potatoes pan fried and a corn on the cob.

watna

Tonight we had chicken marinated in creme fraiche, cayenne pepper and paprika, cous cous and salad.

The chicken wasn't the best as I've yet to find a butchers here!

gucci

watna wrote: »

Tonight we had chicken marinated in creme fraiche, cayenne pepper and paprika, cous cous and salad.
!

Go on, tell me, whats the secret to cous cous, why does mine always turn into a soggy mess? have you a handy recipe i could try?

I try doing something like thisbut it usually cocks up.

Minder

The secret with cous cous is not to swamp it with liquid - you can add more, you can't take it out.

You need a boiling liquid - water is fine if you like bland cous cous, but it really comes into it's own when you make it with a meat or fish stock from the stew that you eat with it.

In the recipe on your link, I would add the water in small amounts, 1/2 a cup at a time. Stir after each addition, cover and wait for the grain to absorb the water - a couple of minutes - the cous cous will set when the water is absorbed so fluff it up with a fork. Three cups of water is probably too much for two cups of cous cous. Taste it as you go, the grains should swell and soften but remain fluffy. A couple of minutes in a covered bowl in the microwave will help it on it's way.

olaola

I usually just lash some into a bowl - stir in some boiling water until about 1/2 cm over the top of the cous cous and cover with cling film for about 3 - 5 mins. Then uncover and fork it up to make it fluffy! Perfect every time!!

I usually use lemon juice & pesto to flavour it. Then add whatever I have in the fridge. Toasted pine nuts and feta are always good additions.

The Sweeper

Last night had a sandwich for supper, whole grain bread, breast of chicken, baby spinach and rocket, mayonnaise, pepper and salt. All the better for being handed to me by someone else.

Tonight will be chicken stew. I have a pot of very rich chicken stock waiting to have celery, onions, carrots, potatoes, chicken and herbs added to it.

tSubh Dearg

Tonight's dinner was roasted chicken thighs with a veg stir fry.

I also made a quiche for my lunches for the rest of this week, but I did have sneaky slice while it was still warm.

watna

Yeah, I agree with the cous cous advise above.

Heat some oil and boiling water (usually 250ml) anod pour over cous cous so that there's a about 2cm of water above the cous cous. Put the lid on the saucepan and leave for 3 minutes. Then add a knob of butter and fluff. I then add lemon and flatleaf parsley. Yum!

Minder

I watch those adverts on telly for KFC and am almost compelled to visit, thankfully I don't know where the nearest KFC is. So to satisfy my craving, last night I made pan fried crispy turkey strips in deli wraps with piri-piri sauce, tomatillo salsa and sour cream.

I bought some turkey breast steaks and bashed them flat in an oiled plastic bag until they were 1/2 a centimeter thick. Cut into strips, seasoned, dipped in flour, beaten egg and panko breadcrumbs, then pan fried in groundnut oil until golden and crispy. Warmed some wraps in the oven, shredded a lettuce, sliced some avocado and tomato and opened a jar of Tomatillo Salsa that I bought from my last visit to London. Served a few crispy potato wedges on the side.

Craving well and truly satisfied.:D

gucci

watna wrote: »

Yeah, I agree with the cous cous advise above.

Heat some oil and boiling water (usually 250ml) anod pour over cous cous so that there's a about 2cm of water above the cous cous. Put the lid on the saucepan and leave for 3 minutes. Then add a knob of butter and fluff. I then add lemon and flatleaf parsley. Yum!

Thanks everyone, wow it sounds so easy now i dont know how i was making such hard work of it! I'll give that a go next time I do it so

Loopy

Last night I had thai fishcakes with a fab sweet chilli dip and salad

tSubh Dearg

Tonight we had to have speedy food. So I had an omelette with cheese, mushrooms and some spring onion, with a salad. Himself had pasta with cheese, a drop of cream and lots of black pepper. He also had an apple

tSubh Dearg

So tonight was better than last night. We had grilled sea trout with baby potatoes and carrots.

Minder

I made Peking duck with pancakes again. The challenge is to get the duck skin crispy. The recipe I have recommends hanging the duck in the fridge with the marinade brushed on - it suggests using a small battery powered fan to help dry the skin. The problems I find are: the marinade has honey in it, so any prolonged roasting will burn the sugars and also long roasting makes the meat dry.

I found that poaching the whole duck for an hour, allowing it to cool and then brushing the marinade on and chilling overnight in the fridge produces a good result. The meat was moist, tender and not too fatty. I roasted the whole bird for 40 minutes, starting at the highest setting, 240c. Once in, I immediately turned the oven to 200c.

So a great result with the duck - and I overcooked the pancakes
The pancakes are very easy to make. The recipe says combine 2.5 cups of plain flour with 1 to 1.5 cups of boiling water - add the water in a steady stream and mix with a wooden spoon. When the dough has come together, knead for 8 minutes and leave to rest for 30 minutes. Knead for a further 5 minutes, roll into a log 18" long and cut into 18 pieces. Flatten two pieces, dip one in seasme oil and sandwich the two pieces together. Roll out until as thick as a pancake and cook for a couple of minutes a side in a dry pan - they are cooked when a few brown spots appear. The idea is that the oil makes it easy to separate them.

I made the mistake of leaving them too long in the pan and the started to get a bit dry. Still, there were enough good ones to make a meal - we had batons of cucumber and spring onion, and a warm hoisin sauce with a little extra honey and soy added.

watna

Having a very very bad day so tonight we had takeaway pizza from an NZ chain called hell. It was gorgeous. I had one of their signature individual pizzas with chicken, cream cheese, cheese, spring onion, pine nuts, apricot sauce and rosemary.

Plus deep fried camembert with cranberry sauce and an individual chocolate cheesecake all for me.

I feel a bit better!

The Sweeper

Had home made beefburgers last night. Nyom.

Trying to plan what to do for this solstice party at the weekend. At the moment it's looking like a tableful of freshly baked breads - herb, cheese and plain - and selections of easy to cut roast meats (boneless). With that there'll be salads and people can just help themselves.

There'll also be plum pudding, gingerbread men and mulled wine, and I've a feeling that's where I'll be concentrating

Minder

We also had burgers, and I made a ratatouille of sorts - ridge pan grilled some baby aubergine, courgette, mixed in half a jar of piquillo peppers that was lurking in the back of the fridge, poured over some tomato sauce from the weekend and stuck it in the oven with a pile of parmaesan shavings on top.