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

Animord

MissFlitworth wrote: »

Ok, so this is exactly what's in the paleo box

steak strips [this was chunks of slow cooked beef in mine], rocket & spinach, guacamole, black bean purée, toasted crushed hazelnuts, pickled onion, mustard dressing, cottage cheese, chilli cacao dusting (only available in Pablo's Tortas at 5 Clarendon right now amigos)

Black bean puree - never made this but checked a few recipes and you can get yourself a puree by blending a tin of black beans with a couple of teaspoons of oil

Pickled Onions - my Yucatan cookbook (which has many interesting recipes, including for crickets) has a basic picked onion recipe which goes. Thinly slice 2 red onions, put in a colander and pour boiling water over them, then put in a jar with 1.5 cups of vinegar, 10 peppercorns, a sprinkling of salt and 1.5 tsps of white vinegar. Leave for 6 hours before using. Alternately I sometimes I just slice up a red onion, pour vinegar over and leaving for max of 20 minutes before scooping onto my salad.

For the meat bit something like Sparks' pulled pork in there would probably be epic. I've never made this exact salad at home but I have tried to lazily rip it off and when I do that I normally fry steak strips and mix in a large bow with spinach leaves, toasted nuts that I crush by putting them into a tea towel and working out my daily irritants on them by bashing them with a mug, chunks of avocado, a few tablespoons of cottage cheese, a squeeze of lime juice,bit of walnut or olive oil and some juicy tomatoes.

It sounds very good.

I have eaten crickets before, but only had them roasted. I can't believe I am asking this since I am very unlikely to be trying it, but what do they do with them?

hussey

Another round of Cookbook Challenge last night. This time it was pizza night

Used Jamie at home version of pizza (base & dough) recipe

I actually cooked this in the BBQ, after watching a tv show about pizza, the host suggested instead of using a woodfire oven, try a pizza stone in a BBQ (closed), I have an oven thermometer and it went over 350C !!
I put the stone directly on the bbq plate, next time I'll put a trivet under it, as the base seemed to cook quicker than the top. the first two weren't great, but the last 2 were superb.

Toppings: Blue cheese, parmesan, mozzarella, rocket and prosciutto

leahyl

hussey wrote: »

Another round of Cookbook Challenge last night. This time it was pizza night

Used Jamie at home version of pizza (base & dough) recipe

I actually cooked this in the BBQ, after watching a tv show about pizza, the host suggested instead of using a woodfire oven, try a pizza stone in a BBQ (closed), I have an oven thermometer and it went over 350C !!
I put the stone directly on the bbq plate, next time I'll put a trivet under it, as the base seemed to cook quicker than the top. the first two weren't great, but the last 2 were superb.

Toppings: Blue cheese, parmesan, mozzarella, rocket and prosciutto

That looks amazing!! Oh God I want pizza now!

MissFlitworth

Animord wrote: »

I have eaten crickets before, but only had them roasted. I can't believe I am asking this since I am very unlikely to be trying it, but what do they do with them?

I think there's some kind of boiling of them and eating salsa with them. Will have a gander later and report back! You never know, could be heading down to Reptile Haven this evening for a bag of crickets 'for my salamander' if it looks good.

Last night I had cheese, charcuterie & pate while out for Christmas drinks with work. And I split 2 bottles of wine with someone and then insisted on having a glass of prosecco. So today I am sitting very, very still and radiating 'please don't ask me any questions' vibes

Animord

MissFlitworth wrote: »

. So today I am sitting very, very still and radiating 'please don't ask me any questions' vibes

lol - so maybe you don't want to be thinking of eating crickets?

Toast4532

Cabbage, potatoes and whiskey smoked bacon. The bacon wasn't very smokey though, although it was still lovely.

MissFlitworth

The Hill Billy's cooking club vindaloo. It was ever so lovely. I learned that if you don't have ground cinnamon throwing a cinnamon stick into your blender isn't quite the same thing <picks bit of wood out of teeth>. Had it with frozen naan warmed in the microwave and crisped in the flame of my hob and a champagne flute of pink lemonade for the Fancy Dan effect

fussyonion

MissFlitworth wrote: »

The Hill Billy's cooking club vindaloo. It was ever so lovely. I learned that if you don't have ground cinnamon throwing a cinnamon stick into your blender isn't quite the same thing <picks bit of wood out of teeth>. Had it with frozen naan warmed in the microwave and crisped in the flame of my hob and a champagne flute of pink lemonade for the Fancy Dan effect

I totally mis-read that :o

the beer revolu

Pan fried fillets of white sole; lemon, butter and olive oil braised fennel, runner beans, Thai rice. Not the prettiest of dinners but so tasty. I'd never braised fennel before - I will again.

IvyTheTerrible

the beer revolu wrote: »

Pan fried fillets of white sole; lemon, butter and olive oil braised fennel, runner beans, Thai rice. Not the prettiest of dinners but so tasty. I'd never braised fennel before - I will again.

Lovely!
I love fennel, it's very nice braised like that, or done in a gratin, wrapped in pancetta.

pampootie

Chicken korma, made with a green saffron spice mix. They're yum. Served with basmati rice, tenderstem broccoli and beer

iwantmydinner

Tuna and sweetcorn pasta bake with extra mature cheddar and a homemade white sauce. Not the prettiest on a plate though...!

I was a bit too liberal with the sweetcorn though, which watered down the flavour somewhat.

Faith

Toad in the hole, mashed potatoes, gravy and sweetcorn. Lovely comfort food for a night like this! The sweetcorn didn't strictly match, but we needed vegetables and it was all that was available.

IvyTheTerrible

Faith wrote: »

Toad in the hole, mashed potatoes, gravy and sweetcorn. Lovely comfort food for a night like this! The sweetcorn didn't strictly match, but we needed vegetables and it was all that was available.

What recipe did you use? I want to make this but can't find one with good reviews!

Faith

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

What recipe did you use? I want to make this but can't find one with good reviews!

I kind of make it up as I go. Loosely, I use Delia smiths one http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/toad-in-the-hole-with-roasted-onion-gravy.html - it bangs on about roasted onion gravy but I don't bother with that bit. I heat a little bit of oil in a roasting dish and pop in the sausages. I cook for 10 minutes before removing and adding the Yorkshire pudding mix, and cooking again for 30 mins.

It's pretty nice, I think. Probably even better if you go to the effort of making the gravy!

MissFlitworth

Lazy Sunday dinner of beef & black pepper sausages roasted in a tray with sweet & baby potatoes, served with petit pois and chicken gravy with creme fraiche & a some Korean hot pepper paste mixed through it (which was a total experiment, the tub of paste caught my eye when I was finished rehydrating my gravy granules and I'm lucky it turned out nice!)

Mrs Fox

^^^ look at them glorious peas !! ^^^

annamcmahon

Tonight we had spinach and tomato curry with spiced cauliflower rice

fussyonion

Went to parents today for dinner.
We had home-made lasagne, garlic bread and salad and a few glasses of Merlot, followed by home-made Tiramisu.
I'll be as big as a house by the time the big fella comes down the chimney

MissFlitworth

Mrs Fox wrote: »

^^^ look at them glorious peas !! ^^^

Gotta love peases!

Faith

Very rare sirloin steaks (I aimed for medium rare but I think it would be fair to say they were almost blue ), mashed potatoes, roasted carrots, fried onions and pepper sauce.

We got the steaks in lidl, part of the Duluxe range I think. I actually didn't think they were great. I felt mine was quite tough, despite the lack of cooking, and overall the meal just didn't hit the spot.

We had shared a bag of chips about 90 minutes prior so strictly speaking, I wasn't that hungry and that might have been why too!

drwebber

Faith wrote: »

Very rare sirloin steaks (I aimed for medium rare but I think it would be fair to say they were almost blue ), mashed potatoes, roasted carrots, fried onions and pepper sauce.

We got the steaks in lidl, part of the Duluxe range I think. I actually didn't think they were great. I felt mine was quite tough, despite the lack of cooking, and overall the meal just didn't hit the spot.

We had shared a bag of chips about 90 minutes prior so strictly speaking, I wasn't that hungry and that might have been why too!

Here's a good rule i always use:

The Hill Billy

After a hectic few days (on the gargle up in The Alps) with a good friend who came to visit - it was a bit of relief to chill out last night with a plate of wings in a Thai chilli sauce & a bowl of noodles with onions, soy, finely diced tomato & chilli flakes.

I probably won't be posting here for the rest of the week as my meals will mainly involve using up whatever is in my fridge/cupboards before I come home for Christmas. Toasted cheese & celery sandwiches, anyone?

tmc86

We held a small Christmas dinner on Saturday evening with friends. A quality piece of Spiced Beef was the star of the show served with goose fat potatoes, yorkshire pudding, roasted carrot & parsnip and stuffing balls (from the cooking club).

Cooked the spiced beef in guinness for the last half an hour and also used some for the gravy.

There was also dessert (Apple Crumble & ice cream) and lots of mulled wine but sadly no pics!



Small Sunday evening dinner of poached eggs on cinnamon bagels covered in a sausage, spiced beef and potato hash and a dollop of chili ketchup.

Loire

Faith wrote: »

Very rare sirloin steaks (I aimed for medium rare but I think it would be fair to say they were almost blue ), mashed potatoes, roasted carrots, fried onions and pepper sauce.

We got the steaks in lidl, part of the Duluxe range I think. I actually didn't think they were great. I felt mine was quite tough, despite the lack of cooking, and overall the meal just didn't hit the spot.

We had shared a bag of chips about 90 minutes prior so strictly speaking, I wasn't that hungry and that might have been why too!

Hi Faith,

I find the steaks in Aldi to be better than in Lidl, but in both cases I usually marinade in red wine and garlic for a few hours beforehand. (I keep any wine left-overs in a special bottle for this)

Loire.

IvyTheTerrible

Loire wrote: »

Hi Faith,

I find the steaks in Aldi to be better than in Lidl, but in both cases I usually marinade in red wine and garlic for a few hours beforehand. (I keep any wine left-overs in a special bottle for this)

Loire.

I pour leftover wine (there are only two of us and we don't drink much) into icecube bags and freeze them. Then when I need some for a sauce, I don't have to open a full bottle, I just take what I need out of the freezer (this is especially true for white wine, because we drink red wine)

genuine leather

Was it just me? But i found myself checking to see how rare or well done my thumb was:) Good tip. Welcome drwebber

Gloomtastic!

Leftover wine? Sorry does not compute!

We keep a bottle of Martini Chinzano in the drinks cupboard, when the recipe says add white wine, a good dollop of Chinzano gives it a lovely winey flavour and a bottle it keeps for ages.

Billy86

tmc86 wrote: »

We held a small Christmas dinner on Saturday evening with friends. A quality piece of Spiced Beef was the star of the show served with goose fat potatoes, yorkshire pudding, roasted carrot & parsnip and stuffing balls (from the cooking club).

I'm drooling looking at that beef!! :eek:

vicwatson

the beer revolu wrote: »

Pan fried fillets of white sole; lemon, butter and olive oil braised fennel, runner beans, Thai rice. Not the prettiest of dinners but so tasty. I'd never braised fennel before - I will again.

<unbelieveably delicious looking dinner photo snipped, no quoting photos, thanks!>

Wow, that Witch looks fantastic.