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

The Sweeper

Made a heavily spiced lamb curry last night, eating it again tonight. It's supposed to be rocket-fuel hot, as in chili hot, but I decided to leave out all of the dried chilis recommended, and just stick with a teaspoon of hot chili powder. The rest of the spices in the curry are used in heavy doses - e.g. 75g chopped garlic, 75g ground coriander, among other things.

However it turned out to be really marvellous - heavily flavoursome, with a 'spice' heat that was nothing like a chili heat, but was still very warming. It's extremely rich as well and easily lasted two dinners between the two of us.

NewFrockTuesday

Chicken casserole yesterday. I put the peeled spuds sitting on top so they absorb some of the juices but still get lovely and crispy brown on top. Was delicious. Busy at the mo so keeping cooking to simple dishes in bulk.

the beer revolu

Minesajackdaniels wrote: »

Made a heavily spiced lamb curry last night, eating it again tonight. It's supposed to be rocket-fuel hot, as in chili hot, but I decided to leave out all of the dried chilis recommended, and just stick with a teaspoon of hot chili powder. The rest of the spices in the curry are used in heavy doses - e.g. 75g chopped garlic, 75g ground coriander, among other things.

However it turned out to be really marvellous - heavily flavoursome, with a 'spice' heat that was nothing like a chili heat, but was still very warming. It's extremely rich as well and easily lasted two dinners between the two of us.

Do tell us more. I can never settle on spices for a curry. Curious to know what yours are.

hedgehog33

Made a chicken and bean stew thingy last night. Bit bland for my liking, will try with more spices next time.

That Mexican lasagne sounds good Neuro-Praxis, thanks for the suggestion, will give it a go some time soon.

The Sweeper

the beer revolu wrote: »

Do tell us more. I can never settle on spices for a curry. Curious to know what yours are.

This particular curry has a combination of whole and ground spice.

To 250g of plain yoghurt, add 75g ground coriander and a tablespoon of whole cumin seeds along with two teaspoons of salt and a teaspoon of hot chili powder. Stir to combine and leave to stand.

You start by frying whole spices in ghee or oil (ghee works better). Five black cardamoms, six green cardamoms, a teaspoon of cloves, three bay leaves or cinnamon leaves. The spices will start to swell and pop. Add two medium onions, finely chopped. Over a medium heat, cook the onions until golden brown. Then add 75g finely chopped garlic and allow to cook until the rawness is gone (two to three minutes - medium heat, remember, so the garlic doesn't burn).

Meat - lamb or beef (I use lamb) - you need about 1kg of cubed beef or lamb, and at this point, when the garlic is cooked, you add the meat to the pan and cook until browned all over - about 10 minutes.

Then add the spiced yoghurt, stirring all the while, and cook for another 10 minutes or until most of the liquid of the yoghurt is gone.

Then you add liquid - the recipe calls for 1 1/4 pints of lamb stock or water, but I started with less, maybe 3/4 of a pint. Add this, stir the curry together, and then leave it to simmer until it's reduced and the meat is tender.

You can temper the curry at the end, by heating about a tablespoon of ghee in a ladle over a flame. Drop about 1/2 teaspoon of cloves into the ladel along with a couple of green cardamom. Allow the ghee to infuse with the flavours, and then pour it over the lamb. I didn't bother to do this part and still found the curry intensely flavoursome.

The stage that I left out involves the use of around 20 whole dried red chilis, reconstituted in hot water and added to the ghee at the whole spice frying stage. I decided I wanted a curry with warmth but without needing to put a loo-roll in the freezer, so I left them out!

I thought the spice load was very, very heavy in this - the Madhur Jaffray style of cooking is all "count out six cloves and eight peppercorns and two green cardamoms and a teaspoon of ground this and a tablespoon of ground that", so it was strangely liberating to be throwing in whole teaspoons of cloves and ground spice in measured in bowls. Could hardly believe it came out so well!

neuro-praxis

neuro-praxis wrote: »

There is a difference. An enchilada is a corn tortilla rolled around a filling (can be pretty much anything) and covered with a chilli sauce and cheese, and baked. Mexican lasagne is layered wheat tortillas and spiced minced beef.

Similar, but different.

Nope, you can definitely 'stack' the tortillas in the way you described to make enchiladas:




http://img.timeinc.net/recipes/i/recipes/su/08/05/enchilada-stack-su-1728732-l.jpg

I don't see that style often in Ireland for some reason but it's common in the US and in loads of Mexican recipe books. WHY did I come into this topic at this time of night, I'd kill for some enchiladas right now!

tSubh Dearg

Tonight was a special birthday dinner for himself; T-bone steaks with roasted asparagus and homemade oven chipped potatoes. There was also a bit of birthday cake for him to eat too. It was a Victoria sponge that I made yesterday when we were over at my parents.

the beer revolu

tSubh Dearg wrote: »

Tonight was a special birthday dinner for himself; T-bone steaks with roasted asparagus and homemade oven chipped potatoes. There was also a bit of birthday cake for him to eat too. It was a Victoria sponge that I made yesterday when we were over at my parents.

Sounds like a meal fit for a king, if done right;)

Talliesin

Of course it was done right.

watna

Tonight, I made a beef stir fry by fecking random things that were in the cupboard in to the frying pan. I used broccoli, beans and carrots and cashew nuts and made the sauce with garlic, ginger, honey, lemon juice, worcestshire sauce and soy sauce and cayenne pepper. It was actually quite nice!

Minder

Lamb kebabs - marinated lamb in pomergranate molasses with lemon juice and salt, then grilled. With that we had a salad of shredded lettuce, mint, coriander and tomato, a dressing made from homous let down with a little water and lemon juice. Warm khobz to wrap all the tasty ingredients in.

Also made a baked aubergine with cumin, dressed with roasted hazelnuts, dried cranberries, roast garlic, lemon and oil, shredded mint leaves and feta cheese. Roasting the garlic takes the raw edge out of the dressing and doesn't suck all the moisture out of your head overnight...

mags16

This evening, I had roast chicken and gravy from the slow cooker and some broccoli.

This was the first time I used a slow cooker to roast a chicken. I rubbed cayenne, paprika, marigold stock powder, dried oregano, salt and pepper into the skin. I quartered a lemon and stuffed it in the cavity. I chopped an onion and put it on the bottom of the cooker along with about 6 cloves of garlic. The chicken went on top. No added liquid. Covered and cooked on high for 4 hours. Amazing, soft, flavorsome chicken. The 1/2 pint of cooking juice was thickened to make a gravy. Twas yummy.

The Sweeper

After making the heavy spice lamb curry I went on to make a beef curry which was more about paprika than coriander. That also went well, so we had it with plain rice and a dry spiced cauliflower.

Then got bored of curry, so last night had a packet of cheese and onion crisps and two very sweet peaches that had been allowed ripen on the tree. Peaches were GOOOOOD. Washed that down with a cup of tea.

NewFrockTuesday

Weightwatchers chicken curry. Bizzarely, it tasted of fish. Couldnt eat it. Too revolting. So I had beans on toast. Forgotten how tasty they are.

hedgehog33

Beef stir-fry with noodles.

The Hill Billy

Monday - Had leg of lamb with roasted veg (butternut squash, carrots, parsnips, spuds & garlic).
Tuesday - Chopped up all of the leftover meat & veg, mixed with remaining gravy, topped with mashed spuds & bunged it in the oven. Delish!

Faith

Last night, I had pan-fried scallops drizzled with lemon juice and garlic butter, served with veg and mashed potatoes.

Tonight I made a beef stroganoff that was quite tasty, but lacked just a little something.

I have a reservation for an amazing seafood restaurant in Dingle on Saturday night, so I'm very excited about that!

tSubh Dearg

Last night I made a really nice pasta recipe from BBC. It involved tomatoes and prawns and was absolutely gorgeous.

Tonight we will be having mackerel.

hedgehog33

Last night was lamb chops grilled with herbes de provence, and mushroom risotto. Yum.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

Carrot, parsnip and lentil stew. Delish

rediguana

Jinga Chaat
Pilau Rice with nut and veg.
Chicken Korma.

Thanks to Bombay Pantry, Ireland's best Indian takeaway. It's superb! Order it NOW if you live in Dublin www.bombaypantry.com

Calina

last night I had the following:

steak with American Barbecue seasoning.
mashed sweet potato seasoned with seasalt and freshly ground pepper
mushrooms fried in butter seasoned with freshly ground pepper.

I have a ground pepper thing going on at the moment and this is Saturday evening dinner lately.

toodelies

rosemary and lemon cod wrapped in bacon and baked, asparagus and green beans mixed together boiled first and then quickly fried with some roast pancetta and butter, mash. looovely...

The Sweeper

Spiced lamb chops with raisin and pine nut pilaf.

Nyom nyom nyom nyom.

NewFrockTuesday

Seared tuna steak with a roasted red pepper salsa. Kartoffel (potato) salad with it. One of my fav potato salad recipies is a german onw involving stock and tarragon vinegar. Very different to our own mayonaissey version here but very very tasty and alot healthier.

Dolbert

Last night I made a pork & apple curry, I used this recipe from cooksrecipes.com:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pound pork chops
1 onion, sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 apple, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon ground curry
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

1. In a heavy skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Cook pork chops until browned on both sides and almost cooked through; remove from skillet and set aside.
2. In same skillet saute over medium heat sliced baking apple, and sliced pepper strips for 2 minutes or until softened. Blend chicken broth with cornstarch; add to the skillet with curry, cumin, cinnamon; salt, and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes, or until slightly reduced and thickened. Return pork chops to skillet and cook for 1 or 2 minutes, or until heated through.

Makes 4 servings.

A lovely mild flavour, I think I'll add some sultanas next time

Heineken Helen

I just cooked Ostrich fillet (had it in south africa years ago and came across it in a market last week so treated myself ) in a mushroom and red wine sauce with creamed spinach and garlic and rosemary roast potatoes :eek: and OH MY GOD it was delish. It took about 2 hours to cook and ten minutes to devour but it was worth every second of it

pow wow

Homemade calzone and some rather impressive homemade profiteroles

nyom :P

NewFrockTuesday

Went to a friends house for dinner and had Caesar salad with roterisse (spl?)chicken. Also a beetroot salad served with and ciabatta.

Tonight is Cajun salmon with home pickeled cucumber and a rocket salad and marinated tomatoes.

Alun

Heineken Helen wrote: »

I just cooked Ostrich fillet (had it in south africa years ago and came across it in a market last week so treated myself ) in a mushroom and red wine sauce with creamed spinach and garlic and rosemary roast potatoes :eek: and OH MY GOD it was delish. It took about 2 hours to cook and ten minutes to devour but it was worth every second of it

2 hours to cook a fillet :eek: