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

The Sweeper

Ah CJ, good things, small packages etc. etc.

I've felt poisoned the last few days, not totally sure why, so I'm utterly off my food. However, bought a kaffir lime tree at the weekend, so have fresh lime leaves whenever I want them.

Last time I cooked, we had blue grenadir (local white-fleshed fish) with the following fantabulous potato dish:

Peel and chunk some spuds for roasting. Place the chunks in a roasting dish, and add: about a tablespoon of olive oil, the juice and zest of an unwaxed lemon, two big sprigs of rosemary and a tin of anchovies. Toss the chunks around until they're coated in oil, lemon and anchovy and the rosemary is sufficiently battered to impart all of its flavours.

Pour over about 1/3 of a pint of boiling water, and put the roasting tray into the oven at about 190 (you know your own oven - maybe 180 if it's electric fan assisted, 200 if it's gas with no fan). Let the spuds roast for about 45 mins to an hour - again it depends on your oven and the size of the spuds.

These are truly excellent with plainly cooked fish and a green salad.

(Though it could also help that the rosemary and the lemons are fresh from the garden here - I'll never buy a lemon at the supermarket and treat is as 'fruit with a half life' again.)

CJhaughey

majd

Blue Grenadier is Hoki although the Australians won't call it that.

Mr Magnolia

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

Last time I cooked, we had blue grenadir (local white-fleshed fish) with the following fantabulous potato dish:

Peel and chunk some spuds for roasting. Place the chunks in a roasting dish, and add: about a tablespoon of olive oil, the juice and zest of an unwaxed lemon,........

Sounds like something I'd enjoy, I'll have to try it out.

One thing though, unwaxed lemons?

bonkey

CJhaughey wrote:

Bonkey do you grow your own corn or can you get it from the shop?

Up to now we've bought it in the shops (easy to get here in Swissland).

This year, we're growing a bit as an experiment. Next year, we may do more, if we decide its worth it....if we have space.

The Sweeper

CJhaughey wrote:

majd

Blue Grenadier is Hoki although the Australians won't call it that.

...aye, and it's a local, white-fleshed fish.

Though interestingly enough that made me double check something on them - apparently the marine stewardship council's "catch as much as ye want, it's fine" listing granted in March 2001 expired in April this year and hasn't been renewed yet, pending protests from various environmental groups and individuals...

mr magnolia wrote:

One thing though, unwaxed lemons?

And unwaxed lemons - many fruit are waxed after picking with a very, very fine spray coating to ensure no degredation in transport. Waxing fruit means they don't get mouldy or lose moisture etc. Lemons and oranges are usualy waxed - the wax is perfectly safe, but if you're using the zest of a fruit in a recipe, better go for unwaxed fruit.

Jesus Wept

r3nu4l wrote:

I'll be having that on saturday

Last night I had:
Cous cous, tuna (tinned, not fresh) marinated in balsamic vinegar, pepper, sunflower seeds and beans. Sounds odd, tastes great.

never tried cous cous, is it any use? Anyone got any good ways to use it?

I prefer tinned tuna to fresh, hehe, it's a very different taste.... must be the brine in tinned flavour that I'm used too.

Mr Magnolia

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

And unwaxed lemons - many fruit are waxed after picking with a very, very fine spray coating to ensure no degredation in transport. Waxing fruit means they don't get mouldy or lose moisture etc. Lemons and oranges are usualy waxed - the wax is perfectly safe, but if you're using the zest of a fruit in a recipe, better go for unwaxed fruit.

Thanks MAJD .

Every day's a school day. I'm curious now, is there anyway of removing the wax before zesting?

CJhaughey

The-Rigger wrote:

I prefer tinned tuna to fresh, hehe, it's a very different taste.... must be the brine in tinned flavour that I'm used too.

Have you tried the Spanish tinned/jars of tuna?
Ortiz is a well known manufacturer of tuna and the taste of proper Albacore or Bonito del norte as they call it is quite different from Mr J Wests tinned skipjack.
Albacore is probably the nicest IMHO tinned it's not cheap a jar of tinned Alby is round the €6-7 mark.

nice1franko

mccane micro chips, 4 hob nobs and a cup of tea with no milk cos there was no milk left.

r3nu4l

Two grilled pork chops sprinkled with dried mixed herbs, boiled baby new potatoes, grilled mushrooms and asparagus.

I covered the chops in leftover scotch broth (I don't like wasting food) and it actually turned out okay

EDIT: The Rigger, cous cous is extremely simple to make, it's basically just a carbohydrate, it's used a lot in salads but I use it a lot for fish dishes where I'm not having rice/pasta/spuds. There's different ways to make it, mine is very plain. Boil/microwave 50 mls water/person, take off the heat, add 50 g cous cous, wait three minutes, use a fork to "rake" it so it's nice and fluffy and spoon it onto the plate.

You can add a small amount of olive oil and salt to the water as you heat it if you like or add when the cous cous is ready before serving if you like.

CJhaughey

Spanish style Oxtail with peppers and quince jelly stewed until falling off the bone.(recipe from aussie womens weekly cookbook)
Some more of that Albacore tuna with some Polish Beans in tomato sauce and a few slices of bread.

bonkey

spag bol and a side-salad.

Was well pleased with my sauce. More importantly...She Who Taught Me Her Recipe was well pleased with it

nice1franko

what exactly is her recipe?

Minder

The-Rigger wrote:

never tried cous cous, is it any use? Anyone got any good ways to use it?

Cous-cous is a dry cracked wheat grain. It can be made using boiling water but will be bland.

Here's how I use it.

Make a stew - it can be either lamb, chicken or fish. The stew needs to be quite watery rather than thick like a sauce. Lamb is what we use most often.

Take a half shoulder of lamb - cut into pieces about the size of a golf ball.
Brown the meat in a large pot - including the bones.
Take out the meat and set aside.
Finely chop 1 small onion and fry until soft.
Add a couple of cloves of garlic - again finely chopped.
Once the onions are soft, we add tomato puree and spices.
It is important to use puree rather than pulped tomatoes - remember we want a watery sauce.

Spices
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1/2 teaspoon coriander
Chilli powder to taste
Pinch of cumin
1/2 to 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried mint
Cook the puree with the onion for several minutes before adding the spices.
Once the spices are added, cook for another couple of minutes, then add the lamb.
Give the whole lot a good mix to coat the meat, and add boiling water or meat stock.

How much water or stock ? We use the liquid from the stew to cook the cous cous grain - so about 1.5 to 2 litres - it a bit difficult because I usually do this by eye. The idea is to have enough liquid to make the cous cous, then have some left to allow diners to add to their plates.
Cover and simmer for about an hour.

Once the meat is tender, we make the cous cous.
Most cous cous is cooked quickly.
The idea is to add boiling liquid until it is light and fluffy - the grains are easily swamped so we add the liquid a ladle full at a time. The cous cous can be steamed by putting it in the microwave for a couple of minutes, or a low oven.

Take a large pyrex bowl. Measure about 1 pint of cous cous grains.
Then add the boiling liquid from the stew - a bit at a time.
Mix the grains into the stock, cover and leave for a few minutes to absorb or nuke for two minutes.
The grains will set - break them up with a fork.
Now try the cous cous - (a pinch will do) it will probably be hard in the middle - add more stock, cover and leave to absorb.
Keep trying and adding stock until the grains are soft, light and fluffy.

Serve the cous cous with steamed carrots, courgettes, potatoes or pumpkin. Add chickpeas to the remaining sauce. Pile cous cous on each plate, top with meat and some vegetables and serve the remaining sauce in a bowl at the table. Try some harissa - a hot pepper paste on the side.

bonkey

Here's the basic one, she wrote up some years ago for a cookbook my sis put together.

Yesterday, I fried up some lardons, then added mince, spiced it a bit while frying (salt, pepper, paprika, sage, rosemary). I did the sauce (as per the recipe above, more-or-less) on top of that, only adding a half a diced red pepper at the same time as the tomato, and a goodly dash of tabasco with the wine.

Let it all cook together for about 45 mins, then sat off the heat for 10-15 mins before serving.

bonkey

Cous-cous can also be used to make a lovely salad called taboule. Normally, this is done with mint, but I prefer it with coriander. Works the absolute bomb as a salad to go with BBQ.

Here's how we do it....

- Bring 1 cup of water to the boil. Add salt once boiling, then remove from heat.
- Add 1 cup of couscous, and stir through well. Stir occasionally over the next 5-10 mins to prevent clumping ***
- Once its down to being only warm, add a dash of olive or sunflower oil and stir that through.
- Dice 1 large tomato, about the same amount of cucumber, two or three spring onions (or one small onion, red or white), and a large handful of coriander. Once the cous-cous is cool, add this and stir through.
- Add 1tbl lemonjuice, 1tbl apple vinegar (or other fruit vinegar, or white-wine vinegar at a pinch), and a alrge pinch of salt. Stir through well.
- Fridge until needed.

It may take more/less lemon-juice and/or vinegar, depending on your tastes. Also...the vinegar "bite" will fade after a couple of hours, so you may wish to add more just before serving if you make it in advance.

*** Clumping most often occurs because there's not enough liquid. If this is consistently happening, use slightly more ater than couscous...and I do mean only slightly.

Minder

CJhaughey wrote:

Spanish style Oxtail with peppers and quince jelly stewed until falling off the bone

I have made this from a recipe in the Moro cookbook - it has rioja and a big helping of smoked paprika and is delicious. Served with big fat chips.

I must find some oxtail.......

Minder

bonkey wrote:

*** Clumping most often occurs because there's not enough liquid. If this is consistently happening, use slightly more ater than couscous...and I do mean only slightly.

I have always found that adding the amounts of water or stock suggested on the packets swamps the couscous. You can add it - you can't take it out.

bonkey

Fair warning. over here, I typically have the opposite problem...

Mr Magnolia

Nothing last night or all day yesterday. Never been as hung-over.

The Hill Billy

What is it with this place & Oxtails all of a sudden?
I've not been here since last Wednesday, took 2 tails out of my freezer yesterday evening for dinner tomorrow & then come on here & feel like I'm in some food-related "Tails of the Unexpected" deja vu scenario.

CJhaughey

Hill Billy wrote:

What is it with this place & Oxtails all of a sudden?

Probably because they were banned for a while, people didn't cook them and consequently there was no talk of tails.
Now that the ban has been lifted there is more and more people cooking and wanting them.
I pay €1.00 per tail, good value I feel for what some may call the tastiest cut.

Mr Magnolia

Pan fried Razorfish. Then beef stew. It was all good.

The Sweeper

I had a home-made junk food night recently and made slow-roasted pork spare ribs and sweetcorn fritters.

I'm still getting used to the oven where I live - it's a range oven and it's huge, but it's gas fired with no fan assist. It takes a good half hour to heat up to your required temperature but once you figure out how to work it it's a bloody dream. I didn't pre-boil the spare ribs or anything like that - just marinated for a few hours, then slow cooked them, around gas mark 2, for two hours. Finally hoofed the temp right up to about gas mark 7 for a few minutes to crisp up the outside. I got the melt off the bone effect with them.

Sweetcorn fritters work a dream with spare ribs - they're basically thick, fluffy pancakes with sweetcorn in them, but you need to add a good pinch of salt, and a big pinch of baking powder which helps keep the fritter light. They're a great foil for sticky ribs.

[disclaimer]...er, heart disease only happens to other people [/disclaimer]

Mr Magnolia

Fillet Steak with a Greek Ratatouille, copied the recipe from the ratatouille from Rick Stein's tour on BBC2 at the minute. Potato, sweet potato, peppers, tomato, aubergine, courgette, onion, garlic, chillies, parsley olive oil, water. There's one or two vegetables and herbs I'm forgetting but you get the picture.

The Hill Billy

Had my oxtail stew on Tuesday & Wednesday nights.
Tasted just like Great Grand Nanna Hill Billy used to make some 20 years ago.
It brought a tear to my eye.

jos28

Chicken fillet stuffed with spinach, mozarella and cherry tomatoes, served with baby potatoes and peas.

xxdilemmaxx

jos28 wrote:

Chicken fillet stuffed with spinach, mozarella and cherry tomatoes, served with baby potatoes and peas.

This might be a dumb*ss question but how do you make that it sounds yum?

jos28

Not a dumb question. Very easy to make. Slice the chicken fillet along the side making a pocket . Simply put about 5/6 spinach leaves into the pocket, a slice of mozzarella on top of that and finish with about 3 sliced tomatoes.
Kinda pat it all back into shape, put plenty of black pepper on top. I just wrapped in tin foil and into the oven at 180c for 45 minutes. I opened the tin foil for the last 10 minutes to brown the top. Yum.....

Minder

Minestrone soup with a big dollop of pesto sitting in the middle

And crusty bread