The 'Here's what I had for dinner last night' thread - Part II - Don't quote pics!

GrahamThomas

Chicken biryani and a Peshwari naan from Bombay Pantry in Clonskeagh - Definitely the tastiest Indian takeaway I've ever had!

MissFlitworth

I wanted bibimbap but I could no more get dressed and leave the house than I could sprout wings and fly so I made do with stuff at home to mimic it a little. Was nice but way, way too much. It's not obvious from the photo but this dish is bucket sized

bluecherry74

I always make curries from scratch, but so many people rave about the Aldi curry sauces that I thought I'd give one a try. I did the Dopiaz with chicken, mixed peppers and onion. Holy cow. It's the best jarred curry I've ever had. It won't ever replace my homemade curries, but I'd definitely buy it again.

Minder

Yesterday the Mammy arrived on a roll-a-coaster flight from Dublin and the catering begins. Not that I mind. Last night we had slow cooked duck leg - in the waterbath for 8 hours. Had crispy roast potatoes made with dripping (experimenting with fats for roasties). Also had stem broccoli and a jus made from the duck in a bag.

Dizzyblonde

Tonight we had sausages, beans and mash. Comforting, and quick and easy because I'm worn out from Christmas shopping...

GalwayGuy2

Chicken Cacciatore

ibarelycare

Lamb jalfrezi from Spice n Rice with pilau rice and garlic naan.

Their rice is amazing! Too full...

The Hill Billy

Mrs Billy & The Kids welcomed me home for Christmas with a beautiful Steak & Kidney pie.

Official handover of command of the kitchen takes place at approx 09:00 tomorrow morning after I'm brought a cup of tea in bed. Then the kitchen is mine for the next 2 weeks. Yippee!

GalwayGuy2

Mrs Billy & The Kids welcomed me home for Christmas with a beautiful Steak & Kidney pie.

I thought your username was Dizzyblonde. For a second I thought it was an christmas cooking club get together :P

Mrs Fox

the beer revolu wrote: »

The kale was a revelation for me. We have it growing in the garden and Mrs. Beer loves it but I always struggled to like it so I was looking for a way of cooking it that might appeal to me more. I fried it in a very hot wok with lots of garlic and I couldn't get enough of it!

Have you tried crispy kale chips? Quite addictive.

the beer revolu

Mrs Fox wrote: »

Have you tried crispy kale chips?

Nope but we had kale again last night - this time from Aldi - not as nice as from the garden. Would I need a deep fat fryer to do kale chips?

We had an early small dinner in Iyer's , then a few hours later we had grilled chicken thighs with lots of kale fried in bacon fat and garlic. Yumm. No pic.

decisions

the beer revolu wrote: »

Nope but we had kale again last night - this time from Aldi - not as nice as from the garden. Would I need a deep fat fryer to do kale chips?

We had an early small dinner in Iyer's , then a few hours later we had grilled chicken thighs with lots of kale fried in bacon fat and garlic. Yumm. No pic.

No, you just need to wash them, cut the kale up dry it in a salad spinner (you really need them bone dry). Then just spread them out on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, spray with a little oil and season with some salt and black pepper.

They need about 10 min at 180.

finix

Minder wrote: »

Yesterday the Mammy arrived on a roll-a-coaster flight from Dublin and the catering begins. Not that I mind. Last night we had slow cooked duck leg - in the waterbath for 8 hours. Had crispy roast potatoes made with dripping (experimenting with fats for roasties). Also had stem broccoli and a jus made from the duck in a bag.

A Waterbath ! ! I have seen them on Masterchef but did not think they were common Boardsies things ! Do many have them on here ? :eek:

dipdip

Am I really the first to have the pleasure of listing what we had for dinner? :pac:

Melon and smoked salmon with caviar on brown bread to start, followed by spiced beef (my first taste, yum), turkey, ham, gravy, bread sauce, cranberry sauce, mash, buttered carrots, celery, 2 kinds of sausagemeat stuffing and incredible brussels sprouts with bacon and toasted almonds. It was traditional, but perfect.

Dessert was pudding, custard, strawberry sponge sherry trifle and banoffee, with coffee and chocolates.

Oh and lashings of cava.

Merry Christmas all.

fussyonion

Had sausages, rashers, pudding, fried egg, orange juice and tea for breakfast.

Dinner was the most amazingly moist turkey (Gordon Ramsay recipe: garlic butter infused with chopped thyme and parsley, rubbed under the skin on the breast), rubbed with butter on the outside, roasted on a tray of carrots, celery, onions, garlic and lemons.
Completely covered the tray in tinfoil and didn't open the oven til it was cooked. (Took the foil off in the last half an hour)

Served with smoked ham, mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, croquettes, sprouts, carrots, stuffing and gravy.
We had two glasses of white wine with that.

Then we had home-made tiramisu which was a bit heavy but delicious.
Had a nap and then had a few Roses and a slice of turkey.
Stuffed now!

Toast4532

Myself and my boyfriend ended up staying at my house for Christmas, even though we'd planned to spend it together in his house, alone.

Anyway we didn't bother with starters or deserts, so for our dinner we had turkey, Aldi's four bird roast, potato stuffing, chestnut stuffing, brussels sprouts, carrots and mashed potatoes.

Been nibbling on biscuits, ice cream, crisps and sweets throughout the day too. Only had two drinks too, so no hangover tomorrow

IvyTheTerrible

We had oysters to start (that's a big tradition here), one set from the Mediterranean and one set from the Atlantic, both lovely but very different tastes. Yum!
Then a cepe tart.
Then for the main, guinea fowl with dauphin potatoes and green beans and gravy.
Then salad, and loads of lovely cheeses.
Then the 13 desserts (also a French tradition), so trifle, chocolate and chestnut log, coconut kisses, Christmas cookies, almond biscotti (all those were homemade), walnuts, almonds, two different sets of chocolates, clementines, figs, dates, and a pineapple.
And champagne!

Minder

Christmas Day dinner for 21. Boned and rolled the turkey legs, stuffed with cranberry and chestnut stuffing and cooked in the waterbath for 2 and a half hours, then browned in the oven. Breast meat was simply cooked in waterbath with a tbsp of goose fat. All turkey was brined before cooking. Trimmings included roast spuds, carrots and parsnips, cauliflower and cheese, braised red cabbage, bread sauce, cranberry sauce and gallons of gravy.

In the evening we had dyett bread with cheeses, pressed ox tongue, then sweet pastries including apple and frangipane slice with caramel sauce, poached pear and frangipane tart, Bakewell tart.

Loire

What a marathon!

Breakfast: spiced beef with homemade bread, with a pot of Barry's

Kir Roylaes at 12pm

Starter #1 at 2ish - a big lump of crabmeat in the middle, smoked salmon wrapped around this with tiger prawns circled around the salmon. A fine big juicy scallop then on top of the crabmeat

Starter #2 - wild mushroom and chestnut soup. I followed Nevin Maguire recipe (which also includes smoked duck, which I couldn't get my hands on). The soup was out of this world.

We took a break at this stage and played with the kids. Mrs Loire then produced ab-fab belinis which we quaffed with delight!

Mains:
The turkey was superb and easily my best effort yet. It stook proud.
The ham was a disaster - it tasted really good, but about 45mins into the boiling process it split right down the middle. This meant I was left with "2" hams and couldn't glaze. It's a pity as it tasted great. No idea why it split but hey!
Roast potatoes, mash (topped with cheese and cooked in the over for 30 mins), roasted carrots, parsnips and stuffing balls.

Herself made a lovely lemon drizzle cake. I have a Christmas cake in a tin but by that stage we were all getting dizzy!

A few whiskeys later on and we called it a night.

Apart from the ham I'm delighted with what I turned out. Thanks to all here who are so generous of their time and experience.

Have a super 2014

Loire.

ps: Santa came and I'm going to MacNean's for a 1 day cooking course next summer!!!!

Mrs Fox

Everything turned out great, but a big feck up with the turkey -- I was playing scrabble with my FIL while prepping, didn't realise the turkey had to be taken out 20 min earlier. So despite the two-day brining, the turkey ended up dryish . I didn't get the chance to buy the beeping probing thermometer as per Sparks, really wished I had.
But everything else now, wonderful
SIL made a seriously delicious smoked salmon terrine & salad.
The gravy from Jamie's make-ahead stock was great.
The roast and mashed spuds and carrots, two thumbs up.
Gordon's cranberry sauce was well complimented.
Sausage nut stuffing as always, a hit.
But the star of them all was actually the roasted brussels sprouts -- so simple yet so good I managed to convert three sprout-haters. Thanks Barefoot Contessa.
My SIL also made Mary Berry's Sherry Trifle, which deserved a standing ovation. I've never been a trifle person, but I went back for seconds.

We had a fabulous evening, not too late too, with last guests left the gaff at 1am.
I must say, and Mr Fox agrees, it was the best Christmas we've ever had, but I shall stick to goose and duck for years to come.

kenco

Mixed bag here for the Christmas meal. Got my timings somewhat wrong (trying to do too much)

Starter was this;

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4982/grilled-goats-cheese-with-cranberry-dressing

Worked out quite well but maybe was a little too heavy (should have left more time between courses)

Mains was this;

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2428/gordons-christmas-roast-goose-

Served with roast and mashed spuds, red cabbage and brussell sprouts sauted with bacon. Also had some lovely ham which was just as well as the effn Goose was a pain in the you know what to carve. I knew there wasnt much on it but thought it would present better but again I was rushed which was my own fault

All in all worked out well and got the thumbs up from the adults and kids involved but wont go doing Goose again! Turkey, Prime Rib or Venison next year!

Finished up with a nice choc log type of thing (shop bought not made...)

the beer revolu

Dinner for 13. Very much a collaborative effort.

Brother In Law and sister did the starter:
Avacado, prawns, smoked salmon, salad, cocktail sauce, homemade brown scones.


Main:
Sister cooked and glazed the ham on Christmas Eve. Served (as always) cold along with the spiced beef which was brought by brother in law.
Poached turkey crown. I was very pleased with the resultant moist breast meat with no pink (just). Roast boned, rolled and stuffed (bread, herb and onion stuffing) turkey leg (this was a tad underdone).
Turkey fat roast potatoes. Roast carrots, parsnips and onion. Mashed carrot and parsnip. Spiced red cabbage. Sautéed leeks. Serrano ham wrapped stuffing. Seriously good roast turkey gravy (when I jointed the turkey, I roast the carcass and leg bones and made some really tasty stock and used the roasting sediment - so though, I poached the turkey, I still had roast turkey gravy . I also had homemade brown chicken stock that I poached the turkey in to further stretch out the gravy - so lots of really rich gravy).
No sprouts cause the sister forgot to buy them (I wasn't too bothered).

My mum's Christmas pudding, brandy butter, whipped cream.

Massive cheese board made up 7 Irish cheeses and one English.

Aidric

Duck breast with potatoes and carrots in a delicious sauce made from chicken stock, honey, soy sauce, tomato puree, chilli powder and lime.

The Hill Billy

I stripped the turkey carcass this morning & set aside most of the dark meat, the larger bones & all the jellied juices from the bottom of the roasting tray. I added these to a pot in which I had sweated down a couple of diced onions, carrots, spuds & 3 sticks of celery. In went 2l of goblet stock, a couple of sprigs of thyme & 2 bay leaves.

After 2 hours simmering gently - quality turkey-bone soup! Served with fresh home-baked crusty bread.

annamcmahon

Yesterday I made dinner for my parents, brother and husband. I did spiced beef, collar of bacon cooked in the slow cooker with orange, cinnamon and cloves and then roasted with a orange juice, honey and cinnamon glaze, and honey roasted duck. I did confit potatoes, braised red cabbage, carrot stuffing, roasted sprouts, carrots and parsnips and gravy. It was all delicious.
For dessert i made spiced cranberry pavlova and raspberry trifle. Both were yummy.
Tonight I friedup the leftovers in a hash which was also lovely because it was mainly meat and smothered in the honey duck juices

the beer revolu

Last night was the wonderful Stephen's day leftovers dinner.
Cold turkey, ham and spiced beef. Fried up mashed potato, roast potatoes (done fresh by BIL). Reheated roast veg, carrot and parsnip mash, red cabbage. Sister got sprouts so we made up for not having them on Christmas day - sliced and fried with ham, ham fat and garlic - even the sprout haters (me included) seemed to enjoy them. Lots of left over gravy and cranberry sauce.
MUm's Christmas pud and cheese again!:D

I love this dinner so much - it's like an almost cooking free version of the big event.

Spanish Eyes

Well yesterday, we had the usual Christmas leftover bubble and squeak!

Put EVERYTHING in the blender, yup, turkey, ham, stuffing, veg, and an egg into blender. Pulsed once or twice. Still had bite... Seasoned them up

Then made into patties.

Then dipped in flour, egg, and breadcrumbs.

Fried them off, with baked beans and chips. YUM!M!M!

(I got this idea from a poster here last year)

GalwayGuy2

Turkey pasta sauce.

Bit sour for some reason.

Mrs Fox

Turkey stir fry with rice

The Floyd p

Big bird, ah yah! Pontiacs, ah yah! Ball handling, ah yah! All served with a fine linguine and meatballs all topped off with a fine bottle of vino with my old pal Gab Marcotti!