The cooking thread and what are you having for dinner tonight beansnikpoh?

BelgianBeerGeek

Pinno wrote:

Well?

Well wot?
Like the recipe Mr P, soon as I saw you had leeks in there, I knew you was onto something. Like the Kraut thickener, might have attempted a beurre blanc myself, but I am nicking that. Might name check you in my drunken twunts (copywrite, can’t find icon) cookbook.
Some years ago me and a friend made fairly advanced plans to deep-fry a turkey in a galvanised bin/drum as seen on redneck tv. Wives saw that project off, what do they know?

pinno

BelgianBeerGeek wrote:

...might have attempted a beurre blanc myself.

Yep, do it. You never know the culinary skills of the average Luddite mamil.

BelgianBeerGeek wrote:

Some years ago me and a friend made fairly advanced plans to deep-fry a turkey in a galvanised bin/drum as seen on redneck tv. Wives saw that project off, what do they know?

Wrap it in tin foil, stick it under the bonnet and go for a spirited drive.
Alternatively, some say you can cook stuff in a dishwasher.

'Well?' was directed as per thread title.

Matthewfalle

Today I will be mostly knocking up a cottage pie - slow cooked meat is sitting there, get some nice mature cheddar to melt on top of the potato covering, spinach and some other veg. Should be quite nice I reckon.

hopkinb

Pinno wrote:

Well?

Was a simple dal. For 2.
Take an onion, a couple of cloves of garlic, and a 5cm piece of ginger. If you can be @rsed, then finely chop with a knife, but if you can't, then blitz in a food processor. Fry gently in ghee (or veg oil, but ghee is much nicer) in a saucepan until soft, try not to colour. Add a teaspoon each of ground coriander, cumin and turmeric, a whole dried Kashmiri chilli, and fry for a minute or two. Add 200g of dry lentils (I used red as that's what I had) and cold water to cover the lentils by 2-3 cm. Bring to a simmer and simmer for 20-30 mins, stirring from time to time, and adding more water if it gets too thick. Now, if you like, at this stage you can stir in some coconut cream to make it a bit luxurious. However, totally optional. Before serving, I add salt to taste, stir in a half teaspoon of garam masala, a good squeeze of lemon juice, then garnish with lots of chopped coriander and fresh green chilli.

Yesterday I served in soup bowls with parathas (you can get frozen ones round here, which you can cook up in a frying pan in minutes), but plain boiled rice, or other Indian bread of your choice is good.

Ingredients to table in 35 minutes if you blitz the onions etc. Who needs meat.

pinno

Nice, I would have to cut down on the chilli - there's no way Shorty will eat it if it's a bit hot. Perhaps a touch of Paprika in lieu?
I often cook my onions in a combo of Ghee and pure sunflower oil.
No food processors here mate. An old blender but that's it. I am a happy chopper perhaps even, a cheeky chopper.

I presume you could add peas, potatoes and other veg if you used that as a base?

The girls love Naan bread and Chapati's. I am still mastering the Chapati.

Cheers Hoppy.

hopkinb

I have happily put some frozen peas and some spinach in there in the past. It's nice to chuck a big handful of prawns in there too, though obviously then not veggie.

The whole Kashmiri chilli doesn't add too much heat, a bit of smokiness and warmth, and you fish it out anyway so a half teaspoon of smoked paprika might do the same job. Not too much, it's a background flavour.

I'll put up a channa masala recipe when I get a chance/cook it next. Basically a tomato and chickpea curry. Again, you can adapt it with veg.

BelgianBeerGeek

Nice recipe hopkinb. Now, I’ve seen, and had demonstrated, that the garlic/onions should be slightly stuck to the bottom of the pan, and gently scraped and worked back in to the dish. For flavour or colour, I don’t really know, but that’s the way I’ve done it before. Thoughts?

pinno

Burnt?

Pinno's top tips #173. Ease off the beers before cooking BBG.

I had good old 'Mince n tatties'. It's a Scottish dish. In it's Scottish form, it's rank.
However, given my past history and a bit of globe trotting, I have developed a Mince and tatties that is more than palatable.
If you want both recipe's, let me know.

hopkinb

Letting onions colour/caramelise depends what flavour profile you're looking for. Onion soup for example, letting the onions cook to a deep brown (without burning) is essential. Same with a dopiaza, where you really cook out the first lot of onions. Deep savoury flavour, as opposed to a fresher, more acidic onion flavour.

Mutton & chickpea stew with cous cous spiked with a shitload of parsley for me tonight. Lovely.

hopkinb

A recipe for nice mince and tatties would be braw. Not the rank version!

Matthewfalle

two sh1tty chicken kievs with no nuffink.

not impressed.

pinno

hopkinb wrote:

Not the rank version!

No?! It's worth noting for some strange reason. Contrast. Relief even.

Take a few onions, roughly chop them along with a few roughly chopped carrots, chuck 400g of minced beef in a pot, add water and cook for roughly an hour on a high simmer. Little wonder the Scot's take too much salt.

Alternatively:

Kids love this and you can eat it too.

Finely chop 5-6 medium sized onions and finely chop about 4 celery stalks. Fry them gently in a generous splash or two of Olive oil in a pot with the lid on. I sometimes add water, just to help it pulp (I do this when cooking a ton of onions and garlic for chicken curry made using cheap old, skinned thighs. You probably do it too).
Meanwhile, brown the mince in a pan. Add salt to the frying mince - helps extract fats and flavour. Use ordinary mince, not that flavourless lean stuff (you probably do anyway).
When the onions and celery have reduced/softened, add the mince, a number of roughly chopped carrots and a pint of beef stock.
Season with Salt, pepper and Parsley if you like.

Simmer for at least 2.5 hours. preferably more until the liquid has thickened. Add a not too economical quantity of peas as late to the dish as possible. Allow a bit more simmering time if you use frozen peas.

Serve with a big pile of steaming mash or... buttered new potatoes.

pinno

Oooh, look Hoppy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_DY4fDoJTQ

That's art.

Matthewfalle

bambini and tdv have cod wrapped in bacon with garlic butter and stir fry accomp. I am working saving the world so will have some slop from somewhere between saving the world and being a hero and being the man Richard wishes he was.

pinno

Tonight, I shall be trying Hoppy's vegetable curry served with rice and Chapati's.

Only, I shall be adding 200g of chick peas in addition to the lentils.
That should get Shorty's little system going. She's prone to bunging up and loves all the things that bungs her up; pasta, pastry, white bread and general stodge.

hopkinb

Pinno wrote:

Tonight, I shall be trying Hoppy's vegetable curry served with rice and Chapati's.

Only, I shall be adding 200g of chick peas in addition to the lentils.
That should get Shorty's little system going. She's prone to bunging up and loves all the things that bungs her up; pasta, pastry, white bread and general stodge.

Canned/jarred chickpeas I hope? I hope it works out OK! Remember the quantities I gave were for 2 hungry people (one of whom is me), so scale up spices, onions etc if you're making for the whole lotta yer.

Tarragon chicken from the freezer for me. Boiled rice.

pinno

"So Organic" Tetra packed chick peas in water.

I am currently using my lovely old traditional weighing scales.

I figured:

250g Chick peas
200 Grams red lentils
2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 medium sized onions
75 to 100 grams peas
Some potatoes
Coconut cream

Plus the spices you listed.

Going to make a side dish of Raita.

BelgianBeerGeek

Weighing stuff? Then “some potatoes”? Bah, make yer mind up.
And yeah, I’ve read up thread and seen your frankly rude response to cooking onions. At least hopkin was helpful.
“Burnt” and “caramelised “ are kind of the same thing.
I don’t think is a flouncing matter for me but I bet you eat Ginsters products in your porker wearing stringback gloves and reactolite glasses. So there.

pinno

BelgianBeerGeek wrote:

Weighing stuff? Then “some potatoes”? Bah, make yer mind up.
And yeah, I’ve read up thread and seen your frankly rude response to cooking onions. At least hopkin was helpful.
“Burnt” and “caramelised “ are kind of the same thing.
I don’t think is a flouncing matter for me but I bet you eat Ginsters products in your porker wearing stringback gloves and reactolite glasses. So there.

Don't stop BBG - more please.

hopkinb

How was dinner Pinno?

pinno

Well, I liked it. Mrs P liked it.
...but the girls didn't.

Bit spicy for square pants Shorty, despite the yoghurt and Tricky, well, she had cooked Rice Krispy cakes at school and was only looking forward to them. Had we known, we would have let them have them after school.

Now I know what the score is so to speak, I can tinker with it. Thanks.

hopkinb

Pinno wrote:

Well, I liked it. Mrs P liked it.
...but the girls didn't.

Bit spicy for square pants Shorty, despite the yoghurt and Tricky, well, she had cooked Rice Krispy cakes at school and was only looking forward to them. Had we known, we would have let them have them after school.

Now I know what the score is so to speak, I can tinker with it. Thanks.

Kids. :roll:
The boy eats literally anything. Mini is capital "f" fussy. No lentils for her. Butter chicken yes.

pinno

hopkinb wrote:

Pinno wrote:

Well, I liked it. Mrs P liked it.
...but the girls didn't.

Bit spicy for square pants Shorty, despite the yoghurt and Tricky, well, she had cooked Rice Krispy cakes at school and was only looking forward to them. Had we known, we would have let them have them after school.

Now I know what the score is so to speak, I can tinker with it. Thanks.

Kids. :roll:
The boy eats literally anything. Mini is capital "f" fussy. No lentils for her. Butter chicken yes.

This? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a03U45jFxOI
I'm going to try it next week. Looks superb.

hopkinb

Very similar. I think I got my recipe off hugh fearnstall whittingbump, that posh hippy chef.

hopkinb

Reduced iberico pork from unearthed, who do a good range of Spanish stuff. Waitrose stock it, it's ruinously expensive, so they never sell any and it seems to be always reduced heavily on a Sunday. It's magnificent stuff, heavily marbled, a real treat. It comes in thin slices, so I seasoned well with salt and pepper, and showed it a very hot pan for not very long on each side.

I served with greens sauteed in the same pan as the pork, and some roast Charlotte potatoes.

Matthewfalle

vino bianco and salami hand delivered directly from l'Abruzzo that arrived this afternoon.

Lunch was crab followed by lamb.

hopkinb

Matthewfalle wrote:

vino bianco and salami hand delivered directly from l'Abruzzo that arrived this afternoon.

Lunch was crab followed by lamb.

Super. I know how local the Italians get about salami, my old boss used to bring something made from donkey from the mountains round lake como, where his family were from. Utter muck, but he swore blind that it was the best salami in all Italy.

pinno

Matthewfalle wrote:

Utter muck, but he swore blind that it was the best salami in all Italy.

Probably because his mother fed him it when he was a little boy.

BelgianBeerGeek

Donkey salami? Interesting.
Said in the daily thread that I made veggie soup and some pasta sauce. Soup came about as I had some very limp celery and carrots wot got frozen in my back fridge.
Before anyone asks, the celery wasn’t even good for light flagellation. I know, I tried.
Pasta sauce is beef mince with lots of garlic and tomatoes and other bits to make my historic sort of Bolognese thing. A whole whopping pan for a few quid. Divvy the rest up tomorrow and freeze for about another four dinners.
Cheers from the tightwad cook.

Matthewfalle

hopkinb wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

vino bianco and salami hand delivered directly from l'Abruzzo that arrived this afternoon.

Lunch was crab followed by lamb.

Super. I know how local the Italians get about salami, my old boss used to bring something made from donkey from the mountains round lake como, where his family were from. Utter muck, but he swore blind that it was the best salami in all Italy.

its from tdv's in laws - the village where the family house is is one of those where they make their own salami, sausages, wine etc. all delish.

now having home made amaretti biscuits with more vino bianco - seriously scrummy.