Cooking thread

[Sporting]

Spinach is one of the very few things that our son (16) actively dislikes,

[Felicity, I guess so]

Not that we’re running out or isolated (yet) but am quite enjoying rummaging in store cupboards, fridge and freezer and deciding what to cook.
Chicken stock (freezer) plus cannellini beans plus sauerkraut plus bacon made a very nice soup and I broke some linguini into the leftover liquid for lunch yesterday.
Last night was halloumi plus tabbouleh plus tzatziki. Neither involved buying owt tho we will miss Fenwicks giant rye sourdough which freezes well in quarters- they are closing from 6pm tonight

[seand]

This whole situation has encouraged the family to try a bit more cooking and baking. The coconut dahl linked upthread proved very popular, especially with the 9yo who's not great with veg and very spicy stuff. The 11yo who eats everything was less impressed, but I reckon that was mainly to be contrary because the 9yo liked it. Next time I'll stir a bit of spice into the older lad's portion. There have been fairly successful new experiments with a chicken korma and a pasta carbonara, a hugely successful foray into chicken and veg egg fried rice (combined with the revelation that a really quite expensive non-stick saucepan set really was a worthy investment).
Gave the boys a couple of dessert recipe books to see if anything grabbed them, so there was banana bread and a rich chocolate cake, then the 9yo decided he want to make souffle, which surprisingly went incredibly well. His next choice is chocolate fondant.... I think he's trolling me

[Balderdasha]

Due to the completely excessive amount of fresh fruit my mother-in-law delivered to me yesterday, which we had no hope of eating before it goes off, I made kiwi, mango, banana and apple smoothies for lunch today. Amazing how much fruit you can consume in liquid form! I would have chopped and frozen some of it, except our freezer is already full to bursting point.

[Sporting]

Wanted to get a bit extra flour this afternoon from the supermarket but they'd run out of the usual wheat variety. So got oat flour instead. Never used it before.

[Nocturnal Submission]

We're having to root through the freezer a bit and, as a consequence, for dinner we will be having "Cupid Heart Burgers" (wagyu burgers topped with bearnaise sauce melt, wrapped in prosciutto ham) that didn't get eaten around Valentine's Day.

Oh well, if we have to.

[Erskine Bridges]

Friday night was my pancetta risotto with salmon steak. Wife countered with pork in creamy leek and pancetta sauce with roast tatties.
The risotto just edged it.
Daughter found some plain flour so I’ll be cooking a big batch of lasagne next week.
Local shops starting to ration drink. It’s the end of days.

Am watching a Liam Neeson movie Run All Night. Does anyone know where he lives? He’d be handy to know. I doubt anyone would limit him to three beers.

He’s just shot Ed Harris, one of my fav actors. Slumming it a bit here though.

[Lang Spoon]

Thursday was a stew halfway between a daube and a peposo- half a kg of beef shin, 1 carrot sliced lengthways into three, half a head of garlic, 1tsp of flour, half a tsp of whole peppercorns, sprig of rosemary and a bay leaf, simmered for three hours in half a bottle of wine, tin of tomatoes and 400 ml of veg stock. Was only bloody lovely.

had a turkey mince ragu last night which may have been even better. This lockdown has made every night the sort of meal I'd normally only have the time to make at the weekend.

[Balderdasha]

I actually finished the beetroot chocolate cake project today (after yesterday's finger slicing fiasco put it on hold). After spending hours yesterday and this morning crying and whining that I was ruining the very concept of chocolate cake by adulterating it with beetroot, my son very happily licked the spoon and bowl and devoured a large slice of the finished cake. It was disappointingly not as moist as I hoped but perfectly edible and will be greatly improved by serving with ice cream or custard (as are most desserts).

[Sporting]

Greek yogurt is good with desserts.

[pebblethefish]

FFS, just waited the 16 minutes for my chips to cook - went over to serve them, then realised I hadn't put them in the oven

[DCI Harry Batt]

FFS, just waited the 16 minutes for my chips to cook - went over to serve them, then realised I hadn't put them in the oven

This is my kind of cooking.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Frustrated at not finding ready made "Bombay Potatoes" in Asda on Saturday I've just made something called "Gunpowder Potatoes" from an online recipe. It's basically just boiled spuds, crushed into chunks, with spring onions and chilli and cumin (all of which I had). It's great and I'm definitely cooking these again in future.

[Sporting]

Hmm, I've got risotto rice, plus fennel, courgette and peas in the house. Might have to add that to my list of possible recipes for this week.

My partner bought this yesterday but we're not sure how best to use it. Ideas?

[ad hoc]

Fennel risotto is my go to, when I can get them.

You can roast them too (but risotto, in my opinion, works really well with fennel)

[ad hoc]

Hmm, I realise I may already have said that....

[Nefertiti2]

.Fennel Salad with oranges

[Paul S]

This is something I couldn't do before lock-down.

Lancashire Hotpot
Bake my own bread
Sunderland pink slices
Started my home brew again

[Balderdasha]

Fennel has a lovely aniseed taste. It's good just chopped and eaten raw (the solid bits, not the stringy green leafy bits).

Or all of it chopped in a risotto is good. Simple risotto recipe is, fry chopped onions and celery in a little butter, add the risotto rice and fry for a couple of minutes. Then gradually add some combination of vegetable stock, milk, white wine (proportions don't really matter) while continuously stirring. Halfway through add whatever veg you want to use (e.g. chopped fennel, or mushrooms or spinach or butternut squash). Keep gradually adding liquid and stirring until it's all been absorbed and the rice is fully cooked (you don't really want al dente with risotto). Season with salt and pepper. Grate a load of parmesan / grana padano / pecorino / any hard cheese you have lying around at the end.

[ad hoc]

Fennel has a lovely aniseed taste. It's good just chopped and eaten raw (the solid bits, not the stringy green leafy bits).

Or all of it chopped in a risotto is good. Simple risotto recipe is, fry chopped onions and celery in a little butter, add the risotto rice and fry for a couple of minutes. Then gradually add some combination of vegetable stock, milk, white wine (proportions don't really matter) while continuously stirring. Halfway through add whatever veg you want to use (e.g. chopped fennel, or mushrooms or spinach or butternut squash). Keep gradually adding liquid and stirring until it's all been absorbed and the rice is fully cooked (you don't really want al dente with risotto). Season with salt and pepper.

mmmmmm

Grate a load of parmesan / grana padano / pecorino / any hard cheese you have lying around at the end.

euurrgh, ruined

[Balderdasha]

mmmmmm

euurrgh, ruined

Haha, yes, cheese is generally optional, but it makes my kids eat it!

[Nocturnal Submission]

This is something I couldn't do before lock-down.

Lancashire Hotpot
Bake my own bread
Sunderland pink slices
Started my home brew again

That's excellent, Paul. Using the crisis to develop new skills is hugely admirable. I have to ask what a Sunderland Pink Slice is though? Even Wikipedia hasn't heard of it. It offered me the alternative of Sutherland Pink Slime, even though it had no such page, (why does it do that?)

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

A Sunderland Pink Slice sounds like somethng out of Viz's Profanisaurus.

[Nocturnal Submission]

A Sunderland Pink Slice sounds like somethng out of Viz's Profanisaurus.

You'd certainly need to think twice if offered a large portion.

[Sporting]

This is something I couldn't do before lock-down.

Lancashire Hotpot
Bake my own bread
Sunderland pink slices
Started my home brew again

Bit stingy on the hotpot there...