My tip about peeling tomatoes, and a couple of recipes from Zero seem to have gone down well in the forum.
So it must be time for a dedicated thread.
I'll kick off with a couple of relish-type sauces.
A fairly authentic-tasting American burger relish can be made by combining tomato sauce, salad cream and little English mustard.
Refinements include very finely chopped onion or capers - olives will do.
Thousand Island seafood dressing can be made by a simple combination of tomato sauce and salad cream.
Add a squirt of lemon juice and ground black pepper, if you have it.
Both the above are tolerably healthy - no mayonaise.
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And if you do try them, feedback is required, good or bad.
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My mashed spuds are much admired.
Boil them till soft, drain them into a colander.
In the hot pan you just boiled them in, drop a large knob of butter in.
Use a potato ricer to mashed the spuds into the hot pan on top of the butter.
Use a fork to fluff them up, working them hard.
1 large tablespoon of helmans
2 large tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese
Fluff this in with the fork again
Then work some milk into the mashed potato till the desired consitency, pepper to taste
(dont add salt - the cheese is salty enough)
For variety add mustard to suit.
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...Then work some milk into the mashed potato till the desired consitency, pepper to taste...
White pepper comes in handy here for presentation - no black spots visible in the mash.
Some chefs say cold milk is a big no-no in mash, so zap it in the microwave for 30 seconds to get it luke warm.
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>>zap it in the microwave for 30 seconds to get it luke warm.
>>
aka Radar Love, according to Anthony Bourdain
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Taking the basic sauce Iffy describes, equal parts salad cream and tomato ketchup poured over the drained contents of a tin of tuna, sling in finely chopped raw onion and chopped cucumber and a handful of chopped watercress and a chopped tomato, bash it all around a bit and serve on buttered crusty brown bread as an open sandwich. I could more or less live on that.
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>> Taking the basic sauce Iffy describes, equal parts salad cream and tomato ketchup poured over
>> the drained contents of a tin of tuna, sling in finely chopped raw onion and
>> chopped cucumber and a handful of chopped watercress and a chopped tomato, bash it all
>> around a bit and serve on buttered crusty brown bread as an open sandwich. I
>> could more or less live on that.
Can be done with mashed up tinned sardines as well.
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Salad cream? Eye watering stuff. A failed unguent designed to free aluminium pistons from steel liners:)
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Good idea, I'd give you a little tick but we are blokes and well , it just wouldn't do for a serving suggestion post would it ?
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no way are you giving me a thumb up Humph.
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...buttered crusty brown bread...with mashed up tinned sardines as well...
I sometimes get 'stodge' into my tinned sardines by using a couple of spoons of porridge oats.
Add a little extra tomato sauce, a couple of tablespoons of water, and the inevitable lemon juice and black pepper.
The resulting paste doesn't look particularly appetising, but it's tasty enough, and swapping bread for porridge is a healthier option.
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Topside or silverside roast. Sear the outside in hot oil. Potroast in Guinness with some chopped onion, garlic and carrots. Pull the meat out and shove in a pan in the oven with a bit of lard to brown it up.
Use the beer/veg combination to make a delicious gravy.
Thank me later.
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Good grief! The place is full of Jamies.
Pat'll be along next with her recipe for a hotpot on a diesel manifold. ;>)
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>> Pat'll be along next with her recipe for a hotpot on a diesel manifold. ;>)
>>
Amateurs.
I remember paving operatives (Can I use the 'pie' word in this food-oriented thread?) heating their scran, wrapped in foil, in the freshly-dumped pile of tarmac.
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An easy and cheap way to give mince some flavour is to throw a tin of oxtail and a tin of french onion soup in, my wife really likes this combination.
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I can't believe this......think I must be in the wrong place.
Has it turned into a Mum's forum?
If you keep this up I'm off to somewhere sensible.
Thank goodness I'm working today and can talk to some proper men about some proper stuff like spansetts and load sensor valves.
I'll be back about lunch time so can you please sort yourselves out by then.
Pat
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...I'll be back about lunch time...
Just in time to do the dishes.
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Dont worry, she is a trucker.
If It doesent come with two fried eggs on a greasy plate its not food.
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...Dont worry...
Quite so, back to cooking, as we didn't used to say.
A cottage pie made with your own minced beef is a real treat, once you've had one, you'll never want to go back to shop bought mince again.
Ideal for leftovers, but I've been known to buy a small joint and roast it for the purpose.
Few joints these days have much fat on, so you can mince the lot - more for you and no waste.
The mincer I have is a table-mounted die cast Spong, which I picked up in a secondhand shop for £2.
Allow the roast meat to cool.
Mince the meat into a large bowl - the mincing puts air into the meat so it takes up a fair bit of space.
Also mince: a raw carrot, a few sprouts or other green veg if you have it, a handful of All-Bran, and lastly a slice of bread - that's not for flavour, it's to clean the mincer.
Add a couple of chopped, peeled tomtoes.
Next add gravy, made up from powder is fine, you already have plenty of good, natural flavours going on.
Combine to form a paste, you might be surprised how much gravy you need. Season with a little salt, pepper, and Worcester sauce, if you have it.
The mixture will tend to reduce in volume at this point.
Make up the pie with a layer of mash on top.
Choose whatever dish or dishes that suit - individual pies can be made for the freezer.
The finished pie can be reheated in the oven, but if it's just one small one, the microwave will do.
This recipe does take a little time to prepare, but can be made in advance, which means come the day you can put a top-quality meal on the table in half an hour, with very little effort.
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Well, it's not quite that bad but if you want Shepherds Pie in this house, you'll get mince and mash.
If you want to put the mash on top of the mince and call it a fancy name, then you're quite welcome to, but you won't catch me doing it!
Loads of men seem to enjoy cooking now and I think it's great:)
As I'd been working, mr pda cooked last night and he produced pork chop, with stuffed mushrooms and dauphinoise potatoes.
Pat
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I find the 1000 islands dressing better with Mayonnaise instead of salad cream, and add a few drops of tabasco sauce.
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What a good thread!
I have a couple:
1)
Fry off onion & garlic & chilli.
Add powdered fenugreek, coriander, cumin, turmeric + salt and pepper
Add diced chicken thigh.
Add a glass of water
Simmer for about 45 mins
= CURRY!
Nicer than any jar sauce.
2)
Leg of lamb. Rub rosemary and salt into the joint. Stab with a knife and insert a garlic clove here and there (4-5 should do)
Into oven dish. Add glass of water and some cut up spuds. Cover the meat with foil.
Cook for 4 hours. Baste every 30-45 mins.
Lovely it is. Moist & tasty. The spuds half boil/half roast and take on the flavour of the meat. The juice makes awesome gravy!
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I know this isn't in the spirit of the thread but if you like Chinese curry, you know the sort of yellowy stuff you get with your curry chips or chicken curry, then Farmfoods do a Chinese curry powder and its only £1 and it tastes identical!
And if you leave it in the pot to the next morning it also congeals the same way!
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...I know this isn't in the spirit of the thread...
It's a cooking tip, so it is.
While I'm on, here's a tip about utensils.
Pans - both stick and non-stick - benefit from a regular wipe over with oil.
Known as 'seasoning', it really does help prevent food sticking, and makes for easy washing up.
Regularly seasoned pans last longer, too.
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I've decided to 'go iron' and will be seasoning my new frying pan with lard - in the oven :)
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+1 on the iron.
I have a very heavy cast iron pot (similar to one of those things they cook missionaries in, but with a flat bottom), which is absolutely non-stick now, after months of seasoning.
Also, adds considerably to the iron intake.
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>>is absolutely non-stick now, after months of seasoning.<<
As you probably know Ian, being a fellow iron maiden fan, the Tefal no-stick jobbies come with a warning about using them with small furry creatures because of the fumes they give orf,
Did you season your pan with animal fat or veg oil?
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>> Did you season your pan with animal fat or veg oil?
>>
Made a fire. put pot in it, put hot coals in the pot, and left for a few hours to burn off all the paint.
Cooled it, scrubbed with steel wool, put on stove and boiled up a load of cabbage leaves and potato peelings in it, then threw them away, boiled up more, then shoved a load of salt and sunflower oil in it, and heated that for an hour.
Scrubbed out, re-oiled, and bob's your aunty now.
When i've used it, just rinse with hot water, wipe out with kitchen towel, and re-oil.
Lovely.
BIG thick base, so it takes longer to heat up, but retains the heat a while, and doesn't have that instant burn-the-food function so common in cheaper pots.
Oh, the other great advabtvantage is that you don't have to hunt about for custom implements like teflon spoons and stuff when you use it - anything handy will stir that pot, and no damage to the finish!
Last edited by: Ian (Cape Town) on Tue 5 Oct 10 at 09:57
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Thanks for that Ian, I've only bought a small frying pan as a starter ~
cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320587534517
I'll see how I get on with that one for frying eggs, my German girlfriend was into iron :)
She was a Homeopath/Naturopath so she knew what she was doing.
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Peel onion and chop....
Open can of corned beef.....
Place corned beef and onion between two slices of bread......
Stick in Breville toaster until browned....
Remove and eat.....
Have pot of yoghurt to hand to cool down scalded mouth.....
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>> Peel onion and chop....
>>
>> Open can of corned beef.....
>>
>> Place corned beef and onion between two slices of bread......
>>
>> Stick in Breville toaster until browned....
>>
>> Remove and eat.....
>>
>> Have pot of yoghurt to hand to cool down scalded mouth.....
>>
You left out the tomato sauce and cheese.
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Yes cheese and tomato do seem to take on a superheat in the Breville.... I am not a great lover of the type of sticky cheese you get in toasted sandwiches, pizzas and burgers.
I am noted for my shepherds pie , spag bol and the occasional fiery curry but SWMBO is such a good cook that I tend to be the washer up and bowl licker rather than the creator of anything other than the above.........
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Erin Dors is a former cookery teacherin a secondary school so we get lots of different meals...all imaginative and healthy to a large extent.
One of my favourites is very simple.
Lightly done Salmon steak with new potatoes and mange tout. garnished with home made Hollandaise sauce. Light and very tasty.
Tonight we had home-made pea and ham, chunky, soup with home made potato cakes.
As insulin dependant, she keeps me on the straight and narrow. Although I did have a potion of her Queen of Puddings on Suday 'cos we had guests. It didn't put my sugar up too much, i was surprised to see. I think my new medication has kicked in this last week.
What I don't like is a woman who boils carrots and peas in the same pan !
Ted
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>>What I don't like is a woman who boils carrots and peas in the same pan<<
You wouldn't like this woman then because I boil carrots, g/beans, kale & broccoli in one big saucy pan!
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Tomato Dip
Two persons: 400 grams toms., 70 gms Lambrusco Light, 1 cube brown sugar.
(Light is half fermented and so partially sweet)
Chopped up toms and wine low simmered for 15 minutes -- I use microwave.
Mash and sprinkle on salt and pepper to taste. Add a bit more sugar if needed -- depends on the toms.
Either skin tomatoes first. Or mash the mix through a course strainer.
Eat bacon sandwich with knife and fork and dip the forkful in before eating.
Never use a food mixer on toms as chopped up seeds can be bitter.
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Apple, onion & Raisin Chutney
Onions, Bramley Apples, & Californian Seedless Raisins, 700 gm each.
Black Molasses sugar & Brown raw cane sugar, 350 gm each.
Brown Malt Vinigar (Sarsons 5%) 1100 gm, Mustard seed 70 gm
Cornflower 40gms.
Raisins in colander and pour over them a kettle of boiling water twice to remove their oil.
Dice apples & onions. Put both in saucepan and add sugars and all vinegar except 4 egg-cup fulls and then bring slowly to a simmer and after simmering for only 30 minutes, add mustard seed and cornflower mix as shown below.
Mixed saved cold vinegar with cornflower until lump free. Pour mix slowly into saucepan whilst stirring so as to mix well in and keep stirring gently for another 3-4 minutes.
Note: The amount of vinegar is chosen to balance with the sugar. Hence the need for the cornflower for thickening. Do not over do the cornflower because it will taste.
For a smaller chutney quantity, halve all the amounts etc.
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You want simple? I geev you simple.
1 packet of instant noodles (I like crab or lobster flavour, but chicken is all right). When the noodles have softened and been stirred a bit, but before they are cooked, add an egg, broken in carefully so that it poaches whole in two or three minutes. Then pour the lot over the monosodium glutamate and permitted carcinogens in a large bowl. Stir gently to mix up. Add juice of one lime (or half a lemon if you can't get limes). Add ferocious West Indian pepper sauce to taste.
Serves one.
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I think you missed that one, Doggo.
A woman who boils carrots............and pees in the same pot !
I'll get me anorak.
Ted
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peas and carrots and cauli too should be steamed
never boiled
boiling is for skool dinners
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>> peas and carrots and cauli too should be steamed
>> never boiled
>> boiling is for skool dinners
I boil carrots. Use minimal water. The carrots should be just done when the water has all boiled away. Be careful not to burn the carrots.
Cauliflower & broccoli get boiled, too - in limited water, stem down. If there's any water left, it's used in grave or sauce.
None of the above should be over-cooked. Over-done vegetables are inedible and have less nutritional value. It's better to cook veg. as fast as possible, which is why steaming can actually produce less nutritional value. Pressure cooking is very good, better than simple boiling, but it is very easy indeed to over-do veg., and turn out sludge.
Microwaving is probably the best method of cooking for most vegetables. Some (like carrots) don't microwave well at all, though.
HTH.
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>>I think you missed that one, Doggo. A woman who boils carrots............and pees in the same pot<<
Haha! Absolutely 1st class Teddo, the beers are on me tonight :)
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My Chili con Carne, reckoned to be the best in our circle of friends:-
First, in a small bowl mix around two rounded tablespoonsful of paprika, (Pimenton Dulce) about one teaspoonful of hot pepper (Pimenton Picante here) or cayenne will do, but make sure it is fresh and red, not oxidised brown, plus about half to three-quarters of a teaspoonful of smoked paprika (La Vera) and around half a teaspoonful of ground cumin. Pour into this enough red wine vinegar to make a runny paste. Set aside.
Brown your beef mince as usual, (about 600 grams,) a small amount at a time. Remove and set aside.
In the same pan fry a good sized Spanish onion chopped very finely. When soft, add the meat and mix well. Fry for a couple of minutes and then sir in your spice mixture. Add just enough water to enable you to simmer it without it sticking to the pan.
After around 40 minutes empty in two 400 gm jars of cooked red beans, stir well and adjust the seasoning. (you may have to do with cans of red beans in the UK, but believe me they are not as good as the ones sold in glass jars in every Spanish supermarket - or you could cook your own (Remember if you do this, fierce boiling for at least ten minutes followed by simmering until soft.). I use beef stock powder to season, bearing in mind it is salty.
Bung it in the oven in a heatproof dish for around an hour until the meat is well cooked and the mixture is not too wet. If you do need to thicken use cornflour slaked in water.
Check the flavour - you may need a squeeze of lemon juice if not sharp enough, or a spoonful of brown sugar if you like a touch of sweetness.
No tomatoes - please note!
Last edited by: landsker on Wed 6 Oct 10 at 19:57
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Chop a large onion, soften in a pot with a little oil, add a teaspoon of sugar, and a generous slurp of Balsamic vinegar. Simmer until the liquid has reduced and serve as an onion chutney with chops, sausage and mash etc.
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Cooking tips and simple recipes - Zero
