What are members having/had for their main meal today?
I'm flying solo - the family thing starts in a hotel tomorrow - so nothing very seasonal for me.
It's looking like Uncle Ben's Mexican Savoury Rice with prawns, which need eating before I go away.
The flavoured rice is quite nice on its own, but the prawns push it to another level.
All done/eaten in one bowl in the microwave.
Preparation time about a minute, cooking time two minutes, washing up time about a minute.
I'm sure most of you are having much more elaborate dinners than that.
As ever, the stories in which something goes wrong will be the most read. :)
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A Bacon sarnie & then much later the left overs had to work the night shift body clock gone kaputt.
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Since I'm tied to the kitchen at the moment, and my office is at the end of the kitchen, I'll go first.
Not elaborate at all, but very traditional and simple, with my limited cooking skills, and only the two of us today.
Turkey crown
Pigs in blankets
Stuffing balls
Roast parsnips
Roast potatoes
Sprouts and carrots which will start to boil soon, I hope!
Christmas pudding (which I don't like) with Cornish clotted cream. Even I can manage a little with clotted cream on it!
Disasters? Well, the sink outlet blocked up this morning but there's still time for more.
The disasters will come on Monday when I'm cooking roast beef for five of us and I can't make yorkshire pudding that doesn't come out looking like shortbread.
My Daughter in Law makes them that rise and stick to the top of the oven...do I ask her to make mine or give her Aunt Bessies and scowl at her?:)
Pat
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A rib of beef or two is lurking ready to go in for today's dinner for us two.
Tomorrow the kids are coming and it'll be a leg of lamb and probably the second beef rib for those that prefer.
If twer my choice only it would be a substantial leg of pork which resides in the garage freezer and may well come out for new year....there's something so yummy about moist pork..mmm.
Always have a good selection of fresh veg anyway, so nothings different there.
SWM makes the best gravy (and pork crackling) i've ever tasted.
Enjoy your well earned dinners folks.
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Pat,
Tip from a cooking orientated front, everything about her Roast Dinners were home cooked, prepared apart from the Auntie Bessie Yorkshires.....
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Aunt Bessie's it is then, and maybe I better confess instead of scowling since we get on like a house on fire!
Pat
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My Mum used to, and Mrs W still does, make magnificent Yorkshires. The key seems to be to get the pudding tray and fat VERY hot in oven before putting the mixture in and DON'T open the oven door while they are cooking to see how they are coming on.
But you probably knew that already..........
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Agree with Phil. I do the Yorkshires here. Two more tips that seem to help me -
- 2 eggs rather than 1 per 4oz of flour reduces the failure rate
- the old recipes usually said 1/2 pint of milk and water per 4oz flour. Fine with whole milk, but if you're using semi-skilled then use all milk.
I'd rather un-risen ones than those Auntie Bessie jobs.
Only three of us today and we have a rib of beef - I'm not that fond of turkey, so we have a large chicken and a pork loin roast to get us through the rest of the weekend.
I'm looking forward to a couple of malts later with number one son - daughter, elsewhere today, has given me a whisky book - I have a few of the recommended ones so we'll check the author's opinions!
Merry Christmas all.
Last edited by: Manatee on Sat 25 Dec 10 at 14:42
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Well - we have just had ours. Everything cleared away and the dishwasher on.
The main course was roast duckling with orange sauce (from the Good Housekeeping, latest edition, recipe).
Roast potatoes, roast parsnip, runner beans and carrots.
I cooked all that, but SWMBO peeled and prepared the veggies.
Then, to follow, home-made Christmas pudding, made in late 2009 - it kept beautifully - (from Delia Smith's Christmas Recipes book) - with custard laced with plenty of brandy. (SWMBO did all that!)
Coffee and Lindor chocolates.
Later on, for tea, it will be home-made Christmas cake (Delia again) with a nice slice of mature cheddar cheese.
We had two lots of our neighbours in for a pre-lunch drink and nibbles, but with just the two of us for lunch (and that's a first) it has been very relaxing.
Siesta time beckons - remember we're an hour ahead of you frozen folk in the U.K.!
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...2 eggs rather than 1 per 4oz of flour reduces the failure rate...
If anyone is concerned this might give a batter that is too eggy, the second egg could be separated.
Add just the white, which is the part which causes the mixture to rise.
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That's how I make 'em and I have never had a failure.
Make sure that the batter is well whisked to aerate it and then rest it, covered, for a couple of hours in the fridge before use.
P.S. I use a mixture 50/50 milk and water for the batter.
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Yorkshire puds:
Smoking hot oil is the way to go.
Last edited by: landsker on Sat 25 Dec 10 at 15:24
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From memory (serves 4)
2 tablespoons of plain flour
mix in a 50 / 50 blend of milk & water. If it's semi skimmed I just use milk. Add & stir to make a batter that "plops"
1 tbsp beef suet
1 egg
a pinch of salt
v hot oil / fat to choice and leave in a hot oven for 25 minutes.
John
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I am self-appointed Head Cook and Bottlewasher at Harley Manor today; daughter, son-in-law and ex-son-in-law plus 4 grandkids and Mrs. H of course.
Locally bred Norfolk Bronze turkey from one of my fellow drivers (he breeds his own) sprouts , mashed and roasted spuds,carrots, Schwatz luxury bread sauce (so much nicer than ordinary packet mixes, can't be faffed to make my own) and gravy.
Only thing I got wrong was the Aunt Bessie Yorkies, burnt 'em dammit! :(
Bottle of bubbly left over from wedding to wash it down with. Wife and daughter consigned to washing-up duties.
Stuffed!! :-)
Happy Xmas to all of you.
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In the Monty Python tradition, when I see this thread title a shrieking, cod-female working-class voice screams: 'RAT PIE!' in my memory...
But we are having turkey, and it's going to be good I think.
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Had Christmas dinner with a dozen of the out-laws. Cold turkey (roasted on Christmas Eve but I wasn't allowed to eat it...) and a whole ham on the bone. Outlaws are keen fishermen/women so there were several huge freshly-smoked schnappers which were caught on the 23rd.
SWM made her first trifle - a resounding success!
Now got enough ham left over to last us until 2011....
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We had waffles and maple syrup.
Not real maple syrup, but the Silver Spoon maple flavoured stuff.
(We weren't quite ready for Christmas, so we postponed it. I still haven't started wrapping my wife's parcels!)
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We were dining out so we started the day with filter coffee and scrambled eggs on toast with smoked salmon.
SWMBO spent the morning cooking and preparing 2 trifles for tomorrow. I acted as ' sous chef and kept the place tidy for her.
Dinner was booked for 1500 hrs and daughter, grand-daughter and we two arrived on time.
Although it was our regular Italian we were a bit apprehensive 'cos of the price...£20 a head, less for the 6 yr old, who doesn't eat a lot.
Superb dinner, proper Chrimbo feed with three courses and all the usual stuff...and plenty of it ! A nearby place was charging £45 and was almost empty. Ours was full and the owner was happy, saying he'd kept the price down to help out in the recession. ( and to fill it up, I've no doubt ) It all ran very smoothly, though.
Went to younger daughter's this evening and had an excellent buffet. I had a Peroni at the restaurant but nothing ubtil we got home at 2230, when I demolished a Stella.
I was driving and drove very gingerly tonight, the roads were very shiny !
Big home meeing tomorrow afto, freinds and family. Buffet with all the turkey, ham, etc.
SWMBO, being ex-cookery teacher, makes superb Yorkshires. For the last few years, she's used Bessie's with great success. She also uses Bessie's roast spuds sometimes.
No-one seems to notice or mind the deception !
Ted
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We had the usual:
- Turkey (crown)
- Roast spuds in goose fat (fresh from Tesco's finest range and very good)
- Sprouts
- Carrots
- Honey roast parsnip (home made but not grown)
- Aunt Bessie's Yorkshire puddings
- Pigs in blankets (M&S)
- Sausage meat stuffing (home made)
All went down well as usual - but who'd complain about a Christmas dinner being provided. First in our new house too. We had to home a year ago so to speak.
Our local Indian Restaurants do good value proper Christmas dinners too. Probably £25/head. Never tried as 6 x £25 equals too much and it's nice to be home.
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My lot have been out for Christmas dinner a few times over the years.
We've paid a shocking amount of money on several occasion and each time been disappointed.
Some of the food at one of the dearest places was literally inedible.
I dunno what happens on Christmas Day, but it is almost as if all the regular cooks and waiting staff have a day off and the places are taken over by people who can do neither.
About the best was a couple of years ago at a Brewer's Fayre which I think was around £40 and was pretty good apart from some badly cooked vegetables.
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What was for Christmas dinner ?....
TOO MUCH ! ...... I feell like I'ke ingested a baby elephant.
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Having our CHristmas dinner (and the rest of Christmas Day!) later today - our youngest is a mental health nurse in Birmingham and she was on a 13 hour shift yesterday, but just a short (8 hour) one today - so she'll be home by about five and dinner is set for six. Fort time we haven't all been together on Christmas Day and I have to say it felt odd - everything has been deferred till she's home.
Had Costco steak yesterday - very nice it was too.
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Note to self. Find correct glasses before posting.
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I think i could live, entirely, on orange glazed ham! Yum yum.
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Nicole was working* yesterday at a hospice for terminally ill children, so we have all the family round today. On offer is my hearty Mediterranean Hot Pot. Chicken, jumbo prawns, served in a rich tomato sauce with lots of herbs fruits and spices, accompanied by a bucket load of couscous.
* there seems to be an unwritten code with nurses, those with gown up or no families, volunteer for the Christmas day shift to allow the nurses with young families the day off.
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"those with gown up or no families, volunteer for the Christmas day shift to allow the nurses with young families the day off"
Don't want to be stuck at home with their daft old husbands more like...
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Mrs F cooked a turduckan for us this year... it was good... very very good.
I had a whole christmas pudding and pot of brandy butter to myself as well as no-one else likes it. Made me wonder if I should have started with that breakfast of smoked haddock and champagne.
Wood burner now fired up for day two!
Last edited by: Fenlander on Sun 26 Dec 10 at 10:41
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I had a thoroughly enjoyable Christmas - all by myself (could be a song there)
Ann was in bed all day with some sort of virus inc. vomiting if she ate anything :(
Nearest family are over 200 miles away in lunden, Kent, Essex and the shire of Stafford.
A lot of my ole friends are either up the bone yard or moved away from Cornwall now.
So ... I laid in bed til 1-00 contemplating the meaning of life, listened to John Hurt and Bob Servant on iPlayer, took mutley fro a walk in a remote area with outstanding views and glorious sunshine, cooked an organic leg o' chicken with roast tatties + kale, rots, beans, broc, some quite fine M&S stuffing, fresh fruit salad with Cornish ice cream AND thick double cream, some mince pies (M&S) some mighty fine beer brewed within a few miles of here ~ www.woodenhand.co.uk/
Then watched Hitchhikers guide to the Mars bar on DVD (great!) followed by our mate Adolph on the History channel about some geezer (Croat) in the Balkans who played a large part in the killing of 1,000,000 people while the Christians (Catholics) turned a blind eye, then helped him flee to South Amerika after the whoa.
Wifey is fine today and eating again, which means I won't get to eat the dinner I cooked for her yesterday :)
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I seldom eat lunch - it comes too early in the day - but ate a lot yesterday. The meal was conventional but classy. The turkey, raised a hundred yards from here poor thing, was gigantic and scientifically cooked by my nephew, to perfection. SiL and various ladies responsible for roast potatoes, red cabbage, chestnuts stewed with onions, bean-based stuffing, bread sauce made from the ground up, creamed parsnips, brussels sprouts which I don't eat personally, and lots of gravy. In my own case, an added large splash of Encona West Indian hot pepper sauce. Asked whether I would like such a meal especially at teatime I would normally say no, but it was excellent.
After a pause, Christmas pudding made by the lead guitar of a once-famous Oxford rock band, very good too, with very alcoholic brandy butter and whipped cream.
A nice hit of delicious damson vodka, also home made. Any amount of champagne, red wine etc throughout.
Seems to have done me a lot more good than harm I must say. Perhaps I should revive the habit of eating lunch. Might involve getting up earlier which I don't really fancy, but you can't have everything.
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............and today - duck risotto (SWMBO actually LIKES risotto) and warmed-up Christmas pud! [The pud. was, actually, very good]
Still - out to a bash tonight at a friend's house, so all is not lost.
The Italians have my everlasting despair aimed at them, for having invented the two worst foods on this planet - risotto and pasta - the latter known by me as "boiled flour", the former is just gloop!
YUK.
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Well there were 11 at ours for dinner yesterday - big fresh turkey bought for the purpose.
When the missus went to cook it yesterday morning, discovered it wouldn't fit in our oven ( we have one of those double oven things which means that both are smaller than a conventional oven! So I was dispatched down to the m-i-l to get it cooked.
Started serving at 4 and we finished about 8 during which we had
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a. 2 choices of soup, followed by
b. Salmon and prawns or melon followed by
c. turkey and ham and all the trimmings you could eat, followed by
d. choice of gateau or trifle followed by
e. selection of cheeses and biscuits with coffee and port
Had some nice wine provided by my dad, a couple of St Emilions and Barolo.
Managed to refrain from giving puppy and scraps or crumbs!!
Today I have already, for my breakfast, had 2 rolls of left over turkey, stuffing and ham!
Delicious!
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I drove us 40odd miles to daughters house for lunch yesterday, there were 10 of us, 2x daughters, 2x OH's, 4X grandkids. Happy chaos and all well fed.
Our speed camera vans were out, I suspected they would be, as they usually are on a Sunday, but was mildly surprised at Christmas day, and as it has been well below freezing for over two weeks and everyone was well within the speed limits.
Must be on superb overtime rates!
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>> Our speed camera vans were out, I suspected they would be, as they usually are
>> on a Sunday, but was mildly surprised at Christmas day.
Always thought you'd have to be a special sort of anal jobsworth for that profession, you've just confirmed it.
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I am sure the staff at the supermarket should just say "I'm sorry madame, I can't serve you as you've already had enough". It is shocking that someone can get so fat they cannot walk.
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When did the term pigs in blankets start being used?
I have only heard of it maybe the last couple of years or so.
Had always just referred to them as chipolatas even though that I suppose was the name for the sausage on it's own.
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pigs in blankets
Probably the invention of some loathsome "celebrity" chef.
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I cooked a simple enough roast dinner with turkey and lots of vegetables for four of us today, everything turned out spot on so I'm sitting here quite contented now. Even my little boy ate most of it up! :)
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Well, having eaten the equivalent of the aforementioned baby elephant yesterday, I seem to have repeated the excercise today albeit punctuated by about five miles of brisk walk along the still snow covered canal towpath.
There were plenty of people sitting on their frozen-in narrowboats doing boaty stuff and and eating / drinking with their little diesel thumpers ticking over. Understandable enough if that is their fixed abode, but frankly given the choice between a house and a frozen up narrowboat today, I think I'd probably have gone for the bricks and mortar option.
Must see if we've got any Andrews liver salts in the cupboard...
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Enjoyed a brekkie of Lidl's Nut and Bran flakes with ice cold milk today.
Had to get some stuff from the garage freezer for 'er so I did that then warmed my hands in the fridge ! B....cold out there.
Tried to start the Suzuki to move it round the back for extra parking later. Bums ! Battery totalled...left the glow plugs on...again ! I've got a sprung toggle switch to fit so I'll do that tomorrow. Put the charger under the bonnet powered through the dining room window.
Friends and rellys cam after three and we all had a good feed and plenty of wine/beer/etc.
SWM had trotted out a large flat pie in flaky pastry which covered the entire baking sheet.
I proffered the suggestion that it might be roadkill but she assured me it was sausage meat with boiled eggys !
Kids opened more pressies and had great fun with a very effective whoopie cushion, a full repertoire of guffs being produced.
All gone by 7.30.....we washed up and put everything away...bottles in the glass bin, vacuum out. Can't stand coming down to it all.
Watched last night's Corrie on plusbox, an episode of Sponge Bob Square Pants then 3 HIGNFYs.
Lie in tomorrow, hopefully.
Ted
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When I harvested my "new" potatoes in late June, I followed a tip I heard about wrapping some in a bit of Hessian, placing that in a biscuit tin. and burying it in the garden. This is supposed to keep them "good as new" so that you can enjoy them with your Solstice/Xmas dinner.
Although I know exactly where they are at, I couldn`t get through the Permafrost to get them! maybe theres hope for Easter!
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I read your post eagerly awaiting your verdict on how good they were...what a let down!
Let me know if it works Devonite when you finally get to them.
BTW, the Tesco microwave in the bag ones covered in herb butter were delicious:)
Pat
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>> BTW, the Tesco microwave in the bag ones covered in herb butter were delicious:)
Pat, Pat...I suppose being a domestic goddess was always likely to be incompatible with being a Dame of the Road!
Mind you, herself is also very clear that life's too short for stuffing mushrooms (happily, I agree), and she's not even a lorry driver!
Last edited by: Manatee on Mon 27 Dec 10 at 09:37
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Well, my stomach's only just recovered from the gargantuan feast I shovelled into it on Christmas Day. Roast turkey, roast pork, roast and mashed tatties, cauli, broccoli, carrots and swede, peas, sprouts, stuffing and chipolatas, washed down with a very good Rioja. Too full for pudding so myself and my brother-in-law demolished two bottles of port whilst putting the world to rights, with a little help from my father-in-law.
Yesterday it was back to the in-laws' for a Boxing Day buffet. There were only eleven of us, but I think my mother-in-law was under the impression that around sixty were expected... Still, I valiantly battled through.
Today the in-laws are coming here for a monster lasagne and unsociable amounts of garlic bread. Oh, and more booze.
Not looking forward to using the Wii Fit tomorrow...
Hope everybody had a stonkingly wonderful Christmas.
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What's for Christmas dinner? - Bigtee
