What's for tea tonight? (#8)

[ringo]

sounds fabulous. let us know how you got on!

The fricasee de poulet was great, this one's going to become a staple. Sunday I was ravenous after making the dubious decision to go to the gym despite not getting home til 5am. My oldest mate came over for a late lunch and convinced me to try a sirloin steak in the pub. A ridiculous amount of meat to eat at one sitting, but having only had medium before I went for medium rare and was glad to find it really improved the flavour and texture. Didn't need any tea except Adnams Broadside.

 

[ringo]

I had pasta shells (conchiglie?) with petits pois and lardons with a bit of sour cream thrown in. Was delicious and fast too!

Thats more or less pasta al fredo isn't it, though I've never seen it with meat added. One of those dishes where the choice of pasta makes all the difference - the cream makes a pea stick inside the conchigliette. Might have that tonight.

 

[moonsi til]

ringo I must admit tol finding you write about eating meat still a bit... but I still enjoy your enthusiasm for food and still like to think you have a (mainly) veggie cookbook waiting to be published.

Tonight it will be something with sweet potatoes....I'm not sure how yet but I have a few to use and I bloody love them. I will try to stay away from just baking them and serving with sliced grilled chilli haloumi which IMO is mind blowing deliicious with a salad on the side. This is another dish that I would not serve with broccoli.

 

[QueenOfGoths]

Thai Red Curry (chicken and veg) plus rice then raspberries and half-fat creme fraiche

 

[Badgers]

Football

 

[Biddlybee]

Nowt, or maybe a banana.

 

[ringo]

ringo I must admit tol finding you write about eating meat still a bit... but I still enjoy your enthusiasm for food and still like to think you have a (mainly) veggie cookbook waiting to be published.

Cheers Moonsi, Mrs R thinks I should write a cookbook too. If I did it would probably be a book about food with some recipes in it rather than a straight recipe book I think. I was talking about writing for publication with my mate yesterday after he suggested that while it may be true that everyone has a book in them, most people actually have a shit book in them and shouldn't inflict it upon the rest of the world

I fulfilled my main writing ambition by doing an article about the UK reggae scene for Woofah magazine a couple of years ago but now that I've done it I may have to set a new ambition.

You're right about the veggie bit though, I hope I'll always champion vegetarian food, even if I have learned to appreciate very well cooked meat dishes made with quality ingredients. I already find some of the more obvious meat menu options like a burger to be as boring and predictable as the kind of microwaved veggie lasagne many pubs still serve up to veggies. With respect to diversity, taste, texture and flavour combinations I really don't understand why cooking with meat is considered so much better than vegetarian food. I'm coming to the conclusion that good food is good food - its the quality of ingredients and skill of the cook which are of importance, not whether it has an animal in it. The sneering attitude of many cooks to meatless cookery in the Gordon Ramsay mold strikes me as even more ridiculous and narrow minded now that I eat meat than when I was a vegetarian.

 

[Numbers]

Am fed up eating dinners in the evening/night as missus gets in late so it's soup and a wee bit of bread tonight, the soups already made so just needs heating, consists of tomatoes, red onion, pepper, celery, garlic, puree, rapeseed oil, red wine vinegar and smoked paprika - it is absolutely gorgeous.

 

[fractionMan]

Yesterdays spinach dhal. I may make thai cury if I'm hungry enough.

 

[TruXta]

Am fed up eating dinners in the evening/night as missus gets in late so it's soup and a wee bit of bread tonight, the soups already made so just needs heating, consists of tomatoes, red onion, pepper, celery, garlic, puree, rapeseed oil, red wine vinegar and smoked paprika - it is absolutely gorgeous.

You don't want some proteins with that?

 

[kittyP]

it can go too far though! such as worcestershire sauce, peas, ketchup etc in bolognaise sauce

I always put Worcestershire Sauce in tomato based sauces. Adds depth

 

[Orang Utan]

Worcestershire sauce just makes everything taste of Worcestershire sauce. It's deeply deeply wrong.
I'm having sparrowgrass risotto. I love this season. Think I've had asparagus every day for the past week.

 

[Orang Utan]

Nowt, or maybe a banana.

Please eat something else! You'll faint if you don't eat!

 

[Numbers]

You don't want some proteins with that?

Might do as was just chatting to the missus on the phone, she's on her way to the gym and she fancies some trout when she gets in. I did have a cpl of eggs today with some linguine she made y/day (the linguine had pesto sauce, salad potatoes, french beans, peas and a pinch of parmesan) and I munched on some almonds today, but I did bake some lovely chicken breasts in a (homemade) tomatoe sauce a cpl of days ago so might have a small bit on the side.

 

[wtfftw]

dunno. Halp.


Really can't be arsed to even make a salad even though there's a mountain of stuff that needs eating.

 

[Numbers]

Really can't be arsed to even make a salad even though there's a mountain of stuff that needs eating.

That's a shame, as you are no doubt aware there's so many great things to knock together quickly.

I love cooking, or being in the kitchen when someone else is. I really do love and believe in the idea that the kitchen is the hub of the home.

 

[TruXta]

I always put Worcestershire Sauce in tomato based sauces. Adds depth

Just plain vinegar is enough if one is out of Woshter.

 

[TruXta]

Might do as was just chatting to the missus on the phone, she's on her way to the gym and she fancies some trout when she gets in. I did have a cpl of eggs today with some linguine she made y/day (the linguine had pesto sauce, salad potatoes, french beans, peas and a pinch of parmesan) and I munched on some almonds today, but I did bake some lovely chicken breasts in a (homemade) tomatoe sauce a cpl of days ago so might have a small bit on the side.

That's more like it.

 

[Kanda]

I always put Worcestershire Sauce in tomato based sauces. Adds depth

It's called Umami... I actually found a tube of Umami paste the other week, it fucking rocks!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umami

 

[TruXta]

Plain ole MSG works as well.

 

[Kanda]

Plain ole MSG works as well.

Not in the same way.

 

[TruXta]

No, but if you added sea-weed that too would not be in the same way. Umami's in loadsa stuff.

 

[Numbers]

No, but if you added sea-weed that too would not be in the same way. Umami's in loadsa stuff.

I used to smoke sea-weed (or dillisk as we called it).

 

[Orang Utan]

I still don't see why it's necessary to add to tomatoey things

 

[Greebo]

Chicken (leftover from last night) and something.

 

[BoatieBird]

I've got leftover chicken from yesterday's roast too Greebo.
I think I'll do some pasta with tomato sauce to go with it.

 

[tarannau]

I still don't see why it's necessary to add to tomatoey things

It's not: use better tomatoes, or use parmesan/mushrooms for added glutamates. Save the worcester sauce for less simple, non-Italian dishes, I reckon. Shepherd's pie for example.

 

[mrsfran]

It was going to be jerk lamb and rice, but as Santino now appears to have a vomiting virus I guess that's out the window. So no idea. I've got a tin of soup in I suppose.

 

[TruXta]

I used to smoke sea-weed (or dillisk as we called it).

Smoke as in toke, or smoke as put in the smoke-house?

 

[tarannau]

Not in the same way.

It's pretty bloody similar though, isn't it. My understanding is that these umami pastes are a modification of the 'gold pastes' that used to be popular in the East. Only in a similar way to using non-artifical colourings in food products, it now uses 'naturally' occurring glutamates in slightly less than convincing fashion. Frankly I'm tempted to either use the normal chemical or use fresh food to achieve high umami levels.