What's for tea tonight? (#8)

[sojourner]

Boulangere potatoes take quite a while, anyone know if it's feasible to get them most of the way done in the microwave then finish off in the oven for browning the top?
Wouldn't have to have the oven on for as long then (the kyiv will only take 25 minutes which would be just about right for browning the top of the potato dish if they're already cooked through) - got to be worth a go I reckon?
Anyone tried it that way?

Did you do them in the end?

 

[Epona]

Did you do them in the end?

I did, worked fine - fried the onion and garlic in butter until soft then assembled the thing with sliced raw potatoes in a small glass casserole dish with a small amount of the stock, steamed in the microwave for a few minutes til the potatoes were just softened, then poured over the remaining stock, dotted with butter and in the oven for half an hour - worked a treat and a lot quicker and saved a bit of energy as I had to do the kyiv in the oven anyway so they just went in at the same time kyiv in the centre of the oven, with the potato dish on the bottom of the oven for a cooler bake, didn't seem to lose anything in terms of flavour, was delicious.

 

[sojourner]

I did, worked fine - fried the onion and garlic in butter until soft then assembled the thing with sliced raw potatoes in a small glass casserole dish with a small amount of the stock, steamed in the microwave for a few minutes til the potatoes were just softened, then poured over the remaining stock, dotted with butter and in the oven for half an hour - worked a treat and a lot quicker and saved a bit of energy as I had to do the kyiv in the oven anyway so they just went in at the same time with the potato dish on the bottom of the oven for a cooler bake, didn't seem to lose anything in terms of flavour, was delicious.

That's really useful, I love boulangere myself but the long process puts me off.

 

[sojourner]

I remembered that a friend gave me a pressure cooker ages ago, and then found a recipe for pressure cooker risotto, so I might well be having pea and parmesan risotto for tea instead now.

 

[mrsfran]

Big salad! Spinach, cucumber, cheery tomatoes, baby sweetcorn, mangetout, goats cheese pearls, olives, croutons, chicken. Wholegrain mustard vinaigrette.

 

[mrsfran]

Actually, I might do a miso dressing.

 

[Epona]

That's really useful, I love boulangere myself but the long process puts me off.

Exactly, as I am not particularly good at organising my time it's useful to find effective short cuts - especially to things that otherwise require the oven to be on for a long time.
Might try it next time I do a dauphinoise too - steam potatoes in microwave with a little milk, pour over cream, cheese on top, in the oven for 30 minutes and see what it looks like. I normally do a dauph for 90-120 minutes on a low temperature and that's a long time to have the oven on if I'm not doing other casserole type things at the same time.

Mind you it would probably cause much offence in France, so don't let them know what I'm up to with their cuisine

 

[Rebelda]

Thai last night, shared a red chicken curry and drunken noodles with king prawns.

Spag bol with garlic bread tonight I think.

 

[sojourner]

Exactly, as I am not particularly good at organising my time it's useful to find effective short cuts - especially to things that otherwise require the oven to be on for a long time.
Might try it next time I do a dauphinoise too - steam potatoes in microwave with a little milk, pour over cream, cheese on top, in the oven for 30 minutes and see what it looks like. I normally do a dauph for 90-120 minutes on a low temperature and that's a long time to have the oven on if I'm not doing other casserole type things at the same time.

Mind you it would probably cause much offence in France, so don't let them know what I'm up to with their cuisine

Let me know if it works.

 

[Saffy]

Beef chili, rice and salad with wraps and sour cream.

 

[gentlegreen]

left over stew with added chickpeas, kale and mushrooms, Aldi Costieres de Nimes - which has a pleasant amount of acidity and tannins - makes a change from the somewhat staid French varietals I've had to accept recently ..

 

[Zorra]

Son cooked an amazing korma type curry with squash, lentils and sweet potato - he makes all the spice mixes himself and it was delicious! I did coconut-spinach rice to go with and we had the last few Quality Street for afters.

 

[May Kasahara]

A completely random tea made out of all the scrag end of food that was in the house when we came back from holiday. Roast potatoes, roast peppers and onions, roast cauliflower leaves, Quorn nuggets for the daughter, possibly a fried egg for the son.

 

[Epona]

I've only just got in from taking Jakey to the vet earlier (just his quarterly geriatric checkup which is advised due to the medication he's on) then going straight back out to do grocery shopping - been out of over 3 fucking hours in total because the buses are up shit creek due to roadworks. The vets is a 10 minute bus ride in one direction, and the supermarket a 10 minute bus ride in the other direction, but was a really long wait for buses and the vet was running behind schedule so it all built up into a fairly simple evening plan taking for fucking ever.

Thankfully though I had planned a fairly quick to cook tea and we were going to have a late one anyway as OH has the night off - Schezuan chicken for me, Prawn version for OH, with egg fried rice for us both.
Having a 10 minute rest before putting the shopping away and cracking on with the prep.

 

[sojourner]

Savoy cabbage and cannellini bean soup. Dug out the pressure cooker I've never used (see above) to cook some of the bag of dried cannellini beans I had in the cupboard. Bit nervous about using it, had to look up basic instructions online, but managed to do the beans absolutely fine. Well made up!

Date and walnut loaf and a decaff tea for afters. I forgot to chop up the dates so it's going to be a chunky cake!

 

[shakespearegirl]

Was going to do roast chicken but started batch cooking sausage rolls too late, so I’ll just have those

 

[Zorra]

Wednesday is our late-night-early-next-day one, so Mexican chicken I'd taken out of the freezer with rice and nachos.

 

[Epona]

The remains of yesterday's stir fry, fresh rice (just plain rice this time, am knackered).

 

[Rebelda]

Salt and pepper chicken strips, fries for me waffles for her, salad with gherkins. Banana and custard.

 

[UrbaneFox]

Traybake with sausages, red onion, sweet potato, celeriac, olive oil and a bit of fennel.

I forgot to put in some garlic towards the end but it was fine without.

 

[BoatieBird]

Jacket potato with cheese and coleslaw.

 

[sojourner]

Jacket potato with cheese and coleslaw.

I'm really hoping that we have baking potatoes at home because I really fancy them.

 

[sojourner]

The date and walnut loaf was a bit disappointing, I think you really do need the chopped up dates to disperse throughout for the flavour to be decent. Going to slather the whole thing in a coffee glaze tonight, see if I can improve it.

 

[Saffy]

Pasta with a spicy tomato sauce and garlic baguette.
Slice of parkin for pudding.

 

[platinumsage]

The date and walnut loaf was a bit disappointing, I think you really do need the chopped up dates to disperse throughout for the flavour to be decent. Going to slather the whole thing in a coffee glaze tonight, see if I can improve it.

It's been a while but the last time I made a date cake I recall pureeing some of the soaked dates to add to the mix so that the flavour was all-pervasive.

 

[sojourner]

It's been a while but the last time I made a date cake I recall pureeing some of the soaked dates to add to the mix so that the flavour was all-pervasive.

Yes and if you'd read my previous post you'd know that I forgot to chop them up.

 

[platinumsage]

Yes and if you'd read my previous post you'd know that I forgot to chop them up.

Even chopped isn't always sufficient, hence a puree in many recipes.

 

[sojourner]

Even chopped isn't always sufficient, hence a puree in many recipes.

Did the job last time I made it.

 

[platinumsage]

Sorry for the suggestion then.

 

[mrsfran]

Real duck for me, fake duck for daughter, Chinese pancakes and hoisin. Vegetable spring rolls. Plant based "prawn" crackers.