The cooking thread

[Northernhibee]

Jamie Oliver's new cookbook is pretty good - his money saving recipes basically involve buying a whole large chicken or joint of brisket or cheaper cuts of meat, having your big Sunday roast and then has a load of interesting recipes for the leftovers.

Bought a big slab of brisket and will have that tonight with veg, yorkies and home made gravy but will have a rendang tomorrow and a po'boy ciabatta sandwich the next day.

Half price in Morrisons and well worth it.

[easty]

I've made a few things from the new Jamie Oliver book, just had the chicken and chorizo paella for dinner tonighy and it was realty good. I can't stand the guy to be honest, but his cook books are good.

[Pretty Boy]

A nice sausage casserole I make quite often.

Fry off 8 Lincolnshire sausages until browned in a frying pan then move to a big pot.

Fry off 4 or 5 rashers of streaky bacon, chopped, until it starts to brown then add to the sausages.

Fry off a large, finely chopped onion until it softens then add 2 crushed cloves of garlic and fry for another couple of minutes until the onion just starts to brown.

Add a heaped teaspoon of smoked paprika to the oniond and garlic, cook for a minute or 2. Add a small tin of chopped tomatoes, 250ml of chicken stock, a teaspoom of mixed herbs, 2 bay leaves, 4 or 5 sprigs of thyme, a tablespoon of Worcester sauce and decent splash of red wine.

Bring to a decent simmer then add to the sausages and bacon, salt and pepper to taste and just over half a teaspoon of sugar, let this simmer very gently for about 25 minutes, stir often.

Add a small tin of butter beans and cook for another 10 minutes or so.

Lovely stuff.

[Sergey]

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A nice sausage casserole I make quite often.

Fry off 8 Lincolnshire sausages until browned in a frying pan then move to a big pot.

Fry off 4 or 5 rashers of streaky bacon, chopped, until it starts to brown then add to the sausages.

Fry off a large, finely chopped onion until it softens then add 2 crushed cloves of garlic and fry for another couple of minutes until the onion just starts to brown.

Add a heaped teaspoon of smoked paprika to the oniond and garlic, cook for a minute or 2. Add a small tin of chopped tomatoes, 250ml of chicken stock, a teaspoom of mixed herbs, 2 bay leaves, 4 or 5 sprigs of thyme, a tablespoon of Worcester sauce and decent splash of red wine.

Bring to a decent simmer then add to the sausages and bacon, salt and pepper to taste and just over half a teaspoon of sugar, let this simmer very gently for about 25 minutes, stir often.

Add a small tin of butter beans and cook for another 10 minutes or so.

Lovely stuff.

What you're making is a stew, not a casserole.

Stews are cooked on a hob with the heat source under the pan, whereas, a casserole is cooked in the oven and (depending on the amount of liquid) the meat/veg steam in the pot. Braising is casseroling with very little liquid.

Also, try frying small pieces of chorizo with your bacon and skip the paprika, also, add your onions to the same pan as the bacon/chorizo just as the bacon begins to brown as the fat and juices absorbs into the onion.

[Pretty Boy]

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What you're making is a stew, not a casserole.

Stews are cooked on a hob with the heat source under the pan, whereas, a casserole is cooked in the oven and (depending on the amount of liquid) the meat/veg steam in the pot. Braising is casseroling with very little liquid.

Also, try frying small pieces of chorizo with your bacon and skip the paprika, also, add your onions to the same pan as the bacon/chorizo just as the bacon begins to brown as the fat and juices absorbs into the onion.

Cheers Sergey, some sound advice. Will give the chorizo a bash next time I make.

[Northernhibee]

A friend of mines e-mailed this Nigella Lawson recipe for a Chocolate and Guinness cake - made it earlier today and it's possibly one of the best cakes I've eaten in years. Really, really special stuff.

for the cake

• 250 ml guinness
• 250 grams unsalted butter
• 75 grams cocoa powder
• 400 grams caster sugar
• 142 ml sour cream
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 275 grams plain flour
• 2 ½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

for the topping

• 300 grams cream cheese
• 150 grams icing sugar
• 125 ml double cream (or whipping cream)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180°C/350ºF, and butter and line a 23cm / 9 inch springform tin.
2. Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan, add the butter - in spoons or slices - and heat until the butter's melted, at which time you should whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the brown, buttery, beery pan and finally whisk in the flour and bicarb.
3. Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined tin and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Leave to cool completely in the tin on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.
4. When the cake's cold, sit it on a flat platter or cake stand and get on with the icing. Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, sieve over the icing sugar and then beat them both together. Or do this in a processor, putting the unsieved icing sugar in first and blitz to remove lumps before adding the cheese.
5. Add the cream and beat again until it makes a spreadable consistency. Ice the top of the black cake so that it resembles the frothy top of the famous pint.

[Northernhibee]

You absolutely have to try this recipe:

http://agirlcalledjack.com/2013/11/0...e-its-amazing/

It's a banana and chickpea curry and instead of using stock you use tea - it's absolutely delicious, cheap, healthy and properly, properly good with some rice and a naan along with a frosty cold beer.

One of those recipes that sound mental but are delicious.

[Hank Schrader]

For any soup fans here is a recipe I found that is really good. Don't be fooled by the "spicy" title, its not really that spicy at all and you can ditch the chilli if you are sensitive to a bit of heat. I am not a celery fan so I substitute that for extra onion and carrot (half an onion and one carrot usually works). Also I use ground cumin and coriander rather than seeds, works just as well;


SPICY SWEET POTATO AND LENTIL SOUP


1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 sticks celery, chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
100g red lentils
1.2 litres hot vegetable stock
sprigs of coriander, to garnish
wholemeal bread, to serve

Preparation time:
15 minutes
Cooking time:
40 minutes



Method

Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, carrots, celery, spices and chilli. Cook for a further 5 minutes.

Add the sweet potatoes and lentils and 1 litre of the stock. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

Allow to cool slightly before blending until smooth. Add the remaining stock and reheat gently. Ladle into bowls and scatter over the coriander.

[Hank Schrader]

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You absolutely have to try this recipe:

http://agirlcalledjack.com/2013/11/0...e-its-amazing/

It's a banana and chickpea curry and instead of using stock you use tea - it's absolutely delicious, cheap, healthy and properly, properly good with some rice and a naan along with a frosty cold beer.

One of those recipes that sound mental but are delicious.

That sounds crazy but I really want to give that a go!!

[Northernhibee]

Went into my local butcher today (a fantastic young chap with some mental recipes) and bought beer can chicken - it's a full free range chicken, coated in a BBQ rub with a tin of beer up its bum. Before cooking you crack the tin open, stand it upright in your roasting tin and stand the chicken upright by using the beer tin up its backside as a stand. The steam formed by the opened tin of beer cooks it from both the inside and outside and supposedly gives it a cracking flavour.

Will let you know how it turns out tomorrow.

[Mr White]

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Went into my local butcher today (a fantastic young chap with some mental recipes) and bought beer can chicken - it's a full free range chicken, coated in a BBQ rub with a tin of beer up its bum. Before cooking you crack the tin open, stand it upright in your roasting tin and stand the chicken upright by using the beer tin up its backside as a stand. The steam formed by the opened tin of beer cooks it from both the inside and outside and supposedly gives it a cracking flavour.

Will let you know how it turns out tomorrow.

I've heard of this but never tasted it. It's an Aussie thing right? I believe it's pretty tasty!

[Peevemor]

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Went into my local butcher today (a fantastic young chap with some mental recipes) and bought beer can chicken - it's a full free range chicken, coated in a BBQ rub with a tin of beer up its bum. Before cooking you crack the tin open, stand it upright in your roasting tin and stand the chicken upright by using the beer tin up its backside as a stand. The steam formed by the opened tin of beer cooks it from both the inside and outside and supposedly gives it a cracking flavour.

Will let you know how it turns out tomorrow.

It'll certainly flavour its crack!

[DH1875]

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Went into my local butcher today (a fantastic young chap with some mental recipes) and bought beer can chicken - it's a full free range chicken, coated in a BBQ rub with a tin of beer up its bum. Before cooking you crack the tin open, stand it upright in your roasting tin and stand the chicken upright by using the beer tin up its backside as a stand. The steam formed by the opened tin of beer cooks it from both the inside and outside and supposedly gives it a cracking flavour.

Will let you know how it turns out tomorrow.

Well?

[Northernhibee]

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Well?

It was very good! Didn't have the strongest beer flavour but was definately there in the background, and the meat itself was very moist. Will definately do it that way again.

Roast some baby new spuds in the juice at the bottom of the roasting tin afterwards and they were delicious.

[Northernhibee]

Made chicken satay with the leftover chicken - you'll need:

Crunchy peanut butter
Natural greek yoghurt
Fish sauce
Dried chilli flakes
Salt

Put in three or four big generous dessert spoons of peanut butter into a saucepan and add a little cold water and salt. Heat it up to boil it and keep adding a little water at a time and reducing it down, adding chilli flakes, salt and a couple of splashes of fish sauce halfway through. After 20 minutes or so of keeping adding water and cooking it out, add a spoonful of the yoghurt, stir it in. Season and serve over your meat or veg of choice.

Super, super simple and a tasty sauce for your tea.

[Northernhibee]

Aldi have a frozen dessert maker for £29 right now - it's a bit of a pain in the arse to use (lots of shoogling of the chute for it to actually grind it up) but you put frozen fruit/frozen cream you've put in an ice cube tray/chocolate etc in the top and it makes it into an ice cream/sorbet.

Once you figure out how to get the ****ing thing working it's a good buy - made a raspberry sorbet by plonking half a punnet of frozen rasps in it with a splash of elderflower cordial and it's absolutely lush.

[Northernhibee]

Made a home made thai chicken, ginger and bamboo noodle broth tonight as I've got a bit of the cold - it's got a bundle of chilli and ginger in it so it does a great job of blowing it away. It's a made-up-on-the-spot recipe so you might want to adjust quantities of stuff.

I made it with:

• 1 litre of chicken stock
• Three birds eye chillis
• A thumb sized piece of ginger (grated finely)
• Spring onions
• A small tin of sliced bamboo
• Two chicken breasts
• A dash of white wine vinegar
• Two cloves of garlic (crushed)
• The juice of one lime
• A big splash of kecap manis
• One lemongrass
• Two nests of medium noodles
• A bunch of coriander

First of all, bung your stock, sliced chillis, grated ginger, bamboo, garlic, lime juice and lemongrass (broken a bit) in a pot and simmer on a low heat. Get your chicken breasts in the oven.

Once the chicken breasts are cooked, leave them to rest and chop the green parts off of your spring onions and add them to your broth as well as the stalks of your coriander. Add a big splash of kecap manis and a small splash of white wine vinegar. Give it a taste - it should be hot, salty, sweet and sour. Add salt, chilli if required and also a bit more kecap manis for sweetness (it's an Indonesian soy sauce made with palm sugar) or a little more vinegar for sourness (be sparing with it).

Remove the lemongrass and garlic cloves from the pot.

Add your noodles to the pot and wait till cooked.

Place your noodles on the bottom of a serving bowl and put some sliced chicken breast on top of this then top the bowl up with the liquid. Top with some of the white part of your spring onion finely chopped as well as some of the coriander leaves. Serve with crusty bread.

It's a really kick ass bowl of food, sorted the cold I've got just now right out

[Stranraer]

No need to eat flesh when you have recipes like this:

Asparagus and Tomato penne salad with goats cheese.

2 cups of penne pasta, 12 asparagus spears, 12 cherry tomatoes, 4 table spoons of virgin olive oil, 2 teaspoons of black pepper and 2 of salt, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon of some dried herbs, 2 teaspoons of honey, 2 ounces of crumbled goats cheese.

Not we're talking.

[Mr White]

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No need to eat flesh when you have recipes like this:

Asparagus and Tomato penne salad with goats cheese.

2 cups of penne pasta, 12 asparagus spears, 12 cherry tomatoes, 4 table spoons of virgin olive oil, 2 teaspoons of black pepper and 2 of salt, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon of some dried herbs, 2 teaspoons of honey, 2 ounces of crumbled goats cheese.

Not we're talking.

Each to their own mozza but I'd take a big mac or king rib supper over that every day of the week

[Stranraer]

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Each to their own mozza but I'd take a big mac or king rib supper over that every day of the week

haha fair enough

[Northernhibee]

Made a really quick and easy home-made chicken kebab for my tea tonight.

First of all I made a really spicy marinade for chicken. It consisted of white wine vinegar, a good tablespoon of golden syrup, chili extract, fresh sliced chili, chili flakes, salt, pepper, two heaped teaspoons of smoked paprika and half a teaspoon of toasted cumin seeds. Tenderised and diced some chicken breasts and marinaded it in this overnight so it was ready coming back from work the next day.

Fried off the chicken (doesn't take long when it's been marinaded by this) and warmed up a garlic and coriander naan bread from Lidls in the oven. Took a handful of coleslaw mix (the stuff without the mayo added), topped the pitta with this and added the chicken breast. Poured some chili sauce on the top and bobs your uncle.

Really, really simple and tasty and a lot better than the takeaway variety