Heaven: 2023 Food, marvellous food! Recipes we enjoy...or not!

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  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    Gee D wrote: »
    You seem to have missed my amendment so that the post now reads "pastichio as a word".
    Mezze plates, souvlaki and so forth are the common range of dishes..

    Yes sorry, I did quote you before you edited your post. Do you mean that pastichio has a different name in Australia?
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host
    Ariel wrote: »
    ... There are entire aisles of breakfast cereals in supermarkets. I can't immediately think of any other food that by convention is earmarked for one particular meal only.

    Me! Me! Sometimes (in the past) on those exhausting days, I would have a big bowl of cereal (typically corn chex) and milk with sliced banana for my dinner. Or supper. Depends on if you were talking to me or to my mother!!
    The standard noodle for anything other than spaghetti or macaroni and cheese (which is always baked like a casserole) or macaroni salad—from tuna casserole to beef stroganoff—was an egg noodle like these. (Though no one I knew made them from scratch. Every grocery store had them.) It’s not necessarily a very long noodle.

    I was raised in a large rural community that was primarily comprised of descendants of German immigrants. Almost everyone I knew made egg noodles. A lot of churches had fundraising dinners of these scratch noodles and chicken.

  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    @jedijudy in working class communities in the UK where the main evening meal is 'tea', cereal for a later meal called supper isn't too uncommon (traditionally those in manual jobs would have their main evening meal earlier as soon as they got home, rather than a lighter 'high tea'). And I love cereal as a light evening meal.
  • DiomedesDiomedes Shipmate
    I've often read the words 'pot luck' in this thread, referring to food shared at church events. I haven't heard this is my little corner of the UK so perhaps it's mainly an American thing. Is it related to, or possibly even derived from the word 'potlatch' (apparently a First Nations word for a feast or social event.) ? Google wasn't readily forthcoming and I'm curious!
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    I'm mildly surprised you haven't heard it. Growing up (Ireland, 1950s) the expression 'You'll just have to take pot luck' - meaning whatever was in the saucepan - was commonplace. If anything, it implied the opposite of feasting.
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    edited May 2023
    Diomedes wrote: »
    I've often read the words 'pot luck' in this thread, referring to food shared at church events. I haven't heard this is my little corner of the UK so perhaps it's mainly an American thing. Is it related to, or possibly even derived from the word 'potlatch' (apparently a First Nations word for a feast or social event.) ? Google wasn't readily forthcoming and I'm curious!
    Probably not, as its use in English (to mean what was on offer) dates back to the 1500s.

    FWIW, where I grew up, we tended to refer to church meals where everyone brought something to share as a “covered-dish” lunch or supper, or simply “a covered dish.” We certainly knew the phrase “potluck,” but “covered-dish” was the more common term.

  • DiomedesDiomedes Shipmate
    I've heard the phrase 'take pot-luck' meaning take a chance on the outcome of something - could be good or could be bad. I just don't remember hearing it referring to food, even though we had plenty of church events where folk baked cakes, made sandwiches etc etc. This would be normal for Harvest Supper, Whitsun Fair, Christmas Party etc etc. At home we'd probably be told 'This is what there is - take it or leave it', or more generously 'This is all there is - you're welcome to join us'. As you say, the opposite of feasting by a long way!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I don't think I'd heard the expression "pot luck", meaning a shared lunch or supper (usually but not exclusively at church) where everyone brings something, until we moved to Canada.

    I suppose the "pot luck" element was the risk that you might end up with ten dishes of cod au gratin and no puddings; when we had choir parties this was usually circumvented by someone posting a list on the wall where you could sign up for starters, mains, salads, puddings or whatever.
  • SojournerSojourner Shipmate
    For church occasions in my youth it was “ Ladies are asked to bring a plate”.

    In Oz to take pot luck means to take one’s chances for anything; it is not specifically food related.
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    Goodness - that phrase takes me back, Sojourner. I remember Mum commenting on the embarrassment all round when new immigrants had not had the meaning explained to them and took the request literally and brought an empty plate.

    After that the 'old hands' made sure they explained to any newcomers.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Pomona wrote: »
    Gee D wrote: »
    You seem to have missed my amendment so that the post now reads "pastichio as a word".
    Mezze plates, souvlaki and so forth are the common range of dishes..

    Yes sorry, I did quote you before you edited your post. Do you mean that pastichio has a different name in Australia?

    It would normally be pasta, or Greek pasta.
  • North East QuineNorth East Quine Purgatory Host
    During lockdown, when the Loon was living with us, he ordered a 2kg bag of Thai sweet rice intending to experiment.

    The unopened bag is still in my kitchen, and it's still in date. The instructions seem to involve a lot more faffing about than plain rice; soak for two hours, then steam for 40 minutes. The serving suggestion involves mango.

    I've googled and can find various recipes, but what I want to know is - can I use it up by simply substituting it where I would usually use Basmati rice? How sweet is sweet rice? Is it worth it?

    I'm reluctant to just bin it, but I'm not sure what else to do with it. I can't imagine the food bank would thank me for something which involves at least 2 hours of soaking and 40 minutes of steaming.
  • ArielAriel Shipmate
    I think that's the same as "sticky rice" and can be used for savoury dishes as well as sweet ones. My understanding is that it is tricky to cook and does need the soaking and steaming or it goes into mush.

    Can you persuade the Loon to take it back and continue the experiments elsewhere?
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    As @Ariel says, there seems no way round the soaking and steaming. One site does give instructions for microwaving but calls it ‘less than ideal’.

    I’m afraid rice is one of my Life Too Short foods and I have a shelf of microwaveable packs - plain, pilau, Mexican, jasmine and occasionally sticky - all of which go with savoury food.
  • North East QuineNorth East Quine Purgatory Host
    It's too heavy to post to him. I could try to get him to take it home with him next time he visits, but I suspect that carting a 2kg bag of rice on a 4 hour train journey won't appeal to him.

  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Split it into 4 500g bags?
  • ArielAriel Shipmate
    Yes, I was going to suggest splitting it.

    Alternatively, bite the bullet, cook as much as you can face doing and freeze it in portions?
  • If it is just sticky rice, I cook it all the time and use the same setting as white rice on my rice cooker (which obviously does the steaming for you) because I am lazy. I also use it instead of Arborio for making risotto and for making rice pudding. Cooking it normally generally means it is overcooked and too fluffy but I don't care.
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    I was going to say, use it like pudding rice or arborio rice.

    Rice is honestly not that scary especially with a rice cooker (especially now since you can easily get ones with multiple setttings for brown rice, jasmine rice, congee etc).
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    Also of course, you could just make a load of Thai curries to go with it - sticky rice is predominantly a Northern Thai and Isaan thing, as well as Lao and Cambodian, so traditionally served with dishes made without coconut milk and with more herbs.
  • If it's what I think it is, the Vietnamese cook it (probably per your directions), then add sugar (possibly), food coloring and coconut (definitely) to turn it into balls of colored sweet rice which are eaten by hand at holidays. It's not bad.
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    If it's what I think it is, the Vietnamese cook it (probably per your directions), then add sugar (possibly), food coloring and coconut (definitely) to turn it into balls of colored sweet rice which are eaten by hand at holidays. It's not bad.

    Yes, it's the same thing. Interestingly you find that minus the coconut in some ethnic groups like the Bai people in Yunnan Province in China. I watch YouTube videos by Dianxe Xiaoge, a young woman who lives on her family farm in Yunnan and whose mother is from the Bai people, and it is amazing how similar a lot of the Yunnanese food is to many Lao/Northern Thai/Burmese etc dishes.
  • North East QuineNorth East Quine Purgatory Host
    Pomona wrote: »
    I was going to say, use it like pudding rice or arborio rice.

    Rice is honestly not that scary especially with a rice cooker (especially now since you can easily get ones with multiple setttings for brown rice, jasmine rice, congee etc).

    I'm not scared of rice, I'm just used to bunging it in a pan and boiling. I don't have a rice cooker and a soaking / steaming process sounds a hassle and will create more washing up than just boiling.

    I usually make rice pudding in the slow cooker - pudding rice, carnation milk and sugar, left to do its own thing for a few hours. Would I need to pre-soak the sticky rice, or could I just use it as it is?
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Having been unacquainted with breakfast casseroles and never heard of strata what should pop up in this week's recipes.

    Still sounds like an awful lot more faff than toast.
  • I would just use the sticky rice as it is. All the soaking and steaming is just to get an even cook which retains its shape and texture, as far as I can see, and I doubt that matters much with rice pudding. As I said, I just cook it normally for risotto and rice pudding.
    Try it as you would normally.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Never understood the problem with rice. Two volumes water to one rice, bit of salt, bring to boil, cover, simmer until no visible water, turn off and leave it to finish by itself. Do not stir while cooking.

    One of the easiest things there is.
  • ArielAriel Shipmate
    edited May 2023
    Firenze wrote: »
    Having been unacquainted with breakfast casseroles and never heard of strata what should pop up in this week's recipes.

    Still sounds like an awful lot more faff than toast.

    Yes, CBA, myself. The udon with mushrooms sounds pretty good, though. I sometimes fry mushrooms in garlic butter, add a bit of soy sauce with maybe a touch of mirin, throw in a sprinkling of thyme and have it on toast for a Sunday breakfast.

    (Each to their own. There's no way to make milk-soaked Weetabix interesting.)
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    edited May 2023
    I don't know about interesting as such, but Weetabix with hot milk in winter is very Heaven.
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    Firenze wrote: »
    Having been unacquainted with breakfast casseroles and never heard of strata what should pop up in this week's recipes.

    Still sounds like an awful lot more faff than toast.

    Personally I prefer eggs for breakfast over pretty much anything else (I love cereal but I'm more inclined to have it as an evening snack unless it's very hot weather, or it's very cold and I want something with hot milk) but not sure I could be bothered with a strata for breakfast. But then it's only me for breakfast anyway. I usually see stratas recommended as prepare-ahead breakfasts for a crowd or for a special occasion, eg for Christmas morning. I can see the appeal if you have a bunch of people staying over and want something you can just bung in the oven. Also the recipe there does sound good though I probably wouldn't use both capers and bacon - I love capers so would just skip the bacon.

    The udon does look good - scrambled eggs with some fried mushrooms is a favourite breakfast of mine, and I do love udon. There's a café here doing Japanese breakfast (rice, miso soup, salted salmon that's sort of like a Japanese bacon equivalent, poached egg, vegetables and Japanese pickles) that I need to check out at some point.
  • DoublethinkDoublethink Admin, 8th Day Host
    Weetabix buttered with bovril are quite nice.
  • When I was a child I regularly ate buttered weetabix. My brother ate his with piccalilli on it.
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Purgatory Host, Circus Host
    My problem with cereal is that I intensely dislike milk hot or cold, unless it's some sort of cultured product that doesn't taste of milk anymore. I don't mind muesli served with yogurt.
  • ArielAriel Shipmate
    My problem with cereal is that I intensely dislike milk hot or cold, unless it's some sort of cultured product that doesn't taste of milk anymore. I don't mind muesli served with yogurt.

    Yep. I think milk is disgusting and cereal is too bland to be interesting, so this was never going to work for me. Agree about the muesli. I have that sometimes - but the shredded wheat stuff and all bran type things are just depressing IMO. I need flavours first thing in the morning to kickstart the day. Continental can be quite good because you can have ham and cheese with it.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Thank God I'm not the only one.
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    My problem with cereal is that I intensely dislike milk hot or cold, unless it's some sort of cultured product that doesn't taste of milk anymore. I don't mind muesli served with yogurt.
    While I love cold milk and detest yogurt.

    To each their own tastes, as they say.

  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Prompted by the strata recipe I linked to above, I thought I'd try a savoury bread pudding for lunch. I layered bread with (precooked) onion and sliced tomato and poured over egg and milk with pepper and mustard, and topped it with cheese.

    The bread texture is between fluffy and soggy. In a sweet pudding, that is OK, but somehow doesn't come off in a savoury, where it just comes off as wet and bland.
  • DoublethinkDoublethink Admin, 8th Day Host
    I wonder if it would be simpler to make a couple of omelettes and layer breakfast ingredients between them lasagnewise ?
  • DoublethinkDoublethink Admin, 8th Day Host
    Or just make a breakfast lasagne.
  • LeafLeaf Shipmate
    Firenze wrote: »
    Prompted by the strata recipe I linked to above, I thought I'd try a savoury bread pudding for lunch. I layered bread with (precooked) onion and sliced tomato and poured over egg and milk with pepper and mustard, and topped it with cheese.

    The bread texture is between fluffy and soggy. In a sweet pudding, that is OK, but somehow doesn't come off in a savoury, where it just comes off as wet and bland.

    IIRC strata recipes often call for thickly-cut slices of day-old bread, as they soak up the egg and milk without contributing their own moisture.
  • ArielAriel Shipmate
    Re-used bread rarely seems to work as an ingredient in other things. I'm thinking of bread sauce and bread and butter pudding. And fish in breadcrumbs when you can have batter.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Leaf wrote: »
    Firenze wrote: »
    Prompted by the strata recipe I linked to above, I thought I'd try a savoury bread pudding for lunch. I layered bread with (precooked) onion and sliced tomato and poured over egg and milk with pepper and mustard, and topped it with cheese.

    The bread texture is between fluffy and soggy. In a sweet pudding, that is OK, but somehow doesn't come off in a savoury, where it just comes off as wet and bland.

    IIRC strata recipes often call for thickly-cut slices of day-old bread, as they soak up the egg and milk without contributing their own moisture.

    This was old and thick alright. Probably least bad way of using up bread is a green salad scattered with crispy bacon bits and crouton fried in the fat.
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    Ariel wrote: »
    Re-used bread rarely seems to work as an ingredient in other things. I'm thinking of bread sauce and bread and butter pudding. And fish in breadcrumbs when you can have batter.

    Bread sauce and bread and butter pudding are great though! As is brown bread ice cream, and apple brown betty.
  • ArielAriel Shipmate
    Pomona wrote: »
    Bread sauce and bread and butter pudding are great though! As is brown bread ice cream, and apple brown betty.

    Yes, I was expecting that. I'll leave those to you.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I'm with Karl on the subject of rice, as directed by the blessèd Delia: stir the rice around in a little oil (flavoured with spices of your choice if you like) before adding the liquid, and a good pinch of salt. Turn down to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes*. Perfect every time.

    * 40 if it's brown rice.
  • ArielAriel Shipmate
    edited May 2023
    I always wash the rice first until the water runs clear, as directed by the excellent Madhur Jaffrey, to get rid of excess starch. Otherwise into the pot with it, bring to the boil, then reduce/turn off heat and let it do its own thing.

    And then when it's time to serve it I drain it into a sieve and rinse it with boiling water - that's not a Madhur Jaffrey thing, it's just personal preference but it gets rid of a bit more starch - and, depending on what you're having with the rice, a few small dots of butter melting into it can be very nice.

    I almost always use basmati, btw, it's nicer.
  • DiomedesDiomedes Shipmate
    Ariel - my method too. Nice rice is a joy - claggy solid rice is not!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    The thing about Delia's method is you don't have to faff about draining it - if you use one volume of rice to two of water, it should all be absorbed after the 15 minutes (tilt the pan to check there's no liquid left). If there is, it can take another minuteor so. Then fluff it up with a fork and serve.
  • ArielAriel Shipmate
    Same with Madhur's. I just like going that extra bit.
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    I rinse and use a rice cooker - Yum Asia is an excellent brand using Zojirushi style technology at a fraction of the price (including machines that offer resistant starch modes). Lakeland also does a great mini rice cooker.
  • Nick TamenNick Tamen Shipmate
    Piglet wrote: »
    I'm with Karl on the subject of rice, as directed by the blessèd Delia: stir the rice around in a little oil (flavoured with spices of your choice if you like) before adding the liquid . . . .
    Is that hot oil, so that you’re toasting the rice, or just room temperature oil? I frequently toast the rice, but I haven’t tried just coating the rice with oil.

    And does melted butter work as the oil?

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