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

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  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    I frequently have a side of bananas sliced and dressed with lemon juice with curry. Also fond of roast chicken stuffed with bread and mashed banana, accompanied by roasted bananas wrapped in bacon. And somewhere I have a South American recipe for a lamb stew thickened with banana
  • DoublethinkDoublethink Admin, 8th Day Host
    Presumably you’ve also tried lamb bobatie then ?
  • ArielAriel Shipmate
    I can never hear about anything being stuffed with mashed banana without thinking of Janine. Gone, but not entirely forgotten.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Presumably you’ve also tried lamb bobatie then ?

    I tend to make bobotie with whatever mince is to hand, so I've done lamb, pork and beef versions.

  • Ariel wrote: »
    I can never hear about anything being stuffed with mashed banana without thinking of Janine. Gone, but not entirely forgotten.

    You are terrible! :lol:
  • Ariel wrote: »
    We were young.

    Incidentally, I came across a recipe last night for banana curry. I suppose there's no reason why not, if you can curry plantains, but hadn't really thought of fruit curry before.

    But then a banana tree is apparently a giant herb related to ginger so why not.

    I’ve made a green banana curry from a James Wong recipe a couple of times. The banana was a bit like chunks of very soft potato with a slight sweetness. I’m not sure it would work quite the same with riper bananas though.

    I’ve also had Jack Monroe’s peach and chickpea curry which was nice.
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    Cooking bananas - which are different to plantains - are used quite a bit in savoury dishes in South and South East Asia.
  • Ariel wrote: »
    We were young.

    Incidentally, I came across a recipe last night for banana curry. I suppose there's no reason why not, if you can curry plantains, but hadn't really thought of fruit curry before.

    But then a banana tree is apparently a giant herb related to ginger so why not.
    I've made curries with bananas with some success (in my opinion), using them to provide body to soak up the spices in the same way you would use egg plant or a squash. In fact, we bought some cheap bananas a couple of days ago, and I believe it may be time for that curry again, now you've mentioned it.
  • Wanders off to explore banana curry recipes...
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    I am defrosting some chicken bodies (raw skeletons with some meat on them) in the fridge to make soup. When I put them into the pot to make chicken stock should I also pour in the chicken blood to enrich the stock?

    I feel silly even asking this, but Mum never cooked chicken, due I think to someone she knew years ago having food poisoning and I am perhaps overcautious because of this.
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Purgatory Host, Circus Host
    I think you can totally put it in. Sounds tasty to me, although it might affect the colour.
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    Thanks @la vie en rouge - colour doesn't matter too much as there's a high possibility I will be the only one eating it.(not all at once I hasten to say, but I freeze it so I have something on hand for when I'm feeling lazy).

    I've already made 5 litres of bacon hock soup for a friend this winter,
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    We'd pour the blood in, but make sure it's well stirred through before and as you heat it. It will thicken and if it's not well blended you'll get stringy lengths of the blood through your stock. It will still taste good, but be unattractive.
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    Thanks. My furry alarm clock woke me early, so all was cooking by 7 am, but of course I checked here first.

    I was going to finish it today, but a long phone call from my nephew intervened, so vegetables barley and soup mix will be added tomorrow. Then most of it will be frozen.
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    Personally I wouldn't add the blood just because it will coagulate and look unattractive - it also will change the flavour of the stock which may make it less versatile in use. Generally I make stock using carcasses of cooked chicken anyway though.
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    In the end it wasn't an issue. I dropped the metal bowl and the blood was licked up by Spooky, the badly fed cat from up the road. Fortunately the chicken itself didn't spill out - much to Spooky's disappointment.

    In the supermarkets here the only chicken carcases for sale are raw. The amount of meat varies widely between supermarkets.
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    Ah @Huia same here (re raw chicken carcasses for sale) but I would generally only make stock with bones leftover from cooking a whole chicken, or a dish like Hainan chicken rice where you buy a whole chicken for the dish anyway.
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Purgatory Host, Circus Host
    If you go in a butcher's shop here, they'll often give you a (raw) carcass for free.
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    NZ has proportionally far fewer specialist butcher shops than when I was a child :cry: Most retail areas don't have them.

    The duopoly supermarket chains swallowed them up.
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    It always seems strange that Australia and NZ have such a duopoly but I guess the population is much smaller than you would think given the land mass.
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    Both the supermarket chains here are Australian and sometimes Australians can buy food sourced from Aotearoa/NZ more cheaply than we can here.

    Costco has recently opened in Auckland, but I don't know if they plan to move south, possibly not as Auckland a population base far bigger than anywhere else in the country.
  • ArielAriel Shipmate
    edited June 2023
    Someone sent me a picture of a croissant filled with ice cream, apparently available in London. Research suggests this is old news and the outlet went home to France at lockdown and never returned. Does anyone know anything about these things, or Cronuts or even Conuts (which are half doughnut)?
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Anyone know if chillies lose their oomph with time and freezing? Some time ago I made a purée of dried chillies which was pretty strong stuff, and froze it in small cubes. But last night I put 3 of these in the chilli con carne and they hardly registered.
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    Firenze wrote: »
    Anyone know if chillies lose their oomph with time and freezing? Some time ago I made a purée of dried chillies which was pretty strong stuff, and froze it in small cubes. But last night I put 3 of these in the chilli con carne and they hardly registered.

    It shouldn't do. Most capsaicin is in the pith and seeds so perhaps those parts were affected more?
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Is it then the heat? I've made chilli con carne with various permutations of fresh and dried chillies and it always comes out milder than expected. I wonder if tomatoes have an amplifying effect? My chilli is tomato free - just mince, onions, beef stock, chillies, pinch of oregano and cumin.
  • Some nice organic tomatoes from a grower who favours flavour over yield. Feta cheese cut into smallish chunks. A handful of torn basil leaves. A generous dribble of extra virgin olive oil. Sourdough bread to mop up.

    Very simple. Very yum. Just the business on a slightly sticky evening.
  • Ariel wrote: »
    We were young.

    Incidentally, I came across a recipe last night for banana curry. I suppose there's no reason why not, if you can curry plantains, but hadn't really thought of fruit curry before.

    But then a banana tree is apparently a giant herb related to ginger so why not.

    Very Malaysian or Indonesian. The sort of thing that turns up in an Amsterdam rijstafel.
  • ArielAriel Shipmate
    Today at lunch out, for dessert I had roasted pineapple with sour cherry molasses, puffed wild rice, and coconut ice cream. I would totally have that again. Lovely combination of flavours. The pineapple came on skewers and was perfectly cooked - shall experiment with baking pineapple at home and having it with ice cream.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Caramelised pineapple is a good thing. One of my (small repertoire) of desserts is baked fruit salad - if you can include cubes of fresh pineapple, then the topping of brown sugar plus a jag of fruit liqueur makes for a very nice outcome.
  • I made a chicken banana curry this past week. Child #2 - who always dislikes fruit in meat dishes - thought it was delicious. I didn't tell him about the banana until after he'd tried it and liked it. He was thoughtfully surprised and we figured that the banana added a good texture and kind of "roundness" instead of the sweetness he would usually associate with fruit. Definitely worth doing again!
  • SojournerSojourner Shipmate
    Prunes preserved in brandy are a more than good substitute for apple sauce with roast pork.
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    Banana raita is fairly common in India, and unripe bananas are often part of 'hard food' aka various boiled starchy vegetables in Jamaica.
  • ArielAriel Shipmate
    edited July 2023
    Cheese scones this evening, made with Red Leicester, a touch of Parmesan and smoked paprika. Future batches will, I think, involve thyme, or mustard, maybe bits of sundried tomato, and definitely a more flavoursome cheese. I'm eating these with a bit of smoked cheese and tomatoes on the side.

    I might experiment with blue cheese as well, but it's getting the proportions right so the end result isn't too fatty or salty.

    Anyone got a favourite? I've had some lovely cheese scones in the past but haven't so far managed to recreate the flavour.
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    edited July 2023
    Maybe some Gruyére or even some aged Gouda (which most of the supermarkets do in their 'premium' range and is really nice, very different to unaged Gouda). Definitely add some mustard. I would also add a verrrry small scraping of Marmite - I don't like it as a spread but as an 'added savouriness' ingredient it works very well, especially with cheese or in vegetarian mince etc dishes.

    Edited to add that Red Leicester is my preference for making cheese on toast, and I always add lots of Lea and Perrins so maybe Worcestershire sauce could also be a good addition?
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Fish Van Man can sometimes get me fresh swordfish, so star of the week so far was cubes marinated in oil, lemon juice, paprika and cayenne and grilled on skewers. I forbore, as they tend to in Southern Europe, to serve the kebabs dangling from a stand - aka short way to get cold fish IMO.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Ariel wrote: »
    Cheese scones this evening, made with Red Leicester, a touch of Parmesan and smoked paprika. Future batches will, I think, involve thyme, or mustard, maybe bits of sundried tomato, and definitely a more flavoursome cheese. I'm eating these with a bit of smoked cheese and tomatoes on the side.

    We agree with your comment about a more flavoursome cheese. For us, Red Leicester is really a nothing cheese, nothing to like and nothing to recommend it. YMMV, of course.
  • Gee D wrote: »
    For us, Red Leicester is really a nothing cheese, nothing to like and nothing to recommend it.
    I agree with that opinion of Red Leicester and have for many years, but a few years ago I discovered Red Fox, a vintage Red Leicester with a lovely strong tangy taste. It immediately became a favourite, but is not not regularly stocked at my local store.
    Barbers Red Cruncher, another vintage RL, is as tasty and seems to be more readily available.

    I have recently tried ordinary Red Leicester again, and it is still a nothing cheese


  • ArielAriel Shipmate
    Yes, Red Fox is very good. I should have used that. I bought the ordinary expecting it would be similar but it has been disappointing.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Thank you both - I don't know Red Fox, but a quick check shows that it is sold at a cheese shop in a centre a half dozen or so stations away from us, with a regular coffee shop at an intermediate station.. Or we may detour on our way back from church tomorrow.
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    Vintage or farmhouse Red Leicester is certainly not a nothing cheese, it's just not an aggressive cheese like a vintage Cheddar. Plenty of cheeses that are very dull when young change dramatically with age, like Gouda for instance. Young Gouda is akin to the blandest mildest Cheddar, but the aged stuff is really delicious with a lovely nutty flavour.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I'm going to confess to a liking for (ordinary, youthful) Red Leicester with digestive biscuits. Sorry about that. :blush:
  • ArielAriel Shipmate
    Old Amsterdam is an aged Gouda that is very worth eating.

    I just like my cheeses to have some flavour. Anyway I've spread the scones with Marmite and that's perked them up.

    (Aggressive cheeses. Interesting mental image here of a cheese scowling pugnaciously from the plate and saying "You damn well better eat me, sunshine.")
  • ArielAriel Shipmate
    Piglet wrote: »
    I'm going to confess to a liking for (ordinary, youthful) Red Leicester with digestive biscuits. Sorry about that. :blush:

    I forgive you. Digestives are horrid, but by eating them you're helping to rid the world of an unpleasantness so well done.

  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I take it you're not a fan? :mrgreen:
  • PomonaPomona Shipmate
    Ooh no love a digestive biscuit with a thick layer of salted butter. Or dark chocolate (but only the dark chocolate ones, never milk chocolate).
  • ArielAriel Shipmate
    Piglet wrote: »
    I take it you're not a fan? :mrgreen:

    Never liked the texture, and I don't care if it's good for my digestion, that's not exactly motivational IMSVHO!
  • ArielAriel Shipmate
    Thanks to a culinary mishap in the oven last night I now have cheese and rhubarb scones.

    Actually they aren't bad, but don't think I'd intentionally repeat it.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    That’s the lamb chops slathered in salt, sugar, cumin, coriander, pepper and tamarind. Later on I shall roast them and scatter over fried green chilli. Not something I’ve tried before.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Piglet wrote: »
    I'm going to confess to a liking for (ordinary, youthful) Red Leicester with digestive biscuits. Sorry about that. :blush:

    I think it's the pairing of cheese with sweet biscuits that you have the most to be apologetic about.

    Might as well have steak and custard, or apple pie with gravy.
  • Ariel wrote: »
    Old Amsterdam is an aged Gouda that is very worth eating.

    I just like my cheeses to have some flavour. Anyway I've spread the scones with Marmite and that's perked them up.

    (Aggressive cheeses. Interesting mental image here of a cheese scowling pugnaciously from the plate and saying "You damn well better eat me, sunshine.")

    I think you have that wrong. An aggressive cheese is daring you to eat it - a threat that has never yet defeated me.
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