That, though I say it myself, was very good. It's something I have on repeat - chilli con carne. The house style is onion, fresh chilli, beef mince, beef stock, red kidney beans, oregano and cumin - simmer c 30 minutes. Line shallow bowls with tortilla chips and spoon the sauce in the middle. Sprinkle generously with grated cheese and finish under a hot grill.
Tonight's chips were supermarket own brand, lightly seasoned and very crisp. The fresh chilli was a Scotch Bonnet - I have a dark suspicion that since it became widespread, they're breeding a milder variety. Time was, one of those would give you breath would strip wallpaper. However there was just enough heat to give a bit of oomph.
My apologies - I hadn't replied to @Graven Image and @Foaming Draught - cupboard space is also rather tight chez Piglet, but I could probably find space for a single-chamber air fryer. I may have to do some investigating.
At the moment, the pressing need for appliance replacement is my toaster, which, with an almost imperceptible turn of the dial, goes from "barely warm" (which is fine for butteries but not much use for anything else) to "cremated".
Absolutely you can, which is why we gave the air fryer the bench space previously occupied by the toaster. Say 2, 2 ½ mins per side depending on type (any type is fine) and thickness of bread, at 195. Great for toasted sarnies too. Butter/mayonnaise both sides of bread, make up yr sandwich with ham, cheese, whatever, skewer it with a cocktail stick, 4 or 5 mins per side at 200.
I’m looking for ideas for what to eat before and after choir practices, three times a week. I need to leave home at 6pm. I don’t want a big meal before singing, so on those days I cook at midday, have a quick snack at around 5 and again when I get home, but I end up eating too many carbs that way. I’m always tired and hungry after singing - and cold too after church choir, so just need something quick and easy.
I’m looking for ideas for what to eat before and after choir practices, three times a week. I need to leave home at 6pm. I don’t want a big meal before singing, so on those days I cook at midday, have a quick snack at around 5 and again when I get home, but I end up eating too many carbs that way. I’m always tired and hungry after singing - and cold too after church choir, so just need something quick and easy.
Soup that you've prepared beforehand and then heat up after choir practice? Soup has the advantage that, if you make it yourself, you can make it as light or substantial as you prefer. You can also make a big batch, freeze it in single (or weekly) servings, and have it ready to eat shortly after you get home. It'll also warm you from the inside out.
I tend towards a low carb diet and if I want a snack meal I make an omelette. Low in carbs but high in protein, it is healthy and sustaining and can be jazzed up with fillings.
Good idea. My daughter sometimes brings me eggs from her hens.
I am not great at making soup, but must give it a try as tinned ones are too salty.
Thank you.
Good idea. My daughter sometimes brings me eggs from her hens.
I am not great at making soup, but must give it a try as tinned ones are too salty.
Thank you.
I tend towards a low carb diet and if I want a snack meal I make an omelette. Low in carbs but high in protein, it is healthy and sustaining and can be jazzed up with fillings.
Omelettes (a smaller version of an ome?) are a great fridge emptier, you can whack almost anything into them - thin light ones with just egg, or big thick ones with all sorts of stuff in. If it can be fried...
I tend towards a low carb diet and if I want a snack meal I make an omelette. Low in carbs but high in protein, it is healthy and sustaining and can be jazzed up with fillings.
When I was a student, an omelette was my default quick meal since I usually had milk and eggs, and if not they were easy to buy on campus. Cheaper and faster than walking to the local takeaways!
Thanks for all the suggestions. Good for after choir practice when I get home around 8.45pm.
I’ve had another thought. I could set aside some of my midday meal to reheat a small portion later in the evening. Or I could prepare a salad before I go out, to eat on my return on the later nights when I just want to sit in a comfy chair ( school hall chairs are hopeless ) at 10pm, too tired to do anything else.
Cheese & tomato is the favourite omelette filling for Mr RoS and me. I cut the tomatoes up, sprinkle with pepper and soften them in the microwave, rather than grill or fry them. Then put onto the cooking eggs with a spoonful of grated cheddar and attempt to fold the omelette over the filling (I'm not very good at that bit!).
"Green omelette" is anther favourite, but only if I have chopped too much parsley for something the previous day. Add the finely chopped parsley to the raw egg, and cook on its own, or with a favourite filling. I imagine you could use any soft herb you enjoy, but we don't usually have an excess of anything else.
I am particularly fond of scrambled eggs with cooked peppers & onions mixed in. I only have that if I already have leftover peppers & onions in the fridge, as preparing from scratch takes just a bit too long for a quick bite.
And then there is the more substantial 'frittata', with almost any kind of cooked vegetable in it or the traditional, potato and onion,' Spanish Omelette'. Not as quick as an ordinary omelette, but can be eaten hot or cold, so can be made when you have a bit more time, then cut into slices for eating cold with salad when you want a light meal in a hurry. Also good for picnics.
I usually have a couple of hard boiled eggs in the fridge for a really quick snack, with whatever else might be in the fridge by way of salad or cold cooked veg
Good idea. My daughter sometimes brings me eggs from her hens.
I am not great at making soup, but must give it a try as tinned ones are too salty.
Thank you.
Yes, tinned soups barely qualify as food
There are some of us who think soup, canned or not, barely qualifies as food.
The bami ball is just a square of leftover refrigerated bami (Indonesian noodles) dipped in egg, covered in breadcrumbs and fried.
The satay sauce is my own creation (I am the Potions Mistress all things sauce, soup or beverage are my Special Powers).
In the Vitamix or other high powered blender combine
250g plain or very lightly salted roasted peanuts
1 can coconut milk
3tbsp sweetener I use stevia, adjust to taste
1tbsp curry powder
1/2 tsp ground cayenne adjust to taste
1tsp cumin
1tsp onion powder
3 tbsp Maggi or soy sauce adjust to taste
Blend until creamy and smooth, serve warm over chicken skewers, bami goreng, nasi goreng, or refrigerate and use it as a spread on toast. Keeps for about a week in the fridge but also freezes very well.
Sounds pretty good @A Feminine Force, being able to freeze the sauce sounds really practical too!
@Puzzler, I guess it's a variation of an omelet, but my zucchini slice might fit your needs (posted last year), once baked it could be sliced and frozen with greaseproof paper in between layered slices or (horrors) in plastic wrap (can be defrosted in the fridge overnight). Can be eaten either hot or cold and air fryer or sandwich press pretty handy for reheating. I use the press when the slice is coming out of the fridge and defrosted. A couple of minutes on either side of the slice. Air fryer works well too straight from frozen
That’s a good idea, @Cheery Gardener, especially as it’s easy to cut up whatever size slice you want. Also, when I was at my sickest during the chemo in 2022, the only food I could keep down was very small amounts of banana and plain yoghurt. As I recovered, I added a greater variety of fruit and a couple of teaspoons of muesli. This is what I have been eating for breakfast ever since. It’s quite versatile, as it’s easy to vary the amounts of fruit, yoghurt and muesli. If we happen to go out for breakfast, I often have a small serving of this for lunch, as then I don’t get hungry in the middle of the afternoon.
Not a cheap option, but an omelette with chopped smoked salmon is rather nice.
A smoked salmon souffle is a good standard for me. I usually only make it when we have guests. It's a lot easier than the impression of difficulty it gives.
Crêpes in a béchamel and spinach sauce is our concluding Shrovetide comestible. And a Taylor’s Cab Merlot our last drop before the Lenten plonkfast. (Feast days, ie Sat Sundown to Sun Sundown, and any declared Extraordinary Feast Days, like when nieces I haven’t seen for 40 years visit from Yorkshire, excepted.)
Rescued and yummy. I've posted on Eccles my sister-in-law's (Rector of a thriving Anglican parish) response when I told her how much I love the Breville stick blender which was an agent of rescue. "A good stick blender is a useful thing. I just used mine this week to pulverise the ashes."
Almost every Monday, one of my daughter's friends goes to her home after work, and we have dinner together. We take turns cooking (or ordering in if it's a particularly busy day. Last night, it was my turn to cook. Since I'm having a difficult time standing at the stove, I've been watching short videos of easy recipes. This one was a winner, and daughter, son-in-law and friend requested that I make this frequently!
Well I think it was yummy. @Clarence might add her review. Before I put it onto Maudie's Meanderings, I'll edit the Taste.com recipe to give Foaming Draught's interpretation.
Instead of 300gr of celeriac (Clarence suggested sweet potato), I upped potato mash by 100gr, and melted 200gr of cheddar into it, plus some spring onion.
Prawns weren't necessary. They become chewy at oven heat. I'll ditch them next time I do this dish. I used 600gr of salmon, perhaps up that by 100gr and scrub the prawns. Of course, then it becomes just salmon mornay with devilled mash.
Clarence thought that eggs weren't necessary, while I would have added a couple, because each layer looked quite sparse.
@jedijudy that stroganoff sounds utterly delicious!
@Foaming Draught I think that pie sounds super with your modifications. Prawns are such fussy little things. I was taught by a shrimp boat captain how to cook them.
Put raw prawns in large kettle of cold water. Heat the water towards boiling. When they have all risen to the top and turned lightpink, dump them into a colander and douse with ice. Once the water is hot enough they only take about 2 minutes to all float to the surface.
Same shrimp boat captain gave me the secret to kickass prawn cocktail sauce - lime juice not lemon juice, and a shot of honey or corn syrup because ketchup is hardly ever sweet enough. Also - tabasco.
We had a very nice St. Patrick's Day dinner today!
Daughter made corned beef with cabbage, carrots and potatoes in her new instant pot. Yummy!
Son-in-law made yummy brownies!
I (for the first time) made Irish soda bread. Everything was really good.
The soda bread was so quick and easy to make and was a hit with everyone. I think it might have taken less than two minutes to stir together. I really didn't have high hopes for something that easy to taste good, and figured we could just toss it if it wasn't any good. We all loved it!
My mother made soda bread practically every other day, but I don't think I've ever found a recipe like hers - which was something like a handful of sugar, two of flour, pinch of baking soda, buttermilk, dried fruit, or treacle. What turns up if I search for 'soda bread' is what she would have called wheaten bread.
I make it from time to time, but it always turns out very crumbly.
The recipe I used is much simpler than your mother's. No sugar at all, which everyone was thrilled about yesterday!
15 oz (425 g) all purpose flour
1 3/4 tsp (7 g) salt
1 1/8 tsp (6 g) baking soda
18 ounces (510 g) buttermilk
My grocery didn't have buttermilk yesterday, so I used my mom's substitute: 2 ounces white vinegar, 16 ounces of milk and let it stand for about 20 minutes.
Mix dry ingredients thoroughly, add buttermilk and combine until all flour is incorporated. For extra chewy results, stir another 20 seconds. (Which is what I did.)
Turn into 10 inch cast iron or enameled Dutch oven roughly lined with parchment paper.
Bake, covered, in 450 F (230 C) oven for 45 minutes, then remove the lid and bake for another 12-15 minutes.
Cool on wire rack for 30 minutes.
I saw recipes using dried fruit, and I think I'll try dried currants or raisins or something next time I make this!
Tonight's comestible was a reverse-seared eye fillet. This is a method to ensure that a steak is cooked just right, "edge-to-edge", no undercooked patches.
Season your steak and put it into the fridge, uncovered, overnight on a wire rack on a rimmed baking tray. That will dry it out.
Preheat the oven to 120C, then place the steak on its rack in the tray on a middle oven rack for 20 mins. American recipes will say 25-30 mins, but that assumes a chunky great 2½" steak. If that's what you have, great, 25-30 mins it is, but more often than not our steak is 1" thick.
Aim for an in-oven target temp for the steak of 46C or a bit more for medium rare. Have a very hot oiled pan ready to transfer the steak with accompanying butter (garlic butter all the better), and sear each side and all edges for 60 secs each side/edge. That time can be made up with a flip at 60 secs, or 4 flips at 15 secs, whatever.
We hope that the final target temp of 54ish C has been reached then, but if it hasn't (an instant read thermometer will tell you, or take a look inside a cut steak - is it the right pinkness?) just flip and sear away until you're satisfied. It's quite a forgiving process.
Tonight's, which was my first stab at reverse searing, came out perfectly. Nicely pink, not too pink, inside, a perfect edge-to-edge crust outside. And the pan juices poured over the steak on its plate with mashed spuds and air-fried broccoli florets and mushrooms are a tasty bonus.
I had been considering a sous-vide (Google is your friend). Cracking reverse-sear saves me dosh which I don't have for a sous-vide set-up, and spares me from dreaming up an excuse to @Clarence for another kitchen gadget.
Mr Heavenly (who designs Smart devices for a living) built a temperature gauge to turn our slow cooker into a sous vide. It is great for cooking meat but my favourite thing he cooks in it are poached eggs. They are beautiful, perfectly cooked yet translucent.
Thanks - we already have all the ingredients, so that's today's taken care of. But the recipe says "2 cans of tomatoes". I am guessing one large can (that would be 796ml/28 oz here) or two small ones.
Thanks - we already have all the ingredients, so that's today's taken care of. But the recipe says "2 cans of tomatoes". I am guessing one large can (that would be 796ml/28 oz here) or two small ones.
Looks like an interesting recipe, but how many does it serve? Over here (the UK), a tin of tomatoes is 400g (approx 14oz), so I'm guessing serves 4 to 6...
Oh, and is vegetable broth what I'd know as stock? To me, a broth is a reasonably substantial soup!
Oh, and is vegetable broth what I'd know as stock? To me, a broth is a reasonably substantial soup!
Stock and broth are similar, but not quite the same. Stock is made with bones and is cooked longer than broth, making it thicker. Stock is generally not intended to be eaten on its own, but rather to be used as a base of other foods, like soups or sauces. Broth, on the other hand, is thinner and lighter, and it can be eaten on its own. But when it comes to making soup, they can generally be interchangeable.
It worked out to about six good servings for us, so plenty left over. For broth/stock I assumed something like Oxo or Knorr vegetable cubes (I don't often use them, as some are exceeding salty, but my wife insists that if that's what the recipe says, that's what goes in).
It worked out to about six good servings for us, so plenty left over. For broth/stock I assumed something like Oxo or Knorr vegetable cubes (I don't often use them, as some are exceeding salty, but my wife insists that if that's what the recipe says, that's what goes in).
We get unsalted or low sodium stock and broth in cartons.
Comments
Now that I'm a Southerner I'm slowly reconciling to calling the evening meal 'dinner'. When in Rome ...
Is Salmon Dahl a pseudonym for a collaboration between Salmon Rushdie and Roald Dahl?
Sorry. Coat?
I may have to join you. I saw @Foaming Draught's reference to "Malabar prawn biryani" and (honestly) my first thought was: "I don't speak Welsh...."
Tonight I think it's going to be pork tenderloin medallions and asparagus.
Tonight's chips were supermarket own brand, lightly seasoned and very crisp. The fresh chilli was a Scotch Bonnet - I have a dark suspicion that since it became widespread, they're breeding a milder variety. Time was, one of those would give you breath would strip wallpaper. However there was just enough heat to give a bit of oomph.
Washed down with Czech lager.
At the moment, the pressing need for appliance replacement is my toaster, which, with an almost imperceptible turn of the dial, goes from "barely warm" (which is fine for butteries but not much use for anything else) to "cremated".
Can you make toast in an air fryer? 🙃
Absolutely you can, which is why we gave the air fryer the bench space previously occupied by the toaster. Say 2, 2 ½ mins per side depending on type (any type is fine) and thickness of bread, at 195. Great for toasted sarnies too. Butter/mayonnaise both sides of bread, make up yr sandwich with ham, cheese, whatever, skewer it with a cocktail stick, 4 or 5 mins per side at 200.
Soup that you've prepared beforehand and then heat up after choir practice? Soup has the advantage that, if you make it yourself, you can make it as light or substantial as you prefer. You can also make a big batch, freeze it in single (or weekly) servings, and have it ready to eat shortly after you get home. It'll also warm you from the inside out.
I am not great at making soup, but must give it a try as tinned ones are too salty.
Thank you.
Yes, tinned soups barely qualify as food
Even if it feels like the wrong end of the day, there's nothing against bacon and egg(s).
Or mash up a tin of sardines in tomato sauce, spread on a couple of slices of buttered-both-sides bread and pop in a hot oven for 10 minutes.
Omelettes (a smaller version of an ome?) are a great fridge emptier, you can whack almost anything into them - thin light ones with just egg, or big thick ones with all sorts of stuff in. If it can be fried...
When I was a student, an omelette was my default quick meal since I usually had milk and eggs, and if not they were easy to buy on campus. Cheaper and faster than walking to the local takeaways!
Or with bacon/ham, peppers, mushrooms and herbs, topped with cheese and slices of tomato and flashed under the grill.
I’ve had another thought. I could set aside some of my midday meal to reheat a small portion later in the evening. Or I could prepare a salad before I go out, to eat on my return on the later nights when I just want to sit in a comfy chair ( school hall chairs are hopeless ) at 10pm, too tired to do anything else.
"Green omelette" is anther favourite, but only if I have chopped too much parsley for something the previous day. Add the finely chopped parsley to the raw egg, and cook on its own, or with a favourite filling. I imagine you could use any soft herb you enjoy, but we don't usually have an excess of anything else.
I am particularly fond of scrambled eggs with cooked peppers & onions mixed in. I only have that if I already have leftover peppers & onions in the fridge, as preparing from scratch takes just a bit too long for a quick bite.
And then there is the more substantial 'frittata', with almost any kind of cooked vegetable in it or the traditional, potato and onion,' Spanish Omelette'. Not as quick as an ordinary omelette, but can be eaten hot or cold, so can be made when you have a bit more time, then cut into slices for eating cold with salad when you want a light meal in a hurry. Also good for picnics.
I usually have a couple of hard boiled eggs in the fridge for a really quick snack, with whatever else might be in the fridge by way of salad or cold cooked veg
No end to the versatility of eggs!
The bami ball is just a square of leftover refrigerated bami (Indonesian noodles) dipped in egg, covered in breadcrumbs and fried.
The satay sauce is my own creation (I am the Potions Mistress all things sauce, soup or beverage are my Special Powers).
In the Vitamix or other high powered blender combine
250g plain or very lightly salted roasted peanuts
1 can coconut milk
3tbsp sweetener I use stevia, adjust to taste
1tbsp curry powder
1/2 tsp ground cayenne adjust to taste
1tsp cumin
1tsp onion powder
3 tbsp Maggi or soy sauce adjust to taste
Blend until creamy and smooth, serve warm over chicken skewers, bami goreng, nasi goreng, or refrigerate and use it as a spread on toast. Keeps for about a week in the fridge but also freezes very well.
AFF
@Puzzler, I guess it's a variation of an omelet, but my zucchini slice might fit your needs (posted last year), once baked it could be sliced and frozen with greaseproof paper in between layered slices or (horrors) in plastic wrap (can be defrosted in the fridge overnight). Can be eaten either hot or cold and air fryer or sandwich press pretty handy for reheating. I use the press when the slice is coming out of the fridge and defrosted. A couple of minutes on either side of the slice. Air fryer works well too straight from frozen
Oh my! The crematorium possibility hadn't even occurred to me since we were so close to Ash Wednesday
Fake Stroganoff:
1 pound ground beef, seasoned
1 onion chopped
2 minced garlic cloves
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
2 1/2 cups beef broth
3/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp prepared mustard
1 cup frozen peas
2 cups grated cheddar cheese, divided
8 ounces dried noodles
Brown beef, add onion. Cook until onion is soft
Drain grease
Stir in garlic, add butter and flour.
Stir and cook for a minute or so
Add beef broth, stir and deglaze the pot.
Bring to a boil
Add sour cream, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, frozen peas and 1 cup of the cheese.
Stir and simmer on low
Drain noodles and pour into beef mixture.
Add 1 cup of cheese, cover and cook until cheese is melted.
I prepped all the chopping and measuring at home into containers so could just add things as I cooked. Much easier on my back!
Instead of 300gr of celeriac (Clarence suggested sweet potato), I upped potato mash by 100gr, and melted 200gr of cheddar into it, plus some spring onion.
Prawns weren't necessary. They become chewy at oven heat. I'll ditch them next time I do this dish. I used 600gr of salmon, perhaps up that by 100gr and scrub the prawns. Of course, then it becomes just salmon mornay with devilled mash.
Clarence thought that eggs weren't necessary, while I would have added a couple, because each layer looked quite sparse.
@Foaming Draught I think that pie sounds super with your modifications. Prawns are such fussy little things. I was taught by a shrimp boat captain how to cook them.
Put raw prawns in large kettle of cold water. Heat the water towards boiling. When they have all risen to the top and turned lightpink, dump them into a colander and douse with ice. Once the water is hot enough they only take about 2 minutes to all float to the surface.
Same shrimp boat captain gave me the secret to kickass prawn cocktail sauce - lime juice not lemon juice, and a shot of honey or corn syrup because ketchup is hardly ever sweet enough. Also - tabasco.
AFF
Daughter made corned beef with cabbage, carrots and potatoes in her new instant pot. Yummy!
Son-in-law made yummy brownies!
I (for the first time) made Irish soda bread. Everything was really good.
The soda bread was so quick and easy to make and was a hit with everyone. I think it might have taken less than two minutes to stir together. I really didn't have high hopes for something that easy to taste good, and figured we could just toss it if it wasn't any good. We all loved it!
My mother made soda bread practically every other day, but I don't think I've ever found a recipe like hers - which was something like a handful of sugar, two of flour, pinch of baking soda, buttermilk, dried fruit, or treacle. What turns up if I search for 'soda bread' is what she would have called wheaten bread.
I make it from time to time, but it always turns out very crumbly.
15 oz (425 g) all purpose flour
1 3/4 tsp (7 g) salt
1 1/8 tsp (6 g) baking soda
18 ounces (510 g) buttermilk
My grocery didn't have buttermilk yesterday, so I used my mom's substitute: 2 ounces white vinegar, 16 ounces of milk and let it stand for about 20 minutes.
Mix dry ingredients thoroughly, add buttermilk and combine until all flour is incorporated. For extra chewy results, stir another 20 seconds. (Which is what I did.)
Turn into 10 inch cast iron or enameled Dutch oven roughly lined with parchment paper.
Bake, covered, in 450 F (230 C) oven for 45 minutes, then remove the lid and bake for another 12-15 minutes.
Cool on wire rack for 30 minutes.
I saw recipes using dried fruit, and I think I'll try dried currants or raisins or something next time I make this!
Season your steak and put it into the fridge, uncovered, overnight on a wire rack on a rimmed baking tray. That will dry it out.
Preheat the oven to 120C, then place the steak on its rack in the tray on a middle oven rack for 20 mins. American recipes will say 25-30 mins, but that assumes a chunky great 2½" steak. If that's what you have, great, 25-30 mins it is, but more often than not our steak is 1" thick.
Aim for an in-oven target temp for the steak of 46C or a bit more for medium rare. Have a very hot oiled pan ready to transfer the steak with accompanying butter (garlic butter all the better), and sear each side and all edges for 60 secs each side/edge. That time can be made up with a flip at 60 secs, or 4 flips at 15 secs, whatever.
We hope that the final target temp of 54ish C has been reached then, but if it hasn't (an instant read thermometer will tell you, or take a look inside a cut steak - is it the right pinkness?) just flip and sear away until you're satisfied. It's quite a forgiving process.
Tonight's, which was my first stab at reverse searing, came out perfectly. Nicely pink, not too pink, inside, a perfect edge-to-edge crust outside. And the pan juices poured over the steak on its plate with mashed spuds and air-fried broccoli florets and mushrooms are a tasty bonus.
Thanks - we already have all the ingredients, so that's today's taken care of. But the recipe says "2 cans of tomatoes". I am guessing one large can (that would be 796ml/28 oz here) or two small ones.
Looks like an interesting recipe, but how many does it serve? Over here (the UK), a tin of tomatoes is 400g (approx 14oz), so I'm guessing serves 4 to 6...
Oh, and is vegetable broth what I'd know as stock? To me, a broth is a reasonably substantial soup!