Jump to content

binkyboots

participating member
  • Posts

    311
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by binkyboots

  1. So, anyone know where to get home cheesemaking supplies. I'd prefer (at least to start out with) a kit that comes with everything including a recipe for a single cheese, just so as I cant mess it up too badly the first few times
  2. On holiday in Miami with my sister recently, we absconded from our tour group and found a lovely ice cream shop, delicious flavours including birthday cake ice cream. We had to try it, tasted just like cake batter (asnyone who licked the bowl as a child needs this!) Since coming home I've been trying to find a recipe which will yield a similar taste as I'd love to use it as the filling for a meringue birthday cake for a friend of mine. Much googling has been done, but nothing to show for it, any thoughts?
  3. oh my yes, yesterday being a case in point. After preparing for a job interview, cooking lunches at our local boat club, I got a call from the Manager telling me not to bother coming down, they hired the first candidate through the door that morning hmmph, two hours of reading up and menu preparation down the drain, they asked for packed lunch suggestions, desserts and tray baked style meals, cottage pie, canneloni etc... Once I'd cooled down I realised I was glad they called, saved me going down and messing around there for an hour, still, it irked me. Into the kitchen, a little later curled up on the sofa, big bowl of creamy potato and onion soup, now that's therapy!
  4. Been busy this morning, well, I have to be, Wednesday and Thursday are my busy days, lots of running around picking people up from school and work With the ham hock that I cooked in the lentil soup I made a quiche, afterall, a smoked ham hock has much the same flavour as bacon! I cut the meat off, chopped it and proceeded as for any other quiche (eggy cream filling, plenty of pepper) The ham hock is one of the cheapest but hardest working bits of meat around, it cost £2.50 and from it I got 6 bowls of soup, a quiche, some leftover ham to flake into pea soup and if I had wanted to (and mum hadn't binned them first) I guess I would have reused the bones for more soup. Also got a loaf of bread on the go, lemon and barley this time, it smells good, I have high hopes.
  5. I absolutely cant stand liquoricey type smells and tastes, partly due to some painkillers I take, they're soluble and are strongly liquorice flavoured, they make me gag. My sister wont eat anything with cinnamon or cloves.
  6. Had a very good day today! In the morning I took myself off down to the butcher and fishmonger as recomended by Adam Balic, results were great! The fishmonger was friendly, willing to help a total fish newbie, I ended up buying a couple of mackerel fillets, I'll cook them tommorow, maybe rolled in oatmeal and fried, mum loves fish done like that. The mackerel was £2.50, a bit costlier than sainsburys, but they are larger fillets and the fishmonger didn't smell as fishy as the supermarket counter usually does. The butcher though was what made my day, I'm rather shy, butcher shops are a little scary for me, it takes confidence to ask for cuts of meat, to say you'd rather have that piece or a bigger joint, really, it sounds daft but I find these things hard. Anyhow, man was lovely, I bought four very large lamb shanks for £8 and am going back thursday for some oxtail and rabbit! yes, to celebrate the release of bambi on dvd I plan to cook thumper (I guess it should really be a rabbit and venison raised pie!) When I got in I dried off the meat that I marinated overnight, floured it and browned it. Chucked in some sliced onions and whole garlic cloves, deglazed with the marinating liquid. Put the lot in my braising pot, added some chopped potatoes and a spoon of marmelade then put the lot in the oven for about four hours at a low heat. Results were very good indeed! a light gravy and really tender meat, not bad for a very cheap cut indeed, enough for three adults cost £2.56 and it was organic, I'll be doing variations on this theme I think. We had pancakes for pudding, well, waffles, I bought a neat little American book of waffles from a charity shop, it's quite old I think and some of the recipes look scary! but the ones I made tonight were delicious, Belgian cinnamon and white wine waffles, sound odd, taste great. I did make pancakes too, little cottage cheese pancakes (from "feast" by Nigella Lawson) they didn't turn out as nicely as I'd hoped, the flavour was good but the texture was bad, I think I'd liquidise the cottage cheese next time to lose the little lumps.
  7. *nudges thread gently* so... with demands for pancakes ringing in my ears, I ask you, what do you eat on yours? do you like thin lacy crepes or squidgy little scotch pancakes? Lemon and sugar only? or do you belong to the camp of heretics who claim golden syrup is right and proper on pancakes? I have a frightening book that suggests many fillings, sweet, savoury and inedible! crab mixed with condensed mushroom soup being one of the wierdest
  8. Lost it with the cooking tonight, mum had a ready meal and I had porridge Busy day though so I'll forgive myself. This morning I made my first loaf of bread using the starter from Dan Lepard's "the hand made loaf" the starter looks and smells great and I've been eager to try it, I made the oat and apple bread, my results, well the method for kneading was very diferent to what I'm used to, the dough was very wet and the oil didn't stop it sticking to everything, I admit I panicked and floured my board at that point I guess more practise is required, perhaps with a dryer dough to get used the the technique. However, the bread is delicious! very good indeed with strong cheddar While the bread was rising I made another pot of my two lentil soup, definately a hit, I prefer it to plain red lentil I think. The ham hock I used seemed saltier than usual, I may use it for another pot tommorow, or freeze it for future soup making! Still done nothing with the boiling beef, I'm so embarrased, I must do something tommorow. I have a vague plan for tommorow, it's my unofficial day off when I get to plot and cook a little for Wednesday and Thursday (my busy days) I'm the morning I'll have a read through some recipes I've got earmarked for trying, then in the afternoon I think I'll take a wander to the butcher and fishmonger to see what I can see. *edit* As I was in the kitchen sorting out my porridge for tommorow I decided to do something with the beef. I trimmed out some of the larger chunks of fat and gristle, chunked it into fairly generous chunks, threw it in a bowl with a bit of white wine, spring of rosemary and the juice of a seville orange. I'll braise it tommorow, maybe add in some orange marmalade to counter the sevilles sourness... think it ought to be quite nice.
  9. Ahha! I must seek this one out, the fishcounter at sainsburys is not great, but ignorance about where to find a good fishmonger has kept me there Any recomendations for butchers? I'm looking for someone who does game too.... back on topic, the meal looks delicious, the sprats in particular
  10. I'm really looking forward to this, my sister and I visited Amsterdam a couple of years ago, I fell in love and try to sneak back often (though am foiled by dogs/husband/responsibility) Will we get a definitive recipe for real chips? the ones we ate off street stall in Amsterdam were the best ever I think....
  11. Ok, last couple of days in a nutshell! Yesterday we had bratwurst, braised red cabbage and mashed potatoes for dinner, I also made a banana coconut loaf cake, yum, it would make killer bread and butter pudding, maybe with coconut cream in the custard.... Tonight it was cauliflower cheese, soda bread and a souffle omlette for pudding, I love sweet omlettes... Omlette 6 eggs two tablespoons sugar butter fruit compote or jam to serve seperate the eggs whisk the yolks with the sugar till pale and a little thick whisk the white till firm but not dry fold yolks into whites heat a pan, chuck in some butter when it foams pour in the omlette mix cook until base is set and golden, either flip and cook the top or stick under the grill that makes a pretty big omlette, enough for four, but it's easily halved, though I do love it room temperature too, spread with jam and rolled up. heat jam or compote, pour over the omlette to serve Meat lady wasn't at the market this week so I'm not sure what I'm doing about shopping, I'd like to try a new butcher but am unsure of how to find one that's good, friendly and carries the stuff I'm after. I'd like to get a couple of rabbits, though that would involve lying heavily to several members of the family, lol. Other possibles are oxtail, lamb (or mutton) shanks, more sausages or more beany type stuff... Tomorrow night we're having mince and yorkshires, sounds odd but it's a family favorite, mince was on specvial a while back at sainsburys, 80p a pack, I'm afraid I bought four (at 80p I cast aside my feelings about organics and supermarkets, we were having a really hard up month!) and am still trying to use them up.
  12. A double sink, also deeper than the one I have now, a new kitchen aid mixer, with mincing/sausage making attachment (mine is the brown/orange kenwood 70's one). A new ice cream maker would be nice, one with it's own freezing unit would be superb, but prices mean it'll be another pre freeze one for now! A dishwasher would be nice and a gas hob. Other than that all I need is more space!
  13. binkyboots

    Dinner! 2005

    bratwurst, braised red cabbage, recipe here and if I get a move on there will be mashed potatoes and a banana coconut loaf cake for pudding.
  14. We use our dining room every day, twice a day usually. We decided that it was important to get some time where we could talk without other distractions, no phone or tv in there. Plus it's purple and I love that room!
  15. I love shipton mill flour, or doves farm, but in a pinch any home made bread with any bread flour will be better than most store bought breads... lidls bread flour is pretty good Sometimes get a local bread flour at the farmers market, very nice!
  16. Eek, busy couple of days! Ok, the fish cakes were not too bad, I wouldn't eat them myself, ugh, salmon spine , but the family loved them. I have three in the freezer for near instant supper on a busy night. Tonight I roasted the lamb gigot, I heated the oven as hot as I could, put the lamb in a roasting dish (it's really a big glass lasagna dish, but nobody has told it that, lol) with some rosemary (pinched from a neighbouring garden) and a garlic bulb cut into slices horizontally. Salted and peppered the top then into the oven, I turned the heat down a bit after 30 minutes then roasted it till it was just barely pink in the centre, mum likes her meat to be cooked. Turned out delicious, the fat/skin layer turned into a kind of delicious lamb crackling, the meat was very tender though there was rather a lot of gristle. Loads of leftovers so I could make a pot of scotch broth. In the oven just now is a pot of lamb shanks braising, they'll stay there overnight. I threw in two tins of tomatoes, handfull of those umbrian lentils, tablespoon of honey, spoon of tangine spice (brought home from Nice, no idea what's in it, warmly spicey though) and the shanks. Smells good, we'll most likely have rice with those, maybe flatbreads too if I get my act together fast enough in the morning. First job tommorow is baking, I've a honey fruit bread to make for my aunts birthday, not sure which one to make yet, if you have a killer honey bread or cake recipe let me know! doesn't have to be fruity. When I have the oven on I try to get some use out of it, I'll most likely make a loaf of bread for sandwiches and stuff, soda bread for lunch (with soup), maybe some scones or a cake for tea.
  17. binkyboots

    Tobacco

    In "the art of the tart" there is a recipe for a fig tart with a tobacco infused syrup, sounds pretty good.
  18. Thank you Merrybaker! Next week may well be the week of bean experimenting! in fact, no time like the present, I have tins of tomatoes, brussel sprouts, and lots of dried beans! I think fakeastrone could be on the menu tommorow. Our picnic was a total washout! we were so late leaving that all we took with us was a blueberry loaf cake I'd made this morning, tasty all the same, lol. Tonight we're having fish cakes, I made them this morning with tinned salmon and some leftover mash from last night, they're in the oven and looking pretty tasty Tommorow I think fakeastrone and leftover brisket sandwiches, or we might postpone that till Monday and have our roast lamb tommorow. I'll see, I have to see the dentist tommorow morning, if my mouth's really sore I'll not feel like making a roast, lol.
  19. Mackerel and Herring, cheap and so good for you! I like to coat either in oatmeal and fry it (or bake it if I'm being diet friendly).
  20. Last night I had the last little bit of irish cream ice cream from the depths of the freezer. Maybe these two threads should merge?
  21. Yup, I do try to as far as possible, anything that's peelable is peeled if it's not organic. Leafy salad stuff is high, then grapes etc... Bananas aren't high on my priority list as they have such thick skin, but I do think organic bananas have a creamier texture and better flavour. Strawberries are so wildly expensive here that they are a rare treat, this year I'm going to try growing some of our own, it is ridiculous that in Scotland, a country blessed with wonderfull soft fruits that we pay through the nose for them. Ok, rant over Tonight we had our brisket, it was really delicious, barely shrank at all in the cooking! Anyway, with it we had mashed potatoes, turnips and carrot chunks, gravy and yorkshire pudding (neither organic or homemade, I'm truly ashamed but my husband loves the stuff) I bought the potatoes, turnip and carots at scotmid today, the lot, plus some milk, cream and butter came to £7 Today was also market day at school, I bought two packs of boiling beef, now to figure out what to do with them, lol. I also bought a bone in lamb gigot. Hmm, the lady on the stall said to roast it, rather vague, but I'm googling recipes. I wouldn't normally buy such a pricey bit of meat from her, but it was well reduced as it has a use buy Sunday sticker, no worries! The beef and lamb came to £12 Tommorow we're going on a drive up to Fife, mostly to take my niece to a party, but partly so the rest of us an sneak off on a car picnic (now that's a Scottish tradition!) I'm taking the rest of the brisket made into sandwiches, a fruit loaf, maybe a flask of soup.... whatever I can drum up from the leftovers. Oh yes, talking of soup, the lentil soup last night was delicious, not often I'm surprised by lentils, but yeah Lentil soup. one onion, chopped fine about 250g red split lentils about 250g grey/green lentils, I had some fancyish ones left over from christmas, umbrian I think. ham hock water Fry the onion till it's soft and cooked but not brown. Add in the lentils then pour water from a boiling kettle to cover. Nestle the ham hock down in the middle of the pan. Bring to the boil and skim. Simmer till sludgy, thick, smelling smoky and delicious. The nice thing about the mixed lentils was that the red ones collapsed into mush while the green ones stayed slightly more whole. I kept the hock for more lentil soup, but you could shred it into the soup to serve. It's also good just dipped in hot mustard, in fact I should take some with us tommorow.
  22. Ok, yesterday we had pizza as planned, very good, I made the tomato sauce from canned tomatoes and a spoon of tomato puree. Also used up the tail end of ham that we had skulking in the fridge. Tonight, I think we'll have our brisket, it's in the oven now, I only say perhaps because I'm thinking it would be better sat in the fridge overnight so I can lift the fat off the sauce. I could put on a pan of lentil and ham hock soup, I already have a nice loaf of bread to go with it.... yes, I think that's what I'll do.
  23. Well, we ended up having our Burns supper after all! We had Haggis, neeps and tatties and some brocoli (not at all traditional, but mum likes it) then a trifle for pudding. Mum made the trifle, uh, she put madiera cake in, drizzled it with a syrup I made from stag's breath liqueur, then custard and cream on top. The haggis was delicious, I dont know why we dont have it more often even Natasha ate it up, normally she doesn't eat "spicy" foods very happily. So, the brisket is marinading happily, I'm doing a recipe from Molly steven's braising book, so far so good. We're having pizza tommorow, I was in lidls today and mozzarella was on special offer at 30p (60c?) per 125g ball As well as mozzarella I bought some tinned tomatoes, mandarin juice, multi vitamin juice (both 100% fruit), plain yoghurt, grapes, bratwurst, double cream, part baked rolls, bottle of red wine and skimmed milk, came to £15. I bought the haggis at Safeways, it was £3.99, but it did five with leftovers for baked potatoes tommorow lunchtime.
  24. I second the braising book, so far I've been loving it! My favorite new baking book though has to be Home Baking, by Jeffrey Alford, Naomi Duguid, dont know how to make an amazon/egullet link.
×
×
  • Create New...