harrysnapperorgans

Patrickamory, that looks fascinating - and delicious liamsaunt, that looks wonderful! What's the pink sauce?

Those popovers/yorkshire puddings have risen incredibly, considering you started with a cold pan! Have you got a link to the recipe? I make them occasionally, and mine come out great, but sink immediately. I’d like to find a way to keep the crisp and fluffy on the plate for a little longer

Wholegrain rolled oats, toasted with honey, olive oil and a touch of cinnamon. Then it’s just a matter of tossing in what ever I feel like. That one was raisins, dried apricots, coconut threads, roasted almonds, hazelnuts, brazil nuts and macadamias, pumpkin seeds and a couple of handfuls of cornflakes. I’ve done one with dried apple and lots of cinnamon which was pretty epic. I like to whizz it up in a food processor quickly to chop it all up nice and fine and make sure all the fruit and nuts are distributed. Otherwise my kids steal most of the fruit and nuts and I’m left with oats for breakfast.

I’ve been eating this homemade and extremely healthy Granola, usually with a black coffee from my stove top espresso gadget.

chili con carne:

liamsaunt, your anniversary dinner looks incredible. Congratulations on however many years it is!

no peas, although that would have been nice - I sautéed carrots, parsley stalks and leek, then added flour and made the bechamel. I put a big spoon of hot english mustard and a handful of cheddar in the sauce as well - I find as the smoked fish is quite strong, you have to put some good flavour in the sauce to make it cut. A flavourless gloopy sauce drags the whole thing down. A touch of acid from the mustard, strong cheese and the parsley added right at the end works well. Squeeze of lemon would be nice too.

great thread. I struggle with salads, but there are some great ideas here. I love roast vegetables tossed through lettuce and a dressing of lemon, olive oil and mint. Also great with some thin slices of lamb . . . And the classic greek salad, feta, red onion, tomatoes, olives all spread out on a platter so you can pick the bits you like. Nicosia salad is great too.

My father in law made a shepard's pie kind of thing with chicken on the weekend, and it reminded me that I haven't had a old school english fish pie for a long time. Here's me smoking the fish (trevally) and drinking beer outside in the rain and freezing cold : Smoked fish and parsley ready to go into the béchamel and mirepoix: Finished pie and steamed broccoli: I've made this before, but never with home smoked fish. What an amazing flavour. And it only took five minutes to smoke on my BBQ.

What is this amazing thing?

looked great - up until he cooked it.... can't say I like the look of that method. but i like my steak pretty blue

Hi Leslie! I still check in time to time! I just do 100 grams ’00’ flour to a pinch of salt and a free range egg. If it’s too dry, I add a little water or too wet more flour. I do find that it’s often either slightly dry, and very hard to roll out, or too sticky. Very hard to correct either way. I guess I don’t make it enough to really get good at pasta, although it does always taste good. What’s the Modernist Cuisine method?

I made my wife Jo blueberry pancakes for mother’s day. It may be naughty to say so, but these actually were the best american style pancakes I’ve eaten. Off the chart delicious. Made a quick blueberry compote and served with warm maple syrup and butter. The boys helped me make the batter and then they set the table. Maybe next year they will graduate to doing the whole thing

sweet topic! I've done beef stew with ale, beef pies with Guinness and beer bread, which was fantastic. My recipe for beer bread makes a pretty dense loaf, as there is no rise time or yeast (apart from the yeast in the beer). I guess it's technically more like a scone mix or something . . . . Mix together: 3 cups flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, one can of beer. You may need a little water, and I sometimes add a drizzle of olive oil. Top with a sprinkle of grated cheddar, cook in 180 degree oven for maybe 40 minutes .

Yeah just a cookie cutter. My kids did most of the cutting out. My middle son also did a couple using a snowman cutter, which he found utterly hilarious.

Sunday was Mother's Day and I had to go out to band practice, and so made up for it last night by making my wife's favorite food, ravioli, this time with a sweet potato, mushroom, feta and parmesan filling. As usual no after shot as we were too hungry! I cooked it in salted boiling water and made a simple sauce with olive oil, anchovy, garlic, spinach, pasta water and lots of parmesan. Then after dinner I made another batch of fresh pasta for my wife to cook for lunches for the next week or so: It was fun, but a lot of hard work. I was rolling pasta for hours.

your pork burger sounds AMAZING

I use extra virgin Olive Oil for almost everything. I have a bottle of canola which I use for making Asian style food - the idea of olive oil along with things like fish sauce and soy sauce fills me with horror. Occasionally I'll use some butter too, often for pancakes.

I do equal weight, but I've tried it both ways. Equal weight worked better for me. Leave the batter to sit for an hour or more if you can, but not in the fridge - room temp! Make sure you get the fat REALLY hot, and cook them until really golden brown. Under cooked ones will sink fast when you take them out. The other thing I do as add a pretty serious pinch of salt, or they can be a bit bland. Along with roast beef or lamb, yorkshire puddings would have to be one of my favourites. Beautifull meals all, the ribs, beer steamed chicken, roast beef, prawn soup and asparagus all look amazing. It's winter here in NZ, and getting cold. I already miss asparagus and really fresh garden tomatoes and so on . . .

Interesting thread. I didn't realise that you can make a second batch of stock from the same bones! I'll be trying that I tend to use the bones of a roast chicken, carrot/celery/onion/peppercorns/bay leaf. Sometimes a little sprig of rosemary or thyme towards the end. I used to chuck in all kinds of varied vegetables, but I've decided I like the mirepoix plain and simple. I use very little salt, in case I reduce the stock in a future sauce, learned that the hard way . . . :-)

Yeah, it was a monster. had a lot of people to feed.

Wow that was good! No after photo, we had guests and both my two kids and my sisters' kids were clamoring for their dinner. It's a bit of work, but delicious and a more exciting than the everyday roast chicken. Will be making this again for special occasions! Also quietly chuffed that I could pull it off - I've never deboned a chicken before, and my previous efforts at trussing things have been pretty poor . . . .

Here's an in progress shot: This is my first attempt at a boned, rolled and stuffed chicken. It's stuffed with bread, pork sausage, thyme, dried apricots and almonds. Looking forward to the results.

I've been so exhausted with a new baby in the house that my cooking has been pretty dire. Lots of horrible pre-crumbed fish fillets, packet raviloi and of course lots of casseroles from friends. Finally made something good tonight though: Deconstructed Sweet and Sour Pork. Sour peppers, sweet from the grilled pineapple and a grilled pork chop and brown rice. It was really good, if I do say so myself

Most weeks I roast a whole chicken. The legs and thighs and wings we eat as a roast dinner. Breasts become sandwiches or a curry. I keep all the bones, break them up a bit and put in a pot with carrot, celery, unpeeled onion, few cloves of garlic, pinch of salt and cover. simmer for as long as like. I usually do about 3 hours.