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Gemmill
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Never tried any non-dairy cheese! Haven't really heard anything complimentary about it though, even from a fair few vegans I've met.

 

I once used silken tofu to make a vegan 'cheese'cake which was nice but that's it for non dairy cheese.

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I've spent the last 2 days cooking. Did a Lasagne on NYE for 6, started chopping its after 6pm, served it up at 9pm. Kilo of steak mince, onions, carrots, bay leaves, tomato purée, white wine, 2 litres of stock, cooked for an hour. Add in roasted and peeled yellow and red peppers, cherry tomatoes, salt and pepper. Home made bechamel with layers of Parmesan and Compté cheese.

 

Today did a 3 kilo leg of lamb for 9 of us. Roasties, veg, gravy. Lovely. 3 bottles of 2008 Chateau Pomys to wash it down.

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Ant's bolognese

 

125g Pancetta (one of those twin tubs you get in sainsburys etc)

500g minced beef

2 cloves garlic crushed or finely sliced

1-2 onions diced

1 carrot sliced/diced upto you

Sliced mushrooms (i love mushrooms and tend to add too many)

1 Tin of tomato's

125ml Passata

125ml'ish beef stock (or one stock cube+water)

1 Decent Glass of red wine (about 200-220ml i'd guess)

2tbsp mixed herbs (bay, thyme, marjoram)

salt & pepper

small drop of milk or cream at the end before serving(optional)

 

I use a wok with a lid i got on the cheap in ikea for this/cooking cottage pie mix and the like works well

 

1. fry the Pancetta in a drop of olive oil on medium heat till it cooks through a bit, add the minced beef in to brown

2. remove the mixture to a bowl, add the glass of wine to the pan to deglaze(watched masterchef ya know) it then lob it into the bowl with the beef/pancetta mix

3. add a couple of drops of olive oil to the now empty pan/new clean one

4. add the garlic, mushrooms, onion to soften them

5. add the carrots (not sure if this is an irish thing or not always have it in bolognese here)

6. add the tinned tomato's and passata.

7. Turn up the heat a bit so that it bubbles and let it thicken a little.

8. add the meat mixture back in along with the beef stock, and a couple of tablespoons of the mixed herbs

9. with the stock etc being added it'll look pretty watery but thats grand, turn the heat down a bit so it's just simmering and let it cook for at least an hour uncovered (1hr30 normally for me) till its thickened to consistency you want.

10. salt+pepper and the optional cream at the end when it's ready.

 

Made this last night. Only thing I added was one celery stalk chopped (along with the leaves), and I also added fresh basil (I have a heap of it in the garden) at the "carrots to the pan" stage. A little watery after simmering for 2 hrs (might add 0.5-1 tblsp of tomato paste next time) but nevertheless it was still lush and very enjoyable.

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Had a char sui pork stir fry last night. Marinated strips of pork in honey, soy and ginger then made a chinese bbq sauce (ketchup, sriracha, soy sauce, rice vinegar, chinese five spice, pinch onion salt).

 

Normal stir fry affair - fried the pork, peppers, broccoli and mushrooms in 2 tbsp of the bbq sauce and a bit more honey and soy with some noodles. Lovely stuff.

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Had a char sui pork stir fry last night. Marinated strips of pork in honey, soy and ginger then made a chinese bbq sauce (ketchup, sriracha, soy sauce, rice vinegar, chinese five spice, pinch onion salt).

 

Brock, how long did you let it marinate for?

When we use to make it we'd marinate it for 24-36 hours and then cook it on an open flame bbq, basting it with the leftover marinade.

 

Doesn't work so well on the faux char sui pork or tofu.

 

Veggie tofu laksa tonight and I can still feel the chilli.

Lazy version, heat tofu cube, then set aside.

Using same saucepan, cook laksa paste (veggie version & add chilli if desired) for 3 minutes until pan is coated, add coconut milk, veggie stock, soy sauce.

Cook for 3 minutes.

Then add snow peas, bok choy and brocollini, cook for 3 minutes.

In separate bowl add boiling water to rice stick (noodles) let sit for 10 minutes.

Divide tofu, add cooked rice stick, spoon in broth and veg, top with bean sprouts, coriander and mint to taste.

Squeeze juice of a 1/4 lime over laksa, eat, drink beer.

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Out for a meal at The Black Horse, West Boldon the other night and had a truly superb starter which was...

 

Smoked haddock kedgeree with soft boiled egg & curry oil

 

Unusually for me I asked for the recipe which they kindly gave me. Unfortunately it doesnt have the method :(

 

Any one made Kedgeree and therefore have any understanding of how the end product can be derived from this list?

 

Onions

Curry powder

Gara Masala

Cumin

Coriander

Garlic

touch of ginger

Peas

Sultanas

Saffron

Basmati rice

Fish Stock

Un-Dyed natural smoked haddock

Soft boiled egg coated in egg + flour and deep fried.

 

(I get the last line).

Edited by Christmas Tree
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And I've just treated myself to this, after at least five years on my Amazon wishlist:

 

http://www.amazon.co...56981366&sr=1-1

 

Got Nigellisma for Xmas and must admit after a quick flick through and reading a few reviews Im not greatly impressed. This obviously sounds like some sort of Italian cookery bible and Ive looked through a few of the recipes here....

 

http://uk.phaidon.co...e-silver-spoon/

 

My question is will I be able to get hold of some of the ingredients it mentions in my local Asda or are these specialists things that I wont get locally.

 

EG: Things like Porcini or potato flour or fresh shelled Borlotti beans ???

Edited by Christmas Tree
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You'll get dried porcini mushrooms at any supermarket. You might struggle with the other two though. You'll get tinned Borlotti beans but fresh ones up here? I doubt it. I don't think I've ever seen potato flour. What's that for? Homemade gnocchi? Mmm...Deli might have it.

I thought Nigellisima was canny like but all the recipes are on the BBC website.

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Aye, not being a southern softy or owt but I imagine it'd be a lot easier to get the ingredients from the Canary Wharf Waitrose than the Boldon ASDA. Not that I intend to realise most of the recipes concerned to the letter, I'm more looking forward to learning the general basic cooking techniques.

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Nigellissima is great. I find that with cookbooks the best thing to do is to actually cook some recipes from it and see how they taste, rather than "have a quick flick through and read some reviews". Ffs. :lol::razz: Bone idle.

 

I've been looking at The Silver Spoon for a while, but haven't picked it up yet.

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You'll get dried porcini mushrooms at any supermarket. You might struggle with the other two though. You'll get tinned Borlotti beans but fresh ones up here? I doubt it. I don't think I've ever seen potato flour. What's that for? Homemade gnocchi? Mmm...Deli might have it.

I thought Nigellisima was canny like but all the recipes are on the BBC website.

 

Potato flour was for Margerhita Sponge cake.

 

http://uk.phaidon.com/the-silver-spoon/recipes/2011/october/10/margherita-sponge/

 

Not necessarily something I would make, just an example of a recipe containing something I was not aware of. One of the reviews on the Waterstones sight basically bemoaned the lack of ingredients in the UK. Having said that I wasnt sure if Meenzer maybe had first had experience of the recipes through friends etc.

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Nigellissima is great. I find that with cookbooks the best thing to do is to actually cook some recipes from it and see how they taste, rather than "have a quick flick through and read some reviews". Ffs. :lol::razz: Bone idle.

 

I've been looking at The Silver Spoon for a while, but haven't picked it up yet.

 

This all stems from reading a scathing Guardian review of her book basically saying its not really very Italian.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/sep/21/nigellissima-nigella-lawson-review

 

Im sure there will be a few nice things in there, but since Meenzer posted about the silver spoon I have been quite intrigued.

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The Nigella book should appeal to you CT, cos everything in it it's a piece of piss to make and very tasty (all the pastas can be made in the time it takes to cook the pasta, the mascarpone and mushroom one is really nice).

 

What difference does it make how authentic Italian it is? This time last year, you thought Dolmio was the fucking quintessential taste of Italy ffs. ;)

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