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Daphne

In the kitchen

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Following comments elsewhere on lets talk food, I should perhaps have called this Recipe for Today or something, but as I am not very good at reciting recipes (most of my everyday cooking is from memory unless I am feeling inspired and get the cookbooks out) I thought I would resurrect the thread we used to have where we could just share what we'd been up to in the kitchen.

As luck would have it, not much by me!  However, OH made a loaf this morning.  He has started mixing the dough (wholemeal flour, yeast, salt and a little honey) the afternoon or evening before in a breadmaker, leaving the dough in the loaf tin overnight in the kitchen, and then baking in the oven in the morning whilst making the morning cup of tea and breakfast.  The honey seems to help the rise.

This evening we are having some smoked cod, stirred through pasta with smoked chili, crushed garlic and wilted spinach.

My Mum's Christmas cake has also just been finished, which is a shame.  Not to worry overmuch though, as we were given an Xmas pud as part of our regular homemade Xmas hamper and I love that even more!

 

 

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Ooh! I’m inspired to make some bread.  Great idea to resurrect this thread, Daphne. 

I’m craving sunshine at the moment so we’ve just had a tomato, red pepper, spring onion salad, with basil leaves and mozzarella, for lunch.  Just splashed over olive oil and some framboise vinegar,  I found in the cupboard.    Now back to the grey and cold as I light the fire.   But bread making will warm the cockles too 

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I have returned to the boiled fruit cake from ages ago - thanks to the super techie Cat Tails :dance: who dug out the old recipe for me - made it last week, fed it brandy and it's now clingo'd and maturing (I jazzed the recipe up with extra cherries, nuts and treacle for our Christmas cake - iced and marzipanned too!). I do the making in advance thing with parkin too so that I have something in reserve. If I combine with another baking session (did the fruit cake when making Anzac biscuits) then it doesn't seem to take too long. Also made banana traybake with a glut of over ripe fruit (should have been a loaf but I thought a shallow tray bake would take less time to cook and it did!) 

We have a fantastic ethnic food shop on the Cowley Road into Oxford (about 20 mins away from us PW!) and they have a great range.....went there last week and also to the Korean supermarket nearby and so are having Korean this evening; OH is cooking!

Yet again I have killed my kefir grains...left them too long and there was a powdery stuff on top and they were so thick I had to cut the resulting mass with a knife to get it out of the jar. Must send off for some more! 

There has been a butternut squash in the vegetable rack for the last few days making me feel guilty every time I walk past - I think I'll make soup tomorrow with peanut butter, fresh ginger and chilli. The boys don't like it but I really do and it freezes well!

2 hours ago, Patricia W said:

Ooh! I’m inspired to make some bread.  Great idea to resurrect this thread, Daphne. 

I’m craving sunshine at the moment so we’ve just had a tomato, red pepper, spring onion salad, with basil leaves and mozzarella, for lunch.  Just splashed over olive oil and some framboise vinegar,  I found in the cupboard.    Now back to the grey and cold as I light the fire.   But bread making will warm the cockles too 

We make sourdough and you are welcome to some starter if you want to pop in on your way to Thame?

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Yes, we can use Andy's thread for actual recipes and mine for general kitchen/foodie chit chat.  Lets take back control.....

We had roast veg in the week with a butternut squash and other root veg, topped with feta cheese and some oregano.  Easy, quick and quite good for you!

 

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3 hours ago, soapdragon said:

 

We make sourdough and you are welcome to some starter if you want to pop in on your way to Thame?

Yes please, Alison! I’ll pm you to arrange when.  That Ray White bloke has a class on breadmaking that I’ve toyed with buying for OH.  Their soughdough is out of this world.  I also recently discovered that Degustibus bread is made in Abingdon.  Very trendy stuff. 

Glad you mentioned butternut squash.  I too have one, plus a pumpkin that I must do something with.  Love this thread.  

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Well I have been watching numerous debates on the Parliament channel so its probably catching!  However, I haven't seen The Uncivil War, so thanks for the reminder, OH and I both want to watch it, I am imagining something like The Thick of It, without the laughs.

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I love recipe books and I often go through phases of using particular books and then DD will say can we have ..... then I can never find the recipe again. I need a way to record what I've made so I can make it again in the future. 

I made Stilton soup for lunch as I felt we needed something warming. Should have made bread to go with it. 

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I don't really have any recipes to share and I don't bake cakes or ever make puddings. Not for any good reasons, I just don't remember. I'm currently teaching myself how to cook Japanese style because it's different and healthy. I use a good dollop of miso paste and a dash of mirin in most meals with ginger and garlic. Something like the small green squashes can just be scrubbed, sliced and sautéed in that with a little oil. I like thick, gloopy sesame oil. I peel tougher squash like butternut. They have a meal called Nabe which basically refers to one pot soups with varying strength of curry. On a scale of 1-10 I'm a 1 for curry. Everything goes in from the sautéed squash to tofu to a bit of meat, baby aubergine, lotus root, mushrooms. The important thing is how it's arranged. All the colours and components are displayed. It's a very satisfying meal. There are shops selling what I need all over the place but my favourite is Hoo Hing on the North Circular. The staff are a bit grumpy but there's so much choice. When I visited ES I got quite excited if we needed to go to a supermarket there. 

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That sounds like old fashioned one pot dishes in days of yore, you know the sort of thing, a big black pot over an open fire where you chuck anything and everything in for the night's meal.  I am probably a 3 or 4 on the curry scale, but I'm not overkeen on it, I have to be in the mood.  Having said that, I do like chili in many things and my current fave are smoked something chilis in Sainsburys for £1 a jar.  Not too hot and a bit smoky.  I have a chef friend in NZ and he is really getting into Japanese food, added to which we have two Japanese women living close by in Portugal (all very complicated, one is married to a Portugeuse chap and the other one seems to be his girlfriend??!!) and so far they have brought us some homemade sweet things, but I hoping for a meal invite!  I can't buy mirin easily here, so I sometimes substitute white wine vinegar and a little sugar.  

Our smoked fish and pasta dish was horrible.  The fish was smoked down on the seafront by a fishmonger, but it was very strong.  I think it might have worked if I had also mixed in some creme fraiche and soft green herbs.  I have had to light an oil burner this morning as well to take away the stink. Nil points!  Tonight we are eating at a friend's house - cheese fondue!

 

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Love that you have resurrected a cooking and food thread.   I love the boiled fruit cake and use it every xmas tarted up with cherries and treacle and nuts and also instead of the liquid I use port to boil the fruit with the butter and treacle - it really gives it a fantastic flavour - We still have some left and its still lovely and moist and did not need brandy in it as it has the port.  I would love the lemon tart recipe which was Poets if someone still has it - would be grateful.

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3 hours ago, Blackrocksrock said:

Love that you have resurrected a cooking and food thread.   I love the boiled fruit cake and use it every xmas tarted up with cherries and treacle and nuts and also instead of the liquid I use port to boil the fruit with the butter and treacle - it really gives it a fantastic flavour - We still have some left and its still lovely and moist and did not need brandy in it as it has the port.  I would love the lemon tart recipe which was Poets if someone still has it - would be grateful.

You may still be able to look it up on the old Forum. Otherwise the wonderful Cat Tails may be able to help - she rescued me when I was looking for the boiled fruit cake recipe! I had made it on so many occasions (subbing the water for Earl Grey tea and using dark/light brown and muscovado sugars, differing fruits, as the mood took me!) but lost the scrappy, mixture splattered bit of paper that I'd transcribed it on to!

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22 hours ago, Purplemaniacs said:

then I can never find the recipe again.

That happens to me all the time because I mostly use recipes from the internet these days and when something turns out really well I frequently can’t remember where I got it!

Ooh I’ve made that lemon tart before - it is really easy and SO tasty.

Edited by mullethunter
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I make bread and rolls pretty much every week. I started when there was a lot of talk about flour improvers and have carried on. I have a lazy way of making a pasta bake. I cook whatever vegetables I want in the wok with various seasonings and whatnot. Then I chuck in the pasta and let that soften a little and then I pour in some milk and a dollop of butter. When everything is the right consistency I stir in the cheese. Pop it in a suitable pot top with a little bit of cheese and whatever you want and bake. It's much easier than cooking the veg and the pasta and the sauce separately. It doesn't have to be cheese sauce, that can be left out, the pasta cooks in the veg. You might have to add a little water or passata or something. 

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That's a very good tip PL, I often get a request for tuna bake (basically veg, tuna, cheese sauce and pasta) but quite often can't be bothered as it is time consuming doing either bit separately and creates washing up, so I like your idea very much.

The cheese fondue didn't quite work as it should have, it tasted delish, but we had to use a knife and fork to cut it out of the fondue dish!  Tonight I am making my regular tomato sauce with chorizo on pasta; its so comforting in this chilly weather.  Last night we were out and had a really nice wild mushroom risotto with truffle oil.

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On 1/19/2019 at 9:37 PM, soapdragon said:

Chunk up your squash, fry with onion, chilli and ginger (no quantities as I am a cook by eye/taste person!) then add veggie stock and simmer until squash is tender then blitz with enough peanut butter to make it smooth and soupy. Nums!

I made this last night, put in a cap-full of dried chilli and Oh My was it hot 😅 
I added extra peanut butter and cream to try and cool it down but even my housemate who puts hot sauce on everything thought it was too hot! Hate to waste it so I ate it with a streaming nose :lol: 

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