What's everyone eating this week?

[Alexandria Profile]

Thursday Lunch: Lebanese Mezze with Staff ..

Friday Lunch: A fave Italian Restaurant for two ..

[Alexandria Profile]

Friday Lunch ..

The Pizza we had was a Bianco Quattro Formaggio ( A White Pizza, no tomato sauce or tomatoes with 4 Italian Cheeses and some fresh Basil Leaves ) ..

Our Starter was a simple tri color salad of rocket, radicchio & cress -- A green Bio Evoo from Italy with Modena Aged 25 years ..

The wine we shared was simply a lovely Prosecco from the Treviso Region, of Veneto ..

We shared a delighting classic Tiramisù, and had Espresso .. And walked all the way to the Le Mercat de La Boqueria and then home ..

Have a nice weekend ..

[Luca Profile]

Sourdough croque Madame, otherwise known as toasted cheese and ham with a runny egg on top. Very good it was too. Otherwise.... a handful of nuts and a choc chip brioche.

[Joanbunting Profile]

Over the past few days we have had

Mince and herb dumplings with parsnip and carrot batons
Riz au lait with pineapple and rum compote

Calves liver with proper bacon, onion gravy, buttery mash and spinach
Parfait with rhubard compote and cream

Cottage pie with a swede and potato topping, roast broccoli and tomatoes Provencal
Apricot tarte fin with a small splodge of Isigny cream

Tonight it's to be choucroute garni followed by crepes.

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Just off to a baptism party - so I get a proper cooked lunch today!

[Alexandria Profile]

Saturday ..

Christmas Shopping for our grandsons, daughter in laws, and grand parents ..
Have been throughout the city and finally have 8 presents however, still need some stocking stuffers, decorative wrapping items and bags to put the gifts ..

Of course, since we are heading for the Madrid Capital on the 5th as we have National Holidays, we shall pick up presents for our parents and staff in Downtown Madrid ..


Lunch had been a fave bar kiosk in Le Mercat de La Boqueria .. Some lightly fried fresh calamari .. And a glass of wine ..


We are now going to go to El Corte Ingles and F.N.A.C. for a few stocking stuffers for our grandsons and books ..


Have a nice weekend ..

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Baptism was fun! First time we´ve been to a lunch for about 6 months
The food was pretty classic catering stuff: chicken in mushroom gravy, grilled tenderloin, leeks au gratin, avocado and mixed salads, rice and shoestring potatoes - but good! Well -prepared.
The most creative thing was the Prosecco Stand. Glasses of prosecco with flavoured ice-lollies in them; strawberry, or passion fruit.

[Joanbunting Profile]

Sounds fun Clive.

[dennispc Profile]

Salmon.JPG

[Renee Profile]

Oooh, how fabulous Dennis and just look at those potatoes! The crumbs look as though they were tossed in butter first.

[Alexandria Profile]

Petronius ..

Nice salmon and photograph ..

Have a nice evening ..

[jeral Profile]

karadekoolaide and Petronius - can't beat "good food well made" that you can't wait to tuck into

I had a tuna steak and pak choi yesterday for which I make a tamari, ginger, chilli and garlic gravy - usually, but tried a different jus concoction. Result: Good food well made, Yay. Blinking 'orrible jus, Booooo

Suitable veg in coconut milk on rice today.
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Q: As I eat a lot of sauteed veggie for Chinese or Indian theme, does anyone know if the Mexican "chipotles in adobo"(*) would suit meatless dishes? If so, any brand name recommendations please as some reviews say outright what a bad imitation some are.
(*) Medium-hot smokey chillis in a sweet/sour paste.

Thank you.

[dennispc Profile]

Thanks Reneé, you were the inspiration from your earlier photo. Thanks too Member 461 - have a lovely day.

No butter. They are thriced cooked. Mari Piper peeled and cut into slices, par boiled (too long as they broke up), left to dry then sauteéd (that's fried in my book) in goose fat, dried on kitchen paper then baked in oven.

A coupled of weeks ago OH complained - yes, shock, horror - my roasties were not up to scratch! Thus it was roll up sleeve time.

Seriously, recently I've found my roasties haven't been so good and I haven't changed a thing.

[Alexandria Profile]

Petronius,

You are welcome ..

Have a lovely day ..

[Alexandria Profile]

The F.N.A.C. ( book, video, computer & accessories ) Department Store of Barcelona has a tiny bar, and yesterday we did our Christmas book shopping there.

We stopped at the tiny gourmet bar for a Croque Italien ( An Italian Versión ) which was the name F.N.AC. gave this lovely hit the spot oven baked grilled sándwich, was prepared with:

Brioche
Proscuitto
Mozzarella di Bufala
Rocket
Fresh Mediterranean Herbs
Fresh Red ripe tomatoes

It hit the spot as we did not have a proper full lunch due to our Christmas Shopping ..

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Q: As I eat a lot of sauteed veggie for Chinese or Indian theme, does anyone know if the Mexican "chipotles in adobo"(*) would suit meatless dishes? If so, any brand name recommendations please as some reviews say outright what a bad imitation some are.
(*) Medium-hot smokey chillis in a sweet/sour paste.

Chilpotles en adobo are delicious - although they´d be a bit wierd in Chinese or Indian meals because of their distinct smoky flavour.They´re actually mature jalapeños which have been smoked for about 3 days, then cooked with onion, tomato and spices. Work beautifully well with tomatoes, potatoes and beans/lentils. I don´t know if you have the brands over there, but La Costeña is very good, as is Herdez.I have never experienced a bad imitation, but I imagine it would be becaus (a) no heat in the chiles (b) artificial smoke flavour or (c) horrible sweet sickly sauce.

[Renee Profile]

Petronius, I find that Maris Piper hold their shape better than King Edwards, which are prone to collapsing of course. Much more crispiness if they do collapse! I don't know why there has been a difference in your results, except maybe length of storage times for the potatoes? I've never tried any thrice cooking … yet! You're trying to outdo Heston, aren't you?



Member 461, that's a perfect light lunch!

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

OOOOO I could eat those potatoes with mayonnaise, Dennis.

Pheasant here from the butcher.
With cabbage. Nicely reduced sauce that needed no attention, as my newish oven is efficient at the sort of thing.

[Alexandria Profile]

Renée,

Yes, it was light and lovely ..

Just perfect !

Thank you for your feedback and have a lovely day ..

[jeral Profile]

On spuds, I prefer Cyprus or Egyptian for the taste, so recommend trying them if you can get them. (They won't be in Buy British supermarkets of course.) They are floury so behave as Maris Pipers do.

It's a long shot, but maybe there's a good reason why tastes aren't as you/we remember them, in which case I wonder if trying organic ones might help since they should have fewer chemical fertilisers. I often think that the humble spud can make or break a meal so very important.
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karadekoolaid, on chipotle in adobo, I must have messed up my punctuation as I meant making a Mexican dish in its own right

On poor imitations, the biggest criticism is too little chipotle flavour, indeed one has only itty bitties comprising 2% chipotle! I suspect anyone in your neck of the woods selling that would probably be taking his life in his hands...

Thanks for brand recommendations. If I can find them on the Net anywhere, I might be able to see what's in those and get the closest here. I quite fancy trying a lentil dish with a floury tortilla. Who knows, I might go berserk and make some cornbread scones if the dish becomes a keeper

PS to Gillthepainter: Does your oven do an Alexa? "Oven, make that sauce perfect."