What's everyone cooking this week?

[Joanbunting Profile]

S-I-L arrives this afternoon with the heavy rain that always seems to accompany her.

The menu for supper is Fish pie - without hard boiled eggs, with steamed buttered spinach. Cheese, no goat or smelly. I have just taken a Tatre Normande out of the oven for dessert.

[Amyw Profile]

Made some veggie “sausage” roll things . Used a simple stuffing mix , which I added some softened onion and garlic , grated double Gloucester and finely chopped chestnuts . Really good

[dennispc Profile]

With help from the Soup thread, we had pumpkin soup for lunch. Made a fresh wholemeal loaf plus roasted seeds. Crutons using some oldish bread we had. Nice, thanks for the help.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I made a moussaka on Sunday night, was really nice. Cut out a portion and left the rest to set in the fridge overnight so I could cut it into neat portions, one for later in the week and the rest to freeze

Need to make something with chicken tonight

[Amyw Profile]

Do you add potato to your moussaka Sue? I’d cooked it and eaten it for years without then was served some with potato in . As it goes the potato version seems to crop up everywhere now .

I’m definitely the no potato category

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Potatoes in moussaka could start WW3

I was told 30 years ago by an elderly Athenian chef, that potatoes in moussaka (normal in 70s UK recipes when aubergines were exotic and expensive) were a Cypriot misdemeanour, and no true Greek would use them

Fast forward to Rick Stein's Mediterranean series a couple of years ago, and his moussaka was cooked in the Peloponnese (so definitely mainstream Greek) by Patrick Leigh Fermor's housekeeper. She used 3 layers each of a different veg, aubergine, courgette, and potato, all pre-cooked by deep frying in olive oil. She also used beef mince not lamb, and the only liquid she added to the mince was some chopped fresh tomatoes, quite a lot. She also used a thicker topping of sauce than I've done in the past making a lot of thick béchamel than adding kefalotiri cheese and eggs to flavour and set it. She then baked quite slowly.

So that's basically what I did this time. I didn't track down any kefalotiri or pecorino romano (the nearest thing I've encountered) so I used slightly less parmesan. I shan't do the frying again, I'll revert to brushing the slices with a little oil and baking, but it didn't make it greasy with care and draining on a cake rack

But, to go back to the original question, using the 3 veg was great, I did aubergine - mince - courgette - mince - potato - béchamel topping. Think the potato is best put to support the sauce. A recipe to revisit and tweak.

[dennispc Profile]

In Symi you're more likely to get potato in moussaka than not. The ones we ate didn't have much liquid. Loved 'em.

[Amyw Profile]

Had a so so veggie breakfast today . Undercooked egg , ok veggie sausages , greasy mushrooms and the sauté potatoes were tough as old boots .

Rectified tonight with a piece of breadcrumbed haddock and mound of green veg . Was in need of tomato sauce though

[dennispc Profile]

AmyW, that's our kind of dish.

[Amyw Profile]

Returning to moussaka (maybe we should have a separate thread) , I follow Ian’s recipe apart from the topping where I whisk egg into thick Greek yoghurt and feta crumbled in .

Ian’s http://souvigne.com/recipes/main030.htm

[karadekoolaid Profile]

For the moussaka topping, I make a bechamel and add feta cheese. Then I let it cool a bit; add an egg and some yoghurt. Always turns out creamy, smooth and unctuous. I never use potatoes, though; only aubergines.

[karadekoolaid Profile]

It´s a few days late, but I was so knackered that I couldn´t even be bothered to type!
Saturday evening was my nephew´s wedding - and he´d asked me to do the food. how could I refuse? I won´t bore you with the details, but everything went very well, despite some almost catastrophic occurrences (eg. the chef I´d contacted to help me didnt communicate for five days ) I sacked him and found another.
The first thing on the menu was a Fish Station - tuna tartare, ceviche and prawn cocktail. They went rather well and it was the only thing I managed to photograph!

Matrimonio Juanpi & Lina 1.jpg

[Sakkarin Profile]

What an extroardinarily pink tableful!

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Looks great kka!

[patpoyntz Profile]

I could eat quite a lot of those...they look gorgeous!

[Amyw Profile]

Very pretty , with the pink , almost looks like it could be a Valentines Day starter.

A slightly less pretty plate full of my tea at work

I tried the Meatless Farm company’s mince . Cooked with onion carrot , mushrooms, garlic then added soy sauce , marmite , seasoning , bistoand mixed herbs . Added some sweet corn at the end for extra texture . First sprouts of the season with roasties and I added extra gravy after. Perfect cold weather food

[WWordsworth Profile]

That looks tasty.

[karadekoolaid Profile]

I could eat yours right now, Amy. Got any left??

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

I wish I was at that wedding, Clive.
The last wedding I was at, mummy with toddler next to me fed her daughter from my plate with her fork. Thanks! So I had nothing to eat till a buffet later.

Nice cooking, Amy.
Pretty plates you've got too.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

I would have loved your Serrano wrapped cod Gill. It's something that I've never tried. How do you make your lemon sauce?

Sorry Renee.
I bake the cod, remove to a warm plate
and add lemon juice and the grated rind to the liquor that comes off. And some double cream. No salt, but plenty of pepper.

Herbs if you wish, one or 2 little needles of rosemary go beautifully with fish.