What's everyone cooking this week?

[Earthmaiden Profile]

I had a lamb leg steak which is something I very rarely have. Simply roasted with garlic, herbs and veggies round it sprinkled with oil and eaten with green beans and jacket potato. The juices were lovely and I know it sounds a bit odd but I added a squirt of sweet chilli sauce at the end. It was really delicious.

[PatsyMFagan Profile]

After watching most of last Saturday's 'Saturday Kitchen' I was inspired by Jason Atherton's Potato and Parsley Soup with Black Pudding and cheddar toasties ...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/pota ... soup_34931

I had some black pudding lurking in the freezer as a rtc item several months ago and the reaction from Andi Oliver, Matt Tebbutt was so positive, I thought I would give it a go.

I then popped out to do some shopping and there was a couple of packs of parsley on the rtc clear counter, so it seemed that I couldn't NOT take advantage of them.

I don't have a toastie maker, but did have a seeded ciabatta roll in the freezer too... so after following the recipe for the soup, I sliced the roll in half, and just sprinkled the black pudding mix on each half, then topped with cheddar cheese, then popped under the grill.

It made a satisfying lunch, however the potato soup tasted just a bit too much like Parsley sauce for my liking, so the rest has gone in the freezer and will be used with some white fish (either a UFO in the freezer, or bought in especially )

[Renee Profile]

Last night I cut up shoulder of pork steaks, browned them lightly, then added cut up leeks and a cut up pepper. I added some white wine and then reduced right down before adding stock and thyme sprigs. I slow cooked for about an hour and a half, then added apple chunks and cooked a bit longer. It was so good. Plenty left for tonight.

[smitch Profile]

Yesterday I thought I'd better have some vegetables as our diet has been awful whilst I've been working ridiculous hours.

I made a veg black bean stir fry with egg fried rice and salt & pepper chicken style pieces from the Vegetarian Butcher via Ocado.

I have no idea about tonight. I've just had some very disappointing noodles from a Vietnamese street food place near my temporary office and I had a vegan sausage roll for breakfast as Leon had pretty much sold out of everything when I left the station this morning

[Lusciouslush Profile]

Yesterday, thro' unforseen circumstances it was sardines on toast - & blooming good it was too - why don't we have that more often I ask myself.....?!

Tonight is what we should have had last night - judions with chorizo in a tomato sauce with squid - plenty of garlic, plenty of chilli......& then some more chilli.............

[Sakkarin Profile]

Occasionally I go wild and add olives, capers, sundried tomatoes and all sorts of other bits and pieces to my sardines before toasting. Yum.

I've just had some very disappointing noodles from a Vietnamese street food place

What was it labelled as?

It's quite hard to make Thai and Vietnamese food unpalatable, it must have been dire

[smitch Profile]

It was Pho Xao Chay
"Veg with stir fried noodles in soy, pepper, and hoisin sauce. With a medley of crunchy asian veggies and spinach, crispy shallots, fresh coriander, and fresh chilli"

There was no spinach, the 'Asian veggies' were onion, peppers and a very large chunk of tasteless tomato. It tasted fine but was a lot like the random 'use up random veg that is past its best' stir fries I occasionally make at home. It was also a very small portion, it was on the 'eat out to help out' scheme but I'd have been very disappointed to have paid full price for what I was given.

[Sakkarin Profile]

I wonder why they call it "Pho" if it's a stirfry...

[smitch Profile]

I think the 'pho' part refers to the noodles that are used https://www.uyenluu.com/pho-xao/

[Sakkarin Profile]

Looks like you're right.

I've got 10 Vietnamese cookbooks that I read cover to cover in my Vietnamese cooking odyssey (i.e. several months cooking practically nothing but Vietnamese food...), and not one of them makes that distinction, not even the Lonely Planet one, which is strong on ingredient detail and has a mini Vietnamese-English foodie dictionary. However looking at them just now, a couple of the books have fried noodle dishes with "Pho" in the name, although one of them has what look like thin egg noodles, not what you'd use in Pho

My favourite Vietnamese book is Andrea Nguyen's first book, I found a lengthy history of Pho on her website just now (link below), where she touches on the word's origins and suggests that "pho" meaning "noodle" is a contraction of "banh pho" loosely meaning "pho noodle", the soup still being "pho", I guess a bit like lasagne being both the dish and the pasta.

She's actually a member here, although she's never posted.

https://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2 ... f-pho.html

[KeenCook2 Profile]

We had a variation on this https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/gam ... -dressing/ and it was very good indeed.
We had half a duck crown left over from a not very successful roast on Sunday so bunged it back in the oven for a while, wrapped in foil, and it was really fine in the salad.

The alternative would probably have been a duck risotto but this was much nicer and lighter. I know it looks like Autumn out there at the moment with Storm Francis doing his bit, but I really don't associate duck risotto with a "Summer" evening!

[Amyw Profile]

Yeah duck risotto is a pretty hefty dish isn’t it ? There’s definitely that bit of an autumnal feel in the air but still a hint of Summer too

[Sakkarin Profile]

It is interesting that white turnip is a substitute for mooli. I used our English radishes.

Renee, I just found out that Koreans have their own version of radish! Maybe even mooli is a substitute...
https://www.maangchi.com/ingredient/korean-radish

P.S. Fab freebie books downloadable from her website, for anyone interested in Korean grub.
https://www.maangchi.com/downloads

[herbidacious Profile]

On the stove there is a big pan of vegetables from the garden cooking: orange peppers (first lot I've tried. They have a lovely flavour and colour, and are very sweet), tomatoes (roasted and passata-ized), patty pan squash and a few borlotti beans. Cooked with onion, garlic, thyme, a dash of fruity (literally) balsamic and some sweet smoked paprika. I may add s-d tom paste. Will see if it needs it. Possily some capers and olives, but possibly not this time. I am not sure what I am going to do with it when it's ready. I am so tired, I may just have a bowl of it with cheese - mozarella or feta, maybe.

[WWordsworth Profile]

Home alone for the next few days so it's things I like

Tonight is lentil stew with sesame rice.
J isn't at all keen.

[OneMoreCheekyOne Profile]

Chicken fajitas yesterday and we made a special fried rice tonight to use up lots of bits from the fridge.

Definitely craving a soup here so I’m going to get some beef ribs from the butcher and cook slowly with root veg, stock and barley over the weekend.

Blackberry picking too at some point so they will feature in smoothies, a crumble and lunch boxes.

[Renee Profile]

Sakkarin! Thanks for much for those links. The freebie books will be very useful. I'll be using the spices that you kindly sent me this weekend.

[Sakkarin Profile]

By the way Renee, to reconstitute those semi-dried rice cakes, pour boiling water over, soak for 4-5 mins till floppyish then rinse in cold water. I tried just soaking in cold water and it didn't work. They are 99% identical in taste and texture to the readymade cylindrical ones.

There is a third type of rice cake I've used which is COMPLETELY dried, oval shape and thinner than those ones I sent. They are OK, but need much longer soaking, and never quite get the same texture, which is sort of like a savoury wine gum.

EDIT: I've found a place in walking distance that has both the Korean chilli flakes and (frozen) rice cakes (and the Korean pastes too).

[Sakkarin Profile]

Renee, I just went to fetch those semi-dried rice cakes to take a pic alongside the "very" dried ones, and found that they had gone completely mouldy. They clearly need to be refrigerated once the pack is opened, I suggest you ditch the ones I sent unless they still look pristine to you.

Not quite the same, but flat rice noodles are a pretty good sub.

[Renee Profile]

Oh Sakkarin, I was afraid to tell you that mine had gone mouldy after your kindness in sending me some to try. That is really so strange especially as they are dried. Luckily I do have rice noodles. I've just re-read you message again and see that they are semi-dried. I would never have guessed.