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What's everyone cooking this week?

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Re: What's everyone cooking this week?

Postby Amyw » Sat Sep 26, 2020 6:32 pm

I never thought I liked pesto when it first started appearing everywhere but when I first made it fresh , I love it . I’ve made a watercress pesto before which was good and also subbed the pine nuts for almonds as well .

Must give coriander a go , sounds nice . Funnily enough I’m on aubergine and mozzarella ravioli tonight with red pesto , nice lazy tea courtesy of waitrose

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Re: What's everyone cooking this week?

Postby KeenCook2 » Sat Sep 26, 2020 6:40 pm

Amyw wrote:I never thought I liked pesto when it first started appearing everywhere but when I first made it fresh , I love it . I’ve made a watercress pesto before which was good and also subbed the pine nuts for almonds as well .

Must give coriander a go , sounds nice .


The coriander one is great, with lots of garlic!
Yes, I almost always sub walnuts, cashews or almonds for the pine nuts unless I'm making basil pesto (all of which are less expensive too!)

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Re: What's everyone cooking this week?

Postby Pampy » Sat Sep 26, 2020 6:42 pm

KeenCook2 wrote:If you'd like to try it, Pampy, I'll give you the recipe :D

Yes, please! I like Amyw's idea of using watercress too.

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Re: What's everyone cooking this week?

Postby Stokey Sue » Sat Sep 26, 2020 6:48 pm

I have only had the coriander pesto from a jar, and to be honest much as I love both coriander and parmesan, I don't think they combine well

There's a Burmese noodle dressing in the hsa ba Burmese Cookbook that just needs coriander leaves; peanut oil (or any neutral oil); red chillies; limes; fish sauce; and is used like pesto to dress egg noodles. The fish sauce works much better than the Parmesan to add umami un my opinion - you could add some inauthentic garlic (or use garlic oil, popular in Burma) sesame oil, sesame seeds or crushed peanuts

I have a lovely bunch of coriander, I feel an experiment coming on

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Re: What's everyone cooking this week?

Postby KeenCook2 » Sat Sep 26, 2020 6:55 pm

I use the same basic proportions for whatever green leaf or herb I'm using. This is the original that came from Dennis Cotter's Cafe Paradiso:

100g rocket
50g pine nuts, lightly toasted
2 cloves garlic
salt and pepper
200-250 ml olive oil
40g grated parmesan

Put everything except the oil and cheese in a food processor and blend to coarse puree.
Add half the oil and the parmesan and blend again for a few seconds.
Transfer to a jug or bowl and stir in the rest of the oil, or as much as you need.

Cotter suggests storing it thick and diluting it with olive oil when needed.

He also suggests ground almonds for a coriander and chilli pesto and leaves out the cheese.
Store with a thin film of olive oil on top.

I like the sound of watercress pesto too and will definitely give it a go.

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Re: What's everyone cooking this week?

Postby Amyw » Sat Sep 26, 2020 7:39 pm

That makes sense re leaving out the cheese , agree with Sue I can’t see it being a natural pairing with the coriander . You’ll have to let me know what you think of the watercress , I just did a straight sub for the basil and kept the pine nuts and Parmesan in . Had it with salmon and sauté potatoes

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Re: What's everyone cooking this week?

Postby OneMoreCheekyOne » Sat Sep 26, 2020 9:38 pm

Love a rocket and watercress pesto! I don’t think coriander pesto would be my bag but OH would love it.

Tonight we’ve had a tray bake of chicken thighs with green chillies, thyme, cherry toms, red onions, garlic, sliced potatoes, paprika and lemon.

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Re: What's everyone cooking this week?

Postby Renee » Sat Sep 26, 2020 10:38 pm

I would love that meal OMCO! I use chicken thighs quite a lot these days. One of my favourites is Chicken Marbella.

Today I made pork with prunes, using cut up lean pork shoulder steaks from Asda, chopped onion, prunes cut in half, chicken stock and slow cooked in the oven. I added chopped parsley towards the end and to go with it a jacket potato and spinach.

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Re: What's everyone cooking this week?

Postby Stokey Sue » Sun Sep 27, 2020 12:31 am

I got out the.hsa ba book and checked the recipe for Su’s Coriander Noodles it turns out the dressing ingredient include garlic and sugar as well as coriander, chilli, fish sauce, oil, salt & pepper and lime juice. I made the dressing cooked some egg noodles and very nice it was

In the same book I found a recipe for pork kebabs, so I made the marinade and applied it to a pork loin steak, then added steamed tenderstem broccoli to complete the meal

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Re: What's everyone cooking this week?

Postby KeenCook2 » Wed Sep 30, 2020 7:33 pm

This was our sweet potato salad from a few evenings ago - AZ Cook - hope you enjoy it if/when you get round to making it :D
Attachments
sweet potato salad.JPG
sweet potato salad.JPG (65.77 KiB) Viewed 3963 times

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Re: What's everyone cooking this week?

Postby WWordsworth » Wed Sep 30, 2020 9:25 pm

Home alone tonight so, as usual, it's a one pot dinner.
I cooked a couple of slices of smoked bacon then stirred them through a broad bean risotto.
Delicious.

I have used Marigold veg stock powder for years but recently picked up some Suma stuff in the RTC.
Much nicer, I'm converted.

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Re: What's everyone cooking this week?

Postby Stokey Sue » Wed Sep 30, 2020 10:28 pm

I mad a pasta bake last night, tomato rather than béchamel based to use up some leftover canned tomato and mushrooms, was rather nice

Today I fished a chicken portion cooked with Puy lentils and veg out of the freezer, thawed it an ate it with salad for a very late lunch, just had some cheese & oatcake for a very late afters/supper

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Re: What's everyone cooking this week?

Postby Hope » Thu Oct 01, 2020 5:53 pm

I love pesto. absolutely adore it. Only trouble is, I can't eat any ready made pesto (because I'm allergic to nuts and pine nuts. sob). But when I make it, it completely losses all it's flavour. Any idea? (I usually make it with lots of basil - sometimes rocket or watercress, pumpkin seeds, salt, olive oil, a drop of garlic oil (can't eat raw garlic) and some olives - because I also can't eat oily food. no cheese - intolerant.)

I'm so bored with what I cook. We have the same meals every week, with a few variations. I can't be bothered to look for new recipes, though, because there's too much I can't eat in them. (have had to make lots of changes to my diet - with advice from my specialist doc - but it has helped because now I feel an awful lot better, just really miss those foods!)

thursday is normally stir fry and noodles for us - but i'm bored with it, but also can't be bothered to think of anything new to cook.

Lunch for me was buckwheat with 3 types of homegrown kale (I may have slightly panic bought kale seeds!) :lol: homegrown green beans and lots of fresh herbs. Plus sauerkraut (not homemade - that's the next step). so good, though!

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Re: What's everyone cooking this week?

Postby KeenCook2 » Thu Oct 01, 2020 6:04 pm

Hope wrote:I love pesto. absolutely adore it. Only trouble is, I can't eat any ready made pesto (because I'm allergic to nuts and pine nuts. sob). But when I make it, it completely losses all it's flavour. Any idea? (I usually make it with lots of basil - sometimes rocket or watercress, pumpkin seeds, salt, olive oil, a drop of garlic oil (can't eat raw garlic) and some olives - because I also can't eat oily food. no cheese - intolerant.)

Hmm, tricky! Have you tried using other herbs for a change, sage? Or rosemary - I'm sure we had a discussion of rosemary pesto on a thread either on here or on Wildies.

Is it all nuts as well as legumes/aka nuts? That's sad. My cousin has found that she can eat almonds and chestnuts and sesame seeds but not any of the other nuts including pinenuts, peanuts and cashews. I've never asked her about pumpkin or sunflower seeds.

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Re: What's everyone cooking this week?

Postby Hope » Thu Oct 01, 2020 6:14 pm

KeenCook2 wrote:Is it all nuts as well as legumes/aka nuts? That's sad. My cousin has found that she can eat almonds and chestnuts and sesame seeds but not any of the other nuts including pinenuts, peanuts and cashews. I've never asked her about pumpkin or sunflower seeds.

I can't eat any nuts, or peanuts. Also allergic to sesame seeds. I can't eat pumpkin seeds if I have to chew them either, but they are fine when ground. I have to avoid sunflower seeds (and oils) as much as possible. I'm too scared to try chestnuts,being as I react to all other nuts. I tried a tiny bit of nut-free pesto (had pinenuts in) and got that itchy tingly mouth feeling, so haven't had it since. I have the most severe reaction to pecans, so I don't know if the rest is just a cross-contamination. Most people with nut allergies are ok with seeds (pinenuts technically aren't nuts) although they can contain traces of nuts. But my allergies aren't normal ones. I have a rare allergy-like condition. stupid body reacts to things I'm not technically allergic to! :lol:

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Re: What's everyone cooking this week?

Postby Hope » Thu Oct 01, 2020 6:15 pm

sage or rosemary pesto sound amazing. I love basil. love it. Eat it nearly daily, i just can't seem to make a pesto right. I start off with a colindar full of homegrown basil and end up with tasteless green paste. such a disappointment.

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Re: What's everyone cooking this week?

Postby KeenCook2 » Thu Oct 01, 2020 7:20 pm

Hope wrote:But my allergies aren't normal ones. I have a rare allergy-like condition. stupid body reacts to things I'm not technically allergic to!


Oh dear oh dear, sounds "difficult", to say the least ... :thumbsdown

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Re: What's everyone cooking this week?

Postby Amyw » Thu Oct 01, 2020 7:22 pm

Hope , why don’t you start a thread for some ideas for you , where you could put all the things you can’t eat as I’m sure we could all put our heads together and think of some ideas for you . It must be very difficult .

With regards to the pesto , have you tried a good squeeze of lemon juice and maybe add some roasted garlic to it ?

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Re: What's everyone cooking this week?

Postby Hope » Thu Oct 01, 2020 7:40 pm

Amyw wrote:Hope , why don’t you start a thread for some ideas for you , where you could put all the things you can’t eat as I’m sure we could all put our heads together and think of some ideas for you . It must be very difficult .

With regards to the pesto , have you tried a good squeeze of lemon juice and maybe add some roasted garlic to it ?

I should probably do a thread, when I can remember all my can't-eats! Not today anyway. thanks for the idea.

Can't have lemon either (sob) but roasted garlic sounds wonderful!

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Re: What's everyone cooking this week?

Postby herbidacious » Thu Oct 01, 2020 8:42 pm

So Hope are you saying that the only ingredient you can eat in traditional pesto is the basil?! :o

There is this recipe, but it has garlic in it.

https://healthymidwesterngirl.com/easy- ... ree-pesto/

Maybe a different herb with something spicey instead of garlic - smoked chipotle flakes... if you can do chilli.

Can you eat yeast (flakes)?

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