What's everyone cooking this week? 2

[KeenCook2 Profile]

Tonight was really rather tasty!

We started with the Coquilles St Jacques that were part of the M & S £20 Valentine's Dine In offer - we hadn't tried theirs before and thought they were very good.
Then OH made a Turkish Braised Carrots and Leeks I came across from the New York Times, and we finished off with some nice fresh banana bread.

[Earthmaiden Profile]

That sounds lovely, KC2. What ingredient(s) make the carrot/leek dish 'Turkish'?

OMCO - your food looks wonderful, as ever. Have you a favourite recipe book for Vietnamese or is it just down to experience and recipes you find?

[KeenCook2 Profile]

That sounds lovely, KC2. What ingredient(s) make the carrot/leek dish 'Turkish'?

I wondered that myself, EM, but they are consistently called that in various recipes!!

StokeySue, time for you to use your impressive research skills unless you know already

[Earthmaiden Profile]

I hadn't thought of looking it up, ltc as I don't subscribe to the NYT. However, you're right - there are quite a few similar looking recipes online. I think it's just a popular Turkish thing and looks nice. Some have rice, they all have lemon and olive oil. It will be interesting to know what KC2's contained.

[scullion Profile]

was it this one? https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013768-turkish-style-braised-leeks

it didn't have a paywall for me, for a change.

[liketocook Profile]

Love the look of those carrots and leeks.
I may or may not be "home alone" tonight, I'm swithering between savoury mince or fish fingers. If I do cook mince I might put together a mince round (mince plate pie) for the freezer though it might be a square one

[KeenCook2 Profile]

No, scully, I don't think it was that one - but I'd obviously used my one free recipe as I couldn't get in to it.

I used these ingredients - nothing unexpected about the method.
leeks, olive oil, carrots, chicken stock or water, drop of sugar, pinch of salt, pepper, lemon juice, olives, and parsley to serve.
You don't eat it when it's piping hot, but let it cool down to room temp.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

There are a lot of those Turkish veg dishes, if you go to a lunch counter in Turkey (or Dalston) you get rice and portions of those among other things, including a bean and tomato dish,

I've never really paid much attention to them as they tend to include the small white turnips, which I loathe, but looking at the recipe, not massively different in principle to veg "a la Grecque" which was big in the 70s and 80s, though the Turkish version is a bit less rich and in the Turkish version they tend to put several veg in together rather than keeping them separate

Here's a fairly typical recipe for leeks a la Grecque
https://www.cooked.com.au/Mike-McEnearn ... que-recipe

And edited to add here's a good version of the Turkish carrot and leek, which looks very much like things I've had in Turkey and locally
https://www.thespruceeats.com/turkish-b ... ts-3274379

[KeenCook2 Profile]

There are a lot of those Turkish veg dishes, if you go to a lunch counter in Turkey (or Dalston) you get rice and portions of those among other things, including a bean and tomato dish,

Ha, Dalston, here we come

Yes, Sue, funnily enough, that The Spruce Eats recipe was the first one I found, but then we decided to go with the NYT one as we didn't want rice with it, having started with the Coquilles St Jacques which had mashed potato.

I expect we'll probably try that one next time, when it's our only course

[Stokey Sue Profile]

It's only a small amount of rice to thicken the sauce, but you could leave it out and just reduce the water a little bit in compensation

Often finished with dried mint, as suggested by Elizabeth David who encountered it in Egypt I think

[WWordsworth Profile]

Tonight is lamb Rogan josh. We need something sharp to cut through the fog.
We are both a bit weary today. It was a pal's birthday yesterday so we had a late lunch with beer and wine.
Then the boys headed off to Welford Rd and the birthday boy's wife and I headed home.

I was working at 0715 today and even though I was home for 8pm I rather regret that 3rd espresso martini

[Sloe-Gin Profile]

I really, really could have done with a takeaway after my efforts with the curries last night (but hey are still closed for refurb), so he requested tapas.
I'm making it as easy as I can (may not actually be tapas)
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/and ... le-chicken
baked baby pots in paprika,
some calamari
artichoke hearts
olives
olive bread with oil and balsamic (think cicchetti)
We're sliding east a bit...

[WWordsworth Profile]

Sounds lovely SG

[Earthmaiden Profile]

We should do a 'Foodie Board' cookery book! Everything sounds so nice.

My effort last night was a typical 'me' experiment using milk and veg which needed eating. It started as sauteed veg (mushrooms, courgette etc) and steamed cauliflower and carrots which were going to be added to some kind of white sauce. The sauce was a flour/milk one with no butter, to which I added chilli flakes, garlic powder, roasted red pepper paste, lemon juice, a tin of tuna and a handful of grated cheddar.
I wasn't going to have any carb but thought a slice of buttered toast would be rather nice with it. The whole thing was really delicious, I'd have been quite proud to have served it to guests!! There's some left too.

[liketocook Profile]

Sounds delicious EM, I do like it when an experiment works out.
Gee whizz SG, that sounds like a fair bit of effort for an "easy" meal, sounds delicious though.
Sirloin steaks for us tonight with mushrooms, oven chips, green beans and peppercorn sauce. A change from our usual Sunday roast as I'm roasting a chook tomorrow for when my sister arrives.

[WWordsworth Profile]

A simple dinner for us tonight, unusual for a Sunday.
We had tagliatelle with spring onions, chopped tomato, garlic, parsley, king prawns and scallops.
Loved it, will definitely do it again.

[OneMoreCheekyOne Profile]

That sounds lovely, Wordsworth.

We had herb crusted rack of lamb with boulangere potatoes, peas and roasted carrots for dinner. Glass of pinot noir. Such a treat of a dinner. Desert was the last mini pannetonne dusted with icing sugar with berries on the side.

Have you a favourite recipe book for Vietnamese or is it just down to experience and recipes you find?

All from a book I had for my birthday last year! ‘Vietnamese, simple Vietnamese food to cook at home’ by Uyen Luu. We’ve made 7 or 8 dishes now and they were all ones I’d repeat. I reckon I would happily cook 80% of the recipes in there.

[Earthmaiden Profile]

The books looks good, OMCO and good reviews. I'm tempted!

Another experiment to use milk and veg up tonight. Veggies at the bottom of the dish plus parboiled cauliflower and a handful of mixed nuts. A batter based on Yorkshire pudding but made with SR wholemeal flour (because I wanted to use wholemeal but only had white plain) with the addition of herbs, garlic powder, onion flakes and the rest of the jar of red pepper paste. Grated cheese over the veggies then the batter poured on and baked. I'd imagined a rather flat and dull dish but it rose beautifully and was really tasty.

Only about 1/4pt of milk left now which will keep a few days so think I can escape from milk tomorrow!

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I got derailed yesterday by my monster Kashmiri takeout lunch, so back to plan today

I made a huge batch of Nigella’s vegan spag bol (sort of) and used some with rice to make stuffed peppers in a tomato sauce, as I got some of the nice primrose yellow E European type peppers (different from the tasteless ones in the traffic light packs) The peppers are briefly pressure cooked in blitzed canned tomatoes leftover from cooking the lentils

Memo to self: a half batch is enough!

[liketocook Profile]

Will be a week of crowd pleasers as I feeding my sister and my nephew (if he's not at work) while they are getting plastering done in their flat.
Roast chicken tonight with baby potatoes, salad and home made coleslaw. It's a decent sized chook so I'm hoping for leftovers to make a pie on Wednesday.