What's everyone cooking this week? 2

[herbidacious Profile]

They are - or it is - cooking now. I added smoked garlic paste and chipotle flakes. I served it with a little crumbled feta.

I had a really nice salad for lunch: warm salad of purple French beans (well, green when they are cooked ), barrel-aged feta, pine nuts, cherry tomatoes, (warm from sunshine ) green olives, a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

[liketocook Profile]

Hope they turned out well herbi, that sounds like a lovely lunch.

Chinese takeaway style chicken and veg curry with boiled rice for us this evening.

[herbidacious Profile]

The aubergine was very nice. Will do again. Husband didn't want any so I ate it all! (It was just one aubergine and nothing else, apart from the feta )

The marinade, which was probably thinner han it should have been, initially, reduced down to something the consistency and colour of slightly runny satay sauce... which made me wonder if a satayish miso sauce would be good. It might be too rich, I suppose.

I have another 4 aubergines to do something with now asap.

Taking of satay, M&S sell this delicious (rather sweet, I suppose) Bang Bang Satay dip which I'd like to try to replicate.

[liketocook Profile]

Sounds good herbi, what about a parmigiana or similar with the remaining aubergines so excess could be frozen for future enjoyment?

[Lusciouslush Profile]

This is the Bang bang sauce I use - pretty easy to put together & very good over allsorts - salad/noodles/pasta etc. don't see why you couldn't use it as a dip.

5g/2½oz crunchy peanut butter
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp runny honey
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
½ tsp finely grated garlic
½ tsp finely grated fresh ginger

Think I'd do a parmigiana with those aubergines too.

Lovely mussels waiting to be scrubbed here later by The Lushly, then I'll turn them into moules mariniere

[herbidacious Profile]

Parmigiana is my favourite... but not husband's. I wonder if he actually isn't terribly keen on aubergines. (He does like babaganoush, though... which I am not at all keen on. But babaganoush is not even really recognizable as aubergine.)
I might do it anyway. I think it can wait until tomorrow though. I am shattered, and can't see that improving.

I have some really pretty round prosperosa aubergines still on their plant when the four scorpio ones in the fridge have been eaten.

Thanks for the bang bang recipe. I could use that as a base. The dip has all sorts of other things in it - lime juice, lemongrass, chilli and a few other things.

Reminds me, I need to water the chillis on the balcony!

[Lusciouslush Profile]

It is a good base Herbi - I use tons more garlic/ginger, add in chilli in one guise or another - even some red curry paste or sriracha, lemon rind/juice, touch of fish sauce or shrimp paste & you can slacken it off with mayo - it depends on the mood

[mistakened Profile]

We are having Parmigiana for supper, does anyone actually fry the aubergines these days, I do mine in grill pan. Roast Chicken and Roasted Vegetables tomorrow, a double quantity of vegetables will be roasted to make a Roasted Vegetable Tart on Saturday.

Moira

[KeenCook2 Profile]

Planning a watercress and goat's cheese quiche for tonight as I have half a packet of ready-rolled short pastry to use up. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/goa ... ess-quiche

As my watercress packet is a bit small, i'm going to pad it out with some rocket. I would have used spinach but haven't got any either fresh or frozen.

[RockyBVI Profile]

I never used to be very fond of aubergine but I am now so loving these ideas. We got derailed on Tuesday as we were both home late so we got a takeaway from the Lebanese place around the corner. It was fabulous. We had moutabel, fattoush salad, kibbeh, falafel and salad. Really good. there was enough for lunch yesterday too.

Yesterday OK was out and I had a very tired cauliflower to use up so I roasted that and ate the lot!

We are going to try to have the fish tonight - if it is still ok. I had a work lunch and had warm courgette salad with 'curds'. Very nice.

[Pampy Profile]

The bang bang sauce recipe looks lovely, Lush - definitely going on my list of things to do!

[Lusciouslush Profile]

Pampy Hi...... !

It's a very adaptable base - goes well with leftover shredded chicken or poached in the usual spices - ginger/star anise/ soy /stock etc. - I often do a few ckn breasts in this to stash in the fridge for salads.

Prawns work well too - cooked first & mixed with the sauce ( which keeps for ages in the fridge) handy to have at hand.......

[KeenCook2 Profile]

It looks really good! What would you recommend in place of rice wine vinegar?

[Lusciouslush Profile]

If you have apple cider vinegar KC2 that would be the best sub - or failing that just white wine vinegar - it won't have the same fruity edge but will be fine - I'm amazed just how much rice vinegar I use these days - really versatile.

[herbidacious Profile]

I suspect a lot of people (but almost certianly no one on here) think they dislike aubergines because they have only eaten undercooked versions - and undercooked aubergine is pretty revolting imo. Cheap 'gastro' pubs do this, I always assume because they think they can undercook aubergine in the same way they can undercook, sorry, lightly cook, carrots, peas etc. (I not really that keen on 'lightly cooked' carrots either tbh.)

All things tomato and auberginey are usually very good in Turkish/Lebanese restaurants, while houmous etc can be more or less good, or at least not quite what you were expecting.

Moira, I tend to roast/bake aubergine, rather than fry, first but I sometimes struggle to get it quite right.
I might dig out my old recipe for parmigiana and do it 'properly', making a more authentic tomato sauce than I usually do, this time.

[liketocook Profile]

No excuse not to make an authentic tomato sauce herbi with all your lovely ripe crop.
I usually griddle or bake my aubergines. I hate an undercooked one horrible mouthfeel!
"Bang bang " sauce recipe sounds "banging" , thanks for sharing Lush.

[WWordsworth Profile]

We have buckets of tomatoes to use so I adapted an old tomatoes on toast recipe for lunch.

Slice the tomatoes and season them.
Then put a glug of olive oil in a pan and warm it with fennel seeds, chilli flakes and garlic then stir through some red wine vinegar.
I didn't have any so I used elderberry vinegar, made by my canine friend's mum.

Pile the tomatoes on toast and drizzle the dressing over.
Loved it.

[ZeroCook Profile]

.
Sounds v good WW as does Lush's bang bang sauce - I use a lot of vinegar in cooking, too - buy the big bulk size white vinegar. Recently tried making Diana Kennedy's Mexican pineapple vinegar but it was a failure and went mouldy on top. Might post on test kitchen or vinegar & oil thread as I recall others make vinegar.

Fajitas a couple of nights ago - always a hit - I like to briefly marinate the strips in an improvised achiote/adovado paste - I mix a bit of zhug paste I keep in the freezer (coriander leaf, fresh green chili, pinch cloves, cardomom, cumin, dried red chili) with achiote powder, vinegar, bit of salt and evoo and sizzle in a hot pan.

[WWordsworth Profile]

5g/2½oz crunchy peanut butter

Just checking, should that be 50g?

[liketocook Profile]

That sounds delicious WW
I do enjoy fajitas ZC

I had a rather tasty lunch today - avocado mashed with feta, tabasco and lemon juice. Piled on a ciabatta roll and topped with Black Krim tomatoes.

IMG_20210910_140728[12614].jpg

Breaded cod from the freezer tonight with potatoes of some description, peas and broad beans.