What are you eating today?

[Suffs]

1 portion dough balls
2 classic pizzas
a glass of red wine
a glass of lemonade

£42.97 with a 12.5% tip included but also a £10.75 discount.
The glass of wine bumped it up at £8.95. Nothing special. So without the discount and without the wine would have come to more or less the same (a little more. We have to let T have glass of water, at least!)

It's hard to eat out for less than that in London, these days. Most moderately priced places (pubs etc.) are charging £17-20 for a main course in SE London, possibly more in central London. But this was Pizza Express so same prices all over the country?

I succumbed to a later dessert tonight of a sliced banana with cream and confiture du lait au miele.

Ah I’d missed that it was ‘eating out’ … that would explain it. Sorry.

I always thought I’d got a ‘healthy’ appetite but I’ve never ever considered dough balls and a whole pizza! Half a standard pizza and salad is enough for me. I’ve never even considered eating dough balls Back in my greedy twenties and thirties we would all have a pizza each at The Noble Romans, but those days are long gone. I’d collapse with exhaustion after eating that much white flour

By coincidence tonight’s planned supper will be an ‘artisan’ 12” thin base pizza (about £8) from the farm shop, shared between the two of us, with a salad of cos lettuce and home grown tomatoes (at last!). https://www.ericspizza.co.uk/

Seems I’m not the only one who misses the Noble Romans
https://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/2350 ... er-closed/

[herbidacious]

I had 2 of the dough balls and not all of my (very thin margherita) pizza. And yes, I was stuffed, but on a no lunch or breakfast day, I'd probably have a dessert too.
Most days I only eat one meal, and maybe a handful of nuts. But I admit I had had a vegetable wrap for lunch that day. I am always more hungry on office days.
T is 6ft 4 and works 12 hours a day most days, so I think he's allowed

If we have pizza at home, we share one.

If you eat pizza out in a restaurant, do you share a pizza then?

[Suffs]

I wasn’t being critical … just sharing my experiences!

The only place where we eat pizzas out nowadays is The Tobie Norris in Stamford, where the pizza base is as thin and crisp as carta di musica as you’ll see if you watch the video https://www.kneadpubs.co.uk/the-tobie-norris/

Otherwise if we want pizza I make one or buy one from the farm shop or waitrose.

When the mark up on food in a restaurant has to be so high to cover staff and running costs, and is roughly the same whatever you eat, I tend not to choose something I can do just as well if not better at home and opt for more of a treat. . That’s all.

[Suffs]

A change of plan means we’re not lunching out today … so we picked up something nice from Wrose … a piece of baguette each with sliced saucisson sec, goat cheese, grapes and a couple of figs.

[Pepper Pig]

That sounds lovely Suffs although I would have to replace the goat cheese. I think I might have a fish supper tonight.

I barely eat the crust on pizza but I make sure every bit of the topping is consumed. 4 dough balls would constitute lunch for me.

[herbidacious]

I am with you on the not eating out what I could easily make at home. (This is why I really like eating mezze and tapas. It's far too time consuming just for two of us.) So pasta is a last (vegetarian) resort, for example. (I am pretty sure a local restaurant used to get their ravioli from the Co-op! It also came off their menu when the Co-op shut down.) My homemade pizzas are very nice (IMO!), but not at all authentic or at least much like restaurant ones, though so not entirely comparable to a Pizza Express one - or my preferred but difficult to get a table or park place, Bona of Forest Hill.
But sometimes, after a hard working day, you just want to be fed which means going out to eat (locally), in this household, and that basically means pizza or curry i.e. generic food types. I really wish there was somewhere really nice to eat round here, still... I live in hope of a move back towards lighter (less carb and meat based) and imaginative cooking. It's not as if everything is a chain, so many places have some autonomy.

[scullion]

leftover thai green followed by the rum and raisin ice cream made this afternoon. (on the ice cream thread).

[Stokey Sue]

Lazy supper of one of those fish cakes with sauce in the middle and veg. Nice.

[herbidacious]

Faux bacon and two cheese omelette with garlic.
A weird Lidl Spanish/Catalan dessert which was essentially custard with a soggy biscuit in it. (Good thing I am not in marketing.) Overly sweet but not as unpleasant as I made it sound.

[Earthmaiden]

I saw the biscuits with custard in Lidl yesterday - and decided it looked like a Rich Tea perched on custard and not what I wanted!

[RockyBVI]

There is a pub in Kew Bridge that does 2 for the price of 1 pizzas on a Monday which have done on a couple of occasions. They are really good and have interesting toppings so we get two different ones and share. The leftovers get nibbled over the next few days.

Last night was fish pie and a rather nice version if I do say so myself.

Lunch will be BLT (and avocado) baguettes. Not sure on dinner. I fancy aubergine chilli but I expect OH won’t feel that is very Saturdayish. So I may make a few curries.

[Suffs]

We were very pleased with the locally made Eric’s pizza we bought from the farm shop and shared last night … a very thin and crisp sourdough base and well flavoured topping.
With a Baby Gem and beefsteak tomato salad it was all we needed.

[Stokey Sue]

Lowering the tone, as I find a full size 12” pizza too much I like the “small plate” 8” pizza in Wetherspoons when I’m playing backgammon, quite thick but nice sourdough crust, reasonable toppings. I buy the Crosta & Mollica pizzette, same size, to cook at home and add extra topping

PS the name Crosta & Mollica nagged at me and I looked it up, it does mean “crust and crumb”, one of those names that I think of generically as made up “Strong & Noble” type business names.

[Suffs]

This evening’s supper will be a version of this
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/cre ... o-traybake

I’ve already parboiled and sliced the potatoes (I skinned them too) and softened the leeks … I used two leeks ‘cos we eat a lot of veg and I want this to be a real ‘one dish’ meal. I’m going to add some de-frosted petit pois to the leeks when I add the cream etc.

I’m already planning on another version where I braise some quartered fennel bulbs and add them to the leeks.

And possibly a beetroot and Jerusalem artichoke version later in the season … and maybe mushroom and chestnuts … what do you think?

ETA. Do you think it’d work with gnocchi rather than the potatoes?

[scullion]

i'm fancying a 'heavy on the lentils or beans' dinner - stew or soup - stoup? - with dumplings. (i need to make bread but it won't be ready for a couple of days.)
followed by yesterday's rum and raisin ice cream.

change of plan - i have mushrooms and bean sprouts to use so it'll be a chinese stir fry with tofu.
maybe lentils tomorrow.

[Earthmaiden]

It's ages since I had pizza when eating out but I did used to enjoy going to Pizza Express as some of the toppings were interesting. There was always room for a few dough balls, sometimes a shared portion and if you felt that guilty you could have the pizza served with a hole punched out of the middle replaced with salad. Then those gorgeous little figs with marscapone afterwards ... .

I have gone right off store bought pizzas, there seems to be less topping and more bread on every brand. I bought a vile rtc one in Waitrose the other day. It had bechamel sauce, salami and slices of potato .. I didn't expect it to be as bad as it sounded. There is still half in the freezer.

I think all your tray bake ideas would work, Suffs, including the gnocchi. Some I wouldn't care for but that's down to taste, not viability. I know there is cream but I'd be watching those leeks carefully unless you like them charred.

[Pepper Pig]

I loved the figs. And I also liked the pizza with the egg on top that was saving Venice.

[Suffs]

Eeuw! EM … I’ve not come across a Wrose pizza with potato! I’ll avoid it if I do!

We usually opt for a No.1 Wood-fired Double Mozzarella Margherita Sourdough Pizza, or No.1 Limited Edition Wood-Fired ‘Nduja & Burrata Sourdough Pizza, or there’s one with a roasted Mediterranean veg topping which is very good.

[KeenCook]

Whenever I'm at pizza express, I always have a Leggera as I like having the salad in the middle.

OH got carried away in the Japanese shop when we were getting rice noodles and he got a pack of sargassum ... hmm...

We're having tuna steaks marinated in soy, orange juice, and I'm not sure what else he put in it. They're pretty small - Waitrose albichore (sp?), a 200g pack of 2; I think they may have been part of their 3 for £12 offer. We had them in the freezer for a while.

I'm reserving judgment atm on the seaweed ... he plans to "lace" it through the noodles, ie bunging them together beneath the tuna steaks on the plate.

ETA, it was very good. The soy, orange sauce had chunks of ginger. OH boiled the seaweed and then fried it in sesame oil with a finely sliced shallot. That was mixed with the rice noodles; caramelised orange slices and the reduced marinade were spooned over the tuna steaks.

[Earthmaiden]

It sounds lovely, KC.