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Food Thread

A

ArcspacE

Banned
I made a lovely roast chicken and potatoes last night. Absolutely adore chicken

Whole bird gets a rub with spices mixed with a bit of olive oil. Then goes in the roasting bag with some large lemon and onion pieces for around 1 - 1h15 mins @ 160C in the oven

Then you add the potatoes and seal the bag again for another hour on 150C.

Served with Portugese rolls on the side and greens salad. Delicious

Any keen chefs here? I do at least 50% of the cooking at our spot - enjoy it (if not more) as much as the eating. Love roasts, stews, and soups - probably my favourite dishes.
 
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Sounds like you like comfort food. Which is my kind of food.

I have a word document called "Recipes" that I keep updated with my favourite dishes.

Here's an example for you (this was created by a Michelin star chef in the UK):

Duck Breasts with creamed Savoy Cabbage

Serves 2
Ingredients
2 x large duck breasts
25g/1oz butter, plus a knob of butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the creamed Savoy cabbage
50g/2oz smoked bacon lardons
30g/1oz carrot, diced
30g/1oz celeriac, diced
?¢ Savoy cabbage, thinly sliced
salt and freshly ground black pepper
250ml/9fl oz double cream

For the duck, preheat the oven to 210C/425F/Gas 7.

Score the skin of the duck breasts in a criss-cross pattern.

Place the duck breasts in an ovenproof frying pan, skin-side down, and cook for 4-5 minutes, or until the fat is rendered.

When the duck skin is crisp and golden-brown, turn the duck breasts over and cook the other side for 1-2 minutes. Baste the duck with a knob of butter, then roast in the oven for 2-3 minutes (for medium), or until cooked to your liking.

For the creamed Savoy cabbage, heat a lidded frying pan until hot and fry the bacon lardons, carrot and celeriac with the lid on for 4-5 minutes.

Add the cabbage and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.Cover with the lid and continue to cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the cabbage is tender. Add the cream and cook for 1-2 minutes, or until the cream has thickened.
 
I don't do the day to day cooking, but I cook whenever we're eating something a bit more extravagant.

Can't wait until we move house and I get my new kitchen (yes, I realise how gay that sounds).
 
What do you mean by comfort food?

I like roast at least once a week - rest of the menu is pretty 'conscious' - pasta at least once a week, fish at least once a week, veggies always essential, etc. I'm a skinny fcuker.

Will definitely try your duck recipe, sound devine - only problem is down here those are hard to find. Occasionally you can get a whole turkey but that's about it. Butchers only do red meats and biltong anyway. Haters. Ostrich however is a nice substitute - the fillets are excellent with blue cheese and pepper sauce
 
i am eating chicken almost every night these days except yesterday when i had a couple of yummy wagyu burgers..
 
ArcspacE said:
What do you mean by comfort food?

I like roast at least once a week - rest of the menu is pretty 'conscious' - pasta at least once a week, fish at least once a week, veggies always essential, etc. I'm a skinny fcuker.

Will definitely try your duck recipe, sound devine - only problem is down here those are hard to find. Occasionally you can get a whole turkey but that's about it. Butchers only do red meats and biltong anyway. Haters. Ostrich however is a nice substitute - the fillets are excellent with blue cheese and pepper sauce
Click to expand...

It would be perfect with Ostrich.

If you like Chorizo, this recipe makes an excellent lunch or dinner.

I've made this with my home grown Dorset Naga chilli's. I got addicted to it last summer.

It's a Nigel Slater recipe so his words, but my modifications in brackets.

Chickpeas with Chorizo

Serves 2
2 -3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large onions
4 cloves garlic
2 chorizo sausages – about 200g
crushed dried chillies (or dorset nagas!!!)
a glass of dry sherry (I use white wine)
5 decent-sized tomatoes (a slug of pasata or chopped tomatoes is much easier)
1 x 400g tins chick peas
small bunch parsley

Warm the olive oil in a deep, heavy-based pan. I use a cast iron casserole. Peel the onions, roughly chop them and add them to the oil, stirring to coat them, then letting them cook at a moderate heat. Peel the garlic, slice it thinly and stir it into the onions. Leave to cook, partially covered by a lid, until the onions are soft and pale gold.

Cut each sausage into about four fat chunks. Mix these in with the softened onions then add a teaspoon or so of crushed, dried chillies. Pour in a glass of dry sherry, vermouth or white wine and bring it to an enthusiastic bubble. Chop the tomatoes roughly, add them and bring them to the boil, then add the chickpeas, drained of their canning liquor and rinsed, then pour in a can of water, then season with salt and black pepper. Bring to the boil then turn down to a simmer and leave to cook, slowly, half covered with a lid for 45 minutes.

I would give it a stir from time to time, and check the liquor levels. What you want to end up with is a rich, brick-red sauce with a spiciness from the chillies and chorizo.
Just before serving. Chop the parsley, but only roughly, then stir into the stew. Serve in shallow bowls, making certain everyone gets a fair bit of sausage.
 
Excellent stuff

Will definitely save those and try them out. I love Chorizo although the wife would make a face. Will have to make it without her seeing what's inside!
 
This is my personal recipe for Roast Potatoes:

- Chop a decent sized potato into 6 smaller chunks
- Rinse with cold water
- Add to large pan of heavily salted cold water and bring to the boil
- Parboil to within an inch of their lives. (Some of the smaller ones will break up instantly when you fork them, so careful)
- Empty into a collander and shake carefully
- Sprinkle with good rock salt (essential) and chopped rosemary (optional)
- Put them on a window ledge or in the garden to cool down and dry off for 20 mins
- Add whole pot of goose / duck fat to baking tray
- Melt the fat in an oven set to 200 degrees. Wait until its spitting.
- Pour the potatoes into the baking tray and cover all over with the fat
- Put in oven for 45-60 minutes, turning occasionally
 
ArcspacE said:
Should the oven temperature remian at 200C throughout the roasting?
Click to expand...

Yeah. But you can turn it up or down depending on how things are going

I sometimes whack it up to 230 if I need to get things moving

Or down to 170 if I'm late somewhere else

The important bit is making sure your potatoes aren't too big, and are boiled to within an inch of their lives.
 
Coq au vin

Serves 4
25g/1oz butter
150g/5?¢oz shallots, peeled but left whole
5 garlic cloves, crushed
150g/5?¢oz streaky bacon, cut thickly
sprig of fresh thyme or a good pinch of dried
350g/12?¢oz button mushrooms
500ml/16?¢fl oz good red wine
500ml/16?¢fl oz chicken stock
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 free range chicken, cut into 8 serving pieces, on the bone but skin removed (or 6 chicken thighs)
small bunch flatleaf parsley, chopped
salt and crushed black pepper

Heat a thick-bottomed casserole dish on the stove, add almost all the butter (reserving a knob of the butter) and the shallots. Cook until just browned; then stir in the garlic. Add the bacon and thyme and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add the mushrooms, turn up the heat and add the red wine, chicken stock and vinegar. Add the chicken pieces, bring the sauce to the boil and then simmer gently for about 25 minutes or until the chicken is tender and cooked through. For a thicker sauce, remove the chicken once it is cooked and keep warm. Cook the sauce over a high heat for a few minutes until the volume of liquid has reduced. Return the chicken back to the pan.

Add the parsley, together with the reserved knob of butter. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and serve with a dressed green salad and olive oil mash or crusty bread.
 
Baked cauliflower & leek cheese

Serves 4
Ingredients
300ml double cream
300g Caerphilly cheese, grated
50ml white wine
1 cauliflower, broken into florets, and 2 leeks chopped - blanched for five minutes in boiling water

Heat the cream, cheese and wine in a saucepan until cheese has melted completely

Place the cauliflower and leeks in an ovenproof dish and pour the cheese sauce over the top.

Place in the oven and bake for ten minutes, or until golden brown on top.
 
Hawksmoors Steak

Serves 2
Each steak should be at least 300g and 1.5in thick
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Take the meat out of the fridge – it needs at least an hour to bring it up to room temperature.

If your steak is wet, pat it dry with a paper towel, otherwise it will struggle to form a decent crust and can pick up some unpleasant boiled-meat flavours. And then, just before you cook it, season the meat well. More than you probably think sensible. It will help build up a delicious salty crust. Some say that you shouldn't season the steak until after you've cooked it. We think they're wrong. We season with a mix of 45 per cent Maldon sea salt, 45 per cent smoked Maldon sea salt and 10 per cent coarsely ground black pepper.

Don't use any oil on the meat or in the pan. If the grill is hot enough the meat won't stick. As well as being unnecessary, oil tends to add a hint of flavour that doesn't sit well with good beef.

Stick the steak on. Leave it for a couple of minutes and then flip. Carry on turning every couple of minutes until it's the way you like it. If the heat is as fierce as our charcoal grill you may need to turn more regularly to avoid burning. Most people say you should only turn your steak once, but we side with the food scientist Harold McGee, who advocates frequent flips – the key is for the heat source to be hot enough to produce that delicious crust. Don't overcrowd the grill or the pan – make sure there's plenty of space between each steak.

If there is a thick layer of fat on your steak, hold it vertically, with tongs, to brown the fat.

When you're happy with how it's cooked (350g fillet – rare 10-12 minutes, medium 12-14 minutes, well done 14-16 minutes; 350g rib-eye – rare 6-8 minutes, medium 8-10 minutes, well done 10-12 minutes), put the steak on to a warm plate and leave to rest for at least five minutes (a really thick steak will be better after 10).
 
Pan-fried salmon with curried mussels

Serves 4
For the mussels
1kg/2lb 4oz mussels
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
small bunch parsley, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
225ml/8fl oz white wine
For the sauce
50g/1?¥oz butter
1 onion, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
1 celery stick, trimmed and diced
1 tsp medium curry powder
150ml/5fl oz double cream
115g/4oz potatoes, peeled and diced
1 tbsp chopped chives
?¢ lemon, juice only
For the salmon
4 x 125g/4?¢oz pieces salmon fillet, skin on
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
Scrub the mussels, remove the beards and discard any mussels that remain open when tapped against the side of the sink.

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-based pan that has a lid. Add the onion and the parsley and cook gently until the onion is soft but not brown.

Add the mussels, salt and freshly ground black pepper and the white wine. Bring the wine to the boil, put the lid on and shake the mussels about. Leave the pan on the heat and cook for 3-5 minutes or until the mussels are open. Discard any that remain closed.

Strain the mussels and set aside, reserving the cooking liquor. Pour the liquor through a fine sieve into a clean jug to remove any grit.

For the sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat. Gently cook the onion, carrot and celery until soft. Stir in the curry powder and continue cooking for a few minutes.

Add 150ml/5fl oz of the cooking liquor from the mussels, stir well and cook for another minute. Stir in the double cream, bring back to the boil then add the diced potatoes and cook for about five minutes or until the potatoes have softened.

Remove the mussels from their shells, add them to the cream mixture and warm them through. Finish the sauce with the chopped chives and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and squeeze of lemon juice.
For the salmon, wash the fish and dry the skin thoroughly. With a sharp knife, cut diagonal slashes in the skin and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Heat a non-stick ovenproof frying pan over a medium heat then add the vegetable oil. Cook the salmon, skin-side down, for 4-5 minutes or until the skin is crisp, then turn the fish over and transfer the pan to the oven for 3-4 minutes or until the fish is just cooked through.

To serve, place the curried mussels in a large bowl and arrange the salmon fillets on top.
 
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