What are you cooking today?

I felt inspired to make something vitaminy and yummy this morning because my little boy is sick. When I dropped my daughter at kindergarten this morning, I told her there would be pumpkin soup for lunch, she was very happy!

So, its simmering away to mushiness at present, I didn´t use a recipe, just played it by ear with onions, bacon (cooked together first to softness), pumpkin and carrots, yet to add any seasonings or creme fraiche... Also bought some great vollkorn rolls this morning to dip in..

Ok, I realise, not everyone is at home cooking on a Thursday morning...

I plan on making perogies tomorrow, and maybe some shortbread, its not today, but I am heading out tonight, so no need to cook.

Crusoe is cooking pumpkin soup with peas in. The other Crusoe will be watching at. I will savage later on by dipping freshly baked bread in.

Ahem...when placing half a blender full of hot pumpkin soup on blend...be careful that it is not set to maximum. Messy kitchen and burns can result...

Tastes yummy anyway...damn the fact I won´t be eating it for at least half an hour.

I made homemade beefstew yesterday. Haven't thought about today yet - but have just decided to go on a hunt for pumpkins...

can i come over during my lunch break lol sounds totally yummy to me... i will request pumpkin soup at the place where i go to every lunch break... yum yum

I have plenty

Going to make pasta this afternoon, not sure if I want to do stuffed pasta or linguini in a tomato cream sauce. I still have to find semolina which I think is called Griess in German, but I have to make sure to get the right kind of Griess. It should be fun anyway.

How can you go looking for pumpkins if you have a gammy eye?
..and even worse: it's a crime to look for pumpkins when you have no makeup on - it scares them away.

I'm obviously not out looking for pumpkins today - instead I am making my eyes worse by staring at a computer screen.

And no, the soup I made yesterday is not the soup on the ceiling that required me getting a new kitchen. ...

I made a beet soup and a veggie pie with courgettes, those purple/orange carrots, brown rice, parmesan and eggs (covered in wholemeal dough) and all was very yummy

usually I prefer to keep the soups healthy so I won't add fat like cream and the likes.
also I have a very simple recipe for pumpkin soup which also turns out to be delicious, just cut up the pumpkin and a leek, some xtra vergin olive oil. put all in the pan, let the leek go until golden and then start adding water with some vegetable stock. once it's all tender you blend it and yum.. you've got a great soup!

I cooked the worlds largest Chicken Saag last night. We ate some last night for dinner and froze 2 huge portions for the boyfriend to eat next week while I'm away on business. Wouldn't want him to starve without a woman to take care of him.

It was very tasty!

Roasted a hokkiado pumpkin and a sweet potato tonight as I had the oven on for roasted mediterrean veg (courgettes, aubergine, red onion..) anyway. Some of the med veg went with a tabbouleh served with a lamb steak done in ras-al-hanouil for dinner tonight, the pumpkin & sweet potato soup will get done tomorrow lunchtime (might make it spicy?) and tomorrow night I'll have a salad to take to a bash.
After the Wiesn, am trying to eat a little better, like many really.

That Edeka had potted coriander actually in stock was a shocker - so I bought two. Got some looks for munching it around the store though...

hmm.. tonight I had a sweet potato mash with green beans with a tofu/leek/veg fillet with a gravy of onions/cranberries/red wine

I was very much satisfied with this meal

I have a cold. I've been making Tetley's tea with Pott 54% rum and a slice of lemon all day.

woof.

Special order - Mole and Aubergines.

I made pumpkin soup yesterday but made way too much of it. I am used to cooking for a man and a boy. Now that I live alone, what am I going to do with so much damn soup!!?

Tis good though..

Making one of our staples today...

chipotle macaroni: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefi...ecipe_id=671466

Yum!! Great to freeze and for leftovers too. Comfort food.

(you can buy the canned chipotle chilis at the Mercado mexican store)

Grilled beef steaks, fried potatoes and green beans with parmesan cheese. Very Californian looking.

Just making a cottage pie. Whacked a load of Worcester sauce in with the Beef and Carrots, just chilling now before I add the mash.

I baked two trays of Exmoor Tarts this afternoon. They will get eaten tomorrow

Pollo alla marsala con verdure miste alla griglia (aka chicken marsala with grilled mixed veg.)

Mmm, lovely, but I'm still hungry!

We had chicken cordon Bleu w/ a sauce I made with white wine/chicken stock, tarragon, dijon, and cream, jasmine rice, and broccoli (cooked al dente) almodine (butter, one clove garlic minced, with sliced almonds, all browned).

Made a Tartiflette... a French dish.

Tartiflette sounds fabulous. Spuds, cheese, onions and bacon - can't go wrong.

Talk of tartiflette brings back fond memories... I had some while on holiday right there, in Reblochon country, last July. It may be a winter dish but it tastes wonderful whatever the time of year.

I'm in the middle of baking a 'Clafoutis'. It's the first one I've ever made but hopefully it'll come out alright.
Also have just taken out some butterfly (fairy) cakes and I've just finished decorating a chocolate cake, though I cheated on that cos it was a packet mix.

All this for my daughter's birthday party!

Right then,.

I am well into cookery at the moment. Family is still alive so I seem to be a bit successful.

Today's was a Delöia recipe. Cod steaks in mik with creme fraiche and chives.

it is the first time I have ever poached a fish, let alone in milk. It is a greatr use for those pots of bloody chives you buy and never ever get round to using. Finally I have a delicious use for these things!

If anyone ewants I can dig up the link from delia Online.

Topics merged by admin

Clam Chowder-its a secret.

Mr Vol Chowder isnt that an American term?

I have two good American cookery books at the moment. One in print form "The Joy of Cooking" which I like very much. The other is an online ebook via Keydeck which wife printed for me and it is fantastic and I am learning so much from it.

i made a typical english sunday dinner for me and the dog...couldnt do one for 7 years, i didnt know how to make the over worked...so i got a new cooker and now its automatic!

i did a big porkjoint, with polish honey, german mixed peppers and salt...was really nice, just a hint of those at the edge

PIzza. Turn the oven on as high as it goes. I use a pizza stone.

Hope you don't mind the yank measurements

1 cup water (105-110 degrees F)
1 t. honey
2 1/4 t. yeast

Mix that and make sure yeast reacts, bubbles

Add
1 T. olive oil
1 tsp. salt

and enough flour to make a nice soft dough that is still a bit sticky, around 2 1/2 to 3 cups

Let rise. Then divide into 3 portions. Roll out. If it is hard to roll you added too much flour, wack it about a bit on the table. Must be easy to roll or it will not be a good dough. This part is important. I roll it veyr thing too, important. This crust ends up being chewy and crisp, very nice. I have worked on this recipe forever and this is the one!

I then spray with oil, then sauce lightly, a little cheese, toppings, and then cheese.

Cheese is a blend of pizza mozzarella, swiss (ementhaler), and parmesan (grana padano or parmesan/romano, etc)

Bake until bubbly and dark brown spots appear on the bottom of pizza, edges are crisp

@ jules: Lucky ol' dog - sounds great!

I made Bluberry Cake for hub's birthday. (Yes, I have Yank measurements too!)

I box white cake mix

2 cans blueberry pie filling

i package butter

1 8oz package sliced almonds

Dump the blueberries into a glass baking dish.

Dump the cake mix over the blueberries.

Sprinkle on almonds to cover the top.

Slice thin strips of butter to cover the top.

Bake @ 375 until golden brown.

I've had far too much time on my hands since I've been on maternity leave. I made buttermilk coffee cake this morning, and it was tasty:


Yesterday I made peanut butter cup cookies and brought them to the folks at work, and they were a hit:


Coming soon: gingerbread men.

I'm going to make sarabyrd's tunafish casserole. Yum.

Awwww, I am humbly honored.

Nicey Spicey Ricey
Slice thinly the white and light green parts of four spring onions
Remove the seeds from two chili pods, slice thinly
Mince a clove of garlic (sprinkle salt over it while mincing)
Put all into a bowl, add two tablespoons of olive oil, let marinade for about an hour

Cook three or four handfuls of basmati rice
Glacé the vegetable mix

Mix the vegetables with the rice, serve with Lemon-Rosemary Chicken Drumsticks

Ok, so this is cheating since I'm not going to make this today... but the rice recipe reminds me of a favorite I havent made in a long time.

Easy Mixed Rice:
Using a rice cooker, measure out the number of cups of rice you want to make
Add water to slightly below correct amount (equal to the # of cups rice)
Add soy sauce as the remaining liquid, until you reach the correct cup marker
Slice carrot, cabbage, mushrooms, onion, asparagus or whatever vegetable you think sounds good, and add on top of the rice. Dont overfill with veggies and instead try to make the veggies 1/4 or 1/2:1 ratio to the rice you are using. I also dont use any veggetable that could get too mushy (zucchini, squash, etc), but who knows, that could be good too?
Click cook on your rice cooker and let it do it's thing!

Roast pork, roast pots & parsnips, leeks in white sauce and brussels sprouts. The only thing added was salt, and because we had great basic ingredients and I got lucky with the cooking it was fabulous. Roast dinners are so easy with a bit of practice - the cooking time can be long but the time you have to stand there and do something is much less. Preparation time is about 45 mins for a typical meat + four veg as below.

The pork was from Eisenreich on Viktualienmarkt, a boneless shoulder and tender and tasty, cooked in the steam oven at 200C for 2 hours, with oil and salt on the skin to crisp it up. The pots & parsnips were roasted in goose fat at 200C, pots for an hour, parsnips a bit less. Sprouts were boiled in 1cm water so they mostly steamed and retained their shape and flavour, leeks the same with butter and then a white sauce. Delightful.

I'd agree with that. I did my first last year and I feel more confident with them now.

One horribly unhealthy burrito was cooked today. I'm looking to empty the fridge before heading to A-Land for a nice visit to the soon to be in-laws so I'm doing some interesting things in the kitchen. I picked up some Kasekrainer in Austria over the weekend because they are one of my true vices in life. I sliced one up added it to a pan which had a bit of chili oil and cooking oil in it. The sausages cooked quite quickly and I added chopped onion. Once that seemed cooked but not fully sauteed I moved everything to one corner of the frying pan and added two eggs and quickly scrambled them. Once they were almost cooked I mixed in the onion and the sausage added some hot sauce and this 'mexican' cheese Tenglemann is selling right now (chedder with peppers in it, very nice and spicey) which I had grated. Cooked it for a quick little bit and then wipped it out of the pan onto my last large tortilla topped with a bit of iceberg lettuce wrapped it up and chomped away. I am now very full and very happy man.

Tonight I will be making this standby:

The great Manjula: Chola

Creole dish, lentils, salted fish in tomatoe sauce and fresh mango chutney.

Roasted pork with plums, roasted potatoes with fresh herbs, some courgette and a green salad served with freshly made cheese and herbs croutons...

I will make a Risotto tonight and serve it with some beef filet.

None of you are any good at cooking. You talk too much about it to be of any use atall atall. Empty vessels etc...
I could cook you all under the table.

another one who woke up in a bad mood today ... anyway have a nice day...I for sure will have one!!!

It's OK alimess, he was only hungry. One fridge-raid later, he's fine - traditional post-Christmas banquet of vast ham, turkey and stuffing sandwich.

Spicy Chicken Wings
aka my first fling with cooking Asian style from scratch

15 chicken wings
1 large clove of garlic
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon whole ginger root
1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1/2 teaspoon crushed coriander
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons olive oil

Mince the garlic (sprinkle the chunks with salt before you mince the hell out of them)
Grate the ginger root
Mix both with the honey, add the chilli flakes and coriander
Add olive oil, mix vigorously

Coat the chicken wings with the marinade, let stand for 1 to 4 hours
Roast in the oven at 170°C for app. 40 - 50 minutes, basting the chicken wings twice
Turn on the overhead grill for the last 5 minutes

Serve with deep-fried potato twirls and buttered carrots and spring onions

Verdict of my part-time vegetarian daughter: There wasn't much meat on the wings but it was juicy. Most of the flavor was on the skin and I don't eat that.
Verdict of the cats: Bones, pleeeeeeze! Let us pick the bones!
Verdict of Scogs: There wasn't enough potatoes

Ovenight Egg Thing

5 slices of white or wheat bread
1 can light evaporated milk
1 cup milk
2 eggs
4 egg whites
10 oz. thawed spinach, chopped (I used most of 450g box though and it was perfect)
1 cup shredded cheese
1 packet of the chopped bacon/ham pieces (you know, the little clear packaged stuff)
some of each- garlic powder & onion powder (coz I'm lazy), paprika, ground mustard, basil, salt, pepper

Mix all ingredients in big ass bowl (minus bread and some of the cheese). Assemble bread on the bottom of a large rectangular dish (I used a 13x9 and sprayed with Pam first). Pour on the egg mixture, top with remaining cheese, cover and refrigerate overnight. It definitely needs a good chunk of time in the fridge, so I did it last night before I went out and had a great breakfast to entertain guests this morning!

Bake on 180 for 45 minutes. Went over very well when consummed by two fairly hungover dutchman

C'mon, you know they would eat anything in that condition.
But it does sound good, too bad it's full of eggs and I can't try it out. Healthy, too.