What are you cooking today?

[kathdonn 387]

26 minutes ago, RedMidge said:

Sorry to hear that. Hope the Yukon gold buttery flavour helps.  Try them with cabbage next - a la Colcannon!

Stay well.

@sarabyrd will be here for two weeks. I'm afraid she may go too far in the different direction - you may all remember how she goes all out in her cooking!

[kathdonn 387]

27 minutes ago, Techsmex said:

relying on other people and their good hearts and you have indifferent results?  hope your lack of food interest sustained your indifferent tummy. what a ungrateful tool

It's been a strange time, @Techsmex. Crazy taste buds, practically inedible packaged meals, well-meaning caregivers who end up being good only at warming canned soups...

 

[Techsmex 13,368]

16 minutes ago, kathdonn said:

It's been a strange time, @Techsmex. Crazy taste buds, practically inedible packaged meals, well-meaning caregivers who end up being good only at warming canned soups...

 

like i said, ungrateful. you should at least thank those people for trying to help.

 

" good only at warming canned soups..."

[kathdonn 387]

I beg your humble pardon, @Techsmex. I don't complain to the caregivers. And the packaged foods come from a no contact meal service - they never know. I do apologize to my daughters, who are paying for the packaged meals.

[BethAnnBitt 2,991]

5 hours ago, kathdonn said:

@sarabyrd will be here for two weeks. I'm afraid she may go too far in the different direction - you may all remember how she goes all out in her cooking!

Enjoy it!  When I spent 4 weeks with Mom (85) in November I waited on her hand & foot and shopped & cooked to her tastes.  It was integral to helping her get better, partly cuz she had gotten very thin.  Her digestion system is quite finicky.  It’s wonderful that @sarabyrd can come back across the pond and wait on you too.  Best wishes for a continuing good recovery.  😊

[optimista 5,925]

6 hours ago, kathdonn said:

...well-meaning caregivers who end up being good only at warming canned soups...

My heart bleeds for you. It shouldn t be this way. But some simply lack the wherewithal. Incredibly. It can be a challenge being greatful for the meanest mercies.

[kathdonn 387]

11 hours ago, optimista said:

My heart bleeds for you. It shouldn t be this way. But some simply lack the wherewithal. Incredibly. It can be a challenge being greatful for the meanest mercies.

I'm grateful for everything everyone does for me. Even the failures. They do the housekeeping and laundry, wash the dishes and put things away. They even watch TV and DVDs with me. It's been a learning process for me just to learn what to ask for. Please keep posting delicious recipes for a food voyeur.

I'll stop hogging this thread now.

 

[tor 17,434]

 

 

[RedMidge 6,638]

Tuna casserole!   Make mashed potato first.  Heat a baking dish 

Sauté  sliced onions, mushrooms, peppers ( or your own choice!).

Stir in condensed mushroom soup. .  ( Or you could use one of Mr Knorr's excellent sauces - jaeger sauce ). 

Heat gently, add sweet corn, chopped asparagus.  Add drained tinned tuna . ( Can use tinned salmon instead)

Season to taste- I like paprika , sage and pepper.

Transfer to dish, smooth over mashed potato and sprinkle grated cheese over. 

Bake in oven 180 C for about 30 minutes.

 

[CincyInDE 3,311]

COTTAGE PIE

 

Mashed Potatoes

1.5 kg mealy potatoes*

1/2 a block of butter

200g (or more if you like) Parmesan cheese

milk (would have preferred cream)

salt

white pepper

3 egg yolks

 

no witchcraft here.  peel and boil the potatoes until soft.  mash them up, and add the cheese.  add the butter and milk until the consistency is soft and easy to mix. taste for salt and pepper.  Add the egg yolks, mix some more and set aside

 

*screw the lack of Russet potatoes in Germany.

 

Meat Filling

1.5 kg ground beef

olive oil

1 cup dry red wine

2 medium onions, coarse dice

1/2 a bulb of fennel, coarse dice

several sticks of celery, coarse dice -- I only had a little bit of Chinese celery

4-5 carrots, coarse dice

big package of mushrooms, coarse dice

chilies to taste (not traditional, but fuck tradition)

3 Tbsp tomato paste

1 Tbsp dried thyme

1/2 a bag of frozen peas

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1l beef stock

1/4 cup flour

 

put all the meat in a big skillet (I used a dutch oven) along with some olive oil and put on medium high and cook until all the moisture is gone and you start forming a crust on the bottom of the pan.  this will take a while.  Deglaze with the wine

 

add the onion, fennel, celery, chilies, and mushrooms to the meat.  cook until the mushrooms give up their moisture and the veg starts to brown and the crust on the bottom starts to reform.

 

add the flour, mix it up, and let it cook dry for a few minutes.  add tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, beef stock, and thyme.  stir and scrape the crust off the bottom of the pan again.  Simmer until thick and not very runny.

 

take off the heat and mix in the frozen peas

 

taste for salt and pepper

 

Assemble

 

meat on bottom; press with a serving spoon to make sure there are no air pockets.

 

top with mashed potatoes

 

make fun designs in the potatoes using a fork.  play with that food.

 

Bake

 

set oven for 200°C.  I needed to thin out the gravy, so I baked it for about 20 minutes before adding the potato blanket. I should have baked for 30 or 40.  Oh well.

 

once the whole thing is hot and the potatoes have set (remember those egg yolks?), put the oven on broil (heat from above) and toast up the potatoes.  BE CAREFUL as you can ruin all your hard work in minutes. 

 

Let It Cool

 

this stuff will be hotter than the surface of the sun, so let it just sit there on the counter for half an hour.  or don't; it's your mouth, not mine. 

[JG52 1,044]

44 minutes ago, CincyInDE said:

1/2 flour

 

this stuff will be hotter than the surface of the sun, so let it just sit there on the counter for half an hour.  or don't; it's your mouth, not mine.

 

I think I know what I'm making tomorrow!  How much flour did you use?

 

The best cottage pie I've had so far was in a pub in north Devon.  It was much hotter than the surface of the sun, but fortunately I learned this before I took my first bite.  The screams from a guy at another table who was served at the same time alerted me to the potential danger.

[CincyInDE 3,311]

1/4 cup flour.  Thanks for the heads up

 

[RedMidge 6,638]

Slow cooked pork shoulder. Used one of those Maggi cooking bags with spices

In the oven early, and let it cook for about 3 hours. 

Ratatouille- using bag of frozen tomatoes,  onion , aubergine and courgettes.  Saute and simmer.

[slammer 889]

Our local Edeka stocks rendered beef tallow which means after a visit to the local Turkish shop for beef and kidneys, Slammer did a steak and kidney pudding out of the rice cooker last night. Had it on slow and after almost three hours steaming out came the best S&K Pud ever. 
Mushed up some peas and fried a few handful of chips in the rest of the tallow. A few lashings of vinegar, a dollop or two of HP and a Guinness and I was a happy man. Going to have the rest tonight, sliced and fried in tallow with chips and baked beans.

maybe get some more and try a spotted dick.

...and just remembered, I have a tin of treacle in the Schrank waiting for a use... Let the words „steamed rum and treacle pudding“ slide through your brain.

[tor 17,434]

Steak and kidney pee

 

 

[snowingagain 5,441]

15 minutes ago, tor said:

Steak and kidney pee

This is brilliant.  Thanks Tor!

[JG52 1,044]

I made @CincyInDE's cottage pie today, and it was delicious; however, I realized after I put them in the oven that I forgot to add the frozen peas to the meat.  I used my 8.9 liter casserole pan instead of the dutch oven to cook the ingredients before transferring the meat filling to smaller casserole pans for the oven.  The recipe can be halved and still serve four people.  When I make this again, it will be a half-recipe and I'll use the dutch oven to cook the meat.

 

Here are the two pans fresh from the oven.  Even with both of us going back for seconds, there was still plenty left over from one pan for my lunch tomorrow.  The second pan will be cut into quarters after it has cooled and will go into the freezer.

 

 

 

[JG52 1,044]

Here's a photo of the meat mixture cooking in the large casserole pan.  I couldn't add both photos to the same post because of the forum software limitations.

 

[john g. 37,776]

No cooking today! We did Valentine's Day in a restaurant for fish lovers! I am not a fish lover but they had a posh lunch menu for fish without fish bones!😂
So I survived it! Nice curry soup and dessert with mangoes etc! 

( Loved my Valentine's pressies❤️).

 

[slammer 889]

Ordered me some forms, going to steam me some dicks, spotted of course.