So. What's for Dinner?

[stui magpie]

yeah, the schools have a conniption if kids leave the grounds these days. Very sad.

Anyway. tonight I've made a beef and mushroom ragout in the slow cooker. To go with it is some brown rice and lentils, mashed sweet potato and mixed steamed greens with butter (Broccoli, Beans, Spinach, Zucchini)

Dinner tonight and food for a couplea days, bewdiful.

[watt price tully]

[think positive]

I made roasted cauliflower soup, which is surprisingly yum, and beef stroganoff from the 12WBT program, not bad. Well I liked it, and I get eldest's for lunch tomorrow!

[watt price tully]

Last night made DIY Tandoori chicken with Mint coriander chilli relish & with assistance from my youngest Ginger cake with lemon pistachio icing. From Neil Perry in the Sunday Age.

http://www.goodfood.com.au/good-food/cook/recipe/ovenbaked-tandoori-chicken-with-mint-and-coriander-relish-20150626-3yf0u.html

[stui magpie]

Made up a Moroccan vegetable stew, and got a whole boneless chicken that I cooked in a Tagine.

Picked up the Tagine from Aldi, it's a variant in that the bottom is actually a cast iron grill plate but the lid (that resembles a witches hat) is ceramic. Chicken came up an absolute ripper. That dodgy looking lid really focuses the steam and juice back through the meat, only had it on low on the small range.

Knock up a bit of couscous in a minute to have with it.

[Dangles]

Garden salad with tofu.

[watt price tully]

Mrs WPT & I went out to Gyoza Gyoza in Chadstone.

Good Japanese, basic but tasty. Tapas style fare. Small dishes at about $6.50 each

Service was OK but not as bad as some reviewers experienced.

Had dishes like:

1. Tempura veges
2. Tempura Prawns
3. Gyoza fried (veg)
4. Gyoza (steamed) chicken & lemongrass in a spicy miso broth (had chilli oil it it)
5. Lamb ribs on a hot plate - tiny bits lots of em
6. Cauliflower in a spicy like batter
7. Tofu initially deep fried then served sauce in a seaweed like broth
8. Pickled vege salad

[watt price tully]

Made a Cauliflower & Carraway seed soup tonight. Very nice.

Had: Cauliflower, caraway seeds, potato, a few cauli leaves, onion, paprika & a bit of cayenne pepper, a zucchini & some celery & zapped up.

1 x cauliflower cut into florets & 3/4 teaspoon of caraway seeds pan fried slowly making it brown.(a bit of olive oil & nutalex magarine)

1/2 onion diced & celery stick finely diced & also pan fried slowly with the spices

1 spud & 1 zucchini cut into pieces

Place all the ingredients into a pot. Add salt / pepper

Enough water to cover the veg. Cook up & liquidize.

Suitable for vegans.

Heat & serve with chopped parsley

[Dark Beanie]

Last night used the Campbells Asian soup base to make a Thai style soup.

Cook chicken, add soup base, some vegies and rice noodles.
Quick and easy, especially for days when everyone is either at work or school.

[Dangles]

All Bran. I couldn't be bothered cooking.

[watt price tully]

Tofu burgers, hummus, salads & the freshest of large pita from the Oasis bakery:

Ingredients:

Tofu,
Fresh lebanese Pita
1 onion
two large sticks of celery
2 cloves of garlic
tamari or soy sauce
Hummus (israeli is the best tasting if ur supermarket has it)
salad veg: lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, red capsicum, finely grated carrot, tin beetroot
relish

Method

750 grams of organic Tofu: take out of pkt, drain liquid then put the two pieces on a clean tea towel, wrap them in the tea towel so there not touching then place a weight on them like tin food so that the weight causes us them to drain the excess liquid (about 20 mins)into the tea towel.

Meanwhile, get 1 good size oinion & finely dice, do the same to two good lengths of celery. Frying a pan with two pressed good size garlic cloves. Fry up slowly in olive & butter or marg. 10 - 15 mins.

Then unwrap the tofu & grate on the fine grater - place in a large mixing bowl.
Add the cooked onions, celery & garlic. Add a good amount of soy sauce or tamari. Add an beaten egg & mix together to combine all ingredients.

Leave in the fridge for about 1/2 hour.

Meanwhile cut up lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, grated carrot, have some relish ready, hummus & we also had tabouli. Have ready for people to self serve.

Then get a large plate & a bowl of warm water & the mix.

Place hands in water, drain off, scoop up a small amount in your hands & shape into a pattie. Be careful as they can they easily crumble. Place on a plate or plates & repeat same over till finished. Don't worry if they do, most don't

Place oil in pan, heat & place patties in frypan. Cook till golden brown on both sides.

Get the large pita, peel 1/2 away, place on plate & make your own wraps.

Yummy, fresh & tasty as well as left overs for lunch the next day. Nice for a change.

[Tannin]

Tannin's apple crumble:

5 apples
2 pears
small handful of sultanas
small handful of dates
small handful of raw almonds
cup of rolled oats
half a small lime (or lemon)

(No sugar, no spices, no butter, no nuffin! Just quality fresh ingredients.)

Core and dice the apples. (Do not peel!)
Bring to boil and steam lightly, stirring occasionally. Put just enough water into the bottom of the pot to save it boiling dry - we aren't going to drain the water off, all the goodness stays in.

Core the pears and cut into large chunks. Leave the skin on, of course. Most of the flavour of most fruits is under the skin, and most of the nutrient, and you need the skin to provide some textural interest to the finished product. Don't cook the pears yet.

When the apples are half cooked (still firm but starting to soften) toss in the pears and sultanas. Judge the time to put the pears in according to how ripe they are. If they are still hard and crispy, cook them a bit. If they are ripe and juicy, just barely warm them up.

Turn off the heat and let the pot sit while you stir in whole almonds, and chopped dates (if desired) and chop the lime finely, peel and all. That goes in last. (If you want to do it really right, add the lime peel early (just after the apples) and save the juice and flesh till last. Cooking makes the flavour of the peel spread through (which is good) but takes away the flavour of the juice.)

Empty into a baking dish. Cover thickly with rolled oats and firm down into the mix. You want about half the oats submerged in the apples to soak up juice.

(You can stop here and keep it to one side for cooking later if you wish.)

Bake in a hot oven until the apples start to bubble. Hot oven!

Serve hot with lots of cream, ice cream, sour cream, or Greek yogurt. The yogurt is best 'coz you can have lots of it and get that magic mix of hot and cold at the same time. (Ice cream would work too but it's too cold and hurts my teeth!)

Hint: if the baking dish isn't a bugger to clean, you didn't get the oven hot enough. Rather than use your best presentation ceramic baking dish, find an old metal one (such as the thing you put the extra vegies in when you are doing a roast) 'coz then you can just use a little brute force to clean it without worrying about taking the glaze off.

Hint #2: Don't over-bake it! Don't turn the apples into mush, and you really want to preserve that crisp, refreshing firmness to the pears. Bake very hot but for a only a short time to get that lovely baked tang (this has something to do with chemical changes to the fruit sugars when they very hot, and probably makes them do all sorts of lovely carcinogenic things).

Hint #3: instead of or as well as the dates, almost anything! Soak a few dried apricots overnight, dice and toss in. Banana is great (slice it lengthways and lay it on top to go soft and crispy in the oven) but banana tends to dominate the flavour and you can't taste the pears.

Hint #4: as well as or instead of the rolled oats, you can use a quality unsweetened raw muesli on top. This works brilliantly!

PS: Don't piss about serving this in small quantities after a large meal. This is the meal. Start with an entr�e or a bowl of soup if you insist, skip the main, and have a ginormous bowl of crumble, closely followed by another one. After that, the only sensible thing to do is put your feet up and open the port.

[think positive]

[think positive]

WTF? W.O. G. Gets snipped! Hahahahaah

[think positive]