Cooking in Isolation - Page 4 - Anything Goes - Other topics not covered elsewhere - Tartan Army Message Board Jump to content

Cooking in Isolation


Recommended Posts

7 hours ago, fringo said:

I just started making soups about 3 yrs ago. Usually a winter thing.....although that can be 10-11 months of the year in Scotland.

Don't use a blender though as I like chunky/lumpy homemade soups.

Normally just whatever vedge I have kicking about e.g. potatoes, onions, carrots and maybe a little bit of bacon or chorizo just for added flavours. 2-3 Knorrs stock cubes and to give it a bit of a kick I'll add some dried chillis and/or paprika.

All done in about 45 mins.

Same but tend to chuck in a bag of lentils or peas or scotch broth mix. 👍

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lentil soup (I see one's already been posted but I'd back mine against anyone's  :) )...

Get a ham hough - Simon Cowie brand is really good  - and simmer it for 90 minutes in 1.7l of water.

During this time prep your veg - a couple of leeks, a big onion, a couple of tatties, about 6 big carrots.  You can just bung in a bag of carrot and turnip diced root veg instead if you want to save time.  Also grate 4 big carrots - this thickens your soup up.

Remove the ham hough at the end of the 90 minutes and bung in 2 cups (2 x 250ml measurements) of red lentils, bring them to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes.  You can also add a couple of Knorr ham stock cubes as well to give extra flavour.

Strip the meat off the ham hough and give the bone to the dug who'll be absolutely drooling by this time.

After the 15 minutes are up, bung everything in the pot, give it a good stir, bring it to the boil and simmer it for 45 minutes.

Amazing soup.  If this seems like too much work then use 4 stock cubes instead of the ham hough.  It'll still be excellent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thai red curry.

I nicked this from https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/thai-red-curry.  It's simple to make and absolutely magic. Not everybody will have all the ingredients readily to hand but they're easy enough to get.

Ingredients
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp ginger & garlic paste
5-6 tbsp red curry paste
800ml coconut milk
8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into large chunks
kaffir lime leaves (ideally fresh)
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
½ small pack Thai basil
basil or coriander, plus extra to serve
1 red chilli, sliced diagonally
thumb-sized piece ginger, cut into matchsticks
cooked jasmine rice, to serve

Method
Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and fry 1 tbsp ginger and 1 tbsp garlic paste for 2 mins. Add 5-6 tbsp red curry paste, sizzle for a few secs, then pour in 800ml coconut milk. 

Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer, stir a little and wait for the oil to rise to the surface. 

Add 8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into chunks, and kaffir lime leaves, and simmer for 12 mins or until the chicken is cooked through.

Add 1 tbsp of the fish sauce and a pinch of brown sugar, then taste – if you like it a little saltier, add more fish sauce; if you like it sweeter, add a little more sugar.

Bring to the boil, take off the heat and add ½ small pack Thai basil.

* Spoon the curry into four bowls and top with 1 red chilli, a thumb-sized piece of ginger and a few extra basil leaves. Serve with jasmine rice.

 

* I never bother with that garnishing stuff.  Just get it in a bowl and start chomping.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very easy and basic chicken soup:

Prep a big onion, 2 leeks, a bag of diced carrot/turnip and 4 big grated carrots.

Bring 1.7l of water to the boil, add 4 Knorr chicken stock cubes and all the above.

Fit as many chicken thighs, legs or drumsticks into the pot as you can without it spilling over.

Simmer for 45 minutes then remove the chicken, take the skin and bones off it, chop it up, throw it back in and simmer for another 15 minutes.

That's not very exciting so add one of the below variations:

For chicken broth add a couple of big handfuls of broth mix at the very start and follow the same procedure.

For barley chicken add a couple of big handfuls of pearl barley at the very start and follow the same procedure.

For chicken and rice, throw a couple of handfuls of rice in when you put the chicken back in and simmer for 15 minutes.

For chicken noodle cut up some spaghetti or pasta shells and throw these in along with the chicken for the last 15 minutes.

 

*** When simmering this or the lentil soup, keep the lid on. ***

Edited by daviebee
forgot a bit
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@daviebee, brilliant contributions 👍 

I shall definitely be trying these. I like Thai curry, its just Indian currys I dont like. 
I know what you mean about all the ingredients but once you have them they last a while.
I was so proud, last week I actually finished a jar of oregano AND a jar of chilli flakes. I dont think I have ever finished a jar of herbs before, and some of them have expiry dates  that are longer than the life of the average family pet.  
 
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spaghetti bolognese. The most time consuming thing is preparing the veg, it is easy peasy.
There are carrots in it. If you hate carrots you could leave them out but I think they enhance it.


Spaghetti Bolognese

 Serves 4- 5

 Difficulty level - basic

500g packet of spaghetti – you might want to add a bit more for large portions

700g mince

2 rich beef stock cubes

3 bay leaves

3 garlic cloves – chopped

3 carrots – diced

2 white onions – chopped

4-5 rashers streaky bacon – cut into about 2cmx1cm pieces

10 baby plum tomatoes – sliced longwise

2 cans chopped tomatoes

1 glass red wine

I-2 teaspoon marmite

3 tablespoons tomato puree

Few splashes Worcester sauce

2 teaspoons oregano

2 tablespoons extra virgin oil (or olive oil) 

8 button mushrooms sliced

Few leaves of fresh basil

 

  1. Have all the above chopped and prepared .
  2. Add the extra virgin oil to a large pan and fry the streaky bacon till it is golden and crispy.
  3. Add carrots, mushrooms and garlic and stir for 6-7 mins until softened.
  4. Add the mince and cook until brown.
  5. Add tinned tomatoes, baby tomatoes, stock cubes ( direct to pan, don’t dissolve in water) , tomato purees, bay leaves, basil leaves, red wine, Worcester sauce , salt and pepper and stir it all together.
  6. Add the marmite then pop a lid on and cook for an hour. Stir every 10-15 mins.
  7. 15 mins before the end , boil your spaghetti ( or whatever the cooking time it says on the packet)
  8. Drain spaghetti and serve with the  Bolognese sauce and some parmesan and garlic bread.

Go on. Impress your other halves and make it . 
 

05576DAD-113E-4CCA-A73A-DA74482E3D24.jpeg.d181211c8f9259db4fec7c8c4d89ffc4.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
On 5/8/2020 at 12:07 PM, TDYER63 said:

You sound like you cook. Get a recipe on. 

Yeah I do but I am getting a bit lazy. My last curry was only a couple of onions, chicken breasts, stock and some vindaloo curry paste from the asian minimarket. So hardly top cuisine. I find slow cooking with curries and stews etc are the key. A properly made (not by me) Indonesian Rendang is my perfect dish. It takes about four hours and is almost dry by the end. Its fucking awesome!

Edited by thplinth
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have been upping the amount of home cooked meals over the last few weeks as my kids are getting picky about a lot of the ready made stuff from supermarkets. Have made about a dozen pots of lentil and bacon soup since lockdown started and chicken balti quite a few times. All going down well with my kids. Made my first ever macaroni cheese tonight - I’m not a huge fan but my family love it. Was pretty good even if I say so myself. 

All fairly standard stuff but happy  to share a recipe if anyone is looking for one.

Edited by neilser
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Curry anything , lentils and bacon all sound good. 
just got breakfast and lunch prepared for my boy tomorrow as he has an important exam though had to agree with my mate doing the same shit that we didn’t expect to be doing this when they are in their 20’s and 30’s . Kids eh

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, thplinth said:

Yeah I do but I am getting a bit lazy. My last curry was only a couple of onions, chicken breasts, stock and some vindaloo curry paste from the asian minimarket. So hardly top cuisine. I find slow cooking with curries and stews etc are the key. A properly made (not by me) Indonesian Rendang is my perfect dish. It takes about four hours and is almost dry by the end. Its fucking awesome!

I have mentioned before I am not a fan of curries, but I have been to Dishoom in Edinburgh a few times when we have been through there , and the food is lovely. Really tasty and tender.  
It is advertised as a ‘ Bombay Irani cafe experience ‘  and the food doesnt seem as heavy as the standard indian food I am used to.

I maybe should make an effort to cook a curry from scratch. Is it worth making the effort to get spices  from an actual asian  minimarket  rather than Morrisons ? 
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, neilser said:

Have been upping the amount of home cooked meals over the last few weeks as my kids are getting picky about a lot of the ready made stuff from supermarkets. Have made about a dozen pots of lentil and bacon soup since lockdown started and chicken balti quite a few times. All going down well with my kids. Made my first ever macaroni cheese tonight - I’m not a huge fan but my family love it. Was pretty good even if I say so myself. 

All fairly standard stuff but happy  to share a recipe if anyone is looking for one.

Would appreciate you posting the macaroni cheese recipe. I am yet to master a really good cheese sauce and interested to see what sauce other folk make. I like it when the sauce is kind of stringy, not sure if I am using the wrong cheese. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, TDYER63 said:

Would appreciate you posting the macaroni cheese recipe. I am yet to master a really good cheese sauce and interested to see what sauce other folk make. I like it when the sauce is kind of stringy, not sure if I am using the wrong cheese. 

Cheddar cheese for sauce. Keep it simple.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, TDYER63 said:

Would appreciate you posting the macaroni cheese recipe. I am yet to master a really good cheese sauce and interested to see what sauce other folk make. I like it when the sauce is kind of stringy, not sure if I am using the wrong cheese. 

Here it is - seems to be a fairly standard one. I think next time I’ll put a wee bit more flour in and a bit more cheese but it worked well enough on the quantities given here. We doubled up the quantities and it fed five with plenty of  seconds - would be a bit of a scrimp to feed four on the quantities given though.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/macaronicheese_83521

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, thplinth said:

Could be shite but maybe try mozzarella for stringiness combined with something like Parmesan for taste. I used to do a three (or maybe four) cheese toastie in those toastie machines that was the dogs bollocks.

That is worth a try. 
 

45 minutes ago, neilser said:

Here it is - seems to be a fairly standard one. I think next time I’ll put a wee bit more flour in and a bit more cheese but it worked well enough on the quantities given here. We doubled up the quantities and it fed five with plenty of  seconds - would be a bit of a scrimp to feed four on the quantities given though.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/macaronicheese_83521

Thanks. Will take a look at that 👍

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, TDYER63 said:

I have mentioned before I am not a fan of curries, but I have been to Dishoom in Edinburgh a few times when we have been through there , and the food is lovely. Really tasty and tender.  
It is advertised as a ‘ Bombay Irani cafe experience ‘  and the food doesnt seem as heavy as the standard indian food I am used to.

I maybe should make an effort to cook a curry from scratch. Is it worth making the effort to get spices  from an actual asian  minimarket  rather than Morrisons ? 
 

Absolutely 100%.  Go to mrsbalbirsingh.com.  Their spice blends are amazing and the stuff is so simple to make.  I was never a fan of creamy curries until I tried their chicken Shahi Masala.  Got one defrosting for tomorrow night in fact.  :)  The lamb Rogan Josh is out of this world.  It's like Indian fine dining in your own house.  I've made the chickpea curry as well but with chicken and then prawns instead of chickpeas and it's magic.  The mince curry - sensational.

If you fancy anything from their site drop me a PM as I can get you 30% off.  Don't want to post the link here as it's got my full name in it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, daviebee said:

Absolutely 100%.  Go to mrsbalbirsingh.com.  Their spice blends are amazing and the stuff is so simple to make.  I was never a fan of creamy curries until I tried their chicken Shahi Masala.  Got one defrosting for tomorrow night in fact.  :)  The lamb Rogan Josh is out of this world.  It's like Indian fine dining in your own house.  I've made the chickpea curry as well but with chicken and then prawns instead of chickpeas and it's magic.  The mince curry - sensational.

If you fancy anything from their site drop me a PM as I can get you 30% off.  Don't want to post the link here as it's got my full name in it.

Brilliant thanks. Lamb Rogan  josh is one thing I can tolerate so I will take a look and will PM you if I decide to get a few things . Appreciate the offer . 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
On 5/10/2020 at 10:39 PM, daviebee said:

Thai red curry.

I nicked this from https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/thai-red-curry.  It's simple to make and absolutely magic. Not everybody will have all the ingredients readily to hand but they're easy enough to get.

Ingredients
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp ginger & garlic paste
5-6 tbsp red curry paste
800ml coconut milk
8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into large chunks
kaffir lime leaves (ideally fresh)
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
½ small pack Thai basil
basil or coriander, plus extra to serve
1 red chilli, sliced diagonally
thumb-sized piece ginger, cut into matchsticks
cooked jasmine rice, to serve

Method
Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and fry 1 tbsp ginger and 1 tbsp garlic paste for 2 mins. Add 5-6 tbsp red curry paste, sizzle for a few secs, then pour in 800ml coconut milk. 

Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer, stir a little and wait for the oil to rise to the surface. 

Add 8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into chunks, and kaffir lime leaves, and simmer for 12 mins or until the chicken is cooked through.

Add 1 tbsp of the fish sauce and a pinch of brown sugar, then taste – if you like it a little saltier, add more fish sauce; if you like it sweeter, add a little more sugar.

Bring to the boil, take off the heat and add ½ small pack Thai basil.

* Spoon the curry into four bowls and top with 1 red chilli, a thumb-sized piece of ginger and a few extra basil leaves. Serve with jasmine rice.

 

* I never bother with that garnishing stuff.  Just get it in a bowl and start chomping.

Made this  the other night. Was really tasty and simple to do. I added some red and green peppers and mange tout. 

Have also ordered the Indian spices you mentioned on another post.  They were giving 25% off for Fathers Day on the pack of 8 spices so just got that. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A few tweaks as usual with flavourings etc. Used shin of beef and cooked it lower for about 6 hours. Dusted the beef chunks in seasoned gf flour rather than the beurre manie. Was immense. The meat was still in chunks but soft and falling apart. My kids loved it. Put a wee put more liquid/tomato in so it was a bit more of a ragu. First night with mashed tatties. Second with the macaroni. And I ditched the olives.

image.jpg

Edited by killiefaetheferry
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

On 5/10/2020 at 10:26 PM, daviebee said:

Lentil soup (I see one's already been posted but I'd back mine against anyone's  :) )...

Get a ham hough - Simon Cowie brand is really good  - and simmer it for 90 minutes in 1.7l of water.

During this time prep your veg - a couple of leeks, a big onion, a couple of tatties, about 6 big carrots.  You can just bung in a bag of carrot and turnip diced root veg instead if you want to save time.  Also grate 4 big carrots - this thickens your soup up.

Remove the ham hough at the end of the 90 minutes and bung in 2 cups (2 x 250ml measurements) of red lentils, bring them to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes.  You can also add a couple of Knorr ham stock cubes as well to give extra flavour.

Strip the meat off the ham hough and give the bone to the dug who'll be absolutely drooling by this time.

After the 15 minutes are up, bung everything in the pot, give it a good stir, bring it to the boil and simmer it for 45 minutes.

Amazing soup.  If this seems like too much work then use 4 stock cubes instead of the ham hough.  It'll still be excellent.

Dogs shouldnt get cooked bones, they can splinter when chewed

Also use your local Ham Hough supplier and keep the wee guys going.

 

Canny beat good home made soup though

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...