What are you having for dinner? (wanna share your recipe?)

[Friday]

Caribbean Sandwiches / very similar to a Cuban Sandwich

Crusty bread

1/2
Garlic Mayo
Pulled Pork*
Grilled Onions & Peppers
Cilantro / Fresh Corriander

1/2
Yellow Mustard
Ham

Smash the 2 halves together and grill under a brick or a panini press. Swiss cheese is often added to help glue the whole thing together, but I can’t eat cheese, so I just wrap the sucker in paper or tinfoil & hope for the best ;)

* Bonus points for making mojo pork (marinated in sour orange, garlic, oregano, cinnamon, clove, and cumin // then slow roasted) ... I just use plain old pulled pork and if I’m feeling extra energetic sauté it quickly (carnitas) in orange/lime/garlic/spice. Tonight? Is not an energetic night. Will still be banging. Wicked good sandwiches.

 

[Friday]

I usually make cottage pie, but tonight is shepherds pie. The recipes aren’t very much different, basically lamb vs beef, and peas vs mushrooms, so I’ll list both. I don’t have a meat grinder, and ground meat in these parts is more expensive than a roast you cut down, so both of these are stew meat sized. As always, I use whatever volume of food I happen to have on hand, so there aren’t weights / measurements. (Cooking with me is always sort of winging it).

Shepherds Pie

Spoiler: I do talk on, dont I?

Topping - Russet or Gold potatoes, boiled & mashed creamy with chicken stock, salt, & white pepper. Finished with fines herbs, if handy.

Filling
- Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper, & White Pepper.
- Lamb cubed stew sized
- Mirepoix (carrots, onions, celery) chopped in roughly equal amounts
- Garlic (lamb loves garlic, so it’s only a question of how much you do)
- Peas (lots, they’re good for you, and like little flavor bombs)
- Red wine (I’m not choosy, here, but dry red is better, & as always, alwaaaays drinkable! Always. If you wouldn’t drink it, don’t cook with it.)
- Beef Stock
- Rosemary (This flavor tends to vanish, so taste as you go)
- Bay leaf
- (optional) flour, to thicken things up

- (optional) SKIP THE ROSEMARY mulling spices or garam masala or ras el hanout or simply cloves... spiced lamb in red wine is lovely, feel free to spike with honey, especially on cold nights. Can be a very light touch or like if a shepherds pie and a tagine had a baby wowza spiced. And anywhere in between. If you’re going to go half tagine, and happen to have either or both ginger & saffron on hand, saffron ginger garlic mash topper is awesome. If not? No worries. When are mashed potatoes not good??) <<< Mine, tonight, is not doing any of this. Just peas and carrots :D Jist one on those useful midwinters night things, or with leftover hot spiced / mulled wine that needs a home.

Sauté the mirepoix & garlic in olive oil, salt & pepper. Set aside.
Brown the lamb & season with salt
Pour over wine & deglaze your pot
Add back in the mirepoix
Add beef stock to cover
Add rosemary & bay leaf
Let simmer -covered- for about an hour, or until lamb is tender. Add more beef stock if it gets low.
- (optional) pull out about a cup of stock, and add flour, pour creamy gluey thing back in and stir. Cook another 10 or 15 minutes or so, just to give the flour a chance to do its thing under supervision. In theory it will cook out in the oven, but I don’t trust flour, it irks me. Adjust seasonings after this.
Add in peas
Pour into baking dish, then top with mashed potatoes ... or if cooking in one pot, add mash directly over.
Bake at 400F/ 200C for about half an hour (until bubbling hot & potatoes are browned. If the potatoes are being stubborn, and not browning whilst the filling is bubbling out? Turn on the broiler/grill for half a second to half a minute or so -watch it! Dang things are sneaky- until they color, or simply say screw it, and serve creamy)

Cottage Pie

Spoiler: Less so, here.

Topping - Leeky Mashed Potatoes (wash & dice leeks, halfway up the green if you like a bit of color :D, sauté them soft in olive oil & salt). Mash softened leeks & oil into peeled/boiled russet, white, or gold potatoes.

Filling
- Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper.
- Cubed beef (I usually use chuck roast)
- Mirepoix
- Garlic
- Button Mushrooms (whole or cut in half)
- Red Wine (I usually use a Cabernet)
- Beef stock
- Rosemary
- Bay Leaf
- (optional) Flour to thicken

Same thing. Sauté the veg, brown the meat, deglaze with wine, add mushrooms, simmer in beef stock, thicken if desired, top with mash, & bake off in the oven.

Spoiler: Pot au feu

>> Cough. I said 2 recipes. But if I don’t feel like dealing with mashed potatoes & cookin twice, first on the stove then the oven? Cut the potatoes into chunks, sub white wine, and voila! Pot au feu. Can either be simmered on the stove, or simmered in the oven. Extra French-ish-ness is adding herbes de Provence, extra American, add lavender to your herbs. <<<

I had the sudden realization as I was pouring the wine in -when I was too late to stop- that I BET lamb cooked in Guinness, and topped with mash? Is amaaaaazing. Next time.

 

[Friday]

Broccoli Soup version IDFK ;)

- A bag of crappy frozen broccoli that’s mostly stems (you can use fresh, but this was my “oops, wrong bag” moment, guess we’ll make soup!)
- Chicken stock or Veggie Stock or Salted Water
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 stalk of celery
- handful of frozen peas
- Half a lemon, or equivalent juice (big squeeze, shot pour)
- Fresh cracked black pepper
- Handful of spinach (for color) Frozen is just fine.
- Something with whirling blades (immersion blender, blender, food processor).
- (optional) Cream, half&half, or dairy alternative milk
- (optional) lemon zest

Pick out a few broccoli florets for later

Boil the rest in chicken stock (about 1 cm higher/ just covers) w/ garlic & celery & peas & lemon & pepper .

Once it becomes a horribly gross faded yellowish color, and very mushy, add spinach.

Cook for a minute or two until spinach becomes bright green slime. (This does look & taste good, later, promise / despite my descriptors!).

Whirl smooth, and return to pan if it left it. Add the whole florets you saved out. Let simmer for a few minutes, until those turn bright green & pretty. :D Swirl in cream (if using), taste for seasoning & serve.

***

Extra Fancy = Swirl In cream in bowls (don’t stir) instead of the pan, and grate lemon zest & fresh cracked black pepper over.

I DONT WANT SOUP! = Use the purée to cook Israeli cous cous In, and eat hot, or add a bit of olive oil & nip into fridge for cold salad.

^^^
I do this all the time -with either cous cous or rice- with leftover soups that don’t freeze well, or that I just don’t want as soup. The soup-cooked-rice = lovely to stuff peppers with.

 

[littleoc]

lol, I love your recipes, @Friday

And the @somerandomguy spaghetti-o’s

 

[somerandomguy]

My favorite part was picturing @Friday yelling "I DONT WANT SOUP!"

 

[MyWillow]

Some years ago - when Mr MyWillow and I met - I realised that a) he couldn’t cook for shit and b) him buying takeaway didn’t count as cooking. I’ve had my own cafe and I’m a pretty good cook so I took him on as my kitchen hand. Taught him how to plan and prep and chop and time stuff. Then I bought him a coal Weber BBQ, a cookbook and refused to learn how to use it.

Now I thank f*ck I did that because so much stuff has kicked me up the arse the last 3 years that I’ve barely cooked at all. Tonight he did salmon steaks (marinated in garlic and soy) and cherry tomatoes on the BBQ, some steamed basmati rice (microwaved) and a pre-prepared kale and coleslaw salad.

 

[blackemerald1]

him buying takeaway didn’t count as cooking.

^^Oh no! How did he take that revelation?? I've had the same conversation lol.

 

[blackemerald1]

Lamb shank with veg's. & left over Lemon Delicious.

 

[MyWillow]

^^Oh no! How did he take that revelation?? I've had the same conversation lol.

Buying him the BBQ softened the blow lol. And prepping in my kitchen requires an alcoholic beverage. It became the thing we did each night.

 

[Friday]

And prepping in my kitchen requires an alcoholic beverage.

Right???

It’s amaaaaaazing how many formerly “I burn water” adults suddenly become really decent cooks when a prerequisite to prep is a cold beer or a glass of wine! :roflmao:

The stay at home dads and I used to potluck a couple few times a week... for years and years. Started out totally organic with “what are you making for dinner tonight?” and pooling resources, and ended up with the kids all standing on chairs turned backwards against the counter grating cheese and the like whilst we had beer/wine and manned the range & BBQ. :D Our own brigade, fantastic meals for pennies since we were all chipping in, and great company.

Cheers!

 

[LuckiLee]

7 & 7's. :D

 

[littleoc]

What’s that? :0 @LuckiLee