The what are you eating thread...

lostkat · 25-04-2011, 21:56

Love seabass - one of my favourite fish.

That looks lovely too Marie

OK, going to go on a bit of a ramble now... I had a bit of a cookfest this Easter weekend. I just fancied trying a few new things. Excuse the crap photos. They were taken with my iPhone.

Thursday
I've never cooked risotto before, despite it being one of my favourite dishes. This is because Leon doesn't like the texture of the rice. He was out Thursday night, so I decided to make myself a lemony pea & prawn risotto which I found on the BBC Good Food site. It was very easy to make (I quite enjoyed all the stirring) and absolutely delicious!

Friday
BBQ time!! I made burgers & koftas. I often do these, but they're always slightly different as I tend to throw in whatever I have around me. To check the flavour/seasoning, I pinch off a teeny bit of the mixture and fry it.

From memory, the burgers were beef mince, onion, chopped fresh oregano & marjoram (because I don't have much oregano out at the moment and marjoram is very similar), seasoning, bit of mustard powder. I put them in my little burger squisher, which works a treat! If you use good quality mince, you don’t need anything extra to bind them.
The koftas were lamb mince, onion, chopped mint & parsley, garlic, garam masala, chilli flakes & seasoning.
They were BBQ'd and served with a greek salad, bread & tzatsiki. Bloomin' lovely

Saturday
We have fish at least once a week, so I had to get a fishy dish in somewhere. I plumped for fishcakes as they're not something I make often, but I love them. I'd originally found a nice recipe in Olive magazine, but decided to go it alone and make something up. It's quite a prolonged process to make them because you have lots of components, but the result was an absolute triumph even if I do say so myself!
For the fishcakes I poached a salmon fillet in milk with a bay leaf, some peppercorns and dill stalks. I then drained it well, flaked into pieces and left it to cool. Next I defrosted a couple of handfuls of frozen peas and pulsed them in the processor for a couple of seconds just to bash them up a bit. I wanted them to retain some of their structure rather than having them as a puree.
I had already boiled and mashed the potatoes, so I mixed in a packet of finely chopped smoked salmon (200g ish), a handful of chopped dill, a teaspoon of dijon mustard, a big glob of mayo (I wanted tartare sauce, but didn't have any so figured mayo would do) and some seasoning. Then I gentley stirred in the flaked poached salmon and peas. A quick taste to check the seasoning and the mixture was done.

Finally I shaped the fishcakes, dipped them in egg and coated them in breadcrumbs before frying for 4-5 mins on each side until golden.
For the sauce I warmed through creme fraiche, wholegrain mustard, lemon zest/juice and seasoning and then stirred in some more chopped dill to add some colour.
To serve with it, I made an olive, sun-dried tomato, feta and rosemary focaccia break (which looks burnt due to poor camera on iPhone) and a rocket, watercress & spinach salad which just had a very simple balsamic vinegar & olive oil dressing on it.

Sunday
Just a dessert for Sunday because we were going to Mum’s for dinner, but I made a sort of cross between tiramisu and trifle called Raspberry Tiramisu. The only thing I did differently to this recipe was mix Creme de Framboise (raspberry liqueur) with orange juice and used that instead of marsala. Not sure why I did it, but it worked and it was delicious! No pic of this one.

Monday
I found a recipe for lamb kleftiko, which is a Greek dish traditionally cooked in a sealed clay pot or in paper so no steam can escape. You don’t brown anything. You just throw chunks of lamb neck (very cheap cut but excellent for slow cooked stews , chopped carrots & tomatoes, crushed garlic, lemon juice, fresh oregano and some ground cinnamon into a pan with a lid. To make sure the pan is properly sealed, you lay over 2 sheets of foil, followed by the lid and then scrunch up the foil around the edges. It is cooked at GM4 for 1.5 hrs before being uncovered and given another 30 mins at GM6. The lamb just fell to pieces and the flavour was beautiful.
I served it with lemon roast potatoes (which I boiled for too long so they went a bit too fluffy) and asparagus which was very quickly fried in olive oil.

So that ends my bank holiday feast

25-04-2011, 21:56	#30
lostkat Good Cat Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 5,550	Love seabass - one of my favourite fish. That looks lovely too Marie OK, going to go on a bit of a ramble now... I had a bit of a cookfest this Easter weekend. I just fancied trying a few new things. Excuse the crap photos. They were taken with my iPhone. Thursday I've never cooked risotto before, despite it being one of my favourite dishes. This is because Leon doesn't like the texture of the rice. He was out Thursday night, so I decided to make myself a lemony pea & prawn risotto which I found on the BBC Good Food site. It was very easy to make (I quite enjoyed all the stirring) and absolutely delicious! Friday BBQ time!! I made burgers & koftas. I often do these, but they're always slightly different as I tend to throw in whatever I have around me. To check the flavour/seasoning, I pinch off a teeny bit of the mixture and fry it. From memory, the burgers were beef mince, onion, chopped fresh oregano & marjoram (because I don't have much oregano out at the moment and marjoram is very similar), seasoning, bit of mustard powder. I put them in my little burger squisher, which works a treat! If you use good quality mince, you don’t need anything extra to bind them. The koftas were lamb mince, onion, chopped mint & parsley, garlic, garam masala, chilli flakes & seasoning. They were BBQ'd and served with a greek salad, bread & tzatsiki. Bloomin' lovely Saturday We have fish at least once a week, so I had to get a fishy dish in somewhere. I plumped for fishcakes as they're not something I make often, but I love them. I'd originally found a nice recipe in Olive magazine, but decided to go it alone and make something up. It's quite a prolonged process to make them because you have lots of components, but the result was an absolute triumph even if I do say so myself! For the fishcakes I poached a salmon fillet in milk with a bay leaf, some peppercorns and dill stalks. I then drained it well, flaked into pieces and left it to cool. Next I defrosted a couple of handfuls of frozen peas and pulsed them in the processor for a couple of seconds just to bash them up a bit. I wanted them to retain some of their structure rather than having them as a puree. I had already boiled and mashed the potatoes, so I mixed in a packet of finely chopped smoked salmon (200g ish), a handful of chopped dill, a teaspoon of dijon mustard, a big glob of mayo (I wanted tartare sauce, but didn't have any so figured mayo would do) and some seasoning. Then I gentley stirred in the flaked poached salmon and peas. A quick taste to check the seasoning and the mixture was done. Finally I shaped the fishcakes, dipped them in egg and coated them in breadcrumbs before frying for 4-5 mins on each side until golden. For the sauce I warmed through creme fraiche, wholegrain mustard, lemon zest/juice and seasoning and then stirred in some more chopped dill to add some colour. To serve with it, I made an olive, sun-dried tomato, feta and rosemary focaccia break (which looks burnt due to poor camera on iPhone) and a rocket, watercress & spinach salad which just had a very simple balsamic vinegar & olive oil dressing on it. Sunday Just a dessert for Sunday because we were going to Mum’s for dinner, but I made a sort of cross between tiramisu and trifle called Raspberry Tiramisu. The only thing I did differently to this recipe was mix Creme de Framboise (raspberry liqueur) with orange juice and used that instead of marsala. Not sure why I did it, but it worked and it was delicious! No pic of this one. Monday I found a recipe for lamb kleftiko, which is a Greek dish traditionally cooked in a sealed clay pot or in paper so no steam can escape. You don’t brown anything. You just throw chunks of lamb neck (very cheap cut but excellent for slow cooked stews , chopped carrots & tomatoes, crushed garlic, lemon juice, fresh oregano and some ground cinnamon into a pan with a lid. To make sure the pan is properly sealed, you lay over 2 sheets of foil, followed by the lid and then scrunch up the foil around the edges. It is cooked at GM4 for 1.5 hrs before being uncovered and given another 30 mins at GM6. The lamb just fell to pieces and the flavour was beautiful. I served it with lemon roast potatoes (which I boiled for too long so they went a bit too fluffy) and asparagus which was very quickly fried in olive oil. So that ends my bank holiday feast __________________ Oooooh Cecil, what have you done?