What's cooking / VT cookbook merge

[dicky_plums]

Just thought of another Dicky Classic from my veggi days:

This goes great poured over any stir fry. I do it with stir fried veg and tofu (eg. pepper, onion, mushroom, baby corn, tin of water chestnuts). Could be done with chicken/beef/your favourite chinese stuff, serve with noodles.

Dicky Plums' Spicy Peanut Sauce

In a bowl mix about half a jar/ 3 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter, several good shakes of soy sauce (about 5 tablespoons), chilli powder, teaspoon sesame oil, juice of half lemon, chopped ginger (about a teaspoon), chopped garlic (2-3 cloves) – add water until smooth and a bit runny.

Heat gently in microwave or pan.

Pour over your stir fry.

Dicky Plums' Spicy Peanut Sauce. Done.

[peterms]

...I do something similar with chorizo sausage and tomato as a base to a fish stew...

Chorizo goes really well with fish. Try chorizo lentils as a base for steamed/grilled white fish:

Gently fry finely chopped onion, garlic, carrot, celery and chorizo in a little oil (not much, the chorizo will give off oil).

Add Puy lentils (or black or geen ones, make sure they are ones which won't disintegrate in cooking) and turn in the oil for a few seconds

Add chicken stock and bay leaf, simmer for 20 mins or so (depends on which lentils)

Add salt at end, or else it makes the lentils hard and interferes with water absorption

Steam/grill white fish for 4-5 mins (John Dory, monkfish, halibut, haddock are all good for this)

Serve fish on bed of lentils

[chrissmith921]

Jamaican Jerk Chicken.

Yum

Will post the recipe when I confirm the name of the spices I use (I used the recipe, tweaked it... cant remember half the spices though!)

[BillyShears]

Domestically famous for my 'Daddies Monday Night Pot Mix'. With 4 kids there wasn't much money so every Monday tea was made up of the leftovers from the weekend chucked into a large pot and stir fried with olive oil and some mild spices. Pan of rice or pasta to bulk it up a bit. Often there was so much that it lasted a few days.

Failing that, Pot Noodle.

[RJA1703]

Sausage & Beans for me, from Chef Ramsey

Fry some Toulouse sausages in olive oil, garlic and some thyme sprigs. Add mixed beans, (haricot, black eye etc etc) and chopped tomatoes, bring to the boil and then simmer for 10-12 minutes. Season and add sugar to reduce the tartness of the tomatoes, then serve with chunks of french stick.

Pukka as Jamie would say

I have also nicked this one of sir ramsey. Live off this at uni! So simple i love it!

[dicky_plums]

...I do something similar with chorizo sausage and tomato as a base to a fish stew...

Chorizo goes really well with fish. Try chorizo lentils as a base for steamed/grilled white fish:

Gently fry finely chopped onion, garlic, carrot, celery and chorizo in a little oil (not much, the chorizo will give off oil).

Add Puy lentils (or black or geen ones, make sure they are ones which won't disintegrate in cooking) and turn in the oil for a few seconds

Add chicken stock and bay leaf, simmer for 20 mins or so (depends on which lentils)

Add salt at end, or else it makes the lentils hard and interferes with water absorption

Steam/grill white fish for 4-5 mins (John Dory, monkfish, halibut, haddock are all good for this)

Serve fish on bed of lentils

mmm will give that a go, sounds good.

If you cook the lentils in stock and dress them while warm with olive oil and balsamic vinegar it gives a good base to a salad - I like to add feta cheese, sundried tomatoes, parsley and red onion.

[lee_av]

Buy a slow cooker, bloody great! throw everthing in the pot and go to work and by the time im home its cooked.

Last week i put in the beef and veg and threw in a couple of cans of guinness. bloody lush!!!

I brought one of these a couple of months ago for £15. Superb.

Do all my Curries, Casseroles and Chillis in it now. There are 100's of recipes for them when doing stuff from scratch too.

[Amsterdam_Neil_D]

I want to know how to make Chicken Madras ?

I tried one out of a book but it was **** and looked and tasted nothing like a curry from a erm curry place. I eat madras about once every 2 weeks as it's the one for me, not too hot ...mmmm just right but I need a good recipe if possible.

Thanks.

[MattJ83]

Buy a slow cooker, bloody great! throw everthing in the pot and go to work and by the time im home its cooked.

Last week i put in the beef and veg and threw in a couple of cans of guinness. bloody lush!!!

I brought one of these a couple of months ago for £15. Superb.

Do all my Curries, Casseroles and Chillis in it now. There are 100's of recipes for them when doing stuff from scratch too.

£15 - where?! I can never find ones that cheap!

[BOF]

1.

Classy tasty starter for me is Bruschetta. Get a French stick and cut some slices from it. Dice a tomato into small bits and season with some garlic (a garlic mill is OK for this). Toast the bread under a grill, then put the tomato on and toast that for a minute, then drizzle in olive oil once done. Takes a few minutes and is very tasty.

2.

If you're new to cooking then a surprisingly quick and easy (and delicious) thing to cook is an omelette. The beauty of an omelette is that you can put in it whatever you want and they're rarely the same twice. My personal favourite in an omelette is mushrooms, diced onion and some gammon steak. Boiled potato is nice too but takes longer.

1. Dice the thin gammon steak into little 1cm squares and fry them first (fry them DRY btw, you don't want any oil in an omelette)

2. Then when they are dark red, throw in the onions and mushrooms

3. Then when the onions start to sweat lob 3 eggs on top of it all and start to stir it all up til the egg is properly cooked, and SERVE !

[lee_av]

Buy a slow cooker, bloody great! throw everthing in the pot and go to work and by the time im home its cooked.

Last week i put in the beef and veg and threw in a couple of cans of guinness. bloody lush!!!

I brought one of these a couple of months ago for £15. Superb.

Do all my Curries, Casseroles and Chillis in it now. There are 100's of recipes for them when doing stuff from scratch too.

£15 - where?! I can never find ones that cheap!

I saw mine in Netto of all places. I was looking for some cheap salad and fruit, it was just on the side. Not sure that they are there now.

Get one that is 3.5Ltr +. There are a lot of places that sell them. Argos, tesco, Asda, etc.

Well worth it.

[trimandson]

I wasn't expecting this much response, nice one!

[TheSufferingVilla]

Pesto Donaldinho

Pasta, preferrably fusili

1 Onion, chopped

10 Pork or Turkey Fankfurters, decent German ones

1 Jar of Sundried Tomato or Red Pesto

1 Tin of Coconut milk

1 handfull of Wallnuts or Pecans (optional)

Olive Oil

Cook the pasta. Cut the Frankfurters down the middle lenghtways, then once again to quater now chop horizontaly about 8 times, you are left with roughly 35 or so small pieces per sausage. Saute/fry the sausage, nuts and onion in Olive oil on high until the onion starts to caramelise but before the sausage or nuts burn. Chuck in the Pesto and the can of Coconut Milk and simmer for 20 minutes. Now drop the Pasta on top of the creamy pink goodness turn off the heat and mix it all up. Serve in a bowl to be eaten in front of the telly.

Be sure to try the leftovers after a heavy night out, not only is it a fantastic boozy snack but it may well cure the hangover before it starts. No promises but some of my mates used to swear by it and wouldn't go home on a Saturday until they had been by my flat to take their dose.

I've tried dozens of combinations, different meats, veg, cream etc. Nothing even compares to frankfurters, onion, red pesto and coconut milk. It's like the flaming Homer, on paper it makes no sense but when prepared is phenominal.

[MattJ83]

I wasn't expecting this much response, nice one!

yeah - it appears most villa talkers are aspiring chefs!!

[peterms]

Where's ranting? I want a repeat of his curry recipe.

While we wait for him to show up, here's a side dish:

Take some aubergines - the small, thin ones from Indian or Chinese shops, not the big fat supermarket ones. Three per person should be about right. Leaving the stem attached, cut lengthways into quarters from the end opposite the stem, leaving about a cm or so holding it together. Rub salt into aubergines, and let them stand and drain for an hour or so before washing and squeezing dry.

Dry-fry some cumin seeds, coriander seeds, dried chillies, sesame seeds and dessicated coconut in a small, heavy frying pan until they smell good, but don't burn them. Set aside to cool, then whizz in a coffee grinder, or crush in a mortar and pestle.

Fry chopped onions (1/2 per person) and garlic in veg oil on medium heat until slightly brown at the edges. Take off heat, add some turmeric, tamarind, salt and sugar. Return to a low heat and stir for a couple of minutes, adding a little water to let it down into a moist paste.

Add the aubergines, working the paste into the cuts, adding a little more water if necessary to give it the right consistency. What's the right consistency? What you would expect to see in a restaurant dish. Put a tight-fitting lid on the pan, turn heat down as low as you can get it, and cook for an hour. Check now and again, and stir or add a little water if it looks like it might stick.

[Jezza]

BBQ dishes are my favourite, but can be just as easily cooked on a hot plate:

Marinade lamb steaks (I prefer lamb to most other meats) overnight in a marinade of Dijon Mustard, Chilli sauce (to taste) and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Cook over BBQ or hotplate for about 4-5 minutes each side (to taste), rest them for 5 minutes, serve with side of potato salad.

Job done.

[regular_john]

Actually, this thread came at a perfect time for me. I'm looking to lose weight so have changed up my diet, it's working but i'm starting to get bored of the same old rabbit food. Can anyone recommend a good healthy cookbook? I cook for one (student) and am on a budget (student). Any ideas?

[dicky_plums]

Actually, this thread came at a perfect time for me. I'm looking to lose weight so have changed up my diet, it's working but i'm starting to get bored of the same old rabbit food. Can anyone recommend a good healthy cookbook? I cook for one (student) and am on a budget (student). Any ideas?

This one has some good recipes in from Ainsley and isn't all about "dropping a dress size"..

[tonyh29]

The wife does a mean layered potato thingy

one layer sliced potato (she boils these first to cook them) , 1 layer sliced boiled egg , 1 layer suasages , then repeat until you fill your cooking dish

top layer has grated cheese on top and then you cover with cream freche (I think it is , may just be cream)

cook in oven and bingo

very tasty .. of course it's not for anyone on weight watchers

[chrissmith921]

Actually, this thread came at a perfect time for me. I'm looking to lose weight so have changed up my diet, it's working but i'm starting to get bored of the same old rabbit food. Can anyone recommend a good healthy cookbook? I cook for one (student) and am on a budget (student). Any ideas?

If you're looking to lose weight:

1) Increase exercise, add resistence exercise if possible. This keeps your metabolism up a lot longer than running. Your uni/college will probably have a dirt cheap gym.

2) Dont eat less - this is where people fall down - if you eat less your body will hold onto the fat etc because it is undernourished, it's waiting for the next meal. The best way to do this is to go from the usual 3 meal a day thing to 5 smaller meals - eat healthy foods and drink only water for a fortnight. Guaranteed droppage of pounds.

Diets are bad because you usually end up putting the weight back on straight away after. Good luck to you - try to keep to the right calorie range (you can find this on many sites on the net for your height, weight, exercise level etc) and make sure you eat healthy foods such as lots of vegetables, rice, good meats etc.