The General Chat Thread

The Hill Billy

In bed right now, relaxing after a crazy week of packing, cleaning & paperwork for the move home.

Mrs Billy is downstairs preparing a steak & kidney pie as a treat for my homecoming dinner. The smell is amazing. Níl aon tintean mar do thintean féin!

beertons

Any suggestions as to what do do/how to cook fish balls? I don't want to do a soup. And I've no deep fat fryer. Will I steam them and eat them with a salad? Cook in a wok with coconut milk? I should have thought about this before I bought them.

beertons

beertons wrote: »

Any suggestions as to what do do/how to cook fish balls? I don't want to do a soup. And I've no deep fat fryer. Will I steam them and eat them with a salad? Cook in a wok with coconut milk? I should have thought about this before I bought them.

Pretty much anything that calls for deep frying can be shallow-fried.

What about putting a cm of oil in a pan and frying them, then turning half way?

Alternatively you could brush them with oil and oven bake.

Loire

Just made the most amazing soup! Sweet potato, onion, celery, leek, loads of mushrooms and carrots. Perfect on a night like this..

Triboro

The Hill Billy wrote: »

In bed right now, relaxing after a crazy week of packing, cleaning & paperwork for the move home.

Mrs Billy is downstairs preparing a steak & kidney pie as a treat for my homecoming dinner. The smell is amazing. Níl aon tintean mar do thintean féin!

Would Mrs Billy share that recipe i wonder?!!

heldel00

Loire wrote: »

Just made the most amazing soup! Sweet potato, onion, celery, leek, loads of mushrooms and carrots. Perfect on a night like this..

You'll be able to answer this for me Loire. I made soup last week with butternut squash. Lovely but I peeled the squash before roasting and it took forever (never mind almost slicing off a finger). Can I chop, roast and then peel?

oscarBravo

Mmm, steak and kidney pie. I made a chicken, leek, mushroom and bacon pie on Sunday; I could see myself following it up with a beef pie this weekend.

Stheno

oscarBravo wrote: »

Mmm, steak and kidney pie. I made a chicken, leek, mushroom and bacon pie on Sunday; I could see myself following it up with a beef pie this weekend.

recipe please?

If anyone is interested in the Paul Flynn cookery book, it's now half price in Lidl, picked it up earlier and there are some nice recipes in it

oscarBravo

Stheno wrote: »

recipe please?

I pretty much winged it. Let's see... I fried off some bacon lardons and set aside, then fried off a couple of sliced leeks and set aside, then ditto some quartered mushrooms and finally a pack of chicken mini-fillets cut into bite-sized pieces. When the chicken was nicely browned I melted in a chicken stockpot, then added everything back in with some sage and tarragon, added a little water, a good splash of cream and a glug of sherry, reduced it for a few minutes and then thickened it with a cornflour slurry and seasoned with a little salt, a good twist of pepper and the juice of half a lemon.

While that was cooling I rolled out some shortcrust pastry I'd made earlier and left resting in the fridge, lined a pie tin, filled it with the chicken mixture and topped with the remainder of the pastry, then stuck it in the oven at 180 for about half an hour.

The pastry was simply 225g of plain flour and 100g of a mixture of butter and lard, rub in until its breadcrumby, add enough cold water (just a couple of tablespoons) to bind it into a dough and leave it in the fridge for at least half an hour.

Loire

heldel00 wrote: »

You'll be able to answer this for me Loire. I made soup last week with butternut squash. Lovely but I peeled the squash before roasting and it took forever (never mind almost slicing off a finger). Can I chop, roast and then peel?

Hi,

Just realised in my post I mentioned that I used sweet potato, but in fact user butternut squash. In any case, I'm not sure as it was my first go! I peeled beforehand - cut the squash in half and peeled with a peeler...found it OK to be honest..

Loire.

Loire

Hi all,

Planning on getting a new kitchen in the coming months. Really happy, as our current kitchen is at least 30 years old!

Any tips?

Loire.

angeldelight

Loire wrote: »

Hi all,

Planning on getting a new kitchen in the coming months. Really happy, as our current kitchen is at least 30 years old!

Any tips?

Loire.

Double oven definitely!

Gloomtastic!

Loire wrote: »

Hi all,

Planning on getting a new kitchen in the coming months. Really happy, as our current kitchen is at least 30 years old!

Any tips?

Loire.

Lucky you!

Don't forget the golden triangle - fridge, sink and cooker. Keeping it easy to move from one to the other makes for less stressful cooking.

Loire

angeldelight wrote: »

Double oven definitely!

Only have space for a single oven as it will need to go under the hob. Am OK with that though as we use the hob for most things

Loire

If anyone has any recommendations for a particular brand / model of appliance also that would be super!

Loire.

Mr. CooL ICE

My parents renovated their kitchen a few years ago. They had a Stanley stove which they wanted to keep, but added a steam oven and induction oven top. It's awesome.

Dizzyblonde

Loire wrote: »

Hi all,

Planning on getting a new kitchen in the coming months. Really happy, as our current kitchen is at least 30 years old!

Any tips?

Loire.

If you have the room, get a larder cupboard with lots of space between the shelves so you can throw all your food in there - and have room to find it then. For symmetry our kitchen fitter split it in two and put one each side of the fridge.
I like big fridge but didn't want an American style one so I got a Fisher & Paykel and I love it. I also have a Fisher & Paykel dish drawer dishwasher and they're nothing but trouble. Ireland doesn't have the water pressure for them so you keep getting a Fill Fault and have to press the pause button. So you can't leave them on and go out.

iwantmydinner

I always like the tall, narrow cupboards that slide out on tracks, my dream (and far-distant) kitchen will definitely have them.

the beer revolu

Loire wrote: »

If anyone has any recommendations for a particular brand / model of appliance also that would be super!

Loire.

I'm very happy with my Electrolux oven.
Was not impressed with previous Whirlpool oven.

I'd hate to live without a double oven, though.

Gloomtastic!

Loire wrote: »

If anyone has any recommendations for a particular brand / model of appliance also that would be super!

Loire.

Bought a Zanussi oven last year with electric hob. Hob is crap!!!

BaZmO*

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Bought a Zanussi oven last year with electric hob. Hob is crap!!!

I think electric oven with a gas hob is the best combo if you can do it. Double oven is a great addition if you could afford it. I'd have the oven at counter top height. I hate having to bend down to get stuff out of the oven in the current house. I'd also have at least a five ring hob.

I've lived in a few houses over the last few years and it has really illustrated to me what works and what doesn't work in a kitchen.

One of the houses was fantastic, all top of the range appliances and amazingly long work tops, but everything was spread out too much, like the oven being one end and the sink the other end. Just not practical. Also, the presses at high level when really nice (and I'd imagine expensive) but they weren't deep enough to have plates laid flat in them.

Space is a key issue, or at least making the most of it. All in one pull out larders are fantastic. I hate having places when things just get lost in the back and you end up having to dump them when you eventually find them.

When I eventually buy my own place the kitchen will be amazing!

Dizzyblonde

the beer revolu wrote: »

I'd hate to live without a double oven, though.

I couldn't manage without a double oven at all.

Loire

I'll have to give that double-oven idea more thought so!

Cool larder Dizzyblonde! I'm thinking of something along the same lines myself also.

Thanks!

Loire

the beer revolu

Loire wrote: »

I'll have to give that double-oven idea more thought so!

Cool larder Dizzyblonde! I'm thinking of something along the same lines myself also.

Thanks!

Loire

The double oven is great. Efficient too, as I mostly only use the top (small) one which heats up really quickly.
Also very handy to be able to have two different temps on the go too.

IvyTheTerrible

Ah, I'm looking forward to when our crappy old oven conks out, so I can justify buying a new one. Our current one is a gas oven/gas hob combination. The gas hob is grand but the gas oven heats too much from the bottom, temperature control isn't great so even though I love baking, I can't bake anything interesting.

When I buy a new one it'll be a gas hob/electric double oven combination.

Kat1170

Loire wrote: »

Only have space for a single oven as it will need to go under the hob. Am OK with that though as we use the hob for most things

You can get under-counter built-in double ovens that are the same size as under-counter built-in single ovens.

kylith

heldel00 wrote: »

You'll be able to answer this for me Loire. I made soup last week with butternut squash. Lovely but I peeled the squash before roasting and it took forever (never mind almost slicing off a finger). Can I chop, roast and then peel?

I have one sitting in the cupboard at the moment and I'm either going to prick it and cook it in the slow cooker or cut it in half lengthways and bake it before scooping out the innards. Trying to chop and peel a raw one is incredibly difficult.

Kovu

kylith wrote: »

I have one sitting in the cupboard at the moment and I'm either going to prick it and cook it in the slow cooker or cut it in half lengthways and bake it before scooping out the innards. Trying to chop and peel a raw one is incredibly difficult.

Do you think so? I've never really had a problem peeling them. I cut it in two before peeling but always across the middle instead of lengthways. I find peelers don't work very well with them so I use a blunter paring knife like this.

Photo-Sniper

Loire wrote: »

If anyone has any recommendations for a particular brand / model of appliance also that would be super!

Loire.

If your willing to pay the price go Gas hobs.

Couldnt live without gas. The heat control on gas is x10000000000 better than any electric tops.

Photo-Sniper

kylith wrote: »

I have one sitting in the cupboard at the moment and I'm either going to prick it and cook it in the slow cooker or cut it in half lengthways and bake it before scooping out the innards. Trying to chop and peel a raw one is incredibly difficult.

Oldest trick in the book.

Prick the squash with a fork a few times, cut the top and bottom off and into the microwave for 3 and a half minutes.

This is just enough time to soften the skin while not affecting the inside of the squash. Take out of Microwave, leave cool for 1 minute and take your peeler or paring knife and the skin will come off like butter. If it doesnt, lash it back in for another 30 seconds.

People tend to think microwaves are a kitchens worst enemy, yet dont realise that Michelin star restaurants will have 4 -5 of them for simple tricks like this.