The General Chat Thread

Gloomtastic!

The Black Oil wrote: »

I've more cooking apples than I know what to do with.

Apple sauce! The sugar will keep it fresh for a few weeks.

B0jangles

Could you partially stew them and freeze in batches to use later for Apple sauce and pie/crumble filling? I was going to do that with ours but they got used up. I was thinking that partially stewing them and leaving them unflavoured would help keep some texture and also make them useful for sweet and savoury recipes, but I didn't get to try out the theory .

Lady Haywire

I'm the same but I've taken up the habit of bringing 2/3 down to the cows every time I check them. I'm their BESTEST, MOST FAVOURITE human ever at the moment.:D

BaZmO*

BaZmO* wrote: »

I never got mine. Must've gotten lost in the post.

Actually, scrap that. It was waiting for me in the folk's house. Apparently it's been there for the last month. I was away on holidays so I hadn't been up in a while.

Anyway, very pleased with it. Thanks Mods!

Dizzyblonde

The Black Oil wrote: »

I've more cooking apples than I know what to do with.

The Hill Billy has been making apple jelly

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057638547

The Hill Billy

I was prepping a couple of pumpkins yesterday afternoon for the kids to carve later, & thought I'd do something with the seeds. I rinsed them & patted them dry, sprinkled them with brown sugar, cumin, coriander, chilli flakes & sea salt. Gave them a good rub to coat them evenly, drizzled with olive oil & bunged in the oven for 10 mins.

They were gorgeous! Great with a few beers watching GBBO last night. I had to fight off the kids for the last few in the bowl.

Whispered

I need to blind bake a tart. I have no dry beans or rice in the house. Can I use anything else? Dry pasta? I have got a handful of split peas. Would that work?

LaChatteGitane

Whispered wrote: »

I need to blind bake a tart. I have no dry beans or rice in the house. Can I use anything else? Dry pasta? I have got a handful of split peas. Would that work?

Split peas work. I've been using soup mix for yonks to blind bake.:)

Coins, or scrunched up balls of tinfoil.

beertons

Rice works too.

BaZmO*

I bought one of these from Amazon and got it last night.



It's the business. Zested a mandarin with it and it was so easy. Absolutely no effort and it was all done in a few seconds. Great little gadget.

oscarBravo

No kitchen should be without one!

Halp! I made this recipe in advance for serving guests tomorrow: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/spinach-lasagne/

The only thing I did differently was to add some mozzarella to the top. It looks dry as fcuk.

Has anyone made it? Was it dry? And supposing it is dry...would it work to serve it alongside a garlicky tomato sauce?

Whispered

Ive never used that recipe but spinach and ricotta lasagna is a regular here. I use way less spinach. Like maybe 400g to a tub of ricotta.

Garlicky herby chunky tomato sauce goes really really well with it. Love it!

Yeah that sounds like a better ratio.

I'll make the tomato sauce and hopefully it will be fine! Thanks.

the beer revolu

Spinach, even when squeezed out, is mostly water. I really don't think that the amount of spinach would make it wet or dry.

I suspect that the problem is elsewhere.

Maybe just needs more bechamel.

limnam

the beer revolu wrote: »

Spinach, even when squeezed out, is mostly water. I really don't think that the amount of spinach would make it wet or dry.

I suspect that the problem is elsewhere.

Maybe just needs more bechamel.

Yep, I'd say it's a béchamel issue.

I never made that exact recipe but I'd normally use a ltr of milk 250g ricotta and 750g of spinach. But as beer says I don't think the amount of spinach is going to swing it one way or another.

Given that the dry element is the spinach/ricotta mix, I'm pretty certain the problem is the spinach. Perhaps i just squeezed out too much moisture.

Loire

Hi all,

Hoping someone can help re: gravy. Yesterday I put a round of beef into the slow cooker with a beef stock cube, a glass of wine and a few cloves of garlic. Took out the beef hours later and then decided to make a gravy with the stock. Made a roux (melted butter then added a spoon of flour) and it looked OK. However when I added the stock to it I was left with lots of lumps of flour. I mashed them up as much as possibly but think I am missing a trick. Any ideas?

Thanks!
Loire.

Lady Haywire

Did you add all the stock in one go? You have to add it slowly, stirring as you go and letting it blend into the roux mix. You can get away with adding a bit more at a time if the stock and roux are both piping hot but always comes out much better by doing it slowly, letting it come up to bubble again each time.

rubadub

Lady Haywire wrote: »

You have to add it slowly,

Yeah, you can pour out some stock into a large cold bowl so it cools down too. If you add it straight to hot stock you make dumplings.

Gloomtastic!

Loire wrote: »

Hi all,

Hoping someone can help re: gravy. Yesterday I put a round of beef into the slow cooker with a beef stock cube, a glass of wine and a few cloves of garlic. Took out the beef hours later and then decided to make a gravy with the stock. Made a roux (melted butter then added a spoon of flour) and it looked OK. However when I added the stock to it I was left with lots of lumps of flour. I mashed them up as much as possibly but think I am missing a trick. Any ideas?

Thanks!
Loire.

If you need to, stick it in the blender to get rid of the lumps....

Loire

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

If you need to, stick it in the blender to get rid of the lumps....

Thanks all and that tip above sounds good too!

BuffyBot

Loire wrote: »

Hi all,

Hoping someone can help re: gravy. Yesterday I put a round of beef into the slow cooker with a beef stock cube, a glass of wine and a few cloves of garlic. Took out the beef hours later and then decided to make a gravy with the stock. Made a roux (melted butter then added a spoon of flour) and it looked OK. However when I added the stock to it I was left with lots of lumps of flour. I mashed them up as much as possibly but think I am missing a trick. Any ideas?

Thanks!
Loire.

A wire whisk rather than a spoon can also help avoid lumps.

dudara

Make a slurry first - mix the flour with some water in a glass or bowl until it's blended, then add to the gravy. Don't dump the flour straight in as it can cause lumps to for. Use a fine whisk also to blend well.

Edit - saw that you made a roux. Cook the butter and flour well, then add the liquid in small amounts to start, making sure to mix well and cook well at each stage. Don't add too much liquid in the early stages. Cornflour also works better than regular flour IMO

kylith

dudara wrote: »

Make a slurry first - mix the flour with some water in a glass or bowl until it's blended, then add to the gravy. Don't dump the flour straight in as it can cause lumps to for. Use a fine whisk also to blend well.

Edit - saw that you made a roux. Cook the butter and flour well, then add the liquid in small amounts to start, making sure to mix well and cook well at each stage. Don't add too much liquid in the early stages. Cornflour also works better than regular flour IMO

I don't like using cornflour. I find that it goes gloopy when it cools down.

the beer revolu

kylith wrote: »

I don't like using cornflour. I find that it goes gloopy when it cools down.

This.
snotty, gloopy sauce!
Like a bad Chinese takeaway.
It's fine if you only want very slight thickening but is no substitute for flour in gravy or stews.

Easier to use, yes but not the same texture at all.

rubadub

I don't like overly hot food. I found a thin wall stainless steel bowl in the press. I cooked some noodles, stick them in the bowl and then sit it in a saucepan of cold water, and stir them around, like how you would melt chocolate. Basically a cold bain marie.

I used to do similar if I purposely made a lot of food in batches, I would put them in jars and stick them in a basin of water, but it never occurred to me to do it in a bowl like this.

Whispered

I'm looking for dessert recommendations please. Where would I get a really nice salted caramel and chocolate dessert. I've no interest in making it myself after two disastrous attempts.

I've tried a belgian chocolate and caramel tart from tesco and it was awful. I couldn't finish my piece. M&S have a cake in their Christmas food catalogue, but it's €30 and serves 12. There are only 2 of us eating it.

I'm in Kildare btw in case anyone knows of a small bakery who does a great one!

angeldelight

M&S do less elaborate ones in their regular dessert section