The General Chat Thread

The Hill Billy

I'm coming home for a long weekend & with the fine weather & all that I plan on chillin' in the field garden & barbecuing mostly these. (Ta for the recipe, oB!)

beertons

BaZmO* wrote: »

A spice exchange! Now there's a great idea. If enough people were involved you could restock your complete spice store for about €5 a person every year.

I'd be up for that. We'd have to do a csi job on the envelope, cut it then tape it back up.

MissFlitworth

beertons wrote: »

I'd be up for that. We'd have to do a csi job on the envelope, cut it then tape it back up.

Me too, I have awful problems with buying giant bags of spices when I'm trying out a new recipe, so I tend to have a lot knocking around the place! Also, I'm going to be in the States this September and I have already found the Mexican grocers I'll be visiting in order to bring home a full suitcase of chilis. I will *definitely* buy too much in order to have a huge selection.

(I'm such a sad act I'm actually scoping out accomodation for the last couple of days we'll be there that'll allow me to spend as much time as possible eating and buying things I find hard to pick up here.)

janmaree

I was intrigued by the porridge bread recipe so gave it a go and it is truly delicious, everyone who tried it agreed and said to "keep it coming"! Not too bad so! I did add a teaspoon each of salt and sugar which I do any time I'm making bread and I would increase the salt to 2 teaspoons the next time. I think I would also thoroughly mix all the dry ingredients together and then add the wet ingredients at the last minute. I mixed the yogurt, bread soda and oil together first as the recipe said but it frothed up like crazy and I felt like I was losing a lot of the leavening action before I got to mix it up. I was like a speeded up reel of film trying to get it in the oven before it was too late! I added a couple of fists of sunflower seeds because it was all I could find in the cupboard at top speed! Anyway, long story short, it was really good and definitely a keeper. Many thanks for the recipe.

angeldelight

Must try the porridge bread, I'm sure there must be some oats in the cupboard somewhere.

Anybody have any savoury recipes with mint in them? Bought some the other day by mistake and trying not to bake or make desserts at the minute

fiddlechic

angeldelight wrote: »

Must try the porridge bread, I'm sure there must be some oats in the cupboard somewhere.

Anybody have any savoury recipes with mint in them? Bought some the other day by mistake and trying not to bake or make desserts at the minute

Lamb with the best ever mint sauce: http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/sauce/spring-sauce-for-lamb.html

Pea and mint soup!

Merkin

Mojitos!!:D

StripedBoxers

Nigella Lawson has this one with lamb cutlets, but I'm sure you could use any type of lamb if you wanted.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/lamb_cutlets_with_mint_16788

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BUQlj-iQkg

I got her Nigellissima book today, god I can't wait to start trying recipes from it.

Few questions for those more knowledgeable than myself

What do courgettes taste like? I've never had them, but have heard they have a almond-ish flavour, do they? Is it strong? I'm generally not a fan of almond flavours so tend to avoid anything with it.

Does crab have a fishy taste? I want to start eating more fish and heard crab is nice, but don't like strong tasting (or smelling) fish.

I generally just eat salmon, seabass and hake, so would like some variation.

I don't like smoked fishes (coley/haddock etc, out, as are scallops).

angeldelight

Merkin wrote: »

Mojitos!!:D

I like your style!

Cheers for the suggestions, was having a total brain freeze - lamb it is!

Merkin

Courgette (also called zucchini) doesn't taste remotely almond like. It's very mild in taste and the only thing I can liken to is squash. Lovely in ratatouille, or a cheesy courgette bake, in soup or an addition to pasta dishes. It's pretty versatile really and not strong tasting,

Crab is beautiful. It's quite sweet yet delicate in flavour and is not very fishy. It's scrumptious, crab claws are one of life's great joys.:)

Haddock, trout and cod are all great substantial meaty fish without being very fishy. Not all haddock is smoked, M & S do really nice fish so worth popping in for some there.

StripedBoxers

Merkin wrote: »

Courgette (also called zucchini) doesn't taste remotely almond like. It's very mild in taste and the only thing I can liken to is squash. Lovely in ratatouille, or a cheesy courgette bake, in soup or an addition to pasta dishes. It's pretty versatile really and not strong tasting,

Crab is beautiful. It's quite sweet yet delicate in flavour and is not very fishy. It's scrumptious, crab claws are one of life's great joys.:)

Haddock, trout and cod are all great substantial meaty fish without being very fishy. Not all haddock is smoked, M & S do really nice fish so worth popping in for some there.

Thank you so much Merkin, I really appreciate your help.

I'll pick up a courgette and give it a try so.

Is there any other fish (or anything really) that crab tastes like? I know it's not cheap and I don't want to waste money on it.

Unfortunately there's no M&S near me, such a pity as I love going and browsing around whenever I do get to one.

There used to be one near me and the fresh bread was amazing, so delicious and crusty too. Yum.

I miss having M&S near me

dee_mc

StripedBoxers wrote: »

Is there any other fish (or anything really) that crab tastes like? I know it's not cheap and I don't want to waste money on it.

Not really - it's a bit like lobster, but it's a unique flavour really. Why not buy just a small quantity of crabmeat and see how you like it? You could make crabcakes for a little starter or something, yummy

Merkin

A nice thing to try with the courgettes would be little homemade kebabs. Diced lamb, courgette chunk, pepper chunk, cherry tomato. Put on griddle pan and serve up with a nice zsadziki. (Can't spell!)

Crab is like lobster so I'd say pick up a tin of John West crab meat and try that. It won't be like fresh crab but it will give you an idea of the taste and at a fraction of the cost. What are you going to do with? Crab works well with Thai flavours so go with delicate flavours to bring out the best. I think you'll like it, it's sweet and delicious.

I love M & S

Markcheese

Not sweet , but not exactly savory either ,watermelon and feta salad with loads of fresh mint ... Looks and tastes great...

sillymoo

So sweet potatoes have become my new favourite thing. I cannot stop eating them for some reason.

Now I had some sweet potato wedges in brasserie sixty6 this week (have been eating my way around Dublin this past week on my holidays) and they were covered in a very VERY light tempura batter or something. Almost like there was no batter at all. How is this possible?! Can someone let me in on the secret? I cannot cook sweet potato nicely in oil at home. I don't have a deep fat fryer so chips/wedges seem very flavourless when I cook them in veg oil in the saucepan. They also dry out when I oven cook them. What am I doing wrong? Please help me reach sweet potato heaven in my own kitchen (I may have had a couple of holiday cocktails prior to writing this post)

Mr. CooL ICE

Dunno if it would be the same thing, but I usually toss my sweet potato fries in a mixture of cornflour and spices, such as paprika and chilli powder. About a 1:1 ratio of spices to cornflour in terms of volume. I then oven roast them in a baking tray with goose fat at 180C, turning each fry individually 1-2 times until starting to brown.

Works for me. Too short and the fries are soggy. Too long and they burn to a crisp.

fiddlechic

LordChessington I basically do the same.
However, my key step to crispness is at least 1 hour of soaking the fries in cold water before drying reasonably well, and then toss in whatever flour/spices I have. Roughly covered in oil, and spread out well on baking tray. Also roast at highest oven temp, only takes about 12 minutes!
Don't have a deep fryer at home, but my parents do. Did them in deep fryer at weekend - I didn't bother flouring them. Just very hot oil, and constant re-dipping. Were very nice, but little enough difference compared to oven baked. Maybe the flour would have helped with deep frying.

rubadub

MissFlitworth wrote: »

I have awful problems with buying giant bags of spices when I'm trying out a new recipe

The big bags are often FAR cheaper per gram which is very tempting. There was an asian shop on georges street in dublin who used to repackage spices themselves. Instead of trying to weigh out 100g each time they just seemed to put random amounts in and then weigh & price them like you would in a deli charging by weight. This also gave the customer the option to buy various sizes. I still ended up with far too much, this was picking out the smallest bags they had, but they were a fraction of the cost of supermarket ones, and I got several times the amount.

I expect some of them still do this, the georges street one closed down.

Gloomtastic!

One thing I miss about living in London was buying huge big bunches of coriander for 50p.

fiddlechic

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

One thing I miss about living in London was buying huge big bunches of coriander for 50p.

I live near 2 veg shops, and both do biggish bags of herbs for 1euro.
Sometimes hit-and-miss regarding selection, but so much cheaper than supermarkets.

BaZmO*

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

One thing I miss about living in London was buying huge big bunches of coriander for 50p.

Eurasia do big bunches of coriander for €1

Kat1170

Knew I could get a strange smell the other night while baking some bread ............. Doh !!





Yes, that black smudge is the melted handle :o

Animord

Kat1170 wrote: »

Knew I could get a strange smell the other night while baking some bread ............. Doh !!


Yes, that black smudge is the melted handle :o

that is kind of cool. Maybe you could melt it back on again? :P

pleasant Co.

Animord wrote: »

that is kind of cool. Maybe you could melt it back on again? :P

Tinfoil mould :pac:

Faith

Do you think I could use a hand blender to whisk egg whites...?

Merkin

What kind of blender Faith? What are the blades like?

Faith

An immersion blender, I think it is, or aka a stick blender. Like you'd blend soup with. I brought a load of leftover egg whites with me thinking there was a whisk in this house so I could make a pavlova, but I was wrong. It's probably worth it to try, as I'll have to throw out the egg whites if I can't make it anyway!

Merkin

I have a feeling no, that you'll need the blades but worth a try with one anyway I guess, let us know if it works!

Faith

Faith wrote: »

An immersion blender, I think it is, or aka a stick blender. Like you'd blend soup with. I brought a load of leftover egg whites with me thinking there was a whisk in this house so I could make a pavlova, but I was wrong. It's probably worth it to try, as I'll have to throw out the egg whites if I can't make it anyway!

Yeah it doesn't work! 5 minutes of non-stop blending and I ended up with a fluffy layer on top and runny egg whites in the bottom. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. But now I'm left with a serious craving for pavlova!

BaZmO*

Faith wrote: »

Yeah it doesn't work! 5 minutes of non-stop blending and I ended up with a fluffy layer on top and runny egg whites in the bottom. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. But now I'm left with a serious craving for pavlova!

A sugarless pavlova?