General Chat Thread II

Dizzyblonde

kylith wrote: »

Opened a litre of milk this morning and it’s on the turn. Anything I can do with it?

I’m on a low carb diet at the moment so something without spuds, grains, or sugar would be ideal. I could make a load of pancakes for the toddler, but with a whole litre of milk?! The freezer would be jammed!

Happened to us a while back with two cartons of Avonmore. We let them know and they sent vouchers in the post

kylith

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

Happened to us a while back with two cartons of Avonmore. We let them know and they sent vouchers in the post

Might have to drop Mega Milk a line, so.

Really jonesing for some custard or rice pud, but might try my hand at cheese.

BaZmO*

kylith wrote: »

Might have to drop Mega Milk a line, so.

Really jonesing for some custard or rice pud, but might try my hand at cheese.

Never heard that expression before. Had to Google it.

Faith

kylith wrote: »

Opened a litre of milk this morning and it’s on the turn. Anything I can do with it?

I’m on a low carb diet

I thought milk wasn’t low carb?

Muahahaha

Has anyone seen the chilis in abobo sauce by the Cool Chilli Company anywhere in Dublin? Fallon & Byrne used to sell it but had a different product when I was in on Monday and I know the Mexican shop on Richmond St has a different brand that Im not a fan of as its not smokey enough.

Also fresh lemon grass, do any of the main supermarkets stock it? Its not in Aldi anyway, want to avoid a trip to the Asian shop miles away if I can and its the only ingredient Im missing to make a beef rendang.

miamee

Tesco usually have fresh lemongrass, I've bought it there a couple of times. Usually two stalks in a bag, I can't remember how much though.

kylith

Faith wrote: »

I thought milk wasn’t low carb?

I don’t use enough in my tea to make much difference, and it’s mainly for the toddler.

beertons

Put a shake of bisto granules into a Bolognese sauce earlier. Jeez it was lovely.

RacoonQueen

Cannot. Get. Strong. Flour. Anywhere. :mad::mad::mad:

I just wanna make doughnuts.

Gloomtastic!

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Cannot. Get. Strong. Flour. Anywhere. :mad::mad::mad:

I just wanna make doughnuts.

Stocked up last week. You anywhere near Dublin 3?

Comerman

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Cannot. Get. Strong. Flour. Anywhere. :mad::mad::mad:

I just wanna make doughnuts.

Marriages strong white flour in your local Natural Health Store

L1011

I'm fairly sure the megaCentra down the road from me has strong flour; it has nearly the full range a Supervalu would have (but dearer!) and its not been stripped bare at all. Maynooth, so probably no use to you

Due to looking for specific products and also being somewhat conscious of the cost of doing a full shop in said giant Centra, I ended up in 6 shops today. One - The Range was for a particular type of multipack chocolate bar nobody else sells in Ireland anymore; and one was Boots to make use of points offers (and they're beside each other anyway) but I still had to do the greengrocer, Lidl, Aldi and Centra to get a weeks shop done due to stuff being sold out everywhere. The Lidl was like a scene from the USSR - entire shelves empty or with some low volume items left (wholewheat lasagna sheets were the only pasta!)

Still didn't get some stuff but I can easily do a weeks meals with no issue and still have the normal stock of base shelf stable ingredients I always have.

BaZmO*

I've been refusing to go to the shops to get a "big shop" as I'll only end up throwing out lots of unused stuff this time next year and it'd do my head in dealing with the crowds.

I've loads of stuff in the freezer anyway. Luckily enough I did a huge amount of batch cooking about a month ago.

Generally all the local Spars/Londis/Centras have the likes of pasta, eggs, etc. that people seem to be bulk buying in the bigger supermarkets.

Muahahaha

Just back from my own Aldi and it was dead in there. The shelves were depleted but still had some stock on them and you could get most things. Girl at the till said it was quiet all day but the previous few days were pandemonium. Was intending on getting the muffin baking tin on special in the middle aisles as I havent made muffins in ages. But the moulds in it were so small I didnt bother with it.

BaZmO*

Probably a mad time to ask for it but does anybody know where I can get Geeta’s Mango Chutney? Used to be able to get it in SuperValu but haven’t seen it there in ages.

RacoonQueen

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Stocked up last week. You anywhere near Dublin 3?

I am not. Thank you though.

I think the shops have it but just are not putting it out, going to check the smaller supervalu today as they seem to be managing to keep the shop better stocked than the bigger ones.

Might just get a load of shopping delivered this week and can try get it with that, supervalu have it on their online store. I was meant to pick if up weeks ago as I was running out and just kept forgetting.

kylith

Lidl and Aldi in gory are pretty much fine, or were on Saturday anyway. Lidl doesn’t have much in the way of cold meat or dairy, but Aldi is pretty well stocked. I did stock up a bit but mostly of things like tinned tomatoes, some pasta, and bread that we can freeze just in case, but most people have seemed to be just doing a normal shop.

L1011

I did a cupboard audit before last weekend and did up a shopping list to get us to a solid, but not panicking, base load - albeit I couldn't buy all of it due to others actually panic buying. And did a dinner plan for the week based on that; including using up stuff that wasn't getting touched to reduce food waste when there could be supply chain demands.

On that target I did a macaroni bake, pork shoulder chilli burritos and have a lamb biryani and a mushroom farfalle with carbonara 'sauce' (including the pork) lined up

The problem is I've run out of ideas for the remainder of the month(s) ahead :pac: - and I think we'll get VERY bored of the accidental rota of about ten dishes we fell in to if its not being augmented by restaurant trips

Anyone got any odd dinner suggestions for a two person household that doesn't eat seafood and where the only person who cooks frequently is completely bone-phobic so will normally only cook with fully butchered meat. Veg*n recipes willingly accepted also!

the beer revolu

L1011 wrote: »

Anyone got any odd dinner suggestions for a two person household that doesn't eat seafood and where the only person who cooks frequently is completely bone-phobic so will normally only cook with fully butchered meat. Veg*n recipes willingly accepted also!

This might work, we had it last night and we love it. It's a pork mince and aubergine stir fry. The mince goes a long way - we use less than 200g for two of us.

One onion, chopped fairly fine.
About 4 cloves of garlic finely chopped.
Thumb sized piece of ginger finely chopped.
One chilli finely chopped (I used a birds eye chilli).

Fry all the above in a hot wok and stir fry in a little oil for about a minute.
Add the pork mince and stir fry, breaking up any pieces.

Dice a whole medium sized aubergine and add the the wok and stir fry for a couple of minutes.

Add a good dash of rice wine or dry sherry - white wine will do - and let it reduce.

Add a good splash of both dark and light soy sauce.

Here, I used some reduced stock (mostly chicken) that I have in the freezer but a chicken stock pot would do fine.

Add a little water, depending on how wet or dry you want it.

As soon as the aubergine tastes cooked, it's done - in all, around 10 mins.

Finely chopped spring onion and/or fresh coriander stired through to serve.

We had it with rice and tenderstem brocoli.

Springwell

L1011 wrote: »

The problem is I've run out of ideas for the remainder of the month(s) ahead :pac: - and I think we'll get VERY bored of the accidental rota of about ten dishes we fell in to if its not being augmented by restaurant trips

Anyone got any odd dinner suggestions for a two person household that doesn't eat seafood and where the only person who cooks frequently is completely bone-phobic so will normally only cook with fully butchered meat. Veg*n recipes willingly accepted also!

What sort of things do you like?

For inspiration the last week we had....

Gnocchi with carrot top pesto (yes the green bits of bunch carrots make great pesto). Tesco have good cheap store cupboard gnocchi these days

Mulligatawny soup - using up a frozen chicken breast

Pasta puttanesca - all store cupboard items

Vegetarian chilli using soy mince and lentils instead of meat, served with corn bread

Vegetable and quorn yellow thai curry with persian rice

Pizza (pre-made bases!!)

Deja Boo

the beer revolu wrote: »

This might work, we had it last night and we love it. It's a pork mince and aubergine stir fry. The mince goes a long way - we use less than 200g for two of us.

One onion, chopped fairly fine.
About 4 cloves of garlic finely chopped.
Thumb sized piece of ginger finely chopped.
One chilli finely chopped (I used a birds eye chilli).

Fry all the above in a hot wok and stir fry in a little oil for about a minute.
Add the pork mince and stir fry, breaking up any pieces.

Dice a whole medium sized aubergine and add the the wok and stir fry for a couple of minutes.

Add a good dash of rice wine or dry sherry - white wine will do - and let it reduce.

Add a good splash of both dark and light soy sauce.

Here, I used some reduced stock (mostly chicken) that I have in the freezer but a chicken stock pot would do fine.

Add a little water, depending on how wet or dry you want it.

As soon as the aubergine tastes cooked, it's done - in all, around 10 mins.

Finely chopped spring onion and/or fresh coriander stired through to serve.

We had it with rice and tenderstem brocoli.

This sounds delisch! Thanks for sharing the recipe! ...I love aubergine but never tried it in a stir fry - yum!

Be right back

Thanks Beer Revolution and Spring well. Both recipes look lovely!!

Dizzyblonde

L1011 wrote: »

Anyone got any odd dinner suggestions for a two person household that doesn't eat seafood and where the only person who cooks frequently is completely bone-phobic so will normally only cook with fully butchered meat. Veg*n recipes willingly accepted also!

Not a recipe, but I tend to have pack of two da Piero pizza bases in the fridge and a tin of Mutti pizza sauce, both available in Tesco. Also grated and/or buffalo mozzarella and a couple of antipasti meats. It's almost as good as a takeaway and really quick to prepare, for when you're not bothered making your own dough.
It's much easier to source pizza bases than strong white flour these days!

Dial Hard

The Gastro Gays are doing a Covid-19 Cooking Club on Twitter and Insta, might be good for some inspiration? It starts tonight and will run Wednesdays and Sundays with a theme each day. The idea is to do it with stuff you already have in the house. Obviously that will vary hugely for people but I thought I'd throw it out there. Tonight's theme is "Midweek Comfort". I'm doing a kofta tagine with jewelled couscous :-)

Springwell

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

Not a recipe, but I tend to have pack of two da Piero pizza bases in the fridge and a tin of Mutti pizza sauce, both available in Tesco. Also grated and/or buffalo mozzarella and a couple of antipasti meats. It's almost as good as a takeaway and really quick to prepare, for when you're not bothered making your own dough.
It's much easier to source pizza bases than strong white flour these days!

We keep these in stock also!

If anyone's struggling for strong flour try Kells (kellswholemeal.ie) - they mill in ireland and if you can store 12.5kg of flour it's good value. Delivery is €5. We make a lot of bread and also sourdough so it's worth it for us. Usually use the Oland and the French

sharpish

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

Not a recipe, but I tend to have pack of two da Piero pizza bases in the fridge and a tin of Mutti pizza sauce, both available in Tesco. Also grated and/or buffalo mozzarella and a couple of antipasti meats. It's almost as good as a takeaway and really quick to prepare, for when you're not bothered making your own dough.
It's much easier to source pizza bases than strong white flour these days!

I keep the same in the fridge/freezer and it's so handy when you need something quick and tasty. I use cheap tesco passta and add salt/pepper and a dash of balsamic vinegar to make the Mutti pizza sauce.

Ryath

I've used the mutti pizza sauce a few time's but I think I prefer now to just use their plain chopped tomato's or passata. Only discovered Mutti in the last year, used to mostly just use supervalues own brand chopped tomato's pretty sure they are the same as roma.

Mutti are well worth the extra money I think. Meals taste better and need less seasoning. It means going to tesco though where I don't tend to shop much.

L1011

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

Not a recipe, but I tend to have pack of two da Piero pizza bases in the fridge and a tin of Mutti pizza sauce, both available in Tesco. Also grated and/or buffalo mozzarella and a couple of antipasti meats. It's almost as good as a takeaway and really quick to prepare, for when you're not bothered making your own dough.
It's much easier to source pizza bases than strong white flour these days!

This is on my rota already but I've kicked it up to this weeks shopping list for the meat. Usually just make my own pizza sauce from pasata, salt, sugar and herbs but I may try the tinned option!

Gloomtastic!

I use your Marinara sauce recipe Dizzyb when it comes to my pizza topping. Add a few too many chilli flakes, just to annoy the kids!

L1011

Mention of chilli flakes reminds me - Tiger closed of their own decision before the weekend and they don't come in under any of the categories to stay open now anyway; but that's where I get certain spices and so on; chilli flakes and cinnamon sticks being two they have very good quality ones of at competitive prices

I get most spices in Eurasia in much bigger bags and was even there yesterday, only got what was on a list rather than stockpiling against Tiger not being around for a while!