What are we all having for dinner?

[Berti]

tonight, steamed mussels in their shells, in beer/mustard/garlic, with french stick bread.
glass wine along.
thats it :)

tomorrow: organic steak with potatoes dauphinois.

[Odsox]

Leek, mushroom and bacon risotto - but why does it always need more liquid than the recipes say and always takes 3 times longer?!!! Was lovely but 2 1/4 hours to cook dinner is a bit much!

This has inspired me to copy you and have this as well tonight, with a bottle of Beaujolais.

Can't for the life of me see why it takes you 2 1/4 hours though, all my risottos take just on 25 minutes from the time you start adding the stock and use just over 1.5 pints of stock for 2 servings (6 oz rice). I shall steam the leeks separately and add them towards the end otherwise they probably wouldn't be tender enough.
Never followed a recipe in my life.

[Green Aura]

Taramasalata (made with home smoked roes), hummus and tzatziki with greek salad and pittas.

Guess who's feeling the need for summer!

[zaxdog]

My lovely Tobias is in the kitchen cooking some sort of rice dish for dinner.

And I have been promised pancakes with bacon and eggs tomorrow for brunch after the local kids deliver the Sunday paper. Talk about enterprising....they go to the mainland to fill their paper order then all the way back and round the island to delver them

[Milims]

Chinese takeaway

[yvette]

We're having Sunday roast, even though its Saturday - got a cheap chicken which needed eating fast, and no room to freeze it. Lots of chicken left for cold chicken to morrow and chicken and veg soup on Monday.

Nothing wrong with the odd takeaway Milims!

[Green Aura]

Dinner was delayed by the second two hour power cut in two days!

But it was delicious when it happened. Accompanied by a bottle of Retsina. Yummy.

The smoked roes were fantastic!

[Millymollymandy]

Leek, mushroom and bacon risotto - but why does it always need more liquid than the recipes say and always takes 3 times longer?!!! Was lovely but 2 1/4 hours to cook dinner is a bit much!

This has inspired me to copy you and have this as well tonight, with a bottle of Beaujolais.

Can't for the life of me see why it takes you 2 1/4 hours though, all my risottos take just on 25 minutes from the time you start adding the stock and use just over 1.5 pints of stock for 2 servings (6 oz rice). I shall steam the leeks separately and add them towards the end otherwise they probably wouldn't be tender enough.
Never followed a recipe in my life.

That's total time with all the chopping and preparing and browing lardons and veggies etc but it took ages for the rice to cook (arborio). I have come to the conclusion that adding a ladleful of stock one at a time doesn't allow the rice to cook as 90% of it is above the liquid, so in future I'm just going to bung all the liquid in at once then it comes into contact with with rice and it might bloody cook! Between us we have tried 3 different recipes and all have the same problem of not enough liquid and takes miles longer.

The recipe actually said to bung all the stock in at once but I thought I'd do it 'properly'.

[Millymollymandy]

Was this one, amounts doubled. I added lardons. I can't translate your old money measurements into metric so this shows the ratio, that's the only reason I needed a recipe as I don't have a clue how much stock to do with risotto rice as I only cooked my first risotto a few years ago - a baked leek one that Shirley posted on this site in response to my cry for help with using up leeks! That too takes over 2 hours and needs several ladles of extra water added!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/leeka ... isot_84317

[Odsox]

I have to say this is very weird, there's you saying it takes at least 2 hours and the BBC man saying it takes 12 minutes.
I see he says to use a saucepan and it struck me that you probably do as well with your 90% of the rice out of the stock.
I use a large shallow pan (like a paella pan) that is 29 cm in diameter and the arboreo rice for two makes a shallow layer less that a centimetre deep, so it is always covered in boiling stock.
It invariably takes 25 minutes to cook from the time you add the first ladle of stock, so with preparation time like last night it took about 35 - 40 minutes start to on the table.
Anyway, it was very nice ... chopped up smoked bacon from a pack of Lidls offcuts, fresh leek out of the garden, lovely, so thanks for the idea.

[scrap]

We had a chinese cabbage casserole.
Minced beef,garlic and onions,spiced with a little thyme,black pepper and oregano.
A few fenugreek seeds went well with the cabbagy flavour.
A layer of mash on top.(from a packet...)
When the mash started to brown I aded a firm layer of cheese,topped with crushed white mustard seeds.

Pretty simple,but it was a feast.

[Millymollymandy]

I have to say this is very weird, there's you saying it takes at least 2 hours and the BBC man saying it takes 12 minutes.
I see he says to use a saucepan and it struck me that you probably do as well with your 90% of the rice out of the stock.
I use a large shallow pan (like a paella pan) that is 29 cm in diameter and the arboreo rice for two makes a shallow layer less that a centimetre deep, so it is always covered in boiling stock.
It invariably takes 25 minutes to cook from the time you add the first ladle of stock, so with preparation time like last night it took about 35 - 40 minutes start to on the table.
Anyway, it was very nice ... chopped up smoked bacon from a pack of Lidls offcuts, fresh leek out of the garden, lovely, so thanks for the idea.

The BBC man put all the liquid in at once so that's what I will do in future. I've watched risotto being made on telly and they always say you must do it ladle by ladle and stir continuously and that it does take a long time - but sod that!

The 2 hours plus was TOTAL prep and cooking time!!! His recipe says 40-60 mins total. We've discussed this before (well I mean not you and me but others) - these TV chefs who give prep times for x amount of minutes don't have to get things out of cupboards and fridges and cellars and wash, peel, chop, measure, weigh etc - it's all done for them and then they just bung it in a pan. The reality of washing my own leeks for example compared to supermarket ones which don't contain grit adds time too.

I did it in my new pan which is frying pan size but with slightly higher straight sides and is wonderful as you don't inadvertently slop bits over the side like with a shallow frying pan. However that means the liquid is more spread out, so yes most of it was out of the liquid as a ladle of liquid didn't even cover the base of the pan.

Anyway shan't worry about it any more - now I've made risotto a few times and know what to expect I will do it a faster way.

And I didn't use dolcelatte cheese by the way as it's only available in the UK and nobody in Italy has ever heard of it cos it's not an Italian cheese.

[zaxdog]

Tonight is veggie chilli for the OH. Made enough for tonight and three extra portions for the freezer.

I'm on fish pie topped with a three root mash (made from cupboard and freezer salvaged bits n' bobs)!!! Made an extra for OH to heat up for tomorrow's lunch when I am on the mainland!

[greenorelse]

I love Engevita!

GA: have you tried this?

Fry finely-chopped onion and garlic. Grind equal amounts of cashews and water then add to the onion and garlic with a good dollop of yeast flakes (to thicken) and a tablespoon of lemon juice. It becomes a thick sauce and is delicious.

The grind of the nuts can be adjusted to your preference as can the amount of nutritional yeast.

Serve on baked potatoes, or something like steamed brussels sprouts or leave till cold and have it as a dip. Sprinkle paprika over it. Delish.

[Green Aura]

I do a very similar recipe (without the engevita, so might try that in future) served over kale - absolutely fantastic.