h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

today it'll be ravioli.

But I'm also preping the joint for tomorrow mustard and maple pulled pork, slow roasted for 6 hours.

I've been quite lazy recently, with cooking, asides making a giant cottage pie that lasted me days, and a big beef stew, I've not so much done any cooking as I have done 'bits of preparation'... Tonight will probably be the same... frozen pierogi into boiling water to cook, kiewlbasa, mushroom and onion chopped and fried, cheese chopped up to go with it, and some very much cheating half a tub of purchased colslaw Or maybe soem fresh pasta instead, which I have frozen down but which is nice and quick to cook
Hmmm... unless I actually get bothered and make soemthing with the sausages, probably with onion and mushroom, and to go with bulghur wheet, again... but that does rather miss out by not having any cheese in it...
I had cheese for lunch though... with two duck eggs and Polish ham
I think I've kind of gone into end-of-year wind-down period, not trying to buy too much food in, as I'll be off soon for Christmas, and so I've sort of neglected cooking much really mmmm sausages... hmmm..... some kind of pasta and sausage cheese melt sort of thing... maybe... mmmm sausages

I had Hanoi Beef Noodle Soup last night. Was very nice but quite a lot of hassle for dinner for one TBH.

FB

Exactly... think I'm reverting back to the 'cooking for one is too much hastle sometimes' mode... I do like it twhen I can do somethign that I'll be getting several meals out of; a massive stew, casserole, soup, cottage/shepard's pie, bolagnaise, chilli, curry etc... all of which are things that generally taste even better on day two or three anyhow, now I think about it But sometimes 3 minutes to boil up some fresh pasta, a generaous covering of parmazan and well, its just done and tasty and so not any hastle

That's the kind of food I really love, though. Big pots of stew, chilli, casseroles - so easy to make, and the flavour only gets better with time. And it's economical and healthy too!

Oh, definately.... I'm so glad I forked out the cash for the big cast iron casserole/stew pot I got... That makes those sort of dishes so much easier to do; Brown all the meat, fry the veg, etc., in it, on the hob, then either simmer on the hob, depending what it is, or throw it in the oven to casserole/cook mmm... damnit, not got anything in I can stew really...

You're not trying hard enough. You can stew anything if you put your mind to it.

Yeah my massive cast iron dish cost a fortune. And it was worth every penny.

FB

I've got some things I could stew... but pretty low on veg to go in it... although.... that kiewlbasa I have left, and lots of onion... naa, no muchrooms or leeks to go with it

I am cooking stew with dumplings
actually one of my favourite things to eat

I'm just about to cook a beef stew in one of those big cast iron pans myself . With chanterelles, onions, carrots, tomatoes and red wine. Unfortunately I have to do the last few days accumulated washing up first.

Start with "the chef's holy trinity" - onions, carrots and celery.

You need a drawer in yer kitchen where these three are always present. Just do them lightly on the pan before you do anything else. Then you need a couple of potatoes in the drawer, because if a drawer is too light, it tends to wobble. It needs ballast. This is where the magic happens. You discover that you can make any imaginable dish with the addition of one or two "extras"!

I'm doing a roast cod loin.

Given that Rog is very wary of fish, I'm delighted that he has requested this, but nervous about getting it right. Is 20 mins in the oven about right?

http://tonightstea.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/jamie-olivers-cajun-meat-with-sweet.html

We used pork loin which was an excellent choice. One pork loin yields plenty of meat and it's resilient enough to stand up to a very hot pan.

Amazing combination of flavours; I don't usually go mad over sweet potato, but here it's an excellent contrast to the rich, spicy meat and the sharp, zingy salsa.

B

Only thing I think I've ever done with sweet potato was make spicey sort of wedges/chips, or chrisps hmmm.. I'd entirely forgotten about them, whcih is weird as I walk past them to go buy cigs every day in the corner shop next door

I've been using up supplies, as I@m off soon for hoovermas, and so there really isn't quite sufficient in for stewing much I've some onions and garlic left, I think some frozen baby carrots, and probably peas and sweetcorn, but no spuds, no fresh carrot, and really really unusually for me, no mushrooms I've tons of frozen pasta and pierogi though, and fresh cheese and kiewlbasa, so I expect some combination of them may end up on a plate at some point later... Hmmm... there's some frozen chicken breast and thigh, and minced beef, actually thinking about it, and a handful of frozen chipalartas... and a silly amount of expensive wild salmon, as I stocked up from the supermarket when it was on offer, and just havne't gotten round to using any yet oh, and haddock too mmmm sausage... I could cheat and use the tin of something I can't remember Polish soup, in the cupbaord, and additionalise it, with onion and garlic and the kiewlbarsa and wahtever else I can manage to fit in to go with it...
At least I'll get some grocerys tommorrow to last the few days before I put my life into the hands of the rail companys

We had a roasted gammon joint with spuds and carrots. Plenty left for a couple of days sandwiches

Just using up some greek yoghurt with apricot jam stirred in

I've mostly been baking the last few weeks. Planning a nice big soup on Wednesday, to feed some guests and use up my veg before I go home for Christmas.

The slow roasted Maple n Mustard pulled pork is going into work today for our traditional x-mas shared lunch.

I had a sampling last night.



I'm too good to these folks. I am.

Did another roast cod last night, based on a Hairy Dieters recipe.

Roasted a red and yellow pepper, courgettes and red onion on a baking tray until soft. Make little gaps between the veg and place chunks of cod, loosely wrapped in parma ham. Sprinkle with a mix of breadcrumbs parmesan and parsley. Bake for 20 mins until the fish is firm.

Pasta.

Sauce: saute a shallot and garlic. Add chopped asparagus spears and some strips of parma ham. And a glass of white wine. Let the wine bubble away, then add some creme fraiche. Season with black pepper. Stir into the pasta, sprinkle with parmesan.