[Macros]

Pressure is all on you liz!

[Mezla PigDog]

So Macros and I text each other sometimes. I just heard that him and his family have all been admitted to hospital with suspected Listeriosis. There's not enough space in the poop thread to even begin to describe what's been going on. Sounds like hell. Pray for them everyone, please.

[Macros]

Oh god!
Its horrible!


Lol, I was actually just coming to this thread to discuss the meal.
Potatoes and veg were spot on, I think coupling the blue cheese stuffing with a cream cheesy sauce made it a but of a cheese overload.
Still very tasty and well received by the family.

However next time I think I will change the stuffing, and keep the cheese sauce.

Im going to make crunchteaser icecream this week as well, will post the recipe when I remember it.

[Maark Abbott]

I made a properly nice chili the other day. Mostly from how the beef was cooked - came out falling into bits.

So I pretty much seared the beef, then transferred it to a pot of water on simmer which had in it turmeric, paprika, garlic powder, black salt and ground coriander. Never has yellow beef seemed so beauteous.

[Arthur Dayne]

Mezla PigDog, on 18 January 2016 - 09:38 PM, said:

So Macros and I text each other sometimes. I just heard that him and his family have all been admitted to hospital with suspected Listeriosis. There's not enough space in the poop thread to even begin to describe what's been going on. Sounds like hell. Pray for them everyone, please.

There is ALWAYS enough room in the poop thread. ALWAYS...

[Obdigore]

So wait. Macros poisoned his whole family?

I mean, I can only assume his giant hands can carry a nearly infinite amount of bacterium around, but I'm surprised that he managed to get his entire family.

Kudos!

[Maark Abbott]

I'm guessing this is going to be like the Family Guy ipecac scene, but from the butt?

[Macros]

ok

cooking for 8/9 in just over 2 weeks time.

doing a 3 course meal.

For a starter I was thinking of doing baked parmesan wedges, with some kind of dip, or spicy baked sweet potato wedges with some kind of dip (cajun mayo?)

For a main would either be something simple (everything fucked on the table, serve yourself), like a Ham, then potatoes au gratin, mash, roasted veg and the creamy cheese sauce I made for the chicken the other night
or something that would be plated up and served to each individual, this would be a something that involves a chicken breast for each plate, culchulan mash, tobaco onions, roasted veg, and suitable sauce depending on how I'm doing the chicken.

desert - extravagent (for me) - baked alaska
or simple, pavalova and homemade crunchie ice cream.


talk to me food wizards

[Morgoth]

Matt, I don't now your budget, but here's two quick and delicious appetizers that also look good.

Tenderloin, I love using moose for this, or reindeer, but I am sure deer or ox work as well. You dont need much, I used 50 gr pr person last time. Heat a frying pan (high heat, i place it on a 7 on my 1-9 scale), add some butter and fry the tenderloin for no more than a minute on each side. A good tenderloin should basically be served like you'd serve tuna. It's so tender you can basically slice it with a fork. Cut it so that you have a couple of slices for each person. Now, chop some nuts, ideally walnuts, though pretty much anything can work I suspect. Mix it with honey in a bowl so that the pieces are fully coated. Finally, get a light, not too creamy blue cheese and cut it into wedges.

Place the meat at the center of the plate, the cheese a little to the side and place a tablespoon of the honey mixture on the side of the cheese facing the meat. It all looks neat and the flavours go surprisingly well together. If you want to be fancy you can make a thick lingonberry sauce and make an s- shape that starts to one side of the meat curves around bellow up between the meat and the cheese and over the cheese.

My second suggestion is salmon. I dunno how easy it is to get good salmon of sushi quality there. Basically, the salmon needs to be of a quality where you can eat it raw. Make a marinade of 50 / 50 teryaki and soya sauce. Add a lot of fresh, chopped coriander. Cut the fish in cube sized pieces, no bigger than what can easily be eaten in a single bite. Add them all to the marinade and leave them for half an hour to an hour. Get avocados. Cut them in two, and remove the stone so that you now have two pieces of avocado with a bowl shape in the middle of each. Have one for each plate. Fill the avocado "bowl" with sour cream (good sour cream, I buy it from a farmers market, the store stuff isn't rich enough in flavour I think), add freshly ground pepper. Place several pieces of salmon next to the avocado on a plate and serve. Can easily be eaten with a dessert fork.

[Egwene]

Ah, yes, moose... it's the sort of detail which makes me aware that we are strewn across the globe. Don't think I have ever seen moose for sale in this country!

[Macros]

Cant see me getting moose on short order:D
Really like the sound of both of those Morgy, but bear in mind whilst I'll eat most thinks, provided they don't nearly kill me (shellfish ruled out) most of my guests are of the mummy's spoiled irish children variety and as such, would pass out at the thought of eating fish raw, or a steak not burnt to a crisp.
Next time my aunts and uncles are down I'll be trying the salmon one for sure. Question, when buying the fish, how does one know what 'sushi grade' is? I don't buy a lot of fish, I mean I like fish and eat it, but its not something we eat a lot of, especially not sushi type stuff, the closest I would get to raw fish usually is me dumping salmon steaks I. The oven or smoked salmon on wheaten bread!

[Morgoth]

Macros, on 21 January 2016 - 10:02 PM, said:

Cant see me getting moose on short order:D
Really like the sound of both of those Morgy, but bear in mind whilst I'll eat most thinks, provided they don't nearly kill me (shellfish ruled out) most of my guests are of the mummy's spoiled irish children variety and as such, would pass out at the thought of eating fish raw, or a steak not burnt to a crisp.
Next time my aunts and uncles are down I'll be trying the salmon one for sure. Question, when buying the fish, how does one know what 'sushi grade' is? I don't buy a lot of fish, I mean I like fish and eat it, but its not something we eat a lot of, especially not sushi type stuff, the closest I would get to raw fish usually is me dumping salmon steaks I. The oven or smoked salmon on wheaten bread!

Well, when I say sushi quality it has more to do with taste. In the end, if the salmon has been frozen it is generally perfectly safe to eat. I typically go for brands I know, from countries that have proper safety regulations, Norway, Canada and Alaska are all good. In Ireland I assume you'd have easiest access to Norwegian salmon, which is perfectly safe. Salma-salmon is excellent, for instance, and as it is farmed salmon is a lot cheaper than wild salmon.

[Morgoth]

I have a dinner date tonight, and have actually planned a salmon dinner. It's more of a summer dish, but it's - 15 degrees here today, so we need all the summer feeling we can get.

It's a ridiculously simple dish, but everyone I've served it to love it. Again, one use a high quality salmon loin. Get a ripe mango, rinse and chop. Mix it with a cup of creme fraiche, salt & pepper. Cover the salmon and place it in the oven for 10-20 minutes depending on the size of the fish. I normally set the oven to 200 degrees. You want the salmon to be a darker red at its core. If it's gone pink all the way through you run the risk of it going dry/chewy (it's hard to explain the exact texture, but you don't want it in your fish).

I'm serving with a cauliflower puree and a ruccola salad with mozarella and walnuts.

Champagne to drink. There's also ice cream and a delicious, tawny port. Hopefully it'll be sufficiently convincing.

[Maark Abbott]

One of my friends at work introduced me to a goodun.

Turkey and broccoli meatballs with lemon.

400g turkey mince
1 head of broccoli
1 lemon
2:1 parsley and rosemary

Steam the broccoli until it's good and soft. Throw it into a blender with the juice from the lemon., get it nice and bitty. Mix in with the mince and herbs. Form into balls - use the albumen of the unborn if it needs to help bind it.

Cook until ready for thy consumption.

[Macros]

Have changed my mind yet again about the menu.
Think Im going to go with -

To start, croquette potatoes with cheese and bacon inside them, with a mini chicken fillet, unsure what to marinate the chicken in though, this is where malazan helps, what would accompany the cheesy bacon potato well?


Main - big old roast ham, with potatoes au gratin, champ and a mix of roasted veg. Probably carrots, parsnips and roasted sprouts.


Desert - pavlova and crunchie Malteaser ice cream.


Im liking this option because most of the prep work is done before and its just comes down to timing my veg into the oven really. Deserts will be made before

[Maark Abbott]

If you're doing cheesy bacon potato croquettes, I'd probably say a chicken stock marinade would go well. Something simple and relatively subtle that won't overpower.

[Macros]

You mean like an oxo cube??

[Maark Abbott]

Yep.

[Macros]

Interesting

[Mezla PigDog]

Macros, on 01 February 2016 - 01:09 PM, said:

Have changed my mind yet again about the menu.
Think Im going to go with -

To start, croquette potatoes with cheese and bacon inside them, with a mini chicken fillet, unsure what to marinate the chicken in though, this is where malazan helps, what would accompany the cheesy bacon potato well?


Main - big old roast ham, with potatoes au gratin, champ and a mix of roasted veg. Probably carrots, parsnips and roasted sprouts.


Desert - pavlova and crunchie Malteaser ice cream.


Im liking this option because most of the prep work is done before and its just comes down to timing my veg into the oven really. Deserts will be made before

Sorry but the chicken stock cube idea is terrible. I freely admit to being a food snob if that helps to gauge my position here.

For your chicken marinade - why don't you look up a nice home made jerk rub or a peri peri type marinade? I know a bunch of good recipes for chicken marinades that probably won't marry well with the croquettes - satay/tikka/terriyaki etc, all prep in advance then stick under the grill (also very good recipes to learn for scaling up and onto skewers on the BBQ for summer, if I do say so myself) and all good with a bit of salad... This would push you out of the Oirish comfort zone of potatoes with everything though so I understand if you are sticking with the croquettes.

Also, fall back chicken marinade of olive oil, garlic, parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt & pepper. Marinade overnight, cook under the grill.