MN Cook Club - September voting

[ColdSancerre]

We have the following suggestions

Starters
Rustic tomato, bread and basil soup
Fresh tomato and basil soup

Roast pumpkin/squash and chickpea salad with garlic tahini dressing (no recipe provided)

Sweet Potato and Sweetcorn Chowder
For 2 people: (double for 4 ppl)
2 small leeks
1 tsp butter
1 tsp fresh rosemary
1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
(about 1/4 pint) of vegetable stock
1 sweetcorn cob
1 tsp cornflour
4 tbsp milk

Slice the leeks and soften them in the butter on a low heat.Add fresh rosemary (finely chopped) and the sweet potato (peeled if necessary and diced into 1cm pieces). Cook gently for two minutes before adding the vegetable stock, and bringing to a simmer.

After 6 minutes add the kernels of sweetcorn cob, and simmer for another 2 minutes. Stir cornflour into milk and add it to the pan. Taste and season, then very gently heat the soup.

Minestrone soup
1 large onion chopped
4 med carrots diced
3 celery stalks diced
i tin chopped toms
2 veg stock cubes
1 tin mixed beans
shredded savoy cabbage
salt and pepper
mixed herbs
tom puree

Sweat onion, carrots and celery in a large pan till soft and translcent (onions) add 2 pints stock and the rest of the ingerdients apart form the cabbage and bring to the boil then simmer untill carrots are softened. Test for seasoning. When almost done add cabbage for 2-3 mins till cooked and serve.

French Onion Soup (no recipe given)

Broccoli and Stilton Soup (no recipe given)

Meat/fish main courses
Braised pork with lemon
Saute chunks of potatoes (about 2lbs worth) in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, add about 2lbs worth chunks of pork, leave to braise with the cover on, add lemon juice, salt and pepper when potatoes and meat are thoroughly cooked (about hour and a half).

Chorizo and pork belly with haricot beans

Pork chops boulangere (basically boulangere potatoes with pork chops layered inside, cooked long and slow)

Stuffed hearts with mashed potato, red cabbage and pears

Pasta pie

Roast Chicken with Lemon, Garlic and Basil
8 chicken thighs and legs, bone in.
Olive oil, good quality and fruity.
2 heads of garlic
1 lemon
Large handful of basil, about 30 leaves.
medium glass of white wine

Season the chicken and put the pieces in a roasting tin. Pour over enough olive oil to moisten them and make a shallow pool in the tin. Lightly squash the garlic cloves in their skin and tuck in with the chicken. Squeeze the lemon over the chicken and drop the empty shells in too. Roast for 30 mins in an oven preheated to 200°C/Gas 6, then tear up the basil leaves and toss them about a bit with the chicken. Return to the oven for 10 mins. Remove from the oven, pour the wine over the chicken, then put the roasting tin over a hot flame and let the wine bubble for a minute.

I serve this with a green salad and some potato wedges, but I peel the potatoes so more of the juices can be mopped up...

Crumbly chicken and mixed vegetable pie

Green Chile chicken enchiladas

Turkey Milnes
A turkey breast steak per person
wholemeal breadcrumbs
beaten egg
seasoned flour
Table spoon of mixed herbs

for the sauce
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
1 diced onion
garlic
splash of white wine
Tomato puree

Dried pasta of your choice

Dip the turkey in flour, then in egg then bread crumbs (mix the mixed herbs into bread crumbs) cook for 1-2 mins on either side till golden and pop in oven for 15-20 mins (i cook most things on 200c in my crap electric cooker so just adjust) wipe pan with kitchen paper to remove excess oil, sautee onion and garlic in smidgen olive oil and then add the wine.After the alcohol has cooked out add the tomatoes and tom puree. Cook pasta at the same time.

Serve pasta then sauce then turkey on top and sprinkle liberaly with parmesan. Also add parmesan to breadcrumbs if you like too.

Vegetarian main courses
Homemade sugo pasta sauce
Brown a clove of mashed onion in olive oil, then add 3 tins of tomatoes and 3 fresh chopped tomatoes, some basil, a tablespoon of salt and cook for 20 mins. Can add chili, olives, carrots, etc.

Porotos Granados
Just fry up a sliced onion, throw in half a kilo or so of cubed squash, sizzle for a while with a teaspoon of sweet paprika, a sprig of thyme and a pinch of chilli, then cover with veg stock and simmer. When the pumpkin is almost tender, add in the kernels sliced off two corn cobs, a handful of sliced green beans and a tin of cooked beans such as pinto or cannellini. Give it a few more minutes, check the seasoning and dish it up with flatbreads or a good crusty loaf. You can dot a bit of sour cream on it and scatter a bit of grated cheese over it too if you like.

Butternut squash, mushroom and chard lasagne (no recipe provided)

Oven baked wild mushroom risotto

Maple chicken & ribs

Roasted mediterranean vegetable lasgne

Puddings
Almond cake

1/2 cup, 112g, 4oz butter
1 cup, 225 g, 8oz sugar
1 tsp almond extract (I like Star Kay)
1 egg
1 cup, 125g, 4.5oz flour
Flaked almonds

Cream butter and sugar, add almond extract and egg. Add flour, mix until combined. Spread into pie dish or round cake pan. Sprinkle flaked almonds on top and lightly press into cake. Bake at 325F, 150C, Gas Mark 3 for 20-25 min.

Choux swans.
Make choux pastry and pipe profiterole sized balls. On a non-stick baking sheet pipe s shapes to make the neck with a blob at the end. Use a cocktail stick to put a beak on the head

Bake

Fill with cream and top swans backs with white chocolate icing.

Apple and Almond Tart
750g/6 cooking apples (Granny Smith)
1/4 c honey
30ml butter
1 cinnamon stick
1t grated lemon rind
5ml lemon juice
15ml brandy

Peel and core the apples and cut into thin slices
Make a syrup by cooking the remaining ingredients together
Add the apple slices and cook for 10 minutes

Put this mixture into a greased pie dish

100g butter
100g castor sugar
2 eggs, beaten
100g ground almonds

Cream butter and sugar together
Add the eggs and beat well
Fold in the almonds
Put topping on to the apples
Bake at 180ºC for 45 mins/until golden brown and cooked
Serve with custard/ice-cream or cream

Jamie Oliver toffee apple tart

Tarte tatin made with pears (no recipe provided)

Apple streusel cake

Blackberry and apple cobbler

Mulled apple crumble with vanilla creme fraiche

Bakewell Tart
125g butter
125g caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
125g ground rice
½ tsp almond extract
2 tbsp raspberry jam
Icing sugar for sprinkling

For the pastry

175g plain flour
45g chilled butter, cubed
45g chilled white vegetable fat, cubed
About 2 tbsp cold water
Milk for glazing

Make the pastry, line a loose bottomed 19cm flan dish and put in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes. Keep the scraps for decorating later.

Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the caster sugar, and cook for about 1 minute. Remove from the heat, leave to cool a little, then gradually stir in the egg, ground rice and almond extract.

Spread the jam evenly over the bottom of the pastry case, and pour the almond mixture on top.

Roll out the reserved pastry trimmings, and cut into strips and arrange on top of filling to form a lattice, attaching them to the pastry case with a little milk.

Bake on a hot baking tray in a preheated oven at 200°C/gas mark 6 for 45?50 minutes until the filling is well risen and golden and springs back when lightly pressed with a finger. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve the tart warm or cold.

Pink pavlova with strawberrys and cream (no recipe given)

Bump for more votes and more cooks. Just over a day left to vote.

So far in the lead we have rustic tomato soup, chorizo, pork & beans, porotos granados, and toffee apple tart.

Cold, how long will we have to cook this and leave comments before the next round of voting? It's just September is nearly over already...

I think we said new recipes every fortnight. So what I'll do is announce results tomorrow night and give us two weeks to cook and report back. But I'll start the next suggestion thread in a week so we've got a week to decide what we're doing. Do you think that would work?

Yes, that makes sense, just having a wibble over some RL stuff but should be able to fit it in late next week.

I vote for

Chorizo pork
Green Chile enchildas
Mushroom Risotto
Apple and Almond Tart
I know I've voted for two mains, and you can discount the chiles chicken if you want, but I will be cooking it so thought I'd let you know! and no starter.

Wow, DH won't know what's hit him!!

Bump again

OK voting says we do:

Rustic tomato soup
Chorizo and pork belly with beans
Porotos Granados
Either apple & almond tart or toffee apple tart as they tied with 6 votes each.

Will start a thread for results at some point soon.

Fab, how long have we got? (wonders if we are all going to be having this at the weekend!)

Two weeks

We don't have to do all of them, do we?

God no. I may try the last three. I'd be on my own with the soup as DP hates tomatoes.

Phew. My daughter won't eat squash of any kind, so the Porotos Granados is out.

Ok it's on. So what do you want us to post for results - just thumbs up/down? Or do you want us to post pictures of our efforts, cost breakdown etc?

Should we post our results here? I've already done the Porotos Granados (vegan friend came for dinner and I don't have the mental capacity to think of anything on my own right now).

Toby suggested the following for results:

Cost per portion (which would be interesting because some of us will have a lot of ingredients as store cupboard stuff, and some will have to buy them especially)
Ease of obtaining ingredients
Ease of following recipe
Time taken to prepare/cook
Family opinion on finished product

Pictures would be good if people want to, don't have to though.

Shall we just continue on this thread then as it has all the recipes on?

I've done my ocado order on the basis that Sat we're having the chorizo/pork stea and the toffee apple tart. I'm going to get started tonight by slow cooking the milk in tins in the slow cooker, dee said how to do it on the 'slow cookers are rubbish thread'.

She said:

Get tins of sweetened condensed milk. Take labels off. Put in slowcooker and cover with lots and lots of water. Leave on low overnight. DO MAKE SURE THAT THE CANS ARE COMPLETELY COVERED WITH EXCESS WATER TOO, OTHERWISE THEY MAY EXPLODE

So I'm going to do it that way rather than boiling them for 3 hrs, getting engrossed in mn or a book and having them boil dry and explode!

Well, I went to GIbraltar yesterday to buy the pork belly, all the other ingredients in that recipe are standard store cupboard ingredients to me as I live in Spain and am never without paprika and always have chorizo hanging about in the kitchen!

Will also be doing the toffee apple tart - again, here I can buy enormous jars of the most divine Dulce de Leche, so will be using that as it's soooooo expensive to buy condensed milk here (Dulce de Leche ?1.20 for 1200g jar....)

I think my prices won't be any use as a. it's Spanish prices and b. I have a hundredweight of tomatoes in the garden and a basil bush the size of Trafalgar Square's Christmas tree

But, we're having the pork and chorizo for Sunday supper, tomato and basil soup will probably be lunch tomorrow and Saturday. Toffee Apple tart will do a few two tops puds

I would still be interested in your prices, RockStock, but if you can't be arsed I totally understand :o

I'm a massive dork and would find it very interesting to see how much cheaper it is depending on where you live/what sort of store cupboard ingredients you always have/whether you grow a lot of your own veg etc.

But I get that that is boring to do, and probably boring for some people to read, so I will continue to be dorky by myself

I think it's interesting too Tobey, what different people consider 'store cupboard' We're trying to build ours up atm, with new recipes every week with different herbs/spices we don't normally use.

Yay, a fellow dork! :o

Toby then I shall give you my prices.

For example, the paprika I buy here is 25 cents for 90g. Whereas with you lot it's near enough £2 for HALF that weight. And the stuff I get here is obviously seriously good Spanish pimiento (I'm bringing a a LOAD of it back, with saffron, chorizo, pata negra, olives and olive oils when we move back in a couple of weeks!).

The chorizos on offer are absolutely amazing - even in the tiny grocery stores in the villages. My local supermarket (think Waitrose/Sainsbury's cross) has an entire aisle full of chorizos, ranging from almost vintage ones to bog standard throw in a stew stuff and everything in between. From tiny weeny ones to 3ft long curls, in every colour on the red and orange scale. I found some Rioja chorizo the other day in a little artisan deli in Marbella which is so good I have to eat in secret so I don't have to share it

Fruit and vegetable are very very seasonal here, so I can't get strawberries from May - September and they're only now just coming into the shops at vast expense. Herbs, obviously, are to found in abundance, though I struggle to find sage at times.

The meat here is truly delicious. The Spanish are big pork and lamb eaters and it tastes like one would expect it to taste - none of this insipid water pumped crap that is fobbed on people in the British supermarkets. Though, I do find it hard to get belly pork and went to Gib yesterday to get it. It was £3.89 for 800g, and I have no idea whether that is a good price or not.

Obviously the pork was in sterling, but I will price up everything else in euros and give a conversion for that too.

at the paprika/meat/chorizo. That Rioja chorizo sounds like the sort of thing I would sell my firstborn for.

That was very interesting, thank you, RockStock :)

RockStock - I was going to say, if you can't find sage, let me know. I foolishly planted 2 straggly little sage twigs 3 months ago, and now the garden is overrun by the bloody stuff! we don't even use it that often!

I have some chorizo in the fridge, and never use pancetta when I have bacon in the house, so will need wine and cannelini beans for the main course. I have tons of apples, 2 tins of carnation caramel, and a pastry base in the freezer, so will probably make a toffee apple tart again. DH will be pleased :o last time I made it, I did the 3 hour simmer on the stove top though, and it was fine - no worries about forgetting it as he was painting in the kitchen that day!

I'll need 2 leeks and 1 sweetcorn for the chowder (which I'm making for my soup dish), and will need a squash, 2 corn cobs, and some more cannelini beans for the porotas grandos.

my store cupboard is well stocked, and I always have left overs to incorporate into future recipes!

I'm tempted to make a 'recipe club' board on pinterest for the future, so if any of you are on pinterest, we could set up one with joint curators, and add ideas as and when we spy them. let me know if you think that's a good idea!

oh, and pork belly, obviously. would make a disappointing pork dish without the pork...

Tell me more about pintrest please? I've seen it mentioned a few times on here recently, but not aware of it. I love the idea of a board though. I (happily and very willingly) spend my life in the kitchen, and have thousands of recipes to share.

That's very kind about the sage - when we're back in the UK (moving back in a fortnight) I would gladly take some sage of your hands. I love it and when I can get it, I use it a lot in all sorts of things.

Toby I would possibly sell all four of my DC for it, tis that good!