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What are you cooking for dinner tonight?

222 replies

oxocube · 16/07/2002 17:08

I love to cook but I am so bored cooking the same old stuff, week after week. What are you all cooking for dinner? Can you give me inspiration

OP posts:
Janus · 27/08/2002 20:01

I always add a very good glug of Marsala, it is alcohol but by the time it's all cooked together I think it has pretty much evapourated so my toddler eats it, and likes it, and it does help it have a bit of oomph!

Bozza · 27/08/2002 20:59

Thanks for the tips everyone. I'm just about to go on to Asda and order my shopping. Suedonim that casserole sounds just like my kind of cooking. Will give it a try. Any more fish tips v. welcome.

Simonhoward I haven't made a shepherd's pie for ages. Was just going to fry some mince and onion with worcester sauce and whatever else I could think of. Then top it off with mashed potatoes - although I had already thought of grating cheese on top - not the cheese & onion crisps though! Go on tell me - I'm missing some secret vital ingredient!!

Now I'm torn between ketchup, mango chutney and marsala - do you think I could combine all three or maybe I should do one each week!!

Janus · 28/08/2002 18:08

Bozza, I always do Nigella's recipe and tastes good, it's 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 clove of garlic, 1/2 celery stick, mushrooms (optional), 250g lamb mince, 1 tbsp flour, 50ml Marsala (I ususally double though!!), 200g tinned tomatoes, 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce. Put onion, carrot, garlic and celery in processor and blitz, put some oil in a pan and fry mixture for about 10 mins, then add mushrooms, thinly sliced. Add a knob of butter and add the meat until brown, sprinkle over flour and stir well, add Marsla, tomatoes and Worc., stir well, cover and simmer for 20 mins. Uncover, stir and cook for further 10 mins, put into a dish, top with mashed potatoes and top with butter and then grill until brown. Lovely!

manna · 28/08/2002 21:44

fish pie, bozza. Think shepherds pie, but made with assorted fish, white sauce, onions, mushrooms (optional) topped with cheesy mash and baked. Scrummy. To give it more oomph, try mixing in a smoked fish with salmon and tarragon. or fish cakes, or THAI fish cakes, or risotto cakes topped with spinach, smoked hadock, poached egg & hollandaise for that fancy restaurant touch, or roasted fish steaks on a stew of broad beans, peas, new pots. in saffron broth, or mackeral filleted & marinated for 1hr in ginger, garlic, coriander and lemon juice then grilled, or red mullet grilled with a tomato salsa, fried plantain and spiced up rice etc. etc. fish - I love it

jemw · 28/08/2002 22:26

My mums fish pie was mix of white and smoked fish mixed with chunks of hard boiled egs and prawns in white sauce topped with mash or sliced potatoes and grated cheese. Still a big favourite with us now.

My dd has loved salmon mixed with sweetcorn in cheese sauce since she was 8 or 9 months, sometimes top with mashed potato and even ds will eat it if I call it pie.

manna, like the sound of your mackeral recipe

Demented · 29/08/2002 12:26

Jamie Oliver has a really delicious fish pie recipe, here it is here:

serves 6

5 large potatoes, peeled and diced into 2.5cm/1 inch squares
salt and freshly groud black pepper
2 free-range eggs
2 large handfuls of fresh spinach
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, halved and finely chopped
extra virgin olive oil
approx. 285ml/1/2 pint double cream
2 good handfuls of grated mature Cheddar or Parmesan cheese
juice of 1 lemon
1 heaped teaspoon English mustard
1 large handful of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
455/1lb haddock or cod fillet, skin removed, pin-boned and sliced into strips
nutmeg (optional)

Preheat the oven to 230C/450F/gas 8. Put the potatoes into salted boiling water and bring back to the boil for 2 minutes. Carefully add the eggs to the pan and cook for a further 8 minutes until hard-boiled, by which time the potatoes should also be cooked. At the same time, steam the spinach in a colander above the pan. This will only take a minute. When the spinach is done, remove the colander and gently squeeze any excess moisture away. Then drain the potatoes in the colander. Remove the eggs, cool under cold water, then peel and quarter them. Place to one side.

In a separate pan slowly fry the onion and carrot in a little olive oil for about 5 minutes, then add the double cream and bring just to the boil. Remove from the heat and add the cheese, lemon juice, mustard and parsley. Put the spinach, fish and eggs into an appropriately sized earthenware dish and mis together, pouring over the creamy vegetable sauce. The cooked potatoes should be drained and mashed - add a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and a touch of nutmeg if you like. Spread on top of the fish. Don't bother piping it to make it look pretty - it's a homely hearty thing. Place in the oven for about 25-30 minutes until the potatoes are golden. Serve with some nice peas or greens, not forgetting your baked beans and tomato ketchup.

Yum, yum, I think I'll make this at the weekend.

Bozza · 29/08/2002 12:41

We could have fish everyday of the week now with all these recipes. I think I'll start with the more straight forward sounding ones and work up to the others. Hopefully. Depends on the response from DH really.

Janus that shepherds pie recipe sounds lovely. Thanks everyone for going to the trouble to put your recipe ideas down in print.

SoupDragon · 29/08/2002 14:17

Shepherd's pie: I just follow the recipe that always appears on the packet of Tescos' minced lamb!

florenceuk · 29/08/2002 16:10

You could make a chilli con carne pie - fry up the onions and garlic with a heaped teaspoon of cumin seeds, chuck in chopped carrots, peppers and mince, fry till browned (I usually use beef, so this is a cottage pie actually), throw in can of chopped tomatoes and a good squirt of tomato paste, ground cumin, chilli flakes and oregano then simmer for about half an hour - in fact, you could cook this with rice if you can't be bothered with mashing the potatoes.

Demented · 29/08/2002 18:06

Had delicious chilli con carnie last weekend, unfortunately DS2 (breastfed) ended up with terrible wind, farting and crying all night!

jodee · 06/09/2002 23:46

I just loved the name of this site -

www.bitchin-kitchenonline.com ! American, but it may have some tasty ideas for dinner!

batey · 13/09/2002 13:29

Got this one from dh's Japanese website,v. quick and tasty.......

Chicken and Sweetcorn Stew
1 small tin sweetcorn,4 skinless chicken breasts,chicken stock cubes,garlic, 1 med onion,flour, salt/pepper, 1 tspn honey, olive oil, passata/napolitana sauce.

  1. Cut chicken into chunks, season,cover in flour. Fry chicken in olive oil until golden.Remove from pan.
  2. Fry sliced onion and crushed garlic in pan until soft. 3.Add chicken.sweetcorn (including water from tin),stock cubes 1 or 2,1 tspn honey,tomato sauce ( I used pot of Napolitana sauce as it was all I had!). Simmer at least 20mins, stir regularly. That's it...Yummy!
WideWebWitch · 13/10/2002 22:46

We had this tonight from Nigella's new book and it was quick, easy and gorgeous. So here it is for anyone who's interested:

2 large aubergines (but wished I'd had more)
some feta cheese (I used hard goats cheese tho, v. nice)
1 red chilli finely chopped
handful mint
juice of 1 lemon
black pepper

  1. Get a griddle hot.
  2. Slice the aubergines thinly lengthways
  3. crumble the cheese into a bowl, add torn up mint, the chilli and juice of 1 lemon, add black pepper
  4. brush the aubergine slices with olive oil and griddle for 2 mins per side
  5. dollop some of the cheese mixture onto each slice of aubergine and wrap into a sausage shaped roll

Eat. OK, so it's not particularly low fat but I think the whole thing took about 5 minutes and it was very moreish.

jasper · 13/10/2002 22:49

www can I come round for tea?

WideWebWitch · 13/10/2002 23:12

No Jasper, only because, IIRC, you're on the WW thread and I don't want to ruin your diet...I've given up trying to lose weight as you can see

IDismyname · 14/10/2002 22:27

But hey WWW! Can't we just come round and dribble instead??!!

WideWebWitch · 06/11/2002 21:55

Did debster's peppers stuffed with goats cheese tonight and it was lovely (posted below on 17th July if anyone wants it). Added fresh basil as we had some and served with the potatoes she suggests and watercress and spinach salad. Would recommend it. Are you still here debster? If so, thanks.

debster · 10/11/2002 13:55

Yup still around WWW and I'm glad you liked them. I must read through this thread again as after birth of second child have lost all imagination when it comes to dinner time. We're having roast beef today and as much as I like it I am bored of having the same old roasts. In fact has anyone got any fab alternative roast dinners (meat or veg) that aren't too fussy for the whole family?

WideWebWitch · 10/11/2002 17:00

Debster, this isn't very alternative but: you could do a tray of roasted vegetables, whatever you've got, with garlic and olive oil and rosemary. You just have to shove them in and more or less forget about them then. Veg are nice and sweet done this way, so good for children. The only thing is that they do shrink down so a huge tray of veg reduces quite a lot. I also add onions cut into quarters and whole garlic cloves. I do this with a roast chicken, roasting the chicken upside down for the first 3/4 of an hour which seems to keep the breast moist and tender. If you salt the skin when you turn it over you still get crispy skin. Like I said, not very alternative, but quite healthy and easy.

jac34 · 10/11/2002 17:59

DH has just come in while I'm surffing, and said he is cooking the ds's pasta.He also said, that once they are in bed, he has some roast veggies,selection of cheeses, salami, palmer ham and a warm ciappata bread, planned.Oh!! and don't forget the red wine.
Who needs fore play, when your dh whispers sweet nothings like that!!!

kkgirl · 10/11/2002 18:12

jac
that sounds like a fantastic meal.
We are having Chicken Jalfrezi (homemade ie can of Sharwoods sauce and chicken and onion chopped up).
Last night DH bought a Thai Takeaway bag from Sainsburys. It was brilliant really nice.

lou33 · 10/11/2002 20:55

We had moussaka tonight with tomato rice. Roast duck is nice Debster, my children ask for seconds and thirds if they can get away with it, and the fat makes delicious roasties!

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