Recipe review club

[GlumyGloomer]

I love trying out new recipes, and thought it would be fun to have a thread where we try stuff out and report back. Source must be cited and link provided if online. Photos encouraged.

Tonight I'll be making asian aubergine wedges, from Nadiya Hussain's Time to Eat book.
I like the taste of aubergine but have grave doubts about the texture. Still, I'm being brave and giving this a go.
Worth noting that I leave the chilli out of everything so that the dd's can eat it (I add at the table).

Anyone fancy joining me? (Waits for tumbleweed...)

@Imicola I eat literally anything but got kale from my neighbour and ...meh. Tasteless. Literally seaweed has more flavour. A big while later I got a baby leaf salad with kale and it was delicious!

@GlumyGloomer will take a pic of dumplings tomorrowas I froze them. They are actually called “pierogi” in Polish,I call the dumplings because that’s nearest I can think about (maybe tortelloni).

@Myotherface not sure how keen you are on curries? A while ago somebody on this board recommended 2 curry groups on fb so now I’m in the thrall of Misty Ricardo and his curry adventures. Haven’t made anything yet,ogling some books which I probably get after Christmas when they are cheaper :)

Off I go argue on AIBU:)

Fishman tomorrow,will stock up so boring fish and chips tomorrow.

Made gingerbread today. After dd1 carefully cut out all the shapes they turned into amorphous blobs in the oven, which was rather disappointing. After reading a thread on here about using cutters on soft American style cookies I re-cut all the shapes when they came out of the oven. It worked fine, but I still feel a little disappointed. I'm sure I could make it pre kids, but never since.

Decorated now, by dd1. Hot pink is such a classic Christmas colour isn't it?

Forgot the photo

@GlumyGloomer they look good! DH also made gingerbread men last week, and I decorated them with the toddler. I was amazed by her restraint as she managed to "decorate" three of them before eating one! I'm not sure if I have ever made them... perhaps as a child.

@GlumyGloomer they look awesome!

Thanks, they're tasty but rather soft, which according to the recipe book means I overworked the dough. Oh well.
@Imicola it's literally only in the last 6 months that Dd1 has been patient enough to decorate the whole bake before starting to eat them. Still doesn't wait for the icing to set

I did my weekly food shop on Friday ; didn't buy much as we were going away from 21st to 27th to an hotel. Not any more.
We're not very "Xmassy" people, but I want something a bit festive on 25th. Not looking forward to going shopping again this week.
NDN have a holly wreath on their front door - might steal a leaf & stick it on a pasta bake - although I'd like to stick it up BoJo's .....

Argh I know, we are struggling to work out what on earth to do and also have limited supplies until our next order on 28th! And I took a lovely leg of lamb out of the freezer for tomorrow which might come in handy later!

Might have I mean, if it was still in the freezer!

I'm sure a lot of people will be in the same boat, and the shops will be rammed which obviously won't help on the covid front. Sorry your plans were ruined @Georgyporky and @Imicola. We've got a delivery booked for the 24th. I think if we didn't have a joint then I'd probably try to do a pie of some sort, pastry always feels a bit decadent to me and they can look very pretty.

That’s shit,isn’t it?All the plans down the pan 🙁

I’ve been so brain fogged that I never placed an order for meat. Finishing work on 23rd in the morning so hope there will be something on the shelves.

Ah bollocks 🙁

@Georgyporky go for it (wreath and BJ’s arse- hope it has plenty of holly in it). Can you do click and collect somewhere before Christmas?

@GlumyGloomer

I always admired people ordering so close to Christmas- are you not afraid there will be something essential out of stock?

@FrenchBoule I normally order further in advance, but this year I had an irrational worry about use by dates and went for Christmas eve. I'm now very much worried things will be out of stock, but at the end of the day we won't starve, the kids are young enough to not care what we eat and I've got the Christmas pudding at least .

@GlumyGloomer it’s ok,I understand that variations in supermarkets depend on location.
I remember MN’s not happy with substitutes with their Christmas deliveries so just wondered.
I was also wondering with shortages in the shops- I live at the arse end of food supply chain in UK but even we didn’t experience totally empty shelves in shops.
I have to be prepared for being cut off the roads/kids sick in the winter so need to have essentials in the freezer

I had an epic fail day today. Lunch should have been crispy cheese pancakes, but I was making them one handed while holding the toddler, didn't seal them properly and the cheese all escaped during cooking. Then dinner was meant to be egg curry. Only it turns out we've run out of coconut milk, so the sauce (no recipe, just freestyle from homemade paste) was made up like I would a gravey, only with way too much flour so it ended up very stodgy. I also miss timed the eggs and one shattered in my hand as I went to peel it. At this point I threw in the towel and Dh had to finish cooking them. Dd2 woke up about 5 times last night, so that's my excuse.

@GlumyGloomer oh dear, it's one of those days. I took a lunchtime trip to the supermarket given we will now be at home, but forgot to get spuds or carrots thinking we had loads... should have checked! Oh well, we'll survive! (Shop at noon was fine, average busyness, no queue to get in, shelves fully stocked).

Yesterday I made a roast leg of lamb, following this recipe minus the juniper berries. www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/roast-leg-lamb-juniper-rosemary had it with roasted sweet potato carrots and parsnips plus gravy of course. Pretty good and the toddler loved it.

I remembered from the first L.D. that Sainsbo opened doors at 09.30 on Sunday for " browsing", so did the big shop then.
The place was heaving when we left @ 10.30.
The most interesting meat I could find was guinea fowl - turkey is my least favourite meat & I avoid it like the plague.
I went to Aldi today as I know they have goose, but did a swerve past the queue for the car park & came straight home.
So, what are you chaps having for dinner on 25th?

Glad you were both able to get some shopping done.
Georgy Guinea fowl was our Christmas lunch of choice before the kids. Last few years it's been roast in the bag chicken, as I couldn't manage anything else, but this year I'm attempting turkey for the second time ever. I've ordered a boneless breast joint (with a back up beef brisket in case the turkey is out of stock). Definitely want to give goose a go in the future.
Imicola thanks, today was much better, mostly because I'm now on holiday, and just reheating meals from the freezer for the next 3 days

@GlumyGloomer DS1 (who loves to use the electric whisk) once forgot to put the bowl down properly first... cue eggy and floury mixture all over the kitchen

DS2 loves roast chicken skin, we may end up having chicken for Christmas dinner, I don't really see the point in cooking turkey as DP doesn't like it. We usually go to MIL (who cooks for the 5000 even when there's only 10 of us!) but now we're in tier 4 I don't think that will be happening...

@Imicola I got some sprouts from M&S at the weekend as we happened to be near a store and they were reasonably priced anyway. Then I received a sprout tree in my veg box good thing both DP & I like sprouts! I also received a large bag of chestnuts, if anyone has any ideas on how to cook them?!

@ClaraTheImpossibleGirl I'm not an expert but you cut a cross in the top of the chestnut with a sharp knife, roast them in a hot oven for I think 15-20 minutes and then shell them before they get cold (or the shells stick). They're nice fresh and you can freeze them (cooked) to use in stuffing.
We always had chicken for Christmas when I was a kid, loved it.

Just checked, it's 30 minutes.
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/roast-chestnuts

Just remembered I bought some chestnut purée a few weeks ago, then when I got home - Duh, we're going away so it won't be needed. LOL

I'm now trying to find the stuffing recipe that I've used before.

@Georgyporky I think we'll be having Turkey in the end... ordered by in laws, if I'd known we'd be at home and was properly prepared I probably would have gone for lamb or beef. Today I made this for starters. Smells good! www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/duck-pork-terrine-cranberries-pistachios

@ClaraTheImpossibleGirl what are you going to do with all the sprouts? I roasted some yesterday which was ok, but not very exciting!