WHAT DID WE HAVE FOR TEA?

[Stanley]

I got a piece of braising steak off Kath at the butcher's. I popped it on a bed of onions in a shallow metal dish with the usual suspects, Oxo, salt and pepper etc. Popped it on the stove top and at dinnertime had a gentleman's steak butty. I had the rest for tea with peas and chips.... Beef is expensive but I do like an occasional taste!

[Moh]

Rib eye steak, oven chips & salad tonight.

[Stanley]

I'm a cheapskate Moh, I always go for the cheaper cuts....
Had a haslet butty for dinner yesterday and steak pie, peas and chips for tea. I found a new treat yesterday on Elaine's whole food stand in the market. Australian liquorice chews made by the Darrell Lea company in NSW. However, they claim that it's the world's first soft chew liquorice... They must never have come across fresh Pontefract Cakes!

[Moh]

Roast pork, apple sauce, stuffing, roast & new potatoes, cauliflower & brussels tonight.

[Julie in Norfolk]

I'm a cheapskate Moh, I always go for the cheaper cuts....
Had a haslet butty for dinner yesterday and steak pie, peas and chips for tea.

In our efforts to "tidy up " we bought new bookshelves, decorated the hallway and are in the process of organising 40 years of book collections. The point being I found an old butchery book with a recipe for hazlet. Thought I was the only one still eating it!

However tonight was roast lamb, roast potatoes, roast carrots and roast parsnips and cauli.

[Stanley]

Post it on the site please Julie, I love the stuff but admit I don't know exactly what it consists of!
I had a bowl of the mutton stew for dinner and a boiled ham butty for tea....

[PanBiker]

It's basic pork meatloaf, a few variant recipes but basically pork, onions, herbs and a bit of bulking agent, breadcrumbs or oats. Some varieties use just the meat others a mixture of meat and pork liver. Regional varieties as with lots of basic grub.

[Moh]

Repeat of yesterday with the pork cold.

[PanBiker]

Chicken Madras in the slow cooker, will be consumed with Pilau rice and naan.

[Stanley]

19:00 last night, a new stew is born. This one is mutton breast, not for the faint-hearted as it is very fatty. I left it on the stove all night and have taken it off this morning and drained all the liquid off. It is in the freezer now in bowls and the fat is separating out. When it has solidified on top I shall remove it, return the gravy to the pot and give it another few hours simmering. It will still be too fatty for many but I am not afraid!
Yesterday I had the last of the freezer mutton stew for dinner and a ham and tomato butty for tea....

Later....


I told you it was fatty! Solidified fat lifted off the top and straight into the deep fat fryer to be de-watered and melted in with the dripping. Waste not want not. The liquor is back in the stew and the pot is back on the stove for a secondary simmer and the addition of potatoes which will absorb any free fat remaining in the stew and take in the flavour as well.
(Ten minutes later and the spuds are in. Now it can just sit there and argue with itself. This is where the flavour builds. All it will need later is possible adjustment of the seasoning.)

[Moh]

Beef & vegetable casserole with mash tonight.

[Stanley]

The stew was cooked in time for dinner. The seasoning didn't cry out for any adjustment and it was very sweet. No doubt from the swede and carrots as they cooked down. Lovely stuff and I ditched the idea of butties and had a bowl for dinner and tea.

[Marilyn]

That IS quite a bit of fat...gosh...
Soup tonight at ours ( Chicken and Veg).

[Stanley]

Yes it is Maz but lovely stuff, clean hard fat. The stew is not fatty and the pieces of fat with the meat have broken down into what is probably best described as tender white meat. Fat is only bad when you have too much of it and the wrong sort.....

[Moh]

Cheese & onion pie tonight courtesy of our neighbour in exchange for the apples!!

[Marilyn]

Grilled Beef Sausages with Onion Gravy, Roast Potatoes, Cauliflower Cheese, Baby Peas and Carrots.
I made a big pan of Cauliflower Cheese the day before we went on holiday and froze it in smaller containers, because I couldn't bear to waste a good Cauliflower...so that bit is already done...just needs to thaw and have a blast in the oven.

Out to lunch with friends today, and I am hoping I can talk them into a Salad Roll at Subway rather than a pub meal, because hubby and I eat very little at lunch (he generally has a Cup-of-Soup and I generally nibble a couple of crackers with cheese. It has become such a habit that we don't look for anything more substantial.)

[Stanley]

I haven't had cauliflower cheese for years. When I was younger I was very prone to cold sores and cauliflower cheese seemed to trigger them off. Funny because things like toasted cheese never bothered me.
I had mutton stew for dinner and three very small ham and tomato butties to use the ham up for tea. The stew improves each time it is brought back to a good simmer.....

[Moh]

Cottage pie tonight.

[PanBiker]

Lamb Curry

[Stanley]

Brought the stew back up to a simmer with curry powder, a bit of sea salt and two added potatoes. Had a bowl for dinner, two bowls in the freezer and one bowl in the fridge for today. For tea I had a go at mother's fried bacon and cheese. Fried the bacon, cut into pieces, covered the pan with grated cheddar and the bacon scattered on top, fried it a bit too long but it was good on three very small butties that used the last of the small loaf up. Next time I do it I'll fry it a bit less....
The new season British Cox's apples have arrived at Chaudrey's, lovely crop, best apple in the world.....

[Moh]

Chicken stir fry tonight.

[Stanley]

I had the bowl of stew for dinner followed by Xmas pudding and cream.... (I know! But I saw it in Kath's and quite fancied it....) For tea I had just one very small tomato sandwich, nuts and fruit for nibbles afterwards....

[Marilyn]

Home made pizzas.

[Moh]

Was going to do a lamb & apricot tagine but forgot to buy the lamb and it needs marinating overnight - so it is steak pudding, chips & peas - the lamb will be done next week.

[Stanley]

I declined steak pudding this week Moh. Decided I was getting in a rut. I browned a nice well hung piece of rump steak and onions in the frying pan and then popped it in a shallow tin with the usual suspects and after covering it with foil, left it simmering on the stove all morning. At dinner time I got a cauli (59p!) and some carrots and steamed the cauli over the carrots as they boiled. Dinner and tea was cauli, carrots and a third of the braised steak and onion gravy. Pudding at teatime was the rest of the Xmas pudding and cream.... (I apologise for that). I have a helping of the steak, cauli and carrots left over....
Enthusiasts of underdone steak would have torn their hair out I know but what do they know about tender beef and beautiful gravy...... In my mother's words, "It's well done not burned!"