WHAT DID WE HAVE FOR TEA?

[LizG]

Made Thai fish cakes last night, tonight it's tamarind chicken curry.

[Stanley]

I had the last of Kath's loaf for dinner. Two small bacon butties and the crust toasted and a fried egg on top. I'm not burning as much energy because I'm not in the shed so at teatime I wasn't really hungry. Had The last of the stewed plums and cream and a crust off my fresh home made loaf cut into soldiers and dipped in. The last of a splendid (but expensive!) piece of cheddar cheese on some digestive biscuits afterwards.

[Moh]

Toad in the hole tonight - was going to do a stir fry but hubby fancied toad in the hole - he will get stir fry tomorrow!!

[Stanley]

Had sardines on a butty for dinner and fried cod, chips and peas for tea.

[Moh]

Changed my mind, I am making a chicken curry instead with rice & naans.

[Stanley]

I got so engrossed in my conversation with John yesterday that I forgot dinner. I had stewed some plums and when I went to the Cathedral of Choice for some cream I fancied a pizza so I got one of the good ones. I noticed that the little sticker on the shelf said it was £4,500 per kg! Should be good.....
I had the pizza, I reinforced it with extra cheddar cheese and had plums and cream for pudding. Nice!

[Moh]

Two small lamb shanks in the slow cooker, will serve with veg. & mash.

[Stanley]

Got a cauli and some carrots and steamed them. Had straight cauli and carrots for dinner and the same for tea but with a small fried cod fillet and an egg for reinforcement. Last of the stewed plums and cream for pudding.

[Marilyn]

Had some Baby Spinach in my "allotment" that needed harvesting, so I did that this morning. I was going to make Pizza with a chicken/Spinach/cheese topping, but changed my mind half way through the afternoon.
Made a Chicken Curry instead and added the Baby Spinach. It was really nice. Will do that again.

[Tizer]

...I went to the Cathedral of Choice for some cream I fancied a pizza so I got one of the good ones. I noticed that the little sticker on the shelf said it was £4,500 per kg!

Was it the Co-op? If so, perhaps Paul Flowers is back in charge and needs to pay for his addiction!

[Moh]

Meat & potato pie tonight.

[Stanley]

Yup, the Co-op Tiz... Don't know about Flowers returning, it was a good pizza made with acceptable ingredients.
I got a nice piece of braising steak from Kathy yesterday. Cooked it slowly on the stove on a bed of onions with the usual suspects. Had a piece of the steak with onions on a butty for dinner. For tea I chopped the steak up, added 4 tomatoes and stewed gently for an hour in a CI pan on the stove and had half of the result on a bowl of chips for tea. The steak cost £3.80 and there's enough left for another meal today with chips. Compare with the cost of a 'ready meal', three good meals using the finest ingredients for less than £2 a time.... Let's hear it for home cooking!

[Moh]

Can't beat it. What is a CI pan?
Lamb chops, chips & peas tonight with bread sauce - goes well with chops.

[PanBiker]

CI Ceramic Induction I would assume we have a set of CI frying pans bought for the ceramic surface rather than the induction. We use them on the normal gas hob.

[Wendyf]

No, it's Stanley we are talking about here so it's CI for Cast Iron!

[Tripps]

I've bought one of those ceramic frying pans that are advertised on JML etc. Mine of course was from Home Bargains, and cost about £8.
Still not made my mind up about it. It's better quality than I thought it might be for the price, and is very nonstick, but because of that when you are frying the fat has a mind of its own and clusters in groups around the pan, so often does not contact the food. On the whole though I like it.

[PanBiker]

I have yet to find many things that you can cook without a little fat or oil which is supposed to be one of the major selling points of the ceramic pans. The "One Cal" spray stuff seems to work best. I mainly use the big one for browning or sealing meat dishes before transferring to the slow cooker. If we have a stir fry or fajitas or other such dishes I tend to use a steel Wok which has a lot more room for chucking stuff in. We have two steel ones (not non stick) which are kept oiled between uses, pretty easy to clean if they are maintained and used properly.

[Stanley]

I considered one of those ceramic pans but in the end decided I liked my old one too much, very thick copper base and what must have been very high quality Teflon as it has not worn over the years. And yes Wendy is right Moh, CI is cast iron, I love them, they distribute the heat so well. In fact I've just ordered another CI casserole for my second favourite way of lazy cooking, slow braising on the stove....
I had a haslet butty for dinner. I added some peas to the braised steak and onions and had it on chips for tea using the last of the spuds up. Waste not want not. That £3.88 steak did three good meals.....

[Marilyn]

I am not drawn by the ceramic cookware. Haven't tried them and don't know anyone who owns any, but just don't feel an affinity for them. Nor do I like anything silicone, such as cake or muffin pans.

Made a Quiche Lorraine this afternoon. Shared half of it for tea with Salad, so we will share the other half tomorrow night.

[Moh]

OK. I have a cast iron casserole dish and a cast iron ridged frying pan.
Lamb shoulder, roast potatoes, roast parsnip, cauli. & gravy tonight.

[Marilyn]

I have the same pans Moh...plus a ribbed griddle pan that is square with short sides. I use that a lot. It is very handy indeed and easy to clean. Only needs the merest spray of Oil too. I can cook anything on that pan from toasted sandwiches to sausages, mushrooms, bacon, Chicken, Steak ...and I have even cooked Potato Fritters and Salmon Cakes on ir.
The other thing I find useful is my Air-fryer. A spray of Oil and it cooks beautifully.

[Stanley]

I used to have a CI girdle (What the Scots call them) and liked it until for dome reason it vanished. It wasn't ribbed but had a smooth bottom.
Steak pudding and peas for dinner. I had four sausages so I browned them in the frying pan, cut them into chunks and casseroled them with onions and tomatoes. Boiled some spuds and steamed a cabbage and mixed the whole lot together. Had a helping for tea, very nice.....

[Marilyn]

A what? A girdle or a griddle, Stanley?
A "cast iron girdle"...the mind boggles...

[Moh]

A bit uncomfortable!! Mine is square with ridges - it is blue outside
Gammon & jacket potatoes tonight.

[Stanley]

Maz, that's what the Scots call a griddle.
I had the sausage casseroled in onion gravy X two yesterday for dinner and tea. I extended it with a steamed Savoy cabbage, slightly underdone so it was still al dente even though reheated. Lovely taste, extremely nourishing and good for transit time!
Yesterday I started a mutton stew with half a leg of mutton on onions and in vintage cider. I took the leg out, de-boned and de-fatted it and saved half the meat for slicing and butties. I froze the gravy, took all the fat off and filled the pan with carrots, parsnips and small salad potatoes. It will go back on the stove today, all day and tomorrow will be the best veggie stew you have ever seen...... No leccy used for cooking.....