topic Re: Cooking tips, recipes and attempts! in Off-Topic

Cooking tips, recipes and attempts!

Marjo — Mon, 17 Jun 2019 16:38:58 GMT

Hi guys,

So as many of you know I've just had my kitchen renovated (the oven/hob is also brand new!). I now have a lot more motivation for making home-cooked meals than I used to, and I'm very keen on trying out different things to improve my cooking skills!

So far I have made a very simple oven vegetable dish with different chopped veggies (courgette, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, mushrooms, red onion, peppers - of which some came from a pre-chopped packet of veggies from Tesco so it was SUPER easy), a bit of olive oil (well I actually forgot to buy it so used some margarine instead), and a whole cube of Greek feta cheese melted on top. No need for seasoning as the feta is salty and the veggies have a lovely taste anyway! It turned out delicious.

I discussed vegan food with @EmilieT earlier and was intrigued. After finding an easy and delicious-looking recipe in a Finnish food blog, I decided to bake a vegan blueberry pie over the weekend. The two "trial pies" turned out great and I took some to the office as well.

We've had some food topics in the past but I wanted to start a new one where I can document some of my cooking attempts!

Please do feel free to do the same if you'd like to share some of your creations (I'd love to see pictures!), and also any tips and recipes you might have for easy beginner cooking that might be helpful for anyone who is looking for some inspiration!

What's your go-to easy dinner/lunch/breakfast/snack that you make yourself?

🌽 🌮 🍜 🥐 🍅 🥕🥝

Re: Cooking tips, recipes and attempts!

viridis — Mon, 17 Jun 2019 16:46:31 GMT

Creamed garlic mushrooms
Perfect low carb addition to a fat steak.

Re: Cooking tips, recipes and attempts!

viridis — Mon, 17 Jun 2019 16:49:03 GMT

Fry mushrooms with a pinch of veg stock and a clove of garlic crushed.
Once fried add 100ml of double cream and 100g of Philadelphia.
Stir over heat until the cream has thickened and reduced a little, add salt and pepper, a little cajun pepper and serve over a steak

Re: Cooking tips, recipes and attempts!

jonsie — Mon, 17 Jun 2019 16:53:33 GMT

Simply phone for a pizza or go to the chippy....

Re: Cooking tips, recipes and attempts!

TallTrees — Mon, 17 Jun 2019 18:55:14 GMT

Hello @Marjo
My quick lunch is a pitta bread (bought from Tesco pack of 4) cut in half warm on heated iron stone take off iron stone open center to form a pocket in each half then fill with grated extra mature cheddar cheese put them back on iron stone until cheese melted inside, turning them over to distribute heat. I use a spatula to turn them.Serve with salad or sliced apple or any fruit.
Can use grill on low heat for same effect or frying pan instead of iron stone.
I like the flat iron stone to make flat breads on chapati unleavened breads.

Re: Cooking tips, recipes and attempts!

Marjo — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 10:53:19 GMT

@viridis creamed garlic mushrooms sound amazing 🤤 I don't often have steak but I can imagine this going with other things as well! My favourite sauce with a steak, when I do have one (mostly in a restaurant) is normally the peppercorn sauce. Now I'm wondering if one would add mushrooms and garlic in it too. 🤤

@jonsie I am an expert in that!! which is why I'm trying home cooking instead now. I'll never give up pizza takeaway though, just reducing a bit. What's your favourite pizza?

@TallTrees Ohhh yes, pitta bread is something I haven't had much before (at least not at home). The cheese option sounds delicious and I think there's other fillings too that I could add. I'll need to investigate this further!

Last night I fried slices of aubergine, lots of mushrooms and slices of green pepper in a chilli red pesto, added lots of black pepper and garlic seasoning, a bit of salt, and used the leftover plain yoghurt I had from the blueberry pie. Turned out pretty good but I did manage to overcook the aubergine a bit. Topped with grated cheddar!

Re: Cooking tips, recipes and attempts!

viridis — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 10:55:29 GMT

Isn't that courgette

Re: Cooking tips, recipes and attempts!

viridis — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 11:00:53 GMT

Oh and the creamy mushrooms, make a great peppercorn replacement, (it's also my favourite) for those on low sugar/low carb diets

Re: Cooking tips, recipes and attempts!

Marjo — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 11:09:39 GMT

@viridis wrote:
Isn't that courgette

Oh yes apparently it is. I often get the words courgette, aubergine and eggplant mixed up...

Re: Cooking tips, recipes and attempts!

viridis — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 11:19:03 GMT

😂😂😂

Re: Cooking tips, recipes and attempts!

TallTrees — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 12:08:11 GMT

@Marjo
That's right warm a pitta through (not hot) fill pockets with cooked chicken and salad with salt and pepper! Really nice.

Re: Cooking tips, recipes and attempts!

Marjo — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 15:57:39 GMT

Cheers for the tip @TallTrees ! I will try this at some point and let you know how it went!

Re: Cooking tips, recipes and attempts!

TallTrees — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 11:22:38 GMT

Hi @Marjo To-days Lunch is a pitta filled cheesy I photo'd it

this is a plain white pitta, I buy chillie and coriander

Wholemeal and seeds there are quite a nice variety.

warming on the iron stone

filled with cheese and put back on iron stone

heated through and cheese melting

Re: Cooking tips, recipes and attempts!

Marjo — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 14:44:14 GMT

Ok that looks SUPER easy indeed. Nice to see photos, thanks @TallTrees ! I don't have a cooking stone but I'll use a normal oven plate if (when!) I try this out.

Re: Cooking tips, recipes and attempts!

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 21:21:03 GMT

@TallTrees wrote:
Hi @Marjo To-days Lunch is a pitta filled cheesy I photo'd it
this is a plain white pitta, I buy chillie and coriander
Wholemeal and seeds there are quite a nice variety.
warming on the iron stone
filled with cheese and put back on iron stone
heated through and cheese melting

thank you for the photos @TallTrees ... because ... I would have cut the pitta breads the other way HaHaHa

sounds a good lunch that even non-cooking me can have a go at

@viridis your steak with such a tasty sauce sounds right up my street ... I love carbs, not good for me at all ... however ... your recipe again sounds like something I can try

@Marjo ... your recipes are enticing ... making me drool = not a pretty sight HaHaHa

I am trying out the town's Tesco tomorrow as the store is near where my mum lives ... I usually use Morissons as it's nearer where I live ... I'll add black olives to the feta cheese topping

Re: Cooking tips, recipes and attempts!

ComaChameleon — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 22:02:29 GMT

@jonsie wrote:
Simply phone for a pizza or go to the chippy....

Thank you @jonsie

I tried that recipe today and it turned out as delicious! (Got me some Gyros and fries from the greek xD)

Re: Cooking tips, recipes and attempts!

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 07:50:43 GMT

@ComaChameleon wrote:
@jonsie wrote:
Simply phone for a pizza or go to the chippy....

Thank you @jonsie
I tried that recipe today and it turned out as delicious! (Got me some Gyros and fries from the greek xD)

You've got me ... ... ... Take-Away Tina that's me

CSE hace wonderful soft, thin 12" pizzas

R have wonderful chicken filet crumb coated burgers & fries with Fanta

HKC have allsorts & they're all great

local chippy have to eat inside, not restaurant, or on canal bank, followed by an ice cream from the Tug Boat, nice husband and wife run it

Re: Cooking tips, recipes and attempts!

Marjo — Tue, 25 Jun 2019 12:27:33 GMT

Happy Tuesday!

Over the weekend I cooked pasta with vegetable/feta sauce! I've done that before but this time I got some tips from a friend who was visiting the day before to make it even more tasty.

I chopped 2 packs of baby plum tomatoes, big bag of asparagus, 1 bag of spring onions, 3 garlic gloves and a few mushrooms (leftover from before so not a full pack), and fried them on the hob. Added more flavour with veggie stock, black pepper, and chilli powder, and then added 1,5 feta blocks to melt in the sauce. And I made some farfalla pasta with the sauce.

It turned out great and I was very pleased, although some learnings for next time: put slightly less asparagus and a bit less feta too, wash the green parts of spring onions better, and add mushrooms earlier.

Re: Cooking tips, recipes and attempts!

Cleoriff — Tue, 25 Jun 2019 12:59:16 GMT

Looks very tasty @Marjo

Did you serve it with rice or anything else?

Re: Cooking tips, recipes and attempts!

Marjo — Tue, 25 Jun 2019 15:22:25 GMT

@Cleoriff wrote:

Looks very tasty @Marjo

Did you serve it with rice or anything else?

I boiled some farfalle pasta with the sauce. Rice I hadn't considered but could be a good alternative!