What is/was for dinner?

So, my wife and I cook all of our meals unless we are traveling. (There’s some exceptions, and if we’re just totally exhausted we’ll just steam some dumplings we keep in the freezer and make a quick sauce from soy sauce, scallion, sugar, and black vinegar. But this is maybe once/twice in a typical month. )

Anyway, we love food and the process of cooking, we typically work together to prep, but of course sometimes it’s just me or just her cooking. We do find it enjoyable and relaxing, although I appreciate not everyone does!

Something like ravioli is a bit time consuming, and so typically we go for it on a Friday night or weekend. Although honestly this is also because we like to make a huge batch and freeze the excess for quick meals later in the month.

Some of the easiest non-tomato sauces you can make for pasta are pestos. A big bunch of basil, olive oil, garlic, pine nuts, and Parmesan comes together very quickly in a food processor. So does arugula, pistachios, garlic, olive oil, and grana Padano. Okay honestly pretty much any herb and nut with garlic, oil, and cheese works. We also like to do a cilantro pesto. This one is great on pizza with roasted mushrooms. They also can be made in huge quantities, and last quite a while in the fridge/freezer.

 

Blue cheese sauce (blue cheese melted and double cream added) also takes - literally - a handful of minutes to prepare as a pasta sauce; blue cheese sauce, good Italian pasta, and a green salad or steamed spinach is a dish I can have on the table in 20-25 minutes, a lovely homemade dish prepared from scratch.

 

I buy fresh spinach and ricotta pasta when I'm cooking for myself. Serve it with a tomato based sauce or pesto. Usually some cheese as well.
Quick and easy. If I'm hungry I might throw in some sausages.

 

For future reference, one of the most popular ways to prepare turnips is to cut them up and boil them with potatoes and mash them. Add copious amounts of butter and some cream. It's really quite a nice combo.

 

Roasting, for sure. I like them in a root vegetable soup too. You can also use them for a curry dish; look around for recipes called “shalgam ki sabzi.”

 

If I may, I'd pick out small, young turnips as opposed to large ones. The larger ones are more bitter and taste onion like compared to the sweet younger ones.

 

The most popular yes, (this is how my mother used to prepare them the I was a child) but I wanted something more......adventurous and tasty.

Given that carrots, parsnips, potatoes, sweet potatoes and celeriac all benefit from - and caramelise as a result of - roasting (with onions and garlic), I thought (or hoped) that the same might apply to turnips.

Anyway, the dish was tasty enough, though I shall toy further with the ingredients next time I prepare the dish.

 

Chicken and vegetable stir fry with rice noodles. It was palatable.

 

Turnips don't roast well in my experience. You're better off steaming them or cooking them in a pot under low flame with a few centimeters of water in the pot. The bottoms may caramelize just a bit that way. I find beets roast quite nicely and will often cause a thick, sweet slurry to develop as the root veg steams off and releases water in addition to what little you put in.

Apart from potatoes, I think we consume a few kilos of root vegetables a week during the winter. Nutrition, filling, and it makes the kitchen smell wonderful.

 

Roast Beef Sunday lunch cooked by my good self.

 

Omelette made from organic, free range eggs, with tomatoes (also organic) and some pancetta.

 

Sliced mushrooms and onions sautéed in vegetable broth, milk, and hoisin sauce.

The end product tastes like sweet slightly cheesy mushrooms.

 

I have a beer for dinner. Not sure if that counts.

 

Milk?

Hm.

Stock might work better with such a dish, but it does sound tasty.

 

Wondering what to do with some frozen chicken legs and hit on making a sort of stew - well nealry a soup. Lots of cabbage, carrots, onions, herbs, ginger and a hot Georgian paste with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. All in a pressure cooker with some water (perhaps a bit much) and the result was meat falling of the bones and a very tasty meal for the next day too.

 

Making sweet potatoes, veggie burgers, broccoli with some jack on the side. Not quite ready yet.

--- Post Merged, Feb 10, 2019 at 3:08 PM ---

Send me an invite, I'll be right over. (6 hours later)

 

Making spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.

 

Haha, yeah, I wasn't sure how odd that would sound. I remember really liking mushrooms fried in butter, but it seemed like such a large quantity of butter would… sort of negate any health benefits of the protein-rich fungi. On a whim, I tried using a little milk instead and was very impressed with the results; it was sweet and dairy-y without a greasy coating.

What kind of stock were you thinking would be better?

 

Funny you say that. About two summers ago we had some family over for lunch and I'd cooked down about 20-25 lb or about 10 or 11 kilos of various mushrooms as a side-side-side dish. It was a hit. When asked for the secret, I said I couldn't say anything. The secret was several pounds of butter, herbs, and white wine. Probably at least 5 lb of butter. Not even greasy.

I'll buy 30 lb of import butter every other month. The look on the cashier's face is priceless.

 

Butter for mushrooms, absolutely, in considerable quantities. In fact, in my experience, they are exceptionally greedy for butter.

I'd use chicken or vegetable stock, or, as @Zenithal has said, white wine; sometimes, sherry will work well, too. And, yes, use plenty of herbs.

 

Ok - have to ask this crowd. Air fryers. Worth it or not? If so - which one?

 

I own an Actifry by Tefal and it’s pretty good I’d say. Makes lovely chips with very little oil.