What did you have for dinner?

Errrrrr.......... No

You can use it as a base for gravy though

 

Peter Kay did a sketch once - "garlic bread?" "garlic?" ..... "and bread?"....

It really reminded me of my dad - foreign muck he used to call it.

People still have some funny perceptions to this day; whilst I was in hospital, Mrs C was speaking to one of the neighbours about a wee pub that isn't too far away; "You know that is run by Inidans?" was his comment... "Indians....... proper, Indians"......... "I don't drink there because it is run by Indians.." clearly this guy has issues, but it was the last line that really cracked me up when Mrs C told me..... "They do a really nice takeaway curry though..."

 

Although both those are good I think that Imam bayildi has the edge on them. Moussaka is a different 'animal' completely as it usually has meat in it - and is very tasty. Melanzane I think of as being more towards a main dish (especially when using lots of mozzarella and parmesan). Whereas I classify Imam b. as a fabulous veggie side dish.

All are excellent

 

I don't use mozz as I think it doesn't have much flavour but it's used a lot to give extra bulk to the meal. Mrs Shiney likes mozz and I go more for stronger cheeses such as extra strong cheddar or parmesan.

I use tamarind in a number of dishes but don't like the tamarind paste. I use the pulp and squeeze it myself. Much better flavour

 

Fed up with salad, so going to.do a chicken egg fried rice with the leftover chicken

 

Well, the fried rice idea was a belter! Starting with rice boiled, with a vegetable stock cube added, then cooled. Four spring onions, one red pepper all chopped to a smallish dice size, and the leftover chicken cut up into wee bits. Add a good handful of frozen peas and a similar handful of frozen sweetcorn.

A good slug of olive oil into a deep frying pan, get it nice and hot then add everything to the pan. After five mins or so, crush four or five cloves of garlic, then stir through. Then make a well in the middle, beat four eggs in a hug, and whack them into the well in the pan. Mix through the rice etc, and then lastly add a slug of light soy sauce, a slug of dark soy sauce and a slug of toasted sesame oil. Stir through and fry on for a couple of minutes, serve and enjoy!

 

I don't like salad .

I made a simple chicken casserole yesterday. Bought a pack of thighs (eight in a pack for £3) from Sainsbury's. Browned them in a pan until the skins were nice and crispy. Put them to one side, cooked some chopped onions and garlic in the same oil, added sliced carrots, chopped celery, and continued to fry for a short time. Then added a tin of peeled plum toms, a big glug of wine, a stock cube, mixed herbs, a chopped chilli (of course ), chopped French beans and cooked for five minutes, added sliced courgettes and cooked for another five minutes. Then put the chicken back in and added mushrooms and cooked for a further five minutes.

We had that with plain boiled rice.

 

We had a roast chicken dinner yesterday, and I made the gravy and the yorkshires - even if I do say so myself, the gravy was an absolute triumph..... just as shame that the yorkshires failed miserably, no idea why.

Tonight, we are having leftover chicken (so about half a chicken), and we have decided to do the following:

600ml milk
1 onion, studded with cloves
3 bay leaves
crushed garlic
peppercorns
1 chicken stock cube

Brought gently to heat in a pan and allowed to gently infuse before being poured through a seive into another pan. Then, I made a roué, slowly added the infused milk, added some garden fresh and chopped sage, thyme and oregano, a little bit of salt, and about half a jar of French mustard - this was then heated gently to thicken.

Meanwhile, the chicken was stripped/shredded; carrot, potato and parsnips were cut into similar size bits, par-boiled in salted water for 5 minutes, then drained. Then a Pyrex roaster was lighly oiled, all the veg and chicken was added and mixed up, the sauce was poured over and then topped with breadcrumbs and parmesan, before being popped into the oven to cook for an hour or so.

And we are having another shot at yorkshires to go on the side.

Smells good at the moment..........

 

It was a bit, meh to be honest - OK, but only just OK.