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The Chef Thread

Just perhaps, Mr pluk, the burger assembler was somebody who you had acquaintance with in the past, with regard to your employment.
Community payback possibly good sir?
Only kiddin'
Another pint owed in Crevettes.
 
Cooking is one of those things that I can really enjoy if I’m in the mood for it. Any other time though it feels like a chore.

For the best part of 3 years we did meal kits from Gousto or every week night, but after building up an extensive recipe collection we now just make them ourselves. One of the things it really helped me with was properly understanding stuff like seasoning, balance and hacks to speed things up. I’m still constantly told off for treating cooking as a science rather than an art though. If the recipe says 150ml of water and boil it for 5 minutes you can be sure I have a timer set and the most accurate measuring cups out 🤣 What can I say. I’m a stickler for the rules and direction!

One of my favourites to cook is Carbonara Hot Wet Rice Risotto. Essentially you make a chicken and pancetta risotto, then just before you serve, gently stir through a beaten egg yolk until it’s just starting to bind (this adds the “carbonara”). Top it off with some cherry tomato halves, drizzled with a bit of balsamic vinegar and blistered on a baking tray, and a bit of rocket to the side.

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We also discovered I can make a pretty decent quiche lorraine, including the pastry!

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Ian said:
For the best part of 3 years we did meal kits from Gousto or every week night, but after building up an extensive recipe collection we now just make them ourselves.
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I've gone the same way with Gousto, did it for over four years on and off but now just use the recipes we like or search for similar. Helps that the range of spices Gousto use isn't too broad so easy to keep them all available. Often have way more vegetables than the original Gousto recipe called for though as Tesco don't sell small enough packs of green beans or spinach!

Doing a new Gousto recipe tonight (we've got a box for the first time in three months), stove-top lasagne.
 
jon81uk said:
Often have way more vegetables than the original Gousto recipe called for though as Tesco don't sell small enough packs of green beans or spinach!
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Yep we found this so either use frozen (great for stuff like spinach and diced onions if you CBA chopping them) and add a couple of minutes on here and there to allow them to defrost while cooking, or we try to plan the week to use meals with shared ingredients for things that aren’t available in the freezer.

We use an app called Paprika to load all of the recipes into. It has a calendar to plan what you will cook each day and it’ll then produce a shopping list (it can also do pantry management to know what you already have at home and if you need to buy more to fulfil a recipe). On a Sunday we’ll sit down and plan out our dinners for the week ahead and if we see a recipe calls for something we know only comes in big portions (spring greens are always a good one!) we’ll find another recipe that also needs the same thing.
 
Ian said:
Yep we found this so either use frozen (great for stuff like spinach and diced onions if you CBA chopping them) and add a couple of minutes on here and there to allow them to defrost while cooking, or we try to plan the week to use meals with shared ingredients for things that aren’t available in the freezer.
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Thanks for the suggesting, hadn't thought of frozen spinach. Whereas additional green beans in a thai curry doesn't alter the flavour so much so I just add them, feels healthier too!
 
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After a bloody awful night at work with out a sniff of a dinner I've been hard at it in the kitchen; air fried ginsters cheese and onion slice, frozen chips, moster munch mayo, and a beer. Where do I collect that Michelin star?

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A rare (for recent times anyway) weekend home alone so I’ve done some proper cooking to use as batches for the next few weeks.

Vegan lasagne, based on a BBC good food recipe, but tweaked so that it actually works.

www.bbc.co.uk

Vegan lasagne recipe

A vegetable-packed vegan lasagne made with dairy-free white sauce. It freezes brilliantly and makes the perfect vegan comfort food.
www.bbc.co.uk

Lots of experimenting with the white sauce, vegan cheese and non dairy milk do not behave when heated so you can’t just swap them for the normal stuff. If anyone wants to have a go, follow the main recipe as far as the body of it is concerned, but for the white sauce use the following:

100g vegan marg
100g plain flour
Approx 600ml Alpro Almond milk (do not use other types or brands as in my experience they just don’t work) add it slowly and judge by eye when you’ve got the consistency you prefer
Bayleaf, nutmeg and nutritional yeast as per recipe
Sprinkle grated Violife Block over the top

Stand the lasagne pan in something else to cook as it ALWAYS explodes over the side.

Serve with salad (ha!) and/or garlic bread for extra carby goodness. The resting period is quite important if you want a tidy serving. I can never wait long enough so it isn’t pretty enough for a photo 😂

Oh and these are highly recommended for pudding.
 

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I'm not hugely adventurous in the kitchen, to be honest. When I'm home alone and having to cater for myself, I do try to cook from fresh as much as possible, though it's sometimes hard to resist the lure of a pizza (I usually have one in the freezer anyway, which often comes in useful if my parents don't give me much notice when they say they won't be around for a particular meal). One of my go-to meals is a sizeable pasta bake, and I make sure to bulk it out with a good amount of veg - helps give an additional few portions to then go in the freezer. I can do some pretty good fajitas as well - such a simple thing to make!

If I want to try something a little more fancy, then a favourite of mine is chicken breast stuffed with brie and wrapped in prosciutto. If I'm on my own, then I'll usually serve it on a bed of rocket with some homemade dressing (which is usually quite heavy on the balsamic vinegar, but I rather like it!). If I'm catering for others, then I would normally serve it with mashed potato and some bits of veg.

One thing I've been working on a bit recently (well, on random occasions over a few months) is steak sandwiches. Thin-cut steaks seem to be the best for this, sliced once cooked and put in a crusty roll with plenty of butter (ideally garlic butter), caramelised onions, maybe a bit of sauce...Mmm, lovely.

I usually go for one-pot meals, as it's a bit easier for me to manage in terms of timings. Even at the age of nearly 32, I've still never attempted a roast dinner, but it's something I know I'm going to have to try doing at some point.
 
A rare work and commitment free evening means I can do some actual cooking.
Tomahawk steak, boulangere potatoes, garlic sautéd mushrooms.

No banana for scale, so to give you an idea that steak.is a monster at over a kilo.
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It's gone down bloody lovely with great rioja. Cheers!
 
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