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I've bought all the ingredients :D


We ended up getting the dairy powder but I found a vegan recipe that I might try after

Just received this wonderful recipe from a friend. You may think you know how to cook a turkey but this is definitive:

First, buy the turkey (Norfolk Bronze are good) and a bottle of vodka.

Pour yourself a stiff glass of vodka, have a generous slurp, and put the turkey in the oven set at 370grade.

Have another slurp of vodka, switch on the oven, and have another slurp to calm the nerves, and take a break.

Wait for an hour, or two, pour a thingamajig of vodka, take a few slurps of vodka drinky and turk the basty.

Stick a turkey in the thermowhatsit and glass yourself a pour of vodka.

Carry on roastling the vodka for some hours then take the oven out of the turkey and floor the turkey up off the pick.

Sit down with the turkey to rest, then tet the sable and turk the carvey.

Crappy Pistmas to all you!

Well it might not be seasonal, but I cooked a Bengali Chicken Curry for my parents last night, and the recipe is HERE.

Love Mamta's Kitchen - it's been great for my culinary education...

Vic wrote: "Just received this wonderful recipe from a friend. You may think you know how to cook a turkey but this is definitive:

First, buy the turkey (Norfolk Bronze are good) and a bottle of vodka.

Pou..."

Sounds rather like my Christmas cake recipe. ;)

"(Festive Figgy Pudding)"

Hey, Mods, change the font! On my screen those capital Fs all turn into Ps. That's not in the spirit of the season!

Vic wrote: "Just received this wonderful recipe from a friend. You may think you know how to cook a turkey but this is definitive:

First, buy the turkey (Norfolk Bronze are good) and a bottle of vodka.

Pou..."

Thank your anonymous mate on my behalf, Vic. I've copied out his recipe and will follow it to the letter.

Andre Jute wrote: ""(Festive Figgy Pudding)"

Hey, Mods, change the font! On my screen those capital Fs all turn into Ps. That's not in the spirit of the season!"

The mod sez P off. :)

Heh-heh, gotcha!

;)

Ingredients in the bread machine now. Fingers crossed!

So? How did it turn out?

If you're talking to me, by the time the haze cleared, it was fillet steak at Christmas and duck at New Year.

Maybe the stable cats ate the turkey. But there was turkey. I have the cranberry sauce bottle to prove it. Or maybe the cranberry was for the pate. It will all come to me in a year or two when I need it for my memoirs.

Never mind, it was very good vodka, that oily Polish stuff.

Ooo I forgot to say it turned out lovely although it didn't get finished. I forgot to tell my Father I wanted to make it into bread crumbs so he chucked it out as soon as it started going hard /:

Oh Polish vodka is lovely.

Surprisingly Azeri vodka is just as nice and dead cheap too.

About £2 a bottle.

I'd always freeze the heels of my bread for using in bread pudding and stuffing and bread crumbs, Peanut.

Seemed to crumb up better in the food processor if it was half frozen.

Sounds like a seriously GOOD Christmas Andre!

I use bread crumbs on my chicken with some spices thrown in. Livens up a bit of protein.

'Livens up a bit of protein'

This would be where Patti swallows and doesn't spit...

Her words!!!

LOL

Randomly enough I was just informed by twitter that sperm contains a natural anti-depressant.

Um.... What?!

(to both of you, but mostly Patti)

Scientific fact. I'm just educating y'all. Someone that was not me, but whose name begins with a P, lowered the tone.

Oh c'mon.

It's all gravy.

I actually just watched a video on a squid. I'll pour gravy over you in a second.

I love gravy (but not gravy associated with squid cause I don't know what your talking about)

Gingerlily (or Cyberlily..) wrote: "Sounds like a seriously GOOD Christmas Andre!"

Only joking about the vodka. I left spirits behind in my twenties, and now is not a good time to take it up again. I noticed my son taking a bottle to dinner with friends from a rack of odds and ends, and investigated the rack, which turned out to hold some treasures I put there when they were new and cheap, and then forgot about. We drank a 2002 Rosemount Shiraz and a 2006 Errazzuriz, a Chilean wine I'm partial to. Very smooth. Pity there was only one bottle of each.

I'm making this: http://tastykitchen.com/blog/2010/03/... with her chocolate cake recipe in a bit.

We'll see if it's the best frosting ever. I'm skeptical.

Ooooooo nom.

I might have to try this tonight or sat

This one brings together ingredients and techniques from France and Scotland for a rich and tasty dish. I call it Auld Alliance.

Serves: 2

4 oz butter
2 chicken breasts, each cut into three pieces
4 oz baby button mushrooms, cleaned.
2 tbsp plain flour
5-6 large shallots, thinly sliced
2 tsp sugar
1/2 pt chicken stock
1/4 cup whisky
1/4 cup evaporated milk or cream
1 tbsp dried tarragon or 2 tbsp fresh tarragon, chopped.

Coat the chicken pieces in the flour, then brown in half the butter along with the mushrooms.
Transfer to a casserole dish. Add the remaining butter to the pan and, once melted, add the shallots and sugar and stir until caramelized.
Stir in the stock to deglaze the pan, then mix in the whisky, milk and tarragon and pour over the chicken.
Cover the casserole dish and cook in a moderate oven (180C, gas 4) for an hour and a half.
Serve with a potato dish: for preference, try a potato gratin or dauphinoise - you can lower the oven temperature a little if you need to match them up.

I used this recipe for my banana bread and it is DIVINE

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/875/ba...


I subbed in some molasses sugar (about 50g instead of the white) and i think it just made it more amazing.

Oh and I added an extra banana because I had 3 black ones and omg i love banana.

i've ate like 4 huge ass slices today already and i endeavour to polish the rest off tomorrow and maybe put a slice in the freezer

As the homemade limoncello was a complete success, we're going to try this next.

http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/...

Once we find all the spices here...

I used this recipe tonight to make pancakes as we had no eggs - fantastic

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,165,1...


i never thought to add cinnamon or vanilla straight to the batter. delicious.

A discovery. If you put a doily over whatever it is that you have baked and then sprinkle icing sugar over it you get an adorably pretty design :D

Learnin' Curve's Banana, honey and sesame seed bread.

Mixer/food processor/blender recipe

8 oz self raising flour
4 oz caster sugar
4 oz butter
2 large bananas
2 eggs
6 tablespoons of honey

optional
2 tablespoons of sesame seeds
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
few drops of concentrated lemon if you have it/rind of half a lemon (does not use the juice)

If you are using a blender add 1 tablespoon of baking powder
Topping (optional)
2 tablespoons honey
3 sugar lumps

2lb loaf tin/sandwich tin/whatever lined with baking paper. (What you bake stuff in is less important than you think, it just takes more or less time in the oven is all)

Heat oven to 160C

Bung everything in the machine and blast it till it turns smooth and goes gloop, this is a wet recipe.

(loaf tin) Bake for about 1 hour 15 but it could take 1 hour 30 depending on how much it went gloop, if using something else check after 45 mins to see how wet it is.

Heat honey and pour over when the cake is still warm or not hot or it will collect at the bottom, crumble sugar cubes over the top.

Learnin Curve wrote: "A discovery. If you put a doily over whatever it is that you have baked and then sprinkle icing sugar over it you get an adorably pretty design :D"

that is brilliant!

This is a recipe from my new gluten free soup cookbook for Moroccan Sweet & Sour Soup.



This recipe does exactly what is says on the tin – it’s sweet, it’s spicy, it’s sour, and it’s fun! Moroccan food is all about flavour and colour, and this dish is an explosion of both.

I’m using dried apricots here, and whenever possible try and get apricots that are naturally air dried, rather than those dried using sulphur or sulphur dioxide, which can cause allergies in some people. They will probably be darker in colour than the usual apricots, but the taste is the same and they’re healthier for you.

Did you know that as well has being a great source of dietary fibre and protein, chickpeas are also rich in folate, calcium, and manganese, plus they’re also low in fat, which is always a bonus! But if you don’t like chickpeas, substitute them for a can of beans like cannellini, borlotti, kidney, or black-eyed.

Ingredients:

· 1 onion – chopped
· 1 carrot – diced
· 1 red pepper – diced
· 1 green pepper – diced
· 8 – 10 dried apricots – chopped
· 4 cloves of garlic – crushed and chopped
· 2 inch piece of fresh root ginger – peeled and chopped finely
· 400 gr can of chopped tomatoes
· 400 gr can of chickpeas – drained and rinsed
· Juice of half a lemon
· 2 – 3 tablespoons of chopped fresh coriander (cilantro)
· 1 pint (approx. 2 ½ cups) of chicken stock/vegetable stock/water
· ¼ teaspoon of dried cinnamon
· 1 tablespoon of ground coriander
· 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
· ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg
· 1 tablespoon of tumeric
· 1 tablespoon of paprika
· ¼ – ½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes
· ¼ teaspoon of black pepper
· Salt to taste
· Olive oil for frying

Method:

1. Fry the onions and peppers until soft.
2. Add the other ingredients, except for the fresh coriander, and bring to the boil. Simmer for 35 – 45 minutes.
3. Stir in the fresh coriander and serve.

Serves 4 – 6

* Vegetarian/Vegan Options – Use vegetable stock
* Dairy Free

Happy Cooking!

Sibel xx

Thanks Sibel!

I've sent your book link to several friends who following gluten free diets for various reasons.

Oh, fantastic, Patti, you sweetie! Thanks so much :) xx

Mum's Minestrone Soup

Stir in each new ingredient
2 slices bacon diced (optional)
2 tbs. butter/marg.
½ cup sliced carrots
½ cup sliced onion
1 cup chopped cabbage
( optional extras or alternatives – small diced potato, stick celery sliced, sliced leek, 2 oz. French beans)2 cups chicken broth (can use stock cubes - or a pack of spring veg. Soup)
1 can sliced tomatoes (or 4 oz toms skinned, chopped & seeded)
Can of kidney beans (I use baked beans)
Tsp. Parsley
Tsp. basil
Tsp. Salt
¼ cup spaghetti (broken into about 1” pieces)
Water as required
(Optional extras – 1 tbs. Tomato puree; ½ tsp. garlic salt; black pepper)

Thanks!

I'm going to use courgette instead of cabbage. That should be okay, right?

I don't have much bacon so I think I'll save what I have for the bacon n lentil soup.

Will let you know how it turns out.

Here's a nice tasty aubergine pasta sauce recipe, perfect for lunch. It's best to use nice fresh ingredients, I used organic and it was delicious.

Here is a link to the website, but I'll copy and paste the recipe as well.

http://thesamovar.wordpress.com/2007/...

"Ingredients (for 2 hungry people)

250g pasta – fettucine or other flat pasta is good, wholewheat works well
1 aubergine, halved lengthwise and very thinly sliced
1 onion, finely chopped
1-2 chillis or dried chilli flakes (these work really well actually)
1 tin tomatoes, or equivalent amount of chopped fresh tomato
Parmesan
Olive oil, quite a lot
Salt, pepper
Optional: fresh basil or coriander
Optional: 1 ball of mozzarella, preferably buffalo mozzarella, torn or chopped into bite sized pieces
In a large saucepan heat the olive oil. The amount you use is at your discretion. At the very least, you need a good covering of the base of your pan, but considerably more is preferable. The reason is that later on the aubergine will soak a lot of it up. This is a good thing and a bad thing – it’s good because it’s delicious, but it’s bad because you run the risk of burning the aubergine if you’re not careful. More on that in a moment.

Soften the finely chopped onion in the oil. Now add the thinly sliced aubergine. It’s important to make these slices as thin as you can be bothered. I usually go for about pound coin thickness as a trade-off between effort and reward. At this point, you can also add the chilli or flakes. Cover this pan and cook, occasionally uncovering and stirring so it doesn’t stick and burn. You need to keep cooking until the aubergine is soft enough to eat. Taste it to check when you reach this point – it’s always important to do this at every stage of cooking anything actually.

Now add the tomatoes, turn up the heat and reduce until the sauce is thick and there is no loose liquid in the pan, but no further than this. Season to taste. Take it off the heat and add the herbs and cheeses and stir them in. Mix with the pasta and serve. You may have difficulty with the melted mozzarella going everywhere, but it’s all part of the fun."

The only cheese that I had in the house when I made this, was cheddar - it still tasted nice.

Sounds yummmmmy

Making this tonight:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/in...


Although omitting the scallions and using rice vinegar because i couldn't find white wine vinegar anywhere (and it's like the only bloody type we don't have already) i'm also going to up the spice as the comments mention it's quite mild

I did half the recipe and I still would have enough to feed a small army - woah.

Enough for lunch and dinner tomorrow. It says it feeds six but it's a side so I assumed 3 side portions would equal enough for a good sized dinner and a smaller lunch. I'll get 3 good sized meals out of it though



it was bloody amazing though

Love couscous! Even just plain with a bit of olive oil and lots of chopped fresh herbs. But that recipe looks nom too Elle

I'm still getting used to cooking couscous! I haven't made it very often so I tend to overestimate the amount of time it needs to cook plus I can't get the amounts right! LOL

That is true, you either end up with as you say, enough to feed a small army, or a disappointingly small heap :{

I'm hoping to get a few more recipes so I can take it to lunch more often (hence i was trying that one out tonight). I eat way too much bread!

How about a shake of a lemony salad dressing over it with mixed toasted seeds? Add some cooked chicken if you're feeling protein deprived. Or I think cold roasted vegetables mixed through might be nice

mmmm yeah all really nice options! i like the idea of a lemony dressing! nommmm