A Thread full of Inspiration recipes for Dinner

[Mendoza]

I cant decide what to have for dinner.

Something healthy(ish) and something that doesnt involve mince meat or pasta, as I'm a bit bored of that.

Ideally something that can be bought in the super market for less than £10

Go team CHEFS

 

[sam86]

Raclette?

Sure, not much cooking involved, but good fun, and a good variety. Can obviously use an oven if you haven't got an actual raclette.

 

[sam86]

Just noticed the £10 part, and suggests you ignore the above...

 

[SULLY COULDNT SHOOT]

Frozen lazagni good innit!


Seriously, I'd heard to the deli for some mezes and eat with warm pitta bread... goes down well with red wine.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Pot Noodle

 

[Mendoza]

Pot Noodle

Its raining, so the BBQ is not going to be lit

 

[gripper stebson]

Right a new one I did last week.

Some diced lamb in a wok with a tin of tomatos 2 teaspoons of paprika 3 teaspoons of cinnamon and a pinch of sugar. Simmer for 20 mins.

Served with rice (and some greek yoghurt if you like)

Hey Presto Morrocan Lamb

ABSOLUELY lovely.

Goodnight.

 

[Father Jack]

chicken breast, keep it whole but cut it so you can put some bacon and cheese inside, sprinkle with preference of herbs. Cook. meantime some cheesy mustard mash and veg of your choice.

 

[Taybha]

Grilled seabass with new jersey pots fresh runner beans n a knob of butter and a squeeze of lemon,and for dessert a walls solero pulled off the stick with summer fruits and drizzled with lime sauce. comes in at around £8.50

 

[Tricky Dicky]

I've just put some "off-the-cuff" curry sauce on to cook to use later. Sliced some onions and sauteed them for a few minutes, added some chopped garlic and fresh ginger, some cumin, chilli powder, garam masala and a couple of chopped red chillies. Cooked for a few minutes more then added half a tin of chopped tomatoes, half a tin of coconut milk and a little stock. Will simmer it for an hour and a half or so, then 15 mins before I want it I'll add some diced chicken and there you go. Not done it quite like this before, we'll see what's it's like.

 

[HG201]

I cant decide what to have for dinner.

Something healthy(ish) and something that doesnt involve mince meat or pasta, as I'm a bit bored of that.

Ideally something that can be bought in the super market for less than £10

Go team CHEFS

You can't beat a good lod rack of ribs drizzled in BBQ sauce!

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

The ultimate ethical meal: a grey squirrel

It's low in fat, low in food miles and completely free range. In fact, some claim that Sciurus carolinensis - the grey squirrel - is about as ethical a dish as it is possible to serve on a dinner plate.

The grey squirrel, the American cousin of Britain's endangered red variety, is flying off the shelves faster than hunters can shoot them, with game butchers struggling to keep up with demand. 'We put it on the shelf and it sells. It can be a dozen squirrels a day - and they all go,' said David Simpson, the director of Kingsley Village shopping centre in Fraddon, Cornwall, whose game counter began selling grey squirrel meat two months ago.

At Ridley's Fish and Game shop in Corbridge, Northumberland, the owner David Ridley says he has sold 1,000 - at £3.50 a squirrel - since he tested the market at the beginning of the year. 'I wasn't sure at first, and wondered would people really eat it. Now I take every squirrel I can get my hands on. I've had days when I have managed to get 60 and they've all sold straight away.'

Simpson likens the taste to wild boar. Ridley thinks it is more a cross between duck and lamb. 'It's moist and sweet because, basically, its diet has been berries and nuts,' he said.

Both believe its new-found popularity is partly due to its green credentials. 'People like the fact it is wild meat, low in fat and local - so no food miles,' says Simpson. Ridley reckons that patriotism also plays a part: 'Eat a grey and save a red. That's the message.'

A glut of back-to-the-wild TV programmes featuring celebrity chefs such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has also tickled the public's palate, but squirrel is still unlikely to be found in the family fridge. The Observer's restaurant critic, Jay Rayner, said he had never tasted squirrel, but if he did have it for dinner 'it would have to be a big, fat country squirrel and not one of the mangy urban ones you see in cities'.

'People may say they are buying it because it's green and environmentally friendly, but really they're doing it out of curiosity and because of the novelty value. If they can say, "Darling, tonight we're having squirrel", then that takes care of the first 30 minutes of any dinner party conversation. I see it remaining a niche. There's not much meat on a squirrel, so I'd be surprised if farming squirrel takes off anywhere some time soon.'

Kevin Viner, former chef-proprietor of Pennypots, the first Michelin-starred restaurant in Cornwall, who now runs Viners bar and restaurant at Summercourt, believes it will remain a niche market. But with a plentiful supply of meat - there are estimated to be almost five million grey squirrels in Britain - there is room for the market to expand.

Viner - who comes from a rural 'if you shot it, you ate it' background - said the trick was to serve squirrel fresh and not to leave it hanging like other game. 'It looks a lot like rabbit, though it is a drier meat and slightly firmer. Most of the meat comes off the rear leg. The loins are so thin they need much shorter cooking time,' he said.

'A large squirrel would be enough for one-and-a-half people. The public really are being drawn to it. I think that it's because it is being perceived as a healthy meat. Southern fried squirrel is good. And tandoori style works. It is especially tasty fricasséed with Cornish cream and walnuts. But the one everyone seems to like is the Cornish squirrel pasty.'

And his own favourite recipe? 'I must admit, I'm a beef man myself,' he said. 'But my huntsman swears by squirrel with sausage meat and bacon.'

How to make squirrel pasties
Kevin Viner's recipe for two pasties

140g squirrel meat cut into 1cm cubes;

100g sliced potato; 100g sliced swede; 50g diced onion; 30g smoked bacon;

15g chopped hazelnuts; 75g butter;

5g chopped parsley; a good pinch of salt and pepper

Method

· Egg wash edges of pastry circles.

· Place the potato, swede, hazelnuts, parsley and seasoning on to each circle followed by the bacon, squirrel meat and, finally, the onion.

· Place butter in each pasty, then fold over the pastry and crimp the edges.

· Put the pasties on to a greaseproof baking tray, egg wash both pasties well, place in a pre-heated oven at 180C or gas mark 5.

· Bake for 45-50 minutes. The juices should start to boil and the pasties should be able to move on the tray with ease.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

If I can't find a grey squirrel, will red do ?

 

[dannyboy]

i did this the other day . is healthy cheap and tasty.

go to sainsburys and get some tilapia or basa fish (only about 80 p a fillet)

i bought 4 and did them all different

basically spread some olive oli on them and put on some tin foil. big enough so you can fold it up and over into a sort of cornish pasty, ie it has a bap above the fillet . put in the oven on med heat for 25 mins or so and bingo cooked to perfection.

now heres the nice part on one of them i lightly dusted some garam masala , salt pepper , curry powder and cinammon. bingo , indian fish . really was nice.

but to be fair put whatever you want on it garlic lemon yoghurt all manor of herbs just experiment. the fish is very flaky and tasty with no bones. im no fish lover but this with some rice and peas was lovely and very healthy

 

[withdeanwombat]

Walk to the chippy,get cod and sixpennorth,walk home.All that walking,AND a fish supper,together with NO prep time and LITTLE clearing up.

Marvelous.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

Stir fry is cheap and easy.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

 

[Lady Whistledown]

And for dessert...

 

[The Large One]

Get a trout from the supermarket (about £2.50-3.00).

Put some spots of butter, garlic, lemon juice and dill inside. Wrap it in foil and bake for 20 mins in a medium oven. Serve with a salad.