Food

This has been a quality page!

Lol

Oooof them squidsies look like a proper job

@giofox

I made my first attempt at ravioli last night. Technique was great, thin pasta, no leaks etc.

Mainly followed this recipe https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/02/butternut-squash-ravioli-recipe.html but with a few tweaks. Didn’t have sage so used rosemary in the filling. As I didn’t have sage I put rosemary and garlic in butter to flavour it, and then added orange juice and pasta cooking water to emulsify and toss the ravioli in. Made a sourdough and hazelnut crumb - pan fried with butter to add some texture.

But the filling was ok, not great. I’d like to find some lighter more subtle modern fillings. Meat, fish or veg are fine. It feels that often the suggested fillings are quite rich to overcome overly thick pasta, but the pasta was actually quite thin so feel the filling doesn’t need to be so robust. Also the filling was thick paste almost like a heavy baby food more texture would have been good.

Can you suggest any good recipes or recipe books for more modern pasta fillings.

Any pointers @dancing james ? A list of stuff to buy to get started, perhaps?

Also seconding your question about ravioli, especially interested in meatless options. @giofox

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Big and small casings for sausages - hog are larger and lamb smaller.

A range of spices - I use the kitchen aid with a Mockmill flour mill so use that to grind spices.

Most important is technique- freeze the grinder. Chop meat into lumps, season it and then put into freezer until it’s on the cusp of freezing. Coarse grind and re freeze grinder and meat. If grinding finer re grind and then freeze again before stuffing the cases. This will help keep the meat cool, stops the fat smearing and also increases the shelf life of the sausages.

If you can’t get casings from. Your butcher these are the people I use.

https://www.weschenfelder.co.uk/sausage-casings-skins.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwsuP5BRCoARIsAPtX_wFDNZ8mB7I9ku31fGM8myYT5YQXN5pUF436bEytEs7cqBmy0XCXxG8aAuzbEALw_wcB

Buy the ones on a plastic tube it makes using them easier. They last for ages.

Also buy a sausage pricker- it makes pin prick holes to let trapped air out. I am still looking for a nice one. Am sure one could be made with pins put through a wine cork.

Great tips, cheers. Will try to see what I can negotiate out of a German butcher, I always hope my limited command of the language is endearing but it mainly annoys them I think.

And I’ll fancy a pricker out of a Sekt cork and a sewing machine needle. I still haven’t gotten round to attaching a coffee stirrer to my razor blade lame, so might just be a sewing machine needle actually.

Has anyone got any good (vegan) okra recipes? I've just been chucking it in a stir fry or a curry but want to try something new!

Bamia!
https://zaatarandzaytoun.com/vegan-okra-in-tomato-sauce-bamia-bzeit/

The first meal eaten outside my house since March 12th!

Had to be drunken noodles at Siam central.

Forgot how great the pleasure of eating without any of the other bits like cooking and washing up was.

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Sounds good!

Been trying to avoid shelling out for a proper non-stick frying pan, they're so pricey... Finally caved and bought a Woll today, really impressed with it, who needs oil when you've got a Woll?

I’ve got millions of runner beans from my dad’s allotment and I’ve run out of things to do with them.

I’ve put them in curries, eaten them with bacon and chipotle, cut them really fine and had them with pasta.

Anybody got any bright ideas?

Pickles? Fermented? Never fermented a bean before but you might be able to get some funky miso business going on if you’ve got the kit

I’ve got loads of jars of bean chutney my dad made last year.

I suppose a straight up pickle could be nice with loads of ginger and some chilli. I might try some in a kimchi too but I can never be arsed sterilising jars properly.

Never seen a plant produce so much. We were still picking them in mid September last year.

Worth a go. Maybe a jar of them treated like cornichons is worth trying too. Great with a beer, on a cheeseboard, in a burger etc.

Kimchi is a great shout too. Just bung the jars in the dishwasher and keep your hands clean. It’s not open heart surgery, as the batshit crazy Korean chef I know says

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/aug/10/meera-sodha-vegan-lebanese-green-beans-and-vermicelli-rice-recipe

This is nice and perhaps a little different from what you've already made.

Perfect I’ve been hunting for a good non stick too. But their range is confusing, what is the smart buy to go for?

I bought another one today, got the 20cm... I went for the Diamond Lite range, flavour is up to you but I'm on gas so no need for the induction model... Removable handle is a smart move...

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I got a Le Creuset one recently, it's remarkable how non-stick it is.

Only concern is how long it will last given the price, I don't think I've ever had a non-stick frying pan last for that long.

There are always baby bottle sterilisers going free from parents who no longer need them. They're really easy to use.

I got given a non-stick Le Creuset as a wedding present, it was awful but this was 1999 so very early in their non-stick game... Threw it out after less than a couple of years use...

These Woll jobs don't have a coating, the metal itself is inherently non-stick... Science, eh? I'm probably going to die from all the future non-stick radiation stuff that seeps out into my ever shrinking palette of comestibles...

Cheers - that looks great. Apart from the double carbs which sounds insane.