Ok every one,Christmas/ Holidays' is over. We are all feeling a little depressed as January grind's on. Dead Plant's, dark night's, shite weather, however, all is not lost, given that we enjoy an International Forum, I feel we should take advantage of our unique situation.

Now, I don't know about you, but I enjoy some Comfort Eating, during this dark time, so, I thought, we should share our Comfort Eating Recipe's.

What is it that you run to during this time, ?. What is it that get's you through the winter. What do you eat that takes you the rest of the year to get rid of.

Come on you bunch of closet GEEKS, share your stuff, (not you Data, your well out of the closet  ) Let's find out what is truely fuelling the future of computing.

Your Recipe's please. 

Oh, silly me, and you Freddy.  Don't wish to upset the Guvna' ay AI. 

Haha, I guess I am a geek yes.

I made some nice roast potatoes yesterday, nothing like a good roast at this time of year, surprisingly mild as it is.  This is a doddle to do.

1) Chop up some spuds.
2) Boil/Steam for 10 Mins.
3) Preheat a shallow roasting pan roughly half full of oil for 5 mins in oven at circa 200C or 180C fan oven.  You can do this half way through boiling the spuds if your oven heats up quick.
4) Remove pan & oil - gently put in spuds and roll in the oil - watch those fingers !  Maybe use a knife or spoon and get the spuds covered in oil.
5) Sprinkle with Rosemary.
6) Cook at same temp for 40-45 minutes to get them nice and crispy.
7) Don't bother turning them.
Make sure you have cooked other things too.

The End.

Quote from: Freddy on January 09, 2012, 13:18:26 PM
Make sure you have cooked other things too.

LOL Freddy 

I'm no cook so can't really contribute, but my favourite food is fresh bread, not the pre-sliced stuff, oh no I mean real freshly baked bread.

Go to Sainsburys and get a French stick covered in poppy seeds (has to be Sainsburys they make the best).

Slice it in half then fill the two halves with mature Cheddar cheese, tomato and chilli then sprinkle with salt. 

Eat both halves as quickly as possible, maybe give one of them to your spouse. 

I'm happy 

Ooh! This sounds like fun! I'm in!

Dave's Western Meatloaf

Ingredients:

1 lb Lean ground beef
1 lb Hot Itallian Sausage (ground, not links)
1 small red bell pepper
1 small green bell pepper
2 small garlic cloves, crusuhed
1/2 lb medium cheddar cheese, cut into small cubes (1/4 to 1/3 inch)
1/2 cup Sourdough Croutons, crushed into crumbs
2 small eggs

Steps:

(you're going to be getting your hands dirty here, since using your hands is by far the best way to combine these ingredients)

1.) Preheat oven to 350°F
2.) In a very large mixing bowl, combine beef, sausage, eggs and bread crumbs until well blended.
3.) chop the bell peppers finely (after removing the seeds, of course), combine with the crushed garlic, and sautee over medium heat with no oil in a non-stick skillet for 3-5 minutes, or until just tender.
4.) Fold pepper mixture into the meat mixture until fully mixed.
5.) Add cheese cubes into the mixture, again making sure it's well mixed.
6.) Place mixture into 2-3 medium sized loaf pans, set into the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until no longer pink inside.

Serves a WHOLE LOT of people!

I never thought that this would get any posts. How wrong can one person be. 

Ok, here's mine. Not for you Data,as it contains stuff that was walking around under it's own steam.

Take 8 Bangers, (Sausages to the yanks), Cumberland are best. (Sorry yanks)
Cook in the oven, gas mark 7. ( What ever that is in a foreign language) Most of the fat will drain away.
Chop one large onion and two large Mushrooms.
Mix two table spoons of Ketchup and Brown sauce, add some Garlic granules to taste.
Once the Bangers have browned, drain a little of the hot fat into a frying pan/scillet.
Fry the onions and mushrooms until golden brown.
Add the chopped up Bangers and the Ketchup mix.
Cook on a high heat until reduced.
Serve on some French Bread and enjoy.

Heaven help your heart with this one, but, it tastes so good. 

This Yank knew what Bangers are.

Just not sure about "mash".

Or Brown Sauce.

Quote from: Freddy on January 09, 2012, 13:18:26 PM

3) Preheat a shallow roasting pan roughly half full of oil for 5 mins in oven at circa 200F or 180F fan oven.  You can do this half way through boiling the spuds if your oven heats up quick.

When I do roast spuds, I put 'em in for about 30 mins at 200C (gas mark 6 or 7). 200F seems a little low. Should that be 'C'?
Water boils at 212F, 100C, 373K.

Yes thanks Snowy, my mistake....edited it now ta

Need some help here.

I have been experimenting with a Garnish for Steak. What I have used is Fresh Sweey Peppers, cleaned and sliced, Diced Smoked Bacon and Onion. However, I have used White Onion, Red Onion and Spring Onion to add some extra flavour (not all at the same time I must add) but, it needs something else to add a different flavour. This little lot is shallow fried in Olive oil just to heat it only.

Any ideas anyone. 

Diesel have you tries a touch of Dijon spicy mustard and barbeque sauce, you could also switch out the Olive oil to a salad dressing. I used Italian salad dressing and came out great

Black pepper and/ or garlic also adds great flavor.

Diced Rhubarb also adds a different and unique flavor providing one like the Rhubarb

I've been reducing my meat intake some more lately. I'm making the recipes I used to make when I was a student.

Here's one, not sure what you would call it, sort of Ratatouille I think. This will serve more than one. I usually make enough for two meals. Often it tastes better the next day. You can put some chilli powder in too if you want to spice it up. This is a very free wheeling recipe, just leave out what you don't like.

Prep...

Half an onion, diced.
Half a red pepper, diced.
Quarter to half a courgette, diced up.
Several mushrooms of some type diced up (tonight I had forest mushrooms for a difference)
Half a regular tin of red kidney beans (or one small one).
Half to all of a tin of chopped tomatoes.
Optionally - some fresh tomatoes diced up (baby plums are nice).
A couple of cloves of garlic chopped up or crushed.
Mixed herbs if you like them.

Then...

Add some cooking oil to a pan and start softening the onions. You can be generous with the oil if you want, as there is a lot to fry - just add some more if it starts to dry out at any point.

After the onions are a little softer then add the red pepper. Keep stirring a lot.

Then add the courgettes just after the peppers as this all has to fry.

{I often add some fresh chopped baby plum tomatoes to the mix as well at this point - they are nice and sweet.}

You can also add some Worcester sauce or some red wine if you like that kind of thing. Optional.

Let those cook for a few minutes until they are getting a little softer. Then add the mushrooms and garlic and keep giving it a good stir.

Once the mushrooms look near cooked and glisten, add your kidney beans and the tinned tomatoes. Give that a good stir. You want enough chopped tomatoes and juice to just about cover everything. The trick is to add enough tomatoes and juice so as to keep it somewhat runny. Sometimes too much of the chopped toms can swamp the other flavours and also be too watery (you can just cook and reduce that if needed).

Probably a good time to add any mixed herbs now too.

Stir and let that settle and come to a simmer (you don't want to boil it) - just enough to gently cook it. Let that simmer for anything from 10 - 20 minutes or until you can tell it's all cooked okay.

I usually make a baked potato to go with it - put butter all over that and then serve it on top. But it's good with pasta shells too.

My favorite topping for a nice cut of steak has been either of these two...

Horseradish encrusted filet mignon

OR

Sauteed onions and sliced mushrooms are placed over and about the top of the filet.

While a properly prepared filet mignon really doesn't require anything, these are my favorites and occasionally a cup of Au'jus if one really enjoys it.

A restaurant that provides diners with huge steak knives either has a lousy chef or lousy filet mignons. 

   Ages ago I was able to get some filet mignon at a very low price, great cut of meat sold near some holiday.  Both the dog and I had the meat for quite a few days.  For this Thanksgiving I bought a fresh turkey and somehow the cashier that was there was able to close to giving it to me for free.
Carl2

We have a large turkey producer here in my part of the world, but we usually have chicken at Christmas.

Last week I got some forest mushrooms - a general mix. They were nice, I had some tonight. I also got some baby portobellos to add to them. I just cooked up some chopped onions and a diced chicken fillet and then added the mushrooms. I then added some Uncle Ben's Pere Pere rice.

Quick, simple and filling.