What did you have last night?

[shortcircuit]

I had a recipe from the lates F&W magazine: Penne with sausage, red wine and rosemary. You brown some sausage meat, add onion, garlic, rosemary, bubble off some red wine and throw in a tin of tomatoes and simmer for a while.

Absolutely delicious- I never twigged red wine and rosemary were so good together!

[JayBee]

Saucisse de morteau that my sister brought home with her at Christmas - its a really nice traditional smoked pork sausage from the Jura/Franche-Comte region. In deference to the FnC Diet thread I didn't have it with the traditional accompaniement of a few spuds with the contents of a Mont d'Or box that has been roasted in the oven then poured over the plate of sausage and potatoes. Just a bit of mustard and some roasted winter veg. On a smaller plate.

[Hanna]

Last night: some M&S special reserve extra aged rubbed by virgins fillet steak, with bean, chorizo and rocket salad.

[markh]

They'll taste like poison to me now I know I missed them at half price.

Oops, sorry !

[Melendez]

I made my scampi risotto last night. Finally I have put to bed the thought that a risotto should be one of my favourite things. Don't get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with the recipe (I might leave the lime zest out- it's so rich you might as well leave it like that without the token effort of cutting it with the lime), and for once, I am convinced I cooked it to perfection. I'd even go as far as to say it tasted gorgeous, it's just after a few forkfulls you wanted to move on to something else. It's the first time I've made the stock from scratch from the heads, shells and bits per recipe, and that worked out as a wonderful rich stock. If I was making it again, and I probably will, I'd leave the prawns themselves out of the risotto altogether (use them as a starter), and serve a couple of dessertspoons of the risotto as the carb for a simple bit of grilled sole or brill with a few stalks of asparagus.

The Lidl Scottish Scampi themselves were fine. Although they only yielded barely over 200g of actual prawn meat for a 1kg pack, they certainly survived the freezing ok, which I was a little dubious about.

[Ernie Whalley]

Roasted bacon in a piece from the wonderful Pat O'Neill of Enniscorthy. Rub down with 5 spice, 6 cloves stuck in the fat. 2 glasses of 3-day old plonk in the Le Creuset dish. Half an hour at 220C then top pasted with honey then another half hour, ten minute rest.
Butternut squash puree and savoy cabbage. Baked spud... but not for me alas (diet)

[fontane77]

rainbow trout with a beurre blanc....

forgotten how good trout can be. Deliciously simply.....

[Prime Cut]

Well I haven't actually had it yet but I made my first batch of marmalade this year, dead simple recipe where you mince the squeezed fruit rather than doing all the peeling and chopping, then put the minced friut, juice and water in a really slow oven overnight then next day add sugar and reserved pips and boil. Seville oranges should be around for another few weeks.

[Ernie Whalley]

Roast duck, a Barbary, not my favourite breed as you can never seem to get that desirable combo of soft, succulent flesh and crisp skin that's so easy with a Gressingham, Aylesbury or Muscovy. Not sure why, it makes enough fat.
Herself requested an orange sauce, which I made but I couldn't resist dickying it up with cognac and loads of chilli and ginger. As a final touch I chopped some preserved stem ginger and chucked it in at the last minute, which everyone seemed to like.
Served it with lightly curried butternut squash and aubergines, my old trademark 'Inverness' carrots (finished with butter, whisky, fresh tarragon) and sauté spuds (Orla this time), another success for the Actifry.

Man O' War - see wine pages - make decent Chardonnay too and we finished with Irish and Italian cheeses and a bottle of the Nicolas Catena/Rothschild 'Caro' 2004 for good measure.

So much for the bloody diet!

[chefsmith]

I find the Barbary legs the best for confiting though, find they are stickier and juicier than the rest.
But the breasts never relax right, they just never seem to re absorb the juices as well.

[Melendez]

Inspired by seeing Nigel Slater doing it on the tele twice in a couple of weeks. I had Feta cheese with chilli, scallion and thyme. As per his recipe, I softened 3 mildish chillis, 3 scallions and leaves from about 3 or 4 thyme stalks in olive oil, then added the Feta block until starting to soften and put the lot on sourdough bread. The thyme was lovely when you got a taste of it, would put far more in next time, I'd probably double up on the scallions as well. Lovely little tea for one, requiring about 5 mins effort.

[fontane77]

made sushi for the lads for the ireland v france game.

It really is so simple once you have the ingredients and is very cheap. I made sushi for six and it cost about €20.

[JayBee]

Made rabbit rillettes on Wednesday night and game pie (well the meat filling bit) on Thursday for dinner on Saturday night - hare, pheasant and pigeon provided by my brother in law and some venison from Downeys in Terenure. Made game soup from the River Cottage Meat Book as well with the various bones and carcasses.

Some thing of a gender divide on the choice for starters and the boys all tried the rillettes and the girls all took the soup. No complaints form the gents. Rabbit can be a bit tricky to cook as it can dry out if you're not careful but the rillettes are very easy and tasty too. Rabbit, goose fat , bit of pancetta, herbsa and spices et voila. Game pie was good for the extra day or so in the fridge. Used some dired mushrooms and added the liquid and it all seemed to help.

Vegetarian option - spanish chick pea casserole from the cornucopia cook book. I had to resist the temptation to add some chorizo.

[Ernie Whalley]

Roast pork loin stuffed with sage and porcini
sauce with onions, garlic, tomatoes, red wine, herbs
brussels sprouts and chestnuts
sauté potatoes

home made vanilla ice cream with roasted hazelnuts and chopped preserved ginger - the syrup from the jar helped make a nice sauce for the ice cream

[JayBee]

Snap! I forgot to say I made homemade vanilla ice cream too. Its the only ice cream I ever make. At what stage in the process do you add the nuts and ginger, Ernie?

[Ernie Whalley]

I normally just sprinkle them over the ice cream when I serve and pour a little out of the syrup out of the ginger jar over the top. Makes a wonderful 'cheat' dessert.
Sometimes I roast a big batch of hazelnuts or almonds, (or a mix of the two + pistachios), rub the skins off them in a tea towel and store the nuts in small pots topped up with runny honey - keeps for ages and makes a nice little gift too.
I love the bite of the ginger with the ice cream.

[Ernie Whalley]

Made lovely stuffed peppers with porcini, cherry tomatoes, oregano and Dick Willemse's fabulous two-year matured Coolea. I've done this dish a lot, but these were the best ever.
Only thing that marred the meal was some terrible sirloin steak - no flavour and tough as old boots.

[chefsmith]

Done a Veal cheek and white bean casserole with some old mushrooms that had been knocking around the fridge for a week
( nicely greyed up) carrots and red onions, ever so slightly thickened with a bit of flour.

Couple of jacket shpuds and softened more leeks in olive oil and white wine and white balsamic vinegar, finished with some chervil.

Was divine, cheeks butter tender, beans had a touch of bite and the vinegared leeks lifted the dish.

Finished with home-made bread and butter pudding with loads of cimmamon.

[Ernie Whalley]

WELCOME BACK TO DUBLIN DINNER FOR DAUGHTER 1

Last two of the Lidl fiver lobsters. Slightly modified version of the risotto recipe with cognac instead of wine and saffron replacing oregano. Still bloody good, even though I forgot to chuck the lime zest in at the end.
Vietnamese green mango salad
Nice cheeseboard with Bellingham Blue, Milleens, 24-month Coolea and Glebe Brehan, Ditty's oat biscuits and quince
Followed at a lengthy interval by wattleseed ice cream and fresh pears
Espresso 80% Brazil Fazenda Cachoira (sp?) 20% Sumatra.
Tim Adams Semillon 2008/ Chateau Canon-la-Gaffelière 2005/Redbreast 12

[Zibibbo]

Last two of the Lidl fiver lobsters. Slightly modified version of the risotto recipe with cognac instead of wine and saffron replacing oregano. Still bloody good, even though I forgot to chuck the lime zest in at the end.
Vietnamese green mango salad
Nice cheeseboard with Bellingham Blue, Milleens, 24-month Coolea and Glebe Brehan, Ditty's oat biscuits and quince
Followed at a lengthy interval by wattleseed ice cream and fresh pears
Espresso 80% Brazil Fazenda Cachoira (sp?) 20% Sumatra.
Tim Adams Semillon 2008/ Chateau Canon-la-Gaffelière 2005/Redbreast 12

On a Tuesday night? Bloody hell! What do you need to do to get an invite to dinner at your gaff?

I got to share a bottle of Chateau Canon-la-Gaffelière 1937 a couple of years back. Incredibly it was still alive with nice acidity but withering fruit and it faded quickly in the glass. But to think that Hitler was eyeing up Sudetenland and the Spanish Civil War was still in full swing when those grapes were on the vine (and my dad was just out of nappies or whatever passed for nappies back then)...