Movie night: Flight

Theming dinner to movie night can be entertaining.  The things most consumed in Flight are booze and cocaine ....

But, we needed an actual dinner - so I made us airline meals ... smoked salmon cocktail;  roast chicken dinner, ice cream and cheese and crackers.




Spring onion
Red pepper
Smoked salmon
Mayonnaise
Paprika
Salad leaves

Chicken thighs
Chicken rub
Potatoes
Butter
Carrots
Green beans
Leeks
Mustard
Cream

(Ice cream out of a tub, cheese and crackers with butter)

1.  Rub the chicken thighs with olive oil and a little herbed rub.  Roast for about an hour.
2.  Prepare potatoes to make fondant potatoes by chopping into almost they same, almost cubes.  In a deep frying pan melt butter, add potatoes, and water to about half way up the potatoes.  Simmer gently for ages, basting frequently and turning now and again.
3.  Prep other veg.
4.  Mix chopped spring onion, finely diced red pepper and smoked salmon together, bind with a little mayonnaise and add a sprinkle of paprika.  Fridge until ready to plate up.
5.  Steam carrots and beans, fry/poach the leeks in a little olive oil and water, when soft stir in a teaspoon of mustard and a spoon of cream.
6.  Keep an eye on the potatoes, add more water when required.  After about 40 minutes the butter water mixture will have reduced down, now start browning the potato cubes ... keep basting but turn them over, about 3 minutes on each edge.
7.  Line started "dishes" with salad leaves, blob in the salmon cocktail.
8.  Put ice cream in ramekins, cover in foil, and pop in their well.
9.  Add cheese and biscuits.
10.  Plate up chicken and potatoes, with a spoon of meat juice in one well, and veg in the other.
11.  Serve, watch people fall about laughing,  scoff.

Italian sausage pasta

Italian sausages from Nick Fielden's family butcher in Todmorden Market Hall inspired this dinner - and it was delicious.

Italian sausages
Olive oil
Onion
Mushrooms
Red pepper
Green beans
Cherry tomatoes
Pasta
Spinach
Cheddar cheese

1.  Squeeze the sausage meat out of the sausage skins and form into small balls.
2.  Fry the sausage balls in olive oil until slightly crispy around the edges.
3.  When the balls are done, removed them and start to sautee the chopped veg in the meat juices, you may wish to add a little more oil.  Start with the onion, then red pepper and green beans, then mushrooms, finally add the quartered cherry tomatoes.
4.  Cook the pasta in salted water.
5.  Add the sausage balls back to the sauce, adding a little water if it looks a bit dry.  Just before the pasta is done wilt spinach into the sauce.
6.  Drain pasta and add it to the sauce, grind over plenty of black pepper.
7.  Serve, with grated cheddar to taste, scoff.  Have seconds.

BBQ chicken pie

We had lots of BBQ chicken bake left over, and it would have been criminal to waste it - so I stripped the chicken meat from the bones, mixed it back in and topped it with sliced tomatoes, strong cheddar and a pastry top.  It was delicious served with good old baked beans.

Leftover chicken bake
Tomatoes
Cheese

Plain flour
Salt
Butter
Natural yogurt
Water


1.  Make pastry, rub butter into salted flour, when it resembles breadcrumbs add a dollop of natural yogurt and a drop of water.  Work into a smooth paste.  Put in the fridge for 30 mins or so, to make it easier to handle.
2.  Strip the meat from the chicken bones and mix the leftovers together.
3.  Put the mixture in an oven dish and cover with sliced tomatoes and slices of cheese.
4.  Roll out the pastry and layer over the top, pushing the edges into the oven dish.  Slash/stab to let out steam, and brush with milk/soya milk.
5.  Bake for about 35 mins at 180.
6.  Serve, scoff.

Barbeque chicken bake

Chicken legs ... and various bits and bobs from the veg box - but wanted to make it a bit more tasty (but easy) ... so BBQ marinated chicken, and chucked it all into a baking tray ... it was delicious, and created its own sauce.

Olive oil
Potatoes
Carrots
Fennel
Onion
Red pepper and tomato relish
American mustard
Soy sauce
Ketchup
Black pepper
Chicken legs
Garlic
Red pepper
Peas

1.  Slosh olive oil into a big oven dish and add potato chunks.
2.  Add peeled carrots, chopped into decent sized pieces (ie. average carrot, chop top third off, halve the rest and chuck those chunks in)
3.  Add fennel bulb and onion, both cut into wedges.
4.  Make "BBQ" sauce by mixing relish, mustard, olive oil, ketchup, pepper and soy sauce - squish the chicken legs around until well coated.  Then add peeled garlic cloves.
5.  Stick in the oven, at 180 for 45 mins (ish)
6.  Add chopped red pepper, stir around.
7.  After about 20 minutes add podded peas (or frozen), stir around.
8.  10 minutes later - stir, scoff ... have seconds ... it was proper tasty.

Fish curry

An interesting fish curry, as most of the vegetables were very definitely English ... but a small tin of bamboo shoots added a tiny oriental edge ... A malaysian curry powder and coconut milk - mildly spicy, and a really nice texture.

Onion
Garlic
Groundnut oil
Malaysian curry powder
Carrots
Mushrooms
Coconut milk
White fish (pollock)
Bamboo shoots
Frozen peas

Basmati rice

1.  Finely chop onions, and crush garlic, fry in groundnut oil.  Put the rice on.
2.  Add curry powder and stir in well.
3.  Add chopped carrots and mushrooms, then add coconut milk and simmer until the veg are a bit cooked.
4.  Put the fish on the top, cover and allow to steam/poach for a few minutes.
5.  When the fish is nearly done add a tin of bamboo shoots and a handful of frozen peas.
6.  Stir in - ready in 2 minutes.
7.  Serve, scoff - easy and very tasty.

Sausage pasta ... lockdown inventions

The veg box lands tomorrow, and we're trying to use stuff up from the cupboard.  The fresh stuff was tomatoes, spinach and salad leaves.  The fridge/cupboard stuff was some sweety peppers and half a jar of Polish salad.  What to do with sausages which is tasty, but not too faffy?

Sausage pasta!  It was very, very tasty.

Red onion
Olive oil
Chipolata sausages
Sweety red peppers in a jar
Tomatoes
Spinach
Pasta (fusilli in this case)
Sweetcorn
Spinach

Polish salad in a jar
Mayonnaise

Salad leaves

1.  Sautee chopped red pepper in olive oil, add sausages, and cook them through.
2.  When sausages are nearly cooked - chop the into bite sized pieces.
3.  Dice sweet peppers and tomatoes.
4.  Drain and rinse the polish salad, stir in mayonnaise and put in the fridge until ready to serve.
5.  Cook pasta.
6.  Chuck peppers and tomatoes into sausages, simmer gently.  Add sweetcorn after a few minutes.
7.  Drain pasta, chuck into sausage mixture and handfuls of spinach.  Stir until spinach is wilted.
8.  Serve, with salad leaves, scoff.  (veg dodger had thirds!)

Roast salmon, with dill and mustard sauce, garlicky beans and a kind of pilau - for Moulin Rouge!

Many Saturday's we have movie night, and I try to theme dinner with the movie.  This week it was Moulin Rouge! so I took a French take on dinner.  It's not restaurant quality presentation, but though I say it myself I was very, very tasty.

Double peeling the broad beans is tedious, but the resulting beans are worth it, as you don't have to chew the rubbery green coatings.






Broad beans
Green beans
Tomatoes
Garlic
Olive oil

Salmon fillets
Olive oil

Butter
Shallot
Dill
Dijon mustard
Juice of half a lemon
Flour
Natural yogurt

Olive oil
Shallot
Rice
Stock

1.  Prep the broad beans by podding and peeling grey layer.  Chop green beans and finely chop tomatoes.  Sautee gently in olive oil, with A LOT of crushed garlic.  Add a little water/stock and simmer, with a lid on for about 30 minutes.
2.  Drizzle salmon fillets with olive oil, cover with foil and roast for about 20 minutes.
3.  Melt a good bit of butter, and add very finely chopped shallot.
4.  Start the pilau, sautee finely chopped shallot in olive oil.  Add rice, turn in the oil until every grain is coated with a film of oil, then fry a little longer until the rice starts to cook slightly.  Now add flavourful stock, stir in, turn the heat right down and put the lid on.  Should be ready in 15 minutes.  Turn the heat off and let it just sit there and keep warm in the steam.
5.  Finish the sauce by adding dill, a teaspoon of dijon mustard and a spoonful of flour.  Whisk in lemon juice.  It might look a bit split but just keeping whisking.  Just before you are ready to serve stir in natural yoghurt, keep it on a very low heat.
6.  Serve, scoff ... it was delicious.

Pork 'n beans: Cowboy Stew

Onions
garlic
Olive oil
Cumin
Chilli flakes
Pork loin steaks
Red pepper
Green beans
Tomatoes
American mustard
Stock
Kidney beans
Chopped tomatoes (tin)
Basmati rice

1.  Sautee chopped onions and crushed garlic in olive oil.
2.  Add chopped pork loin steaks, and stir around, add cumin seeds and chilli flakes. 
3.  When the pork starts to brown a little round the edges, add chopped pepper, beans and tomatoes.
4.  When the veg have softened slightly add a good dollop of american mustard (the sweet hotdog sort is best).
5.  Add stock, from a cube in our case, and a tin of drained and rinsed kidney beans.
6.  Simmer for a good 20 minutes.  Add the tin of chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper.
7.  Put rice on - I use the adsorption method - rice in the pan, cover with cold water to an inch above the level of the rice, bring to the boil.  As soon as it boils turn the heat right down and slam the lid on.
8.  Simmer again (putting the tinned tomatoes and salt in later reduces the toughening up of the skins of the kidney beans).  Stir occasionally to prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pan, check that it doesn't get too dry, add a little water if it is.
9.  Serve, scoff, seconds ....

Thai red chicken curry

OK, I "cheated", I used a curry paste - but everything else was from scratch.  Using up vegetables in the bottom of the fridge, it was a bit of a change.

Peanut oil
Diced chicken
Onion
Garlic
Thai curry paste (red)
carrots
broccoli
green beans
coconut milk
pak choi
fish sauce
beansprouts

Jasmine rice

1.  In a wok, fry diced chicken in peanut oil, add chopped onions and cook for a few minutes.
2.  When chicken is nearly cooked add a spoonful of curry paste and crushed garlic, stir around.
3.  Add a little water and let the chicken cook through a little.
4.  Put the rice on - absorption method - rice in pan, cold water to 1 inch above the rice, bring to the boil - slam the lid on, turn the heat right down.  Ignore.
4.  Chop carrots, broccoli stems, green beans, and the chopped white end of the pak choi and add into the mixture.
5.  Add a tin of coconut milk and simmer for 5 minutes.
6.  Splash in fish sauce, add green ends of pak choi, tiny broccoli florets and beansprouts.  Stir.
7.  Serve, scoff

Roast chicken thighs, mediterranean veg pasta bake

The veg box arrives in two days, so we're using up what's in the fridge.

Chicken thighs
Olive oil
Chicken run

Onion
Garlic
Aubergine
Courgettes
Tomatoes
Red pepper
Passata

Pasta
Pecorino

Mixed leaves

1.  Drizzle chicken thighs with olive oil and rub in chicken rubs, roast at 180 for about an hour.
2.  Sautee finely chopped onion, crushed garlic in olive oil.
3.  Chop all other veg into small cubes and add into the onions and garlic, fry until a bit soft.
4.  Add passata and water, simmer until veg is soft - about 40 minutes.
5.  Meanwhile, make pasta according to packet instructions.
6.  Drain pasta, add to sauce, transfer to oven dish.
7.  Top with grated pecorino, and pop in the oven to melt.
8.  Serve, with a green salad, scoff.