Nathan Caroland Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 So, yesterday my wife was at the store and called me up and asked me what I wanted for a Sunday dinner. I of course made a comment about 'lets do something different'. I've been a bit bored with the meals of late, old favorites turning just a bit stale as the kids want the same things, etc. Hah! Okay, so last night I was looking at a meal that I couldn't quite figure out on some of it. Wasn't too bad, but certainly isn't my normal meal plan either. So, had Riccotta with Spinach and something else in it. What is Riccotta? Yeah, I asked that myself. Its a type of rice I guess, or something close to it. Couldn't quite figure it out. Then we had chicken breasts beat the hell out of (my wife was pounding them good in there) and stuffed with some herbal thinger-ma-bob and goat cheese. Yeah, goat cheese. That was interesting, bit sharp, and wasn't too bad really, though I did sort of make a face when I was told it came from a goat. Then there was the steamed Zukini (that wasn't bad at all!) and some sort of sauce or some such drizzled over it. Still haven't figured out what the heck that was, and I'm thinking that I might not want to know. There was some other stuff as well such as dinner rolls and some sort of green stuff I've yet to identify. I ate it, every last bit of it, and smiled from ear to ear while I did it. Yum! Then of course my wife told me that she was glad that I liked it as she had plenty left over to send with me to work. Wonder if I can get away with grabbing McDonalds before I go in .... :tongue2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ritual Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Sounds to me that you've had some real food! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJ Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 and you're sure she doesn't read the forums.... busted! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincegamer Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 So, had Riccotta with Spinach and something else in it. What is Riccotta? Yeah, I asked that myself. Its a type of rice I guess, or something close to it. Couldn't possibly have been Ricotta then. Ricotta is a soft cheese kind of like cottage cheese that's been through a blender. It's often used in Lasagna. Perhaps what you had was Risotto, which is a pasta shaped like rice. Yeah, goat cheese. That was interesting, bit sharp, and wasn't too bad really, though I did sort of make a face when I was told it came from a goat. Somehow if it comes out of a cow it's better? I'm not super fond of goat cheese, but it comes on Greek foods all the time and a good Gyro must have goat cheese. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supervike Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Yeah....I use Ricotta all the time.....Lasagna just isn't as good without it... I finally tried some CURRY....we found a 'bag' of 'heat and serve' curry at the grocery store. It was CURRIED CHICK PEAS or something, I make it and served it over rice. It was ok, but not phenomenal. I need to try some other styles before I judge it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ritual Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Perhaps what you had was Risotto, which is a pasta shaped like rice. Risotto is a dish made with a special type of rice called arborio rice (or sometimes avorio rice, but I think it's the same). You boil it in lots of water so that it becomes a bit mushy and often you have a bit of white wine in it as well. Then you add things like vegetebles, ham, herbs, for instance, and top it with a healthy dose of parmesan. It's really good! I finally tried some CURRY....we found a 'bag' of 'heat and serve' curry at the grocery store. It was CURRIED CHICK PEAS or something, I make it and served it over rice. It was ok, but not phenomenal. I need to try some other styles before I judge it. I wouldn't trust those ready made things. They're generally not that exciting. You should find a good recipe and make something from scratch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzor Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 I don't see what the problem is with the goat cheese. Cheese comes from milk, and in theory you can get it from any of the mammals. You can make a wide variety of cheese from goat's milk. Not only that, my current shaving soap is made from goat's milk. (Personally I have mixed feelings about feta however. I think it is because it mostly appears in a greek salad. On the other hand, I've had mixed feelings about a number of cheeses in my salad, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't work as well.) You know what the difference is between "good food" and McDonalds? Good food often costs less. And it tastes better. And you know what's in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincegamer Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Risotto is a dish made with a special type of rice called arborio rice. Whoops. You are right. I was thinking of Orzo. Don't know how I made that mistake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincegamer Posted February 6, 2006 Report Share Posted February 6, 2006 Cheese comes from milk, and in theory you can get it from any of the mammals. One of my favorite exchanges from Red Dwarf: Lister: Hal, get me a glass of milk Hal: We're out of cows milk. The only thing we have left is dogs milk. Lister: Euch! Dog's milk? Hal: Nothing wrong with dog's milk. It keeps better than any other milk. Lister: Why's that? Hal: Cause nobody will drink the stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeadAsbestos Posted February 7, 2006 Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 Can you make human cheese? (yes, please insert fave joke here...) Seriously, someone must have tried. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeadAsbestos Posted February 7, 2006 Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 And FF- be thankful. If my wife made any sort of meal, I'd run up the bell-tower and do the Quasimodo I'd be so happy! :tea: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Caroland Posted February 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 Heh, no worries, it really wasn't that bad, just something that really didn't float my boat, but I had it for lunch today at work - the ladies here seemed to be really interested what I had. Anyhow, nah, mostly I don't eat out, about 90% of whatever I eat is either cooked or bagged and I take sandwiches and the like to work so I'm rather lucky in that department. Goats - bleah. Don't like them. Don't like eating them. Don't like products from them. Just not my thing I guess. This week coming we're doing a seafood whatnot, think we're doing black-tip shark steaks (friend of ours is overnighting them to us on Friday from the coast a few hours away) and whatever else we work in. Wife and kids will be all over calamari (sp?) and seaweed strips, I'll see if I can slip in a baked potato at the very least! We've decided to go through and do something 'new' every other week and try something out. We're doing the seafood this week coming, after that we're going to try out some other stuff like French, German .. etc cuisines. All up for the German food, lived there for near eight years and loved it all. Ah well, might not like it all, but I'll sure as hell try it. Except for cows tongue and anythings brains. Sorry, can't do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
green stuff Posted February 7, 2006 Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 Concerning goat cheese, I don't think you can really appreciate it in the States since the sanitary measures there kill all the necessary bacteria to make it good. Cow tongue is good (softest meat you'll ever eat); don't care much for the brain. For french cooking, what do you have in mind? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincegamer Posted February 7, 2006 Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 Can you make human cheese? (yes, please insert fave joke here...) Seriously, someone must have tried.well, after an extensive search (5 minutes googling "breast milk cheese") I have learned that it is possible in theory, but because making 1 lb of cheese requires 10 lbs of fresh, unpasteurized milk, you would have to have several women lactating at a time. You really couldn't do it with 1 woman since by the time she got to the 10th lb, the 1st lb is days old. I could, therefor, find no one who had actually made cheese from breast milk. I did find someone's description of making yogurt out of her own milk though, as yogurt is more like a 2:1 ratio. She said all her male friends were anxious to try it and all said they liked it. FF: Here's something the wife and I did shortly after getting married: we bought the cookbook "Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home" and made everything in it. I recommend that to anyone. One key aspect is none of the recipies takes a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzor Posted February 7, 2006 Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 One thing to remember when thinking of cheese (especially human cheese) is why cheese was invented in the first place. Cows and also goats are bread to lactate non stop from the day they give birth. Cows especially have to be milked every day. With the various fasting regulations in both eastern and western Christianity, there were extended periods of time when milk could not be consumed. (Besides it's not healthy for you anyway. Beer and Coffee was considered the "safe" drinks of the Middle ages.) You had to milk the cow (or goat) anyway, so cheese was the best way to preserve milk over the fast periods. Not only does it last longer it tastes great too! Another fine product made possible by SALT. Another piece of useless trivia learned by reading the Hstory of Salt. Since generally speaking humans stop lactation quickly after breast feeding stops, infants are not generally beholden to fasting regulations, and the supply was always less than demand (because wet nurse was still an important occupation to serve the well to do) it seems unlikely that any serious attempts to make human cheese would take place. --- Meanwhile, cows tongue is good eating. There was a nice deli near where I lived that had something they called a "tastemaster." It had a ton (well not a ton but a lot) of different meats including tongue. It came "dressed" or "undressed" or with or without Russian dressing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almathea toes Posted February 7, 2006 Report Share Posted February 7, 2006 Yeah....I use Ricotta all the time.....Lasagna just isn't as good without it... I finally tried some CURRY....we found a 'bag' of 'heat and serve' curry at the grocery store. It was CURRIED CHICK PEAS or something, I make it and served it over rice. It was ok, but not phenomenal. I need to try some other styles before I judge it. Seriusoly, get an authentic indian recipe and make it from scratch. A curry just isn't the same from a packet. Lamb curries are great, um, if you're not vegetarian or vegan. Be careful what recipe you use though, there are different types of curries. Personally I don't carefor Vindaloos, as I like my hot in moderation, but there are a range of heavily herbed curries that are not hot. Really, there's a lot going on in the world of the indian curry, it covers a wide variety of different dishes. The other good tip I can suggest is your recipe will most likely call for something called Masala (or close to that I can't remember the exact spelling). Get a recipe for it and make it fresh yourself. It will make a world of difference, and it doesn't take long to do. You just put the spices into a fry pan and cook them until they start to pop, then grind them up together. Great spice mix. You can make extra and keep it, at least that way you know how old it is. Oh, Vince, the computer in red dwarf is Holly. Hal is from 2001: a space odyssey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art-de-Vivre Posted February 8, 2006 Report Share Posted February 8, 2006 Concerning goat cheese, I don't think you can really appreciate it in the States since the sanitary measures there kill all the necessary bacteria to make it good. True : you have to try some goat cheese made from unpasteurized milk to be had only in Europe unfortunately; it's a different experience alltogether ! Cow tongue is good (softest meat you'll ever eat); don't care much for the brain. :AR15firin you're not serious, are you ? or at least you're not really French... For french cooking, what do you have in mind? go for snails and froglegs and you can't be wrong :dancing2: of course I'm just kidding since I like none of those "clicheed" dishes that everybody seems to associate with French cuisine. My personal favourite : gooseliver paté (foie gras); very expensive and usually available at year end on most French dinner tables. For simpler pleasures try "coq au vin" (chicken in red wine sauce) or cassoulet (white beans with a leg of duck); this talk about food makes me hungry; gotta call my wife to ask what's for dinner :tongue2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzor Posted February 8, 2006 Report Share Posted February 8, 2006 My one solitary boast. When I was a kid (perhaps 10 at the most) and I went to a resturant I actually stunned my parents by asking for the frogs legs. Why? Because! (My parents had one simple rule, I had to taste it. Even if I had it a month ago and didn't like it. "Tastes change when you are young." As a result I developed a hearty sense of taste spoiled only by an allergy to nuts.) Tongue isn't really French as much as it is Jewish Deli. At least in my experience. "Coq au vin" always sounded like heresy to me; chicken and red wine. But I love it none the less. I've never had "cassoulet" but anything with duck must be heavenly. My favorite "french" resturant was (and still is when I go back) a little resturant with a lovely couple and about a half dozen tables in Key West Florida. They cooked a lot of provincial french meals as well as the classics you expect in a french resturant as well as a few things from local custom (like Key Lime pie which they actually inverted making the filling a key lime moose where it is normally the marange on top which is the light and fluffy part ... and the juice was from a tree growing on their property). The name, by the way is called "Moe's." (They close in the summer, but are open during the tourist season.) Their mascot is a gigant garlic clove man. Many years ago, I worked for a small family business. The boss, son and daughter had to go to Paris on business. I had to remain behind. They hated it. They described in American detail their entire culinary experience. Unfortunately, I knew exactly what they were talking about and translating their words I could hardly prevent myself from drooling as they described the French "horrors." The kicker was their final statement, "The only thing I could recognize was chicken, but it was in jello!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
green stuff Posted February 8, 2006 Report Share Posted February 8, 2006 @Art-de-Vivre : I was born in the Netherlands, lived 6 years in south-east Asia, and 5 years in the States. I guess I'm relearning the french way of life . Frog legs taste like chicken , but careful for your kids Nathan, the bones are really small and break easily. Snails are good but maby a little bit costly if you're not sure to appreciate them. Something that your kids should love is crêpes. You can make them either for the main dish (add ham, cheese, mushrooms, ...) or for dessert (add sugar, jam, hot chocolat, walnuts, sliced carameled appels, ...). One receipe I've been doing a lot lately is duck breast with sliced carameled appels cooked in apple cider vinegar (count 3 apples for 2 persons). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art-de-Vivre Posted February 8, 2006 Report Share Posted February 8, 2006 "The only thing I could recognize was chicken, but it was in jello!" :thumb: a real treat ... :hahaha: @GS : funny, for me it is quite the reverse : I was born in the UK, am French and now live in South East Asia (Malaysia). @FF : why don't you ask Edgar Ramos to shape a nice meal made of green stuff, have EricJ paint it up nicely (only 2 colors allowed this time :bowsucker ) and present it to your wife ? :gimmie!: Do you think she'll take the hint ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
green stuff Posted February 8, 2006 Report Share Posted February 8, 2006 @Art-de-Vivre : No kidding? My father was born in Malaysia and my sister in Singapoor. I guess the world is really small . @FF : you should try "blanquette de veau" and "lapin à la moutarde". Tasty and easy to make. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincegamer Posted February 8, 2006 Report Share Posted February 8, 2006 My personal favourite : gooseliver paté (foie gras); very expensive and usually available at year end on most French dinner tables. and also illegal in the USA. foie gras is considered to violate the humane treatment of animals when done in the traditional manner. (Line from Black Adder Goes Fourth) Baldrik: for dinner we're having Rat au van. It's a rat what's been run over by a van. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Caroland Posted February 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2006 I'm curious as to what sort of meals everyone considers a main stay for their culture or background and what ya'll think of as a really 'nice' meal. I think a lot of us, particularly in America, tend to just 'grab and go' when it comes to meals, fast food it everywhere and I have to admit that I've been just as bad as the next when it comes to just getting something easy and not really dealing with cooking for the day. Old favorites around the house here are stuffed bellpeppers, lasagna or spaghetti, grilled chicken or pork with mashed or baked potatoes, chicken and rice with mushrooms and gravy .. etc. Of course all of these meals usually include salads and atleast one or more vegetables which can be anything from corns, green beans, peas, blah, blah. We don't do it often but a nice steak, New York cut, aged beef is always nice. Seafood is always a favorite with us but generally is expensive if you want good and fresh if you are doing it yourself. My wife loves salmon steaks and a well done stuffed lobster is always appreciated. Myself, I've lived in Europe quite a bit when I was younger, particularly in Germany though some time in France, Holland and Belgium and I was always surprised to see all the different types of foods and products in the markets and what was served in resturants and by friends. I lived most of my childhood in Germany so I'm more comfortable with that culture and food. I think if I was able to make it overseas again I would be a bit more open to trying different cullinary delights but as a kid one tends to be close minded or difficult at times. Sadly, my wife nor my children have ever been out of the States but I hope to remedy that here soon. So - if you had meals to suggest that won't break the budget AND won't complete gross out the kids, please feel free to suggest them as printing out some of this and showing it to my wife for ideas about meal plans, etc. Oh, and I'm looking for that book too Vince. Good call. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supervike Posted February 8, 2006 Report Share Posted February 8, 2006 I do most of the cooking in our house. Meals (especially supper) is an important thing in my family, we always do it together if possible. Meat and potatoes are the mainstay, but we have been eating alot of chinese stir fry food lately, and the kids love it. Easy to make too. I have a wok but have recently switched to using an Electric fry pan to make it. Its quick, cheap, and easy. The part that takes the longest is cutting up the veggies... Living in 'farm' country, we have steak quite a bit. In fact, I usually buy 1/4 of a beef from a local farmer and stock our freezer with it. We try and save the steak for the summer months, when I can cook it on the grill outside. I don't mind going out to eat, but we don't do it that often. Its so damn expensive, the service usually sucks, and I hate crowds.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincegamer Posted February 8, 2006 Report Share Posted February 8, 2006 Don't have anything that's common except possbily burritos. They are easy, cheap, healthy (if done that way) and tasty. Growing up no matter what there was always a green salad. Now of course, I eat anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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