Do the guy's on here cook

[jimbob]

Made two Xmas cakes last week [ plenty of Irish whiskey in them ] and just iced and decorated them.

 

[spandex]

Made two Xmas cakes last week [ plenty of Irish whiskey in them ] and just iced and decorated them.

Making Xmas pudding this late in the day

 

[mr Mag00]

pork singapore noodles tonight done by yourstruly

 

[Chuffy]

I've spent much of the day slaving over a hot range. We now have industrial quantities of spicy pork, paprika and butternut squash stew, steak and kidney and some cheesy bread rolls.

I'm knackered!

 

[Kirstie]

Well done!
My other half made a fantastic toad in the hole for dinner tonight. It was lovely. He's a really good cook

 

[Flying_Monkey]

butternut squash

Ah, my favourite time of year - pumpkins and squash of all kind are just great... I love making fresh ravioli filled with butternut squash, blue cheese (I prefer an orange one for this) and walnuts, and a sage butter.

 

[Kirstie]

Ah, my favourite time of year - pumpkins and squash of all kind are just great... I love making fresh ravioli filled with butternut squash, blue cheese (I prefer an orange one for this) and walnuts, and a sage butter.

I can vouch for the yumminess of this recipe.

 

[mr Mag00]

^ i tried it and found it disappointing, perhaps not strong enough cheese

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Could you please oblige with the recipe?

I have a small mountain of butternut squash sitting in the shed this year.

I sometimes bake them with blue cheese and fresh sage, so this sounds like my kind of thing.

Um... I tend not to use use recipes, or I just adapt them - I just go with what I feel at the time! I would be useless as a cookery writer or TV chef. I will try though...

First, cut the squash into slices, brush with olive oil and roast on a oiled baking tray (temperature? I don't know... depends on what else you are cooking!). You might also want to put your (shelled) walnuts in for a little while in the same oven - but not too long and watch them because you do not want them to blacken.

When the squash is soft and just starting to brown, take it out and leave to cool.

Remove the skin and mash in a bowl. Add the blue cheese (you really do need a rich, strong one - gorgonzola, roquefort etc.), broken into small pieces and lightly crushed walnuts (you want them to have texture but not be huge pieces). The quantities are up to you, but it needs to hold together! Add pepper (salt only necessary if your cheese doesn't give you enough - taste it to see) and plenty of fresh grated nutmeg.

Fresh pasta is basically a ratio question: 1 egg to every 100g of good quality 00 flour, and a good slug of olive oil. No water. It has to be kneeded well and it has to be left for a while before rolling out. It also has to be very thin before making the ravioli - I recommend a simple pasta machine because they have the right thicknesses.

For the sauce, it really is just a matter of melting butter, and adding white wine when it is just hot enough to boil off the alchohol, then lowering the heat and allow to emulsify, and season to taste. Don't overcook it. You can also add lemon juice but be careful you don't boil it or you will end up with a horrible sauce. You can add anything else you like into the butter when it has melted - minced garlic and flat-leaf parsley, or my favourite in this case, just chopped sage and some large capers.

When cooking your ravioli, the water you use has to be at a rolling boil and kept that way. Any less and it will go soggy. And cook for as little time as possible to get it al dente (3 minutes max).

Must be properly drained and served immediately with the butter sauce drizzled on top. I think it works best in smaller amounts as a starter.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Thanks a lot for that Flying Monkey - I'll have to get the pasta machine out for its annual session!

Don't blame me if it goes wrong - as I said, I'm rubbish at recipes!

 

[Arch]

In my last team, we had a lad who, although in his mid-thirties, literally couldn't boil an egg without help. We had to teach him how to peel potatoes, chop onions - everything. Unbelievable. Naturally, he was from England...

As an aside, I heard the tail end of something on Breakfast news this morning. Mums in Britain and France were surveyed and asked to list foods their children wouldn't eat. The average British list was 14 items (including, of course, lots of green veg), the average French one, only 2.

 

[John the Monkey]

I can - I rarely do nowadays though.

(Prior to the missus giving up work, I was first in, and so used to do all the meals).

 

[Maverick Goose]

Ah, my favourite time of year - pumpkins and squash of all kind are just great... I love making fresh ravioli filled with butternut squash, blue cheese (I prefer an orange one for this) and walnuts, and a sage butter.

Aaahhh....love squash-great for chutney, curries and soup as well. Love cooking and my parents jump for joy whenever I come home...currently do it for a living and try out loads of recipes for myself in my spare time as well. Cakes are a big speciality of mine.

 

[Aperitif]

Aaahhh....love squash-great for chutney, curries and soup as well. Love cooking and my parents jump for joy whenever I come home...currently do it for a living and try out loads of recipes for myself in my spare time as well. Cakes are a big speciality of mine.

What?!
Get your recipes up here Maverick pronto - send cake samples to the tea thread post haste - post photos of delicacies for delicatation!

Mouth watering recipe too F_M - even at 06:45 - yum yum!

 

[Speicher]

Mr aperitif, you seem to have misunderstood Maverick Goose's post.

When he writes "Cakes are a big speciality of mine", notice the first person possessive pronoun (mine). This means the cakes are his, (and for his consumption) not yours.

Apposite to this is Terry's Chocolate Orange, it is not Terry's, it is mine.