3rd Pistonheads cooking competition ingredients

[Anna_S]

Cotty said:

I cooked a fish pie last week, photo on the dinner thread but lacks presentation.

I'm not sure how to present a fish pie, maybe that could be your challenge for this week!
Mine always seem to slop off the plate, taste great, but looks like a 5 year old made it!

[Cactussed]

thegavster said:

Cactussed said:

Depends how hammered we get Friday night, no?

This is the one problem. It would require an enforced abstinence from booze and pretty much fun of any form on the Friday night.

Doable I suppose.

Anyone got any ideas on seasons for seafood. A bit of pre-planning would be nice and the early start could be vindicated by an enormous bowl of moules or similar for lunch on my return.

Indeed. A Friday of restraint would be tricky. Unless we all hang around the wharf and drink through the night?

[shirt]

thegavster said:

wandering around a fish market off my tits isn't exactly what I'd think of as fun and I really, really hate to think what I'd end up buying .

of course you know this is exactly the course of action you should take!

think i'm not going to bother planning until the day i cook, and just make whatever i fancy for dinner. was going to buy fresh from the docks on my way home from work one night and get something like a whole sea bass but then it just not worth the effort cooking for one.

suppose i could fillet & freeze what i don't use, any tips for gutting/filleting fish?

[captainzep]

thegavster said:

Also, the one problem with an all nighter is that wandering around a fish market off my tits isn't exactly what I'd think of as fun and I really, really hate to think what I'd end up buying .

[justin timberlake music>on]

"...sexy Bass"

[captainzep]

Anna_S said:

Cotty said:

I cooked a fish pie last week, photo on the dinner thread but lacks presentation.

I'm not sure how to present a fish pie, maybe that could be your challenge for this week!
Mine always seem to slop off the plate, taste great, but looks like a 5 year old made it!

A particular issue for Cotty given that one of his ten commandments would probably be:

"Thou shalt not fanny about with ramekins"

[Anna_S]

captainzep said:

thegavster said:

Also, the one problem with an all nighter is that wandering around a fish market off my tits isn't exactly what I'd think of as fun and I really, really hate to think what I'd end up buying .

[justin timberlake music>on]

"...sexy Bass"

haha thats so bad

[Cotty]

captainzep said:

"Thou shalt not fanny about with ramekins"

I actually have some ramekins but never actually used them. I was thinking of doing some fruit jellies in them.

[Cactussed]

Boys and girls, apologies for jumping the gun, but I am off to Germany tomorrow for 5 days, so no other time to enter other than my dinner tonight. Gives me something to do whilst eating alone.... <sob> I shall have to console myself as I lap the ring tomorrow..


Fresh tuna and quail egg salad nicoisse. Part of the carefully managed weight loss plan. As is the chablis that went with it

Edited by Cactussed on Thursday 22 October 19:30

[zakelwe]

that is a great start to the competition. I have decided to do something quick and easy this time as I have a very bad cold and can't be arsed spending hours prepping it. Bought a monkfish tail and duck eggs as a bit of a clue.

I am going to try to make something I have never tried before .. I love cooking on the edge

Regards
Andy

[zakelwe]

It's Sunday evening and I'm having the devil of a time with a Hollandaise sauce I have made from scratch for the first time ever. It looks like yellow gravy

There's me shouting in from the pot stirring madly shouting at my wife to look on youtube to see what it's supposed to looks like....

fluff up and set ya bastid! I am such a glutton for punishment. Sigh.

Regards

Andy

[madbadger]

Couldn't get inspired by fish so nothing from me this week. Fish finger omlette would not have been up to scratch.

[grumbledoak]

Largely a Mockney chef recipe...

Mash potato means baking some spuds for an hour, then the ricer and milk:


Side dish is asparagus with a mayaonnaise based lemon sauce...



One frying pan and the oven later, pancetta-wrapped haddock with rosemary, lemon zest, and pepper, asparagus with a lemon sauce, and mashed potato (almost) quenelles.



ETA how it tasted - It was delicious! The rosemary worked with the fish much better than I expected, asparagus with the sharp lemon sauce and pancetta all work well. It is a very light dish, so I'm glad I added the mashed potato. Thoroughly recommended, it's from "COOK with Jamie".

Edited by grumbledoak on Monday 26th October 17:20

[shirt]

i thought we had another week?

[captainzep]

Mixed grill of fish, (Sea Bass/Salmon/Smoked Cod) on fondant potatoes, with green vegetables and a light bearnaise sauce.





This was OK. I was trying so sort of re-create a dish I ate in Wheelers, Whitstable where the fish was served with veg-a-la-grecque and saffron potatoes. I used the acidic tarragon/vinegar twang of the bearnaise to give the acidity but it wasn't as good. Fondant potatoes were only so-so.

However the fish was good and the vegetables were cooked nicely, tossed in butter with a touch of fish stock and a tiny pinch of cumin.

7/10.

[zakelwe]

Mine was monkfish tails with asparagus in parma ham with hollandaise sauce and poached eggs, so a bit like a lot of other people did. Pardon the shaky image. The Hollandaise ended up with dill in it, very nice though presentation was sadly lacking again. I thought a lot of people would do kegeree so did not do that. If we have another week I might do that instead. My sauce went from too runy to too thick to too runny as I played about with it, sort of like going from understeer to oversteer to understeer all in one corner ..yeepers.





Regards
Andy

Edited by zakelwe on Monday 26th October 17:45

[Anna_S]

Ok my efforts this week..... smoked mackerel souffle

[zakelwe]

mmm, that looks good !

Regards
Andy

[Anna_S]

Thanks

Some good looking poached eggs there too.


Any more for any more?

[shirt]

i thought we had another week? has it been a fortnight since the last reveal?

[shirt]

i have yeah but genuinely surpised how time has flown by. guess i'm not entering this week then!