What's on your menu today

I'm going to make a beef hotpot, chunks of slow cooked beef with potatoes carrots and onions

Duck in plum sauce with roast spuds, carrots and sprouts.

In view of my injured hand limitation, tonight is left-overs night...

Cooked lamb shoulder and roast chicken left overs; I am making, sort-of cottage pie, with added tasty bits and mashed spud, finally topped with grated cheese.  There are sprouts and carrots awaiting prep for accompaniment.  Probably instant 'cheat' gravy made with Goldenfry granules.

-pops- wrote:

I think the worst thing you can do with Parma ham is to cook it. All its finesse disappears and in my view you may as well have used a piece of cheapo boiled ham.

I remember a few months ago, Waitrose introduced this "wonder product" Proscuitto Cotto - cooked Parma ham. I bought a small pack - it was even more expensive than Proscuitto Crudo - and it tasted just like cheap boiled ham.

Sorry to be so negative, Irene, just my view.

No Probs -pops-, the only reason I used Parma ham was because I acquired it at the deli counter on a significantly reduced basis.  I usually use Serrano Ham.  ;)

We slummed it today - spent a few hours shopping in Birmingham and got leg weary. So for the first time in years we popped into a KFC and had a chicken breast meal.

Actually, it wasn't too bad and saved us cooking tonight.

(Is it OK to mention it in a thread almost devoted to posh food?)

I love KFC and eat it about once a month, we get a six piece family feast with corn on the cob and gravy.....delicious

Alan, I don't think this thread is devoted to posh food at all but I draw the line at KFC.

The very idea of eating food from a bucket is, to me, equivalent to eating from a trough - narrowing the gap between humans and the farmyard.

May be I'm biased. I've only had KFC food once from their premises at Marble Arch, London. It was disgusting. More than half of it was fat which dripped down my hand and on to the pavement - where I could see that others had had the same problem. There was no point complaining as everything appeared as bad.

Perhaps this was an exception to what KFC is normally like but the digestive repetition of that has remained in my memory all this time (it was in 1972).

Going to try something vegetarian in the Actifry today. Mixed sweet peppers, courgette, red onion, garlic and Halloumi cheese all cut into strips and cooked until done and some burnt bits on it. A few chopped (fresh) tomatoes with oregano, pepper, salt and a small spoon of sugar added and cooked for a few minutes to soften.

Having it with some nice bread.

Butterflied chicken breasts and mushrooms quick fried in butter, with sauteed potatoes.

The inevitable Friday fish, (almost dry-fried) chips and mushy peas. 

-pops- wrote:

Alan, I don't think this thread is devoted to posh food at all but I draw the line at KFC.

The very idea of eating food from a bucket is, to me, equivalent to eating from a trough - narrowing the gap between humans and the farmyard.

May be I'm biased. I've only had KFC food once from their premises at Marble Arch, London. It was disgusting. More than half of it was fat which dripped down my hand and on to the pavement - where I could see that others had had the same problem. There was no point complaining as everything appeared as bad.

Perhaps this was an exception to what KFC is normally like but the digestive repetition of that has remained in my memory all this time (it was in 1972).

pops : I discovered Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1964 when I first travelled to the USA. To be frank - I found it fantastic at that time and in the 2 months I spent there, I couldn't eat enough of it. Such food in the UK was virtually unknown. I think we may have had Wimpy Bars at that time where you could get a greaseburger cooked in front of you.

KFC has changed over the years and your experience in 1972 is unlikely to be repeated. The food is quite definitely not dripping in grease. Like Malcolm, I don't eat fast food very often - but we travel a lot on short breaks and it is convenient and inexpensive to "Refuel" at a motorway services with a KFC or McDonalds chicken breast meal. I never eat hamburgers (beef burgers) unless I do them at home with meat I mince myself to ensure it is free of fat.


The downside of fast food today is that the youngsters are only used to finger food. Look around you when you go to a proper restaurant and see the table manners of the diners who haven't got a clue how to use a knife and fork. It's border line depressing.

I appreciate my experience may have been an exception to KFC's normal standard but it was consistent amongst the whole of that establishment that day. That, and my aversion to the idea of eating anything from a bucket, firmly implanted my attitude to that company.

Not only can I remember the year, I can remember the occasion - Easter Monday early April.

I fully agree with your last para.

Chicken Thai green curry with rice

I have just made some Tom Yum soup for tea with plenty of chilli and garlic ate it with a big chunk of homemade bread

What is Tom Yum soup?  Never heard of it before...

Here is an authentic version ... it can of course be adapted.
Tom Yum soup