American BBQ Delivery (by G)

Friday night is not the night to go to a lot of dinner effort (unless it is), so I ordered some authentic American BBQ via the internet. Beef ribs, chicken wings, coleslaw, smoked mac'n'cheese and cornbread (I don't really like cornbread, I didn't order the cornbread but I could not avoid the cornbread).

The ribs were okay, the best thing was the wings. Overall it was not the kind of meal that would turn you on to American BBQ - and the corn bread certainly did not convince me that it is something I absolutely have to have in future.

Dim Sims (by G)

Back when I was just a little ginger boy I used to eat a crap load of the crappy dim sims that come in bags of about 50 and are made from road kill and MSG. What a great childhood! In the end the quality got so bad, so gristly, that I stopped eating them.

I had a sudden nostalgia for these dim sims at about midday and decided to have them for dinner. At the shop there were a variety of choices, many of them looked delicious, but I went with the very cheapest variety.

As we don't have any way to steam anything at the moment I figured that boiling was just a more intense form of steaming and dropped the dims in for 20 minutes. They came out perfectly. A note on eating steamed (boiled) dim sims: you must eat them very quickly - before they dry out.

I had these with some sauce I mixed up some time last week, the contents of which I do not recall but likely included soy sauce, pickle sauce, garlic and chilli of some kind. My verdict: Awesome... and less gristly than I remember.

Ants Bistro (by Biggs)

A Kind of Peasant Stew (by G)

As Biggs was not going to be home for dinner I decided to use up some grains, vegetables and meat I had leftover from past dinners. Carrots, shallots, celery, cavolo nero, turnips, potatoes, some garlic and peal barley went into a pot of stock made from boiling up a lump of brisket the other day. After about 45 minutes I threw in some shredded brisket and served with some bread.

Unfortunately Biggs did end up being home so she ended up getting her 5 serves of vegetables (and more), which must have been a shock to the system...

Bean and Cheese Taquitos (by Biggs)

Cacciatore Sausage with Pearl Barley (by G)

Every time I go to the Queen Victoria market I eye off the giant sausage in one of the shop windows and wonder how much better my life could be if I owned one. This weekend just gone I decided to take the plunge. The butcher was very helpful (which is my first experience of that kind of attitude from a butcher). His recommendation was to prick the sausage a few times, boil it for 2 hours then slice and fry it. I did just that, though the filling was so gelatinous that the crispy surfaces got stuck to the pan.

As a side I boiled up some pearl barley in chicken stock (which I am oddly fond of despite the suspicion it may be a wanky foodie food) - then I added some slowly caramelised onions, diced carrots, parsnips and some cavolo nero (which I know is a wanky foody food).
The cacciatore was extraordinarily rich and sticky, and a bit of a pain in the ass to cook - it will not be something I will be cooking again myself anytime soon (except for the leftover bits I guess) but I would definitely hook in if someone else is willing to prepare it.

Brisket and Veg (by G)

I wanted to do something nice and clean and healthy and flavourful for dinner. I've not cooked brisket before - it's not the most challenging thing to do. Dump it in a pot of water with some veg and herbs (carrot, onion, celery, thyme and bay leaf) then let it simmer for a couple of hours. I was going to slice the brisket and serve it up in pretty slices, but we do not possess a knife keen enough to slice through soft cooked brisket so I just tore it into hunks.

With some plain boiled vegetables on the side and a gravy of reduced brisket broth on the side this was a stark and simple meal - and, unfortunately, lacking in much flavour...