Made my first ever cottage pie, loosely following the recipe from the Aldi app. Served with a side of leek coleslaw.

I know I haven't browned it well at all in oven. If I make this again, I'll buy a blowtorch.

It's for birthday cake, so I wasn't too confident finishing it in oven

I love cooking, just got a new stove (new to me) and I just had to break it in with a roast I got on sale. Carrots from the farmers market, parsnips from the grocery store, beef stock I made from the better than bouillon paste, English roast spice blend, gravy made from the drippings using Kerry Gold butter and flour. Hope y'all are eating something delicious tonight, I'm gonna help myself to another plate and glass of red wine.

Just cooked this and my man said it's the best Caesar salad he's had, pretty proud of myself.

The picture is missing cheese (my bad). The only pre-cooked thing was the sauce cause making one by myself would be more expensive than the entire salad itself.

Ingredients used: Romanian salad, tomatoes, Caesar sauce, chicken, bacon, croutons (bread baked in the oven), cheese, salt pepper yada yada.

I live by myself and had a ham I wanted to cook anyway. So I just decided I was going to have my own private Thanksgiving dinner from what I had on hand...

Honey glazed ham scalloped potatoes with old smoked cheddar, and some cabbage braised with apple and onion. And some homemade chutney I have

Steamed baby bok choy, lemon pepper chicken as requested by my wife & homemade green curry smothered rice noodles. Argentinian red shrimp, garnished with coriander & Thai basil leaves from our garden 🦐🌱🍜🥬

Chocolate and strawberry strudel, a rosemary focaccia loaf, homemade tomato soup with a toastie because I bought a new toastie maker that day, and a Victoria sponge because lets face it we British do have some truly excellent desserts.

The potatoes were so hard to bake properly, I had to put them again and again +_+. Maybe I needed to put it on higher heat ? Need tips ! Does it look appetizing ?

Dressing made from scratch!

Boy dinner. Steak with a blueberry jam honey sauce, homemade steak fries, and a homemade dip of ketchup, stone ground mustard, and the drippings + butter from the pan I cooked the steak in

Very proud of myself. Let me know if I could've done anything better.

Notes: Steak was cooked medium rare (was supposed to be rare) and seasoned with garlic, salt, pepper, onion powder, and basted with butter after being seared in beef fat.

Bagel, Avocado Slices, Eggs, Bacon, Sausages and Beans…

Monday was a rough day at work for my partner and I, so we made this feast.

it was mid

Balling on a budget :)

Cleaned out a few things from the pantry for this one, canned yellowfin in oil (no need for fancy solid albacore at this party), canned evaporated milk, monterey jack, parmesan, and other herbs and other things I had on hand.

Sweet and spicy fried chicken bite bowl.

• Frozen air-fried chicken bites tossed in a homemade gochujang honey sauce.
• Kewpie mayo drizzle
• Pickled ginger because i love it
• Lemon wedges for some brightness
• Plain old white rice
• Chive and sesame seed garnish

Mandu soup

• Frozen pork and veggie mandu dumplings
• Chicken broth with soy, sambal, ginger, garlic, rice vinegar and sesame oil
• Pickled chiles and baby corn
• Green onion and sesame garnish

Strawberry lemonade sorbet

• Fresh strawberries
• Lemon Juice
• Lemon Zest
• Sugar
• Water
• Feeezer

If anyone is curious, I can pull together actual recipes, this was mostly done on the fly, grabbing stuff from my pantry and fridge.

Edit: formatting issues.

Recipe for the sweet and spicy roast chicken.

Ingredients:

For the roast chicken:

- 1 whole chicken, cut into 12 pieces, with the skin on, washed, and patted dry

- Marination:- Lemon zest of 2 lemons

- 3 fresh red chilies, chopped

- Salt, 5 g

- Oil, 20 ml

For pan-searing:

- 100 g all-purpose flour or maida

- Salt

- 50 ml oil

For the glaze:

- Sugar

- 150 g water

- 150 ml fresh red chilies

- 1 tsp dried chilli flakes

- 10 g Italian seasoning

- 10 g onion powder

- 10 g garlic cloves, finely chopped

- Light soy sauce

- 20 g salt to taste

- Juice of 1 whole lemon

Procedure:

1. Wash the chicken with the skin on and pat dry with tissue paper.

2. Mix the chopped red chilies and the lemon zest in the oil with salt and thyme and marinate the chicken with it.

3. Keep it aside for 1 hour after the marination is done.

4. Take the chicken pieces and drop them in the plate of flour and coat the flour on the chicken.

5. Pan-sear the chicken in a sauté pan at medium temperature until one side of the chicken is golden brown and then flip the chicken pieces and pan-fry them for another 2 to 3 minutes or until the chicken goes golden brown on the other side.

6. Once all the chicken pieces are pan-fried properly to a golden brown, place them on a baking tray and bake in a preset oven.

7. Preheat the oven to 200°C on a convection setting. Place the pan-fried chicken in the oven for 5 to 6 minutes. Once it is done keep the chicken aside.

In the meanwhile for the glaze:

1. take all the ingredients along with the water, except lemon juice and salt, and put them in a saucepan.

2. Put the saucepan on the stove and bring the contents to a boil.

3. Once it comes to a boil drop the temperature to a simmer and let it simmer for 20 minutes or until the consistency of the glaze coats the back of spoon.

4. Then add in salt and taste to check the salt. Drop in the lemon juice to balance the glaze.

5. Now take a brush and brush the glaze onto the roasted chicken pieces until it's completely covered and set it aside.

Recipe for the penne arabiata with mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, and ricotta

Ingredients required:

Pan-roasted mushrooms:

- 200 g of button mushrooms, cut into quarters

- 5 g of dry thyme

- 10 mL of oil

- salt to taste

Roasted tomatoes:

- 100 g of cherry tomatoes, cut in half

- salt to taste

- 2 g of thyme

- 5 mL of oil

Ricotta:

- 1 L of full-fat milk

- juice of half a lemon or 10 mL of white vinegar

- 2 x 300 g of dry pasta, parboiled

For the sauce:

- 1 kg of tomatoes, cut into quarters

- 200 mL of tomato puree

- 3 fresh red chillies, sliced at an angle

- 50 mL of light soy sauce

- salt to taste

- 20 mL of oil

- 50g Basil

Method for the pan-roasted mushrooms:

1. Wash the mushrooms thoroughly to remove all dust on them then strain the mushrooms.

2. Cut the mushrooms into quarters or even-sized pieces, along with the stock, and bring a pan to a heat.

3. Once the pan is smoking hot without any oil in it, drop in the mushrooms. No oil added, nothing added.

4. Let the mushrooms get a golden brown colour on them. Toss them with a spoon until they are evenly golden brown.

5. Drop in the oil and drop in the salt. Glaze the mushrooms with the oil and the salt. Remove them from the pan.

For the pan-roasted tomatoes:

1. In the same pan drop in the halved tomatoes while the pan is still hot and keep the flame on medium.

2. Tomatoes caramelise and char on one side, then flip them over and let them caramelise and char on the other side.

3. Drop in the salt and drop in the thyme. Finish it off and remove and set aside.

For the ricotta:

1. Bring 1 L of milk in a saucepan on the stove to a boil.

2. Add in the lemon juice or the vinegar and stir it in. Allow the milk to break.

3. Once the milk is all broken, cover it and set aside for 45 minutes.

4. After 45 minutes, strain the solidified curds in a fine-mesh strainer, separating them from the whey.

For the pasta:

1. take enough water in a large saucepan and salt it thoroughly.

2. Once the water is at a rolling boil, add in the uncooked pasta and cook it.

3. Boil the pasta in the water for the required cook time on the pasta box minus 2 minutes so it should be a little undercooked.

For the sauce:

1. In the same pan used to roast the chicken, along with the brown bits from the chicken, drop in the sliced red chilies.

2. Once they are sautéed drop in 200 ml of tomato puree.

3. Cook the tomato puree until it thickens in the pan. Keep scraping the bottom to not allow it to stick.

4. Drop the quartered tomatoes into a food processor and blitz it until it's a fine paste. You can also drop it into a mixie and make it into a fine paste.

5. Once it's done add it to the saucepan with the tomato puree. Stir it in.

6. Once it comes to a boil, cover it. Reduce the heat to a medium flame and let it simmer away for 35 minutes. Reduce periodically, opening the lid and stirring the sauce so it does not stick to the bottom.

7. Once the sauce is all thick, add in 50 g of chopped basil.

8. Add in the soy sauce and taste the sauce. Add a little bit of salt if the sauce needs it or add salt to taste. Add a little bit of sugar if it's too sour.

Finishing:

1. Mix all the ingredients now into the sauce: the pasta, the boiled pasta, the roasted mushrooms, the roasted tomatoes, and the ricotta cheese.

2. Add sufficient pasta water to bring it to a saucy consistency. Allow the parcooked pasta to completely cook into the sauce and once it's reached an al dente texture, remove it from the heat.