I wanna hear about what people eat out there in the world. I’m not talking your country’s Official Food Specialty, or the great meal you made for so-and-so’s birthday last week, I wanna know what you throw together on a Tuesday night after work, with whatever you happen to have around in the fridge/pantry. Y’know, everyday food.
American dopers can post, too, but I wanted to extend a special invitation to the international crowd, thus the title.
I’ll start.
Last night’s dinner was Tuna Melts and frozen veggies. Mix a can of tuna with some mayo, Italian dressing, a shake of dry “Italian Herb Mix”, and some diced red onion and celery. Put on store-bought whole wheat bread. Top with a Kraft single (shut up, I like the way it melts and it reminds me of my childhood). Butter on both sides (or spray with Pam if you’re lazy) and grill until cheese is melted and bread is toasty.
In the interests of healthy eating, I also cooked up a bag of mixed frozen green beans, wax beans, and carrots. Top with butter and salt.
Not horribly exciting or innovative, but a staple meal that I almost always have all the ingredient on hand for.
Here’s a mundane dinner that I’m just about to make myself:
Herb tagliatelle (bought some fresh stuff from the supermarket the other day and need to use it up). For the sauce I’m using a leftover sausage & spinach bechamel I made the other day, and on top of that I’m going to throw on a tuna steak that was left over from last night. Both of these I’m going to zap in the microwave.
Sometimes I might just have toast, or a hot dog, or a sausage sandwich.
Last night it was paprika pork - bites sized bits of pork, cooked with caramelised onions and paprika, then simmered in a sauce of chicken stock (home-made, part of a batch I made a while ago and froze) and creme fraiche, served over rice. It’s normally “something and rice” to be honest - Crusoe doesn’t much like pasta or potatoes. So curry, chilli, stroganoff, stir-fry - that sort of thing.
If he’s not in, I’ll do pasta for myself as I love it. Favourite pasta dish at the moment is spaghetti tossed in olive oil, garlic and chilli - with a few tiger prawns if I have any in the freezer, but the other week I did a version of carbonara with some smoked salmon and asparagus I had left over from a dinner party, and it was bloody lovely.
Tonight though, I’m really tired, so it’s going to be toasted sammiches - tuna for him, cheese and salami for me.
I think its going to be beef stir fry tonight, but it depends what I find in the supermarket as I’m running low on food again. Should, properly, be haggis neeps and tatties as its Burn’s Night, but haggis for one is a pain. I have whisky though.
No haggis available here, but we got plenty o’ Scotch. And I’ll be able to really get Mr. Athena, bagpiper and lover of all things Scottish. He forgot Burn’s birthday!
Last year, the local Iceland had individual chilled “TV dinner” style haggis, neeps and tatties. Neeps and tatties were about as good as you would expect (barely edible) but the haggis was okay.
This evening I think we’ll be having leftover vegetarian shepherd’s pie. It’s one of our favourite recipes, but it really makes too much for two. On the plus side, it doesn’t lose anything much from being reheated.
Thinking about it, our collective British dinners are probably unrepresentative of the UK population as a whole, since there are several cookery enthusiasts here. I suspect that most people cook like my sister does (i.e. not at all), and eat nothing but reheated ‘ready meals’.
I’m in the U.S. We’re having chicken fried rice, with rice I cooked this morning and leftover baked chicken from a couple of days ago. I think I need to stop and get some frozed peas, though.
Had a lovely dinner last night - grilled fish, potato gratin and squid rings. OK, it was from the fish shop, which probably wasn’t the question you were asking…
The night before was a roast vegie and chicken salad - had kumara, courgettes, carrots, capsicum, cherry tomatoes and smoked chicken, all tossed in a honey mustard dressing. Delicious.
You’re quite right, and on behalf of the UK’s lazy slobs I present tonight’s menu chez me: Slow Roasted Pork Bellies from Tesco’s “Finest” range (quite labour intensive by my standards, as it involves an actual oven and takes forty-five MINUTES). As an entree I had a peanut butter sandwich (no “jelly” - that bizarre practice is unknown here).
Not really a dessert person, but if I were I’d finish up with a Mullerice Raisin & Nutmeg, or a Fruit & Nut ice cream bar.
I had pâté chinois (shepherd’s pie in English, I think) last night. A lovely mess of ground beef, creamed corn, and mashed potatoes. So good, I didn’t even need ketchup.
Well, I got home late. Not good, so I cooked up a scrambled egg and onion ‘curry’ type thing, that takes about 5 minutes to make, and tastes great. I might make sheperd’s pie tomorrow, and then, it’ll depend on what I can find in the supermarket tomorrow.
Robert Burn’s Night. You’re supposed to eat Scottish food, and pretend you’re Scottish.
Recipe, please, Angua.
I don’t know if what we eat is at all representative of Canada, but tonight we’re having spaghetti, which I’ll top with leftover sort of ratatouille (really a veggie stew of red peppers, tomatoes, and zuchinni, with roasted garlic) and shredded chicken from a nice Costco chicken. This is unless a vegetarian friend comes to visit. We’ll leave out the chicken if she does.
My normal rotation is chili, creamed chicken and vegetables (usually peppers, peas, spinach), a lot of fritattas, roast potato caesar salad (with or without chicken), fried rice, minestrone, cheating daal (made with bought sauce and spinach), and a lot of black bean soup, spaghetti with cream sauce, veggie sauce, or aglio olio, mac’n’cheese with ham and peas, and curry.
Sometimes stew. Sometimes pulled pork sandwiches.
We both work strange hours, so I make a big pot of something every few days, and we eat it until it’s gone and supplement with cereal and ssandwiches. Neither of us minds eating the same thing for a few days.
