This recipe I am showing you here today is a prime example of how we eat here in Casa de Rayner, most of the time. Its fast. Its easy and . . . most importantly . . . its delicious!
I like to think its also fairly economical in that it uses things I generally have in my freezer and storecupboard, like rice, milk, chicken stock, frozen vegetables, onions and I confess . . . frozen mushrooms. I always keep frozen sliced mushrooms in my freezer. They are perfect for dishes like this where appearance doesn't really matter that much.
I picked up some packs of fresh cubed turkey breast the other day. One of them was perfect for this dish. The other was frozen, so now I have some cubed turkey breast for the future when I want to make something quick and easy for another meal.
You could of course use cubed chicken breast meat, or even leftover cooked turkey or chicken from the Sunday roast!
All are put together in a simple way and in one pot, making it an easy put together not to mention an easy clean up!
Yes, it all gets cooked in the one pan . . . first the turkey . . . then the onions, mushrooms and garlic . . .
Some flour and seasonings go next, and then you add some chicken stock and milk . . . bring it to the boil, where it thickens a bit . . . nice and creamy . . .
And then finally the rice. Covered, it cooks to perfection over very low heat in about 15 minutes or so. A bit of salad on the side, maybe a crusty bun if you are so inclined and dinner is served!
*Creamy Turkey & Rice*
serves 4
1 pound raw turkey breast, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
(alternately use 2 cups cooked poultry, diced)
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
Melt the butter in dutch oven (with a lid). (I use my medium La Crueset
pan.) Add the turkey and cook, stirring until it is no longer pink.
Add the onions, garlic and mushrooms. Cook, stirring, for 3 to 4
minutes until they begin to soften. Stir in the flour, seasoning salt,
black pepper, and thyme. Cook, stirring, for a further minute. Slowly
stir in the chicken stock and then the milk. Add the rice and bring to
the boil. Reduce to a very low heat, cover and simmer for 15 to 20
minutes until tender. Stir frequently to prevent the rice from catching
on the bottom of the pan. Because I use gas, I always have my pan on a
heat diffuser, which helps to keep the temperature down. Stir in the
frozen vegetables, recover and take off heat. Let stand for a few
minutes to heat through. Serve immediately.
This is the kind of weeknight supper that will have both you and your family jumping up and shouting for joy! The family because its delicious and you because it is quick, easy and not a lot of faff involved!
Soft white buns . . . spread with a horseradish mayo, topped with tender juicy BBQ Beef, and then slathered in a delicious cheese sauce . . . mmmm . . . what's not to like about that!
When you first look at the list of ingredients, you might be tempted to think its far too much trouble to put it all together, but each element is very simple and doable, and once you get them all done and in place, the rest is a doddle!
The horseradish mayo is simply some mayo whisked together with horseradish sauce, this gets spread on the bottom bun . . .
The BBQ beef as well is really quick and simple. Just whisk the sauce ingredients together in a pan, bring to the boil, then add the beef and reduce the heat until the beef is heated through. Buy the thinnest sliced roast beef that you can buy! At the deli-counter if possible!
The cheese sauce is also very simple . . . as simple as whisking together some grated cheese, corn flour (cornstarch) and evaporated milk and heating it up in the microwave until the cheese is melted and its all blended together and smooth. Yum yum!!
60ml water (1/4 cup)
2 tsp soft light brown sugar
First make the horseradish sauce. Whisk the ingredients together in
a small bowl. Set aside. For the cheese sauce, mix the cheese and
cornflour together in a bowl. Stir in the evaporated milk. Heat in the
microwave on high, stirring every 30 seconds, until the mixture comes
together and is smooth. Keep warm. (If you think it is too thick, you
may whisk in a bit more milk and reheat.)
Whisk the tomato ketchup, water, brown sugar, vinegar, all seasonings and hot sauce together in a pan. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a low simmer. Add the roast beef and heat through gently until heated thoroughly.
Whisk the tomato ketchup, water, brown sugar, vinegar, all seasonings and hot sauce together in a pan. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a low simmer. Add the roast beef and heat through gently until heated thoroughly.
While the meat is heating, split your buns, wrap in foil and warm in a hot oven for about 8 minutes.
To serve spread the bottom of each bun with a portion of the horseradish mayo. Top with a portion of the BBQ Beef, and finally the cheese sauce. Place the top of the bun on top and serve immediately.
To serve spread the bottom of each bun with a portion of the horseradish mayo. Top with a portion of the BBQ Beef, and finally the cheese sauce. Place the top of the bun on top and serve immediately.
We had some oven chips on the side with this, but coleslaw would be great or a salad. This is a real winning sandwich. Hearty and delicious! Bon Appetit!
I have a fabulous recipe for a Lemon Drizzle Loaf. You just bang everything into the food processor and blitz it together, scrape it into a pan and bake. I went to make it yesterday, got everything into the food processor and went to add the lemon curd which is uses and guess what . . . NO lemon curd in the house. Oh me oh my! What to do, what to do . . .
I had recently picked up a jar of Bon Maman Salted Caramel Spread and after a bit of soul searching I decided that it was of somewhat the same consistency as lemon curd and I would use that instead! The thought actually sounded quite delicious.
And so I went with it, and threw it into the food processor, scraped the batter into my loaf tin, banged it into the oven and then crossed my fingers.
Necessity is often the mother of invention. It smelled gorgeous when it was baking. It did take a bit longer than the lemon one to bake, but not a problem really . . .
The Lemon one does have a lemon drizzle topping on top, so while the cake was baking I put my thinking cap back on . . . .
I wanted a drizzle topping that would soak a bit into the cake, with flavours that wouldn't jar too much with the salted caramel . . .
I decided to go with coffee . . . and so I mixed together a bit of hot coffee, some coffee liqueur, and granulated sugar . . . . it tasted pretty good. You could use vanilla if you didn't want to use the liqueur.
I brushed this grainy syrup onto the cake as soon as I took it from the oven, and kept spooning it on a little bit at a time, until I had used it all up and it had soaked into the surface of the cake. It also smelled heavenly! The end result was incredibly edibly tasty indeed!
*Salted Caramel Drizzle Loaf*
Makes one loaf
Makes one loaf
I think this is one of the easiest and tastiest cakes in the world to make! You just bang everything into the food processor and blitz it for two minutes and then pour it into your pan. 45 minutes you have a tasty cake to enjoy!
140g self raising flour (1 cup)
125g softened butter (1/2 cup)
115g white sugar (scant 2/3 cup)
2 heaping dessertspoons of salted caramel spread
2 large free range eggs
Drizzle Topping:
60ml hot strong coffee (1/4 cup)
45g granulated sugar (1/4 cup)
1 tsp coffee liqueur (I used Patron XO Cafe)
(Alternately use vanilla)
Put all the cake ingredients into the food processor and blitz for 2 minutes. Scrape the batter into your prepared loaf tin.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until well risen, nicely browned and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Remove from the oven. Leave in the tin and place on a wire rack to cool.Mix the drizzle topping ingredients together, stirring to blend well. Drizzle over top of the still very warm cake, and let set for a few minutes before removing from the pan to cool completely. (I make sure that I leave a bit of overhang with the parchment paper when I put it into the pan so that I can use it like handles and just lift the cake out when done!)
Cut into slices to serve.
Some might bemoan the fact that they didn't have any lemon curd in the cupboard, and I will be rectifying that shortly, but in the mean time I am very grateful for the opportunity my lack thereof provided for me to discover something quite, quite tasty! I think you will be grateful also. You simply must bake this! Bon Appetit!
I love almonds. I also love macamia, cashews and pistachios, oh and pecans and walnuts. Ohh, and honey roasted peanuts! Well . . . I guess I just love all nuts, but almonds are at the top of the list!
I saw a recipe for Almond Horns on Pinterest and had to check it out. They looked fabulously tasty and chock full of almonds. The recipe was on Kitchen Bowl.
They looked incredibly tasty and easy to make. Based on a German Cookie called Mandelhörnchen, Almond Horns are filled with almonds and naturally gluten free.
The dough for the cookies is composed of almond paste/marzipan, ground almonds (almond meal), almond essence, sugar and egg white.
Beaten together these make a somewhat sticky dough, that you roll into logs and then into even more almonds. Shaped into crescents, they are then baked until golden brown.
The end result is a moreish cookie, golden and crisp on the edges and yet deliciously chewy centred!
The dough was very sticky and difficult to shape. Upon researching I discovered several other recipes which required refrigerating it prior to shaping, so I highly recommend doing that.
Mine still turned out to be beautiful biscuits, if somewhat flatter than some of the ones I have seen. I also saw some which were dipped into chocolate.
I think I prefer them this way, but if you want to dip the ends of your horns into melted chocolate feel free! I can promise you that they are incredibly moreish either way!
*Almond Horns*
Makes 16
Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Line a large baking tray with baking parchment. Set aside.
Crumble the almond paste into a bowl. Add the sugar, egg white, ground almonds and almond extract. Using a hand mixture beat until well combined. The mixture will be fairly sticky.
Spread the flaked almonds in a shallow
dish or plate. Drop 1 1/2 TBS of the dough into the dish of flaked
almonds and shape into a rough log rolling the mixture in the nuts.
Place onto the baking sheet. Repeat until the almond dough is all used
up, leaving a fair space for spreading in between the shapes. Try to
give them a curved shape.
Bake in the preheated oven for 13 to 15
minutes until light golden brown. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for
about 25 minutes. Dust with the Icing sugar.
So there you have it . . . crispy edged, chewy middled, chock full of nuts and not at all uncomfortable with a hot drink! Bon weekend!
The English, especially English men, find a particular comfort in drawing closed the curtains on a leaden afternoon sky, lighting the fire and enjoying some little delicacy that they can toast and butter themselves.
Afternoon Winter Teas have the capacity to chase away the Winter blues like nothing else can . . .
"The fire was blazing brightly under the influence of the bellows, and the kettle was singing gaily under the influence of both. A small tray of tea-things was arranged on the table, a plate of hot-buttered toast was gently simmering before the fire, and the red nosed man himself was busily engaged in converting a large slice of bread into the same agreeable edible, through the instrumentality of a long brass toasting fork."
~Charles Dickens, Pickwick Papers
It was a miserable cold day yesterday Tuesday and Todd had to go into town to do some business. While he was gone I decided that I would put together a bit of an English Tea to greet him when he got home.
A Tea is not all that much work to put together for the family, and it makes a nice change from the usual fare of an Winter evening's supper. It doesn't have to be anything really fancy, and just a tiny effort is involved, but I can promise you that it will delight everyone involved!
A Tea such as this must always start with a few sandwiches. Have a rummage around the refrigerator to see what you have to hand, and ready to use. You don't need to make a bazillion of them. Yesterday I made 3 sandwiches, and a couple of small finger rolls filled with egg mayonnaise.
I did cheese and pickle, some ham with honey and Dijon mustard and I had some leftover guacamole which needed using which I put together with a bit of cream cheese and some grated cheddar. They were amazingly delicious. Crusts cut off and sliced into pretty quarters, they went down a real treat.
*Finger Sandwiches*
makes 18 to 24What would afternoon tea be without a plate of tasty sandwiches? (Choose 3 of the below fillings)
12 thin slices of white or wholemeal bread, crusts removed
room temperature butter, for spreading
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper as desired
For the egg and cress filling:
2 TBS good quality mayonnaise
1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest from an unwaxed lemon
2 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
a handful of mustard cress
For the Gentleman's Morsels:
1/4 pound shaved roasted ham
apricot jam, seived
Dijon mustard
For the Roast Beef:
1/4 pound thinly sliced rare roast beef
horseradish mayonnaise
a handful of rocket leaves
For the Parma Ham and Fig filling:
1/4 pound of parma ham
1 ripe fig
1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp olive oil
handful of rocket leaves
For the Stilton and Pear filling:
50g of Stilton cheese, thinly sliced (1/4 pound)
1 ripe firm pear
To cut sandwiches, lay your hand on top of the sandwich and lightly press down. Using a serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, cut diagonally into quarters or lengthways into 3 fingers.
For the egg and cress sandwiches, thinly butter 4 slices of the bread. Combine the mayonnaise, lemon zest, egg and season with some black pepper, folding together well. Spread evenly on half the slices of bread. Sprinkle with the cress and top with the remaining 2 slices of bread. Cut as above.
To make the Gentlemen's Morsels., thinly butter 4 slices of the bread. Spread 2 slices with seived apricot jam. Spread the other 2 with Dijon mustard. Lay the ham evenly over top of 2 slices and top with the other 2. Cut as above.
For the Roast Beef, thinly butter 4 slices of the bread. Spread 2 slices with the horseradish mayonnaise. Top with the roast beef and season to taste. Sprinkle with the rocket and top with the other 2 slices of bread. Cut as above.
For the Parma Ham and Fig sandwiches, thinly butter 4 slices of bread and fold ham on top of two of them. Cut the fig into thin wedges, remove and discard the skin and then arrange the wedges on top of the ham. Whisk the vinegar and oil together. Season with a bit of salt and pepper. Drizzle over the figs. Top with rocket and the remaining slices of buttered bread and cut as above.
To make the Stilton and Pear sandwiches, thinly butter 4 slices of bread. Arrange the stilton over 2 slices of the bread. Slice the pear into thin wedges, removing and discarding the core, then arrange on top of the cheese. Season with black pepper, then top with the remaining slices of bread and cut as above.
When I was boiling the eggs for the Egg Mayonnaise buns, I did a few extra so that I could make some Deviled Eggs. Todd loves Deviled Eggs.
*Perfect Deviled Eggs*
Makes 12 servings
Makes 12 servings
I had a packet of Pikelets in the cupboard, so I warmed up those to have with some butter and jam. These ones were yeasted, which are a bit different to the normal ones I make from scratch, which are more like pancakes.
Either way, they are delicious. I had some Potted Stilton with Cranberries leftover from Christmas in the refrigerator, so we had that as well, and I can tell you it went down very nicely spread on my warm pikelet! I love LOVE Stilton with cranberries.
*Pikelets*
Makes 25A drop scone or pancake by any other name. Yummy.
150g of self raising flour (1 cup + 2 TBS)
1 TBS caster sugar
pinch of salt
185ml of milk (3/4 cup)
1 large free range egg
butter to brush the grill
to serve:
softened butter
preserves
Sift the flour, sugar and salt into a bowl. Beat together the milk and egg. Add all at once to the dry ingredients and whisk together until smooth. Heat a large griddle pan, or nonstick frying pan. Brush with butter. Drop the batter by tablespoons onto the heated griddle. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface and the bottom is lightly browned. Flip over and cook on the other side until golden. Allow to cool completely and serve with some softened butter and jam for spreading.
A bit of sweet and a bit of savoury . . . it all goes down well for an afternoon tea. You don't really have to make anything special . . . if you have jam tarts in the cupboard, or some nice biscuits/cookies, they will do just fine.
I had some sausage rolls and leftover Cheese, Spring Onion and Bacon Scones from the other day. So I warmed up those. You can make both from scratch, plain scones, or fruited scones are nice. I didn't have any cream or I would have made some fruited ones fresh.
These Orange and Currant Scones are the bomb!
I had a packet of sausage rolls from M&S in the freezer so they came in really handy, but its easy to make your own as well as I have done in the past.
*Joy's Sausage Rolls*
Makes a dozen
A nice cake, family style, should be the centre of the tea table. I had baked a lovely Banana Cake that I planned on serving, but I had an accident when I went to flip it onto the cooling rack.
It happens to us all from time to time, and it ended up still being raw in the middle so what a mess! The edges were very tasty but it was no Tea Table Centrepiece. It would be great in a trifle however (the cooked bits.)
This is what it should have looked like. The recipe was adapted from a book I got recently called Fika and Hygge by Bronte Aurell. FABULOUS book!
*Swedish Banana Cake*
Makes 8 - 10 servingsI Knew then that I wouldn't have time to bake another cake from scratch, so I gave Todd a quick buzz on his mobile and asked him to bring us home a Victorian Sponge from M&S. It was actually quite good for a store bought cake. Here is my recipe for one you can bake yourself from scratch and I can tell you that it is very very good.
*Traditional Victorian Sandwich Cake*
Makes one 7 inch cake
Makes one 7 inch cake
Popular during the reign of Qyeen Victoria, this cake remains popular to this day, which is a huge testament to it's taste and ease of baking! Don't be tempted to use all butter. This is one recipe that is better for the use of a mixture of butter and margarine.
85g butter, softened (6 TBS)
85g soft margarine (6 TBS)
but your cake won't be as light in texture)
170g caster sugar (1 cup)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
3 large free range eggs, beaten
170g self raising flour (a scant 1 1/2 cups)
To finish:
3 TBS raspberry jam
buttercream to fill (optional)
icing sugar or caster sugar to dust the top
Butter and base line two 7 inch sandwich tins. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.
Cream the butter, margarine, sugar and vanilla together until light in colour and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, a little at a time, beating well after each addition. If the mixture begins to curdle, add a spoonful of the flour.
Fold in the flour with a metal spoon, taking care to use a cutting motion so as not to knock out too much of the air that you have beaten into the batter. Divide the batter evenly between the two cake tins, leveling off the surface. Make a slight dip in the centre of each.
Bake on a centre rack of the oven for about 25 minutes, or until the sponges have risen well, are golden brown, and spring back when lightly touched. Allow to cool in the pan for five minutes before running a knife carefully around the edges and turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Once cooled, place one layer on a cake plate. Spread with raspberry jam and buttercream (if using). Place the other cake on top, pressing down lightly. Dust with icing or caster sugar and serve.
Don't you love my tea cosy? I made it myself recently.
I found the pattern here.
Of course afternoon tea requires cups of hot tea to wash down all your sweets and savouries with. We don't do black tea ourselves, so we had ginger and lemon tea, which was also very nice.
*How To Brew The Perfect Cup of Tea*
- Use a good quality loose leaf or bagged tea
- This must be stored in an air-tight container at room temperature
- Always use freshly drawn boiling water
- In order to draw the best flavour out of the tea the water must contain oxygen, this is reduced if the water is boiled more than once.
- Measure the tea carefully
- Use 1 tea bag or 1 rounded teaspoon of loose tea for each cup to be served, plus one for the pot.
- Allow the tea to brew for the recommended time before pouring
- Brewing tea from a bag in a mug? Milk in last is best .
"Tea! Thou soft,thou sober, sage, and venerable liquid, thou female tongue-running, smile-smoothing, heart-opening, wink-tipping cordial, to whose glorious insipidity I owe the happiest moment of my life, let me fall prostrate!"
Colley Cibber, The Lady's Last Stake, 1708
And there you have it. A Winter's day mood brightener for two.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
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