One of my favourite cookery books is this one by America's Test Kitchen, entitled . . . Simple Recipes, more than 200 flavourful, foolproof recipes that cook in 30 minutes or less. I love cooking as you know . . . but if I can combine my love of cooking with great tasting recipes that are quick to prepare and deliciously interesting to eat . . . then I am a very happy cook.


I love this book because, although these are simple recipes . . . they are also extraordinary recipes, filled with flavour, colour and texture. You get maximum flavour and impressive results . . . with minimum effort.




That is the type of cooking I love. Good tasty ingredients, put together in innovative and delicious ways . . . cooked and prepared with simplicity. Fresh and tasty food really should speak for itself don't you think??? Me too!!!! Good food doesn't need gimmicks to make it taste better.



This is one of my favourite salad recipes from the book . . . and I'm happy to say that the Toddster loves it too. This is a salad which would easily please any man . . .



I call it the holy trinity of steakdom! Steak, mushrooms and tangy blue cheese . . . the three combined in a simple salad which tastes anything but simple. It has a deliciously tangy and rich vinaigrette dressing . . .



I did make a few changes here. The original recipe called for red wine vinegar in the dressing . . . I used sherry vinegar and I added 1 TBS of liquid acacia honey . . . just for a slight hint of sweetness, as that is the way we like our salad dressings . . .



The steak is simply seasoned and then cooked until golden brown on the outside, yet meltingly tender and slightly rare on the insides.



The mushrooms are sauteed in drippings along with a touch of the vinaigrette, giving them a lovely colour and moreish flavour.



You get the green rich and meaty crunch of fresh baby spinach leaves . . . the lovely flavour of the steak, the tang of capers and blue cheese . . . rich mushrooms and a lovely vinaigrette, which when combined together create a fabulous salad that I would even serve to company.



If I could think of anything that might tip it over the edge and make it even better . . . it might be the addition of some crispy salad onions . . . for crunch, but really . . . it's quite wonderful just the way it is.



Who says salads have to be boring???



*Steak, Mushroom and Blue Cheese Salad*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

The flavour trinity of fabulous steak tastiness . . . a good piece of meat, some meaty mushrooms and blue cheese. What's not to like!

2 strip loin steaks, 8 to 10 ounces each in weight, and each about 1 inch thick
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 fluid ounces of extra virgin olive oil (1/2 cup), divided
2 fluid ounces of sherry vinegar (1/4 cup)
1 TBS liquid Acacia honey
1 shallot, peeled and minced
1 TBS Dijon mustard
3/4 pound of white closed cap mushrooms, wiped clean and thinly sliced
1/2 pound of baby spinach leaves, washed and dried
2 TBS non-pariel capers, drained and rinsed
235g of blue cheese, crumbled (1 cup)

Measure 2 TBS of the olive oil out into a large skillet. Set aside.

Whisk the remaining olive oil together with the minced shallot, vinegar, honey and Dijon mustard. Season to taste with fine sea salt and black pepper. Set aside.

Pat the steaks dry and wipe with some paper toweling. Season with some salt and pepper to taste. Heat the oil in the skillet over medium high heat until it shimmers and begins to smoke. Add the steaks and cook, turning over only once, until nicely browned and cooked medium rare, about 4 minutes per side. (If medium rare is not to your taste, you can cook them a bit longer if you wish.) Remove to a plate and tent loosely to keep warm.

Add the mushrooms to the hot pan along with 3 TBS of the dressing. Cook, stirring occasionally, over medium high heat until the mushrooms are golden brown. This will take about 8 minutes or so. Set aside and allow to cool to room temperature.

Toss the spinach leaves in a large bowl along with the capers and mushrooms. Drizzle with some of the remaining dressing. Cut the steaks thinly across the grain in thin slices. Arrange over top of the spinach. Crumble the blue cheese over top and serve. Pass any remaining dressing at the table.

 

I got a new cookbook the other day. ( Shhhhh . . . don't tell Todd. He thinks that my cookbooks proliferate all by themselves, and I'm not about to tell him the difference! )  I read an article about the 50 best cookbooks in the UK, and this was on the list . . . I read the reviews about it on Amazon and then I thought, why not and I went for it!

 

If this first recipe I tried out in it is any indication of the calibre of recipes in this book, Todd's in for a real treat!  I made these sausage burgers today from the book, adapting it slightly.  She called them "Festive Pig in a Bun." but it's hardly Christmas, so they can't be festive today for us.  I just called them fruity sausage baps.  A rose by any other name and all that!

 

She also used crusty buns, but as you can see I used soft floured sesame baps.  I did toast them.
She didn't add any salad leaves.  I added a bed of rocket and I have to say it went very well with the meaty fruitiness of the burgers.  I love rocket.  It's a bit spicy and meaty itself!

 

She recommended perhaps having them with a sprinkling of Stilton. I didn't have any and they tasted fine just as is, but I can definitely see where some stilton melted over top would be a fantastically delicious addition.

 




But my darlings . . . they were fabulous just as is.  They were moist and succulent, with little bits of fruity sweetness, and a moreish little nuttiness from the pinenuts.  I can  tell  that the leftovers are going to be every bit as good, perhaps on their own with a small dollop of mayonnaise???  *Oink* Oink*  Come to mama!




*Fruity Sausage Baps*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

These are sooooo simple and very tasty.  Scrummo yummo!!

8 of your favourite British Bangers
(Use a good lean, well flavoured one, a generous pound in weight)
80g of dried cranberries (Scant cup)
80g of pinenuts (2/3 cup)
4 toasted baps (split in half and toast under the grill, toasting one side only)
(Rolls)
Fresh Rocket Leaves (Arugula)

Preheat the oven to  200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6.  Line a large baking tray with baking parchment.  Set aside.

Skin all of the sausages and discard the skins.  Place the meat into a bowl.  Chop the cranberries finely and add to the meat, along with the pinenuts.  Mix well together with your hands.  Shape into 8 balls, flattening the balls into patties.  Place onto the prepared baking tray.

Bake for about 25 minutes, until golden brown and crisped up on the outsides.  They should not be pink on the insides and the juices should run clear. 

Place a  toasted bap bottom on each of four plates.  Top each with a handful of Rocket and two sausage patties.  Top with the top bun halves.  Serve immediately.

WE had ours with potato salad and coleslaw and they were fabulous darlink!

I think rack of pork has to be one of my favourite roasts to cook. Our local Waitrose sells the most wonderful free range, Hampshire bred pork. It has a lovely flavour and is so succulent when done.

Tender and sweet, and oh so delicious!



Normally I would cook it with the crackling on . . . Todd loves it all crisp and crunchy . . . it's a real treat.

For this roast though you will want to cut the crackling off. You can roast it separately in the oven if you wish. Just rub it with a bit of sea salt and drizzle it with a bit of olive oil. It will be perfectly cooked, and it's quite easy to increase the temperature of the oven when you are done to give it a final blast of heat to really crisp it up after you take the roast out of the oven.



Pork and fennel go so well together. The fennel gets meltingly buttery along with the shallots and taste just wonderful.

The potatoes become moist and buttery on the inside, and crispy and browned on the outside.



All in all this is . . . quite . . . quite . . . delicious! Recipe adapted from the cookery book Apples For Jam, by Tessa Kiros. (My absolute favourite cookbook of all time!)



*Roast Rack of Pork with Fennel and Honey Mustard*
Serves 4 to 6
Printable Recipe

This may seem a bit fussy at first, but it's really quite simple and the flavours are beautiful. Have your butcher prepare you rack of pork by cutting it away from the bone, leaving it attached only at the bottom. Roasting with the bone adds extra flavour, although to be sure you can use a boneless pork loin if you wish.

1 kg pork loin rack, prepared as above (about 2.2 pounds)
2 springs of fresh rosemary
2 fennel bulbs, trimmed, cut into wedges, and steamed for 5 to 7 minutes until crispy tender
4 large potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
4 banana shallots, peeled and cut in half
3 garlic cloves, peeled and mashed a bit
2 fresh bay leaves
4 ounces olive oil
4 ounces white wine or apple juice
4 ounces of water
4 fresh sprigs of sage
salt and black pepper to taste
2 TBS runny honey
1 tsp dry mustard powder



Pre-heat the oven to 200*C/400*F. Place the vegetables in a medium sized roasting tin. Season with some salt and pepper, turning to coat them. Place the rosemary springs in between the bone and the flesh of the pork roast. Set this on top of the vegetables. Season the roast all over with salt and pepper. Drizzle the olive oil over the meat and vegetables and then pour the water and wine/juice around the base. Tuck 3 of the springs of sage into the vegetables along with the bay leaves. Place the last spring of sage on top of the roast.

Place in the oven and roast for 1 1/4 hours, basting the vegetables and meat with the juices several times. By the end of the cooking time the potatoes should be juicy and crispy on the outside, and the meat should be golden and cooked through.

Mix the honey and mustard together and spread this over the top of the roast. Return to the oven and cook for another 20 to 25 minutes until the fat on the meat is nicely glazed. Remove from the oven. Tent with some foil and allow to rest for 15 minutes before serving. Cut the meat off the bone totally and cut the bone pieces between the ribs. Cut the meat into pork chop sized pieces. Place the meat in the centre of a platter along with the bones, and surround with the vegetables to serve. Drizzle some of the honey juices over all.