We are great fans of fish in this house, especially haddock and cod. It goes without saying that we only buy and eat fish that is responsibly sourced and caught.

We like to be responsible and environmentally conscious consumers.

   We do also occasionally eat salmon and tuna. My husband loves mackerel. Me, I'm not such a fan of mackerel. 

 I've never been overly fond of strong flavoured fish. Call me squeamish if you will.  But fishy fish is not something I really enjoy at all!

 
 

I am much fonder of milder flavored fish.  Fish like cod or haddock really appeals to me.  Both have lovely mild flavors.  Actually, when properly cooked they almost have a sweet flavor.

 This recipe I am sharing with you today is an excellent way to prepare and cook Cod. This dish is also called Poor Man's Lobster, although to be sure anyone who calls it that today has certainly not taken into account the price of Cod these days! It's definitely not cheap!  Most fish can be on the expensive side!

  This way of preparing Cod is a very simple dish using very simple ingredients. There is no faff here, or anything fancy. 

 Easy and simple and oh so very delicious. I'll tell you now that I only use half the amount of butter that the recipe requires, and we don't dip it into butter when we are eating it either. Our cholesterol levels do not allow for that. It is delicious regardless. 

  Of course, if you are not bothered, by all means do use the full amount of butter. If it is as delicious as it is with half the amount, I can only imagine how very tasty it is with the full amount! 

 The recipe has been adapted from The Best Casserole Book Ever, by Beatrice Ojakangas. There is lots of scrumminess in that book! I highly recommend it!

If you also love to cook and eat fish you may enjoy the following recipes:

TOMATO & HERB SAUCED ALASKAN BLACK COD - Fish and tomatoes are a beautiful flavor combination, especially when you add some herbs into the mix. This recipe is simple . . . simple ingredients, put together in a simple way . . . but with gorgeous results. So gorgeous that I would serve it to company.  

LEMON BUTTER COD -truly is delicious. I love all in one meal like this where everything cooks all in one pan. Only one pan to wash up. This is a simple dish of pan-fried cod with lemon, asparagus and orzo pasta, and it is perfectly delicious! 

 

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 I bet I can tell exactly what you are thinking at this precise moment . . . it probably goes along the lines of "Fish Finger Enchiladas??? Has she finally gone off her rocker????" 

That line of thinking wouldn't be exactly out of line as my own was when I first ran across this recipe in a little booklet I picked up at the grocery store the other day, Best Food Fast, Meals in Minutes . . .

   

 And yet . . . at the same time I was strangely intrigued.

   

 My boys loved Mexican food when they were growing up. 

 I could have put anything into a tortilla, and I mean A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G . . . and called it a burrito and they would have gobbled it up like there was no tomorrow!!

   

 

It may have had something to do with the Cheeky Chihuahua in the Taco Bell Commercials. 

 (A Mexican Fast Food place in North America, along the same lines as McDonalds, ceptin you get Tacos there instead burgers.) 

The sight of that Chihuahua fluttering his Mexican lashes and spouting Spanish phrases out of the telly screen always send them into gargantuan Mexican food cravings . . . specifically Tacos and burritos.

   

 They also really loved the Enchiladas I made after Thanksgiving with the leftover turkey. In fact . . . I have been known to roast a turkey just so that I could fill the freezer with those tasty little babies. 

 I wish I had known about this recipe when my lads were growing up. It may have inspired them to eat more fish, or brain food as my mama always called it.

   

 These were incredibly tasty and easy to make! I am sure kids everywhere would love them.

If I use the snuffling sounds and gurgles of enjoyment that came from my husband's  little corner of the table tonight as an indication of the pleasure that an adult male would get from them, I think I could safely say that the really big kiddies will love them too!

   

 We probably don't want to know how many calories are in one of them . . . do we??? 

 But I am thinking that the use of low fat ingredients cut them down quite a bit . . . right??? 

 hmmm . . . perhaps the acorn really doesn't fall that far from the proverbial tree after all . . . These were incredibly, edibly and totally delicious!

   

This is one of those don't knock them til you try them recipes. It sounds odd, but is incredibly delicious!  Would I like to you?  I think not! 

  

I found myself with some chicken breasts and a few vegetables that needed using up today and so I was racking my brains trying to think of something that I could do with them.

I was wanting a simple supper and yet healthy at the same time. I can be rather lazy at times. I don't always want to spend hours in the kitchen, and I am sure you often feel the same way!

Besides some carrots, parsnips and new potatoes, I also had leeks and some beautiful Asparagus.
Oh, how I love fresh Asparagus in the springtime.   We are not quite there yet in Canada, but another month or so should bring our fresh asparagus into season.

I got rather spoiled living in the UK. Britain raises some of the tastiest and best Asparagus in the world, and that's no lie!!

I used to wait all year for Asparagus season. Generally it ran  from about the end of April to the latter part of June. Not long enough!! But well worth the wait. 

I love asparagus.   Crisp, delicious, fat free and full of fiber and folic acid, it’s great for the heart, boosts your immune system and cancer defense's, great for skin, nails and hair! It's also very versatile.

I found 8 fun facts about asparagus that you might enjoy reading.  You can find them here. 

Because it grows in sandy soil, Asparagus needs to be well washed.  That might put some people off, but that's no chore to me.  I don't mind at all. 

 Once washed, I always like to trim off those pointy side shoot thingies. They can sometimes be a bit bitter. I just take a sharp knife and pull them off.

Then I snap off the bottom woody bits, and discard them.  Its easy to do. Just grab the asparagus and gently bend it by holding it in your two hands. It will usually snap off right where it needs to. 

Once that is done, I am ready to rock!

Steamed, it is delicious served with hollandaise sauce, of if that intimidates you, try a simple mixture of melted butter and lemon juice. 

 My favourite way to eat it is roasted. I toss it with some olive oil, salt and pepper and roast it for about 11 minutes in a hot oven. Once out, I drizzle it with some white balsamic and a dusting of Parmesan cheese. 

 Oh my but it is some good. You can also try rolling it in mayonnaise and parmesan and roasting in a hot oven. Deeeeeeelicious!!!

Today I roasted it with a simple mix of vegetables and some chicken. I planned on serving it with a creamy chive sauce.  Oh my, my tastes buds were tingling just at the thought.

The root vegetables were par boiled and then tossed together with the asparagus, some herbs and a bit of olive oil. I then topped with the Chicken breasts and roasted for a short time.

Everything came out beautifully done. The sauce is simple to do and quite tasty. So don't skip it!

PAN ROASTED CHICKEN BREASTS WITH THYME - Skin on chicken breasts are roasted and basted with a lush thyme butter sauce while they are cooking.  Delicious tender and moist when done, these are quite simply beautiful. 

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 I have made no secret of my love of lemons. If I had to choose between chocolate and lemon . . . I think I'd choose lemon every time . . . although in all honesty, it would be a real dilema for me, coz I really like chocolate as well!

   

 I think lemons are slightly better for you though, and not quite as hard on the hips.

 

I love chicken too. When properly cooked, chicken can be a real treat! A lot of the time it can end up overcooked, dry and tasteless . . . especially the breast meat. 

 You really need to watch it carefully. There is nothing worse than boomerang tough chicken . . .

   

 Back in Canada when we would go out for dinner I always loved to order Lemon Chicken. Sometimes they got it right, sometimes they didn't. 

 To me, great lemon chicken should be moist, and tangy with full on lemon flavour, tempered with some sweetness that doesn't detract from the dish as a whole. 

 You want just the right mix of crisp outside crust on the chicken with deliciously moist insides, and a wonderfully tangy sweet sauce that tastes just right. This chicken is exactly that. 

 If you follow my timings exactly you will be rewarded with one yummily moreish chicken dish! This recipe is the keeper of all keepers. Your family will bow down to you and hail you as the chicken master. Seriously.

   

  *Lemon Chicken* 

Serves 4 

Printable Recipe 

 Moist and tender chicken breasts in a lucious honey lemon sauce. What's not to like? 

 4 large boneless chicken breasts 

5 TBS fresh lemon juice 

50g of flour (about 1/3 cup) 

1 1/2 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp paprika

 2 TBS softened butter

 3 TBS extra virgin olive oil 

2 unwaxed lemons, sliced into 1/4 inch thick slices 

4 TBS brown sugar 

3 TBS liquid honey 

1 cup chicken stock 

 

Lightly butter a 9 by 13 inch glass baking dish. Set aside. Place the lemon juice into a bowl. Add the chicken, turning it around to coat. Allow to sit for about 15 minutes. 

 Shake the flour, salt and paprika together in a large plastic bag. 

 Remove the chicken pieces from the lemon juice. Save the juice left in the bowl for a bit later. 

 Shake the chicken in the bag with the flour. 

 Heat the butter and the olive oil together in a large nonstick skillet. Add the chicken pieces and cook them on both sides until golden brown. 

Place the browned chicken breasts, right side up, in the prepared baking dish. Cover them with the sliced lemons. Sprinkle evenly with the brown sugar. 

 Pre-heat the oven to 190*C/375*F. 

 Add the chicken stock and leftover lemon juice to the pan drippings. Cook and stir, scraping with a wooden spoon to get up all the tasty brown bits. Add 2 TBS of the honey and bring to the boil. (Save 1 TBS for a bit later on) Simmer until slightly thickened. 

 Pour the sauce into a corner of the baking dish and then give it a jiggle to distribute the sauce over the bottom and around the breasts, without disturbing the lemon slices. 

 Cover tightly with foil wrap and then place the chicken into the heated oven. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven. 

 Baste with the pan juices and recover and return to the oven for another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven. Discard the foil wrap. Baste again. 

Drizzle the remaining TBS of honey over the lemon slices and return the dish to the oven and bake for a further 10 to 15 minutes until the chicken is done, tender and sticky yummy! 

 This goes really well with some basmati rice which you have cooked with a bit of stock and saffron. Fork through some plumped sultanas and chopped cashew nuts for texture. Delicious!!

  

 

I am quite fond of pies as well, although . . . to be honest, I try not to eat them very often these days, because of the fattening nature of the beast . . . you know how it is I'm sure.

 

 Every once in a while though, I like to treat him to a tasty homemade meat pie . . . sometimes it's steak and onion, other times it might be a chicken and mushroom, bacon and potato, etc. As long as a crust is involved, he's not really bothered. 

 

Oh, and he does like them with either mash or chips . . . there has to be some potato on the side there as well, even if there is potato in the pie.   

 

 

Usually he smothers it all with gravy. I believe that's also an East End thing. The East End of London is filled with pie shops offering pie, mash and gravy.

 

   

 

Pasties are a very popular version of a pie over here. Hand sized and shaped like a half moon or up-ended purse, they seem to come with all sorts of fillings. 

 

 I do admit to having a liking for the steak and stilton ones . . . although to be honest . . . does anything that includes a filling that contains anything other than beef, potato, swede and onion actually qualify as being a Cornish pasty??? 

 Probably not . . . but then again, a rose by any other name eh? 

 

 

If it tastes good, then I'm not going to quibble about a name. Not me, that's who.  

 

 

 I made him a tasty plate sized Pasty Pie yesterday for his tea. Well, he couldn't eat the whole thing of course, but he did make a good dent in it. 

 

The rest has been cut into single sized servings, packed up and stogged into the freezer for me to take out and treat him with on those occasions when I can't get home from work to make him some tea . . . or those times when I just have to satisfy my pasta craving . . . and as we all know by now. Todd hates pasta.  

  

 

 Here it is. Deliciously tasty.  With it's flaky buttery crust and delicious layered filling of  swede (rutabaga), potato and beef, it went down a real treat!

 

  

 

*Pasty  Pie*
Serves 6

A whole pasty large enough to feed a whole family.  What could be better than that.  A delicious buttery pastry encases a delicious filling of swede, potato, onion and thinly sliced beef sirloin.  Simple, hearty and scrumptious!  Perfect winter food, and great served at room temperature on a summer picnic. ( Plan ahead as the pastry need to chill for at least an hour before assembling.)

For the crust:
2 cups all purpose flour (280g)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter (76g)
1/3 cup lard (or white vegetable shortening) (74g)
5 to 6 tablespoons of ice water

For the filling:
16 ounces potato, peeled and thinly sliced (1 pound)
salt
freshly ground black pepper
12 ounces swede (Rutabaga), peeled and thinly sliced (3/4 pound)
16 ounces thinly sliced beef sirloin (1 pound)
1 small onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1 large egg white beaten with 1 tsp water

Mix flour with salt, and cut in butter and lard, until you have pieces of fat in the flour about the size of peas.  Add ice water, one TBS at a time, tossing it in with a fork until pastry comes together. Form in to a ball and cut in two pieces. Form each into a round flat disc.  Warp in cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.

When ready to assemble, heat the oven to 200*C/400*F.  LIne a large baking tray with parchment paper.  Set aside.

Remove one disc of dough from the refrigerator.  Roll out on a lightly floured counter to a 13 inch circle.  Transfer to the lined baking tray. 

Start layering the filling as follows, generously sprinkling each layer with salt and pepper and a bit of water, and leaving a 1 1/2 inch edge all around.  First half of the potatoes, then half the swede, then the second half of potatoes, and the second half of the swede.  Layer on half of the sirloin. Season, then add all of the onion, and half the parsley.  FInish with the last of the sirloin and parsley, again seasoning each layer with some salt, pepper and a sprinkle of water.

Remove the remaining disc of dough from the refrigerator and roll out as before into a round large enough to cover the filling completely.  Brush the edges with some egg white and seal and crimp all the way around.  Brush the remaining egg white over all of the crust.  Pierce several times with a sharp knife to vent. 

Bake in the heated oven for 60 to 75 minutes until golden brown and cooked completely inside.  The potato and swede should be soft and the meat tender.  Cool for five minutes before cutting into wedges to serve.

    

 

 

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!  Follow my blog with Bloglovin