Showing posts with label Meat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Meat. Show all posts
Sometimes I like to treat Todd to a pub fare meal on a weeknight. Pubs here in the UK are somewhat similar to Diners in North America, in that they usually serve nice comfy meals, home style.
They also serve alcohol. Some do the meal thing really well and others not so well. It is hit and miss really. Some just re-heat frozen food.
They offer a variety of things on the menu, but most will offer meat pies and chips, roast dinners, fish and chips, curries, etc. and most will also have Gammon Steak, Egg & Chips.
You will normally be asked if you want a ring of pineapple with it or peas.
A gammon steak is like a thick slice of uncooked ham or green ham.
It can be smoked or unsmoked, and, unlike ham you MUST cook it before you eat it, like bacon in a way, but quite different in flavour and consistency.
It comes from the leg of a pig whereas bacon comes from the belly.
My husband will sometimes order the Gammon, Egg & Chips, but I have always found it quite disappointing myself.
Hardly worth the money paid. It does, however, make for a great weeknight supper at home.
Today I decided to make my husband a Gammon Steak, Egg & Chips dinner from scratch, here at home that he could really enjoy.
I did use oven chips, but I used really good ones, thick steak cut, gastro style chips . . . you could of course fry them from scratch if you wanted to but these are actually quite good.
In all truth that's all you get in most pubs anyways, deep fried frozen chips.
When we are eating eggs like this, I always like to use the freshest free range eggs that I can get.
With brilliant yellow yolks, they taste so good when simply fried in butter. Fried in butter until the edges get all crisp and brown, but the yolks are still runny.
I like to get the butter foaming and crack in the eggs.
Then I cook them slowly, basting them with the fat in the pan until the edges are crisp and golden, but the yolks still a bit wobbly . . .
The gammon is also fried. I rub it with some dry mustard powder first for a bit of spice.
I fry it in a bit of olive oil until crisp and caramelised on the edges and cooked through. It doesn't take long.
I added oven roasted cherry tomatoes on the vine that I cooked at the same time as the chips. Again not long.
Perfect!
I drizzled them with a bit of olive oil and scattered them with some sea salt and cracked black pepper before roasting. So tasty!
We had frozen petite pois with ours.
Simply cooked in the microwave. 2 minutes on high, in a small covered container does the trick. I never add any water.
All in all this was most delicious. My husband enjoyed his along with a slice of buttered bread on the side.
Yield: 2
Gammon Steak, Egg & Chips
Pub Fare on a weeknight for a simple supper.
ingredients:
- 1 thick sliced gammon steak, cut in half crosswise
- some olive oil
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1/2 tsp dry mustard powder
- 1 spring of cherry tomatoes on the vine
- 2 portions of frozen gourmet style oven chips
- knob of butter
- 2 large free range eggs
- 2 portions of frozen peas
instructions:
How to cook Gammon Steak, Egg & Chips
- Preheat the oven according to your package directions for the chips. Place them onto a baking sheet. Place the tomatoes on the same baking sheet, drizzling with some olive oil and sprinkling with salt and pepper. Cook according to the package directions.
- Clip the fatty edge of the gammon steak. Cut in half and rub it all over with the dry mustard powder and black pepper. Heat a bit of oil in a large non-stick skillet. Add the gammon steak pieces and cook on the first side until golden brown and caramelised on the edges, flip over and do the same on the other sides. Remove from the skillet and keep warm.
- Wipe out the pan. Add the knob of butter and heat the pan until the butter begins to foam. Crack in the eggs. Cook basting them occasionally with some of the butter from the pan with a spoon, until your eggs are to your desired doneness. Remove and keep warm.
- Cook the peas in a container in the microwave for about 2 minutes until done.
- Divide the chips between two heated plates along with the tomatoes, place a half gammon steak on each plate and top with a fried egg. Add a portion of the peas to each and serve immediately.
A simple supper like this makes a really nice mid-week meal every now and then. Its easy to make and quite delicious. My husband was really pleased with it, and in truth so was I.
I hope you will give it a go and picture yourself sitting back in the corner in a pub here in the UK, but a good one, one that serves tasty homemade from scratch food. Those are my favourite kinds!
If you are a North American who grew up in the sixties and seventies you would have had to live under a rock not to know who the Brady Bunch were!
It was a very popular half hour sitcom on the television! It was about a two widowers with children (her 3 daughters, him 3 sons) who married and became the Brady Bunch!
One episode that really sticks out in my memories was the one where Bobby Brady was doing an impression of Humphrey Bogart whilst saying Pork Chops & Applesauce.
Entitled "The Personality Kid," I believe it is probably the one episode which sticks out in most people's memories.
When I think of Pork Chops and Applesauce, I always think of this particular show and I always think of my mom who was tickled pink with it and used to like to repeat the phrase in Humphrey Bogart's voice as well when we were having pork chops and apple chops for supper! I guess it became a bit of a family tradition!
With fresh Bramley Apples coming into the shops at the moment, there is no time like the present to make a couple of batches of delicious apple sauce! Bramley Apples are the UK's favourite cooking apple.
Large and green and stout with flattened ends, green in colour with a red flush, these apples are perfect for making apple sauce, pies, crumbles, etc. I don't think they are readily available anywhere else in the world, so you will have to make do with whatever your favourite cooking apple is!
Apple sauce is such an easy make and you can do up batches and freeze it in containers for use over the winter. You just can't beat a batch of fresh apple sauce to serve along with your pork chops.
This apple sauce is not as sweet as the applesauce you might want to eat for dessert. It is slightly tart and rich from the addition of some butter.
You just put peeled and sliced apples into a saucepan along with some sugar and butter and cook over low heat until they break down.
Bramley apples are actually quite fluffy when they break down which makes them perfect for this sauce.
I don't mash it when done, I just beat it up with a fork. Perfection!
Bramley Apple Sauce
Yield: 6
Perfect in every way. Slightly tart with just a hint of sweetness. The perfect condiment to go with pork.
ingredients:
- 3 Bramley apples, peeled cored and sliced (or the equivalent of another cooking apple)
- 50g caster sugar (1/4 cup)
- 50g butter (3 1/2 TBS)
- 1 tsp lemon juice
instructions:
How to cook Bramley Apple Sauce
- Tip all of the ingredients into a pan. Cover with a lid. Cook over low heat for about 15 minutes, or until the apples are very soft and have broken down. Beat with a fork. Serve immediately or tip into a bowl, cover and chill until needed.
The chops themselves are also very easy to make. It is an old, old recipe that I copied out of one of my mother's recipe books many years ago.
It was a little paper back book containing recipes for cooking meats. I can still see the cover in my head, but the name escapes me. I must be getting old!
These chops always turn out tender and delicious. It is a very simple way to cook them and is really more of a technique than a recipe.
Bone in loin pork chops are dusted with some herbs and seasonings. I like to slash the fatty edge with some kitchen scissors.
This simple trick prevents them from curling up when they are cooking.
I then lay them on a buttered baking sheet and sprinkle some bread crumbs over top and dot with butter.
The original author used to pour water or stock around them in the baking dish, but I have always used apple juice.
It imparts a slight apple flavour to the sweet succulence of pork that is quite delicious!
You could use pineapple instead if you wanted to. The acid from the fruit juice helps to tenderise the meat.
That's my story anyways and I'm sticking to it. Sometimes I flip them over and repeat the treatment on the other side halfway through the cooking. Sometimes I don't.
They always come out delicious no matter what. Pork Chops and Applesauce! Why not cook some today!
Yield: variable
Oven Baked Breaded Pork Chops
This is more of a method than a recipe. It is the way I have been doing my breaded pork chops for years and years. They always end up tender and moist. The crumbs on the bottom don't alway stick, but they do meld into the juices to make a lucious sauce and the crumbs on the top always stay put. All in all they are truly delicious.
ingredients:
- 1 bone in pork chop per person
- salt, pepper, dried sage and onion granules
- 2 TBS of fine dry bread crumbs per chop
- butter to dot
- apple juice
instructions:
How to cook Oven Baked Breaded Pork Chops
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Cut the fatty edge of the chop (s) with some kitchen scissors at 1/3 inch intervals and place it/them onto a baking sheet with a raised edge, which you have lined with foil and buttered. the size of baking sheet depeds on how many chops you are cooking. Obviously if you are only cooking one or two you will want a smaller baking tray.
- Dust the top surface of each chop with some salt, pepper, sage (rubbed between your fingertips) and onion granules to taste. Then sprinkle a tablespoon of bread crumbs evenly over top of each one. Dot with butter. Pour apple juice into the baking tray evenly around the chops, trying not to disturb the crumbs on top.
- Place the tray into the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, checking to make sure the apple juice does not boil dry in the pan. Once the crumbs have begun to brown on top, remove the pan from the oven.
- Carefully turn each chop over without disturbing the crumb topping and repeat the process for seasoning and crumbing on the underside. If you need more juice in the pan, once again pour it around the chops.
- Return the pan to the oven and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes, until nicely browned on top and the juices have thickened into a bit of a sauce. Check every 5 to 6 minutes or so to make sure the pan is not going dry and top up with more juice if need be. Serve hot with some of the pan juices spooned over top. Fabulous!
My husband loves pork chops. He was in heaven. I served these with the apple sauce, baked potatoes, green beans, carrots and cauliflower cheese. Yes, he is a bit spoiled, but why not! He's always most appreciative!
Cooking for only two people can be somewhat of a challenge for people. It took me years to hone the skill.
After having cooked for a large family (7 of us) for quite a number of years, it was a struggle for me to teach myself to scale back to only two.
It can be done however and I think I have it down to an art now. Sure there are times when certainly I want to cook for more, but more often than not, that just isn't the case.
If you are only cooking a casserole, that's okay. You can always divide it into two casseroles and freeze one for later on. But when it comes to cooking a joint, it gets a little bit harder.
I am here to dispell all of the mystery. Its not as hard as you think!
I have always found that when cooking a large roast for two people
alone, you can't get rid of the leftovers quick enough. Also cooked beef never
quite tastes the same after having been frozen, but perhaps that is just me.
I am the Queen of leftovers, but even I have my limits. Eating leftover roast for four days in a row is not my favourite thing to do.
There is nothing much more satisfying than a fall-apart tender meaty pot roast to feed the soul and tummy on a cool autumnal day. This scaled down version of an old family favourite delivers on all levels!
Its comfort food pure and simple. Tender and delicious and provided just enough leftovers for two people in an amount that you won't get tired of!
Rolled Beef Brisket is the cut I prefer to use for pot roasts. Its not as fatty as other cuts and it cooks to a beautiful tenderness that we quite enjoy.
It also cuts beautifully into nice slices when its done without falling apart. This is especially nice when cutting for sandwiches.
The original recipe for this lovely pot roast is one that I got off the back of a packet of dry onion soup mix many moons ago.
I have gradually adapted it through the years to suit my family's taste and I believe that it is the best pot roast that you could ever want to make.
Potatoes, carrots and swede (rutabaga) cook along side of the roast in a delicious mix of broth and apple juice. This is so that when all is said and done, you have your meat and your vegetables done and finished at the same time.
A full meal cooked in one pot, and the oven does all of the cooking.
You could also add a peeled and quartered onion along with the other vegetables if you wanted to. I like to cook a green vegetable on the side to add some colour to the plate.
Either frozen peas or string beans. Whatever vegetable meets you fancy.
On this day I also did half a recipe of my late father-in-law's Yorkshire Pudding Recipe. This is the perfect Yorkshire Pudding Recipe as far as I am concerned.
I cooked half the recipe in a 9 by 12 inch glass baking dish.
I call it Genius Yorkshire Pudding because it cooks up perfectly every single time so long as you follow the directions.
You can have it ready to go into the oven when you bring the meat out to rest and it can cook while you cook the gravy. The recipe is here.
Actually you could cook the full recipe if you wanted to because these will freeze quite successfully and then you will have some for another time.
The gravy is also easy to make. You simply shake some flour and water together and whisk it into the pan juices, then cook until it thickens, whisking the whole while. Perfect gravy. I like to add some creamed horseradish because we quite enjoy that flavour, but you don't have to do that if you don't want to.
Yield: Serves 2 (with some leftovers)
Classic Pot Roast for Two
Deliciously tender meat with some veg and a fabulously tasty gravy. Perfectly sized for just two people, with some leftover for a tasty hash, sandwiches or casserole the day after. This is so easy it practically cooks itself.
ingredients:
- 1 (1 1/2 pound) rolled beef brisket
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
- 2 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
- 1/2 small swede (rutabaga) peeled and cut into chunks
- 240ml beef broth (1 cup)
- 240ml apple juice (1 cup)
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 tsp dry thyme leaves
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- pinch of paprika
- 1/2 package dry onion soup mix
- salt and black pepper to taste
For the gravy:
- 3 TBS flour, shaken in 120ml/1/2 cup cold water
- 1/2 TBS creamed horseradish
instructions:
How to cook Classic Pot Roast for Two
- Preheat the oven to 160*C/300*F/ gas mark 3. Have a medium sized flame proof roaster with a tight fitting lid ready.
- Whisk together the beef broth, apple juice, balsamic vinegar and brown sugar. Set aside.
- Season the roast all over with salt and black pepper. Place into the centre of the roaster. Place the cut up vegetables around the meat in the roaster. in the roaster. Sprinkle the onion soup mix over top of the roast, along with the thyme leaves, garlic powder and paprika. Push the bay leave down the side amidst the vegetables. Pour the apple juice/broth mixture around the roast, covering the vegetables.
- Cover the roasting pan with a sheet of foil, sealing it in tightly. Place the lid on top of the foil. Pop the roaster into the preheated oven and roast for 3 1/2 to 4 hours, at which time the roast should meltingly tender and the vegetables done. (I would check it halfway through the cook time to make sure there is still enough liquid in the dish. If not, top up with some boiling water.) Remove from the oven. Remove the roast and vegetables to a platter and tent lightly while you make the gravy. Discard the bay leaf.
- To make the gravy, place the roasting dish on top of the stove over medium heat. You should have approximately 2 cups of liquid. If you don't, top it up with some more beef broth. Shake together your flour and water and whisk it into the juices along with the creamed horseradish. Cook, whisking constantly, over medium heat, until the mixture bubbles and begins to thicken. Cook for a further 2 to 3 minutes to cook out any flour taste.
- Slice the meat to serve along with a portion of the vegetables and some of the gravy spooned over top. I like to serve with English baby peas on the side. Delicious!
I made a delicious hash with the leftovers yesterday. I just chopped up a small peeled onion, added some chopped cooked potato, the diced leftover beef, a splash Worcestershire sauce and some naughty chopped up Yorkshire pudding.
I melted a TBS of butter along with 1 TBS oil in a skillet and added the whole lot and cooked it until we had lots of crispy bits and the whole lot was heated through. (I used a small tin of cooked new potatoes, drained and chopped) Two delicious meals without a lot of effort. I like that!
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So today is my birthday and I wanted to enjoy one of my favourite foods. Steak.
I could quite happily be a vegetarian, except for the fact that every now and then I enjoy eating a good steak.
When I was a much younger woman, in another lifetime, I used to love being treated to a meal out at Ponderosa or Bonanza, both chain steak houses in North America.
You could get a decent steak cooked to your idea perfection . . .
Along with your favourite sides, be they fat steak cut chips, or baked potatoes, fried onions, grilled mushrooms, onion rings . . .
there was also a salad bar that came free with every meal.
The salad bars were crazy delicious. The trick was to NOT fill up on the salad bar before you got your meal!
At that time I would have shuddered at the thought of eating Stilton cheese, let alone enjoying it melted on top of a juicy steak.
Boy oh boy . . .
I was missing out on a delicious piece of steak heaven! This is fabulous and what I choose to enjoy on my 64th Birthday this year!
A tender sirloin steak . . . seasoned with a tasty steak seasoning rub (my friend Lura sends me it from America) and grilled to perfection . . .
then topped with some crumbled Stilton cheese, which melts and gilds the top . . . .
Pure taste perfection . . .
Next to that a fluffy pile of mashed sweet and white potatoes, flavoured with cream and butter and garlic . . . don't judge me . . . lol . . .
The sweet potato makes this mash slightly better for this diabetic than a mash that would have been just white potatoes . . . but
there is so much flavour in that that I will be happy with only a small amount.
Again, flavour perfection . . .
On the side Frenched runner beans, fresh from the garden . . . love them too . . .
Altogether this is a beautiful birthday meal. Nummity Nummity!
Stilton Steaks with Sweet Potato & Garlic Mash
Yield: 4
This dish is all about delicious. From tender perfectly cooked steaks with that melted Stilton on top to the lush sweet potato mash, it is a winner all round!
ingredients:
For the potatoes:
- 1 1/2 pounds floury potatoes, for mashing, peeled and cut into chunks
- 1/3 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
- 2 to 3 cloves of garlic, peeled
- knob of butter
- 60ml cream (1/4 cup)
- salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste
For the Steaks:
- steak seasoning
- 4 sirloin steaks, each about 1/2 inch thick and weighing 225g/7 ounces
- 70g Stilton cheese (2 1/2 ounces)
- Chopped fresh parsley and thyme to garnish
instructions:
How to cook Stilton Steaks with Sweet Potato & Garlic Mash
- First make the mash. Place the white and sweet potatoes and garlic into a saucepan of lightly salted water to cover. Bring to the boil, then simmer until the potatoes are fork tender. Drain well and then return the pan and shake over the residual heat of the burner to dry them out a bit. Mash well with a potato masher, adding in the cream and knob of butter. Season to taste with salt, pepper and freshly grated nutmeg. Cover and keep warm while you cook the steaks.
- To cook the steaks, season them well on both sides with your steak seasoning. Preheat the grill to high. Cook the steaks under the hot grill for 8 to 10 minutes, turning them over halfway through the cook time, according to your preference. (We like our steaks medium rare and so opt for the shorter time.) A minute or so before they are done, crumble the Stilton cheese over top and pop back under the grill at which time the steaks should be done perfectly and the cheese melted. Sprinkle with the chopped herbs and serve immediately along with the hot mash.
OH boy, but this is some good. A new favourite combination. I hope it will be for you as well!
Up tomorrow: Chicken Schnitzels
Yay!!
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