You just can't beat the simplicity of this, or the taste. Its a fabulously party appetiser, whether you be many or a few. You can adapt it to smaller groups by using smaller loaves of bread.
You can even make individual ones (if you are really germ phobic) by using individual crusty rolls, which is really a lot of fun also. Whatever you choose to do, one thing is for certain, this is sure to make for a really appetising and delicious part of your New Year's Celebrations!
Wishing a really Happy New Year to all! May your 2021 be happy and blessed and filled with peace, comfort and joy. Here's hoping it is a good year to us all!
Tear & Share Cheesy Bread
Ingredients
- 9 ounce (255g) round of Camembert Cheese
- 3 1/2 (100g) ounce round of goats cheese
- 1 (1 pound) loaf of Italian or Sour Dough bread, unsliced (a round loaf is best)
- 1 fat clove of garlic, peeled
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves stripped from stalk
- 3/4 tsp sea salt flakes
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Have ready a large baking sheet, lined with foil and buttered.
- Trim any rind from the cheese and discard. Chop the remaining cheese roughly.
- Hollow out a round roughly 4 1/2 inches across and 1 1/2 inches deep in centre of the loaf of bread. (This becomes a receptacle for the melted cheese.)
- Cut the remaining loaf into a cross hatch pattern, cutting almost all the way to the bottom, and spacing the cuts 1-inch apart.
- Finely chop the garlic and rosemary leaves.
- Whisk the rosemary, garlic, black pepper to taste and oil together in a bowl. Brush this all over the loaf, making sure that you get it down into the cuts as much as possible.
- Put the chopped cheese in the centre hollowed out area. Sprinkle flakes of sea salt over all. Cover loosely with foil.
- Place onto the baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes until golden brown and the cheese has melted and is bubbling.
- Serve hot.
- People can pull off pieces of the bread to dip into the cheese.
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!
I remember when my children were growing up, sometimes we would have a "picky bits" supper, a finger food buffet. Especially when we were getting towards the end of the week and close to pay day.
These type of meals were not only fun to make and eat, but they were also interesting and something deliciously out of the norm!
Even my oldest daughter who doesn't really like potaoes loves these! They are simple to make and oh-so-tasty! If you can boil a potato, then you can make these.
I made these as a part of a finger-food supper that included not only these, but also sausage balls and roasted broccoli and cauliflower florets!
I wanted to use up the last of the new potatoes that my sister had put in the room for me. I decided to make these. You only need some fat (I used a mix of becel and oil) and some seasoning. Easy peasy.
You will need to boil the potatoes first until they are nice and tender. This will take betwen 15 and 20 minutes tops. Do NOT peel them. The crispy skins are part of their charm.
You want to cook them until they are quite tender, a fork or the tip of a knife should slide in quite easily. Drain them really well and then pop them back into the saucepan and shake them over the heat of the burner so that they really dry out well.
Once you have done that you can add some fat to them. I used a mix of Becel (because that is what I have) and olive oil. You can use butter instead. Shake them around in the saucepan with both fats and any seasonings.
I used salt and pepper. (DUH!) That is what I had, and then some chili powder that my daughter dropped off to me. She had been going to bring North American Chili powder to me when she came to the UK in April.
I do hope she is able to get her money back from what she spent on the tickets for her and her brother. It will be a darn shame if she can't.
They don't have regular North American style Chili powder there. Their Chili powder is just plain ground chilies and it would blow your socks off. Literally!
I had made the mistake shortly after moving over to the UK of using their chili powder like I would have used the chili powder from home. I about killed everyone. You don't want to be adding a TBS of that to anything if you value your life!
So anyways, I did use some North American chili powder on this day. I also used some summer savoury. Shake them all about in the fat and spices so coat and then you will want to place the potatoes onto a baking tray. (Don't throw away any fat left in the pan)
Place them spaced pretty far apart. You are going to have to smash them down. And I mean gently. You don't want to blow them to smithereens. I used the end of a can of beans and just gently pressed them down.
As you can see, they break apart and you end up with lots of bits that are going to gild and turn golden brown in the oven. I also took a sausag and skinned it and added chunks of it around the potatoes. (Even more flavour!)
Then you just bake them, until they are crisp and golden brown. Yummiliciousy golden brown. (Oh I need a manicure. Reminder to self to buy some nail polish when I can.)
Perfectly crisp and golden brown and ready to dip. I used some of the blue cheese dip I had in the fridge here at the motel. But you can use whatever dip you want. Ranch. Onion. Sour Cream and Chive. Whatever takes your fancy!
I also added some broccoli and cauliflower to the baking sheet, drizzled with a tiny bit of olive oil. I cannot tolerate them raw anymore because of my diverticulitis, but they were lovely lightly roasted.
Moreish even . . . scrummilicious!
They went done really well with the potatoes and those sausage bits. I probably should have rolled the sausage bits into balls, but it was still frozen when I put it into the oven.
This meant it was cooked perfectly in around the same time it took to cook everything else!
Crispy Smashed New Potatoes
Ingredients
- 6 to 8 baby new potatoes
- 1 TBS butter melted
- 1/2 TBS olive oil
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- chopped spring onions
- blue cheese dip
Instructions
- Put the potatoes in a saucepan and cover with lightly salted cold water. Bring to the boil and then cook for 15 to 20 minutes until fork tender.
- Drain well and return to the saucepan, shaking them over the residual heat of the saucepan to dry up any water left on them.
- Add the butter, olive oil and seasonings. Toss to coat.
- Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5.
- Place the potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet. (Reserve any butter/oil in the pan.) Taking something heavy, lightly squash them down until they are only about 1/3 of an inch thick and cracked open. Drizzle any oil/butter left in the pan over top.
- Bake them in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown and crispy.
- Sprinkle with chopped onions and serve hot with the blue cheese dip.
notes:
If you are not fond of blue cheese, use ranch or whatever type of dip or salad dressing you desire.
These make for a wonderful finger food when you are getting together with people, a great side dish wih other things, and well, they are just something scrumptious to dig your teeth into! Enjoy!
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!
Last week we were craving sausage rolls. I don't believe that I had ever tasted a sausage roll prior to coming here to the UK.
My mother used to make weiner rolls when I was growing up. They were something we all loved as a family.
Mom made beautiful plain pastry. It wasn't puff pastry, just plain. All of her pies, etc. were beautiful and we loved them.
When she made weiner rolls she would make her regular pastry recipe and then roll it out. The rolled pastry would be cut into rectangles large enough to wrap around weiners, enclosing them completely.
You can even get Vegetarian ones. Both are wrapped in flaky puffed pastry. Of course you get what you pay for.
The more expensive ones will have a lovely rich and ample meaty filling. Using a quality sausage meat. The cheap ones will be mostly pastry and filled with nasty sausage meat. People seem to enjoy both.
The first time I tasted a homemade one was at my friend Joy's in South Wales. They were magnificent. It truly was love at first bite.
You can find her recipe here. She was really generous and shared it with me. I think she also sent us home with a bag filled with them that visit along with her gorgeous lamb samosas!
This recipe for Apple & Sage Sausage Rolls was one I had clipped from the BBC Good Food Magazine back in 2012. I had saved it in my recipe files to bake one day.
I discovered it while going through them the other day and thought that there would be no time like the present to make them. I had puff pastry and sausage meat in the freezer that I needed to use up.
The directions were a bit ambiguous. I have tried to make them as straight forward as I can, as well as adding my usual North American measurements.
Try to use the best sausage meat that you can afford. I actually did a tutorial on making your own sausages here.
I know you won't be able to get British Sausages in North America. You can however make some tasty sausage meat yourself. I highly recommend it. They are really delicious.
You only need the meat to make the filling for these sausage rolls. It is mixed with chopped fresh sage and apple. I peeled the apple.
I used French all-butter puff pastry that I had in the freezer. If you can find all-butter puff pastry, I really recommend it.
I always think it is best to use natural ingredients whenever you can. I don't like things with artificial ingredients and preservatives. Go as pure as you can.
Apple & Sage Sausage Rolls
Ingredients
- 400g (16 ounces) of sausage meat (from about 6 meaty sausages)
- 1 clove of garlic crushed
- 2 TBS chopped sage
- 1 apple, peeled and chopped
- 1 pound (500g) all butter puff pastry
- 1 free range egg beaten together wih 1 tsp water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. Line several baking trays with baking paper.
- Remove the sausage meat from the skins and crumble into a bowl. Add the chopped sage, garlic and chopped apple. Mix well together.
- Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface to a large rectangle. 12 inches wide at the shortest edge. Halve the pastry to make two long thin sheets. Divide the sausage meat down the centre of each, leaving a good border on both sides.
- Beat the egg together with the water. Brush some of this down both long edges of each pastry strip. Fold over the edges to cover the sausage meat, making two long rolls. Seal the edges with a fork.
- Flip over and place pastry seam side down on the baking sheets. Brush more egg wash over top. Cut each roll into six equal pieces. Snip each in a few places and spread them apart on the baking sheets to leave room to rise.
- Cook for 25 minutes until golden brown and puffed.
One thing I will miss about the UK are the lovely sausages they have over here. There are about as many varieties of sausage as there are areas and counties.
Nevermind, they have good ones in Canada as well! There will always be things we miss about the places we have lived.
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!
But I so wanted to get it, to enjoy it too. I was not ready to give up on it just yet. I couldn't understand why so many people waxed poetic about it. I wanted to be able to do the same.
And so I kept with it, persistently. Periodically trying a new recipe to see if I might not come up with something that I enjoyed. I so wanted to be able to taste what it was that other people were tasting.
A few weeks back I saw a video on Tasty for what looked like a really pretty ratatouille. It was composed of a sauce that was cooked first on top of the stove and then layered in a dish.
Next they added layers of thinly sliced rounds of vegetables to the top. They were arranged so prettily. It looked like a picture.
They drizzled a basil oil over top and then covered it tightly and baked it, until the vegetables were meltingly tender. It looked quite promising.
This week I added all of the vegetables to my grocery order so that I could make it. I bought myself some fresh yellow and green courgettes (zucchini) and ripe roma tomatoes. I also bought some baby aubergine (eggplant).
I did not want to make a full recipe, as I knew it would be far too much for us to conceivably eat. We do not have the appetites these days that we used to have in the old days.
Instead of their suggested topping for the vegetables I created one of my own using basil pesto, olive oil and a splash of Balsamic vinegar. I cannot think of anything that doesn't taste much better when having added a bit of Balsamic vinegar to it.
It looked as pretty as a picture before it went into the oven. I was so pleased with how it looked. I was almost dancing around the room. If this tasted even half as good when done as it looked before baking, we were in for a real treat!
I envisioned this beautiful pie dish of ratatouille coming from the oven. We eat first with our eyes after all, and it did smell quite lovely when it was baking.
Hmmm . . . it came out looking a bit like a dog's dinner I am sad to say. LOL I had to laugh when I saw it. Where was the visual appeal?
Anyways, I dutifully scattered some fresh basil over top and took some photos. If I am honest, and I always am, I wasn't feeling very hopeful.
To say I was more than a tad bit disappointed in how it looked is a bit of an understatement. The proof of the pudding is in the eating however, so I was reserving my judgement for that.
Even though there was a huge part of me that was thinking that if this looked this nasty, then it was going to taste nasty also. Admittedly it looked quite a bit better once I broke through and spooned some of it onto a plate.
But how would it taste . . . I held my breath. I had some lovely fresh French Bread that I had been saving to dip into it when it was done.
Admittedly, I hate to waste food. Fresh vegetables are somewhat expensive, even at this time of year when they are plentiful. If you don't have a garden, you are at the mercy of the shops.
I have to say the fresh veg I have been getting from Ocado have been really nice. They cost a bit more than Asda, but quality speaks for itself, and I have been more than happy with everything. They have now partnered with M&S and M&S is quality.
I spooned some out onto the plate. It didn't look half bad. It smelled gorgeous if I don't say so myself. I was feeling rather hopeful.
I had my crusty bread at the ready. Was I going to be happy? Was I finally going to see why people wax lyrical about Ratatouille?
I was pleasantly surprised just by what it looked like spooned onto my plate. It actually looked so good that my tastebuds started to tingle . . .
It was filled with colour and texture. It smelled amazing. I was beginning to be hopeful.
I spooned some onto my bread. I did not butter the bread. I did not want my palate for the ratatouille spoiled by my love of butter. I wanted to try it completely unadulterated . . .
I did toy with the idea of toasting my bread, but in the end, I left it in its natural crusty state. I am happy that I did.
This was amazingly delicious! I was really pleased. The zucchini and the eggplant were properly tender. The tomatoes melted in the mouth . . .
There was none of the bitterness that you can sometimes get from both zucchini and eggplant. Both were somewhat buttery, almost sweet and somewhat indulgent.
The flavour of the sauce that was on the bottom perfectly enhanced and had flavoured everything. The pesto/balsamic mixture I had sprinkled on top had done its job perfectly.
The crusty bread was perfect without butter. It did a beautiful job of mopping everything up. I did what I had not done in a very long time. I went in for seconds.
Baked Ratatouille for Two
Ingredients:
- 1 14-oz (400g) tin of chopped tomatoes in tomato juice
- 1/2 small red bell pepper, trimmed and chopped
- 1 small onion, peeled and chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 6 basil leaves chopped
- 1 medium green zucchini (courgette) thinly sliced, 1/8 inch thick
- 1 medium yellow zucchini (courgette) thinly sliced, 1/8 inch thick
- 1 very small egg plant (aubergine), trimmed and thinly sliced, 1/8 inch thick
- 2 roma tomatoes, cored and thinly sliced, 1/8 inch thick
- fine sea salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 TBS basil pesto
- 1 TBS olive oil
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- torn basil leaves to garnish
- crusty French bread to serve
Instructions:
- Begin by making the sauce. Add the oil to a saucepan. Add the peppers, onions and garlic. Sweat over medium heat, stirring frequently for 4 to 5 minutes until tender. Add the tomatoes and seasonings. Simmer for about 15 minutes until nicely thickened. (This is important as the vegetables will give out more liquid in the oven and you don't want them to dilute the sauce too much.) Pour into an 8 inch pie dish, smoothing over the top. Place on a baking tray.
- Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5.
- Arrrange the sliced vegetables decoratively over top of the tomato sauce, pushing them down into it a bit.
- Whisk together the pesto, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Drizzle this over top of the vegetables in the baking dish. Cover tightly with aluminium foil.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake for a further 10 to 15 minutes, until the vegetables are meltingly tender.
- Serve warm or at room temperature, garnish with fresh basil and with some fresh French bread to help mop all of it up. Delicious!
notes:
I am really pleased that I decided not to give up on ratatouille. If you have never tried it before, I really hope that you will. Especially now when we have an abundance of fresh zucchini and tomatoes to work with! Thanks so much for visiting. Do come
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