Showing posts with label meat and potatoes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meat and potatoes. Show all posts
One of my favourite television shows, long before I even dreamt of moving over to the UK was a British soap opera called Coronation Street. I started watching it when I was still at school and had no idea that I would one day be living in the North West of England in a brick terraced house. Funny how life turns out!
It was a show my Aunt Freda loved as well. One of its charms for me was the gritty reality of it. Not very many people on it were wealthy . . . no were they drop dead gorgeous, like in the American soaps. Plus they had jobs that they worked hard at . . . for the most part they were ordinary working class folk. I believe it is the longest running soap on television in the world.
A lot of the social life in the show centred around the Rover's Return Pub, which also let out rooms as a B&B on occasion. True to life there. Most communities over here have their own "local" as a pub is lovingly known as, and they are truly gathering places and the heart of the community in most cases.
As a pub/local the Rovers Return also served some simple food. Mostly sandwiches, potato chips, nuts and salty snacks, in addition to the drinks . . . but also one of the most famous and popular things on their menu was Betty's Hot Pot.
Betty Turpin was a barmaid in the Rover's Return and Betty's Hot Pot was her signature dish.
Hotpot is a very regional Lancashire dish consisting essentially of meat, onion and potatoes left to bake in the oven all day in a heavy pot and on a low heat. Originating in the days of heavy industrialisation in Lancashire in the north west of England, it requires a minimum of effort to prepare.
There are many regional variations, and it is frequently found listed amongst the usual pub grub dishes in various hostelries around Britain. The basic recipe consists of a mix made up of meat and vegetables (carrot, turnip, potatoes, onions or leek) which are then covered with a buttery thatch of sliced potato or pastry. Don't you just love the idea of a "thatched" roof of potato covering the top?
The type of meat to be used in a true Lancashire hotpot is a matter of
some controversy, with many being of the opinion that it should be lamb
(with optional lamb kidneys) and some thinking it should be beef. As
much food can be added as will fit in the pot, so it is very easy to increase the quantities to serve more people as desired.
We like it with lamb, and today I actually decreased the amounts to create a dish perfectly sized for two people. It worked out very well.
I had posted it originally here, some ten years ago, but thought it would be a good idea to update the recipe with North American measurements, and with nicer photos. I believe it was one of the first recipes I posted on here, so an update was long overdue!
One thing remains true and constant about this dish and that is this . . . it is simply delicious. Humble, yet . . . it almost tastes gourmet . . .
It is culinary proof and a testimony to the fact that it really is the simple things in life which bring us the most pleasure!
Yield: 2
Lancashire Hot Pot
prep time: 15 minscook time: 2 hour and 30 minstotal time: 2 hours and 45 mins
A scaled down version of my original recipe. A deliciously humble dish which originated in Lancashire. There is no way to rush a hot pot. Long and slow cooking is its secret to tender tastiness.
ingredients:
- 1/2 TBS olive oil
- 350g diced lamb (3/4 pound)
- 1 onion, peeled and sliced
- 1 carrots, peeled and grated
- 1/4 medium swede (rutabaga) peeled and grated
- 300ml lamb stock (1 1/4 cup) (can use chicken stock)
- 1/2 TBS Worcestershire sauce
- 1 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 350g of potatoes, peeled and cut into thin slices (3/4 pound)
- softened butter
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
instructions:
- Pre-heat the oven to 165*C/325*F/ gas mark 3. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the meat in batches and fry it until browned on all sides. Remove with a slotted spoon to a large casserole dish (one with a lid) as it browns. Set aside.
- Once all the meat it browned and removed from the skillet add the vegetables to the pan. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring them occasionally. Return the lamb to the skillet and pour over the stock. Add the Worcestershire sauce and season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix it all in well and then carefully pour the mixture back into the casserole dish. Tuck the thyme into the mixture, burying it.
- Cover the top of the mixture with a layer of half of the sliced potatoes. Season with salt and pepper and then dot with butter. Finish layering with the remaining potatoes and adding a final dusting of salt and pepper and dot once again with some butter. Put the lid on.
- Bake in the heated oven for 1 1/2 hours. Remove the lid and bake for a further hour until the meat is very tender and the "thatch" is nicely browned in places and tender as well. Serve hot spooned out onto hot plates along with seasonal green vegetables on the side and plenty of crusty bread and butter to mop up the delicious juices.
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This is comfort food in it's most basic, purest form. I like to serve it with a green vegetable on the side, but many serve it with red cabbage, which is quite traditional, as is some crusty bread to mop up all the juices! Bon Appetit!
This recipe is one that I found and pinned from this site a long time ago. I finally got around to making it for our Sunday dinner yesterday and it was every bit as delicious as it looked.
Not only delicious, but also very quick and easy as well!
I never used to have time to cook a big meal on Sundays because that was the day I always called my mum.
I really miss those Sunday phone calls (as you can imagine), so it was nice to be busy and cooking so I didn't have time to sit and think. My husband didn't mind. He likes a nice meat and potatoes kind of meal.
I have to admit I am a huge fan of steak and potatoes also. Especially when they are as delicious and as quick to throw together and cook as this one was.
This garlic steak bites and potatoes is an excellent recipe!
The original recipe called for flank steak cut against the grain. Flank can be rather hard to find over here, so I used rump steaks, which worked beautifully.
Rump steaks are also nice and tender when cooked properly. I am not sure what the North American Equivalent is. I think it might be sirloin.
I also used the last of the garden potatoes. They were starting to just show signs of sprouting, so it was really fortuitous that everything was in place to use them up.
The steak is sliced and marinated in a soy/srirachi marinade while you cook the potatoes.
This is a tiny bit spicy and a tiny bit salty. In short delicious.
I cut down on the amount of fat used altogether, and it worked out quite well. The thing with the potatoes, is not to agitate them.
Just bang them into the pan, one cut side down and then leave them (medium heat) for about 6 minutes or so until golden on that side, and then flip them over to the other cut side and do the same on that side.
We can be such impatient creatures sometimes and mither (agitate) things while they are in the pan . . . just leave them, and you will get much better results.
I tend to go off and do something else so I am not tempted to keep flipping things.
The original recipe suggested that you could also par-boil the potatoes if you wanted them to cook quicker.
I didn't think this was really necessary and as you can see I got beautifully golden brown potatoes. My patience was rewarded big-time!
I chose to do the steak in batches, browning only half of the steak strips at a time. I figured that if you tried to do them all at once the first ones you put into the pan would be overcooked by the time the last bits were done.
It was just common sense to do them half at a time . . .
The end result was perfectly cooked bits of steak. There is nothing tougher than an over-cooked piece of steak! Not appealing in the least!
Unless you happen to like your steak well done . . . we don't. Medium rare is how we usually enjoy it!
We both really, really enjoyed this meal. It went down a real treat!
Yield: 3 - 4
Garlic Steak Bites & Potatoes
prep time: 10 minscook time: 15 minstotal time: 25 mins
This simple recipe goes together in a flash. You can be enjoying tender juicy and flavourful steak and potatoes in very short time. All you need is a salad or vegetable on the side and dinner is served!
ingredients:
- 650g rump steak, sliced into 1/2 inch strips against the grain (1 1/2 lb)
- 65g baby potatoes, cut into quarters (1 1/2 lb)
- 1 TBS olive oil
- 2 TBS butter, divided
- 5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- 1/2 tsp each dried thyme, rosemary and oregano
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- crushed red chili flakes (optional)
For the steak marinade:
- 80ml soy sauce (1/3 cup)
- 1 TBS olive oil
- 1 TBS Sriracha sauce
instructions:
- Whisk together the steak marinade ingredients in a bowl. Add the steak strips and set aside to marinate while the potatoes are cooking.
- Heat 1 TBS butter and olive oil in a large skillet until the butter begins to foam. Add the potato wedges, one cut side down, and cook for about 6 minutes or so until golden brown on that side, then carefully turn them over and cook for a further 6 minutes or so until golden brown on that side and the potatoes are tender. Remove carefully and keep warm.
- Add the remaining TBS of butter, garlic, dried herbs and red chili flakes if using. Add the steak strips (work in batches if necessary) and cook over medium high heat for about one minute before flipping over and browning the other side. (I did mine in two batches) Pour any reserved marinade over top and return the potatoes to the pan. Heat through. Adjust seasoning with salt and black pepper. Serve immediately.
Created using The Recipes Generator
I dare say this would make a tasty addition to a Valentine's Dinner Menu if you
were so inclined, and were looking for something that was delicious, but not
too time or labour intensive. I have always thought you can't go wrong with steak and potatoes! Bon Appetit!
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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There is an old saying that the sure way to a man's heart is through his stomach. I am not sure where the saying comes from, but I am sure it is true.
If I had to re-phrase it to describe my husband, it would be that the sure way to my man's heart is through a good stew! He loves stews.
And if there are dumplings on top, well . . . so much the better.
He is a real Stew and Dumpling aficionado/lover! Meat and gravy and starch. That is the way to his heart.
Of course the dumplings are not totally necessary, but you will surely love these. You whisk them together, and drop them onto the stew for the last 20 minutes of cook time.
Since the stew is cooked in the oven, they end up being a bit like little biscuits/breads . . . all crusty and golden brown and going perfectly with that delicious oven baked stew!
The stew itself is very simple. Browning onions in hot butter in a Dutch oven . . .
I love the smell of onions cooking, don't you? It is a smell that really fuels the appetite.
Once the onions are done you begin adding in the remaining ingredients one at a time, until they are all involved . . .
Cubed beef brisket, garlic, paprika . . .
. . . marjoram, caraway seed, salt, tomato ketchup and a good beef stock . . . some quartered peeled potatoes. That's it.
Nothing else added.
There are no other vegetables in the stew, which is a bit different for me.
I grew up with stews that were resplendent with carrots and swede, parsnips . . . those vegetables were always in the stews of our childhood.
This has none of those in the stew . . . just the potatoes.
Instead you cook another vegetable and serve it on the side. It works . . . totally.
You end up with a delicious stew, filled with tender pieces of beef brisket and chunks of potato, in a rich and luscious gravy . . .
I chose to serve carrots on the side, but you could serve green beans, or cabbage, sprouts, whatever you wanted to serve . . . whatever you love most. We like carrots.
Like I said the dumplings are totally optional, but why not go for it . . .
Crusty, buttery little drop biscuits . . . tender in the middle and going oh-so-well with that beautiful gravy and those tender chunks of meat!
Yield: 6
Stewed Brisket & Potatoes
prep time: 15 minscook time: 1 hour and 30 minstotal time: 1 hours and 45 mins
This is a real man-pleaser. Serve with some cooked carrots or beans on the side. Dumplings are optional, but if your man is like my man, they are a sure way to his heart.
ingredients:
- 2 large onions, peeled and chopped
- 2 - 3 TBS butter
- 2 pounds Beef brisket, trimmed & cut into cubes
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- 3 TBS sweet paprika
- 3/4 tsp dried marjoram leaves
- 1/2 tsp caraway seed
- 1 tsp salt or to taste
- 62g tomato ketchup (1/4 cup)
- 480 - 950ml beef stock (2 to 4 cups)
- 6 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
Optional Dumplings
- 140g sifted flour (1 cup)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 TBS chopped fresh parsley
- 1 egg, beaten + milk to make (120ml) 1/2 cup in measure
- melted butter to drizzle over top
instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 180*c/350*F/ gas mark 4.
- In a large Dutch oven saute the ovens in the butter until lightly browned. Add the remaining ingredients in the order given, only using 480ml (2 cups) beef stock to begin with. Cover and bake for 1 1/2 hours, until the meat is tender, adding more stock as needed to keep it from drying out.
- 20 minutes before the stew is done, make the dumplings. Measure the dry ingredients into a bowl. Beat together the egg and milk and add all at once. Stir together with a fork to form a stiff dough.
- Drop the dumplings on top of the hot stew. Drizzle with butter. Return to the oven and cook for a further 20 minutes, uncovered.
- Spoon the stew and dumplings out into heated bowls to serve, along with your favourite vegetable on the side.
Created using The Recipes Generator
My husband was in comfort food heaven with this. And there is plenty left for him to enjoy another time. The beautiful thing about stews is that they taste even better on the second day!
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
The way to my husband's heart is surely through a big plate of "Bangers and Mash." He is a true meat and potatoes kind of a guy, and this kind of meal is surely one of his favourite ways to have both of his loves all on one plate.
More often than not he likes things to be quite simple . . . pan fried sausage and ordinary mash, all topped with Bisto onion gravy granules.
I don't do gravy granules. Sorry Todd. It was not something that I was brought up with. My mother always made her own gravy, from scratch, and we never had it with sausages. At best my father would ask for a jar of mayonnaise to be on the table so that he could dip his sausages in that.
I have to confess that I was never very fond of sausages for supper when I was a child. I think the first sausages I really enjoyed was at my SIL's in Toronto one weekend. She had bought some lovely British "Bangers" at a local butcher's. That is when I learnt that sausages could actually taste really nice, although I am willing to concede that it is really all purely a matter of taste. One man's meat is truly another man's poison.
I happen to love British Bangers, so long as they are not the cheap nasty ones filled with who knows what and lots of fat. You need some fat of course, but you don't need all those other fillers. I buy the best sausage my money can buy and am happy with that . . . and I favour Cumberland over all others. There are as many types of sausage here in the UK as there are counties and locales. They really take their sausage seriously!!
Every once in a while I like to shake up the mash as well and do something quite different and a tad bit out of the ordinary with it.
Today I borrowed a leaf from Nigel Slater's, The Kitchen Diaries, and made his Cream & Mustard Mash from on page 325. It sounded rich, and deliciously indulgent.
And it was . . . with lovely single cream, two kinds of mustard and a nice knob of butter.
I didn't fancy plain fried sausages, nor did I fancy any gravy. I wanted my sausage to speak for itself.
And so I glazed them with a lovely mix of orange marmalade, soy sauce, mustard, balsamic vinegar and rosemary . . . the mixture thickens into a sticky, finger licking bit of deliciousness . . . coating those lovely bangers and gilding them all over with sweet/sour/salty tastiness.
Of course I added another knob of butter to the top o the potatoes when I served them . . . so that the heat of the potatoes would cause it to melt . . .
melting into golden buttery rivulets, each flowing down the sides of the mash, sinking into the crevices, gilding them and creating even more tastiness! What more could you ask for?
Yield: 4
Sticky Sausages with Cream & Mustard Mash
prep time: 10 minscook time: 25 minstotal time: 35 mins
A fabulous weeknight supper with sticky glazed sausages and a rich well flavoured indulgent mash. All you need is a green vegetable on the side.
ingredients:
For the sausages:
1 tsp oil
8 thick pork butchers sausages
(I like Cumberland Sausage)
2 TBS Balsamic Vinegar
2 TBS orange marmalade
2 TBS soy sauce
1 tsp Dijon mustard
spring rosemary
For the mash:
4 large floury potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
3 TBS butter
a handful fresh parsley chopped
1 TBS each Dijon and Grainy Mustard
300ml single cream, gently warmed (1 1/2 cups)
warm Milk if needed
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper (optional)instructions:
Put the potatoes in a saucepan and cover with lightly salted water. Bring to the boil and cook until fork tender.
While
the potatoes are boiling, heat the oil in a skillet and add the
sausages. Cook the sausages, turning them frequently, until golden brown
on all sides and almost cooked through (about 12 minutes). Drain any
fat from the pan. Whisk together the balsamic vinegar, orange marmalade
soy sauce and mustard in a small bowl. Warm together in the microwave
until the marmalade melts, whisking all together well. Pour this over
the sausages in the skillet and add the sprig of rosemary. Simmer gently
for several minutes, until well glazed and cooked through. Keep warm.
the potatoes are boiling, heat the oil in a skillet and add the
sausages. Cook the sausages, turning them frequently, until golden brown
on all sides and almost cooked through (about 12 minutes). Drain any
fat from the pan. Whisk together the balsamic vinegar, orange marmalade
soy sauce and mustard in a small bowl. Warm together in the microwave
until the marmalade melts, whisking all together well. Pour this over
the sausages in the skillet and add the sprig of rosemary. Simmer gently
for several minutes, until well glazed and cooked through. Keep warm.
Drain
the potatoes well and return them to the saucepan. Place on the
residual heat of the burner to dry out a bit adding the butter and
letting it melt. Whisk both mustard's into the warm cream and pour over
the potatoes in the saucepan. Mash well together until smooth, adding
warm milk if need be to get to the consistency you desire. Stir through
the parsley.Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if need be.
the potatoes well and return them to the saucepan. Place on the
residual heat of the burner to dry out a bit adding the butter and
letting it melt. Whisk both mustard's into the warm cream and pour over
the potatoes in the saucepan. Mash well together until smooth, adding
warm milk if need be to get to the consistency you desire. Stir through
the parsley.Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if need be.
Created using The Recipes Generator
This makes a lovely midweek meal, with very little work required. Just buy the best sausage your money can buy and let them do their magic. Bon Appetit!
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