Showing posts with label simple sauces. Show all posts
Showing posts with label simple sauces. Show all posts
I don't know about you, but I consider Macaroni and Cheese to be the ultimate in comfort foods.
My husband would disagree, as he is not overly fond of pasta of any kind, but the carb lover in me just needs to have some pasta every now and then, and of all the pastas on the earth Macaroni and Cheese is my favourite indulgence.
Interestingly enough, it wasn't something that I really remember my mother making when I was growing up.
Occasionally we might have Kraft Dinner Mac & Cheese, but that was considered a treat. If mom cooked pasta at all it was spaghetti, which my father love, LOVED and still does.
She would brown a pound of ground beef in a skillet and add a can of Catelli spaghetti sauce and call it Italian Spaghetti.
Served with the plastic green can of grated cheese that was about as foreign as my family got when it came to dinner cuisine!
My children always loved it when I made them Macaroni and Cheese. Its a pretty economical way to feed a large family, depending on the cheese you use for it.
When I first moved over here to Chester, there was a cheese monger at the Indoor Market in town who sold bags of cheese crumbs for 50p. I used to buy two or three each time I went in, specifically for use in cooking.
You were never quite sure what kind they were, but they always went great in a cheese sauce!
I will be honest and up front here . . . I never stint on the amount of cheese I put in a cheese sauce.
I think you should be able to full on taste it . . . not just hint at it. That's me . . . full on everything.
I also love cauliflower cheese and broccoli cheese.
Yes I confess when my children were growing up, I was one of those moms who spooned heated Cheese Whiz over their broccoli to get them to eat it.
Nobody complained. It was simple and it was easy.
Adding broccoli and cauliflower to macaroni and cheese is a great way to cut back on the carbs and to increase your intake of your five a day, and its incredibly delicious to boot!
Its like three of your favourite things all rolled up together in one.
It doesn't really involve any extra work, or more work than making ordinary mac and cheese and its a bit healthier.
At least I think it is. Don't burst my bubble if you disagree.
I just throw the vegetable in with the macaroni during the last few minutes of its cook time.
I cut them into rather smallish florets, about 1 inch in size, and they don't need much more than a few minutes to become crispy tender.
They add lots of interest to the dish, plenty of flavour and additional colour and texture.
Not to mention fiber as well as being some of your five a day!
Actually there are quite a few vegetables that go well in macaroni and cheese.
Leeks (I sauté them for a few minutes first), cooked peas and carrots, shredded cabbage or brussels sprouts (again lightly sautéed or blanched), Kale (once again, blanche first), Swiss chard, spinach, tomatoes, etc.
All are very tasty and I can honestly say I have never had anyone turn their nose up at any of them.
In fact, most people ask for seconds . . .
I like to use a strong cheddar for flavour and of course some mustard also adds a bit of a punch to the sauce.
You could use hot sauce in its place if you wanted to. I am particularly fond of the Green Tabasco sauce. I could eat that up with a spoon.
And of course I always top with some bread crumbs, crushed crackers, crushed cereal or stale chips and cheese. Casseroles with crunchy toppings are one of my favourite things!! You don't need much on the side with this. I like to serve it with pickled beetroot and some buttered brown bread. Yummy!
Yield: 2
Broccoli & Cauliflower Mac & Cheese
Rich and delicious, filled with several of your five a day and perfectly sized for two. I like to serve this with pickled beets and some buttered fresh brown bread.
ingredients:
For the cheese sauce:
- 250g whole milk (1 generous cup)
- 1 whole dried clove
- 1 dried bay leaf, broken in two
- 1 1/2 TBS butter
- 1 1/2 TBS flour
- salt and white pepper to taste
- 1 TBS Dijon mustard
- 60ml double cream (1/4 cup)
- 75g grated strong cheddar cheese (2/3 cup)
- 2 TBS grated Parmesan cheese
You will also need:
- 115g dry macaroni (1 cup or 4 ounces)
- 325g cauliflower florets (1 cup)
- 325g broccoli florets (1 cup)
- 60g grated strong cheddar cheese (1/2 cup)
- a couple TBS of either cracker crumbs or potato chip crumbs
instructions:
How to cook Broccoli & Cauliflower Mac & Cheese
- First make the sauce. Add the clove and bayleaf to the milk. Bring just to the boil, then set aside to infuse for about 15 minutes. Remove the clove and bay leaf and discard.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan until it begins to foam. Whisk in the flour and allow it to cook for a vew minutes until it starts to smell a bit nutty. Pour in the milk slowly, whisking continuously until the mixure has thickened nicely. Whisk in the cheese and allow it to melt. Whisk in the cream and Dijon mustard. Season to taste with salt and white pepper. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Butter a shallow casserole dish about 7 by 11 inches in size.
- Cook the dry macaroni in a pot of lightly salted water according to the package directions, adding the broccoli and cauliflower florets for the last 2 to 3 minutes of cook time. Drain everything well, then stir into the cheese sauce. Pour the whole lot into the prepared casserole dish.
- Mix together the cheeses and crumbs/chips for the topping and sprinkle evenly over top of the macaroni and cheese.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until bubbling and golden brown. Let stand about 10 minutes before serving.
I dare say I love this even more than regular mac and cheese. Its fabulously delicious! I have simple tastes . . . A simple salad also goes very well on the side.
I am fed up to the eyeballs with rain. Its that time of year! Not really cold, except for the wind, but the rain . . . its starting to get to me.
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
This was the Thanksgiving weekend back in Canada. I can never celebrate it properly at the right time of year because it is impossible to get a whole turkey without paying an arm and a leg for it at this time of year, if you can get one at all. A month makes all the difference in the world. Were it November, I would be able to get one quite easily.
I suppose what I should do is buy an extra one at Christmas or Easter and have it in the freezer, but I never think to do that!
You can get all kinds of other turkey bits all throughout the year. Turkey steaks, Turkey cubes. Turkey breast fillets, ground turkey . . . just no whole turkeys.
I quite like turkey myself and enjoy it in any way shape or form.
In any case I made us these delicious Cranberry & Apple Turkey Meatballs, instead of a roast turkey and we enjoyed them.
All the flavours of Thanksgiving in a bite sized meat ball . . . moist and tender . . .
I added grated raw apple and chopped dried cranberries to the meat mixture, along with some garlic and onion powder, a bit of seasoning and some dried sage . . .
There is an egg and dried bread crumbs as well to bind everything together. You shape this mixture into balls and then bake them in a hot oven for about 12 to 15 minutes. Easy peasy.
While they are baking you make a simple and delicious sauce to pour over them.
It also uses simple ingredients. Cranberry sauce. I like the whole berry sauce . . .
A bit of unsweetened applesauce . . . some Balsamic vinegar for a tang . . . orange juice, maple syrup and some finely grated orange zest . . .
The sauce is so delicious you will want to eat it with a spoon, but please don't! You need it for the meatballs!
Together these are incredibly delicious. You can make them ahead of time and keep them warm in a slow cooker on low for several hours. You decide.
Yield: Makes about 2 dozen
Cranberry & Apple Turkey Meatballs
Sweet and tangy, deliciously moist meatballs. These low fat meatballs make a great main course or a delightful appetiser or nibble.
ingredients:
For the meatballs:
- 1 pound of lean ground turkey
- 45g dried cranberries, chopped
- 1 tart apple, peeled and grated
- 60g dry bread crumbs (1/2 cup)
- 1 large free range egg, beaten
- 1 tsp each onion granules and dried sage
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
For the sauce:
- 280g whole berry cranberry sauce (1 cup)
- 2 dessert spoons of unsweetened applesauce (1/4 cup)
- 2 TBS balsamic vinegar
- 2 TBS pure maple syrup
- 1 TBS orange juice
- the finely grated zest of one orange
instructions:
How to cook Cranberry & Apple Turkey Meatballs
- Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. Line a baking tray with baking paper and lightly oil the paper.
- Mix the ground turkey together with the bread crumbs, egg, all of the seasonings and spices, the grated apple and the chopped dried cranberries, until well combined. Shape into meatballs using a light touch. Try not to compact them too much. Place them into a single layer on the baking sheet.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through. The juices should run clear.
- While the meatballs are cooking make the sauce by combining all of the ingredients in a saucepan, whisking until heated through and well combined. Add the cooked meatballs, turning to coat them in the sauce. Transfer to a serving platter and garnish with some chopped parsley if desired. Serve hot.
NOTES:
You can keep these warm in a slow cooker set on low setting.
These are great as a nibble during the holiday season when people do a lot of entertaining. Today we enjoyed them as a main course. They are pretty tasty no matter how you choose to enjoy them!
Up tomorrow: The steak rub I promised for today. (In all truth my turkey was due to expire and I needed to use it pronto!)
Fish for Friday here with a lovely dish this week of Roasted Sea Bass with a Lemon Parmesan Cream. Sea Bass is a fish that people really enjoy eating these days.
Its a common name which is used to describe a variety of fish, but here in the UK, all sea bass that is sold is exclusively European Bass.
I sourced mine from Seafresh, the online fish monger. Their seas bass is farmed, which is the most sustainably sourced at the moment! I can attest that it is a beautiful piece of fish.
Not as thick as cod, or as flat as plaice it is white or light in colour and beautifully sweet and buttery in flavour, mild and delicious!
The sea bass from Seafresh comes in skin on fillets, each piece being frozen individually, making it easy to take out only as many fillets as you want to use at any given time.
Its very easy to thaw out overnight in the refrigerator, or for a few hours at room temperature.This is one of the things I really like about the way they pack their fish.
I roasted mine today in a hot oven. Prior to roasting I sprinkled it with a spicy rub mix, of herbs and spices . . . and dotted it with butter . . .
A beautiful piece of fish doesn't take much work when it comes right down to it. A good piece of fish speaks for itself.
This recipe cooks very quickly, only taking about 8 minutes in a hot oven. I had a sauce which I wanted to serve with it.
Because the fish cooks so quickly I made the delicious sauce that I wanted to serve with it first and kept it warm while the fish roasted. I also cooked the spinach that I wanted to serve with it.
That's one thing I really love about fish . . . the easy of cooking it and the fact that it cooks very quickly. Its an almost instant dinner!
Plus it is so healthy and such a great source of protein. I am always saying to Todd we don't eat fish nearly often enough. My mother always told us it was brain food.
I made a Lemon Parmesan Cream Sauce to serve with our fish today. It is lush and rich and goes beautifully with the flavour of the fish and that spicy rub.
Simple things like that can dress up even the simplest meals and without a lot of effort taken.
It is a basic cream sauce/or bechamel . . . flavoured with Parmesan cheese, white wine and garlic.
Bechamel is the most basic of sauces. It was one of the first things they taught us how to do and forms the basis for all sorts of other recipes. Its also very simple to make so long as you follow a few rules.
First rule being you must use equal parts of flour and butter to make a roux. There is no such thing as a low fat bechamel. You must also cook the roux for a few minutes to cook out the flour flavour. This is a must.
You also want to make sure you have the correct amount of liquid to bind to the roux. Too little and you will end up with library paste. Too much and you have soup. Quantities matter. A lot.
Finally a proper bechamel needs to be cooked long and slow. If you try to rush it by using too high a temperature beneath your saucepan, you run the risk of burning it and there is no coming back from that. Also whisk, whisk, whisk. You don't want it to be lumpy.
A bechamel at its very basic is simple to make and makes for a most luxurious finish for any dish. With its mix of white wine, stock, cream and Parmesan this sauce was exquisite with the fish.
I sauteed some spinach to serve along side. I love sauteed fresh
spinach. It cooks in a flash, which makes it perfect for serving with
fish.And its bright green colour set off the fish and the sauce beautifully.
You can cook the spinach while you are roasting the fish. It doesn't
actually take very long to cook the spinach at all. Its basically just
wilted. I just add it to a hot skillet, a handful at a time. Tossing it with tongs, it wilts perfectly in just a few minutes and retains its colour beautifully.
You can trim off any largish stems prior to cooking if you wish. They don't really bother me, but I know when I worked at the Manor, I had to make sure there were no stems on the spinach at all.
It would take me a good 10 or 15 minutes going through the spinach removing all the stems. I am not that pedantic at home.
That beautiful rich sauce goes very well with both the fish and the spinach. I did garnish it with a few micro-greens for colour, but you could also use parsley or even snipped chives.
The only other thing you will need is some potatoes, rice or pasta on the side. I steamed some baby new potatoes in the microwave.
Just wash them, cut them in half if larger, and put them into a microwavable bowl with a cover, along with a knob of butter and some seasoning.
Cover and then cook on high for 9 to 11 minutes until fork tender. Let sit for 3 to 5 minutes before serving. Perfect!
Yield: 2
Roasted Sea Bass with a Lemon Parmesan Cream
Deliciously spiced and perfectly baked sea bass served with a lush flavourful cream. Simply wonderful. You can easily double the quantities to serve more people if you wish. This would make a great dinner party first course.
ingredients:
For the fish:
- 2 sea bass fillets
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1/4 tsp each dried basil, dried oregano,
- 1/4 tsp each salt and black pepper
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder
- pinch cayenne pepper
- soft butter to dot
For the sauce:
- 1 TBS butter
- 1 TBS flour
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 30ml white wine (1 fluid ounce)
- 60ml chicken stock (1/4 cup)
- 120ml heavy cream (1/2 cup)
- 2 TBS grated Parmesan cheese
- the juice and zest of 1/2 unwaxed lemon
- salt and white pepper to taste
For the spinach:
- 1 bag washed baby leaf spinach (about 5 large handfuls)
- 1 TBS butter
- 1 small clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
- salt and black pepper to taste
instructions:
How to cook Roasted Sea Bass with a Lemon Parmesan Cream
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Butter a baking sheet. Place the fish fillets skin side down on the buttered baking sheet. Combine all of the herbs and spices, rubbing them together well. Sprinkle evenly over the fish. Dot with butter and set aside while you make the sauce.
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Whisk in the flour. Cook, whisking for about a minute to cook out the flour taste. Stir in the garlic powder, and then whisk in the chicken stock and white wine. Cook, whisking until the mixture comes to a boil and bubbles. Whisk in the cream and heat through gently. Whisk in the cheese to melt. Add the lemon zest and juice and whisk again until it all comes together. Taste and season with salt and white pepper. Set aside and keep warm.
- Put the fish in the oven and roast for exactly 8 minutes.
- While the fish is cooking heat a non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add the butter and garlic. Once the butter begins to foam add the spinach, tossing it into the butter and adding more once the spinach begins to wilt, a handful at a time, until it is all wilted. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- To serve lay a portion of spinach on a heated plate, top with a fish fillet and spoon a portion of the sauce over top. Serve immediately. Some boiled baby new potatoes would be lovely with this.
Look at how perfect and flaky that fish is and its beautiful colour. I am always so very impressed with the fish and seafood we get from Seafresh. Their service is impeccable, the packaging well done and environmentally friendly, and the product of exceptional quality and value. If you would like to know more about their products please click here. You really can't go wrong!
A few things about Seafresh:
- Same Day dispatch on orders received before 1 PM.
- All packages are carefully hand packed.
- Free delivery on orders above £50, £8 on orders below that amount.
- Responsibly and sustainably sourced.
- Air Blast Frozen at source within 4 hours of being caught.
- Wide variety to choose from.
Follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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: theenglishkitchen@mail.com
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I received some lovely Sea Trout Supremes from Seafresh the other day and couldn't wait to try them. So here I am with a delicious fish dish for Friday that I think you are really going to fall in love with! If you aren't already aware of it, Seafresh is an on line fish monger, which sells quality fish, seafood,
poultry and meat. I was incredibly impressed with both
their product and their delivery service! There was absolutely nothing
that I could fault with any of it. Feel free to read about my experience here.
These beautiful trout supremes are sourced from the ice cold waters of Scotland and the Faroe Isles in the North of Scotland. Skinned and boned, and frozen individually, this beautiful fish is a part of the salmon family and contains health benefits similar to Salmon, being rich in Omega 3 fish oils. Scotland is famous for its trout and salmon, so I was really excited to be able to try this today. (Let it be noted that I thawed the fish completely prior to cooking so the cook times relate to thawed fish.)
Because it is a lovely piece of fish, I wanted to give it a really simple treatment so that the flavour of the fish would shine through. I thought about pan frying it, but then decided to steam it instead.
I placed the fillets on an oiled sheet of aluminium foil and brushed them with oil, and then I seasoned them lightly with salt and white pepper.
Further to that I julienned some basil leaves and scattered them over top and squeezed over the juice of a fresh lemon.
I sealed up the packet and lay it aside so I could start my sauce.
I decided on a Ginger and Tomato Sauce, which might sound a bit unconventional, but let me assure you the flavours work beautifully with an oily fish such as Salmon or Trout.
I peeled and de-seeded two large tomatoes and popped them into the jug of my immersion blender and added a quantity of sliced peeled fresh ginger root. I blitzed the two together until they were quite smooth and then I passed them through a sieve into a non-reactive saucepan.
I then set it aside until I had cooked the sea trout.
I steamed the trout, in the packet, in a basket over boiling water for about 8 minutes, at which time it was cooked perfectly.
To finish the sauce I heated it gently over moderate heat just to the boiling point, whereupon began to whisk the butter into it a small bit at a time resulting in a silky glossy and rich sauce.
To serve I spooned a portion of this beautifully flavoured sauce onto each heated dinner plate and laid a fillet of the steamed sea trout on top. We enjoyed this beautiful fish dish along with some boiled new potatoes and steamed green beans. It was a dinner made in heaven. Elegant and yet quite simple. Delicious!
Yield: 4
Steamed Sea Trout with a Ginger & Tomato Sauce
Perfectly cooked fish is steamed and served with a snappy and lush sauce flavoured with ginger and tomato. Delicious! You will need a steaming basket/rack to cook the fish.
ingredients:
- 4 Sea Trout fillets, skinned
- 1 TBS light olive oil
- 8 basil leaves, rolled and julienned
- the juice of one lemon
- fine sea salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
For the Ginger & Tomato Sauce:
- 2 large beef steak tomatoes, peeled and seeded
- 55g fresh ginger, peeled and sliced (2 ounces)
- 45g salted butter (3 TBS)
instructions:
How to cook Steamed Sea Trout with a Ginger & Tomato Sauce
- Tear a sheet of aluminium foil large enough to enclose the fish fillets in a single layer. Oil it lightly. Place the fish fillets onto it and brush each with some oil. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with the basil leaves. Squeeze the juice of the lemon over top. Pull the foil over top to enclose completely, leaving some air space. Seal tightly and set aside.
- Put the tomatoes and ginger into the cup of an immersion blender or liquidiser. Blitz until smooth and then pass through a fine sieve. Discard any solids.
- Put the packet of fish in the basket of a steamer, over boiling water. Cover the steamer. Steam over the boiling water for 7 to 8 minutes until cooked through. Remove and set aside while you finish the sauce.
- Place the sauce in a saucepan and bring just to the simmer. Don't allow it to boil. Break the butter into bits and whisk in a bit at a time until you have a lovely glossy sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Place a pool of sauce on each of four heated dinner plates. Place a cook fillet of Sea Trout on top of each and serve with your favourite vegetables.
NOTES:
Regular trout and salmon can also be cooked in this manner.
If you can't get Sea Trout Supremes you can also use ordinary trout fillets or salmon fillets and cook them in the same manner with excellent results. The cook time will vary.
A few things about Seafresh:
- Same Day dispatch on orders received before 1 PM.
- All packages are carefully hand packed.
- Free delivery on orders above £50, £8 on orders below that amount.
- Responsibly and sustainably sourced.
- Air Blast Frozen at source within 4 hours of being caught.
- Wide variety to choose from.
Follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Note - Although I was gifted with product free of charge for the purposes of review, I was not required to write a positive review in exchange, nor would my integrity allow me to recommend anything if I did not truly like it. Any and all my opinions are my own entirely.
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