Showing posts with label simple suppers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label simple suppers. Show all posts
Hamburger Gravy. This might not be the most attractive dish to look at. Most brown food isn't, but what it lacks for in looks, it more than makes up for in taste.
This classic old fashioned entree was a very common simple supper dish that was served up in many homes when I was growing up. Not only was it incredibly economical, but it was also and IS also very quick and easy to make!
Hamburger Gravy is a supper dish which has been pleasing families and their budgets for many years and still does to this day.
This week I decided to small batch my old recipe to am amount more fitting with the smaller family, and with great results.
If you are wanting to feed a larger family, you can certainly double up on everything! We are not talking rocket science here. Just multiply everything by two!
This is a very simple recipe, which is very quick to make and requires very simple, and humble ingredients.
WHAT WILL YOU NEED:
There is nothing really complicated here.
- ground beef
- flour
- milk
- stock
- seasoning
- dry onion soup mix, just a TBS (my secret ingredient)
I like to use extra lean ground beef, and in fact, more often than not, I use ground steak. When you are using a regular fatty type of ground beef, bear in mind that you are going to be pouring almost half of its weight down the drain.
You are actually paying for something which you won't be able to eat. All of that extra fat melted = waste. Nobody wants to eat grease and so, it simply gets drained off. You are then left with less than what you paid for!
Its quite simple really!
This is a supper option that goes together very quickly. That makes it perfect for those days when you are rushed off your feet.
We all want to feed our families delicious food, but sometimes we are so tired at the end of the day we just don't have the energy needed to put together something spectacular!
Those are the times when we need recipes just like this one! You can have it sitting on the table in front of your family within a very short period of time.
I am a person who loves to make a great use of convenience whenever I can. I make it a habit to have several ingredients in my freezer at all times which help to make things move more quickly in the kitchen.
I always keep bags of frozen mashed potatoes in the freezer. Not only are these very convenient and quick to use, but with a few added bits, you can't really tell the difference between them and old fashioned created from scratch mashed potatoes.
I usually will add a bit of seasoning and some sour cream or extra milk to add flavour and creaminess. You can also add cheese, or a mix of herbs and seasonings.
I like to keep bags of frozen chopped onions in the freezer. Not having to stop, peel and chop an onion makes things even more quicker, and in a dish like this, using frozen chopped onion really won't make much of a difference to the texture or the flavour.
I confess that when I was a child I was not overly fond of Hamburger Gravy. I have no warm, nostalgic, or fuzzy wuzzy feelings about it.
I think that is because my mother always used really cheap ground beef which was high in fat and gristle. I know she was trying to save money, but again, you end up draining half it it away.
Out of our five family members, I was always the one who got the gristle or . . . shudder . . . the odd piece of bone. I have a really strong gag reflex and this just totally turned me off. Tell me I am not alone here!
Lets just say, it was not my cup of tea. I do enjoy it very much now however. Using ground steak makes all the difference in the world.
You can actually (in most cases) get the butcher to grind it right in front of you. Did you know that when you are buying a package of ground beef at the grocery store, that package of meat may have come from more than just a few animals?
Its true. It all gets ground up en masse and then broken down into smaller packages. I would much rather know that what I am eating only came from one, very traceable animal.
I also try to get organic, grass fed if I can, but that is a personal preference. We don't eat red meat very often. and when we do, I want to know that its good and the best I can buy.
The gravy for this dish is really flavourful . . . thick and rich . . . and delicious. We enjoy it spooned over fluffy mashed potatoes.
But back home in Canada, it is also enjoyed served over hot chips with peas and cheese. They call it Hot Hamburger Poutine, or All Dressed Poutine.
Hot thick, crisp hand cut fries, with the hot beef and gravy ladled over top. Cheese gets scattered over top of that so that it melts, becoming all gooey and oozy. Sometimes there will be a scattering of peas on top as well.
I have never made it this way for Todd, but I am sure he would really love it! Who wouldn't??? Maybe next time I will.
In a way, this is somewhat like a deconstructed type of Cottage pie. It has many of the same elements, but put together in a simpler and different way. Equally as delicious I think, maybe even more so.
This is also a very adaptable. This version I am showing you today is at its very simplest. You can also add sliced mushrooms when you are browning the meat, which would sort of make it a kind of a Beef Burger Stroganoff.
A dollop of dairy sour cream can be added for an extra special rich touch to the dish. I have also added a dollop of cream cheese in the past. Very yummy indeed!
I suppose what I am really trying to say is that it truly is the extra simple things in life which bring us the most pleasure.
Things like doggie cuddles, golden sunsets, love of family, good friends, and . . . yes . . . Hamburger Gravy.
Hamburger Gravy
Yield: 3
prep time: 5 Mcook time: 25 Mtotal time: 30 M
I small batched one of our favourite meals. You can easily double the ingredients to feed more people. This might not be very attractive but it is delicious. We enjoy it spooned over mashed potatoes with a vegetable on the side.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 pound lean ground beef
- 1/2 small onion, peeled and diced
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
- 1/2 TBS Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 1/2 TBS plain flour
- 1/2 cup (120ml) milk
- 1/2 cup (120ml) beef broth
- 1 TBS dry onion soup mix or a beef boullion cube
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
- Heat a large skillet and brown the ground beef in it along with the onion until no more pink remains. Do not drain. If there is no fat in the bottom of the pan you may need to add a tablespoon of butter or oil. (I would always go with the butter.)
- Stir in the Worcestershire sauce. Stir in the flour and cook for several minutes to cook out the flour taste.
- Add the remaining ingredients, stirring everything together well. Cook over moderate heat until thickened and bubbly. If you think it is too thick you can more boullion or some water.
- Taste and adjust seasoning as required. Serve hot, spooned over mashed potatoes.
- This freezes well if you want to double it and freeze the extras.
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English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are
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I had so much on to do today that I wanted to make us something really quick and easy for our supper. You can't get much quicker than fish!
Cooked properly without too much trouble you can easily be enjoying a lovely piece of fish in less than half an hour! Lemon & Garlic Butter Baked Cod is one of my favourite ways of preparing Cod.
I know I say that all the time when I am cooking fish, but the plain fact is I LOVE FISH, in pretty much any way shape or form and I love eating and cooking it.
And fish is so very good for you. My mother always said that fish was brain food. I always believed her. As a child when we were eating fish for supper, I always imagined that my brain was expanding and becoming exponentially smarter with every mouthfull.
Kids can be so very impressionable. I don't think that it was a bad thing that our mother made us think that fish made us smarter. It created a great love for fish and helped it to become a favourite! I love cooking and eating it.
Every way is my favourite way! I especially love LOVE Cod. It is so sweet and succulent, very mild flavoured. It lends itself beautifully to all sorts of treatment. I would rather have a good piece of Cod rather than a piece of lobster any day of the week!
We get our Cod from Seafresh. They are online purveyors of quality fish. They have beautiful North Atlantic Cod Loins which are thick, firm and delicately flavoured. I just love them. In all truth I have never had a bad piece of fish from them.
Everything has been beautiful. I think I have tried just about everything in their line of products and nothing has disappointed me yet.
Seafresh has access to some of the best quality products
from Britain and around the world, largely due to the good relationships
they have fostered with their suppliers since 1996.
It was in 1996 that they began
with the very simple concept of selling high quality frozen foods to
their customers right in the comfort of their own homes. I've been enjoying their fabulous products for over a year now and I have to say I have never been disappointed.
I can't say the same thing about shop bought fish. I really can't. Most of the time I have been hugely disappointed.
And when you are talking about something which has as hefty a price tag as fish has, you really can't afford to and don't want to be disappointed!
This is a really quick and simple way of preparing fish. It works well with Cod and would probably work with most varieties of fish.
I think milder flavoured fish such as Cod or Sole really work well with these flavours, but I can see it also working well with Sea Bass or Haddock.
It involves seasoning the fish and popping it into a baking dish. You can butter the baking dish if you wish, but I never do.
Spooning a simple lemon, olive oil and garlic sauce over top, dotting it with cold buter nd a few lemon slices and then baking it to perfection.
It doesn't take long . . . 15 to 20 minutes if you are using thawed fish. This timing will give you cooked perfection.
My fish is not refrigerator cold either. I usually let it sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes or so before I begin.
The lemon, garlic and butter flavour the fish beautifully and mingle with the juices of the fish to make a fabulously tasty sauce to spoon over top.
I never eat the lemon, but it does look really pretty sitting there, and of course it imparts a lovely flavour to the fish as well.
Oh my but this is some gorgeous. Quantities are given to serve two people, but it can very easily be doubled to serve more. Its that easy with simple things . . . and this is simple.
To serve more, just double up on everything. More butter, more lemon, more garlic. Oh my, just saying that gets my tastebuds tingling. Butter, lemon and garlic, a trinity of good taste!
I served them with twice baked stuffed potato halves that I had made yesterday and some tenderstem broccoli. This was a fabulously delicious meal, quick and easy and a real husband pleaser.
Todd never minds when we have fish for supper. He knows that it is going to be delicious and perfectly cooked. I have had lots of practice at getting everything just right!
I just realised I have never given you my recipe for Stuffed Twice Baked Potatoes. I'll have to remedy that! Its very simple. For four, just bake two large baking potatoes until they are tender and yield slightly to the touch. About 1 hour at 225*C/425*F. I put them right onto the oven rack, pricking them first with a fork.
Once they are soft I let them cool until I can handle them and then I cut them in half lengthwise. I scoop out the flesh and mash it together with salt, pepper, butter, sour cream, sometimes some cheese, chives or spring onion and then I restuff the potatoes, sprinkling the tops with some paprika.
Back into the oven for about 10 to 15 minutes and Bob's Your Uncle! Stuffed Twice Baked Potato perfection that will go with just about anything!
Lemon & Garlic Butter Baked Cod
Yield: 2
prep time: 5 Mcook time: 15 Mtotal time: 20 M
This is incredibly easy and so very delicious.
Ingredients:
- 2 cod loin fillets
- 1 TBS extra virgin olive oil
- the juice of one lemon
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
- fine sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
- 2 TBS cold butter, diced
- 4 slices of lemon
- chopped parsley to garnish
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Butter a baking dish large enough to hold the cod fillet in one layer with some space between them for the air to circulate.
- Pat the fish dry with some paper towel. Season all over with salt and black pepper. Place into the dish, top side up.
- Whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil and garlic. Spoon over the fish evenly. Dot the fish with the cold butter. Lay two slices of lemon on top of each fillet.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily and is opague. Serve hot, sprinkled with parsley and with some of the pan juices spooned over top.
Just look at how nicely cooked that is. Tender, moist and flaky. This was one very beautiful piece of fish, thanks to Seafresh.
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.
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I had to create/cook/photograph a recipe for an online site I write for yesterday and I had a quantity of leftover browned ground steak leftover.
I didn't want it to go to waste, and I wanted to create something tasty and slightly different with it.
Oh, I know I could have used this in a bolognese, but my husband is not a fan of pasta . . . and I could have used it in a cottage pie, but again, I've done that many times on here.
Todd loves curry anything . . . anything. If it has curry in the title he is first in line. He is so British. The Brits love curries.
Surprisingly, Curry is consistently in the top ten of British favourite foods, second only to fish and chips!
I confess it was a British friend who introduced me to curry about 39 years ago now.
My ex and I were stationed at the BATUS (British Army Training Unit Services) base in Suffield, Alberta. We made some great friends with the British.
Some of our best friends were Cathy and Mick Giles, both from Liverpool area.
It was Cathy that introduced me to a curry and I have to say I fell in love at first bite!
I had leftover cooked rice from yesterday as well, so it only seemed natural that I create a Curried Beef Fried Rice.
Well, natural to me anyways.
New, fresh and delicious. Exciting even! I added a quantity of lightly sauteed vegetables. I had a cauliflower in the refrigerator that needed using, so I chopped up some of that . . .
I also chopped up some carrot. I did cut a few slices into flowers for a super pretty garnish!
Its not hard to do. Just peel your carrot and then cut a few wedges out around the outside down the length of it. When you cut it into slices you have cute little flowers.
Aside from the carrots and cauliflower, I added cabbage, and I admit a small piece of swede that I cut into tiny bits. I just wanted to use it up.
Does anyone else find themselves not wanting to waste anything in this pandemic situation we find ourselves in?
I do not let anything go to waste anymore if I can help it. You never know when you are going to be able to get more!
In all truth, we should not be wasteful about anything anyways, and I am ashamed that I ever was.
I also added a handful each of frozen corn and frozen peas. I always use Bird's Eye frozen peas and corn. I have tried other kinds and I don't like them.
Not at all. More often than not the peas are woody in other brands, especially store brands. Its like they package the rejects from Bird's Eye.
A couple scrambled eggs, shallot and some spring onion finish the picture. Oh yes, along with some soy sauce and curry powder. I used a heaped teaspoon.
Curried Beef Fried Rice
Yield: 4
prep time: cook time: total time:
This is delicious. It's also quick and very easy to throw together. A fabulous simple supper.
Ingredients:
- 2 large free range eggs, beaten with 1 TBS cream
- olive oil for cooking
- 125g cooked ground steak or hamburger, crumbled (1 cup)
- 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 banana shallot, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 fat clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 medium carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped
- a few florets of cauliflower, coarsely chopped
- six savoy cabbage leaves, heavy centre veins trimmed away and discarded, and cabbage thinly sliced (Roll up tightly and slice, easy peasy)
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 heaped tsp of curry powder
- 1 (2 serving) sized pouch of ready cooked rice or 1 1/2 cups cooked rice
- 2 tsp dark soy sauce
- a proper handful each of frozen petit pois, and frozen corn
- chopped spring onions to garnish
Instructions:
- Beat the eggs and cream together. Coat a large skillet lightly with olive oil and heat. Dump in the eggs and quickly scramble them. Remove the scrambled egg to a bowl and keep warm. Add a bit more oil to the pan. Add the chopped onions, garlic and shallot. Cook to wilt and then add the carrots, cauliflower and cabbage. Cook, stirring, until wilted and crispy tender. Add the beef, curry powder, salt, pepper and soy sauce. Stir in the rice and return the eggs to the pan. Stir in the frozen peas and corn. Heat through. Check for seasoning and adjust as necessary. Serve hot and garnished with the spring onions
Todd enjoyed this so much he ate half of it all by himself. That makes me happy when I can make a dinner for my husband that he really enjoys. Mango chutney goes really well. 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.
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