Showing posts sorted by relevance for query lamb. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query lamb. Sort by date Show all posts
Easy traditional Irish Champ is the perfect recipe to enjoy during the month of March when we will be celebrating the wearing of the green, Saint Patrick's Day! The Irish love their potatoes and there is no end to the ways they love to enjoy them.
Champ and Colcannon are two of the most favourite ways and are both very similar. Champ is a potato/spring onion dish, whereas Colcannon has cooked cabbage in it as well as the onions. I love, LOVE them both!
I have seen Champ done with sauteed leeks and spring onions, but this version of Champ I am sharing today uses only spring onions (scallions.) It is delicious either way.
Oddly enough, in the old days, champ used to be made with stinging nettles. They were a plant which grew abundantly in most places and which was free for the picking. Make sure you wear gloves if you do try to pick and use them because they do sting and will blister your skin and hands.
Normally Dock leaves grown near nettles, so you can swipe one of those over the sting to take it away. Interestingly enough when nettles are cooked, this removes the sting, so there is no worry with eating them.
This begs an answer to the question . . . Just who was it that decided that something which stung the skin could be safely eaten??? Yes . . . I do have a curious mind.
Over the years, Spring Onions, or scallions as they are also known, have become the standard to use in the making of champ. I just think it is a fabulously tasty dish. We really do love it!
Everyone in my immediate family has had our DNA done now and we have discovered a healthy amount of Irish DNA in our family tree (with the exception of our dad who is 91% French). This gives us all the more reason to celebrate our Irish roots this year!
Mashed potatoes with warm milk, spring onions and butter beaten into
them. It's so tasty. The Irish know how to do potatoes and do them
well!
You can use leftover boiled potatoes to make this quite easily. Just reheat the potatoes in an amount of whole milk. Once heated through, mash and add the remaining ingredients. Easy Peasy.
Today I started from scratch.
For this you will want to use a floury type of potato, like a Russet or Maris Piper, King Edward. You do NOT want a new potato or waxy potato. They do NOT mash well. Trust me on this.
Once you have the right kind of potato, everything else is a doddle. Simply peel the potatoes, cut into chunks, and cook them in some lightly salted boiling water.
You will need to cook them until they are fork tender, but not falling apart in the water. Take care not to overcook them. It should take roughly 15 - 20 minutes depending on the size of your potato chunks.
Once they are cooked you will need to drain them very well and then return them to the pot. I like to let them sit in the heat of the pot over the residual heat of the burner to finish drying them out, with a clean tea towel thrown over top of the pan.
This allows the steam to be released without it being dropped back into the pan, whilst still keeping he potatoes heated.
I always warm the milk when I am doing mash of any kind. It doesn't take long to do it in the microwave. Just heat it on high for about a minute. I add the spring onions to the milk before heating it.
This helps to take any sharp flavour away from the onion and makes them just right for stirring into the mashed potatoes. It also helps to infuse the flavor of the onion into the milk beautifully. A quantity of butter is also stirred in, plus some salt and pepper. You can use white or black pepper.
The Irish used to serve this in a big bowl, hot from the stove.
A big knob of
butter would be melting into the middle of it so that the family could dip their
pieces of bread into the butter and scoop up some potatoes to eat with
it at the same time.
It sounds all warm and cosy to me, although nowadays with Covid, perhaps not a wise thing to do.
I tend to serve it as a side dish these days. It goes with just about everything. Lamb is especially nice. Grilled Chops, or some roasted lamb would be lovely.
Today we had it with grilled and glazed bangers/sausages. If you can get real Irish ones so much the better!!
In working with the green theme, I served some steamed green beans on the side. It was a really lovely meal. Really lovely.
I will always regret that during my stay in the UK, I never did get to visit Ireland, and it was so close too. I have heard that it is a beautiful country with too many shades of green in its landscape to count.
The closest I ever got was enjoying the company of a few Irishmen on the train back from London one time. Those Irish sure have the gift of the gab, especially when they've been enjoying a Guinness or two or three. Very pleasant folk to be sure!
Irish Champ
Yield: 4
prep time: 5 Mincook time: 25 Mintotal time: 30 Min
An old Irish Dish, consisting of fluffy white mashed potatoes infused with plenty of butter, milk and spring onions.
Ingredients
- 1 kg (2 1/4 pounds) floury potatoes, peeled and halved
- 225ml whole milk (1 cup)
- 1 bunch spring onions, thinly sliced (6 to 8 scallions)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 50g (2 ounces) butter
- a knob of butter to serve
Instructions
- Place the potatoes into a large pot and fill with enough cold water to cover. Lightly salt the water, bring to the boil and cook until fork tender, about 20 minutes.
- Drain the tender potatoes well. Return them to the pot and shake over the residual heat of the burner to dry them out. Place a clean tea towel over top to absorbe any access moisture.
- Place the milk into a large glass measuring cup along with the spring onions. Heat gently in the microwave for about 1 minute.
- Mash the potatoes well with the butter until smooth. Stir in the milk and spring onions to combine well together. Season with salt and white pepper.
- Pile into a bowl and top with a knob of butter. Serve immediately.
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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Now I have never been to Greece, but it is a place I have always wanted to go . . . since I was about 10 years old and saw Haley Mills in the Moon Spinners. It looked like a fabulous country to visit and it is still my dream to one day visit. I am sorry they are having so many problems at the moment. I hope that they are able to work their way through this hard time they are having.
I have had a kebab though . . . a kebab is a very popular takeaway dish here in the UK. (Especially when all the pubs and bars start to empty out on a Friday and Saturday night!)You see them in all of the takeaways . . . big slabs of mystery meat, on a huge skewer, rotating in front of a heat lamp thingie. They slice the meat off onto a pita bread and cover it with salad and sauce. They sell tons of them . . . I have had a chicken one before and it was quite good. I have never had a mystery meat one though . . . and I somehow don't think I ever will . . .
And really . . . after having watched The Food Inspector the other week . . . I doubt that I ever will have a chicken one again either. UGH!!
These tasty Souvlaki are so much nicer . . . and healthier too. Plus you know exactly what is in them.
You are supposed to zip open the pita bread and pile all the fillings inside . . . but in all truth that has never worked for me . . . they always fall apart. I would rather just put the warm pita bread on a plate and pile everything on top of it and eat it with a knife and fork.
I know. Me = party pooper! Nevermind . . . it doesn't matter how you eat it. It's delicious. End of.
*Souvlaki in Pita*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe
This is considered to be the Greek Equivalent of the Kebab! We sell enough Kebab's in this country on Friday night. I reckon this is a much healthier option and a lot tastier as well!
4 large pita breads
water and olive oil to moisten
2 tsp chopped fresh oregano
2 TBS freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 medium onion, peeled and coarsely grated
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
500g lean pork or lamb, cut into 1 inch cubes (1 1/4 pound)
For the Salad Bits:
lettuce thinly sliced
cucumber, sliced
red pepper, sliced
tomatoes, cut into wedges
radishes, sliced
1 small red onion, tpeeled and thinly sliced
flat leaf parsley leaves, torn
For the Garlic Dressing:
100ml of thick, strained Greek Yoghurt (about 3/4 cup)
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
3 inches of cucumber, coarselyated and then squeezed dry
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
Metal skewers for grilling
Sprinkle the pita breads with water and olive oil. Either grill them, or bake them at 180*C/350*C/ gas 4 for 3 to 5 minutes, just long enough to soften them, but not dry them out. Place them in a warm place and cover with a tea towel to keep warm.
Put the oregano, lemon juice, grated onion and some salt and pepper in a bowl. Whisk in the olive oil. Add the meat cubes and mix them into coat them completely. Allow to sit and marinate for at least 20 minutes. Drain and then thread onto metal skewers. Cook on a preheated barbeque, or on a stove top grill pan, turning occasionally until golden outside and cooked through. (5 to 8 minutes)
While they are grilling toss together your salad choices in a bowl. Set aside.
Whisk together the yoghurt, garlic, cucumber and salt in a bowl.
Add a dollop of this to each warmed pita bread. Top with some salad and push the meat off of the skewers on top. Drizzle with a bit more of the garlic dressing if you want. Serve immediately, while the bread and meat are hot, but the dressing and salad are cool.
PS - I don't want a lot of Greeks messaging me and telling me this isn't authentic. It's not supposed to be. This is The ENGLISH kitchen. 'Nuff said.
Yes, its another chicken recipe to share with you today. We do eat a lot of chicken. I usually try to intersperse other recipes in between, but I messed up this week, so yes, its another chicken recipe, but it is not only a tasty recipe that I think you are going to really enjoy, but its a great store cupboard recipe, and perfectly sized for two. You can easily adapt it to serve more if you wish.
I was slightly inspired by a recipe I found in Miguel Barclay's latest book, Super Easy One Pound Meals. He has a recipe in there for a chicken parm, which uses skin on chicken thighs. I got rid of the skin in favour of a cheesy breading, which is much more authentic to my way of thinking, and . . . dare I say it???? Why not . . . a tad bit tastier.
I have to confess, I have tried a few recipes from his books, and I will be honest, they (to me) lack flavour. I mean no offense, truly. I did his Moussaka for us the other day, which was in his first book, I believe. The photograph looked really good, and we quite like Moussaka.
First off, the
sauce was pretty tasteless, which was easy for me to fix. I added some
cinnamon, and thyme, and a splash of white wine. I also chose to infuse the milk for the bechamel with some bay leaf. (Just warm the milk with a broken bay leaf added, and let sit for bout 10 minutes.)
The recipe called for eggplant/aubergine sliced lengthwise rather than crosswise, and layered in a pan
with the lamb sauce and the bechamel, which in theory sounds great. I thought to myself, what novel idea. It doesn't work. The end result is tough eggplant (especially when going by the cook time suggested in the recipe) It was actually quite rubbery. I scraped out the meat sauce and put it into a casserole dish, discarding the eggplant and bechamel. I topped it with some frozen mash and Todd had it for dinner as a kind of Greek Shepherd's pie, which he did enjoy. Lemons/lemonade . . . so . . .
Just sharing my experience, that's all. I mean no harm.The chicken parm recipe in his first book sounds and looks delicious, but with a few changes, such as the cheese/crumb coating on the chicken, rather than skin. To be honest, once you add the sauce the skin would lose any crispness, the crumbs stand up much better to sauce, than skin.
He also uses plain passatta (sieved tomatoes) with some oregano added. It sounded bland. I used a basil and garlic marinara sauce, which costs approximately the same, but has a lot more flavour, containing more herbs and garlic . . .
This gets added at the very end, so the crumbs stay nice and crisp, and then I topped the marinara with some Italian Four Cheese Blend, which I also thought had more flavour. It is a mix of mozzarella and other cheeses, so you still get the ooze, but it just tastes better. (Again only my opinion!)
What I did like about his recipe was the idea of roasting potato cubes along with the chicken. They got nice and crisp edged. We quite liked them.
I haven't costed the recipe with my changes, but I can't think that they would increase the cost by much as it is really only adding some herbs and a few different flavours. I have a well stocked herb cupboard.
I think on the whole his books are good for younger inexperienced cooks, the recipes make great canvases for cooks to play with, so its not all bad news. He really tends to play it safe when it comes to flavours, and a more experienced cook can easily play with them and amp things up.
But that is really the mark of a good recipe isn't it . . . its a recipe which anyone can cook, and which inspires you to want to cook, motivating you to want to stretch your abilities/tastes a tiny bit. You look at it and you say to yourself, what a great idea . . . and you grab the ball and run with it. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
The changes I applied to this one worked, and they worked well. We were both very pleased with our dinners. I would not cook the moussaka one again. I'll stick to my tried and true one instead. I have always roasted my aubergine first and I would suggest if you try his, you do too, or you could just cook my tried and true recipe, which was adapted from one by the reliable Tamasin Day Lewis. I have never cooked one of her recipes that I did not fall in love with.
In any case, this was good. It was delicious. It was quick. It was easy.
Yield: 2
Quick & Easy Chicken Parm
prep time: 10 minscook time: 30 minstotal time: 40 mins
This is a quick and easy meal, making use of some store cupboard ingredients. For those days when you are feeling lacking in inspiration but still want something really tasty to eat.
ingredients:
2 large skinless, boneless chicken thighs (alternately you can use small breasts)
4 TBS Panko Bread crumbs
2 TBS coarsely grated Parmesan cheese
salt and black pepper to taste
120ml good quality tomato and basil pasta sauce (1/2 cup)
4 TBS Italian four cheese blend
2 medium baking potatoes peeled and cubed
olive oil
instructions:
Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Have ready a baking
tray large enough to hold the chicken and potatoes in a single layer.
Toss the potatoes in a bowl with a bit of oil and some seasoning.
Scatter them onto the baking tray.
tray large enough to hold the chicken and potatoes in a single layer.
Toss the potatoes in a bowl with a bit of oil and some seasoning.
Scatter them onto the baking tray.
Lay the
chicken thighs onto the baking tray in a single layer, stretching them
out and opening them up. Season with some salt and black pepper. Mix
together the bread crumbs and Parmesan. Sprinkle evenly over top of the
chicken. Drizzle with a tiny bit of olive oil. Pop the tray into the
preheated oven. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring the potatoes every
10 minutes. At the end of that time, spoon the tomato sauce over each
piece of chicken and scatter with the cheese blend. return to the oven
and roast until everything is heated through, the cheese has melted and
the chicken juices run clear. Serve hot.
chicken thighs onto the baking tray in a single layer, stretching them
out and opening them up. Season with some salt and black pepper. Mix
together the bread crumbs and Parmesan. Sprinkle evenly over top of the
chicken. Drizzle with a tiny bit of olive oil. Pop the tray into the
preheated oven. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring the potatoes every
10 minutes. At the end of that time, spoon the tomato sauce over each
piece of chicken and scatter with the cheese blend. return to the oven
and roast until everything is heated through, the cheese has melted and
the chicken juices run clear. Serve hot.
Created using The Recipes Generator
I don't know as I would bother with the potatoes again. I think really rice or pasta would go much better, but again that's just my opinion. Have a great day and Bon Appetit!
There are certain foods that I just have to make each Easter for us to eat here in my English Kitchen. Things like hot cross buns . . .
Baked Ham and scalloped potatoes . . . if I'm in a North American mood, or Roast Leg of Lamb, if I'm feeling decidedly British . . .
Deviled Eggs . . .
Simnel Cakes . . .
There are some foods that are just traditional for Easter Celebrations. My Aunt Thelma always used to make lovely fruit breads for Easter. All yeasty and sweet and stogged full of raisins and candied peel . . . the tops covered with a lucious icing glaze and decorated with candied cherries. We so used to look forward to their arrival every Easter Holiday . . .
These past few years I have adopted the habit of making these delicious chocolatey Easter Crispie Cakes. They're so easy to make, and scummily moreish to eat.
Kids just love them. Adults likewise . . . somewhat reminiscent of the Nestle's Crunch Bar . . . there is nothing to them but good melted chocolate (two kinds) and crisp rice cereal.
Oh, and those tasty candy covered little chocolate eggs of course!!
Bet you can't eat just one . . . and I bet you'll have to make them more than once during the Easter Holiday season. Aren't you glad they're so easy to make?
*Easter Chocolate Crispie Nests*
Makes about 15
Printable Recipe
These are so easy to do and look so pretty when they are finished. I had long heard of Marshmallow Crispy Squares, but never these chocolate delights! What a sheltered life I have lived! I wish I had known about these when my children were growing up. They would have loved them!
50 grams of milk chocolate (I used Green and Blacks organic) (1/3 cup)
50 grams of dark chocolate (again I used Green and Blacks)(1/3 cup)
3 cups of crisp rice cereal
1 bag of Easter mini eggs (you will not need them all, but I am sure you will find a use for the extras, I did!)
Put a pot with some water in the bottom of it on the stove and bring it to a simmer. Break the chocolate up into bits and place it into a glass bowl, large enough to sit over the simmering water. Cook and stir until melted. Take care not to let the water boil. Once the chocolate is all melted and smooth, carefully remove it from the heat and stir in the rice cereal.
Line a bun tin with paper liners and spoon the chocolate cereal mixture in, dividing it equally amongst each cup. Place a few easter eggs on the top of each and set them aside to cool and set up. You can put them into the fridge to do this if you are in a hurry, but it may cause your chocolate to bloom. If you are a patient sort it really doesn't take that long for them to set up out of the fridge, perhaps not much more than an hour or so.
Sunday lunch/dinner is a huge tradition over here in the UK . . . with roast dinners and all the trimmings. In fact in most pubs on a Sunday you can't order off the menu. It's roast dinner or nothing. Mind you, most give you a choice or beef, pork, lamb or turkey, so it's not that bad really. We don't eat out on Sundays and we never have a roast dinner at home. We spend half of the day in church and to be honest . . . when I get home I can't be asked to cook a big roast dinner then.
This Pasta with Chicken Broth, Butter & Cheese that I am sharing with you today is a beautiful example of simple and uncomplicated foods. Food done well and put together in a most delicious way.
These are my favourie kinds of recipes. I just love them. Its how I like to cook most of the time. I am so done with complications in my life, let alone in my food.
There are several things that I always keep in my larder. One of them is a variety of pasta shapes, from the always popular spaghetti right on down to rice shaped orzo.
I love pasta, and would eat it in any way shape or form. My husband, however . . . is not so sure! More for me!
He does always eat whatever I put in front of him. He is a fan of pinching the pennies, and so he didn't complain overly much when I served him this.
Plus there was still some Baby Sticky Toffee Pudding Cakes, leftover from the other day for afters. Who can complain about that!
Another thing I always keep in my store cupboard is a variety of stock cubes and gel pots. Chicken, vegetable, beef, ham, lamb, etc.
Stock and pasta are the basis of this very simple and yet delicious dish in which pasta is quite simply cooked in a quantity of stock . . . It doesn't get much easier than this.
Cooking the pasta in the stock infuses it with lots of flavour. The starch from the pasta actually serves to thicken the stock somewhat into a sauce,
A miracle of chemistry.
The knob of butter added at the end doesn't hurt either . . . . just sayin' You will hear no complaints from me.
Butter, pasta, cheese . . . all weaknesses.
This is one dish where you want to cook the pasta at a slow simmer. To boil it in the stock would mean that too much of the stock would evaporate.
You want to keep as much of the stock in the pot as possible for that sauce. A low simmer does the trick perfectly.
As you can see, I had plenty of stock left to ladle over the cooked pasta for the sauce. You don't want it to be overly soupy, but neither do you want it to be dry.
I used a very small elbow macaroni for this today, but any small pasta shape works well. Ditali, orzo, any small pasta shape.
You want ideally one that will cook in less then 10 minutes. So make sure you check the package for a cook time.
If you use a good stock you shouldn't need any seasoning, other than coarse black pepper. The stock should be salty enough.
Do make sure you use a quality stock however. Most of the flavour of the dish will becoming from that.
Me, I always like a good grinding of black pepper on everything. My father is the same. He loves a good lot of pepper on everything.
So much so that I am often aghast at just how much he uses and I wonder at how he can taste anything beyond pepper!
Garnished with some freshly grated Parmesan Cheese and a sprinkle of chopped fresh parsley this was a real treat for me.
Comfort in a bowl . . . it doesn't get much better than this. Some hot buttered toast on the side goes very well.
Yield: 2
Pasta with Chicken Broth, Butter & Cheese
This is essentially comfort food. Quick to make and very simple. We enjoy it with slices of hot buttered toast.
ingredients:
- 950ml chicken broth (4 cups)
- 230g small pasta shapes (small macaroni, small shells, orzo, ditali, stilleti, etc.) (2 cups)
- 30g butter (1/4 cup)
- 50g finely grated Parmesan Cheese (1/4 cup)
- coarse pepper
- chopped fresh parsley or basil
instructions:
How to cook Pasta with Chicken Broth, Butter & Cheese
- Put the chicken stock into a large heavy based saucepan. Bring to the boil and then stir in the pasta. Reduce immediately to a low simmer. Cook as per pasta package instructions, stirring frequently to prevent it from sticking. Don't be tempted to boil it as you will most definitely run out of stock. This is meant to be cooked at a very slow simmer. Once the pasta is cooked, remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Grind some pepper into the pot and stir.
- Using a slotted spoon, scoop out the pasta to two heated bowls. Ladle any stock left in the saucepan over each, dividing it equally. Sprinkle each with half the cheese and a spoonful of chopped herbs. Serve immediately.
It is the simple meals like this that I enjoy most of all. I have never made it for any more than two people, but if I was going to do so, I would cook it in separate pots. This really is a delicious doddle!
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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