Showing posts sorted by relevance for query sandwich. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query sandwich. Sort by date Show all posts
I don't think I have ever met a scone that I did not fall in love with. Sweet or savoury, they all hit the spot with me. People tend to think that scones and biscuits are the same thing, which is not exactly true, although they may seem very similar in texture and taste. And that is not to confuse British biscuits (which are cookies) with North American Biscuits (which are a type of quick bread similar to a scone!) Are you confused yet?
A biscuit is not a scone people and a scone is not a biscuit. The two are definitely not interchangeable! To be sure, they are composed of basically the same things . . . fat, leavener, dairy and flour . . . but the very way that they are put together generally results in a somewhat different animal altogether. Biscuits tend to be light and airy, with almost visibly defined, flaky layers. A scone, on the other hand, whilst also light and somewhat airy, has an almost crumbly texture. When you are making a good biscuit, the fat is "Cut" into the flour mixture with a pastry blender until the mixture has lumps of fat in it the size of small peas. Fat in a scone is "Rubbed" in with your fingertips, in an almost snapping motion, until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs.
See, two different creations entirely . . . and both can have various amounts of sugar in them, or no sugar in them, and can come in sweet and savoury versions.
Now lets talk about Bacon. Who doesn't love Bacon (barring all vegetarians.) I don't know any meat lover that doesn't wax poetic about a lovely piece of bacon. Before I moved here to the UK, I only knew one kind of bacon, and that was . . . well . . . bacon. Oh, and Canadian bacon, which was quite nice and meaty. Since moving over here I discovered that there are all kinds of bacon. First there is smoked and non-smoked. Then there is dry cured and wet cured. Bacon over here mostly looked like the kind you see in the bottom of the above photo, which is kind of like Canadian bacon with a leg of streaky bacon attached. Streaky bacon is the type that I had grown up with for the most part, like you see in the upper right hand photo. Fattier. And then there was rind on and rind off. I have never come to enjoy it with the rind on. I don't like bacon rinds. So I always buy it rind removed, dry cured and depending on what I am using it for either smoked or non-smoked, and they are now bringing in nitrate free cured bacon, which is good news for us who want to avoid nitrates.
Cheese. Before moving to the UK, the most adventurous I got with cheese was having sliced Havarti on a sandwich, or treating us to a small block of marble cheese if we were having company, or, yes . . . a piece of Kraft Cracker Barrel Cheese at Christmas. We did use smelly-sock (Parmesan) from the green can (I put my hand up) on our spaghetti, but that was the whole extent of my cheese usage. I was a cheese virgin so to speak. Living in the UK has been a wonderful education to me of all the wonderful cheeses that are available here in the UK, and indeed Europe altogether. It has been an education and a journey I have greatly enjoyed. My husband will tell you (and he is a Brit through and through) that there is no cheese worth eating except for Cheddar. He is a huge fan and was very disappointed when we were on the continent and couldn't find good old cheddar cheese in the shops there. Never mind, when I do a cheese tray, he happily helps himself to all the cheeses, but lets just say that a good strong cheddar is his favourite. And I have to agree that a good strong cheddar, slightly crumbly and sharp flavoured, is a thing of beautiful taste to be sure.
So what do you get when you combine the three of those things? A good strong cheddar. Some crisp streaky dry cured smoked bacon. And a good scone?
Well, you get another thing of beauty . . . Cheese and Bacon Scones. Crunchy on the outside and so soft and flaky on the insides . . . all
buttery and stogged full of strong cheddar cheese and . . . lovely
salty, smoky bacon. Perfect for serving with soups, salads, or even just hot and buttered with a nice hot cuppa on a leisurely afternoon.
*Cheese and Bacon Scones*
Makes 15 to 20, depending on how big you cut them
Makes 15 to 20, depending on how big you cut them
Scrumdiddlyumpitiously savoury. Perfect with some sliced ham or cheese, or both. You can vary the spiciness of them by adjusting the amount of cayenne used.
490g plain flour (about 3 1/2 cups)
1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 level tsp of cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1 tsp salt
2 TBS cold butter, cubed
4 ounces bacon, grilled and finely chopped with a sharp knife, or
in the food processor
115g strong cheddar cheese, grated (1 cup)
1 medium free range egg
375ml of sour milk or buttermilk (1 2/3 cup)
Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. Dust a large baking sheet lightly with flour. Set aside.
Sift the flour, soda, cayenne pepper and salt into a large bowl. Drop in the butter and then rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine dry bread crumbs. Stir in the bacon and cheese.
Whisk together the egg and milk.
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet. Mix to a soft dough with your hand by running it around the bowl. Try not to knead it as this will develop the gluten which will toughen the scones. Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. (The dough will be quite sticky) Pat out with floured hands until you get a square 3/4 inch thick. Using a pizza cutter, cut it into 15 to 20 squares. (Alternately you can cut them out with a sharp knife or a 2 inch round cutter) Place onto the floured baking sheet leaving about 2 inches between each.
Bake for 10 to 14 minutes until well risen and golden brown. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
Sift the flour, soda, cayenne pepper and salt into a large bowl. Drop in the butter and then rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine dry bread crumbs. Stir in the bacon and cheese.
Whisk together the egg and milk.
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet. Mix to a soft dough with your hand by running it around the bowl. Try not to knead it as this will develop the gluten which will toughen the scones. Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. (The dough will be quite sticky) Pat out with floured hands until you get a square 3/4 inch thick. Using a pizza cutter, cut it into 15 to 20 squares. (Alternately you can cut them out with a sharp knife or a 2 inch round cutter) Place onto the floured baking sheet leaving about 2 inches between each.
Bake for 10 to 14 minutes until well risen and golden brown. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
I was saying the other day how very much I love to have a good cake in the house. There is something so special about being able to sit down with a nice hot drink and a piece of cake. The world around you can be in chaos but if you have a piece of cake and a drink in front of you, somehow things seem to be a little bit more tolerable.
I am no stranger to cake on here, and over the past thirteen plus years of running this recipe page, I have baked many, many cakes. All of them are delicious because well . . . cake. I tend to only show the recipes that I feel are highly successful and what I think you, my readers, will enjoy.
I do have my favorites however, and these are cakes that I return to bake time and time again. These are the ones that I love above all others. I thought it would be fun today to share my top ten favorite cakes with you and why, so here we go!
RASPBERRY YOGURT CAKE - I love cakes which are made with sour cream and yogurt. Adding sour cream or yogurt add moisture and makes for a lovely tender crumb. This is a beautiful cake, with a lovely moist crumb. Its light in texture and filled with pockets of sweet tart raspberries.
QUEEN ELIZABETH CAKE - We are especially fond of this old, old recipe for Queen Elizabeth Cake. I don't expect there is a Canadian community cookbook without a version of this in it. It goes way back.
It is a simple and delicious cake! The dates make it incredibly moist. It is also studded with plenty of toasted walnuts. Topped with a sweet caramel icing and sprinkle of coconut, this is a real treat!
RASPBERRY CELEBRATION CAKE - This is always my birthday cake of choice. It is a deliciously buttery sponge, filled with fresh raspberries and baked into two moist layers.
The cooled layers are then sandwiched together with a lovely vanilla butter cream icing and some seedless raspberry jam, and then drizzled with more sweetness with a lovely glaze icing. This is one very moreishly scrummy cake.
TRADITIONAL SEED CAKE - Seed cake is actually a very traditional cake which goes way back in British history. It was very popular in Victorian times, and a good seed cake recipe would have been included in most cookery books of that era.
It has a texture very similar to a pound cake and is studded with caraway seeds. It was said to be William Wordsworth's sister Dorothy's favorite cake. All I can say is that she had exceedingly good taste!
I absolutely adore enjoying a nice slice of this with a hot cup of herbal tea.
FRENCH ALMOND, PEAR & CARDAMOM CAKE - This is a lovely cake, gluten free . . . loaded with beautiful ripe pears . . . ground almonds . . . and I added a touch of ground cardamom as pears and cardamom are such a quintessentially beautiful partnership and marriage of flavours.
It is delicious served warm, cut into squares with either lashings of pouring cream or softly whipped cream on top.
GLAZED COFFEE CRUNCH CAKE -Deeply flavoured with strong coffee, this is a moist cake, with a beautiful crumb. Indeed you will find yourself collecting the crumbs on the tips of your fingers to eat. You will not want to waste even the tiniest scrap of it.
There is a fabulously moreish streusel topping stogged full of lovely toasted walnuts. As well the streusel contains chocolate chips and is delicately flavoured with cinnamon. It's crowning glory is . . . a sweet coffee drizzle icing.
ETON MESS CAKE - This cake is so delicious that the Canadian version of Hello Magazine featured it as one of my recipes a few years back when they were doing a feature on me and British Cooking. No small wonder as it is delicious.
A beautiful vanilla sponge, studded with fresh strawberries and topped with crushed crisp meringues. This is a beautiful cake cut into squares and served topped with a dollop of either clotted cream or softly whipped cream.
BUTTERMILK CHOCOLATE CAKE - What cake recipe collection would be complete without at least one chocolate cake recipe and this buttermilk chocolate cake is the best of the best!
This recipe is four generations old. It is fabulously old fashioned one-bowl chocolate cake, and perfect for family celebrations! Moist and delicious as one would expect with a lush chocolate frosting!
MARY BERRY'S LEMON DRIZZLE CAKE - No best cake recipe collection would be complete without a lemon cake of some sort and none is nicer than a lemon drizzle cake. You can't beat that beautiful lemon flavor and the lemon crunch on top.
And when it comes to lemon drizzle cake recipes, you really cannot get much better than Mary Berry's Lemon Drizzle Cake.
SPANISH CAKE - I have really saved the best for the last. This is my all time, absolute favorite cake. So much so that I also recreated it in a small batch version. This cake is so good that I once baked it about three times in one week!
It has a lovely moist crumb, flavored with cinnamon and that brown sugar penuche frosting is to die for. It is the absolute best!
BONUS FAVORITE RECIPE!
I could not post a list of my favorites without mentioning this next cake! It is an all time favorite and has graced the table of any tea party I have ever hosted!
VICTORIA SANDWICH CAKE - I guess when it comes right down to it, this cake has a slight edge on the Spanish Cake. It is not only delicious but very easy whip up at the last minute. You can basically have this baked and be eating it in about 45 minutes tops!
A fabulously tasty buttery cake filled with strawberry jam and topped simply with sugar, this is the best of the best of the best!
And there you have it. A delicious round-up of my all time favorite cakes. Do with it what you will, but if this doesn't tempt you to bake a cake this weekend I don't know what will! 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!
I know that all of my North American friends are cooking their Thanksgiving turkey's today. I am also cooking a turkey Thanksgiving Dinner this year. Tomorrow our fridges will be filled with all of the leftovers and we will be scratching our heads and trying to come up with new and interesting things to do with them. Here are some tasty ideas this morning to help you use up some of those scrummy leftovers. Of course you could just have a reheat of the leftovers, but it's also nice to dress them up in a few different ways too!
You Brits and Canucks might want to bookmark this page as Christmas is less than a month away and you 'll be wanting to figure out what to do with your Christmas Turkey leftovers then!
One of my favorite kinds of soup has always been tomato soup. I grew up on canned tomato soup. Mom always bought the Campbells brand. We loved it.
In North America most canned soups come condensed, which means that you have to add milk or water to it to bring it to an edible consistency. Mom always added water because she was thrifty, but I have to say tomato soup made with milk is better.
.JPG "Easy Tomato Bisque")
My favorite tinned tomato soup is actually Heinz tomato soup, but shh . . . that can be our little secret. For today's recipe I used Campbells.
Did you have Campbell's kids dolls when you were growing up? The Campbell's kids were cartoon characters used in the advertising of the soup.
I remember saving up my allowance and Campbell's Soup labels to get one when I was a child. I had two of them actually, a boy and a girl. Mine had little chef hats with the Campbell's logo on them.
I wish I still had them! They would be worth a fortune now, but I digress, back to the soup.
.JPG "Easy Tomato Bisque")
What is the difference between a soup and a bisque? Well, a bisque is a soup, but a soup is not necessarily a bisque. Originally a bisque was meant to be a soup made with fish and fish stock. Creamy, thick, and rich, such as a Lobster Bisque.
Now it is just meant to mean a creamy, and thick soup, such as a Tomato Bisque which I am sharing with you today. Richer than regular tomato soup and a lot thicker, they make for a deliciously hearty meal option.
.JPG "Easy Tomato Bisque")
This recipe I am sharing with you today has been adapted from one I found in a Gooseberry Patch book entitled, A Very Merry Christmas Cookbook. It was a gift from a friend.
I have always loved the Gooseberry Patch books. They are like community cookbooks, filled with everyone's favorite recipes! This particular recipe is attributed to Vivian Marshall of Columbus, Ohio.
.JPG "Easy Tomato Bisque")
About the soup she said, "This is a great quick & easy soup to serve with grilled cheese sandwiches. I love to top it with croutons and a sprinkling of shredded cheddar cheese."
Thank you Vivian!
I have adapted the recipe to include British measurements.
.JPG "Easy Tomato Bisque")
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE QUICK & EASY TOMATO BISQUE
Its almost embarassing really. This is so simple. Just a few tins, some milk and some water! But what delicious results!
- 1 (10 3/4 oz/295g) tin of condensed cream of tomato soup
- 1 (10 3/4 oz/295g) tin of condensed cheddar cheese soup
- 1 (14/25oz/400g) tin of diced tomatoes in tomato juice, undrained
- 1/2 cup (120ml) plus 2 TBS of whole milk
- 1/2 cup (120ml) plus 2 TBS of water
- Seasoning to taste
.JPG "Easy Tomato Bisque")
It may be difficult if you are in the UK to find Cheddar Cheese soup. In that case I would make a thick rich cheese sauce with 1 1/2 cups/360 ml of milk, 2 TBS butter, 2 TBS flour, seasoning, and grated strong cheddar cheese to taste.
Melt the butter, whisk in the flour and then whisk in the flour. Cook for a minute then slowly whisk in the milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened. Whisk in the cheese and season to taste. Use as per the recipe.
.JPG "Easy Tomato Bisque")
HOW TO MAKE QUICK & EASY TOMATO BISQUE
This is the embarrassing part. Could a soup be any easier? I think not!!
Whisk all of the ingredients together in a large saucepan to combine. Heat gently over medium heat until heated through, stirring frequently. Ladle into heated soup bowls and serve.
Easy peasy.
.JPG "Easy Tomato Bisque")
I topped mine with little toasty croutons. They are so easy to make. Just butter some thin slices of bread on one side. Cut into shapes with your desired cutters.
I try to use smallish cutters, no more than 1 1/2 inches across. Today I used a star cutter.
You can sprinkle the buttered shapes with herbs or garlic powder or even some cheese if you wish.
Toast in a hot oven (400*F/200*C) until nice and toasty golden brown. Very easy to float on top of any bowl of soup!
.JPG "Easy Tomato Bisque")
This was a really lovely bowl of soup. Rich and delicious and lovely and thick. I didn't have anything on the side, but a grilled cheese sandwich would be perfect.
So would crackers or crusty bread. It all depends on how hungry you are and what time of the day you are serving it!
I highly recommend!!! Simple or not, using tinned soups or not, this is a delicious, delicious bowl of soup!
.JPG "Easy Tomato Bisque")
Here are a few other soups you might enjoy!
Soup with dumplings? Count me in! Especially cheese dumplings. Simple to make and using simple everyday ingredients. It's also a great way to use up what's in the fridge. This is a deliciously hearty soup with plenty of vegetables, ham and fluffy cheese dumplings. I guarantee your family will love this!
This potato soup is a delicious bowl filled with all the comfort food goodness of a loaded baked potato. Rich and belly warming, this is sure to become a favourite! What's not to like about a rich and creamy soup that is loaded with cheddar cheese, crisp bacon, sour cream and spring onions?? Nothing that's what!
Yield: 5 - 6
Easy Tomato Bisque Soup
Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 10 MinTotal time: 15 Min
A quick, easy and delicious soup for these cold, chilly days. Top with croutons or grated cheese. For a hearty meal serve with a toasty grilled cheese sandwich!
Ingredients
- 1 (10 3/4 oz/295g) tin of condensed cream of tomato soup
- 1 (10 3/4 oz/295g) tin of condensed cheddar cheese soup
- 1 (14/25oz/400g) tin of diced tomatoes in tomato juice, undrained
- 1/2 cup (120ml) plus 2 TBS of whole milk
- 1/2 cup (120ml) plus 2 TBS of water
- Seasoning to taste
Instructions
- Whisk all of the ingredients together in a large saucepan to combine.
- Heat gently over medium heat until heated through, stirring frequently.
- Ladle into heated soup bowls and serve.
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