*Improvised Gravy*
Makes about 360ml (1 1/2 cups)
360ml beef or chicken broth or stock (1 1/2 cups)
leftover drippings or butter |
Showing posts sorted by date for query sandwich. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query sandwich. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Royal weddings aside, I do like to pull the boat out a bit at the weekend when it comes to breakfast/brunch. I actually did this last weekend, but am only getting to show it to you now. I found and adapted the recipe from a site which I like called Tablespoon.
There were a few things I liked about the recipe. One was that it was built especially for two people and we are only two. Secondly I liked that it was simple and used things I normally have on hand.
I confess right now, I am not a huge fan of ricotta cheese. It is a consistency thing. I MUCH prefer cream cheese, which is smoother and richer. So that is what I chose to use instead. By all means use ricotta if you prefer it. I don't.
The cheese is mixed with some honey and lemon peel and then spread onto slices of french bread. Easy peasy. You spread it on all of the slices of bread, and then top only half of them with the fresh raspberries.
I adore fresh raspberries. It was not always so. My sister and I gorged ourselves on freshly picked raspberries from a neighbors bush when I was a girl, and I ended up getting sick afterwards. That was a really naughty thing for us to do really, so fair dues that I ended up sick. A fitting punishment. It was a very long time before I could face a raspberry and my father was hoovering raspberry seeds out of the carpet in our car for a very long time. Lets just say I was not very popular with either the neighbors or my dad!
Thankfully I have since gotten over my aversion to them. I really enjoy them now, but do have to watch my consumption somewhat due to my diverticulitis. Enough said!
They work beautifully in this recipe, but I expect any berry would work well. So just pick your favourite kind and go with the flow!
The honey in this is also a real favourite for me. I adore honey. For this I used Acacia honey . . . lovely delicious flavours!
*Lemon Raspberry French Toast*
Serves 2
Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Line a 15 X
10 X 1-inch baking sheet with foil. Spray with non-stick cooking spray.
Whisk together the cheese, 2 TBS of the honey and 2 tsp of the lemon zest. Spread about 1 rounded TBS onto each slice of bread. Place 3 berries on top of half of the slices of bread and cover with the remaining bread slices, cheese side down.
Beat the egg, milk, salt, vanilla and cinnamon together in a shallow bowl. Place the sandwiches in the bowl. Let soak for 5 minutes, then flip over and soak for a further 5 minutes. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. To each sandwich with the remaining raspberries, drizzle with the remaining honey and sprinkle with the remaining lemon zest. Serve immediately.
Whew! After all of the cooking I have done over these past few days I am exhausted! I really pulled the stops out for the wedding weekend and am happy now to go back to normal. A bit of restraint is now in order! I wonder what I will cook up next? Hmmm . . . food for thought! Bon Appetit!
I confess when I was younger I was not all that fond of chicken salad sandwiches. I am not sure why. It is something which I have taken to mostly in my older life. There wasn't anything really per se that I didn't like about them, I guess I just always preferred sliced chicken to chicken salad. To be honest, I hadn't really tried it . . . I just always thought that I wouldn't like them, and so I was hesitant to try. When I worked at the Manor though, I used to make Chicken Salad for my boss now and then, and in the process I was required to taste it, and I then learned that actually, Chicken Salad was kinda tasty!
Going out for one of these was always a real treat. With tender roasted meat with gravy between two thick slices of white bread with more gravy ladled over top, they would be served up hot, on large platters, with plenty of hot chips, veg and coleslaw on the side. You could also have gravy on your chips (fries), or not as per your choice. In Canada we love gravy on our chips, and here in the UK, they also like gravy on their chips, or curry sauce. (Something I have yet to try.)
I had some leftover roast chicken today and so I made us Hot Chicken Sandwiches for a change, instead of the usual casserole. Of course with there only being two of us and with neither of us having huge appetites these days, we basically only each ha half of a sandwich, along with the suggested trimmings. It looks like rather a lot, but we only ever use a sandwich plate for our meals these days, never a full dinner plate. And it is plenty for us.
2 TBS of appropriate stock
about 720ml (3 cups) of hot leftover or fresh gravy 
Good chips/fries are a must! If you want to make your own from scratch this is a cracking recipe. You can also use oven chips. I like the crinkle ones in that case, or if you are really lucky and have a chippy close by, you can just send hubby out to pick up a large portion of chips. By the time you have the remaining elements ready, he'll be back and you'll be set to go!
There
are two things you need for perfect chips. One a really good potato.
You want a nice floury one, such as a Maris Piper. You cannot make good
chips with new potatoes. Old ones are best. Second you want to start
with pure hard fat or dripping, preferably an animal fat. Third . . .
patience. Good chips require several cookings. The first is a quick
poaching in lightly salted water. . Let them cool and then fry for
about five minutes just until cooked through, then a final fry in hotter
fat to brown and finish cooking. See . . . patience.
a good solid fat to half fill your pan when melted
a frying thermometer
a frying thermometer
I added a dollop of cranberry sauce to the top of mine . . . coz I'm crazy like that, and I love cranberry sauce with both roast chicken and turkey. You will want a nice gravy to serve with your hot sandwiches. You can of course use Bisto granules and make it that way, but if you have leftover drippings, etc. its really quite easy to make a better tasting gravy from scratch!
2 TBS plain flour
360ml pan juices, broth, water, wine or a combination ( 1 1/2 cups)
Coleslaw is a must. You won't get any meal at a diner in North America, that doesn't come with a small container of coleslaw on the side. At some places it might be a vinaigrette coleslaw, but more often than not it will be a delicious creamy slaw. Just like this.
*Creamy Coleslaw*
Serves 8 to 10A deliciously cream coleslaw that has just the right amount of crunch and flavour! There is no sogginess here!!
10 ounces of white cabbage, trimmed, cored and very thinly cut
(about 1/2 of a medium cabbage)
5 ounces of carrots, peeled, trimmed and julienned
(1 medium carrot)
4 inches of an English Cucumber, trimmed, seeded and cut into small dice
(Do not peel)
2 - 3 large dessertspoons of good quality mayonnaise
1 TBS of Dijon mustard
2 TBS white wine vinegar
1 tsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp celery salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 tsp onion powder
Place the vegetables into a large bowl. Whisk together the mustard, mayonnaise, white wine vinegar, sugar, celery salt, black pepper and onion powder. Mix well. Pour over the vegetables and toss to coat. Cover and chill for at least one hour before serving.
Note - the amount of mayonnaise you use depends on the cabbage, some cabbages take more mayonnaise than others. It also depends on how creamy you like your coleslaw!
Of course there may be times when you don't have any leftover gravy, or even gravy granules, but don't worry! That doesn't mean you can't still make a delicious gravy as this next recipe proves quite deliciously! Adapted from a recipe found in the Fanny Farmer Cookbook. (So you know that it just has to be good!)
This isn't something which we have very often, maybe only once a year. Back in the day I could eat a whole one of these sandwiches, and then a polished of a slice of cream pie as well. Mind you, back in the day I was a very busy and active mother of five. Things change . . . Bon Appetit!
I really love simple things . . . time and time again, I am reminded that it is the simple things in life which truly are the best . . . things like the sound of rain falling on the roof when I am laying all toasty warm in my bed, or the smell of roses, or the sound of the dawn chorus when I wake up in the morning. All simple things, and all things which money can't buy and that we, more often than not, take for granted.
Its the same with food . . . it is often the simple things we eat which bring us the most pleasure. Things like the crisp and sticky skin of a perfectly roasted chicken, tasting of salt and pepper and, well . . . chicken. Properly baked potatoes with crispy skins and fluffy insides, broken open and topped with a pat of butter along with some salt and pepper . . .
A crisp grilled cheese sandwich, golden brown and cut into fingers, dipped into hot tomato soup on a rainy day . . . the smell of beans baking in the oven, or . . . and this is the best of all, the smell of a freshly baked loaf of bread, and then a slice of it still warm, with cold butter melting into it . . .
See??? Simple things . . .
Slices of sweet and rich brioche bread, soaked in a mix of cream, eggs and sugar, and then gilded until golden brown in a buttery hot pan . . .
Ddshed up and served warm on china plates . . . topped with dollops of ice cold clotted cream . . . rich Cornish clotted cream . . . scattered with fresh berries and dusted with icing sugar . . .
the heat of that golden eggy brioche melting that cold clotted cream until it runs in milky buttery rivulets . . . deliciously down over those golden buttery crisp edges of bread . . .
pooling into delicious little puddles . . . rich and creamy . . . so good with the sweet/tartness of those cold fresh berries . . .
Oh yes, it IS definitely the simple things in life which bring us the most pleasure, especially when you are sharing them with the people you love. You really can not beat them . . . you really can't . . .
*Pain Perdu with Clotted Cream & Berries*
Serves 4
Melt a knob of butter in a large non-stick frying pan until it begins to foam. Add the slices of soaked brioche and cook first on one side until golden brown and then on the other. (while you are cooking them, you can be soaking the others. Repeat the soaking and cooking until it is all golden brown, keeping the browned slices warm in a low oven until you are done.
To serve divide the toast between four plates, topping each with a dollop of clotted cream and a handful of raspberries. Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.
This is fabulous, even made with ordinary bread. Just make sure you choose a bread with a soft crust. Your family will love it, wether you choose to have it for breakfast or for dessert. Either way, its the bomb! Bon Appetit!
Who doesn't love a Cadbury's Creme Egg or two at this time of year! Does the Easter Bunny ever bring enough? I think not. Cadbury has teamed up with Georgia Green of Georgia's Cakes to develop three beautiful recipes for your Easter Bakes using their fabulous Cream Eggs!
*Cream Egg Layer Cake*
Serves 20
Ingredients:
5 Cadbury Creme Egg halves to decorate
250g butter (1 cup)
250g caster sugar (1 1/2 cups)
225g self raising flour (1 1/2 cups plus 2 TBS)
25g cocoa powder (3 1/2 TBS) sifted
1 tsp vanilla paste
For the buttercream:
150g softened butter (2/3 cup)
60ml milk (1/4 cup)
425g icing sugar (3 1/4 cup)
75g cocoa powder, sifted (2/3 cup)
For the chocolate drips:
50g double cream (3 1/2 TBS)
40g dark chocolate (1 1/2 ounces)
You will also need:
meringue kisses
Method:
For
the cake, melt the butter and whisk together with the caster sugar.
Add the eggs and mix through, then add the flour and mix until
incorporated.
Line 2 six inch round cake tins with
baking paper. Divide the batter equally amongst them, and then bake at
180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4 for 30 to 40 minutes until they spring back when
lightly touches and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out
clean. Leave to cool on cooling racks.
To make the butter cream, beat together the icing sugar, cocoa powder, butter and milk until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Level
each cake off on the top and carefully cut in half through the middle
so that you have 4 equal layers. Save one of the bottoms to be used as
the top layer.
Place a layer on a cake plate and
spread with a layer of butter cream. Place a second layer on top, and
spread with butter cream. Repeat with a third layer. When you get to
the fourth layer, make sure the top layer is face down so that you have
the flattest side on top, Spread butter cream over the whole cake.
Scrap off any excess buttercream and leave in the fridge/freezer until
it is set firm.
Heat the cream and pour
over the chocolate, mixing until it is melted and thoroughly combined.
Pour this melted chocolate mixture over the cake, pushing it towards the
edges with a palatte knife and allowing it to drip down the sides.
*Cadbury Creme Egg Cheesecake*
Makes 1 8-inch cheesecake
Ingredients :
10 Cadbury Creme Eggs
6 mini Cadbury Creme Eggs
150g digestive biscuits (1 2/3 cups graham cracker crumbs)
75g melted butter (1/3 cup)
750g full fat cream cheese (26 1/2 ounces)
150g icing sugar, sifted (1 cup, plus 2 1/2 TBS)
1 vanilla pod
300ml double cream (10 1/2 fluid ounces)
White chocolate melted
Dark chocolate melted
Caramel sauce
You will also need:
8 inch cake ring or spring form tin
Acetate
Line the inside of the tin or ring with acetate. This will make it easier to remove the cheesecake after it has set.
Crush
the digestive biscuits into fine crumbs and stir in the melted butter.
Press into the bottom of the prepared ring/tin, pressing to compact
well. Place in the refrigerator to chill.
Chop five of the creme eggs into small chunks and set aside.
In a bowl beat together the cream cheese, caviar from the vanilla pod and sifted icing sugar.
In
a separate bowl, whisk the double cream just until it begins to form
soft peaks. Gently fold the cream into the cream cheese mixture to
combine. Mix in the reserved chopped cream eggs.
Take
the tin out of the refrigerator. Cut the remaining creme eggs in half,
length ways and arrange them facing out around the sides of the tin.
(Use the goo to help them stick.) Pour the cheesecake mixture in and
smooth the top with a spatula or palette knife.
Chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
*Cracking Creme Egg Macarons*
Makes 20 - 25
Heat oven to 135*C/275F/gas mark 3. Bake the macarons for 10 to 12 minutes.
Make
the filling by heating the cream and pouring it over the chocolate.
Stir to melt the chocolate and combine well together. Leave the ganach
to cool and thicken, stirring every now and then.
Once the macaron shells have cooked, remove them from the oven and leave to cool completely before removing them from the tray.
Heat a knife in hot water and slice the Cadbury Creme Eggs widthways into 5 to 6 circular pieces.
For a handy printable of all three recipes please click here. Make sure you pick up some extra eggs just for munching on! They are available in several different sizes. It wouldn't be Easter without them! Happy Easter!
One of the things I love most about the Easter Season of eating is . . . Hot Cross Buns! Although they are generally available all year round now it seems, in this house we only ever eat them at Easter.
I think when something becomes an every day thing it loses its specialness, so that is why, like Strawberries, we only ever eat Hot Cross Buns at Easter time.
The tradition of marking buns with a cross on the top goes back a very long way. Pagon Saxons baked cross buns at this time of year to mark the beginning of Spring, in honor of their god Eostre.
The cross was representative of the four seasons along with the four quarters of the moon, the wheel of life and a rebirth of the earth after the long Winter.
Christians adapted the cross when an Anglican monk baked the buns and marked them with a cross in honor of Good Friday.
It wasn't really until Tudor times, under the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, that the London clerk of markets issued a decree forbidding the sale of spiced buns at any time other than funerals, Christmas and Good Friday/Easter.
As a child I used to sing this ditty, which was actually the cry of common street-vendors, back in the day . . .
‘Hot cross buns, hot cross buns!
One ha’penny, two ha’penny, hot cross buns!
If you have no daughters, give them to your sons,
One ha’penny, two ha’penny, hot cross buns!’
One ha’penny, two ha’penny, hot cross buns!
If you have no daughters, give them to your sons,
One ha’penny, two ha’penny, hot cross buns!’
The buns are usually served on Good Friday, marking the end of Lent and the spices are said to represent the spices used to embalm the Saviour after His crucifixion.
Whatever your take on their significance, one cannot deny that hot cross buns are a delicious Easter flavour.
They are also a tradition that helps to mark the joys and promise of this Spring holiday, much needed by many after having gotten through a long cold Winter.
I will admit that I am a Hot Cross Bun purist. I like a traditional one, a bun without all the tweaks and chocolate bits, sticky caramel bits, whatever. Plain, spiced and studded with mixed vine fruits being my chosen poison.
Not all are created equal. I like a well fruited one, so I never opt for the cheapie brands, which more often than not are sadly lacking in both spice and flavour.
I would never settle for a few sad raisins me. I want an abundance of fruit!
My husband rankles at me buying them even two weeks before Easter. He reckons they shouldn't come out until Good Friday, and he has a point.
However . . . he did not turn down my offer this morning of a Hot Cross Bacon Bap!
Unconventional . . . perhaps, but so delicious, served toasted and buttered, with a spread of bitter marmalade on the bottoms and a spritz of brown sauce gilding the top of that tasty bacon.
Every mouthful was pure delight. Don't knock it til you try it!
*Hot Cross Bun Bacon Baps*
Serves 4
Heat the oven grill to high. Slash the fatty edge of the bacon at
1/3 inch intervals all along the edge. Grill the bacon beneath the
hot grill until your desired crispness, flipping it over and grilling
on both sides. Set aside and keep warm.
Slice the hot cross buns in
half horizontally. Pop under the grill and toast on the cut sides
only. Once toasted spread with softened butter. Spread a portion of
marmalade onto the toasted bottoms of each bun.
Lay three rashers of
bacon, folded to fit, on top of the marmalade. Drizzle with brown sauce
(if using) place the toasted top buns on top and serve.
Note - Brown sauce is what we brits call HP sauce.
I confess I was also tempted to add a layer of cheese, but I restrained myself. Needless to say these were fabulously tasty, so much so . . . that I might make us another one for lunch. Bon Appetit!
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