It's one of my favourite flavour seasons of the year now . . . Aspagarus season! The shops are slowly beginning to stock fresh British Asparagus, which I believe is the most delicious tasting asparagus in the world!!

 

Of course there is asparagus readily available all year round . . . but it more often than not comes from Peru.  Nothing against Peru . . . but . . . do you really want to eat asparagus that's been grown half a world away, sprayed with something to keep lasting longer . . . and pasted onto our grocery shop shelves some what . . . multiple days or even weeks later???

 

I think NOT!  Yuck!!  I turn my nose up at that tasteless foreign stuff all year round . . . I'm waiting for Spring  when our English Asparagus comes into season, I'm ready to line up and partake as often as I can.  It is a short season and I want to indulge myself as much as I can during those few weeks in May and June when it's available!

 

I love it steamed, until it's crispy tender and still nicely green . . . dipped into melted lemon butter, or hollandaise sauce . . . it's also a real treat used as soldiers instead of toast with your soft boiled eggs.  It makes beautiful pasta dishes, even more gorgeously delicious . . . goes wonderfully with chicken . . .



It's absolutely  breathtakingly delish in  salads . . . or wrapped in pancetta and grilled.  It makes fabulously tasty spring tarts and is wonderful with poached or scrambled eggs.  In fact it's just wonderful when paired with eggs, full stop!



But how I really love it . . . is when it's roasted in a hot oven.  I simply toss with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper and then spread it out onto a baking sheet.  I roast it for 8 to 10 minutes in a hot oven.  As soon as it comes out of  the oven I spritz it with some white balsamic vinegar and sprinkle it with a few shavings of Parmesan cheese.  Oh, my . . . but it is some good done that way.

 

Today I've simply steamed it and then layered it in a delicious open faced sandwich for two.  Layered on a crisp ciabatta roll, which has been spread with some pesto mayonnaise, along with some ham, sliced tomatoes and lotsa cheese, this went down a real treat.

 

I just love knife and fork sandwiches don't you???

 

 *Open Faced Asparagus Melts*
Makes 2
Printable Recipe

A delicious open faced grilled sandwich, filled with the lovely flavours of delicious fresh Spring asparagus!

16 good sized spears of fresh asparagus
3 TBS fat free mayonnaise
1 TBS ready made Green Pesto
1 ciabatta roll, cut in half, with the top half trimmed
so that it will lie flat
2 slices of baked ham
4 thick slices of ripe tomato
2 TBS of grated low fat mozarella cheese
2 TBSl of grated emmenthaler cheese
2 TBS grated Parmesan cheese
fresh ground black pepper to taste

Trim the asparagus.  Snap off any woody ends and trim off the little pointy bits along the stem.  (These can be bitter.) Wash well.  Steam, covered for 2 minutes, until crispy tender.

Preheat the grill.  (Broiler)

Combine the mayonnaise and pesto in a small bowl.  Spread 2 TBS of the mixture onto each ciabatta half.  Place onto a baking sheet.  Pop under the grill for a vew minutes until the pesto mayo is bubbling.  Remove from the oven and then layer each slice with one piece of  ham and half of the asparagus.  Place two slices of tomato on top of each.  Sprinkle each with 1 TBS of each of the cheeses and season with a grating of black pepper.

Grill for a few minutes longer, until the cheese is melted and just turning golden brown.

 

I'll let you in on another really tasty, simple way to prepare it.  Wash and dry your asparagus really well.  Trim off the woody ends and those bitter little points.  Roll it in low fat mayonnaise to coat . . . and then roll it in grated Parmesan Cheese.  Place on a buttered sheet of parchment paper you've placed on a baking tray and roast it at a hot temperature (200*C/400*F/ gas 6) for about 8 to 10 minutes (depending on the thickness of the spears) until the cheese is melted, the spears are tender and the whole thing is scrummy, Scrummy, SCRUMMY!

 

I just love sandwiches . . . and I'm not alone in that either. The British all love sandwiches! They're a big business over here.  They're sold in all the shops, convenience stores, grocery shops, coffee shops etc.  Of course if you hadn't guessed already . . . Sarnie is another name for sandwich!

 

Makes it sound like something  quite exotic doesn't it?

 

One of my favourite places to buy a ready made sarnie is in M&S.  Their sandwiches are the best.  The bread is always fresh and the filling generous, and spread to the edge . . . not like some of the cheaper places where you get a dollop of filling in the  middle of two slices of dry bread . . . with more bread than filling!  Ugh!  Nasty.



I was quite suprised when I moved over here to the UK at the different varieties of sandwiches that were on offer as well.  Cheese and onion . . . delicious!  Cheese and tomato . . .  likewise!  There's salad sandwiches, sandwiches made with crab, or prawns or tuna.  Tuna and Cucumber seems to be quite popular.  As is Tuna and Sweetcorn.

 

Then there are Egg & Cress, Coronation Chicken, Corned Beef (made with tinned corned Beef, which is actually quite nice),  and a host of others . . . too many to list here I think, but you get the idea, I'm sure!



Anyways, the point of all of this is that I made Todd and myself a couple of very tasty sandwiches for our lunch one day at the weekend.  In  my quest to cut back a bit, I made them open faced sandwiches, so only half the bread.

 

I added some sliced ham, sliced turkey, half fat swiss cheese, lettuce, a delicious homemade dressing . . . kind of tangy and yet at the same time a bit sweet . . . some sliced egg, tomato and  . . . naughty but nice crisply cooked streaky bacon.  (Really nice . . .  dry cured and unsmoked is my choice!)



A gal can't be 100% good all of the time can she??  I thought not!!



 *Dressed Club Salad Sarnie*
Serves 2
Printable Recipe

An open faced, knife and forker!  Delicious!  (Easily upped or downed to serve more or less people.)

2 slices sour dough bread
2 slices of baked deli ham
2 slices of Leerdammer cheese (Swiss type of cheese, I use the low fat one)
2 slices of deli turkey
1 cup of shredded cos lettuce (Romaine)
1 hard boiled egg, sliced
1 tomato, sliced
4 slices of streaky bacon, rind removed and cooked crisp

For the dressing:
1 heaped dessert spoon of low fat mayonnaise
1  tsp of tomato ketchup
1 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp of chopped sweet pickle
1/2 tsp of finely grated onion
pinch of salt and black pepper

Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl.  Set aside.

Lay one slice of bread onto each of two plates.  Top each with 1 slice of ham.  Top the ham with the cheese.  Top the cheese with the turkey.  Divide the lettuce between the two and drizzle each with half of the dressing.  Top each with half of  the sliced egg, sliced tomato and two slices of bacon criss crossed.  Serve immediately.  Pass the knives and forks!

I am a pasta lover extraordinaire!!! Seriously. I kid you not. I will eat pasta in just about any way, shape or form. Cold. Hot. Sauced or not. It doesn't matter to me. I've even been known to pig out on a bowl of pasta with no garnish other than butter, salt and pepper . . . and it's been absolutely glorious.



I also happen to be married to a pasta hater extraordinaire! Proof positive that opposites attract, I am sure. One of the reasons the Toddster balks at visiting Italy is because he hates Italian food. It's no good for me to reassure him that Italians eat a lot more than just pasta and pizza . . . he has that idea firmly entrenched in his brain. Italian Food = Pasta + Pizza and he hates both.



Occasionally though, I do have to feed my desire for something pasta-like, anything pasta-like and today was the day. I had seen a noodle similar to this somewhere on the web in recent days and do you think I could find the recipe??? Of course not! I know I even had it printed out somewhere, but it's buried in my craft room, amidst a bazillion other print outs. *blush* I know . . . I'm completely incorrigible. I often make a note of recipes to make at a future date, only to never find them again . . . am I alone in this??? Please tell me I'm not!



Today, I hazarded a guess today at what might have gone into these delicious noodles based on what I remembered in my head and the end result was quite, quite delicious. Scrummy even and purely, simply . . . satisfying.



I made Todd a ham sandwich, which he was very grateful for. I gave up on trying to eat with the chopsticks, however . . . . I can't deal with chopsticks, no matter how elegant oriental folks look eating with them. I don't . . . look elegant that is . . . I just look very hungry and getting nowhere.



I was happy. Todd was happy . . . and the only penance he had to pay for my indulgence was having to smell my garlicky sesamy spring oniony breath for the remainder of the day.



Meh!! C'est la vie! (as the French would say) Cosi va il mondo! (Italian) or in British terminology "Deal with it!!" (Do British accents make people sound smarter??? I dunno!)



*Simple Sesame Noodles*
Serves 4 (recipe can be easily doubled)
Printable Recipe

Simply scrummy. No more need be said.

1/2 pound (8 ounces weight) of thin uncooked noodles, such as spaghettini, linguine, vermichelli etc.
(You want a noodle that is quite floppy if you know what I mean, fluid)

For the sauce:
30ml of dark soy sauce (about 2 TBS)
1 TBS caster sugar
2 fat cloves of garlic, peeled and finely minced
1 TBS white rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 TBS toasted sesame oil
hot chili oil to taste
2 TBS light sunflower oil

Additonally you will need:
2 spring onions, sliced thinly on the diagonal

Place all of the sauce ingredients into a jar with a lid. Affix the lid tightly and give them a shake until well amalgamated. Set aside.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to the boil. Add the noodles and cook, stirring occasionally, according to the package directions. Drain well once done and return to the pan. Give the sauce in the jar another good shake. Pour over the warm noodles, and toss to coat. Add the spring onions and toss again.

Serve warm. (These are also excellent served cold as a salad with some shredded cooked chicken or pork, or cooked baby shrimps added.)

I just love a meal that you can fit easily between two slices of bread. That's the lazy person in me I suppose. I guess I just love sandwiches full stop . . . any kind, any place . . . You put it between bread and I am there.



When the Toddster and I used to work at the Service Station together (when I first moved over here) we used to sell tons of Bacon, Sausage, as well as Bacon and Sausage Baguettes every morning . . . just dripping with grease and fat . . . The bacon and sausage were baked in ovens, and then kept warm in a heat cabinet. I would have to clean the heat cabinet at the end of the day and the amount of fat that I had to scrape off and discard was nobody's business. Lots of it ended up in the baguettes too . . . crazy, crazy. Heart attack waiting to happen.



Breakfast sandwiches are always very popular . . .they are big business with fast food companies . . . all loaded with fat and calories. It's not impossible though to have a breakfast sandwich which is relatively low in fat, and yet still satisfyingly scrummy tasty! It's not really all that hard to do actually . . . and when you make it yourself in your own kitchen, you know exactly what's gone into it. No mystery there!



I always use whole wheat toast . . . it's better for you and you get lots of nice extra flavour . . . if it's whole grain as well . . . well that's just the ultimate in taste. (I love the Vogel Sunflower and Barley Bread, or the Vogel's Honey and Oat Bran Brown Bread!!) Now that's mighty good bread.



There is no butter used . . . not in the cooking of the egg, nor is there any butter going on that toast. You spread it with grainy mustard and a drizzle of honey . . . oh so good. I use weight watchers or another brand of low fat thin sliced baked ham . . . Low fat baked ham is not all that difficult to find anyways . . . Low fat cheese is also easy to find these days and I really like the low fat Leerdammer Light, which has great oozing melting qualities. It's a swiss type of cheese and also has a nutty sweetness.



The egg gets it's scrumminess from chopped peppers, onions and a pinch of salt and black pepper.



Put them all together and that's one heck of a sandwich . . . if I don't say so myself!! Oooooh baby, come to mama! The perfect weekend breakfast treat for sure!



*Big Breakfast Sarnie*
Serves 1

Beautifully tasty breakfast sandwich. Surprisingly low in fat too, so not all that bad for you actually!

1 large free range egg
1 TBS chopped spring onion, green and white bits
1 TBS chopped mixed peppers (whatever you happen to have on hand, red, green, orange, yellow)
pinch of salt and black pepper
4 thin slices of shaved ham (bundle them up so they look like more!
1 slice of Leerdammer light cheese
2 slices of whole wheat bread, toasted
1 TBS grainy mustard
drizzle of runny honey

Beat your egg together in a beaker along with the spring onion and peppers. Heat a small nonstick frying pan over medium heat. I spray mine with low fat cooking spray. Pour in the egg mixture. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Allow to cook until lightly browned and set on the bottom. Carefully flip over and then turn off the burner. The other side will cook in the residual heat. Immediately lay the slice of leerdammer cheese on top. The heat from the egg will melt it.

Take your two slices of toast. Divide the grainy mustard betwixt the two, spreading it to cover. Drizzle with a bit of honey. Lay the ham slices, bundling them up a bit, onto one slice of bread, honey and mustard side up. Top with the cooked egg, cheese slice up, then cover with the other slice of toast, honey and mustard side down. Cut in quarters and serve immediately.



Over in The Cottage today, a delicious Upside Down Pizza.

I had a real craving for pasta today and so I decided to cook myself up a mess of noodles and cabbage.



This was a dish I used to cook often for my family when they were growing up. Sometimes we had it as a side dish along with pork chops . . . and sometimes it was the whole dish, served with sour cream and lotsa cheese.



It was a real favourite of everyone. I always made a double batch because the leftovers were always fabulous the day after heated up in a little bit of butter in a hot skillet. The noodles got some brown scrummy bits and it was just wonderful. We liked fried leftover spag bol too.



Todd is not a fan of pasta anything, (as you know only too well), so it's something that I only rarely indulge in these days. I love this recipe because I always, always have what I need to make it in the cupboard. It's quick and it's easy.



You don't have to use white cabbage all the time. Today I had a small head of dark Green Savoy Cabbage and so I used that. I just cooked the cabbage for a shorter time than the white cabbage, and as you can clearly see it gave a nice bright green colour to the dish. Very pretty.


I also added a bit of zip with a light drizzle of cooks&Co Olive Oil with Chillies which I was sent to try out the other day. (Remember the grapeseed oil that I used the other day to make that Treacle Gingerbread Loaf that was so nice?? Same company!)It added a wonderful kick to the dish. Hot chillies are added to this olive oil to help to create a classic condiment for pizza's, pasta dishes, dressings sauces and grilled meats. I really thought it added a lovely depth of flavour. This is great olive oil . . . and a little drizzle goes a long way!



In any case, Todd sat there enjoying his ham sandwich and I sat there enjoying my bowl of Noodles and Cabbage. Everybody was content and happy. ☺ Just as it should be.



*Noodles and Cabbage*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

This is a lovely dish that goes well with most meats, and I have even been known to eat a big plate of it all on it's own. My family always used to love it when I made this. I most often use flat egg noodles such as Fettuccini, but Tagliatele and Farfelle works really well also. I don't think that it is suited to the rounder types of pasta. You can top it with sour cream if you like, but we have always loved to have ours with a dusting of freshly grated Parmesan Cheese.

2 cups egg noodles, or other pasta
(Uncooked)
1/4 cup butter
1 large onion, peled and thinly sliced
1 small head of white cabbage, quartered, core trimmed away, and thinly sliced
2 tsp brown sugar
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Sour Cream or freshly grated Parmesan Cheese for serving (optional)

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to the boil. Add the noodles and cook according to the package directions. When done, drain well, rinse in warm water and then keep warm until they are needed. (Tossing them with just a touch of vegetable oil helps to keep them from sticking together.)

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the butter and once it is foaming add the onion. Cook, stirring until the onion begins to soften. Add the cabbage and sprinkle it all with the brown sugar. Cook, stirring and tossing until the cabbage begins to wilt and brown in a few placed, and the onion and cabbage are well mixed together.

Turn the heat to low, pop a lid on top, and cook for five to ten minutes, giving it a stir every few minutes, until the cabbage and onion are nicely softened and beginning to caramelize a bit. Remove the lid and toss in the noodles, mixing all together well. Heat through and season to taste with some salt and black pepper. Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream on top of a light dusting of Parmesan Cheese. Delicious!!



Cooking in The Cottage today, Cheater's Apple and Cherry Crumble.

Due to ongoing local gas works there hasn't been a whole lot of cooking done here today. They were supposed to turn off out gas this morning, but here we are gone 1 PM and the gas is still on. I haven't dared start anything as they could knock on the door any minute. They are supposed to be removing the old lead pipe which brings the gas into our house and replacing it with a new plastic one and replacing the old gas meter as well.

We have stayed in all day waiting for them to do the job. If they don't get it done today, they can forget about doing it tomorrow. We already have plans and we're not open to changing them . . .

So anyways, instead of cooking anything for our lunch and risking having it interrupted halfway through I made us some tuna wraps.



Britain is a Nation of Sandwich Lovers. Oh boy do they love their sandwiches over here. They are definitely Sandwich connoisseurs! I was quite amazed at the different kinds that you can find when I first arrived on these green and verdant shores . . .



Pickle and cheese. (Branstons and cheddar) Cheese and Onion. (A mixture of Red Leicester, Cheddar, spring onions and mayo.) Cheese and Tomato. (Sliced tomato and grated cheddar.) Tuna and Sweetcorn. (Tuna Mayo with the addition of sweetcorn.) Egg and Cress. (Egg mayonnaise with spicy mustard cress sprinkled on top.) Bacon and Egg. (Egg Mayo with the addition of cooked bacon.) I could go on and on . . . there just seems to be no end to the variety of tastes and flavours you can find.



There is also no end to sandwich shops either. I think there has to be at least half a dozen in the centre core of Chester alone . . . and then each grocery shop has whole sections dedicated to the ready made sandwich. Rest stops on the motorways are also filled with ready made sandwiches . . . a boasting a great variety of fillings and breads. (I love the sandwiches from M&S. They are beautiful . . . always fresh, generously filled and never dry.)

There are panini and there are wraps. I don't think any nation on earth does the humble sandwich more honor than does Great Britain. But then again . . . the sandwich was invented here was it not?



(John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich and "Inventor" of the sandwich.)

It has been duly noted that the Earl of Sandwich, who lived during the 1700's, was attending a card-game tournament. He was hungry, but wanted to continue playing while eating, so he needed both hands to stay clean and he needed one hand free to hold up the cards. So he told one of the servants to fetch him some slices of roast beef and put them between two slices of bread. The other royals noted this and eventually started ordering "what the Earl of Sandwich came up with". Eventually they just started calling it a sandwich. And thus was born the sandwich.



Nobody loved sandwiches as much as my late Aunt Freda did. Oh, my . . . but they were one of her most favourite of all meals. It was a joy to watch her eating one, her pleasure was so very evident. She even made the humble peanut butter sandwich look like haute cuisine when she was eating it.

I do confess . . . I love a sandwich as well. Today I made us these tasty wraps for our lunch . . . filled with a delicious low fat tuna filling, stogged full of crunchy bits, like celery, peppers, cucumber, spring onions and shredded lettuce. With low fat mayo, the added spark of some prepared mustard and wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla . . . they were most healthy indeed.



Is a wrap a sandwich??? I think so! Mind you . . . we made up for the lack of fat in these healthy wraps by imbibing one of these after . . . but . . .



shhh . . . I didn't tell you that! for what is an eclair . . . but a sandwich of a different type . . . choux paste, cream and chocolate. Meh . . . don't burst my bubble.



*Crunchy Tuna Wraps for Two*
Serves 2Printable Recipe

A sandwich by any other name!! Tasty and crunchy and very healthy!

2 TBS reduced fat mayonnaise
2 heaped tsp of prepared mustard
1 (200g) tin of tuna packed in water, drained and flaked (7.06 ounces)
2 spring onions, trimmed and chopped
1 stalk of celery, trimmed and finely chopped
3 TBS chopped red sweet bell pepper
fine seasalt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 inches of English Cucumber, very thinly sliced
a handful of shredded lettuce
2 whole wheat tortillas at room temperature (8 inches in diameter)

Combine everything but the cucumber, lettuce and tortillas in a bowl, mixing all together well. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. Lay out the tortillas. Divide the tuna mixture equally between them and spread it out to cover the surface. Lay the cucumber over top. (You want this to be very thin for ease of rolling. I use my mandoline. You may also just chop it finely if you wish instead of slicing.) Spread the shredded lettuce over top of the cucumber. Roll each topped tortilla up tightly. Cut in half on the diagonal and serve immediately.



Cooking in The Cottage today, Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry. (Thank goodness for electric skillets!)