As you know, or should do by now . . . we are real potato lovers in this house. A day without potatoes in one form, shape or another is just not the perfect day! We just have to have our potato fix!
A few days back I was wanting to make a German Potato Salad. Many moons when I lived in Southern Ontario we used to visit my Brother In Law when he was living in Windsor, Ontario. He had a fabulous butcher there who happened to be German. He made the most gorgeous cabbage rolls and potato salad.
Just thinking about it now, makes my taste buds tingle. They were that fabulous, I kid you not!
Anyways, ever since then I have been on a quest to find the most perfect recipes for both cabbage rolls and for the potato salad. I do believe I have gotten them both down to where I think they are pretty close to the original.
No, this is not an authentic recipe for German Potato Salad . . . so I don't want any purists e-mailing me and telling me I have it all wrong. This is just my idea of what I think is the perfect German Potato Salad.
Simply put . . . this recipe (which is a compilation of the best parts of several recipes I've tried through the years) does it for me and I am quite happy with it. I do hope you'll give it a try as you may just agree!
*German Potato Salad*
Serves 4 - 6
Printable Recipe
This is not an authentic recipe, but one that I came up with for myself, taking what I thought was the best bits of a few others and adding my own twist. The end result was delicious of course!
1 pounds small new potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
1 TBS salt
8 strips of lean streaky bacon, cut crosswise into 1/2 inch strips
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
125ml of white vinegar (1/2 cup)
4 TBS water
1 heaped TBS cornflour
6 TBS white sugar
1 TBS grainy mustard
freshly ground black pepper and fine seasalt to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Place the potatoes, 1 TBS salt and water to cover in a large saucepan and bring to the boil over high heat. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 8 minutes until barely tender. (There should still be a slight resistance when poked with a sharp knife) Drain well. Keep warm. Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Have ready a shallow buttered casserole dish.
Fry the bacon in a large skillet until crisp. Scoop out to a paper towel lined plate. Drain all but a few TBS of the bacon fat from the pan. Add the chopped onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender. Whisk together the water and cornflour. Add to the skillet along with the vinegar, sugar and grainy mustard. Cook and stir until somewhat thickened. Stir in the warm potatoes, cooked bacon, parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Pour this into the casserole dish.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the potatoes are fork tender and the sauce has thickened. Serve warm.
I was invited to a pot luck luncheon today and wanted to bring something that was easily portable and that would taste as delicious at room temperature as it would hot out of the oven.
I also wanted it to be attractive and scrummy looking . . . something that people would not be able to resist tucking in to . . . as well as being something that was completely edibly out of hand, if need be. (So often people don't have enough cutlery, or plates, etc. to go around.)
I normally would make a tomato tart using puff pastry, but I didn't have any in the fridge. I did however have a tube of pizza dough and so decided to use that instead. It turned out fabulously.
It's like a pizza/tart . . . with lovely flavours.
You have a base of a grainy mustard flavoured mayonnaise. (I use low fat with no problems). Delicious and flavourful Strong Cheddar cheese tops this.
Sliced tomatoes, which are not really at their best this time of year, but cooking can and does redeem them. A savoury sprinkling of seasalt, black pepper, onion and garlic powders and mixed herbs also helps. Then with a final dusting of freshly grated parmesan, it's ready to pop into a hot oven to bake.
It bakes quite quickly and at the end you are rewarded with a delicious tart, with a crisp bread base, and delicious filling. A scattering of fresh basil leaves on top of the finished tart looks very pretty as a finishing touch.
I like to drizzle some balsamic syrup on mine just before I tuck in, but . . . feel free to do as you wish.
*A Delicious Tomato Tart*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe
Necessity being the mother of invention, I created a delicious tomato tart out of what I had on hand.
1 package of refrigerated ready rolled pizza base dough (large enough to fit a baking tray
about 10 by 15 inches in size)
4 ripe plum tomatoes, trimmed and thinly sliced
4 dessertspoons of low fat mayonnaise
1 TBS seedy mustard
8 ounces grated strong cheddar cheese ( 2 cups)
coarse sea salt and freshly grated black pepper to taste
dried mixed herbs
onion and garlic powders to taste
freshly grated Parmesan Cheese for dusting
a few basil leaves torn, for garnish
balsamic syrup to drizzle (optional)
Preheat the oven to 205*C/425*F/ gas mark 6. Line your baking sheet with parchment paper. Unroll the pizza dough onto the lined baking sheet. Curl over the edges all the way around.
Stir together the mayonnaise and mustard. Spread this over the crust all the way to the rolled edges. Sprinkle the grated cheddar cheese evenly over top. Place the sliced tomatoes evenly over top. Dust with mixed herbs, seasalt and black pepper to taste. Sprinkle with some onion and garlic powder. Dust with freshly Grated Parmesan.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until lightly browned and bubbling and the bottom is browned evenly. Remove from the oven and allow to sit for several minutes before tearing basil leaves and scattering them over top. Cut into squares to serve. If desired, drizzle with some balsamic syrup.
This is a recipe that I have had for a while now. Over the years I have collected recipes which use certain ingredients, because I hate buying something to use specifically in a recipe, and then only using a portion of it . . . with the rest being wasted.
So, I have collections of recipes which use buttermilk . . . others which use sour cream . . . etc. and then my favourite collection of all which uses up lemon curd.
It is so frustrating when you open a jar or container of something and it has a use-by date of only a few weeks, don't you think???
I mean . . . how on earth are you going to use a whole bottle of walnut oil, or some such in just a few weeks??? It just ain't going to happen. Someone should make eensy teensy bottles of these things so that if you only need a little bit, the rest doesn't go rancid before you can get it used up.
Anyways, today I made these incredibly delicious cookies which helped to use up some of an opened bottle of lemon curd. With the rest I will probably make my Lemon Drizzle Cake. I am going to a pot luck lunch tomorrow and it will probably go over a real treat. (It usually does as it is really scrummy yummy.)
These cookies are ab fab too! They are light and puffed, with beautiful crisp edges, stogged full of lovely sultanas, buttery and glazed with a lovely lemon drizzle icing.
You don't have to use sultanas though . . . you can also use dried cranberries or blueberries instead with most delicious results. Or . . . if you are not fond of dried fruits, you can use toasted walnuts or pecans.
In any case, these cookies are quite, quite wonderful.
*Lemon and Sultana Cookies*
Makes about 30
Printable Recipe
You can use dried cranberries or blueberries instead of the sultanas, or chopped walnuts or pecans. A lovely soft buttery cookie with a sweet/tart lemon glaze.
350g plain flour (3 1/2 cups)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
140g of butter, cut into small bits (9 1/2 TBS)
175g caster sugar (3/4 cup)
85g sultanas (generous half cup)
100g of lemon curd (scant 1/2 cup)
2 free range eggs, beaten (medium)
For the icing:
100g sifted icing sugar (3/4 cup)
2 TBS fresh lemon juice
Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Butter 3 baking sheets, or bake in 3 batches. Set aside.
Sift the flour, soda and baking powder into a bowl. Drop in the butter and rub into the flour mixture with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and sultanas. Beat together the eggs and lemon curd. Stir into the dry mixture to make a soft dough. Drop by heaped TBS onto the baking sheets, leaving plenty of space in between for spreading. Using wet fingers tamp down gently on top of each biscuit to flatten it slightly.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until well risen and golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for a minute or so before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
Whisk the icing sugar and lemon juice together until smooth and then drizzle this over top of each cookie.
Over in The Cottage today, a delicious Avocado, Tomato and Bacon Salad.
We only ever very seldom have a cooked breakfast. Usually that treat is reserved for special occasions or if we are on holiday at a B&B.
If we are going to have an egg meal, we usually have it as a light supper instead. That's what works for us at any rate. To each his own, I guess.
This is a really simple and fairly quick light supper if you are so inclined. Softly scrambled eggs . . . (Free range and organic if possible. Happy eggs are delicious eggs.)
Crisp bacon . . . (we have the loveliest bacon here in the UK. I always use dry cure, non smoked.)
Juicy roasted tomatoes and red onion wedges, lightly drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and sprinkled with fresh thyme leaves . . . (the edges of the tomatoes and onion lightly caramelized and sweet with the flavours of the vinegar and thyme)
All piled onto a freshly toasted whole wheat bagel. Nom! Nom!
A knife and fork meal. What's not to like!!!
*Breakfast on a Bagel*
Serves 4
Printable RecipeJust what it says. A tasty breakfast served on a toasted bagel.
4 medium ripe tomatoes, halved
1 medium red onion, peeled and cut into thin wedges
1/2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
1 TBS good quality Balsamic vinegar
1 TBS fresh thyme leaves and a few sprigs for garnish
8 slices of bacon, smoked or unsmoked, with the rind removed
4 wholemeal bagels, cut in half horizontally
3 TBS butter, at room temperature
8 large free range eggs, beaten
100ml of milk (a generous 1/4 cup)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Put the tomatoes and onions into a shallow roasting tin. Drizzle with the oil and vinegar. Toss together and then spread out, with the cut side of the tomatoes up. Season well and sprinkle with half of the thyme leaves. Roast for 20 to 25 minutes, until tender. Keep .
Heat the grill to high. Grill the bacon for 3 to 4 minutes, until crisp, turning halways through the grilling. Remove and then toast the bagels under the grill, until golden brown. Spread with half of the butter and keep warm.
Beat together the eggs and milk. Season well. Heat the remaining butter in a nonstick skillet over medium to low heat. Once it begins to foam, pour in the eggs and leave for 30 seconds. Use a wooden spoon to stir briefly, leave to cook again, repeat until the eggs are just set. Remove from the heat.
Serve each bagel on a heated plate with a portion of the scrambled eggs spooned over top, a few roasted tomatoes and onions, and 2 slices of bacon. Sprinkle with the remaining thyme leaves and serve immediately.
I really debated whether to post this recipe or not. I don't suppose you could really call it an English recipe . . . or can you??? hmmm . . .
The English are well known for their thrift and ingenuity when it comes to cooking, and show it off in delicious one pot meals, such as Lancashire Hot Pot, Stovies, Chicken and Mushroom Casseroles, and good old fashioned Soups and Stews, with dumplings (of course).
Then there are the meat puddings and pies. Stodgy, old fashioned, rib sticking, simple and delicious.
This is along those same lines and is something that my mom always made and her mother before her. Sometimes we add ham, and sometimes we don't. It all depends on if we have any ham leftover . . . it's a great way to use leftover ham.
My ancestry is English and German on the one side, and French on the other. Perhaps this is a conglomeration of all those cultures.
Perhaps the hot pot from England got translated loosely into a potato scallop, because those were the types of things that were to hand and in abundance in the new world . . . potatoes, onions, milk . . . and then ham was something that was also common as people raised their own pigs.
I know my grandfather always smoked his own hams and made his own sausages and sauerkraut, and they were good.
This is a recipe that has been born out of thrift and ingenuity, by several generations of cooks that made do with what they had to use and like to use up what they had . . . in the most delicious way possible.
So, perhaps it's not really all that distanced from English cookery after all methinks. In any case, this is fabulously delicious. Simple, hearty and a great way to use up leftover ham. And truth be known, if there are any leftovers (and there seldom are) it's even better for having sat a day in the fridge.
From the Big Blue Binder . . . Ham and Corn and Escalloped Potatoes. I always like to serve baked beans and a crusty loaf with this. It goes down a real treat. (Do place a baking tray underneath, just in case. If you have too much milk in it, it might overflow. Better safe than sorry.)
*Ham and Corn Escalloped Potatoes*
Serves 4 Printable Recipe
This is a really old recipe. Something that my mom always made and her mom before her. Simple and delicious.
1 tin of creamed corn (400g or 2 cups)
leftover baked ham, how much is up to you (I like to put in about 2 layers at least, sliced into pieces about 1/3 inch thick)
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into slices, again about 1/3 inch thick
1 medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced
6 ounces of milk, scalded (heat just until bubbles appear around the edges of the milk in the pan)
salt and black pepper to taste
2 TBS flour
2 TBS butter, cut into bits
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*f/ gas mark 4. Butter a 2 litre casserole dish.
Layer up everything in the casserole dish, beginning with a spoon full of the corn on the bottom, then add 1/3 of the potatoes, half of the onion, half the flour, 1/3 of the butter, some salt and pepper to taste (remember ham is salty so don't use too much) some more creamed corn and half of the ham.
Do another layer with 1/3 of the potatoes, the remaining onion, the remaining flour, 1/3 more of the butter, salt and pepper and the remainder of the ham, and half of the remaining corn.
Top with a final layer of potatoes, and the rest of the corn. Season lightly and dot with the remaining butter.
Pour in the milk. You may not need all of it. You just want to barely see it through the top, it should only fill the dish about 2/3 full.
Cover with a lid and bake for about 45 minutes.
Uncover and bake for a further 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender and the casserole is golden brown. Serve hot.
I like to serve baked beans and crusty bread with this for a real down home meal.
I put my hand up and make no apologies for it, I love Cinnamon. Nom! Nom! If anything has cinnamon in it, I'm right there.
I also love cinnamon rolls, but in all honesty they can be a bit of a faff to put together and they take so much time that by the time you have them done . . . you're too tired to really enjoy them as much as you could. Or at least that's my experience and in truth . . . I can be a rather lazy cook at times . . .
This recipe I have posted here today gives you about as much instant cinnamon roll gratification as you are ever going to get. You can have a delicious, yeasty, buttery, cinnamon roll sitting on your plate, all warmed and glazed in about 20 minutes. I kid you not!!!
And yes . . . it is a bit of a cheat. But, who cares!! They're Cinnamon Roll Croissants people, and they're fabulously scrummily delicious!!!
I let the pictures speak for themselves . . . just look at all that sugary cinnamony buttery filling, sitting there looking all scrumptiously irrestible!!
How much moreish can you get??? Not much, I don't think!!
Your family will love you for these, and your elderly Aunt, twice removed, will probably put you at the top of her inheritance list!
What??? Are you still here????? Wipe your chin and get your bake ON!!
*Cinnamon Roll Croissants*
Makes 6
Printable Recipe
Now you can have all the pleasure of a yeasty cinnamon roll, without all the faff, and be indulging on one in less than 20 minutes. Deliriously delicious!
1 250-g tin of refrigerated croissant dough (in the chiller cabinet next to the butter in most
British shops. Ours do 6 but I think they make more in North America per tin)
4 TBS butter, softened
50g of soft light brown sugar (1/4 cup packed)
1 TBS cinnamon (you can use less if you want. We love cinnamon.)
For the Glaze:
65g of icing sugar, sifted (1/2 cup)
few drops vanilla extract
1 to 2 TBS milk, or as much as is required to give you a drizzleable consistency
Preheat your oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Spritz lightly with cooking spray. Set aside.
Cream together the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon until well mixed and smooth.
Crack open your tin of croissants. Unroll and separate into triangles. Spread each triangle with 1/6 of the cinnamon butter. Roll up each, starting at the widest edge, as per normal. Seal edges or not, as you wish. (I don't mind if a bit oozes out as it makes them even scrummier!) Place each one onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving plenty of room between each for spreading.
Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until risen and golden brown. Remove from the oven. Whisk together all the glaze ingredients to give you a smooth drizzelable icing. Drizzle over the warm rolls. Serve to your most appreciative family pronto!
PSSSTT!!! Even Nigel Slater, Delia Smith and Nigella have been know to be lazy cooks from time to time. I'm in good company!!
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