This recipe today is one of those economical dishes that is not only quick and easy to make but which are real family pleasers. The original recipe comes from a cookery book that I have had since I was seventeen years old and since I am now sixty-one, that is a very long time! This is truly a recipe which has stood the test of time!
My last year in High School there was an offer in a magazine to purchase the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook library. You would get one book a month, which would arrive via the post, which you could then pay for at a fair price by return post. I collected all of the volumes.
This one comes from the volume entitled, "Good Food on a Budget." I have adapted it a bit through the years by adding some oregano and onions to the sauce, and the way I layer it together. I like to have the cheese on the top. In the original recipe they have the sauce on the top.
I have also cut down the servings of the recipe because there are only two of us now in this house and one of us is not a real pasta lover. SO instead of serving 6 to 8, it now serves 3 to 4.
Other than that it is basically the same recipe as the original. It is quick and simple to make and goes together in a flash. It is also a dish which most people love. With its hearty meat sauce and simple cheese filling/topping it is a real pleaser! All you need on the side is a salad and some garlic bread if desired.
You will want to use a sausage in this that has plenty of flavour! Over here I favour Cumberland Sausage because it is nice and peppery, but you can use whichever sausage meat you like. A sweet italian would go very well.
*Mock Lasagne Casserole*
Serves 3 to 4
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
225ml tomato passatta (1 cup, tomato sauce)
60ml water (1/4 cup)
1/2 tsp each dried basil, dried oregano, onion powder, garlic granules
salt and black pepper to taste
100g dry macaroni (Uncooked, 1 cup)
Because the passata/tomato sauce for this is such an integral part of the recipe, you will want to use one which has nice flavours. I use Cirio and I know you must be tired of me saying this, but it is a well favoured Passata made with only the finest fresh Italian Tomatoes,ensuring that your dishes will have a full bodied and rich Italian flavour! It also comes in a new PET bottle which means you can use as little or as much of it as you like, simply popping the lid back onto the bottle and refrigerating the rest for another day, which works well for this recipe which basically only uses 225ml/1 cup of passata/tomato sauce. The PET bottles are also recyclable and unbreakable. I used the Passata Classica for this recipe.
I really hope you will give this a go and that if you do your family really enjoys it. Bon Appetit!
One of my favourite things about having a food blog is that occasionally it affords me the opportunity to try something new that I might not have tried otherwise. I was recently contacted by The Skinny Bakery and asked if I would like to try some of their cakes. Cakes which have less calories, fat and sugar than regular cakes. As a diabetic I am always on the lookout for a sweet treat that I can enjoy on occasion and so I said sure, send them along!
I was sent a delectable assortment, including:
- Skinny Chocolate Pearls (chocolate sponges piped with their signature tofu-chocolate frosting. Low
fat and a good source of protein. 21% tofu, 25% low fat yoghurt. 208cals per pack)
-Skinny Sweet Potato Brownies (sweet potato brownie bites, gluten and dairy free recipe, made with 46% sweet potato and sweetened with dates. 189calories per pack)
-Skinny Coconut Bites ( vegan coconut balls with only 5 ingredients. No added sugar and wheat free. 212 calories per pack)
-Skinny Double Chocolate Meringue Cookies ( Chocolate cookies made with egg whites and dairy-free chocolate. Crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside. 141 calories per pack.)
-Skinny Mini Flapjacks ( 5 mini flapjacks, with dates, a hint of coconut and sea salt. 202 calories per pack)
-Skinny Beetroot Pearls (beetroot sponges piped with a quark based low fat cream cheese frosting. 169 calories per pack.)
-Skinny Chocolate Chip Cookies ( Pack of soft dairy-free chocolate chip biscuits – only 37Kcal each)
AND my absolute favourite . . .
-Skinny Carrot Cake Pearls ( Carrot cake sponges piped with a quark based low fat cream cheese frosting.)
OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY!
All of them were delicious. And it was nice to feel like I was actually putting something a bit healthier into my mouth, instead of a whole pile of sugar. I really, really enjoyed them, and I think it is something which I will buy myself in the future, especially since most of they can be frozen for up to six months, which means I can stock up, pop them in the freezer and then just enjoy as and when.
They have free world wide delivery on any order over £29.99 and here is a list of the countries they deliver to, along with estimated delivery times:
And I can also offer you, my readers, a Coupon worth 10% off
just enter the code marie10 at the checkout
You can order from their website: https://skinnybakery.co.uk/#shop
Their products are also available in Selfridges.
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Many thanks to The Skinny Bakery for sending me these delicious cakes to try. Although I was sent them free of charge, I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions are completely my own. I quite simply love LOVE them! (Especially the Carrot Cake ones!)
I was going to make Dauphinoise Potatoes to go with our Easter ham, but then I decided to make a potato dish instead that I had not made in a very long time.
This is something I used to make quite often when I lived in Canada, but have not made that often here in the UK.
A fabulous buffet dish that goes down a real treat at the holidays or for pot luck suppers! Simple to make and delicious.
6 large potatoes, unpeeled
60g butter (1/4 cup)
1 tin of cream of chicken soup
120g sour cream (1 cup)
240g of strong cheddar cheese, grated (2 cups)
2 TBS butter
45g cornflakes, crushed (2 cups before crushing)
Place
the potatoes into a pot of boiling water and cook just until fork
tender, but still firm. Drain well and set aside to cool. (I usually do
this the night before and put them in the refrigerator overnight) Peel
and then grate them on the coarse side of a box grater into a bowl.
Season lightly with salt and black pepper.
Preheat the oven
to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Melt the 60g/1/4 cup butter in a skillet
and saute the onions until softened and turning golden brown. Scoop
into a bowl. Whisk in the soup and the sour cream. Stir in the cheese
and then fold in the potatoes to combine thoroughly. Spread into a
large shallow buttered casserole. Melt the remaining butter and stir it
into the crushed cornflakes. Sprinkle the buttered cornflakes over top
of the potatoes.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown and heated through.
Funeral Potatoes, so named because they are very popular at Buffet Suppers and Pot Lucks. Normally you use frozen loose pack hash browned potatoes to make this.
You cannot find the loose pack hash browns over here, just the ones that are shaped into patties already or triangles.
Its a recipe that makes good use of store cupboard ingredients . . . frozen hash browns, tinned cream of chicken soup, sour cream, cheese . . . sauteed onion and buttered cornflake crumbs.
Everyone loves them.
Over here I have learned to use grated cooked potatoes instead of hashbrowns, and I can tell you it tastes just as good as it does with the hashbrowns, in fact you cannot tell the difference.
It is a bit more work however, and does take some planning, as you need to cook the potatoes well ahead of time, let them cool and then hand grated them.
It is well worth the effort however because they are always welcome everywhere I take them. They go down a real treat, and I think they make a great holiday buffet dish.
You could cut the recipe in half as well to serve it during the week or at other times when you are not feeding a lot of people.
The leftovers are also very tasty heated up in a lightly buttered skillet until they are golden brown . . . just sayin' . . .
I know, I'm telling on myself and now you know why I look the way I do! Ahem!
*Funeral Potatoes*
Serves 6 to 8
salt and black pepper
1 medium onion, peeled and finely diced
This isn't something you would want to eat really often as it is rather calorific, but for the holidays and every now and then it is a real treat! Bon Appetit!
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@aol.com
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*Perfect Deviled Eggs*
Makes 12 servings
Makes 12 servings
Printable Recipe
I
wish I had a pound for every one of these I have cooked in my
lifetime. I'd be sitting real pretty on a huge pile of dosh right now!
These are excellent. Always the first things to disappear on the
buffet table.
Tips for Creating Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs:
1. Older eggs are a lot easier to peel than newer eggs. I always use eggs that at least one week old, if not older. If you have eggs that are close to their expiration date, so much the better. It's true!
2. Boiled Eggs, should actually NEVER be boiled! Keeping them at a steady simmer is much better. Boiling toughens the yolk. Also, never add salt to the water. I do add a tiny bit of vinegar, which helps them to peel easier.
3. Always bring your eggs to room temperature before boiling. They are less likely to crack if you do this.
4. Don't stack your eggs in the pot. Have them laid out in one layer. If you have too many eggs to do this with, you need a larger pot! You only need about 1 inch of water over the top of the eggs. More than that and it takes too long to boil. Less than that and your eggs won't stay covered.
5. As soon as your water comes to the boil, remove your pot from the heat, pop a lid on and let them set in the boiling water for (17 minutes) large eggs, (20 minutes) jumbo eggs. At the end of that time, drain and then run cold water over them until they are cooled down. Let them sit in cold water for about 10 minutes and then drain. For ease of peeling roll them around and allow the shells to crack while they are still in the water. Let sit for a few minutes.
For ease in peeling these things help alot . . . using older eggs, beginning at the large end of the egg, peeling under running cold water. I usually tap the large end on the counter until it cracks, then give the egg a gentle roll all over before peeling them under a slow running tap. You will get perfect results almost 100% of the time.
And now for a giggle. Here's a few things I baked over the past few days for Easter that never made the cut for the blog for aesthetic reasons. In other words, they didn't photograph well.
This is my Easter Lamb Cake. I had always wanted to do an Easter Lamb Cake, but did not have the proper pan. I decided to use a Scottie Dog Shortbread tin, which kinda worked, lol. But I laughed and laughed when I saw it done. Here is the recipe I used for the cake itself, which is a excellent recipe.
*Kentucky Butter Cake*
Makes 12 servings
The other cake I baked was this Easter Basket Cake, which was a recipe I have had in my Big Blue Binder. It was clipped from a magazine and was supposed to be in aid of Sunmaid Raisins and Pet Evaporated Milk. It's a lovely cake. For some odd reason however, this time my cake stuck to the sides of my pan. You win some and you lose some! Its a cake I made quite frequently when my children were growing up.
*Easter Basket Cake*
Makes 15 servingsI don't think I will ever be able to find work as a Cake Decorator, lol. Happy Easter!
Happy Easter weekend! How can you tell its a Bank Holiday weekend in the UK. The Traffic going out of town towards the coast on the Motor Way is horrendous!
And it's raining. LOL Most Bank Holidays come accompanied with copious amounts of rain. For all these reasons, my husband and I never go anywhere on a Bank Holiday weekend, except for church!
On Thursday we had to take a meal to a family who just had a baby this past week, and let me tell you, at 3 PM on Thursday afternoon, the traffic flow towards Flint was bumper to bumper.
After we had dropped it off and were on our way back home, the traffic moving into Flint (and towards the coast) was at a virtual stand still. Not my idea of a holiday!
Tastiness such as this Hot Cross Bun French Toast is just the ticket to enjoy for an Easter Weekend Breakfast!
OH MY GOODNESS! That's all I can say! Soooo good! This is the perfect Easter weekend breakfast.
4 quality hot cross buns
4 large free range eggs
4 TBS whole milk
1 tsp grand marnier or courvoisier or Orange extract
To serve:
Maple Syrup
cooked bacon
cooked sausage
Cut
your hot cross buns in half horizontally, giving you four bottoms and
four tops. Beat the eggs together with the milk and the grand marnier.
To serve place a bottom and top of a
hot cross bun on each of four heated plates. Add some bacon and
sausage and pass the Maple Syrup!
Note - there is no need for sure in this as the buns themselves are sweet enough!
If you didn't want to serve bacon or sausage with this, fresh fruit would also go very nicely. Bon Appetit!
I cannot claim to have thought this up myself, although I certainly had it in the pipeline, but Waitrose beat me to the pip!
I can only lay claim to the addition of the Gran Marnier Liqueur
I thought it would go excellently in the batter and along with the flavours of the hot cross bun themselves, and I was right . . . it did.
Vanilla would also work, as would Courvoisier or orange flower water. It is really a nice addition.
I served this on heated plates along with some grilled streaky bacon and meaty sausages, with Maple Syrup for pouring.
Altogether it was very . . . very nice. I highly recommend!
*Hot Cross Bun French Toast*
Serves 4
2 TBS butter
Heat one TBS of butter in a large skillet over medium heat until the
butter begins to foam. Soak the hot cross bun bottoms in the egg
mixture. Place into the foaming butter, cut side down first. While the
bottoms are cooking, soak the tops.
Cook the bottoms until golden
brown, flip over and brown the other side. Place into a warm oven to
keep warm (you should have your bacon and sausage keeping warm in the
oven.)
Repeat with the hot cross bun tops and remaining TBS of butter.
Melt the butter until it foams, add the bun tops, cut side down in the
foaming butter, cook until golden brown, flip over and cook until golden
brown on the top side.
If you didn't want to serve bacon or sausage with this, fresh fruit would also go very nicely. Bon Appetit!
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.
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Sixty years ago, the English writer GK Chesterton wrote, `If an Englishman has understood a Frenchman, he has understood the most foreign of foreigners. The nation that is nearest is now the furthest away.' We even choose to measure the distance between differently . . . for us it's miles . . . for them kilometers. We tend to think of them as arrogant individuals wearing berets, with ropes of garlic hanging around their necks . . . and they think of us as being rather "toffee-nosed" and "tasteless" . . . capable only of cooking a good roast beef!!
Our relationship has always been tenuous at best . . . its really a bit of a love/hate kind of thing! We noticed, on those few holidays we have spent in France, that you can get delicious cheeses from all over the world, but there are no British Cheeses. At least we have never been able to find them. The Toddster finds that very hard to take . . . a world without a good cheddar is a world that is missing something very vital!
Anyhoooo . . . I do love most French food, and I think most Brit's do. A lot of the higher class restaurants here in the UK carry French dishes on the menu . . . seriously. Love . . . hate . . .
This is a delicious salad, which one might easily find in any French Bistro . . . but, when you really look at it . . . we are not talking gourmet here. Simple ingredients, well prepared and put together with care.
For years the English did not do salad very well . . . and indeed, it can still be very difficult to find a decent salad when out and about here in the UK. I am always so disappointed when the menu in a restaurant says salad is included, and it comes and . . . . salad is a few limp lettuce leaves with a slice of tomato and a slice of cucumber on top . . . . and NO dressing. If you ask for dressing, you are given a squeeze packet of salad cream. (Salad cream has its place, but when I pay for a salad in a restaurant, I want a decent dressing.) Is it so hard to get it right???
Salads can be as diverse as the people who enjoy eating them. To some . . . that aforementioned combination might well be the salad of some people's dreams! To others . . . well . . . it's sadly lacking. Early on in our marriage when I told Todd I was making us a salad for lunch, he turned up his nose and said . . . "I don't really like salad. Salad is boring." Well . . . he had never had one of mine and now he quite likes it, I am very happy to say!
*Salade Composé*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe
This literally means "Composed Salad." The ingredients are layered on top of each other rather than being tossed together. I love the tangy vinaigrette.
For the salad:
1 small French Baguette
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
60ml of extra virgin olive oil (1/4 cup)
6 rashers of streaky bacon, rind removed
150g of salad leaves (about 4 cups)
6 ripe plum tomatoes, sliced thinly
4 hard boiled eggs, halved lengthwise
For the Dressing:
60ml of sherry vinegar (1/4 cup)
80ml of extra virgin olive oil (1/3 cup)
3 tsp of good quality Dijon mustard
1 tsp runny honey
fine seasalt and cracked black pepper to taste
Put all of the dressing ingredients into a jar with a screw top lid. Give it a good shake. Set aside.
Preheat the grill to high. Cut the bread into 1/2 inch slices. Combine the garlic and oil for the salad. Brush this mixture onto both sides of the bread slices. Toast under the grill until golden brown. Set aside and keep warm. (Don't let them burn!)
Cook the bacon in a large nonstick skillet until crisp. Place onto paper kitchen toweling to drain. Set aside.
Layer the salad leaves in top of each of 4 chilled places. Top with the bread slices, and bacon broken into chunky bits. Top with the egg and tomatoes. Give the vinaigrette another shake and drizzle some over each salad. Pass the remainder at the table.
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