I just adore spinach. If you had told me this would be so when I was a little girl, but I would never have believed you, but its true. I do love spinach. I think my hatred of it as a child largely had something to do with the fact that my mother tried to feed us tinned spinach, which was YUCK YUCK YUCK. There is just no comparison to the fresh spinach we have available for our use today and the tinned spinach from way back when . . . fresh is definilately better on ALL levels!
I love it in salads . . . crisp green baby spinach leaves . . . with its earthy mineral-like flavour. It is especially good with roasted chicken, toasted nuts, dried cranberries or fresh blueberries, some goats cheese and a fruity balsamic dressing.
I love it sauteed lightly with garlic, butter and salt and pepper. It does not take long to cook at all, and garlic goes very well with it.
It's great in omelets and frittatas, risottos, etc, but my favourite way to use it has to be this simple and easy Spinach and Guyere Tart. Its a recipe I got from my friend Audrey many moons ago. I fell in love with it and I can't tell you how many times I have baked this through the years.
It's quick and easy to make and so impressive when done. One thing which I really love about it is the free form crust . . . you just roll out a 12 inch circle and pile the filling onto that, folding the edges up around the outsides to encase the filling. So simple.
Another thing I love is the richness of the Gruyere cheese, which goes very well with that earthy flavour of the spinach . . . then there is the base of basil pesto which gets secreted beneath the filling before you pop that onto the crust. It's just enough to give you some flavour without overpowering the dish . . .
I also love that nutty crunch of the toasted pinenuts you sprinkle over the top of the tart before baking. Oh, I do love pinenuts . . . they are so moreish.
Actually, I think altogether you could say that I just really, really love this tart full stop!!!
*Spinach and Gruyere Tart*
Serves 4A delicious supper dish that can get even the most ardent of spinach haters to eat spinach! It's a free form tart and very pretty.
1 TBS olive oil
1 medium red onion, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 pound of baby spinach leaves, washed
300g shortcrust pastry, thawed if frozen (enough pastry to make a 12 inch round)
2 TBS fresh pesto sauce
120g gruyere cheese, grated (1 cup)
1 large free range egg, beaten
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 TBS toasted pinenuts
Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6.
Heat the oil in a small pan and add the onion. Cook, stirring for about 4 minutes, until softened. Add the spinach and cook just to wilt. Drain all in a colander and press out as much water as you can. Set aside.
Roll your pastry out to a 12 inch circle. Place onto a flat baking sheet. Spread the centre, leaving about 2 inches all the way around free, with pesto sauce. Reserve 1 TBS of the cheese and place the remainder into a bowl. Add the drained spinach, onion, beaten egg, salt and pepper. Mix together well. Place this mixture in the centre of the pastry circle on top of the pesto. Fold up the edges of the pastry over the spinach, pleating it decoratively. You will only want to fold it up about 2 inches all the way around, leaving the centre open. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and pine nuts.
Bake in the heated oven for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Cut into 4 wedges to serve.
All you need to serve with this is a salad on the side. Bon Appetit!
I am a big fan of smaller scaled meals, especially where there are only two of us in our home most of the time. I am also a fan of one pan suppers, coz, well, who wants to spend hours washing a ton of dishes if you can get the job done with only one!
That's why dishes like this Skillet Chicken Parmesan For Two are really popular in my house!
This tasty skillet chicken parmesan has all the flavors of the original, full sized recipe, with with far less mess and work. Its also ready in half the time. Did I mention that its DELICIOUS!
I have always loved Chicken Parm, but its been several years since I have been able to eat it.
I got really sick with food poisoning a few years back and one of the things I had eaten prior to that was some Chicken Parm, and . . . well . . . 'nuff said!
Funny how that goes, or maybe not so funny! I had also eaten pizza, but I was okay with eating that all along.
I recently started to feel like I could just about stomach chicken parmesan again. That made me happy as it had always been something which I loved.
This version differs from the regular Chicken Parmesan in that there is no fuss and muss of breading chicken and frying it. Yes, it is a skillet chicken parmesan without breading.
You crisp up some bread crumbs in butter until golden brown and then reserve them until the very end.
You then saute two well seasoned, boneless, skinless chicken breasts until they are nicely colored.
They, too, get set aside.
After that you create a nicely flavored honeyed tomato marinara sauce.
You make it just a bit thinner than normal because you are going to add some dry pasta to it . . . I love pasta that cooks right in the sauce. It really absorbs all of the lovely flavors of the dish.
You nestle the partially cooked chicken breasts into that, cover it and then cook for about 18 to 20 minutes, just until the pasta is tender and the chicken is cooked through.
At the end you scatter some cheese over top and cover it again to melt the cheese, and then the crisp crumbs get scattered over top along with a bit of chopped Basil.
Just like magic, you have a delicious dinner for two, with only one pan to wash up.
All you need on the side is perhaps some garlic bread and a salad. Dinner is served!
1 TBS butter
For the chicken:
1 TBS butter
2 boneless, skiless chicken breasts
For the sauce:
1 small onion, peeled and minced
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp each dried oregano, dried thyme
1 tsp honey
salt and black pepper to taste
1 (400g) tin of chopped tomatoes in juice (1 14 oz tin)
Melt the butter for the crumb topping in a large skillet over medium
heat. Add the crumbs. Cook, stirring, until golden brown. Tip out
into a bowl and set aside.
Wipe the pan clean. Rub the chicken breasts
all over with the Italian seasoning, pepper flakes and salt.
Melt the
butter in the skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook for
about 3 1/2 minutes on one side, until golden brown, then flip them over
and cook for another 3 1/2 minutes. Remove to a plate and set aside.
Add the onion for the sauce to the pan drippings. Cook over medium heat
until softened. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Ad the
tomatoes, undrained, water, herbs, honey and salt and pepper. Bring to
the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Stir in the pasta, stirring to coat
well. The mixture should be fairly loose at this stage, if it isn't add
a few TBS of water.
Nestle the partially cooked chicken into the
sauce. Cover tightly and cook over low heat for 18 to 20 minutes until
the pasta is tender and the chicken is cooked through. The juices
should run clear.
Remove from the heat. Sprinkle the cheeses over the
chicken. Cover and let stand for several minutes to melt the cheese.
Sprinkle with the bread crumbs and basil. Serve.
In a dish like this, the tomatoes are the star. Make sure you use a really quality tin of chopped tomatoes in tomato juice. I favor Cirio brand Italian tomatoes.
They use only the finest ripe Italian Plum tomatoes, carved into large pieces to preserve the quality, consistency and intense flavors of Italy. They're rich and delicious!
I think you could easily double this recipe by using a larger skillet and doubling the ingredients in order to feed four people. This fed the two of us amply. My husband is not all that fussy about pasta, but he enjoyed this. Bon Appetit!
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On Saturday morning for breakfast I cooked us a lovely pot of oatmeal . . . the ultimate in comfort food. When I was a child you could not get me to eat oatmeal for love nor money. As an adult I love the stuff, and by that I don't mean the pre-packaged instant type of oats. I mean the good old fashioned rustic rolled oats! There is nothing like it. Sometimes I toast the oats before cooking them for an even tastier treat!
They are so delicious, especially when served with a bit of heavy cream, just lightly napped over top and a light drizzle of date syrup. Manna from heaven!
I always make sure I cook extra oatmeal when I cook it, just so that I can then make these delicious muffins the next morning. They are quite simply fabulous!
Rustic and wholesome, filled with lots of sticky raisins, toasted nuts, the sweetness of brown sugar (I use light muscovado if I have it in) and flavoured with vanilla, cinnamon and the merest hint of nutmeg!
They also freeze very well. I like to keep some in the freezer to just grab when you want something special, real fast!
I hate waste, don't you? These delicious, hearty muffins make sure that what is something most people might just throw away is not wasted at all. I really like that.
Actually, when my children were growing up, I often chilled leftover cooked oats in a cling film lined small loaf tin, overnight. The next morning I would slice it into slabs, dust it with flour and fry it in butter. They loved it with maple syrup. It was very tasty done that way. And, the bonus was, they never felt like I was just feeding them leftovers!
*Breakfast Oatmeal Muffins*
Makes 12
Makes 12
These muffins are a great way of using up leftover cooked oatmeal. I often cook extra oatmeal for breakfast so that I can treat us to a batch of these the day after!
140g of plain flour (1 cup)
200g of soft light brown sugar (1 cup packed)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
120ml of vegetable oil (1/2 cup)
2 large free range eggs beaten
180g of leftover cooked oatmeal cereal (about 1 cup)
150g of raisins (1 cup)
1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans (optional)
1 tsp vanilla
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Grease a 12 cup medium muffin tin very well. Set aside.
Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Whisk together the leftover oatmeal, eggs, and vanilla. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients only to moisten. Fold in the raisins and nuts (if using). Spoon into the greased muffin cups, dividing the batter evenly amongst them.
Bake for 18 minutes, until well risen and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Let sit in the pan for about 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool somewhat before eating.
I really hope you will give these a go! Why not cook a bit of extra oats the next time you are making it for breakfast, just so you can bake these! If you are not fond of raisins, chopped dates or even dried cranberries also work very well! Bon Appetit!
We have had guests here at our home for the past week. It has been a whirlwind week really. We've been taking them places and showing them what we can of the "England Wales North West." The weather has been dry but very cold, so we were a bit limited, but we tried our best. We live in such a beautiful part of the country here, and there was ever so much more I wanted to share with them, but the time just seemed to evaporate!
On one of the mornings that they were here I made us a delicious Dutch Baby Pancake for breakfast. It went down a real treat!
A Dutch Baby Pancake is kind of like a huge sweet batter or Yorkshire pudding! It puffs up in the oven like magic, leaving a huge hollow centre, ripe for filling with whatever your heart desires!
We like fresh berries with ours and I had picked up some lovely looking raspberries and blueberries, so they went perfectly with it.
*Dutch Baby Pancake*
Makes 2 - 4 servings (depending on appetites)
Place
the flour, milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt into a blender or food
processor. Blitz to combine for about 20 seconds, scraping down the
sides after 10 seconds. Let stand on the counter top or about 20
minutes.
This is a simple and easy recipe, which makes it perfect for entertaining. The fact that it is also delicious and very pretty is quite simply the icing on a very delicious cake!
It puffs up huge in the hot air of the oven! You are almost afraid that it is going to overflow, but no worries. It is supposed to do that. Its all a part of the magic of the experience. Be prepared for plenty of Oooohs and Aaaaahs when you bring this delightful breakfast to the table!
Bon Appetit!
Whenever I have stale bread I want to make one of two things . . . either I want to make a bread pudding, or I want to make French Toast. Today the French Toast won out, but it's not just any French Toast . . . its Lemon Stuffed French Toast!
Lemon Curd is something I always have in my larder. It is considered a store cupboard essential! I also make my own quite often, especially in the winter months when lemons are in season! Oh to have my own lemon tree . . . sigh . . .
Yes, I am a Lemon lover of the utmost extreme! If it is lemon. I am on it!
This is so simple to make. You just make your traditional French Toast egg batter . . . you cut a pocket into thick slices of stale bread, fill the pockets with lemon curd, soak the slices in the egg batter and then cook it as per normal.
It goes very well with berries . . . strawberries, blackberries, raspberries . . . frozen or fresh. You decide!
*Lemon Stuffed French Toast*
Serves 4
Serves 4
Printable Recipe
A wonderful way to use up stale bread, with a tangy lemon curd filling. Serve with some golden syrup and fresh berries for a delightful breakfast treat!
One (16 ounce) loaf of french bread, unsliced
295ml of milk (1 1/4 cup)
3 large free range eggs
1 TBS sugar
1 tsp vanilla
pinch salt
a jar of lemon curd
unsalted butter and vegetable oil for cooking
To finish:
Icing sugar to dust
an assortment of fresh berries
golden syrup (optional)
A wonderful way to use up stale bread, with a tangy lemon curd filling. Serve with some golden syrup and fresh berries for a delightful breakfast treat!
One (16 ounce) loaf of french bread, unsliced
295ml of milk (1 1/4 cup)
3 large free range eggs
1 TBS sugar
1 tsp vanilla
pinch salt
a jar of lemon curd
unsalted butter and vegetable oil for cooking
To finish:
Icing sugar to dust
an assortment of fresh berries
golden syrup (optional)
Preheat the oven to 150*C/300*F/ gas mark 2. Butter a baking sheet. Set aside.
Cut the bread into 8 equal slized, each about 1 inch thick. Cut a pocket into each piece of bread, using a serrated knife, carefully slicing into, but not all the way through. Spoon about 1 dessertspoon full of lemon curd into the pocket created in each piece of bread.
Whisk together the milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt. Dunk the stuffed slices of bread into the egg mixture, allowing them to soak it up for several minutes, turning to coat it evenly on both sides. You want it saturated, but not falling apart.
Warm 1 TBS of butter and 1 TBS of oil together in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Cook the slices of stuffed bread in the heated fat until golden brown and lightly crisp on one side, flip over carefully and brown and crisp the other side. Place them onto the prepared baking sheet and keep warm in the oven while you cook the remainder, using more butter and oil as necessary.
When all the toast is ready, place it onto heated plates and dust lightly with icing sugar. Serve immediately with some fresh berries and golden syrup (if desired.)
Happy weekend and Bon Appetit!
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