When my children were growing up, I always tried to have something tasty waiting for them when they got home from school. Sometimes it was cookies (most of the time) and others it would be cake, or cupcakes. On rare occasions I would have made them donuts. They really felt special when I made them those!
I remember one particular occasion when I happened to be watching my next door neighbours little girl after school. I decided to really pull the stops out on that day and make jelly donuts. My next door neighbour was a really good cook, and I wanted to do something really special for her little girl.
As I was making them, I felt really good about it and I was picturing in my mind how very much she was going to enjoy these jelly filled donuts. I was practically beaming when they all got in from school and sat down at the kitchen table to enjoy them with ice cold glasses of milk.
I was practically hovering over them in anticipation of all the kudos I was going to receive. Imagine my chagrin when the little girl piped up. "Your donuts are very good, but when my mother makes them, they are cooked inside!"
DOH!! They were still raw inside. How could I not have noticed. I felt like a real dope. Mind you this was some 35 or so years ago, and I have learnt an awful LOT since then!!
Plain yeast donuts are not all that hard to make really. They aren't even really time consuming. What takes the time is leaving the dough overnight, that's all. The actual hands on time isn't very long at all.
The hardest part is making sure your oil for frying is the right temperature. I cannot underestimate the importance of having a candy/frying thermometer! This takes away all of the uncertainty and worry. You can be assured that your oil is the correct temperature for frying. The reason my donuts were raw in the middle? My oil was probably far too hot and the outside cooked too quickly for the insides to catch up. Use a thermometer if you can. Its worth it.
Another way, and the easiest and safest method IMO, is to stick the end of a wooden spoon into
the oil. If you see many bubbles form around the wood and they start to
float up, your oil is ready for frying. If it is bubbling hard, the oil
is too hot. Let it cool a bit and then check the temperature again.
When oil is too hot, the outside cooks before the inside does, and in fact you will burn the outsides waiting for the centre to cook, so the temperature is really an important thing to take note of. If the oil is too cold, then the food you are frying will absorb too much of the oil, which is also a no no, resulting in greasy fried food. If your donuts/fish/etc. are greasy, chances are the oil that they were fried in was not hot enough.
So you see . . . a fine balance is needed.
No need for fear though . . . just follow those few tips and your donuts will be perfect. I like to glaze my donuts with a simple sugar glaze. You could also make a thin icing to frost them with. I find the glaze works best.
I wish the glaze up in a bowl large enough for me to dip the donuts into, top side down. Just a quick in and out, letting any excess drip off back into the bowl before putting them top side up onto a wire rack to set the icing. Doing this while they are still a bit warm, works really well.
Today I sprinkled them with candy sprinkles just for show purposes. In reality I don't like sprinkles on my donuts . . . its a texture thing. I feel like I am eating sand, but they sure do look pretty.
*Grandmother's Glazed Donuts*
Makes 1 dozen
These
take a bit of time and effort, but as a once in a blue moon treat, they
are well worth both! You will need to start them either the night
before or early in the morning.
135ml whole milk, warmed (1/2 cup + 1 TBS)
2 TBS sugar
1 heaped tsp of active or instant dry yeast
1 large free range egg, beaten
5 TBS butter, melted
280g strong flour (2 cups)
1/4 tsp salt
oil or white vegetable fat for frying
For the glaze:
2 TBS butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla
195g icing sugar, sifted (1 1/2 cups)
just enough milk to make a thin glaze (maybe 60ml/1/4 cup)
Warm your milk to blood temperature. (It should feel nice and warm,
but not hot, when you dip your finger in.) Pour into the bowl of a
stand mixer (if you have one) or a bowl if you don't. Add the sugar, and
stir to dissolve. Stir in the years and then leave to prove for 5
minutes. Add the beaten egg and melted butter to the bowl stirring to
combine. With the mixer running slowly, add the flour and salt, mixing
until the dough comes together. Let the mixer run on medium low for
about 5 minutes. Alternately if you are doing this by hand, knead the
dough for about five minutes, until smooth and elastic. Let sit for
10 minutes, then turn into a lightly oiled mixing bowl, cover with
plastic cling film and chill in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours
or overnight.
Remove from the refrigerator.
Roll out on a lightly floured surface to 1/2 inch thickness. Use a 3
inch donut cutter to cut out the donuts. Alternately use a 3 inch round
cutter to cut out rounds, and then a small cutter to cut out centres.
(An icing decorating nozzle is about the right size.) Place onto a
lightly greased baking sheet. (Don't forget the holes!) Cover and leave
to rise for about an hour until double in size.
To
make the glaze, combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix
together until smooth, only adding enough milk to give you a thin
glaze. Have ready for when you start frying the donuts. Also have a
rack ready to hold the glazed donuts on after you have glazed them. (I
stand mine on top of another baking sheet to catch all the drips. Less
mess to clean up.)
To fry, heat a few inches
of oil or at in a large skillet over medium heat. ( The oil should be
180*C/350*F in temperature.) Line a baking sheet with paper towels, and
set aside.
There was always something special about coming home to a hand-fried donut and a glass of cold milk. When you are a child, you never worry about the waistline do you? Those were the days . . . Bon Appetit!
We do eat a lot of chicken in our home. Mostly because it is fairly economical and also because you can do a LOT with it.
As there are only two of us now, I tend to buy organic, free-range, cornfed chicken, but I totally understand why larger a larger family would not be able to afford it.
I just like to eat happy chicken, and I think the organic, free-range, cornfed tastes better. I also make sure that it is RSPCA approved so I know that free-range really means free-range!
If you love chicken I think you are really going to love this crispy chicken recipe with its tangy lemon sauce.
I love the thigh meat most of all, but I also like breasts, especially for dishes like the one I am showing you here today. Lemon Sauced Crispy Chicken, which is a bit of a riff on Chinese Lemon Chicken, which I totally adore without question.
My chicken for this is panko crusted. I love the Japanese Panko bread crumbs for coating things that I am going to fry. They are wonderfully crisp and always give me perfect results!
The chicken part is fairly simple. Pound to an even thickness, dust with seasoned flour, dip in egg, then in the crumbs, and finally fry. Use one hand for the dry ingredients and the other for the wet, and you won't get into a mess!
They fry up beautifully crisp and the sauce is to die for. A perfect balance of sweetness, using brown sugar and honey, with some pineapple juice, along with plenty of sour with fresh lemon juice and apple cider vinegar.
There is a balance of saltiness as well through the use of soy sauce. I like the dark variety. I have also added some garlic powder and chilli flakes for an additional layer of flavour.
This is so, so, soooooo good. I could eat that sauce up just with a spoon, but instead I cut up the chicken into strips and drizzle it over top.
The sauce and coating would also go really well on jumbo prawns. I might do some of those for my husband as he loves prawns.
I am not fond of them myself, but every now and again I do like to spoil him a tiny bit!
*Lemon Sauced Crispy Chicken*
Serves 4
Panko
bread crumbs work the nicest with this,
although you can use ordinary dried bread crumbs. You can find Panko
bread crumbs in the oriental food section of the shops. The sauce has a
beautiful lemon flavour with a bit of a bite, which you can control
according to how much chilli flakes you add.
For the Chicken:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, pounded to an even thickness
salt and freshly ground black pepper
45g plain flour (1/4 cup)
2 medium free range eggs
125g of Japanese Panko, or other fine dried bread crumbs (1 1/3 cups)
60ml of vegetable oil for frying (1/4 cup)
For the Sauce:
85g honey (1/4 cup)
100g soft light brown sugar (1/2 cup, packed)
80ml dark soy sauce (1/3 cup)
pinch chilli flakes
80ml pineapple juice (1/3 cup)
240ml fresh lemon juice (1 cup)
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
the zest of one lemon
1 1/2 TBS cornflour (cornstarch)
Make the sauce first. Whisk everything but the cornflour together
in a saucepan. Simmer over low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until the
sugar has melted and all the flavours have melded together. Whisk the
cornflour together with enough cold water to make a slurry. (about 60ml/
1/4 cup) Whisk this into the the warm soy/lemon/honey mixture. Cook,
whisking constantly, over medium heat until the mixture bubbles and
thickens. Let bubble for about 1 minute, then lower the heat to very
low and keep warm while you cook the chicken.
Season the pounded chicken breasts with some salt and pepper.
Place the flour on a plate. Beat the eggs in a shallow bowl. Place
the Panko into another shallow bowl. One at a time, dredge the chicken
breasts into first the flour, then the eggs, and finally the Panko,
coating them evenly and pressing the crumbs on to adhere. Set aside on a
lined baking sheet while you heat the oil.
Heat
the oil in a large frying pan until very hot, but not smoking. Add
the chicken breasts and reduce the heat to medium. Cook, turning once,
until the crumbs are golden brown and the chicken feels firm when
pressed in the centers, about four minutes per side. Adjust the heat
as needed so that the crumbs don't burn. Transfer to a cutting board.
I served these with some of my Friday Fried Rice. Everyone was happy! Bon Appetit and happy weekend!
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 Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
I don't think I ever had a ready made bottled salad dressing the whole time I was growing up. My mom always made her own salad dressing from scratch.
It was always the same, and never varied, but we didn't mind because we loved it. We always had a salad on Sundays with our supper and she would begin it early in the afternoon.
She would thinly slice some onion, or cut it into small bits and put it into a bowl.
On top of that she would pour a quantity of white vinegar, adding some salt and pepper. She would let that sit for a while . . . the onions almost pickling in the vinegar.
Finally she would add just plain old salad oil, nothing special, and maybe a pinch of sugar.
The lettuce and other salad vegetables would be tossed into it and and then it would all be tossed together and that would be our salad! We loved it.
A salad is only as good as its dressing. That is a fact. I can't believe how many times restaurants get it all wrong . . . salad that is.
Old lettuce, sorry tasting dressings (if any at all) or just plain salad cream.
Don't get me wrong. Salad cream has its place, but if I am paying a whack for a salad I want a decent dressing with it, and decent salad ingredients! (You all know this is a pet peeve of mine!)
We had a lovely salad with our dinner today which I made just using what I had to hand. I was eager to use some of the tender young Sorrel leaves from our garden.
I have never grown Sorrel before. They are the leaves you see in this salad with the red veins. It is supposed to have a sour flavour, but I couldn't taste it. Nevermind . . .
Other than that I added baby Gem lettuce leaves, which are kind of like a baby romaine, but with a somewhat bitter flavour.
I also added thinly sliced red onions, cucumber, some cherry tomatoes, cubed beetroot and some radishes that I got rather fancy with . . . cutting them into little crowns.
I thought it all looked rather pretty together. A pretty salad deserves a tasty dressing, and this Chive & Shallot Vinaigrette is certainly that!
Its a very simple dressing with simple ingredients . . . I love making tasty things with simple ingredients.
Lemon juice. Shallots. Salt. Pepper. Dijon mustard. (Unheard of in my mother's time, but a very common kitchen ingredient these days.)
Salt and black pepper, and some chives, freshly picked and minced from our garden.
I like to add a touch of sugar just to cut the edge off the tartness of this, but you don't have to if you don't want to. My husband doesn't like really sharp flavours. This is a fabulous dressing!
*Chive & Shallot Vinaigrette Dressing*
Serves 4
This
tangy delicious vinaigrette goes well on mixed leaf salads, grilled
chicken, fish, etc. I use my immersion blender for this. It makes it
thick and creamy.
2 TBS finely minced fresh chives
1 TBS minced shallot
1 1/2 TBS fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
pinch sugar (optional)
4 TBS extra virgin olive oil
Put the shallot, lemon juice and mustard in the beaker container of an immersion blender. Blitz to puree the shallots. Add the seasoning and blitz again. Trickle in the olive oil, running the blender the whole time, and moving it a bit up and down, until you have a thick and creamy dressing. (Alternately you can do this in a regular blender) Whisk in the minced chives. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.
I always spend the last few months of Winter/Spring looking forward to the late Spring/early Summer salad days. Its one of my favourite times of the year, and mostly it is because of Salad.
I quite simply adore salad. And yes, a good salad dressing makes all the difference in the world, and this a good'un! 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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This recipe I am showing you here today is a very, very old one. It comes from a handwritten scrap of paper in my big blue binder, copied out in my own hand, I suspect from one of my mother's old cookery books from the early days of her marriage. It is the type of thing our Grandmother's would have cooked.
It is a testimony to the thrift of our forebears, and their ability to make simple things taste extraordinarily good, most times not even using recipes, but adding a bit of this and a bit of that, tailoring each lovingly to the tastes of her own family.
I confess, I have done the same, with the original recipe having nothing but salt and pepper and ketchup as seasonings. I suspect it strongly relied on the individuality and ability of a home cook to play with according to what was in-house.
I have added onion and garlic powders, some dried thyme and a splash of Worcestershire sauce. Oh, and a bay leaf. Did you know that breaking a bay leaf in half helps to release more of its flavours? Its true. When you think about it, it only makes sense.
I also added some finely grated peeled carrot and swede (rutabaga) because we like those things with beef, but you can leave them out if you don't have or want to add them.
The long slow cooking over low heat, really tenderises the meat . . . until it is pretty much falling apart and fork tender.
The macaroni actually gets added at the end and cooks in the juices in the pot, just until it is al dente. You may need to keep topping it up with some boiling water until the macaroni is cooked, but do be judicious as you don't want it to be soupy.
As you can see, mine is not soupy in the least. In fact I would call it darned near perfect, and I say that in all humility.
This is absolutely delicious. Cheap, cheerful and delicious.
All you need on the side is a salad perhaps and some buttered crusty bread if desired . . .
I used a small piece of silver side, that had been cut into a small roast for someone, that I discovered in the grocery store for only £2.38, which made for a really thrifty find.
It was a really lean piece of meat as well, with only one small sliver of fat that needed trimming off and discarding. Altogether this made a really delicious and hearty meal for us for about £4, with enough leftovers for us to enjoy tomorrow. A very tasty economy!
*Stewed Steak & Macaroni*
Serves 4 - 6
This
simple and yet delicious recipe is a testimony to the ability of our
forebears to create something quite delicious out of simple and
ordinary ingredients.
1 1/2 lb stewing steak (round steak)
(Trimmed of fat)
2 TBS plain flour
2 TBS butter
salt and black pepper to taste
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
1 bay leaf, broken in half
2 inch piece of peeled carrot and the equivalent in swede (rutabaga), finely grated (optional)
splash of Worcestershire sauce
115g pound dry macaroni (1 cup)
1 TBS tomato ketchup
Cut the steak into small pieces. Roll the pieces in the flour. Heat
the butter in a medium saucepan which has a lid, over moderate heat,
until it begins to foam. Add the steak, a few pieces at a time and
brown on all sides. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the
garlic powder, onion powder, thyme and paprika. Cover generously with
hot water, the grated vegetables, and add a splash of Worcestershire
Sauce. Break the bay leaf in half and add. Bring to the boil, then
reduce to a slow simmer, cover tightly and simmer over low heat for 1
1/2 hours until the meat is very tender. You may need to add some
boiling water from time to time to make sure that the bottom doesn't
catch. b
At the end of that time, remove the bay leaf and discard. Add the
dry macaroni and enough boiling water to make sure that the macaroni
will cook properly, you want about a inch of water over the top. Cook,
stirring occasionally, and adding water as necessary, until the macaroni
is tender. Stir in the tomato ketchup and adjust seasoning as
required. Serve hot spooned into bowls.
I know a lot of us are tempted to discard or ignore these old recipes, thinking that there is little or no value in them. I mean, they are quite old fashioned aren't they and there is no kale or quinoa in sight, but really, when you think about it, our ancestors were, in main, quite healthy and all they had was simple food to eat. Simple, thrifty ingredients done well. This fits in very well with the ethos of my style of cooking. Bon Appetite!
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