This tasty Vegetarian Pie is actually something I baked way back in December. I can't believe it has taken until now for me to share it with you! My oven has been on the fritz again, and so I have been somewhat limited in what I can cook until it is fixed. This time it is the thermostat.
When I was raising my family in Canada, several times a year we would pop across the border into the US for some shopping. Of course that always involved a trip to a grocery store, and we would bring back a couple of large turkeys.
They were relatively inexpensive, and with five children, they made great sense economically. I always had lots of
things that I could do with a turkey and it's leftovers aside from roasting them.
Soups, casseroles, sandwiches . . . there was no end to my creativity. Of course with just two of us now in our home, it doesn't make a lot of sense to buy a whole turkey other than during the holidays. We just wouldn't get through it fast enough and over here, roast turkey's are really expensive!
You can get turkey breasts without the bone to roast relatively cheaply however, and turkey fillets, so I often avail myself of them and will cook one for us to use in sandwiches and casseroles. This recipe is usually how I roast it. It turns out perfect every time.
And we always get about 3 meals from it. One on the day, at least one casserole and then sandwiches. I don't like to buy the deli turkey here. It never seems quite right to me. I prefer to roast one of these turkey breasts and then use the meat from that.
At least I know what I am getting, and it's not over the top expensive like most sliced deli turkey meat is.
Sometimes I will do us hot turkey sandwiches, with gravy . . .
Sometimes a pot pie will show up on the dinner table . . .
This week I did a Turkey & Broccoli Casserole . . .
Turkey and broccoli are great flavour partners. Actually broccoli goes well with any kind of poultry, and fish for that matter. Actually, now that I think about it, broccoli is one of those vegetables that goes well with everything! (Beef and broccoli, num num!)
This is a really simple casserole which requires no tinned soup, nor the making of a cream sauce. It could not be easier.
You simply blanch your broccoli (broken into florets, and the stem peeled and cubed, waste not want not) and then layer it with some softened onion and the turkey in a baking dish. (season it all lightly)
Then you whisk together some sour cream and some stock and pour it over everything . . .
Crisp bread crumbs, seasoned and then mixed with some cheddar cheese get sprinkled on top . . .
And then the whole thing gets baked in the oven until the casserole is bubbling and everything is well heated through.
As they say, "Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeasy!" You really can't get much better than this. Its fabulously tasty!
Yield: 4
Turkey & Broccoli Casserole
A deliciously different way to use leftover cooked turkey. Simple ingredients put together in a beautiful way without the use of anything processed. You don't get much better than this.
ingredients:
- 400g of broccoli florets, broken (a large crown)
- 2 TBS butter, divided
- 1 medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced
- 350g of cooked turkey breast, cubed (about 3 cups)
- 100g sour cream (scant cup)
- 200ml of chicken stock (7 fluid ounces)
- 25g of fresh bread crumbs, coarse (1 ounce)
- pinch of garlic powder and mixed herbs
- 60g of grated strong cheddar cheese (1/2 cup)
instructions:
- First make the crumb topping. Melt 1 TBS butter in a skillet, add the breadcrumbs. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Stir in a pinch of garlic powder and the mixed herbs. Cook, stirring until they crisp up a bit. Cool and then stir in the grated cheese. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to the boil. Add the broccoli and then cook until just crispy tender. Drain well and rinse in cold water to prevent cooking further. Drain again.
- Melt 1 TBS of the butter in a skillet and add the onion. Cook, stirring over medium heat until the onion has softened without colouring. Set aside.
- Layer the broccoli, turkey, and onion in an oven proof dish. Season lightly with some salt and pepper. Mix together the sour cream and stock. Pour this over all. Sprinkle the cheesy crumbs over top of the casserole dish. Place onto a baking sheet and then bake in the heated oven until golden brown and bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve hot.
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You can serve it with rice, or baked potatoes, mashed potatoes or as I did the other day some roast sweet potatoes. I just wash up some unpeeled sweet potatoes, prick them and roast them in a hot oven until soft. If you cut off one end, they just slip out of the skins very easily and they taste wonderful just as they are! This makes a great weeknight supper that everyone loves! Bon Appetit!
At the weekend I like to cook the man something a bit heftier for his breakfast rather than his usual Oats or Wheatabix. I've never had him complain.
When I first moved over here we used to pop into Chester often on a Saturday morning and treat ourselves to an all-day breakfast . . . .
Bacon, sausage . . . eggs any way you wanted them . . . grilled tomatoes, baked beans, mushrooms . . . hash browns, black pudding (only if you liked it) and beautiful crisp fried bread . . . oh, I so loved the fried bread.
Thick slices of white bread that's been fried in fat until crisp . . . oh, it is sooo good.
They closed down the local BHS a few years back, so no more Saturday breakfasts . . . Oh, I know we could get one easily somewhere else, but there was just something about the BHS, and they were the only ones I knew that served fried bread.
I'll tell you something however . . . those full breakfasts don't hold a patch to these Crispy Tortilla Eggs! They are phenomenal!
Buttery crisp tortilla topped with a fried egg and cheese . . . and garnishes . . .
You start off by frying the egg . . . . just until the white is opaque, season it and flip the egg over . . . carefully so the yolk doesn't break.
I only ever use large free range organic eggs, and if they are RSPCA approved so much the better. I refuse to support an industry that is in-humane if I can help it.
Once you have flipped the egg, quickly sprinkle it with a tablespoon of cheese and a 6 inch tortilla . . .
Leave it until the cheese melts and helps the tortilla to stick to the egg and then carefully flip it over so you can fry that tortilla in the pan drippings . . . it only takes about a minute for it to get lovely and crisp.
Crisp and buttery . . . after that you turn the heat out, top with a bit more cheese and pop on a lid so that the cheese can melt.
Slide that baby onto a heated plate and top with some hot sauce and spring onions . . . I like to use a combination of Sriracha sauce and green Tabasco. Just a drizzle of each . . .
Fabulously tasty . . . FABULOUSLY!!
Yield: 1
Crispy Tortilla Eggs
You can make as many or as few of these as you want. Simple ingredients put together in a spectacular way. NOM NOM!
ingredients:
- 1 tsp butter
- 1 large free range egg
- 1/4 tsp seasoning salt
- 2 TBS grated cheddar or Jack cheese
- 1 (15cm) flour tortilla (6 inch)
Toppings:
- chopped spring onions
- hot sauce (I used Sriracha and Green Tabasco)
instructions:
- Melt the butter in a medium skillet over moderate heat. Crack in the egg. Sprinkle with the seasoning salt. Cook until the whites are set. Carefully flip over. Sprinkle with 1 TBS cheese. Immediately top with the tortilla. Cook until the cheese melts (won't take long). Carefully flip back over until the egg is on top and the tortilla is on the bottom. Cook for about a minute. Sprinkle on the remaining TBS cheese. Remove from the heat and pop on a lid. Leave til the cheese melts.
- Slide onto a heated plate and top with some hot sauce and the spring onions. Serve immediately.
NOTES:
Note - I like these with a softly cooked egg, but if your family prefers them firmer, just let the egg cook for a bit longer.
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These are so, so, SO good. I had planned on only making one for Todd, but it was so delicious, I ended up eating it and then had to make him another one. I know. Me <====== willpower.
This is the type of cake I really love (aside from a Victoria Sponge, that is.) Simple, light, fruity and oh so tasty.
Aside from the fact that blueberries are my favourite berries, I also enjoy coffee cakes. By that I don't mean a cake that is flavoured wih coffee, I mean a cake that is meant to be enjoyed with a hot cup of something!
This is the type of cake that is as equally at home on the breakfast table as it is on the teatime table. Its a great brunch cake.
Its a great elevensies cake. A GREAT COFFEE BREAK CAKE! A great any time cake!
It is a simple cake. Created by using simple ingredients and methods.
Those are the kinds of recipes I love most of all. Simple ones. Unpretentious ones. Ordinary recipes that are solid and always turn out.
Put together in the simplest of ways . . . it goes together in a flash . . .totally uncomplicated.
I did enough complicated when I worked at the Manor. A great skill stretching experience, but not exactly how I choose to live my everyday life.
It uses just flour, sugar, eggs, oil, buttermilk, vanilla and leavening. It is just a simple buttermilk cake batter.
If you know anything about baking you will know that buttermilk creates an amazingly moist cake. I adore buttermilk cakes.
The batter for this cake is layered in a pan with some brown sugar. The brown sugar is laced with cinnamon.
I adore cinnamon. It smells heavenly. On its own its quite unpalatable actually (have you ever tried to eat a spoonful?). But mixed with other things it becomes filled with bliss.
This cake is stoffed full of fresh plump blueberries. When I first moved to the UK you could hardly find blueberries anywhere. I really missed them.
They are widely available and very popular now.
Once you have all of this layered in the pan, you swirl through it with a knife . . . just a bit, not too much.
I use a round bladed dinner knife and do a figure eight in one direction and then another figure eight in the opposite direction. That usually works fine.
At the end you sprinkle the top with some flaked almonds and drizzle on some melted butter. Not a lot of butter, only a TBS.
After that you pop it into the oven and then exercise some patience while it bakes. That's the hardest part. The waiting.
Forty five minutes later you are rewarded with a fabulously tasty, moist and delicious cake.
A cake you will be proud to serve to anyone. A cake that you will be unable to resist sinking your fork into, again and again. You may even find yourself getting up in the middle of the night to enjoy a slice . . . if it lasts that long!
This usually gets gobbled up with gusto.
It is a fabulously tasty cake with a lovely thread of cinnamon sugar swirl throughout . . . studded with plenty of plump sweet berries.
I like to dust it with some icing sugar to dress it up a bit . . . nice, but not necessary. I just always think a light dusting of icing sugar makes any cake look prettier, don't you?
Yield: 9
Blueberry Coffee Cake
prep time: 10 minscook time: 45 minstotal time: 55 mins
A simple cake, not made with coffee, but meant to be enjoyed with a hot drink, bursting with blueberries and cinnamon! Moist and delicious!
ingredients:
For the topping:
- 65g soft light brown sugar (1/3 cup)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
For the cake:
- 210g plain flour (1 1/2 cups)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 130g sugar (2/3 cup)
- 120ml vegetable oil (1/2 cup)
- 2 large free range eggs, room temperature
- 180ml buttermilk (3/4 cup)
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 200g fresh blueberries (2 cups)
You will also need:
- 2 TBS flaked almonds
- 1 TBS melted butter
- icing sugar to dust (optional)
instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 180*C.350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter an 8 inch square baking tin and line with baking paper. Set aside.
- Whisk together the cinnamon and sugar for the topping. Set aside.
- Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together in a bowl. Whisk together the sugar, oil, buttermilk, vanilla and eggs. Add all at once to the dry ingredients and mix together just to combine.
- Spread half the batter in the prepared baking tin. Top with half of the blueberries and sprinkle with half the brown sugar mixture. Repeat with the remaining batter, berries and brown sugar. Swirl lightly with a knife. Sprinkle the top with the flaked almonds and drizzle with the butter.
- Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until risen, golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Serve warm, or at room temperature, dusting with icing sugar if desired. Cut into squares to serve.
Created using The Recipes Generator
If you bake only one cake this week. . . let it be this one. Oh boy, but it is a fabulous cake. You will be hard pressed to stop at just one piece. Put the kettle on and warm up that tea pot! A hot cuppa goes down a real treat with this!
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!
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