We've had some really cold days this past week or so, with heavy frosts on the ground in the morning and the days haven't warmed up too much either.
Before things get a chance to warm up the sun is setting, and things are chilling up again! Wintry, cold, damp . . . these days call for proper comfort food.
There is nothing we enjoy better on a cold damp night than a hot bowl of soup or stew. My husband's very favourite is a stew.
Stews are lovely. You can make them with beef, or lamb, pork, chicken . . . venison. Almost any kind of meat is good in a stew. Today I used beef.
My vegetables that I use for stew are pretty simple. Onions, garlic, carrots, parsnips, swede (rutabaga) . . . humble vegetables, comfort vegetables . . . winter vegetables. I like to cut them into a pretty uniform size.
I find there is something really mindful standing at the counter peeling and chopping. My mind is usually everywhere else and I am channelling my mom, nan, great nan, etc. I also add potatoes, but I cut those into larger chunks so that they don't disintegrate in the long oven braising time.
One secret to a really good stew is to brown your meat really well. You will want to do this in batches.
If you add too much to the pan at a time, it won't brown really well. There is a lot of flavour in the browning . . . so do it in small batches and . . .
brown it really well. Once you have it all browned you can add it back to the pan and add the aromatics . . . (I use a flame proof oven roasting/braising tin with a lid for this.)
By aromatics I mean onions, celery, leek . . . just bung them into the pan with the meat and cook and stir until the oven has softened . . .
I have a few secret ingredients . . . you can see them above. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but they add fab flavours!
The Balsamic adds a hint of red wine and sweet . . . the Worcestershire is a bit sharp and the Ketchup a bit of tomato and spice . . . back home I would add a splash of vinegar from a jar of sweet mixed pickles, but we don't get them over here in the UK.
I add the potatoes and some herbs and cover everything with beef stock/bullion, just to barely cover and I show a broken bay leaf right down into the mess.
Did you know that breaking a bay leaf in half helps to release its flavours? Now you do . . .
And that's it pretty much, cover it tightly and bang it into the oven to oven braise for 2 or 3 hours. I check it every now and then to make sure its not boiling dry.
You can add a little bit more of stock if it is. The stews done when the beef and vegetables are tender.
The gravy will be nice and thick and beautifully flavoured with all of those browned meat juices and aromatics, herbs, etc.
The vegetables add lots of flavour also . . . yummy.
I like to serve it with plenty of crusty bread to help sop up all of those delicious juices . . . .
If you wanted to you could add a cup of frozen peas to the stew about half an hour before it's finished for colour. Its delicious either way.
Beef Stew
Yield: 6
A satifisfying dish on a cool and wet and wintery evening. Long slow cooking ensures that the meat is melt in the mouth tender.
ingredients:
- 3 TBS olive oil
- 2 onions, peeled and chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
- 1 leek, trimmed, washed and sliced
- 1 stick celery, trimmed and chopped
- 2 large carrots, peeled, sliced in half and then cut into half moon chunks
- 2 parsnips, peeled, quartered and sliced into 2 inch long bits
- 1/4 of a small swede, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes (rutabaga)
- 6 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
- 2 1/2 pounds good quality beef stew meat, cut into cubes
- 2 TBS plain flour
- 2 pints beef stock (5 cups, or to cover)
- 1 TBS Balsamic Vinegar
- 1 TBS Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 TBS tomato ketchup
- 1 bay leaf, broken
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp dried marjoram
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 TBS chopped fresh flat leaf parsley to garnish at the end
instructions:
How to cook Beef Stew
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.
- Heat 1 TBS of the oil in a large flame proof casserole. Add the beef cubes, working in batches. Try not to overcrowd the pan. Brown well on all sides. Scoop out to a bowl and continue to brown the meat until all is browned. Add the onions and celery. Cook, stirring until the onion has turned translucent. Stir in the garlic and cook for about a minute and then the herbs, seasoning and flour. Stir to combine. Cook for about a minute and then add the remaining vegetables and the stock. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, Ketchup and Balsamic vinegar. Add the bay leaf and cover tightly. Pop into the preheated oven and oven braise for 2 to 2 1/2 hours at which time the vegetables and meat should all be tender. Remove and discard the bay leaf. Spoon the stew into heated bowls to serve. Crusty bread goes very well!
I confess one thing I have always loved to do with stew, since I was a child is to mashe the potatoes up in that stew gravy . . . and if I am feeling a bit indulgent I will dot a bit of butter on top so it melts down into everything. Yes, I AM naughty like that sometimes!
Million Dollar Salsa Chicken. My friend Elaine, who lives in Toronto, was making this chicken the other day for their dinner and it sounded so delicious that I decided to try it for ourselves!
She said to Google it and so I did. I seriously don't know what I would do without google in my life. I use it a bazillion times a day. It is my go-to source for all kinds of information.
At first I just Googled Million Dollar Chicken. This brought me all sorts of other recipes but none were the right one.
That's not to say they weren't delicious looking. They were just not the right one and I wanted the right one.
Most of them were identical to the recipe my friend Leona gave me for Lazy Chicken, Lazy Chicken is very delicious. Its a recipe I got from Leone many, many years ago.
Despite it being very delicious . . . . is not Million Dollar Chicken, or at least the one that Elaine was describing to me. I wanted to make Elaine's recipe that she had used.
She said it had salsa and stuff in it, so I Googled Million Dollar Chicken with salsa and found this recipe on Pillsbury.
It looked like it might be the right one. It sounded like it had all the right ingredients in it that I was looking for.
I also found it on Just a Pinch but am linking to the original one on Pillsbury since it was a winner of the bake-off in 1997, apparently.
In any case its a winner/winner chicken dinner! I decided to go with it!
I have adapted the recipe to feed just two people. I have also adapted it to cooking it in the oven. Elaine cooks hers in the Slow Cooker, and Pillsbury cooks their on top of the stove.
I have it on pretty good authority that it is delicious in the slow cooker . . .
I can tell you first hand that its pretty darned delicious done in the oven. We also have Pillsbury's word that it is delicious done on top of the stove!
I think we can safely say that it is full-on delicious! Don't you?
This is my kind of chicken and my kind of cooking. I love dishes like this. Quick, easy and delicious.
Dishes which are created by throwing together this and that, thrown together using ingredients that you find in your store cupboard or larder. Meals that you can easily adapt to whatever kind of day you are having.
Having a busy day with a lot on and no time for real cooking?? Throw it in the slow cooker.
Want it quicker than that? Just cook it in a skillet on the stove top, or bang it into a casserole dish and bake it in the oven.
It has a very Middle Eastern Flavours . . . with the cumin and the cinnamon, not to mention the dried fruit. Tagines often have those three things in them.
The salsa is the surprise and it gives this simple and very tasty dish a bit of a zip (depending on the heat of your salsa) and plenty of flavour! You really can't lose!!
Million Dollar Salsa Chicken
Yield: 2
This was a Pillsbury Bake Off winner in 1997 I have switched it out to serve just two people. You can cook in oven, slow cooker or on top of stove.
ingredients:
- 1/2 TBS flavourless vegetable oil
- 4 free range chicken thighs, bone-in, skin removed and discarded
- 80g tomato salsa (1/2 cup)
- 2 TBS water
- 1 TBS dried currants or raisins
- 1/2 TBS liquid honey
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 TBS chopped toasted almonds or toasted pine nuts
- Cooked rice or couscous to serve
instructions:
How to cook Million Dollar Salsa Chicken
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Season the chicken all over with garlic powder, salt and black pepper. Add to the hot oil and brown slowly on both sides, turning once. This will take about 5 minutes.
- While the chicken is browning mix together the salsa, water, currants/raisins, honey, ground cumin and cinnamon.
- Oven - Preheat to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Add the browned chicken to a casserole dish. Pour the salsa mixture over. Cover tightly and cook for 35 to 45 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the juices run clear. Stir in the toasted nuts. Taste sauce and adjust seasoning as desired. Serve the chicken pieces plus any sauce, spooned over hot rice or couscous.
- Stove top - Add the salsa mixture to the chicken in the skillet. Reduce heat to medium low, cover tightly, and simmer for about 20 minutes, until chicken is done, stirring occasionally. Stir in the toasted nuts. Taste sauce and adjust seasoning as desired. Serve the chicken pieces plus any sauce, spooned over hot rice or couscous.
- Slow-cooker - Put the browned chicken into the bottom of a slow cooker. Pour the salsa mixture over top. Cover and cook on low for about 6 hours or on high for 4 hours. The chicken should be thoroughly cooked, tender and the juices run clear. Stir in the toasted nuts. Taste sauce and adjust seasoning as desired. Serve spooned over hot rice or couscous.
I served this with brown rice and it went down a real treat. Thanks so much for the recommendation Elaine! This is the perfect meal for these busy days we are all going to have over these next few weeks!
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!
City Chicken. The delicious chicken dish that really isn't chicken. This fabulously tasty recipe is a Polish American recipe for making something very tasty which was developed during the Depression to help create a delicious supper dish that tasted like chicken, but was made with meats that were not quite as pricey to buy.
It is a recipe which was first shared with me by my sister many years ago and I have to say it is incredibly delicious!
I was sitting here yesterday morning doing Christmas Cards and I was trying to think of what my first Christmas memories were of myself and my sister. I am three years older than my sister, and I wasn't exactly very happy when my mom brought her home from the hospital. I wanted my mom to take the baby back, probably because I was used to being on my own and the baby was taking up far too much of my mothers attention.
For a week the only glimpses of my mother had been through a hospital window when my father had taken me to the hospital to see her. To have her come home finally, only to be accompanied by this small squealing attention getter was not exactly what I had been hoping for.
I must have been quite spoiled by having had all of both of my parent's attentions for three years to myself. That's all I can surmise.
It was only when my mother explained that if the baby went she would also have to go as the baby needed someone to take care of it that I relented and decided the baby could stay.
Little did I know then that my mother had brought home to me the best and most beloved friend that I could have ever had or wanted.
My life has been enriched and richly blessed through the years by this marvelous woman that I am lucky enough to be able to call sister. Cindy.
I love her so very much. It was she who taught me how to crochet. In fact she taught both my mother and myself. I am not sure where she learnt how, but she came home and taught us.
We spent several hours together one afternoon learning together. It is a skill that I have always been grateful for.
Through the years we have shared many loves and experiences with each other. We both love to craft and to create things with our hands.
Some of my happiest memories are of those we spent together manning craft tables filled with our wares at craft sales . . . the best part of which was getting to spend a whole day with each other without any children or husbands nipping at our heels.
We both love bird watching and nature. We have often compared notes through the years of different birds we have seen and have sat and watched them together.
I have fond memories of us having discovered an old discarded orchard filled with apples and blackberries and wild raspberries and picking large containers of them so we could make jam.
Everything my sister does is done with great skill and expertise and she is good at all that she does. I have always considered her to be the great baker in our family.
She has always created cakes that rise and pastry that is as light as a cloud. I was always more of a savory cook.
But one thing was certain, we both loved to create, cook and bake delicious meals and foods for our families to enjoy.
At a time when smaller families were most common, we both had what was considered somewhat larger, me having five children and she four children. Even my brother had four.
I think we all just have hearts for family and home.
One thing my sister and I have done a lot of through the years is sharing recipes. Some of my favourites come from her, like her Portuguese Gumdrop Cake, her Zucchini Casserole, her Stove Top Mac and Cheese
All delicious, and then there is this one . . . City Chicken, which isn't really chicken at all, but cubes of pork threaded onto wooden skewers, breaded, fried and baked until tender and juicy and incredibly delicious.
It was a recipe she got from her late mother in law, and it was one of her then husband's favorite meals. She shared the recipe with me and it became one of ours.
These kinds of recipes have always been my favorite kind of recipes. No question about it.
Recipes that are handed down and shared and that become a part and a parcel of the fabric of your family.
So whilst this tasty dish has nothing to do with Christmas or Christmas memories, or even chicken . . . . it has plenty to do with family and the love that most family's have for and share with each other.
Yield: 4
City Chicken
This is an old, old recipe I got from my sister back in the 1970's. It was a favourite of her in laws. It isn't chicken at all but beautifully tender pieces of pork.
ingredients:
- 1 1/2 pounds of pork tenderloin, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 free range eggs, beaten lightly in a shallow bowl
- 180g seasoned dry bread crumbs (1 1/2 cups) in another shallow bowl
- oil for frying
- 6 to 8 wooden skewers, about 5 to 6 inches in length, pointed on one end
- 120ml chicken stock (1/2 cup)
instructions:
How to cook City Chicken
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Have ready a shallow casserole dish large enough to hold all of your skewers in one layer.
- Trim and season the pork cubes with salt and pepper. Thread the pork onto the skewers, leaving a portion of the skewer bare at the end for holding.
- Roll the pork skewers into the beaten egg and then roll them into the bread crumbs to coat completely. Set them on a plate as you go along.
- Heat about 1/4 inch of oil in a large skillet. Working in batches as required (over-crowding the pan will cause the oil to cool), brown the pork skewers on all sides. Transfer the skewers to the casserole dish when browned. Make sure there is some space between each one. Pour the chicken stock in between the skewers. Cover tightly with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for a further 10 minutes to help crisp the breading.
- Serve hot with mashed potatoes, gravy and a vegetable on the side.
I love simple meals like this. Just the meat, some gravy, piles of fluffy mash and some peas and carrots on the side. The only thing missing was my sister. Oh but I wouldn't have given to be able to sit down and enjoy this with her. Maybe one day . . .
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!
A lot of us are going to be entertaining people in our home over the next month or so. Some of them may even be staying overnight.
When I have people overnight, one thing I like to do is to serve them a special breakfast in the morning when everyone is up and about.
I don't think you can get much nicer than a beautiful Apple Puff Pancake.
It cooks in one pan and will feed six, and you don't have to stand over top of it while it is cooking like you do regular pancakes.
You can throw it together, pop it into an oven and then sit down and enjoy a hot drink or a glass of juice with your guests.
Its really very simple to do. If you are thinking ahead, you can take the milk and eggs out of the refrigerator as soon as you get up so that they are at room temperature, but no worries if you haven't had the forethought to do that.
I give you instructions on how to do that very quickly in the notes of the recipe.
I like to use Granny Smith apples for this. They have a lovely sweet/tart flavour and they hold their shape well when cooking.
You don't want apples to settle into mush . . . you want to see the pieces in there!
I like to use my iron skillet as it moves very well from oven to table top. Its oven proof and is quite attractive.
It also holds the heat well, so your pancake won't cool off too quickly if you have stragglers who take their time getting to the table.
Just make sure you warn your guests not to touch the handle as it will be very hot.
Even better, wrap the handle in an attractive tea towel or get one of those handle shaped pot holders. Better safe than sorry.
You butter the skillet really well with real butter. I don't like butter substitutes if I can help it. There is no substitute for the flavour of real butter . . .
The apples are peeled, sliced and tossed together with some sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. These get dumped into the buttered pan.
Its okay if they look lopsided and some end up sticking out of the batter.
These bits will get a bit caramelised and add not only to the beauty of the finished dish, but also to the flavour.
Other than that all you need to do then is to beat together the pancake batter and pour it over the apples in the skillet. It won't cover them all as I said, that's okay.
Gently shake the pan back and forth with the handle to help the pancake batter settle into the pan and then just bang the whole thing into the oven.
Now put out some rashers of streaky bacon on a lined baking sheet, and set it aside until about 15 minutes before the pancake is done and go have a sit down with your company for a few.
Pop the pan of bacon into the oven about 15 minutes before the pancake is done and set the table. Fill a pouring jug with some pure Maple Syrup.
Let the pancake sit for about 10 minutes before you serve it. It looks really pretty dusted with some icing sugar. Cut it into wedges to serve along with some crisp bacon and a drizzle of maple syrup. Oh boy, some good!
Yield: 6
Apple Puff Pancake
In a French Kitchen, this would be called a clafoutis. Clafoutis, Pancake, apple flan, no matter what you call it, this is one heavenly breakfast dish!
ingredients:
- 2 tsp softened butter to butter the pan
- 150g white sugar, divided (3/4 cup)
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 4 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch slices
- 140g plain flour (1 cup)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 large free range eggs, at room temperature
- 240ml whole milk, at room temperature (1 cup)
- icing sugar to dust and maple syrup for pouring
instructions:
How to cook Apple Puff Pancake
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Butter a heavy 10-inch oven proof skillet with the softened butter and set aside.
- Take 2 TBS of the sugar and mix with the cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the apples and toss well together. Transfer to the buttered skillet.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt along with the remaining sugar, until well blended.
- Whisk together the egg and milk. Add all at once to the flour mixture. Whisk together until smooth and well blended.
- Pour the batter over the apples in the skillet. Give the skillet a bit of a shake back and forth so that the filling settles. Its okay if some apples are sticking out of the batter as they will slightly caramelise.
- Place the whole skillet into the oven and bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Let sit for 10 minutes, then dust with icing sugar and serve. Cut into wedges to serve and serve with some bacon and maple syrup if desired.
NOTES:
To bring milk and eggs to room temperature, heat the milk in the microwave for 30 seconds and place the eggs into a measure of hot tap water and leave them to sit while you get all the other ingredients together, at which time they will be perfectly at room temperature.
If you really wanted to be festive you could add some fresh or dried cranberries to the apples before you pour the batter over top, but trust me when I tell you it is pretty perfect just as it is!
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