Who could have even predicted a week or so ago that we would be living
in the new world we are living in at the moment. A world filled with
uncertainty and fear.
For, the moment this is the new normal and we
have no idea if things will ever be the same again. I am hopeful that
they will be, but only the man upstairs knows for sure.
My husband and I decided last week that we were going to self-isolate for as
long as it takes.
Because he is 82, and a fairly recent cancer survivor,
and we both have underlying health conditions, we feel it is the safest
route to take for us and we are prepared for this in every way.
I have always kept a healthy store cupboard. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ, we have have always been cautioned by our leaders to be prepared for emergencies.
That means we have food storage to keep us for at least 2 months, 72 hour packs, etc. It is not hoarding, just common sense, and we are prepared to share what we have with those who need it. We all are.
We've been taught to store foods that we will use and to use what we store so that it is rotated regularly. Again that only makes sense. Because of our preparedness, we have no need to panic.
It makes me sad to see all the panic buying that is going on now and the hoarding. I get that people are afraid, I really do, but what I see is panic mixed with greed and it doesn't paint a very pretty picture.
There are quite a few people who lack the means and the ability to stock up and I have seen photos of elderly people wandering around the shops unable to find even a small pack of loo roll. That's just sad and I think unnecessary.
Last week at Costco I saw people with their carts filled to overflowing with loo roll. Surely as a humanity we are better than that.
If you have more than you need, do the kind thing and share with those who don't. This is the perfect opportunity for us to show love and compassion for one another.
As a couple who are self isolating we are still quite capable or ordering in things we need on line, fresh items like meat and poultry, fruit and veg and fish.
I get my frozen fish from an online fish monger called Seafresh. They are just brilliant and have not only fish, but also meat and poultry. They also have a line of oven ready items such as Lasagna's, Wellingtons, Chicken Goujons, Pies, Battered Fish Portions, Crisp Bakes, etc.
Today I used some of their Cod Jumbo Battered Fish Fingers to create a delicious store cupboard casserole for us.
I love fish fingers. In sandwiches, casseroles, on their own, etc.
Their Jumbo Fish Fingers are not like regular fish fingers. They are much larger and made with delicious white Cod, just cod nothing else, and are coated in a light crispy golden batter.
They are quick to cook from frozen and are perfect for casseroles such as the one I am sharing with you today! We love, LOVE them!
This casserole is a very simple bake that goes together in a flash and is oh-so-delicious when its done.
I hasten to add that children just love it.
You have a creamy base of cooked rice, mixed with evaporated milk (you could use cream or half and half if you aren't bothered by calories), a small amount of creamy ranch salad dressing, grated cheese and a quantity of frozen vegetables.
Today I used frozen peas, corn and green beans, but you can use whatever vegetables your family enjoys. You can also cook vegetables from fresh to use, or even use drained tinned vegetables.
You could leave out the vegetables altogether and just use a tin of drained chopped tomatoes, which would also be nice. Especially if you traded out the Ranch Dressing for a creamy Italian and replaced some of the cheese with a grated Parmesan.
In short it is very adaptable to what you have on hand and what kinds of things your family likes to eat.
If you use these jumbo fish sticks/fingers you will find that one of them is the perfect size for one person.
This is a casserole that also reheats well the day after if you are a smaller family, or very easily cut in half if you are not a couple who enjoys leftovers.
Its very forgiving to say the least.
We enjoyed it with an Oriental Chopped Salad on the side. It went down a real treat!
I am so very grateful that in this day and age we have these options available to us, that we can do our shopping online if we choose, very quickly and easily. What a special blessing!
Fish Stick Casserole with Cheesy Vegetable Rice
Yield: 4
This is quite simply delicious. It makes a great use of store cupboard ingredients as well.
Ingredients:
- 250g of cooked long grain rice (2 cups)
- 180ml evaporated milk (3/4 cup)
- 60ml creamy ranch salad dressing (1/4 cup)
- seasoning to taste (I didn't use any)
- 12 frozen fish sticks (if using the larger ones, then you only need one per serving)
- 180g strong cheddar cheese, divided (1 1/2 cups)
- 2 cups of frozen vegetables, cooked for 2 minutes in the microwave (I used corn, peas and green beans)
Instructions:
How to cook Fish Stick Casserole with Cheesy Vegetable Rice
- Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/gas mark 5. Butter an 8 by 11 inch casserole dish. St aside
- Mix together the rice, milk, salad dressing, 3/4 of the cheese, any seasoning as desired (remember cheese is salty) and the partially cooked vegetables. Spread this in the prepared casserole dish. Lay the frozen fish sticks on top. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over all.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until heated through, the fish sticks are cooked through and the casserole is golden brown. Serve immediately. A salad goes nice on the side.
As with any fish dish, quality speaks for itself. When you are starting
with really good fish, you really don't or shouldn't have to do very
much to it to get the best from it. The fish fingers from Seafresh
are beautiful. I think they are the best I have ever eaten and that says
a lot! If you are looking for quality fish at a great price with a
fabulous delivery service
I can't recommend Seafresh highly enough! Their product, delivery
service, packaging and customer service are exemplary in my opinion and
so is this recipe!!
A few things about Seafresh:
- Same Day dispatch on orders received before 1 PM.
- All packages are carefully hand packed.
- Free delivery on orders above £50, £8 on orders below that amount.
- Responsibly and sustainably sourced.
- Air Blast Frozen at source within 4 hours of being caught.
- Wide variety to choose from.
Follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Note - Although I was gifted with product free of charge for the purposes of review, I was not required to write a positive review in exchange, nor would my integrity allow me to recommend anything if I did not truly like it. Any and all my opinions are my own entirely.
A few weeks ago I spied a particularly delicious looking White Bean and Ham Soup on Simply Recipes.
If you are looking for mealtime inspiration and simple recipes it is a brilliant resource to draw from!
The other day I baked us a batch of Bran Muffins from a new recipe that, whilst they tasted alright, were very much of a disappointment to me. They were flat, overly sweet and just not a recipe I would recommend to anyone. I wanted to be able to share something delicious with you that you wouldn't be embarassed to serve to anyone.
I hasten to add that I didn't change anything in the recipe, but prepared it exactly as presented. I don't know why these things happen. One man's meat is another man's poison I guess! Anyways, I have this great muffin recipe book that I got maybe 11 years ago.
Entitled Mad about Muffins and written by Diana Bonaparte, it is a muffin cookbook that I cannot recommend highly enough. Every single recipe that I have baked from it has been a great recipe!
I was intrigued by the recipe for Honey, Tahini & Sesame Muffins. I love all of those things, and it also uses lemon zest. I had ear-marked it for use quite some time ago and this morning I finally got around to making them.
I did adapt the recipe by cutting everything in half. The full recipe makes 11 muffins, but I got six nice sized medium muffins halving it.
They are not uber sweet, despite the use of honey. I don't like my muffins to be extremely sweet. Thy are not supposed to be like cake. They are supposed to be more like a bread.
The flavour of these was exceptional . . . you can taste the tahini, but more of a "hmmm . . . I taste something that tastes a bit nutty." It doesn't whack you. Of course the subtle taste of lemon is there as well.
As you can see they rose beautifully. I did get a bit of cracking on top, but thats not at all unusual in a good muffin. I think the touch of demerara sugar and sesam seeds on top is also a very nice touch and quite attractive. It also provides a tiny bit of crunch.
As you can see, they have a beautiful texture. My honey did fall to the bottom of the muffin. Not sure how to get around that. Unless perhaps you used creamed honey instead of liquid for the centres? What do you think?
All in all I would call these an excellent muffin. We both really enjoyed them. They smelled lovely when they were baking as well.
In all truth I don't know why I waited so long to make them! Tahini is something I always keep in my store cupboard and this was a great opportunity to use some of it, however small! I highly recommend! If you don't have tahini you could use peanut butter, but in that case I would leave out the lemon zest and the sesame seeds.
Small Batch Honey, Tahini & Sesame Muffins
Yield: 6
Prep time: Cook time: Total time:
The triple combination of honey, lemon and tahini paste make for a very delicious muffin indeed. Sized for the smaller family but easily doubled to feed more.
Ingredients:
For the muffins:
- 165g plain flour (1 1/4 cup)
- 65g caster sugar (1/3 cup superfine sugar)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- pinch salt
- the finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
- the juice of 1/2 lemon
- milk (see instructions)
- 50g oil (4 TBS)
- 25g clear honey (3 1/2 tsp)
- 15g tahini paste (1 1/2 TBS)
- 1 large free range egg
- 2 tsp sesame seeds
To fill:
- clear honey
To top:
- 1 TBS demerara sugar (turbinado)
- 2 tsp sesame seeds
Instructions:
How to cook Small Batch Honey, Tahini & Sesame Muffins
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Line a six cup muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.
- Rub the sugar together with the lemon zest until fragrant. Sift in the flour and baking powder and a pinch of salt. Combine well together.
- Heat the honey for the muffin together with the tahini and then whisk together to combine.
- Add the lemon juice to a beaker and then add milk to give you the equivalent of 85g/3 fluid ounces. Beat in the egg and oil with a fork. Then beat in the honey, tahini mixture. Add all at once to the dry ingrdients just to combine.
- Fill your muffin cups half full. Drop a tsp of honey onto each muffin and then cover with the remaining muffin batter. Combine the topping ingredients and sprinkle some over top of each muffin.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 22 minutes until well risen and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. The tops should spring back when lightly pressed. Transfer from the muffin tin to a wire rack to cool.
Not sure why but my recipes generator it not working today. Its an app that I actually pay for the use of so I hope that it isn't like this for long. When it comes back up again, I will replace this old format with the recipe card. I can see it, but it is not giving me the option to copy and paste it into my blog post. Between that and my facebook, I am batting zero this week! Its a good thing I am a positive person! Back to sort it out and its fixed! Yay!
I have tried to make it a habit on my blog to only share things with you that I use myself or that I think are worthy of sharing with you. I have been a user of Maldon Sea Salt for probably 16 or 17 years now, in its flaked form. I first heard of it watching a cooking program on the telly and tried it, fell in love and have been carrying on a love affair with it ever since.
They have recently rolled out their Perfectly Crushed Sea Salt Flake Mills in Morrisons nationwide. I was very excited to see these myself!
Maldon's uses unique traditional methods, harvesting the flakes to ensure they are perfect in taste and texture. The grinders ensure each salt flake is perfectly crushed with a simple twist, either on a coarse or fine setting, adjusted to preference. You can add Maldon to savoury and sweet dishes, and even to your favourite cocktails, to elevate their flavours to the maximum.
Loved by chefs the world over and By Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen as Purveyors of Sea Salt since 2012, Maldon Salt is approved by the Organic Food Federation. Maldon truly is a quality sea salt. I love, LOVE that these new salt mills are refillable!
Here are a few tasty recipes that you can cook using this fabulous product.
Roast Potatoes with Maldon Sea Salt
Yield: 4
prep time: cook time: total time:
A delicious crispy potato recipe from Chef David Charland, the Seafood Restaurant.
ingredients:
- 1 1/2 kg of potatoes (3 1/3 pounds)
- 8 twists of Maldon Sea Salt
- 250g goose fat ( a generous cup)
- a sprig each thyme and rosemary
- garlic cloves to taste
instructions:
How to cook Roast Potatoes with Maldon Sea Salt
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Peel the potatoes and cut them into 3 or 4 pieces. Rinse and then place into a pan of water to cover along with the sea salt. Bring to the boil and cook for 8 to 10 minutes until the potatoes are almost cooked.
- Drain well in a colander and gently rough them up a bit without breaking them.
- Heat the goosefat in a roasting tin in the oven. Tip in the potatoes, turning to coat them with the hot fat. Add the sprigs of herbs and garlic cloves.
- Roast in the preheated oven for 40 minutes until golden brown.
I love Brownies and these Brownies with Milk Jam from Paul Gaylor sound the bomb!
Chocolate Brownies with Maldon Sea Salt Milk Jam
Yield: 32 pieces
Fudgy chocolate brownies served with a salted milk jam topping made from caramelised milk and honey. What's not to like! Note, you do need to make the jam the day before.
ingredients:
For the brownies:
- 275g dar chocolate, ideally 70% cocoa solids (10 ounces)
- 275g unsalted butter (1 cup plus 3 TBS)
- 3 free range eggs
- 225g sugar (1 cup plus 2 TBS)
- 75g plain flour (1/2 cup plus 2 tsp)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 30g cocoa powder (4 1/2 TBS)
- 100g chopped toasted hazelnuts or pecans (scant cup)
For the jam:
- 600ml full fat milk (2 1/2 cups)
- 1 TBS runny honey
- half a twist of maldon sea salt
- 300g sugar (1 1/2 cups)
instructions:
How to cook Chocolate Brownies with Maldon Sea Salt Milk Jam
- Make the milk jam first. Bring the milk, honey, salt and sugar to the boil in a heavy based pan, stirring all the time. Reduce to a low heat and cook it for one hour, stirring it often. Be careful that it doesn't boil over or stick. The mixture souold be very thick and reduced while having a lovely caramel colour Put it into a bowl, leave it to go cold and then cover and refrigerate until the next day.
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Break up the chocolate into chunks. Put them into a bowl with the butter and place over a pan of simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water. Stir until the mixture is melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little.
- In another bowl, whip the sugar and eggs until fluffy, then carefully pour in the melted chocolate. Sift together the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder. Fold into the chocolate mixture. Stir in the nuts. Mix well together until smooth and silky.
- Line two 9-inch square pans with greaseproof paper, allowing for an overhang on two sides. Pour in th brownie mixture, spreading it out evenly. Place in the oven for 25 minutes. Do not overcook. Brownies stiffen after cooking and the centres should be gooey, the outer edges slightly crisper and springy when you take them out of the oven.
- Put the tins on a cooling rack and allow the brownies to cool thoroughly in the tins. Once cold, remove from tins using th overhang. Cut into squares and serve each square with a smear of the prepared jam on top.
For a complete PDF of these and other delicious recipes that you can download, click here.
The Maldon Sea Salt Grindersvailable from Morrisons stores nationwide as well as Tesco, Ocado and other quality food retailers. RRP from £3.50 / 55g.
Every time I go to Costco I pick up a large punnet of Blueberries. I adore fresh blueberries and often have them on my cereal in the morning.
I also enjoy them baked into muffins, cakes and desserts. They really shine in baked desserts.
Theyare so good for you. They are what is known as a super-food, and small wonder as they are little power-houses of nutrition.
Packed with antioxidants and
phytoflavinoids, these berries are also high in potassium and vitamin C,
making them the top choice of doctors and nutritionists. Not only can
they lower your risk of heart disease and cancer, they are also
anti-inflammatory. You can't lose!
Today I decided to bake some of them into a cake I adapted from a recipe that I found in the book Simple by Ottolenghi.
This was the first recipe I have cooked from the book, although I have quite a few ear-marked. I love the food of Ottolenghi.
When I worked at the Manor, the oldest daughter would often come down from London for the weekend and she would often bring with her things she had bought in his London shop and restaurant. His salads are phenomenal.
I have been gathering middle Eastern ingredients together so that when my children are here we can do some middle Eastern cooking together.
Create a few taste memories with each other.
I found this cake is a bit denser than most cakes are, perhaps from the combination of the use of ground almonds and flour combined.
In fact there is more ground almond in the cake than there is flour.
There are a full two cups of blueberries in the cake.
Some are stirred into the cake batter before baking and some are scattered over the top of the cake partially through the bake time.
For the most part my berries sunk to the bottom . . . which didn't really affect the taste of the cake, just the looks.
In the book the photo of the cake had plenty of berries sitting on top, bleeding into th icing.
The texture is very much like a frangipane bake . . . dense, buttery and lovely . . . just sweet enough . . . the perfect combination with the sweet/tart berries . . .
It may not be the prettiest cake around, but it I think it is one of the tastiest . . . .
The batter is flavoured with plenty of freshly grated lemon zest, fresh lemon juice and vanilla.
Blueberries and lemon are the perfect partners . . .
The finished cake is drizzled with a lovely lemon drizzle icing once the cake has cooled completely.
This is the perfect cake to sit down and enjoy with a hot drink . . . . .
I can also see it being enjoyed on a warm summer's day with an ice cold glass of lemonade.
In short, this is a cake that you can enjoy any hour of the day, any day of the week, any week of the year . . . full stop.
Bluberry, Almond & Lemon Cake
Yield: 8
A very moist and delicious loaf cake adapted from a recipe in Ottolengi 's book Simple.
ingredients:
- 150g unsalted butter, at room temperature (2/3 cup)
- 190g caster sugar (1 cup fine granulated sugar)
- 2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
- 2 TBS lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 large free range eggs, lightly beaten
- 90g self raising flour (1 cup, less 3 TBS) sifted
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 110g ground almonds (1 1/4 cup)
- 200g fresh or frozen berries (if using frozen, thaw and pat dry) (2 cups)
- 70g icing sugar (generous 1/2 cup)
instructions:
How to cook Bluberry, Almond & Lemon Cake
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a 9 by 5 inch loaf tin and line with paper, leaving an overhang to lift the cake out with when done.
- Cream the butter and sugar together with the, vanilla, lemon zest and 1 TBS of the lemon juice with an electric mixer on high speed for about 3 to 4 minutes. Lower the speed to medium and then slowly add the beaten eggs, a bit at a time and stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Whisk together the flour, salt and almonds. Add in three additions, stirring it well together. Fold in 3/4 of the blueberries by hand. Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf tin.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and scatter the remaining blueberries over top. Return to the oven and bake for a further 15 minutes. It should be turning golden brown at this point, but still be semi-raw. Cover lightly with a sheet of foil and bake for a further 25 to 30 minutes, until risen and cooked (Mine took a further 45 minutes.) A toothpick inserted in the centre should come out clean. Leave in the pan to cool, on a wire rack for 10 minutes before lifting out to finish cooling completely.
- Once the cake is completely cold, whisk together the lemon juice and icing sugar until smooth. Drizzle this mixture decoratively over the cake. Leave to set and cut into thick slices to serve.
I am still trying to sort out my facebook page. Someone keeps reporting my recipe posts as Spam and then Facebook removes them as being in contradiction to their community guidelines for Spam. My recipe posts on there are no different than anyone elses. I can't think of any reason anyone would want to be so malicious with me, but you know people. It takes all kinds. I have asked for FB to review the posts, but you know how long it takes for FB to do anything. In the meantime I would suggest you follow me on Instagram or even Pinterest. Many Thanks!
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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.
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