When I was growing up there used to be an advertisement on the telly for a brand of Tuna, called Chicken of the Sea. It was nice tuna, white and mild flavoured. Actually in a casserole you might have had to think if it was really was chicken and not tuna!
Today I decided to make us a Tuna Pot Pie for our dinner. And why not. I always buy this beautiful Albacore Tuna from Ocado. It is Waitrose brand and you can get it in Spring water or olive oil. I usually buy the one in spring water. It is perfect for things like sandwiches, casseroles, etc.
In the warmer months we even enjoy it cold in salads or on salad plates. I confess I am not a fan or ordinary tuna, and I never buy it unless it is for the dog.
I only buy Albacore white tuna, sustainably sourced. An old Italian woman told me many years ago that anything else was garbage fish. She stopped me right in the grocery store as I was putting tuna into my grocery cart and told me I was buying the wrong thing. Only buy tuna labeled albacore.
She also told me that snub-nosed carrots were sweeter than carrots with pointed ends. And you know what. She was right on both counts.
So today I made a tuna pot pie using a jar of my favourite albacore tuna, crispy tender cooked carrots and baby frozen peas. (To be honest I was disappointed with the peas. I usually buy Bird's eye Petit Pois and this time I had had to get Iceland petit pois and they were nasty. Woody and nasty. Never again.) Stick to what you know to be good.
I cooked the carrots and put them into a pie dish along with the peas and I broke the tuna into chunks over top. Then I made a lush cream sauce to pour over it all.
It was just a basic cream sauce that I flavoured with some lemon, dillweed and hot sauce because well . . . its fish! I felt those flavour additions would enhance the flavour of the tuna. They did.
I made a half recipe of my usual butter/lard pastry and I created a top crust for the pie. I did not bother with a bottom crust, although you certainly could if you wanted to. I didn't think it was necessary.
I baked it in a hot oven until the pastry was crisp and golden brown and that juicy filling was bubbling up. Except for the disappointing peas this was really delicious!
The sauce was well flavoured, the tuna was beautiful, the crust was perfectly flaky . . .
We enjoyed it along with some boiled potatoes, simply tossed with butter, seasoning and parsley and some Cheese Coleslaw on the side. we were both very happy with this meal and look forward to enjoying the leftovers tomorrow.
Tuna Pot Pie
Yield: 4 - 6
A deliciously different pot pie that your family is sure to love.
Ingredients:
For the pastry:
- 140g all purpose flour (1 cup)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 TBS butter
- 2 1/2 TBS lard
- 3 to 4 tablespoons of ice water
For the sauce:
- 2 TBS butter
- 2 TBS plain flour
- 240ml whole milk (2 cups)
- 1 small onion, peeled and chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- a splash of hot sauce
- a squeeze of fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp dill weed
You will also need:
- 240g jar of albacore tuna in spring water drained (8 ounces)
- 1 cup each cubed carrot and frozen peas, cooked
Instructions:
- To make the pastry, mix flour with salt, and cut in butter and lard, until you have pieces of fat in the flour about the size of peas. Add ice water, one TBS at a time, tossing it in with a fork until pastry comes together. Form in to a ball, flatten, wrap in cling film and chill.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan for the sauce. Add the onion and cook over medium heat, without colouring, until the onion is softened. Whisk in the flour. Cook for a minute, then slowly whisk in the milk. Cook, stirring constantly until the mixture bubbles and thickens. Cook for a minute further, then whisk in the lemon juice, hot sauce, dillweed and seasoning to taste.
- Put the cooked carrots and peas in a deep 8 inch pie dish. Break up the tuna and scatter it over top. Pour the cream sauce over all. Place the pie dish onto a baking tray.
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6.
- Roll the disc of pastry out on a lightly floured surface to a 9 inch circle. Place on top of the filling of the pie, crimping the edges all around. Using a sharp knife, cut some slits in the top for venting.
- Slide the baking tray into the oven and bake for 45 to 50 minutes until the pastry is crisp and golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Remove from the oven and let stand for about 10 minutes.
- Spoon out onto plates to serve.
What is your favourite thing to do with tuna? I have never had it in a burrito or anything Tex Mex and . . . I confess I shudder at the thought of tuna on a pizza or . . . the dreaded Tuna and Sweetcorn sandwiches they offer in the shops. I am a funny person when it comes to fish. I likes what I likes and that's that.
I come from a long line of jam lovers. I don't think there is a person in my whole family that doesn't love jam in one way or another.
When we were children my mother always filled our cakes with a layer of jam and as a special treat when we were enjoying a bowl of ice cream she always spooned a bit of jam over top.
My mother made beautiful jam. She used to fill our freezer with Strawberry Freezer Jam during strawberry season and we would enjoy it all winter long.
Today is Mother's Day in North America. My second one without my dear sweet mother. Oh how I miss her dreadfully.
I thought I would bake a sweet jam delight for us to enjoy today in her memory and honor. Small Batch Jam Crumble Bars.
I did downsize the recipe to fit the smaller family. As well, we have a shortage of flour at the moment, so I am eeking it out very carefully, trying not to waste any of it.
I think mom would approve. She hated wasting anything and could squeeze a dollar's worth of anything out of a penny!
These Small Batch Jam Crumble Bars are the bomb! With their plain cake bottoms, sweet jam filling and crumble topping, they never fail to please!
You can use whatever jam you want in the filling. Today I used Bonne Maman's Berries and Cherries. But we also love Strawberry Jam in it as well as Raspberry Jam. OH and Peach . . . Peach Jam is lovely when I can find it.
Just look at the beautiful texture of that cake. Oh I do so love jam and cake . . . just saying that makes me feel all Winnie the Poohish.
I could hug them close to me and smoosh them up tight like Winnie's honeypot!
I know my mom would have loved them as well. She used to make us these gorgeous Feather Squares at Christmas time.
They were very similar except they were topped with meringue and flaked coconut before browning until the coconut and the meringue turned golden brown . . .
Just like a snowy field all topped with goosedown . . . we looked so forward to them every year. Our jam loving family.
They were only good for about a day or so because of the meringue, but that really wasn't a problem. We gobbled this one a year treat right up pronto!
In any case these delicious Small Batch Jam Crumble Bars are going to last you a bit longer than a day. The recipe makes 8 bars and depending on how greedy you are, they will you last up to a week when stored in an airtight container!
Small Batch Jam Crumble Bars
Yield: Makes 8 bars
Our favourite bar recipe downsized for the smaller family. You have a cake type bottom, filled with sweet jam (pick your favourite) and a crumble topping. Delicious.
Ingredients:
- 95g granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
- 210g plain flour (1 1/2 cups)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 120g cold butter, cut into cubes (1/2 cup)
- 1 large free range egg, lightly beaten
- 160g your favourite fruit jam (1/2 cup
- icing sugar to dust
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Butter a 9 by 5 inch loaf tin and line it with baking paper. Set aside.
- Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add the salt and sugar. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Stir in the beaten egg with a fork. The dough should be dry and crumbly, but should form a dough when pressed together.
- Remove 100g (1/2 cup) for the topping and press the remainder of the dough into the prepared pan. Spoon the jam over top and spread it out evenly. Crumble the reserved dough evenly over top.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes until golden brown and the edges have begun to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
- To serve dust with some icing sugar and cut into squares. You can keep these delicious bars stored in an airtight container for up to a week.
Oh I found myself longing for a roast beef dinner today . . . our landlord was going to pick us up a roast at the shops, but brought back a ready made beef bourguignon.
UGH . . . I would rather make my own, but I guess beggars can't be choosers! I should be grateful he picked me up anything at all! Oh well! Happy Mother's Day to all my North American readers!
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@aol.com
Follow my blog with Bloglovin
One of the places I missed from back home when I moved over here to the UK was Tim Hortons. I actually used to work at Timmie's before I moved over here.
I understand that it has changed a lot over the past 20 years and not always for the better.
When I worked there they had bakers right in shop and they would work basically all night making the doughnuts, cakes, etc.
From what I understand everything is made in a central place now, brought in frozen and then thawed. Not quite the same I don't think.
One of the doughnuts that they had which was my favourite was their Sour Cream Doughnuts.
A type of cake doughnut as opposed to a yeast raised doughnut. I have always preferred cake doughnuts to yeast raised.
A favourite treat when I was a child was when my mom would bring a bag of cake doughnuts home for us from the bakery.
She would reheat them in a low oven in a paper bag. They were quite simply lovely. I always enjoyed them with a slice of good cheese.
Seriously, if you have never tried it, you really need to do . . . unbeatable.
There is something about the nutmeg in a plain cake doughnut that goes very well with cheese. You can find my recipe for Grandma's Doughnuts, here.
Of course if you are frying doughnuts, you have to fry the holes also. Our grandmother's would have used a thimble to cut the hole out from the centre.
Today I used a metal lid from a bottle of vinegar. It had a lovely sharp edge.
One way which sour cream doughnuts differ from other cake doughnuts is, first of all the tang.
Secondly and most importantly they have a quality which lends themselves to splitting slightly when they hit the hot oil . . . creating cracks, nooks and crannies that are perfect for hanging onto their sweet sugar glaze . . .
I love craggy things, don't you? Just look at those little nooks and crannies . . .
Perfectly cupping and creating little puddles of sweet and stick glaze . . .
Mmmm . . . so good. Doughnuts are not something I make very frequently actually.
They are a once in a bluemoon treat. My mother used to tell the story of her Aunt Orabelle frying the tips of her fingers in the hot oil when she made doughnuts.
Orabelle was my maternal grandmother's youngest sister. She and her husband Robie McGill lived on a farm up on the South Mountain.
They had an old blind white horse that lived in the field next to their house.
When we were children my mother would take us with her to go and visit Aunt Orabelle and my great Aunt would give us apples and carrots to feed the horse.
Good times. I don't even know if that house is still standing . . . things change.
And what does any of that have to do with doughnuts? Not a lot really, but I do love thinking back on the memories I have associated with the foods that I love.
You will want to try these doughnuts. They are quick and easy and oh so delicious!
Old Fashioned Sour Cream Doughnuts
Yield: Makes 6 to 10 doughnuts
Apparenty the difference between these and a regular cake donut is that as these fry the sides split open a bit and form interesting crags and crannies, which help to hug onto and hold the glaze.
Ingredients:
For the dougnuts
- 175g plain flour (1 1/4 cups)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 75g fine sugar (1/3 cup)
- 30g sour cream (1/4 cup)
- 1 large free range egg
- 1 TBS butter melted
- oil for frying
Basic sugar glaze:
- 150g icing sugar, sifted (1 1/2 cups)
- 3 to 4 TBS milk or water
- few drops vanilla
Instructions:
- Sift together the flour, soda and cinnamon. Stir in the salt and set aside.
- Whisk the sour cream, sugar, egg and melted butter together in a medium sized bowl until smooth. Add the flour mixture a little bit at a time until you get a smooth dough. Wrap and chill in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.
- Roll out on a lightly floured surface until 1/2 inch thick. Using a 2 1/2 inch round cutter cut into rounds. Cut the centres out with a thimble. Reroll any scraps and cut as required.
- Heat 2 inches of oil in a heavy bottomed pan until a thermometer registers 180*C/350*F. Carefully place the doughnuts in the hot oil, taking care not to overcrowd the pan and lower the temperature of oil. Fry for 1 to 2 minutes per side until golden brown. Remove to a rack lined with paper towels and drain. Repeat until all of the doughnuts and holes have been cooked.
- Allow to cool.
- When you are ready to glaze, whisk all of the glaze ingredients together in a bowl until smooth and you have a thick drizzle icing. (you may not need all the liquid) Dip the doughnuts in the glaze on one side and return to the wire rack to allow to set.
Apparently they have Tim Hortons here in the UK now. I have not been to one as there isn't one in Chester and to be honest nobody is going anywhere at the present time. I can't help thinking however that something would have been lost in translation however, but I do hope to check them out one day and find out for sure!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Social Icons