Watermelon & Feta Salad. Just the name sounds delicious to me. If you enjoy watermelon as much as I do, prepare yourself to fall in love because this is one very tasty salad!
I really love watermelon. I probably buy myself some a couple of times a week. I find it to be very refreshing and I really enjoy it.
My sister and I were talking the other day about the Salads at the Superstore. I had bought a fruit and spinach one which I really enjoyed and she had bought a watermelon and feta one which she really enjoyed.
The more she told me about it, the more I wanted to try it. I didn't want to drive all the way to Kingston just for a salad however so I determined to pick up some watermelon here in town and make one for myself.
I pretty much had everything in my fridge to make it. I only had to pick up some watermelon and some mint. And Yay! Today they had fresh mint!
The one she had included red onions. I didn't add any onion to mine. I have a bit of a problem with gastric disease and so I decided to leave the onions out because they have been bothering me lately.
If you don't have a problem with onions, by all means add them. I have sized this salad just to feed one, so judge accordingly. I think one tablespoon of chopped red onion would work fine.
I used 1 cup of cubed watermelon which was just enough for me, and I added some cubed cucumber. I think they are both from the same family or if they are not, they should be.
I had crumbled feta cheese in the refrigerator. I have always thought that feta cheese went really well with Kalamata olives.
But would Kalamata olives go with watermelon. I adore olives of any kind. I tried an olive with a cube of watermelon, bearing in mind that there would be far more watermelon in the salad than olives.
It was fabulous! Very Mediterranean! I decided to add a few halved Kalamata olives, which gave it both color as well as additional texture and a slight meatiness.
Not to mention the olives were slightly salty which works really well with the sweetness of the watermelon.
The cheese is salty too so bonus! I julienned two mint leaves to put into the salad.
Or should I say I cut them chiffonade. Just a fancy name for rolling them into cigars and thinly slicing them. I was thinking baby arugula (rocket) would also go very well in this but I didn't have any.
A squeeze of lime would be fabulous on this, but I didn't have any lime. Instead I created a simple vinaigrette.
Bear in mind both the cucumber and the melon will give off plenty of liquid, so what you are looking for here is basically something which will add a bit of a sharp flavor into the mix.
You don't really need a lot. 1 teaspoon of each did the job perfectly and I seasoned it lightly with salt because both the olies and the cheese are salty. I used sea salt.
I did use plenty of cracked black pepper. I love pepper and it goes really well with fruit. Have you ever tried strawberries with black pepper?
The two are fabulous together. Simply wonderful. And balsamic goes well with strawberries also.
Altogether this was a wonderful salad which I really enjoyed. Do be warned however, it will give off a lot of liquid.
I've had somewhat of an upsetting day today. I had been expecting an order from Amazon yesterday. I had gotten the notice that it was out for delivery.
Around 6 PM I noticed a car parked out front and there was a guy going through the boot of his car and then he started rooting through the back of his car. (Phone in hand.) I thought to myself, there's my package.
He spent quite a lot of time rooting around in his car so I got a really good look at him. I should have taken his photograph, but I just thought my package was arriving.
Then next thing you know he was back into his car, pulled into my drive, backed out and left. I wondered what that was all about, but didn't think much more abou tit.
Then today when I got back from the grocery store there was a sort of squashed package sitting on my doorstep. It felt too light to be the book I had ordered. I brought it inside.
Lo and behold inside was a half eaten pizza, some pizza crusts and loads of used napkins. It was disgusting. I thought to myself what kind of person leaves a half eaten pizza on someone's door step. Especially with Covid, etc. and I know KNOW it wasn't there when I left to go out.
I got buy with other stuff and then it was only later on when I checked my e-mail I noticed that I had one saying my Amazon package had been delivered and there was a photo of it on my doorstep (the photo is supposed to be proof of delivery.)
That cheeky so and so had obviously lost my package and tried to fob off his half eaten lunch as it. I was so upset, so, so, SO upset! I hate dishonesty. I did report it, both to Amazon and to the delivery firm.
But now I am afraid. What if he comes back in the middle of the night and tries to slash the tires on my car? I mean anyone would be that dishonest in the first place is not a nice person.
So anyways, my car will be locked up in my garage from now on just in case. I can't do anything about anything else, but hopefully nothing untoward will happen. Fingers crossed.
So that's my tale for the day. Has anything like this ever happened to you? I hope not!
Anyways, I did enjoy my salad, and I think you will too! 'Til next time!
PS - Did you notice my little watermelon hearts? Cute, but hard to spot!
Watermelon & Feta Salad
Yield: 1
Prep time: 10 MinTotal time: 10 Min
This may seem a bit unusual, but it is extremely delicious. It does need to be eaten right away, but that is so not a problem.
Ingredients
- 1 cup of cubed watermelon
- 2 inch piece of English cucumber, washed and diced
- 2 TBS crumbled Feta Cheese
- 6 Kalamata olives, pitted and halved
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- fine seas salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 2 mint leaves, slivered
- Fresh mint to garnish (Optional)
Instructions
- Put the watermelon and cucumber into a bowl. Add the olives, cheese and mint and toss together gently to combine.
- Whisk the vinegar and oil together, seasoning it lightly with the salt and pepper. Drizzle this over the salad, and toss together.
- Taste and adjust seasoning as required. Serve immediately and enjoy.
I think of all the pies in the world, Lemon Pie has to be my absolute favorite kind of pie. I love all pies of course. My whole family is a family of pie lovers.
But if I had to pick one favorite kind it would be a Lemon Pie. In the summer time I favor refrigerated no bake lemon pie recipes.
Recipes like my Old Fashioned Lemon Ice Box Pie, or Lemon Cream Pie are the order of the day. Creamy cool pies that you make with a crumb crust and then just refrigerate.
No fuss no muss. No heating up of the kitchen. Mind you, now that I live on my own, unless I am having company, there is just too much pie for one person in one of those!
I have a healthy appetite, but that's still far too much pie. What to do, what to do . . .
There was nothing for it but to create a small version of a refrigerated lemon pie. One that is perfectly sized for two. I didn't want to use sweetened condensed milk however.
Whilst I do love eagle brand lemon pie, I am quite sure I couldn't find something to do with the remainder of the tin if I made a small batch one of those.
It was time to put on my thinking cap and I think I came up with the perfect solution! This no bake lemon pie recipe is perfectly sized for two, but uses no condensed milk at all, also no cream cheese.
You do need some sour cream and lemon curd however. I don't know about you, but those are two ingredients I always have.
Sour cream and lemon curd are store cupboard staples in my house and I can tell you, in all honesty, I have never ever had to throw any of them away.
They always get used up. Always. You can make your own Lemon Curd of course, if you want to. I do have a recipe for that here, but any good store brand Lemon Curd will work fine. Today I used President's Choice Lemon Curd.
Normally I would use graham cracker crust for this type of pie. I had bought some ginger snaps a while back however to use in something else, and I thought they would make a perfectly delicious crust for this.
Ginger and lemon are perfect flavor partners. The two go together like peas and carrots!
I have a tiny little pyrex pie plate that my sister gave me. Its only six inches across and is the perfect size for this pie.
Don't worry if you don't have one yourself, you can also make this pie in a small 4 inch square casserole dish, or in two ramekins, or large tart tins. All would work well.
The crust is made pretty much the same way as a regular refrigerated graham cracker pie crust. Its just crushed gingersnaps, a tiny bit of sugar and some melted butter. Easy peasy.
Use a nice, snappy, gingery cookie for it. It took 9 of my cookies to give me the right amount. I used the Purity ones. Nice and tasty!
Its a nice and snappy crust. Crisp and gingery. Just pick a gingersnap that you like, a really crisp one and you can't go wrong.
The filling is basically only two ingredients. Yep, two ingredients!
Just the sour cream and the lemon curd. In equal amounts. Whip the sour cream up a bit and then stir in the curd.
Spoon it into the prepared pie shell, and that's it. Done. You do have to chill it overnight so that it sets up nicely, but for me that isn't a problem. Well . . . a problem I can handle at any rate!
It probably sets up a lot sooner than overnight, truth be told, but I left it overnight to be good and sure. It was perfect.
With only two ingredients such as that, you really want to be sure.
And now you are probably wanting to know what you can do with the rest of your lemon curd, eh? Well, I have several perfect solutions for using it up and every one of them incredibly delicious!!
Lemon Curd Drizzle Cake is a good-un. You just bang everything for this easy cake in a food processor and blitz it. Delicious!
Lemon Curd Cookies are another option. Buttery round cookies with lemon curd centers. Fabulous darlings!
Lemon Curd Shortbread Wedges are another option. With a shortbread cookie base, lemon curd filling and cookie crumble on top.
Lemon Curd Muffins. Tasty muffins swirled with lemon curd.
Bread and Butter Pudding with Lemon Curd and Raisins. Another tasty option.
Squidgy Lemon Cake is a real favorite of mine! It is moist and buttery and stogged full of lemon flavour. That is probably because you dollop big drops of lemon curd all over the top of it and then swirl them in with a skewer. Baked, you top it with a lush lemon glaze icing. Delicious!
Topped with dollops of lightly sweetened whipped cream, and sprinkled with chopped candied ginger, this is a pie you are really going to fall in love with.
Lets face it, why should we suffer because we are only one or two people. We deserve delicious lemon treats as well! And this is, plain and simple . . . one very tasty treat!
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
Creamy Lemon Pie for Two
Yield: 2
Prep time: 15 Mininactive time: 12 HourTotal time: 12 H & 15 M
With its crisp gingersnap crust and lush creamy filling, this is a pie to please. Tart, sweet, rich, creamy and no bake!
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1/2 cup (60g) gingersnap crumbs
- 1 TBS butter, melted
- 1 tsp sugar
For the filling:
- 1/4 cup (30g) dairy sour cream, full fat
- 1/4 cup (55g) good quality lemon curd
To top:
- 1/4 cup (60g) whipping cream, whipped and lightly sweetened
- 1 TBS finely chopped candied ginger
Instructions
- You will need a small pie tin for this (6 inch) or two individual (6 ounce) ramekins. You also need to let this chill overnight.
- Measure the crumbs, sugar and melted butter into a bowl. Combine well together and then press into your pie tin (or ramekins). Place in the refrigerator to chill for 10 minutes.
- Whisk the sour cream until it fluffs up and then whisk in the lemon curd, combing both together completely. Spoon into the chilled crust, cover with some cling film and then place in the refrigerator to chill over night.
- Whip your cream until stiff with a small amount of sugar. Pipe it into rosettes on top of the pie, or simply spread over top of the pie. Sprinkle with the candied ginger. Serve immediately.
One way of adding additional flavor to your meats, poultry, fish or vegetables is to dress them up with an easy compound butter. Fresh, garlic, herbs, and butter make for fabulous flavors when dolloped on top of your summer grills.
They are also wonderful on hot breads and baking powder biscuits. Lets face it, they are pretty much wonderful any way you serve them!
They are not only delicious, but very easy to make! Its like magic. A few simple ingredients and you are well on your way to creating something incredibly and edibly tasty!
Today I created a delicious Mustard-Chive one to enjoy with my steak. To be honest, I have not had a really great steak since I moved back to Nova Scotia. I sure am going to miss my Butcher in the UK.
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
Every single steak I have had here has been riddled with gristle and nasty bits, with the exception of some tenderloin my sister and I went halves on last winter.
On this day it was a top sirloin steak, simply grilled. To be honest, with the exception of the butter, it was not very pleasant eating, and I always cook my beef medium rare. It really shouldn't be tough.
Even my steak knife had a difficult job of sawing through this piece of meat. I have never had a piece of grilling steak curl up on me like that. Simply awful.
That is one thing (amongst many) that the British do right. Steak/Beef. I believe I was well and truly spoiled.
This compound butter saved the day. It was lovely and herby, tasting of fresh chives, which are growing against the back of my wee house.
Also grainy mustard. I used a grainy Dijon. Lovely melting across the meat.
It would have also been very nice on the corn. There is no end really to what you can use a tasty compound butter on.
I have given you a few choices here today, a plethora of wonderful flavors to enjoy on all your summer grills.
Along with the Mustard-Chive there is a lush Blue Cheese Compound Butter. I adore blue cheese.
Can you just imagine how delicious a dollop of that would be melting into the soft cragginess of a baked potato? That is the only version without garlic. Garlic and blue cheese are not a great match, at least not in this.
Another brilliant flavor combination is the Rosemary Parmesan one. Green, woodsy and salty sharp from the cheese.
This would be fabulous spread onto hot and crisp slices of toasted French Bread, or baguettes. Or can you imagine it melted and drizzled over hot popcorn?
Garlic and Herb, with sage, parsley and thyme. Oh boy . . . simply wonderful on grilled chicken and fish.
Or even pan sautéed chicken and fish. Why not try it on steamed asparagus, or green beans?
Anchovies may not be to everyone's taste, but trust me when I say they totally work in a compound butter. Especially if you mash the anchovies so that they meld into the butter.
I can't think of anything this tasty butter wouldn't go with.
Not only are compound butters easy to make and delicious, but they are also very pretty to look at. Rolled into a log/sausage shape and chilled, you can simply slice them into rounds.
A round of a pretty butter looks really beautiful as a garnish on hot things. Almost mesmerizing as you watch it slowly melt into whichever hot surface it touches.
Today I used a melon baller to shape it into small rounds. It really looked very pretty sitting on top of my steak.
I hope you will be inspired to want to try to make some compound butters for your summer grills. A bit of compound butter elevates even the simplest of foods into something really special. I guarantee!
Compound Butters
Yield: Each makes 8 servings
There is not a tastier way to garnish a grilled piece of meat, poultry or fish. These butters also go well on grilled or roasted vegetables.
Ingredients
For Garlic & Herb:
- 1/2 cup (120g) unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 tsp dried sage (2 TBS fresh)
- 1 TBS minced fresh parsley
- 3/4 tsp dried thyme (1 TBS fresh)
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
For Rosemary & Parmesan:
- 1/2 cup (120g) unsalted butter, softened
- 6 TBS finely grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp dried rosemary (4 tsp minced fresh)
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
For Blue Cheese:
- 1/2 cup (120g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup (2 ounces) blue cheese, crumbled
For Mustard-Chive:
- 1/2 cup (120g) unsalted butter, softened
- 3 TBS minced fresh chives
- 5 TBS grainy mustard
For anchovy-garlic:
- 1/2 cup (120g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/4 cup (about 15 g) minced fresh flat leaf parsley
- 2 anchovy fillets, rinsed and minced
- 1 TBS fresh lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
You will also need:
- fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- For all of the butters, place the softened butter into a bowl and using a fork, whip the butter until it is light and fluffy. Mix in the remaining ingredients, seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.
- Cover and let rest for ten minutes to meld the flavors, then shape into a log/sausage and wrap tightly in plastic cling film.
- Chill in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. You can also freeze the log for up to 2 months.
- To use either slice into coins or, scoop into balls using a melon baller. Place on top of the hot food to melt.
Yesterday was my sister's 63rd Birthday. Since it was my first time being able to celebrate her Birthday in person after over 20 years, I decided to cook her a slap-up Roast Chicken Dinner.
That is what she wanted. Roast Chicken with all the trimmings, including my MIL's stuffing, along with a Victoria Sandwich Cake for dessert.
This is the cake we all enjoy for our celebratory cakes. We are cake and jam people.
I was only too happy to oblige her. We all love a roast dinner and we all love roast chicken, and the cake, well, that is a real favorite also!
As usual I cooked far too much for the main meal. We had roast chicken with gravy, fluffy mashed potatoes (as per my father's request), potato stuffing/dressing, peas/carrots and then the dessert. Because there is bread in the dressing, we don't do rolls.
Today Cindy, Dan and I are going to Jonnys Cookhouse in Berwick for another birthday dinner. That's Dan's treat for Cindy. Wednesday nights is the night my dad goes for fish and chips with his friends, so we usually try to do something together also.
I have not been to Jonnys since I was home for our Eileen's wedding, 9 years ago now. We have been talking about going all Winter. So there is no time like the present, and what better excuse than a Birthday.
My sister and I were perusing the menu this morning as we talked on the phone. There is soooo much to choose from, it will be hard to make up our minds, so we thought we needed all day to mull it over so we don't drive Dan to distraction when we get there with our humming and hawing.
Normally the people in my family always have fish and chips when we go out. We say we are going to have something else but, in the end we have fish and chips. Their fish and chips are great, but so are their Poutine!
Their Chicken Dinner Poutine looked especially good. Crisp chips, melting cheese, chicken, gravy, stuffing and peas. What to do, what to do!
How could I ever choose??? And then I remembered all the chicken dinner leftovers I had in my refrigerator.
I decided to make a Chicken Dinner Poutine for my breakfast ( a late one, don't judge) and then I could order fish and chips later on. (Or maybe I will just get an ice cream. It depends on how hungry I am.)
That way I could crack on with my work today and not have to worry about cooking any dinner. Problem solved!
Poutine is very much a Canadian thing. It originated in Quebec in the 1950's and is essentially a dish of hot chips (french fries) with gravy and cheese curds.
That was at the beginning. At its birth. You can now get all kinds of poutine. It has morphed into multiple varieties. If you can dream it, you can make it, and it will probably be pretty delicious as the basic version is pretty darned delicious!
As long as you get the three main ingredients right. The chips. The gravy. The cheese curds, and it really needs to be cheese curds to be truly authentic.
And those ingredients need to be piping hot, hot enough to melt the curds! You can see I achieved a proper melt! Yum yum!
You can use mozzarella cheese, because you will get plenty of melt, but real cheese curds for poutine are the authentic way to go.
When we were children we would visit my father's family up in Northern Quebec. There is a cheese factory near where he grew up and we always got bags of the cheese curds to snack on in the car on the way home.
Squeaky and delicious. You can't beat them! Even after mom and dad had separated in their later years, my mom always got my father to pick her up a bag when he went, and he always did.
You can get the bags of cheese curds in grocery stores now. You can eat them just as is, or you can turn them into Poutine. And why not! You only live once.
What wonderful flavors are in this dish. Poutine on its own is delicious, but add some chicken and stuffing and peas?
You got a little taste of heaven right there on a plate!
Just make sure everything is good and hot and Bob's your Uncle. You will have poutine perfection!
Poutine gravy, melting cheese curds, tasty chicken, stuffing, peas. What's not to love about that I ask you!
Its a good thing.
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
Chicken Dinner Poutine
Yield: Serves 2
This is full on decadence. Something delicious to make with your leftovers from a chicken dinner. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!
Ingredients
- 1/2 of a four serving sized package of frozen French fries
- 1 cup (238g) leftover chicken gravy
- 1 cup (200g) leftover roast chicken
- 1 cup leftover stuffing, crumbled
- 1/2 cup (65g) frozen peas, cooked
- 1 cup (210g) large cheese curds, not packed
Instructions
- Cook your fries according to the package directions. I use Cavendish Crispy fries and cooked them in my toaster oven. It took approximately 10 minutes.
- While your fries are cooking, add your chicken to the gravy in a sauce pan and heat until nice and hot and the gravy is bubbling.
- Warm your stuffing up in the microwave until hot. Pour boiling water over your peas and then drain.
- Divide the hot chips between two dishes and layer up as follows: hot chips, cheese curds, chicken and gravy, crumbled stuffing and peas.
- If everything is nice and hot your cheese curds will melt beautifully and become nice and stringy.
- Serve immediately.
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