It's a cold, wet, rainy day out there today. Not fit for man nor beast. It could always be worse however as it could be snowing.
My brother posted a photo of his backyard on FB this morning and in Ottawa, it was snowing. I am not sure I am ready for that. I haven't even bought myself a snow scraper yet. (Not to self, buy snow scraper.)
This is a comfort food kind of a day. When I think of comfort food, several things come to mind. First, potatoes. Second cabbage. Third onions.
This simple dish of fried cabbage and potatoes has all three of those things. It's quite simply delicious as well. I could eat a whole pan of just this and nothing else and be very, very happy.
I adapted the recipe from one which I found in this cookbook. Written by blogger Parish Ritchie (Life with the Crusts Off) I have it on my kindle.
I love church cookbooks. I had several of them, but of course they got left behind. Church potluck suppers are always some of the best functions to attend.
People always tend to bring their very best potluck dishes to church potlucks. They are a point of pride.
The best ones I enjoyed of all time were held in a small country church that I used to attend in French Lake, New Brunswick. The tables in that church basement used to groan under the weight of an abundance of delicious food.
That little Baptist church was filled with lots of "good cookers" as my friend Debbie would say!
You never came away from one of their get-togethers hungry. Dishes just like this one of the many on offer. Along with the companionship and fellowship of some very nice and caring people.
I adore cabbage and I adore potatoes. They are two of my most favorite vegetables. Combine them both and I am in comfort food heaven!
This is a simple side dish that goes well with just about anything. If you are a vegetarian, it makes a delicious main dish, especially if you serve it with a nice square of cornbread on the side!
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO MAKE FRIED CABBAGE AND POTATOES
Very simple ingredients, that's what!
- butter (I use regular butter in most of my cooking)
- onions (just ordinary brown skinned cooking)
- potatoes (any potato will do, peel or not as you prefer)
- cabbage (I used the everyday cabbage or white cabbage as it is known in the UK)
- salt, pepper
- water or chicken stock (note if using stock, you may not need as much salt)
They offer what is called Stew Packs in the shops here. I think they also did the in the UK. I find them to be a great economy.
Included in the pack will be a cabbage, a few turnips or rutabagas, some carrots, an onion or two and some parsnips.
=
All ingredients that I can easily use if not in a stew, then on their own and it always works out a lot cheaper for me to buy them in a pack like this rather than in individual lots.
There is also far less waste for me. As the only resident in my household, it only makes sense to buy things in smaller quantities. These stew packs work perfectly for me.
HOW TO MAKE FRIED CABBAGE AND POTATOES
It's not hard to make really. You need to begin by peeling your potatoes and onion. You don't need to peel the potatoes if you don't want to, but I did.
I cut my onion in half horizontally and then cut it into thin slices crosswise (half-moons). I did the same with my potatoes.
Melt your butter until it begins to foam and add your onions. You need to cook these, stirring occasionally, over a moderate heat until they begin to soften and then throw in your potatoes.
No need to cook the potatoes first. I was a bit surprised at this because I usually cook my potatoes first when I am going to fry them, but today I threw caution to the wind and just went with the flow!
While the potatoes and onions are cooking, prep your cabbage. Cut it in half and then remove the core. Then cut it into thin wedges and chop them across into smaller pieces. Perfectly bite sized.
Once your potatoes have softened and they have started to brown, along with the onions, scoop them out into a bowl using a slotted spoon and set them aside, keeping them warm.
Add the cabbage to the dish, turning to coat it in any pan drippings and add your water or stock. Cover and then just let the cabbage steam until it is beautifully tender.
True confession here, I always add a pinch of sugar when I am cooking cabbage It takes away any bitterness.
Once your cabbage is tender, remove the cover and allow any liquid to evaporate. Season to taste with some salt and black pepper and toss the potatoes and onions back into the pan, carefully combining everything evenly.
Oh my, my, my . . . a quick heat through and your dish is ready to go!
If you are a person who dislikes the smell of cabbage cooking, light a candle. I, personally, do not mind the smell. It is a smell I love.
Anyways, this is true comfort food. Hearty, filling, delicious. You could add bacon to it if you wanted to of scraps of ham, and yes, cornbread goes wonderfully.
Enjoy!!
Fried Cabbage and Potatoes
Yield: 2
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 30 MinTotal time: 40 Min
This is a fabulously tasty dish. Simple to make, using simple ingredients. I downsized the original to feed two but if you want to feed four see measurements in brackets.
Ingredients
- 2 TBS butter (4)
- 1 small onion, peeled and thinly sliced (1 medium onion)
- 2 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (4 potatoes)
- 1/2 small head of cabbage, cored and chopped (1 full head)
- salt and black pepper to taste
- water or chicken stock
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a skillet over medium high heat until it starts to foam. Add the onions, cook and stir for 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in the potatoes.
- Cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes and onions are cooked through and beginning to brown. Remove to a bowl and keep warm.
- Add the cabbage to the skillet. Season with some salt and pepper and add 1/4 cup (60ml) water or chicken stock. Cover and cook until the cabbage is tender (about 20 minutes). Keep an eye on it and stir it every so often.
- Uncover and turn up the heat to evaporate any water/stock which may remain in the pan. Return the onions and potatoes to the pan and toss everything together to combine.
- Heat through. Taste and adjust seasoning as required.
- Serve hot.
Blueberry Cheesecake Danish. Oh my, oh my. Where have you been all my life! I think you are really going to enjoy this quick and easy recipe I am sharing with you today.
One thing I always keep in my freezer is all butter puff pastry. It comes in handy for baking all sorts of things, both savory and sweet. When you have puff pastry in the freezer you are never very far away from being able to bake your family a sweet or savory treat!
This is a recipe I have adapted from one I discovered on the Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry site. Their original recipe made a dozen pastries.
There is only one of me and so I cut the recipe in half. I am going to my sister's for supper and I was going to bring the Pumpkin Pie I posted yesterday, but my dad informed me he doesn't like pumpkin pie and so I decided to bake these pastries so that he will have something to eat that he enjoys.
At least I hope that he will like these. He likes blueberries and he likes pastry, but oh heck, I just remembered he doesn't like cream cheese. Oh well. Guess I will have to stop off at the shops to pick something up that he will like.
Or else he will have to suffer one or the other. Hmmm . . . I don't like to make my dad suffer.
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE DANISH
Nothing too complicated or out of the ordinary!
- ground cinnamon
- granulated sugar
- cream cheese (I use the full fat one)
- flour
- all butter puff pastry (one sheet)
- butter, melted
- blueberry preserves
- icing sugar (confectioners sugar)
- milk
- toasted flaked almonds
Danishes are a quick and easy brunch dish or dessert that always go down a real treat with everyone. Not only can you make them well ahead of time, but they always look so pretty sitting on a plate.
Nobody but you has to know that they are so easy and quick to make. We can keep it as our own little secret!
HOW TO MAKE BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE DANISH
These are so simple to make you will find yourself wondering how something which is so beautiful to look can be so easy to make. They only look complicated.
These Danishes have two distinct fillings that deliciously mingle together on baking. You will need to make a very simple cream cheese filling which is as simple to do as stirring together softened cream cheese and sugar. You could also add a drop or two of vanilla if you wanted to.
The other filling is blueberry jam. Simple. No fuss no muss. I used my sister's homemade wild blueberry jam today.
Not fond of blueberries? Try using cherry jam or strawberry jam. In short you can use any kind of jam you do enjoy!
I like to use all butter puff pastry. I am not a fat of artificial fats, or trans fats. I prefer the simple pure taste of butter. For this recipe you will need one sheet of puff pastry.
Unroll the puff pastry onto a flour dusted surface. You will be brushing the surface of the pastry with some melted butter and then dusting it with cinnamon sugar, which is always very easy to make.
I do so love the flavor of cinnamon and it goes so very well with blueberries and with cream cheese.
When I was a child it was always a real treat if mom made us cinnamon toast. She didn't spoil us with anything like that very often and I can assure you Danish was never on the menu!
Now here is where it gets a bit complicated. You need to cut the sheet of cinnamon sugar dusted pastry into six equal strips. That's not the hard part.
The hard part is twisting each strip, one at a time, into a rope, or at least it was for me. I found it easier to twist each strip from both ends of the strip towards the middle.
Once you have done that it is a simple thing to shape the twisted strips into round coils. You can then place them onto a lined baking sheet.
Each strip is then brushed with more butter and the loose end tucked underneath so that they doesn't spring free when they are baking.
The recipe was quite vague as far as how to put the fillings onto the Danish. I took matters into my own hands and this is what I did.
I used my thumb to create a hollow in the center of each pastry and then dropped a teaspoon each of the cream cheese filling and the blueberry jam into those hollows.
They are now ready to bake. Just pop the baking sheet into the oven and let it do its job.
Twenty minutes is all it takes. I threw my almonds into the oven on a small baking sheet for the last five minutes of bake time so that they were toasted to perfection.
Baked these pastries are lovely and golden brown. Flaky and crisp. Just scoop them off the baking sheet and onto a wire rack to cool for a few minutes.
While they are cooling you can whisk together some icing sugar and milk to make a thin drizzle icing.
This is very easily done. You will only need a very small amount of milk. Once you have made the drizzle you can flick it over top of each pastry and then sprinkle the toasted flaked almonds on top.
And that's it! Your pastries are now complete and ready to serve!
Don't you love how pretty they are? I can see where these would be perfect to serve for brunch on Christmas morning, well any morning really.
Quick to make, easy to make and oh-so-delicious, these are destined to become firm family favorites!
Blueberry Cheesecake Danish
Yield: 6
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 25 MinTotal time: 35 Min
Prepared puff pastry and a few other simple ingredients combine to make a delectable Danish pastry, filled with sweetened cream cheese and blueberry preserves!
Ingredients
- 1/2 TBS ground cinnamon
- 2 1/2 TBS granulated sugar
- 2 TBS cream cheese, softened
- 1 TBS flour
- 1 sheet (10 inches square) all butter puff pastry
- 1 TBS butter, melted
- 3 TBS blueberry preserves
- 1/3 cup (about 45g) icing sugar, sifted
- milk to thin
- 2 to 3 TBS toasted flaked almonds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400*F/200*C/gas mark 6. Have ready a baking tray that you have lined with some baking parchment.
- To make the cream cheese filling, whisk together the cream cheese and 1/2 TBS of the sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk the remaining sugar together with the cinnamon in another bowl. Set aside.
- Dust your countertop with the flour and unroll the puff pastry on top. Brush with 1/2 the melted butter. Sprinkle evenly with the cinnamon sugar. Cut the pastry sheet into 6 even widths.
- Twist one cinnamon coated pastry strip and then form into a spiral coil. Place onto the baking sheet. Repeat with all six strips.
- Brush with the remaining melted butter and tuck the loose end underneath. Make a small indentation in the center of each coil with your thumb. Place 1 tsp each of the cream cheese filling and the blueberry jam into the indentation.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes until golden brown.
- Remove to a wire rack and cool for five minutes.
- Whisk the icing sugar together with just enough milk to make a drizzle icing. Drizzle this over top of each pastry and sprinkle on the toasted almonds.
- Store any leftovers in the refrigerator in a tightly covered container.
When I was a child I was not fond of pumpkin pie at all. I am not sure why that was. Of all the pies in the world, pumpkin was my least favorite.
The truth was we did not get pie very often and so if my mother was going to bake a pie, we wanted her to bake us a lemon pie or an apple pie. Not boring old pumpkin.
As an adult, I have come to love and appreciate pumpkin pie in all of its glory. It is now one of my favorites. (Athough it will never quite replace lemon which is at the top of my list!)
When I first moved over to the UK, you could not find tinned pumpkin or pumpkins for that matter anywhere that I went to shop. It was very elusive.
My first Thanksgiving in the UK, I made a sweet potato pie, which (while very good) was not pumpkin pie. In all honesty even sweet potatoes were difficult to come by.
When I started working and cooking at the Manor, my boss used to bring canned pumpkin home from the US to use in soups and pies. You could also get canned pumpkin, at a premium price, from an American food supply warehouse.
It was really costly I remember. About 5 or 6 pounds per smallish can, which was about the equivalent of 8 or 10 dollars. A lot of money for a can of pumpkin.
There was a time when, if I saw pumpkin for sale in the shops, I would buy up every can that I could, especially if it was reasonably priced. Not only did I want pumpkin to be used in Pumpkin Pie, but I also wanted it for use in breads, muffins and cakes.
Thankfully over the last five or six years that I was living in the UK, tinned pumpkin was becoming much more available, as were pumpkins in general, especially around Halloween. They were not pie pumpkins however, just regular Jack-o-Lantern pumpkins.
Normally the pumpkin which is used to make pies comes from smaller sugar pumpkins. And you can feel free to roast a sugar pumpkin yourself to use in this pie if you are really keen.
Pies made from pureed roasted pumpkin have a wonderful depth of flavor that just isn't found in a can. If you live in a country where canned pumpkin puree is not readily available you may want to try making your own.
HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN PUMPKIN PUREE
First of all you don't want to be boiling pumpkin to make a puree. You will end up with a very soggy mixture that will be a real pain to dry out enough to use in a pie. Roasting is the only way to go.
To make your own pumpkin puree you will need to begin with a medium to small sugar pumpkin, or squash. Cut the squash in half horizontally and scrape/scoop out any seeds and fibrous matter from the centre.
Line a baking sheet with some oiled foil and then roast the pumpkin halves, cut side down, for 1 to 1 1/2 hours at a moderate heat (350*F/180*C). At that point you should be able to pierce the pumpkin easily with the tip of a knife.
Remove from the oven and scoop out the pulp as soon as you can easily handle the pumpkin halves without burning your hands. If it is still quite watery, you may want to drain it a bit, or squeeze it dry by wrapping it up in a clean tea towel and squeezing it out over the sink.
You can also steam the pieces in a steaming basket over boiling water, but really roasting it will give you the best flavor.
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE EASY PUMPKIN PIE
Nothing too out of the ordinary is needed to make an excellent pumpkin pie. This one does require maple syrup, but it does give it a lovely autumnal flavor.
- large free range eggs (I only use free range eggs, its a personal choice)
- canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- cream (You can also use undiluted evaporated milk in its place)
- finely granulated sugar
- pure maple syrup
- ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg and fine seasalt
- maple flavoring (if you cannot find this use twice the amount of vanilla)
- vanilla extract
- an unbaked 9-inch pie crust
- whipped cream to serve (nice but not necessary)
HOW TO MAKE EASY PUMPKIN PIE
Homemade pumpkin pies are really delicious and this one is such an easy one to make. If you can whisk things together you can make this pie! One thing I love about this recipe is that it makes a very manageable (size wise) pie.
Lots of recipes require an overly large pie dish, or they make more than one pie. I am only one person and so I don't want a lot of pie. As it is I give most of what I bake away, which I don't mind doing, but you know . . .
They have an odd aftertaste. (I suspect that this comes from the type of fat they use.) If you are going to use a frozen one, I highly recommend the Tenderflake one which is what is available in Canada and very close to homemade in flavor.
Using a ready-made crust makes this pie really easy. I don't mind making my own pie crust however and I cannot recommend my Butter & Lard pastry recipe enough. Its excellent!
It makes the best pastry. Light and flaky and crisp. It is my pie crust of choice. It does make two crusts, but you can shape one into a flat dish and freeze it, tightly wrapped, for future use. It will keep several months.
When you need to use it, simply thaw it out and then roll, etc. as desired.
The filling for this easy pumpkin pie recipe is very simple and quick to make. Its a simple matter of whisking together all of the filling ingredients until they are nice and smooth, being well amalgamated.
Once mixed you just pour the mixture into your pastry lined pie tin and then bake as per the recipe instructions. I always put my pie tin on a baking sheet as it is much easier to move it in and out of the oven without risk of slopping the filling over.
I do the same with all my custard types pies.
You bake it for 15 minutes at a high temperature and then reduce to a lower temperature for the remainder of the bake time. You will know your pie is done when there is only a vague wobble in the center and a knife inserted comes out clean.
It does puff up, but no worries as it falls as it cools.
If you are worried about your pastry getting too dark, you can wrap the edges of your pie in tinfoil. That depends on how hot your oven bakes. I did not have a problem with mine.
I recommend using an oven thermometer every now and then to check the temperature of your oven and adjust your temperatures accordingly.
Today I baked a few little extra pastry cutouts to decorate the top of my pie with. They were easy to make and looked really pretty on the finished pie.
I happen to have a set of small leaf cutters which made that process really easy to do. I baked them separately and then just popped them on the cold pie to serve. I thought they made the perfect decoration!
I like to serve whipped cream with my pumpkin pie. You can whip your own from scratch, or you can use refrigerated spray cream.
That is what I used today. Its really very convenient. Do note that you won't want to add it until just when you are serving the pie. And do not spray it all over the pie as it doesn't hold up for long. Just spray it on the individual servings.
If you are looking for an easy pie to serve during this upcoming Holiday season, you really can't go wrong with this one. Not only is it incredibly easy to make, but it is also delicious!
I love the maple flavor of it and I also like that it is not overly spicy. You can taste the spice but it doesn't smack you in the face. This pie is (as Goldilocks would say) just right.
Easy Pumpkin Pie
Yield: 8
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 50 MinTotal time: 1 Hour
Pumpkin pie is one of the easiest pies to make, especially if you use a frozen deep dish pie crust (thawed). I usually make my own using my butter/lard crust recipe. This delicious pie is flavored with all the usual spicy suspects and is sweetened and flavored with maple.
Ingredients
- 3 large free range eggs
- 1 cup (245g) pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 1 cup (240ml) cream
- 1/2 cup (100g) fine granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (60ml) pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (I like to grate my own fresh)
- 1/2 tsp maple extract
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 unbaked deep 9-inch pie crust
- whipped cream to serve (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400*F/200*C/ gar mark 6. Have your pie crust ready and waiting on a baking sheet.
- Beat together the eggs, pumpkin, cream, sugar, maple syrup, spices, salt and extracts until smooth and well amalgamated. Pour this mixture into the prepared crust.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes longer. A knife inserted near the center should come out clean.
- Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Serve the pie cut into wedges with or without a garnish of whipped cream.
Notes:
If desired you can bake some pastry cut outs to decorate the top of the pie Cut out 1 inch sized leaf shapes, scoring leaf veins in them with a sharp knife. Bake on a baking sheet for 6 to 8 minutes at 400*F/200*C/ gas mark 6. Arrange around the edges of the baked pie.
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