EatingBritain.com » Recipes

Master Multiple Meals

Sarah Cabral — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:30:17 +0000

Are you are a parent that boasts at least ten tried and trusted dishes in your culinary portfolio? Well consider yourself part of a new generation of mums and dads dubbed ‘Repertoire Cooks’ that is emerging onto the parenting scene.

Whether you are part of the 47% of parents that say they stick to a variety of their favourite meals because they know their families will love what they make, or the 82% that rotate their signature suppers, updating your recipe repertoire with quick, easy, wholesome meals is never a bad thing.

Uncle Ben’s Sauces, with the help of a celebrity chef and a nutritionist have produced three videos to give you inspiration to ensure each member of the family belongs to the clean plate club.

Click below to watch the videos with celebrity chef Sophie Michell from C4’s Cook Yourself Thin and nutritionist Juliette Kellow:

Recipe 1

Recipe 2

Recipe 3

For more information visit www.unclebens.co.uk

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How to make the perfect lasagne

Sarah Cabral — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:00:14 +0000

Are you one of those people who love the idea of homemade food but find the concept a little daunting? Well don’t be scared! Homemade food doesn’t have to be a chore to taste delicious. Lasagne has always been a firm family favourite as it is homely, hearty and delicious and by following three easy steps in this video, you will see that it is actually a really simple dish that you can impress your friends and family with.

And you don’t just have to stick to traditional beef lasagne. We can show you, thanks to Dolmio, some new recipe suggestions to tempt your taste buds.

Why not be a little bit more adventurous and include seafood in your filling? Prawns and smoked haddock go beautifully with a white sauce. And if that doesn’t tickle your fancy, why not try a vegetarian option – mushrooms, carrots, aubergine or broccoli combine to make a delicious roasted winter vegetable variation.

Hungry? Click here to learn from chef Marco’s three easy steps to a perfect lasagne

For more information and recipe inspiration visit www.dolmio.co.uk

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Bonfire night bonanza

Sarah Cabral — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:30:45 +0000

Bonfire Night famously originated from Guy Fawkes, who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605, but is now remembered by the huge bonfires that light up the country on November 5th.

To impress your guests, Canned Food UK has designed a series of healthy and affordable recipes that taste great. What’s more, the ingredients are already on your shelves at home – meaning that if more friends turn up last minute, you can easily whip up some more food in minutes!

Try some filled baked potatoes, which can be served with three alternative nutritious fillings. Otherwise take a look at some other winter warmers that are perfect for warming up cold fingers and filling empty tummies – sausage and mushroom cassoulet or spicy beanburgers are perfect for children and adults alike.

Filled Baked Potatoes
Serves 8-10

Ingredients
5 potatoes (medium size)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt

For fiery bean filling:
6 cocktail sausages
1 tsp sweet chilli sauce
1 x 415g can baked beans
1 x 290g can chilli beans (either red kidney or baked)
1 red chilli, finely sliced
1 tbsp sour cream

For the meatball filling:
1 x 410 can meatballs in tomato sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp plum sauce
1 tbsp chopped coriander

For the spaghetti filling:
1 red pepper, finely chopped
2 x 400g cans spaghetti in tomato sauce
4 spring onions, shredded
1 small leek, sliced
1 tsp oil

Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C, 400°F, Gas Mark 6. Prick the potatoes and brush with oil. Sprinkle half with paprika and some with salt. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 1 hour or until tender. Split the potatoes diagonally and fill with the filling of your choice.

For fiery baked bean filling:

Cook the cocktail sausages under a preheated grill for 7-9 minutes or until thoroughly cooked and golden brown. Brush with a little of the sweet chilli sauce and place under the grill again just to get sticky.

Pour the beans into a pan and heat gently for 3-4 minutes or until simmering. Add the chilli and simmer for a minute until the chilli has softened.

Cut the sausages in half and add to the beans. When ready to serve, spoon into the potatoes and top with a dollop of sour cream.

For the meatball filling:

Empty the meatballs into a pan and add the soy sauce and plum sauce. Cook for 7-9 minutes or until the meatballs are heated through.

When ready to serve spoon into the potatoes and top with chopped coriander.

For the spaghetti filling:

Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the red pepper and leek and cook until soft but not coloured. Add the spaghetti and cook for 4-5 minutes or until heated through.

When ready to serve, spoon into the jacket. Top with a pile of shredded spring onions.

Sausage and Mushroom Cassoulet

This tasty warming dish can also be cooked in the oven for 1 hour at the same temperature.

Ingredients
350g/12oz sausages
110g/4oz chorizo
30g/1oz dried mushrooms
1 tbsp roughly chopped fresh rosemary
1 tbsp roughly chopped fresh thyme
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
450g/1lb mixed mushrooms, sliced
400g/14oz tin white cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
400g/14oz tin kidney beans, drained and rinsed
400g/14oz tin flageolet beans, drained and rinsed
400g/14oz can chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato purée
2 bay leaves
55g/2oz fresh white breadcrumbs
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

Place the sausages into a roasting tin and cook for 30 minutes or until the sausage is cooked and brown. Turn the sausages occasionally. When the sausages are cool enough to handle cut on the angle into 2.5cm/1in pieces. Save any fat in the pan. Cut the chorizo to similar pieces and fry gently.

Place the dried mushrooms into a food processor with the rosemary and thyme. Process as finely as you can. Using a large pan mix this powder with 570ml/1 pint of boiling water. Stir and set aside.

Meanwhile, add the oil to the pan with a lid and gently fry the onion and garlic for about 15 minutes until the onion has softened, but not coloured. Add the fresh mushrooms and cook over a high heat for about 3-4 minutes until they have started to colour.

Add the tinned tomatoes and tomato purée to the mushroom stock, mix and then add the beans and the mushrooms and onions.

Mix well and bring to the boil. Season with salt and black pepper. Add the sausages and any saved fat from the roasting pan. Add the bay leaves and simmer gently on the top of the stove for 30 minutes, stirring to prevent it catching.

Cook until the liquid is reduced and clinging to the beans.

Sprinkle over the breadcrumbs and place under the grill or in the oven until golden. It can also be cooked in the oven for 1 hour at the same temp.

Spicy Bean Burgers
Serves 6

Ingredients
1 small Red onion (finely chopped)
1 garlic clove (crushed)
1 red chilli (deseeded)
400g can chopped spinach (drained)
420g can low salt baked beans
410g can borlotti beans (drained)
198g can sweetcorn (drained)
50g breadcrumbs
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp freshly chopped coriander
6 slices French bread

Method

Cook the onions, garlic and chilli in a frying pan for 3 minutes until softened but not coloured.

Meanwhile, squeeze all of the moisture out of the spinach and combine in a large bowl with the baked beans, sweetcorn, borlotti beans, breadcrumbs, cumin and coriander.

Mash together and add the onion, garlic and chilli mixture. Season and shape the mixture into patties, then lightly grill for 3 minutes for each side.

Serve on a French bread slice with salad and relish.

For further information about Canned Food UK, please visit www.cannedfood.co.uk.

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Rice Krispie Ghosts

Sarah Cabral — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:00:00 +0000

Boo! Now here’s something different – a ghost that goes ‘crunch’ in the night. Making these yummy, ghoulish goodies is great family fun, and their crispy, crunchy texture goes down a treat.

Takes 15-20 minutes preparation time plus extra for decoration. Makes about 8 ghosts.

Ingredients

½ tbsp butter or margarine
110g white marshmallows
90g Kellogg’s Rice Krispies
50g desiccated coconut

Decoration

Dried cranberries
Currants or blueberries or Kellogg’s Honey Loops for eyes and mouth

Method

1. Melt butter or margarine in a large saucepan over a low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.
2. Add Kellogg’s Rice Krispies and stir until well coated.
3. While mixture is still warm, shape with greased hands into any desired design and roll or press coconut onto surface.
4. Attach decorations of choice using a little melted chocolate or prepared icing. If cut, most dried fruit will stick without needing to do this.
5. To make flat ghost shapes, flatten mixture onto a greased 33 x 20cm swiss roll baking tray, lined with greaseproof paper, using a greased spatula. The quantity will fill half the tray.
6. Depending on required size, cut mixture into squares or rectangles prior to cutting out ghost shapes which can then be bent into required shapes.
7. To make 3D ghosts, cone shapes can be made by cutting out triangles and folding round.

Tips: Look in books, magazines and comics for design ideas.

For more great recipes and ideas, click here.

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Fiendish Pumpkin Cake

Sarah Cabral — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:30:05 +0000

Halloween has been celebrated for more than 2,000 years but today, it gives children the chance to dress up and take part in trick or treating. This cake is a really good way to use up all that pumpkin flesh you scoop out to make your lanterns.

Fiendish Pumpkin Cake
Serves 6-8

Ingredients

1.35kg (3lb) pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and diced
½tsp grated nutmeg
150g (5½oz) light brown sugar
1tsp salt
115g (4oz) desiccated coconut
397g can Carnation Condensed Milk
1tsp vanilla extract
55g (2oz) butter, melted
55g (2oz) raisins

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C, 375°F, Gas Mark 5.

In a large pan add the pumpkin and cook in boiling water for 20 minutes, or place in a large bowl and microwave on high with 3 tablespoons water for 10–15 minutes until soft. Mash and cool slightly.

Grease an 18cm x 25.5cm (7in x10in) rectangular baking dish. (I didn’t line the bottom of my tray with grease-proof paper and I wish I had, because I couldn’t get the cake out at the end!)

In a large bowl mix together the remaining ingredients and the cooked pumpkin.

Pour into a prepared dish and bake for 55-60 minutes until slightly brown and firm to the touch. Let it cool in the tin for 15-20 minutes (to finish setting) and then turn out.

Happy Halloween!

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British leeks have arrived

Sarah Cabral — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 07:30:00 +0000

Delicious dinners don’t have to cost the earth. On the British Leeks website there are a host of recipes – Six Easy Ways with British Leeks – to enjoy this versatile veg at the height of the British season. A recipe from their selection caught my eye as a nice change to our bangers and mash…

Sausage and Leek Casserole with Chive Mash
Serves 4
Cost £6.00 (for four)

Ingredients

3 tbsp olive oil
8 pork sausages
1 Spanish onion sliced
200g sliced leeks
4 cloves garlic sliced
2 sticks celery sliced
Small bunch of sage leaves, picked
200ml white wine
400ml passata
400ml chicken
2 bay leaves
Salt and cracked black pepper
Small bunch flat leaf parsley, chopped

For the mash…

800g potatoes peeled and cut into 4
100g butter
300ml full fat milk
Salt and cracked white pepper
1 bunch of chives finely chopped

Method

Preheat oven to 180ºC / 350ºF

Fry the sausages in a casserole dish until golden brown, remove with a slotted spoon. You may need to do this in two batches.

Add the onions, leeks, garlic, celery and sage and cook until the mix starts to brown slightly

Add the wine, stock, passata and bay leaves and then season with salt and pepper. I used home made tomato passata, so it wasn’t quite as red as the shop bought stuff.

Add the sausages back in. Put the lid on and cook in the oven for 20 minutes

Meanwhile, place your potatoes in a medium sized pan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Simmer gently until cooked. About 20 minutes

Once cooked, drain and mash the potatoes and add the butter and milk. Stir over a low heat until the butter has melted and the mash is piping hot. Season and add the chives. Set aside

Remove the casserole from oven, stir in chopped parsley and serve with the mash.

A really lovely warming dinner, showcasing the wonderful British Leek.

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Gluten free Profiteroles

Sarah Cabral — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 07:30:43 +0000

I know absolutely nothing about Profiteroles, except that they’re yummy but the ever informative Wikipedia had this to say:

The origin of both the pastry and its name profiterole are obscure.

The word profiterole (also spelled prophitrole, profitrolle, profiterolle) has existed in English since the 16th century, borrowed from French. The original meaning in both English and French is unclear, but later it came to mean a kind of roll ‘baked under the ashes’. A 17th-century French recipe for a Potage de profiteolles or profiterolles describes a soup of dried small breads (presumably the profiteroles) simmered in almond broth and garnished with cockscombs, truffles, and so on. The current meaning is only clearly attested in the 19th century.

Gluten free Profiteroles
Makes 20-25

Ingredients

1/4 pint/120ml water
1 1/2 oz /42g butter
1 oz/28g gram flour (chickpea)
1 1/2 oz/42g rice flour
1 tspn baking powder
1 egg

Method

Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C and lightly grease two baking trays

Sift the flours & baking powder together into a bowl.

Add the water and butter to a saucepan and heat until the butter dissolves and it comes to a boil Then add in the sifted flours and take off heat. Beat with a wooden spoon until the mixture forms a ball and comes away from the saucepan.

Leave to cool for about 5 min

Beat the egg and add into the dough little by little – some flours may need more /less egg. You want the dough to be soft, smooth and shiny, and holding it’s shape.

Use a teaspoon or piping bag to put dollops of the dough on to each tray, leaving the same size space between each

Cook for 20-30 min until golden brown and completely cooked through.

Leave on a rack to cool completely.

Cut two thirds of the way through to create a ‘hinged’ lid and fill the cavity with whipped cream or scoop in some vanilla ice cream and cover with hot chocolate sauce to serve. Deeeelish!!

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It’s Pumpkin time!

Sarah Cabral — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 07:30:18 +0000

We’ve been so lucky with the weather lately and last weekend was no exception, on a warm, sunny Sunday afternoon, we made our annual trip to see the Pumpkin man of Slindon. This year’s display was an underwater scene and I just wish the sun had been shining in the other direction to bring out all the brilliant colours.

My pumpkin booty consisted of a Crown Prince, a Flying Saucer (Patty Pan), two Little Gem squashes and a couple of ornamental gourds. We didn’t buy a carving pumpkin for Halloween as they were a hefty £5 each!

I picked up a pumpkin and squash recipe booklet at the Farmers market and found a recipe for Little Gem squash that is so easy and perfect as a warming lunch.

Baked Little Gem Squash

Ingredients

2 Little Gem Squashes
1/2 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tomato, finely chopped
1 tbspn butter or olive oil
Salt & pepper

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.

Cut the tops off to form a lid, pull out the fibres and seeds. You can dry out the seeds and plant them in the Spring or you can roast them and eat them as a snack.

Insert half of the garlic and tomato into each squash, followed by the butter/oil and plenty of seasoning.

Replace the tops and stand in a baking dish in some water.

Bake until tender, about 30 minutes. Add more water if the squashes begin to dry out and cover with foil if they start to burn.

Serve as they are but let them cool down a little first!

This dish can be made in the microwave too, in less than 10 minutes, so you could take a couple of ready-prepared Little Gems to work and enjoy something completely different on your lunch break. Place the prepared squash into a microwave dish, add 2 tbspn water, cover with cling film and cook on high until tender – about 8 minutes (for 2 squashes)

As an alternative to the tomato and garlic filling, you could add a little cream and herbs, or cooked mince.

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Discovery Apples

Sarah Cabral — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:30:19 +0000

The revelation that they were Discovery apples didn’t actually mean a hell of a lot to me, until I did a little surfing. Apparently the pink tinged flesh only occurs under certain weather conditions and it’s fairly unusual.

The Discovery apple is one of the most popular English early apples and according to the info I found, is widely available in the UK in late August and early September, although I guess it all depends on the weather, as it’s now late October and the market still had lots of fresh apples.

These apples are best eaten as fresh as possible, as they’re at their best for a only a few days. They are slightly acidic and reminded me of Russets. When the flesh is pink, they look so beautiful and make great pink apple juice! I wanted to see if the colour would remain through cooking, so I made this lovely apple tart from Epicurious.

Pink Discovery Apple Tart

Ingredients

1 sheet frozen puff pastry,thawed
4 medium sized Discovery apples, peeled, halved, cored, each half very thinly sliced
2 tablespoons sugar – use more or less depending on the sweetness of your apples.
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
4 teaspoons honey

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out pastry sheet on lightly floured surface to very thin 18×14-inch rectangle. Cut equally into four rectangles. Transfer each rectangle to the prepared sheet; cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes and up to 1 day.

Overlap slices from 1 apple on to each pastry rectangle, leaving 1/4-inch plain border – you can create a pattern with the apple slices or just pile them into the middle. Sprinkle the apple on each tart with half a tablespoon of sugar, then drizzle with half a tablespoon of melted butter.

Bake tarts until pastry is golden and apples are tender, about 15-20 minutes. Drizzle each tart with 1 teaspoon honey. Transfer tarts to racks; cool 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

As you can see, the apples retained their cheerful pink colour and the tart tasted scrumptious with a dollop of Greek yogurt mixed with a little honey. Hooray for English apples!

Sources

Discovery Apple – Orange Pippin

Red-fleshed apples

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Chocolate Crème Brûlée

Sarah Cabral — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:00:41 +0000

All week I have been thinking about how to end my chocolate features in style…I’ve already made a chocolate mousse, experimented with chocolate in chilli con carne and shown how gluten free flour works just as well in brownies, but this occasion deserves a purely indulgent treat and I have chosen one of my favourite desserts – Crème Brûlée.

For me Crème Brûlée is decadence itself, there is a thrill when you smash through the glass-like caramel lid, to be rewarded with unctuous, velvety custard, heaven! Again, the People’s Cookbook website has provided me with an excellent recipe for this classic, with a chocolate twist.

Chocolate Crème Brûlée
4 Servings

Ingredients

425ml double cream
1/4 tspn vanilla extract
3 egg yolks
80g golden caster sugar
50g plain chocolate, broken into pieces

Method

Preheat the oven to 150C/ gas mark 2.

Mix the vanilla extract in to the cream and bring it up to the boil over a low heat. Turn off and allow to cool slightly.

Add the chocolate to the cream and stir with a balloon whisk until fully incorporated.

In a separate bowl, mix together the egg yolks and half of the sugar. Whisk in the cream and chocolate mixture. Pour into four ramekins.

Place the ramekins in a roasting tin and half fill with hot water. Place a piece of foil loosely over the tin.

Cook in the oven for approximately 25-30 minutes until firm around the edges but still slightly wobbly in the middle.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Sprinkle 1-2 teaspoons of the remaining sugar over each ramekin so that it thinly covers the surface of the brûlées.

Use a blowtorch or hot grill to caramelise the sugar. Serve.

Oh so very yummy! My grill is not quite hot enough to give that glass-like caramel I wanted but almost…think I may have to invest in a blow torch!

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