Fish Pie and Handy Frozen Potato Discs

I love a good old fashioned fish pie. There are no frills with this recipe but it is delicious. What makes this a little different is instead of spreading mashed potato on top I used frozen discs of the mash. There was a good deal of discussion on Vi's pantry, a foodie forum I frequent, about these. Delia Smith used a supermarket bought version in her How to Cheat Book. I did try them but I dislike the mass produced mashed potato products as they have a texture like wallpaper paste and taste pretty much the same. Not that I am in the habit of eating wallpaper paste you understand. I prefer to make my own fast food. In this country I am sure most households have a pile of old potatoes just past their best and I am the same. I hate waste so I boiled up the ones I had, mashed them with butter and left them to get cold. I chopped them up a bit and turned them out onto the work top and kneaded
them a little so they became nice
and soft and easy to handle. I rolled them out to about 1/2 a
centimetre thick and then cut them out with a pastry cutter.
I then placed them on baking trays lined with greaseproof paper. Popped them in the freezer for a couple of hours and once frozen peeled them off and popped them in a bag. Instant pie topping. I love mashed potato but for some reason I have always disliked it as a pie topping. I think it has something to do with the sauce underneath soaking into the topping. Using the frozen potato discs completely stops this happening so that is an added bonus. Either way it is a good way to use up spare mashed potatoes

There is not really a recipe for the fish pie so feel free to add what you like.

500gms/1lb Smoked Cod Loin
500gms/1lb Cod loin
500mls / 1 pint milk
4 tablespoons flour
100gms/4oz mature cheddar cheese grated
2 hard-boiled eggs sliced thinly
1 teaspoon old bay seasoning(optional)
Chopped parsley
Black pepper.
Mashed potatoes or potato discs as above.

Cut each piece of fish in half and place in a large pan with the milk.
Simmer until just cooked
Place each piece of fish in a dish one on top of the other if needs be.
Melt the butter in another pan and stir in the flour.
Allow to cook for a few minutes.
Stir in the milk the fish was cooked in little by little stirring well after each addition.
Keep stirring over a low heat until the sauce has thickened.
Remove from the heat stir in the grated cheese, leaving a little for sprinkling at the end, black pepper chopped parsley and old bay seasoning if required.
Pour 2/3 of the sauce over the fish breaking it up with a fork as you do so.
Place the sliced hard-boiled egg on top.
Add the rest of the sauce.
Place the potato discs or mashed potatoes on top.
Sprinkle with the remaining cheese
Bake at 180.C/350.F/Gas4 until golden brown and bubbling.

I find it convenient to make this in the morning, let it get cold then assemble ready for the oven later. If you do this a little piece of cling film on the surface of the sauce prevents a skin forming

Picadillo

On Vi's pantry we have a challenge running. Every two weeks each participating member has to post three recipes. Everyone who wishes to take part makes one or more of the dishes and votes as to whether they like it. This is all about challenging us to make things we possibly haven't tried before. This recipe is from Kitchengoddess. She took it from a Cuban recipe book she had received. I was unsure at first as it appeared to be quite bland. I decided to give it a go. I let it cook for four hours on a very low heat. I then let cook for a further hour before serving. I was so impressed it was lovely. Really really tasty. It certainly lends itself to long slow cooking. The flavours really intensify with the cooking. I served it with noodles and sweet chilli sauce and some fresh bread from the oven. A delicious meal.

The Recipe (Serves 6):

• 2 cups diced onion
• 2 cups seeded and finely chopped green bell pepper
• Olive oil to sauté
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 pounds ground beef or ground round
• 1 tin tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 cup chopped green olives
• 1/3 cup raisins
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Sauté onion and green pepper in olive oil in a large casserole dish.
2. Sauté about 5 minutes, until the onion is softened, then add the garlic and ground beef.
3. Mash the onion and green pepper into the sautéing meat and cook until the meat is browned, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the tomatoes, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, oregano, olives and raisins.
5. Cover and let simmer in the crockpot for an hour or two or more. The longer it simmers, the better the flavour, and it’s also great warmed up later as the flavours intensify.
6. Salt and pepper to taste.
   

Cheesy Garlic Hearth Breads

These are so easy to make so easy to eat. The perfect accompaniment to soups casseroles rice dishes or anywhere you would use bread. It's lovely as a snack on it's own too. Very hard to resist when fresh from the oven. Known in Italy as Focaccia bread from the Latin word focus which means hearth. The embers of the hearth were where this bread was traditionally baked. They are very much a moveable feast and can incorporate sun dried tomatoes roasted peppers olives capers or fresh herbs. In this recipe cheese is used in the dough and the breads are topped with a cheats version of garlic and parsley oil topping. The mustard and cayenne pepper really bring out the flavour of the cheese
The original recipe is from How To be A Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson. This bears a passing resemblance to the original.

500gms/1lb2oz white bread flour
1 sachet fast action yeast
2 teaspoons salt
100gms/4oz strong cheddar cheese grated
1 good teaspoon English mustard
A few shakes of cayenne pepper
300-400mls /101/2-14 fluid ozs warm water
5 tablespoons olive oil plus more for greasing and topping

Topping
Jarred garlic
Fresh or dried parsley or pesto
Olive oil.
Combine the flour salt yeast and cheese in a bowl
Mix the olive oil with 300mls of the warm water and add to the dry ingredients.
Using an oiled hand mix together until a soft dough using a extra water if needed.
Knead for ten minutes by hand or whatever your preferred method is.
Form into a ball and leave in a lightly oiled bowl covered with cling film in a warm place until doubled in size.
Knock back and pull out of the bowl.
Divide into 2 or 4 pieces (2 makes very large breads)
Set the balls of dough on a greased baking sheet and either press or roll out into ovals.
Cover with a tea towel and leave to prove for about 30 minute.
In the meantime, combine some jarred garlic with parsley/pesto and olive oil until a thickish pouring paste.
When the bread is nice and puffy, dimple it gently with your finger tips, pour and spread the olive oil mixture over.
Bake in a preheated oven 190.C/375.F/Gas5 for 15-20 minutes until nicely golden.
When they come out of the oven drizzle over some extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle some salt.
Serves four generously.

Try and resist just one bite.........

Spring Into Summer

As the days lengthen and we head into summer the winter love affair with comforting casseroles and stews goes into decline. A little too early for barbecues and salad in colder climates, this bridges the gap beautifully and as lamb is in season it is perfect. Pomegranates are available in supermarkets most of the year now so that should not be a problem. Lemon Zest and juice maybe used if it is. It tastes every bit as nice although it may not look just as pretty. I like to serve this with boiled new potatoes. The recipe comes from Nigella Bites by Nigella Lawson

Warm Shredded Lamb Salad With Mint and Pomegranates

1 shoulder of lamb (approx 2.5 kilograms)
4 shallots halved but not peeled
6 cloves garlic left whole
1 carrot peeled and halved
malden salt
500ml boiling water
small handful freshly chopped mint
1 pomegranate

1.Preheat the oven to 140C/ gas mark 1.

2.On the hob, brown the lamb, fat side down, in a large roasting tin. Remove when nicely browned in the middle (you won't get much more than this) and set aside while you fry the vegetables briefly. Just tip them into the pan - you won't need to add any more fat - and cook them, sprinkled with salt, gently for a couple of minutes. Pour the water over and then replace the lamb, this time fat side up. Let the liquid in the pan come to a bubble, then tent with foil and put in the preheated oven.

3.Now just leave it there while you sleep. I find that if I put the lamb in before I go to bed, it's perfect by lunchtime the next day. But the point is, at this temperature, nothing's going to go wrong with the lamb if you cook it for a little less or a little more.

4.If you want to cook the lamb the day you're going to eat it, heat the oven to 170C/ gas mark 3 and give it 5 hours or so. The point is to find a way of cooking that suits you.

5.About an hour before you want to eat, remove the lamb from the tin to a large plate or carving board; not that it needs carving: the deal here is that it's unfashionably overcooked, falling to tender shreds at the touch of a fork. This is the best way to deal with shoulder of lamb: it's cheaper than leg, and the flavour is deeper, better, truer, but even good carvers, which I most definitely am not, can get unstuck trying to slice it.

6.To finish the lamb salad, simply pull it to pieces with a couple forks on a large plate. Sprinkle with more Malden salt and some freshly chopped mint, then cut the pomegranate in half and dot with the seeds from one of the halves. This is easily done; there's a simple trick, which means you never have to think of winkling out the jewelled pips with a safety pin ever again. Simply hold the pomegranate half above the plate, take a wooden spoon and start bashing the curved skin side with it. Nothing will happen for a few seconds, but have faith. In a short while the red glassy, juicy beads will start raining down.

7.Take the other half and squeeze the preposterously pink juices over the warm shredded meat. Take to the table and serve.

8.What I do with the leftovers is warm a pitta bread in the microwave, and then spread it with a greedy dollop of hummous, then take the chill off the fridged lamb in the microwave too (and see notes on cold fat, above) and stuff the already gooey pitta with it. Add freshly chopped mint, black pepper and whatever else you like; raw, finely chopped red onion goes dangerously well.

Rose and Lavender Tea Finger Cookies

George will be very pleased I have finally taken the plunge and made something containing rose and lavender. She has been trying to encourage me to do so for some time. Having never used scented ingredients,I was unsure of the outcome. I am happy to report they are just lovely. Very delicately flavoured and very moreish. The recipe comes from my recently purchased Cookie and Biscuit Bible by Catherine Atkinson. It calls for Lady Grey tea leaves but I substituted with some heavenly green tea leaves containing rose petals and lavender which were sent to me by dear Carlotta in Italy. I have loved looking and smelling this tea but it seemed such a waste to just make tea with it. This was an ideal opportunity to use it for something a little different.

Makes about 36
150gms /50z unsalted butter
115gms/4oz soft brown sugar
1-2 tablespoons Lady Grey tea leaves
1 egg beaten
200gms/7oz plain flour
Demarara sugar for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 190.C/375.F/Gas 5
Line two or three baking shets with non-stick baking parchment.
Beat the bitter and sugar together until light and creamy
Stir in the tea leaves
Beat in the egg
Carefully fold in the flour
Roll the dough into a cylinder about 23cm/9 inches long.
Gently flatten the top of it with your hand.
Wrap in cling film and leave in the fridge for about an hour until firm
Using a sharp knife cut the dough into 5mm/1/4 inch slices and lay slightly apart on the prepared baking trays
Sprinkle with demerara sugar and bake for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned
Using a palette knife remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool

Enjoy

Chocolate Butterscotch Shortbread

I had it in my mind to make butterscotch biscuits. I love shortbread. Really nice and crunchy. In my mind, the perfect base in which to experiment with flavours. I have ordered butterscotch chips but as they are coming from America it will take two weeks for them to get here. I really have no patience. I noticed some Green & Black's Butterscotch chocolate the other day and thought I might try with this. The result was not as butterscotchy as I would have liked but the little bits if honeycomb exploded rather satisfactorily in my mouth and the little bits of chocolate were lovely. All in all a nice wee biscuit easily made.



8oz/225gms butter
4oz/100gms dark brown sugar
8oz/225gms plain flour
4oz/100gms cornflour
pinch of salt
1 bar Green & Black's Butterscotch Chocolate smashed into small pieces

Cream softened butter and sugar.
Add the chocolate
Add the sifted flours and salt gradually and mix well
Turn out onto a floured worktop and knead lightly into a round
Roll out and cut into biscuits
Bake at 350F /180.C /Gas 4 for about 15 mins or until golden
Place on a cooling rack to crisp up.
Makes about 30 biscuits with a small cutter

Simple Green Sides

I try to make vegetables inviting looking if I can. I just love the colour combination of Kale and Carrot. Kale has become very popular in recent years. It is associated by many as cattle fodder but that is a much tougher variety than the curly leaved Kale we eat and enjoy. It freezes well as the flavour actually improves when exposed to frost. It is extremely nutritious too.
Kale contains four times more Magnesium and five times more Calcium than Brussels sprouts 17 times more Vitamin C than carrots and four times more than spinach. Nearly double the magnesium of spring greens . More folate than broccoli and seven times more carotene than cabbage. It also tastes very good. Sweated off in some butter is all it requires. It holds it's shape much better than cabbage. All in all a good choice for a side veggie.



Left Over Lettuce

How many of us have a lettuce or a bag of greens that are just a wee bit limp to serve as salad? Don't dispatch them to the bin or the compost heap. Use them as tonight's vegetable. Just cook in a little melted butter for a few minutes. I add a little chilli sauce. It tastes wonderful and stops the waste. I suppose a green footprint if you will.
Lettuce has surprisingly high nutritional content. Not Iceberg as they are nearly all water. Others such as Cos, Romaine and Little Gem are rich in Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphorus and Copper, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Thiamin, Folate, Iron, Potassium and Manganese. So don't chuck it eat it.

Our Grannies were right when they told us to eat up our greens. They really are good for you.

Good Health!