Eggs, Beans and Chips

The other morning, with packing boxes sitting around us, reaching up to what seemed to be the ceiling, Todd and I decided that we were going to treat ourselves to a nice big breakfast in the corner cafe in our nearest local town.



You know the kind of place I mean . . . cheap and clean . . . and definitely not gourmet food, but good, plain, simple and filling food. The kind of place that specializes in good old cheese on toast, chips, omelets, burgers, tea, coffee and BREAKFASTS!!!



You can usually get a really, really good, tasty and filling breakfast in these kinds of places and our local is no exception to the rule. The other morning though . . . we got into town and were really, really disappointed.



Not because of the breakfast that they served, but because they were CLOSED!! Yeppers! Opening up soon under new management. We had so wanted to hold hands across the table and enjoy one last breakfast there, but it seems it was not to be . . .



Instead I nipped into the local Waitrose and picked up half a dozen extra large eggs, a tasty Cumberland Sausage Whorl, and some maple smoked bacon. I already had the rest of what I would need at home. It meant that we didn't have breakfast until almost 11 that day, but it was rather tasty if I don't say so myself. I used my good old recipe for Scrambled Eggs with Cheese and Chives, using some fresh chives from our garden. (Click the link to get the recipe.) It all went down a real treat. We did not really want anything else to eat the whole rest of the day!!

I had forgotten how good toast tastes when done under the grill . . . crisp and hot and slathered with butter. Much better than when done in the toaster, I think!!



By the time you read this, we shall be in our car, all packed up and heading up the M6 to good old Chester. It may be the end of our days down here in the Kentish countryside, but it is deffo not the end of my days in my English Kitchen!! Look for more tasty articles coming your way real soon!

Well, as soon as I get my pots and pans unpacked and sorted at the other end. Hopefully it won't be too long before we up and running again! Stay Tuned!! This is not the end, but merely the beginning of a Brand New Adventure. The best kind!

Cheesy Chicken Rarebits

This is an old standby of ours. Something that I make quite often and something that we both really enjoy.



I always have chicken breasts in the deepfreeze . . .



I often have cherry tomatoes on the vine . . . although to be honest, the vine part is more for aesthetics than anything else. Any tomato would taste good in this, even larger ones . . . quartered.



The tomatoes get all sweet and rich, and taste delicious mashed into the lucious cheese sauce that magically appears . . .



a delicious combination of melted cheese, cream and the juices from the chicken.



Make sure you cook something worthy of soaking of all those flavourful juices to serve up along side of this . . .



things like rice, potatoes, pasta and broccoli go really well.

mmmm . . . this is really scrummy.




*Cheesy Chicken Rarebits*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

One of our favourite meals. The chicken always turns out tender and you end up with a delicious cheesy sauce that is delicious spooned over the chicken and potatoes, rice or whatever it is you choose to serve with the meal. We like potatoes. Make sure you squash the roasted tomatoes into the sauce as well when you eat it. Fabulous!

4 skinless, boneless free range chicken breasts
140g strong cheddar cheese, grated
1 rounded dessertspoon of grainy mustard
3 ounces single cream
4 small bunches of cherry tomatoes on the vine
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F. Slice the chicken breasts through the middle almost all the way, leaving a bit of a hinge at one end. Fan them out and place them into a lightly oiled shallow baking dish. (Make sure it is large enough to hold all of the chicken breasts in a single layer.) Season them lightly with some salt and pepper.

Mix the cheese, cream and mustard together in a bowl. Spoon this mixture evenly over top of the chicken. No need to smooth it down, it works fine in dollops. Place the tomatoes, leaving them on the vine, around the chicken in the dish. Bang it into the oven and bake it for 20 to 30 minutes, until the chicken is golden brown and the tomatoes are squashy and nicely roasted.

Serve the chicken divided onto heated serving plates, along with some of the roasted tomatoes and some of the deliciously cheesy sauce spooned over top.

Gingered Apple Brown Betty

I have often heard it bandied about that "Necessity is the mother of invention," and never has that old idiom been more true than it has during this past week here at the cottage.

Todd is a very well organized person, so organized in fact that I have spent the last few days with loads of fresh food to use up, but no spices or herbs to help me use them up.



I love spice and herbs. I use them all the time in my cooking. I had some apples and bread to use up, and decided to make my Apple Brown Betty recipe. The perfect recipe to use them up with . . .



except for one thing . . . no spices . . . no cinnamon or nutmeg to give it the homey warm flavour that screams comfort and "Home Sweet Home" to all who are lucky enough to indulge themselves in this particular dessert of mine, around my kitchen table.



I did have, however, a nice fat jar of ginger jam in the refrigerator. We love ginger in this house . . . candied ginger, preserved root ginger in syrup, powdered ginger . . . ginger and apples go very well together too.



I thought and thought about it, and then I decided to be really brave, and throw caution to the wind, and to incorporate several dessertspoons of the ginger jam into the apples . . . just to give them some extra flavour and spice.



Good call on my part. Very good call!! Excellent addition! This was soooooooo good, with soft and tart slices of apple, spicy sweet little nibbles throughout of preserved ginger and syrup, and the buttery crunch of bread crumbs on the top!!!



I love it when I do something extraordinarily brave like that and it turns out scrummily moreishly good! (Whew!! It could so easily have gone the other way!)



*Gingered Apple Brown Betty*
Serves 4 to 6
Printable Recipe

This is the ultimate example of thrift and making use of what we have at hand. Stale bread, apples and ginger jam . . . deliciously magnificent!

3 cups soft bread cubes (crusts removed)
7 TBS melted butter
6 peeled and sliced tart apples (Granny Smith are great)
3 to 4 ounces soft light brown sugar (depending on the tartness of your apples)
the juice and finely grated zest of one lemon
1/2 cup water
3 heaped dessertspoons of ginger jam

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Butter a shallow baking dish really, really well. Melt the butter. Toss the melted butter together with the bread cubes. Layer half of the bread cubes in the baking dish. Mix together the brown sugar, lemon zest and juice, water and ginger jam, mixing it together well. Lay the sliced apples on top of the bread cubes. Pour the ginger jam mixture evenly over top. Top with the remaining half of the bread cubes. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until the apples are tender and the bread cubes are lightly browned. If you find they are browning too quickly, cover the dish lightly with foil, uncovering the last 5 minutes or so to crisp up again. Serve warm with some cream, custard or vanilla ice cream.

Creamy Courgette Lasagna

I know it's really unusual to see pasta on my page, let alone two days in a row. Last night was a beans on toast night (you know . . . one of the side effects of moving and not really having much left in the way of fresh food in the house) and so I am showing you something that I made a week or so ago.



I love lasagna, and Todd does too, if he would only humble himself and admit it!! He seems to scarf it up at any rate!



I often like to make a Vegetarian Version, like this tasty courgette one. Courgettes are something that I seem to always have in the refrigerator and they work really well in dishes like this.



In the summer I like to grown them in the garden. They grow like weeds and are so very versatile!



I copied the recipe from one that I found on the Good Food site, but I did make some changes. I used a jar of spicier Puttanesca sauce that I just happened to have in the larder, and I added some fried mushrooms . . .



Coz I am like that. I just can't leave well enough alone.

This was really delicious!



*Creamy Courgette Lasagna*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

This is easy and quite delicious! It is filling enough to serve as a main course along with a salad. You will never miss the meat.

9 dried lasagna sheets
1 TBS olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
700g (about 6) medium courgettes, washed trimmed and coarsely grated
1 punnet of mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced
2 fat cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
250g tub of ricotta cheese
50g strong cheddar cheese, grated
salt and black pepper to taste
350g jar of tomato sauce for pasta
(I like to use Puttanesca style for the spice and flavour)

Heat the oven to 220*C/425*F. Put a pan of lightly salted water on to boil. Add the lasagna sheets and cook for about 5 minutes, only until softened, but not cooked through. Drain adn rinse in cold water. Drizzle with a little olive oil to keep from sticking together.

Meanwhile, in a large frying pan, add the olive oil and heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring for about 3 minutes, until beginning to soften. Add the mushrooms and cook until they begin to brown. Add the courgettes along with the garlic and continue to cook, stirring, until the courgettes have turned a bright green and softened. Stir in 2/3 of both the ricotta and the cheddar cheese. Season to taste with some salt and black pepper. Heat the tomato sauce in a small pot, until hot.

In a large lasagna dish, layer up the lasagna, starting with half of the courgette mixture, then pasta, then tomato sauce. Repeat, top with blobs of the remaining ricotta cheese and the cheddar. Bake on the top shelf of the oven for about 10 minutes, until the pasta is completely tender and the cheese is golden.

Remove from the oven and let sit for about 10 minutes before cutting into slabs to serve.

Macaroni Cheese with Cauliflower and Broccoli

I have been collecting the free recipes that they pass out in Waitrose over these past seven years. I have always found them to be really delicious and quite easy to prepare. I have a whole box filled with them. I really need to sit down and catalogue them I suppose, but that can wait now until I have finished moving.



I don't always make them as written, but have found that, in a lot of cases, they make a good canvas upon which to work and create from. I often change this or that in them, and end up with something completely new, and even more delicious. I like it when you can do that with recipes.



This was one that they came out with just recently. I switched a few things here and there, but I thought it sounded really good. I love cauliflower cheese and broccoli with cheese sauce and I adore Macaroni Cheese. There was very little not to like about this recipe!



Unless you are Todd and you are not fond of pasta, but you know what they say . . . You can't always have things that you like. Sometimes you have to have something you are not fond of, just to please your wife . . . you know . . . coz she likes pasta . . . she really, really likes pasta and you love her . . . and well, sometimes you just got to do what you just got to do!

We had this simply with some grilled Bacon Chops. It was fabulous, absolutely fabulous! You could charge it up a bit and use a snappier cheese. I am thinking a gorgonzola would be just wonderful!



*Macaroni Cheese with Cauliflower and Broccoli*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

Like Macaroni and Cheese? Like Cauliflower Cheese? Like Broccoli with Cheese Sauce? Then you will love this! Nuff Said.

300g dried Macaroni
300g of mixed cauliflower and broccoli florets
50g butter
50g plain flour
750ml Milk
100g strong cheddar cheese, grated
2 tsp Dijon mustard
4 TBS cracker or bread crumbs
1 TBS butter, melted
4 TBS grated cheese, your choice (Parmesan, Cheddar, etc.)



Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F. Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling water for 8 minutes until just tender. Place the cauliflower and broccoli in a steamer (or sieve) and set over the pasta for the last 5 minutes until almost tender. Drain the pasta and place in a lightly buttered 1.75 litre ovenproof baking dish with the vegetables, mixing them together.

Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan and stir in the flour. Cook for 1 minute until thick, then off the heat gradually whisk in the milk, keeping the mixture smooth. Return the pan to the heat and stir constantly until thickened. Simmer for 2 minutes, then remove from the heat, stir in the cheese, mustard and seasoning and pour over the pasta and vegetables.

Mix together the bread or cracker crumbs, melted butter and grated cheese. Sprinkle this evenly over top of the macaroni mixture. Bake in the heated oven for 20–25 minutes until the top is crisp and golden. Serve as it is, or with grilled or roasted meats.

Crockpot Java Brisket

I really like using my crockpot and it has come in especially handy these past couple of days, when we have spent more time packing than doing anything else. We actually have two crockpots. The larger one that you see here, and a smaller one.



Often on Sundays I will put a chicken or roast into the larger one and potatoes in the smaller one. That way supper is ready and waiting for us when we get home. We're usually starving by then!



We have several freezers here. A large chest freezer that is ours, and which will be going with us up to Chester, and a smaller bar sized one, which will be staying as it belongs to the cottage. I have been trying really hard to use up everything in it and found myself with a lovely piece of rolled brisket to cook.



I had always wanted to try cooking one in coffee. I had heard that done that way, brisket turns out really tender and delicious, and that you cannot taste the coffee in it at all. We don't really do coffee, but I bought a small jar of decaf to use in this recipe.



It is really a combination of several recipes that I found. I liked bits of both and put them together to make my own taste tempting concoction. Delicious tender beef, cooked with onion, carrots, sweet bell peppers, mushrooms, garlic and some seasonings. Stirring in some cream cheese at the end creates a luciously rich and creamy gravy.



And taste tempting it was! You really could not taste the coffee at all, and it gave the gravy a nice colour, and true to it's reputation . . . the brisket was tender as could be.



Todd gave this two thumbs up and I will be putting it into my regular Sunday Recipe rotation schedule once we get all settled in up North.



I really hope you will give it a try. Not only was it easy to do, but relatively painless, totally scrumptious and smelled fantastic when it was cooking! We had this simply with some mashed potatoes and brussels sprouts on the side. The gravy was really scrummy spooned over the potatoes!




*Crockpot Java Brisket*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

Delicious moist beef brisket with a wonderfully rich and flavourful sauce. You would never know there was coffee in the gravy. You can use beef broth instead if you are not fond of coffee.

1/3 kg rolled brisket joint
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
4 to 5 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
6 ounces strong brewed coffee or beef broth
1 TBS Worcestershire Sauce
3 TBS Sherry Vinegar
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
To finish:
4 ounces cream cheese

Place all of the chopped vegetables in the bottom of the crockpot. Top with the brisket. Stir together the coffee, worcestershire sauce, vinegar, salt and pepper. Pour over all. Cover and cook on low for 7 to 8 hours, or on high for 4 to 5 hours. At the end of that time, remove the meat carefully from the crockpot to a platter. Whisk the cream cheese into the juices until smooth and amalgamated. Serve the meat sliced with the juices spooned over top.

A Simnel Tart for Easter

(Image borrowed from More Food who bake these lovely cakes, amongst others,which are available for purchase at Waitrose)

Simnel Cake is a cake that is quite traditional over here in the UK during the Easter Season. It is a type of light fruitcake, similar to a Christmas Cake, except that a layer of Marzipan is baked into the centre of it, and it is covered with another layer of marzipan on top, with no frosting.



On the top of the cake, around the edge, are eleven marzipan balls to represent the true apostles of Jesus; Judas is omitted. In some variations Christ is also represented, by a ball placed at the centre.

Originally they were a Mothering Sunday tradition, when young girls in service would make one to take home to their mothers on their day off. There is a popular legend however, that attributes their creation to the English pretender Lambert Simnel, who, according to the legend, devised it during the time in which he was forced to work in Henry VII's kitchens.



Every year I have big plans to make one, and indeed, this year was no different. I did buy all that I needed to make one . . . but with having to move and pack up everything etc., I have just run out of time . . .



I did create a delicious simnel tart though, using up some of the fruit and marzipan I had bought, along with some puff pastry that I had in the freezer that needed using up, and some ginger jam that I needed to use up from the fridge . . .



This was delicious. Much better than a cake I think, and Todd was in agreement, if the way he snuffled it up was any indication!! I'd call it a success!



Perhaps I have started a new tradition? What do you think? It was certainly a lot easier than making a cake and it was also done lickety split, in no time at all, whereas a cake would have taken several hours baking in the oven.



That's a bonus in my books!

Imagine puff pastry, slathered with ginger jam and covered with dried mixed fruit that you have soaked in gingerbeer . . . if you were so inclined you could use gingerwine . . . and then mixed with grated marzipan. Baked in a hot oven until the pastry is crisp and brown and the marzipan melted and oozing with ginger jam amongst the gingery fruits . . . this went down a real treat, served up warm and cut into slabs, with some pouring cream spooned on top.



*Simnel Tart*
Serves 4 to 6
Printable Recipe

A deliciously fruity tart in a lovely puff pastry base, and steeped in Marzipan and lucious ginger jam. Oh, my but this is good.

8 ounces dried mixed fruit
4 TBS ginger beer
1 X 375g sheet of ready rolled puff pastry
3 TBS ginger conserve or jam
200g marzipan, grated



Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F. Mix the dried fruit with the gingerbeer in a bowl. Set aside to macerate.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll the pastry out onto the parchment paper. Mark a border about 1/2 inch from the border all the way around. Brush the jam over the inside of this border. Chill for 10 minutes.

Remove from the refrigerator. Drain the fruit and then mix together with the grated marzipan. Sprinkle over the pastry, within the confines of the border. Bake for 20 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature. Serve cut into squares with or without cream as desired.