Creamed Chicken and Leek Soup

 Wonderful soup, made with diced leek cooked in rape seed oil for twenty minutes, and half a breast of chicken, diced into small pieces. Cooked in milk and vegetable stock, and then I added single cream to the dish. Cooked for an hour. Delicious!

Banana Loaf

I had some bananas which I'd forgotten about, so I made this loaf with five of them. I used 335g of spelt flour, an egg, the mashed bananas, two pinches of salt, two tablespoonfuls of Allinson's yeast, and two tablespoonfuls of olive oil, and about 150 mls of whole milk. Beaten together with an electric mixer, until smooth. 

Allowed to rise overnight, and then decanted into a silicon bread tray. Cooked on the middle shelf of the oven for 45 minutes at 180 deg C. Then allowed to cool in a dry cupboard for half a day. Great texture and flavour. Great with marmalade!

(NB: I used two tablespoonfuls of Allinson's yeast, because it had been sitting on the shelf for some time. Fresh yeast will be fine with one tablespoonful). 

 

Salmon and Pollock Seafood Pie

A strightfowrard oven based meal.  A tray of fish pieces intended for a fish pie: I used the salmon and the pollock for this. Cooked on a base of julienned purple onion, in a wheat and milk sauce, dressed in fines herbes and vegetable stock. 

The fish base was covered in mashed and textured potato, mixed with salted butter, and cooked for at least an hour at 180 deg C on the middle shelf of the oven. Served with garden peas, cooked separately. 

As a Scot, I love fish food. It was a major part of our diet until recently. We've been favoured with ingredients and dishes from all over the world. I can live with all of it :-).

 

Smoked Haddock poached in Milk

A dyed smoked haddock block poached in milk in a lidded omelette pan at a low heat, for about 8 minutes.

Transfer the fish fillets to a plate dusted with black pepper, and spoon some of the milk from the pan over the fish.

Serve with semipeeled boiled potato pieces, and garden peas. Fabulous dish! Fish from the freezer, bought in Morrison's about six weeks ago.

Chorizo and Scrambled Eggs

A fabulous breakfast dish, made with finely sliced chorizo, which I then diced, halved piccolo tomatoes (six), and two large eggs and milk.

First I fried the chorizo and the tomato halves together in a skillet at a medium heat, until the oil came from the sausage, and it began to become slightly crisp.

I beat the eggs in a bowl, and added some milk and some salt (not much!). The mixture was added to the skillet, and left to stand for about a minute. Then I stirred the mixture occasionally until the dish was ready (about five minutes. Judge when it is ready by eye).

Served on some buttered toast, with a sprinkle of coriander leaf.

Cullen Skink (with Leek)

Made with I tablespoon butter, half of a medium sized leek,
2 smallish potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes, 300ml water, 250g of dyed smoked haddock, 250ml milk, salt and (white) pepper to taste, Plus a little parsley.

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat, then add the diced leek and fry gently until transparent. Cook for about 10 minutes at a low heat.

Add potatoes and water and bring to boil. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.

In another pan, cover the haddock with the milk and poach it gently for about five minutes until  tender. Remove from the milk and, when cool enough to touch, flake gently into large pieces, removing bones.I used a plastic fork to flake the fish, in order to avoid scratching the non-stick surface. 

Add milk and flaked fish to saucepan containing the potatoes and the other ingredients. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Serve with salt and pepper and sprinkle with chopped parsley. Fabulous dish!

Smoked Basa Fish, Poached in Milk

A beautiful Smoked Basa fish fillet from Morrisons, poached in milk, and served with potatoes and Brussels sprouts.

The potatoes were boiled in salted water for twenty minutes, and the sprouts for seven.

The fish was added to a skillet already heated, and with a knob of butter sliding around. Then about 100mls of milk was added. The fish should be cooked at a slow simmer under glass, for between 12 and 15 minutes (the fish changes colour when it is nearly ready). It does not need to be turned.

Decant the vegetables to the serving plate, add the fish (carefully!), and drizzle some of the poaching milk over it.

This fish poaches very well, though it is not usually included in lists of fish which do. Delicious flavour, and delicate texture. One of the most popular dishes on this site, as of March 2021.

Chorizo Sausage, with Baby Plum Tomato and Scrambled Egg

A variation  on a favourite dish: Scrambled Egg with chorizo - in this case with fried baby plum tomatoes..

Two large eggs were cracked into a bowl with 300 mls of milk and a pinch of salt, and stirred thoroughly.

The Chorizo was diced and fried slowly in its own fat in a skillet. The tomatoes were diced and added to the pan, and cooked together for five minutes or so.

Then the eggs and milk mixture was added to the pan. and allowed to cook for two minutes before being broken up with a spatula. Stir occasionally. The dish is ready after about five to six minutes at a moderate heat. Serve on a little ground pepper.

Smoked Haddock with Vegetables in a Cheese Sauce

A large fillet of haddock, smoked but undyed, poached in water in a flat lidded pan for twenty minutes. Starting at a high heat, and then reduced to the lowest heat when the water began to boil.

In another pan, the diced vegetables (parsnip, potato, carrot, spring onion) were boiled for twenty-five minutes.

While the vegetables were cooking, I prepared the cheese sauce.

I mixed whole milk (around 150 mls) and a dessert spoonful of cornmeal flour in a jug, plus some vegetable stock, and decanted the mixture (with a little butter) into a third pot, and stirred it until it began to thicken on the hob. I added the vegetables, and around 100g of cheddar cheese (thin slices), and stirred until the cheese had entirely melted.

Dress with freshly ground black pepper, and serve!

Cauliflower Cheese Tray Bake

Cauliflower florets in a cheddar cheese sauce made with cornmeal.

The cornmeal, milk and cheese sauce was made first.

The chopped baby plum tomatoes, carrot, garden peas (from the pod), diced mushrooms were added to the cauliflower florets in a non-stick oven proof dish. The bubbling cheese sauce (100g of cheese) was poured over the top of the vegetables.

A further 150g of cheddar was grated over the top of the dish, spread as evenly as possible.

The oven was preheated to 190 deg C (about 25 minutes to wait) and the dish was placed on the middle shelf. Cook for at least 45 minutes, and judge by eye when it is ready.

Serve dressed with freshly ground black pepper. Delicious!

Scrambled Egg with Sopocka Ham

Polish Sopocka ham, fried in sunflower oil in a skillet for seven minutes each side at a low heat, served with fried tomatoes and mushroom, and scrambled eggs prepared with some oregano.

The dish was served with a teaspoonful of French coarse grain mustard and a dusting of freshly ground black pepper.

The maker of this salt cured (and lightly smoked) ham is Morliny, which is the leading charcuterie company in Poland. The brand is now well established in the UK. https://www.morliny.co.uk/products/smoked_meats/sopocka/

Cream of Chicken Soup

A delicious and easy to prepare cream of chicken soup.

The chicken came from roasted chicken thighs, deskinned. I removed the meat from the bones with my fingers.

I stir-fried some white onion and chopped mange tout in a little butter. Once soft, the onions were removed from the heat.

I mixed cornmeal (a dessert spoonful), water and milk in a bowl (250 mls), and added the mixture to the pan with the onions and mange tout. Bring to the boil, stirring thoroughly.

Add the chicken meat. Cook for half an hour at a medium heat, stirring every few minutes.

Add the Herbes de Provence and the chicken stock ten minutes before serving. 

Baked Pasta Cheese with Chorizo Sausage

A variation on macaroni cheese, made with wheat-free pasta, chorizo sausage, spring onion and tomato, with Cheddar cheese.

I diced about 50g of chorizo, and fried it slowly in an omelette pan for about twenty minutes. The diced tomato was added, along with the spring onion. Cook in the fat from the chorizo for another fifteen minutes.

The stir-fry was decanted into a pyrex bowl. Once the pasta was prepared, it too was added, and stirred through.

Next I made the pasta sauce with cornmeal (use cornflour if you prefer a finer texture), milk and about 50g of grated cheddar. Heated in a saucepan (stirring almost constantly) until the cheese had melted, and the sauce had begun to thicken.

After that the saucepan was removed from the heat, and the sauce was decanted into the pyrex bowl, and stirred in thoroughly. Add white pepper.

Grate another 50g of cheddar and sprinkle on top. Preheat the oven to 190 deg C (about twenty minutes or so), and place on the middle shelf. It should be ready in 40 to 45 minutes, by which time the cheese topping should have begun to brown. Delicious!

Seafood Pie (Red Salmon, Haddock and Smoked Pollock)

This pie was made with a selection of fish pieces found in Sainsbury's supermarket. The fish was first blanched in boiling water, and then poached for seven minutes under glass.

I made a white sauce with cornflour, milk and some Blue Stilton cheese (about 100g). Stirred until the cheese had entirely melted. Add the fish pieces to the sauce, along with a couple of dessert spoonfuls of drained garden peas, and remove from the heat.

Four large potatoes were boiled until soft, then mashed with a little butter and pepper. The oven was heated to 150deg C while the potatoes were cooking on the hob.

Add the fish sauce mix to an oven-proof baking dish, then spoon the mashed potato on top. Texture the surface of the mash with a fork, until it looks a little like a ploughed field.

Cook the pie in the middle of the oven for about 45 minutes. Check frequently that the potato topping is browning. The pie will be ready when the topping is a golden brown.

Cullen Skink

Possibly the finest soup recipe in the world. Made with I tablespoon butter, 1 medium onion
2 smallish potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes, 300ml water, 250g of undyed smoked haddock, 250ml milk, salt and (white) pepper to taste, Plus a little parsley.

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat, then add the julienned onion and fry gently until transparent. Cook for about 5 minutes at a low heat.

Add potatoes and water and bring to boil. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.

In another pan, cover the haddock with the milk and poach it gently for about five minutes until  tender. Remove from the milk and, when cool enough to touch, flake gently into large pieces, removing bones.I used a plastic fork to flake the fish, in order to avoid scratching the non-stick surface. 

Add milk and flaked fish to saucepan containing the potatoes and the other ingredients. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Serve with salt and pepper and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Apricot and Coconut Cornbread

I used peanut oil in this recipe - if you have an allergy to peanuts, use coconut or sunflower oil instead. I also used milk.

Made with 100g of semi-dried apricots, 150g of coarse cornmeal, 50g of peanut oil (I weighed this in a bowl), 2 heaped teaspoonfuls of baking power, a pinch of salt, one egg, plus 150mls of milk (actually a low fat blend of milk and buttermilk, bought from the co-op).

The Apricots were chopped up with a sharp knife. The cornmeal was added and stirred together. I added the milk, the peanut oil, the salt, and the egg. Then I added the baking powder and the dessicated coconut (two teaspoonfuls). The mix was gently blended with an electric foodmixer for five minutes, at a medium speed.

I decanted the bread mix into a silicon bread tin. Cooked at 180 deg C for forty minutes on the middle shelf, until the bread had risen, and the surface had browned. Check the bread at 25 minutes, even if you are using an accurate oven thermometer.

The loaf can be knocked out of the bread tray without breaking or sticking (just turning it upside down is enough!).

 If you would prefer a sweeter loaf, you can add some granulated sugar before blending. Dissolve the sugar in the milk to make sure there are no crystals in the bread mix.

Excellent eaten with rhubarb and ginger jam!

Banana and Polenta Bread

A cornbread by another name. Simple to make, and it can be wheat-free and gluten-free, if the baking powder does not contain gluten (beware - some do). It can also be lactose free, if the milk is substituted with oat or soya milk. I used peanut oil in this recipe - if you have an allergy to peanuts, use coconut or sunflower oil instead.

Made with three small ripe bananas, 150g of coarse cornmeal, 50g of peanut oil (I weighed this in a bowl), 2 heaped teaspoonfuls of baking power, a pinch of salt, one egg, plus 90mls of milk (actually a low fat blend of milk and buttermilk, bought from the co-op).

The bananas were peeled and mashed in a bowl. The cornmeal was added and stirred together. I added the milk, the peanut oil, the salt, and the egg. Then I added the baking powder. The mix was blended to a smooth consistency with an electric blender, for five minutes at a medium speed.

I greased the inside of a glass bowl (suitable for oven cooking) with a small knob of butter, and decanted the bread mix into it. Cooked at 180 deg C for forty minutes on the middle shelf, until the bread has risen, and the surface is browned. Check the bread at 25 minutes, even if you are using an accurate oven thermometer.

The loaf can be knocked out of the bowl or bread tray without breaking or sticking.

The only sugar in this recipe is the natural sugar in the bananas. If you would prefer a sweeter loaf, you can add some granulated sugar before blending. Dissolve the sugar in the milk to make sure there are no crystals in the bread mix.

This recipe is easy to make, and is endlessly adaptable. Other ingredients which might be used instead of banana are cheese, caramelised onion, cooked lentils, or some tomato passata, Herbs might be added also.

Scrambled Egg, with Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese

Simple and quick to prepare scrambled egg with Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and diced spring onion.

The spring onion (one) was chopped up and fried in some hot sunflower oil in an omelette pan, until the onion began to brown.  Then about 100ml of whole milk was added to the pan, along with a pinch of salt.

I cracked two medium eggs into the pan (the eggs were not beaten together first), broke the yolks, and stirred thoroughly for a minute or so. The heat was turned down low, and the mixture was allowed to bubble for a minute and a half before being stirred again.

I cut about 75g of the cheese into thin rectangles, and distributed them evenly across the eggs. Stir together until the cheese has largely melted.

When the scramble has achieved the right consistency, with the milk absorbed and just a little water remaining in the pan, serve with some coarse grain mustard, and dress the dish in a little black pepper.

Scrambled Egg and Bacon

Fabulous breakfast! The scrambled egg was made with two eggs, a pinch of salt, plus a quarter cup of whole milk, cooked slowly in a melted knob of salted butter. I used a small pan for that. Stirred about four or five times until ready.

The smoked bacon strips (two) were cooked slowly in an omelette pan in their own fat. Cooked until crispy at the edges.

Three quartered mushrooms were cooked slowly in the small amount  of bacon fat remaining, until they browned.

Served in this case with a squirt of American mustard and a dusting of black pepper.

Excellent served with buttered toast or slices of potato scone.

Smoked Haddock Poached in Milk

Poaching smoked fish in milk used to be a very common practice in Scotland. The flavour of the dish is out of this world, if you haven't tried it before.

The Fish:

An undyed block of haddock (both fillets from the same fish) was bought from Morrison's supermarket and fried in a little melted butter in an omelette pan for one minute. The heat was turned down to the lowest level, and two tablespoons of whole milk were added. Allowed to simmer in the milk for eight to nine minutes under glass, without turning. Watch the pan carefully in case the milk bubbles up to the lid. Decant the haddock fillets to the serving plate with a fish slice, and pour the mixture of milk and butter over the fish.

The French Fries:

The chipped potato pieces were boiled for fifteen minutes in a small pan of salted water. The pan was drained, and the chips were decanted to a glass roasting tray, brushed with sunflower oil. Each of the chips was brushed with a mixture of sunflower oil, tomato ketchup, white pepper, coriander, oregano, worcester sauce, and a little salt. They were turned, and brushed again on the other side. Cooked under the grill for between ten and fifteen minutes, or until they begin to crisp around the edges.