Party ideas

Six weeks have gone by since my last blog. The only excuse I have, is that I have been busy with  my exercises in order to get back to a walking normality as soon as possible.
Seeing the Christmas season is soon upon us, I thought you might like to have some tried and trusted recipes for delicious Party fare.

I would not even try to count the parties and family get togethers we had in our house over the years. For me the most enjoyable part is the planning and executing of the food for the Party.  Once you have decided what kind of food you want to serve, finger food, cold or hot Buffet, you then can choose your
recipes.
One of the easiest and tastiest and quickest finger food to make are the baked chicken pieces, which have been marinated in my own concoction!

The second recipe is a Minced Beef Pie, which is very versatile, you can either serve it in small pieces or  serve it as a main course with a big bowl of green salad. It is equally tasty hot as cold.
Both, the chicken dishes and the Minced Beef Pie, are perfect meat dishes for any Buffet.

My next blog will deal with the roasting of birds, big and small.

Marinated chicken

Ingredients (Marinade)

1/2 cup chili ketchup ( use normal ketchup with 1/4 tsp chili powder)
1/2 Sherry ( or Port)
3 cloves of garlic (cut small)
1/2 tsp saltblack pepper
1 Tablespoon dark Soya Sauce
1  "       "        Balsamic vinegar
1   "      "        Maple Syrup ( honey or  brown sugar)


Method

Mix all the above ingredients
until you have a sirupy sauce. Marinate the  fresh chicken pieces for at least 2 hrs, for best results marinate the  pieces overnight. Refrigerate.

Put the chicken on to a baking tray and bake at 175C between 35 and 45 minutes depending on your oven.

In the summer you can of course grill the pieces on your barbeque.

Serve the chicken pieces with a variety of salads.

Minced Beef Pie

Pastry
You can use any of your favourite pastry, this recipe works equally well with Short Crust Pastry,
Puff Pastry ( ready made, bought), yeast dough for Pizza.
(The recipe for my Pastry will be under the heading, American Pie)
If you use either Short crust or Puff Pastry you might want to bake the Pastry blind for 20 min. to achieve a good base. Or make sure the filling is cold. The Pie, you see on the photo has been filled without being baked before hand

Filling

Ingredients:
400g very lean beef minced ( if you can get it freshly minced, do! This makes a big difference to the overall taste)
1 Tbsp flour
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp Worcester Sauce
1/4 l water ( approx)
some vegetable oil for frying
some chili pepper ( optional)
1 clove of garlic ( optional)
1 large onion sliced
slices of Cheddar or Gouda cheese ( enough to cover the pie)


Method:
Fry the meat until it starts to brown,
add the flour, mix around and fry until the meat and flour is browned. Add enough water to make
the mixture look saucy, see picture above. If you have too much water in the pan, simply boil it off until you have the right consistency. Add the seasoning. Leave to cool. Once the mixture is cooled down, line a baking tray with the pastry of your choice, spread some tomato sauce of your choice thinly on the base. Add the meat, the onion slices and cover the lot with the cheese.
Bake for approx 45 minutes at 175C

Note: The filling can be used to make Empanadas. Delicious

The delicious end result

I used yeast dough for my pie but have successfully used both Short Crust and Puff Pastry

Bechamel or White Sauce

Being able to make a good sauce from scratch is most frightening for most people and it is so easy to grab a ready make sauce of the shelves of the Supermarket .

The truth is that the basic sauces, which are the base of endless varieties of sauces for countless recipes are easy and simple to make, as long as pays attention while doing them.

Nearly every sauce is based either on the brown Roux (Sauce) or the white Roux.

The other important factor in making a good sauce is the stock you use. Very few of us have neither the time nor the inclination to have a stock pot on the stove. There are very good commercial stock cubes, or stock granules, or even "stock pot" liquid stock available.  You have a great choice and you should use the ones you like best. I have always used the Knorr stock range. I tried other brands but my taste buds prefer the Knorr ones. But as the French say "Chacun à son goût ". So you use what you like best .

Ingredients

2 Tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of oil, either sunflower or rapeseed, 

2 Tbsp of white flour ( unbleached, if you have it)

Approx 1/4 l water ( you can substitute half of this with milk our white wine depending on what you want to use the sauce for)

1 cube of chicken stock, or vegetable, or fish stoke, depending on what your dish is

Method

Put butter/oil in a heavy pain, heat slowly to melt the butter.

Add the flour , stirring continuously, the flour will bubble up, this is important as it means the flour is cooking.

Immediately add the liquid is a steady stream, stirring continuously

Add enough liquid to have a smooth creamy consistency.

Should you end up with lumps. Don't despair. 
Remove pan from heat and pour sauce through a sieve into another pan. You end up with a smooth sauce.

Add your seasoning

Cook for 3 to 4 minutes.

Once the Roux is cooked you can  add cheese and or cream. For fish use white wine

Note: The sauce with added cheese can be used for making a delicious Lasagne

Luxury Fish Pie

I think it is time for more fish. With the cold weather lurking around the corner, it is time to think of wholesome comfortable food. What is better than a nourishing pie?

One of the most satisfying of all pies is this fish pie. Needless to say that the fish has to be absolutely fresh. The quality of the pie lies in the freshness of the fish. 

The success depends but not only on the freshness of the fish, which is a given, but also on the sauce the fish is cooked in.
I use a white or Bechamel Sauce, which is one of the basic sauces any cook should be able to do in her or his sleep. You use this sauce in so many dishes that it worth your while perfecting it. You find the recipe for the sauce under Sauces or at the end of this one.

smoked cod

cooked prawns

fresh salmon darnes

Cooking Time: 45 min Prep.Time 20 min

Ingredients

1000g potatoes cooked and mashed

200-300 g fresh cod/or haddock or similar

200 g smoked fish (cod/haddock or salmon)

200 g fresh salmon

200 g prawns precooked (fresh or frozen)

1/2 l of  bechamel sauce (use white wine instead of water and enrich sauce with fresh cream)

Lemon juice to taste 

Cooking Instructions

Prepare the mashed potatoes as usual. Set aside. Wash and dry the fish and cut into cubes. If you use frozen prawns quickly precook them for 1 minute and then dab them dry, otherwise the sauce will get too runny. If you only have one kind of fish just make sure you end up with at least 600g fish. Although the mixture makes for a more interesting taste.

Place the fish into an ovenproof dish, cover with the well seasoned white (bechamel) sauce. As the fish will release liquid during the cooking, make the sauce a bit thicker than usual, otherwise the sauce would be too watery.  Put the mashed potatoes on top. Bake for 30 to 40 min at 175 C
Find the recipe for the sauce below.

The finished result

Bechamel (White) Sauce

Ingredients

2 Tbsp of butter and 1 Tbsp of oil, either sunflower or rapeseed, 

2 Tbsp of white flour ( unbleached, if you have it)

Approx 1/4 l water ( you can substitute half of this with milk our white wine depending on what you want to use the sauce for)

1 cube of chicken stock, or vegetable, or fish stock, depending for what dish you want to use the sauce for.

Method

Put butter/oil in a heavy pain, heat slowly to melt the butter.

Add the flour , stirring continuously. The flour will bubble up, this is important, as it means the flour is cooking.

Immediately add the liquid in a steady stream, stirring continuously

Add enough liquid to have a smooth creamy consistency.

Should you end up with lumps. Don't despair. Remove pan from heat and pour sauce through a sieve into another pan. You end up with a smooth sauce.

Add your seasoning

Cook for 3 to 4 minutes.

Once the Roux is cooked you can  add cheese and or cream. For fish use white wine and/or cream

Note: If you like you can add mushroom and/or peas or any vegetables you like to the pie.

Annegret's Chicken Curry

This is the first time I have  actually written down the recipe for my curry. I did not come across curries as a dish until my first visit to England a long time ago and then later in Ireland. I was alway surprised  that it was the chinese restaurants who offered curries.
I always liked the taste of curry as one of the favourite fast food dishes in Germany is "Curry Wurst". This is a "Bratwurst", fried sausage, cut into pieces,covered in curry spice and a hot red sauce, like ketchup. Whenever you are in Germany try one!
According to legend  a woman in Berlin invented it after the war. She used the curry spices to cover up the smell of bad meat! Now I am well aware of the fact that neither the aforementioned nor my Curry have anything in common with the real curries in India. All the same, I think the following is quite delicious and as it is not too hot children will love it.

Over the years some friends and I decided on having curry lunches and the following recipe is the result
of many trials and error until every one of us was happy and content.

Cooking Time: aprox.30 min

Ingredients

400 g chicken breast

I large onion or 2 medium

1 red or yellow pepper

2 to 3 Tbsp corn flour

2 to 3 Tbsp mild curry paste of your choice

Some chili pepper depending how hot you want it

1 tin of coconut milk

150 to 200 ml chicken stock
1 Tbsp tomato purée 

Rapeseed or sunflower oil for cooking

Cooking Instructions

Cut the chicken breast into approx 2 cm large pieces.

Cover the chicken pieces with the cornflower 

Fry the chicken pieces in the oil until golden brown, set aside

Quickly fry the onion slices and pepper pieces set aside

Gently fry curry paste, add the coco nut milk and chicken stock and the tomato purée. Gently cook for approx 15 min. Adjust seasoning. Depending how hot you want the curry, add more chili.

Add the chicken and vegetables and heat thoroughly through. If you want the vegetables to be ""al dente" ,  add them only shortly before serving.

Serve the curry with rice and fried bananas ( fry banana slices in butter and sprinkle liberally with cinnamon and Garam Masala)

                    Chicken curry in the slow cooker

You can make of course  your own curry mix, if you have all the ingredients in the house, but for a quick simple curry the paste is totally adequate. Have a look at the ingredients and if you like them, then the paste is for you.

Slow cooker
The recipe can be used equally well in the
slow cooker. Just prepare all the ingredients
and put them into a freezer bag, seal and freeze.
When you want to use it simply put the
frozen curry into the cooker and cook according
to your crock pot.

Slow cooking

For all the people who do not have time to assemble fine food after a hard days work.

This time I would like  to interest you in a very different type of cooking and preparation .
Circumstances forced me to prepare a lot of different dishes for the freezer, so I could use them at a later stage. What I did not have was time. What I do have is a freezer and a slow cooker or crock pot. Should you do not have a slow cooker, you certainly have an oven. All recipes can be slow cooked in a low oven in a casserole as well.

my reliable slow cooker

I got some very useful tips  from pinterest. I found that the recipes used ingredients which often were only available in the States, but I adopted the general idea and I have to say it works. I was surprised to see how well and especially how little time it took to prepare a dozen dishes.
 Would you believe,  within 2 hrs I prepared

10 main dishes and  two different vegetable soups. Not bad!

The main idea is, that you prepare all ingredients in their raw state, put them into a freezer bag and add a cooking liquid. All ingredients should be covered by that liquid, so that they would not suffer any "frost bites"
I used for the main meat ingredients chicken breast and loin of pork, you just as easily can use fresh fish, like cod and haddock or beef pieces or meat minced.
 For the liquid,  I used coconut milk for  curry, Baxters mushroom soup for the chicken mushroom casserole,  Baxters Consomme for the pork and bean stew, beer and consomme for the pork beer stew, etc.
The options are amazing depending on what you want to do. Once the freezer is empty, I certainly will try out more ideas.
So far I have used two of the prepared dishes. To my delight they were delicious and so, so easy.
I simply took the bag with the pork bean stew out of the freezer, emptied the content straight in to the slow cooker, added 1/2 cup of water, put it on high and forgot it for 6 hours. Every so often the lovely smell wafting through the house, would remind you, that there was something cooking.

Pork and Beans Stew 

Ingredients  ( 4 persons)

1 pork chop per person cut into small pieces

1 medium onion cut

2 tomatoes chopped

1 red/or yellow pepper cut small

1 tin of Baked beans

1 tin of kidney beans  (discard the liquid)

1 tin of Consomme or 150 ml chicken stock cooled

1 Tsp sweet paprika

some pepper

1 to 2 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar

1 clove of garlic (optional)

Method

Put all ingredients into a freezer bag and close, after pushing out the air beforehand. Freeze in!

Note:  Write the name of the dish on the bag before filling it. Later after a few days in the freezer you will not be able to distinguish between the Pork & Beans or the Pork in Beer Sauce

When you want to use it, simply empty the food into the slow cooker with a little added water. Switch the slow cooker on high and leave alone for 6 hours

If you use the oven, put the casserole in at 150 C. Check after 2 hrs if the food is defrosted, within the 6 hrs you might want to add a little more water. Depending on your oven you might want to reduce the temperature.

Note 2: check the seasoning before serving. I added a little more vinegar to balance the taste

Ready for the freezer

Chicken and mushroom 

Ingredients ( 4 persons)

1 chicken breast per person ( if breasts are very big then use two breasts per 3 persons)

1 medium onion

250 g fresh mushrooms

rind of 1 lemon

juice of one lemon

Some black pepper

1 tin of mushroom soup ( I used Baxters)

                          ⌘

a little fresh cream to be used just before serving

Method

Cut the meat into pieces, cut the vegetables. Put all ingredients into a bowl, mix well. 

Put all the ingredients into a freezer bag and seal it. Freeze.

When you want to use it, simply put the food into the slow cooker, minus the freezer bag of course, and add a little water.

Switch the cooker on to high and leave it alone for 6 hrs.

The oven option as above as for the Pork and Beans.

Note:  these dishes are served equally well with rice, pasta or creamed potatoes.

More fish

0n a recent visit to Gdansk in Poland, ( which is, by the way a beautiful city, and worth a visit)
I was reminded how much fish in all its shapes and forms and flavours has been part of my life.

Delicious Roll Mops ( pickled herring)
Great hangover cure!

I got the love for good fish from my father who was born in in the "county" of Gdansk which was the Freestate of Danzig, when he was born. One of my first memories is, that he taught me how to eat pan fried fresh herring, delicious when you know how it is done. ( you bite into the back of the fish and thus avoid the fishbones!) He loved cod, salted herrings, pickled herrings and above all smoked and fresh eel. He was the one who wanted "Blue carp" at Christmas, but my mother won and we used to have goose ( she was from Saxony, recipe to follow nearer Christmas)
So on this visit I made sure I had my share of fish dishes.
We had a wonderful food experience in a restaurant which is called "Metamorforza", a restaurant in Gdansk which serves Polish cuisine but to a very high standard using a lot of local seasonal ingredients. We took the taster menu of seven courses and every one was an outstanding eating experience. Today I just want to mention the fresh sea trout from the Baltic, pan fried ( as it should be) served with little crushed  fresh elderberries and some stewed gooseberries. It was simply delicious.
The following recipe is quickly done and the most important ingredient here is the fresh fish. Once the fish is done, it should be eaten as quick as possible. Preferably eat the fish first and then the sides, so you can enjoy the crispy batter at its best

Cod in batter

Ingredients

Approx 500 g Fresh cod or haddock
some some salt
juice of fresh lemon

rapeseed or sunflower oil for frying

Batter
1 egg
2 Tbsp plain flour
2 Tbsp corn flour
a little salt and pepper
enough water ( or white wine or sparkling wine or beer)
to make a silky smooth batter ( thickness as for crêpes)

Note: this batter is equally perfect for Tempura or anything you want to fry in batter

Method

1. Run the fish under fresh water  and dry with kitchen paper.

2. Lightly salt the fish and squeeze some lemon juice on it

3. Prepare the batter, simply put all ingredients
into a bowl and whisk until the batter is smooth and silky.
Dip the fish into the batter and coat from all sides

4. Preheat the pan with enough oil so that the fish can "swim" in it.

5. Fry the fish until golden brown on each side.
6. Serve immediately

Sides
There is nothing better than very plain sides with fresh fish like that. I usually do small potatoes in the oven and some petit pois ( frozen) Or you can do the traditional mushy peas and chips. The recipe for the small potatoes you will find under Sides

Delicious Battered Fish!

O Sole mio or my lemon sole

I am a firm believer that fish should be cooked quickly and simple.

The only condition is, that the fish is absolutely fresh. Fish that smells like fish is not fresh. Fish should have a fresh smell of sea water.
Make sure that you go to a fish monger or supermarket which has a good turn over and you can trust their advice.
Don't buy fish on Mondays as you get the leftovers from the weekend
Flat fish, like Plaice, Lemon Sole, Turbot, Brill etc should have bulging eyes, the spots on the Plaice should be bright orange, the skin should be taught and firm. The fresher the fish is the harder is it to take off the skin.

        That's how fresh fish looks. The skin taught and shiny

The following is the quickest and easiest recipe and can be used for any flat fish or fillets of cod and haddock. The only thing that changes will be the cooking time as this depends on the thickness of the piece of fish

Ingredients

Depending on the size of the fish

2 sole fillets per person

some Salt

Some fresh lemon juice

50 to 100 g butter

Sole skin side up in melted butter

Method 

1. Rinse the fish under fresh cold water

2. Dry the fish with some kitchen paper

3. Lightly salt the fish and squeeze some fresh lemon juice on skinless side

4. Melt the butter and fry the fish first with the skin side up . 

That prevents the fish curling up
5. Fish cooks very quickly, so it does not take take more than 3-4 min each side, depending on the size of the fish.

After turning the fish onto the skin side press lightly with the fish slice on the top of the fillet. This ensures that the fish stays nicely flat.

Serve the fish with some of the butter you fried the fish in 

And some lemon slices.

Note:

If you like and have fresh Dill to hand, add some fresh dill to the butter in the pain and serve with the fish. 

Ready to eat!