Zesty glazed salmon on butter bean mash - the week's unexpected hit!

I love butter beans and I don't mind who knows it.

Now I do know that there are folk out there for whom a butter bean is the epitome of disgusting - strange folk who need to have their eyes opened to the beauty of the butter bean when engaged in the most delicious of things - butter bean mash.

However, I am getting a bit ahead of myself, so let's back up a bit and do a bit of explaining.

I have been looking for carbohydrate alternatives.  It is just too easy to say "hmmn, pork chop.  What shall we have with it?  Oh, new/roast/mashed/dauphinoise/boiled/chipped/Hasselback (and ever onwards) potatoes".  There are so many different types of potato dish that you can choose from!  However, I think I might have exhausted my range of all known potato types and have probably cycled through them all a number of times.

So it was time to try some creative alternatives.

With that in the back of my mind, I was doing my usual thing of browsing the foodie internet for possible dinner ideas.  One dinner ingredient that we all enjoy but we just don't eat enough of, is fish.  Having discovered that Asda's range of frozen fish is compatible with several different methods of cooking, I was particularly after a fish recipe when all of a sudden there appeared a recipe that solved the two requirements in one.  Sara Buenfeld's Sizzling Salmon with Bean Mash, on BBC Good Food.

Mmmmn ... butter (or Lima) beans

Salmon - tick!  Butter beans - tick!

Even better, from a balanced meal point of view, it included wilted Rocket in the mash and the fish was grilled (albeit with a sweet mustard glaze).  Add a couple of likely looking veggies and that is dinner sorted - completely without recourse to a potato.

However, I had temporarily forgotten - in my butter beany enthusiasm - that hubby "isn't keen" on the beautiful creamy giants of the bean world.  For that, read "have yet to sample them in anything that makes them even palatable, never mind edible".  Humm.

I knew that I'd never sampled butter bean mash and I knew that I'd had it recommended to me by more than one person - and more than one of those more than one people were like hubby in their dislike for the ordinary butter bean.  However, they reported that butter bean mash was a definite thumbs up.  My caution went for a fly around in the wind and I put the dish on the menu plan.  *gulp*

Now the naughty boy has been teasing me all day with various comments about the three (THREE!) tins of organic butter beans I'd had him buy in the shopping this morning, but I held out, stood firm and went for it.

Do you know, he likes it!  No, in fact, I'd say he really rather liked it (which is a bit more than your average "like" - in case you were wondering).  We've just finished dinner and having gone from a plaintive "Well if I don't like it, what am I going to eat?" to "This is delicious!  ~suspicious look from me~  No, seriously delicious!", I call that a very definite win.

Son and heir left a little of his mash, but then I did give him rather more - hollow legs and all that.

The salmon was lovely with the lime/honey/mustard glaze and took minutes to cook under the grill.  The butter bean mash was simplicity itself, even with my changing the order of cooking around a little bit to include sauteing the garlic in the butter for a minute or two, so that I didn't get a reaction to it.  They are right in the original recipe when they say that the mash requires a good wallop of seasoning to bring out the flavours - I seemed to be endlessly adding pepper, but once you reached sufficient, you realised why.  The creme fraiche is a master stroke, as it loosens the flouriness of the beans and combines with the butter to make an overall creaminess.  Just so tasty!

I served the fish and mash with some broccoli and carrots that I drizzled with the cooking juices.  Everyone was happy with the quantity of food on the plate and I am quietly cock-a-hoop that it was as much of a success as it turned out to be.

I most definitely recommend this one.  It's a keeper!

ZESTY GLAZED SALMON on BUTTER BEAN MASH   (serves 3)

Ingredients :

3 salmon fillets, skin removed
zest and juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp runny honey
1 heaped tbsp wholegrain mustard
3 x 400g tins of butter beans, rinsed
25g butter
1 garlic clove, crushed and chopped finely
4-5 tbsp creme fraiche
50g rocket
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Method :

1.   Place the salmon fillets face upwards on a heatproof flat tray.

2.  Into a bowl, combine the lime zest, lime juice, honey, mustard and a good pinch of salt.

3.  Spoon a little of the mixture onto the face of each salmon fillet, then turn each upside down and leave to marinate for a few minutes while you prepare the mash.

4.  Drain the beans and place into a flat bottomed bowl.  Using a potato masher, mash until the beans are quite broken up, but still retain some texture.

5.  Place the butter into a saucepan large enough to take all the butter beans and put it on a low heat to melt.  Add the garlic and cook very gently - do not allow it to brown - for a few minutes.

6.  Once the raw garlic smell has dissipated add the crushed butter beans, a large pinch of sea salt, a whole heap (to taste) of freshly ground black pepper and the creme fraiche.  Vigorously mix the combination together - a wooden spoon is good for this as you can crush any randomly whole butter beans as you go.  Heat the contents of the pan until bubbling.

7.  Spoon a little more glaze over the fish fillets and place under a hot grill for 2-3 minutes.

8.  Turn the fillets and spoon the remaining glaze over them, then return them to the grill until done.  The cooking juices should be bubbling and hot.

7.  Just before you are due to serve, add the rocket to the butter bean mash pan and stir through.  You are wanting the rocket to have just wilted and not be cooked.

8.  Serve with steamed broccoli and carrots, with the cooking juices from the fish drizzled over.

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Minty mustard lamb's liver pitta bread - a spur of the minute lunch

I'm currently going through a phase of loving pitta bread.

Now I've always liked pitta bread, but just recently I seem to have taken to them in a big way.  I suppose the fact that my tummy seems to accept them more readily than ordinary bread (~sob~ I love my bread!) has made all the difference.

There are a number of other benefits to pitta bread, as I've discovered.  For instance, there's very little on this earth that can't be put into one for a yummy and fairly portable lunch.  Everything from steak and chips, through stew, to trifle can be contained in a pitta bread.  Although why anyone would want to put trifle in a pitta, is another matter.  Anyway - I do think that soup is really the only thing that won't go into a pitta bread - but you can dip your pitta bread into soup, so it still wins!

Pitta bread is also self-limiting, quantity wise.  As an example, I was making scrambled egg to go in my pitta this morning.  As I was just scrambling the one egg, I used just the one pitta.  Now had I have been making scrambled egg on toast, I might have felt I should just use the one slice of bread - but you could guarantee that I'd have put two into the toaster because of habit.  With pitta, just one comes out of the packet at a time and just one does the job with no reason to feel hard done by.

Creamy, minty, mustardy - what's not to like?

The whole butter question is another thing that is improved by the use of pitta bread.  With a sandwich, you would butter both slices of bread.  Not so with a pitta.  Very often it isn't necessary to use butter at all - but if you do, then just butter the one side and the job is done with half the amount.  How good is that?

With regard to quantity, putting a whole bucket load of salad into a sandwich just results in your having to use two hands to hold the whole collapsing mess.  Not so with a pitta.  Jam the salady loveliness in there as hard and fast as you can!  You might need two hands as you go, but only because of the sheer weight of health giving salad inside your cheese or egg pitta.  *wink*

So, when we picked up a little pack of fresh lamb's liver from the Ferndene Farm Shop at Bashley, Hampshire the other day, it got me wondering what to do with it.  Naturally, "put it in a pitta" was right up there as a suggestion.

I was in two minds whether to go down the "devilled, mustardy" route with it, or the "redcurrant and rosemary" route.  They both seemed as enticing as one another, but I could tell from the way my mouth was watering at the idea of the mustardy version, that this was the one.

I love mint sauce with lamb and felt that just the mustard sauce wasn't going to be quite enough.  I didn't have any fresh mint (the awful weather has terminated our mint plant's delusions of grandeur) but suddenly remembered putting mint sauce onto cooked new potatoes and how good that is.  So, if I use Dijon mustard for its piquancy, then add a little mint sauce for the sweet/sour thing it brings with it, hmmmn.  What can I use to lengthen and de-intensify the sauce with?  Aha!  I've a teensy tiny bit of double cream in the fridge looking for a home.  Perfect!  And it was.  The cream - only a dessertspoonful at the most - was sufficient to just saucify (is that a word?  If not, it ought to be) all the lovely flavours.

My friend Suzy Bowler entitled her brilliant food blog "Sudden Lunch" and I had her in mind all the time I was making this lunch, as apart from a little thought, it came together in a twinkling.

MINTY MUSTARD LAMB'S LIVER PITTA BREAD    (serves 1)

Ingredients :

1 pitta bread
1 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
sufficient lamb's liver for one person, trimmed and sliced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp Dijon mustard
half tsp Mint sauce (the vinegary kind, not Mint jelly)
1 dessertsp of double cream
small handful of rocket leaves.

Method :

1.  First of all, put your pitta bread in the toaster - put it in diagonally (or as diagonally as you can muster) so that as much as possible of it sees the heat.  Once toasted, split down one side and turn your attention to the liver.

2.  Heat a little rapeseed oil in a frying pan and chuck in the liver pieces.  Fry hard and fast - I like mine to have completely stopped bleeding, but I know there are others who can cope with a little red stuff, so it's up to you how long to cook it for.  A few seconds before finishing and adding the sauce ingredients, throw on a little sea salt and a lot of black pepper.  Then turn off the heat and leaving the pan on the hot plate, add a teaspoonful of Dijon mustard, half a teaspoonful of mint sauce and a dessertspoonful of double cream.  Stir to combine.  Pack the rocket leaves into the pitta and pour in the liver mix.

I can recommend either something tangy to drink with it, or a nice big mug of tea or coffee.  Mmmmn, glorious!

Printable version 
 

Bacon & Blue Cheese Filo Tart - quick, before the sun disappears!

In actual fact, this tart isn't reliant upon sunny days.  We've eaten it with potato wedges instead of salad in the middle of winter - and it was just as good.

However, in this instance, I served it with a Melon & Cucumber salad - the sweetness of the Canteloupe melon went so well with the salty bacon and blue cheese.

I've been making this dish for quite some time now and when I remembered it the other day, I looked back across the Recipe Index and was surprised to note that it wasn't there.  Mind you, this was cause for some celebration because it meant that I could tick off another "bloggable" dish on the menu - one which I had done countless times before and was not only easy but reliable!

You might think that, being made with Filo pastry instead of shortcrust or puff, this might be a low-calorie, "good for you", healthy option.  I have very great delight in putting you right where this is concerned and would quite categorically state that there is very little about it that is good for you - apart from being good for your soul.  You will very definitely feel downright spoiled, indulged and maybe even a little bit naughty when eating this tart.

You see, fundamental in the creation of the filling is the use of 300g of your best, creamiest, rich and delicious Philadelphia cream cheese.  Oh, don't suck your breath in like that - the wind might change and you'll stay looking like it.  Yes, I know I could have used low fat Philadelphia - but why?  This tart is supposed to be rich and delicious - and nothing but the full fat version will do.  If you're so bothered about it, don't make it very often and don't eat a huge piece - but do make it, and do cut yourself a generous piece.  Go on - you're worth it!

One word of warning as regards the ingredients though.  The Rocket is absolutely essential.  I can remember baking this tart once in the past when I had forgotten to buy some Rocket.  "Oh, it can't make THAT much difference, surely!", I thought.  Wrong.  So wrong.  This is one of those tart fillings that something magical happens to when it goes into the oven.  One of those clever chemistry things.  Now obviously, the eggs are there to bind it all - that's a given.  However, the Rocket seems to act as some kind of subtle scaffolding that provides aeration as well as flavour.  When you first start mixing it in, you don't think it's ever going to lay down and behave - but it does.  Then, once it has baked, it emerges with no discernible Rocket.  It's there, doing a valuable job, but quietly and in the background.  The one time I tried to make the tart without it was an utter disaster as the filling was too rich, too thick, too claggy and just, well, too much of everything.  So - don't be tempted to leave the Rocket out.  I've tried it and it's not good.

One more thing - when you are shopping for ingredients and if you shop at Sainsbury's, do try their common or garden "English Blue Cheese" which is vaguely red coloured (not unlike Shropshire Blue) and completely unassuming.  I picked some up purely because of its price (it was the cheapest blue cheese I could find - it was the end of the month and money was a little tight) and was surprised to find that it is actually very palatable indeed.  Perhaps a little on the salty side - but knowing how salty some of the Danish blues can get, we can forgive it that.  I think it did a sterling job at being crumbled on top of the tart - and is responsible for that deep yellowy orange hue.

If you're curious about the Melon & Cucumber salad, it was a simple matter of getting a bowl and putting into it some rocket, some Canteloupe melon balls (cubes would do fine, if you don't have a melon baller), some finely sliced cucumber that had been skinned and had its pips removed and several sliced cherry tomatoes.  Once served onto the plate, I added a couple of marinated Sweetfire beetroot, which provided the zing! to the melon's sweetness and the saltiness of the tart.  We didn't bother with a dressing, as the melon provided plenty of juice.

I like to think of it as a beautiful partnership.  The incredibly unhealthily rich and delicious tart, paired up with a very healthy sweet and sour salad.  Delicious.

BACON & BLUE CHEESE FILO TART   (serves 4-5) 

Ingredients :

4 large sheets of filo pastry, cut in half to make 8 individual sheets
extra virgin olive oil
300g (or slightly less) of lean back bacon, diced
3-4 spring onions, sliced finely
2 eggs
300g tub soft cream cheese
2 large handfuls of rocket leaves
50g (approx) blue cheese
2 tbsp pine nuts.

Method :

1.  Pre-heat oven to 180degC/350degF/Gas4.

2.  Taking a spring form tin, lightly brush some oil around it.  Then, brush the first sheet of filo pastry lightly with oil and lay it into the tin, sticking it to the oiled sides.  Continue with the other sheets of pastry, brushing with oil and laying into the tin, until the tin is completely covered and the edges are stuck to the sides.  These edges will be turned down and form the "crust".

3.  Place the bacon pieces into a heated but dry frying pan and cook over a medium heat until any water has been removed and the bacon is just beginning to brown.  Hopefully any fat should have rendered out by now.

4.  Add the spring onion to the bacon pieces and continue to cook until the onion is wilted.  Remove from the heat and set to one side to cool a little.

5.  Taking a large bowl, add the cream cheese and crack in the eggs.  Using a hand whisk mix lightly together until all the lumps are removed.  Season with a good pinch of pepper but do not use any salt - the bacon will be salty enough.

6.  Add the cooled bacon & onion mixture, leaving as much of the bacon fat in the pan as is possible.  Add the rocket leaves and the pine nuts.  I usually chop the pine nuts just a little before adding to the mixture.  Stir until everything is combined, then pour into the filo pastry case.

7.  Break the blue cheese into pieces and scatter them across the top of the filling mix.

8.  Turn down the edges of the filo pastry neatly (I usually roll them), to form a crust around the edge of the filling.

9.  Place into the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until the centre of the tart is firm to touch.

10.  Give the tart some 5-10 minutes to cool before turning it out and cutting.

Serve.

Printable version
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A semi-successful venture into Polenta

With that curious sensation in one's stomach that only a true foodie would recognise, (being excitement at using a new ingredient, nerves in case it all goes wrong, more nerves in case nobody likes it and even more nerves, well, just because), I got cracking with trying the family out on wet polenta.

I made sure that I would have time and attention span to deal with the polenta, by pairing it with a dead easy chicken dish - Parmesan chicken.  This is basically nothing more than a chicken breast dunked in egg white, then into grated parmesan with freshly ground black pepper - and popped into the oven to roast.  For something so simple, it really is lovely.

So!  On to the polenta problem.  I had heeded the accumulated wisdom of various Italian cooks and as such, opted for the "polenta with blue cheese & small amounts of green stuff" version.

The first quandary was what stock to use.  Home-made chicken stock, or vegetable stock from a cube?  Home-made chicken is my favourite, but I was nervous of it becoming too chickeny, when it was going to have a huge hunk of blue cheese melted through it later on.  So, in view of this, I opted for the vegetable.  In retrospect, I think perhaps the chicken would have been good, as it wouldn't have contained half as much salt as the stock cube did!

The recipe said to add a crushed clove of garlic to the stock and allow it to infuse for 2-3 minutes and then remove it.  We must have super-duper garlic, or something, because even on 2 minutes, there was too much garlic!  (I know, there will be several of you throwing your hands in the air and exclaiming "too much garlic? There's no such thing!" - but for us, there can be).  So if you're garlic-sensitive, I'd skip this bit - and will do in future.

I'd also had a bit of a quandary over the blue cheese, in relation to the overall price of the thing.  The chicken had cost £3, add to that the cost of the parmesan, then £2 for Gorgonzola ... the overall price seemed to be creeping into the expensive bracket.  So, I opted for a £1 piece of French blue cheese of unknown origin.  It was soft, and vaguely sweet, with a lovely salty tang - so I figured it would do.  It did, indeed, do.  Very nicely!

I was lucky with the polenta itself, as I'd had some for ages - since we started cooking Cornbread (which I love).  However, having looked on the packet the best before date was some time in 2010.  ~cough~  Oh well, it was too late to get any more by then - and I'd used it quite recently to put on roast potatoes, so I figured we wouldn't die.

I also had some baby spinach in the fridge that needed using up, so substituted that for the rocket that the recipe demanded.  Personally, I think it was even nicer with the little crunch that the spinach gave.

A couple of things struck me when I was cooking the polenta dish, which were - firstly, my goodness but doesn't it thicken quickly!  I had to use twice the amount of liquid that was stated in the recipe, before it would become anywhere close to the right consistency.  Another thing, is that it is quite impossible for me to pour in a steady stream, while whisking like mad.  I can pour in a whisk-like circle whilst whisking like mad if you like - but then, I've never been able to pat my head and rub my tummy at the same time, either. 

Lastly, I was surprised at the difference the lemon juice made to the dish.  Before adding the juice, the polenta was creamy and quite tasty.  You could taste the individual flavours of the polenta, the stock, the blue cheese and the spinach.  After the inclusion of the lemon juice - bingo!  It all came together as a cohesive whole.  Who'd have thought it!


Hubby’s initial opinion was *gasp!* and *gag!*, followed by “euk!” and “hmmmn”.  Which didn’t bode well at all.

Son & heir’s initial reaction was “have you tried this stuff, Mum?”, whilst looking extremely doubtful.

Well, of course I’d tried it – after all, I’d cooked it so I was bound to have tried it one way or another!  I quite liked it.  It was too salty, as between the stock cube and the cheese, they had delivered quite an accumulated load.  I really liked the cheese and I had no objections to the texture.  I did agree with hubby though, that the garlic was way too much.

Once hubby could speak, he voiced his objections to the polenta as being mainly rooted in the over-saltiness and the garlic excess that didn’t really sit well with the blue cheese.  He didn’t have any objections to the texture, which I was surprised about, and would countenance another go with maybe some polenta that was at least in date, this time.

I don’t know – some people just want the moon on a stick.  *chuckle*
 
POLENTA WITH GORGONZOLA  (serves 3-4)
Based on a recipe by Paul Merrett.

Ingredients :

570ml vegetable or chicken stock (I used around 900ml, so have some extra just in case!)
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed (optional - see above!)
half a tsp of dried thyme
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
150g quick-cook polenta
50g unsalted butter (note the UNsalted)
handful of fresh rocket or spinach leaves
200g Gorgonzola or other melting blue cheese, cut into cubes
1 lemon, juice only.


Method :


1.  Bring the stock to the boil in a large heavy based pan over a medium heat.


2.  If you're using it, add the crushed garlic to the stock and allow to infuse for 2-3 minutes before removing it and discarding.  Add the thyme.  Season to taste.


3.  Add the polenta to the hot stock in a thin, steady stream.  Whisk immediately and continue whisking as it cooks for 2-3 minutes to avoid any lumps.  The texture will be of mashed potato when cooked.


4.  Add the butter and stir to combine.


5.  Add the cubed cheese and stir to combine until it has melted through the polenta.


6.  Add the rocket or spinach and allow to wilt, then add the lemon juice and give everything a last stir.


Serve.


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Lunchtime omelette

I have just tweeted (@JennyEatwell) about my lunchtime omelette and how luscious it was.

I was contemplating lunchtime and knew that hubby would be taking care of the leftover Cornish Pasty, son would be taking care of the leftover Jamaican Beef Patty, which left me to get creative.

I knew we'd got some chestnut mushrooms which I no longer have any idea why I bought them, so they needed a home to go to.

Now mushrooms at lunchtime immediately brings the idea of an omelette to the fore, which then reminded me of the salad bag that we started last night for the Mango Salad and which still had some left.  Being a bag of mixed leaves, rocket, spinach, watercress and red chard, it was suitable for cooking as well as salad.  Finish it off with a flourish of grated cheddar and Bob's your uncle.  Lunch!

I apologise, however, for the lack of photographs.  I ate it too quickly.  *blush*  So here, for @madamding, is the recipe. :)

MUSHROOM, MIXED LEAF & CHEESE OMELETTE  (feeds 1-2)

Ingredients :

2 eggs
knob of butter, or splash of olive oil
3 chestnut mushrooms, sliced
a big handful of the mixed leaves (rocket, spinach, watercress & red chard)
a handful of grated cheddar
sea salt & freshly ground pepper

Method :

1.  Place the butter or olive oil (whichever you're using) in a frying pan and put on a medium heat until the butter is bubbling or the oil is warmed through.

2.  Add the mushrooms and saute for 2-3 minutes until softened.

3.  Break the eggs into a cup and whisk lightly with a fork, then add to the mushrooms.  Turn the pan, to ensure the eggs cover the base of the pan evenly.

4.  Add the leaves, spreading them evenly over the mix.

5.  Sprinkle with the cheese and allow to cook for a minute or so.

6.  Tip the pan until you can flip one half over its other half and cook on for long enough until the cheese is obviously melted.

7.  Turn out onto a warmed plate and season with salt & pepper.

Serve.

Can be served with bread and butter to feed 2 people, but I found with the two eggs that it was more than enough on its own for one.  Extra-lovely with a glass of orange juice or a cup of coffee.  :)

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Greek style three-cheese & bacon filo pie - and Christmas salad

Yes, that is one heck of a title for a pie - but I can't think how I'd describe it otherwise!

It began life as a BBC Good Food recipe for "Ham & Blue Cheese Tart", but has grown and developed since then.  For instance, our preference is for cooked bacon rather than ham and because of son's sensitivity to blue cheese, I include a little cheddar and leave his part of the pie free of the blue.

I'm so glad that Sainsbury's had Springform tins on special offer the other day - and that hubby spotted them and got one!  Without the Springform, this was so much more difficult to produce.  It is achievable - for instance you could use a casserole dish to form the pie in, then carefully remove it and place it on a baking tray to cook.  However, if you've got a Springform, it's definitely my method of choice.

The Christmas Salad was my first go at such a thing.  I thought about what colours say "Christmas" and put together salad items that conformed to that concept.  I would have included beetroot if I'd have had any.  So, we had Little Gem lettuce, cucumber, spring onion, cherry tomatoes, orange segments and pomegranate seeds, all dressed with a lemon and olive oil dressing.  It was lovely with the rich pie and definitely something I'd do again.

I have to admit though, that I completely forgot to include the pine nuts.  Now I've made a version with pine nuts - and now one without - and I must say, that the difference was minimal.  So, if you're watching the pennies - you wouldn't be compromising on flavour if you left them out.

Closeup to illustrate the salad - which was really lovely

GREEK-STYLE THREE CHEESE & BACON FILO PIE (feeds 4)

Ingredients :

6-10 sheets filo pastry, depending on size
1 & 2 tbsp olive oil
a pack of smoked back bacon, diced
1 bunch spring onions, sliced
2 eggs, lightly beaten
300g tub soft cheese, room temperature
2 large handfuls of rocket leaves
50g blue cheese, crumbled (I use Stilton)
20g cheddar cheese, grated
2 tbsp pine nuts, chopped roughly

Method :

1.  Heat oven to 180C/fan160C/gas 4.

2.  In a frying pan, cook the bacon in the one tbsp olive oil until beginning to crisp, then set aside to cool.

2.  Brush each filo sheet with the remaining oil (reserving just a little) and layer into a 20cm springform tin, overlapping each sheet at a different angle, but leaving one sheet separate.

3.  In a large bowl, combine the soft cheese and eggs, then add the spring onions, cheddar cheese, bacon and finally the rocket.  Season with pepper and just a touch of salt.

4.  Pour the egg mixture into the filo case and spread to level.

5.  Sprinkle with crumbled blue cheese and pine nuts.

6.  Lay the final Filo piece over the top, then fold the sides down to create a crust.  Brush with a little oil and place into the oven to bake for 30 minutes or until just set and the pastry is golden brown.

7.  Cool slightly before serving.