World Cup snacks with Aldi

June 26, 2018June 25, 2018Posted in Fish, Meat, RecipesTagged agurkesalat, croque monsieur, finger food, football, hot dog, smorrebrod, snack, world cupLeave a comment

Between you, me and the goal posts, I’m not the world’s biggest football fan. While I’m proud to say I can actually explain the off-side rule, I’m not one to get in a frenzy about a full month of coverage of the beautiful game. The last time I got vaguely excited about watching the World Cup, I was 15 back in 1990 and for some reason I did get rather swept along by the nation’s response to England’s roller coaster performance. If I were ever asked to name English footballers, the only names I’ll be able to come up with are the likes of Lineker, Platt, Gascgoigne, Pearce and Beardsley. So no, I really don’t know much about football.

However, introduce the notion of food to the prospect of watching a match, and my interest is piqued. When Aldi invited me to create a menu to accompany today’s Denmark versus France group stage game, there was a challenge I couldn’t resist.

Food for a footie feast really doesn’t need to be overly fancy, but it’s got to be tasty and easy to eat. So finger food it had to be. Here’s my menu…

I’m a big fan of Aldi. While I don’t do my full weekly shop there – mainly because they don’t offer online delivery – I do pop into our local store on North Street at least once a week, as I really like their fresh fruit and vegetables and their range of meat is pretty good too. Aldi has great value deals on meats, fruit and veg every week as part of their Super 6 deals. And did you know Aldi recently won The Grocer of the Year at the Grocer Gold Awards 2018? Not surprising when you consider I picked up all the ingredients for my menu for less than £25. And there were some top notch products in there, including a Somerset Crunchy Vintage Cheddar, which won Silver in 2017 British Cheese Awards no less, and some very delicious smoked salmon. The brioche rolls are very good too.

For my Danish / French inspired snacks, I decided to keep things as simple as possible yet packed full of flavour. My croque monsieur mini tarts are insanely moreish – something to do with that gorgeously salty Somerset Cheddar I’d say. Yes, I know croque monsieur should really be made with Gruyere, but it’s good to include a little West Country twist too. Hot dogs are an easy option too and always a crowd pleaser. Topped with either gooey brie or sweet tangy agurkesalat (sweet pickled cucumber which apparently Danes eat with just about anything), the humble hot dog becomes a tad more interesting.

And of course the Danes are famous for their smørrebrød or open sandwiches made with dark rye bread. My mini nearly bite-sized versions are topped with a creamy smoked salmon tartare, fresh and zingy crushed peas with tarragon, and one of my favourite dips – beetroot and mint; such a bargain at just 95p a tub. I can pretty much guarantee they’ll have been devoured well before half-time.

Best of luck to both France and Denmark today. Let’s hope I’ll be as impressed by your skills on the pitch as I am your snacks from the kitchen. Although I’d be surprised!

Mini croque monsieur tarts

Makes 12 – 16 mini tarts

1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
100g strong Cheddar cheese (or Gruyere), grated
150ml creme fraiche
1 tsp Dijon mustard
100g cooked, sliced ham, roughly chopped
1 sprig fresh flat parsley, roughly chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 200ºC / gas mark 6.

Roll out the puff pastry and use a cookie/scone cutter to cut out vol-au-vent size circles. Place on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Using a slightly smaller sized cutter, gently score an inner circle but be careful not to cut all the way through the pastry. Gently prick this inner circle with a fork – again not all the way through.

Brush the pastry circles with the beaten egg.

In a large bowl, mix together the cheese, creme fraiche, mustard, ham and parsley. Season to taste.

Place about a desert spoonful of the cheese and ham mixture onto the inner circle of each of your pastry tarts.

Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until golden. Delicious served warm or cold.

Crushed pea and tarragon smørrebrød

Makes around 12 mini open sandwiches

100g frozen peas
2-3 tbsp lemon juice
2 sprigs of tarragon
salt and pepper to taste
2 large slices rye bread
cream cheese
1 lemon, cut into wedges

Cook the frozen peas in boiling water for a few minutes until just cooked, and leave to cool.

Place the peas in a blender with two tablespoonfuls of lemon juice and the tarragon. Whiz for a few seconds until roughly chopped. Season to taste, and add more lemon juice if needed.

Slice the rye bread into smallish squares and spread generously with cream cheese. Carefully spoon the crushed peas on top of each one. Serve with wedges of lemon and another grind of black pepper.

Smoked salmon tartare smørrebrød

Makes around 12 mini open sandwiches

100g smoked salmon, roughly chopped
small shallot, finely chopped
2 sprigs of dill, chopped (plus more for garnish)
zest of 1 lemon
1 pickled gherkin, finely chopped
1 tsp Dijon mustard
150ml soured cream
salt and pepper to taste
2 large slices rye bread
1 lemon, cut into wedges

In a medium bowl, mix together the salmon, shallot, dill, lemon zest, gherkin, mustard and soured cream. Season to taste.

Again, slice the rye bread into little squares, and generously spread with the smoked salmon tartare. Garnish with dill and serve with lemon wedges.

Beetroot and mint smørrebrød

Makes around 12 mini open sandwiches

2 large slices of rye bread
1 pot Aldi beetroot and mint dip
Green olives

This really doesn’t need a recipe. Simply slice the bread into small squares and top with the dip and an olive. And scoff!

Danish pickled cucumbers – agurkesalat

1 large cucumber
table salt
80ml cider vinegar
40ml water
30g caster sugar
1 tsp coriander seeds
2 sprigs fresh dill, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Slice the cucumber as thinly as you can – I used a mandolin on its finest setting – and place in a large bowl. You then need to salt the cucumber.

Sprinkle generously with salt and place a small plate on top, weighed down with any heavy items to hand in the kitchen, such as tin cans. Leave for 20-30 minutes or so. Place the cucumber slices in a colander and rinse well with cold water. Wrap in a clean tea towel and squeeze out the water.

Place the cucumber slices in a large, clean jar.

In a jug, combine the vinegar and water and stir in the sugar until dissolved. Pour the vinegar mixture over the cucumbers and add the coriander seeds, dill and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.

Pop on the lid and place in the fridge for at least an hour before serving. Great in sandwiches or use as a relish on hot dogs or burgers. Or straight from the jar using your fingers, if you’re my sister-in-law!

Danish dog with agurkesalat (pickled cucumber) and French dog with brie

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. Aldi commissioned me to develop these recipes, and supplied all the ingredients. As always, all opinions are completely my own and I only ever work with brands I genuinely like.

Making sushi like child’s play

October 15, 2016January 14, 2017Posted in Fish, ReviewsTagged children, cooking with children, sushi, yutakaLeave a comment

Making my own sushi has been on my list of things to try for years now, but I’m not known for my tidy, careful ways in the kitchen and I always assumed my clumsy fat fingers would be something of a hindrance in the delicate art of sushi.

So when the team at Yutaka got in touch to see if my kids might be up for having a go at rolling their own sushi, I had to volunteer them. If Yutaka reckon children can make sushi, then surely I can have a go too? Continue reading “Making sushi like child’s play” →

Hot & sour soup with king prawns and salmon

February 7, 2015February 6, 2015Posted in Fish, RecipesTagged broth, chilli, coriander, prawns, salmon, soup, Thai, tom yam, tom yum6 Comments

This is the kind of food I crave if I’m feeling under the weather, suffering after a few too many red wines the night before, or simply have a dose of the blues. It’s clean and soothing, yet at the same time refreshing and a rip-roaring riot of flavour. With each slurpy spoonful you feel your physical and psychological health being reassuringly restored.

The broth has at its base chicken stock and tom yam (or yum) paste. Tom yam soup originates from Thailand and is popular across South East Asia, and the paste is made from galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and chilli. It has an irresistibly spiky, spicy, sour flavour, that wakes up your tastebuds and shakes them out of their doldrums. You can of course make up your own paste but I like to make life as easy as possible and generally have a pot of ready-made paste in the fridge. You can pick some up easily in most supermarkets and Asian groceries.

You can make your hot and sour soup simply with vegetables, or throw in some seafood and fish minutes minutes before serving, or a couple of handfuls of shredded roast chicken. I generally make both a fishy and a chicken version in our house as my husband doesn’t really eat fish, although he does cope with the fish sauce.

And I like to throw sliced chillies, seeds and all, in at the very last moment (after I’ve served the kids’ helpings). I adore that fantastically fiery hit of chilli to really clear the system. Tissues at the ready! You may like to add yours earlier to mellow their impact a tad, or leave them out altogether as the tom yam paste already has quite a kick to it.

Hot and sour soup with king prawns and salmon

1.5 litres chicken stock
1 tbsp tom yam paste
1 stick lemongrass, hard outer leaves removed, finely chopped
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp caster sugar
200g green leafy vegetables, roughly chopped (I used Swiss chard)
1 salmon steak, cut into bitesize chunks
500g shelled raw king prawns
7 spring onions, sliced
3 red bird’s eye chillies, finely sliced
large handful fresh coriander, roughly chopped

Heat the chicken stock in a large saucepan and stir in the tom yam paste, followed by the lemongrass, lime juice, fish sauce and sugar.

Bring to the boil and simmer gently for a couple of minutes before adding the green vegetable. Cook for a few more minutes then add the chunks of salmon, king prawns and spring onion. Cook for a few more minutes until the salmon and prawns are just cooked through.

Stir in the sliced chillies and serve, sprinkled with the fresh coriander, and revive those senses.

I’m entering my hot and sour soup into the following challenges:

The Spice Trail (Temple Food) – Bangers & Mash
Cooking with Herbs – Lavender & Lovage
Extra Veg – Kerry Cooks, Utterly Scrummy and Fuss Free Flavours

Quick salmon salad for lunch on the go

November 29, 2014November 30, 2014Posted in Fish, RecipesTagged orange, rocket, salad, salmon, walnut6 Comments

As a working mother, it can be difficult to get the balance right between family life and work life. I can’t say I always get it 100% right. All too often when I’m with the kids, for example, I’ll be thinking about work stuff, and I constantly find myself worrying about the house or the family when my head should really be in work mode.

I’ve got pretty good, I think, at making sure the family eats well. Meal planning, combined with cooking way more than we need at weekends to stock the freezer with homemade ready meals, has been my saving grace. However I’m not always so great at feeding myself on the days when I’m in the office. I am making a conscious effort to put that right though. Continue reading “Quick salmon salad for lunch on the go” →

Norwegian gravlaks and a simple beetroot pickle

October 8, 2014October 9, 2014Posted in Fish, RecipesTagged beetroot, gravadlax, gravlaks, norway, norwegian, pickle, salmon, spice, the spice trail6 Comments

Normally I have the family in mind when I post recipes on my blog, but on this occasion this dish is all about me, me, me!

I adore fish and seafood you see, but I don’t get to eat or cook with it as much as I might like. My husband is sadly unable to eat most fish and seafood and I don’t really like cooking separate meals for different family members if I can avoid it. That’s why you don’t generally see that many fish recipes here. Continue reading “Norwegian gravlaks and a simple beetroot pickle” →

Baked sea bass with ginger, garlic & chilli and miso rice

March 4, 2014January 15, 2019Posted in Fish, RecipesTagged chilli, fish, garlic, ginger, miso, rice, sea bass27 Comments

When you read my blog posts, it’s probably easy to assume I spend most of my life in the kitchen. While it’s true that at the weekend I can generally be found at the stove and do make a bit more of an effort with our meals, most of my family’s food is a pretty speedy, simple affair.

I am a working mum and most days I don’t have time to cook anything too complicated, so I am trying to build up a trusty list of staples I can rustle up in half an hour.

I realise Jamie Oliver can cook up a meal in just 15 minutes but, unless it’s beans on toast or pesto from a jar stirred into pasta (and there is nothing wrong with either of those), I find it practically impossible to cook anything quite that quickly.

Although that’s probably because, unlike Jamie, it’s impossible for me to give the dinner my undivided attention. There’s usually one of the children asking for help with their homework, or the cat demanding to be fed, or my husband wanting to know if I’ve seen his glasses/wallet/keys (delete as appropriate). You get the picture.

This is one of those meals I can cook up in about 30 minutes. Baking fish in foil makes for an incredibly quick dinner and, by throwing in heaps of garlic, ginger and seasonings, it’s incredibly tasty too. Sea bass is perfect with these strong Oriental flavours.

What’s more, the foil parcels allow me to cater for different family tastes. My youngest daughter is only five and isn’t keen on chilli, so I wrap her fillet separately and leave out the chilli. My husband can’t actually eat fish, so I wrap a chicken breast instead for him, although I do have to cook it for an extra five minutes.

Cooked in instant miso soup, the rice has a wonderfully savoury, umami flavour and I could happily eat bowlfuls of this rice on its own.

Baked sea bass with ginger, garlic & chilli and miso rice

Serves 4

2 tsp sesame oil
4 sea bass fillets
fat, thumb-size piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 red chilli, finely sliced
4 radishes, trimmed and finely sliced
5 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
2 tbsp fish sauce
juice of 2 limes
1 tbsp light soy sauce
large handful fresh coriander, roughly chopped (leaves and stalks), plus extra for garnish
miso soup paste
250g Basmati rice

Preheat oven to 220°C / gas mark 7.

Tear off sheets of foil, large enough to encase your fillets. You can bake them altogether in one parcel or individually, depending on whether everyone is happy with all the ingredients – I’m thinking mainly about children and chillies here.

Drizzle a little sesame oil onto the foil before placing the fish on it, skin side down.

Pull up the sides of the foil around the fish and toss in the ginger, garlic, chilli, radish and spring onion. Pour in the fish sauce, lime juice, soy sauce and finally sprinkle with the fresh coriander.

Close up the foil parcel tightly and place on a baking tray. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Cook your rice in your usual way, but instead of using plain water, make up a cup of miso soup according to the packet instructions, and cook the rice in this.

Serve the fish on the rice and don’t forget to pour over all that lovely sauce left behind in the foil. Garnish with more chopped coriander.

Fab Fast Food is the theme for Family Foodies in March. Family Foodies is a challenge I co-host with Louisa at Eat Your Veg and this month it is my turn to host. This baked sea bass is one of my favourites for a speedy supper, but I’m keen to see your ideas so I can have a few more tried-and-tested dishes up my sleeve.

The theme for Four Seasons Food this month, hosted by Louisa at Eat Your Veg and Anneli at Delicieux, is Something Fishy, and so I’m entering my baked sea bass into that challenge too, and as sea bass is in season right now I’ve just got to enter it into Ren Behan‘s Simple and in Season food blog event.

Finally, as this dish features a good amount of fresh ginger I’m also entering it into The Spice Trail, hosted by me, as the spice in question this month just happens to be ginger.

A trip to Cordoba for Cheryl’s paella

November 18, 2013November 25, 2013Posted in Fish, RecipesTagged cordoba, paella, spain, spanish20 Comments

It seems like a while ago already, but a couple of weeks back my daughters and I spent half term in Spain visiting my mother, Cheryl, who is lucky enough to live in the beautiful city Cordoba in Andalucia.

We left Bristol Airport amid severe winds and rain and arrived in Spain delighted to find ourselves in glorious sunshine. It felt like an Indian summer to us, so we found it quite amusing that the Spanish were all complaining about how chilly it was getting.

My mum works as an art teacher in the British School of Cordoba, where unfortunately they don’t get half-term breaks, although the fabulously long summer holiday more than makes up for this. When mum went off to school in the mornings, the girls and I would have a lazy breakfast in her apartment before idling around the city. A favourite spot to while away the hours was the courtyard outside the city’s famous Mezquita, a stunning mosque converted into a Catholic cathedral in the 13th century.

Despite the throngs of tourists, this is a truly magical and serene spot, where we’d enjoy our lunch sat on the stone steps, and then I’d simply sit back and watch the children play together in the shade of the orange trees.

Then we’d make sure we were back to the apartment in time for when my mum got back from school so we could spend the rest of our afternoons together. The girls always nag their Nana to take them to La Ciudad de los Niños – the City of Children. It’s their favourite place whenever we visit. It is one of the most incredible play parks I have ever been to, and the children could spend hours, if not days, here. If you ever visit Cordoba with children, you must pay it a visit.

Then we’d spend our evenings trying out different restaurants and tapas bars, and there are lots to choose from in Cordoba. Jess and Mia found it enormously exciting they were allowed to stay out late. Most places only starting service at 9pm, yet they’d still be full of families. It’s just something you don’t see when you go out at night here.

We enjoyed lots of wonderful tapas and seafood eating out in Cordoba, but to be honest my culinary highlight has to be the fantastic paella cooked at home by my mum. It’s a brilliant one-pot wonder and mum adds a little red chilli to her version, which I reckon is a marvellous addition. Mum’s like me – she says chilli improves pretty much any dish. I clearly inherited my love of chilli from her.

I got my mum to write down her recipe, and here it is:

Cheryl’s paella with chicken and prawns

Serves 6

pinch of saffron
1 tsp paella spice mix (or a combination of paprika, onion and garlic powder and cayenne)
2 litres hot chicken stock
1 lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 red chilli, finely chopped
6 skinless chicken thighs (with bones), quartered
500g paella rice
handful of fresh parsley, chopped
1 large tomato, diced
salt and pepper
10 king prawns

Dry fry the saffron in a hot pan and then place in a measuring jug with the paella spice mix, hot stock and a squeeze of lemon juice.

In a large, deep pan heat the olive oil and fry the onion, garlic and chilli until soft.

Add the chicken pieces and brown, before stirring in the rice. When the rice is well coated in the oil, add half the parsley and diced tomato. Stir well and then pour over the chicken stock. Bring to the boil, give it all another stir and cover with a lid.

Gently simmer for around 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the rice is almost cooked, lie the prawn on top, replace the lid and cook until the prawns turn pink.

Serve garnished with the rest of the chopped parsley and a wedge of lemon.

Bueno appetite!

As my mum’s paella features chilli, I’m entering it into The Spice Trail, my new blog challenge, which this month has chilli as its theme.

As it’s also a wonderful one-pot wonder, this paella is also perfect for November’s Four Season’s Food, hosted by Eat Your Veg and Delicieux.

And finally as chilli is the theme for this month’s Taste of the Tropics at Chef Mireille’s Global Creations, I simply have to enter it into that challenge too!

Simple salmon croquettes with courgette and baby leek hollandaise

June 24, 2013June 24, 2013Posted in Competitions and challenges, Fish, RecipesTagged baby leek, balls, courgette, croquette, fish, leek, pasta, recipes for life, salmon, swallow charity, tinned salmon, zucchini12 Comments

This is a pretty quick and easy meal to rustle up, particularly if you’ve got little children whose hands are the perfect size for rolling the little croquettes – a posh name for fish balls basically.

It’s also quick and easy if, like me, you cheat and buy a ready-made hollandaise sauce, rather than making your own from scratch. Clearly homemade hollandaise is what we should all aspire to, but when you’re working full-time like I am at the moment, it’s just not always possible. And there are some rather nice shop-bought ones around.

I served my croquettes with pasta and the hollandaise sauce combined with courgette and baby leek. Or you could simply serve the baked balls with dips as an appetizer, or perhaps with salad as an alternative to falafel for a tasty pitta bread filling.

Simple salmon croquettes with courgette and baby leek hollandaise

Serves 4

1 tin salmon (around 200g)
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 tbsp cream cheese
juice of half a lemon
large pinch of dried dill weed
½ tsp dried tarragon
salt and pepper
1 baby leek, finely sliced
1 courgette, quartered lengthways and sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
200g ready-made hollandaise sauce (I bought a Tesco own brand variety)
handful of fresh chives, snipped

Preheat the oven to 180°C / gas mark 4.

Drain the tinned salmon and flake into a mixing bowl. Combine with the spring onions, cream cheese, lemon juice, herbs and salt and pepper to taste.

Using your hands shape the mixture into small balls and place on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper. Bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes until slightly browned.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce by gently frying the leek and courgette in the olive oil. When tender simply combine with the hollandaise sauce and heat through.

Serve with your favourite pasta. You can either mix the croquettes into the sauce (being careful so as not to break them) or pop the croquettes onto your pasta and pour over the sauce. Finally garnish with some snipped chives.

As this dish is so easy and uses the three key ingredients of salmon, courgette and pasta, I’m entering it into this month’s Recipes for Life challenge, which – as I’m sure you’ve gathered by now – I’m hosting on behalf of the incredibly fantastic charity SWALLOW.

My take on The Garden Deli’s warm pasta salad

June 23, 2013Posted in Competitions and challenges, Fish, RecipesTagged courgette, fish, Garden Deli, pasta, recipes for life, salad, salmon, warm salad, zucchini4 Comments

You may have heard the three ingredients for this month’s Recipes for Life challenge are salmon, courgette (zucchini) and pasta.

Sarah from The Garden Deli has been an active supporter of the Recipes for Life challenge since it started back in February. Only problem is, sometimes the trio of ingredients include meat or, as is the case this month, fish. And as Sarah is a vegetarian that’s presented a slight problem. But because both SWALLOW and Bangers are inclusive types, and because Sarah asked so nicely, we’re happy to let her enter a vegetarian dish on the proviso that I test it out to see if it works with said meaty/fishy ingredient.

So that’s what I bring you here – Sarah’s Warm Pasta Salad with Courgette & Herbs, but with my addition of some oven-baked Scottish salmon.

I topped a couple of Scottish salmon steaks with lemon slices and a grind of black pepper and then wrapped them loosely in foil. I then baked them in a fairly hot oven for around 15 minutes until just cooked through, when the bright pink turned pale pink. At the final stage of assembling the salad, I flaked chunks of the salmon into the dish.

Unfortunately I’m allergic to avocado so I had to adjust Sarah’s recipe a little more by boosting the amount of courgette and adding half a green pepper to the recipe too. Because I was cooking it for friends and their children as well as our own, I decided to omit the chilli as I wasn’t sure if their kids would be able to handle it. I only had cherry tomatoes rather than plum, and I grated the parmesan rather than slicing it as I knew one of my friend’s children wasn’t too keen on cheese so I attempted to disguise it by mixing it in before serving. Oh, and the fresh herbs I chose to use were oregano as we have so much in the garden right now.

But other than those little divergences, I stuck to Sarah’s recipe, and very good it was too. We enjoyed it for lunch today, and I’ll be having the leftovers for supper once I’ve got this blog post out the way.

I would definitely recommend giving Sarah’s recipe a go. Next time I make it I will definitely add chilli. It was fine without but I think it would be all the better for that little chilli kick. Chilli and lime are a match made in heaven, as they say.

I’m hosting the Recipes for Life challenge on behalf of the charity SWALLOW. Based in Midsomer Norton in the South West of England, this incredible charity works hard to support adults with learning disabilities live life to the full. One of their popular activities is the weekly cookery club and this challenge aims to find simple, tasty and wholesome dishes SWALLOW users can recreate in their cookery classes. The best of these will appear in a new cookbook SWALLOW is planning publish later this year to help raise much-needed funds for the charity.

If you’d like to enter this month’s challenge, you’d better get your skates on as the closing date is 25 June – only two days away.