Transatlantic recipes. . .

Cod with a Spice Rub

2009-08-17T14:34:00.000-07:00

I made this recipe last week for the first time. Both Rick and I really, really enjoyed it and Nicholas ate some of it too!

Ingredients:
2 tsp (10 mL)paprika
2 tsp (10 mL)thyme
2 tsp (10 mL)oregano
2 tsp (10 mL)black pepper
2 tsp (10 mL)cumin seeds
3 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp (5 mL)salt
14 oz (400 g)frozen cod fillets, defrosted
2 tsp (10 mL)olive oil

Take all the herbs and spice and chopped them in a food processor or using a mortar and pestle along with about 3 cloves of garlic. Add a bit of olive oil to the mixture and blend it for 15 seconds or so.

Cut the fish into four portions if you need to and pat dry with a kitchen (paper) towel. Spread the spice mixture over both sides of the fish pieces. Cover with plastic wrap (cling film) and refridgerate for at least one hour.

Drizzle with olive oil and griddle or fry in a non-stick skillet for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side until opaque and cooked through.

Enjoy! =)

Strawberry Banana Muffins

2009-08-08T13:58:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:
325 g Plain Flour
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda (Baking Soda)
175g Caster Sugar
250g Natural Yogurt (Plain Yogurt)
100g Unsalted Butter, Melted
2 Medium Eggs, Beaten (Large Eggs)
1 Large Banana, Peeled and Diced
150 g Strawberries, Green Tops Removed, Halved and Sliced

Preheat Oven to 190 C (375 F).

Sieve together the flour, baking powder, and bicarbonate into a large bowl.

In another bowl mix together the sugar, yogurt, melted butter and the beaten eggs.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix gently. Half way through mixing add the banana and strawberries - do not over mix!

Divide the mixture betweeen 12 Paper Cases or Silicon Muffin Tray.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden. (Mine took 20!)

Leave to cool on a wire rack! Enjoy!

Cheese, Tomato & Spinach Lasagne

2009-03-01T14:09:00.000-08:00

So I haven't made this recipe since we moved across the Atlantic, but I remember really liking it. . . It's meant to be baked in a 7" square pan, but I like to bake it in two bread pans. . . Pictures will be posted Monday night!

Ingredients:

General:
6 sheets no-precook lasagne noodles
4 Tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Tomato Sauce:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and cloved (I use more!)
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 400g cans chopped tomatoes (2 14oz cans tomatoes)
4 Tbsp sunblush tomatoes, chopped (4 Tbsp sun-dried tomatoes)
2 Tbsp tomato puree (2 Tbsp tomato paste)
1 bay leaf

Spinach & Ricotta Filling:
500g fresh spinach, tough stalks removed (1 lb fresh spinach)
2 Tbsp olive oil
250 g ricotta cheese (1 cup ricotta cheese)
2 Tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cheese Sauce:
30 g butter (2 Tbsp butter)
30 g flour (1/4 cup flour)
450 ml milk (1 & 3/4 cup milk)
75 g grated cheddar cheese (2/3 cup grated cheddar cheese)
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Tomato Sauce Directions:
Heat the olive oil and saute the onion and garlic for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the balsamic vinegar and cook for about 30 seconds. Stir in the chopped tomatoes, sunblush tomatoes, tomato puree, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaf. Set aside sauce until ready to use.

Spinach and Ricotta Filling Directions:
Saute the spinach in the oilve oil until wilted, then drain and roughly chop. Mix with the ricotta, Parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside until ready to use.

Cheese Sauce Directions:
Melt the butter in a good heavy bottomed sauce pan. Stir in the flour and cook for about one minute, mixing well with a spatula. Gradually stir in the milk and cook until thickened, while whisking fairly regularly. Stir in the cheddar cheese until it melts and blends in. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside for a moment.

Lasagne Layering Fun:
Spoon a third of the tomato sauce into the bottom of your baking pan. Cover with a layer of the spinach & ricotta filling. Cover with lasagne sheets. Covere with cheese sauce. Repeat ending with a layer of cheese sauce. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese and bake in at 180 C (350 F) for 30+ minutes. Allow to cool enough to cut and enjoy!

Penne with Tuna, Tomato & Sweet Corn

2009-02-23T12:40:00.000-08:00

Nicholas loves this recipe. I like it because it is easy to throw together quickly on busy nights.

Ingredients:
8 oz penne pasta (I usually use pasta that's half whole wheat!)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, peeled and chopped
4 plum tomatoes, quartered and roughly chopped (Or about 8 to 12 cherry tomatoes diced)
1 can tuna drained and flaked
1/4 of a red pepper diced
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
4 oz frozen sweet corn
some fresh basil leaves torn or a sprinkling of dried basil
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and saute the onion and red pepper until softened. Stir in the tomatoes and cook until heated through and beginning to soften. Add the tuna, balsamic vinegar, sweet corn, and basil. Heat for a minute and then stir in the cooked, drained pasta. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

Sticky Salmon

2009-02-23T11:27:00.001-08:00

I made this for the first time last week and really enjoyed it!

Ingredients:
1 lb salmon fillets cut into 1 inch cubes (400g)
1.5 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp sweet chili sauce
2 tbsp dark brown sugar

Place everything but the salmon in a small sauce pan and still over low heat until all the sugar is dissolved. Pour into an ovenproof dish and leave to cool. Add the cubes of salmon and stir to coat them. Leave to marinade for at least one hour. Bake covered for 20 minutes at 200 C/400 F. Uncover and bake another 5 minutes. Nicholas and I had this with his favourite egg noodles with peas and corn, but it would be great over rice too.

Yogurt Pancakes

2009-02-23T11:26:00.001-08:00

Ingredients:
1 egg, lightly beaten
2/3 cup natural yogurt
2/3 cup milk
1 1/4 cup self-raising flour
2 tbsp maple syrup

Mix together the beaten egg and yougurt. Stir in the milk, flour, and maple syrup. Mix until the batter is smooth. Heat a little butter in a frying pan until sizzling. Drop heaped spoons of batter into the pan. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes on each side. They'll be beautifully golden brown. Enjoy with fresh fruit or jam!

My Chicken Leek Pie

2009-02-02T00:28:00.000-08:00

This is one of the recipes I've created since we've been in England that all of us really really like.

Ingredients:
2-3 Skinless Chicken Breast Fillets (About 1 pound)
300g Carrots, diced (2 to 4 Carrots)
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
3 Leeks, cut into 2 cm (1 inch) lengths
1 Tbsp Flour
150 mL Chicken Stock (5 oz Chicken Stock)
284 mL Sour Cream (1 Cup Sour Cream)
1 Onion, diced
375g Package Puff Pastry
5 Mushrooms, quartered (If you wish!)

Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces. Season and steam with the carrots for 8 to 10 minutes. (Sometimes I simmer both the carrots and the chicken in my stock.)

Heat oil in pan over medium heat and cook onion and leeks for 2+ minutes until just softened.

Stir in flour and gradually pour in stock while stirring. Simmer 3+ minutes until thickened. Stir in sour cream.

Stir in chicken, carrots and mushrooms (if using). Add salt and pepper as desired and pour mixture into pie dish (casserole dish).

Roll out pastry. Cut out top in shape of dish, but about 1 cm (1/2 inch) larger on all sides. Cut out strips to place on dish rim. Lay pastry top over dish and flute the edges.

Let rest in refridgerator for 20 minutes to 24 hours. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200 C (400 F) for 40 minutes and enjoy!

Roasted Garlic Polenta

2009-02-01T23:45:00.000-08:00

So this is a recipe I've been wanting to try for awhile, but haven't gotten around to fixing yet. It was on last week's menu plan, but never got made, so it's been scheduled to be attempted again this week.

Ingredients:
2 Bulbs Garlic
1 Shallot, finely chopped
1 teaspoon Salt
1 & 1/2 L Water
250 g Fast Cooking Polenta
50 g Butter
50 g Parmesan Cheese, grated
1/4 Bunch Basil, chopped

Preheat oven to 200 C (400 F). Wrap the garlic in foil and roast for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Removed fro the oven and squeeze the garlic out of the skins.

Place the shallot, salt and water into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour in the polenta and cook stirring continously for 5 minutes.

Stir in the garlic, butter and parmesan. Cook for 2 minutes. Serve topped with basil. (It's supposed to be very good with chargrilled vegetables.)

I'll post some pictures and our thoughts on this recipe after I make it on Thursday!

Paella

2009-02-01T23:02:00.000-08:00

This is a child-friendly version of Paella, that I'm serving to Nicholas for the first time tonight.

Ingredients:
15 mL Olive Oil (1 Tbsp Olive Oil)
1 Garlic Clove, peeled and crushed
1 Onion, peeled and chopped
250 g Chicken Breast, cut into chunks (8 oz Chicken)
1 Red Pepper, deseeded and diced (I'm going to chop some frozen slices I've got in the freezer!)
300g Long-grain Rice (1 & 2/3 Cups Long-grain Rice) (I'll be using brown rice!)
5 mL Tumeric (1 tsp Tumeric)
5 mL Mild Chili Powder (1 tsp Chili Powder)
750 mL Chicken Stock (3 Cups Chicken Stock)
1 Bay Leaf
100g Frozen Peas (2/3 Cup Frozen Peas)
2 Pork Sausages, grilled and sliced diagonally
100g Small Cooked, Peeled Prawns (1/4 lb Small Cooked, Peeled Shrimp)
Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Heat the oil in a deep, heavy bottomed frying pan or pot, add the garlic and onion and saute for 3 minutes. Add the chicken and saute until browned on all sides.

Add the red pepper and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Rinse the rice, then stir it in with the tumeric and chili powder. Saute for 1 minute, stirring the mixture constantly.

Pour in the stock, add the bay leaf, stir well, and leave to simmer for 15 minutes, covered until all the liquid is absorbed by the rice. (This wil take significantly longer if using brown rice!)

Add the peas, sausages, and shrimp to the pan and simmer covered for a further 4 to 5 minutes. Season, remove the bay leaf, and serve.

I'll be posting our opinions and some pictures of this later today!

Unfortunately I have no photos of this dish. . . the night we had it was the evening Nicholas started really feeling not well at all. . . so taking care of my baby took precedence over taking photos of dinner.

Rick and I did both really like it. . . although Rick got some violent hiccups afterwards, which he tried to blame on this dish!

Blueberry Muffins

2009-01-30T02:28:00.000-08:00

So at last I've found a blueberry muffin recipe that I really, realy like. It's not too sweet or too tangy, but just right! It's from this cookbook:

The recipe follows below with some minor changes. . . =)

Ingredients:
55 g Butter or Margarine (1/4 Cup)
225 g Plain Flour (2 Cups)
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
Pinch of Salt
55 g Caster Sugar (1/4 Cup Sugar)
150 mL Milk (5 oz)
2 tsp Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract (I used 1 tsp!)
1 Medium Egg, beaten (1 Large Egg)
100g Blueberries (About 1/2 Cup)

Preheat Oven to 200 C (400 F).

Melt the butter or margarine in a saucepan. Remove from heat and leave to cool.

Stir the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a bowl.

Make a well into the centre (center) and pour in the milk, lemon juice, vanilla extract, cooled butter or margarine and egg. Fold mixture with spatula to combine and don't worry about a few lumps. Fold in the blueberries.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tins/molds. Bake in oven until risen and lightly golden. This took about 25 minutes for my big muffins and 20 minutes for my mini muffins. I then unmolded them and left them to cool on my wire rack.

I think Nicholas had about 3 mini muffins for breakfast the morning I made these!

Pissaladiere

2009-01-23T13:37:00.000-08:00

For the first time tonight I made pissaladiere which my cookbook describes like this: A French Mediterranean classic. This is a delicious and colourful tart full of punchy flavour. I must say that I agree.

This is what mine looked like:

As I almost never stick exactly to a recipe, I'm going to tell you what I did. . .

Ingredients for Pastry:
115 g Plain flour (1 cup All-purpose flour)
110 g Wholemeal flour (1 cup Whole wheat flour)
115 g Margarine (4 oz Margarine)
15ml Italian mixed herbs (1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning)
Pinch of Salt
A couple spoonfuls of cold water

I dumped everything in my mixing bowl except the water and mixed it with my fingers until it formed fine crumbs. I then stirred in about 3 spoonfuls of water so that it formed a firm dough that I could roll out.

As I don't have a flan dish or tart pan in my kitchen, I used my trusty pyrex pie plate. I laid the pastry in the pie plate and crimped the edges so that they look pretty. I then laid a piece of aluminum foil inside the pie plate and scooped some yellow split peas on top. I baked it for about 15 minutes at 190 C (375 F) and then removed the foil and yellow split peas and baked it for another 5 minutes.

While that was baking I took the extra pastry, rolled it out and cut out some little stars with a little star cookie cutter. I placed them on a cookie sheet and baked them for about 12 minutes when the pastry shell came out of the oven.

Ingredients for the filling:
2 large onion, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
45ml Olive oil (3 Tbsp Olive oil)
a pinch of nutmeg
400g tin chopped tomatoes in juice (14 oz can chopped tomatoes)
two pinches sugar
5ml dried thyme (1 tsp dried thyme)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
75g stoned black olives (3 oz pitted black olives), quarted lengthwise
30ml capers (2 Tbsp capers)
3 to 5 sprigs fresh parsley, chopped to garnish
a bit of finely grated cheddar cheese to garnish

I took the onions and garlic and gently fried them in the olive oil for about 10 minutes. Then I mixed in a pinch of nutmeg and let it rest for a minute. Next I added the tomatoes, sugar, thyme, salt and pepper. I stirred it up with my favourite spatula and let it simmer gently for about 10 minutes.

Once the sauce had thickened a bit I took it off the heat and let it cool for probably about 20 minutes. I then mixed in the olives and capers and spooned the mixture into my pastry case. I sprinkled on the parsley and grated cheddar cheese. I laid my pastry stars out on top and stuck it back in the oven at 190 C (375 F) for about 15 minutes or so. . . until it was all warm and the cheese was nice and melty.

Both hubby and I loved it and it will definitely get served again. . . it was great with some grilled sausages. . . =)

Introductions. . .

2009-01-23T13:28:00.000-08:00

I'm an American Mom in England who loves to cook and bake and try out new recipes from both sides of the Atlantic. . . and I needed a place to record my culinary adventures so Transatlantic Recipes has been born. . .

When I post recipes, I will try to post both UK and US measurements and ingredients. Since the UK measures things in litres and grams and the US in pounds, ounces, and cups (by volume) sometimes this is a little tricky, so please bear with me. . .

Hopefully there will be lots of yummy stuff up here soon! =)