An Unrecipe

I made something the other day. I have been debating whether to post it or not. It isn't nice. It was pretty but not nice. It was delicious but not nice. Even as I write these words, I wonder whether I should do it or not. I have been lucky enough to be spending the last few months in a seasonless oasis. But, I have decided, if things like this make their way into my market basket, there is little i can do but share it. Throwing caution to the wind, I am going to post this. Not in a nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah way. In a please enjoy and share and remember there is only five more weeks of winter.

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You don't need a recipe to make hash. It is a pretty simple thing. It can be made plain or fancy. It can be eaten any time of day. It fits every meal.

You take some potatoes and onions and sauté them. You add some meat or fish or, in this case, beautiful green goodness and you sauté it a little more. Add some green onions near the end of the cooking time, almost no matter what kind of hash you are making.If you are want to get carried away, you can top it off with something. It would be the rare combination that a soft poached egg wouldn't suit. Poppy and Stephen think bacon is pretty nice too. Tilly even eats the green bits, but only because they are covered in egg yolk.

Anyway you put it together, it is simple and good and wholesome. It makes you feel good and cozy and that is important.

One a Penny, Two a Penny...

Every now and then, I do things that surprise and puzzle even myself. Some of these things are complete disasters like making cream cheese frosting in France with St. Moret cheese, a much saltier and watery alternative to what I think of as cream cheese. Funnily enough, there was a lot of cake left after tea time that day and the crew didn’t even eat it. Some of these things are noted in the ‘to work on’ file, the place for recipes that aren’t quite right and need some tweaking. But, on good days, some of these things are just really tasty and more-ish and tucked away in the success file.

Today, while getting ready for Easter supper, I decided to take something I don’t really like and make it into something I like even less. I thought that even though I don’t like it, I know Stephen does and I hoped that more people would share his taste in dessert rather than mine. 

We had a ridiculous amount of three day old hot cross buns which are not one of my favourite things. They were sitting and getting staler by the minute. I couldn’t bring myself to freeze them because I knew that I wasn’t going to be any more likely to use them if they were stale and freezer burnt. No one wanted to eat them, I couldn’t even entice Stephen into eating them toasted and slathered in butter. 

I needed to make a dessert for supper and I needed something quick, something easy and something that didn’t need to cook until the oven was emptied of its all day cargo of pig, potatoes and all sorts of roasting vegetables. 

How the idea of bread pudding came to mind is a mystery because I loathe the stuff. I have made it a few times before but usually because of a request from a guest not by my choice. But, the idea did come to mind and we wound up with a Hot Cross Bun Bread Pudding for dessert.

Hot Cross Bun Bread Pudding

8 large hot cross buns

5 large eggs

1 1/2 cups cream

2 apples peeled and grated 

1 heaping 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Ingredient note: It seems that hot cross buns here in Canada are more substantial than what you usually get in the UK. If you are making this in the UK, you may need more buns. Also, the buns I used had icing crosses, so I didn’t add any sugar to the egg and cream. You may want to add some extra sugar if you are using more traditional buns, if you like things sweeter.

Slice the buns.

Beat eggs and cream together.

Butter the bottom and sides of a medium baking dish.

Place a layer of sliced buns in the bottom. Put 1/3 of the apple on top. Pour 1/4 of the egg and cream mixture over the apples. Continue layering the sliced buns, grated apples and egg and cream mixture to fill the dish. I cut the sliced buns into cubes for the top layer for extra toastiness on top. 

Pour the remaining egg and cream mixture over the top layer.

Sprinkle walnuts over the top and then the sugar.

Bake for 40-50 minutes.

I served this with cream for pouring but, had I been better prepared, I would have gone for vanilla ice cream instead. Although, none of the children seemed disappointed to be pouring cream over their dessert and eating it on top of the three kilos of high fructose corn syrup and soy lecithin they had consumed before supper. 

And, even without the cream, this has made me a bread pudding eater. But, probably only for today.

Me? Stubborn?

There are a few food words which bring hoots and howls at our house. Most houses have them - hoots of approval at the uttering of words like dessert and candy and howls of despair for things like brussel sprouts and liver. Some of ours are expected - marshmallows and chocolate cake for instance. But sometimes I am completely unprepared for the odd howl of distaste. 

Sometimes, I alter the plan to make the offending food item more desirable. Sometimes, I stand very firm and declare that the choice is to eat it or to forfeit the after supper treat. Rarely, if ever, do I remove it from the menu.  Not even when it is Stephen doing the howling. In fact, I just dig my heels in a little further and determine to make him like whatever it is.

And so it was the other day when I returned home with a carton of sauerkraut. He looked at me like I had three heads and he tried to refrain from making gagging noises, his kind and loving version of culinary heckling, while Poppy was in the room. This did nothing but strengthen my resolve.

So, I set about cooking the offending sauerkraut. I tossed it in a pot with some carrots, some turnip and stock. I left the sausages out because there is something about sausages cooking in a pot of liquid that, ironically enough, makes me howl with disgust. As the cook, I get to do that though. I popped the pot of sauerkraut and veg in the oven and left it there for a couple of hours. I made some really good and buttery mashed potatoes and grilled some Lunenburg sausage for my carnivorous husband. 

Then, I sat down at the table and awaited the verdict. Still, he was not loving the sauerkraut and, I suspect, had Poppy not been there, he would not have eaten it and the gagging noises would have been our supper soundtrack. 

Consequently, we had leftovers. I still wasn’t ready to give in but I waited a couple of days to launch my second attack. The container of sauerkraut sat in the fridge and he knew it was going to reappear at some point, he just wasn’t sure when. I was still determined to make him want seconds if not thirds. I also knew that I had a couple of other weapons up my sleeve in the form of half a dozen fresh eggs and some double smoked bacon.

Sauerkraut Bubble and Squeak with Double Smoked Bacon and Fried Egg

2 cups leftover cooked sauerkraut (and any other cooked veg you need to use up)

3 cups leftover buttery mashed potatoes

Olive oil 

12 slices double smoked bacon

4 eggs

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix the sauerkraut and potatoes. Form into eight cakes. Heat a frying pan, add a tablespoon or so of olive oil and fry, on low to medium heat, the cakes until golden on each side.

Cook the bacon using your preferred method. I like to do it on a baking sheet in the oven at about 400ºF.

Fry the eggs the way you like them, sunny side up lets the yolk at as sauce to whole thing.

Serve a couple of bubble and squeak cakes with 2 or 3 slices of crispy bacon and an egg on top.

The verdict?

Sometimes it is better to suffer through something the first time, just for the leftovers.

And Then There Were Leftovers

I did realize, as we were getting the planked salmon ready, that it was an enormous piece of fish for three adults and an almost four year old. I didn’t have a plan for the leftovers but I was pretty sure I would find some way to put it to use.

On Friday, after a day of appointments and general running around and Stephen’s first long stretch on his own with both girls, I didn’t really feel like getting down to cooking supper at 5:30.  The thought of pizza was stomach turning. The thought of going out was even less enticing. The air in our house was already thick with simmering meltdown and there was no need to ruin everyone at The Kiwi Café’s Friday night.

A scurry through the fridge yielded lots of options and we did have the better part of a side of salmon in there too. I also found some eggs and some leftover basmati. I am incapable of cooking any less rice than enough to feed at least a dozen hungry marathoners and so, I can usually count on leftover rice.

Smoky fish + eggs + rice = kedgeree which = quick + easy + yummy.

Kedgeree would have once been part of grand Victorian breakfast tables. It was made popular in England by British colonials returning from India. Now, it is widely accepted as a supper dish. It can be made really simply or you can go a little crazy and add all sorts of things.  There is a recipe for kedgeree in Out of Old Nova Scotia Kitchens, which is a plain and simple version.  I made it without a recipe and with a bit of back and forth between the stove and the fridge.

 ‘Leftover’ Kedgeree

4 cups cooked basmati (you could use any leftover long grain rice)

Leftover planked salmon – broken into large flakes (any fish will do, use as much or as little as you want, I used about two cups of large flaked pieces)

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil (any vegetable oil will be fine)

1 onion - diced

3 ribs celery - diced

4 eggs – hardboiled, peeled and quartered

1 teaspoon curry powder

½ teaspoon ground cumin

¼ teaspoon ground turmeric (if I didn’t have an almost four year old eating this, I would have made it quite a lot spicier by adding some chili or diced hot pepper)

Handful chopped parsley (I would have used fresh coriander (cilantro) if I had any)

Salt and pepper to taste

Sauté the onion and celery in the oil until translucent.   Add the spices and the rice and, stirring frequently, heat through.  Add the salmon and the eggs and gently toss to heat.  Gently toss in the parsley and season to taste.

Even quicker than take out.