Tag Archives: Just One Pot

Mum’s bread pudding

A pair of blackbirds frequent our garden – enticed in by the ground feed and crumbled bread I put out for them no doubt.

They nested in the shrubs at the bottom of my neighbour’s garden earlier in the year and I think they may have another brood.

Haven’t seen the female for a few days, but then I haven’t seen the male popping into the bushes, beak full of tasty morsels, either! Maybe it’s just wishful thinking – hope the local moggies haven’t got her!

The birds do like the bread and it is a bit special – baked on the premises by an Italian baker about five minutes’ walk away.

How lucky is that! It’s wonderful fresh, so I tend to get a large loaf every two days (makes good toast on the second day), which means there’s often some left. I have been giving it to the birds but I’m wondering about making some bread pudding.

Bread pudding

Cherry Bread PuddingMy mother had the world’s best recipe, which she wrote down for me centuries ago and I now can’t find.

I haven’t thrown it away so it’s here somewhere and one day I’ll find it! Meantime I was flicking through my copy of the Dairy Diary and came across a recipe for Cherry Bread Puddings.

From the picture they look fantastic, so I’ll give them a go. Who knows, they man run my mum’s a close second!

CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE

Have a good week

Marion
Dairy Diary Team

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Cherry Bread Pudding

Cherry Bread Pudding

Cherry Bread PuddingMoist, sticky and scrumptious, with glistening succulent fruit. This Cherry Bread Pudding recipe is delicious served warm, or just as tasty served chilled. A Dairy Diary recipe. For more delicious recipes visit the Dairy Diary Recipe Collection.

CLICK HERE FOR RECIPE

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The Great Caper

Someone’s given me a huge jar of capers, those little green ‘berries’, which are not an ingredient I reach for very often.

CapersAs far as I know, they’re usually sprinkled on pizzas and in sauces for fish, although I do remember using them once in a veggie dish with aubergine, onions, celery, green olives and tomatoes – caponata, a bit like a Sicilian version of the French ratatouille but without courgettes and peppers.

Try this Skate with Capers recipe taken from Just One Pot. It’s easy to prepare, very quick, tastes wonderful and is pretty healthy!

Actually, you don’t see either caponata or ratatouille very much any more, do you? I wonder why. They’re both delicious on their own, and go with meat or pasta. Perhaps they’re just known by another name.

I was also wondering what capers actually are so I looked online and it turns out they’re the unopened flower buds of Capparis spinosa, which is a prickly Mediterranean plant, and they’ve been used in cooking for thousands of years.

So I’ll have to start getting inventive. One thing I read is that if you soak them in water for a few minutes, that gets rid of the very salty, vinegary taste. So I tried that, and it does, and then you can include them with anything – they’re quite nice mixed with baked beans and can liven up a salad.

Don’t try this at home!
After getting through this lot, we’ll either be heartily sick of them or hooked. Don’t think I’ll be trying to grow my own, though. Apparently, it’s easy to confuse them with another plant, caper spurge, which has similar flower buds, except they’re poisonous.

All the best.

Marion
Dairy Diary Team

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Skate with Capers

Capers and vinegar perfectly complement the taste of skate.

Skate with CapersPreparation time 5 minutes
Cooking time 15 minutes
Calories per portion 593 Kcal
Fat per portion 46g of which saturated 28.8g
Serves 2

Plain flour 2 tbsp
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Skate wings 2 small or 1 large, halved
Butter 110g (4oz)
White wine vinegar 2 tbsp
Capers 2 tbsp, rinsed well and drained
Chopped parsley
Lemon wedges

1 Tip the flour onto a plate and season it with salt and pepper. Pat the skate dry and dust both sides with the seasoned flour.

2 Heat half the butter in a large frying pan and cook the skate for 4–5 minutes on each side.

3 Remove the wings from the pan and keep them warm while making the butter sauce. Add the remaining butter to the pan and heat until it foams and starts to turn to a rich golden brown colour, then pour the vinegar into the pan and add the capers and parsley. Season the sauce to taste.

4 Place the cooked skate on plates and spoon the sauce over the top. Sprinkle with parsley and serve with a lemon wedge and a refreshing salsa salad (see Just One Pot recipe).

Cook’s Tip
If your frying pan isn’t large enough to cook both skate wings at the same time, then cook them individually rather than having them overlapping in the pan.

Recipe taken from Just One Pot.

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How was your Bank Holiday Weekend?

Doesn’t everyone love a Bank Holiday weekend?

You not only get the joy of a bonus day off to spend with your family and friends, but a short week to follow, which seems to make everyone so much happier.

Even my eldest child Finley, at six, can see the benefits. Although his benefits are mostly that he will be allowed to watch Japanese cartoons in the early hours of the morning, not get dressed until nearly lunchtime and, if he’s really lucky, get to stay up ‘late’… that’s past 7.30!

My benefits are that I can take an eye off the clock for a change, and perhaps do less nagging…. maybe not!

The short week deceives us into thinking we can take it easy, keep that holiday mood going, but I am not sure. There is still five days worth of ‘stuff’ to cram into four days isn’t there?

So, although I enjoy the Bank Holiday weekends, I also enjoy doing a little bit of work to make sure I am on top of things throughout the following week.

With this in mind I didn’t wasted food shopping or devising intricate mouthwatering family feasts. Oh no! I delved into the freezer, found some thin cut steak and used my Just One Pot recipe book to make ‘Five spice beef with chilli and peppers‘. Although mine was without without chillies; the five spice does a good enough job on it’s own for this household.

Not long till the next bank holiday weekend!

Karen
Dairy Diary Team

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Five-spice Beef with Chilli & Peppers

Warming and lightly scented, this meaty meal is a treat for the taste buds.

Five Spice Beef with ChilliesPreparation time 10 minutes
Cooking time 8 minutes
Calories per portion 285 Kcal
Fat per portion 13g of which saturated 3.5g
Serves 2

Lean fillet or sirloin steak 225g (8oz), trimmed and cut into very thin strips
Dark soy sauce 1 tbsp
Chinese five-spice powder ½ tsp
Clear honey 2 tsp
Garlic 1 clove, peeled and finely chopped
Small red chilli 1, deseeded and finely chopped
Vegetable oil 1 tbsp
Red pepper 1 small, deseeded and finely sliced
Yellow pepper 1 small, deseeded and finely sliced
Spring onions 1 bunch, trimmed and thinly sliced
Canned water chestnuts 75g (3oz), drained, rinsed and sliced

1 Place the strips of beef in a shallow dish. Mix with the soy sauce, five-spice powder, honey, garlic and chilli and set aside to marinate.

2 Heat the oil in a wok until hot and stir-fry the peppers for 3 minutes.

3 Add the beef mixture and the spring onions and continue to stir-fry for 3–4 minutes, until the beef is well sealed. Add the water chestnuts and stir-fry for a further minute until piping hot.

4 Serve immediately with microwavable rice (cooked as on the packet’s instructions).

Cook’s Tip 
Chilli adds ‘bite’ to a recipe, but also a spicy heat. If you prefer less of a ‘kick’, use a mild green chilli in place of the red chilli.

Recipe taken from Just One Pot, Dairy Cookbook.

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