Farmersgirl Kitchen

Thursday, 16 April 2015

Mackerel with Madeirean Special Sauce and Cooked Maize (Mihle or Polenta)

This is my take on a dish we enjoyed at the Apolo Cafe in Funchal, Madeira. We had just visited the local farmers market, including the fish market and it had whetted our appetite for lunch.

The Cafe Apolo is right in the centre of Funchal right opposite the Cathedral and we were tempted by the special 'Fresh from the Market' lunch of 'Mackerel Fillets with Madeirean Special Sauce and Cooked Maize (Polenta)'.

We really enjoyed eating at this street cafe, it is frequented by locals and tourists alike and is a great place for people watching.

This was our meal, a bowl of creamy polenta and a plate with two huge fillets of mackerel with a pool a lovely Madeira sauce flavoured with thyme.

I wanted to recreate this fish dish, all I had to go on was the name of the dish and what I had tasted. I reckoned that if it was a Madeirean Sauce it would contain Madeira, don't you think? We had really enjoyed drinking a glass of Madeira on our holiday and had also been to the tour of Blandy's to learn about how Madeira was made and the history of this group of producers. I was pleased to find a bottle of Blandy's Duke of Clarence Madeira in my local supermarket. I had also definitely seen and tasted thyme in the sauce and that's about all Here is what I came up with:

Mackerel in Madeirean Special Sauce with Cooked Maize (Mihle or Polenta)
Serves 4

For the Polenta
1.5 litres water
1 tsp salt
180g polenta
100g grated cheese
20-30g butter

1. Bring the water to the boil in a large pan, add the salt.
2. Pour the polenta in a stream into the boiling water whisking gently.
3. Keep whisking until the polenta has thickened.
4. Cover the polenta and either keep cooking on the stove at a low heat, or put in the oven at 150C. Stir well every 10 minutes scraping down the sides. Cook for about 30 minutes.
5. Stir in the cheese and butter and serve immediately.

For the fish
4 fresh mackerel fillets

1 small onion, finely chopped

1/2 lemon zest and juice
2 heaped tsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

salt and freshly ground black pepper
50 ml Madeira

Place the mackerel on a flat plate or baking tray and cover with the grated lemon zest, lemon juice and a tsp thyme leaves stripped from the stalks, cover with cling film and leave for at least 20 minutes.
Put the Madeira in a small pan on a medium high heat and simmer to reduce the liquid by half.
Heat the olive oil in a pan on a medium heat and sauté the onion until soft, add the butter then cook the mackerel fillets for about 3 minutes each side.
Serve the mackerel fillets on top of the creamy polenta and season the pan juices to taste and pour over the dish, the pour over the reduced Madeira.

I also chopped some courgettes and pan fried them in butter with garlic and cherry tomatoes to serve with the mackerel and polenta.

I used this amazing Farina Polenta Taragna from UFUUD a specialist supplier of traditional Italian food. Molino Filippini’s special flour for taragna polenta is composed of a mixture of ground buckwheat and maize, carefully blended to ensure a top-class product that respects the traditions of northern Italy. I'll be sharing more delicious Italian foods from UFUUD very soon.

Polenta Chips
Polenta is incredibly filling so we found that we had quite a lot left over. I lined a tray with baking paper and spread the thick polena on top. I then left it in the fridge for a few days, although you can use it as soon as it is cold and set., and sliced it into finger shapes.

To bake the 'chips' I brushed oil onto a non-stick baking sheet and laid out the chips with a little gap between each one, I then brushed all the chips with oil and baked in the oven at 180C for 15 minutes. I took the tray out and turned the chips over, then returned to the oven for another 15 minutes.

They were crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, the flavour of the cheese came through more strongly than in the wet polenta. The change in taste reminded me of the gnocchi I made, which was also much tastier when sautéed in butter!

Labels: Blandy's, Italian, lemon, Mackerel, Madeira, Polenta, Polenta Chips, recipe, thyme, UFUUD

Sunday, 1 March 2015

From Mississipi to Vietnam in the Recipe Clippings Round Up

Hooray! Another batch of recipes, been clipped, cooked or baked, blogged and shared for Recipe Clippings. Many thanks to all who joined me for the February Challenge.

1. Rachel Cotterill - Mississippi Mud Pie
2. Baking in Pyjamas - Jaffa Cake Tea Bread
3. Onions and Paper - Pastitsio

4. Cloud of Cookmorphosis - Bun Mam: Vietnamese Fermented Fish Vermicelli Soup
5. Lancashire Food - Almond Sponge Topped Apple Pots
6. Chocolate Log Blog - Lemon Coconut Cakes with Freekah Flour

If you would like to find out more about Recipe Clippings please visit the page and come back and join in when the March Recipe Clippings Challenge is posted.

Labels: Almond, Apple, cake, coconut, Freekah, Jaffa Cakes, lemon, Mississippi Mud Pie, Pastitsio, Recipe Clippings, Vietnamese

Saturday, 21 February 2015

Smoked Mackerel Pate

It has been some time since I made Smoked Mackerel Pate, I can't imagine why as we all love it. Usually I make it with cream cheese but today I went for a lighter version and it was very good, served on toast with a little side salad.

The smoked mackerel and the lemons came from Aldi, who have a great range of produce. The Smoked Mackerel is Scottish fish from the North East Atlantic and cost only £1.59 for 200g.

Smoked Mackerel Pate
serves 3-4

200g Smoked Mackerel, skin removed
2 tbsp 0% fat Greek Yogurt
1 tsp Creamed Horseradish
Juice of half a lemon

Place all the ingredients into a food processor and process until smooth.

That's it, so simple but packed full of flavour.

I served the Smoked Mackerel Pate on toast, but it would be equally good on oatcakes, a crusty baguette or even as a topping for a baked potato.

I am entering this dish for Tea Time Treats, as this month the theme is ' Toast, on Toast or Toasties'. Tea Time Treats is the Linky Party for tasty tea time treats which is run in alternate months by Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Janie at The Hedgecombers.

I'm also adding the Smoked Mackerel Pate to the Credit Crunch Munch Linky as it was a very thrifty dish with the mackerel only costing £1.59, half a lemon only 12p and the yogurt and horseradish would also cost only pennies. Credit Crunch Munch is the frugal food recipe sharing challenge developed by Helen over at Fuss Free Flavours and Camilla over at Fab Food 4 All This month is is hosted by Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary

Labels: Credit Crunch Munch, fish, lemon, pate, smoked mackerel, spread, Tea Time Treats, toast

Sunday, 11 January 2015

Slow Cooked Spiced Ham

It might seem like a bit of an extravagance to buy a ham in January, but you can get an awful lot of eating out of a large ham like this eating it sliced, warm and cold, then stretching the rest into several meals using rice, pasta, quiche, bakes, pies and pasties.

Adding some spices and citrus fruit to the cooking liquid just adds a little extra flavour to the ham. It's not overpowering and is more obvious in the cold ham than when it is served warm.

Slow Cooked Spiced Ham
1 ham or gammon joint (2.5 kilos)
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
3 all spice berries
1/2 lemon
1/2 orange
1 litre of liquid (you can use apple juice, cider, white wine or water or a combination)

Place all the ingredients in your Slow Cooker or Crockpot, put on the lid and cook on low for 4-5 hours.

Farmersgirl Tips

If you are using a smaller gammon joint, simply reduce the liquid, spices and cooking time, it's a really that simple.
If you want to glaze your ham, remove the rind, then using a sharp knife, make a criss cross pattern in the fat. Make a mixture of 50g dark brown sugar and 1 tsp dried mustard powder and rub into the fat. Heat the oven to 180C and bake until the rind is bubbling about 10-12 minutes. I would recommend lining your tin with foil as the sugar mixture is really sticky and difficult to remove.

This is my entry for my #SlowCookedChallenge, the theme for January is CITRUS, why not join me?

Labels: all spice, bacon, Cinnamon, crockpot, Gammon, ham, lemon, orange, Slow Cooked Challenge, slow cooker, spice, star anise

Wednesday, 26 June 2013

Lemon & Sweet Pepper Marinaded Chicken

I can highly recommend trying one of the Bart Smokehouse Barbeque Rubs, there are five marinade rubs which reflect the diverse flavours of barbecue traditions from around the world:

• Smokey Chipotle Marinade Rub: a classic Tex/Mex chipotle chilli gives a smokey flavour

• Mediterranean Marinade Rub: traditional Mediterranean herbs basil, oregano, parsley and rosemary – blended with tomato and a fresh lemon finish

• Lemon & Sweet Pepper Marinade Rub: inspired by Australia, red and green peppers give this rub a great colour and the lemon oil provides an intense taste

• New York Steak Marinade Rub: A classic deli blend of mustard, garlic and pepper

• Tandoori Marinade Rub: tamarind as a main ingredient adds depth of flavour which blends with chilli to create a traditional indian flavour

Plus, as marinades can be messy to apply, the rubs come with a special “marinade bag” to make the whole process cleaner, easier, quicker. No sticky fingers, no washing hands every five minutes. Just delicious authentic flavour.

Simply place the meat or fish in the bag with your chosen Bart® marinade, hold the bag closed and shake gently to spread the ingredients around. For depth of flavour, leave in the fridge for an hour or more before grilling. And, just in case it’s raining, the bag can also be used in the oven for slow cooking, retaining the moisture. As I don't do barbeques, I chose the alternative slow cooking.

I loved the fact that all you need to do is rub the spice mix on your meat, although I brushed my chicken with olive oil first, the pop it the roasting bag which is provided in the box and leave it to marinade. You can then either remove the meat from the bag and barbeque or cook as you would normally roast your meat or you can do what I did, and roast it in the bag.

It was so simple, the roasting tin didn't need soaking and scrubbing and I used my Oxo Good Grips Gravy Separator to separate the fat from the juices then turned them into delicious gravy. The chicken was cooked with the Lemon and Sweet Pepper Rub and had a lovely light lemony flavour. The roasting bag made sure the meat was kept moist and it was very tender. The left over meat was also really good with salad the next day.

See another review and recipe with Lemon and Sweet Pepper Marinade at Lavender and Lovage

I also tried the Smoky Chipotle Rub on some lamb steaks.

I cooked this in the roasting bag after marinading for about two hours, the meat was very tender and although the rub is quite spicy it didn't overwhelm the flavour of the lamb.

The full range is available at Ocado from the end of June and a selection of the rubs will be instore at all Waitrose branches from 2nd June. They will also be available through independents, and delicatessens around the country. Or buy online at www.bart-ingredients.co.uk

from July. The rubs are priced at £1.49, there are alos sauces at £2.99 and spice mills at £3.99.

I was provided with the Barbeque Rubs, I was not paid for this review and all opinions are my own.

Labels: barbeque, Bart Ingredients, Chicken, lemon, Lemon and Sweet Pepper, marinade, roast chicken, rub

Wednesday, 15 May 2013

Spiced Rhubarb and Lemon Muffins

It's still Rhubarb Central here! This time I'm bringing you some Spiced Rhubarb and Lemon Muffins. This is a classic combination with the spices including cinnamon and little pieces of crystallised ginger. I decided to make these when I saw the Recipes for Life Challenge at Vanesther's Bangers and Mash blog. The rules of the Recipes for Life call for a trio of ingredients, and this month they are rhubarb with lemon and spice. A monthly winner will be picked and the best of the recipes will be included in a new charity cookbook to be published by SWALLOW later this year.

Spice Rhubarb and Lemon Muffins
150g light brown sugar
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 egg
1 tsp cinnamon extract (or 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon)
100ml milk
100g finely diced rhubarb
175g wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb soda
1/2 tsp ground ginger
pinch salt
50g chopped ccrystallised ginger
grated zest of half a lemon

1. Preheat the oven to 200C.
2. Line you muffin tin with paper cases.
3. Place 125g of the sugar, oil, egg cinnamon extract and milk. Mix together and add the rhubarb.

Wet ingredients

4. Sift your dry ingredients into the bowl, add the wet ingredients and stir until combined but don't over mix or your muffins will be heavy.

Dry ingredients

5. Spoon the mixture into the cases, filling about 3/4 full.
6. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with the remaining sugar (I forgot to do this!)
7. Bake for 18-20 minutes.
8. Leave in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Cakey, fruity gingeryness!

What I really liked about these muffins was that they were really moist, the acidity of the rhubarb and the lemon took the edge off the sweetness and the combination of ginger and cinnamon worked really well with the fruit. Best of all were the little nuggets of intense crystallised ginger.

Posted with Blogsy

Labels: Bangers and Mash, Cinnamon, Ginger, lemon, Muffins, Recipes for Life, rhubarb, Swallows

Thursday, 12 April 2012

Bulgar Wheat Salad

When I'm trying to lose a few pounds, I like to have something nice and filling for my lunch but without too many calories or too much fat. Somehow, many of the sandwiches that are fit the healthy remit don't seem to fill me up. So I made this Bulgar Wheat Salad, the wheat fills you up and the vegetables add the taste. You can vary the vegetables and the dressing add chickpeas or kidney beans to add a bit of interest.

Bulgar Wheat Salad

200g Bulgar Wheat

1 whole cucumber, deseeded

4 tomatoes, deseeded

2 sticks celery

half a red pepper, deseeded and chopped

half a yellow pepper, deseeded and chopped

1 teaspoon olive oil (I used some chilli infused oil which really added to the flavour)

juice of half a lemon

Put the wheat in a bowl and cover with boiling water, about half an inch over the wheat. Leave for 30 minutes to absorb the water, the wheat will swell. Add the oil and lemon juice while the wheat is still warm. Leave to cool.

Chop the vegetables to small even pieces and mix through the wheat.

Labels: Bulgar wheat, Food Bloggers Diet, lemon, oil, Vegetables

Monday, 12 March 2012

Tapas - Part 2

In my last post I gave you the recipe for the Pepper and Tomato Salsa which I served with the meatballs. Also on the plate above there are Lamb Skewers with Lemon and Chickpeas and Chorizo so here are the recipes for these two dishes.

Lamb Skewers with Lemon & Chilli

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

2 tsp finely grated lemon rind

Juice of whole lemon

1 red chilli, finely chopped

1tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tbsp sherry vinegar

125ml olive oil

1kg lamb steaks, cut into 2cm pieces

Mix together the garlic, onion, lemon rind, corainder cumin, vinegar and olive oil in a non-metallic dish.

Add the cubes of lamb to the dish cover with clingfilm and marinate for 2-6 hours, turning occasionally.

Thread the lamb onto skewers, put these on an oven tray and cook in a hot oven (220C) for 10 minutes until tender.

The Lamb Skewers with Lemon and Chilli, are my second entry for the Sweet Heat Tapas Challenge

I also made:

Chickpeas and Chorizo

250g Chorizo sausage, outer casing removed

4 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

400g canned or freshly cooked chickpeas

1 tbsp sherry vinegar

finely chopped parsley

Cut the chorizo into cubes, heat the oil in a pan and add the onion and garlic cooking until soft but not brown. Stir in the chorizo and chickpeas until heated through. Splash in some sherry vinegar and season to taste. Serve warm sprinkled with chopped parsley.

I only used a small quantity of the lamb to make the skewers so browned off the rest in a frying pan and added it to the left over Chickpeas and Chorizo and made it into another meal which we had today. I am entering this for Frugal Food Fridays, no photo, it doesn't look very different from the Chickpeas with Chorizo except with more bits in it!

This month FFF is hosted by Pigling Bland why not join in?

Labels: chickpeas, chilli, chorizo, Frugal Food Fridays, lamb kebabs, lemon, parsley, sherry vinegar, Sweet Heat, Tapas

Tuesday, 14 February 2012

Lemon Love Cakes!

Happy Valentine's Day!

As a special treat, I am offering you a little 'Lemon Love Cake' which I hope you enjoy.

I'm entering this in the February Tea Time Treats Challenge run by Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Kate at What Kate Baked, Kate is hosting this month and has gone all 'Romantic'!

I'm also entering it for the new Alphabakes challenge run by Ros at 'The more than occasional baker' and Caroline Makes the letter is 'L' and that means Luuuurrrve!

Lemon Love Cakes
125g (4 1/2 oz) butter
125g (4 1/2 oz) caster sugar
Finely grated zest of 1/2 large lemon (keeping the zest of the remaining 1/2 lemon for the lemon icing)
2 eggs, beaten
150g (5oz) s-r flour
1/4 tsp baking powder

1. Preheat the oven to 180C, line a fairy cake tin or muffin tin with paper cases (you will get more cakes if you use the fairy cake tin, but they will be smaller)
2. Cream the butter in a bowl until soft. Add the sugar and lemon zest and beat until fluffy. Add the beaten eggs a bit at at time, then add the sifted flour and baking powder into the mixture.
3. Divide the mixture between the paper cases and bake for 7-10 minutes, until risen and golden. Remove cakes to a baking tray and let them cool completely before icing.

75g (3oz) butter
175g (6oz) icing sugar, sifted
finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
2-3 tsp squeezed lemon juice
heart sprinkles

1. Cream the butter until soft, sift the icing sugar into the butter with the lemon zest and enough lemon juice to get the right consistency for piping or spreading.
2. When the cupcakes have cooled completely, put the butter icing into a piping bag with a large star nozzle an pipe swirls onto the cupcakes. Alternately, spread a large teaspoonful over the top with a palette knife.
3. Sprinkle some love over the cupcakes in the form of some little pink hearts!

As an aside, I went to get my camera to take my blog photos and my husband nearly took off with one of these cupcakes, so they obviously work!

Labels: AlphaBakes, cupcake, lemon, lemon cupcake, Tea Time Treats

Thursday, 11 August 2011

Salmon Steaks with Basil and Balsamic Vinegar

Farmed salmon is something we eat regularly, it can be a little bland, so it's nice to dress it up with some punchy flavours. This recipe exceeded both our expectations and is definitely going on my summer favourites list!

Salmon Steaks with Basil and Balsamic Vinegar

from Good Housekeeping Cookery Book (The Cook's Classic Companion)

Serves 4

4 salmon fillets

30ml (2tbsp) balsamic vinegar

10ml (2tsp) soy sauce

90ml (6tbsp) extra virgin olive oil

40g (1 1/2 oz) fresh basil, stalks removed

8 ripe plum tomatoes (or other flavourful tomatoes) diced

30ml (2tbsp) chopped fresh chives

salt and pepper

basil sprigs to garnish

1. Place the salmon steaks in a shallow non-metallic dish. Mix the balsamic vinegar and soy sauce together and pour over the salmon, turning to coat. Cover and leave to marinate in a cool place for 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, put the olive oil and basil in a food processor or blender and work until smooth. Pour into a bowl, cover and leave to infuse. (do not make this too far in advance)

3. In a bowl, mix the tomatoes with the chives and season well with salt and pepper. Cover and set aside

4. Lift the salmon out of the marinade and place skin side down in a hot pan with a little olive oil. Cook for 4 minutes each side, once cooked add the rest of the marinade to the pan and reduce to a syrupy sauce.

5. Whisk the basil oil briefly at this stage to re-combine.

6. Spoon the tomato mixture onto the warmed serving plates and place a salmon fillet on top. Drizzle with the basil oil and spoon on the reduced marinade. Serve immediately, garnished with basil.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that there are also some courgettes on the plate. They came straight from the garden, chopped into small dice and cooked in a little olive oil in a pan with lemon zest and a teaspoon of lemon juice, seasoned with rosemary salt and pepper.

And finally some boiled new potatoes to soak up the juices.

Labels: balsamic vinegar, basil, courgettes, Good Housekeeping, lemon, salmon, soy sauce, Tinned Tomatoes

Sunday, 15 May 2011

Random Recipe - Just Desserts

The Random Recipe challenge at Belleau Kitchen challenges you to dip into your cookery book collection and randomly pick a recipe on a particular theme. This is what Dom says "the rules are simple... take all your dessert, chocolate, cake, sweet or pudding based cook books, place them in a pile and randomly select one book... from this book, flip it open to a random page and bake that exact recipe.."

I have a lot of cookery books, so I picked out 12 that contain dessert recipes and piled them up, then I did a random number generator and it came out with number 9. Number 9 was Seasonal Cookery by Claire Macdonald of Macdonald.
Claire Macdonald is probably one of the best dessert recipe writers I know, her Chocolate Pavlova is beyond belief and her Bramble Mousse is divine. But this had to be random.

The difficulty with this book is that the desserts are not all at the end of the book as it is organised by month! So it took me a few random openings to find a dessert. It turned out to be in July and was a simple 'Strawberries with Lemon Syllabub'.

It is the start of strawberry season so ideal for this recipe which was absolutely delicious, the sweetened cream with lemon juice and rind as well as a little wine was the perfect complement to the strawberries. I can thoroughly recommend it!

Strawberries with Lemon Syllabub

Serves 6
8ox (250g) fresh strawberries
1/2 pint (300ml) double cream
juice and grated rind of 2 lemons
1 sherry glss of white wine
2oz (50g) caster sugar

Slice the strawberrries and divide between 6 glasses. Whip the cream, gradually adding the lemon juice, rind, white wine and sugar. When the cream mixture is thick, spoon over the sliced strawberries in the glasses, and stir the strawberries up through the lemon syllabub. Chill several hours before serving.

We had this over two evenings and the syllabub was definitely better on the second night when the lemon flavour had really merged with the cream, so I would recommend a long chilling time.
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Labels: cream, lemon, Random Recipes, strawberries

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