Kedgeree Inspired By A Trip To Kent.

We have just been on holiday to Kent, and while we were there we visited a very pink little Cafe/Restaurant called Bebeached. Where i ordered their Kedgeree.

Up till then i could take or leave Kedgeree, but this one was GOOD!!!! It was so good i even ate the peas in it, and i hate peas, I'd normally spend 10 minutes picking them out of a dish!

So when we got home it went straight on my weekly menu, which pleased my husband, as he had been on at me for ages to make it.

I made a couple tweaks to a traditional kedgeree, i didn't use hard boiled eggs, i served it with a fried egg, I used salmon instead of the traditional smoked haddock, we like our food spicy so i made sure it had a good kick....

Needless to say it went down a treat it was thoroughly enjoyed by all!!





























Serves 2

2 8oz salmon fillets roasted in the oven at 200c for 9 minutes.
2 cups of cooked rice
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp ground nut oil
1 inch of fresh ginger grated
1 garlic clove grated
1 onion very finely chopped
2 tbsp curry powder i used a hot curry powder, so add to taste
2 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
Juice of one lemon
A small bunch of coriander leaves roughly chopped
Salt and pepper to season

2 fried or poached eggs to serve it with, and if like even more of a kick try it with some hot sauce!


Heat the butter and ground nut oil in a wok, then add the onion garlic and ginger and saute till softened.

Add the mustard seeds, curry powder, cumin and coriander saute for 30 seconds then add the rice, stir together, flake the salmon and stir into the rice, season with the lemon juice, salt and pepper and stir in the coriander.

Serve with a runny fried or poached egg and a sprinkling of hot sauce.

Beef Stew & Herby Dumplings Especially for Mary...

I made this stew for my dear friend Mary when she was feeling under the weather. We lived in America at the time but have since moved back to England
So Mary this is for you so you can make it when your feeling ill, or even better get someone else to make it for you.

It does freeze well, so you could make it and freeze it for when you need it..

Serves 6

Prep time 15 minutes

Cooking time 3 hours

Pre heat oven to 180c, 380f, gas mark 5

2 tbsp olive oil

1 kg stewing beef cubed

1 large onion chopped

5 carrots sliced

250g chestnut mushrooms sliced

2 garlic cloves finely chopped

1 tbsp dried oregano

½ tbsp fresh rosemary finely chopped

½ tbsp fresh thyme finely chopped

1 tsp celery salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

3 tbsp flour

2 tins plum tomatoes

1 tsp Worcester sauce

½ bottle of red wine

500 ml beef stock

Dumpling Ingredients

250g self raising flour

140g suet

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 ½ tsp dried oregano

roughly 60ml water

In a large casserole dish that has a lid, heat oil then season and brown beef, remove from dish.
Add the onions to dish and sauté till softened, then add the carrots and sauté for 3 minutes, then add the mushroom and sauté foe 3 minutes, add garlic and sauté for 1 minute.
Add all the herbs, pepper and celery salt and sauté for 1 minute, stir in the flour, then add the beef back to the dish, add the wine cook out for 2 minutes, then add the tomatoes, Worcester sauce, and beef stock bring to the boil then turn down heat and simmer for 2 ½ hrs.
Make the dumplings by mixing all the dry ingredients together, then gradually add the water till you have a dough that is slightly sticky, roll into balls about the size of a golf ball and place in the stew, make sure you leave enough room for them to expand.
Cover the dish and cook in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes.

Poor Mans Beef Wellington

I found this recipe in one of the food magazines i subscribe to, and thought it looked good, so decided to add it to my weekly menu.

Basically it is a meatloaf wrapped in pastry with a layer of mushrooms.
I served it with roasted potatoes, vegetables and a red wine and mushroom ju.

The meatloaf was moist and juicy and had a lot of flavour, the sage came through in the mushrooms and the pastry was lovely and crisp.

I would have put some chilli in the meatloaf, but i was serving it to my 2 year old son, so omitted it this time.

Pre heat oven 200c

Prep time 30 minutes
Cook time 1 hour

1 kg Minced beef
100g Tomato ketchup
3 Eggs
2 Onions finely chopped
1 Red chilli finely chopped - optional
Small handful of sage leaves
Small handful of parsley leaves
2 Garlic cloves finely chopped
25g Butter
1 Tablespoon olive oil
200g mushrooms finely chopped
300g Puff pastry

Mix the mince beef with the ketchup, 2 of the eggs, onions, half the garlic and half the herbs and the chilli if using, season, then form into a sausage shape and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Let it cool, turning it over half way through cooling so the juices disperse through the loaf.

Melt the butter and olive oil in a pan and saute the mushrooms with the rest of the garlic and herbs for 5 minutes, drain off any excess liquid, let cool.

Roll out the pastry and brush the inside with beaten egg, spread the mushrooms over the pastry, then put the meatloaf on top.

Cut strips in the pastry and braid the pasty, brush with egg and bake for 30 minutes. Cover if it starts to brown too quickly.

Somerset Chicken

This recipe has been stolen from The Hairy Bikers Food Tour of Britain, I've just tweaked it slightly for my families taste.

It's not a dish i will do often, not because it wasn't good, because it was really delicious, but because it's not good for the waste line and arteries.

The rich creamy sauce, the moist chicken and the tang of the mustard, goes really well with a baked spud, but you don't need to put any butter on the spud as the sauce soaks in to the fluffy potato.

I will admit i did forget to put the cheese on top and grill it till it was golden and bubbly, but to be honest it really didn't need it, it was deliciously rich and creamy enough without it!!

I roasted some vine ripened tomatoes to go with it, the sweet but acidic tang from the tomatoes cut through the rich creaminess!!!

Pre heat oven to 200c, 400f or gas mark 6

Serves 2

1 Baking potato per person.

Prick potato all over and put straight onto rack in the oven and bake for about an hour.

2 Chicken breasts
1 tbsp Olive oil
25g Butter
1 Onion sliced
2 tbsp Flour
2 tsp Whole grain mustard
1 Bramley apple cut into batons
8oz Chestnut mushrooms sliced
500ml Chicken stock
150ml Cider
6 leaves of sage finely chopped
100ml Double cream
100g Grated cheddar - optional - I refrained from the cheese.
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large saute pan melt the butter and olive oil, add the chicken to the pan and brown on all sides, remove from pan and put on a roasting tin and roast in the oven for 15 minutes.

Add the onions to the pan and soften but do not colour, then add the mushrooms and brown.

Stir in the mustard and flour and cook out for 2 minutes.

Add the stock and bring to the boil then add the cider and cook off the alcohol for 2 minutes, turn the heat down low and stir in the sage and cream.

Season to taste and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the chicken back to the pan.

If you are going to use the cheese, put the grill on full and sprinkle the cheese over the chicken and grill till the cheese is golden and bubbly.

Serve with the baked potato and some roasted tomatoes.