Seven Vegetable Soup with Goat Cheese

Malteezer Chocolate Cake

English classic - Toad in the Hole

Okay so it's time to confess that I regularly watch the long-running English soap opera, Coronation Street. Luckily they now show all of the week's episodes at once, early on Sunday mornings. In the sixties, I remember my mom watching it in the afternoons while she did the ironing, the mixture of steam, speed starch and almost incomprehensible accents creating a comforting memory for me.

In the show they often refer to local dishes, like "hot pot" (stew), "bacon butties" (bacon sandwiches) and "Toad in the Hole" (sausages baked in a Yorkshire pudding batter). I've always wanted to try the "toad" dish, and so I recently went to one of my favourite cookbook authors, Jamie Oliver and found this recipe on his website, http://www.jamieoliver.com/. It turned out really well, everyone in the family liked it and this photo is the result of my second attempt. It was as well received by the boys the second time as it was the first.

As an aside, my son, my husband and I were recently watching a DVD of the sixties power trio Cream (with Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker). The drummer, Ginger Baker, was famous at the time for an 16 minute song that was basically a long drum solo. The song was called "Toad" and we surmised perhaps, not having a better name, they named the song after what they ate for lunch. (Okay so that's my theory - when I googled that question there does not seem to be an answer...)

This recipe takes about one hour to make, but the amount of active time is low and the ingredients are very basic. Serve it with the fried onions and steamed vegetables and you have a delicious easy meal.

Toad in the Hole (with fried onions) (based on a recipe from http://www.jamieoliver.com/)

6 large honey and garlic sausages

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

115 g flour

285 ml milk

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs (the original recipe uses 3 eggs but we found it a bit too rich)

3 onions, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

*Preheat ove to 425F. In a large, deep casserole dish, put the sunflower oil and heat in the oven for 5 minutes. Add the sausages and cook for 20 minutes, turning them over halfway through.

Mix the batter by whisking together the milk and eggs. Stir in the flour and salt until just combined. When the sausages have cooked for 20 minutes, pour the batter over them and bake for a further 35 - 40 minutes.

For the fried onions, saute the onions in the olive oil on medium heat until translucent. Add the salt and balsamic vinegar and a few splashes of water and cook for 2-3 minutes then turn the heat to low until the "toad" has finished baking.

Chicken Stew with Biscuits

I love the Food Network. I don't get to see it that often because of other demands on my time. I did manage to sit down for a few minutes before dinner one evening since both sons were out and my husband was working. The Barefoot Contessa was on at that time and the recipe demonstrated was Chicken and Biscuits.
Now, I am always on the lookout for a meal that everyone in my family likes. The first time I made this my older son proclaimed, "Mom, make this again!" It is a nutritious, comfort food meal that tastes soooooo good. I made it again last night and it was just as good as it was the first time.

This is an all-in-one meal that makes enough for 8 people (or in my family two meals for 4 people). I have changed some of the amounts of ingredients and I did not include the addition of small pearl onions and parsley (kids don't usually like flecks of green in their food!)

Chicken Stew with Biscuits
(Barefoot Contessa, Food Network - 2002)

6 small or 3 large, bone-in, skin on chicken breasts
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
2 chicken bouillon cubes
12 tablespoons butter
2 onions, chopped
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup half-and-half
5 carrots, peeled and chopped thinly
2 cups frozen peas
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2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup butter, cold and cut into pieces
3/4 cup half-and-half
1 egg

* Preheat oven 375F. Place chicken breasts in a pot, add bouillon cubes and 4 cups of water. Cover and poach for 40 minutes. Remove chicken and strain broth and set aside. When cool enough to handle, remove meat and chop.
In a large pot, melt the butter and saute onions for 15 minutes. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Add hot broth and stir 2 minutes. Add salt, pepper and cream. Stir in cooked chicken, carrots and peas. Mix well and place into a large deep oven-safe dish (I used my roasting pan). Bake for 15 minutes.
* Make the biscuits - Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a medium mixing bowl. Stir in butter and using your hands, blend the butter into the flour until only small pieces remain. Add the cream and mix until just combined. Put dough on a floured surface and roll out until about 3/8" thick. Cut the dough into rough edged pieces.
*Remove the stew from the oven. Place biscuits over the top of the stew in one layer. Mix the egg with a bit of water to make an egg-wash and brush on top of the biscuit dough. Bake another 20-30 minutes. Let sit about 5 minutes and serve.