Pan Fried Skatewing With Red Peppers Tomatoes and Capers

Peri Peri Turkey Schnitzel - How To Make

How To Make Peri Peri Turkey Schnitzel

This is my take on a Wiener Schnitzel.

Wien is the German word for Vienna. Schnitzel is the German word for meat cutlets, usually Veal, thinly sliced or pounded flat, breaded and pan fried.


Method & Ingredients
Take a couple of slices of Turkey breast.
Place on a board and cover with plastic wrap to prevent meat juices splashing all over the place.
Beat flat with a meat mallet or a rolling pin.


To Pane the meat, first season plain flour with salt and pepper and dust the meat in the flour.
This will allow the beaten egg to stick to the floured meat.
Now dip this into the breadcrumbs that had a tablespoon of Peri Peri seasoning added to it.
This will make a nice, spicy breadcrumb crust, when you fry the meat in a heavy based skillet or frying pan.

It only takes a couple of minutes on each side and the meat is cooked.



Serve with a nice German or Austrian potato salad.

Greek Moussaka Recipe - How To Make A Light and Tasty Moussaka

How to make a light and tasty Moussaka

Ingredients
2 medium Aubergines
450g minced lamb
2 white onions (peeled & roughly chopped)
2 cloves of garlic (peeled & chopped)
275g tin chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1 teaspoon sugar (optional to sweeten tomatoes)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground all spice
olive oil
2-3 medium potatoes (optional  sliced and roasted in oil until softened and golden)

For my topping:-
1/2 pint of  Greek yogurt
2  egg,yolks
black pepper
1 handful grated parmesan cheese
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

For a traditional béchamel sauce topping:-
875ml milk (whisk milk into the flour/butter roux a little at a time until thick and creamy)
100g butter
100g flour
a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
2 egg yolks
100g grated Kefalotyri Greek cheese

Directions
1.Preheat the oven to 200°Centegrade .
2.Heat the oil in a frying pan, fry the eggplant in batches for 3-4 minutes on each side, until golden and softened. Remove and set aside. Alternatively slice and toss the Aubergine and the potatoes, if using, in olive oil and roast in an oven until softened and golden in colour.
3.Heat a little oil in a separate saucepan and fry the onion and garlic 5-10 minutes, on a low heat until softened.
4.Add the minced lamb and cook, stirring continuously, until browned. Now stir in the tomato paste, tomatoes and herbs. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes with the lid on. Add a splash of water if the meat starts to dry out.
5.Season with salt and pepper to taste and cook for a further 5 minutes.
6.Mix the yogurt, egg yolks and cheese together with some pepper and a touch of nutmeg.
7.Layer an 8 inch by 8 inch by 3 inch deep casserole/Pyrex dish with the fried aubergines (and potatoes if using) and top with a layer of the meat sauce then repeat until all ingredients are used up.
8.Spread the yogurt mixture over the top. Or the Béchamel Sauce mix if making this topping.
9.Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and  little more nutmeg if desired.
10.Bake in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes or until golden.

Easy Salmon Fishcakes - How To Make

Here is an easy way to make Salmon Fishcakes for a light brunch or supper.



Ingredients
200gms Left over Mashed Potatoes/Butternut Squash Mash
250gms Tinned Pink Salmon
Flat Leaf Parsley
Dill
Salt & Pepper to taste
Flour
Beaten Egg
Breadcrumbs



Method
Place the mashed vegetable in a bowl with the Salmon.
Chop and add herbs to the bowl.
Mix but be careful not to break up the fish too much.
Mould the mixture into thick patties. You can dust your hands with flour to prevent the mixture sticking to your hands.
Pane the patties by first dipping into seasoned flour, then into beaten egg to cover the patties, then finally into the breadcrumbs.
Leave the patties to chill in the fridge for an hour.
Fry the patties until golden.



Serve with a nice green salad and or a mustard and dill sauce.

Turkey and Leek Filo Pie - How to make

Ingredients:
Cooked Turkey, Sausage Meat, Stuffing (500 grams) chunks leftovers from a roast dinner
2 Carrots
2 Leeks
1 Celery Stick
Double Cream (200millileters)
Turkey Stock (250millileters)
Flour (2 heaped tablespoons)
Olive Oil (2 tablespoons)
1 Bay Leaf
1 Clove of Garlic
Butter (75 grams)
Filo Pastry - shop bought 10-12 sheets depending on size

Method:-
Peel and dice the Carrots.
Wash and dice the Celery.
Half the Leeks and wash thoroughly as there sometimes tends to be dirt in the inner leaves.
Then cut the Leeks in to pieces about as wide as your thumbnail.
In 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil, sauté the Leeks, Carrots and Celery in a large frying pan until softened. Don't use Extra Virgin Olive Oil as frying with Extra Virgin is a waste of your money. Use the Olive Oil from the second or third pressing.
Sprinkle a heaped tablespoon of Flour or two over the vegetables and cook out in the vegetables to make a thick paste. Then add 250 millilitres of Turkey stock and 200millilitres of Double Cream to the vegetables and add a Bay Leaf and a crushed clove of Garlic.
The Flour will now have dissolved and made the cream sauce thicker.
Add 150 grams of sliced Mushrooms and season with Salt and Pepper. (The video showing the roux of sauce was because I forgot to do this part and had to make the roux to thicken the cream)
Season to taste with the Salt and Pepper.
Remove from the hob, and leave to cool.
Add to a Pyrex dish with the cooked Turkey chunks and stir to mix.
Gently melt the butter in a small saucepan.
Taking one sheet of Filo Pastry at a time, lay it out and brush with melted Butter.
Gently scrunch it up so that the pastry looks like a scrunched tissue. Add this to the top of the pie and continue until the the meat and vegetables are covered.
Filo Pastry tends to dry out very quickly so cover with a damp cloth.
Put into a pre heated fan oven at 200 degrees centigrade and cook for approximately 20 minutes or until the Filo Pastry is crispy and golden in colour.

Serve with Winter Greens and boiled potatoes.

Enjoy. Paul & Vikki.

Braised Ox Cheeks

Braised Ox Cheeks are a cheep cut of meat that when slow cooked over a long period allows the meat to break down and become very tender. Serve this with a creamy mash and winter greens or with suet dumplings.

Braised Ox Cheeks Ingredients:-
1KG Beef or Ox Cheeks trimmed of skin and fat and cut into large chunks
2 Celery sticks diced
1 Onion – medium – sliced
1 Leek, quartered and cut into chunks
3 Cloves of Garlic, finely chopped
2 Carrots - large halved and cut into chunks
4/5 tablespoons of plain Flour to dust the Ox cheeks
Salt & Pepper
½ bottle red Wine – use Wine that you would drink
1 ltr Chicken Stock or you can use a stock cube with water
Thyme
300gm sliced or Button Mushrooms

Method:-
Trim the Ox cheeks and cut into cubes. Use a sharp knife as the Ox Cheeks will be quite tough to cut.
Take 4/5 tablespoons of plain Flour and season with salt and pepper and then add 1/2 a teaspoon of dried Thyme( if you can’t get fresh Thyme). Dip the Ox cheeks into the flour and pat off excess flour.
Save any excess flour.
Fry the Ox Cheeks until brown sealing in any juices. Do this in several batches so as not to fill the frying pan. Filling the Frying pan will cause a broiling effect and not a frying effect that we want.
Place the meat into a large oven proof Casserole dish.
In the same frying pan, fry off the Onion, Leek, Carrot, Celery and Garlic until they soften. Add in the saved excess flour and fry a little more before adding the vegetables to the Casserole dish. The cooked out flour will thicken the casserole. Poor the Wine into the frying pan and deglaze the pan. Bring the Wine to a boil and reduce by half then add to the Casserole dish. Add in two sprigs of fresh Thyme. Top the Casserole dish up with the Litre of chicken Stock and put into a pre heated oven and cook for 2 ½ to 3 hours at 150 degrees centigrade.
In the last half an hour remove the lid to allow sauce to thicken and toss in 300 grams of sliced or Button Mushrooms.
If you want a really thick sauce use a few tablespoons of cornflour and add a little water to make a paste. Add to the casserole and allow to cook and thicken the stock. Serve with a creamy mashed potato and steamed winter greens.

Tasty Chicken Stew

Here is a nice recipe to make a tasty chicken stew.

Tasty Chicken Stew Ingredients:-
2 Leeks halved and chopped into chunks (1 lb)
2 Carrots cut into chunks (200grams)
2 Parsnips halved and cut into chunks (300grams)
2 Celery stalks finely chopped
Mushrooms sliced (200grams)
Potato’s - leave the skins on any small potatoes or if using bigger, peel and quarter (300grams)
2 Bay Leaves
6 leaves of Sage chopped
2 sprigs of Rosemary stalks removed and chopped
1 Red Pepper cut into big chunks
1 large Clove of Garlic peeled and finely chopped
4 Chicken Thighs with skin removed 
Flour seasoned with salt and pepper to dust the chicken thighs
Olive Oil
2/3 table spoons of Cornflower or some instant potato mix
1 to 1.5 litres of water
Chicken stock cube

Method:-
Sprinkle Flour onto a plate and season with salt and pepper. Roll the four Chicken Thighs into the Flour and pat off excess flour.
Gently fry the four Chicken Thighs until golden in colour.
Set the four Chicken Thighs aside to make the vegetable stock.
Cut two Leeks in half and wash to remove any dirt. Then chop into chunks.
Dice the two Celery sticks.
Peel and chop two Carrots. Peel and half two Parsnips then cut into chunks.
Deseed the red pepper and cut into chunks.
Peel and finely chop the Garlic.
Sautee the Leeks, Carrots, Parsnips, Garlic and the Red Pepper in a couple of tablespoons of Olive Oil.
Add in the Bay Leaves, the chopped Sage and Rosemary. Then add about a litre to a litre and a half of water.
Add the stock cube and stir until dissolved, then add salt and pepper to taste.
Bring to a boil and turn down to a simmer.
Add the Chicken Thighs and any juices, and cook for thirty minutes (30 mins).
Add in the potatoes and the mushrooms and cook for another fifteen minutes (15 mins) or until cooked.
If you want the stock to be thicker, then mix two or three tablespoons of Cornflower with a little water and make a paste. Then add this to the stock and this will thicken the stock when the cornflower is cooked out. Another method is to add a couple of large spoonful of instant potato directly into the stew and this will have the same effect.
Remove Bay Leaves and divide into four portions and serve with crusty bread.