Haggis?

Head over to Hail Britannia to read that the USDA may be reconsidering its ban on haggis in the US.

Which leads me to 2 questions....

Will they also allow kidneys to be sold now?

Will I finally be allowed to donate blood?

Chicken in White Wine with Bacon Dumplings

There's something about bacon that just makes anything better. Cheese dip? Add bacon. Salad? Add bacon. Bacon butty? Add more bacon! So it goes without saying that these bacon dumplings were absolutely delicious. It also sounds very fancy but takes very little preparation.

The recipe is courtesy of Atora Suet.

Chicken in White Wine with Bacon Dumplings
Serves: 6

2 oz Plain Flour
8 oz button onions, peeled
6 tbsp vegetable oil
8 oz button mushrooms, wiped but left whole
8 oz chicken pieces
salt & freshly ground black pepper
½ pt dry white wine
garlic clove, peeled and crushed
½ pt chicken stock
bay leaves

Dumplings:
2 oz Suet
4 oz Self Raising Flour, sifted
bacon rashers, grilled and chopped finely
1 tsp grainy mustard
a little cold water, to mix

Preheat the oven to 325ºF, Gas Mark 3.

If you've never used little button onions before, you're in for a treat. To peel them, place in boiling water for about 3 minutes. Rinse, chop off the ends and the skin comes off easily. Be warned though - I had no idea these little gems would make my eyes stream so much!

Fry the onions in half the vegetable oil until golden brown, then add the mushrooms and fry for a further 2 minutes. Place into a large oven proof dish.

Coat the pieces of chicken with the seasoned flour. Shake off any residue. Heat the remaining oil and brown the chicken all over. Transfer the chicken into the oven proof dish.

Slowly pour the white wine and garlic into the frying pan and bring to the boil, stirring so you get all the sediment from the base of the pan. Pour over the chicken joints.

Add the chicken stock and season well before finally adding the bay leaves.

Cover and place into the preheated oven and cook for 1-1¼ hours or until the chicken is tender. Discard the bay leaves.

Meanwhile, mix all the dumpling ingredients together in a bowl and bind with enough cold water to make a firm dough. You'll notice that no amount is given for the bacon rashers - I used 4 and that worked out just right.

Roll the dough into 12 small balls with lightly floured hands. Place the dumplings into the casserole 15-20 minutes before the end of cooking. Keep the casserole covered during cooking as this gives a much fluffier dumpling.

I make no apologies for the seasonal, Christmas plate in the picture. I love my poinsettia plates and they look so festive it seemed a shame to put them away.

My Favorite New Breakfast

We know oatmeal is healthy but let's face it - sometimes it's just plain boring. Luckily, I've recently discovered a recipe, courtesy of Delish, that is warming, quick, healthy, full of antioxidants, and tastes great.

Here's what you need for one person:

2 tbs quick-cooking barley (Boy, did I have a hard time finding this in the US)
2 tbs bulgur
2 tbs old-fashioned oats
2/3 cup water
2 tbs raisins
1 pinch ground cinnamon
1 tbs chopped walnuts or pecans
Low-fat milk (optional)

In microwave-safe bowl, combine barley, bulgur, oats, and water. Microwave on High 2 minutes. Stir in raisins and cinnamon; microwave 3 minutes longer. Stir, then top with walnuts. Serve with milk if you like.

The flavor is wonderfully nutty and you can play around with it. No raisins? Add a different fruit. A dash of maple syrup perhaps.

Whatever you do to it, I've found my new favorite winter breakfast.

Miso Glazed Salmon

If you're looking for another way to liven up your salmon, try the following:

1/3 cup sake
1/3 cup mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine)
1/3 cup miso paste
3 tbs brown sugar
2 tbs soy sauce
4 6-ounce salmon or sea bass fillets

Mix first 5 ingredients in shallow glass baking dish. Add fish to marinade and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to 6 hours.

Broil fish 6 inches from heat source until just opaque in center. Or simmer in skillet until cooked.

Serve with rice, noodles, salad... the choice is yours.

Books from The Hairy Bikers

Several people have emailed me since Monday's post to ask where they can get cookbooks by The Hairy Bikers so here you go.

Get some good British cooking with:


Here's one of their latest:



And here's the original:

Skillet Chicken and Green Chili Sauce

Last night's delicious and healthy dinner was courtesy of a recipe on Delish. You know how sometimes you see recipes and the photographs look amazing, but when you make it yourself... doesn't look so hot? I've been there too, but this dish looked as good as it tasted. Even better - because it was so full of flavor, hubby didn't even seem concerned that it was healthy!



Skillet Chicken and Green Chili Sauce
The recipe below is to serve 2.

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1 drizzle olive oil
1/2 can diced green chilies
1/2 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half
1/3 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tbs chopped fresh cilantro

Place chicken breasts between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. With rolling pin, pound breasts to an even 1/2-inch thickness. (Incidentally, this is a great stress buster!) Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

In nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add breasts and cook 6 to 7 minutes or until browned on both sides and chicken loses its pink color throughout, turning over once. Transfer breasts to platter; cover with foil to keep warm.

To skillet, add chilies, tomatoes, broth, cumin, garlic, and any juices from chicken on platter. Cook 3 minutes to reduce sauce slightly, stirring occasionally. Stir in cilantro.

Quick and easy. Now add a salad or some veggies and you have dinner.

Two Hairy Bikers and a Salmon Curry

Last time I was in England, two years ago, my mother introduced me to a new cooking show, The Hairy Bikers. Dave Myers and Simon King travel from place to place on their motorcycles and explore the local cuisine. The episode I saw had them traveling through Turkey and cooking a traditional style feast.

Their latest show is titled The Hairy Bikers: Mum Knows Best, and they are biking the length and breadth of Britain, seeking out all those old British favorites. In tonight's episode they'll be looking at the traditional Sunday roast.

Luckily, all the recipes they collect are being made available on their website so I am downloading them for posterity.

Last night I tried a Curried Salmon recipe from one of the episodes. As I've mentioned before, we Brits have a love affair with Indian food and this recipe was definitely a keeper.

Curried Salmon

The amounts below would serve about 6 people, maybe more.

1kg Salmon Steaks/Salmon Fillet, cut into big chunks.
Spice Mix
2 ½ tsp Salt
1 tsp Ground peppercorns and coriander seeds
1 tsp Paprika
½ tsp Garam Masala
2 tsp Cumin seeds
2 tsp Lovage seeds (you can substitute celery seed or celery salt)
½ tsp flaked red chillies
2 tsp Turmeric
5 cloves Garlic – chopped finely
1 ½ in. Ginger, finely chopped
Small tin of chopped tomatoes
2 fresh tomatoes
1 or 2 green chili – deseeded and chopped
Tarka
4 cloves Garlic – chopped finely
1 tsp lovage seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
3 Tbs vegetable oil
1 cup of freshly boiled water
Garnish
½ bunch of chopped coriander

Cut salmon into large chunks, place in a bowl. Add all the spice mix to the fish as well as 5 cloves of garlic and ginger. Gently toss the fish to cover with spices, then add the 4 cloves of chopped garlic, ginger, tomatoes, sliced tomatoes and chilies. Again toss gently to mix all the ingredients together. Leave aside for 10 mins.



Heat the oil and fry the lovage seeds (if you have them) until almost black. Add the cumin and fry for 5 seconds. Add the remaining 4 cloves of chopped garlic until slightly golden. Add the fish and cook on medium heat moving the fish around by moving the pan until oil begins to separate from spices. Add the hot water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 2 mins. Add the chopped coriander, remove from heat.

We served it with brown rice.



This was a delicious alternative to the usual grilled salmon and, as with all curries, you can make it as mild or as spicy as you like. You can see in the photos that I left the skin on the salmon - this is purely a personal preference so feel free to remove it.