Menu Planning Monday

It's menu planning Monday again. I love to try new recipes and this week has two new recipes and three tried and true favourites.

Monday:

Toad in the Hole (recipe found here, at the bottom of this previous post). Requested by Larry, who rarely asks for anything specific, so it is my great pleasure when he does mention a favourite meal. Today I will be using Cumberland sausages and serving it with a green salad on the side.  

Toad in the Hole

Tuesday:

Scottish Smoked Haddock Supper- The first of our new recipes, made with smoked haddock poached in milk, served on whole grain toast with a rarebit sauce. We'll have some spinach on the side.

Wednesday:

Guinness Burgers- I have made these once before and they were a huge hit. I use  lean steak mince and will be using smoked Gouda for the cheese this time. We will have chips (oven fries) and a green salad with these.

Thursday: 

Spanish Chicken with Chorizo and Potatoes- another new recipe for us.  I plan to make half this recipe because it makes two pans. Since my chorizo is cured I will add it half way through the cooking time and I am going to put in some cherry tomatoes and green beans as well. I will be using lemon zest instead of orange because no one, except me, really eats oranges here but I always have lemons on hand. (Connor's idea of eating oranges is to suck the juice out and leave the rest.) This is a whole meal in one pan so I will just serve it with some nice French bread to soak up all the juices.

Friday:

"Gourmet" Baked Beans on Toast (recipe found here) An oldie but a goodie and one of mine and Larry's favourite quick meals.

Saturday:

Date night

Sunday: 

We will be having a takeaway tonight because Larry and I are going to the Perth Races with a crowd of people from our local. We went last year and had a great time and expect it to be even more fun this year. Last year it was rainy and cold and this year it looks like it will be a beautiful sunny day. All of the girls get together and we each bring something(s) to share and we end up with a very nice picnic lunch. I am bringing dessert. I haven't decided all what I am making but I know peanut butter cookies will be one of the things.

Scottish Smoked Haddock Supper 

photo and recipe courtesy of 

Fish is the Dish

Spanish Chicken with Chorizo and Potatoes
photo and recipe courtesy of
Pick Yin

Guinness Bacon Cheeseburgers
photo and recipe courtesy of
Care's Kitchen

Steak and Guinness Pie, Beer Bread and Snickerdoodle Blondies

Today is a grey, wet and dreary day. Or, as they say here in Scotland, it's dreich, pronounced dreek but with a very wet k sound from the back of your throat, like loch. So, we are having some lovely comfort food for tea.  Steak and Guinness Pie, Steamed Carrots and Beer Bread.  Dessert for the boys is Snickerdoodle Blondies with ice cream.  

Steak and Guinness Pie

Steak and Guinness Pie

Oil or butter for browning the steak and onions

750 grams (1.5 lbs) steak cut in chunks, cut off any large bits of fat

1/4 cup seasoned flour I used garlic and chilli seasoning in a grinder which has salt in it too.

2 medium onions, diced

3 beef Oxo (bouillon) cubes

500 ml boiling water

1 can Guinness or any strong flavoured beer

2 teaspoons thyme

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 package all ready rolled puff pastry or your own recipe

corn starch and water or Bisto granules if desired to thicken gravy

egg wash for pastry

Dredge meat in the seasoned flour and brown in the oil or butter in a hot pan. Don't over crowd the pan or you will steam the meat instead of brown it.  I did mine in three batches.  Remove browned meat to slow cooker/crock pot. Brown the onions, adding more butter or oil if needed, then add to the meat. Pour the boiling water into the pan and add the Oxo cubes. Using a spoon or a scraper to get up all the lovely crispy brown bits, dissolve the Oxo in the water.  Pour over the meat and onions in the crock pot.  Add the beer and seasonings.  I added more chilli and garlic seasoning as well but you could add plain black pepper if that is more to your taste.  We like spicy.  Cook on high heat until the meat is fork tender, about five hours.  I start mine on high for about two hours and then put it on low to continue cooking for the rest of the day. When the meat is tender, thicken the gravy with cornstarch and water, or Bisto granules, if needed. 

There are two ways to finish off your pie.  I pour the hot beef and gravy into a baking dish and cover with pastry.  You can either put one big top on, cutting vents to release steam, or individual rounds of pastry, one for each person. Following the directions on the pastry package, brush with the egg wash and bake the pie in the oven until the pastry is done.  Or, if you want an easier way, cut the pastry into serving size pieces, brush with the egg wash and, again following the directions on the package, bake on a tray until done. Portion the beef and gravy onto plates and top with the baked pastry.  You may wonder why I used small rounds of pastry instead of covering the whole top of the pie. as most would.  Well, there are millions of calories in puff pastry and that is my way of cutting the calories down while still enjoying the pie.

Beer Bread

Beer Bread

375 grams (13 ounces) self-raising flour

3 tablespoons sugar

330 ml (12 ounces) strong flavoured beer of choice 

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Generously butter bottom and sides of a bread pan.

Mix flour and sugar together, add beer and mix until combined. I used a honey ale this time but often I use Guinness.   Pour into buttered pan and let rest for about 30 minutes.  Bake in preheated oven (375f/180c) until browned on top and tester comes out clean. About 50 minutes.  Once you have taken the bread out of the oven, brush with the melted butter while still in the pan. Leave in the pan on the cooling rack for about 10 minutes then remove from the pan and allow to finish cooling. Serve warm with honey butter for a real treat.

Snickerdoodles are just sugar cookies rolled in cinnamon and sugar before baking. I'm all for bars over cookies however and decided to try making Snickerdoodle Blondies.  The recipe and photo come from Lisa at My Own Sweet Thyme. They turned out great and we all loved them.  Very sweet though so if/when I make them again I might cut the brown sugar down just a bit.

Fast Day Crock Pot/Slow Cooker Beer Chicken

The original recipe for this came from LaaLoosh.  After reading the reviews, which I always do, I decided to make some changes.  Here is my version of the recipe which you can compare to the original and decide how you want to go.  We really enjoyed this.

Photo credit to LaaLoosh

Crock Pot/Slow Cooker Beer Chicken (5 servings with 250 calories per serving, if you eat only one thigh then it will be 150 calories)

1 can Guinness or any beer that has a deep flavour

4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 teaspoons French mixed herbs (mine has rosemary, thyme, savoury, marjoram and basil)

1/4-1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes (depends on your tolerance for spice, we really like it)

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon sea salt (I didn't add much salt because I planned to thicken the broth with gravy  mix which has a lot of salt in it.)

1/4 cup dried minced onion

10 chicken thighs, skin removed

Mix all the ingredients, except the chicken, in the crock pot.  After mixing add the chicken.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Remove the chicken from the crock and add some boiling water (I added about 2 cups) and enough chicken gravy mix to thicken.  If you prefer, you can use chicken stock and corn starch to make the gravy.  Add more salt and pepper if needed.  Add the chicken back to the gravy until you are ready to serve.  Optional: remove the bones from the thighs before you return them to the gravy.  I do this because I have Mr. Picky (my son) who hates bones in his chicken.  I served it over mashed potatoes with green beans on the side.  As yesterday was a fast day for me, I had mine over sautéed cabbage instead of mashed potatoes.  Delicious!