Tag Archive: super simple recipes

  1. Roast Lamb & Rosemary Pie by Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diaries

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    This Roast Lamb & Rosemary Pie recipe from Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diaries includes a homemade pastry recipe that was her Grandmother’s. The pastry is lovely and rich as it’s full of lard and a touch of brown sugar. Her mother used this pastry recipe to make meat pies out of left over roast beef. To read Elizabeth’s full story behind this pastry click on the link below.

    Kids in the Kitchen

    Fresh Rosemary – If you have Rosemary in the garden, go on an adventure to find it with your kids. You can incorporate the ‘Going on a Bear Hunt’ song but change up the lyrics to ‘Going on a Rosemary Hunt’. In addition to this, pick more than you need and let the children play with it in a washing up bowl or with toy animals creating a lovely scented woodland scene.

    Pastry Playdough – Pastry can be used similarly to playdough by making a big ball and pushing all the air out (kneading). Your kids might be finding it hard not being able to get outside as much so encourage them to get their energy out by pushing or banging the pastry.

    Cookie Cutter Fun – You can try and recreate Elizabeth’s beautiful flowers and leaves on the top of her pie or be creative and use any cookie cutters you have to create your own design. More inspiration here.

    Egg Wash – One of the last steps of this pie is to use a pastry brush to paint the pastry with an egg or milk wash. This will help the crust to have a beautiful shine and colour and keep the edges together when baking. This is the perfect opportunity for your little one to practice their painting skills, which will also be good for their fine motor development too.

     

    Recipe Courtesy of Elizabeth Kitchen Diaries 

    Serves: 12

    Prep Time: 15 mins

    Cooking Time: 30

    Difficulty: Easy


    Equipment


    Ingredients

    Elizabeth’s Grandmother’s Pastry

    • 5 cups/750 g plain flour
    • 4 tsp/25 g dark brown sugar
    • 1/2 tsp baking soda
    • 1/4 tsp salt
    • 1 lb/450 g lard
    • 4 tsp/25 ml vinegar
    • 1 large free range egg
    • Water

    Roast Lamb and Rosemary Pie Filling

    • 4 cups/600 g leftover roast lamb finely diced
    • 1 onion finely chopped
    • 1 carrot finely chopped
    • 1 tbsp fresh rosemary finely chopped
    • 1 and 1/4 cups/300 ml leftover lamb gravy
    • Sea salt to taste
    • Freshly ground black pepper to taste
    • Egg wash to glaze


    Cooking Method

    How to make my grandmother’s pastry recipe

    1. Measure the flour, brown sugar, baking soda and salt into a large bowl.
    2. Rub in the lard with your fingertips until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
    3. Add the vinegar and egg to a mixing jug and whisk briefly. Top up with cold water to measure 225 ml.
    4. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry and combine well.
    5. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead briefly, until smooth. You might need to add a little more flour, or a few drops more of water to make a soft, yet firm, dough.
    6. Cut the dough in half and form into discs.
    7. Wrap each disc in cling film and chill until needed.

    To make the roast lamb & rosemary pie filling

    1. Finely chop the lamb and add to a mixing bowl.
    2. Add the onion, carrot and chopped rosemary.
    3. Pour in the gravy and stir to combine thoroughly.
    4. Season well to taste.

    To assemble

    1. Preheat oven to 220 C/ 200 C fan.
    2. Roll out one disc of pastry on a floured surface to a thickness of 1/4 inch.
    3. Line the base of a deep 9 inch pie plate with the pastry and use the tines of a fork to poke holes in the dough.
    4. Add the pie filling, smoothing over the top with a spoon.
    5. Roll out the second disc of pastry and use to top the pie, sealing the edges with a little water.
    6. Decorate as desired, brush with an egg wash or a little milk and bake in the centre of the oven for 30 minutes.

     

  2. Warm New Potato, Asparagus and Halloumi Salad by Ren Behan

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    This warm vegetarian salad is quick and easy and perfect for Spring. If you don’t have asparagus courgettes work just as well or try it with any seasonal vegetables, you have to hand.

    Kids in the Kitchen

    Washing the Potatoes – this isn’t a step below, but you could let your kids wash the potatoes either in the sink or a washing up bowl. Let them use the veg brush though if you don’t have one you can use a clean small kitchen cloth. Things to talk about, do the potatoes sink or float? What other items/food/ingredients could you test to see if they sink or float? 

    Recipe Courtesy of Ren Behan author of Wild Honey and Rye

     

    Serves: 2

    Prep time: 10 minutes

    Cooking Time: 30 minutes

    Difficulty: Easy


    Equipment


    Ingredients

    • 500g/2 1/2 cups Jersey Royal new potatoes
    • 500g (2 bunches) fresh asparagus
    • 1 lemon
    • 250g/2 cups halloumi cheese, cubed
    • 1 red onion, peeled
    • 3 tbsp olive oil
    • 60g/one cup rocket leaves, rinsed, drained
    • 10g/2 tbsp fresh herbs, e.g. dill, mint
    • Sea salt and black pepper 

    Cooking Method

    1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F
    2. Chop the new potatoes in half. Spread the potatoes out evenly on a large baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and grate over the zest of one lemon. Roast for 15 minutes in the oven.
    3. In the meantime, snap the woody ends away from the asparagus spears, then chop into 1 inch pieces. Chop the onion into 8 pieces.
    4. Remove the potatoes from the oven. Add the asparagus, cubed halloumi and onion to the tray. Mix together with the potatoes. Bake for a further 15 minutes.
    5. Take the tray out of the oven. Arrange the rocket leaves onto a large platter. Scatter the roasted potatoes, asparagus and halloumi.

    To Serve

    1. Scatter over some fresh herbs and serve immediately.

    You can also scatter over some shredded rotisserie chicken for a non-vegetarian version.

  3. Salted Caramel Chocolate Oatmeal Bars by Ren Behan

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    If you love Salted Caramel and Chocolate these Oatmeal Bars are for you! You can be sure if there are any little ones around they will enjoy getting chocolaty for this recipe.

    Kids in the Kitchen

    Mixing – This has to be one of the best things to let kids do when baking or cooking with them. Even the smallest of youngsters can have a go!

    Pressing the Dough – Once everything is mixed together keep those little fingers busy by getting them to push the dough into the container.

    Recipe Courtesy of Ren Behan author of Wild Honey and Rye which she adapted from US blog Pinch of Yum

    Prep time: 10 minutes

    Cooking Time: 30-35 minutes in total

    Serves: 12


    Equipment


    Ingredients

    • 200g plain flour
    • 115g rolled oats
    • 220g soft brown sugar
    • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
    • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
    • 125g unsalted butter, melted and cooled a little
    • 150g good quality (60%+) dark chocolate, chopped (Ren used Lindt 62%)
    • 180g caramel (Ren used Bonne Maman Confiture de Caramel)
    • An extra pinch of sea salt

    Cooking Method

    1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Melt the butter and leave it to one side to cool. Put the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, and a pinch of salt into a mixing bowl. Pour in the butter and mix everything together with a spoon until a soft (but still crumbly) dough forms. If the dough feels sticky, add a little more flour.
    2. Take a 9 x 13 baking dish and press 2/3 of the dough into it, flattening it down. Save 1/3 for topping. Bake for 15 minutes or until the top is turning golden.
    3. While crust is baking, melt the caramel (adding an extra pinch of sea salt) in the microwave until it is runny and set to one side.
    4. Take the crust out of the oven and very carefully sprinkle over the grated or chopped chocolate. Next, pour the melted caramel over the chocolate chips. Then, crumble the remaining dough over the top of the bars. Bake for another 15-20 minutes, until the top layer is golden brown.
    5. The hardest part is letting it stand for an hour or so, until the caramel is cooled. Slice into bars with a sharp knife.
  4. Cheats Mexican Chilli by Jane Devonshire

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    What Jane says about this recipe… You can’t beat a great chilli and this is my relatively quick mid-week version, using tins of kidney beans in chilli sauce to make it easy and speedier.

    This recipe is also gluten free, we hope you enjoy!

    Kids in the Kitchen

    Chopping – Do you have any chives in your garden? Go on a hunt to find them and cut some to serve on this chilli. Chives should be fairly easy for little ones to cut same with the mushrooms in this recipe.

    Rice – Here is one for the younger kids, get them to help measure or scoop the rice into a cup then dump it into a pot. Pour some water in to cover and let them use their hands to wash the rice. The water will turn cloudy the first couple of times you wash the rice but then will eventually become clear, then you’re ready to cook it!

    Recipe Courtesy Jane Devonshire MasterChef Champion 2016

    Serves: 4-6

    Difficulty: Easy


    Equipment


    Ingredients

    • Vegetable oil
    • 2 onions, roughly chopped
    • 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
    • 4 white or 2 Portobello mushrooms
    • 1-2 fresh red chillies (omit if serving for kids)
    • 1kg (2lb 4oz) beef mince
    • 540g bottle of passata
    • 4 x 395g tins of kidney beans in chilli sauce (use two kidney beans in chilli sauce and 2 regular cans of kidney beans if cooking for kids)
    • 2 red peppers, seeds removed, chopped
    • Salt and pepper

    To Serve

    • A few sprigs of coriander
    • 240g (8½oz) cooked white or brown rice
    • 75g (2¾oz) Cheddar cheese, grated
    • 125ml (4fl oz) sour cream
    • A small bunch of chives, finely chopped

    Cooking Method

    1. Heat some oil in a large pan and sauté the onions, garlic, mushrooms and chillies – just use 1 and remove the seeds if you don’t like it too hot. Cook down for 10 -15 minutes until the onions are translucent.
    2. Stir in the mince and cook for a few minutes to brown, then stir in the passata, kidney beans in chilli sauce, red peppers and salt and pepper. Simmer for about 2 hours or until the mince is tender and cooked through. 
    3. Garnish with coriander and serve in bowls with rice, some grated Cheddar and the sour cream with the chives mixed in.