Tuna Flan Recipe

This is a dish we would often have at home when I lived with my mum and dad.  It's simple and easy and I love it.  Not being a great fan of fish (only eating tuna or salmon out of a tin) this recipe is great for getting some fishiness into you.

Tuna Flan (Partially eaten - whoops, forgot to take photo before dinner!)

The recipe for the pastry is to the tea as its from my mum.  The filling however will be a little haphazard as it's from me and I've a tendency to add a little here and put a little dash here but if you'd like to try making it here we go....

To make the pastry

125g/4oz Stork Margarine

175g/6oz Plain Flour

1 Tbsp Cold Water

Place the flour in a bowl and rub in the margarine until it looks like breadcrumbs, then add the water.  Blend together.  You can add a little more water if needed but don't make it too sticky (strict instructions from my mum!).

Flour surface and roll the pastry out.  Greases the dish you are using with a little butter.  Place the pastry over the dish and pat into dish to fit.  Trim off edges if necessary.  Once the pastry is in position prick it a few times with a knife to ensure it does not bubble.

Place the pastry in the oven 200oC/400oF/Gas Mark 6 for approximately 25 minutes or until lightly brown.

To make the filling

1 Tin Tuna Chunks

Milk

2 Eggs

Frozen Peas

Cheese for topping

Put tuna in bowl and mash with fork until the chunks are broken up.  Add the two eggs and mix.  Add a handful or more of frozen peas (really add as many as you like and as many as you need depending on how big your dish is).  Add a little milk, until it raised by an inch or two.  Mix until peas are separated and everything is combined.  Pour the mixture on to your pastry base.  Top with grated cheese and cook for approximately 20/30 minutes at 200oC until the cheese is golden brown.

Serve with broccoli or any vegetable, baked potato and lashings of HP sauce (OK so the last one is just a personal favourite).

Spicy Tuna Fish Cakes

Spicy Fish Cakes - yum!

I don't know about you but I'm not a big fish eater.  I would love to enjoy fish more, especially as it's so good for you, but if only it didn't taste so fishy! I only eat tuna and salmon out of a tin (I get mocked that it has to be out of a tin but the fresh stuff tastes, well, more fishy.

My mum used to make salmon fish cakes when we were at home and they were nice.  I've made them since being married but was searching the net for something different and came across these.  The recipe makes 8 fish cakes and so this should serve 4 people depending on how hungry you are.  We found two each was plenty.

Of course you know what I'm going to say, don't you?! This was yet another ad hoc recipe, I had checked the recipe but wasn't buying Dijon mustard just for this and so just used the powdered English mustard that I had in the cupboard.  I didn't add in the onion as I didn't have one to hand and used crushed garlic instead of garlic granules.

When mixing everything in the bowl I was worried if it would taste ok as the mustard smell was very strong but it was surprising how well the flavours blended together.  These were really tasty and I'd definitely make them again, hubby loved them too which is an added bonus.

Ingredients

1 large potato, peeled and cubed
320g tinned tuna, drained
1 egg
1/4 onion, chopped (optional)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (or English mustard)
1 tablespoon dry breadcrumbs, or as needed
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic granules (or crushed garlic cloves to taste)
1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs or seasoning (I used mixed herbs)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 pinch salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil

Method 

Put the potato in a small pot with salted water. Boil until the potato is tender, drain and steam dry for a minute or two then mash.

In a bowl add the tuna, egg, onion, mustard, breadcrumbs, garlic, herbs, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper into the mashed potato until mixed through. Divide the mixture into 8 equal patties.

Heat the oil in the frying pan over a medium heat. Fry the fish cakes until browned and crisp. Approx 3 mins each side.

Salt & Pepper Chicken (Salted Chilli Chicken)

I found this recipe online when I was looking for something different to make for dinners.  It's pretty simple to make and tasty too, it's not exactly the same as the salted chilli chicken that you'd get from the chinese but I still think it's yummy.  You could add more chilli in to taste or perhaps find a way of making it more salty to try and make it more like the chinese if you preferred.  I also cook it for longer as I don't think their timings are right as how could the chicken possibly be cooked in a few minutes. So judge it until the chicken is cooked through.

Salt & Pepper Chicken (Salted Chilli Chicken)

Ingredients (Serves 2)

1 Large green pepper (I sometimes would use a red as well as I like the red flavour better)
1 Large onion
2 Garlic cloves
2 Green or red chillies (or more to taste)
3 - 4 Chicken breasts
90g Breadcrumbs
3 - 4 Pinches of salt
3 - 4 Pinches of sugar
3 Tablespoons olive oil

Method

Slice the chilli peppers, onion pepper and garlic (I crush the garlic for ease) and leave to one side.

Cut the chicken breasts into medium bite sized pieces and coat them in the breadcrumbs.

Heat the oil in the frying pan or wok and add the chicken pieces. Leaves to cook for 3 - 4 minutes on a low - medium heat.

Add the onions, peppers and garlic. Mix the ingredients together and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Add salt and sugar and cook until the chicken is cooked and the breadcrumbs are brown.

Serve with boiled rice or as a starter with dip.

Enjoy and let me know how yours turned out.

Mum's The Word Weekly Meal Plan - 8th April

Well, how was everyone's week? Hope everyone had a good one and the Monday morning blues haven't set in.  I must admit that's one think I love about being off on maternity leave not thinking on a Sunday about work.

Anyway, I'm linking up with Mrs M again this week.  Our meals went generally to plan last week but the Smoky Philly Chicken got bumped to the side again as the little one was taking ages to get over to sleep so we ended up making burgers instead as a late dinner. I'm leaving it off this week but hopefully will have it next week as I love it and haven't had it in ages!

This weeks plan:-

Monday - Sweet Chilli Chicken Stir fry

Tuesday - Baked Pasta Dish

Wednesday - Salted Chilli Chicken

Thursday - Sausage, Vegetable and Pearl Barley Hotpot

Friday - Spicy Tuna Fish Cakes

Saturday - Chicken Fajita Lasagna

Sunday - Roast of some sort

The baked pasta dish and spicy tuna fish cakes are recipes that I found online a while ago.  The baked pasta dish is really nice and makes 5 portions so it's one which is good to put in the freezer for a later date.  I haven't tried the tuna fish cakes but they sound nice so will blog about them this week.

The sausage, vegetable and pearl barley hotpot is a recipe I'm trying from Utterly Scrummy, so looking forward to making and tasting it.

Chicken fajitas are one of my cousins favourites, his absolutely fabulous wife blogs over at You Big Eejit.  You can find the recipe here http://bigeejit.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/chicken-fajita-lasagna.html.

What are you all having this week?

Hairy Bikers Chilli Salad Bowls Recipe

A while back we were flicking through the TV channels and came across the Hairy Bikers Dieters' series.  The episode we happened to stumble upon was them making their chilli salad bowls.  Hubby and I both like chilli and I'd often make it but get bored having it with rice or a baked potato so we were keen to try this out.  We loved it and now if making chilli would have this as our first choice.  I omit a few ingredients and through in also kidney beans and chick peas to bulk it out a bit.

Chilli Salad Bowls' before lashings of sour cream

 Ingredients (serves 4)

300g/10½oz lean minced beef (less than 10% fat)
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander (Optional)
1 tsp hot chilli powder
2 tbsp tomato purée
½ tsp caster sugar
300ml/½ pint beef stock, made with 1 beef stock cube
4 large flour tortillas
1 tsp sunflower oil
1 romaine lettuce or 3 baby gem lettuces, leaves thickly shredded
3 ripe vine tomatoes, sliced
15cm/6in piece cucumber, sliced
4 spring onions, trimmed and sliced (Optional)
½ lime, juice only
40g/1½oz mature cheddar
4 tbsp half-fat crème fraîche
4 tbsp fresh tomato salsa sauce (Optional)
flaked sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
red kidney beans (Optional)

chick peas (Optional)

Method

Put the minced beef, onion and garlic in a medium non-stick saucepan and cook over a high heat for five minutes, stirring with two wooden spoons to break up any clumps of meat. Stir in the cumin, coriander and chilli and cook for two minutes more, stirring constantly. Add the tomato purée, sugar and beef stock and bring to a simmer. Cover the pan and leave to simmer gently over a low heat for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and stir the chilli mixture occasionally.

While the beef is cooking, prepare the tortilla bowls. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Take a sheet of foil about 1 metre/40in long and scrunch it up into a ball about 10cm/4in in diameter. Place it in the centre of a large baking sheet.

Take a tortilla and brush the centre on one side with a little of the oil – this will help prevent it sticking to the foil. Drape the tortilla over the ball of foil, oil-side down, pinching and loosely pleating it to create a bowl shape. 

Tortilla bowls ready for the oven

Bake for five minutes until the bowl shape is set and the tortilla is lightly crisped.

Take the tortilla out of the oven and carefully remove it from the foil – it should be just cool enough to handle. Place the tortilla on an upturned tumbler and press to create a flat base on which to turn the tortilla once cold. 

Moulding on the pint glass to make the bowl shape

The tortilla should still be warm enough to mould to the shape of the glass. Leave to cool while you make the next bowl in the same way. Put each upturned tortilla on a plate as soon as it is ready.

Ready for the filling

Remove the lid from the pan of beef and turn the heat up high. Cook for a further 4–5 minutes, stirring constantly, until most of the liquid has evaporated and the beef is looking fairly dry. Take the pan off the heat.

Toss the lettuce with the tomatoes, cucumber, spring onions and lime juice. Divide the salad between the tortilla bowls and season with black pepper, then top with the hot mince. Coarsely grate some cheddar over each serving and add some crème fraîche and salsa. Tuck in while the beef is warm.

Enjoy!!

Mum's The Word weekly meal plan - w/c 1st April

Hope everyone had a good week and a lovely Easter break. Was there plenty of chocolate consumed?

Last weeks meal plan ended up a bit all over the place with meals planned for one day but eaten on a different day. Friday was completely bad for some reason and we ended up with take out, it was rather tasty though! Oh well, we all have to slip off the wagon at some point.  This week will hopefully go more to plan.

Some meals are repeating from last week as we didn't end up having them. Mrs M has also inspired the quesadilla's as she had them last week and it reminded me that we hadn't had them in a long time.

Anyway, on to this weeks meal plan.

Monday - Remainder of the Hairy Bikers Chilli but on baked potatoes
Tuesday - Left over turkey, stuffing, vegetables and mash with lashings of gravy.
Wednesday - Omelette's
Thursday - Quesadillas
Friday - Sweet and Sour Chicken (remainder from the freezer)
Saturday - Smokey Philly Chicken, broccoli and baked potato
Sunday - Some sort of roast or may be invited to the in-laws.

What are you eating this week?

Don't forget to head over to Mrs 's page for more yummy ideas.

Have a good week!

Spicy Beef Recipe

This is a lovely tasty and filling meal perfect for these cold days. (So much for Spring)

A work colleague gave me this recipe, he made it for our office for lunch one day and its been a hit ever since. Its one of those dishes that is easy to make and generally when people are coming for dinner the first recipe I go for. Anyone who I've passed the recipe on to has loved it. So why not give it a go?!

Ready to go into the oven

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 1/2lb Cubed Stewing Steak
2 Cloves Garlic Crushed
1/4 Pint Beef Stock
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
3 tbsp Dark Soft Brown Sugar
Salt & Pepper
1 Chopped Onion
1/4lb Sliced Mushrooms (Optional)
8oz Tin of Chopped Tomatoes
2 tbsp Cider Vinegar
2 - 3 tsp Chilli Powder
Bay Leaf (I put two in but 1 is fine)
Chopped Coriander (Optional)
Soured Cream

Method

Brown off meat in a little oil (I toss the meat in a little plain flour before doing this), place in casserole dish.
Saute onion, add sugar and spices and cook out. Pour over the meat.
Add mushrooms (if using), tomatoes, vinegar, stock, bay leaf, garlic, salt and pepper.
Cook for 1 1/2 - 2 hours at 180 oC (Can cook longer at a lower heat. The longer it cooks the more tender the meat is). Garish with soured cream and chopped coriander.
Serve with rice or a baked potato. I'm quite liberal with my chilli power and cinnamon when I'm making it but the measurements here are as per the recipe. As it cooks you can always adjust either if necessary.

Enjoy! 

Ready to be eaten - yummy!

Do you have any recipes to share?