Bangers n Mash

I love Bangers n Mash, not only was it one of my favourites growing up , but it always reminds me of home ( England ) , and is still one of my favourite meals today .  Now, mind you .. my Bangers n Mash dish , is not my Mums , which while delicious! Would be lacking in garlic and spice ... my two favourites :)  Hahaha  For those of you that have never had this , or don't even know what it  is ...     You are going to love it :)    Bangers are sausages , typically an English Banger is a short fat little sausage seasoned with herbs and spices, containing ground pork and bread .. but that can vary widely from region to region , fennel was quite popular when I was younger.  The name Banger , mostly got its name from WWII when rationing was in full effect and the sausages were likely to have a higher water content , causing them to explode if not cooked carefully :))
   Mash , well.. quite simply its Mashed Potatoes :) Either simple or spruced up with some garlic and herbs .. I much prefer the later ! I like to use Yukon or Russets , however any type will work , the ones shown here were white.

Chili n Cheese PIta

Ive been meaning to get back to blogging , and actually typing out recipes for everyone .  Im hoping to be able to streamline them and reduce the amount of typing required ( The hardest part for me ! ) So here we go, Simple Good Food !

One of my favourite go to snacks or light meals :)

Ingredients :

1 Whole Wheat Pita
1/2 cup each of shredded mozzarella & 5yr old cheddar
Splash of Olive oil
One Cayenne Chili Pepper ( minced )
Sea Salt and Black Pepper to taste

  

Lightly spray or brush the pita with oil
place in 350F oven on rack , about 3 minutes per side
remove from oven , should be halfway to crispy
Place onto an oven safe plate or baking tray
Sprinkle on Cheeses and chili pepper
Salt n Pepper, and return to oven for about 12 minutes
or until cheese is melted to your liking :)
You could also use the broiler for this , reduce time to about 3 minutes .

Thats its , So Simple, So Good !
Enjoy   

7 Pepper Birthday Chili

Whats your favourite Birthday meal ??   Mine is a nice juicy steak, with a jacket potato ... but this year for the first time in ages , birthday dinner with Mum ( We share the same Bday ) was a few days early ...  leaving me with a big question ... What to have on my Birthday !!   It didnt take long to realize Id been craving chili all month .. so Chili it was !!    Simple, Good Food !

Basic Ingredients ( I dont cook with a recipe , or even write anything down hahaha )

2 lbs of Ground Beef from local butcher
2 large mexican sausages from local butcher
1 lb of braising steak , Crossrib - Flour for dusting
4 tins of Beans ( Unico , 3 Red Kidney , 1 Romano ) - I prefer dried , but am using up old stock
2 large sweet red peppers
2 large chili peppers
2 cayenne chili peppers
6 long green chili peppers
3 small dried red chili peppers ( Very hot ! )
8 medium onions
1 head of garlic
1/2 tin of chipolte peppers
2 green bell peppers
1 pint of dark ale
1 pint roasted tomato sauce ( Homemade )
1 quart of stewed tomatoes ( homemade )

Chili Powder, L&P, Sea Salt & Black Pepper

Start by sauteing the onions ...  transfer to slow cooker when done 

Next step, the beef , best to add flavour here , chili powder, S&P, L&P, and half the can of beer 

 In the meantime,  I rinsed and boiled the tinned beans ... rinsed again and added to the slow cooker

While the beef is browning ... add in the beans, stewed tomatoes , and roasted tomato sauce 

Once the ground beef has finished, add the sausages , and cubed and flour dusted steak ..   just need to brown these , then add to the slow cooker 

Once done with frying ...  use the other half of the beer to deglaze the pan , add to the slow cooker, this is some amazing flavour here !  

Its starting to look like chili :))   Let simmer for 2 hours 

Once the base chili has simmered , its time to add the peppers in for the last 1 to 2 hours of cooking 

All sliced and diced, and ready for the pot!! 

Five hours after slicing the onions ...  CHILI!    Mmmm its time to eat ! 

The leftovers....  usually i portion this out and freeze it up for easy meals later , this time I decided to pressure can it ...   a future post maybe ??

MmmmMmmm  I do hope you enjoy my spicy chili , this one was quite the sweat inducing bowl of goodness !!  I wouldnt change a thing .. but if your not a big fan of spicy, i would cut back considerable of the hot peppers and add more sweet :)

Don;t forget , you can always follow the daily fun over at https://www.facebook.com/RichsGoodFood

Peace, Love and Good Food to everyone !
Rich

Sausage n Mushroom Frittata

I love making frittata's !  They are such a simple and easy way to use up leftovers, you can make a personal sized one  or  a quick meal for 4 or 6 people .   As for ingredients the options are endless..  for me ,  Cheese and Eggs are the only must have .. well maybe garlic too!   

This season, we have a new vendor at the Farmers Market , CrosswindFarms :) A local goat farm , that specializes in goat cheeses ..  and even sell some of the meat.  I ended up with some of their sausages... and what better way to use up the extras than to make a frittata! ! 

You will need an oven safe frying pan for this dish :)

Start off by prepping your veggies ..  Mushrooms, Onions,  Peppers, Broccoli, Grape Tomatoes ..  

Start off with the mushrooms and onions, a nice pat of butter will help out here , just long enough to get some colour on them . 

Finish chopping everything while that is happening . Bite sized is best . The Goats sausage was very good, nice texture and very meaty !
Throw whatever you like for seasoning in with the veggies, I went with chili powder and basil  :) 

Sardines on Toast the final 10 with 5 recipe !!

Ten recipes with five ingredients.... sounds pretty easy doesn't it ??  Well , it was easy enough , I mean how hard can five ingredients be to prep and use ?? lol.  For me it was actually stopping at five ingredients that was the hardest part , not that I use twenty in my meals , but eight or ten for a full meal is about normal. I managed to make my way through the ten , though , pushing myself with a  couple of full meals, even a vegetarian one, a couple of new appetizers , even the pantry staple beef stock made an appearance.  Click here for the previous nine posts :) http://richfletchersgoodfoodrevolution.blogspot.com/search/label/10with5
So for my final one , I wanted to try something completely different  ( well for me at least ) I was thinking of making a dessert ( I can not even remember the last one I made ??? ) then somewhere out of left field I got the idea  to try something completely new ...  maybe not to you , but for me who has never eaten a sardine before... this was something new !!

Ingredients required ( Enough for 4 good sized pieces, or lunch for two ) 


1 tin of sardines.
1 bell pepper ( I used 1/2 a yellow & 1/2 a red, from rainbow pack )
1 hunk of crusty bread ( enough for 4 thick slices )
2 Tablespoons of Caesar dressing
Hot Sauce to Taste ( I used a great southern one Bourbon Street Bad )
Freshly cracked black pepper to suit .
( Salt is shown , but was not required )

Alternative to hot sauce ingredient - Green Onions

Assemble your ingredients .

Dice or slice up the peppers, and find a can opener.   Meanwhile , slice your bread and get it into the toaster oven.  

So thats what all the fuss was about, I've got to say , I was pretty happy that I wasn't stunk out of the kitchen .  These did have a slightly fishy smell , but nothing like what I was expecting.  

I tried just a couple the for the first one, just in case I didn't like it... but there was nothing to worry about .

This picture is slightly out of order, I as forgot to take a picture of them before mixing on the first batch .   But it really is a easy as taking the back of a fork , and smushing away .

Add in the Caesar dressing and diced peppers. Simply scoop some out and lightly press it onto the toast. 

Spread it onto your toast , giving it a slight push to help it stick.   A few dashes of your favourite hot sauce , and your set.  Looks great !! I wonder what its going to taste like ?? 

Tasted like a second piece !!  I was pleasantly surprised, I figured the bones or the smell would bother me, but nope! They tasted great , and I plan on buying more soon !!   Its a bit hard to describe the taste and textures,  but for me .. it was somewhere between salmon and tuna.  I have to admit , I scarfed it down so fast , I didn't even think about it until after the fact . 

Ill leave you with this one, I tried. Without the hot sauce, and with a little diced green onion on top.  This was  very light and tasty snack !!   

I hope you have enjoyed reading the 10 with 5 challenge posts. I know I have really enjoyed participating !!  Its been a lot of fun , and a great challenge to stop at at 5 ingredients.   Please leave a comment below and let me know what you thought ?

MMmmm Meatballs!!

Who doesn't love meatballs ??  You can make them out of almost anything .. Beef , Pork, Turkey , chicken or just about anything that can be ground up :)  They can be baked, pan fried, added to a stew or casserole...  the options are almost endless once you start thinking about what you can put in the meatball itself .  Today I'm going to show you one of my favourites,  simply, easy and loads of flavour.  For this meatball adventure, I'm going to start them in the pan , and finish them in the oven.  So if you are following along , you will need an oven safe pan.  

The minimum required is just a pound of meat , and egg and bread crumbs... but don't be afraid to have a look around in your fridge for some extra flavours.

Here I have diced Red Onion, Red Pepper, Mushrooms, some garlic/mushroom hummus, a couple loves of garlic,  a pound of free range ground beef, a dried chili pepper,  bread crumbs, salt and pepper, Lea & Perrins and a free range egg

Using your hands mix everything well, and form into balls. Ive made them as large as a 1/2 pound each, but golf ball sized is one of my favourites.