Ren Behan - Author Wild Honey and Rye

Food Writer

Dill

Lamb Steaks Wild Mushroom Sauce and Dill Mash

A comforting recipe for Eat Welsh Lamb and Welsh Beef

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Lamb Steaks with Wild Mushroom Sauce and Dill Mash

Prep

Cook

Total

Yield 4 servings

A creamy and comforting recipe using Welsh lamb steaks. 

Instructions

  1. Season the lamb steaks with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, on both sides. Drizzle a little oil onto the steaks and rub the oil into the meat. Set to one side.
  2. Drain the peeled potatoes and put them into a pan of fresh cold water, cover, bring to the boil and cook for 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Drain into a colander and set to one side to dry.
  3. Place a dry frying pan onto a low heat. Throw in the pine nuts and allow them to toast until they turn golden – this will take around 30 seconds. Tip the pine nuts onto a plate and set to one side.
  4. Add a little oil to the same pan, turn up the heat to medium-high and add the lamb steak to the pan. Fry for 5 minutes on one side then flip them over. Add the mushrooms to the pan and a teaspoon of butter and continue to cook for 3-4 minutes. Remove the lamb steaks (which will be cooked rare-medium rare) and leave them to rest on a plate.
  5. Pour the stock into the pan, swirl the stock around and allow to bubble for a minute. Add the fresh dill and double cream, stir and and bring up to the boil. Then take the pan off the heat.
  6. Mash the cooked potatoes, or put them through a potato ricer. Add one tablespoon butter, double cream and the fresh dill. Season with salt and pepper. Using a wooden spoon, stir the butter, cream and dill into the mashed potatoes, until the potatoes are creamy and smooth.
  7. Divide the potatoes onto 4 plates. Slice each lamb steak in half and place on top of the mash. Spoon over over the creamy mushroom sauce. Sprinkle with the toasted pine nuts and serve straight away.

Courses Main

Cuisine British

You may also like:

Lamb Steaks with Mint Ajika Sauce (Olia Hercules for Marley Spoon)

One-Pot Cypriot Lamb with Orzo 

Make-Ahead Lamb and Potato Moussaka

Jamie Oliver’s Mothership Roast Lamb

This is a paid recipe commission for Eat Welsh Lamb and Welsh Beef. Find more Llambassador recipes here.

 

Fish is the Dish: Scottish Mussels with Linguine, Garlic and Dill

Keeping up with our aim of eating more fish this year, I am very pleased to be part of the Fish is the Dish campaign, who have set out to show families how easy it is to select, prepare and eat fish. As well as trying some smoked haddock for a quick and easy Kedgeree, I was also sent some beautiful pre-cooked Scottish mussels to try from the Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group. I have since made exactly the same dish again, buying pre-cooked Scottish Mussels in Garlic Butter Sauce from the supermarket  for £2.99. I also bought a packet of linguine pasta (on offer, 98p) and a packet of dill (79p) and so I was able to feed all four of us for less than £4.76 (there was dill and pasta leftover). So, this is my new ‘frugal but fancy’ supper and it is on the table in less than ten minutes. If you don’t like dill, try fresh parsley instead.

I admit, that I have never cooked mussels for the family before and I don’t think I would have necessarily thought to. So, trying pre-cooked mussels was a great way forward for me and an easy way to introduce them to the family.

I would have put money on the fact that the kids wouldn’t touch this, but I was wrong! They loved eating the garlicky-flavoured linguine and had fun poking around trying to pull the mussels out. Since Valentine’s Day is not so far away, I also think this dish would make a lovely romantic first course.

Fishy Facts

Mussels are rich in Omega-3, Vitamin B12, Selenium and Iodine. They are a good source of Iron, Folic Acid, Zinc & Vitamin B2. They are also high in protein and low in fat.

Mussels are sustainable

Mussels contain over nine times more B12 than beef, and nearly five times more than salmon.

Mussels are available all year round but they are at their best from October through to March.

(Source: Fish is the Dish website – Mussels)

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Pop over to the Fish is the Dish website for more Fish ‘n’ Tips on buying, preparing, cooking and serving fish. You can also get more fishy facts and recipes by ‘Liking’ Fish is the Dish on Facebook or by following the Fish is the Dish team on Twitter.

Fish is the Dish -Top fish tips for all the family

I’m also linking this up to Helen’s Frugal Food Fridays over at Fuss Free Flavours, since this would feed two people comfortably  for less than £2.50 a head, which I think is pretty good.

Frugal Food Fridays

Thank You to Fish is the Dish and The Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group for the mussels.

Have you ever cooked/eaten mussels? Would you try fresh mussels or have you enjoyed pre-cooked mussels before?

 

Cocktails, Canapés and a Merry Christmas from Fabulicious Food!

The very fact that I am sitting here on Christmas Eve morning blogging means that everything is ready, packed, wrapped and prepared for Christmas. Except that it isn’t. I’m just about to go and help set the table ready in preparation for our huge Polish Christmas Eve celebration meal later on today and in between all of that there are still presents to exchange and people to see!

But just before things really get going, I wanted to share my last post of the season, mainly to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, full of tasty treats, good health and happiness. I would also like to thank you all for reading and supporting Fabulicious Food! this year and for being here to share all of my foodie adventures with me.

Here are a couple of very quick ideas for some of my favourite cocktails and canapés, in case you are hosting or entertaining over the holidays. Over the festive period, we’ll be having smoked salmon blinis and sticky sausages, washed down with a Polish Martini and a Cherry Brandy and Babycham or two.

Sneaking in a quick post also means that I can join in with the tenth Forever Nigella over at Maison Cupcake. It does, of course, have a festive feel to it as the challenge is called Christmas Presence. As Nigella says, “A party just isn’t a party without a sticky sausage or three” and I agree!  

Scottish Birch and Juniper Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Blinis

Ingredients:

1 packet of Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Responsibly Sourced Scottish Birch and Juniper Smoked Salmon

1 x packet canapé blinis

1/2 packet cream cheese 

A few sprigs of fresh dill

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Place the blinis on a baking tray and cook them for 4 minutes.

2. Leave them to cool a touch and then spread a small amount of cream cheese on each one. Lay a piece of smoked salmon across the top and garnish with a sprig of dill.

Polish Martini Cocktail

I first had one of these at the bar of my favourite restaurant Baltic in Blackfriars. The original calls for Krupnik, which is a Polish Honey Vodka. As it is very difficult to get in the UK, instead I add half a teaspoon of runny honey, but you have to shake the cocktail well in order for the honey to dissolve. Both vodkas are available at larger supermarkets.

1 part Polish vodka, such as Wyborowa or Luksusowa

2 parts Żubrówka, Polish Bison Grass Vodka

1/2 teaspoon runny honey

4 parts apple juice, cloudy, such as Copella or Innocent

A few cubes of ice

1 star anise to decorate  

Add the vodka, honey, apple juice and ice to a cocktail shaker. Shake really well, strain into a martini glass and place a star anise in each glass to decorate.

Nigella’s Cranberry and Soy Glazed Cocktail Sausages

(Adapted from Nigella’s Christmas – Entry for Forever Nigella

Ingredients:

120g cranberry sauce

60ml soy sauce

Juice of half an orange

50 cocktails sausages

The original recipe calls for the addition of Thai chilli sauce, but I prefer to just double the quantity of cranberry sauce. I made my own this year, so I just used that. I didn’t have any limes or clementines to hand so I just used the juice of half an orange. 

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

2. Mix the cranberry sauce with the soy sauce and orange juice. Pour over the sausages making sure they are all well coated.

3. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes, giving them a little mix half way through. Serve and enjoy! 

Cherry Brandy and Babycham Cocktail

I also found all the ingredients at Sainsbury’s. If you can’t find any Babycham, use sparkling wine or Prosecco instead.

2 parts Cherry Brandy

2 parts Babycham Sparkling Perry

1 cocktail cherry on a stick

No method really, pour it all in a glass and use your cherry on a stick to mix! 

For festive sweet treats pop along and read some of my previous posts –

Chocolate Christmas Pudding Cupcakes

Christmas Tiramisu Trifle

Polish Potato Salad

Once again I am totally overwhelmed by all the entries into Simple and in Season – June – the monthly blogging event here at Fabulicious Food! showcasing some of the very best seasonal produce. Some of the recipes linked-up used British local produce and some were shared from much further afield, including Dubai and the States.

I will be announcing a winner shortly and producing what I am sure will be a spectacular round-up.
In the meantime, here is my entry – a lovely comforting Polish Potato Salad made with a freshly picked selection of British new potatoes from an organic vegetable box delivered to me by Andrew at Riverford Organic – thank you Andrew! 
I am new to the veg box delivery scheme and I’ve found it to be a wonderful way to incorporate fresh, seasonal produce into our diet.  Fruit and vegetable box schemes support local farmers and as often as possible, the produce is sourced locally. You can check on Riverford Organic’s website to see whether they deliver to you and to see which farm your produce will mostly come from.  
My box came with a handy booklet of recipes, though this one is a salad made to my Mother’s recipe.  Receiving a fruit or veg box does encourage you to become quite creative in the kitchen!
We also enjoyed a lovely fresh carrot soup, salads and fajitas using the mushrooms and onions in the box. We’re working our way through the rest so I’m sure there will be more recipes to come.
The secret to this salad is to chop everything, including your peeled potatoes, into very small cubes. The egg can even be mashed with a fork. You end up with a really tasty accompaniment to an outdoor picnic or lunch. I served mine with my mum’s Polish meatballs – the best! I promise to share the recipe for those too…soon.
Polish Potato Salad
(My Mother’s Recipe)

Serves 2

Ingredients:

6-7 peeled and cooked potatoes (new or waxy potatoes work best)
1 hard boiled egg, peeled and mashed with a fork
1 pickled gherkin, very finely chopped
1 tablespoon dill (fresh is best but dry works ok too)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise (I use a Polish brand called Winiary but any is fine)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Method:

1. Add your chopped potatoes, egg, gherkin and dill into a bowl.

2. Add in the mayonnaise and mustard.

3. Stir well. The salad is best refrigerated for a short while before eating.

British Asparagus, Smoked Trout and Dill Tartlets

Last month I joined in with Meeta’s Monthly Mingle for the first time, a blogging event over at a beautiful blog called What’s For Lunch, Honey. The theme was ‘Think Pink’ and I submitted my Pink Pasta dish. Sarah from Maison Cupcake hosted and gave a wonderful round up of all the very inspirational ‘pink’ entries. This month, its Jeanne’s turn to host over at Cook Sister and with the theme being ‘Topless Tarts’ who could resist joining in again?!

The stipulation this month is that you can submit any tart recipe, as long as its, ahem, topless. What with summer coming along, Jeanne thought it would be a good idea to, I quote, “get ’em out and show ’em off” and I quite agree that with the lovely weather we’ve been having, this is a very good idea.
My ‘topless tarts’ feature fish and dill…but more importantly I have been getting rather over-excited about the start of British asparagus season and wanted to create something really seasonal. I used hot smoked fillets of trout, although sea trout is in season too so you could buy a couple of small fillets and grill them for ten minutes too before flaking. If you don’t fancy trout, try salmon flakes. The asparagus was snapped and blanched for just a couple of minutes in hot water and was locally sourced. Dill, in my book, is obligatory with pink fish, so there is a bit thrown in for good measure. Though if you don’t like it or don’t have any to hand, snip some chives in or a bit of parsley.
The flavours worked really well together and these beautiful mini-tartlets would make a great addition to a summer picnic, garden party (there might be one or two going ahead on Friday!) or just a lovely ‘al fresco’ lunch. 
I am quite sure that I will be put to great shame by all the other bloggers who enter this month’s mingle, who will have been busy making their own pastry. However, as the weather has been so darn nice, and because, well frankly life is too short, I did not made my own pastry from scratch. I did, however, roll it and blind-bake it, so there was some effort there. The rest is easy peasy and I promise that the result is a lovely crumbly, buttery tart filled with all the joys of spring.
I hope you try them, don’t forget to let me know if you do. Happy Mingling if you’re joining in! Still feeling bad about not making my own pastry…
British Asparagus, Smoked Trout and Dill Tartlets
Makes 6 Mini Tarts/One large tart

Ingredients

350g shortcrust pastry
250g fresh, British asparagus
125g hot smoked trout fillets (sea trout or salmon fillets)
1 tablespoon chopped, fresh dill
50ml full fat milk
50ml single cream
1 egg and 2 egg yolks
3 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees celcius. 
2. Roll out your pastry on a lightly floured board until around half a centimetre thick and line your mini tart cases (or one large tart tin.) Press the pastry to the edge of the tin and trim the edges with a knife. Prick a few holes in the bottom.
3. Line the pastry with baking paper and fill with baking beans. Bake in the oven for fifteen minutes.
4. Prepare the filling. Snap the asparagus (save the woodier ends for soup) and drop into some hot water for two minutes. Drain and rise well with cold water to keep the colour. Chop finely.
5. Check your fish for any bones and flake into pieces.
6. Mix the milk, cream, eggs and parmesan cheese in a jug.
7. Take the pastry cases out of the oven, take out the beans and leave to cool.
8. Once cool, fill the tarts with your asparagus and trout and sprinkle with dill. Pour over the eggy cream mixture until the cases are almost full.
9. Turn the oven up to around 200 degrees celcius and bake for 20 minutes, or until the centre is firm. ( A large tart will take longer)
 

Pink Pasta – Linguine with Salmon, Prawns and Dill

This recipe is inspired by a baked salmon dish that my sister very often makes. We call her Mrs Pink, since she loves pink and lots of things in her house are pink. When she made this salmon dish for me once, I giggled because it was pink!

Whenever I make her baked salmon, I use any leftover sauce and salmon for the next day and make a pasta dish out of it. However, last night I skipped the baking part and just made it as a pasta dish, since I only had two fillets of salmon to use and wanted a quick supper. 

To make the baked salmon, you follow the same method up to step 6, pouring the sauce into a large baking dish and placing the salmon fillets inside the sauce (up to six for this quantity). Bake it in the oven for around 20 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius, or until all the salmon is cooked through.

Last night I poached my salmon fillets separately in a small frying pan with some milk. I kept the small amount of poaching liquid that was left in the pan and added it to the sauce for maximum flavour. It is also fine to use leftover poached salmon, or just a packet of flaked salmon. 

If I were making this for kids I would probably leave out the prawns, but since I had some in the freezer I threw some in.  I adore linguine pasta, cooked al dente, particularly with any fish sauce.  My kids also like farfalle, or bow tie pasta with this.

Lastly, you can chop up lots of fresh dill and stir it into the sauce or if you prefer, just serve it with a spring on top. At home now we call this dish ‘Pink Pasta’.

Pink Pasta with Salmon, Prawn and Dill
Inspired by my ‘pink’ sister

Ingredients
250g linguine pasta
1 or 2 tablespoons of olive or rapeseed oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
150g fresh mushrooms, sliced
30ml marsala wine (or use brandy or even white wine)
400g or a can/jar of tomato passata
150ml single cream (or use creme fraiche)
2 cooked/poached salmon fillets, flaked
200g fresh or frozen king prawns
A few springs of fresh dill

Method

1. Cook the linguine in a very large pan of boling, salted water, for one minute less than the packet instructions.
2. Poach your salmon (if it is not already cooked). I put the salmon fillets into a small pan and pour 150ml over the top and gently poach it with the lid on for around 5 minutes.
3. To make the sauce, add a tablespoon or two of oil to a separate frying pan and cooked your onions, on a gentle heat, until they start to soften.
4. Add the mushrooms to the frying pan and keep cooking.
5. Once the onions and mushrooms have softened, add the marsala/wine/brandy (or even just use vegetable stock) and boil until all the liquid has almost gone.
6. Add the tomato passata and leave it to cook for around 5 minutes on a low heat.
7. By this stage check the pasta is cooked and drain. I always save some of the water that the pasta has cooked in and to add into my sauce as it helps the sauce stick to the pasta.
8. Pour your cream into the sauce, add in your prawns, if using, and keep cooking the sauce on a low heat for a few minutes until the prawns are cooked. If your prawns are frozen they will need about six minutes and if the prawns were raw they will turn pink when cooked. Add in your cooked, flaked salmon pieces.
9.Pour the fish sauce into the large pan of drained pasta, add a few spoonfuls of pasta water, stir well until everything is coated. Add your chopped dill.

Eat and enjoy!

Since this is a pink dish, I am joining in, for the first time, with Meeta’s Monthly Mingle(from her blog What’s for lunch, Honey?) which is hosted this month by Sarah from Maison Cupcake. The theme is ‘Think Pink’, which is very appropriate for my sister! Thank you Sarah for hosting and to Meeta for the theme. It’s lovely to discover other blogs. This would be a great dish to entertain your friends with!