Pea, Mint & Feta Soup and English Muffins

The last week has been chaotic as usual. Earlier in the week there was big concern about our cottage being flooded. The local river was at serious risk of bursting it's banks and the local geography means that when it rains (a lot) the run-off from the fields behind us flow down to one of the village ponds, which in turn bursts and flows straight past our front door. I knew it wasn't a good sign when I returned from work to find all the front doors in the row piled high with sandbags. Thankfully the pond stayed intact and our house is still dry. It still gave us a worrying few days though!

My interest in bread making is still strong and today was the turn of trying English muffins. I love them lightly toasted then slathered in butter. Very much comfort food. The soup season is just around the corner and I got the idea for this soup from a Mark Sargent soup recipe. I was pleased how this soup worked out. It is perfect and warming, but still with the taste of summer and perfect with a couple of muffins. Like most of my bread baking keep an eyeout for it on Yeastspotting.

Pea, Mint & Feta Soup
Serves 1

100ml water
110ml milk
1 tbsp chopped mint
150g frozen peas
10 cubes of feta
salt and freshly ground black pepper
drizzle olive oil

1) Bring water, milk and mint to the boil. Add peas and boil for 3 min until peas are cooked.

2) Drain most of the milky stock into a jug. Add feta to the peas and puree. Gradually add stock until you have the desired consistency. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil.



English Muffins
Makes 8

110ml milk
25ml water
1 tsp dried yeast
large pinch of sugar
225g strong white flour
pinch of salt
polenta for dusting

1) Heat milk, water and sugar into a saucepan until hand hot. Stir in yeast and leave for 15 min to allow a froth to develop on the top.

2) In a large bowl pour yeast mix into flour & polenta and mix until you have a dough. Knead dough for 2 min in mixer (10 min by hand)until you have a soft elastic dough. Place in an oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm. Leave in a warm place to rise for an hour.

3) Knock back dough then roll out until about 1cm thick. Using and 8cm cutter (or large wine glass!) cut out rounds and place on a baking sheet that has been sprinkled with a small amount of polenta. Once all of the rounds have been cut dust the top of the dough with more polenta. Cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place for 30 min.

4) Heat a heavy based frying pan to low/med. If not using a non-stick pan melt a small amount of butter in the pan. Cook the muffins in batches for 7 min each side. While cooking the rest of the muffins place the cooked muffins under a tea towel to keep warm. If you can, leave for 5-10 min before slathering in butter and eating.

Courgette & Feta Fritters

It's SATs week at the moment so everything is very much up in the air and to throw another spanner in the works, Hubby has started a new job. When I get home from work I've been want something quick and easy to make without it being toooooo unhealthy. Hubby pointed out a recipe for courgette & feta fritters in Delicious a few days ago, so I took advantage of Hubby taking an interest in a veggie meal (which is rare!) and made my own version of the fritters tonight.

I'm not a huge fan of courgette as I find them boring and have slimy school dinner memories of them, but these fritters were really delicious and had a hint of onion bhaji to them. They must have been good as Hubby has requested them again soon!

Courgette & Feta Fritters
Makes 6 fritters

2 medium sized courgettes
1/4 tsp fine salt
4 spring onions, finely sliced
120g feta, cut into 1cm cubes
1 tbsp dried mint
2 eggs
40g plain flour
20g polenta
1 tbsp lemon juice
ground black pepper

1) Grate courgette into a bowl and stir in salt, this helps draw water out of the courgette. Put courgette into a sieve and allow to drain for 20 min. Squeeze courgettes to rid of excess water and drain on some kitchen paper.

2) In a bowl mix all of the ingredients, including the courgettes until thoroughly mixed.

3) Heat 1 tbsp of sunflower oil in a non-stick saute pan on a medium heat. Blob a tbsp of the fritter mix into the pan and flattern slightly. Cook 2-3 min each side until golden. Drain on a piece of kitchen paper.

Feta Stuffed Beef Burgers

Usually for Sunday dinner we have something like a roast, but with our little furry friends living on the dining table until tomorrow we needed an easy meal we could eat on our *ahem* laps on the settee.

We used to have homemade burgers quite a lot, but with us becoming a bit more experimental with food they went by the wayside. Tonight was the perfect opportunity to resurrect them. I believe the key to a great burger is good quality ingredients and not too many ingredients. I use the same basic recipe for most burgers but just change the meat, filling and/or herbs.

I rarely put fillers like breadcrumbs in my meat burgers and only use egg to bind if it really needs it. There are various way you can cook your burger. I prefer to cook them on a rack over a baking tray in the oven. There are two reasons for this:
1)It solves the problem of trying to turn them over if your frying them
2)It's healthier than frying
3)We usually have them with homemade oven chips and we don't have a separate grill and oven.

Tonight we had them with in ciabatta with a basic tomato salsa, home-made wedges. The burgers turned out quite rounded so the salsa didn't sit very well on top of them, but they still tasted delicious.

Feta Stuffed Beef Burgers
Makes 2

300g good quality beef mince
1/2 tsp mint
12 small cubes of feta (or however many you can stuff in your burger!)
splash of Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1) Preheat oven to 200oc. Mix all ingredients (apart from feta) until well combined. Roll mix into 2 balls

2) Flatten each ball into a disk and make an deep indentation in the middle. Push feta into the hole and mould mince around feta.

3) Place on rack in baking tray (you don't have to do this but I think they cook better). In the style of Jamie O drizzle with a small amount of olive oil. Bake for 25-30 min.

Spinach & Feta Frittata

This week is Farmhouse Breakfast Week and to celebrate I made Scotch Pancakes with the butter and buttermilk I made earlier on in the week. They were beautifully fluffy and if my waistline allowed I would eat them every day.

With the miserable weather and all the stodgy comfort food we've been eating today I was craving a simple veggie summer dish. Although a frittata is traditionally done on the hob in a frying pan, I prefer to oven bake it. This is a slightly different version on the oven-baked frittata I've baked before. On the way home from work I popped into Morrisons to pick up some feta, while walking to the fridges I noticed a huge display promoting 5-a-day. On this display was potatoes, I didn't dare point out to the woman setting up the display that potatoes don't count as one of your 5-a-day!

Spinach & Feta Frittata
Serves 4

4 eggs
1 tbsp cornflower
200ml milk
200g spinach
handful of feta
seasoning

1) Heat oven to 220oc. Wilt spinach, allow to cool then squeeze out water. Blend the cornflower with a bit of milk, then whisk in the rest of the milk and eggs. Season with salt and pepper.

2) Line 8in x 8in baking tin with baking parchment. Pour in the batter, then sprinkle the spinach and feta over the batter. Bake for 20 min until firm and golden. Can be eaten warm or cold.

Feta Chicken

Tonight's dinners harks back from the days when I had only just discovered cooking from scratch. It's not exactly the most sophisticated dish, but it's cheap, healthy and delicious. The recipe does sometimes vary depending as to what I have in. I've been known to add baby corn, peppers or snap peas to the sauce.

Feta Chicken
Serves 2

2 skinless chicken fillets
1 can of chopped tomatoes
about 10-12 cubes of feta
1 onion, sliced
1 veg oxo cube
1 tbsp mixed herbs
seasoning

1) Prepare chicken fillets by cutting a slit into the thickest part and stuff in as much feta as you can.

2) Fry onions in medium saucepan until softened. Place chicken on top of onions. In separate bowl mix chopped toms, oxo cube, herbs and seasoning. Pour sauce over the chicken. Put lid on saucepan and simmer for 25 min. Turn chicken over half way through cooking.

Watercress, Feta & Pesto Quiche

Every couple of weeks I get a craving for quiche. Tonight I decided to use up the feta & eggs in the fridge so made a watercress, feta & pesto quiche, crushed new potatoes with (local) asparagus. I've never had watercress before, but really liked it. With a quiche you can essentially use any "filling" ingredients you want. When we're feeling unhealthy I make it with mushrooms, cheese, bacon and single cream or tomato sauce and sausages.

Watercress, feta & pesto quiche

1 plain pastry base (I'm rubbish at pastry and buy a ready made base)

3 eggs

100ml milk

1 bag of watercress, wilted

2 tsp of pesto

big handful of feta cubes

salt & pepper

1. Preheat oven to 160oc. Spread pesto on base, then sprinkle on feta. Wilt watercress in a pan, cool and squeeze out excess water then spread this over the feta.

2. Whisk egg, milk plus seasoning and pour into base. Don't overfill, I learnt this the hard way once when I opened the oven to find burnt quiche mix all over the bottom of the oven.

3. Bake for 30-40 till golden. Let it cool for 10 min before serving.

Crushed new potatoes

New potatoes

olive oil

seasoning

mint

1. Boil potatoes for around 10 minutes. Drain and spread out on a baking tray, lightly crush with fork/masher. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle on seasoning. Bake for about 25 min.