Recipe corner: Smoked salmon kedgeree

Love, love, love this dish.  There is already a classic kedgeree recipe on the blog which I also think is fabulous, but this smoked salmon version just has a little touch more luxury. We had this for a Sunday breakfast (which was when kedgeree was originally served.  Breakfast, I mean, not Sunday) but it would be perfect for supper too.  The portion is on the dainty side which is fine first thing in the morning but I would consider doubling up if I was going to serve it for a main meal.

Ingredients

90g basmati rice
Small onion, chopped
10g butter
Tsp cumin
Tsp ground coriander
Tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp chilli powder
120g smoked salmon, shredded
3 tbsp half fat creme fraiche
Zest of half a lemon, plus a squeeze of juice
Small bunch of fresh parsley, chopped*
2 medium eggs

*A note on herbs.  The leafier green herbs, such as parsley and coriander, do not last well if purchased in bunches and I often found that if I was buying them for a particular recipe I ended up having to throw some away.  Waitrose, and I imagine other supermarkets may do as well, sell them in blitzed up form in the freezer section which I find incredibly useful to have on hand.  You can add them to a dish direct from frozen.

Serves 2, 9 pro points per portion

First cook your rice according to your normal method.  You could even use one of those little microwave pouches if you felt so inclined - I certainly wouldn't judge.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan and then add the onion, turn the heat right down and allow it to cook until translucent and soft - about 10 minutes.  You can do this while the rice is cooking.

Now it's an assembly job - add the spices to the onion and cook out for a couple of minutes until they no longer smell raw.  Then stir through the cooked rice, ensuring that it gets well coated.  And then add the smoked salmon, the lemon zest and any seasoning (this dish loves black pepper).  If you're making the dish in advance (perhaps for the next morning) this is the stage at which you can stop.

Place two eggs in a pan, cover with cold water and set over a medium heat.  Bring to the boil and then cook for 4 minutes which will be a hard boil but with a suggestion of fudginess to the yolks - perfect for these purposes.  While this is happening you can stir the creme fraiche, the lemon juice and the parsley through the rice.

Peel the eggs under cold running water, cut in two and then serve the kedgeree with the eggs perched cheekily on top.  Wonder why you don't eat spicy food for breakfast more often.

Meal Planning Monday 6 - and a weekend round-up

I was going to bemoan the fact that Monday always seems to come around far, far too quickly. And then I remembered that I actually wrote my last meal planning Monday post on a Tuesday. And didn’t really start following said meal plan until the Friday. Life gets in the way, you see! Well, a combination of life and langour (on my part).

The meals that I did manage to cook, following my previous post, were delicious. There was the asparagus with soft boiled eggs and Heston B’s tea smoked salmon, which combination I thought was an absolute treat (although getting the smoked salmon to co-operate and form elegant strips to wrap around the asparagus was challenging. We just had it on the side).

Then, in front of Dr Who on Saturday we had venison burgers, brought all the way back from Scotland, cooked until only just pink and slapped in a bun with a plastic cheese slice – I’m sorry, but regardless of the quality of the meat in your burger (and these were top notch) a plastic cheese slice is entirely necessary. In a fit of productivity, we whipped up a batch of home made mayonnaise which was perfect for chip dunking. It really was a team effort – D whisked while I trickled the oil – which seems to make the process easier. And Sunday, it was pork cheek stew, which deserves a post all of its own (although I have noticed that every time I comment that I’m going to do a separate post on x or y subject, it never tends to materialise. Bad, butterfly brained blogger!)

So, onto this week. And from Friday onwards we will be out, off down to London for my gorgeous little nephew’s christening, and, more importantly for the purposes of this blog, lunch at The Ledbury. Only four meals need to be planned. Tonight will be asparagus with something…probably eggs of some sort. One meal will be brought across from last week. And in addition, I plan to cook:

o Lemon salmon with minted crushed peas and new potatoes

o Aubergine and red lentil curry – I have blogged about this dish before here, it is a very simple but very tasty midweek veggie supper. If we have new potatoes left, I might do some sort of spicy fried potato thingy to go on the side.

Pop over to Mrs M’s blog for more meal planning fun and have a lovely, fun and food filled week!

A little bit of midweek luxury

Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs has been my go-to birthday breakfast for years.  As a young girl, I thought it was the absolute height of sophistication.  Obviously nowadays a dish can't be called sophisticated unless it is strewn with dust or covered in foam.  But the combination of tastes and textures - oh, it may not be cutting edge but it is still one of my absolute favourite food marriages.

In general I have found that I (and perhaps this is true of dieters in general) count among my favourite foods some pretty non WW friendly stuff.  Cheese - yep, that's a no no unless you are one of those weirdos who can actually eat cheese in fingernail sized portions.  Butter - spread so thick that you leave teeth marks in it naturally.  Real mayonnaise, ghee laden curries...OK, I'll stop now.  It's quite rare that a genuine favourite can be served up unless it has been tweaked and skinnified and made just a little bit less unctuous - after all, it is often the fat content that is responsible for that silky mouth feel.

Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs is not one of these dishes.  In days gone by, I'd add a knob of butter to the pan before throwing in the eggs but I've found a similar creaminess can be achieved by stirring through a spoonful of extra light soft cheese at the end.  And because the salmon itself is naturally rich and oily I don't think the dish is any the less.

It's moved from being the exclusive preserve of breakfasts to being a favourite, quick and easy midweek supper nowadays and I have to say, I always look forward to it.  Tonight, two large double yoker eggs and a generous (60g) portion of smoked salmon finished in the pan with a tablespoon of Philly piled on top of a slice of wholemeal toast came in at a very reasonable 7.5 points.  I feel satiated but I also feel like I've had a real naughty treat, and there are points left in the bank!  A very good end to the day.

Recipe corner - Smoked Salmon and Spring Onion Risotto

Ingredients

120g risotto rice
100g smoked salmon
Small bunch of spring onions
Tbsp olive oil
30g low fat cream cheese
Black pepper
Dill
Capers (opt - for garnish)
500ml vegetable, fish or chicken stock

Serves 2, 7 points per person, 10 pro points per person

In a large pan (I find risotto works best if you are working with a large surface area) heat the oil and then add the spring onions and cook until soft.

Tip in the rice and stir making sure it is coated in the oil.

Now, add the stock about a ladelful at a time. After each lot of stock is added, stir vigorously. Bash the grains about a bit - you want them to release their starch. I personally don't find that you need to be stirring absolutely constantly but do keep an eye on it. As the rice absorbs the stock, add more.

Once you are about three quarters of the way through the stock, add the smoked salmon, reserving a few strips for garnish. At this point check the seasoning; you probably won't need any salt but plenty of black pepper is a must.

Cook until the rice is soft and creamy but with a slight "bite" to it - you don't want to make mush! You may find you need a bit more stock for this.

Remove from the heat, cover the pan and leave to sit for about a minute. Finally, stir through the cream cheese and the dill and maybe add a bit more black pepper for luck.