F-Game Toad in a Hole

Lately, around here I am not giving my a-game. I’m not sure, what it would be like, though. No worries!

Anyway, life is like this: sometimes you loose and sometimes the others win. Nah, it's not that bad. Sometimes you simply have other things to do.

Therefore we go right away into food, for at least here we know, that it will go to a meal. Leftovers! There were those pork sausages in my fridge, those tiny ones. Here they are called Nürnberger. I used some of them for my English breakfast some time ago, but what to do with the rest of them.

Now I know, why I put all those knowledge into my head. At some point a bell will ring and I know what to do. So, toad in the hole. I never had. Therefore I never made it before. I now, it involves sausages and … something else.

Now I give you my F-game Toad in the Hole …

 Well, the F-game in this recipe doesn’t refer to it being rubbish. Otherwise, I wouldn’t even think about putting it up here.

No! It’s time for Lord Feta to strike back …

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 tsp mustard powder
120 g flour
100 ml milk
Some parsley, finely chopped
Some sage, finely chopped
Salt, pepper
100 g bacon, preferably 10 slices
10 small pork sausages
200g feta

Method:Heat up your oven to 180 °C.

Get yourself an ovenproof dish, 20 x 20 cm will do for this amount of ingredients. Put it aside.

Now get a bowl and mix in it the eggs, mustard powder, flour, milk, parsley and sage. Season with salt and pepper. Pour that mixture into the ovenproof dish.

What a coincidence, the amount of bacon was just enough for the number of sausages I had left. Go for it and wrap one slice of bacon around one little sausages and arrange in the batter in the ovenproof dish.

All done? Proceed with the feta. You can either crumble it into the ovenproof dish or cut it into cubes and scatter them over the sausages in the dish.

Anyhow, put into the oven for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, you have sufficient time to whip up your onion gravy and get whatever vegetables you want to put on the side ready.

For sure, you have a good recipe for onion gravy and know quite perfectly well how to do it. No?

I took a pan and melted some butter at low heat, tossed in the onion rings of a large onion and let things go until the toad in the hole is almost finish.

To complete the sauce, season with salt and pepper, add a tablespoon of flour and a generous splash of sherry. Briefly cook so the sauce thickens.

The finished dish from the oven could look somewhat like that or when you have a closer look, it will look a bit like this …

Ah, that wasn’t really that much closer. Anyway, plate up. With the right amount of vegetables you could even manage to satisfy four people with that, but than you can’t be as generous with the onion gravy as I have …

However, that was only, because I wanted to have fresh gravy for the leftovers another day and maybe enhance the gravy with some mushrooms then.

If, though, you don’t have four people for tea and decide to have a second go, you can have less or no gravy at all …

You could always have some more peas, though.

Whatsoever, I enjoyed it very much. If you want to have a more traditional version of toad in the hole, I guess, you just have to omit the feta.

In case you want to have a vegetarian version, you could omit the bacon and use veggie sausages or use something completely different, but then again, you might get a totally different dish here. So, why then, not cook something completely different.

Bloggers Around the World March Round-Up: Great Britain

What was I thinking? Maybe not much ... as usual ... eh ... just say not fully thought through. It really can be quite some work putting together more then one round-up in a few days, especially when the participation is as good as it was this month for Bloggers Around the World with our travels around Great Britain.

There have been some scrumptious entries as you are going to see for yourself very soon  ...

Our journey begins as we join Kait at Chickadee Says and have a Lemon-Herb Roasted Chicken. 

It looks really lovely and it can only be delicious. All the fresh herbs make it totally a winner.

As pudding or a tea time treat then you can have one of my Tipsy Blueberry Mini Bakewell Tarts. Who doesn't love a Bakewell tart, especially when it is tipsy? He he he!

Together with a nice cuppa ... what more could you want?

Maybe a Yorkshire Curd Tart? You find a great version on Fromage Homage.

The good thing is you get a very good description on how to make them really from scratch. You see what I mean when you go and have a look.

Sarah at Tales From The Kitchen Shed takes us over to Guernsey and has some gorgeous Gâche Melée with Butterscotch Sauce for us.

She had me at the Butterscotch Sauce. Again, a wonderful treat indeed. On top of it, you can get delicious results, even if you don't have Guernsey cream.

While we are already having a cup of tea again, why not have a teapot as a cake instead? Or did I put it wrong now? Caroline from Caroline Makes ... has made a beautiful Teapot Birthday Cake flavoured with Strawberry Tea.

Caroline has really done a great job here with all the details and ... she is right when she says: "I don't think you can get much more British than a nice cup of tea!" We are quite well getting the point throughout this round-up.

Now we had quite some sweet dishes. It's time for something savoury. Deon from Food Jam has a Sausage, Egg and Potato Bake for us.

Does this remind you of an English breakfast. Yes, it's one with a twist.

As our journey continues, it gets sweet once more. We are having some Somerset Easter Biscuits from Laws of the Kitchen. 

Well, we don't need Easter to enjoy some of those. Buttery tea biscuit and lovely spices- do I need to say more?

From Somerset it's not too far to get to Cornwall. Choclette from the Chocolate Log Blog makes us happy with some Cornish Saffron Buns. Yes, you will also find chocolate in there.

Besides that, the buns are baked with flour from a place I also like and have lovely memories with.

Something that always work very well with me, are scones. Corina from Searching for Spice brings us some lovely Traditional Fruit Scones.

Yes, that would be very relaxing right now, those fruit scones with jam and clotted cream and a cuppa, of course.

We continue very much along the sweet and tea line with Alexandra from The Lass In The Apron. Here we will get some gorgeous Ginger Simnel Cupcakes.

Have I said too much? Rather too little, I reckon ... There is marzipan in it. Oh, now I want one.

On with another classic, this time from Laura at Knead Whine: Toad in the Hole.

Here, I have to add that this is a Veggie version. Yummy, go for it.

Now I am glad that we are having a pie, too. Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary brings us a stunning Leftover Roast Beef Pie.

For sure I need a few more pie like this in my life.

Janice from Farmersgirl Kitchen takes some traditional British pork sausages and turns them into a lovely Slow Cooker Sausage, Tomato and Rosemary Casserole.

That's tasty, thrifty and convenient, isn't it?

Yes, we are kind of rushing today, but no matter what dishes are coming I start to get really hungry. Tina From Letters of a Lodge Cook keeps adding to this feeling with her Ecclefechan Tart.

Have a look and try if you can find a town by that name on the map as well.

I even wish I had some of those Melting Moments with Cream and Jam left.

Unfortunately, I don't.

Do you know Whitley Bay? They have a lovely lighthouse. However, Alison from Dragons and Fairy Dust wishes to introduce us to Whitley Goose.

Why there is no goose in this recipe you have to find out for yourself. However, it does have Cheddar cheese.

Then we have two last minute entries from Ruth from 8&Ruth. First of all some biscuits: Devon Flats.

They are really flat, aren't they? 
On then with some Welsh Rarebit or shall I say Rare bit of Welshness?

We still go on a bit and join Galina at Chez Maximka for Seville & blood orange marmalade. Apart from those two ingredients there is also a special ingredient waiting for you, which I myself personally like in there.

So, if you never made Seville marmalade before, this will be a good point to start with.

Now I can only say thank you for all the lovely contributions to Bloggers Around the World and ... hopefully ... I haven't forgotten anyone.

Bloggers Around the World: Great Britain

Don't be afraid!

The Cheese Conspiracy

Do you know this feeling? Randomly you catch a few words of a conversation of complete strangers and you have the feeling, they are talking about you. Do you know what I mean? Then maybe you are egocentric and take yourself too important.
On the other hand there might be some big conspiracy going on. I really have that feeling. For instance, some days ago I was travelling with the underground. Instead of seeing normal people having conversations or reading a book - you know that thing where you have to turn over the page once in a while - but, no they all were staring on these small objects in their hands and were doing who knows what. Then they had these small gadgets in their ears. I'm not sure yet what is going on, but it has to be some kind of conspiracy ...

The Marzipator strikes back - Dorset Apple Cake with Marzipan

Somehow, it could not be avoided. The marzipator strikes back. How could get things get that far again?
Well it didn't start so bad. I ended up with several tons (note: exaggeration) of apples. They came in from different sides. It's the time for apples.
There are many lovely things you can do with them ... that is apart from just eating them as they are. The saying goes: "An apple a day keeps the doctor away!" That would mean I don't see the doctor for quite some time. I don't know whether that works. As far as I know, apples can't prevent accidents.
Anyway, you could use your apples for apple sauce, apple crumble, apple pancakes, apple porridge, many many other things and ... apple cake.
Now things are as follows. For quite some time there is a blog challenge going on. It's about the Best of British food and every month, there is a different region covered. The challenge is sponsored by The Face of New World Appliances and this month it is hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage with the theme Dorset. Have a look at London Unattached from Fiona as well.
Consequently this leaves me no chance as to bake a Dorset Apple Cake. I had a look at a few recipes and they all have some basic things in common. Apple is the obvious, but usually there are also some ground almonds in it.
That is the point were the marzipator and therefore the marzipan comes into play. It has to do with almonds anyway. So why not add some of it to the cake.

See for yourself!

Ingredients:
450 g of apples, peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces (more or less)
Juice of 1 lemon
250 g flour
2 tsp baking powder
250 g butter (I was too lazy to measure, so I decided for a whole package)
150 g brown sugar
50 g ground almonds
100 g marzipan
2 eggs
Some extra sugar mixed together with ground cinnamon

Method (if you want to call it that way):
Well, what to do now. I could simply tell you to just throw all ingredients into a big bowl and mix thoroughly, but ...
Toss the pieces of apple in the juice and let them sit in it.
Sift the flour and the baking powder into a big bowl. Then start kneading in the butter and create some crumbles.
Add the sugar, the ground almonds and the marzipan. Crack open the eggs and release the content into the bowl, not bothering about separating and beating egg whites.
Now is the time to mix or knead it through thorougly. Do it as you want it. I used only my bare hands and did it as messy as possible. However, if you should decide to do the same, make sure you have the usual round (about 25 cm) cake tin greased and ready and the oven going at 180°C.
Naturally, the content of the bowl moves over to the cake tin.

Once managed, it goes into the oven for 50 minutes until it gets nicely browned.
By the way, this is now two cakes in a row, since my last post was about a cake as well. Should I rename to Baking Around the World?
When the cake is ready and you removed it from the oven, let it cool down a bit and then try your best to move it over to a plate without falling apart. I managed kind of.

After the cake was sitting safely on the plate, I simply couldn't resist to sprinkle some magic cinnamon-sugar on top.
I hope you enjoy the cake. If you have some nice clotted cream available, that would give it another boost. So ... go for it!
Otherwise, you may have the chance to get to Dorset and get a piece of Dorset Apple Cake in a nice tearoom (of course it will be without marzipan).

Near this place I know a nice tearoom. Whatsoever, there are many other nice things to see in Dorset along the Jurassic Coast and beyond. I want to come to an end of this post and leave you with some impressions of Dorset ...

Red Hot Pumpkin Curry for #BestOfBritish

This time the Best of British challenge takes us to London as Fiona from London Unattached takes over. It's lovely to visit London and there is much to see and, of course, many different things to eat. I like going there and have done so accordingly quite a few times. On one of my last visits I went to this lovely Indian Supper Club. A few days later I was on the streets, somewhere to where a lot of shops with goods from India were. There I bought this.

Now I have an Indian spice tin, a masala dabba. That's what I want to use this time for my Red Hot Pumpkin Curry. Yes, I'm still working on using all my fresh chillies from the windowsill.

Ingredients:
Oil for the pan
2 small onions (or one big one - ha ha), finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, squeezed
2 carrots, in cubes
1 courgette, in cubes
1 green bell pepper, in stripes (kind of)
1/2 Hokkaido pumpkin, in cubes
1-4 fresh red chillies (you know what to do, to make it red HOT)
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp nigella seeds (don't get this wrong)
1 tsp crushed coriander seeds
400 ml tinned tomatoes

Preparation:
The battle is on now. Well, I bet you have a lot of fun with all this chopping and crushing and squeezing and cutting into pieces and stripes.

To get the base for our curry, we heat up the oil and then gently cook the onions and the garlic for a while, but don't let them go brownish.
Then add all the other vegetables, apart from the tinned tomatoes. Fry it all for about ten minutes, together with the nice spices.
Then we can add the tomatoes and if you like liquid, add a bit of water, too. Cover it and let it all simmer for some minutes.
To be more precise, if you want to have steamed rice together with it, which takes about 20 minutes, you can leave the curry to simmer for the same time it takes to prepare the rice.
When all is done, you only have to serve it and eat it.
I still had some mini papadums, I wanted to use together with it. On the package it says, they would be suitable for the microwave as well and so I did. I thought one minute would do. That was a grave mistake. Well, I had to live with a horrible smell in the kitchen for a few days and some black papadums.
However, after adding some more and watching while they unfolded, I was still able to enjoy some with a little bit of mango chutney.

Time is really running by. Here goes another Best of British challenge together with The Face of New World Appliances.
Well, as I said, it is always a pleasure to go and visit London. I wonder, when I will go next time ...

Eating in Bristol - Za Za Bazaar

During my last holiday, which consisted mostly of getting blisters and sunburn (yes, the weather in Britain is not as bad as everyone is always thinking), we also made a one day trip to Bristol. Afterwards we also made a stop in Cheddar to walk the Cheddar gorge a bit, but that is another story.
We mostly went around the harbour area. Clever as I am, I put my accumulators of my camera to charging the night before, only to discover in Bristol as I wanted to take the first photo ... well ... they were still in the charger at home. So I had to use my mobile phone.
In the harbour area they had set up some ping pong tables and I was really surprised all the equipment was still there. So we decided for a match - three sets. Another surprise! I played better then I thought.
Next a visit to Brunel's ss Great Britain was on the program.

Well, you obviously see, what it is

Set table on the ship

If you are interested in such kind of subjects, it is well worth going. You get an audio guide there and can imagine what travel must have been like at that time. Concerning the guide, you can choose whether you want to travel first class or third class. There is also an audio guide for children.
For just going once and visiting the ship and the museum is not so cheap, but the ticket is valid for one whole year, so you can keep coming back. That is, if you don't live too far away.
So when you are interested, you can spend quite some time there as we did, looking at things in detail. However, all this made us hungry. After all by now it was lunch time.
But where to go? 
Around there, a lot is on offer, but you need to make sure that it fits to your likes, to the likes of those in your group, and to the amount of money you want to spent.

So we found the right thing for us in this situation: Za Za Bazaar.
Here you pay one price and can eat as much as you want. The drinks you have to pay extra.
However, that is not the interesting thing about Za Za Bazaar. That is you have a variety of desks were you can get different kinds of food: Far East, Italian, Tex Mex, Indian and other things.

Just a small overview of what you see there.
You get also a separate section for dessert as well. But be careful if you want to eat yourself through the whole restaurant. That would not be advisable or you end up with having stomach problems.
I though, risked a bit to try a few more things.

Maybe you like some sushi ...

... or Thai soup with coconut and lemon grass ...

... or even some pho

At one point I forgot to take more photos of the food. Besides, as for the presentation of the food you have to arrange things yourself. I didn't have too much time for that.
You can also watch how things are prepared there freshly and at some points you can also order dishes according to your wishes.
Without going any more into detail as to what you can have or try, like curries, risotto, Asian noodle dishes and so forth, I like to tell you what I like about the whole idea.
For example, when you are out with a group for a meal and you can not find a clear majority vote on what to have, because one wants Chinese, another Italian, yet another Indian ... and so on, Za Za Bazaar could be the place for you to go, since you can have it all.
Well you don't have the full variety as you would have in a specialized restaurant or things might not be sophisticated, but it still good value.
Whatsoever, I enjoyed my stay and, who knows, maybe you will too if you have a try. At least I would go again, would I be in the neighbourhood. My friend did it.
You find Za Za Bazaar at Harbourside, Canons Rd, Bristol.
Finally, Za Za Bazaar fits totally to the title of this blog Cooking Around the World. We had it there, just in one place.
The hiking afterwards in Cheddar was very helpful for ... well, you know!