Bread Machine Recipes: English Muffins

English muffins are said to date back to the 10th century but became paticularly popular by the 18th century. The Muffin Man rhyme is about exactly this kind of muffin and describes a door-to-door seller of the delicious hot cakes. Am I the only one that would quite like a modern muffin man? Hmm...


Anyway, I had never made muffins before. They always seemed somewhat elusive and slightly complicated but with a bread machine they are so easy. There is a bit of hands on time towards the end but to start with all you need to do is add the ingredients to the bread pan and put it on the Dough setting. Not exactly hard work.

Ingredients
1 cup tepid water
2 tbsp skimmed milk powder
2 tsp honey
3 tbsp melted butter
1/2 tsp salt
3 1/4 cups of white bread flour
1 tsp yeast

Once the machine has finished you knead the dough lightly for a couple of minutes and then roll it out to about half and inch thick. Using a 4" cutter (although mine was 3 7/8" for some obscure reason) cut rounds from the dough. Re-knead, re-roll and re-cut the dough until it is all used up (this recipe made 8 muffins for me). Sprinkle some fine cornmeal onto the muffins (both sides) and allow them to rest for 10 minutes.

Heat up a large heavy based frying pan or skillet (cast iron is meant to be the best but use whatever you have to hand) and cook the muffins at a moderate heat in batches for 7-10 minutes turning once during this time. I felt that our muffins were still a little doughy in the middle so I'd probably cook them at the longer end next time.

You can enjoy these hot from the pan (they were delicious) or allow them to cool on a rack and then split and toast them later (I did that too and they were still delicious). I hope you give these classic treats a try and I will definitely make them again.


This recipe comes from Vicki Smallwood's One hundred Bread Machine Recipes. It's my go-to book for anything from the bread machine and has a wide range of treats. It is available from Amazon.

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Chicken Pinchitos

I love this recipe. It's perfect for this time of year and would taste delicious cooked on the barbecue. The only thing to remember is that the meat needs to be marinated over night and therefore you have to be organised enough to do this. There have been a few occasions where I've planned to make this dish and forgotten to get it all sorted and in the fridge the night before and ended up making some other chicken dish. Organisation is key!

The mix of spices in the marinade is amazing. They've got a lot of kick to them and are complex in flavour. I particularly love the smoked paprika which gives a barbecue flavour with a slight sweetness, absolutely delicious... Have I built these up too much? I hope not. I usually skewer these with red onion slices but we only had white onions. I felt they might be too strong on their own so I added some green pepper and only small amounts of the onion and it worked really well (if I do say so myself).



I used skinless, boneless chicken thigh pieces this time but I would normally use chicken breast pieces as they tend to cook evenly and have a more even texture. These were fine though and seemed to go down well with my parents.



Ingredients
3 or 4 chicken breasts cut into even sized chunks
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
2 tsp dried thyme
Salt to season
1 dried bayleaf, crushed
3 cloves of crushed garlic
Juice of 1 lemon
Cooking spray
2-3 red onions cut into wedges (or one white onion and a green pepper)

Combine the spices, thyme and salt in a bowl. Add the chicken and rub the mixture into the meat with your fingers. Place in a dish with the bayleaf and garlic distributed evenly. Stir in the lemon juice and spray with cooking spray. Cover this mixture with cling film and marinate in the fridge overnight.

When you're ready to cook, thread the chicken and onion alternately onto skewers (if they're wooden make sure you have soaked them in water beforehand to prevent burning). Cook under a hot grill or on the barbecue for 4-5 minutes on each side or until cooked through.

I served these with homemade wedges and salad but they'd be good with all sorts of things.

This recipe is from Slimming World's Four Seasons Cookbook available from Amazon.

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Fish Pie

We've finally moved house and part of the deal of living with my parents is making dinner as often as we can! There are some dinners that you just can't make look pretty. These meals tend to come in a large dish that everyone helps themselves from. They are often the greatest meals to eat and involve family and friends sitting together enjoying good food and conversation.



I made fish pie the other night for the first time and it was delicious. We never have it at home as Al doesn't eat fish at all so when he was away for the night I made it for me and my parents. It's a very simple recipe and is easy to put together so it's perfect for a weeknight dinner.



Ingredients
Freshly mashed potatoes to cover the top of the dish
2 medium sized fillets of fish (one should be smoked for more flavour)
Cooked prawns (about 3-4oz)
A handful of frozen peas
Fresh parsley
1pt milk
2oz flour
2oz butter
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
Cheese to top the potato.


You don't need to cook the fish before you add it to the sauce so it makes things very easy. I used a fillet of smoked haddock and a fillet of cod and threw some cooked prawns in too. The sauce is incredibly simple. Put the milk, flour and butter into a saucepan and heat gently whisking continuously. Once the sauce had thickened, boiled and become smooth it is time to add the fish and the chopped hard-boiled eggs. I also threw in some frozen peas and some chopped fresh parsley. Cook this mixture for a few minutes and then transfer to a baking dish and top with mashed potato (or a combination of potato and swede) and top that with grated cheese. Bake in a 200C preheated oven until bubbling and golden on top and serve with more fresh parsley.

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