comfort food

Quick Golden Multi-seed Bread

| Ranette Prime

There is nothing more appealing than the smell and look of fresh bread from straight out the oven. It sends you drooling, scrambling for the bread knife or the first opportunity to rip a piece out of its side to smother it with cool butter, jam or chocolate spread. In this case chocolate spread won: it was a delicious combination of Nutella with the crunchy seeds and malty taste of the fluffy bread that made my midday brunch most satisfying.

And to think that only a couple of hours earlier this loaf of bread was merely a packet of bread mix, olive oil and a bit of water away from becoming delicious! This is probably the most surprisingly tasty bread mixes I have made: the dough turned into deep caramel the moment I started to add water to the mix. I was also tempted at some stage to add honey to the mix, in fear the bread would be bland, but it wasn’t necessary. The bread was fluffy and had a slight sweetness to it.

The following day the bread was a little firmer, probably because I put it in the fridge wrapped in cling film. This actually made it good for toasting. Every once in a while it’s nice to treat yourself to some home made bread, the downside is you feel obliged to eat it all yourself so I would recommend making rolls so that you can share it among your friends and family.

Golden Multi-Seed Bread

Ingredients:

1 packet of Sainsbury’s Golden Multi-seed Bread Mix

15 ml Olive Oil or 25g butter

320 ml luke warm water

Method:

(to bake by hand0

1. Rub the bread mix with the butter or oil in a bowl with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Gradually add the water to form a soft dough.

2. Knead well on a floured surface for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic, then place it back in the bowl, cover with lightly oiled cling film. Leave the dough in a warm place for one hour to rise and double in size.

3. Knead well again on a floured surface for a few minutes, place in a greased 2lb loaf tin. Or shape the dough into 8 equal sized balls and placed in a round tin (as pictured above).

Cover with lightly oiled cling film. Leave the dough in a warm place for half an hour to rise again and increase in size. Preheated oven 230oC/450oF/Gas mark 8

4. Remove cling film and bake in the top of the ovenfor 30 minutes or until golden brown. Then brush with melted butter to give the warm bread a glossy shine and buttery taste.

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Salmon Kebab Sticks

| Ranette Prime

Here marks the end of the stick it in the oven with a drizzle of lemon and pepper Salmon fillets. No more, and I mean it.  I have no problem with grilled Salmon any day of the week, especially if you want something quick after a long day that still tastes pretty decent with a simple side of potatoes or vegetables.

I bought some salmon earlier at the weekend and seriously that was all I had in mind; but as with life, we all need a transformation of some kind and so as I walked through the dreary aisles of Morrison’s Superstore I almost shouted:  “What about the salmon?!” So this post is dedicated to the beloved Salmon which has served us tirelessly and has been crying out for a make-over greater than being chunked, diced or smoked. He wants more out of life.

This recipe should take you no more than an hour. I took my time with this one only because I find cooking very therapeutic, but I’m sure it can be achieved in much less time. As with regular Salmon fillets, be careful not to over-cook them, you want to retain the juices, this often happens when you re-heat Salmon which sometimes can’t be avoided. Having said that I re-heated these for my lunch and they were fine.

Salmon Kebab Sticks

  • Difficulty: easy
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INGREDIENTS

2 skinless salmon fillets (480g)

2 cups fresh breadcrumbs

1 tbsp Thai Green Paste

1/4 cup finely chopped red sweet peppers

1/4 cup freshly chopped Coriander

1 tbsp fish sauce

1/2 tsp garlic and ginger paste

Mini kebab sticks (optional)

1/2 black pepper

 

‘Basting’

1/2 tsp Tumeric Powder

4 tbsp Honey

1/2 cup hot water

 

METHOD:

  1. Take the salmon steaks and either roughly blend it in a food processor or mince it using a meat tenderiser and sharp knife on a chopping board. You want a mince like consistency.
  2. The breadcrumbs are formed from stale white bread of a crusty loaf of bread which you can slice and place in the oven for a few minutes to dry out slightly before blending in the food processor.
  3. Mix all the ingredients together adding the breadcrumbs little by little, you want the mixture to form a large ball.
  4. Shape the mixture into 8-10 balls and place in the fridge for 30 minutes, this will help the mixture hold together whilst cooking.
  5. Remove from the fridge and form the salmon into ‘tear drop’ shapes before piercing through with the kebab stick. Alternatively roll them into sphere’s on to a well oiled baking sheet or pan. Make sure you leave spaces between the kebab sticks whilst cooking.
  6. Place in a pre-heated oven a gas mark 5 for 15-20 minutes, turning the kebab sticks over if necessary.
  7. Half way through the cooking mix together the turmeric, honey and water, using a pastry brush, brush the kebab balls with the marinade before returning to the oven for the last 5 minutes.
  8. Serve with sweet mashed potatoes

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