1000 Ways to Love Your Total Greek Yoghurt - Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of my account of a great time spent with Total Greek Yoghurt and Chef Paul Merrett.

Now our cake for pudding was in the oven so we proceeded to make our starter Fresh and Smoked Salmon Rillette with Wholemeal Toast.  We stayed in the same groups as for the cake and split the tasks to get the starter ready and in the fridge to chill until lunch.

We put the fresh salmon in the oven to lightly cook, let it cool and then flaked it into a bowl.

We mixed the yoghurt, lemon juice, softened butter, dill and horseraddish into a bowl and shredded the smoked salmon into this.

When it was all mixed together it went into the fridge to wait till lunch time.  It was a delicious and light starter and enjoyed very much.

Fresh and Smoked Salmon Rillette with Wholemeal Toast

Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 tablespoon of TOTAL Greek Yoghurt, Classic (2% can also be used)
200g of fresh salmon
½ lemon, juiced
60g of diced and softened unsalted butter
1 dessert spoon of fresh dill, chopped
2 teaspoons of horseradish relish
75g of smoked salmon
Pepper
Brown bread for toast

Method 
1.      Place the fresh salmon in a small oven proof baking dish and wet the salmon with a dessert spoon of water. Cover the dish with foil and put it in an oven at 170°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3 for about 6 minutes.
2.      When the salmon is cool, flake it into a bowl.
3.      Add the yoghurt, lemon juice, the softened butter (microwave), dill and horseradish – but don’t mix it all yet.
4.      Shred up the smoked salmon into strips and add this to the bowl.
5.      Finally add a twist of black pepper and then gently fold and mix everything together taking care not to break it all down to a mush.
6.      When everything is thoroughly combined, put into a serving dish and chill it in the fridge for at least an hour.
7.      Serve with hot brown toast.

Come back to Part 3 for a fantastic vegetarian recipe for a main course Tagine with a difference.

1000 Ways to Love Your Total Greek Yoghurt - Part 1

Total Greek Yoghurt has a new campaign designed to inform readers about the 1000 new recipes and ways to use and love their yoghurt.  Based on this campaign they invited a group of food bloggers up to London for a day cooking recipes using Total Greek Yoghurt under the guidance of Chef Paul Merrett. We arrived at La Cucina Caldesi off Marlebone Lane,

When I arrived Paul Merrett came over and said hello right away (unlike some celeb chefs who pretty much keep to themselves!) and he was very warm and welcoming and gave us a quick run down of the session and off we wsent to settle in at out workstation.

Chef Paul Merrett gave us a quick idea of the agenda for the session

Finishing touches on the panna cotta

As soon as we arrived we were given a quick snack of Panna Cotta made with Total Greek Yoghurt (TGY) which was absolutely devine.  I am not a breakfast eater as a general rule so this was a very welcome offering mid-morning.

Greek Yoghurt and Vanilla Panna Cotta with Raspberries

We were split into groups and told that we would be cooking the lunch of three courses.  First of all we prepared and made the Semolina Sponge Cake with Almonds, Hazelnuts, Greek Yoghurt and Honey. We prepared the cake first because it would take about 1 hour to bake and we could get on with other preparations in the meantime.

Ready to go in the oven

All four groups baked their cakes together

A few minutes to cool then pour over the syrup

Ready to serve

Just checking the middle is cooked

Served with a drizzle of honey and a dollop of yoghurt

Blue Diamond Almond Breakfast

As part of a challenge set by Blue Diamond Almonds the California almond people I made 'Blueberry and Almond Pancakes' for breakfast this morning.

I was sent a litre of Blue Diamond Almond Breeze almond milk to use to make a breakfast for myself and Mr R.  Blue Diamond Almond Breeze almond milk is unsweetened allowing you go use it in place of cow's milk without adding sugar.  It is low in saturated fats, dairy free and a good source of calcium.  It is also suitable for vegans and vegetarians.

I chose pancakes because they are one of my favourites and usually saved for a special weekend breakfast.

I wanted to make them special so I followed a basic pancake recipe but substituted the Blue Diamond Almond Breeze almond milk instead of the usual cow's milk and substituted 10g ground almonds for 10g of the SR flour.

My pancake recipe:-

190g Self Raising flour
10g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
300ml Blue Diamond Almond Milk
1 egg (beaten)
2 Tbsp butter (melted)
150g blueberries
2 Tbsp flaked almonds lightly crushed
pinch of salt

I mixed the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  Then in a smaller bowl mix the egg, almond milk and melted butter.
Make a well in the dry ingredients, pour in the wet and mix well (for best results use a wisk or electric hand mixer)

Carefully mix in the blueberries and chopped almonds.

Heat the frying pan with 2 Tbsp sunflower oil and 1 Tbsp butter and then place 3-4 spoonfuls of the pancake mix in the pan.  Allow to cook on one side until there are bubbles appearing on the surface then flip over and cook the other side for 2 minutes.

Serve with warmed maple syrup, hot coffee and enjoy.

Adding the chopped flaked almonds gave the pancakes a nice crunchy texture. To go with the pancakes I also made a smoothie with a banana, yoghurt and Blue Diamond Almond Milk.

Midnight Snack

Time for a midnight snack. I know it's going to be a Total Greek Yoghurt duo pot but which flavour to pick? 

I think it really has to be the greek honey! 

Yummm yummm that hit the spot.

Think I will go to bed now, night night!

Surprise Supper

Do you ever start making one thing for supper and end up with a completely different meal?  When Mr R took the dog out for a walk he thought he would return to a creamy salmon and linguine dish.

I went to Costco this afternoon and bought a huge piece of fresh salmon.  I usually cut this into four and then each piece in half.  I freeze the salmon in packs of two pieces and the last quarter which is the thin end I cut into smaller pieces to use in a pasta sauce.  This makes very economical meals costing approximately £1.75 per person per meal.

So anyway, I wanted to use the cut up pieces tonight to make a salmon, cream cheese, pesto sauce for some linguine.  I started by cooking in a frying pan some pieces of salami and slices of onion along with a clove of giant garlic that I had barbequed in foil and stored covered in olive oil in a jar a few days earlier.  As this was cooking I decided that it would be too strong a flavour for the salmon, it would get lost in the sauce so a change of plan was called for!!

Instead of adding the salmon pieces I added a package of smoked back bacon cut into small pieces and cooked this with the onion mix.

Occassionally I use a jar of Lloyd Grossman Tomato and Basil sauce when I want a mid week short cut which I did tonight, adding it to the bacon-onion in the pan.  A tin of chopped tomatoes, 2 teaspoons of My Secret Kitchen Artichoke Pesto were added along with 250ml of freshly grated parmesean cheese.  I only seasoned with black pepper because the bacon will be quite salty and I could alway adjust this at the end just before serving.

I cooked some pasta shells (Mr R's favourite - I buy it in 3kg bags!), topped with sauce and slices of mozzarella and popped it in the oven to melt the cheese topping.

Imagine Mr R's face when I presented him with a bacon and tomato sauce on shells when he was expecting a creamy salmon and linguine dish!!

I think you can tell he was happy nevertheless with his supper!

And the winner is ........ ??

Me!!! Up until the last 18 months or so I never really won anything.  I used to enter loads of competitions and always bought raffle ticket but very very rarely won anything.  That is until lately. This is one of the many competitions I have won in the past months.

I entered a simple competition on Twitter to say what was my favourite tapas dish.  The answer of course is deep fried calamari! The competition was put on by delicious magazine and Tio Pepe and the prize was 4 x £50 box of goodies.  I was really surprised when a few days later I learned that I had won one of the boxes. 

Tio Pepe is the world's best selling fino sherry and is drunk by the locals in Jerez in Southern Spain with tapas as they've done for over a century.

The prize arrived a couple of days ago and contained some really delicious treats, such as a bottle of Tio Pepe sherry, Spanish olive oil, sweet wine vinegar, black olives, candied mixed nuts, a pack of chorizo and a tin of fantastic smoked paprika.

I think the only thing to do is have some friends around for tapas.  Tio Pepe is fantastic with food, especially savoury nibbles such as ham, chorizo, ollives, Manchego cheese and bread and oil.  It's also great with fish or prawns and shrimps. Any suggestions on what I should prepare? I will of course write about the tapas evening.  Wanna come?

BBC GoodFood Show - Guest Post - Woof, Bark, Sniff-Sniff!

Bark, Bark, Sniff, woof woof - Oh sorry I forgot I have to tell you this in English!  My name is Jonty and my human (Heidi) went to the BBC GoodFood Show last week.  She was very keen sighted (I show her how to spot things sometimes) and she found the Laughing Dog stand.

Laughing Dog dog food is made without wheat, soya or dairy products (all of these can upset my tummy) and no artificial colours or flavours either ( you should see some of the treats I got for Christmas last year, they were bright green, red and yellow - I bet they were not natural colours!) All their products are actually baked in an oven so they retain more of the goodness and none of the delicious taste is lost.

Now let me tell you that I am quite a fussy eater so I wasn't really expecting to like the treats that Heidi brought home for me (I usually don't and they get given to the local hedgehogs when the humans are sick of seeing them in the kitchen).

But these products were yummy scrummy.  My friend George, originally from Madeira, came over and we tried them together. 

First we tried the Oven Baked Dental Oaties with Parsley and Eucalyptus oil.  We loved these so much we kept looking in the grass for crumbs!!  The natural cellulose fibre helps to promote a smooth cleaning of our teeth and help to remove plaque too.

Next we tried the Oven Baked Cheesy Oaties with Lincolnshire Cheese and Broccoli (I love both cheese and broccoli so I was pretty sure I would like these).  These too help keep our teeth plaque free.  The final thing we tested was the natural complete food.  Initially I thought these were just pieces or cardboard I had chewed up but when I tasted them I really liked them too.  George and my humans were amazed because as I said earlier I can be quite fussy with my food and if it doesn't look good I just refuse to eat it.

I hope I get these products again because they seem to be good for me and taste great.  George gave them the paws up too!

If you have a furry family member try these out - I bet they will like them too (woof, woof, bark, sniff)

PS: it is my birthday and I am 5 years old (your years not mine) and I am a very lovable Bichon Frisee. If you have any questions or comments don't hesitate to ask (My humans will pass any messages on to me).

Jonty