#white bloomer bread

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Nettle and Green Onion Rarebit (Vegetarian)

After a few hours spent gardening, sowing, planting, weeding and tilling, how satisfying to return in the kitchen with freshly dug go, and freshly snipped (very carefully, with gloves!) nettle. These Nettle and Green Onion Rarebit, inspired from a recipe in this month's Simple Things, make the harvest all the more delicious! Happy Thursday!

Ingredients (makes 4 slices):

a large Green Onion

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons plain flour

1 cup semi-skimmed milk

a pinch of fleur de sel or sea salt flakes and freshly cracked black pepper

nutmeg

Mature English Cheddar

4 small slices White Bloomer Bread

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 cup freshly picked nettles (wearing gloves), leaves removed from the stalks and thoroughly washed under cold water (wearing rubber gloves!)

Preheat oven to 250°C/480°F.

Finely chop Green Onion.

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over a medium flame. Once butter is just foaming, add chopped Green Onion, and cook, a couple of minutes.

Sprinkle in the flour. Give a good stir, and cook out, 1 minute.

Remove from the heat, and gradually stir in the milk, to prevent lumps, so the mixture is smooth and loose. Return over medium heat, and cook, stirring constantly until the sauce thickens. Once the béchamel thickens, season with fleur de sel and black pepper. Grate in about 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. Then, grate in 1/3 cup Mature English Cheddar. Give a good stir until melted. Remove from the heat.

Place White Bloomer Bread slices onto a pizza pan, and place in the middle of the hot oven. Toast, at 250°C/480°F, 4 minutes.

Melt butter in a small frying pan over medium-high heat. Once the butter is just foaming, add the nettle leaves, and sauté, a couple of minutes until wilted. Transfer to a chopping board, and chop finely. Stir nettle leaves into the cheesy béchamel.

Flip White Bloomer Bread slices on their other side, and spoon cheesy nettle and green onion béchamel onto each slice. Grate a little more Cheddar on top and return to the hot oven. Bake, at 250°C/480°F, 3 to 4 minutes, until bubbly.

Sprinkle Nettle and Green Onion Rarebit with chopped green part of the Green Onion, and serve immediately, with a glass of chilled white wine, like Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc.

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Blue Cheese and Pear Slice of Bread

On the savoury sides of things, one of my favourite things to do with our pear harvest, is a simple but so delicious Blue Cheese and Pear Slice of Bread. The saltiness of blue cheese pairs wonderfully with pear preserve, and the ginger brings a nice kick. It truly is special!

Ingredients (serves 1):

1 thick slice of bread, such as Wholemeal Loaf or White Bloomer Bread

1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

2 heaped teaspoons Pear and Ginger Preserve

30 grams/1 ounce good quality blue cheese, such as Fourme d'Ambert, Roquefort or Stilton

Spread Bread slice with butter. Generously slather with Pear and Ginger Preserve, and top with Fourme d’Ambert.

Enjoy Blue Cheese and Pear Slice of Bread, with a glass of craft beer or Cider, to make it even better.

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Margherita Toasts

And finally, another quick, easy and thrifty recipy with Southern Europe accents, these Margherita Toasts are a delicious alternative for the pizza version!

Ingredients (serves 2):

2 generous slices White Bloomer Bread

3 heaped tablespoons

125 grams/4.4 ounces fresh Mozzarella di buffala

a few teaspoons Peanut Pesto (or Pesto alla Genovese)

fresh basil leaves

Preheat oven to 210°C/410°F.

Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Place both Bloomer Bread slices onto the baking tray, and spread Balsamic Tomato Sauce generously onto each. Cut Mozzarella di bufala into slices and place onto each toast.

Place baking tray in the middle of the hot oven, and bake, at 210°C/410°F, for 15 to 18 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Scatter a little Peanut Pesto on top of each toast, and top with fresh basil leaves.

Serve Margherita Toasts immediately, with lettuce.

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Haddock Welsh Rarebit

These Haddock Welsh Rarebit are full of flavour, delightfully cheesy and make a tasty, simple dinner for a Friday night! Have a good one!

Ingredients (serves 4):

7.5 ounces smoked haddock

2 cups 2% fat milk

4 thick slices White Bloomer Bread

2 1/5 tablespoons unsalted butter + a bit more for the bread

2 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 heaped teaspoon whole-grain mustard

1 teaspoon English Mustard

2 ounces Mature Cheddar

2 sprigs flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

Place smoked haddock, skin-side down in a large, deep skillet. Cover with milk and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Cook, 10 minutes.

Remove haddok from the milk, saving it for the sauce, let cool slightly and remove the skin. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 410°. Lightly butter Bloomer Bread slices and place them on a baking sheet. Toast in the hot oven, 10 minutes, or until just golden brown. Remove from the oven; set aside.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Whisk in flour all at once and cook out, 1 minute. Remove from heat, and gradually whisk in reserved smoked haddock poaching milk until well-blended, smooth and lump-free.Return saucepan over medium-low heat, and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until sauce thickens, and coats wooden spoon. Stir in whole-grain mustard, and English Mustard. Flake smoked haddock and gently stir into the sauce. Grate in half of the Cheddar, and  stir in half of the chopped parsley.

Preheat oven broiler.

Spoon a generous spoonful of haddock mixture onto each toasted Bloomer Bread slices and sprinkle with coarsely grated remaining Cheddar Cheese. Place baking sheet under the broiler, and grill, 5 to 7 minutes, until golden brown.

Serve Haddock Welsh Rarebit hot, sprinkled with remaining parsley, with lettuce.

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Mrs. Butler's Welsh Rarebit

“Dinner was, as usual, excellent. Mrs Butler, knowing that there was trouble in the house, had decided that soothing, easy to eat food was just the thing to slide past a lump un the throat. Nothing sharp, no pastry, no fried food. (...) There was a savoury of Welsh rarebit and a strengthening pot of coffee.’’

Ever since I started reading Kerry Greenwood’s delectables adventures of one wonderful Miss Fisher, I’ve drooled over the also delectable dishes and meals Mrs. Butler prepares (or Mrs Truebody, or Ruth, or whoever’s in charge of the kitchen where The Honourable Phryne Fisher investigates). And I think I will have no choice but to cook every recipe at least once, it is far too tempting of a challenge to resist. Now, it isn’t a feast every day in the St. Kilda house, and simple, hearty meals are also appreciated. Like Mrs. Butler’s Welsh Rarebit, which I made for dinner yesterday. Not that there is trouble in our house, but the weather’s still dull and grey, and the deliciously cheesy savoury proved very soothing indeed.

Ingredients (serves 3):

6 thick slices White Bloomer Bread

4 tablespoons unsalted butter 

4 tablespoons all-purpose flour 

1 cup amber ale or IPA

½ cup whole milk

½ teaspoon sea salt flakes 

½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

1 teaspoon English mustard 

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 ounce Cheshire cheese + more for sprinkling 

1 ounce mature Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 410°. Lightly butter Bloomer Bread slices and place them on a baking sheet. Toast in the hot oven, 10 minutes, or until just golden brown. Remove from the oven; set aside.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Whisk in flour all at once and cook out, 1 minute. Remove from heat, and gradually whisk in amber ale and whole milk. Return saucepan over medium heat, and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until mixture thickens. Season with sea salt flakes and white pepper. Stir in English mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Finally, using the coarse side of a box grater, grate in Cheshire and Cheddar cheeses, stirring until melted. Remove from heat.

Preheat oven broiler.

Spoon a generous coating of cheese and ale sauce onto each toasted bread slice, and sprinkle with coarsely grated Cheshire cheese.

Place baking sheet under the broiler, and grill, 5 to 7 minutes, until golden brown.

Serve Mrs. Butler’s Welsh Rarebit hot with a simple lettuce.

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White Bloomer Bread

Let's stay in the bakery, but this time on the other side of the Channel with this classic White Bloomer Bread. With Paul Hollywood's recipe, you can't go wrong!

Ingredients (makes one large loaf):

1 pound and 2 ounces strong white flour or all-purpose flour

1 level tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon instant yeast

4 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for kneading

1 3/4 cups cold water

all-purpose flour for dusting

Place flour, salt and instant yeast in a large bowl, making sure the salt and yeast don't touch. Add olive oil and one cup water. Mix the ingredients together with your hands, gradually adding the rest of the water, until all the flour is incorporated and  you have a soft, rough, slightly sticky dough.

Pour a little olive oil on your work surface and turn dough out onto it. Start kneading the dough, stretching it, folding it twice on itself and turning it before repeating, for about 10 minutes. Dough must be slightly elastic, soft and shiny. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with cling film and leave to prove until tripled in size, at least 2 hours.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Remove cling film and turn dough out on a lightly oiled surface. Punch it down to knock all the air out. When dough is flattened into a rectangle, fold it twice on itself so you have a smooth top and the seam along the base. Shape into a bloomer by rounding the edges with the heel of your palms. Place on prepared baking sheet, cover with cling film and prove again, for about an hour or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 425° and place a baking dish filled with water on the bottom shelf to create steam as the bread is baking.

Remove cling film gently. Lightly spray with water and dust with flour, gently rubbing it all over the bread. With a sharp serrated knife, make four slashes across the top.

Place the loaf in the middle of the oven, and bake for 25 minutes. Reduce heat to 400°, and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and let your White Bloomer Bread cool on a wire rack.