16 September 2009

Family meals from the pantry



I love having a variety of meals I can make quickly using what I have in the pantry and garden. This is an old standby that I make every month or so - salmon mornay. I grew up eating this, although in those days it was considered a sophisticated and fairly expensive meal, even though it's made on tinned salmon. I remember loving this when I was a child, so I think it might be a good meal to encourage children to eat more fish, which is always a good idea.



TO MAKE THE SAUCE
2 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoons plain (all purpose) flour
salt and pepper to taste
1½ cup milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Melt the butter in a saucepan over heat and add the flour, salt and pepper. Mix together into a paste. Take the saucepan off the heat and add the milk, stirring while you do it. Keep stirring to prevent lumps forming. Place the pan back on the heat and when you have a nice smooth sauce, add the cheese. Stir until the cheese has melted and take off the heat.

In a large bowl, add...

1½ cups of cooked brown rice.
I always use brown rice in savoury dishes. It has a delicious nutty flavour and is much more nutritious than white rice. Even if your children don't like brown rice (or have never eaten it before) put it in because when this meal is cooked they won't be able to tell if it's white or brown. I used to sneak in all sorts of food into these dishes when my sons where small boys. It helped them develop the taste for good food without us arguing over what they should eat. I think there is a lot to be said for camouflage. BTW, both my sons are now fine dining chefs.
1 finely chopped onion, 2 finely diced sticks of celery, ½ capsicum (bell pepper) already cooked in a little olive oil
1 cup corn
1 tin of red or pink salmon 415 grams/16ozs
a few sprigs of finely chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste



Mix all this together then add the cheese sauce and mix in. Pour into a greased baking tray and smooth down the top, sprinkle over about ½ cup cheese and bake in a moderate 180C/350F until the top is golden and bubbling.

Serve with a nice fresh salad from the garden. The recommendation now is to eat five serves of vegetables every day. This dish has the five vegetables (onion, corn, celery, parsley and capsicum), adding the salad is extra for that day - which is always a good option.

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35 comments

  1. That looks scrumptious! I will try to make it sometime as I do have the fish in the pantry. It is always hard to decide what to make with it even though I know it is good for you.

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    1. I am definitely going to try this Australian dish, it's a nice twist on a salmon loaf. Instead, it's a salmon casserole dish made from canned (tin) salmon with a nice Australian flare and served with fresh organic home grown garden produce. I love this!!!!!

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  2. Heheh. Camouflaging the food. My mum use to do that. Thank God for mums.

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  3. Sounds good Rhonda, My food suspicious 5 year old wouldn't try Salmon Mornay without a dramatic production ... I have to make up names that only feature the items she 'likes' so It here it would perhaps be called something like 'Rice in cheesy sauce with corn' LOL

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  4. That is a fantastic recipe. That is what we will be having for our dinner on Friday night....can't wait.
    Tnx again
    Lisa

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  5. Ooooh yum Rhonda!I have always used pasta in my morney's not rice before so will have to try it your way soon.I also like to use tuna too.

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  6. Mmm, that looks so delicious! Perfect comfort food. :-)

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  7. Yum. I make a dish almost exactly the same except with tuna.I also like to hide as many vegies in it as possible (hiding them from my husband). I usually add zucchini and broccoli or whatever is in the crisper.
    Last night we had 'whatever is left over in the crisper frittata.' It too is great to use up all those little bits and pieces.

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  8. This looks so good!
    Thank you so much for sharing it Rhonda Jean!

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  9. Thanks for the recipe. I have many cans of salmon in my food storage. We are having salmon mornay for dinner tonight!

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  10. About the only thing I've ever made with my canned salmon are salmon cakes but I'm getting a little bored with it. I am going to copy your recipe and try it out. Sounds good!

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  11. Rhonda, do you take the bones out of the canned salmon?

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  12. I have made a similar version for many years using tuna or salmon whichever is in the cupboard. I also add some mustard to the sauce. For the topping I finely crumble a Vita Brits (or WeetBix) on the top and then add the grated cheese. Now the kids have left the nest I love the leftovers cold for lunch the following day. Great to take to work for lunch/tea too.

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  13. Excellent Rhonda! Thank you :)

    I'll be trying this. Another great, simple recipe to add to my collection - Thank you!

    Chantel from Ashfield

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  14. Thank you for this lovely recipe, Rhonda. We'll be eating salmon mornay tonight!
    I discovered your blog a few weeks ago and have been so enormously blessed...thank you, thank you, thank you! My own mother loved me, but never taught me the basics, as her career was her priority. You answer questions for me about homemaking that I didn't even know I needed to ask! Thanks for being a surrogate through your blog!

    Christine

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  15. Thank you so much for this, ive been looking for a quick fish recipe for ages.

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  16. Jennifer, I leave the bones in but mash them up. They're a rich source of calcium.

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  17. Yum! That sounds really good! I am going to copy the recipe!

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  18. After reading something about the small fish being overly numerous in the ocean since we catch all of the salmon and tuna now, I was inspired to buy a few tins of sardines. Now I'm actually afraid to eat them. Can I hide them in this dish, or would that be weird?

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  19. Thanks for the recipe. I have several cans of salmon that I need to do something with besides salmon cakes. I am going to try it tomorrow night. We should be able to make several meals from it.

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  20. Do you also get the cans with the skin in them Rhonda? I can just about stomach the bones (the crumble to something chalky even if you eat them whole so they're just about palatable) but the skin is just too much for me. Skinless and boneless salmon is VERY expensive but removing the skin from the other cans is incredibly time consuming. It accounts for half of the can, or so it would seem!

    Just wanted to clarify the vege serving recommendations as I found that a bit misleading and would hate for someone to misunderstand and slack off ;-) It doesn't matter how diverse the veges are (though diversity = diversity in vitamins/minerals), it's the quantity/volume that the five serves recommendation is referring to. One serve is half a cup of cooked veges such as chopped carrots, one cup of salad, or a medium potato. Clearly 2.5 cups of cooked veges (the equivalent of the daily recommendation) is actually quite a lot. And 5 cups of salad :-O Now I LOVE my veges/salad, but you try stuffing a measuring cup with those that are on your dinner plate and you will probably be quite surprised. I have done this on a number of occasions to highlight to my Miss 8 just how much she needs to eat (I tell her 3 serves of veges for children).

    The two serves of fruit is more simple, being like two medium apples. One serve is equal to 2 fresh apricots, 1tbsp sultanas, one apple, one orange, one banana, or one CUP of tinned fruit.

    I found it very interesting, while in Britain in Feb, to see that their gmnt is recommending 5 serves in total of fruit/veg... I wonder if the 2 and 5 initiative is a Qld gmnt thing and aimed at qlders because we're the fattest in Oz, to be blunt :-P

    What I take from all of this, is that you simply cannot eat too many veges.

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  21. Good Morning Rhonda Jean, sorry to contact you here - I can't see a link today to your email, but I know you occasionally remove it temporarily when you get over-whelmed with work. I seem to be locked out of the forum this morning - I finally joined yesterday and all was working well. Could you send me the email of one of the moderators who may be able to help me? thankyou,
    Pauline :-)

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  22. Deborah we have two and five recommendations here in Canberra too so not just QLD Govt.

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  23. My mum used to make a similar thing with chicken. I had forgotten all about it,it was my favourite. Dad used to say it was that new fangled cooking but he ate it just the same.
    I'm going to make this for supper tomorrow.We don't eat nearly enough fish. Thanks Rhonda.

    Pippa

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  24. Lovely dish, nice and simple.

    I read the other day that nutritionists recommended many years ago that we eat 9 portions of fruit and veg a day, but health experts in the UK thought people would see that as unachievable and not bother trying so they reduced it to 5.

    I just eat as much fresh stuff as I can!

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  25. Looks great. Thanks for the recipe.

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  26. Looks delicious! I'll have to give this recipe a try. I normally use tinned salmon for making salmon patties - which our two boys love (our daughter not so much). So this will give me something new to try.

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  27. It looks delicious. I wanna make it myself one day.

    Greetings from Sheila from the Netherlands

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  28. Looks wonderful, and we love salmon! I'll have to give it a try!

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  29. Thanks for the salmon mornay recipe, I cooked it last night. My 21 yr old son said I don't eat salmon and my reply, well tonight you are. Both my son & husband enjoyed it. from Jenny McH

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  30. Sounds delicious! We love salmon and will be trying this really soon :)

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  31. I don't eat meat, but do occasionally enjoy fish. When I make this dish, I put more veggies into it ... then cover it with kumara (or a mix of kumara and potato) that has been cooked and mashed with a small amount of butter.

    I spread the kumara mash over the fish and veggie mix, then sprinkle cheese over that ... then in the oven! Yummie!

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  32. I make this regularly for my 4 and 2 year old. My 4 year old calls it 'spikey' pie...loves it.

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