Britannia Rules the Waves
(Llew and Rochelle at our dining table decorated with a festive Fall theme)
Dear Gourmet Club Members:
Since I am such a confirmed Anglophile and since we have never tried to cook British Food (“Is there such a thing?” asks Amy), I thought we would take inspiration from across the pond and whip up some magic.
Seeking counsel from a number of high-profile chefs who have created a sensation on the TV Food Network (Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson and the Two Fat Ladies) as well as from our own resident English lady Jan Meyrick (who also lent me her Yorkshire Pudding Pan), I have come up with a traditional British menu which contains all the favorites, but gussied up to reach gourmet heights. I hope we will find it interesting to cook and delicious to sample.
Please note that all recipes serve 8 and that crème fraiche should be available at a gourmet food store such as Balducci.
Let’s plan to have a jolly good time!
Happy Feasting!
Llew and Rochelle
BRITANNIA RULES THE WAVES!
Date: Saturday, October 13, 2007
Time: 7.30 pm.
Place: Holly Berry House, 25 Pequot Avenue
Southport, Connecticut 06890-1300
WINE LIST
La Craie, Pouilly-Fume, Domaine de L’Abbaye
Chateau de Cazenov, Grand Vin de Bordeaux
Saint-Deran, Les Trois Bouquets 2005
Cotes du Rhone, Saint-Esprit 2005, Delas
MENU
Appetisers:
PIGS IN BLANKETS
ANGELS ON HORSEBACK
(Dan and Amy DeLannoy)
Main Dish:
BEST ROAST BEEF WITH YORKSHIRE PUDDING AND ROSEMARY ROASTED POTATOES
(Llew and Rochelle Almeida)
Side Dishes:
MINTED PEA PUREE
CAULIFLOWER GOAT CHEESE GRATIN
(Brett and Mary-Lauren Factora)
Dessert:
STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING
(Bonnie and Art Thurnauer)
PIGS IN BLANKETS
(Nigella Lawson)
2 cups plus 5 tablespoons self-rising flour
1 heaping teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons grated Red Leicester or Cheddar
1 cup whole milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
50 pork cocktail sausages (mini hot dogs)
For glazing:
1 egg, mixed with a splash milk and 1/2 teaspoon salt
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Measure 2 cups of flour into a bowl, add the salt and grated cheese and mix lightly with a fork. Pour the milk into a measuring cup to come up to 1-cup mark and then crack in the egg and add the oil. Beat to combine, then pour into the dry ingredients, forking to mix as you go. You may, at the end, feel the dough’s either too dry or too damp: add either more milk or more flour and fork together again until you’ve got a soft dough that’s not too sticky to be rolled out.
Break the dough into 2 pieces and roll 1 piece on a lightly floured surface. Scone dough is a dream to work with; in fact, I find it deeply pleasurable. Just roll as clumsily and heavy handedly as you like: no harm will come to it. You want a thin, but not exaggeratedly so, rectangle. A square wouldn’t be the end of the world either, so don’t start getting out the geometry set: this is the roughest of instructions.
Cut the dough into approximately 1 3/4-inch strips, and then cut each strip at approximately 2 1/2-inch intervals so that you end up with a collection of small, raggedy oblongs (I just cut each strip as I go, but it’s probably more efficient to do the whole batch of dough at 1 time).
Take a cocktail sausage and put it at 1 end of an oblong at a slight diagonal and then roll up, pressing on the infinitely compliant dough to squeeze it shut, and then place on a nonstick baking sheet, or 1 lined with parchment. Carry on until you’ve finished all your strips and then get to work with the remaining dough. Three baking sheets should do it.
Now, dip a pastry brush into the beaten egg mixture and paint on the pastry for a golden glaze. Put in the oven and cook for 12 to 15 minutes, by which time they should be puffy and burnished. Remove from the oven and let cool a little before giving them to the children.
ANGELS ONHORSEBACK* (The Two Fat Ladies)
40-50 fresh oysters (ask the fishmonger to schuck them for you)
20-25 thin slices of bacon, each cut into two
salt and freshly ground pepper
40-50 small rounds of toasted white/whole wheat bread (easiest to cut rounds with a small round cookie cutter)
lemon juice to taste & paprika to taste
Wrap each oyster in a slice of bacon and fasten with a cocktail stick. Season with a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Broil just long enough to crisp the bacon or bake in a preheated oven at 425 degrees F for 5-6 minutes. Remove each stick and arrange the oyster in a round of toasted bread. Sprinkle with a few drops of lemon juice. A dusting of paprika adds a little color.
*Note: You can make the same appetizer called “Devils on Horseback” using prunes instead of oysters.
BEST ROAST BEEF WITH YORKSHIRE PUDDINGS AND ROSEMARY ROASTED POTATOES
(Jamie Oliver, The Naked Chef)
(2.5 kilograms) (5 1/2-pound) fore-rib, wing-rib or sirloin of beef, French trimmed
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
3 red onions, halved
2 bulbs garlic, plus 4 cloves garlic, peeled
7 pounds (3 kilograms) roasting potatoes, peeled
3 rosemary sprigs
2 thumb-sized pieces ginger, peeled and diced
1/2 bottle robust red wine
Yorkshire pudding, recipe follows
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C), and heat a large thick-bottomed roasting tray on the stovetop.
Rub the beef generously with salt, then add a little olive oil to the tray and lightly color the meat for a couple of minutes on all sides.
Lay the onions and bulbs of garlic in the tray with the beef on top of them, then cook in the pre-heated oven for a total of 1 1/2 hours.
While the beef is roasting, parboil your potatoes in salted boiling water for around 10 minutes and drain in a colander. Toss about to chuff them up, this will make them really crispy.
After 30 minutes, take the tray out and toss your potatoes and rosemary.
With garlic press or grater, squeeze or grate the cloves of garlic and ginger over everything in the tray.
Shake the tray and whack it back in the oven for the final hour.
Remove the potatoes to a dish to keep warm, place the beef on a plate, covered with foil, to rest, and get your greens and Yorkshire puddings on. Remove most of the fat from your roasting tray and you should be left with caramelized onions and sticky beef goodness.
Add 1 teaspoon of flour to the tray and mash everything together.
Heat the tray on the stovetop and when hot, add the red wine. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes, until your gravy is really tasty and coats back of a spoon.
Add any juice from the beef and feel free to add some water or stock to thin the gravy if you like.
Pour through a coarse sieve and push it through with a spoon, pushing it through with a spoon, and serve in a warmed gravy jug. Serve with Yorkshire puddings.
HUGE YORKSHIRE PUDDINGS:
1/2 pint (285 milliliters) milk
4 ounces (115 grams) all-purpose flour
Pinch salt
3 eggs
Vegetable oil
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Mix the batter ingredients together.
Let rest for 10 minutes
Preheat a Yorkshire pudding tray or muffin tin with 1/2-inch (1 centimeter) of oil in each section. After the 10 minutes divide the batter into the tray.
Cook for around 15 to 20 minutes until crisp and puffy, don’t open the oven door before then or they won’t rise.
MINTED PEA PUREE
(Nigella Lawson)
4 cloves garlic
Salt
4 cups frozen peas
½ cup creme fraiche
½ cup grated Parmesan or pecorino
2 teaspoons dried mint
Special equipment: Food processor
Fill a pan with cold water and throw in the cloves of garlic.
Bring to the boil and then add salt and the peas.
Cook until tender, drain, and put into a food processor, or blender, and add the creme fraiche, cheese, and dried mint.
Puree the peas until knobbly and check the seasoning, adding salt if you need to. Tip the pureed peas into a bowl (or back in the pan is probably a better idea) and cover to keep them warm.
CAULIFLOWER GOAT CHEESE GRATIN
(Bobby Flay)
Serves 8
1 large head cauliflower, cut into florets
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 pound Monterey Jack cheese, coarsely grated
2 cups grated Parmesan
6 ounces goat cheese, cut into small pieces
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Layer the cauliflower, heavy cream, and the 3 cheeses in a medium casserole dish. Season with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 to 30 minutes or until the cauliflower is soft and the sauce has thickened slightly. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Cook’s Note: Recipe can be doubled and made in a roasting pan.
STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING
(From Victoria magazine)
½ stick softened unsalted butter
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour, plus additional for dusting dates
1 tsp. Baking powder
¼ tsp. Ground mace (or to taste
6 oz. Medjool dates, pitted
2 cups boiling water
1 tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. Pure vanilla extract
For the Toffee Sauce:
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter
2 cups (10 oz) firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup heavy cream
Lightly whipped cream for garnish
–Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter well a 10”X3” round cake pan.
–In a bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the butter until creamy.
Add the sugar, a little at a time, and continue to beat the mixture until it is
light and fluffy.
–In a bowl, combine the egg with 2 tablespoons of the flour
and the baking powder and beat it into the creamed mixture until well
combined.
–Onto a piece of waxed or parchment paper, sift the remaining flour and mace.
–With the mixture on slow speed, add the flour mixture to the
creamed mixture, a little at a time, until combined.
–Toss the dates with a little flour, chop fine and transfer them into a bowl.
–Add the boiling water to the dates and stir in the baking soda and vanilla.
–Slowly add the date mixture to the batter, combining well.
–Transfer the batter to the cake pan, spreading it evenly.
The batter is quite runny at this stage. Do not be alarmed.
–Bake pudding in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a cake tester
inserted into the center comes out clean.
Meanwhile, make the sauce:
–In a saucepan, set over moderate heat, melt the butter, add the sugar
and cook, whisking, until combined well.
–Add the cream, bring to a boil and simmer, whisking occasionally,
for three minutes, or until sauce is thick.
–Pre-heat the broiler.
–Pour ¼ of the sauce over the top of the hot pudding, spreading
it into a even layer, to coat the top completely.
–Keep the remaining sauce warm. Place under the broiler, about three inches
from the heat, and broil until it bubbles, rotating the pan to glaze evenly.
–Be careful, the sauce burns easily.
–Cut the pudding into serving pieces while still hot, transfer to
dessert plates and spoon some of the sauce around each serving.
–Garnish with whipped cream.
(Happy Anglophiles having a jolly good time)