23rd April is St. George’s Day in the UK, the patron saint of England. Whereas the rest of the countries that form the have a public holiday to observe their patron saint’s national day, we in the English part of the UK don’t (sadly), sometimes it may coincide with a late Easter bank holiday otherwise it remains unmarked by holiday festivities. However, this does not mean that we are not passionate about our English heritage, William Shakespeare, Del Boy & Rodney, Bridget Jones, Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding…. and our beloved national cricket and football teams, along with their almighty failings.
So, this week’s recipes are to celebrate all things English, they are:- Roast Beef with Caramelised Onion Gravy, Yorkshire Pudding & Bridget Jones’ Blue Soup.
My first recipe is Roast Beef with Caramelised Onion Gravy Recipe by Sarah Cook, courtesy of BBC Good Food Magazine May 2012.
Serves 6, Prep 30mins, Cook 1.1/2hrs.
1tbsp x Black Peppercorn
1tbsp x English Mustard Powder
1tbsp x Dried Thyme
1tsp x Celery Seeds
1tbsp x Olive Oil
approx 2kg/4lb 8oz x Topside Joint of Beef
For the gravy
4tbsp x Plain Flour
2 x Beef Stock Cubes
3tbsp x Caramelised Onion Chutney or Marmalade
2-3tsp x Marmite
Crush the peppercorns, mustard powder, thyme and celery seeds together with some salt, using a pestle and mortar. Stir in the oil, then rub it all over the beef. (If you have time, cover and chill the joint overnight to marinate. Bring the beef out of the fridge 1hr before roasting.)
Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5 and sit the joint in a snug-ish roasting tin. Roast for 12mins per 450g/1lb (about 55mins for a 2kg/4lb 8oz joint) for medium-rare, or 15mins per 450g/1lb (about 1hr 10mins) for medium-well. Remove from the oven, lift onto a platter, cover with foil and rest for 30mins. If you’re making Yorkshire puddings (see below for recipe), increase oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7.
For the gravy, pour any juices from the roasting tin into a jug. Let the juices separate, then spoon 2 tbsp of the fat back into the tin – if there is no fat, use 2 tbsp butter instead. Discard any other fat. Sit the roasting tin on the hob and stir in the flour, stock cubes, onion chutney or marmalade and Marmite. Cook for 1 minute, stirring well to scrape up any beefy bits stuck to the tin, then gradually stir in 750ml hot water from the kettle. Bubble to thicken to a nice consistency, then gently keep warm until ready to serve with the beef, carved into slices.
My next recipe has to be Yorkshire Puddings Recipe by Tana Ramsey, courtesy of Market Kitchen.
Makes 6-8, Prep 5mins, Cook 20mins
170g x Plain Flour
3 x Large Eggs
425ml x Whole Milk
A Large Pinch of Salt
3tbsp x Lard
Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6. Put the flour, eggs, milk and salt in a liquidizer and blend until smooth. You may need to stop the motor and scrape down the sides in order to incorporate all the flour into the mixture. Spoon the lard into the Yorkshire pudding tray, filling the holes to the top and put into the oven. As the fat begins to smoke, add the batter and return to the oven. Make sure you don’t open the door for the next 15 minutes, or the puddings won’t rise well. When golden and risen, take out of the oven and turn each pudding upside down before returning to the oven for another couple of minutes to crisp up. Serve.
And my final recipe is a very famous one for more reasons than it’s taste, Bridget Jones’ Blue Soup Recipe by Mimi Bobeck, courtesy of www.food.com
Serves 4, Prep 10mins, Cook 1hr
1 x Leek, diced
1 x Celery, diced
2 x Chopped Garlic Cloves
3 x Potatoes, chopped
750ml x Chicken Stock
250ml x Milk or 250ml x Cream
A Large Knob of Butter
Salt
Pepper
Sour Cream
Blue Food Colouring
Combine everything but the blue food colouring into a saucepan. Cook for about 30 minutes until potatoes become mush. Mash up potatoes and veggie mixture. (If you are impatient, you can put this into a blender or food processor to purée – just like Bridget did. But be careful, WARNING: make sure the soup is not boiling hot when you pour it into the blender or food processor – or else the same thing will happen to you that happened to Bridget where the contents comes spewing out all over the room. And let me tell you, you will NOT be yelling “Oh Bugger! Oh Bugger Bugger!” you will be screaming bloody murder and in the hospital with 3rd degree burns. Make sure you cool the mixture first please – remember, Bridget Jones’ Diary was a movie, in real life what she did was quite dangerous).
After the soup is puréed, add a couple of drops of blue food colouring – how much is up to you and how blue you want your soup to be. Mix soup well to blend in the food colouring. Just before serving, add a little sour cream on top of blue soup if you desire and garnish with chopped chives. If you are seriously a die hard Bridget fan, you can add a few strands of string – but I don’t recommend it- this is meant to be a delicious, edible version of this novelty soup.
A special thank you to Karen for the recommendation of the final recipe, which in itself set the tone for the whole blog this week.
Tune into my show on 6 Towns Radio Sunday morning 8-10am “Under the Covers with TheRealTonyc” at http://6towns.co.uk/ It’s what your Sunday’s were made for.
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Hope you enjoy!!….. ChefGarfy =D
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