Since my kitchen is still not quite in working order, I thought it would be fun today to talk about some of the more traditional Savoury Dishes that I have cooked here in The English Kitchen. In some cases I have taken the traditional and added a slight twist, which I love to do. The essence remains the same and all are quite delicious, if I don't say so myself!



Toad in the Hole

This is my meat and potatoes loving husband's favourite meal, and who wouldn't like it. With it's delicious Yorkshire Batter Pudding Base and Thick English Bangers, it is a family pleaser all round. Especially when served up with mash and lots of onion gravy!




Lancashire Hot Pot. Lancashire hotpot is a culinary dish consisting essentially of meat, onion and potatoes left to bake in the oven all day in a heavy pot and on a low heat. Originating in the days of heavy industrialisation in Lancashire in the north west of England, it requires a minimum of effort to prepare.



Beer Battered Fish and Chips Moist and flakey fish encased in a traditional crisp beer batter, fried until golden brown. Oh so delicious, especially when served up with fat chips and mushy peas, or minted peas if you have no mushy peas to hand! (I love it both ways!)



Perfect Egg and Chips A perfectly fried egg, served with crisp chips and slices of buttered bread in the traditional way. All the better to make a hot chip buttie with! (Yes that's hot chips wrapped up in a buttered slice of white bread. The butter melts and the whole thing is just fabulously tasty.) Simple and filling and oh so wonderfully comforting.



Welsh Cheese Pudding A bread and butter pudding of sorts filled with lovely leeks, welsh cheese, eggs and milk. A simple and comfortingly filling dish.



Bangers and Mash
and not just any Bangers and Mash, but Sticky Bangers with a Chive and Buttermilk Mash! Scrummo!!



Spam Fritters, surprisingly tasty! Don 't knock them or turn your nose up til you try them. They are oddly addictive!


Slow Roasted Lamb Shoulder. Oh, this is a gorgeous Sunday Lunch Treat! With lovely crisp roast potatoes, and vegetables, lotsa gravy. Oh yum...



The Great Cornish Pasty. A beautiful thing, filled with steak, potatoes, onions and swede. Oh, and that pastry. So delectable!



Posh Beans on Toast. Dressed up tinned beans served on cheese and onion toasties.



Lamb Stew with Feather Dumplings. So called feather dumpling because they are made with potato and light as a feather!



Cauliflower and Cheese. The ultimate in comfort and tradition, and not boring in the least.



Cottage Pie with Potato Cobbles. Oh so delicious with the surprise of a sliced potato and cheese topping over a rich beef, vegetable and gravy base.



Macaroni Shepherds Pie. A delicious Shepherds Pie with a twise . . . delicious lamb filling, topped with a scrummy Macaroni and Cheese topping!



Baked Corned Beef Hash. The traditional with a little twist, baked and topped with cheese. Delicious!



Beef Stew with Herbed Dumplings. We are great stew lovers in this house, and dumplings make a fabulous dish every fabulous-er! (yes, I know, not a real word.)



Perfect Roast Chicken. Deliciously flavoured with carrot, leek, onion and butter. Moistly delectable.



A Mild Lamb Curry. Creamy and mild, with tender chunks of lamb in a well flavoured curry sauce. In short, delicious.



Chicken and Mushroom Casserole with Crusty Dumplings. Tender bites of chicken, with savoury mushrooms in a rich sauce, topped with crusty dumplings. Need I say more???

Of course there are many, many more traditional recipes on my site, but I've made myself rather hungry now. I think I'll have to go and make myself some bread and marmite and dream about a day in the not too soon future when my kitchen is again workable. Buttered Bread and Marmite . . . another tasty tradition, which you either loathe or love, or both.



Don't lose faith in me, there will be some new scrumminess soon, I promise!!

I was searching through the archives here the other day and I couldn't believe that I had never done a British Fry Up.  That is what they call a big breakfast over here in the UK.  

A fry up, and it is what will be offered you for breakfast at any B&B in the country.  It may vary slightly from area to area, but the basics are pretty simple . . .

 

It will consist of one or two British Bangers.  In a good place they will use quality sausages, but most restaurants (unless quality) will use cheap and nasty ones.  Blah.   

 Here at home I use only a quality banger.   It will also include a couple of rashers (slices) of good quality dry cure smoked or unsmoked British Back Bacon.  Both will have been grilled to perfection.



Along with a large free range (in the better places) egg done to your desire (scrambled, poached, or fried).  Also grilled fresh tomatoes.  

I have seen some places just heat tinned tomatoes, but I like to use fresh tomatoes myself.  There will also be fried mushrooms.  (Some places will serve tinned, again blah!)



What really surprised me when I first had a big breakfast over here was the addition of baked beans.  Back home we would never have thought about having baked beans with eggs.  

At least not in my experience, but it works quite well.  I enjoy them.  I  use tinned Heinz, Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce. It seems to be the British preference.

  

You can also choose to have black pudding if you wish.  (We never wish)  Toast will often be offered, sometimes at an additional cost, which I just don't understand because to me toast is a must, but to each their own.  

 You can also get fried bread, which is a heart attack waiting to happen, no matter how good it tastes . . .  just thinking about it makes my arteries start to ache.  

It's pretty tasty, but you can imagine how much fat a slice of bread being deep fried would absorb!

And thats the Great British Fry Up!

a slice of black pudding (optional)

Heat the grill of your oven to moderate.    Place the sausage onto a grill pan.  Grill the sausage beneath the grill for 15 minutes, turning occasionally.   Add the bacon slices for the last 5 minutes, turning them once they are golden on one side.  Remove and keep warm.  

Place your cut tomato under the grill, bottom sides up.  Grill for about 3 minutes, flip over and season with some salt and pepper.  Grill for about 3 minutes longer.   Remove and keep warm.  

Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet until hot.   Add the mushroom slices and cook until golden, giving them a stir once or twice.  Scoop out with a slotted spoon and keep warm.  

Place the beans in a small saucepan and heat gently.   

Crack the egg open into a small bowl and slide it into the hot fat in the pan.   (You may need to add a bit more oil.)  Cook over medium heat until the white is completely set and the egg is beginning to turn golden at the edges.  Remove to a warm plate and keep warm.  (If you are wanting over easy, then flip it carefully, cook for about 30 seconds and then remove to a warm plate.)  

If you are having black pudding, fry it now in the residual fat in the skillet, until crisp on both sides.  

Toast your bread and butter it lightly, cut into half diagonally.  

Plate up the sausage, bacon, tomato, egg, mushrooms and beans.  Serve with the toast and black pudding ( if eating.)



I recently received a lovely little package from debbie & andrew's, makers of quality Pork Sausages.  They sent me a delicious package of their new Caramelized Red Onion and Pork Sausage and that is what I used here in my fry up, and they WERE very delicious, trust me on this.   Also included were the cutest little herb planter that is a pair of red wellies and a little sausage cookbook.

We really did like these sausages.   They are wheat, gluten and dairy free.  I wasn't sure how I would feel about that, but I was really surprised at how very good they were.  They were DELICIOUS!  I would and will buy these! 

Their sausages come in a variety of flavours including . . . . Harrogate 97%,  Perfect Pork,  Perfect Cumberland, and of course the Caramelized Red Onion and Pork.  debbie & andrews multi-award winning sausages are available in Tesco, Sainsbury and Asda, with the new Caramelized Red Onion Pork Sausages being available in Asda from mid April.

Everything which goes into a debbie & andrew's sausage is prepared from scratch, nothing is brought in pre-cooked and no short cuts are taken.  It starts with the pork, using only the cuts that are best for making a really juicy sausage, selected from British farms that meet good welfare standards.

With the Caramelized Red Onion ones, the red onions are pan fried to perfectly ensure that they are caramelized for a really deep flavour, adding muscovado sugar to bring out the natural sticky sweetness as the onion reduces.  To really get the taste buds tingling, Balsamic vinegar is also added towards the end of the process, making the onions darker and even more delicious.  Altogether this makes for one very delicious sausage indeed.

Many thanks to Debbie and Andrew for sending me this lovely pack.  Although I did receive a package of sausages for free, I was not required to write a positive review.  Any and all opinions are my own.

If you are looking for a quick and easy dessert that is very impressive, look no further! Have I got the perfect dessert for you!



Generally a fruit charlotte is shaped in a mold, lined with buttered bread, layered with a thick fruit puree and topped with more buttered bread. The whole thing is then baked until the bread shell is crisp. They are served up all buttery and warm with custard or cream.



This dessert I am showing you here today doesn't depart very far from that idea, but disposes of all the faff of having to line a mold. It is quick and easy and oh so very delicious! (You know how I love easy!! It brings out the sloth in me!)



It's as simple as mixing the fruit with some sugar and flour, pouring it into a casserole dish and then topping the fruit with buttered triangles of white bread.



Easy peasy, lemon squeazy! You have a delicious dessert that will have everyone oohing and ahhing in almost no time at all. In fact if you pop this into the oven just as you are about to serve the first course . . . by the time everyone has finished their mains it will be ready . . .



The fruit sweetly tart . . . the bread all buttery and crisp on the top, and soaked in lucious fruit juices on the bottom. Each mouthful is a delightful bite of delicious tastes and textures . . . especially when you dollop some clotted cream on top . . . or creme fraiche if you wish.



Or custard . . . or pouring cream. Even Ice Cream is fab! It will seem as if you have been slaving all day, but you know you didn't. It can be our little secret!



I only meant to have a tiny taste . . . but as you can see . . . this was so good, I couldn't stop myself from finishing the whole bowl.



Meh!! I've had worse lunches . . . ☺ (I know, I am sooooo bad!)



*Easy Berry Charlotte*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

Don't let the ease of this fool you into thinking it's nondescript. This pudding is fabulous! I'd even serve it to company! Be sure to pass the clotted cream!

1 kg of mixed berries (blackberries, blueberries, black and red currants, raspberries, about 2.2 pounds)
1 heaped TBS of plain flour
150g of caster sugar (about 3/4 cup)
6 thin slices of white bread
softened unsalted butter



Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6.

Place the berries in a bowl. Gently toss together with the flour and sugar. Tip the mixture into a 12 by 8 inch baking dish.

Trim the crusts from the bread. Spread each slice on both sides with the softened butter. Cut each slice into quarters, giving you 4 triangles. Lay these in three overlapping rows on top of the berries.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the bread is golden brown and the fruit is bubbling. Allow to stand for 10 minutes or so before serving. Pass some clotted cream, creme fraiche or custard for pouring over top. Ice cream would also be very nice.

When I was really small my mother used to bake us delicious goodies several times during the week . . . there was always fresh baked cookies in the cookie jar and the occasional pie and cake. She went back to work when I turned 11 though, so all the baking stopped . . . or homemade baking at any rate . . . .at least until I was trusted and allowed to experiment in the kitchen on my own.

When I was really small my mother used to bake us delicious goodies several times during the week . . . there was always fresh baked cookies in the cookie jar and the occasional pie and cake. She went back to work when I turned 11 though, so all the baking stopped . . . or homemade baking at any rate . . . .at least until I was trusted and allowed to experiment in the kitchen on my own.



She did sometimes buy these pudding cake mix thingies for desserts once in a while. I think there was a chocolate one and a butterscotch one and a really fake apple tasting one . . . but as a child we were just glad to have dessert. It didn't really matter that it came from a mix or that it didn't really taste all that great. It was sweet and that's what counted.



Of course as an adult and experienced baker I have come to appreciate the finer qualities of desserts that are homemade. I love pudding cakes . . . I make a really good Gingerbread Pudding Cake from scratch, as well as a Cinnamon one, and an Apple and Blueberry version which is totally scrummy as well. Let's not forget Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake either, that is like the ultimate of the ultimate pudding cakes!



There is just something that is so very special about the alchemy and magic of a cake that makes it's own sauce when it's baking! It's like a tiny delicious little miracle happening in your very own oven, just for you!!

This is a really scrumdiddlyumptious version . . . with the sweet/tartness of Granny Smith Apples on the bottom . . . topped with a buttery sponge, filled with raisins . . . and a lucious butterscotch sauce that appears like magic and goes fabulously well with it all.



Eaten warm and topped with a nice cold scoop of vanilla bean icecream, I don't think you can get much homier or delicious. Of course my Brit husband would argue that fact and say that custard is much much better . . . but the Canuck in me still longs to have a nice big scoop of ice cream, preferably a good vanilla . . . on top of my cakes, pies and desserts. I just can't help it. Old habits die hard!



But what really is icecream though . . . it is frozen custard. So I guess you could say that we both like custard on our desserts . . . just in opposite forms! He likes his warm and dripping . . . and I like mine cold and melting.



In any case . . . this Apple Butterscotch Pudding Cake rocks! With custard or with ice cream. You just can't get much better than this. I do declare!



*Apple Butterscotch Pudding Cake*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

A delicious dessert topped with a fluffy raisin sponge atop tart sliced apples in a delicious butterscotch sauce that appears as if by magic!

4 large Granny Smith or other cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced (about 4 cups)

For the sponge:
150g self raising flour (1 1/3 cups)
50g caster sugar (generous 1/4 cup)
80g unsalted butter, chilled and diced (5 1/2 TBS)
1 medium free range egg
100ml milk (7 TBS))
the finely grated zest of one unwaxed lemon
50g of raisins or currants if you prefer (generous 1/3 cup)

For the Sauce:
80g light muscovado sugar (6 1/2 TBS)
25g unsalted butter (2 TBS)
100ml water (7 TBS)
Pinch fine sea salt
the juice of 1/2 lemon

Preheat the oven to 180*C/200*C/gas mark 6. Have ready a 2 litre ovan gratin or other shallow oven proof dish.

Whisk the flour and sugar for the sponge together in a bowl. Drop in the butter. Rub the butter in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Beat together the egg and milk. Stir in along with the lemon zest and the raisings. Arrange the apple slices in the bottom of the dish and smooth the sponge mixture on top.

Place the sugar, butter, water and salt for the sauce into a small saucepan. Bring to the boil. Whisk in the lemon juice and then pour this mixture over top of the batter in the dish. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the cake is golden brown on top and the sauce is bubbling around the edges.

Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes before spooning out into dessert dishes to serve. (A scoop of icecream goes nicely!)



Over in The Cottage today, a homely and comforting casserole, Heaven and Earth Casserole.