British Pubs, Fireworks, Pavlova, Asparagus, Movie,

As an expat Brit, I was interested in this bit of trivia. The number of pubs in Britain peaked at 40,840 in 2002 and steadily decreased to 22,840 by 2018.  Particularly as the pub  was a mecca for us Brits at one time but appears not to be any more. It may be because drinking and driving has largely been wiped out. Matt and I never drink in restaurants any more but do our drinking at home. Mind you many pubs in the  UK are in walking distance of their patrons, maybe those are the ones which have survived. I would like to see a similar statistic on the fish and chip shops which were once a great staple of the British diet but which, I understand, have given way to Indian take outs.

As I sit here typing, I can hear fireworks popping off all around. Poor animals. Second night in a row too. Not only I am sorry for the dogs and cats etc. but for all the other wild animals who must be frightened to death by the noise. Yes, I know they are pretty, and I  used to enjoy them as much as the next person, but having seen at least one of my dogs terrified of the noise, it made me stop and think.

I made my first Pavlova of the summer this year. Strawberries. I prefer them with raspberries but local ones are not around yet. This picture is from 2005. I didn't realise I had been making them that long even if I cheat and don't make the meringue these days.

Went to the asparagus farm on Saturday and got my very last batch for this year. I have a stack of it frozen plus the pickled asparagus which I canned. Don't suppose it will last me mind you. A  year is a heck of a long time. Next thing is fresh corn. I have to buy it at the store as it isn't worth driving a long way for a couple of ears. Matt is not into corn unfortunately. Now ladydog and her husband are nutty about it.

I just watched The Big Heat, a 1953 movie. Funny to see Lee Marvin looking so young. I recognised Gloria Grahame too and couldn't think where from but traced it to Ado Annie in Oklahoma. She said some words in both movies which caused me to recognise her at the beginning. I enjoyed the movie - Glenn Ford was the lead.

I love Endive. I am not sure why it is known as Belgian Endive, but however it is known, it is great served like this.

Stuffed Belgian Endive

6 oz (150 g) goat cheese
3 Tbs (45 ml) milk
1 scallion (green and white part), finely chopped
2 Tbs (30 ml) finely chopped parsley
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup (60 ml) chopped walnuts
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 large heads Belgian endive (French endive, witloof) leaves separated

Combine the goat cheese, milk, scallion, parsley, garlic, and walnuts in a bowl and beat with a spoon until smooth and creamy. Spoon or pipe the cheese mixture onto the individual endive leaves.

Serves 4 to 6 as a first course, 8 to 12 as an hors d'oeuvre.

Source: WW Recipes

Have a great day
 

DVD, Baking, Pavlova,

Friday evening I was somewhat frustrated. I decided to watch the DVD of Rogue One and found that it wouldn't play on either computer or my DVD player. Don't know what's the matter with the DVD but it sure didn't work for us. I decided to try it again and despite trying twice before, this time it seemed to work. Later in the evening I put it on and started to watch and roughly half way through it started seizing up. In the end I gave up.

I was cooking a recipe for Crispy Lamb on Saturday - I have made it once before, but this time I noticed it called for scallions, but only the green and white parts!!

For dessert on Saturday I used my shop bought Pavlova shell. Not surprised but somewhat disappointed that it was cracked when I opened the box. However, I filled the centre with whipped cream and added strawberries. Not many, but served it with a bowl of macerated berries too. It was delicious. I will certainly buy one of these shells again. The centre is not very deep so more cream could be added somewhere. Made a good dessert for Canada day. Talking of which, there are presently lots of fireworks, noisy ones, being let off outside our windows. Today is the day but I imagine the main shows will be on Monday.

So then we watched The Great British Baking Show and was quite surprised that the competitors were asked to make individual Yorkshire Puddings with fillings. I had never heard of that before, some of the fillings looked quite delicious. I then looked for a picture and liked the look of these so much, I saved the recipe. I love smoked salmon almost any which way. The recipe doesn't say whether the oven temp should be C or F so I have asked R.R. Spink for clarification.  I am pretty sure they mean centigrade. Being somewhat lazy these days, I might well try this with pre-made Yorkshire puds. I would only want a few anyway so hardly worth making a whole batter.

Cold Smoked Salmon with Crushed Peas in Mini Yorkshire Puddings with Horseradish

Using delightfully British ingredients, this is one of our most imaginative smoked salmon recipes and works wonderfully for party canapés, or even as a light lunch snack.

1 packet of R.R. Spink and Sons Cold Smoked Salmon (100g)
150 g peas, fresh or frozen
1 small bunch of mint
100 ml fresh ricotta cheese
1 thumb sized piece of fresh horseradish (or 1 tbsp horseradish sauce)
Half a lemon, juice and zest
Pea shoots, to garnish

For the Yorkshire puddings

Sunflower or vegetable oil
2 large free range eggs
100 g plain flour
100 ml milk
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Pre-heat the oven to 225°

2. Place a teaspoon of oil into each cavity of a small muffin tin or cupcake tin; place in the oven to heat for 10-15 minutes until smoking hot.

3. Meanwhile, mix the milk, eggs and flour together to make a batter the consistency of double cream, season with salt and pepper.

4. Carefully, remove the muffin tray from the oven and fill each section ¾ full with the batter. Bake for 12-15 minutes until crisp and golden.

To make filling:

5. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil over a high heat, and the peas and cook for 3 minutes, then remove from the heat and drain.

6. Cool the peas in a bowl of iced water for 5 minutes, drain and leave to drip dry for a further 5 minutes.

7. Once thoroughly drained, put he peas in a food processor and pulse until you get rough puree.

8. Grate the horseradish into the pea puree, then fold in the ricotta cheese, lemon juice and zest. Season with salt and black pepper.

9. Spoon some of the pea mixture into the warm Yorkshire puddings then top with the smoked salmon. Garnish with the peas shoots and a wedge of lemon.


Source: R.R. Spink and Sons

Have a great day