Yorkshire Pudding Day for Sunday Favourites wth Chari.

On Sunday Great Britons everywhere will, hopefully, be celebrating Yorkshire Pudding Day.

Fotosearch image

To show my support for this wonderfully iconic British dish, I'm sharing a post from last year which was originally one of my Alphabe-Thursday contributions, and joining Chari for Sunday Favourites @ Happy To Design.

I should imagine that not many of my US followers know too much about the Wars of the Roses?
No, not the movie with Danny DeVito, Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner!

The Wars of the Roses were a series of civil wars fought in medieval England from 1455 to 1487 between the House of Lancaster and the House of York.

The name Wars of the Roses is based on the badges used by the two sides, the red rose for the Lancastrians and the white rose for the Yorkists. Major causes of the conflict include: 1) both houses were direct descendents of king Edward III; 2) the ruling Lancastrian king, Henry VI, surrounded himself with unpopular nobles; 3) the civil unrest of much of the population; 4) the availability of many powerful lords with their own private armies; and 5) the untimely episodes of mental illness by king Henry VI.Source:http://www.warsoftheroses.com/
The end result of the Wars of the Roses was that Henry Earl of Richmond killed Richard
Of Gloucester at the Battle of Bosworth, became Henry VII and went on to found the Tudor Dynasty.
Now, (or nethin as we say in Lancashire) that was a few hundred years ago and I have to say that there is still some slight rivalry between the two counties.



However, on our recent trip back to the UK we stayed in a great little gastro pub with rooms, the New Inn, in the village of Marsden situated in the West Riding of Yorkshire, just a few miles outside of Saddleworth, where my family now reside.
It was lovely.

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Marsden like this:
MARSDEN, a village and a township-chapelry in Almondbury and Huddersfield parishes, W. R. Yorkshire. The village stands on the river Colne, adjacent to the Manchester and Huddersfield canal and to the Manchester and Leeds railway, under the backbone of England, 4¾ miles E of the boundary with Lancashire, and 7¼ SW by S of Hnddersfield; is a large place; and has a station on the railway, a post office under Huddersfield, and fairs on 25 April, 10 July, and 25 Sept.
Source: A Vision Of Britain Through Time.


Although I am a born and bred Lassie from Lancashire, (that is not me in the vt! I just wanted you to hear the tune) I have to admit that there are some things that the folks over in Yorkshire have done well, and one of them is to produce Yorkshire Tea!
If you like your tea strong, this is the one for you.
Check out this fabulous website to find out all about it.

Another very special foodstuff to come out of Yorkshire and one that I think everyone knows about, is Yorkshire pudding and if I say so myself the ones that I make are Historic!
In a good way!
Helping to make Yorkshire puddings, a traditional part of the family Great British Sunday Roast when I was growing up, was a treat for a young girl and over the intervening years I have tried and tested many different recipes.
However, I always come back to Delia's classic Yorkshire pudding recipe, (well, we do share the same family name: Smith).

I'm also joining in with The Tablescapers Seasonal Sundays this week,
click here to see who else is participating.

February National Food Days

I recently discovered a great website where you can learn all about National Food Days celebrated in the US.

Intrigued, I googled British National Food Days and unbelievably found just one.

But, what a "one" it turned out to be, drumroll please..................

the first Sunday in February has been declared "Yorkshire Pudding Day"

Click here to go to the Recipes4us.co.uk to learn how this celebratory day came about, and please join me on Sunday to honor this wonderful iconic British dish.

Meanwhile ........in the US, February is amongst other things
 Hot Breakfast Month
and the hot breakfast of choice here at the Presbytere is poached egg on toast. Mmmmm!

I don't know if you remember the scene in the movie "Julie & Julia" but Julie had a terrible time trying to poach an egg.

It didn't help I suppose that she hadn't ever eaten an egg in her life and sort of had an "egg phobia". 

During 30+ years of married bliss I must have poached hundreds of eggs, using a variety of methods.

Taught by my mother to use one of these, it stood me in good stead for many years.

A couple of years ago I discovered these little poach pods from Lakeland but couldn't get on with them at all, the egg always seemed to stick a liitle bit, to the inside.

A friend told me that Delia's method is foolproof, click here,  and it is.

However, I found the very best way to poach an egg in the Hairy Bikers 12 days of Christmas cook book which I blogged about here in December.

For the poached eggs, pour enough water into a large deep pan so that it is two-thirds full. Bring to the boil.
Place the eggs, still in their shells, into the boiling water for 20 seconds, then remove with a slotted spoon.

Step 1

Add a splash of white wine vinegar to the pan, then swirl the water gently to create a whirlpool effect. Crack one egg into the centre of the whirlpool and poach for 2-3 minutes, or until the egg is cooked to your liking.

Step 2

Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside to drain on kitchen paper.

Keep warm. Repeat the process with the remaining eggs

Step 3, foolproof.

Do this and you won't ever worry about your poached eggs again, if only Julie had used Si & Dave's method, as shown in my photographs, she could have saved herself a lot of anguish.

Linking this post to Miz Helens Country Cottage Full Plate Thursday gathering and also Gollums Foodie Friday, you can click on the sidebar buttons too, to find mouthwatering food from around the world.

Bon Appétit

My apple pie.

On Sunday, all over the US, people will be celebrating National Pie Day.

I’m joining JoJo’s Pie party with our family favourite - apple pie.

JoJo has asked that we share our pastry/pie crust recipes, here’s  mine:

8oz plain flour; 2oz butter; 2oz white fat (Trex or Crisco); a pinch of salt & cold water to mix as needed.

Sift the salt and flour into a bowl then tip it all into your food processor, add the fats and blitz until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of really cold water to bring it all together.

Turn out onto a floured pastry board and with your hands form the dough into a smooth ball.

Wrap the dough in cling film (Saran wrap) and refrigerate for about 25 minutes.

To make a deep dish fruit pie, divide the dough roughly into 2 parts. On a floured board  roll out one half to fit the pie dish with a slight overlap, add pie filling,  roll out remaining dough and cover the dish.

Crimp the edges together, roll out remaining pastry bits and press out shapes with pastry cutters or cut into strips, to create leaves, which is what my Nana & Mum always did. With a sharp knife make several cuts in the pastry lid to let out the steam.

Brush the entire lid with milk and sprinkle caster sugar over to ensure a crispy surface when baked.

Bake for 30 minutes at 200c or 400F.

For a tasty filling I always use 6 granny smith apples, (peeled, cored and finely sliced), 2 oz each of golden caster & soft brown sugars, & a pinch of cinnamon.

Confused about English Imperial/Metric/US equivalent measurements?
Click here for comprehensive conversion tables.

To quote Miss Jane Austen:

“Good apple pies are a considerable part of our domestic happiness.”

P.S.

I had planned on using these wonderful Williams Sonoma pastry cutters that my dear friend Sarah @ Hyacinths For The Soul sent to me recently but as I wanted to show you our family’s traditional apple pie, will save them for another time.

The Hairy Bikers Old Fashioned Mincemeat.

I'm joining The Tablescaper once again this week for Seasonal Sunday, with a new recipe of a traditional English favourite: the Hairy Bikers Old Fashioned Mincemeat.
Also sharing this post with Mary @ The Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.
Christmas wouldn't be Christmas for us if mince pies weren't involved and although we haven't actually lived in the UK for over 25 years I always bake lots of these small delicacies for us to enjoy during the festive season.
For many years I've always used a tried and tested Delia Smith recipe when making mincemeat.
However, I recently received a copy of the Hairy Bikers "12 Days of Christmas" cook book, (a lovely thank you gift from a thoughtful English friend) and was intrigued by their recipe for Old Fashioned Mince Pies with an Orange Crust.
Click here to get the recipe.

Traditionally I make my mincemeat around the middle of November just to get ahead with my Christmas preparations, but if time is short, the HB recipe can be made the day before you need it.

Some Brits believe that it is good luck to eat a mince pie every day during December and my DH would be one of those, if I didn't watch his waist line!

These jars will be going into the pantry, for a couple of weeks, to allow the boozy flavours to develop. Then my pies, according to the Hairy Bikers, will be "guaranteed to bring a smile even to Ebeneer Scrooge".....

Come back in a couple of weeks to find out how they tasted but in the meantime do pop over to The Tablescaper and to the Little Red House to see who else is participating this week.

Zuppa di Pane e Pomodoro.

Shadows cross hatch an autumnal table setting.

I'm combining two themes today and linking to Shadow Shot Sunday @ Hey Harriet's blog in Oz and Sesonal Sunday hosted by The Tablescaper.
There is a slight chill in the mornings in Normandy now as we head into autumn, it's time to start thinking about putting the potager to sleep, I suppose.
I have been spending time this week clearing out the raised beds, but the haricot beans are still coming through and there's plenty of lettuces to enjoy.

After having nothing but green tomatoes for weeks and weeks there were suddenly masses of over ripe red tomatoes on the vines, so for lunch yesterday I made Zuppa di Pane e Pomodoro, (tomato and bread soup).

Katie & Giancarlo Caldesi

I found the recipe in Katie & Giancarlo Caldesi's cookbook "The Italian Mama's Kitchen", which is full of wonderful authentic home-style recipes.

Click on the link to visit La Cucina Caldesi Cookery School.

I'm ashamed to say that this cookbook has languished on the shelf for over three years and although I've dipped in and out, to read the recipes and salivate over the stunning photography, this was the first recipe from it that I have attempted.

Zuppa di Pane e Pomodoro, with parmesan shavings, served in a simple white ceramic bowl on a "Gien" artichoke under plate.

I'm not sure if there was a typo in the ingredients list but I found that 200ml of vegetable stock was nowhere near enough liquid for the quantity of bread suggested, so I added a 200ml bottle of tomato juice and all of the liquid obtained from deseeding the tomatoes during prep.

Was it good??

I thought so, it's certainly my sort of comfort food but although he finished his bowlful Mr B said that he wouldn't order it in a restaurant.

Email me if you'd like the recipe, nevertheless.

Is there anything better than home made cake?

Have you been to visit Barbara at her wonderful gourmet food blog "Moveable Feasts"?
I have been a follower for some time and I always feel as if I've discovered a really great cook book, written by a talented chef and author, when I read Barbara's recipes.
She has an excellent way with words and I always come away from her blog determined to try to recreate the delicious foodie delight which she shared with us that day.
Well, yesterday I did just that and so I would like to say thank you to Barbara for sharing the recipe for Pear Amaretto Crumble Cake.
Mr B loves what he calls "plain cake", no cream, no icing/frosting and no chocolate! Barb's cake had his name all over it.
It's so rare that I have all the ingredients necessary to bake a" spur of the moment cake".
I did have apples, pears (home grown), walnuts, lemons, almost all the store cupboard dry ingredients but no almond flour.

Tucked away at the back of the shelf I found a packet of ground almonds, fine and silky, so I used that instead.
Raided the cocktail cabinet but no Amaretto was to be found, instead I used Benedictine Liqueur made by monks at the Benedictine Abbey in Fécamp, Normandy.

Nous habitons en Normandie n'est pas?

Although the recipe is very easy to follow, it required an enormous amount of kit!


Not just the KitchenAid mixer but also the Kenwood food processer, several bowls, Dualit electric hand whisk, kitchen scales, measuring spoons and cups and jugs and pans.
Oh, but it was worth the great big pile of washing up that I had to do. whilst the cake was baking.


I can tell you that the cake is delicious, perfect for Sunday afternoon tea and this morning's elevenses, we enjoyed both. I think the mixture would also eat well as a muffin too.
Merci Beaucoup Barb!
P.S. DH just wandered by and asked "Will I be having a piece of that lovely cake with my tea this afternoon?" Say no more..............................

Courgette Fritter Recipe a la Fanny Flagg

Gayle over at Garden of Daisies has requested the recipe for the courgette fritters featured in my last post.
Adapted from Fannie Flagg's squash croquette recipe found in the Original Whistle Stop Cafe Cookbook.

Firstly, in a large saucepan, bring to the boil in 1 cup of water 2 pounds of courgettes and 1 cup of chopped white or yellow onion, add half a teaspoon of salt.

When the courgettes are soft, drain well to remove all the excess liquid, transfer to a large bowl and mash coarsely with a potato masher adding quarter of a cup of butter and seasoning with white pepper.
To this mixture you then add 2 egg yolks, 1 cup of crushed saltines (you can also use TUC biscuits or even Doritos, as I did last time), and half a cup of self raising flour.

Stir everything together.

Beat 2 egg whites, until stiff peaks form, and fold into the courgette mixture.

Heat vegetable oil in a large, deep frying pan, drop heaped tablespoonsful of the mixture into the hot oil and deep fry until golden.

Sprinkle with fleur de sel and serve, voila!

Makes 12 if they like it and 18 if they don't.

Farmer Maggie, c'est moi!

My mini bragfest about the potager last week harvested me some very kind comments.
Mary @ A Breath Of Fresh Air has even taken to calling me Farmer Maggie because of the abundance.
Connie @Living Beautifully, a keen gardener too, wanted to know a little more about the plot so here are some more pix and a few facts.

Two years ago I revamped the vegetable beds which were in place when we bought the property and created 3 long raised beds.
My new BFF is asleep on the bench, not doing her job at all!
Guess I'll have to stand in.
In the bed behind me potatoes waiting to be picked, in the bed in front from the left lavender, rosemary, rocket & sage somewhere in the pumpkin patch, tomato plants and a second crop of haricot bean seedlings just coming through.

They are roughly 22 feet in length and 6 feet wide.

The beds are plenty big enough for our needs and I can manage them myself, calling upon Sean the G only once in Spring to rotivate them and again in the autumn to put the potager to sleep for the winter.

Picking courgettes, with help from Mr Ben.

I usually grow the same things each year, salad leaves, spinach, beans, tomatoes, courgettes, pumpkins, potatoes and a few herbs. This year I added salad onions to the mix and they did quite well.

Courgettes (zucchini) a favourite of mine.

Transformed into one of my favourite summer dishes to make: courgette fritters (delicious) adapted from the summer squash recipe found in Fannie Flagg's great cookbook "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe".

Gardening and cooking, how good is that?

Y: is for Yorkshire Tea & Delia'sYorkshire Pudding.

I should imagine that not many of my US followers know too much about the Wars of the Roses?
No, not the movie with Danny DeVito, Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner!

The Wars of the Roses were a series of civil wars fought in medieval England from 1455 to 1487 between the House of Lancaster and the House of York.

The name Wars of the Roses is based on the badges used by the two sides, the red rose for the Lancastrians and the white rose for the Yorkists. Major causes of the conflict include: 1) both houses were direct descendents of king Edward III; 2) the ruling Lancastrian king, Henry VI, surrounded himself with unpopular nobles; 3) the civil unrest of much of the population; 4) the availability of many powerful lords with their own private armies; and 5) the untimely episodes of mental illness by king Henry VI.Source:http://www.warsoftheroses.com/
The end result of the Wars of the Roses was that Henry Earl of Richmond killed Richard
Of Gloucester at the Battle of Bosworth, became Henry VII and went on to found the Tudor Dynasty.
Now, (or nethin as we say in Lancashire) that was a few hundred years ago and I have to say that there is still some slight rivalry between the two counties.



However, on our recent trip back to the UK we stayed in a great little gastro pub with rooms, the New Inn, in the village of Marsden situated in the West Riding of Yorkshire, just a few miles outside of Saddleworth, where my family now reside. It was lovely.

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Marsden like this:
MARSDEN, a village and a township-chapelry in Almondbury and Huddersfield parishes, W. R. Yorkshire. The village stands on the river Colne, adjacent to the Manchester and Huddersfield canal and to the Manchester and Leeds railway, under the backbone of England, 4¾ miles E of the boundary with Lancashire, and 7¼ SW by S of Hnddersfield; is a large place; and has a station on the railway, a post office under Huddersfield, and fairs on 25 April, 10 July, and 25 Sept.
Source: A Vision Of Britain Through Time.


Although I am a born and bred Lassie from Lancashire, (that is not me in the vt! I just wanted you to hear the tune) I have to admit that there are some things that the folks over in Yorkshire have done well, and one of them is to produce Yorkshire Tea!
If you like your tea strong, this is the one for you.
Check out this fabulous website to find out all about it.

Another very special foodstuff to come out of Yorkshire and one that I think everyone knows about, is Yorkshire pudding and if I say so myself the ones that I make are Historic! In a good way!
Helping to make Yorkshire puddings, a traditional part of the family Great British Sunday Roast when I was growing up, was a treat for a young girl and over the intervening years I have tried and tested many different recipes.
However, I always come back to Delia's classic Yorkshire pudding recipe, (well, we do share the same family name: Smith).

I hope you've enjoyed our little virtual visit to Yorkshire, England, now head on over to Mrs Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday Class for more Y posts from around the globe.
See you at break time (recess)!

Cherry Ripe!

“When I sound the fairy call, gather here in silent meeting,
Chin to knee on the orchard wall, cooled with dew and cherries eating.
Merry, merry, take a cherry, mine are sounder, mine are rounder,
Mine are sweeter for the eater, when the dews fall, and you'll be fairies all.”

Emily Dickinson. (American poet,1830-1886)

I think this is the first time, in almost 14 summers spent living here in Normandy, that our cherry crop has produced enough for us and the birds to enjoy

I'm joining in with two great meme's with this post; Mary's Mosaic Monday @ the little red house where we're celebrating red, white & blue.

I hope my cherries, nestling in their red, white & blue vintage Quimper bowl, qualify!

And, Weekly Words to Live by @ Tracey's blog, Notes From A Cottage Industry.

Hope all my US pals are enjoying the holiday weekend, have a great week tout le monde.