Dawn... I need an Easy English Recipe to share

[Dana]

Hi Dawn,

My son is having to do a history project on the country of our ancestral English descendents. He needs to make a recipe to share with the class on a classic English food. Can you suggest a recipe please? Thanks!!!

Thanks!!!

[Thyme]

Oh gawd! Let me have a think

[Suzan]

Bubble and squeak, If I wrote that one right.

[Dana]

"Bubble and squeak"? Sounds like a toy for my dog! LOL

[Suzan]

I can't remember what the exact recipe was but it had cabbage in it, and i think you made like a potato pancake type thing and fried it up, and as it cooks it bubbles and the grease would make a squeaky noise. I am sure Dawn will totally explain it right and proper.

[Thyme]

Ok, got two for you

1.Elderflower cordial

Prep time: 20 min, plus overnight infusing
Cook time: 5 min
Serves: Makes 1.5 litres
Ingredients

20 heads of elderflower
1.8 kg granulated sugar, or caster sugar
1.2 litres water
2 unwaxed lemons
75 g citric acid


1. Shake the elderflowers to expel any lingering insects, and then place in a large bowl.

2. Put the sugar into a pan with the water and bring up to the boil, stirring until the sugar has completely dissolved.

3. While the sugar syrup is heating, pare the zest of the lemons off in wide strips and toss into the bowl with the elderflowers. Slice the lemons, discard the ends, and add the slices to the bowl. Pour over the boiling syrup, and then stir in the citric acid. Cover with a cloth and then leave at room temperature for 24 hours.

4. Next day, strain the cordial through a sieve lined with muslin (or a new j-cloth rinsed out in boiling water), and pour into thoroughly cleaned glass or plastic bottles. Screw on the lids and pop into the cupboard ready to use.


Cooks Tips...
To serve Elderflower Cordial: Dilute the elderflower cordial to taste with fizzy water, and serve over ice with a slice or two of lemon, or a sprig of mint floating on top.

For something a touch more sprightly, add a shot of gin or vodka and a lemon slice, or add it to white wine and sparkling water to make an elderflower spritzer.

Elderflower cordial is also brilliant in recipes such as gooseberry fool, and in vinaigrette - mix with wine vinegar, a touch of mustard, salt, pepper and a light olive oil (surprisingly good with a courgette, lettuce and broad bean salad). You might even try adding it to a marinade for chicken breasts. Try it in sorbets, or ice-creams, or just spooned over scoops of vanilla ice-cream, or use it to sweeten and flavour the fruit for a crumble.


2. Summer Trifle
Ingredients

For the sponge

125 g butter, softened
125 g caster sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
125 g self-raising flour
1/2 orange, zest and juice only

For the jelly

250 g raspberries
50 g caster sugar
75 ml white wine
3 leaves gelatine

For the poached fruit

75 g caster sugar
1 lime, juice only
450 g strawberries, hulled
450 g raspberries
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the custard

275 ml double cream
150 ml whole milk
1/2 vanilla pod, split in half lengthways
4 medium eggs, yolks only
75 g caster sugar
1 tbsp cornflour

For the sugared nuts

25 g whole blanched Hazelnuts
25 g pecans, roughly chopped
25 g flaked almonds
110 g icing sugar
4 tbsp orange liqueur, such as Grand Marnier

To assemble

275 ml dry sherry
275 ml double cream, lightly whipped

Method
1. For the sponge: preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease a 20cm round cake tin and line with baking parchment.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl until pale and fluffy then gradually beat in the eggs, a little at a time. Using a metal spoon or spatula, gently fold in the flour followed by the orange zest and juice.

3. Pour the mixture into cake tin and bake for about 30 mins, or until lightly golden and risen and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

4. For the jelly: put the raspberries, sugar, white wine and 75ml of water into a saucepan. Bring slowly to the boil over a medium heat then turn down the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.

5. While the raspberries are simmering, soak the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes until soft.

6. Remove the saucepan from the heat and strain the mixture through a fine sieve placed over a bowl, rubbing the raspberries against the sieve with a spoon to extract as much juice as possible.

7. Remove the gelatine from the water, squeezing out any excess liquid, and stir into the hot raspberry juice until dissolved. Leave to cool and set in the bowl.

8. For the poached fruit: pour 120ml of water into a large saucepan and add the sugar and lime juice. Bring to a boil over a medium heat then remove from the heat and stir in the berries and vanilla extract. Set aside to allow the berries to soften in the residual heat.

9. For the custard: pour the cream and milk into a saucepan. Scrape the seeds of the vanilla pod into the pan and add the pod as well. Bring almost to the boil over a medium heat

10. While the cream and milk is heating, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour until pale, thick and creamy. Very slowly pour the hot cream mixture onto the eggs, whisking continuously, until all incorporated (don't add the hot cream and milk too quickly or the eggs will scramble).

11. Return the mixture back into the pan and place over a low-medium heat, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. Remove from the heat, strain through a sieve then set aside to cool and thicken

12. For the sugared nuts: lightly oil a sheet of greaseproof paper. Place all of the sugared nut ingredients into a heavy-based non-stick frying pan. Place over a medium heat, swirling the pan occasionally, until the icing sugar has formed a golden caramel.

13. Pour the caramelised nuts onto the oiled greaseproof paper and set aside to cool and harden.

14. To assemble the trifle: cut the sponge into thick slices and arrange in the bottom of 10 individual serving glasses, or 1 large dish. Pour over the sherry and spoon over the poached fruit and any juices. Break up the jelly with a fork and arrange on top of the fruit then pour over the cooled custard. Spread the cream over the custard then transfer to the fridge to firm up.

15. When ready to serve, break up the caramelised nuts and sprinkle on top of the trifles.

[Thyme]

Bubble and squeak, If I wrote that one right.

Bubble and squeak is disgusting.
Its all the vegetable left overs fried up in a pan together - I hate it

[Suzan]

I doubt I would like it either, I am bad I don't like vegetables

[CeCeCreates]

Sorry, but I can't help but laugh.... Just where is Dana's son supposed to get Elderflowers? And what the heck are they? And shake them to expel any lingering insects????? Oh my.

And while the second recipe sounds absolutely delicious, it doesn't appear to be too easy. I know if I presented that recipe to my son, he would be very intimidated. Heck, I am intimidated and I like to cook!


Oh, and gooseberry fool???? I think my husband qualifies for that!

Good thing we are all united by the Black Cat!!!

BTW, are scones English? They might be easy to make.

[Gigi]

LOL CeCe - you said what I was thinking only SO much better. I was laughing with some of the ingredients and terminology - and then the complexity of some of the recipes!!! Oh my! I love to cook too but not sure I would even come close to attempting any of them - wow!!!

I love the scone idea - I am sure we have Americanized them, but I bet someone has a REAL English recipe. Ducky where are you?? She is from England and bet she can chime in!!

[Dana]

I can only image sending a recipe to school that called for white wine and Dry sherry! LOL.

I think I settled on English Toffee. Easy Peasy! LOL

But.... thanks sooo much Dawn for your um.... educational cuisine. I really do appreciate it.

[Retta]

I love that I learn so much. Bubble and squeek? And the ones that Dawn shared. Where would you get thos heads?

[Thyme]

Lol, you see I have a problem with recipes, I don't use them. My Mum taught me to cook and it was "a little of this and a bit more of that" type cooking. So I've never followed a recipe in my life and had to go online to find something.
Hence the results you got - so sorry!!

Elderflower can be found all over the place in england, it grows as a weed

[Mary Kobe]

I don't know about everyone else, but if Elderflower is a weed, I would not eat it!

So much for thinking about eating breakfast! LOL

[Thyme]

Lol

[Dana]

Dawn... you and I are in the same predicament then. I cook the same way, whatever I have in the pantry, no recipe! Hence, the ask for help!!!! LOL

I really do appreciate the help though, no need to be sorry.

[Thyme]

Oh good, at least there is one other person like me!

[Mary Kobe]

I cook like that also, unless I am making bread. Then, I tend to measure a "bit". When I cook, I tend to add this and that, creating my own recipes. One time, I tried a new "recipe"...from things I had in the pantry. I wanted baked chicken, so I threw some onion soup mix in a packet on it...Let me just say, DON'T DO IT!!! Not realizing that it was flavored with beef bouillion until AFTER I sprinkled it over the chicken, it was not so good! My husband, who will eat almost anything, experiment or not, did not think much of the chicken! LOL It was really, really nasty!

I will say the onion soup mix is good on brisket! LOL

[Retta]

Is it the same as our dandelion - yellow flowers. Those are eaten around here.

I use recipes sometimes, but most generally do my own thing. It is so hard to tell someone how to do it. I don't even measure!

[Thyme]

Nothing like dandelion, take a look here - http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=elderf ... 78&bih=662