Ok my fellow bloggie friends. Now is the time for active participation. I know *I* truly enjoy English food. I like the simplicity of taking basic ingredients and tossing them together. Having just unleashed my inner Nigella Lawson, I recently purchased a Gordon Ramsay *swoon* recipe book and have started cooking home meals. I find English food the easiest and most satisfying. So far I've made a lemon and sage roast chicken and Shepherd's Pie.
So this is where you come in. It is time to post your favourite English recipe's. Post them in the comments section and let us share our England culinary expertise. Hopefully we will learn a recipe or two. If you post on my FB wall (or better even, FB e-mail if you don't want to post here), then I will copy and paste in. Also feel free to comment on other recipes if you do something different. And if you try something posted here...let us know how it turned out!
P.S...Is Nigella not the most gorgeous woman? Gah.
Cheers!
4 comments:
This one is from Michelle (my awesome friend from whence we once worked at Safeway who I love love love...xo). She is with a pure brit (lol) and love English food too! Now, when she e-mailed this me, I though..omg how disgusting! But my other English friend at work assures me it's quite delicious. I would probably suspect you have to use farm grown ones because they would eat better than the pigeons who eat fries in the parking lot? LOL. And could you substitue with chicken or quail or duck? Hmmm Without further ado!
PIGEON BREASTS! *yes, you read that right*
Ingredients
For the marinade
4 garlic cloves, sliced
½tsp picked thyme leaves
6 black peppercorns, crushed
4 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil
8 wood pigeon breasts
For the gravy
2 tbsp sugar
200ml red wine
2 sprigs thyme
6 juniper berries, lightly crushed
For the roasted leeks
12 baby leeks, trimmed
1 tbsp butter
For the wild mushrooms
handful wood ear mushrooms, sliced
15-20 wild brown closed-cup mushrooms, sliced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
2. Combine the garlic, thyme, black peppercorns and rapeseed oil in a small bowl. Using a sharp knife, score the pigeon breasts' skin lightly and rub in the marinade - leave for at least 20 minutes.
3. To make the gravy, combine the sugar and a few drops of water in a smallish, very clean saucepan and place over a high heat to caramelise. Once the sugar melts and has gone a dark golden brown, pour in the red wine. Add the thyme and the juniper berries. Cook the sauce until it is reduced by two thirds - this will take about 12-15 minutes. Season to taste, strain and keep warm.
4. Place the leeks in a saucepan of boiling, salted water and blanch for 10 seconds. With a pair of tongs, remove the leeks from the boiling water and plunge into a bowl of ice-cold water. When they have cooled, drain the leeks well.
5. Place the leeks in an ovenproof saucepan or baking sheet with a knob of butter. Transfer to the hot oven and cook until tender - this should take about 10-15 minutes.
6. Heat a griddle pan until hot. Season the pigeon breasts with salt and freshly ground pepper and place on the hot griddle pan. Cook for just a few minutes on each side until cooked to your liking, then remove from the heat and set aside in a warm place for at least five minutes.
7. For the mushrooms, heat a small frying pan. When hot, add the rapeseed oil and fry the garlic until golden brown. Add the sliced mushrooms and cook until softened. Be careful - the wood-ear mushrooms can pop and splutter quite ferociously.
8. Serve the pigeon with the leeks, mushrooms, and a drizzle of the red wine gravy.
I obviously have a lot to learn...I've always heard British food was overcooked and tasteless. Obviously those people were not feasting with Nigella (and is she not just the most gorgeous chef?)
I'm afraid my anglophile tendencies are going to come back out after reading your blogs this week, Dani! lol
I don't know any recipes, but my mom does make the best yorkshire pudding ever.
I just made her meatballs and sauce today-they are excellent. She puts them over rice but I do pasta.
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