A Proper English Breakfast – Farmhouse Eggs · 26 May 2007
I sympathize with Ned Henry, trapped in the land of horrible breakfast. Fortunately I’m not assigned to the Victorian Era, with it’s kippered herring and boiled livers, so I decided to cook a hearty, and tasty, start to my own day, again inspired by Bon Appétit’s tour of English cooking.
My mom has decided to spend her Memorial Day weekend peeling the wallpaper off the spare room and refinishing it. I heartily approve, as I’ve nicknamed that room “The Dungeon” because of the sinister air the 1970’s dark gold and olive paper lends it. I figured she could also use a good breakfast to get her started.
Breakfast was a pit stop on the way to Los Angeles, where I’ll be spending the rest of the weekend. My sister has hinted that she may open a bottle of the legendary Foxen that she finally pinned down during her recent trip to San Francisco. If not, there will be a viewing of Pirates of the Caribbean, At World’s End so either way it’s a winning situation.
This post is the last in the series that references To Say Nothing of the Dog, but I’m not going to leave the literary and culinary world of England just yet! I’ll be transitioning into the Arthurian legends with the next post and I’m quite looking forward to researching what dishes were popular in that era.
Farmhouse Eggs
Adapted from Bon Appétite, May 1993
- 1 ½ cup fresh white breadcrumbs
- 3 Tbsp chopped fresh chives or green onions
- 3 oz Dunlop, sharp cheddar, or Cheshire cheese, grated (almost a cup)
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup half and half (I substituted low-fat milk)
- Cayenne pepper and salt to taste
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Butter 10 inch glass pie dish.
Sprinkle half of the breadcrumbs over the bottom of the pie dish. Sprinkle with one half the chopped chives and one half the grated cheese.
Carefully break eggs into the pie dish, spacing evenly.
Top with remaining breadcrumbs, chopped chives, and cheese.
Season with cayenne pepper and salt.
Carefully pour half and half (or milk) over the top.
Bake until eggs are almost set, about 20-30 minutes. Serve immediately.
Breakfast,
Cheddar Cheese,
Chives,
Eggs,
English Food,
To Say Nothing of The Dog,
Vegetarian
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Time Traveling Englishman Finds Relief in Pear Tart · 24 May 2007
England's traditional culinary claim is to food that's boring, hearty, and bland. It's no surprise that, in To Say Nothing of the Dog, Ned Henry is less than thrilled to be treated to a traditional upper class Victorian breakfast, complete with meat, meat, and more meat.
I was still thinking about Pearl Harbor when I went down to breakfast. Tossie was standing at the sideboard, holding Princess Arjumand and taking the lids off each of the silver serving dishes and then putting them back on with a dissatisfied expression.
It was the first time I had felt any kinship with he. Poor thing, consigned to a life of frivolousness and wretched things for breakfast.
What is surprising is that he seemed to be used to better fare, which led me to wonder.
- To Say Nothing of the Dog is set in the future of England.
- Ned earlier seemed taken aback at the breakfasts of Victorian England.
- What if English food were suddenly to become. . . good?
I tried to imagine England three generations from now. Not being English, this was hard to do. However, as I mentioned in my review of To Say Nothing of the Dog, aside from the obvious post Industrial Revolution features (already evident in contemporary England) and the invention of time travel, Willis' future England bears little difference to her Victorian England.
I supposed that in order to get a good idea of what culinary fare Ned may have been used to, I should check out the trends in modern English cooking. After all, if the English were to have a culinary revolution by 2057, it's foundation may be being laid right now.
Amazingly enough, Bon Appétite, magazine had the same idea (albeit years ago) and devoted an entire month to the changing cuisine of England. While they were the first to admit that you can still find a bland pasty, an over boiled roast, or a plate of vegetables that resembles mush more than anything else, they found some gems worth sharing.
This pear tart is decidedly English in it's ingredients. Stilton cheese has been the crown cheese of England for centuries. The Stilton Cheesemaker's Association refers to it as "Britain’s historic blue cheese and Britain’s favorite blue cheese." The EU has granted it the status of protected designation of origin, meaning only cheese produced in the English counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and Nottinghamshire may be sold as Stilton cheese.
Pears are also decidedly and historically English, arising from the plant Pyrus communis which still grows wild in Britain. Belgian endive is an ideal crop for cooler climates like England.
The finished tart is an unusual combination of fruit, cheese, and curry. The cheese dominates, but the fruity undertones of the pear sneak through. The overlying curry flavor gives it a distinct and unusual finishing touch. It also very impressive looking, showing off a golden-brown crust, for the amount of time that it takes to make.
Endive, Stilton, and Pear Tart
Adapted from Bon Appétite, May 1993
- 2 Tbsp butter or margarine
- 2 heads Belgian endive, cut crosswise into 1-inch slices
- ½ cup chopped shallots
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 3 large pears, peeled, cored, coarsely chopped
- 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar
- 1 package frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed (2 sheets required)
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 cup crumbled Stilton cheese (75 g)
- 3 Tbsp fresh chives, chopped
Melt butter in skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots, endive, and curry; sauté until endive is golden, about 8 minutes.
Add pears and vinegar to skillet; mix into existing ingredients; sauteé until pears are tender, about 2 minutes.
Transfer mixture to a large bowl to cool.
Preheat over to 425° F.
Create a lightly-floured work surface and spread both pastry sheets upon it. Cut a 9 inch circle out of one pastry sheet, then transfer it to a cookie sheet. Brush egg over the pastry.
Add crumbled cheese and chives to the cooled pear mixture. Mix well.
Spoon pear mixture on to the pastry, leaving a ½ border around the edge (pictured at top).
Return to the second pastry. Cut a larger circle out of the sheet (this will give you enough overlap to create a plump tart).
Use the second pastry circle to cover the first and the pear mixture. Line up the edges of the pastry circles and crimp the edges together, pressing them down with the tines of a fork.
Brush the top pastry sheet with egg.
Using a small knife, make several small incisions into the top of the pastry, to allow steam to escape during the cooking process.
Freeze tart for 10 minutes.
Bake 20-25 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.
Let tart sit 1 hour before serving.
Blue Cheese,
Curry,
English Food,
Pear,
Puffed Pastry,
Savory Tart,
To Say Nothing of The Dog,
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Posted by fortrix
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Potato Pizza (A feast for the stomach) and Greek Blood (A feast for the eyes) · 19 March 2007
Saint Patrick’s Day was a culinary success with the two versions of potato pizza that I promised. I wasn’t feeling industrious enough to make my own dough, so I bought a two pack of Boboli ready-made pizza dough at the store.
Today I found myself with lots of odds and ends on my list, all the chores I’ve been putting off took on a life of their own that was threatening to engulf me in a sea of “To do” if at least some of them weren’t attended to. After the chores, I was originally planning to return to foodventures based on The Onion Girl, but since I was in the neighborhood of my favorite book friendly thrift store I decided to indulge in book shopping instead of creative culinary activities.
Later in the evening, I promised my mom I would go watch the 300 with her. The movie turned into “dinner and a movie” and here I sit at almost midnight, a margarita making me sleeping, and no new recipes in progress. Given the lemon of a movie that was the 300, I’m going to make it into lemonade by turning it into blog content.
I had ambivalent feelings towards the movie to begin with, and I had the sinking sensation that going to watch it would be robbing me of time. I’d already put off seeing it once, and I wasn’t any more in the mood tonight than I was before.
I’d heard the movie was a faithful reproduction of the comic book feel, but I’ve never been converted to comic books, so that didn’t entice me. I’d heard it was light on plot, and I’m a fan of plot, so that didn’t win me over either. I’d heard it was visually stunning, but high in the gore factor, and I usually avoid bloody movies. Despite all the things I’d heard being true, I enjoyed the movie a bit. It was epic in the style of the Lord of the Rings trilogy without being a Lord of the Rings rip-off. The female lead delivered some compelling lines and one gritty and vindicating scene. Best of all, there were 300 attractive men in very little clothing marching to war to the tune of heavy metal.
The themes of the 300 were straightforward; glory in battle, honor in death, sacrifice for freedom. The history of ancient Greece is fascinating, but the movie did little to include the viewer in the larger cultural picture in which the Spartans lived. The focus of the movie was on the warrior caste of Sparta and little was done to include the other men of Greece. The philosophers and assembly, founders of the ideals that the warriors protected, were almost ridiculed by the warrior elite. This was a movie about a battle from the perspective of its warriors, plain and simple.
The blood was so stylized that I didn’t even feel squeamish, though there were a few graphic scenes (someone on the production team must have had a beheading fetish, I counted three). I enjoyed the slow motion battle scenes in which it appeared the Spartans were literally dancing with death, twisting and whirling around their enemies, flicking would be attackers away with the point of a blade or a spear. I felt that the visual aspect was the most developed of this film. As an avid fan of plot and character development, it wasn’t really for me, unlike the potato pizza which was just about cheesy carbalicious enough to satisfy even the most die hard modern urban warrior.
Potato Tomato Basil Pizza (Pictured at top):
Adapted from That’s My Home.
- 1 pre-made pizza crust
- 2-3 red-skinned new potatoes, sliced with skin on
- Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
- 3 Tbsp plus 1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 cup minced spinach leaves
- ½ cup chopped parsley
- ½ cup fresh basil
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic
- ½ cup coarsely chopped walnuts
- ½ cup plus ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 plum tomatoes sliced
Method:
Preheat oven to 450°F.
To Make topping: Lightly oil baking sheet. Place sliced potatoes in a clean plastic bag; add salt, pepper and 1 teaspoon olive oil. Toss well to coat evenly. Place on prepared baking sheet and roast until browned (about 10-15 minutes).
Place remaining olive oil, spinach, parsley, basil, garlic, and walnuts into blender or food processor, and pureé to a paste. Spread thickly over pizza dough.
Place the dough on a pizza stone or baking sheet. Place roasted potatoes and sliced tomatoes on top. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese.
Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until crust begins to brown.
The pesto added a nice touch of green to the Saint Patrick’s Day celebration. Unlike the first pizza, the potatoes were not the main flavor, a good contrast.
Pizza del Lattaio (Pictured above):
Adapted from David Ruggerio's Italian Kitchen via The Global Gourmet.
- 1 pre-made pizza crust
- ¾ pounds each red and white potatoes
- 1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 ounces hard to semi-hard cheese, shredded – I used the Kerrygold Dubliner
- 3 ounces of a different type hard to semi-hard cheese, shredded – I used the Kerrygold Gouda
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves only
- 2 ounces freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 2-4 slices prosciutto ham, cut into small pieces
Method:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Wash and clean potatoes thoroughly. The original recipe suggested peeling these, but I like the taste of skin in my mashed potatoes, so I elected to keep them here. Boil potatoes until tender (about 20 minutes). Once boiled, cut into small cubes.
Place the dough on a pizza stone or baking sheet, sprinkle with the first two cheeses, and top with the cubed potatoes and ham. Drizzle the remaining olive oil on top of the pizza, then sprinkle it with fresh pepper, rosemary, and Parmesan.
Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the crust begins to brown.
The original recipe didn’t call for the ham, but I was glad I added it. The Irish cheeses were a bit less sharp than those recommended, and the saltiness of the ham kept this recipe from being too bland. This would have also been great with a bit of corned beef shredded on top instead of ham for those of you that may have Saint Patrick’s leftovers needing a home!
300,
Cheese,
Irish Food,
Movie Review,
Pesto,
Pizza,
Potato,
Saint Patrick’s Day
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