The Delicious Season

The British love summer. No matter what the weather, you will find us outside enjoying all the highlights of the season – and all the delicious food and drink that goes with them.

Depending on who you are and what part of England you are from, the season takes on a different shape. To be fair, most of the events of the iconic “Season” do take place in London, but summer anywhere in England is a festival of outdoor events – from performances of Shakespeare in the gardens of stately homes to garden parties and outdoor concerts. Many of these events involve sitting on the grass and sharing a picnic. This is somewhat ironic as traditionally British summers can rather disappointing – but being British we carry on regardless, opening up our brollies (umbrellas) and continuing to enjoy both the food and the entertainment.

There are many different foods and drinks traditionally associated with summer in England – and often with particular summer events. Strawberries and cream are almost as much a part of Wimbledon as the tennis, and champagne and Ladies’ Day at Ascot are forever intertwined. Tea on the lawn anywhere is a great summer treat – and by tea I mean proper afternoon tea with cakes, and scones with jam and cream. From the very start of the events of the summer season, which many would even argue starts with the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race in April, delicious food and drink sit alongside tradition all throughout our green and pleasant land.

Champagne is a huge part of the summer experience, as is another traditional British drink, Pimms. Pimms is an alcoholic spirit that we mix with lemonade (in England lemonade is actually a fizzy drink more akin to Sprite or 7-Up than to lemonade made with lemons). The resulting drinks are then garnished with fruit and slices of cucumber. Whether you go to the iconic Chelsea Flower Show, Ascot or to Wimbledon, there are always champagne bars and Pimms bars ready to welcome you. In fact, it could definitely be said that champagne and Pimms are to summer events in England what ice-cold beer is to baseball in North America.

The Tennis Championships at Wimbledon are a huge part of the British summer. Attending Wimbledon is a bit of an accomplishment in itself as tickets are allocated by ballot. You have to apply for months in advance, and although entering a competition just to get the opportunity to pay for a very expensive ticket might seem a bit odd, it is definitely worth the trouble to see some fabulous tennis and to enjoy an afternoon of sitting in the sunshine (please God). If you are lucky enough to attend, it is definitely part of the experience to eat strawberries and cream. Of course, they are extortionately priced strawberries and the serving is not generous, but it is something you really need to do to fully immerse yourself in the Wimbledon experience. In fact, if you tell a true Brit you have been to Wimbledon, the first question out of their mouth is unlikely to be how the tennis was – and much more likely to be whether you enjoyed the strawberries and cream there!

As I mentioned before, ironically for a country that is notorious for cool, wet summers, we British are brilliant at picnics. Whether we pack our own or buy one ready made up, picnics are a part of most summer events. Pages and pages of magazines in the UK are dedicated to picnics this time of year, and recipes abound for new and different sandwiches, terrines, salads and desserts. Grocery stores stock lots of picnic food, from tiny meat pies and seafood tarts to salads. If, however, you have cash to spare, you can order a picnic from Fortnum and Mason in London. They prepare bespoke gourmet picnics for collection from their London store. Other famous stores and restaurants offer a similar service. Packaged in glorious wicker hampers and containing everything from vintage champagne to smoked salmon and caviar, these picnics are a far cry from the sandwiches and chips we enjoyed on picnics as children.

As you can imagine from the exotic contents of some picnic baskets, not all picnics are a casual affair. At Royal Ascot, the iconic week long horse race meeting held in June, there is an area specifically designated for people to eat picnics they have brought, and another where you can collect prepared gourmet picnics ordered in advance. Last year on Ladies’ Day at Ascot, I enjoyed a three-course picnic with champagne – sitting at a picnic table wearing a designer dress and hat! It was a meal that would not have been out of place served at a five star restaurant, although of course all the dishes were chilled. We began with asparagus served in vinaigrette, followed by a seafood terrine and tiny seafood tarts. Dessert was a glorious raspberry concoction I have still not managed to duplicate. Similarly, one of the picnics I enjoyed most was a black tie picnic about fifteen years ago at Chartwell, the former home of Sir Winston Churchill, when we ate out under the stars, drank champagne and danced on the lawn to the sounds of a Big Band.

All is not lost, however, if you do not fancy a picnic. Most of the summer events and festivals also have temporary locations of gourmet restaurants, or meals prepared by chefs available on site. The Chelsea Flower Show offers two excellent restaurants; there are also restaurants at Henley (the music and arts festival), and at Wimbledon where you can enjoy a proper three-course meal with fine wines.

I believe that summer is the most delicious season of all to visit this wonderful country. There are a huge number of events to attend and whatever your choice you are sure to be well entertained. Long weekend afternoons spent enjoying strawberries and cream on the lawn drift into lazy evenings picnicking in the garden of a stately home or in a park, listening to a concert or watching a play. It’s terribly civilised, and totally scrumptious!

Raspberry Almond Tart

When we had dinner at one of our favourite restaurants on Sunday evening, the dessert I chose was Almond Raspberry Tart. It was delicious, and reminded me of a Pear Tart that I often make - with the exception of the fact it was made with raspberries of course. When I mentioned this to my husband, he suggested I might be able to make my own version of the delicious dessert I was eating. Always one for a challenge, I decided to have a go. Although I made quite a few changes to my pear tart recipe, it only took one attempt, and the results were wonderful - if I do say so myself!

For the crust:-

125 grams cold butter, diced in small cubes
200 grams plain (all-purpose) flour
50 grams ground almonds
2 tablespoons caster or granulated (white) sugar
(vanilla sugar is lovely if you have it)
2 - 3 tablespoons milk

For the filling:-

2 - 3 tablespoons seedless raspberry jam

40 grams butter, melted
100 grams white sugar
90 grams ground almonds
10 grams plain flour
1 egg, plus one egg yolk, lightly beaten together
3 tablespoons half fat crème fraîche
1 tablespoon Amaretto liqueur
1 teaspoon almond flavouring
1 cup fresh raspberries, washed and drained

For the topping:-
1/4 cup flaked almonds
1 - 2 tablespoons white sugar

To make the pastry, blend together the butter, flour, ground almonds and sugar until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. You can do this in a mixer or food processor or with a pastry cutter. Now gradually add the milk, tablespoon by tablespoon, until the mixture just begins to cling together and you can form it into a ball. (You may not need the whole 3 tablespoons of milk.)

Dust your hands with a little flour and press the mixture into a fairly deep 10 inch (25 centimeter) round pie plate, working the pastry up the sides until you have formed a proper crust. (There is nothing to stop you rolling this pastry out if you want to, but I’m not a big fan of rolling pastry out, so I simply press it into the pan.)

Place the raspberry jam in a microwaveable bowl and very carefully on a low heat setting microwave the jam for about thirty seconds or until it is of an almost pourable consistency. Using a pastry brush, brush the jam over the bottom of the crust, covering it completely. Set the pastry case aside.

Blend together all the remaining filling ingredients except the raspberries until smooth. At this point you have a choice. You can very carefully fold the raspberries into the filling mixture and then very carefully pour the filling into the pie plate OR you can pour half the filling mixture into the pastry case, arrange the raspberries over top, and then pour the remaining filling mixture over the raspberries. The latter is the fiddly, time consuming option but it gives much better results as the first option can cause the raspberries to fall to pieces leaving the resulting tart delicious, but not very pretty to look at.

Mix together the flaked almonds and sugar and sprinkle them over top of the tart. Bake at 160 C (fan oven - 350 F normal oven) for about twenty minutes and then turn the oven back to about 150 C (300 F) and cook for another five to fifteen minutes, depending on your oven. The filling should be well set when the tart is cooked and it should be a lovely golden colour. You have to really watch this tart to make sure it does not over brown. I also always turn the pie plate half way through cooking to ensure it browns evenly.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool a bit before serving. This is delicious served with good vanilla ice cream.

Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for about twenty-four hours.

The Great Muffin Debate

I remember when I first came to England twenty years ago, people were aghast that I ate muffins for breakfast. Coming from somewhere that a muffin was something that usually contained bran or oats and was good for you, I found this very confusing. Confusing, that was, until not long after I arrived when a colleague at work offered me a muffin one afternoon. When I accepted, I was presented with a muffin shaped chocolate cake full of chocolate chips.

I was flabbergasted. As far as I was concerned, this was no muffin; it was a (very large) cupcake. It had no icing, but it was incredibly sweet. In my opinion its flavor and texture could only be described as cake, albeit a very dry version of one. Of course, I said nothing, but the penny began to drop. No wonder people were taken aback by my professing to like muffins for breakfast. Even I would struggle to eat something like the chocolate extravaganza I had been presented with early in the morning. In fact, I was finding it kind of hard to eat it at three o’clock in the afternoon.

You see, it bore no similarity to any sort of muffin I had ever had before. My idea of a muffin was banana bran, or oatmeal blueberry or carrot, not death by chocolate. So I decided to check out some “muffin” recipes in British cookbooks. I found it very hard to located even one, and when I did, it was for something very similar to what I had eaten at work.

Not long after that I was in the grocery store and noticed a package labeled “blueberry muffins”. As I had not been able to find actual blueberries for sale, this perplexed me a bit. I was tempted though, so I bought them, intending to have one for breakfast the next morning. I was really looking forward to my muffin, and the telltale blue dots in it looked delicious. However, my first bite confirmed that I was definitely eating a cake. Not only that, but the blueberries were not like any I had ever eaten before. They were like little lumps of blue sugar. (I found out later they were dried blueberries.) Again, this was something I would definitely have labeled a cupcake.

When I began to discuss this with other folks, suggesting that muffins here in England might more appropriately be labeled cupcakes, most people responded rather angrily. “Cupcakes are American,” most insisted. “These are muffins.” Being Canadian at the time I was a bit upset. I really did not think America had the franchise on cupcakes - although I had eaten many a delicious one in the States. My Mom used to make me some gorgeous cupcakes to take into primary school when it was my birthday and she was one hundred percent Canadian. Frankly I didn’t think cupcakes had a nationality.

So I decided to fight fire with fire and begin to bake some of my own favourite muffin recipes. I started with Raisin Bran Muffins. I whipped up a recipe and decided to test it on my friends, offering them round with a cup of tea one afternoon. Although most liked the taste of my offerings, there was a lot of shock going round the table. “These are not muffins; they’re not sweet” they insisted. So later that same week, I baked some devil’s food cupcakes and repeated the experiment. “Wow, great muffins,” was the consensus. At this point, I was tempted to find a wall to bang my head against but I refrained.

Over the years though, things have changed. Chefs like Nigella Lawson have made cupcakes fashionable in England – and by this I mean the lovely little cakes that are what I think of as cupcakes. I’ve managed to find some peace about the issue as well. When I want muffins, I make my own. My husband and son are happy to eat muffins for breakfast – and when we have guests I just make sure there is another choice on offer as well – although more often than not most of them enjoy my muffin recipes. They like my cupcakes too, and I know what they mean when they ask me to make my chocolate muffins with white icing for dessert.

Life is too short to fight something you can’t change and as long as folks enjoy what I cook, I guess I have nothing to complain about. But please, if I ever ask you for a muffin, don’t give me one of those huge death by chocolate extravaganzas!

Cashew Nut Stir Fry

I have an organic vegetable box delivered from time to time, and this week’s was an absolute cornucopia of delights. Fresh red onions, carrots, asparagus and peppers sat waiting to be united in deliciousness. Of course, one of the best ways to cook fresh vegetables is lightly, serving them while they are still fairly crisp - and one of the easiest ways to do this is in a stir fry. We are still trying to eat less meat, so I decided to incorporate our favourite nuts in this recipe, both for reasons of nutrition and taste. It was very much a thrown together dinner, but the results were scrumptious.

I’ve listed ingredients for two, but the quantities are very generous. You can easily increase or decrease quantities as required. You can use olive oil instead of sesame oil if you prefer, but it really is worth using the sesame oil for its wonderful flavour.

about 2 tablespoons of sesame oil
2 “nests” of medium noodles
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 generous handful of white mushrooms, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced in thin strips
3 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
a handful of asparagus, each piece cut in two or three
4 tablespoons Thai sweet chili sauce
5 tablespoons of soy sauce
a handful of roasted, salted cashew nuts

Cook the noodles in boiling water according to package directions. When cooked, drain and toss in about 2 teaspoons of sesame oil. Set aside.

Heat the rest of the sesame oil in a large frying pan or wok until it is nearly smoking. Add the onions and mushrooms and stir fry for a couple seconds. Then add the carrots and red pepper. Stir fry for a few minutes. Add the asparagus and continue to stir fry until all the vegetables are tender crisp (about five minutes).

Stir in the Thai sweet chili sauce and the soy sauce, tossing to coat the vegetables. Add the noodles and cashews to the pan, stirring to coat with the sauce and heat through.

Divide the mixture between two bowls (or three if you are not as greedy as we are!) and enjoy.

Asparagus Omelette

I went through a phase of making a lot of omelettes but then I stopped for a while, forgetting how easy and delicious they are. I make my omelettes slightly differently, using a broiler or grill to finish them off. I find it makes them nice and puffy and also avoids the stress of having to turn them. The other thing I do is use three eggs. I know that might not be considered health conscious but it sure makes them taste good, and means they are definitely a meal in themselves. And in the words of Rachael Ray, they are a BLD dish - something you can have for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Delicious and nutritious asparagus is in season now so you can probably buy it locally - which makes good sense environmentally and in terms of good health. Having said that, I’d buy asparagus out of season to make this omelette because it is so delicious.

Try using different cheeses in your omelettes for variety. I used Cerne Abbas this time, which I got from my favourite local cheese shop, Grey’s in Pangbourne. Cerne Abbas is an artisanale cheese made in a small British village, but you can definitely substitute cheddar or another cheese of your choice if there is none available.

For each omelette you need:-

1 teaspoon mild olive oil
3 eggs
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon dehydrated onion
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
salt and pepper
5 - 6 small spears of asparagus, very lightly steamed (they should still be almost crunchy)
1/4 of a red pepper, sliced in fairly thin slices (steam it along with the asparagus)
1 handful cheese

Heat the olive oil in an oven safe medium non-stick frying pan with a non-metal handle. Beat the eggs, milk, onion, parsley and seasonings together in a bowl.

Preheat the grill or broiler to medium.

When the pan is hot, add the egg mixture. Cook for minute or so, pulling the mixture away from the edges of the pan with a heat proof spatula or egg turner as it cooks and tipping the pan so more egg fills in the gaps that are left.

Sprinkle the cheese and red pepper over top of the whole omelette, and then lay the asparagus over half of it. Continue to cook, lifting the edges of the omelette occasionally to make sure it is just browning and not burning.

When the top begins to look a bit dryer and the bottom is nicely brown, place the frying pan under the grill or broiler. The omelette should puff up (it will fall when you take it out from under the grill). Watch the omelette constantly or it will burn. When it is golden brown, remove it from the grill and flip half the omelette over like in the photograph above. Slide it on to a plate carefully and serve.

(A)H1N1, Intensive Farming and You

As we hover on the brink of a possible pandemic of swine flu, which we are all now being told to call (A)H1N1 out of deference to pork producers, I can’t help but wonder if we have not somehow contributed to the emergence of this disease. Is it possible that we – and by this of course I mean the collective we - could be somehow responsible for its development?

The disease’s journey appears to have started in a tiny village in Mexico called La Gloria. A combination of one strain of avian flu, one strain of human flu and two strains of swine flu, it moved quickly, killing dozens of people in Mexico at the date of writing. Transference of the disease appears to be totally from human to human in this case, creating a the curious situation of a global health emergency that appears to have come from nowhere in particular. And now, it seems, it is getting practically everywhere. New cases are springing up daily, and while thankfully most people are responding well to treatment, this is a very worrying disease. It is not just the form it is taking now that we need to worry about; it is the form it might develop over the next few months. Influenza itself is a very unpredictable disease, and this mutation of it is no different.

However, regardless of appearances, something has to have started this modern day plague. Pigs have suffered from swine flu for years, in the same way as chickens have suffered from avian flu. Understandably, there is a real resistance by pig and chicken production companies to acknowledge the connection between their animals and variations of this disease that affect humans, such as the (A)H1N1 strain we are dealing with now. However as time goes on, this connection may be harder to deny.

Strangely enough, there is an intensive pork farming operation about twelve miles from La Gloria, the first place a case of (A)H1N1 was recorded. The Mexico City newspaper La Jornada reported that state agents of the Mexican social security institute are concerned about the clouds of flies that come out of the barns there and also the alleged ‘waste lagoons’ into which the company that owns this farm disposes of the tons of manure generated by the animals inside. Smithfield, a company who have previously been fined in the United States for violating pollution permits in Virginia with waste from their farming operations, vigorously denies the virus is in any way connected to its operations in Mexico and have assured the authorities that they regularly vaccinate their pigs against swine influenza.

It is a good thing they do that. The circumstances of intensive farming operations, where animals and birds are raised in extremely cramped and often filthy conditions, mean that disease can spread rapidly between them. Animals often have to be heavily medicated just to ensure they live long enough to be slaughtered. Vaccination against disease and treatment with antibiotics are common. As a result, the animals can develop resistance to some strains of disease and viruses, and with the potential overuse of antibiotics, those diseases and viruses can mutate.

Even if there is no correlation between intensive farming and the spread of these nasty diseases, something which I find hard to believe, it cannot be a good thing to be exposed to the waste products from these huge operations, many of which raise tens of thousands of animals every year. And it seems an uncanny coincidence that the majority of the cases of swine flu (I mean (A)H1N1) began in such close proximity to one of these operations.

However even if there is no connection in this particular case, there can be no argument that situations like this, and the avian flu problems we experienced 2006, are raising important issues about the methods of food production we are using. Surely it is not good to raise such a large number of animals in such cramped and unsanitary conditions – and that is before one gets into the ethics of this method of food production.

Interestingly enough, free range and organic farms rarely experience the scale of disease outbreaks intensive farms do. It is believed the animals are healthier because they have more space to roam around in and live more comfortably. Organic farms only use antibiotics to treat actual disease, rarely if ever as a preventative measure.

And yet we as consumers still demand more and cheaper meat, seemingly oblivious to how it is produced. A supermarket local to me is offering chickens for sale this weekend for £2; that is just a little over $4US. It’s pretty much a certainty those chickens did not have a very happy life; in fact I doubt any of them ever saw the sun, except perhaps on their way to the slaughterhouse. But the worse thing is, we as consumers actually buy this meat, stimulating economic demand for it and filling the pockets of the intensive farmers. And we as consumers might actually be contributing to the causes of this latest health crisis by doing this.

I made a decision not long ago to buy only meat that was free range or organic. A lot of other people are taking this same decision these days. It does cost more in the long run, and means that we do not eat meat every day. However, lots of vegetarians survive perfectly well without meat; surely omnivores can manage a few days here and there without it as well. Far better that than to economically stimulate an industry that is not only cruel, but might even be dangerous.

We as consumers need to consider whether it really is worth encouraging an industry that might potentially cause us serious problems in the future. We also need to consider how we could better use our consumer dollars to stimulate the free range and organic industries that not only raise healthier meat, but meat that really does taste better and is better for us. The collective ‘we’ has a great deal of power but only if we use it sensibly can we really effect positive change for the future.

As for the issue of global pandemics, it’s a very worrying one. Surely anything we can do to lessen the threat is worth trying – especially if it is something as simple as making better choices when we do our weekly shopping.

Gourmet Dining in the British Countryside

England never used to be a place you would come for gourmet food. We were a lot more famous for comfort food – fish and chips, shepherd’s pie and good old-fashioned steak and kidney pudding (which incidentally I find anything but comforting, but that is another story). Then, about twenty years ago, the United Kingdom’s tastes began to evolve. Nouveau cuisine was no longer something to be feared. People began writing about food, talking about food and embracing dishes previous generations would have turned their noses up at.

It was a quiet revolution and it took rather a long time. To begin with, all the places that served more adventurous cuisine were in the big cities, and even as recently as a few years ago, small towns were not the place to look if you wanted a special meal. But times have changed and these days even little places in the countryside have some fabulous restaurants. From gastropubs in tiny villages to five star restaurants in market towns, British cuisine has undergone a transformation so immense that it is now almost unrecognizable. Indeed, there is even a movement afoot to get us all back to cooking “good old fashioned dishes” as some folk worry they may disappear.

I for one do not think that Shepherd’s Pie is under any immediate threat, and even in the poshest gastropub you will still usually find a ploughman’s lunch on offer, albeit one made with locally made artisanal cheese. What delights me is the wonderful meals that can now be had in the tiniest of places.

There is a little village in Staffordshire called Rolleston-on-Dove that boasts not just one, but two fabulous restaurants. Dovecliffe Hall is a Georgian house dating from 1790 set in seven acres of beautiful grounds. It is gorgeous inside, with a beautiful staircase, paneled halls and huge rooms. As for the food, well, it is quite simply magnificent. I’ve been going here for over ten years and am always so impressed by the variety and freshness of their constantly changing menu. One of the things they are famous for is a bread and butter pudding that I have actually heard described on more than one occasion as “better than sex”. (Not ever by my husband I hasten to add!) Now I certainly would not go that far either, but I do have to admit it is very good indeed. The chef has lightened this traditionally very heavy dessert and served it with a crème anglais and caramel sauce that is quite beyond delicious.

If that does not appeal, there is always the restaurant at the wonderful Brookhouse Hotel just down the road. Set in a William and Mary house dating from about 1690, this is another place to go for the most delicious of food. Over the past few years, I have enjoyed everything here from beautifully cooked traditional Sunday lunches to gourmet evening meals. I defy you to resist their dessert trolley, which offers such a huge selection of decadent choices it is almost overwhelming.

An hour or so away on the Welsh border, the little village of Shrewsbury also boasts some wonderful places to eat. The Chamber restaurant, part of the Prince Rupert Hotel, might look like a pub, but its dishes could never be described as pub grub. Their moules mariniere are the first I have ever been served where every single mussel was open and the sauce was perfect for soaking up with pieces of crusty bread. They offer a huge selection of main dishes including some very inventive vegetarian choices, and again, their desserts are wonderful. Traditionally heavy British desserts, such as Sticky Toffee Pudding and Ginger Pudding, have been lightened and served with delicate sauces. Delicious! Also at the Prince Rupert, you will find the Royalist Restaurant which offers a more formal setting but equally delicious food. Their menu offers everything from seafood to vegetarian choices, and uses lots of locally produced foods. The desserts do not disappoint either.

Even in the tiniest of places you can find wonderful culinary gems. For example, not far from where I live in Berkshire is a tiny little place called Tidmarsh. The pub there is called the Greyhound and the building dates from the thirteenth century. It has been a pub since the 1600’s. Not a place you would expect gourmet food? You would be surprised. Try their Chicken Liver & Armagnac Pate with Plum & Apple Chutney as an appetizer and you will be delighted. As for main courses, the menu offers a huge choice of delicious foods from many different cuisines. And if you are after something more traditional, their beer battered fish and chips are made with beer freshly pulled from the taps at the bar. Many of their desserts would not look out of place in the finest French restaurant, but they also include versions of traditional British favourites including crumble with custard and Sticky Toffee Pudding.

Or journey down the Thames to Moulsford, a tiny village in beautiful countryside and dine at The Beetle and Wedge Boathouse. Set on the riverbanks that inspired famous books like “The Wind in The Willows” and “Three Men in a Boat”, this restaurant offers a unique dining experience. The older part of the restaurant, which is downstairs, offers an open charcoal grill where delicious dishes are cooked before your eyes. In the conservatory upstairs, floor to ceiling windows offer wonderful views of the Thames riverside. Again, the menu is wonderful, offering a huge range of beautifully prepared dishes. New twists on traditional favourites like Liver and Bacon sit alongside more European dishes and even dishes from further afield like their yummy Crispy Duck on a Ginger Rissotto Cake with Plum Sauce. Although I cannot personally recommend the Liver and Bacon, every other dish I have eaten there has been wonderful, particularly the seafood dishes cooked on the charcoal grill. Again, many of their desserts are lighter twists on traditional British favourites. Their Sticky Toffee Pudding is not to be missed.

If you do enjoy good food and good eating, England is definitely a place you should visit. And although London, Birmingham and other big towns offer some fabulous dining experiences, do be sure to venture off the beaten path to some of our small towns and villages. You will be very glad you did.