Walking the English countryside

One of the very nicest things about a walk in England is, if you want it to, every walk can end in a pub!  Recently I went for a very short trip to visit long time school friends and I was staying in Chipperfield in Hertfordshire.  Though this an easy commute to central London and only 20 minute drive (when the M25 is not plugged) to Heathrow airport you are in lovely rolling hills and small villages a great place to go for a walk through the English countryside, and there are lots of pubs.

It was late January, but the sun came out and a walk was definitely in order. It has however been raining a lot in fact record breaking rain, so wellington boots were the preferred footwear for going through the mud and puddles.

The first day we went for a walk around lunch time and so decided to stop at a local pub called the Boot for a bite to eat.

It was a classic pub from the outside, a little worn on the inside, but cosy and I think quite old. I decided to order the classic British pub lunch "plough mans lunch"  this can vary in size and quality, the most basic being bread, cheese and a pickled onion.

Thai curry in an English pub

One of the things that I like about going for walks in England is that they inevitably end up at a pub. I remember many years ago going for a long walk on the fells in the lake district, and when we came down exhausted and rather damp there was a wonderful old pub waiting to greet us with a wood fire burning and a restoring glass of sherry.  Well the pubs have changed and really are more about the food now than the communal living room as they were in the past.  But they are still dotted conveniently around the landscape in most parts of the country, much like Starbucks here, and make a convenient stopping off point half way or at the end of your walk.

On my last full day in England we went for a walk through the countryside around where Jacky lives in Chipperfield.  It was one of the brighter warmer days of the week and we took full advantage of the break in the rain to get some exercise.  Howard led us through the right of way alongside some fields and through the woods.  These are legally protected ancient rights of way, that crisscross the countryside all over England and allow you to go for a walk anywhere regardless of privately owned property.

I said brighter I didn't say sunny

It was a beautiful walk through the gently rolling hills on the edge of the chilterns, along farmers fields and through a wooded area which was in the process of being replanted, as well as along some country lanes. There is nothing quite like an English hedgerow which are full of wild flowers and make beautiful border to the narrow lanes.

We were heading for The Green Dragon Flaunden where Howard assured me they served very good Thai food.  We arrived at what looked like a very traditional 17th  century English Pub and headed through to the gardens outside and claimed a table.  The menu had mostly Thai food with a couple of traditional English pub dishes, but obviously the speciality was Thai and so that was what we ordered.

The food came and it was delicious, Howard ordered a red curry with prawns, chicken and beef and it was as good as any Thai food I have had, spicy but not over the top.

I ordered the green curry and it was equally good, fragrant and full of flavour, I also ordered the mixed protein, being unable to make a choice. If I was to go again I would probably choose just prawns as they were large plump and fresh tasting. Each of the curries came with white rice and were about 7 pounds, and we all thought a very good value.

Jacky ordered another curry with out coconut milk but all prawns, which was also very good but hers was a little spicier. It was a very pleasant lunch sitting outside in the gardens enjoying a glass of good English cider and some unexpectedly good Thai food.

Replenished by our lunch we started on the half hour walk back and came across this sign in the village.

I am not sure what the story behind this is, but I loved it, and think cats should be given more consideration everywhere.  Sadly I did not have my camera with me on this walk so Jacky took the pictures with her IPhone, I think they came out remarkably well, thank you Jacky for being my blog photographer. 

A day at the races

When I said I was coming to England, my friend Jacky told me that another school friend suggested we come down to the south coast and go to the races with her.  She is a member of Goodwood race track and we should bring hats and fancy dresses! I had visions of drifting around in the sunshine in my fascinator, fancy dress and amazing shoes bought for the occasion. Drinking champagne and sitting outside in the warm sun.  The weather Gods had different plans the day dawned with pouring rain and high winds, but the races were not cancelled.

So we had a picnic to prepare and pack and of course as it was the Jubilee week we would take the Queen with us in the picnic basket.

There were over 13 of us going in several vehicles, but we had the picnic in the back of our car.  The idea was to have a type of tailgate party at the car which we had parked just a few minutes walk away from the champagne tent in a grassy field.

Our portion of the picnic was coronation chicken, served in corn tortilla trays, salmon wellington, white asparagus wrapped in prosciutto and individual pissaladiere. I made the pissaldiere exactly the same as before  but in 2 inch squares, and as we did not have any olives we placed a small piece of roasted pepper in the middle of each one.

Steak and mushroom pie

What better food to eat on a rather cool June long weekend in England than pie.  We decided to make two pies fish pie and steak and mushroom pie.  Jackie was in charge of the fish pie and I took responsibility (with a little help) for the meat pie.  We picked up some braising steak from the store and set that to cooking before we walked up to the Chipperfield fair

getting ready for the children's races

First I browned the steak that was cut up in to chunks in pot with a little olive oil. I did this in 3 batches as we were making two meat pies as there was 12 for dinner.

You really do not want to overcrowd them. Then when the last batched was browned I added 3 small onion chopped by my able co chef Jacky.

I stirred these in to cook with the meat and then when they were softened added about 2 tablespoons of flour.

Diamond Jubilee Celebration in Chipperfield

Day 3 of the Jubilee Celebration dawned cool and wet again, and I realized that I had packed totally the wrong footwear for jubilee celebrations in England. So when we popped out for some provisions I picked up something more suitable.

Suitable footwear for summer in England (wellies)

Luckily the clouds slowly cleared as we walked up through the woods to Chipperfield Common.  Along the way, there was a spectacular old sweet chestnut tree which has been there since Henry the VIII used to ride pass when he hunted in the area.

Howard took us on a circuitous route and eventually we came out of the woods on to Chipperfield common.  What greeted us was an old fashioned village fair which reminded me very much of the Ioco ghost town days in port moody

There were some obvious differences, there was a bar serving beer and Pimms so that you could enjoy a beverage while going around the grounds.

My personal favourite was Would Jubileve it real ale, though not being a beer drinker I ordered a Pimms.  we then moved on to the Hog roast, this is something I think we should include in the Ioco Day celebrations.

The Diamond Jubilee Flotilla

I arrived in London on Sunday June 3, 2012 day 2 of 4 days of celebration of the Queens Diamond Jubilee.  My flight arrived at 6:30 in the morning. My friend picked me up at the airport whisked me home where I was treated to a “Jubilee breakfast” prepared by her husband.

This included a large platter of delicious English bacon along with sausages, scrambled eggs, baked beans, toast yogurt and fresh fruit.  We were spared the indignities of fried bread.  Though my friend’s husband is from New Zealand and freely admits to being a Republican, the table was decorated with union jacks in the Queens honour.

Then 6 of us hopped on to the tube and along with almost the entire population of London headed to the Thames in central London to see the flotilla go by. When we arrived at Waterloo Station, the area was heaving with people already.

This is the view looking back at the people coming out of Waterloo station at about 11:30 and the event was not scheduled to come by this part of the Thames until 3:30.  This was not a good place for anyone with a fear of crowds.

Sticky toffee pudding

There are some (probably the French) who say "If you want to eat well in England then eat breakfast for every meal." Though the British do make a mean breakfast I contend that where they really shine is dessert (or pudding).  I further contend that Sticky Toffee Pudding is the one of the best of all those delicious sticky dense rib sticking puddings.

This iconic British dessert is dense and moist on one hand but almost light on the other and a wonderful toffee sauce is poured over the top when warm which soaks into the rich moist cake.  I did not make my mother's recipe as I could not find it, so I used (with a little alteration) a recipe I found on Rock Recipes a blog from Newfoundland They suggested making it in muffin tins which I think is a great idea and I am going to try some day, but as I did not want to be fussing at the last minute I made it in a spring form pan.

8 ounces chopped pitted dried dates

1 1/2 cups water

1/3 cup butter

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

3 tbsp molasses

2 tbsp golden syrup (or substitute dark corn syrup)

1 2/3 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

Place the dates and water in a small pot and bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for only a couple of minutes. Let stand for a few minutes while preparing the rest of the batter.

Comfort food - Fish pie

Fish pie is a quintessential English dish that when it is done well is for me the ultimate comfort food.  Fish pie was almost ruined for me by the the diabolically bad fish pies they used to make at school.  In fact because of this I did not make it for years.  But watching a Jamie Oliver program a few years ago I decided to block out those bad school memories and make it my own.

I have an old school friend visiting from England this week and as we found ourselves down at Granville Island we decided to put the wonderful fresh fish to good use. I am giving the fish that we bought because it looked fresh that day, but really any mixture of seafood would do. You could use scallops, salmon or any other fish, but I really like it with a little smoked fish as this adds a wonderful slightly salty smoky addition.

Serves 3 to 4

1/2 onion chopped
1/4 cup of butter or margarine
1/4 cup of flour
1 1/2 to 2 cups of milk
handful of chopped parsley
6 large prawns (we used local spot prawns)
1/2 lb of smoked black cod
1/2 lb of halibut
1/2 cup of frozen peas.
4 large potatoes mashed with milk and butter.
2 oz of grated cheddar cheese

Perfect Roast potatoes

Roast potatoes in England are a very important component of a roast dinner, and there are many theories and methods of how to make the perfect roast potatoes.  Recently when I was in London James decided he was going  to try a method that his mother had read recently that apparently would impart the perfect crispy coating to the perfect roast potatoes.

The theory was if you tossed the parboiled potatoes in cornmeal before adding them to the fat they would crisp up even more.

First parboil the potatoes, you need floury potatoes for this not waxy ones as you want them to just be breaking down around the edges before you start roasting.

par boiled floury potatoes

Then he tossed them in a little cornmeal and added them to a roasting tin with the hot beef fat in it.  We got a great action shot of this happening.  If potatoes can be said to be in action.

Things to do in London #4 - The National Portrait Gallery

One of the best kept secrets in London is the National Portrait Gallery. Everyone knows the National Gallery which is wonderful and I visit almost every time I go to London, but the Portrait gallery is smaller and more intimate. It has a great collection of paintings and photographs documenting famous British people from the past as well as the present.

The ground floor has the most contemporary works of such people as Judy Dench, Princes William and Harry, and Lily Allen.  Every time I go there are always some new ones.  They also have special exhibits which unlike the rest of the gallery you have to pay for.

On the 2nd and 3rd floors they have everything from some wonderful portraits of Queen Elizabeth I and Henry 8th to a tiny sketch which is the only known drawing of Jane Austen.

Restaurant at National Gallery restaurant

But one of the best things at the National Portrait gallery is the restaurant which is on the 4th floor and has the most wonderful views over Trafalgar square and across the Thames.  You feel as you are almost at eye level to Nelson standing on his column, except he has his back to you.

I have wanted to go to lunch here for years, but usually I go visit the gallery on my own and this was something I wanted to share.  So this time I had two of my best friends from Canada with me so I took them up the long escalator and stairs to the top for lunch. 

The amazing view

Steamed coconut pudding

Pudding has several meanings in England. Over here in north America it means a type of custard, but in England pudding is used in the same way as we use desert. It also means a dish that is steamed in a bowl this could be savoury like steak and kidney pudding or sweet like treacle pudding.

Steamed coconut pudding is one of my fathers favourite old time recipes, I don't remember my mother making this that often but when she did I always enjoyed.

Like parkin this is one of the recipes I found in the little hand written note book of my mothers recipes, and I had never made it before, in fact I don't think I have ever steamed a pudding of any sort before.  My mothers instructions as ever were cryptic at best, but I vaguely remember watching her make it when  I was young.  (I hung out in the kitchen a lot when I was little)

Parkin

A good friend in England who I have known nearly all my life was asking for my Mothers Parkin recipe she remembered how good it was.  It was something that I had not thought of in a long time but I too remember my Mothers parkin fondly, but I could not find the recipe.

But the other day when I was looking for something else,  (which I probably did not find) I came across a small notebook with my Mothers handwriting in it.  I think it was the recipes that she took from her Mother when she got married in the very early 1950's.  What a treasure, and lo behold in it was the recipe for Parkin.

I looked Parkin up on Wikipedia and this is what it said. Parkin or Perkin is a soft cake traditionally made of oatmeal and molasses,^[1] which originated in Northern England. Often associated with Yorkshire, particularly the Leeds area.  My Mother grew up in Tingly a small town very close to Leeds in Yorkshire, so Wikipedia seems to be very accurate in both the source and the ingredients.  

Barbecued lamb

First night back in London from Italy Jacky's husband (from New Zealand) volunteered to barbecue a leg of lamb for dinner, this is his speciality and I was really looking forward to it.  We decided to make an appetizer using the buffalo mozzarella and lemon oil that we had bought in Italy.  And as we still had celeriac left over from last week we thought we would make a variation on the previous weeks side dish using sweet potato and regular potato along with the celeriac.

This was a meal made with whatever we found in the house.  O happy day when you find fresh buffalo Mozzarella from Italy in your fridge.

We had a whole leg of lamb which Jacky studded with garlick and surrounded with beautiful fresh rosemary from the garden, then wrapped in foil and baked in a medium oven for 40 minutes.

ready to bake

After the lamb was baked Howard (Jacky's husband) took it outside to their built in wood fired barbecue where he had readied the fire so that the wood was mostly burned down to charcoal.

Potato, celeriac and fennel side dish

Whilst enjoying my peaceful evening in front of the fire on my first night in England I came accross this on a cooking show on The Cooking network UK it sounded like just the thing to go with roast pork on Sunday.

A short list of ingredients and little prep time just my kind of recipe, let the ingredients speak for themselves.  I think fennel and celeriac are both much underrated vegetables and this is a wonderful way to use them.

Simple English dinner

I arrived in England mid afternoon and my school friend Jacky kindly picked me up at Heathrow. She and her family were abandoning me for the evening as they had a prior engagement. (this is something only a friend who has known you since were 9 could do.) So I was on my own for dinner

We stopped at waitrose to pick up my supplies, I wanted to have something not easily available in Canada as well as pick up some twiglets and scotch eggs. I found in the fish section something that I loved as a child that I called "yellow fish" this is in fact smoked haddock. So I decided on that and got some interesting looking potatoes (there are so many more varieties easily available here) There was also some purple sprouting broccoli which looked very interesting.