British Food

welsh rarebit

October 3, 2011

I think you’d be hard pushed to find a more simple British comfort food than Welsh Rarebit.

Perfect as an after-dinner snack or a mid-day hunger stopper, nothing could be more satisfying to me than rich, cheesy, flavourful, crunchy Welsh Rarebit.

If you’re not British then the first thing you need to know is that Welsh Rarebit is essentially fancy cheese on toast.

I’m not sure there’s anything that Welsh about it. From what I could dig up, the dish may have originated as an insult to the Welsh from the English. A couple of centuries ago rabbit was considered the poor man’s meat in England, whereas the poor man’s “meat” in Wales was…cheese. Hence the name, which is often pronounced and spelled “rabbit”.

Honestly, I think the Welsh had it all figured out. Rabbit? I’ll take a strong, sharp cheddar any day of the week, thanks.

Good quality ingredients will really make rarebit shine. Crunchy bread; excellent local butter and milk; good grainy mustard.

Which brings us to the cheese. Proper cheddar should be crumbly, tangy, and really sharp. U.S. supermarket versions just won’t do here. The flavour needs to be strong and pungent enough to shine through all the other ingredients.* I highly recommend Bleu Mont Bandaged Cheddar from Wisconsin. Perfectly stinky.

Growing up I never really made “proper” rarebit – only a slightly glorified cheese on toast. Many recipes call for the addition of beer but I find it to be too rich and take away from the cheese flavour. Heaven forbid. I find making a basic roux and adding milk to be the best bet. It adds even more creaminess while letting the cheese shine.

Welsh Rarebit
adapted from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Ingredients

  • 50g/2oz butter
  • 50g/2oz plain (all purpose) flour
  • 300ml/10oz milk
  • 150g/5oz grated farmhouse cheddar cheese
  • mustard, Worcestershire sauce and black pepper to season
  • 4 large slices crusty/granary bread (choose the best bread you can here, a proper seedy bakery loaf – for such a simple meal each element should shine)
  • 1 tbsp chopped chives, to garnish (optional)

Directions

  1. Melt butter in a pan, stir in all purpose flour and cook for two minutes. Gradually stir in milk to make a very thick, smooth sauce.
  2. Add grated cheese, stir until melted, then season with about a teaspoon of mustard, several dashes of Worcestershire sauce and a few grinds of black pepper.
  3. Pile on to toast and grill (broil) until browned and bubbling. Garnish with chives and serve hot and bubbly.

*You can find excellent cheeses at most co-ops, Whole Foods and other specialty shops (in Minneapolis, Surdyk’s and France 44 Cheese Shop).

bourbon creams

June 1, 2011

Did your family have a biscuit tin or cookie jar growing up? If so then you’ll have had your favourites. The biscuits (cookies) that were your go-to pick; that you were so excited when you saw.

Bourbon Creams were my biscuit tin favourite. There’s nothing too fancy about them – they are basically two rectangular chocolate biscuits sandwiching a chocolate cream filling. Fancy or not, I loved them.

I could never just bite into them straight (unless I’d dunked them in a cup of tea or coffee first) but instead would nibble the top biscuit off and then scrape out the chocolate cream filling with my teeth. That was the good stuff. The last biscuit was just an afterthought at that point.

A friend of mine recently returned from her honeymoon in Scotland and brought back some supermarket brand bourbon creams (the original manufacturer no longer makes them so it’s all own-brands). I squealed. I hadn’t thought about my beloved bourbons in years and here they were.

Since there’s little chance of finding these beauties in the shops stateside I made some. They are a bit sweeter than the shop-bought kind but retain that satisfying crunch and snap of hard biscuits. The cream filling is lovely and rich – you’ll definitely want to break into them and scrape it all out – divine.

P.S. They’re kid-friendly: no actual bourbon involved.

Bourbon Creams

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 large eggs
  • 1/2 tablespoon milk
  • granulated sugar, to sprinkle

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt, and set aside. Cream butter, vanilla, and sugar. Add eggs and milk, and mix until combined. Add flour mixture, and mix slowly until incorporated, scraping the sides of the bowl at least once. Divide the dough in half, and shape each half into a flat disk. Wrap each disk in cling film (plastic wrap), and chill until firm, about 1 hour.
  2. Preheat the oven to 350F. Roll dough out on a floured surface, sliding an offset spatula under the dough to release it every few turns of the rolling pin. Roll dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut dough into small rectangles, about 1 inch x 2.5 inches, making sure each biscuit has a match to make a sandwich. Place rectangles on a lined baking sheet; chill until firm, about 30 minutes. Remove from refrigerator; use a fork to prick the biscuits with holes. Sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake until just firm, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet; transfer to a wire rack.
  3. With the underside of half the cookies face up, spoon chocolate butter cream to cover one side in a thin layer. Place matching cookie on top of butter cream, top side facing out.

To make the buttercream:

Ingredients

  • 2.5 oz good quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
  • 4 tbsp butter, at room temperature
  • 1.5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
  • 1 tbsp baking cocoa, sifted
  • 2-4 tbsp milk

Directions

  1. Melt chocolate in a double boiler and allow to cool to room temperature.
  2. Beat in butter until creamy.
  3. Add powdered sugar and baking cocoa.
  4. Slowly beat in milk 1 tbsp at a time until you reach desired consistency.

victoria sponge cake

May 16, 2011

I was honoured to guest post over at Eat Live Run last week. Head over to Jenna’s blog to check out my recipe for Victoria Sponge cake.

The Victoria Sponge is a traditional English cake, famed for its light and airy texture and its distinct “sandwich” appearance, wedged together with a delightful combination of jam and whipped cream.

An excellent everyday treat. Read the recipe here.

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