Day Twelve - England

This, not the Union Jack, is the actual flag of England.
The Union Jack is the flag for all of the United Kingdom.
So there.

'Allo!

(No, I did not say hello, I said "'Allo!" but close enough...)

Today's tour stop brings us to merry old England.  I had the good fortune of visiting this country back in high school, but I'd be hard pressed to tell you about the food we had there.  I remember Scotland very well (it's hard to forget haggis), but all I'm coming up with for England is some sort of breakfast buffet that had beans and stewed tomatoes and, well, beer.

So it was great to have Lauren Saul, one of my co-workers, give me a great recipe to try that offered something other than fish and chips, meat pies (Sweeney Todd, anyone?) and mushy peas.

Toad in the Hole

1 package sweet sausage

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

4 eggs

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon yellow mustard

First and foremost, anyone know why it's called this?  Seriously? Anyone? Bueller?

Ok, so to start I arranged the sausage in a spiral in a greased skillet. I put the skillet in the oven and baked at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.

While the sausage was baking, I combined the eggs, milk and mustard in one bowl and the flour, sugar, and salt in another.  I whisked each bowl, and then added the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisked again until the batter was thin but still with a few lumps in it.

I took the skillet out of the oven, with the sausages partially cooked.  I then poured the batter carefully over the sausages.  The skillet went back into the oven, and stayed there for about 25 minutes until the batter puffed and was crispy and brown.

Roasted Root Vegetables with Herbs (you have to pronounce the "h" this go around)

4 small potatoes

3 beets

1 parsnip

1 bunch red turnips

4 carrots
3 sprigs fresh rosemary
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil

For this, I chopped up the vegetables and put them in a pot.  In a separate pot, I boiled water, and once it was boiling I poured it over the vegetables.  I got the water back up to boiling and let it cook for about 5 minutes or so.

Next, I drained the pot and put the vegetables into a baking dish.  I lightly brushed them with olive oil, and seasoned them with some salt and pepper.  I then topped the vegetables with the sprigs of rosemary.  It all went into the oven and baked for about 35 minutes at 400 degrees.

Sauteed Leeks and Greens

1 bunch of leeks

1 bunch beet greens

1 bunch Swiss chard

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 clove garlic

Salt and pepper to taste

First I heated up the oil and sauteed the garlic for about 5 minutes on medium heat.  I then added the leeks and cooked until they were soft.

I added the beet greens and chard next, and wilted everything down, about 10 minutes (this was WAY too long!)


The result:

Put it all together and serve with an IPA, you get this...

Tonight was really tasty.  The Toad in the Hole was a perfect mix of savory with a little sweetness in the sausage. The pastry was light and fluffy, almost like a pancake, and topping it all with some horseradish mustard made it perfect.  The root vegetables were equally wonderful, not too mushy or oily.  The crisped rosemary sprigs added a little more crunch and flavor, and were a nice addition. The leeks and green were a little too wilted, but still had a great flavor to them.

This stuff blew what I actually had in England out of the water, and it was just what we needed as the temperature begins to plummet around here. It's been a pleasant surprise to visit the countries not well known for their food and find them to have great things to offer.  England was no exception, and I'm excited to come back here after this month is over and see what other recipes I can find.  I still don't know why it's called Toad in the Hole, but I know it tastes great.