I was speaking to my good friend Luke the other day, moaning to him about how much hard work my return to university is turning out to be, and how I never seem to have any time to cook anymore. I miss good, home cooked food! As you can see, Luke has managed to get into the kitchen. I would kill for a Sunday roast right now, stacked high with all the trimmings and, of course, Yorkshire puds!

Luke’s Yorkies

Hi PF@H’ers. Jon’s given me the opportunity to make a return visit to PF@H following the enormously successful and popular potted duck. In fact, that’s not strictly true; I was in fact recently planning a Sunday lunch of roast beef with all the trimmings, and of course you can’t do this without Yorkshire puds.

Whilst growing up, Sunday roast was an event, something that brought the whole family together, and we often had friends and guests around too.  Now I’ve got a family of my own, it is a tradition I am keen to maintain, and so a mastery of the Yorkshire pudding is something of a must. Of course you could compromise and choose the frozen cardboard frisbees that are available these days, however part of the love that goes into the preparation of a roast, and the flavour, texture and knobbly notchy shapes you get from home made yorkshires make the extra effort well worthwhile.

This is, I admit, my first serious attempt at Yorkshire puddings. I am sure in the dim and distant past I have cooked them, however don’t really remember how they went. For some reason we rarely have beef as the roast of choice, probably as I’ve mastered the crackling on roast pork (thanks to Nigel Slater). Anyway, today we had a large joint of silverside, and I needed a recipe for Yorkshires. I turned therefore to the trusty PF@H – no self respecting book about pub food would be complete without it – and indeed it is there in the basics section at the back.

There isn’t really that much to making yorkshires; just a couple of things to make sure of, and they should come out fine: chill the batter before using, and make sure that the tin is hot before you pour the mixture in.

First the (simple) ingredients: Flour, eggs, milk and some salt

Mix together in a blender

Then chill for an hour or so. Once you’re ready to cook, get your oven nice and hot, and put your Yorkshire (muffin) tin in with a little oil (or preferably beef dripping) in each mould. Once it’s very hot too, take it out the oven and pour in the batter, about 3/4 full in each mould.

Pop it back in the oven for about 25 minutes. During the cooking they should rise nicely:

Try to resist the urge to open the oven…

And the finished articles should look something like this:

They were of course served with the roast beef, roast potatoes and veg, with a good dollop of horseradish. Oh, and a Californian red. I was pleased with the outcome; they rose nicely, were fluffy and light and maintained their shape well when they were removed from the oven. Next time however, I would probably go a little heavier on the salt (close your ears doc!) maybe a teaspoon instead of the 1/2 tsp I put in.

I’ll look forward to reading Jon’s blog post on the roast beef when it arrives too!

Bye for now,

Luke.

]]> http://ramsayspubfoodathome.com/lukes-yorkshire-puddings/feed/ 3 http://ramsayspubfoodathome.com/great-british-pub-food-in-madrid/ http://ramsayspubfoodathome.com/great-british-pub-food-in-madrid/#comments Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:56:17 +0000 Jon http://ramsayspubfoodathome.com/?p=1093 Hola amigos! It’s been over six weeks now since I moved to Madrid so I thought it was about time I gave you a little update on things. Well, you will be pleased to know that I am now well and truly settled into my new life in Spain. It has taken a little while. Flat hunting here, especially when you speak no (or very little) Spanish was particularly tricky. But eventually I managed to find myself the perfect little apartment, right in the centre of the Chamberi neighbourhood, on the Plaza de Olavide – which is exactly where I wanted to be.

Chamberi is, I guess, a little like Madrid’s version of my of old Fitzrovia neighbourhood in London. It’s poshie, but not too poshie (just rather nice). It’s trendy, but at the same time the residents are made up of a decent mix of ages. It’s central and within walking distance of most places but without being right in the hustle and bustle of the city centre. And, most importantly, it is definitely a little foodie. The few blocks around my flat are chock-a-block with gastro-bars, restaurants, tapas joints, delis and a huge indoor market. I love it!

The Spanish seem to eat out an awful lot. In fact, finding a flat with a real kitchen with an oven, four ring hob, fridge and freezer was pretty hard. Most one bedroom places just come with a microwave, which obviously wouldn’t do! Anyway, my new kitchen isn’t quite up to the luxury of my old one in London, but it will definitely do, and it is way better than what I had to cope with in Monaco.

So, what about pub food? Well, of course, the city is stuffed to the gills with the stuff. Spanish style, every bar seems to offer at least a small choice of tapas or pinchos.

In fact, there is a Spanish saying that goes “no sangre sin corpe”, or “no blood without flesh”. The Spaniards always, always like to eat something while they drink. Pub food paradise, no?

As for my own cooking, I have been busy learning the Spanish words for various herbs, spices and other common ingredients I will need for my Gordon Ramsay’s Great British Pub Food Project. I have found the food court at the local El Corte Ingles a great source of international ingredients and my local Chinese bazaar (pound shop to you and me) is full of cheapo kitchen gadgets that will get me through the year. So no more excuses, it’s time to cook! I started off with a smoked salmon and watercress tart (post to follow). Hopefully the first of muchos Great British Pub Food in Madrid.

Hasta la proxima, amigos!

Bonjour! Just a quick little update for you all. Since I last wrote, I have been busy travelling. After I spent a week in Greece catching up with family, The Lawyer and I have just arrived in the fabulous principality of Monaco, on the sunny French Riviera.

The Lawyer is moving out here to start a new job and so, with a few weeks to spare before I move to Madrid, I decided to do the chivalrous thing and help her with the move over. Such selfless sacrifice! So, for the next few weeks at least, Monaco is home. A tough a life as it might be here, what with all the hills between our temporary flat and the beach, I still intend to keep up with my Gordon Ramsay’s Great British Pub Food recipes. There is only one small problem…. The kitchen!

Until The Lawyer finds a more permanent home, we are staying in a holiday let that has a very basic kitchen – there isn’t even an oven. Still, it’s hardly the weather for toad-in-the-hole, so I’m hopeful that I will be able to find a few nice summery recipes from Gordon’s cookbook to make.  Watch this space!

Looking for my latest recipe attempt? See: Cod with Clams and Smoked Bacon

Well, let me try and explain. First of all, I wanted to choose a book sight unseen, so as not to bias my choice towards something too easy. I wanted my new project to be a real challenge. Secondly, I wanted to choose a book that would prove popular, so that my “cook through” experience might ultimately prove of interest to others. And finally, I wanted to choose a book that would hold my interest throughout the project – as difficult and popular as it might be, I’m not sure Rosemary Conley’s Low Fat Cookbook would really motivate me to pull on my apron on a cold and lonely winter’s evening – I needed something a bit more bloke friendly!

So what could be better than Gordon’s new book about British pub food? Its not yet released – so I have no idea exactly how hard the recipes will be, plus it will cover three of my most favourite things – pubs, beer and great food – what could better! I know Gordon is the marmite of tv chefs (you either love him or you hate him) but I admit to being a fan. I like his no nonsense approach in the kitchen and I can relate to his liberal use of expletives (and if you had born witness to any of my many cooking disasters you would understand why).

In addition, I hope to get the chance to blog a few things outside of the cook through attempts; in particular I plan on visiting Gordon’s pubs here in London. It will be interesting to see how his book (and my attempts at the recipes) measure up to the real thing. I’m really looking forward to getting stuck into this project – let’s just hope my enthusiasm lasts the course!

It’s true; I’m a sucker for a cookbook. I can’t seem to help myself. I’m browsing in the local bookshop and my eyes will inevitably be drawn towards the cookery section. Soon enough I’ll be struck by a new fancy title from some king or queen of tv chef-ery. Before you can say “Rick Stein” I’ll be off on a fantasy trip. I’m holding court in my kitchen at home, pouring forth fantastic dish after fantastic dish to the wild amazement of my friends and glamorous invited guests.

Of course it never really happens. I cook a few recipes, at best, and then at the first sign of trouble the book is tossed into the collection, wedged somewhere between Jamie’s Italy and my Imperia pasta machine never to see the light of day again.

Well, “No more!” I say. I’ve been inspired by Carol Blymire’s French Laundry at Home Blog (yes, that one is somewhere in my pile too…). I have decided to cook every single recipe, one after another, from the very next cookbook that I buy. Not only that, but to keep me honest, I’ll be sharing the experience right here on this blog.

And my next cookbook? In case you haven’t guessed, I have decided to go for Gordon Ramsay’s “Great British Pub Food”. In my next post I’ll tell you why I’ve chosen this one – sight unseen!