Tatty Pot
This was something we had all been looking forward to since we first planned our trip to the Lake District; Tatty Pot is a traditional Cumbrian dish made up of lamb neck and scrag end, topped with potatoes, onions and black pudding. It’s cooked very simply without a lot of herbs and spices and is the perfect way to showcase the incredibly tasty local meat.
It cooked away for most of the afternoon, meaning that the wonderful lamb flavours drifted all over the house encouraging everyone into the kitchen begging to know when it was going to be ready. When it was served, the entire table of 16 (well 15 as I don’t think the vegetarian amongst the group was quite as excited as the rest of us) fell silent with just the occasional mmmm and oooh to be heard. There wasn’t very much washing up that night since every last scrap was scraped from the baking dishes. A fine way to end a fabulous week.
Barbecued Steaks
Having booked the house we were to stay in some months ago, we were disappointed to find that there was no barbecue available on-site and made arrangements for two groups to bring theirs from London. Having squashed them into the cars for the six hour journey, we were determined to use them despite the fact that it rained pretty much every day.
Out in the rain, Stephen and a couple of willing volunteers donned their raincoats and cooked the corn cobs and sirloin steaks to order. Back in the warmth of the kitchen, I took care of the mushrooms and onions that were to be served alongside. There was also some much-needed salad.
Despite the inclement weather and the challenge of cooking 15 steaks to varying degrees of doneness, it all worked out well. There weren’t quite enough mushrooms and onions to go round but, frankly, the size of the steaks meant there wasn’t much room for anything else.
Roast Chicken with Boulangere Potatoes
One of the most enjoyable aspects of our week away was spending time in the kitchen, cooking with our friends. We’re all keen cooks and, although it’s incredibly immodest of me to say this about myself, all very able. This meant that over the course of the week, there were many people in the kitchen cooking at the same time and assisting each other as went about feeding the 16 of us. Luckily for us, it was never a case of too many cooks and we all got along well together and hopefully picked up some new tips too.
As regular readers will know, we eat a lot of roast chicken and, happy with our usual method, we tend to stick to it. Observing others roasting chickens has certainly inspired me to be a little more creative next time we come to cook this for ourselves though. I wouldn’t have thought of using soy sauce and chilli powder to flavour a traditional roast chicken, worrying that it would add a Chinese flavour but it worked well and added to the overall rounded flavour of the dish.
Roast Pork with Apples and Chorizo
This was no mean feat. Perfectly moist, flavoursome roast pork with wonderful crunchy crackling, roasted apples and a side order of crispy chorizo, for 15 people in an unfamiliar kitchen with incredibly blunt knives. My compliments to the poor chef who managed to not even look a little bit frustrated as he tried to remove the pork skin from a third joint, an hour after he started on the first.
Chilli with Roasted Peppers
Having complete an enormous, Supermarket Sweep style shopping trip at the local supermarket on Sunday, we found ourselves with rather a lot of minced beef that was destined for a pot of chilli. Feeling a little delicate yesterday, Stephen and I stayed behind while the majority of the group went walking in the rain. Not wanting to leave them cold, wet and hungry when they returned, we set about the preparation.
I’m sure it’s obvious to most people but the sheer amount of time required to peel, chop, slice, brown and sautee all the requisite ingredients was staggering. Luckily for us, we both rather enjoy these activities so were more than happy to forego walking for cooking.
While we had managed to find most of the ingredients we normally use when making chilli, we didn’t have everything so we ended up with a slightly different version to that we have had in the past. It was still perfectly edible and pleasant though and, served with some roasted peppers and rice, it filled the stomachs of the hungry walkers rather well.
Cumbrian Lamb
Continuing the Cumbrian theme, tonight’s dinner was local lamb cutlets, once again from Harrisons butcher. We briefly considered sauteed potatoes as an accompaniment but the practicalities of chopping enough onion and potato for 16 people soon became evident and we ended up with some very good roast potatoes instead.
The chops were marinated in garlic and rosemary before being rendered on the hob to release some fat. The fat was used to flavour the potatoes and the whole dish was served with a red-wine gravy.
Cumberland Sausage
Stephen and I are on holiday in the Lake District with 14 friends. As you can imagine, catering for that number of people is potentially challenging but, on the first evening, the solution was obvious: Cumbrian sausage from the local butcher, Harrisons of Wigton.
When I first heard of this plan, I idly wondered just how many sausages were required to to feed 16 people but I was quickly corrected – Cumbrian sausage isn’t served in individual portions and is purchased in either feet or yards. Unfortunately, I didn’t find this out until later so I’m not sure how long our sausage was, I do know it was 15lbs in weight though.
According to Wikipedia, the distinctive feature of Cumberland sausage is that the meat is chopped, not minced, giving the sausage a chunky texture. Having eaten quite a lot of it, I can confirm that this is indeed the case. What was also evident was the softness of the meat; it almost melted and was difficult to cut in slices, we used scissors instead of a knife to serve but I’m not sure if this is traditional or not. It was a very different product to the Cumberland style sausage I’ve eaten before and all the better for it, hopefully we’ll be able to find some to take home with us when we leave.
Scones
These were supposed to be scones but I think a more accurate name for them would be biscuits since they came out very flat. A little research has taught me that I probably overworked the dough and cut them too thin. They tasted good and the texture was right, they were just too small and flat.
Three Onion Tart
Today was a big baking day, starting with this Delia tart. I didn’t make the pastry and didn’t even manage to roll the ready-made stuff out very well but it tasted fine and the filling was very good. This is quite a time consuming recipe and there are various steps to go through that make it more difficult than an ordinary tart or quiche recipe but it was worth the pain.
Mine seems a lot darker than Delia’s version and I’m not sure why since it wasn’t overcooked, it may well be to do with the very dark yolks on the Burford Brown eggs.
Potato and Chorizo Salad
We’re going away on Saturday so this week is all about using up the stuff that’s hanging around in the fridge and cupboards. This is quite similar to the chorizo and potato dish we cooked last week but lighter and more like a tapas dish really. It worked well and was very quick and easy, some green beans or peas would have been a good addition.
Not really a recipe but take some cooked new potatoes and some warm chorizo, mix together, add some spring onions and lettuce, season and serve.
