English cuisine

No, this is not an oxymoron, I swear. Really, it’s not.

During the near-decade that we lived in Oxford, one of the questions I was most commonly asked about England by non-English people was, “How’s the food?” Usually accompanied by an anticipatory grimace, prompted by all the stories they’d heard about awful English food, or by memories of crummy meals they’d eaten themselves in tourist-trap London pubs.

My standard answer was not what they expected. I usually responded, “Expensive.”

Oxford is by far the most expensive place I have ever lived, and we spent our whole time there living on essentially one income. (First DP was a student and I worked full-time; then he worked full-time and I worked part-time and looked after Miss B.) Even grocery shopping was pricey, and eating out was an occasional luxury, usually involving a cheap-and-cheerful curry at our favorite Indian or burgers at one of the local pubs.

But once in a blue moon, we’d get the chance for a really nice meal out – visiting parents, work dos, or a splurge we’d saved up for. It was at one of these that I first discovered sticky toffee pudding. From then on, I sought it out whenever I went to a restaurant serving classic English food. It is far and away my favorite example of true English sweet cookery – a sucker-punch of moist, rich, toffee-soaked deliciousness. It's the perfect end to a Sunday lunch on a cold winter day.

Sticky toffee pudding
Adapted from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey
My main adaptation of this recipe was to halve it, and even this makes for 6 serious servings. The original recipe suggests baking the cake in a muffin tin for ease of serving later; I use my dessert shell pan, which cooks the batter into 6 cakes, each with a bowl-shaped indentation in the top, the better to fill with toffee sauce and ice cream.

Cake

1 cup/6 oz/180 g chopped dates

.75 cup/6 oz/180 ml water

.75 tsp/4 g baking soda/bicarbonate of soda (divided)

1 cup/4 oz/120 g all-purpose/plain flour

pinch salt

.5 tsp/3 g baking powder

.75 stick/3 oz/90 g butter, at room temperature

.75 cup/6 oz/180 g firmly packed light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp/5 ml vanilla

Toffee sauce
1 stick/4 oz/120 g butter

1.5 cup/12 oz/360 g firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 cup/8 oz/240 ml heavy cream

.5 tsp/3 ml vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C and grease baking pan.

Cake Combine dates and water in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and bring just to a boil. Let simmer, uncovered, until all the water is absorbed, 10-15 minutes, and the dates have softened. Remove pan from heat, stir in .5 tsp of the baking soda, set aside for about 15-20 minutes while you get on with the rest of the process.

Sift together flour, salt, remaining baking soda, and baking powder, and set aside. In a medium-large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla. Fold the dates into the batter, followed by the dry ingredients, until just combined.

Divide the cake mixture evenly among the 6 cups, then place pan in the oven. Bake until a tester comes out clean, 15-25 minutes.

Toffee sauce Combine butter and sugar in a medium-large saucepan over medium-low heat, and let them melt together, 5-10 minutes. Add the cream, vanilla, and salt, and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the sauce thickens, stirring often, for another 5-10 minutes.

Assembly Spoon 1 large tablespoon of warm sauce into each serving bowl, then place cake bowl on top. Drizzle another 2 tablespoons into each cake bowl and over the sides. Top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and serve warm.

Serves 6 generous portions.

Pasta bake

When you’re halfway through a bout of solo parenting (as I currently am), nothing breaks up the monotony like a mum-and-kid playdate. Bonus points if it’s another solo-parenting mum who is also craving social interaction, a change of scene, and some quality adult conversation.

Yesterday Miss B and I met up with our pals LB and Mr W for an afternoon outing to see Despicable Me 2 (even more minions!). When we made the plan, I’d invited them back here afterwards for some playtime and dinner afterwards. Knowing I’d want to be able to concentrate on the conversation, I opted to get most of the prep out of the way before we left for the movies, and made a pasta bake.

Creamy pasta bake

For this concoction, I used a combination of ingredients that I frequently make as a pasta dish, with some adaptations to make it work in baked form (mainly a roux sauce rather than a pan sauce).

Pasta

1 lb/450 g short pasta of your choice (I used gemelli)

1 Tbsp/.5 oz/15g butter

Mix-ins

4 slices bacon, chopped,

1 shallot, peeled and chopped

¼ cup/2 oz/60 ml white wine

1 bunch spinach, washed and roughly chopped

Sauce

2 Tbsp/1 oz/30 g butter

4 Tbsp/1 oz/30 g flour

¼ cup/2 oz/60 ml white wine

1 cup/8 oz/240 ml stock or similar (I was out, so used the pasta cooking water)

1 cup/8oz/240 ml pouring cream

2 oz/60 g cheddar cheese

pinch cayenne pepper

salt

Topping

2-3 handfuls of shredded parmigiano reggiano cheese

2-3 Tbsp of grated pecorino romano cheese

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil, then add pasta and cook until just edible and still very al dente (8-10 minutes). Drain, reserving 1-2 cups of the pasta water. Return to the pasta pot (minimizing washing up!) and mix in 1 Tbsp of butter to keep from sticking. Set aside.

While the pasta cooks, you can get on with the mix-ins and sauce.

Mix-ins In a large skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until it begins to brown and crisp, 5-7 minutes. Once you start to see signs of browning, add the shallot and continue to sauté, stirring frequently. When the bacon is looking crisp and the shallots have softened, add the wine and stir briskly to scrape up all the good stuff that will be stuck to the bottom of the skillet. Add the spinach and leave to wilt for another 5-7 minutes, stirring regularly.

Sauce Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, then add flour and stir together with a whisk to make a roux.* When the roux has cooked sufficiently, add wine and continue stirring. Add remaining ingredients in the order listed, stirring frequently to bring everything together. Bring just to boiling point and let simmer for a bit to thicken the sauce up. Make sure the cheese melts and finish off by salting to taste.

Assembly Lightly grease the inside of a casserole dish (I used an oval 2.8-liter which held this amount of food perfectly). Empty skillet of mix-ins into the waiting pasta and mix together, then pour over half the sauce and mix again. Pour the whole mixture into the prepared casserole dish and spread out to even depth. Pour in the rest of the sauce.

This is the point where I covered the dish with foil and put it in the refrigerator for 3 hours. When we got back from the cinema, I cooked it as follows.

Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Remove casserole dish from fridge, but leave covered. When oven is preheated, put in casserole and leave to cook for 30-40 minutes, until beginning to brown and bubble on the edges. At this point, remove foil, add topping cheeses, and return to oven for 10-15 minutes.

Let stand for 10 minutes before serving if possible. Generously served 2 adults and 2 children, with probably another 4 servings left over.

* See here for an in-depth discussion of making roux-based sauces and gravies.