Author: Gary @ BigSpud

A bit of a geek who loves food.

Categories
apples food pastry

fenn country apple cake

I’m not a religious person, but when travelling I often visit a church. Through time churches in the UK formed the centre of the town or village, geographically and politically. As such they contain a great deal of history & character of the area and tells me a lot about the community. This is true in Godshill on the Isle of Wight. Clearly you have clocked that name and understood just how key the church is to this village!

Most people visit Godshill for the model village which I thoroughly recommend. As with most model villages it is incredibly cute and gives you the sensation of being a kaiju walking through downtown Tokyo Ventnor. It depicts scenes from around the Island with a 1950s lens.

Note the actual church at the back, followed by the model of the church just right of centre, plus the model of the model in the bottom left… we found out later apparently there is another church smaller still in front of that!

Just a short walk up the… hill… from the model village is All Saints’ church itself. True to form the church sits proudly atop the hill, looking down over the entire (real) village. The exact founding of the church is unclear but has been a religious site for over 1,000 years.

In the corner of the church are two old bookshelves. There was a treasure trove of books here with an honesty box. I gravitated towards the cookbooks of course and found lots of gems – I must have spent twenty minutes flicking through the old books. And then I spotted something I just had to have.

I’d travelled over a hundred miles to visit the island and I’d found a cookbook from my area, encompassing Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. I duly donated my 30p and took it home.

Having a proper flick through I was pleased to note I now have two recipes for roast swan, many methods for eels, and a whole chapter on dumplings. I learned a lot about the husbandry of the region: our lands supported pigs very well (no laughing please) and many households kept one hence this book has many recipes using lard, chitterlings and hams. Plus being a coastal region great roads from Lynn, Norwich, Ipswich and Colchester serviced London with shellfish and fish. Turkey always flourished here since Tudor times, a tradition still served by the KellyBronze, the best in the world. Rabbit and hare too have always been rife in the area and are represented well here. And being a fantastic area for growing wheat and corn many cakes and biscuits arise from the three counties.

One cake in particular caught my eye: Fenn Country Apple Cake. The Fenns (“Fens”) or Fenlands are a marshy area of Eastern England running roughly from North West Suffolk, through Norfolk and cutting past Cambridge, up past Peterborough and ending around Lincoln. And why am I interested? “Fenn” is my surname so I just had to give it a go. I’ve done a little research into my ancestry and as far back as I’ve found so far my family have literally never left the three counties: I have a strong family connection to Norwich and Norfolk going back generations.

 

It’s a fairly standard apple pie (though it is called a cake here) with rich lard-based pastry, and the addition of treacle is a pleasing layer of bittersweetness that provides enjoyable contrast. And the old school usage of semolina to thicken and bind gives a little texture in the puree.

A fascinating slice of history and one oddly personal to me.

I’ve found it referenced in The Farmhouse Cookbook, another compilation by the same author Mary Norwak.

Want more apple cakes? Norwegian apple cake is a family favourite.

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fenn country apple cake

A recipe I found from the 19th century.
Course Dessert
Cuisine English
Keyword apples, pudding
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings 8 people

Ingredients

For the pastry:

  • 7 oz plain flour
  • 2 oz butter
  • 2 oz lard
  • 1 egg

For the filling:

  • 1½ lb cooking apples
  • juice of half a lemon
  • 1 oz butter
  • 2 oz caster sugar
  • 2 rounded tablespoons semolina
  • 1 oz currants
  • 3 tablespoons black treacle

Instructions

  • For the pastry, rub the flour together with the fats and a pinch of salt until it resembles breadcrumbs. Beat in most of the egg (reserving a teaspoon or so for glazing) and add a splash of water or milk until it comes together into a soft dough. Cover and refrigerate until needed, but make sure you leave it at least half an hour. I guess if we're being authentic, leave it in a cool place.
  • Peel, core and slice the apples. Put apples, lemon juice and butter in a pan, cover and simmer slowly to pulp. Add sugar and semolina, and bring slowly to the boil. Cook gently for 5 minutes or until the mixture has thickened. Remove from the heat and leave until completely cold.
  • Preheat the oven to 425°F / 220°C / gas mark 7 (note: I used 200°C in my modern oven - 220 in a 21st century oven would no doubt blacken it before it was cooked).
  • Roll out the pastry into two circles and line an eight-inch pie plate with one piece. Spread half the apple in the pastry case. Sprinkle with currants and put in treacle. Add the remaining apple filling. Moisten the edges of the second piece of pastry and cover the pie. Press edges together well and brush top with the reserved egg or a little milk. Bake for 30 minutes.

Notes

Although I always prefer metric measurements, I've presented the ingredients as per the book I used in Imperial. I've added my own pastry recipe as none was given but lard is the right choice here I feel. Excellent eaten hot, just as good cold the next day.
Categories
bread food sea bass tomato

sea bass on panzanella salad

Never work with children or animals… or do loads of things for the first time at the same time. Like I did recently, by (1) cooking sea bass (2) using someone else’s hotplate (3) going live on YouTube. These are the things that went through my head as I pushed the ‘go live’ button and streamed my first ever cooking of sea bass on panzanella salad.

Watch it back for yourself here:

I based this on a dish I’d had at the Blacksmiths on the Isle of Wight. It was a terrific fish dish with a loose nod to panzanella, the Tuscan bread salad designed to use up leftovers. Instead of leftovers ingredients went in fresh and headed in vaguely the same direction. Instead of stewing overnight tomatoes and onion were briefly cooked before being tossed with olives and capers. The fish served on a crouton of french bread finished it off.

The sea bass dish as they serve it at the Blacksmiths pub
Sea bass has a mild flavour, which means it can work well with a lot of different spices and seasonings. Plus, it’s got a really delicate texture that melts in your mouth. This makes it a great pairing for sharp, sweet and salty panzanella.

I was super pleased with how it came out and I’ll definitely be making it again. Possibly not livestreaming it next time though!

If you’re not already subscribed to my YouTube channel, please Subscribe, click the bell and choose ‘All’ to be notified every time I publish a new video or go live.

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sea bass on panzanella salad

A light Summery dish fill of lively flavours.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Keyword fish, make at home
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Servings 1 person

Ingredients

  • 1 handful cherry tomatoes about 10 or so
  • 3 spring onions ½ red onion would also work
  • 1 fillet sea bass
  • 2 slices baguette
  • balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil to garnish

Instructions

  • Get a frying pan over a medium heat. While it heats, halve the cherry tomatoes and finely slice your onion.
  • Add a splash of oil to your pan and gently fry the tomatoes and onion just to soften slightly. They only need 5 minutes max. Remove to a bowl and stir in olives and capers.
  • Season the fish all over. Slice lightly across the skin 2 or 3 times - this will prevent it curling up. Add the sea bass skin side down to the pan and hold with the back of a fish slice or your fingers to convince it to lie flat. After 3 minutes deftly flick the sea bass on to the flesh side and cook for 1 more minute. Transfer to a board or plate to rest while you toast the bread.
  • Put your slices of bread in the pan and cook for 1 - 2 minutes per side to toast.
  • To serve, arrange your tomato mix on a plate and top with the toasts. Place the fish on top and drizzle over balsamic glaze (or really good quality balsamic vinegar) and extra virgin olive oil. Serve immediately.

Video

Notes

This can be bulked up with a little more veg in the salad; peppers and courgettes would be nice. Additionally consider serving with skinny fries to get an odd take on fish 'n' chips. A little rocket would also be really nice.
Categories
asparagus bacon cheese cream egg food

improving the coronation quiche

For the first time in a very long time, Britain (and other countries for reasons I don’t want to get into in a recipe blog) have a new monarch. And as is customary, we will have a coronation ceremony in May 2023. And more importantly for most people, we get a bank holiday. A bank holiday so you can celebrate in your own way whether that’s hosting a street party, a garden BBQ, afternoon tea or throwing eggs at a rich person that you don’t like.

You know what the signature dish was for the 1953 coronation? It was called “poulet reine Elizabeth“, but everyone knows it as coronation chicken. It’s a creamy curry sauce that’s got an Indian vibe and you can either chuck it in a salad or slap it in a sandwich.

From Le Cordon Bleu cookery school

Apparently, the dish was the brainchild of food writer Constance Spry and chef Rosemary Hume from the fancy Cordon Bleu cookery school in London. They whipped it up for the queen’s coronation feast. It was inspired by a dish called jubilee chicken, which was created for George V’s silver jubilee back in 1935.

For Queen Elizabeth II’s golden jubilee in 2002, there was another jubilee chicken dish. This one was made by the chefs at Buckingham Palace and was a baked chicken cut into bits and smothered with a mix of creme fraiche, mayonnaise, lime and ginger. They served it up with pasta salad, lime slices, and flat leaf parsley, all packed up in a Waitrose plastic tub.

Now, for her platinum jubilee, they had a pudding competition and the winner was a lemon swiss roll and Amaretti trifle recipe. Nice, eh?

For King Charles’ coronation we have the coronation quiche. Perfect picnic fare, this quiche is flavoured with broad beans… and spinach?

Eh. It’s a bit dowdy, isn’t it? Doesn’t reek of celebration or festivities. Likely in the backdrop of cost-of-living crisis with rising energy bills and being squeezed, it was selected as being muted in tone to be a bit more down to earth. But I think we can do better than that, celebrating the best of British produce. While it’s nice to use broad beans it’s a bit… post-war rationing. Why not the undisputed king of British summertime, asparagus? Bang on season and something I wait for every year. And let’s add in some bacon, by the fact that everything is better with bacon. I also think we can do a little more with that pastry, so let’s amp that up. And finally let’s use some precision in the baking. None of this “20-25 minutes until golden”, let’s cook it until it’s actually perfect. With science!

Can you buy the coronation quiche?

I don’t think you can buy the coronation quiche in any shops. The only way to get the real deal is to use the official recipe, or you know, just be invited to the coronation.

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my coronation quiche

A celebratory quiche suitable for any gathering or garden party. One of the best things about a quiche is it really doesn't matter when you eat it: straight from the oven hot with a salad, or the next day packed up for lunch.
Course Main Course
Cuisine British
Keyword eggs, garden party
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings 6 people

Ingredients

Pastry

  • 200 g plain flour
  • 50 g cold butter
  • 25 g lard
  • 25 g cheddar cheese
  • 1 egg
  • milk might need a splash

Filling

  • 300 ml double cream
  • 2 medium eggs save a tablespoon of it for later
  • 1 tablespoon fresh tarragon chopped
  • 100 g grated cheddar cheese
  • 100 g bacon diced
  • 150 g asparagus spears

Instructions

For the pastry:

  • I use a food processor for speed and to be honest, it's better: add the flour, butter, lard and cheese and pulse until it forms a sandy breadcrumb texture. Whizz in the egg and if needed pulse in the milk until it comes together - be sparing and stop the moment it comes together. If doing by hand, rub fats, cheese and flour together until it resembles breadcrumbs, then beat in the egg and milk as required to form a dough.
  • Wrap and allow to rest in the fridge while you get on with everything else.
  • Put a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the bacon to a dry pan and fry for 4-5 minutes. While this fries, snap off the woody end of the asparagus spears. Then finely slice the stalks but stop at the tips. Add all the asparagus pieces to the pan and continue to stir fry for another 3-5 minutes until softened. Remove to a plate to cool down.
  • Preheat the oven to 190°C.
  • Put the cheese, cream and tarragon in a jug, add salt and pepper and stir well to mix. Hold back about a tablespoon of the egg mix to one side for later.
  • Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out to the thickness of a British pound coin. Lay into a quiche dish (appropriately enough) or similar and prick the base all over with a fork to stifle it rising. Brush your reserved egg over the base to seal it. Pop in the oven for 20 minutes, where it should have gone a biscuity brown.
  • Take the pastry base out and reduce the oven temperature to 140°C.
  • Spread the bacon-asparagus mixture over the base, then pour over the liquid mixture. Place into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until the middle of the quiche gets to 85°C.

Video

Notes

You can stop cooking this when you're happy with how golden it is. By using a probe thermometer you can capture it when it's perfectly smooth and not scrambled-eggy.

Want more quiches? I took a lot from this fantastic cheese and onion tart I made years ago. Or take a look at Big Foodie Geek’s video.

Categories
burger food restaurant review

the best burgers I’ve ever eaten

What makes a perfect burger? Is it the quality of the beef? A brioche bun? Loads of toppings? Ability to hold it in two hands? I’m not sure I can make a list myself, as it’s a little bit of how I’m feeling at the time. Sometimes a greasy burger van burger with a pile of slightly singed onions is perfect when I’m in the mood, and I don’t mind a Quarter Pounder with Cheese either. But I don’t think you want to read a list of those, so instead to celebrate National Burger Month here is a list of the best burgers I’ve ever eaten from decent places. I’m also not bothering to include sizeable chains – I’m a big fan of Five Guys all the way – but instead here’s a few more unusual places. So, here’s a top 3 of the best burgers I’ve ever eaten in no particular order…

Henry Burgers

This quirky little venue in Leigh on Sea hopes to invoke ‘speakeasy vibes’. Not sure I’m qualified to comment on that but the burgers they sell are sensational. There’s a range of hot dogs, cocktails and milkshakes but the burgers are where it’s at. This Swiss Toni burger has a loose meat patty, a smoked Swiss cheese, bacon and a potent BBQ sauce. With an appropriately sized brioche bun and just the right amount of salad garnish to give you that fresh crunch. Super savoury, super good.

Henry Burgers website

Burger Joint

This burger joint is located inside the fancy Le Parc Meridien in New York. I’d seen Heston Blumenthal visit this place while researching his In Search of Perfection burger and knew I had to go too. While on holiday I went in, crossing the marble reception and walking past the tuxedoed concierge. I felt severely underdressed in my jeans and tracksuit top, but I pressed on until I found the door on the other side of the hotel – I’d missed it. I retraced my steps and then saw a black curtain, with a neon sign maybe 10 metres in the distance. I followed it to the end and scurried down some steps. Suddenly I was in a time warp, thrown from polished opulence to a dingy diner. Exposed brickwork, scruffy tin signs, red leatherette banquettes… it was like an episode of Happy Days. You start to queue, and the sign over the top says ‘if you don’t know what you want by the time you get to the front, you go to the back.’ I agreed with Heston, “it gave me nostalgia for something I didn’t experience the first time around.”

Heston Blumenthal examines the menu at Burger Joint ©BBC

I don’t have my own photo of this one, as it was so long ago. And so long ago that I remember the sensation of eating it, rather than actually what it was. Was the burger itself actually that good? I’m not certain any more, but I remember enjoying it because of where I was. So much of having a great meal is everything around the food. It’s the setting, the ambience, having a good time, feeling comfortable, the right thing at the right time.

The Burger Joint burger ©BBC

I think this website will show you where it is, but it isn’t even listed on Le Parc Meridien’s website!

The Cow

I popped here on a whim on holiday in the Isle of Wight last year. It was such a great burger when we decided to come back to the island we booked this immediately. It’s sensational.

The Cow is situated On Tapnell farm so the food miles for the burgers are practically zilch. The burger itself tastes peppery and incredibly savoury, with flecks of crunch where it has caught the grill fire. The Classic pictured above is served with predictable but spot-on toppings like tomato, cheese and lettuce (I added bacon, because why not) and it’s the perfect combo. The dirty fries are an added bonus. I highly recommend a trip to the Island just to grab a burger at The Cow.

The Cow restaurant

Closer to home, here’s some of my favourite burgers I’ve made:

What’s the best burger you’ve ever had? Let me know in the comments.

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