The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook (25 page)
To make the batter, whisk together the flour and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs until smooth, then whisk in the butter, then the milk. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and whisk until smooth. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Pour the oil into a medium-size rectangular baking dish and put into the oven to heat. In the meantime, brown the sausages in a skillet on both sides. When the oil in the baking dish is hot, carefully remove the pan from the oven. Lay the sausages in the pan. Remove the batter from the refrigerator, give it one final whisk, and pour it over the sausages. Return the pan to the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350°F and bake another 10 minutes, until the pudding is puffed up around the edges and the edges are brown.
Serves 4
The point of this pudding is similar to Yorkshire pudding: to round out the meal so less meat could be served. The trademarks of the Derby (pronounced “darby”) pudding are lots of sage and onions.
2 cups bread crumbs
1 cup rolled oats (old-fashioned, not quick-cooking or instant)
2½ cups whole milk
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons ground sage
2 onions, finely chopped
½ stick (4 tablespoons) butter, melted
Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease an 8-inch square pan. Combine the bread crumbs and oats in a large mixing bowl. Pour the milk over it and let it stand 15 minutes until absorbed, stirring occasionally (it will be hard to stir, as it will be very stiff).
Whisk together the eggs, salt, pepper, and sage. Add the egg mixture to the oats mixture and stir to combine. Add the onions and mix well. Add the melted butter and mix until thoroughly combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour until the top is dry and the pudding feels firm. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then cut into 2-inch squares. Serve hot or cold.
Makes 16 (2-inch) squares
“Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold, pease porridge in the pot nine days old.” This famous nursery rhyme was inspired by pease pudding (which used to be called pease pottage in the Middle Ages) or pease porridge. This is a very, very old dish, but it's still eaten today, often with bacon or sausages, and it's surprisingly good.
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 14-ounce cans chicken broth
1 pound yellow or green split peas, rinsed and drained
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Heat the oil in a large skillet or pot. Add the onion and cook over medium heat until browned, stirring occasionally, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add the chicken broth, peas, salt, and pepper and simmer over low heat, covered, until very thick, about 1½ hours. Once the pudding begins to thicken, stir every 10 minutes to avoid scorching. Taste and adjust seasonings accordingly.
Serve hot or cold as an accompaniment to bacon or sausages, or if you prefer, roast beef or chicken.
Serves 6
Traditional Irish stew is easy: layer onions, chunks of lamb, and chunks of potato in a pot, add water and seasonings, and off you go. It's also very bland. For a deeper, richer flavor, we modern cooks prefer to sear the meat first, brown the onions, and simmer the stew in chicken broth instead of water. The results are worth the bit of extra bother.
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 pounds lamb chops, trimmed of fat and gristle and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
6 potatoes, about 2 pounds (Yukon Gold preferred), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 cups chicken broth
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
½ teaspoon ground thyme, optional
In a Dutch oven or wide pot, heat a teaspoon of the oil. Working in two or three batches, sear the cubes of meat in a single layer over medium-high heat until well browned, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer the meat to a large plate and repeat, wiping out the pot and adding a teaspoon of oil between each batch.
Wipe out the pot and heat the remaining tablespoon of oil. Sauté the onion over medium-low heat until light brown, scraping up the fond (browned bits) on the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon, 10 to 15 minutes.
Add the meat and accumulated juices to the pot, along with the potatoes and broth. Add salt and pepper to taste and the thyme, if using. Bring the stew to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 2 to 2½ hours.
Serves 4 to 6
We use the word “hodgepodge” to mean a mix of odds and ends, so it kind of makes sense to call a stew a hodgepodge, as they did in the Middle Ages. That term survives today as “hotpot,” a stew covered by a lid of thinly sliced potatoes. Lancashire, where the townsfolk often join for community suppers featuring the hotpot, is most famous for this dish.
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 pounds neck of lamb chops, trimmed, rinsed, and patted dry
2 onions, thinly sliced and separated into rings
6 red-skinned potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
¼ teaspoon ground thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup chicken stock
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or wide pot. Sear the lamb chops on each side over high heat in batches until well browned, about 3 minutes per side. Remove from the pot and set aside.
Add the onions and stir constantly over high heat, until they are limp and pale brown. Set aside.
Spread half the onions over the bottom of the Dutch oven or a very deep casserole dish. Layer half the meat over the onions. Layer half the potato slices over the meat. Sprinkle the potatoes with the thyme, salt, and pepper.
Repeat the layering process. Sprinkle the last layer of potatoes with more salt and pepper. Pour in the chicken stock. Cover the pot or casserole dish. Bake the hotpot for 1½ hours. Remove the lid and bake for another 30 to 45 minutes, until the potatoes turn golden brown.
Serves 6
If you're not partial to lamb, you can use beef instead. Cut 3 pounds of chuck steak into six pieces and proceed with the recipe as directed.
Brown Windsor Soup has a bad reputation, which it deserves. The traditional method calls for puréeing the soup, meat and vegetables and all, and then adding a bunch of herbs, including too much thyme, and a ridiculous amount of wine. It's hardly fit for human consumption, and it's hard to imagine why this soup was popular with Queen Victoria. However, three simple but important changes result in a satisfying, delicious soup you can serve as a complete supper, since it has everything in one pot. First, add the meat back to the soup
after
puréeing the rest of the soup. Second, omit the thyme; it gives the soup a very unpleasant flavor. And finally, reduce the wine to a very small amount, which is all that is needed to give a bit of complexity. In fact, the soup is fine without it as well.
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 pounds chuck steak, trimmed and cut into ¼-inch dice
1 large onion, finely chopped
¼ cup all-purpose flour
4 14-ounce cans chicken broth
Salt to taste
½ teaspoon dried marjoram
½ teaspoon ground sage
½ teaspoon dried tarragon
2 russet potatoes, peeled and diced into ¼-inch pieces
4 carrots, peeled and diced into
¼-inch pieces
3 celery ribs, cut into ¼-inch dice
Freshly ground black pepper
Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a Dutch oven or wide pot and add the meat in batches, searing on both sides over high heat 4 to 5 minutes until crusty brown and transferring each batch to a large plate. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil to the skillet. Add the chopped onion and cook over medium-low heat until softened, scraping up the fond (the browned bits) from the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon.
Add the flour to the pot and stir until combined. Pour in 2 cans of the chicken broth and stir until well combined. Add the rest of the chicken broth, the salt, and the meat, along with its accumulated juices. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened and bubbling. Reduce the heat and simmer the meat for 1½ hours.
Remove the meat from the pot with a slotted spoon and cover to keep it from drying out. Skim the fat off the top of the soup. Add the herbs, potatoes, carrots, celery, and black pepper. Simmer for 1 hour until the vegetables are very soft. Process most of the soup, leaving some chunks. You can do this in a food processor or blender in batches, or you can use an immersion blender and process the soup directly in the pot. Return the meat to the pot. Reheat if necessary.