English recipes to surprise my friend?!
Answers: My Guildford-born friend is back in the States after 2 years spent in New Zealand. Since his mum and dad can't be here, I'd like to cook him a British dinner as a "welcome home". Can you suggest something to cook for him, preferably something that you like to cook yourself rather than a link? Thanks in advance.
Actually the English do have a wide and varied cuisine but for some reason they are ashamed to lay claim to it aloud.
Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding is always cited as the classic English meal,
Take a joint of beef not smaller than two pounds in weight, rib, on the bone is best but off the bone is fine or you could use top rump,rump, silver side or topside..Do not trip outer fat, it tastes best cooked with this one, but if there are any large pieces of fat visible, and there always are with rib, inside the joint then pierce them a few times with a knife to break them up a little and help them cook better. Take a teaspoon of English mustard and mix it with a pinch of black pepper and another of salt then massage it into the meat and fat, then let the joint stand for half an hour at least..overnight in the fridge if you like. Preheat your oven to 170c and place the beef in a large roasting dish and put into the oven for 20 minutes per pound and twenty minutes over, add five minutes per pound if you want it well done. While this starts cooking, peel enough potatoes for everyone and boil them in a pan of water for ten minutes then drain them. take the roasting dish out of the oven and add the potatoes..turn them in the juices and arrange them so that they are not quite touching each other, if there are too many then use another roasting dish and a spoonful of olive oil to baste them in, put everything back in the oven.
Take a muffin tin and pour a little oil into each hole, put it into the oven to get hot
crack an egg into a bowl with enough milk to make half a pint altogether, add a pinch of salt and, if you want to, a large pinch of dried herbs; then pour in four ounces of plain flour..never self-raising...and whisk vigorously for a minute .Let the mix stand for another couple of minutes and then pour it into the muffin tin..you should try and time this so that there are twenty minutes of cooking time left when the Yorkshires go into the oven. Do not open the oven again until twenty minutes have passed and if the Yorkshires do not look lovely and puffed up and golden, close it again gently an let them have another five minutes.
Making gravy with the pan juices is time consuming and unless you really know what you are doing, the results can be really disappointing; best use a simple gravy mix , preferably a vegetable flavoured one that won't mask the meat.when you take the meat out of the oven you can always spoon a little of the meat stock into the gravy for added taste.
Serve with peas and carrots or steamed cabbage or, if you can get them brussle sprouts..frozen are best and just follow the package instructions. Carve the beef as thinly as you can and serve everything up.It really doesn't get more English than this.
Unfortunaltey, the English havent contributed much in the culinary world. There are a few dishes they are known for, but thats it. One of them is beef wellington. Another is bangers & mash. Blood pudding and yorkshire pudding too. Of all these I mentioned, I would suggest making the wellington. Its pretty tasty and is generally a crowd pleaser.
2 7 oz filet mignons
2 sheets of puff pastry
Sauce
This is the tricky part...traditionally it is slow cooked and reduced. Im figuring you probably dont have time to do that. So...to save you time w/o sacrificing taste, here is a version that has a few shortcuts in it.
Wellington Sauce
1/2 pkg of sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup red wine
1 clove of finely minced garlic
1 sprig of fresh thyme
demi glace base(found in the soup aisle)
Saute the mushrooms in a lil bit of evoo. Add the garlic, and cook just until the garlic is fragrant. Dont let it brown. Add the red wine, reduce until its almost all gone. Add the demi glace bace and follow the instructions on the package for 2 servings. Add the amount of water stated in the demi glace instructions. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for about 10-15 mins until your sauce will coat the back of a spoon. Serve with beef wellington.
Pan sear the filets on all sides, remove from heat.
Wrap the filets in the puff pastry and bake at 400°F for about 15 mins or until puff pastry is golden brown. Serve these with mashed potatoes, steamed carrots, garnish with finely chopped parsley. Your brit friend will love it!
Boiled everything! Ok, maybe not. New Zealanders' cuisine is somewhat similar to the British fare. Perhaps it would be better to do something traditionally American for him, since he's probably been missing that, too. Was there anything typically American that he enjoyed when he was here before? That might be a better choice.
Never try to "surprise" a guest with one of his native dishes.
It puts a lot of stress on you and members of the Yahoo Answers community, but he'll think it's awfull and tell you it's great.