Remember when I was obsessed with Scotland? I wrote about Edinburgh, then Inverness, then Inverness again, and I also made Cranachan. Well, here’s one more plug for Scotland… tattie scones. Tattie scones are basically fried flat discs made of potato dough. They are delicious and I first had them when I tried Scottish breakfast. In a very meat-heavy meal, yet my favorite thing was made with potatoes.

Although I did have tattie scones a few times during my vacation to Scotland, I sort of forgot about them afterward. That is until I recently went out for breakfast with my friend Hannah. I had tattie scones with scrambled eggs and fell in love all over again.

I really love cooking things I normally have at restaurants because at home I can have MORE. Lots more. In a restaurant I will be served two, maybe three, tattie scones. I want to be able to have at least four and preferably six. It’s gluttonous, but it’s true. Sure, I could order three side orders of tattie scones at a restaurant but I do have some amount of dignity. At least in public. At home, I’m totally cool with Ryan seeing me gorge myself on tattie scones. That’s real love people.

So, I find tattie scones are best eaten warm and fresh out of the pan. This way they are crispier and overall more delicious (in my opinion). But you could of course have them cold. As for what potatoes to use, you need floury ones. Floury potatoes are soft and fluffy, but dry once cooked. They aren’t great for regular boiling as they will fall apart. For example, when I poked my potatoes with a fork to check doneness the potato split with a large crack. It wasn’t ruined, but boiling potatoes will hold their shape when poked. Here in the UK examples of floury potatoes are King Edward and Maris Piper. In the US the lingo is a bit more muddled. Look for potatoes that have a high starch content or that are labelled good for baking. Russet or Idaho potatoes are good examples.

What makes tattie scones different than other foods with potato based doughs? I’ll tell you. These sort of reminded Ryan and me of latkes in flavor, but I think it’s been forever since he and I had eaten a latke because they are pretty different. Latkes use shredded potatoes, onions, and egg, and barely (if any at all) flour. I also looked into gnocchi – which is sort of similar to both latkes and tattie scones. Gnocchi is made with potatoes, flour, eggs, and salt. The big difference is you boil gnocchi. Who knew there was such diversity in potato based doughs? Now we all know a bit more. You’re welcome.

Adapted from the Guardian.

Messy level: When Ryan looked at the kitchen afterward he called it “a warzone.” I would argue it’s not that bad, but you do have to boil the potatoes, mash them, then make a dough, and then roll out the dough. That’s a lot of steps, a lot of tools, and the potential for a lot of mess.

Tattie Scones

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

1 hour

Total time

1 hour 15 mins

 

Serves: 24 triangles

Ingredients

• 1 lb/500g floury potatoes, unpeeled (see notes above about types of potatoes)
• 3 tablespoons/40g butter, plus a little more for greasing
• 1 cup/ 125g all-purpose flour, plus a little more for dusting
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Put the potatoes in a big pot and cover with salted water. Bring the water to a boil and then let the potatoes simmer until cooked. The potatoes are cooked when they are fork tender. This takes about 25-30 minutes depending on the potato's size.
2. Drain the potatoes and then return them to the pan. Leave them in there to dry a bit from the heat of the pot. Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle rub off the skins. You can do this bare handed or use a paper towel to help you.
3. Add the butter and then mash the potatoes using a potato masher or fork. Mash them as best as you can. Some tiny pea sized lumps are ok, but big lumps will not do!
4. Now pour in the flour and salt. Use a wooden spoon and mix everything all together until you have a dough.
5. Divide the dough into 4 pieces (or more pieces if you have a small skillet and so need to make smaller circles). Roll the dough out into circles that are a little less than ¼" thick. If you want perfect circles use a small salad plate and a knife as a template. Otherwise roll it out into a rough circle and that's good enough.
6. Heat up a large skillet over medium high heat. Put some butter in the pan to grease it.
7. Put one dough circle in the preheated skillet. Use a spatula to press it down against the pan. Cook the dough for about 3-5 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. [Note: As you cook you might need to lower the heat so the later tattie scones don't get immediately burned.] Repeat until all your dough circles are cooked.
8. Once the scone is cooked remove from the heat, cut into four triangles and serve. It goes well with Scottish breakfast or scrambled eggs and lox.

3.3.3077

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It’s been a fun vacation so far in the US, but it’s almost time for me to turn my attention back home to London. This feels especially true because as I write this it’s snowing outside and I’m unprepared for this weather. It’s freaking March, and it’s snowing. I’m not kidding, the weather is better in London right now. Get yourself together DC.

Anyway, on a cold day like this it’s always nice to have something warm and comforting… like roasted potatoes. These potatoes are a classic English style of potatoes and what you get when you have Sunday roasts. Specifically, this recipe is from my friend Sarah’s mom, who we’ll call Mrs. P. Sarah’s dad calls her mom Mrs. P, and I thought it was the cutest thing so I’m going to roll with it.

Anyway, I had Mrs. P’s potatoes when I had an amazingly beautiful mini-vacation in Dorset. The Sunday I was there, Sarah’s whole family gathered together for a big delicious roast lunch. Everything was really tasty and nothing is more comforting and satisfying than a warm lunch with family. It was wonderful to be included. And even though the meat, dessert and vegetables were all amazing – I was most intrigued with the potatoes.

What makes these potatoes awesome is they have a crunchy outer skin and a creamy buttery soft inside. It’s fantastic. Every time I’ve ever made roasted potatoes before, they just came out soft all over. What was the secret to the crunchy/soft combo?! So I asked Sarah to ask her mom – and I was worried it’d be a family recipe that couldn’t be shared. But luckily Mrs. P shared, and said I could share the recipe with all of you. So here it is, your opportunity to escape where you are and have a little taste of England.

One final note: the type of potatoes is important. Mrs. P calls for Maris Piper potatoes, and when I did some comparative research on similar recipes, everyone else called for the same kind too. So, stick with tradition if you can and try to buy Maris Piper potatoes. However, this is an Irish breed of potatoes and can be hard to find outside the UK. So, if you’re in the US and can’t find Maris Piper, my research says use Yukon Gold and then if you can’t find that try Russets.

Messy level: I find peeling potatoes fairly messy. I always think it shouldn’t be, but I end up with a big mound of peelings that take over my cutting board and fall on the floor. What’s most important to know though, is that this recipe has two cooking steps. First on the stove, then in the oven – and that’s where the dishes come in. Process wise it’s easy, but you’ll have a medium amount of dishes in the end.

Goose Fat Roasted Potatoes

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

1 hour 40 mins

Total time

1 hour 55 mins

 

Author: Mrs. P

Ingredients

• 1.5kg/ 3.3 lbs Maris Piper potatoes
• 150g/ 5oz/slightly more than ½ cup goose fat
• salt (optional)

Instructions

1. Peel the Maris Piper potatoes and cut them in half, or in quarters if especially large. Most importantly, you want the potato pieces to be about the same size so they will cook evenly.
2. Put the potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water.
3. Bring the water to a boil and boil the potatoes for 5-10 minutes. (This is called parboiling and is done just to cook and soften them a little, not cook them all the way through.) You can season the water with salt if you like.
4. Preheat the oven to 390°F/200°C. Put the goose fat into your roasting pan, and put in the pan in the oven. You want the fat to be super hot for when you add in the potatoes.
5. Drain the potatoes. Put the lid back on your pot and swirl it around. This is to roughen up the edges of the potatoes - this is what leads to the crispy skin. I felt my potatoes were "roughed up" enough when they looked a little shredded and frizzy on the edges. (Note: if you've over boiled the potatoes, you'll end up with mash potatoes at this point)
6. Carefully remove the roasting pan from the oven, and carefully add the potatoes. If you can, try to turn the potatoes around a little bit so they get all coated in the fat. Return to the oven.
7. Cook the potatoes for 1-1½ hours. Turn the potatoes a few times during cooking (I went with turning them every 20 minutes) They are done when you can easily stick a fork into the potato.
8. Remove from the oven. If you feel they are too coated in duck fat, you can pat them dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle the potatoes with salt if you like. I didn't because I think this recipe is good as-is.
9. Serve immediately! I found these are best the day off. They are still good reheated, but the crispy skin is best when fresh.

3.2.2925

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You know the stereotype that Brits have bad food? I’m going to take a bold stance and say that it’s totally wrong. The Brits have yummy food and I’ve had plenty of it since moving here. I’ll concede that a lot of dishes are hearty and meat based, which might not be everyone’s cup of tea, (yes cup of tea reference on purpose), but fish and chips, mash, Victoria sandwich, coronation chicken, and steak and ale pie are all delicious. But my favorite thing ever might be Sunday roast.

On Saturday, Ryan and I went to a Halloween party and we may have stayed out really late and had too much fun. So the next day we woke up groggy and I was grumpy. Ryan suggested we go to the pub for a Sunday roast and I immediately perked up. It is the perfect meal for a rainy lazy Sunday.

We went to the Horatia, which is our local pub. The kitchen is run by Borough Foods Kitchen, which means all the ingredients are sourced from traders at Borough Market. Which, by the by, is an awesome market with all kinds of great food and I should totally write a TT post about that. Anyway, Borough Market has the best ingredients and as a result the Horatia’s food is always really good.

The Horatia is a quirky place. It’s decorated with lots of taxidermy animals, which at first feels weird but eventually seems a little charming. It has mismatched furniture, grandfather clocks, and chalkboards listing all their craft beers. It’s kind of giant as pubs go, and I think they have swing dancing lessons one day a week.

Ryan and I first went for Sunday roast after a number of British people told us it was a must-do for our time here. The meal is like comfort food, it’s filling, and familiar, and indulgent all at the same time. The basics of the dish is a roast meat, with fixings, and gravy. In addition to the food itself, I like the atmosphere of the pub. On Sundays, the pub feels extra happy. There are families, groups of friends, couples, kids, and even dogs. It’s so nice, and different from how I’ve experienced bars in the US.

But let’s get to the important stuff and talk about the food. At the Horatia, the meat options are beef, chicken, pork, and lamb. One of us always gets the beef. It’s so tender and flavorful. The following is meant as a compliment, although I know it may not sound like it, but you know when you go to a buffet and there is a carving station? That is always my favorite bit, but the person who does the carving always gives out a tiny portion. I always have to ask for more, and it still isn’t as much as I want. At the Horatia, the portion is the giant slice of roast beef I always wished for in the buffet line.

The last time Ryan got “the works” which was a slice of pork, beef, chicken, and lamb. That was a nice option because then no one had to make a sacrifice on choices. Along with the meat, it comes with the fixings. This one specifically has crunchy parsnips on top, parsnip mash and roasted carrots. It also has mushy peas, which have mint in them.I try them every time, but I never really like them. There’s Yorkshire pudding, which is that roll looking thing. It’s called pudding, but isn’t sweet or dessert like. On the side potatoes roasted in goose fat and braised cabbage. I’m often anti-greens but I really liked this cabbage. And on top of that, lots and lots of gravy. Quite the feast right?

Oh yeah, and of course, don’t forget to have it with a pint.

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Today’s recipe is all about the sides. Sometimes the sides are the best part of the meal. I love that in those home style American restaurants there is often a vast array of sides to choose from. If you don’t know what I mean, there are some restaurants where you order something like chicken, and then the dish comes with something like 2-3 sides and the options are numerous. Apple sauce? Green beans? Biscuits? Mashed potatoes? Oh yeah, that’s the good stuff.

My favorite place for sides is Cracker Barrel. For a little while while Ryan and I were dating we lived about an hour away from each other. Half way in between us was York, Pennsylvania and at exit 16A off of I-83 was a Cracker Barrel. If you’ve never been to Cracker Barrel please stop there sometime during your next road trip. It’s well worth it and, I think, an important example of Americana. Anyway, I’d drive north into Pennsylvania and he’d drive south towards the Maryland border and we’d meet at Cracker Barrel and have dinner and then go to the movies. We’d get raspberry lemonade and then something like a roast beef dinner or chicken ‘n dumplings (that’s ‘n not in). Those meals come with a choice of bread and two sides. Yum.

When it comes to sides Ryan and I are likely to choose cornbread and mashed potatoes and that’s why this recipe is so perfect. It’s a cornbread muffin topped with mashed potatoes. I used a piping bag to make the mashed potatoes look beautiful and give the impression of being like cupcake icing. I topped it all with a splash of hot sauce and a chicken nugget. All the best sides combined into one elegant savory cupcake. And let me tell you, it was epic. I thought this combo was going to taste good, but it is better than good. In fact, it is blow your taste buds off good.

I originally got this idea from Pinterest and a pin I saw from Teacher-Chef. However, she used boxed ingredients and I wanted to make this from scratch. The mashed potato recipe is mine and the cornbread recipe comes from Once Upon a Chef. I was initially worried that the cornbread was too sweet, but it was actually perfect. The sweetness of the cornbread matched with spicy hot sauce, creamy potatoes, and a crispy chicken nugget was perfection. Your taste buds will be delighted with a blast of varying flavors and textures. This cupcake will make you so darn happy. Amazing as an all-in-one side with dinner or as a snack while watching football.

Finally, I will admit that I did use frozen chicken nuggets. Making my own seemed like more work than I wanted to take on. If you’re better than me, you can totally make the nuggets from scratch. But, how ever you make the nuggets please PLEASE use the oven. It will make the nuggets crispy (the microwave will make them soft) and the crispiness really heightens the deliciousness of this cupcake.

 Messy level: Unfortunately this is pretty messy. The cornbread needs two bowls and a muffin pan. The mashed potatoes need a pot and a masher. Also piping the mashed potatoes is a messy pain in the butt! If you’re not trying to be fancy, just spread the potatoes with a knife! I ended up removing the bag and just using my finger to push the potatoes through the fluted piping tube. It looked pretty but my thumb was covered in potatoes.

Cornbread Muffins with Mashed Potatoes and Chicken Nuggets

 

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Serves: 12-15

Ingredients

Cornbread

• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• ¾ cup yellow cornmeal
• 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tbsp honey
• ¾ cup milk

Mashed Potatoes

• 2 lbs potatoes (I used Yukon Gold)
• 6 tbsp milk
• 4 tbsp butter
• salt

Other

• 1 package of frozen chicken nuggets
• hot sauce

Instructions

Start with the Cornbread

1. Preheat the oven to 350/180°.
2. Line a muffin pan with paper liners or spray with cooking spray.
3. Whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large bowl.
4. In a small bowl, break up the eggs with a whisk. Mix in the honey and then the milk.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Stir until just mixed. Don't worry if there are a few lumps.
6. Fill each of the muffin cups until almost full.
7. Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until golden.
8. Remove from oven. Let them cool a bit while the potatoes are cooking and being mashed.

Now for the potatoes

1. Peel the potatoes.
2. Cut them in half so they are all about the same size.
3. Put them in a large pot and cover with cold water. Salt the water a little bit.
4. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes. The potatoes are ready when they are soft but not breaking up on their own. (Try to get your potatoes cooking while the muffins are in the oven)
5. Drain out the water.
6. In the pot mash the potatoes until there are no lumps (or as best as you can, it's so tough!).
7. Add in 3 tbsp milk and 2 tbsp butter. Use the masher to mix it into the potatoes.
8. Add in the next 3 tbsp milk and 2 tbsp butter. Add a little salt to taste. Use the masher to mix it all together until smooth and creamy.
9. Taste the potatoes. Adjust butter and salt to your liking.
10. Let the potatoes cool a bit so you can handle them. Cook the chicken while you wait.

Finally for the chicken

1. Put the the chicken nuggets on a baking sheet.
2. Bake in the oven until cooked (according to the package instructions).

Assembly

1. Put the mashed potatoes into a piping bag (or just use a knife).
2. Pipe, or spread, the mashed potatoes on top of the cornbread muffins.
3. Splash a little hot sauce over the mashed potatoes so it drips down the sides.
4. Top with a chicken nugget.
5. Stuff your face.

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I’m a strong proponent of breakfast. I eat breakfast everyday and without it I am a grump. During the week breakfast is my quiet time. I usually have a bowl of yogurt with granola and I look out the window and watch the people commuting to work and the construction workers making a lot of noise as they work. After breakfast I’m powered up for the day.

But I like breakfast the best on the weekends. On the weekends Ryan and I get to eat together and often we make something special – pancakes with bacon, egg sandwiches, or baked oatmeal, with orange juice and fruit on the side. Recently I made this recipe for breakfast which looks special and is actually simple to make. I was inspired to make this because I’ve been itching to try quail eggs ever since I first wandered through a London grocery store. I’d never seen quail eggs in person before I moved here. And aren’t the eggs charming? Small, speckled, and lovely to look at. That white on in the picture below had two yolks in one egg! I’d never seen that before and it was such a cool surprise.

However, it turns out I don’t like quail eggs. Sigh. They have a higher yolk to white ratio, so they are a bit creamier than chicken eggs. Ryan felt they tasted pretty similar to chicken eggs and liked them. I thought they were gamey and unpleasant. Luckily, this recipe is versatile so if you don’t like or can’t find quail eggs you can use regular eggs (which I did and looks just as cool).

A few notes before instructions. The recipe is written to make 2 servings. If you’d like to make more you need 1 ramekin, 2 potatoes, and 1 chicken egg or 3 quail eggs per person – use this as a guideline to make more. As written, the potatoes will get dark and crunchy on the edges but will be softer in the middle (because it’s a thicker layer). If you want crunchy potatoes all over make the middle thinner or cook for longer (but that could lead to even darker edges). Finally, quail eggs don’t crack and easily or cleanly as chicken eggs. The shell sometimes cracks like a spiderweb but doesn’t actually break enough for the insides to come out. I strongly recommend that you break quail eggs into a separate bowl before putting them in your potato nest. This recipe is from Jo Cooks.

Messy level: The messiest part of the recipe is shredding the potatoes. They get a little liquidy and starchy, which can get a little dirty, but it isn’t so bad. You’ll also need a few bowls for preparing the potatoes, but at the end you should be able to pop all your tools in the dishwasher for an easy clean.

Eggs in a Hash Brown Nest

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

55 mins

 

Author: Jo Cooks

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 4 Yukon gold potatoes
• 1-2 tbsp Parmesan cheese (use more or less based on taste)
• 1 egg, beaten (this goes in the potatoes)
• 6 quail eggs or 2 chicken eggs (depends on preference)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4-5 sprig rosemary, optional

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°/180°.
2. Shred the potatoes using a box grater or food processor.
3. In a medium sized bowl, add the shredded potatoes, Parmesan, egg and mix.
4. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Divide the mixture between two ramekins. Press down in the middle so you make a nest. If your potatoes are large, or you want the final product crispier, you may not use all of the mixture.
6. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until crisp and brown.
7. Remove the ramekins from the oven.
8. If you like the flavor of rosemary, break off a few small pieces from a sprig and scatter them on the potato.
9. Add the eggs to the top of the potato nests. If using quail eggs put 3 in each. If using a chicken egg use one in each.
10. Bake for 5-6 minutes for quail eggs, 6-7 for chicken eggs. (Or until it is done to your liking)
11. Remove from the oven.
12. Arrange the rosemary around the edge of the ramekin for garnish.

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I bought the corn when I made barley succotash and I’ve had the leftover bag ever since. When I need to add a vegetable for dinner, I often tell myself I’ll just heat up the corn, but I never do. I like corn on the cob, corn bread, and corn in things. But plain corn on the side isn’t very interesting to me and so the bag languished in the freezer. 

Then I saw a fairly recent post from Amateur Gourmet for corn chowder. I thought this would be perfect, but then he said it wasn’t worth doing with frozen corn. Sigh. It’s the end of the summer and corn season is over so I moved on.

Until it was Monday. On Monday nights I like to go to Zumba. I like to eat before Zumba so I don’t feel faint and famished but I can’t eat too much or I’ll feel sick. But, I also need to make something hearty enough so Ryan has a real dinner and not rabbit food. So I thought back to corn chowder, and advice be dammed, I was going to try it with frozen corn!

I’m so glad I did because this soup is freaking delicious! The soup is wonderfully flavorful. This is one of the best soups I have ever had. The corn gives it sweetness and the cayenne pepper (which is my personal addition) gives just the whisper of heat. And the cream makes it feel so rich, but with only one cup in the whole pot you don’t have to feel too guilty. It is hearty but not heavy (seriously, I went to Zumba and felt fine and thought about the soup the whole time). Ryan gave it a 9 out of 10. I kept loudly saying, “this soup is so good!” I was mad when I had to leave for class and couldn’t have a second bowl. Try it, this is a wonderful soup.

Adapted from Amateur Gourmet who adapted it from Jasper White.

Messy level: There is a lot of cutting prep work for this recipe, that’s the only reason I will give it a 2 spoon rating. Otherwise, it’s just dump it all in the pot and wait for it to get delicious.

Amazing Corn Chowder

 

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Ingredients

• 3-4 cups of frozen corn
• 4 oz of slab bacon, cut into ⅓" dice
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 5 sprigs thyme, leaves removed and chopped
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• ⅛ tsp turmeric
• ¼ tsp ground cayenne pepper
• 1 lb Yukon gold potatoes peeled, and cut into ½" cubes
• about 5-6 cups of chicken stock (enough to cover everything)
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 2 tbsp cold water
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp minced chives

Instructions

1. In a large heavy pot, cook the bacon over medium heat. Cook until the bacon is crisp. Spoon out all but a tablespoon of the bacon fat.
2. Add the butter, onion, bell pepper, thyme, cumin, cayenne pepper, and turmeric. Look at the pretty spices! They will make the soup pretty too. Add a pinch of salt. Cook for 8 minutes, stirring every so often.
3. Add the corn, potatoes, and stock. Turn the heat to high and bring to a vigorous boil. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
4. Using a wood spoon, smash some of the corn and potatoes against the side of the pot. This will help thicken the chowder. Reduce the heat to medium and taste for salt and pepper.
5. Stir in the corn starch mixture.
6. Bring the soup back to a boil and stir until the chowder has thickened to your liking.
7. Turn off the heat and add the cream. Adjust for salt if you need to.
8. Serve and top with chopped chives.

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Basically, Ryan’s job gave him a promotion and a transfer to their London office. Exciting right?! I’ll be honest, I’ve felt a ton of emotions about all of this. Excitement, over living in a new city and seeing new sights! Fear, of starting somewhere new. Stress, over all the logistics of moving. Proud, of Ryan’s great accomplishment. Sadness, over leaving my wonderful job and moving away from family and friends. And happiness, that Ryan and I are able to take on this wonderful adventure and live abroad, which is something we have both dreamed about.

It’s been a few weeks since we made the decision and started announcing it to the people closest to us, and now my top emotion is definitely excitement. There’s tons to do as we prepare for our move, but I can’t wait for the museums, experiencing a new culture, and traveling. I have always wanted to see the Globe Theater. I’ve been dying to return to Rome. And now I can do those things more easily. But also, I can’t wait to have new food adventures.

To start the food adventures, I ran out and bought a British cookbook as soon as we officially decided we were going. Barnes and Noble only had one British cookbook, but it’s ok because it was the one I wanted. I bought Jamie Oliver’s Great Britain. This book is gorgeous! Full color pictures, an image of the food for each recipe, and great pictures of places, restaurants, and people from all over Great Britain. However, the book showed me that I need to learn some British jargon because I’m not totally sure what a “knob of butter” equals or how exactly to know if I’ve made “squiffs and quiffs” with the mashed potato topping.

Truly, I don’t know anything about British food, so I decided to start with the only dish I slightly knew about: shepherd’s pie. The recipe is so flavorful, aromatic, and satisfying. It’s the kind of food that as you eat it, the pace of the world seems to slow down, and staying snuggled up in the apartment flat (I need to practice practise my British lingo) feels like the best thing ever.

I’ll be honest though, the first time I made this, it came out soupy. It tasted delicious, but it was all wrong in texture. The problem was, I followed too closely to the recipe and didn’t listen to my intuition. That might sound counter intuitive, because shouldn’t the recipe lead me in the right direction? Yes, sometimes. But pots, pans, ingredients, and heat levels are different across kitchens and so sometimes the timing in a recipe isn’t what works best for you. For example, the recipe said that a liquid would thicken in a few minutes. It wasn’t thickening, but I moved on anyway, and that’s how I had soupy shepherd’s pie. The next time I made it, I really waited for it to thicken even though it took way longer than a few minutes. My end result was much better because I trusted my eye and watched what was happening in the pan.

So for this recipe, don’t worry too much about times and instead be patient and trust what you see and feel. It will be worth it and you’ll end with something delicious. Most importantly though, if you have any recommendations or advice about London please leave it in the comments!

This recipe is adapted from Jamie Oliver’s Great Britain

Ingredients:

2 yellow onions

2 cups chopped carrots

1 tbsp olive oil

3 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, divided

sea salt & white pepper

leaves from 8 sprigs of thyme

2 bay leaves

1 lb ground beef (or veal or lamb)

2 tbsp all-purpose flour, divided

zest from 1 lemon

1 cube of chicken stock

1/3 cup of beer (preferably something English!)

2 pounds russet potatoes (I’ve also done this successfully with waxy yellow potatoes)

1 cup of milk

1/2 white mushrooms, thinly sliced

3/4 cup light cream

1/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Chop the onions and carrots into small, bite sized pieces, about 1/3 inch.

2. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter in a large sauce pan. Add the onions and carrots. Season with some salt, pepper, thyme and bay leaves. Cook for 8-10 minutes, until the onions have softened a bit.

3. Add the flour. This will soak up some of the excess liquid. Then add the ground meat, lemon zest, and stock cube. Stir everything until it is all well mixed. Use a wooden spoon to break up the meat.

4. Once the meat starts to brown and is sizzling, add the beer. Then, add just enough water so that the meat is 1/2 covered by liquid.

5. Bring everything to a boil, then turn the heat to low and simmer with the lid askew for 1 hour. Stir occasionally.

6. While the meat is cooking, peel the potatoes and cut them into quarters. Put the potatoes in a large pot, cover with cold salted water. Bring the water to a boil and cook until the potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork (this can take anywhere between 15-30 minutes).

7. When the potatoes are done cooking, drain the water. Let them sit an steam for a minute or two. Then, mash the potatoes. Add in the remaining butter and slowly add the milk. Mash until you have nice fluffy potatoes.

8. When the meat has been cooking for 30 minutes, heat the oven to 350°.

9. When the meat has been cooking for about 1 hour, add in the sliced mushrooms. Then add the cream. Turn up the heat a bit and bring everything to a boil. Allow to thicken on it’s own for a few minutes

10. Slowly sprinkle in the remaining tablespoon of flour. You might not need the whole thing, but stir in the flour until the meat mixture has thickened. You want the meat to be like it’s in a thick gravy and when you pull a spoon through the pan, it takes a little bit liquid to fill in the spoon’s path.

11. Transfer the meat to an oven safe casserole pan. Sprinkle the cheddar cheese on top.

12. Spoon the mashed potatoes in an even layer over the meat. Make it pretty or make it messy, whatever look you like. Or try to make a Union Jack, like I did.

13. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes, or until it’s a bit golden on top.

14. Spoon out the finished pie into a bowl or plate.

Messy level: This recipe has a lot of steps, ingredients, and dishes. It’s not hard work, but it does take a bunch of work, so I’m giving it 4 stars. This is the kind of meal you make on a leisurely weekend day because it takes a long time and there’s a lot of clean up. Transferring things between pots, pans, strainers, and casseroles there is lots of opportunity for spills, splashes, and messes. It’s a good recipe, but it’s not clean.

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The first recipe I watched was for soup au pistou and I knew it was the perfect winter soup. Yes, it calls for green beans and basil so technically it might be more of a spring soup, but it’s everything I want right now. It’s cold, it’s windy, and sometimes dreary and I want soup. This soup is hearty without being heavy, full of vegetables, and the pistou (kind of like a pesto) gives the broth a robust flavor.

Now, this recipe is adapted from Julia Child’s for a few reasons. First, she used just water in her broth. I used a mix of water and chicken broth because I had an open container of broth in the fridge that had to be used. You could definitely use all water, more chicken broth, or even vegetable broth. Second, Julia calls for either leeks or onions and I used a mix of both. The reason being my leeks didn’t go as far as I thought they would.

The third adaptation is that Julia has a beautiful gilded soup tureen and I do not. Does anyone have a soup tureen anymore? Julia makes the pistou, then puts it in the soup tureen, and then slowly mixes in the soup from her pot. It looked beautiful, but… really? Since I don’t have a soup tureen do I really need to use two pots? I don’t think so, and I’ve come up with my own solution for those of us lacking in a soup tureen. If you have a soup tureen, I’d love to know it. Send me a picture or write in the comments below!

Ingredients:

3 quarts liquid (water, chicken broth, or vegetable broth)

2 cups diced waxy potatoes (I used Yukon gold)

2 cups diced carrots

2 cups diced leeks, or onions, or a combination of the two

1 tbsp salt

1 15oz can of white navy beans, drained

1/3 cup broken spaghetti (Julia used orzo, I just smashed up some pasta)

2 cups green beans, cut to 1″ length

ground black pepper

Pistou:

4 cloves crushed garlic (I just minced 4 cloves of garlic then smushed them a bit)

4 tbsp tomato paste

1/4 cup chopped basil

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/3 cup olive oil (or a little more or less to your liking. Julia Child said between 1/4-1/2 cup)

Directions:

Prep step: Chop all your vegetables!

1. Bring liquid, potatoes, carrots, leeks/onions, and salt to a boil in a large pot (6 quart pot would be best).

2. Once it’s come to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 35 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper to your liking.

3. Add beans and spaghetti. Let them cook for about 10 minutes.

4. Right after you’ve added the beans and spaghetti, make the pistou. Place the garlic, tomato paste, basil, and Parmesan cheese in a large bowl. Use a wooden spoon or pestle and mash up the ingredients until you form a lumpy paste. Then, slowly, about a teaspoon at a time, mix in the olive oil. Add olive oil until you have something the consistency of pesto. I used about a 1/3 of a cup in total oil. Set aside until soup is finished.

5.  Add the green beans. Cook for 5-10 minutes. You want them to be a bit crunchy, but cooked through. Basically, stay away from mushy green beans.

6. When soup is done, add 1-2 cups of soup to your pistou. Whisk the soup and pistou until smooth. Then, gently pour the pistou soup into the rest of the soup post. Mix that together until the broth is a beautiful red-orange color throughout.

7. Serve and enjoy!

Messy level: Honestly, for the number of ingredients, I’m surprised to give this recipe 1 spoon. There is so little mess! All I had to do was chop, heat, and mix. You’ll end up with very few dishes and almost no splatter. This recipe is a winner!

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I got the recipe from Real Simple: Easy, Delicious, Home Cooking, spring/summer 2012 magazine. I love this magazine! The recipes use lots of seasonal vegetables which I’ve been finding in my weekly farm shares. I think it’s really a must-have book for people who have farm shares.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 pound baby potatoes halved, or quartered if especially large

1 lemon, thinly sliced

8 sprigs fresh thyme

2 tablespoons, plus 1 teaspoon of olive oil

Salt and pepper

1/2 cup pitted kalmata olives

6-ounce skinless tilapia fillets

1/2 teaspoon of paprika

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.

2. In a large bowl toss the potatoes, lemon slices, and thyme with the 2 tablespoons of the oil, and about a 1/4 teaspoon of salt and pepper. Once well mixed, arrange in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet.

3. Roast, stirring once, for 20 minutes. The potatoes should begin to soften.

4. Add olives to potato mixture. I put the olives only on half of the sheet because someone doesn’t like olives.

5. Place the tilapia on top of the potato, lemon, and olive mixture. Drizzle the tilapia with the last teaspoon of olive oil and season with the paprika. Also season to taste with salt and pepper.

6. Continue to roast until the tilapia is opaque and the potatoes are golden brown. This should take about 12-15 minutes more.

Messy level: Two spoons and just because you’re basically making two separate things.

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