Southern England Recipes
Baked Apple And Coconut Pudding - juicy slices of apple are baked on top of a light and airy pudding mixture, and a topping of toasted coconut completes the dish.
Banbury Apple Pie - A traditional recipe which uses a pie dish with pastry on the top and bottom.
Boodles Orange Fool - Boodle's Club, in London's St. James's Street, was founded in 1764 and this luscious fool has been a speciality on the menu for many years. It's a bit like a trifle, with a spongecake base which sops up the creamy, fruit-flavoured mixture on top.
Broccoli Flan - The pastry in this recipe uses rolled oats for an unusual texture. Florets of broccoli give the filling an appetising finish.
Bubble And Squeak - The name imitates the sounds of cooking, the vegetables and meat first bubbling away as they boiled and later squeaking in the frying pan. Simple and old fashioned it may be, but it's still an appetising way to deal with the remains of a joint.
Cabbage And Hazelnut Rolls - Hazelnuts, also called filberts or cob nuts, are grown in Kent. You'll sometimes see them with their leafy outer covering still in place, fitting closely over the nut. The three varieties are not exactly the same, but are interchangeable in most recipes.
Chelsea Buns - The shop from which these buns originated would, in its heyday, sell as many as 250,000 buns in one day. The owner, Richard Hand, was known as 'Captain Bun. The buns are easily recognised, as the dough is baked in a flat coil and given a shiny sugar glaze.
Cherries In Brandy - A simple way to serve cherries, which shows them off at their best, steeped in a spicy alcoholic syrup and accompanied by a light orange cream. For easy eating, stone the cherries first, using a special cherry stoner or a skewer.
Cherry And Almond Cake - Ground almonds give an unbeatably moist texture and delicate flavour to this cake, andjuicy glace cherries make it even more tempting.
Chicken And Broccoli Pie - The sauce in this recipe uses plain whokmeal flour and is delicately flavoured withjust a hint of lemon.
Chicken In Red Wine With Raisins - This is a medieval recipe, originally intended for rabbit, but equally good with chicken. The sauce is spicy and sweetish, and is used to marinate the meat and fruits before cooking. In this way the chicken takes on a marvellous flavour and the raisins and apricots become juicy and plump.
Chilled Blackberry Snow - The swirled layers of iced fruit puree and creamy egg white are very effective in this recipe but do finish it off just before it is needed and serve immediately. If really necessary, it can be kept refrigerated for a couple of hours, but it will start to lose some volume.
Hazelnut Cartwheel - Hazelnuts are found in many parts of the world and are also called cob nuts or filberts. In Britain, the crop comes from Kent and is famous for the sweetness of the nuts. As well as being useful for lending crunch and flavour to recipes like this, hazelnuts are good on their own, as a healthy snack, or as an accompaniment to wine and cheese.
Kent Lent Pie - This recipe, sometimes called Kentish Pudding Pie, is rather like a baked cheesecake and made a pleasant change; it was particularly popular in the area round Folkestone.
Kentish Pigeons In A Pot With Plums - Fruit is widely used in savoury recipes in Kent and the delicate, slightly sharp flavour of plums goes well with game. Pigeons are widely available in early autumn, when plums are at their best.
Kentish Huffkins - These are oval, flat loaves, with a deep indentation in the centre and a soft crust. The recipe is traditional to Kent, and is softer, with a more open texture than ordinary bread. Eat them sliced and buttered at tea time.
Lamb And Barley Stew - Lamb from the Weald of Kent is particularly tasty and pearl barky is a good bulking ingredient to use in stews and casseroles. It will keep for up to 18 months in an air-tight
Lamb Cutlets Reform - It's the savoury sauce which really makes this dish. The cutlets are coated in a tasty mixture of minced ham and breadcrumbs, which forms a crispy coating when grilled.
Lamb With Cherries - Juicy red cherries from the orchards of Kent add a slight sharpness to this unusual casserole. Flavours and textures blend deliciously as the ingredients cook together in red wine.
London Particular - It's a long time since London was blanketed regularly in thick fogs known as 'pea-soupers'. But that's how this gloriously green soup got its delightful name! And it's still a dish that's perfectly designed to keep out the chill on a misty autumn evening.
Maidstone Biscuits - Crisp and light, these crunchy little biscuits include almond pieces to give a pleasant bite. Scented rose water is an unusual flavouring which was popular with the Tudors.
Oast Cakes - Named after the distinctive hop-drying houses that dot the Kent countryside, these cakes were originaly eaten after the crop had been gathered. They are like thin, fried scones, and are good served lightly dredged with sugar or with cherry jam.
Oxford John Steaks With Caper Sauce - At Oxford's indoor market there are butchers who have for years supplied the colleges with high quality meat. A speciality is Oxford John, the local name for a lamb kg steak. It's a tender cut that just needs gentle frying before serving with a piquant sauce.
Portmanteau Lamb Chops - This dish is so called because it resembles the travelling bag known as a portmanteau when stuffed with chicken livers and mushrooms, which complement the flavour of the lamb. Use chops which are thick enough to hold the stuffing.
Queen Cakes - These individual sponge cakes, enriched with sultanas, are very easy to prepare. Children enjoy piling the mixture into the paper cases - and licking the spoon! In the past, the mixture would sometimes be baked in heart-shaped tins and would then be called heart-cakes, which were eaten accompanied by a glass of wine or cider.
Ripe Tart - The name comes from the village of Ripe in the Sussex South Downs, where a pie feast celebrated the cherry harvest.
Tea Cream - Many different types of tea are availabk, each giving a different, very subtle and intriguing taste to this dish. For special elegance make it in an old-fashioned, elaborate jelly mould.
Tonbridge Biscuits - Home-made biscuits are a real treat and they only take a few minutes to make. These are wafer-thin and, with caraway seeds sprinkled on top, have their own distinctive flavour.
Warm Watercress, Potato And Bacon Salad - Tender little new potatoes are bathed in a vinaigrette dressing while still warm to sop up the maximum flavour. Peppery watercress from the Hampshire beds and crispy bits of bacon add more colour and texture to this interesting and attractive salad.
