Autumn comfort food and another weekend treat

Do you treat yourself and eat a different style of breakfast on a weekend or do you prefer brunch late morning? Everyone has their favourite guilty pleasure whether it's a simple bacon butty or the Full English. My personal favourite is large roasted Portobello mushroom on a small soft breakfast bap, not forgetting the HP Sauce!

Anyway, moving on I thought I'd suggest something completely different but first a puzzle … when is a biscuit not a biscuit? Answer … when it's a scone!

To explain – in the USA what we call a biscuit they call a cookie and what they call a biscuit we call a scone. They are generally savoury, i.e. without sugar and usually made with buttermilk.

Famously there's “biscuits & gravy”. As so often is the case a lot of dishes or elements thereof are born out of lack of ingredients and using what was plentiful and, more to the point, cheap. The “biscuit” is described as soft and doughy and the “gravy” usually made with dripping from pork sausages adding flour and milk and then seasoning. Other cheaper cuts of meat would also be used.

Here's a snippet of background.

“Biscuits and gravy” is very popular in the Southern States i.e. North and South Carolina (but not exclusively). I mention the Carolinas only because I've spent time there and so can back up my mouth! It became a regional dish after the American Revolutionary War of 1775-1783.

Have you ever noticed how history repeats itself? Not that long ago I wrote at length about Cornish Pasties - this iconic delicacy evolved from humble and cheap beginnings to feed hungry tin miners who were underground for many hours. It's the same principle with biscuits and gravy – substitute tin mine with a day working on a plantation.

You probably won't be surprised to learn that there's a restaurant chain called Biscuitville in North Carolina and Virginia specialising in breakfast food and Southern cuisine.

What follows is my take on a “biscuit” - aka scone - as a breakfast choice and what to put with it!

The verdict … and the definition of success!

The Chestnut and Apple roast - the vegetarian option – was also very well received and, believe it or not, my American vegetarian friend had never had a “nut roast”. To say that Rox loved it is an understatement. The other guests tried it too – this has happened before, the vegetarian option turns out to be as much of a success as the meat option.

My definition of success is when meat eaters ask for a recipe and a “doggy bag” of the vegetarian roast to take home. At this point I did divulge my other secret. The roast is yummy on a sandwich, veggie style with a home-made mayo et al, add chicken or turkey for those that like.

Two days later … here's a snippet from the delightful thank you card …

“...Thank you so much for inviting us into your home and being such gracious hosts. You really outdid yourself with everything. Gracey and I are still marvelling at the variety and flavours of the dishes. I've had numerous accounts of the pork melting in her mouth. Nut roast was on the pub menu but we decided not to have it because we knew it couldn't be as good as yours ...”.

How great is it to read how much guests have enjoyed themselves and that all the hard work was worth every second – of course they could just be polite but somehow the empty plates and requests for recipes told a different story.

It's Thanksgiving in November and the recipes will be winging their way to the USA soon – who knows, may be the Chestnut and Apple roast might make the menu!

I hope that you'll find the concept of the dinner party useful – you may not like all of it or indeed the menu choices but that's not the point – the principles you can use to suit your own menu and enable you to enjoy yourself too!

Illusive lemon curd – hints and tips

Microwaves vary so check out your instruction manual.

This recipe is based on an 800 watt version. For microwaves with a different wattage, adjust cooking times as follows, 900 watt – subtract 10 seconds per minute. 850 watt, subtract 5 seconds per minute. 750 watt, add 5 seconds per minute. 700 watt, add 10 seconds per minute.

Don't forget to adjust your microwave to medium when you're cooking the curd!

If you don't have fresh lemons you can use lemon juice and omit the rind. As a guide - 4 tbsp of juice is equivalent to one and a half lemons.

The quickest way to sterilise jars is to place them in your dishwasher.

You'll find your kitchen timer invaluable, set it for two minute intervals. Write your times down, i.e. 2,4,6,8,10 and 12 and mark off after each two minute period – you may only need 10 minutes, a lot depends on the size of your eggs – this way you won't lose track of your timings.

To illustrate, here's the beginning of the photo guide.

The butter and the lemon juice in the

microwave safe bowl

Have a look at the edge of the curd – you can see

it thickening

The post-it-note – easy peasy

There's more to come!

A message to my friend in America ...

… it occurs to me that it's coming up to Thanksgiving.

Before I begin can I just say that “I'm not trying to teach my Grandmother to suck eggs” a strange English saying which means “a person giving advice to someone else about a subject of which they are already familiar – probably more so than the first person”.

I know that Thanksgiving has its strong traditions and that two of the most popular desserts served are Pumpkin Pie and Pecan Pie.

This year Thanksgiving falls on Thursday 22^nd November – I wonder whether you're expecting family and friends for more than one day? If the answer is yes you might be interested in what follows.

What about a dessert “up your sleeve” that benefits from being made ahead. This dessert does come with provenance.

My very good friend and student in the USA was sceptical when we were planning a dinner party many moons ago. I convinced him that an orange tiramisu would be a great choice despite his misgivings because of his dislike of chocolate - it has just a sprinkling. He watched me make it.

He loved it and thereafter it became his signature pud.

Up to date … “Neil made your orange tiramisu for me last weekend … he's making it again when friends visit … it was wonderful”.

I'm sending you my tweaks and secret weapon so that you can “zhuzh” to your hearts content! This recipe stands the test of time and some might say, myself included, that if it ain't broke don't fix it. I'm also fond of saying that rules are made to be broken. Judge for yourself – have a look at the original recipe - The dessert … for the birthday dinner, The Tiramisu Tweaks and Your secret weapon.

I can tell you that I served the Tiramisu to six guests on two separate evenings and it was a huge success on both occasions.

A definite crowd pleaser – more converts – my work here is done!

Thinks … not just for Thanksgiving but for Christmas too – hmm.

A pandowdy post script

I received an email from my friend in the USA who had looked at the pandowdy blog. It raised an interesting question for her, which was “the apple pie recipe requires “black treacle” - I have no idea what that is”.

I can help - “black treacle” is “molasses”.

Here's what the can looks like :

It then occurred to me that the USA uses Imperial measurements and not metric as we do in the UK - if you're not familiar with both it can be a nuisance and would put you off a recipe because you don't have the time or inclination to translate.

As an example, my friend talked about a hamburger recipe she'd come across and so I mentioned that mine was on the same USA link “On location in SC – Friday night is burger night!” The recipe calls for 500g of minced beef, pork or turkey.

Here's a quick translation of the metric measures given for the burger :

1 kilo is equal to 2lbs 2oz,

for a recipe requiring 500g (½ kilo) you'll need 1lb 1oz of minced meat

and the 5x100g burgers equates to 5 quarter pounders

The UK introduced the metric system in 1965 so for those of a certain age – which includes me - we'd already been taught the Imperial system. There are many who still stick with Imperial in the UK. It messes with your head to effectively have two systems.

There are occasions when cooking needs to be exact – you can fly by the seat of your pants generally speaking – a sprinkle of this and a dash of that (note to self when you're flying by said pants try and remember what you've sprinkled and dashed!). However where baking is concerned this is an exact science and you have to be precise … unless of course you're like my Nana who never used a set of scales in her life and made the best pastry in the world!

This might help … strictly speaking an ounce is equal to 28 grams (g) - consequently the practise is to use either 25g or 30g. I use 25g as my rule of thumb – it's entirely up to the individual - both are correct – using 25g to an ounce makes the sums easier for me.

Note to me – give Imperial and Metric measures in recipes!