The British Sunday Lunch

 

 THE ULTIMATE SUNDAY LUNCH

One of the most iconic British traditions is that of "Sunday Lunch", also known as the "Sunday Roast" or "Sunday Dinner."  Its a pretty good reason to look forward to Sundays, and can be great if you have a large family or group of people coming around that you want to sit down and share a meal with.  

Typically it will be eaten around 3 in the afternoon, although these days you will find more and more people sitting down to it around supper time, due to their big Sunday breakfast. Its also quite popular these days for people to go "out" to a carvery or a pub for Sunday lunch and give mom a day off.  

At one time it typically would have consisted mainly of Roast Beef and all the trimmings, but other meats are now becoming more popular, probably due to the rising cost of Beef.   

Historically Roman Catholics and Anglicans abstained from eating meat on certain days of the week. This made having the Sunday roast a bit of a celebration because on Sundays all meat and dairy products could be eaten.  It is widely believed that the first Sunday roasts were instigated during King Henry VII's rule in 1485. 

In fact Royal Body Guards became known as Beefeaters due to their love of eating Beef and you will still see Beefeaters guarding the Tower of London. 

A Sunday roast usually consists of roasted meat of some sort, the most traditional being Beef. It is not uncommon to also see people enjoying roast lamb, pork or chicken. All will be served with roasted potatoes, a variety of fresh vegetables, gravy and Yorkshire puddings, or batter puddings as they are also known. 

Interestingly, Yorkshire puddings historically began as a starter dish, served with lots of gravy.  I suppose the thought was that once people had filled up on the puddings, they wouldn't have as much room to stuff themselves with the meat, therefore helping it to stretch that much further. These days you will see them served along side of the meal.  To the British a roast dinner is not a roast dinner without a crisp and light Yorkshire pudding to enjoy! 

 

Ingredients for Sunday lunch can be picked up locally at any large supermarket, or (best scenario) your local Butchers and farm market.  

Saturday mornings will find the local Butcher in most British communities filled with customers and often a line-up of people wanting to pick up their Sunday roast spilling out onto the pavement.  There is something quite familial about picking up your meat at your local Butcher, which hearkens back to the days when people knew their neighbors and had a strong sense of community. 

Whatever is served, the most important thing is that Sunday lunch remains a wonderful time to gather together around a table, relax, and catch up on the going's on of everyone's week just gone.  Its a beautiful tradition that I hope never dies. 

Today I am sharing my Sunday Lunch favorites, for both main and side dishes!

THE MAINS

PERFECTLY COOKED ROAST BEEF - This is more of a technique than it is a recipe. There is a lot more to cooking a roast than just banging into an oven. Whilst it is also very simple to cook, there is a proper way to do it and helps and tips that can produce the perfect roast every time. (if you follow them!) You can use this technique for any roasting cut of beef. I used to cook the Prime Ribs for the people at the Manor in this way every time. 

ROAST PORK WITH CRISPY CRACKLING -  Crispy brown on the outside, the tender meat studded with slivers of garlic, and dusted with plenty of salt and pepper, this is a real favorite Sunday Lunch around here. Served with Crispy Roast Potatoes and all the traditional veg, not to mention a tasty gravy. If you can remember, take it out of it's wrapping the night before and store open to the air in the fridge. This helps to make a nice dry and crisp crackling!

PERFECT ROAST CHICKEN - A perfectly cooked roast chicken, with moist and succulent meat and a crispy skin.  This is my favorite way to roast a chicken. It turns out moist and delicious each and every time. There are plenty of tasty drippings to make a lush gravy with as well.

SLOW ROASTED LAMB SHOULDER - This succulent  piece of meat melts in the mouth it is so tender. This is my favorite cut of lamb.  Tender deliciousness that falls apart at the touch of a fork. Delicious and simple to make.

PERFECT ROASTED BONELESS LEG OF LAMB -These instructions depend on how large your piece of meat is and servings will vary accordingly.  You will want approximately 1/2 pound of lamb per person. Mellow and deliciously tender.

APRICOT GLAZED GAMMON - Perfectly glazed . . .  nice and sticky . . .  tender, perfectly cooked meat. Tender ham with a lovely fruity glaze.  Gammon is uncooked ham.  Once it is cooked it becomes ham. Or so I am told.

THE SIDES 

YORKSHIRE PUDDING - Lets begin with everyone's favorite. Yorkshire Pudding. Crisp and light as air, these are the perfect puddings. Its my late FIL's recipe. He was an army cook so you know they are beautifully delicious!  I've been making these for over 40 years now!  There is an art to getting nice puffed and tall ones, but I share all my secrets.

CLASSIC ROAST POTATOES - Next to the Yorkshire Pudding this is one of the favorite sides in a roast dinner. Also referred to as "Roasties" these potatoes are crisp and golden brown on the outsides and fluffy inside.  Parboiled, roughed up, and roasted to the perfect crisp finish in hot goosefat, dripping or hot oil.

CREAMY MASHED POTATOES - Light and fluffy with just the right amount of butter, milk and seasoning. I like to enjoy mine with a pat of butter in the middle, but a pool of gravy is just as nice! 

HONEY MUSTARD ROASTED PARSNIPS & CARROTS - Coated in a mix of melted butter, Dijon mustard and sweet honey. These are roasted to perfection, coming out sweetly glazed, beautifully caramelized in places and perfectly crispy tender. 

PERFECTLY COOKED CABBAGE -  Cabbage really only needs about 3 to 5 minutes of cooking time, just so long as you prepare it properly in the first place. Finely shredded, lightly salted and cooked quickly in boiling water, it comes out perfect every time.   

CREAMY PARMESAN BRUSSELS SPROUTS & BACON - Sure you could just boil your sprouts, but why settle for that when you can be enjoying crispy tender brussels sprouts in a creamy garlic sauce. This lovely side dish, topped with bubbling cheese and smoky bacon will be right at home with any roasted meat!  

SAUTEED SWEDE (TURNIP/RUTABAGA) - These are quite simply delicious.   There is no other word to describe them.  Buttery.   Slightly sweet.   Oh so tasty. I could sit down to a plate of these and nothing else, but they do make the most fantastic side dish with a roast dinner . . .  pork, beef or turkey or chicken.  Take your pick.   These simple old fashioned dishes are my favorite kinds of dishes.  They just never get old.

HONEY & DILL GLAZED CARROTS & TURNIPS - These are a little bit more special than just plain boiled vegetables. Being lightly glazed with some butter and honey, then flavoured with dill . . .  these arrive at the table glistening like jewels. 

MELTING ONIONS -These will be the star of the show! These delicious onions melt in your mouth.  Four simple ingredients. One fabulous dish.

ROASTED ONIONS WITH A PARMESAN CREAM - These are delicious and so simple to make.   You can have them as a side dish, or a vegetarian main with a grain and a few other vegetables.

SAGE & ONION STUFFING - This is my favorite of all the stuffings. It is Mary Berry's recipe. You can bake it in a flat dish, ready for scooping,  or roll it into balls and bake it that way.  Why settle for a mix when the real thing is so easy to make and a hundred times more delicious!

PERFECT GRAVY FROM SCRATCH - Why use Bisto when you can make a perfectly delicious gravy from the drippings. No drippings? You don't need them. You can make this gravy easily just using simple ingredients that you probably already have in the house. 

People also really enjoy a condiment with their roast dinners.  This could be horseradish sauce, apple sauce, English mustard, bread sauce, cranberry sauce, mint sauce, etc.  What you choose will largely depend on what meat you have chosen to roast.  

It is typical to enjoy horseradish sauce with beef, apple sauce with pork, mustard with gammon, bread sauce or cranberry sauce with poultry and mint sauce with lamb. This is not a die hard rule and you can just have whatever sauce you want to enjoy with whatever meat or no sauce at all!

I could not personally eat a pudding (the British term for dessert) after a Sunday Lunch, well not right away anyways. Maybe a bit later in the day. Many do however.  I will do a pudding post at another time.

In the meantime please enjoy my take on Sunday Lunch. I hope that it will inspire you to cook up a roast dinner for your family!  They will be over the moon if you do!  

Not all of the dishes need to be recipes. Quite often I will only cook a roast and then have boiled new potatoes, peas, carrots, and mashed swede with it along with some gravy.  Those are delicious dinners too. The important thing is to enjoy it.  Together. As a family!

As Julia would say Bon Appetit!

This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com 

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Southern Mac & Cheese

 

I confess to having a huge weakness for Macaroni and Cheese. It wasn't something my mother ever really made for us when we were growing up, but something which I had at my friend's houses. I loved it then. I love it now.

There is no shortage of macaroni and cheese recipes here on the blog. Can you ever have too many recipes for mac and cheese?  I think not!

 

 

That's why when I saw this recipe on the NY Times page for Southern Macaroni and Cheese the other day I just had to print it out!   The recipe was adapted from one by Millie Peartree, the owner of Millie Peartree Fish Fry & Soul Food restaurant in the Bronx.

Reading through the recipe and looking at the photograph I knew that it was a version of macaroni and cheese that I wanted to try, so I thought I would adapt it for a small batch recipe.

Small batch or not, it still makes four servings of the most decadent, rich and creamy macaroni and cheese you could ever want to eat! I kid you not!!

 

It probably also has about a bazillion you don't want to know how many calories in it! I daren't even think about it.  There is a reason why southern cooking is so delicious.  Its loaded with tons of rich decadence and calories.

This is meant to be a treat. A once in a blue moon kind of a dish. One that you reserve for special occasions.  With plenty of cheese and a gooey molten cheesy center, as delicious as it is, this is one you will only want to eat on very rare occasions!!

 

Having said that however, it is also one of the easiest macaroni and cheese recipes I have ever made. There was very little fuss and no muss.  No need to make a cheese sauce.  

You just cook the macaroni, drain, and stir in everything else, layering the mixture in a buttered dish with a layer of cheese in the middle, and bake.  You really can't get much easier! 

 

 

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE SOUTHERN MAC & CHEESE

Simple every day ingredients. You will want to make sure that you use the best quality of these that you can.  

• fine sea salt and black pepper
• 8 ounces (2 cups 228g) elbow macaroni
• 1 cup (240ml) full fat milk
• 1 large free range egg
• 2 cups (8 1/2 ounces/241g) grated sharp cheddar cheese, divided
• 1/4 cup (60g) butter, melted
• 1 cup (4 1/2 ounces/130g) grated Jack cheese, divided 

 

The recipe calls for elbow macaroni. I know that this is not something which is easily accessible in the UK. Just use the tubular macaroni that you can find there.  Once in a while I could find the elbows at ASDA, but in the Greek food section  Weird that! 

You want to use a really good quality sharp cheddar cheese. I used a brand of strong cheddar that is imported from the UK that I really love.  Cathedral City.  I remember bringing a large package of it home with me when I came back to visit my parents a few years after I had been in the UK.

 

I just knew that my father would love it.  It was confiscated at the air port. I had no idea you couldn't bring it in.  Back then anyways. It might be different now.

Did you know that they have food sniffing dogs at the airport? I also tried to take all beef hotdogs back to the UK when I returned.  Also confiscated. I gave up trying to bring food back and forth. I don't know how my ex boss got away with it!

She brought back food all the time.  She had a rule. Never throw out any American food, even if it was out of date. She said it cost her too much to bring it over.  But I digress.

Use a really good, strong flavored cheddar.  I only use free range eggs. I didn't have any Jack cheese, but I had mozzarella and the recipe said that you could use mozzarella or a Mexican style blend in its place.

Don't be tempted to use low fat milk. I don't think you would get the same rich silky milk/egg base that you get from using full fat milk.

HOW TO MAKE SOUTHERN MAC & CHEESE

Nothing could be easier. Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter an 8-inch baking dish and set aside.

Bring a large pot of generously salted water to the boil. Add the macaroni and cook to al dente according to the package directions. (Mine took 5 minutes.)

Drain the macaroni well. Rinse with cold water until cold and then drain well again.

Whisk together the milk and egg in a large bowl. Add the cold macaroni along with 1 cup (4.25 ounces/120g) of the cheddar cheese, butter, 3/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper. Stir well together to combine.

 

Pour half of the macaroni mixture into your baking dish. Top with 3/4 cup of the Jack cheese (97g) sprinkling it over the macaroni to cover. Top with the remaining macaroni mixture, spreading it out evenly.  Cover the casserole dish tightly with a sheet of foil.

Bake in the middle of the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven. Preheat the broiler/grill of your oven to high.

Uncover and sprinkle the remainder of both cheeses over top of the macaroni evenly. Pop the casserole beneath the heated broiler/grill and grill for a further 3 to 5 minutes or until golden brown in spots.  Remove from the oven and leave to stand for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

 

And that's it. Nothing could be easier or more decadent. This is pure indulgence

If you are wanting a mac and cheese that won't quite send your arteries into a panic attack, might I suggest the following:

BROCCOLI  AND CAULIFLOWER MAC & CHEESE - This is a much healthier version where half of the pasta is replaced with cauliflower and broccoli.  Its fabulously tasty.  I can promise you that you won't miss the extra pasta! 

SKINNY MAC AND CHEESE - This recipe uses whole wheat pasta and also contained cauliflower, plus it uses lower fat cheese and milk. In using whole wheat pasta and then cutting down the amount by replacing some of it with cauliflower, you are using good carbs and increasing the protein and fiber in the dish in a good way. Its really delicious also! You can't go wrong! 

Southern Mac & Cheese

Yield: 4

Author: Marie Rayner

Cook time: 40 MinInactive time: 15 MinTotal time: 55 Min

I thought I had already tasted the ultimate in mac and cheese until I tasted this. This is incredibly rich and delicious with a gooey, molten center. Its meant to be a once in a blue moon treat. I would save it for special occasions! Its also very easy to make in comparison to other recipes with there being no requirement to make a cheese sauce.

Ingredients

• fine sea salt and black pepper
• 8 ounces (2 cups 228g) elbow macaroni
• 1 cup (240ml) full fat milk
• 1 large free range egg
• 2 cups (8 1/2 ounces/241g) grated sharp cheddar cheese, divided
• 1/4 cup (60g) butter, melted
• 1 cup (4 1/2 ounces/130g) grated Jack cheese, divided

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter an 8-inch baking dish and set aside.
2. Bring a large pot of generously salted water to the boil. Add the macaroni and cook to al dente according to the package directions. (Mine took 5 minutes.)
3. Drain the macaroni well. Rinse with cold water until cold and then drain well again.
4. Whisk together the milk and egg in a large bowl. Add the cold macaroni along with 1 cup (4.25 ounces/120g) of the cheddar cheese, butter,  3/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper. Stir well together to combine.
5. Pour half of the macaroni mixture into your baking dish. Top with 3/4 cup of the Jack cheese (97g) sprinkling it over the macaroni to cover. Top with the remaining macaroni mixture, spreading it out evenly.
6. Cover the casserole dish tightly with a sheet of foil.
7. Bake in the middle of the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven. Preheat the broiler/grill of your oven to high.
8. Uncover and sprinkle the remainder of both cheeses over top of the macaroni evenly. Pop the casserole beneath the heated broiler/grill and grill for a further 3 to 5 minutes or until golden brown in spots.
9. Remove from the oven and leave to stand for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

Did you make this recipe?

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Milk Bread (bread machine)

 

 

 

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. That is not a photo of a loaf of bread. Instead it is a photo of a delicious cheese on toast, which is something tasty you can do with your bread after you bake it!

I thought it would be a lot more exciting to look at than a loaf of bread, as tasty as that loaf of bread might be!! 

 

There are only so many ways that you can present a loaf of bread before the photos all start to look the same, no matter how different the loaves might be from each other. No matter how delicious!

And this is one very delicious loaf of bread. So delicious I baked it twice last week!  It is a bread machine recipe.  I am making my bread machine pay for itself!

There are some people as might think that using a bread machine is cheating, but then again, they have never tasted my homemade from scratch bread.  If they had they would know that using a bread machine is an improvement for me from the real deal.

When baking traditional breads, I am really good at baking door stops!  I kid you not. Okay, maybe slightly better, but not much. I have found that using my bread machine improves vastly upon that experience!

This recipe for Milk Bread Has been adapted from a recipe found in the book, The Bread Lover's Bread Machine book, but Beth Hensperger, which has become my bread machine bread baking bible!!

Seriously.  I haven't had a loaf fail on me yet!  And I have been baking at least two or three a week.

 

This is a beautiful loaf of bread, the perfect loaf of white bread I would go so far as to say.   It has a fabulous homemade bread flavor and a beautiful tight crumb as you can see.

Milk breads are in the category of lean breads, which simply means that they use very little fat or sweetener.  

When you choose to use milk in a bread dough, it increases and strengthens the capacity of the flour to absorb liquid, especially when you are using a high gluten flour.

It also helps to decrease the acidity in a dough, causing the yeast to work more efficiently, and to age or ferment more slowly, giving your bread a delicate flavor.  

Perfect for sandwiches and the like, this is quite simply a beautiful loaf of bread! 

 

I used some of it today to make myself some cheese on toast after church. Hence all the cheesy photos!  Have you ever made cheese on toast? I wager most of you have. It makes a great light lunch!

Quick and easy too.  On Sundays when I get home from church I am famished and quick and easy is the order of the day!  I also usually go to my sister's for supper, so I need to eat something that is not so filling so as not to ruin that! 

To make a good cheese on toast you want to start off with a great bread and I did.  Toast it lightly in the toaster and then butter it lightly.  You don't have to butter it, but I always do, and then I like to spread it lightly with some grainy mustard.

Cheese and mustard are perfect partners! 

 

After you have done that you can sprinkle on the cheese. Today I used a cheddar blend, but to be honest I prefer it with a much stronger cheddar.  Pile on as little or as much cheese as you wish.

I, myself, am a bit of a glutton and I like to add a fair amount of cheese.

Did your mother make you bacon and cheese on toast when you were growing up??  Mind did and what a treat that was.  She would use process cheese slices and cooked bacon. My how delicious it was.

Today I remembered that I had some already cooked bacon in my freezer and I added some to half of my cheese on toast slices!  Cheese and bacon are also perfect partners!

 

A few minutes under a hot grill/broiler and Bob' your uncle!  You have a very delicious Cheese on toast!   

That bread all buttery toasty and golden edged.  The cheese all ooey and gooey.  The bacon crisp and delicious!

This is the perfect lunch. One of my favorite bits is the cheese that melts on the pan. Yes, yes, yummity, yummity!

 

HINTS AND TIPS FOR MAKING THE BEST BREAD IN A BREAD MACHINE

Really if you follow the directions on your particular bread machine your bread should work out perfectly, but there are a few things you can do that will give you an even better loaf of bread. 

1. Measure by weight and not volume.  Weight is a much more precise way to measure. You can't go wrong.  I have a set of digital scales that I use. I just pop the bread pan onto them and measure away. My scales measure in grams, Kg, pounds and ounces, milliliters, etc. I started baking by weight when I lived in the UK and I would now never bake any other way. 

2.  Bread machine loaves work best with bread flour.  Bread flour can also be labeled "Best for Bread" or "High Gluten flour."  

3. You can use regular flour, but if you do I recommend adding Vital Wheat Gluten to the recipe. This helps to boost the protein content of the bread.

4. Measure very carefully.  If you don't add enough flour, no matter the type of flour you use, the bread will collapse and is often uncooked in the center.  If you add too much flour, you will end up with a dense, hard heavy ball.

 

5.  I add Vital Wheat Gluten to all of my recipes for bread making in a bread machine. You can purchase it online.  It helps to yield a much better loaf, helping the loaf to rise higher with a nicer texture than without.  

Vital wheat gluten is best stored in the refrigerator (for up to one year), but you can store it on the counter if you think you will use it up within two months (highly unlikely for the home baker.) 

6. Yeast is a vital component in making yeasted breads! Duh. It can come in many forms. I recommend using yeast which is prepared specifically for use in the bread machine. I store my yeast in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator.

7. Salt is another important component in bread making. Do not however, let the salt touch the yeast.  Salt is important in bread making, not only as a flavor enhancer, but also in controlling the level of yeast fermentation. 

8. Follow the recommendations when it comes to the order of adding ingredients to your machine. There are reasons why some machines put the dry ingredients first and the wet last.    Others might recommend putting in the wet first and the dry last. YOU NEED TO FOLLOW THE EXACT ORDER AS RECOMMENDED BY YOUR PARTICULAR MODEL!!

Most of the time when a recipe fails it is because the baker fails to follow the correct directions as per the machine they are using.

I had a loaf fail last week and it was because I was in a rush and failed to make sure that the pan had engaged with bottom of the bread machine when I dropped the pan into the maker. As a result it did not mix up, rise or anything. I got a huge surprise when I opened the machine when it beeped to tell me it was done.  Lesson learned!  Don't be in such a rush! 

 

There are so many delicious things to do with a perfectly baked loaf of bread. I love a simple supper sometimes of just BREAD & JAM.  One tasty mouthful and I am a child again!  Soooo good!

I also love to enjoy it with soups and stews or with a tasty filling as a sandwich!

Leftovers are also never wasted. Some of my favorite ways to use stale bread are:

OLD TIME BREAD PUDDING - This is a lovely old fashioned recipe which results in a dense and heavy bread pudding, nicely spiced and filled with fruit. You can cut it into squares and eat it out of hand. This is the bread pudding which fuels many British Childhood memories! 

BREAD AND POTATO STUFFING - This is a very Maritime Canadian thing. This is the stuffing which always accompanied all of my childhood Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys!  It is delicious! 

SWEET ALMOND BREAD PUDDING WITH BLACKBERRY SAUCE - This is one of the most delicious bread puddings you could ever want to eat. It's rich custard is topped with the crunch of toasted almonds and the blackberry sauce is to die for!

I really hope that you will be inspired to bake this loaf of bread. It is truly a lovely loaf. You can let it bake totally in your bread machine, or use the dough cycle and finish the bread in a traditional oven, baking it in a traditional bread pan.  

That way you don't have the paddle hole in the center of the loaf. This never bothers me actually, but I do know some people are put off by it! In any case, if bread be the staff of life, bake on!  You won't be sorry!!

Milk Bread

Yield: 1 (1 1/2 lb) loaf

Author: Marie Rayner

This is a beautiful white bread for beginning bread makers. It has a beautiful homemade bread flavor. It will keep well for two to three days and makes beautiful sandwiches and toast!

Ingredients

• 1 1/8 cups (9 fluid ounces) whole full fat milk
• 1 TBS butter, cut into bits
• 3 cups (420g) bread flour
• 1 TBS sugar
• 1 TBS vital wheat gluten
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 tsp bread machine yeast

Instructions

1. Add all of the ingredients to your bread machine according to the manufacturer's instructions for your particular model. (In mine you start with the yeast, then flour, butter, then wet, then salt.)
2. Choose basic/white program setting, based on the options of your particular machine. Select the loaf size, color, and press start.
3. When loaf is done, remove it from the baking pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool for at least half an hour prior to slicing it. (I know its hard to wait!!)

Did you make this recipe?

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