St Stephen’s Pudding

The Feast Day for St Stephen falls on 26 December (Boxing Day), hence the Christmas Carol, Good King Wenceslas:
“Good King Wenceslas looked out
on the feast of Stephen, …” 
I have no idea why this is called St Stephen’s Pudding.  There is no reason given with the original recipe, where it is suggested as an alternative to [...]

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Lebkuchen

I love Lebkuchen, the spiced Christmas-time biscuits from Germany which are slightly soft rather than crisp.  They are often called German Gingerbread with the most famous type originating from Nuremburg. The German Food Guide gives more information on the different types of Lebkuchen.  This recipe is for the most well known type: Brown Lebkuchen, but there is a lesser known White Lebkuchen made with almonds and [...]

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Gingered Glazed Ham

Ham is a traditional meat for the Christmas table, alongside the usual turkey.  We particularly enjoy them together at tea time as cold cuts with salad, pickles and chutneys. Cooking the ham completely or partially in ginger ale, rather than conventionally in water, gives a lovely sweet flavour which penetrates the whole joint of meat. Adding [...]

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Sloe Gin

Sloe Gin is one of the tastes I associate with Christmas and this delicious plummy flavoured liqueur is very easy to make.  Sloes can be found in hedgerows during Autumn and are easy to pick. It is worth freezing a batch as they are not always easy to find: if you find a good source then make a note [...]

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Chicken Gumbo

Gumbo is a dish from the southern states of the USA, in particular Louisiana. When I first started to collect recipes I pasted or copied them into a file and about twenty years ago I wrote down a recipe for Chicken Gumbo featured on the BBC Food & Drink programme, which I made not long after.   It can also be made with seafood, [...]

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Fried Plantain

I learned how to make fried plantain by following instructions given by a friend from the Caribbean.  It’s such an easy recipe you might wonder why it is here, nevertheless I think it is worth recording.  Plantain is still fairly new and may be unfamiliar to some people: I had to find out how to cook it!  Although they are the same family, Plantain differ from the yellow dessert bananas [...]

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Hyacinth’s Salt Fish Cakes

I have eaten lots of Caribbean Salt Fish Cakes but my friend Hyacinth, originally from Jamaica, definitely makes the very best Salt Fish Cakes in E17!  They always ‘go like hot (fish) cakes’ when she brings them to church shared lunches.  One thing that makes them particularly good are that they are crispy outside, soft inside and most importantly, unlike [...]

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Rice & Peas

This traditional dish from the Caribbean is a combination of rice and red kidney beans, which are are usually called peas, rather than green peas.  The mixture is cooked in coconut milk making it slightly sweet and fragrant.  It is lovely served with any foods from the Caribbean.  I always serve it with Salt Fish Cakes, which I make using a recipe given [...]

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Bajan Style Lamb Stew

I have finally finished watching Gary Rhodes’ series of programmes exploring the food of the Caribbean. This dish, from Barbados, tasted as good as it looked on television and it was not too difficult to make.  I have cooked with beetroot as a vegetable in a stew with success and found some lovely lamb fillet in the supermarket.  The [...]

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Pear Dappy

Some years ago the BBC Food and Drink television programme featured a dining club in the Cotswold region of the UK, where the diners sampled and then voted on a huge variety of desserts and puddings.  The Pudding Club, as it is called, is still going strong and has published two books, both of which I own. 
Apple Dappy was [...]

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