As im from the UK, Carla decided to try out some recipes from England to make me feel at home over here..
Apart from a Good old fashioned Curry (which has replaced the more traditional Fish and chips (fries)) she decided to try her hands at a Sunday Roast favorite.. Yorkshire Pudding..
Its not a pudding, but a thin pancake mix thats roasted in the oven.. Normally the drippings from the roast beef are used as the cooking medium but oil can be used instead.. the Major issue is that it does take practice and the eggs and flour and altitude over here all take their actions.. Google it and you will see what its supposed to look like..
Her first attempt looked more like beer glass coasters and I didn't have the heart to tell her what they should be as she had never seen it before.. 8 of 10 for taste but..
Once she saw my mother making them back in Blighty, she realized that something had gone wrong and eventually sussed out was it was..
anyway, once mastered, you can create large round bowl shaped ones and fill it with Brunswick stew for those colder nights or as a side for Sunday roast or thanksgiving Dinner etc..
INGREDIENTS
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp melted butter
2 eggs, beaten*
2-4 Tbsp of roast drippings
the important thing is air.. Beat the mixture well.. Like pancakes, the more air, the more it will rise.. Carla often adds a little beer to help at our 2,700ft ASL..
Here is a general recipe that should be ok for most areas..
1 Sift together the flour and salt in a large bowl. Form a well in the center. Add the milk, melted butter, and eggs and beat until the batter is completely smooth (no lumps), the consistency of whipping cream. Let sit for an hour. (Optional but does make a difference to its sucess)
2 Heat oven to 450°F. Add roast drippings to a 9x12-inch pyrex or ceramic casserole dish, coating the bottom of the dish. Heat the dish in the oven for 10 minutes.
For a popover version you can use a popover pan or a muffin pan, putting at least a teaspoon of drippings in the bottom of each well, and place in oven for just a couple minutes.
3 Carefully pour the batter into the pan (or the wells of muffin/popover pans, filling just 1/3 full), once the pan is hot. Cook for 15 minutes at 450°F, then reduce the heat to 350°F and cook for 15 to 20 more minutes, until puffy and golden brown.
Cut into squares to serve. Serves 6.
Its a fairly unusual taste but it does take on the flavour of the beef drippings or the Gravy..
Cheers..
Pete