715. Mulligatawny

Mulligatawny is one of my favourite soups. It’s spicy and chunky and filling and delicious. I think it’s one of those hybrid Indian/British dishes that came about when the empire was still around (like kedgeree). This particular one is with chicken, though you can have it made with other meats too.

715 down, 1081 to go

698. Selsig Morgannwg

For those who don’t recognise it, selsig morgannwg is Welsh. It means Glamorgan sausages. Since moving back to Cardiff I’ve loved seeing all the Welsh again. It’s a weird language, but it’s a pretty awesome one, it still looks like it was invented hundreds of years ago and hasn’t changed since. Glamorgan sausages are actually a vegetarian dish. You mix caerphilly cheese with breadcrumbs, spring onions and seasoning, coat them in egg and more breadcrumbs and then pan-fry them. I served mine with roasted tomatoes and rocket. Yum.

698 down, 1098 to go

695. Soda Bread

I made this really weird salad. I had a bunch of salad veggies, and some leftover roast pork, and some cauliflower which I figured I could roast with some spices on, and I mixed it all together and threw some hot sauce on it and had a chunky slice of soda bread on the side. I’m pretty sure none of those things are classic flavour combinations but hey, it worked out tasty in the end. Soda bread is a nice change to regular bread as it’s dense and soft and a little sweet.

695 down, 1101 to go

683. Bourbon Biscuits

Bourbon biscuits are an absolute classic British biscuit, and they are one of my favourites. They have two crunchy chocolate cookies sandwiched together with a thick, chocolate cream. The flavour is really chocolatey but not too sweet, and they are even better if you dip them in a glass of milk or a cup of coffee.

683 down, 1113 to go

681. Bread and Butter Pudding

Bread and butter pudding is one of my favourite desserts. The rich butter with the sweet custard and the spices and the crusty top… perfect combination. This was my dessert after an amazing Sunday lunch of slow-braised pork shoulder and I ate the whole thing despite being incredibly full because it was so delicious. 

682. Bara Brith

Bara brith is a traditional Welsh fruit bread and it was layered into the bread and butter pudding (the dark layers are the bara brith). This made the pudding even better as the bara brith was so wonderfully tasty that the flavours permeated through the whole dish, and it also added extra moistness because it was so packed with dried fruits.

682 down, 1114 to go

679. Welsh Rarebit and 680. Buck Rarebit

Both Welsh rarebit and Buck rarebit were on the list even though they are very similar - a Buck rarebit is just a Welsh rarebit with a poached egg on the top. Welsh rarebit is a fancy version of cheese and toast, where the cheese is mixed with dark beer, egg and flavourings like Worcestershire sauce to make a really rich topping. You then spread that over the toast and grill it. I found it a little overpowering - the combination of strong cheese and strong beer was quite a lot to take. The Buck rarebit was much nicer though, the egg added an extra creamy element which cut through the strong beer flavour and made the overall taste much more pleasing.

680 down, 1116 to go

672. Devilled Chicken

Devilled anything tends to imply that something is made spicy with mustard and cayenne. For this devilled chicken, the mustard and cayenne pepper is mixed with ketchup and some hot sauce, spread over the chicken and then baked. It makes a really quick, simple and tasty weeknight dinner.

672 down, 1124 to go

659. Lamb Shanks

Lamb is one of my favourite meats, but I don’t cook it very often because it tends to be really expensive. To cut the cost for this meal I bought one large shank and shared it between the two of us, then made sure I added loads of vegetables so it would be a really hearty, satisfying meal. I slow-braised the lamb in the oven with red wine, thyme and all the vegetables (potato, carrot, onions, celery and 660. Turnip), then took the foil off toward the end so as to get that yummy combination of juicy, fall-off-the-bone tender meat, with a caramelized crispy outside.

660 down, 1136 to go

655. Madeira Cake

So here is a whole selection of sweet treats. Before Christmas my mum went on a cruise around the Mediterranean including a visit to Madeira. While she was there she picked up some of their traditional local cake, which is totally different from the Madeira cake you get here. Madeira cake here is much like a pound cake, and frankly is just dull, but this was lightly spiced and very rich. Kind of akin to a Jamaica ginger cake but less sweet.

656. Cornish Fudge

I got some fudge for Christmas. Proper Cornish cream fudge is the best - it’s probably the only thing in the world where I’m more than happy with just plain vanilla. I’m kind of obsessed when it comes to fudge because as far as I’m concerned, fudge is soft and creamy and squidgy. If anyone ever gives me that crumbly, sugary abomination that masquerades as fudge then I will not be happy; that stuff is just a waste of sugar. 

657. Peppermint Rock

I actually got this rock back in the summer when I was on holiday. It’s one of those things that you absolutely have to buy when you go to a British seaside down, but that you actually will probably never end up eating. The first few licks taste minty and sweet and yummy, but then you remember that you’re eating a stick of sugar and you’re tongue starts to feel funny and so you put it down and never eat the rest of it.

657 down, 1139 to go

640. Shortbread

Since starting this blog, I have lost count of the number of times I have eaten shortbread and not posted it because either I forgot to take a picture, or I did take a picture but the quality was terrible, or I took a picture which then got lost in the great iPhone Lion upgrade tragedy of 2011. Anyway, this has now resulted in me posting a photo of shortbread which is both poor quality, and of bad shortbread. I didn’t really want to post this one but frankly, with the luck I’ve had so far I didn’t want to risk it!

I’m a firm believer that shortbread needs to be made with all butter. Shortbread containing any margarine or oil at all is heinous and needs to be binned immediately. All you want to taste in shortbread is butter, and sugar. That’s it. Those two things are delicious and need to be left pure and untampered with, and so when you do have good shortbread it is melt-in-your-mouth amazing.

640 down, 1156 to go