Classic Stodge.

Yorkshire Pudding

325ml full cream milk

4 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

250g plain flour

12 x 1/2 teaspoon beef dripping or vegetable shortening

Whisk the milk, eggs and salt and leave for 15 minutes.

Whisk in the flour and leave until you need it.

Put 1/2 a teaspoon of dripping in each muffin compartment and heat in at least a 220°C oven for 10-15 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and pour in the yorkshire pudding batter – you can fill them to the top.

Cook in a 250°C oven for 15-20 minutes or until they have puffed up and are golden.

Serve immediately.

Stilton Soup

2 large leeks, washed throughly and chopped

4 sticks celery, chopped

30g butter

30g flour

1L chicken stock

100ml dry white wine

250ml full cream milk

200g+ stilton cheese

100ml thickened cream

salt

white pepper

nutmeg

Heat the butter in a large saucepan and add the leeks and celery.

Soften over a low heat until translucent.

Add the flour and stir for a minute.

Add the white wine and stock and bring to the boil, stirring.

Simmer for 30 minutes.

Add the milk, cheese and cream and heat gently until the cheese has melted.

Season with salt, white pepper and nutmeg to taste.

Liquidize if you prefer and serve.

Gratin Dauphinois

1kg desire potatoes, peeled and washed

1.5L cream

Half bunch of thyme

Half head of garlic

Salt

Pepper

Handful parmesan

Slice the potatoes 1/2cm thick.

Place the cream into a saucepan with the thyme and garlic.

Bring to the boil then reduce over a medium heat by a third.

Pass through a sieve and discard the thyme and garlic, then add salt and pepper.

Place the cream back in the saucepan and bring the cream back to the boil.

Add the sliced potatoes and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes, until the potatoes are slightly cooked.

Drain the potatoes through a sieve catching the cream in a bowl.

Layer the potato slices in a 5cm deep baking dish.

Just cover with the reduced cream and put in the oven for 1 1/2 hours. The top should be golden.

Remove from the oven, add the parmesan and put it back in the oven under the grill to brown the cheese.

I’m in London and exhausted. I don’t think I’m going to have time for the full Bedknobs and Broomstick and Mary Poppins tour. It’s not as cold as Sweden and the sun is shining.

London is really cool, it’s ashame I couldn’t stay longer, I am going to try however to come back into the city from the airport before my flight back to Melbourne.

I headed to Soho because I thought there might be some cool stores around there but it wasn’t really a great area but it is possible I didn’t explore enough – not sure. Then I went and got some sushi and ate in The Phoenix Garden, this cute little community garden in the west end. I walked through the west end towards the Thames and I found a good area for shopping, it had some really cool gift stores as well as clothing and an awesome cheese shop.

I then walked to the Thames, on the way I stopped and contemplated whether I should see a show, I was thinking The Lion King or The Sound Of Music, when I remembered my 4 o’clock wake up tomorrow morning. I saw a photography exhibition at Somerset House which was quite good and then I headed up to St. Paul’s cathedral to ‘feed the birds’. There were only 2 birds and if you could feed them I doubt the bags would be a tuppence!

I caught the tube to Camden Town and walked around for a while and then I walked up to Regents Park. It was getting dark and I was still tired so I popped into a cafe called Tupelo Honey before I caught the train back to Piccadilly. I’m going to Paris tomorrow and I’m so excited. One of the guys that works at the hostel, Herman, just moved here from Paris 6 months ago and he’s told me the best arrondisments to visit, where there is good shopping and some great little bar and restaurants to go to, including an all cheese one. Oh there was one other nice guy from Mexico, so that’s 3 people so far.

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This is such a delicious easy cheap winter dessert. I ate all of this myself – I love it. There are many variation on bread and butter pudding and you can’t really go wrong as long as the pieces of bread are completely soaked in custard – slice them thinly and day old bread is better. I wouldn’t use ‘wonder white’ sliced bread. A lot of recipes I’ve read suggest removing the crust but I think its better to keep them on, it just add a bit more texture. You can also use croissant or brioche. Don’t make the custard too thick as it won’t soak into the bread properly and it will thicken in the oven. I usually let the soaked bread sit for a while before I put it in the oven to let the bread absorb as much custard and possible and then top it up with extra custard before baking it. I just like mine with sultanas sprinkled between the layers of bread, but you can use chocolate or other fruit. After it has baked for about 20 minutes I take it out of the oven and brush it with heated marmalade or apricot jam and dust with icing sugar. Amazing!

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