Yorkshire’s Yorkshire Pudding (cont.)

cooking, and the timing - that’s very much an instinctual matter, and will depend on your oven, so it’s ideal if you can see through the oven door to watch how they are rising.

Some of our best tips have come from the famous Yorkshire chef James Martin, who hosts a show called Saturday Kitchen. Even though I’ve lived away from home for 30 years, my Mum and I always share our love for James and his show from wherever I am in the world.

Ingredients

200 grams flour

3 eggs

300 ml milk

4 tablespoons melted goose fat (or rendered chicken fat)

Salt & pepper to taste

Link To Easy Conversion Chart

Method

servings 8-12

1. Sift the plain flour into a large bowl and season with salt and pepper

2. Stir in 3 lightly whisked eggs, one at a time, and mix with the flour.

3. Slowly add the milk and whisk until you have a smooth batter.

4. Chill the batter in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, but no longer than 12 hours.

5. Heat the oven to 220C / 180 for a fan oven/ Gas Mark 7 for 5 minutes.

6. Spoon the melted goose fat evenly into the holes of a 12-hole muffin tray.

7. Carefully ladle/pour the batter mix into the holes of the tray.

8. Bake for 30 minutes, until they have risen and are a nice golden-brown colour.

9. Plate up the rest of the meal (traditionally Roast Beef and vegetables), together with the Yorkshire Pudding, and pour over some home-made gravy made with the juices from the meat and the water from the cooked vegetables. Ideally, the pudding will have a hole in the middle, into which you can pour the gravy. Eat with pure joy and guilt-free pleasure, preferably around a large table with loved ones, and accompanied by a glass of good red wine.

Easy-as-Pie Applesauce

Ever since I was making my son Max’s homemade, homegrown baby food, applesauce has been a an annual presence in our hearts, minds and Mason jars. It’s incredibly easy to make this applesauce, and the fragrance through the house will linger, like a hug that you wish would never end.

Lightly light a candle in the kitchen for good luck, be mindful of the moment and the how lucky we are to bring home fresh foods to cook with love. Apples are very symbolic of Rosh Hashanah, (LEARN MORE), the Jewish New Year, a time to celebrate.

method yield 6-8 cups

1. Peel, cord and roughly chop 6 larger or 8 smaller apples. Chop into roughly the same size chunks.

2. In a medium pot, put 2 inches much maximum of water.

3. Add sweetener of your choice, equivalent to ½ cup sugar. Stir. Turn heat on medium.

4. Place the apples into the water.

5. Let simmer/steam, partially covered – almost to a low boil –for 15-20 minutes.

6. Add ½ teaspoon cinnamon and ¼ teaspoon or less of salt, just to bring out all the natural flavors and to help them manifest themselves. Soon, it will be abundantly clear that all the apples are broken down, and that much of the water has evaporated. It will still be quite wet, but you don’t want there to be much excess liquid. Then take it aside, and cool for a few minutes.

7. Using a blending wand, or a simple handheld masher, mix until it is that the consistency that you like. I like it to be applesauce a saucy, but with s little lumpy bumpy too!

8. Serve warm, or store in the fridge for up to 8 weeks in tightlysealed Mason jars

Opting for a bodacious, bi-colored heirloom tomato adds bling to the classic red tomatoes found in most Caprice salads. Mainly, the largest and meatiest tomato that you can find, is the one to use here. When choosing your portobello mushrooms, select moist and supple, not slimy or damaged. Handle gently.

Ingredients

2 large portobello mushrooms

1 very large tomato

Fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced thickly, enough to cover the tomato

Fresh basil leaves

Balsamic vinaigrette for a thinner sauce, or balsamic reduction for a thicker sauce

4-6 full leaves of radicchio lettuce