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From England with love: five dishes of British national cuisine
British national cuisine, without exaggeration, is one of the most conservative in the world. At the same time, it is much more diverse and interesting than we used to think about it. So what do ceremonious Englishmen eat besides oatmeal, roast beef, and rice pudding?
English flatbread crunch
Golden tortillas with bacon and cheddar — a favorite recipe of British cuisine, which is quite to the taste of your loved ones. Turn 50 g of frozen butter in a blender to make a crumb. Add 2 eggs, 60 ml of milk and cream, whisk the ingredients into a homogeneous mass. Gradually add 2 cups of sifted flour with 2 tsp baking powder. Knead the dough, add 375 g of grated cheddar cheese, 8 slices of chopped bacon, a bunch of chopped green onions. The dough is rolled out in a layer of 15 × 30 cm, cut into 8 squares, and each of them — diagonally. The resulting triangles are greased with egg yolk, placed on a baking sheet and put in a preheated 220 °C oven for 15-20 minutes. This snack is best served immediately, while the cheese is still hot and sticky. It can be eaten just like that or served with any dish instead of bread.
Entertaining meat metamorphoses
Mitlof, or meat loaf, the British usually prepare for the holidays. However, this dish of British cuisine is quite suitable for the everyday menu. We pass through a meat grinder 400 g of pork and 300 g of beef, add 2 cloves of garlic. Fry the onion and 100 g of mushrooms in oil until golden brown, add a pinch of dried basil. Soak 2 slices of white bread in milk and knead well. Combine the minced meat, fried onions and mushrooms, bread and milk mass in a deep bowl and break 2 eggs here. Salt and pepper to taste. Knead the minced meat and spread it in the form of a loaf on a baking sheet with parchment paper. From above, wrap it with strips of bacon, carefully removing the tips under the “loaf”. Sprinkle it with dried rosemary and put it in the oven. For the first 15 minutes, bake the mitlof at a temperature of 200 °C. Then reduce to 180 °C and cook it for another 60 minutes. Alluring aromas will attract all the household to the kitchen like a magnet.
Shepherd’s Bag Pie
Shepherd’s pie is a traditional British dish that the English have been eating for centuries. And during this time, the recipe has hardly changed. Although it looks more like a potato casserole than a pie. Boil 1 kg of peeled potatoes and prepare mashed potatoes with the addition of 2 eggs, 50 g of butter, 200 g of grated cheese, a pinch of salt and pepper. Separately, we make a roast of 2 onions and 2 carrots. Then add to it 500 g of minced lamb and simmer until tender. Pour a jar of green peas to the meat, put salt and spices to taste, mix well. Grease the baking dish with fat, spread half of the mashed potatoes. Next, evenly distribute the fried minced meat. With the help of a pastry bag, we spread the remaining mashed potatoes in patterns. Bake shepherd’s pie in the oven for 30-40 minutes at a temperature of 200 °C. This recipe will be very useful when you want to please your family with something delicious and unusual.
Fish with a British accent
The English treat fish favorably. One of the most popular recipes in British cuisine is fish and chips, or fish and chips. First, prepare the batter. Mix a glass of kefir with a glass of flour and 2 eggs, so that there are no lumps. Cover it with a towel and leave it for 30 minutes. Cut into portions of 500 g of cod fillet. Roll each one in flour, and then drop it into the batter. We send the pieces of fish to a hot frying pan with oil, fry them on both sides for 5-7 minutes and spread them on a paper towel. Peel 500 g of potatoes, cut it into slices. Potatoes can be fried or baked at your discretion. Serve fish with chips on a fresh salad leaf, you can use lemon. Even if this dish is not among the most useful, but sometimes it will not hurt to pamper your loved ones.
Cheese soup with chicken
Soups in England are also eaten willingly, especially if it is cheese soup with chicken. Pre-boil 400 g of chicken fillet in salted water, cool and cut into small cubes. Passeruem in a frying pan 100 g of leeks, add chicken meat and fry until golden brown. Bring the chicken broth to a boil, pour 150 g of long-grain rice into it, lower the bundle of parsley tied with threads and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Then add the chicken fillet with onions, and remove the bunch of parsley. Put in a saucepan 300 g of smoked sausage cheese, grated on a grater, and gently mix. If your home foodies have no prejudices about cheese with mold, feel free to add it. When the cheese melts, remove the soup from the heat. Residents of the Foggy Albion, like no one else, know how to keep warm in the cold. And their recipe is quite possible to adopt!
We hope that the British national cuisine has opened up for you from an unexpected side, and the home piggy bank of recipes has been replenished with interesting new products. Bon appetit and bright culinary impressions!