Category Archives: British Food & Culture

I was telling an American friend that I I did not have to cook the crew’s meal that day as we were all given the day off after the boss left. But I did mention that we had a very interesting dinner: TOAD IN THE HOLE… Toad in the hole, what?

His reaction was exactly how I reacted upon hearing those words 25 years ago. When we arrived in Greece, in 1984, we were sent to an English school and there I have learned a few things about the British culture, from the habits afternoon teas and their odd sounding food like spotted dick and toad in the hole.

I was out of the boat and sent a message to Stephen to defrost the bangers. How I got those bangers is story to tell. My weekly shopping routine ended us up in the different area near Whole Foods…the organic store in the US. Not much having time left before I need to go back to the boat and cook lunch, we decided to shop there.

So I gave Stephen things to grab and put Selina at the meat section to order what I needed. Little did I know she bought some bangers.

I told Stephen maybe I will make a full English breakfast but by the time I made it back to the boat it was almost lunch. I egged him to do some bangers and mash.

I showed him where the potatoes were but then I heard him opening cupboards that I checked on him if he needed something else.

Flour… flour on bangers and mash? Then he asked for a baking dish. Oh dear… certainly he was up to something. Then came out the eggs and milk.

He had a wicked grin on face and said, Toad in the hole…

Oh my , been ages I have not eaten one. I was watching him prepare our dinner when he actually ordered me to help and do the gravy. Onion gravy, there he goes chopping and frying onions while I prepared the gravy and when it was almost ready to pull it out from the oven, my cook “ordered” me to set the table.

Toad in the hole as Delia Smith said , “’is a simply wonderful creation from the humble origins of British cooking.”

Here is how he cooked it as he said:

Toad in the hole batter…. Done steve’s way!

Put some plain flour in a mixing bowl.
Make a hollow in the middle and break two eggs into it.
Break up the egg yolk first then mix the beaten egg into the flour to make a dough… If it is runny, add some more flour, if it is still powdery then add another egg.
Then add milk until you get a smooth creamy batter.
Put the mix in a cool place, or even the fridge.

While doing the above, prick the sausages and place them under the grill to brown off and drive out some of the fat.

Then turn the oven to maximum heat and place a suitable metal baking tin into the oven with some oil or butter in it. Wait until the oil is smoking hot, and remove the tin from the oven.
Immediately pour in the batter and place the sausages in it too. Return to the oven as quickly as possible. Reduce oven temperature setting to about 220 centigrade.
It will usually take about 20 – 30 minutes to cook… Wait until the batter has finished rising and is golden brown.
Try to avoid opening the oven too often and loosing the heat.

Remove from oven when done and don’t forget to serve with Bisto gravy!

It’s the temperature shock that is important for the batter to rise. The batter is exactly the same as a Yorkshire pudding. Add salt to the mix to taste… I don’t but I don’t like salty food.

It was yummy yum indeed, thank you Stephen for all the great times in the galley, the times I dragged you walking and for partly writing this piece…

My sister said if the kids will ask for swesh swesh… give them some lemonade. What? Swesh swesh… oh well these Japanesse kids coming for lunch calls the drinks swesh swesh.Why is that?You know when you open the lid the gas escapes and makes this swesh swesh sound. Haha…am so tickled but the kids turn out to be such lovely angels, who were happily dipping their bread into the taramorasalata.yuto enjoying his swesh sweshWell I only arrived yesterday and the first thing my sister told me was, we are hosting a lunch tomorrow. 2 adults, 2 kids plus the 3 of us.OK whats on the menu?Perhaps some roast lamb with potatoes. My sister took the chance to go shopping with Nick, after all Tia Sha is here who can babysit. She came back with some lovely pork for roasting.She said just something simple and straight forward we have two kids who will sit down with us.We set the table with some hummus, taramosalata and the spread I got from Calabria. Its a spicy salame spread soaked in oil with lots of chili normally spread on toasted bread called n’duja.I cut some garlic naan to go with our spreads and dip.

 I instructed my sister just to add garlic, salt and pepper if possible use Maldon. She went a little bit panicky since it was already 1130am and lunch was set for 1pm.I suggested that she makes some apple sauce. I found the a recipe on one of the cookbook at her shelf that turned out to be my book. (Speaking of books… she is already giving me hell.. as everytime I come here I take some books away and they end up in Athens haha) 

 So while the pork was roasting  I made a mix salad with feta, tomato, lettuce, celery and some capsicum with a greek yoghurt dressing.  I mixed olive oil, lemon, salt, pepper and some greek yoghurt. I added the dressing just before serving the salad.    My sis made some roast potatoes the greek way.

LEMON ROASTED POTATOES.
Peel and cut the potatoes into quarters
Add salt and pepper.Squeeze one lemonA cup of water. 
Drizzle with olive oil.
Sprinkle some origani
Roast uncovered for 45mins till brown and add water if it dries.
Other than the apple sauce we made some gravy from the scratch.

 Apple Sauce from the AppleCookbook
50 g butter1 large spanish onion finely diced
8 fresh sage, chopped or 2 tsp dried
2tbsp demerara sugar
500g dessert apples, peeled, cored and sliced
salt and freshly grounded black pepper   

Easy and fun
Melt butter in a saucepan and gently fry the onion. 
Add the sage and salt and pepper.
Cook until the onion is soft and transparent, stirring occasinally.
Sprinkle over the demerara sugar, increase the heat and stir in the apples.
Cook for 7-10 mins turning the mixture over occasionally with a wooden spoon, but taking care not to break the apple slices.
As soon as the apples are soft and not mushy, remove from heat.

Lunch was simple yet great with my sister and Nikos Japanese friends and Aris, her Greek friend from the university days in Athens. After the lunch we set off for a walk in the wood with the kids racing with us and counting how many squirrels we have seen  

As for my family, I will not see them again till next year if time allows me to spend longer off from work to be in London….. and as for me am in Athens!!!  I was in London for few days back to France for a day then left for Athens. 

My dearest friend Bea will never forget the evening when she scanned the gardening magazine looking for a new job. In the ad was gardener who has a love for food and will assist the owner of the estate. She looked at me and I said well gardening and cooking… why not indeed? Its been almost 2 years now she has been working on Perch Hill assisting the gardener Sara Raven who writes for Gardeners World and has a show on tv.

But since she has moved there I have left England by then and my short visits are always on a rush that I never had the chance to visit her place down south.
When I was in UK for my sister’s baby it was also my birthday. Bea said I must at least spend few days with her and just get away from London to catch up with our lives. She promised me a birthday treat of cooking, she certainly knows where my weakness lies.

As the train approached Stone Gate Station my heart ached when I saw the rolling hills, the lambs thinking how much indeed I missed the English countryside. Having lived in UK for a year in the country has given me enough time to love the scenic peaceful wet country sides.

Bea made it clear to me there will be no time for tears on that day. She wanted a a great day and show me around the gardens and cook.

As soon we arrived at her cottage she popped a champagne for my birthday and soon after walked around the gardens.

bea’s boots

Beetroots, beans, artichokes, variety of poppies, plants I have forgotten now. I normally have a habit of taking notes but honestly I needed to chill.

When we came back to her cottage, she showed me Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook. There we picked the Broad Bean Salad. We then proceeded to the garden to picked herbs, beans, and other vegetables we needed for our lunch. It was such a joy to be able to harvest the vegetables and cook them in few minutes , knowing they have not gained mileage.

She made me shell the beans while she prepared the artichokes. Then started thinking what to add, knowing Bea, she added a bit of twist to the original recipe. She added smoked bacon!!!!!
Here is the original recipe found at the cookbook.
I normally don’t fancy much broad beans but I did truly enjoy this dish.

Broad Bean Warm Salad

For 6
400 g broad beans, shelled weight
1 tbsp chopped mint
2 tbsp chopped chervil
1/2 tsp chopped tarragon
2 spring onions finely chopped
2 tbsp tarragon and white vinegar
100ml extra virgin oil
salt and black pepper
1 tbsp chopped parsley to serve



Bring a pan of water to the boil and cook the broad beans for about 5 mins depending on their size, until tender.
Drain and immediately cool them down under running water for few seconds to stop them from cooking.
If beans are large skin them but if they are tiny don’t bother.

Make a dressing by adding all the herbs except the parsley to the spring onions and vinegar in a bowl and whisking them in all but 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

Heat the remaining olive oil and toss in the cooked beans just to warm them through before tipping into serving bowl.

Toss the beans in the dressing.
Season and serve with parsley.

On this cookbook Sarah Raven included Bea’s Hungaria Cabbage Roll and she appears on the photo on the first page of the book. Bea other than being a good friend of mine has actually encouraged my taste bud to try vegetables I normally dislike.

Sarah Raven runs a garden and cookery school and those you in UK who happens to visit there, my friend Bea is the head gardener of such gorgeous place.

Perch Hill welcomes volunteers: ” are always interested in volunteers to work in the garden at Perch Hill. Come for a day, a week or a month with Bea, our head gardener

Please contact Bea for further details: beata.burke@thecuttinggarden.com

For two Sundays in a row we have been having a calorific laden breakfast. Please calorie police stay away from my page because after days and days of eating 2% fat yogurt, organic muesli, fruits I just needed a break from health conscious breakfast.

Besides a parcel arrived from UK bearing some goods that I have been craving. Mae of Rice & Noodles sent me a parcel.. and it contained black pudding.

See I don’t know Mae personally but being both of Filipino descent we have shared quirks on our way of eating. Mae once posted on her blog that after a drinking session, a hangover she made English breakfast, a fry up the next day. I noticed that she did not have the black pudding..she ran out but she asked me if I like it.

Of course I do.
Long before I went to UK for holidays and to live there for a short time, I already had my English influence through friends and teachers at school.

I am the kind of person, you would call a 3rd culture kid. Meaning having a foreign parents in a a foreign country and has adapted other cultures mostly from friends and if lucky from school.
I was sent to an English international school. Most of my closest friends were half English, Sophia, Stephanie, Helen (Sophia and Steph have English mums while Helen’s dad was English).
One of my favourite teacher was Welsh who influenced my love of English literature.
Then my ex boyfriend was half English too.
All these people have actually given me a lot in terms of adapting to their culture.
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