11/20/2014

Cooking England County By County: Berkshire: Poor Knights Of Windsor


Before coming to Spain, I´d never tried French toast or Eggy bread or the Spanish equivalent torrijas, but once I tried torrijas there was no going back and they are now a firm favourite of mine. So when to my surprise, I discovered that there was a British version that was typical in the Berkshire region, I couldn´t wait to try it. The British version goes by the name of the Poor Knights Of Windsor. Pardon? Poor Knights of Windsor? What´s that? I ´d never heard of it before either!!

The origins of this dish are a bit unclear but apparently many similar dishes are referred to as"poor knights" throughout Northern Europe. It is also thought that it could refer to the "Poor Knights", who were military gentlemen who were financially ruined by having to ransom themselves after the battle of Crecy, and were given pensions and lodgings in Windsor Castle by Edward III.Whatever its origins, Poor Knights of Windsor is a tasty yet simple dish that does not disappoint, and which is great for a weekend breakfast treat.

I used the following recipe from the lovely Lavender & Lovage blog which is well worth visiting. The only thing I would note is that I used normal bread and it got quite soggy after dipping it in the milk mixture and egg and was very difficult to turn over without it breaking so I would reccommend using thickly sliced bread or baguette style bread to prevent this from happening. Jammy, eggy fried bread with a slightly boozy touch to it and a sprinkling of sugar and cinnamon...bring it on! What more do you want? I love discovering all these regional British dishes that I´d never heard of or tried before!

11/08/2014

Cooking Spain Region By Region: Aragon: Aragon style Lamb Chops/Chuletas de Cordero a la Mañica

My daughter has just fallen asleep and I am feeling far too tired to write this so am sitting here staring at a blank screen...searching for some inspiration.

I love lamb and I´d even go so far as to say that it´s one of my favourite meats along with duck, and lamb dishes feature quite frequently in Aragon gastronomy so when I saw this dish, I just had to make it. I often order lamb chops at restaurants but I´ve never had lamb chops cooked this way before and it is a tasty way of preparing them for a change but I have to admit I actually prefer them the traditional way even if they are plainer as you can taste the meat a lot more.I served it with sauteed potatoes and carrots. This recipe is taken from the book Nuestra Cocina: Aragon

Ingredients (for 4 people)

1kg lamb chops
6 tomatoes
2 eggs
2 -3 cloves of garlic,minced
1 cup of  ready- made breadcrumbs
olive oil
salt

Method:

1. Remove skin from the tomatoes and grate them.
2. Place the lamb chops in a bowl with a little olive oil and the minced garlic for at least 30 minutes.
3. Beat the eggs and coat the lamb chops first with egg and then with breadcrumbs till they are well covered,then fry in sufficient oil till they are a golden brown colour.Remove and keep warm.
4.Fry the grated tomato in the same oil after it has been strained and serve the breaded lamb chops with the fried tomato.

I hope you enjoy it!


 
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