A Great Dinner from the British Isles

With my daughter coming from Florida, I wanted to make something festive, but was not sure what country to go to, but then I found inspiration in one of my oldest cookbooks, A Treasury of Great Recipes by Vincent and Mary Price. I have written about this cookbook before, and it is one of my favorites since it was the first gift that was given to me by my in-laws. This cookbook includes recipes from many countries and restaurants and even homes that the Prices, avid world travelers, had visited.

Since we had had so many dishes that were either Eastern or Mediterranean, I decided to make food from the British Isles. We settled on a roast beef tenderloin and Yorkshire pudding with a salad (that deserves its own post). Now I know that traditionally British roast beef is made with a rib roast, but I had a tenderloin, so we were making due. Even though the Yorkshire pudding has some flour (verboten on the diet) I thought since these end up like popovers full of mostly air, it would be okay in moderation.

The beef was coated with coarse-ground pepper and just roasted until the mooing stopped. The Yorkshire pudding was very easy to make following the advice of Vincent Price to make the batter in the blender, and I made individual portions which cooked faster and were all nice and crispy.

All in all it was a delicious meal, with only a slice or two of beef left, and every Yorkshire pudding gone!


Yorkshire Pudding (from A Treasury of Great Recipes by Vincent and Mary Price)

You must have all of the ingredients for this batter at room temperature or it will not turn out puffy!

7/8 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c milk
2 eggs
1/2 water
1/2 cup beef drippings or melted butter (or combination)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sift flour and salt together, then add to blender with milk. Blend until well combined then add eggs one at a time until batter is foamy,then blend in water until batter is light and full of bubbles. Heat muffin pan in oven until hot. Add enough beef drippings or melted butter to cover the bottom of each muffin cup, and divide batter between muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees 15-20 minutes until puffy and golden brown.

Comments

Glenna said…
Yum! One of my favorite comfort food meals. Although we didn't call it yorkshire puddings growing up, mom made popovers and we filled them with butter and honey OR gravy from the roast and tried to make as much of a mess as possible. :-) Ah, the joys of childhood, eh?
Deborah Dowd said…
Glenna- I guess on this side of the "pond" they're popovers!
Anonymous said…
I had yorkshire pudding on my recent trip to London and knew I had to make it when I got back. I haven't had the chance to yet, so thanks for the reminder! Yum!