I'm not sure why British cooking is on everyone's mind these days. This dish we made today was conceived of well before we stumbled onto that English pub yesterday, just because we had the ingredients on hand.There was half a bag of Brussels sprouts in the fridge, a couple of types of potatoes in the potato bowl (doesn't everybody have a potato bowl?) and the usual refrigerator/larder staples. The basic ingredients sort of suggested colcannon, the Irish dish of buttery mashed potatoes with cabbage.
But I got to thinking. Wouldn't scalloped potatoes be good with a layer of Brussels sprouts inside?
So I separated the outer leaves from the sprouts and shredded the innards. Sauteed them with minced garlic and salt. Peeled and sliced the taters (both russets and some of those arty, designer new potatoes, name lost to advancing — what's that word for when you get old and forget names?). Layered half the potato slices in a buttered dish, topped 'em with Brussels sprouts, and piled on the rest of the potatoes. Then I poured a gruesome amount of buttermilk over it all (no, really, I love buttermilk) with a splash of white wine to make it all settle in. Egregious dots of butter on top, and then into a 350° oven for just over an hour (use your judgement).
You should have heard Cranky snorfing it up, sighing, moaning. Yeah, it was that good.
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10 comments:
This sounds ...good! Snorf!
I reckon everyone just remembered that the Brits actually had a cuisine, including the Brits.
It's also because British cuisine tastes best in cold, damp weather...for some reason I can't figure out. ;-)
We love colcannon around here. It is a great use for all kinds of random greens from the garden--turnip greens, kale, cabbage, etc. Mmmm.
MG: That would be including yourself, eh? :D
Jamie: I'm sure jealous of you for having good things to yank out of the ground. Speaking of yank, how many Yanks do you suppose are familiar with colcannon? I only discovered it a few years ago.
Ilva: Snorf!
Oh god yeah! Up until about 10 years ago I'd have rather eaten my shoes than British food.
Well, Alice Waters has a recipe for shoes. There was a movie made about it. Lucky you, though. You get to eat British food.
Now whose insulting british food. Its not all bad and think how good Sam is at creating a culinary delight from odds and ends!!!
Insulting it? No, the point is we're all happily devouring it.
Many of the top restaurants in the world are right here in Britain, including the number one, Fat Duck. I am planning a trip there in February.
When I got home I had to have some potatoes. Wish I'd had sprouts too!
Lucky you, Kathy. I've been reading about that one.
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