Lancashire – Clinical Alimentary

Imagine that you are in Edwardian England and a rather wealthy person! As part of the many breakfast choices would be this dish, originating in India and traditionally composed

of hard-boiled egg, fish and rice. You can just taste the opulence, great to breakfast like a king – but this meal is great for a light brunch, served on wheat free bread also – really yummy! I often like to imagine if I was alive in Edwardian times as I love the dresses and the lifestyle – but the reality would be more likely to involve wearing plain clothes, clogs and working in the mills in Lancashire, as my relatives did!

This dish is very mild, no spicy hot flavours, just like a fishy korma – some of the Lancashire men I spent my early working career with, used to call chicken korma ‘chicken soft lad’ and were merciless in their deriding of any man choosing this option when going out for a curry after the pub! However its good and mild for dodgy guts, so enjoy your fish ‘soft lad!’ If you have coeliac disease then check your spices have not been contaminated with gluten! My version of this wonderful dish is as follows:

Ingredients

175g of smoked Haddock

175g of Basmati Rice

4-5 dry green cardamom pods

5cm strip of cassia bark

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon of garlic infused olive oil

1 teaspoon of turmeric

1/4 teaspoon of asafoetida

1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon of cardamom powder

1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander

300 mls of lactose free milk

4 teaspoons of cornflour

2 hard boiled eggs.

Method

Poach the haddock in lactose free milk until cooked, drain off the milk and retain for the sauce. Flake the fish and remove any bones and retain till later.

Add the rice to a pan, cover with water about 2 cm above the rice and add crushed green cardamom, cassia bark, salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, when boiling turn down the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes until the rice is cooked. Remove cardamon pods and cassia bark. Cool.

Hard boil eggs for 10 minutes and cool under running water, remove shell and cut into slices – retain till later.

Add oil to a pan with the rest of the spices and cook till the spice aroma is released. Add cornflower to the pan and cook for about a minute. Slowly add milk to the pan – this will form a thick paste initially and needs to be mixed well to avoid lumps. After 1/3 – 1/2 of the milk has been added you can add the rest quickly and bring to the boil and stir till thickened.

Add the sauce to the rice, add fish and mix well, taste and add more seasoning if needed. Warm in the microwave prior to serving, serve with sliced eggs on the top.

If you are interested in Edwardian food check out the following website http://downtonabbeycooks.com/

Lancashire has a long tradition of matriarchs – Lancashire women take a no-nonsense attitude to life and are strong characters. This attitude may have been seen as a threat in past times and it’s maybe unsurprising that Lancashire was the scene of witch trials in the early sixteen hundreds, where 10 people (including two men incidentally) were hanged as a result of accusations and a guilty verdict of being witches. This weekend a commemoration of the events four hundred years ago took place around Pendle Hill, Lancashire. My husbands thoughts on this was that it shouldn’t be a celebration, “what’s to celebrate?” he remonstrated, these people were killed. My view is, it’s important that the date is remembered, I was heartened to read that Arthur Studdard a retired barrister, felt that these women should have been pardoned, but this has not happened mainly because of the length of time since it happened and the quality of evidence to review. He felt strong enough to request the Queens support. This weekend’s event did make me think about how far women have come in terms of equality, we have come some considerable way since 1600 I feel, but have some way to go yet perhaps. Another ‘event’ earlier on in the year was the discovery of a cats skeleton bricked up in a wall of a derelict house, found under a mound during a construction project in the area around Pendle Hill. This area is certainly dramatic, bleak and atmospheric, a climb up the hill on the anniversary in the cloud and mist certainly made you feel that there was something in the stories told of these women. The picture below is of a ‘snow witch’ on the side of Pendle hill (a strange coincidence – spooky ;-))

Lancashire hot-pot.

400g Neck or middle neck of lamb

250g Stewing lamb

Potato (waxy potatoes are best such as King Edwards)

2 Carrots

500 mls of water

2 Teaspoons of cornflour mixed in some water

Salt and pepper

Spray oil

Method

Peel carrots and potatoes, add lamb to a strong casserole dish.

Add water, cornflour and sliced carrots to the dish, add salt & pepper.

Slice potatoes to 3-4 mm thick slices and place on the top of the stew, spray with oil,

It is better to use a casserole dish with a well sealed lid if you have one – if not check the dish is not too dry, you may need to add more water during cooking.

Cook for at least 3-4 hours at gas mark 5 (traditionally this hot-pot was left to cook all day.)