The British Isles have a wealth of authentic recipes from the cuisines of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Great recipes using local produce and traditional techniques to produce delicious, hearty dishes. Here are a few of my favourite British recipes.
Daddy’s Drop Scones (Pikelets) Like this recipe? You’ll love my online British cooking class! My father was famous in our family for cooking one thing: pikelets. He told us they were called drop scones in Scotland where he grew up and, just occasionally, he’d treat us with a batch of these mini-pancakes. I remember the […]
Hot Cross Buns Like this recipe? You’ll love my online British cooking class! We always had hot cross buns on Good Friday when I was growing up and never on any other day. They were a special treat marking the beginning of the Easter long weekend and a traditional hot cross bun recipe is still […]
Watercress Soup Like this recipe? You’ll love my online British cooking class! I love the pepperiness of watercress but picking the leaves for a salad can be quite tedious. You’ll need about 2 bunches for this watercress soup, but the beauty is there’s no picking required, you can use almost all of it, just discard […]
Rare Roast Beef A simple piece of rare roast beef is a great centrepiece for any table. Two tips ensure success: bring the meat to room temperature before cooking it (about an hour out of the fridge depending on the weather) and rest it for at least half as long as you cook it. I […]
Date & Walnut Roll If I’m baking, it has to be super-easy, like this delicious date and walnut roll that I don’t even need to get the electric mixer out for. I remember my Aunty Dorothy making these when I was a child, her daughter Gail often had slices in her lunchbox and I thought […]
Bacon & Egg Pie Bacon and egg pie is perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner and, as it’s great served at room temperature, it makes ideal picnic fare. Best of all, the ingredients will be on hand in a well-stocked fridge. I was introduced to this pie by my friend Janni Kyritsis who makes his […]
Welsh Rarebit The alternative name for this cheesy British classic, Welsh rabbit, may be the original title, and the ‘rarebit’ name may have been created later to try and make sense of a nonsensical sounding dish. Etymology aside, this is the classic cheddar dish and the ‘Welsh’ appellation suggests an origin close to cheddar’s traditional […]
Buttermilk Scones People dropping by unexpectedly? All you need is self-raising flour, milk and 30 minutes to whip up a batch of scones (see FAQ below if you only have plain flour). If you have buttermilk (thanks Pepe) they’ll be even lighter! The first time I tried to make scones, they turned out more like […]
Nectarine Fruit Crumble I think fruit crumble may be the world’s easiest dessert – and one of the yummiest! The only trick to making a great crumble topping is that the butter has to be cold. I still remember the best crumble I ever had, it was in a pub in a tiny fishing village […]
Steak with Green Peppercorn Hollandaise I was served steak with green peppercorn hollandaise at the comfortable Kilchoan Hotel on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula on Scotland’s west coast. A simple hollandaise with pickled green peppercorns is such an easy way to dress up a steak with what’s in the fridge and pantry, that I told the chef […]
