BOOK/A TABLE - Marmalade Bread & Butter Pudding

It could well be that marmalade was created by one of the nurses attending Mary, Queen of Scots when her lady fell ill. The nurse is purported to have prepared a soothing concoction of sugar and oranges for Mary saying, in French, “Marie est malade...” Marmalade!

However, the idea of making this Marmalade Bread & Butter Pudding came from Blaming by one of my British authoress idols, Elizabeth Taylor. When Amy is left widowed on holiday in Istanbul, another woman comforts her and returns home to England with her, but Amy finds it difficult to maintain their unusual relationship afterward and naturally, complications ensue.  

I adore this book, like all the others in Taylor’s canon, but it was the mention of this pudding that I found particularly inspiring. Can you blame me? 

The character of James is trying to cut down on sweet things, but his resolve weakens at the discovery of this pudding that Amy made. 

“What kind?” he asked cautiously.
“That marmalade bread and butter one that your father liked so much. You did, too.”
“Bread and butter...yes, oh yes, I remember...I think I do remember.” He had forgotten until now all the delicious English puddings.

Serve your pudding warm after cooling completely and reheating—you want it to set completely. It’s also fantastic ice cold from the fridge the next day. It is “super easy” to make, as Jamie Oliver states, but you still have to crack and separate nine eggs.

Do enjoy! 

Marmalade Bread & Butter Pudding
Adapted from Jamie Oliver

Ingredients
For the flavoured butter
100g (7 TB) unsalted butter, softened
a large pinch of ground nutmeg
a large pinch of ground cinnamon
zest of 1 large orange

8 x 1cm (about ½”) slices of good-quality bread
9 large free-range or organic eggs

140g (2/3 cup) caster sugar
500ml (2 cups) semi-skimmed milk
565ml (2 1/3 cups) single cream
1 vanilla pod, scored lengthways and seeds removed
4 tablespoons good-quality fine-cut marmalade

Method
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4.

First make your flavoured butter by mixing the butter with the nutmeg, cinnamon and orange zest. Use a little of it to butter a medium-sized shallow, ovenproof dish.

Butter the bread using the flavoured butter, then cut each slice in half diagonally. Put the slices in your buttered dish.

Now separate the eggs, reserving all 9 yolks but just 1 egg white. Whisk together the egg yolks and egg white with the sugar, then gently heat the milk and cream in a saucepan with the vanilla seeds and pod. Pour into the eggs, stirring all the time. Remove the vanilla pod then pour the mixture over the bread and leave to soak for at least 20 minutes.

Put the dish in a roasting tray and pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the side of the dish. Then put it in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes, or until the custard has just set.

Meanwhile, gently warm the marmalade in a saucepan, then remove the dish from the oven and brush the marmalade over the top of the bread. Pop the dish back into the oven for another 5 to 10 minutes. Allow it to cool and firm up slightly before serving.

 

 

 

BOOK/A TABLE - Chicken Fricassée

I love Elizabeth Taylor with the heat of a thousand burning suns. I don’t mean the actress (great as she was)—I’m talking about the British author Elizabeth Taylor who wrote mostly in the 50s and 60s and travels on the same spiritual sister plane as Barbara Pym and Iris Murdoch. I’m not sure how I discovered Taylor exactly, but Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont was the first book of hers I read, probably her most well-known, before I made it a mission to read the rest of them!

Taylor writes about private domestic disasters, the little tremors that occur in our everyday interactions; turning an afternoon tea, for example, into a hollow den of restlessness or unrequited love with the stroke of a pen. “Even the humdrum becomes astonishing,” the Daily Telegraph noted even as she was being recognized as one of the greatest writers of the last century. Novelist Valerie Martin puts it perfectly: “Elizabeth Taylor is the thinking person’s dangerous housewife.” 

See how Taylor’s character Edwina fares over lunch with a chicken fricassée from In a Summer Season:

“It was surprising that she, to whom social occasions meant so much, should never have been able to master the art of being a hostess. At meal-times, even with just the family, she became as uncertain as a young bride, quite obviously checked the table to see if all was there that should be, bothered the maid, lost the thread of conversation, became absent-minded when dishes were brought in and stared anxiously and silently as Kate helped herself to some chicken fricassee.”

To find out what’s fracturing Edwina’s soul, you’ll just have to read the book. Otherwise, enjoy this marvelous chicken fricassée and see what else Elizabeth Taylor’s got cooking in her remarkable books!

Chicken Fricassée
Adapted from recipetineats.com

(My comments in italics)

Ingredients
CHICKEN
4 chicken drumsticks
4 chicken thighs, skin-on and bone-in (try doubling the tasty thighs, instead of using drumsticks) 
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 tbsp unsalted butter

STEW INGREDIENTS
10 oz white mushrooms, halved if small, or cut in 4 to 6 if large
2 medium yellow onions, sliced (1/2 in) wide
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
3 thyme sprigs (or 1/2 tsp dried thyme)
3 tbsp flour, plain/all-purpose
1/2 cup white wine, preferably chardonnay
3 cups chicken stock , low sodium
1/4 tsp salt (cooking/kosher salt)
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
2/3 cup thickened/heavy cream (substitute evaporated skim milk to lighten things up!)

Instructions
Pat chicken dry with paper towels then sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Melt butter over medium-high heat in a large skillet or heavy based pot with a lid. Add chicken thighs, skin side down, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes until golden brown. Turn and cook the other side for 1 minute then remove to a plate.
Then brown the drumsticks--on 3 sides, about 2 minutes each. Then remove from skillet.
Add mushrooms, onion, bay leave and thyme. Cook for 5 minutes until mushroom is lightly golden.
Add garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Add flour and cook for 1 minute.
Add wine and chicken stock. Stir, scraping the base of the pot to dissolve the brown residue stuck to the pan ("fond") into the sauce.
Return chicken back into the sauce with the skin side up.
Simmer covered 10 minutes: Once it comes to a simmer, medium-low. Cover with lid and simmer 10 minutes.
Remove lid and let it simmer for a further 20 minutes. Chicken will be cooked – internal temperature 75°C/167°F or slightly higher.
Remove chicken to a plate. Add cream to sauce and stir. Once it comes up to a simmer, taste sauce and add more salt if desired.
Return chicken into the sauce then remove from the stove. Sprinkle with parsley and serve!

And how about the gorgeous book cover art? I think Sarah Maycock is absolutely tremendous.