3 Course Diamond Jubilee Meal Tribute to the British Armed Forces (Part One)

This is my second post dedicated to celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II with appropriate food and meal creations. Given that Her Majesty is Commander-in-Chief of the British Armed Forces, I felt it was essential to come up with something to pay tribute to the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force on this extra special occasion. I thought long and hard about how to achieve this and decided to create a three course meal, each course representing a major branch of the services. I very much hope you like what I finally came up with and prepared. This first part of the meal is the starter, dedicated to the Royal Air Force, and today's post is the first in a mini-series of three.

Not in the UK? No problem! Why not adapt these ideas to include food items native to and popular in your own country to toast your nation's Armed Forces on a special day in the calendar? It's also a great way of finding innovative new ideas for the family table!

It may be that you normally enjoy a glass of wine with a special meal. If you are a beer drinker, however, and enjoy a beer with your dinner, below are three ideas you may wish to consider. Failing that, you could of course enjoy the beers before or after your meal...?

These beers are Spitfire Ale (symbolic of the RAF), Victory Ale (symbolic of the Royal Navy) and Bombardier Ale (symbolic of the Army). They are all widely available in supermarkets in the UK.

It was fairly obvious to me that this course had to centre around something which flies. I finally settled on pheasant, which had to be purchased online in frozen form, due to it being out of shooting season. I considered a number of pheasant recipes but finally prepared a simple pheasant, vegetable and cider casserole.

Ingredients (Serves Two)

1 whole prepared pheasant (fully thawed, if applicable)
2oz unsalted butter
1 stick of celery
1 medium carrot
1 Granny Smith apple
1/2 small white onion
1 large clove of garlic
1 pint fresh chicken stock
1/2 pint apple cider
Sea salt and black pepper
Torn basil leaves to garnish (optional)

Directions

The pheasant should be portioned by firstly cutting off the leg portions then halfing the carcass horizontally to separate the breasts from the backbone. The breast portion should then be halfed down through the central bone. Alternatively, you may wish to remove the two breast fillets from the bone. The back of the pheasant can be used to make stock.

Melt the butter in a large pot and season, brown and seal the breast and leg portions. Remove them to a plate with cooking tongs or a large slotted spoon.

Peel, core and chop the apple. Wash, dry and chop the celery stick. The carrot should be topped, tailed, scraped and chopped, while the peeled onion half should be finely sliced. The garlic clove should be peeled and finely chopped.

Add the vegetables to the pot from which the pheasant pieces were removed and sweat them off in the juices for a minute or two, stirring with a wooden spoon.

Re-add the pheasant portions to the pot and pour in the stock and cider. Bring to a simmer, cover and leave for twenty minutes to gently cook.

Remove the pheasant pieces from the pot and test with a skewer for tenderness.

If you are going to be enjoying a beer with this course, now is the time to get it poured.

A soup ladle is best used to lay some stock and vegetables in the bottom of two serving plates.

Lay a leg and breast portion in the centre of each plate and garnish (if desired) with the basil leaves.

I hope you like the look of this starter idea and it has whetted your appetite for the main course and pudding. Parts two and three of this meal will both be published in the next few days and I hope you will come back again to see the creations for yourself.

Big British Pasty with Northern Irish Champ (Food for Diamond Jubilee Celebrations)

It can scarcely have failed to escape the attention of anyone in the United Kingdom - and many far beyond - that 2012 is the year in which Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Diamond Jubilee. Celebrations have been taking place, are taking place and will continue to take place throughout the year but it is on Tuesday 5th June that the United Kingdom formally celebrates the occasion with a special national holiday.

A big part of any celebration is of course the food we eat. While most of us can only dream of sitting at the table to partake of one of the many lush state banquets which will take place, this does not mean that we cannot create and enjoy meals appropriate to the occasion. Bearing this in mind, I wanted in the run up to the big day to look at some simple food creations that anyone can prepare at home, symbolic of the Queen, the occasion, or simply of the United Kingdom.  Where better to start in this respect than with a simple, inexpensive dish, the principal ingredients of which represent the four component parts of Her Majesty's Kingdom.

The beef in this pasty is Scottish, the pork is English and the cheese is Welsh cheddar. The prepared pasty is then served with that delicious, creamy comfort food from Northern Ireland, champ, and a glass of Victory Ale, created to commemorate the achievements of the great British naval hero, Admiral Lord Nelson.

Full Ingredients List for Two Servings

4oz Scottish minced beef
4oz English minced pork
2oz Welsh cheddar cheese
8oz puff pastry
Salt and black pepper
Flour for rolling pastry
Beaten egg for glazing
1lb floury/starchy potatoes
3 scallions/spring onions
2oz butter, plus extra for greasing baking tray
2 fl oz milk
White pepper

Directions

Put your oven on to preheat to 200C/400F and grease a baking tray with some butter.

Dust a clean, dry surface with flour and roll out the pastry to a square of slightly more than 13". Use a 13" dinner plate as a template to cut a circle in the pastry. Mix the beef and the pork together and season with salt and black pepper before laying on one half of the pastry - leaving a 1" border - as shown in the photograph below.

The cheese should then be coarsely grated and carefully laid on top of the meat.

Glaze the border of the pasty around the meat and cheese with a little beaten egg. Fold the empty half of the pastry over the filling and carefully crimp the edge to seal. Be wary of stretching the pastry too much - you don't want it bursting in the oven!

A spatula or fish slice is ideal for carefully lifting the pasty on to the baking tray. Glaze it fairly liberally all over with more beaten egg and be sure to make a 1" slit in the top with a sharp knife. This is imperative to allow steam to vent during cooking. Otherwise, the pasty will burst. Put the tray in to the oven and cook the pasty for about thirty-five minutes, until the pastry is beautifully crisp and golden.

When the pasty has been in the oven for about fifteen minutes, it is time to start preparing the champ. The potatoes should be peeled and chopped in to fairly large chunks before being added to a pot of cold, salted water. Bring the water to a boil before reducing the heat to achieve a simmer for about twenty-five minutes until the potatoes are soft.

When the pasty is ready, remove it from the oven and leave it to rest for about ten to fifteen minutes while the champ is completed.

Just before you drain the potatoes, chop the scallions/spring onions and add them to a small saucepan with the milk. Gently heat to bring to a simmer.

Drain the potatoes through a colander and return them to the empty pot. Leave them in the hot pot for a couple of minutes to help them dry out before mashing them with 1oz of the butter. Stir in the milk mix and season to taste with some more salt and white pepper.

Carefully cut the rested pasty in half before transferring to two serving plates with a spatula.

The champ can now be spooned on to the plates beside the pasty halves and half the remaining ounce of butter added to the top of each pile for some extra creaminess and Northern Irish authenticity.

I hope this is a dish you will try at home, whether to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee or simply to enjoy a tasty and nourishing meal. Please also come back soon to find more food ideas relevant to the big occasion in the run up to 5th June, all interspersed between the more usual and universal postings to this blog.