By Martin Walker
In case you hadn’t noticed, and I dare say you haven’t, it’s St George’s Day today.
So here at Aycliffe Today we’re encouraging everyone to do something English!
The Irish enjoy a national holiday for St Patrick’s Day, while the Scottish proudly celebrate St Andrew’s Day.
So why should we not celebrate our own Patron Saint and have our own national day recognised?
We champion the work of www.stgeorgesday.com and would encourage all our readers to take a few minutes to have a look at their website.
In the meantime, let’s celebrate our national day!
It isn’t too late to start the day off with a good old traditional full English breakfast. Bacon, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, sausages, black pudding and fried bread with a nice big mug of tea – you can’t beat it!
We suggest Bangers n Mash for lunch, followed by afternoon tea, then this evening choose from any number of traditional English meals:
● Fish & Chips
Fish deep fried in flour batter with chips dressed in malt vinegar, served with mushy peas, of course. Lush!
● Roast dinner
The roast, or Sunday dinner, traditionally includes roast potatoes (or boiled or mashed potatoes) accompanying a roasted joint of meat such as roast beef, lamb, pork, or a roast chicken and assorted other vegetables, themselves generally boiled and served with a gravy. Sauces and jellies are chosen depending on the type of meat: horseradish for beef, mint sauce or mint or redcurrant jelly for lamb, apple sauce for pork, and bread sauce for turkey. Yorkshire pudding normally accompanies beef (although it was originally served first as a “filler”), sage and onion stuffing pork, and usually parsley stuffing chicken; gravy is now often served as an accompaniment to the main course.
● Shepherds’ Pie
A lamb pie cooked in a casserole with a layer of mashed potato acting as a lid. Cottage pie is the Beef version
● Toad in the Hole & Yorkshire Pudding
A large Yorkshire pudding cooked with sausages embedded in it.
● Cauliflower Cheese
Boil or steam a cauliflower until al dente (either whole or in florets). Melt butter and make a roux with white flour, add milk gradually until thick sauce obtained. Add mustard powder and freshly ground white pepper. Stir in grated or crumbled hard cheese such as cheddar until it melts. Do not overcook. Drain cauliflower carefully, place in bowls that will be safe under the grill and coat with the cheese sauce, sprinkle with more cheese and brown under grill.
● Chicken Tikka Masala
Honest! Originally a South Asian curry dish, Chicken Tikka Massala has been called “a true English national dish”. Made up of roasted chicken chunks in a spicy Masala sauce which is usually creamy, spiced and orange-coloured. Served with rice, of course.
Don’t forget your stiff upper lip and bowler hat…
Be proud to be English today!