Kentish Kipper Savoury, a quick snack April 15, 2008

I made this one today because ‘it was quicky and easy to make’. I have to admit I burned a couple because ‘I was on the phone’ and forgot about them, but fortunately, they were still edible, just shrivelled and crispy.

Here’s the recipe:

For 1

2 kippers

2oz butter

1 dessertsp anchovy essence

1 generous tablesp mushroom ketchup

2 tablesp double cream

1 tablesp flaked almonds

2 tablesp dry herbs

black pepper to taste

2 slices wholemeal bread

Pound the flesh of the kippers with a fork, together with the butter, black pepper, anchovy, herbs, mushoom ketchup and double cream or mix in a blender.  Add the flaked almonds. Spread on wholemeal bread and stick in the grill for about 10 minutes until it is lightly brown (do not go on the phone like I did). Then I added fresh parsley to garnish.

Notes

I didn’t use anchovy or the mushroom ketchup as I thought the taste would be just as good without it. It also meant an extra £2 or so. The meal was about £5 mainly because of the fish but maybe Lidl has cheaper fish and I will have a look out for that. 

Taste:-

Very nice and the almonds looked great and made it look attractive and ‘ homemadey’.

We don’t see much of kippers much these days do we?

English Baking: Tonbridge Biscuits April 8, 2008

Makes 24

75 g (3 oz) butter, diced
225 g (8 oz) plain flour
75 g (3 oz) caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 egg white, beaten, to glaze
caraway seeds, for sprinkling

1. Rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, then stir in the sugar. Add the egg and mix to a stiff paste and then the sugar (until it becomes more doughlike).

2. Roll out on a lightly floured surface, until about 0.5 cm (1/4 inch) thick, prick the top with a fork and cut into rounds with a 5 cm (2 inch) plain cutter. Brush with egg white and sprinkle on a few caraway seeds.

3. Put on to greased baking sheets and bake at 180°C (350°F) mark 4 for about 10 minutes or until light brown. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Store in an airtight container.

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I looked at this recipe and decided there wasn’t really enough dough for 24!

So  I doubled the ingredients. For the flour I used a gluten free flour (as I was baking it for a friend). I think you need to add hell of a lot more sugar then the recipe says, so taste it and if it tastes very sweet, that’s perfect. I thought it was sweet enough at first but then after it was baked, I didn’t taste the sugar much.

When they were baked, I tasted them and they looked nice, though using gluten free, they are a little like ‘cardboard’! However, they were edible. I will definitely use plain flour next time as they will be more mouthwatering and ‘normal’.

The original recipe using the plain flour was made in the Pantiles, in Tunbridge Wells not Tonbridge. They used to sell the biscuits in a shop there but they died out as other biscuits came onto the scene. It’s sad they aren’t being sold anywhere in any local Kent shops. However, there was a recent newspaper article in the Kent & Sussex Courier mentioned local Tonbridge school starting to make them again. Apparently they ‘only just discovered them’, but the fact is they’ve been around for years, it is just that they died out. So next time you eat a Wagonwheel, just think of all our British biscuits dying out.