Please Sir, Can I Have Some More?

I have a fondness for eating porridge for breakfast. It all started when I was diagnosed as a mild type 2 diabetic. Oatmeal is a good source of starch which the body can convert slowly into blood glucose. My wife, who doesn't like porridge, calls it "gruel".

While reading through a book of Celtic recipes recently, I came across a recipe for Scottish Gruel. "Why", I thought, "did gruel get such a bad reputation?" Charles Dickens portrayed it as a very lowly meal for workhouse boys in his novel Oliver Twist.

But gruel doesn't have to be a bland, tasteless meal for boys living in poverty. I thought I could improve on Dickensian gruel. I succeeded. I created a gruel that would have had boys lining up to get into the workhouse - and asking for more!

Ingredients

• 3 level tablespoons Hamlyn's Oatmeal
• 3 cups of water
• Honey
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 shot Scotch Whisky

Preparation

• Mix the oatmeal with a little cold water and stir into a smooth paste
• Heat the remainder of the water and stir into the oatmeal
• Bring to the boil and cook gently for 15 minutes
• Stir in the butter, honey (use enough to sweeten to taste)
• The last ingredient is optional - stir in a shot of Scotch Whisky

John's Notes
I offered my wife (who doesn't like porridge, remember) a small bowl of Blighty's Britfood Gruel. She liked it - and asked for more! Cast aside your prejudices about gruel and give this recipe a try.

My wife and I decided it was a very pleasant tasting and nutritious light meal. We tried adding a little cream to it. My wife thought it was even better with cream, but I preferred it without. You can experiment with different flavourings if you wish. What about strawberry gruel, vanilla gruel, or banana gruel?

Oliver Twist would have liked living in my workhouse.

Secret Double Chocolate Pudding Recipe

This recipe is a secret. I am sharing it with just a few select people. Why? Because this dessert is so opulently rich and sinful that very few people deserve this much pleasure. Think I'm kidding? You won't once you have tried it.

The recipe is really very simple and involves only two basic ingredients: chocolate and eggs. The result is a dessert that is so rich and delicious that you are going to feel quite guilty after eating it.

There are two layers in this pudding. Each contains approximately the same ingredients as the other, but differences in the preparation produce two very distinct but complementary layers.

Combined, the two layers form a dessert that you will remember for a long time. You will want to make this one again and again.

Ingredients

• 2 family size bars of Cadbury Bournville Dark Chocolate
• 8 eggs
• 2 tablespoons of cream
• 2 tablespoons red wine or brandy

Preparation
Layer One

• Break one of the chocolate bars into individual squares and melt in a double boiler (I use a pyrex bowl that fits snugly into the top of a saucepan of boiling water)
• Separate four of the eggs and gently whisk the yolks and the whites until smooth
• Stir the egg yolks into the melted chocolate then fold the whites into the mix and continue to cook for a couple of minutes
• Add the wine or brandy and stir thoroughly
• Place in a refrigerator until the mixture sets firmly

Layer Two

• Break the second chocolate bar into individual squares and melt in a double boiler
• Separate the other four eggs. Gently whisk the yolks then beat the whites until very firm
• Stir the egg yolks into the melted chocolate
• Add the cream, stir, then fold the whites into the mix
• Place the mix into individual serving size ovenproof bowls
• Bake at 350F for 20 minutes; the mixture will rise like a cake
• Allow to cool in a refrigerator.

Spoon the first layer pudding over the second layer pudding and serve.

John's Notes
Layer One is a very rich, thick chocolate custard. Layer Two has the consistency of sponge cake. The combination of the two layers forms the "double chocolate" pudding.

This recipe is a development of an original recipe for Manx Chocolate Mousse. I have deviated from the original recipe a little but I am sure you will agree that the end result is very well worth it.

Warning: You will be racked with guilt for days after eating this dessert. Then, like me, you will probably make it again. Go ahead, try it today; the world may end tomorrow and this is one of those "must do before I die" things.

How to Make Cornish Drop Scones

Blighty's British Recipes is back from a fortnight's sojourn in the United Queendom. While we were there we collected a lot of very interesting recipes. We will be presenting several of them over the next few weeks here on this blog and in the Blighty's British Recipes newsletter.

England stretches from the warm sunny county of Cornwall in the southwest all the way up to chilly Northumberland in the northeast - a distance of several hundred miles.

It was while I was on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne off the Northumberland coast, near the Scottish border, that I came across this interesting recipe from all the way down south in Cornwall.

You may be pleased to hear that this recipe is a very easy one. It takes 10 minutes to prepare, 15 minutes to bake and will probably be eaten in far less time than it takes to make.

Ingredients

• One and a half cups of McDougalls self-raising flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon margarine or butter
• Half a cup of milk
• Pinch of salt
  

Preparation

• Rub the margarine into the flour
• Add all the other ingredients and stir until you have smooth stiff dough
• Roll onto a floured board and flatten the dough into circles about a centimeter thick
• Bake at 425F for 15 minutes or until light golden in colour

John's Notes
This recipe makes about eight scones. They taste just the way scones ought to taste - full of flavour and a little heavy. Serve them buttered or with Devon cream and jam. And, of course, wash them down with a nice cup of tea.

I washed mine down with a cup of home-made Chai tea. Here is a simple bonus recipe for Chai tea: Prepare a pot of tea in the usual way (I used Marks & Spencer Gold Loose tea prepared in a French Press). Add half a teaspoon of cardomom and a pinch of nutmeg. Chai tea is very refreshing and a pleasant alternative to everyday tea.

We'll be back next week with another traditional British recipe. Until then ... enjoy!