British Side

Stilton & Pear Salad
(Serves 8)

English Stilton is one of the truly great Blues.* Pair it with pear...and you've got an elegant, delicious salad.

Salad
4 ripened Bosc pears
1 bag of field greens
3/4 C Stilton cheese (crumbled)
1/3 C walnuts (toasted and chopped)
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Dressing
3 T lemon juice
1/4 tsp. sugar
2 T walnut oil
4 T vegetable oil
salt & pepper

Peel, quarter, and slice pears. Arrange sliced pear quarters on bed of lettuce. Sprinkle with Stilton and walnuts. Shake all dressing ingredients in a jar and pour over the salad when ready to serve.

* The royal triumvirate of the world's blue cheeses are Stilton (UK), Roquefort (France), and Gogonzola (Italy).

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Tips & Glossary

Clotted Cream: a thick yellowish cream made from unpasturized cow's milk. You can make your own, although it's hard to find unpasturized cream in the U.S. Still, you'll find 3 recipes under Scones. All use pasturized cream; try to avoid "ultra" pasturized.

Ploughman's Lunch: sounds romantic, like a peasant dish from medieval times, but it's a marketing gimmick from the 1970's! It's become a popular lunch in Britain now: a piece of bread, hunk of cheese, with onion, gherkin, and an apple. Our Ploughman's Soup is a take-off on that name.

Roux: (“roo”), paste-like mixture of melted butter and flour, into which liquid is gradually added. Used as a thickening agent for soups and all classic French sauces. Basic Roux: melt 1 part butter and add 1 part flour. Stir continuously till it becomes paste-like. Slowly add whatever liquid your recipe calls for.

Tea Time: Afternoon tea became fashionable in the mid-1600's. A light snack with sandwiches and sweets, it's served from 3-5 in a sitting room. High tea, is a light meal served from 5-6 in a dining room. ("High" because the dining table is higher than the low ones in a sitting room.)

Yorkshire Pudding: from the northern county of Yorkshire, originating in the early 1700s when flour was more readily available. A pancake like batter is spooned into the drippings of a roast as it cooks. Eaten alongside the roast or as a separate course.