4 Yorkshire Foods You NEED in Your Life

Everywhere you go, you will constantly come across amazing culinary delights, whether you are sampling tasty tapas in Spain, tantalising your tastebuds with Truffles in France or teasing your tummy with piles of Tortellini in Italy. If you are a foodie and enjoy the local culinary specialities you will go and seek what the traditional dishes and tastes are.

Well, this is no different when taking a trip to Yorkshire. 4 of the key traditional dishes to choose from the region are (but of not limited to)

  1. Yorkshire Puddings

  2. Wensleydale Cheese

  3. Yorkshire Parkin

  4. Rhubarb

Now of course a homemade Yorkshire Pudding is way better than your Aunt Bessies frozen variety (no offence to Aunt Bessie of course, she has done very well). The first recipe for a Yorkshire Pudding was actually recorded way back in 1737 and has turned out to be the most popular things to come of Yorkshire. I have found a very interesting alternative to the normal recipe which I think would be ideal in summer with a lovely fresh green salad.

Chorizo, Olive & Spring Onion Stuffed Yorkies.

For the puddings:

4 eggs, 200ml milk, 140g plain flour and a dash of paprika, Mix it all together whilst your oil is heating in the oven to 230 degrees, add the mix into tray moulds and bake until risen and golden.

For the filling:

100g chorizo chopped up, bunch of finely sliced spring onions, handful of chopped black pitted olives, fresh chopped parsley, 1 tablespoon flour, seasoning, Cook the chorizo in a pan, add spring onions and olives, cook in the flour and add milk until everything is combined, season and add parsley. When puds are cooked, stuff them full of the mix.

Wensleydale Cheese made famous of course by Wallace & Gromit back in the 1990’s, originates in the market town of Hawes. Cheese itself came into the area back in 1150 when French Cistercian monks settled and the Wensleydale Cheese Creamery was built in 1897. Today is uber famous and delicious and comes a mound of varieties. If you are in the area and have a spare couple of hours, I would highly recommend going for a visit and sampling the many flavours.

One recipe I may add to Emmas Dale retreats menus is a Beetroot & Mascarpone Risotto topped with crumbled Wensleydale. www.bbcgoodfood.co.uk

6 raw beetroot, peeled, roughly chopped, 750ml pints vegetable stock, 30g butter, 2 shallots, peeled, finely chopped, 2 garlic cloves, peeled, finely chopped, 2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only, 250g risotto rice, 100ml white wine, 3 tbsp. mascarpone, 110g parmesan, grated, small handful fresh parsley, chopped, seasoning

For the risotto, blend the beetroot with half of the stock in a food processor until smooth. Transfer to a saucepan, bring the boil and reduce the heat so the liquid is at a simmer. Heat the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the chopped shallots, garlic and thyme leaves. Cook gently for 1-2 minutes until softened. Add the rice to the pan and stir to coat all the grains in the buttery mixture. Cook, stirring, for another 1-2 minutes until the grains begin to look translucent. Add the wine to the pan and allow it to bubble up and reduce slightly. Add a ladleful of the simmering beetroot stock, and stir until all of the liquid has been absorbed. Continue adding the stock, a ladleful at a time, as the liquid is absorbed, stirring between each addition. When you have used all of the beetroot stock, heat the remaining vegetable stock and start adding that to the risotto in the same way (you may not need all of it). Cook the rice until the grains are tender but retain some bite. This will take at least 20 minutes. When the rice is cooked, remove from the heat and stir in the mascarpone, parmesan, chopped parsley and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. To serve, heat the olive oil and butter in a frying pan. Add beetroot slices and sauté for 3-4 minutes, until just tender, serve the risotto topped with beetroot slices and the crumbled Wensleydale cheese.

Yorkshire Parkin has always traditionally been eaten on Bonfire Night, however this is not a set rule and I think you can eat whenever you bloomin’ well like! Originally from the West Riding of Yorkshire and can be made a sticky cake or a biscuit type concoction. Just a traditional recipe of loveliness for this.

Recipe courtesy of www.bakingmad.com

450g Porridge oats, 110g plain white flour, 225g golden caster sugar, 1 tsp ginger (ground), 1 tsp baking powder, 110g butter, 300g black treacle, 250ml milk, 1 egg

Preheat the oven to 150°C (130°C fan, gas mark 2). Grease and line a 25cm square tin. Mix all the dry ingredients together. Add the melted butter and treacle, then the milk and beaten egg. Stir well and pour into a lined tin. Bake for about 1 hour 45 minutes, or until you insert a skewer into the cake and it comes out clean.

Finally, the food you really must have from Yorkshire, RHUBARB. Now, I don’t know about you but I have bug issues with this pink stringy tart fruit. However, I have just found out that a variant of rhubarb was used as a laxative in ancient times and this makes me happier. It was originally growing in the West Yorkshire areas of Wakefield & Morley but now you can find it almost anywhere, especially the fast spreading wild variety.

Despite my distaste for the product, I have found this very lovely recipe for Rhubarb Creams on www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk

400g trimmed rhubarb, sliced into 3cm lengths, 180g golden caster sugar, 500ml double cream, juice of 2 large lemons

Put the rhubarb and half the sugar in a bowl, mix, then let macerate for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 160°C/fan140°C/gas 3. Spread the rhubarb (including all the sugar from the bowl) in a single layer over a shallow roasting tray and bake for 25 minutes until really soft. Spoon the rhubarb and its juices into a food processor and blend. Pass through a sieve, pushing it through with a spoon to extract as much as possible. Discard any rhubarb left in the sieve, then cool the purée completely. Put the cream and remaining sugar in a high-sided saucepan and bring slowly to the boil, dissolving the sugar. Turn down the heat (to prevent it from boiling over) and bubble gently for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, then stir in the lemon juice, followed by the rhubarb purée. Pour equally among 6 glasses or 150ml ramekins. Cover with cling film and chill for 3 hours or overnight.

So there you have it, 4 essential Yorkshirian foods and some with a twist of a recipe to change it up.

Look out for my menus for the SUP Your Soul weekends on 30th May and 6th June. They will be a delicious combination of fresh European foods with a hint of naughtiness.