How to make Pease Pudding
A recipe for pease pudding…
Pease Pudding hot! Pease Pudding Cold!
Pease Pudding in the Pot
Nine days old
So the old English rhyme goes and a perfect description for a classic dish from the north of England. Pease pudding is a simple dish made from split peas (green or yellow) and traditionally served with a piece of boiled pork or bacon and it was this dish which inspired one of my new fish dishes…
I’ve changed all of the menu in one of the hotels and one of my favourites is the new monkfish dish. I can’t seem to get away from monkfish but then I don’t care because anything so versatile deserves to be used as much as possible.
So I’ve paired it with one or two different bits and bobs, thick cut streaky bacon for the fish to sit on, just cooked white asparagus spears, potatoes cooked in goose fat and a play on pease pudding. The sauce is made from a reduction of fresh brown chicken stock which is thickened with a salsa verde butter and then passed. Blobs of sauce vierge flavoured with tomato and that wonderful salty sea purslane are dotted in and around to give the dish a natural, salt marsh tang.
Monkfish with Bacon, Pease Pudding, White Asparagus and Sea Purslane
So how do you make pease pudding? Well take a handful of dried split peas and soak them in water with a good pinch of bicarbonate of soda overnight. Keep it in the fridge. Drain off the water, chop an onion and fry it in a little olive oil until soft. Add the peas, stir well and quickly top with hot vegetable/chicken or pork stock. Throw in a bay leaf or two and bring to the boil. Simmer gently and stir as frequently as you see fit. Once cooked drain the peas and give them a quick wizz in a blender but do not puree, leave some texture in there. Season with salt and white pepper and eat with a piece of boiled bacon. You are now an honourable English person. Congratulations!!
Miles,
No arguments from me, as you might imagine. Fab stuff! A proper classic bit of Brit.
9 days old?? I’d be lucky if it lasts an afternoon.
GDave
June 15, 2009 @ 11:08 pm
Edible artwork. Looks, and I’m sure tastes, fantastic. You had me with the monkfish, but the bacon, and goose fat potatoes left me drooling. Bravo.
BTW - just got my Motorhead tickets for Sept 9 - sweet!
June 16, 2009 @ 4:10 pm
Oh my! Your post reminded me of a rhyme from my childhood which I dutifully recited when my son was a baby. However, in the American version we said “Pease porridge hot..”
Your food photography is every bit as spectacular as your wildlife effort. If Sir David Attenborough ever does a documentary of nature to table, you should be the man to so the photography. Well done.
June 16, 2009 @ 4:32 pm
GDave,
I know, same here. Can you imagine what the food police would say nowadays!!
Miles
June 16, 2009 @ 6:41 pm
Dave,
Welcome back, hope you had a good trip. Glad to hear you’re off to see the boys, let me know the set list. I’m going to see them in November.
Miles
June 16, 2009 @ 6:42 pm
Annie,
Very interesting, didn’t realise you had an American version. Is it any different?
Miles
June 16, 2009 @ 6:44 pm
Miles,
Must try peas pudding some time especially the way you make it look.
Speaking of texture when foods are blended… it has been brought to my attention recently about how different hummus recipes are. Some are blended to death like the supermarket version I tested this week… it was awful. Thankfully my deli is stocking a really authentic version with excellent ingredients and texture. We learn something new every day. Right now I’m keen to make some beetroot chutney to accompany beef satay, a recipe I noticed recently on the net.
Cid
June 16, 2009 @ 7:54 pm
Miles (and Annie),
Yes, it’s the same exact poem, it’s just “porridge” over here.
This looks so good and I loved the link to sea purslane. I think that’s something I’d like as I love anything salty, sea-veggie, caper-ish.
After your last post, I was expecting a squirrel pot pie. Whew!
Melissa
June 16, 2009 @ 7:59 pm
Cid,
Variations abound don’t they? In the restaurant world it goes around in circles. One minute everything is pureed and passed 100 times through a chinoise and the next it’s ‘crushed’ for ‘textural’ effect.
Que sera!
Miles
June 16, 2009 @ 10:51 pm
Melissa,
Squirrel pie is tomorrow’s post, hadn’t skinned it in time for today’s
Miles
June 16, 2009 @ 10:52 pm