British Food Fortnight Challenge: the round-up

When I announced that I was to host my first ever food blogging event, it was with some trepidation. To be honest, I wasn't sure that anyone would enter. Even when fellow bloggers left encouraging comments and vowed they'd enter, I wasn't convinced. People get busy, life gets in the way.

So I was absolutely over-the-moon when the first entry arrived just days after I'd posted the announcement. And then, one-by-one, plenty of others appeared in my inbox. And what great entries they were. The round-up includes some of my very favourite British dishes and I've been drooling over all the lovely photos of your dishes. Thank you so much!

Without further ado, here are the dishes that put the 'Great' into Great Britain!

I thought I'd start with breakfast and this Victoria plum jam, made by Wendy from A Wee Bit of Cooking. She made this sticky sweet jam with fruit from her own tree - I'm so envious! This would be delicious on toast for breakfast but I reckon it might go well in some of those lovely scones you'll find further down the page...


Another great breakfast dish next - tattie scones. Made by Val from More than Burnt Toast who takes a trip down memory lane as she reminisces about her British roots. As Val points out, these are not only good as part of a traditional Scottish breakfast, but also great to snack on at any time of day. I love them and Val, your version looks far better than the M&S ones!


Next up, we have two soups.

Firstly we have a spectacular Purple Festival Soup made by Charlotte from The Great Big Vegetable Challenge. This stunning soup was made from purple cauliflower that she picked up at the Abergavenny Food Festival. Charlotte accounts for all the thoroughly British ingredients in the soup and I'll certainly let her off for the one intruder - long live the entente cordiale!

(IMAGE TO FOLLOW DUE TO TECHNICAL PROBLEMS! GO STRAIGHT TO CHARLOTTE'S BLOG TO SEE HER GORGEOUS SOUP)

Next up, the first of two entries from Ulrike at Kuchenlatein. This cock-a-leekie soup looks fantastically hearty and wholesome. I didn't know that prunes were a traditional ingredient in this dish - that is what I love about food blogging; you are always learning something new!

Over now to the lovely Rosie from Rosie Bakes a Peace of Cake for a gorgeous beef and vegetable pie. Rosie, this is just the sort of dish I am craving now that the nights are cooler. And you even decorated it with stars - my favourite! How did you guess?!


And another wonderful pie, this time an ale and oxtail pie made by Lizzie over at Hollow Legs. I'll admit that I've never cooked with oxtail, but this pie may just persuade me to do so. It looks wonderful and I'd love to dive straight in through that pastry, wouldn't you?


I made the mistake of opening this next entry when I was hungry. Once I saw Sam's wonderful bangers and mash, I couldn't think of anything else. I've been craving these ever since and was relieved to finally make it to the butcher yesterday to pick up some really good bangers for supper tonight! The apple cider gravy sounds like a great accompaniment too. Bangers and mash is probably my all-time favourite comfort food. Especially at this time of year. Luckily Sam likes to cycle so he can really earn those sausages - I have no such excuse!

Sticking with the sausage theme, Holler from Tinned Tomatoes sent me her vegetarian take on sausage rolls. I'm always so impressed with how inventive some vegetarians can be with dishes that are usually meat-based. I'm ashamed to say how frequently I am stumped when I find my fridge to be meat or fish-less! These rolls are filled with all sort of delicious things - mushrooms, peanuts and sun-dried tomatoes. I think they may well be better than the 'real thing'. Thanks, Holler!


And we have another vegetarian take on a British classic next. This Shepherdess Pie is made by Sweatha from Tasty Curry Leaf. Sweatha has added TVP in place of the lamb and made a very-delicious-sounding topping of potatoes and cauliflower. It is always interesting to see how classic dishes evolve over time and to discover new twists on old favourites.


We now have the only fish-based entry of the challenge - a surprise when we are surrounded by water. It is true though that most the classic British dishes I can think of are either meat-based or dessert/tea-time treats. Anyway, this tasty kedgeree comes from... me, actually! I'd not made it before and it is now sure to become a regular fixture. It looks alarmingly yellow in the picture - I blame the failing light. My pictures always look terrible at this time of year!


Next we have one of my favourites from the challenge. Sorry - did I say favourite? I didn't mean that, of course. All the entries are favourites. But this one bought a smile to my face. I'd not heard of a Bedfordshire Clanger before. Luckily Joshua from Cooking the Books was on hand to enlighten me. This traditional suet pastry is an entire meal in one easy package. One end is packed with a meaty bacon filling and the other with cooked fruit, for pudding. Not sure about the middle, where you might get a bit of each by accident, but full marks to Joshua for re-creating this fascinating dish.


Onto some of Britain's most treasured puddings now...

Firstly, a real favourite for this time of year when cooking apples are at their very best. Elizabeth from Real Food Lover gives us these scrumptious baked apples. Hers are stuffed with dates, prunes and sunflower seeds and look fantastic. Elizabeth is also hosting her first ever blogging event, so do visit her blog to take a look.

I think that crumbles are probably my favourite British pudding full stop. Is there anything more comforting than a big bowl of steaming apple crumble with lots of custard? Maria from The Goddess's Kitchen has baked this super apple and oat crumble and it looks absolutely perfect. If only she could have send me a large helping by post!

I don't know why I started talking about favourites - I just have too many when it comes to traditional British puds. This bread and butter pudding has been baked by Marie from A Year from Oak Cottage. With lashings of British butter, organic eggs, sultanas and bread, this is heavenly. As Marie points out, it is also a very thrifty dish. A resurgence of these traditional puds could be the one upside to the credit crunch!


Oh my word. Just take a look at that. Trifle. Oh yum. And not just any trifle but one made with the best of the season's blackberries, handpicked by the highly entertaining Indigo of Happy Love Strawberry. She even made the sponge to line the bottom of this scrumptious blackberry trifle. Great entry, Indigo, thank you!

Apples are currently right in season and Lynn from Lynn's Cooking Blog has been eyeing up her neighbour's apple tree for a while now. Imagine her delight when she returned home to find a bag full of them on her doorstep. She set to work baking this wonderful-looking apple pie. I almost think I can smell its deliciousness through the computer screen (...I know, the men in white coats are coming for me....).

Margaret from Kitchen Delights shares my love of proper British puds and cooked up these heavenly individual Sussex pond puddings, made from a host of carefully sourced British ingredients. That pool of buttery lemony sauce looks just divine - I'd like to dive straight in right away...

Jules from

Domestic Goddess in Training won me over instantly with this fabulous Bakewell tart. I'm a sucker for the combination of almonds and raspberry and the pastry looks spot on. The frangipane looks so wonderfully moist. I think I may be borrowing this recipe, Jules.

It is tea-time. Hooray!

No celebration of British food would be complete without a traditional cream tea and Nicisme over at Cherrapeno

had me drooling at the sight of these scones smothered in clotted cream and with strawberry cream slowly oozing over the sides. I'm with you, Nic, the jam should definitely go on top!

We have more scones, too. This time, enhanced with figs and nuts - doesn't that sound wonderful? These are bought to you by Isa from Isa's Cooking. Isa lives in Chile and once had to do a presentation in school about Britain. Isa wisely chose 'Afternoon Tea' as the basis for her presentation and baked scones for her whole class to share. Great idea! Take a look at her fig and nut scones (and her amusing shot of her family in London) on her blog.

I love this picture that Sylvie from A Pot of Tea and a Biscuit took of her Yorkshire Parkin. See those fireworks in the background? That is because this lovely gingery cake is traditionally eaten on bonfire night. Like Sylvie, I think it would be a shame to limit it to the 5th November. I've never made parkin but think that this is another recipe I may need to try out.

This is Ulrike of Kuchenleiten's second entry. Her shortbread fingers look delicious and would make a tasty addition to the cup of tea I have sitting here by my desk. I love shortbread - at first it seems so plain but once you take a bite and discover the great texture and gorgeous buttery flavour, you're hooked.

Next up we have this divine Battenburg cake. Elra from Elra's Baking has a gorgeous baking blog that really was a joy to discover. This pink-and-yellow cake wrapped in lovely marzipan is (yet another) favourite of mine and Elra's version looks so perfect in her photograph that I am in awe. You certainly get the prize for the prettiest entry!

Last, but most certainly not least, we have another delicious-looking parkin. This one is made by Caroline from Cake, Crumbs and Cooking. I just love this treacley cake and so am more than happy to have it two times. Caroline's recipe is different to Sylvie's, so perhaps I'll have to give both versions a try!

Talking of prizes, you may be wondering who has won the challenge... Check back tomorrow when I shall be revealing all following the highly scientific prize draw!

Fifteen, Cornwall

Phew! What a busy couple of weeks.

In the past fortnight, I have been in Bordeaux, Cornwall, Yeovil, Dorchester, Henley-upon-Thames, Stevenage and finally home. To London. It has been pretty tiring and I'm slightly sick of eating out.

That actually sounds really spoilt, I know. It is just that I travel a lot for work and occasionally, after meal after meal of rich food, all you want is a simple bowl of soup at home!


But I'm not complaining too much. Along the way, there have been some pretty fabulous meals. The highlight was the opportunity to go to Jamie Oliver's Cornwall branch of his restaurant Fifteen.


The restaurant is suspended above the glorious sweep of sand and sea that is Watergate Bay. As you pad expectantly towards the entrance, you have to squeeze past sun-kissed surfers and their rippling six-packs. It was certainly enough to stir my appetite into action (!)




Once seated at our table, we gazed out to sea at the glorious view and then turned our attention to the mouth-watering menu.

I now have to confess that I am not Jamie Oliver's biggest fan. Don't get me wrong - I watch his shows, I have all his cookbooks. I just find myself squirming ever-so-slightly each time he mentions the word 'pukka', or starts talking about 'bashing' up potatoes with 'loadsa' herbs. I'm just a stick-in-the-mud for the Queen's English.

Anyway, I was initially concerned to find that the menu read in exactly the same way. The idea of 'Fifteen's amazing potato salad with Buttervilla funky leaves' just annoyed me slightly...

Luckily I got over this very quickly. A large glass of A Mano Fiano-Greco, 2007 with its 'amazingly floral' nose with 'heaps of lovely elderflower (...) and plenty of honeyed fruit in the mix' helped enormously. As did our very chirpy waitress who knew everything about each aspect and ingredient on the menu.

Three of us decided to share a most incredible platter of antipasti. It took pride of place in the centre of the table and groaned with melt-in-the-mouth meats, cheeses and marinated vegetables. And the best olives I think I've ever eaten.



Oh. And melon. And the best slow-roasted tomatoes ever. And 'loadsa' lovely bread. I was getting into the swing of it all.

Next up, I decided to go fishy. And boy was I glad I did. My pan fried Cornish pollock with cannellini beans, Zucca Farm sweetcorn, smoked haddock and oregano was truly scrumptious. The flavours were perfectly balanced and complimentary. Happy days.

One of the best things about the menu was that it wasn't too long. I don't like too much choice as I'm a terrible decision-maker. A choice of four desserts was all I needed. I plunked for the least photogenic but most delicious: Amber's Mum's amazing rhubarb and cinnamon cake with vanilla bean custard. It was heaven...


...and it didn't last long...

Good food, great service and rather pleasing rosemary-scented soap in the loo - what more could you ask for?

Don't forget, there is still time to enter the British Food Fortnight Challenge. I've had some great entries so far but there is always room for more! In case you are stuck for ideas, here are a few I haven't had so far... A traditional roast. Treacle tart. Shepherd's Pie. Scotch eggs. Fish pie. Welsh rarebit. Fish and chips. Jam roly poly. The possibilities are endless!

Kedgeree for the British Food Fortnight Challenge

Since I decided to host the British Food Fortnight Challenge a few weeks ago, I've been trying hard to decide what I should cook for the challenge. At first, I thought I'd go for a traditional British pud - treacle tart, perhaps? As the days passed, I decided that I'd focus on some of the best produce our nation produces and thought I'd plunk for something meat-based. Beef Wellington is a favourite, but is hardly credit crunch-friendly (...and as I had no plans to entertain this week, I thought it a little decadent to make for one).

I then decided that I'd like to challenge myself a little and attempt something I haven't made before. I have a bit of an issue with rice. I virtually never cook it. I'm hopeless when it comes to cooking the stuff. Actually, the truth be told, I'm not really hopeless at it. I just have a fear of cooking rice. I'm convinced I'll get it wrong. Either it'll be one big sticky, lumpy mess or it'll stick to the pan and have to be chiseled off, or it'll be more al dente than an uncooked potato.

However, a dish that I've loved since childhood is kedgeree and I have always wanted to re-create it. Kedgeree became popular in the UK during the reign of Queen Victoria and was served at breakfast in the homes of the wealthy. The name of the dish may be Indian in origin, but it came initially from Scotland. The dish was taken to India by troops serving the British Raj and it is no doubt in India where the kedgeree gained its curry spices. The combination of smoked fish, rice, eggs and spices became popular amongst British colonials in India and made its way back to Britain. Since then, it has become a British classic. Whilst still served in the finest hotels as a breakfast dish (it is particularly good 'the morning after the night before'), it actually makes a delicious lunch or supper dish.

There are many variations of kedgeree. The basics are fish (traditionally smoked haddock), rice, eggs and butter. The quality of these are all key to the success of this dish. I made mine with smoked haddock but you may prefer to plunk for a more sustainable species. I think that smoked mackerel would work quite well. Salmon is a good choice too, though quite different.

This recipe worked out just as I hoped. It is a combination of around 6 different recipes as I couldn't find one that sounded just right. Cooking the rice in the poaching liquid is key - adds so much flavour. I've kept my version fairly basic, just enriching it with a touch of cream. But peas, spinach or tomatoes would be valid (if nontraditional) additions.

Kedgeree
Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 fillets Scottish smoked haddock (traditionally smoked and undyed*)
1 mug long-grained rice
bay leaf
2 free-range organic eggs
a good few knobs of butter
1tsp medium curry powder
1/2 an onion (or 1 very small one), chopped
a very generous handful of parsley
a small handful coriander (optional)
1 tbsp double cream (optional)
cayenne pepper
a lemon

1. Place the haddock in a pan and just cover with water. Add a bay leaf and bring to simmer. Poach for around 10 minutes or until the fish is cooked through and easily flakeable. Remove with slotted spoon and place in a dish, covered with foil in a very low oven to keep warm. Do not throw away the poaching liquid. Pour it into a measuring jug.

2. In another pan, melt a knob of butter and gently sweat the chopped onion. Meanwhile, give the rice a good rinse and add to the buttery onion. Stir to coat the rice and add the curry powder and mix gently. Pour poaching liquid into same mug that you used to measure the rice - you need two mugfuls in total (i.e. double the volume of rice). If you don't have enough, top up with water. Pour over rice, stir once and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer very gently for 15 minutes, or until rice is tender.

3. Meanwhile, hard-boil the eggs in a pan of simmering water.

4. Whilst you are waiting for this to do, utilise your brand-new mezzaluna to chop copious amounts of parsley. Try not to get too excited or carried away event though mezzaluna chopping is so satisfying...

5. Peel the eggs and chop into quarters (or smaller, if you prefer). Flake the fish into the rice and stir to combine. Add the herbs, another decent knob of butter, the cream (if using) and the eggs. Heat through gently and stir to combine all the flavours. Squeeze over the juice from half a lemon (or to taste). Add pepper and salt but go easily on the salt as the fish may be quite salty (taste to be sure).

6. Serve, garnished with more parsley and a little cayenne pepper.

*Traditionally-smoked haddock should have a natural yellowy colour - if it is very white, it has not seen enough smoke. If it is bright yellow, it has been dyed to make up for the lack of natural colouring that should arise from proper smoking.

N.B. The herbs came from my garden. The haddock from Scotland. The eggs from Monmouthshire, butter and cream are British. The rice, spices and lemon are sadly not!

What is the matter with Mary-Jane? It's lovely rice pudding for dinner again!

British Food Fortnight has now started and I'm busy plotting my own entry for my event which celebrates the best of British produce and the best of our culinary heritage. I'm still undecided as to what I should make but I have a few ideas bubbling away... Should I make something with our fantastic meats or fish or plunk for one of my favourite British desserts? I'm really looking forward to receiving your thoroughly British entries too and hope you'll think of joining in. In fact, I'm so keen for you to join in that I'm even bribing you with the promise of a prize for one lucky participant...!

I'm exceptionally keen on British 'nursery' puddings. Such puds are usually made from simple, inexpensive ingredients and are usually immensely comforting. Rice pudding more than most. Of course although I always think of rice pudding as being typically British, it is in fact popular the world over in many different forms. Its origins (unsurprisingly) are to be found in Asia. The traditionally British version of this creamy pudding involves baking the rice over several hours with milk and sugar and plenty of nutmeg. Usually, a good dollop of strawberry jam is stirred in before serving and jolly good it tastes too.

At least it does to me. They are an alarmingly high number of people who don't seem to like rice pudding. They baulk at the texture and the brown skin that forms on top. Not so in my family. There were frequent fights over who got the best bits of skin and to me, rice pudding without skin is like apple crumble without custard. Just plain wrong!

Rice pudding is a positively thrifty dessert in times of credit crunch too. I'm always astonished just how little rice you need to make a sensible sized pudding. I made enough for three and used just this tiny amount of rice (...which makes you wonder why they sell it in such large bags, does it not??)..

The key to a really good rice pudding (I think) is to use full-fat milk. Semi-skimmed just does not cut the mustard here. You might even like to add cream too. I don't, but then I'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to cream.

The simplest of rice puddings involves just pudding rice, milk and nutmeg. On this occasion though, I infused the milk with a few different spices. A little vanilla and a touch of cinnamon. And plenty of nutmeg freshly grated on top. It smelt (and tasted) heavenly. Sometimes I add cardamon too which is great if you serve some fresh (or dried) mango alongside.

Simple rice pudding
Serves 2-3

Ingredients
Butter
50g pudding rice
25g sugar
550ml full-fat milk
nutmeg

1. Pre-heat oven to 160C. Butter a shallow ovenproof dish. Pour in the the rice, sugar and milk and stir to combine.

2. Grate nutmeg all over the top and bake in the oven for 2-3 hours, until the skin is golden and the pudding creamy. After an hour, you might want to give the pud a quick stir before putting back in the oven.

I served my rice pudding with some seasonal fruit. Two bramley apples stewed down with a punnet of the juiciest blackberries. Delicious!

This much-loved of puddings is also the subject of one of my favourite A.A.Milne poems.... Here is the final verse...

'What is the matter with Mary Jane?
She's perfectly well and she hasn't a pain.
And it's lovely rice pudding for dinner again
What is the matter with Mary Jane?'

Chicken with ginger marmalade. Yes, really.

If you have decided to read past the title then I am thankful. I know this is not the most tempting-sounding recipe in the world. After all, marmalade is something best eaten on hot buttered toast for breakfast, is it not?

But here, you're eyes do not deceive you, I have decided to dish it up with a juicy chicken breast. Have I gone mad?

Indeed, it would be totally understandable if I had gone mad. Having been ill all week, I finally decided to venture out this afternoon in order to rent a DVD with which to console myself as I missed a rather fun birthday party. Upon reaching the car, I discovered that it had been broken into. For the THIRD time in two years and the second time in six months. Each time I've had to have the door replaced and the entire car resprayed. As you can understand, in the immortal words of Queen Victoria; 'we are not amused'.

Having called the police and filed a report I then traipsed to the video shop only to discover that it had closed down earlier in the week. Again I tell you: 'we are not amused'.

Anyway, I'm still not fully recovered and am existing on a deeply uninspiring diet of toast, eggs and soup. So I thought I'd share a few things that I cooked up last week. Where better to start than with some marmalade-glazed chicken, I ask you?

With corn-on-the-cob, that's where. I'll woo you with this lovely butter-laden corn and you won't even notice the seamless transition to marmaladey chicken.

Corn is in season and it is delicious. If you haven't been eating it by the bucketful then I conclude that a) you don't like sweetcorn or b) you don't like sweetcorn.

If, however, like me, you think it is wonderful stuff, buy it with the husk attached and remove this and the silky threads before boiling until tender. You can grill it too. But how you actually cook it is of no interest to me (...or of little interest...). What I'm all about is the butter in which you smother it. After all, corn-on-the-cob is the ideal vehicle for the stuff, is it not?

My latest thing is to flavour the butter. A favourite is lime, chili and coriander. You can make a nice roll of it and keep it in the freezer - just slice of little rounds as and when you need it. It is great with fish too. However, the cob you see in the picture is enhanced with a very simple flavoured butter. I simply melted the butter with a generous pinch of smoked paprika. Just delicious with the corn.

Oh - one more thing before I go on to the chicken dish - isn't this rainbow chard lovely? I served this with the chicken - just cooked it in a saucepan with a little garlic and some olive oil. I started with the stalks as they took a little longer to soften and then just wilted the leaves as I would spinach. Very tasty.

And now... The moment you've all been waiting for... The marmalade chicken....

It is not so crazy, you know. Duck is good with orangey things. Why not chicken? (Because chicken is totally different to duck is not an acceptable or helpful answer here incidentally).

The recipe came from a little supplement that came with BBC Good Food magazine which was called something along the lines of '101 things to do with chicken'. Actually it wasn't called that at all, but I am now unable to lay my hands on it.

You can use any kind of orange marmalade for this - mine just happened to be laden with ginger too. It thought it all the better for it. The chicken was lovely and sticky but wonderfully moist too. It was so good, that I'm almost loathe to spread the remaining marmalde on my morning toast. I might just save it for the chicken.

My ratios are slightly different to the recipe, so I give my version here...

Sticky ginger marmalade chicken
Serves 2

2 skinless chicken breasts
1/2 pint of chicken stock
2 heaped tablespoons of marmalade with ginger
pinch of chilli flakes

1. Heat a little olive oil in a pan and fry the chicken breasts for approx 10 minutes until golden, turning once and seasoning with salt and pepper as you go.

2. Pour in the stock and marmalade, giving everything a good stir to combine. Sprinkle over the chilli and then simmer gently for around 5 minutes. You want the sauce to become sticky and syrupy. If it reduces too much too quickly, add a little more stock. You want a little syrupy liquid to pour over. Taste and season as necessary.

3. Remove chicken from the pan to a plate and spoon over the syrup sauce. Serve, perhaps with fluffy mash and greens.

Don't forget: There is still plenty of time to think up a great entry for my exciting blogging event 'The British Food Fortnight Challenge'. The details can be found in my previous post - I hope you have thinking caps on as I can't wait to see your entries!

M.I.A.

Apologies for the long break between posts, folks. Things at Food, Glorious Food central are not quite as they should be. I've been struck down with some horrible bug which means that I've eaten not a thing (bar one slice of marmite toast) since Sunday. Not fun. And certainly not conducive to food blogging.

Actually, I have a whole backlog of delicious things to post but, as it is, I can't even face looking at pictures of food. Hope to be back to resume normal service before long.

In the meantime, I thought you might enjoy these gingerbread men - they went into the party bags at my nephew's 1st birthday party and naming ceremony which took place last weekend.



Don't forget: There is still plenty of time to think up a great entry for my exciting blogging event 'The British Food Fortnight Challenge'. The details can be found in my previous post - I hope you have thinking caps on as I can't wait to see your entries!

British Food Fortnight Challenge - blogging event and competition

I am very excited (...and somewhat nervous) to announce that I am hosting my first ever blogging event! I hope you will consider joining me by entering a dish that celebrates the very best of British food.

The 20th September sees the start of British Food Fortnight. This event, now in its seventh year, is a celebration of the fantastically diverse range of foods produced in Britain. It is also the largest volunteer movement educating children about food. Much maligned in the past by our European neighbours, Great Britain is today a nation of top-quality produce and exciting food: we should be proud of this!

British Food Fortnight offers a great excuse to remind ourselves of the pleasure of eating quality seasonal, local produce.

Fish and chips

Not only do I think we have some of the best produce around, I also think that Britain has a wealth of wonderful national dishes. From Lancashire hot pot and Welsh rarebit to Sussex pond pudding and apple crumble, our culinary heritage is rich in delectable goodies. The challenge for British Food Fortnight is to create a thoroughly British dish from (where possible), locally-sourced ingredients. I very much hope you will consider taking part, even if you have never entered a blogging event before. Everyone is welcome!

You can cook absolutely anything - sweet or savoury, starter, main course, pudding, sweets, cakes, jams, chutneys. All are encouraged! The only stipulation is that the recipe must be something which is typically British. If you can find out a bit about the origin of the dish, then do share the details if you have time.

Cottage Pie

As far as possible, please use British produce to create your dish. Obviously this is not practical for every ingredient but meat, dairy, fruit and vegetables should be British and preferably locally-sourced.

Whilst this event is obviously rather geared towards British-based bloggers, anyone is welcome to join in. If you do not live in Britain, use produce local to you but please come up with a traditionally British dish.

Summer Pudding

If the thought of a spot of thoroughly British cookery wasn't enough to get the creative juices flowing, I am also offering a prize for one lucky participant. All entrants names will be put in the hat and a winner picked at random. The winner will receive a copy of Marguerite Patten's 'Century of British Cooking'; a fascinating guide to the history of British food packed with interesting and nostalgic recipes.

I really hope you will join me in this celebration of the best of British!

Here are the guidelines..

1. Please post your thoroughly British dish during British food fortnight - 20th September to the 5th October.

2. In your post, please include a link back to me and also to the British Food Fortnight website.

3. You are encouraged to use the British Food Fortnight logo in your post, but this is not essential.

4. Once you have posted your dish, please email me by Sunday, 5th October at abitofafoodie [at] gmail [dot] com with the following information -

-Your name

-The name of your blog

-Your blog's URL

-The name of your dish

-A link to your post of the dish

-Please attach a photograph of your dish

Rhubarb Crumble and Custard