Dishes for a day at the Races or Shoot.."Downton Abbey" 20th Century

One of the great pastimes in Britain and also named the "Sport of Kings" is horse racing.
When I worked in Oxfordshire for Lord & Lady Edwin McAlpine, they bred their own race horses, as they had a stud farm on their country estate, and they often attended races in England, flying in one of their many helicopters to a race meet, from their country house (again think of Downton Abbey 20th Century).

The evening of the dinner for their return, I had to  ensure that the center piece flowers were the same color as the jockey's silks,  if they had had a win, if they had a loss then the center piece colors would match the color of her ladyship's gown that night.

The meets would often be very cold and windy affairs so, I had to make sure I had some soup/hot tea with honey ready for serving on their return.







The same happened in the many shoots on the estate,we had in the Fall....

This was a formal affair..with people arriving the night before from London, and staying in one of the many guest rooms..the whole household being on "Full Alert".

The morning of the shoot..I would make vats of soup, hot tea and toast, for the "beaters" the men who set out before the guns and dogs and flush out the fields.

.this often happening before dawn...(although some of the birds were wild a lot had been reared in captivity and released in the the surrounding woods, the week before)...that week it was normal for pheasants to be seen being rounded up and put Back into the woods as they had wandered off!
Then it would be a full English Breakfast ( even kippers brought in from Scotland) for all the guests and even some of the local "gentry" would hanger on for some breakfast...before long everyone had left

 and I could get on with preparing a light lunch for Lady McAlpine, and then a large  afternoon tea/drinks party for the returning shooters and beaters.(pies, sausage rolls, pasties, pate, wine and brandy, Scotch whisky ofcourse, and more soup,) 

 The beaters and "guns" had drinks outside the house on their return, then the "guns" ( shooters) retired to the inside of the house, as I sorted out the braces of birds and who got what ( Lady McAlpine had given me a list of how many braces, each person would take home it was a very civilized affair as no matter how many birds one shot, one always went home with more) 

...the next few days would be filled with me hanging braces of birds in the large stone floored pantry, to be 'dressed" later that month..which meant me being shut in the fenced old dog pen and plucking birds for hours ( see previous Blog)

So today I am making 3 very different but very delicious soups which reminded me of the days of horse races and "shoots".

1) a traditional thick "London Fog" pea soup, with a twist... carrots, split green peas, pearl barley, celery, brown onion,bay, cumin and finished with earthy flavored cilantro


2) a Beet Borscht with a base of red wine and apple juice, flavored with bay leaf and cinnamon


3) A summer vegetable soup..Recipe.. Feeds 4-6
 ( I like mine chunky you can make as you prefer)
 Strip the corn from 2 ears of sweet corn

Roughly chop:

8 young carrots..
2 medium brown (Spanish) onions
1 head of celery

saute in 2 tbsp grape seed oil ( or canola oil) olive oil is too heavy for this

add enough stock to cover the vegetables, bring to a boil  & add the 2 (Stripped) ears of corn and simmer, keep replacing the stock to keep the veggies just covered. Add 1 bay leaf and 1 tbsp chopped  fresh sage or 1 tsp dried

After 20 minutes add 9 chopped medium mushrooms, and 1 red bell pepper roughly chopped, the corn from the 2 ears of sweet corn simmer for another 20 minutes.

Add enough rice or almond milk ( You can use reg milk if you prefer) to cover the veggies and simmer for another 20 mins..skim surface and then add salt and pepper.
remove the stripped ears of corn

Turn off heat and add
4 chopped zucchini
1 cup fresh peas,or chopped green beans,  or fresh sugar snap peas, or mangetout.
and 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley..stir well and wait 10 minutes then serve.

You can also add any vegetables that are in season, if you find you haven't got a good  selection you can always add good new potatoes, or peeled potatoes.

The other parts of the menu are:
A roasted corn and arugula salad with lime
juice and olive oil

Asparagus, tomato, walnut and zucchini salad with a yogurt and balsamic dressing

Grilled eggplant with  red onion and tomato

Whole wheat couscous with cumin

(sorry but my camera is in the "shop" being cleaned and repaired so I am showing photos from previous days cooking..everything will be back to normal next week)

These are tiny potatoes!