Now for the main course: a faked rarebit. I've got 4oz of cheese in the fridge, of which I'm prepared up give up 2oz. Any rarebit is going to be a bit cheese-light and thus need to be lifted in some way. This is my attempt.
I started by taking some oats and toasting them in a low oven for an hour to bring out the flavour I'd much need. Then I melted a knob of butter in a heavy-bottomed pan and added the finely sliced (other) small onion and some garlic powder and let it sit on a gentle heat for a while. When the onion was translucent, I added the toasted oats to soak up the remaining fat. Then I added a helping of flour to start my roux.
This was a roux with a difference: instead of milk, I used beer. Specifically Riggwelter, one of the finest cooking-beers I've come across. If you're fool enough to try this recipe, you can substitute Guinness, but Riggwelter is ideal. I built up the roux as normal until I got the thick paste I needed, then grated in the 2oz of cheese and added 3tsp of wholegrain mustard. When this had settled, I added 1/2 gill (an eighth of a pint, 2.5 fluid oz or 70ml) of Household milk and a ladle of my stock and let it reduce until it was thick but not quite thick enough.
Taking the rarebit off the heat, I then boiled a peeled and diced potato; when done, I drained it off in a sieve then pushed it through the sieve and added the pulped potato to the rarebit. That thickened it and added the much-needed bulk for such a thin meal. It tastes good too!
Now to slice some bread and toast it and the rarebit under the grill, then put it in CJBS for a final verdict.
3 weeks ago
1 comment:
We have had this before of course - with much more cheese per square inch. I was dreading a pale imitation of a customary favourite. I was astounded how palatable it was, given the dramatic reduction in cheese content. The oats used to pad it out really worked in their role. In this savoury form it was nothing like porridge yet added bulk to the cheesy paste. I think oats and barley have so far proved the wonder ingredients of war time cooking! The extra mustard in the mix made up for the limited cheese as it catapulted mild cheese back to a mature cheese flavour rating. This is cheeting, with good effect! Filling, with toast and tomatoes on top! Yum!
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