It was a dark, stormy night...

By: Teri

Last night was gloomy and doomy, promising rain (which I'm watching right now as I write this, from my window...), and I was craving some comfort food. I thought the perfect accompaniment to our meal on such an overcast, chilly evening would be one of my favorites of the British pub fare - yorkshire pudding! My family in New Zealand made this frequently with roast dinners. Traditionally it is cooked in the fat of whatever meat you are serving; in most cases, roast beef. Naturally I, being stubborn and completely unwilling to deprive myself of any yummy carbs, wanted to create a vegetarian friendly version. The thing about yorkshire pudding, though, is that its rather bland on its own. Not only is it usually cooked in beef fat, but its also drenched in gravy. Gravy I can do. But I wanted to add a little oomph to the usual recipe to lift some of the blandness.

I happened to have sour cream and chives laying around, leftovers from the weekend's chili, and I thought, why not? I've substituted the sour cream for milk in this recipe - it added a little extra fluffiness as well as flavor. I also added one tiny red chile pepper from our own garden, along with the chives. You don't have to do that unless you're feeling particularly brave. I was!

Yorkshire Puddings with Sour Cream and Chives

1 cup sour cream (full fat)
1 cup flour, packed
3 medium sized eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 large stalk chopped chives, down to the whites
1 small red chile pepper, seeded and chopped finely
vegetable oil

Mix flour and salt, then add sour cream and eggs, blend well. Mixture will be a wet dough. Once blended, don't over-stir, as stirring too much will toughen the puddings. Add chives and chile pepper, stir lightly to incorporate. Add a small amount of vegetable oil to each cup of a muffin tin; just enough to cover the bottom. Spoon batter into the muffin cups. As it hits the cup, the vegetable oil should rise a bit and almost cover the dough. If this doesn't happen, add a bit more oil to ensure there is enough to cook the puddings. Bake for 20-25 minutes on 350 degrees, or until lightly browned on top.

I served these with a mild mushroom gravy (I'll save that recipe for another time), three-pepper dirty rice, and corn on the cob. The carnivore hubs had a steak and declared that the yorkshire puddings went perfectly with his meal. So I suppose if you insist on a slab of beef, this recipe could be adapted to meat-friendly once more. Just don't tell me about it!

These yorkshire puddings are easily suited to your own taste - you could substitute dill and cheddar, or even ricotta for the sour cream and a dash of cinnamon, and serve 'em for breakfast. The sky is the limit. I figure if you're going to be untraditional and make a standard staple your own, do it with gusto! Cooking is nothing if not an ongoing experiment!

As for a tasty beverage to serve with this meal - leave it to me to break with tradition on the second post and have a beer instead of a glass of wine! C'mon, its pub food! British food goes so well with a nice cold one, and these yorkshire puddings are no exception. I happened to have one of my favorite beers in the fridge and it worked perfectly.

Pete's Wicked Strawberry Blonde is a light, pale ale with a hint of juicy strawberry. The berry flavor isn't overpowering; just a crisp, subtle berry flavor that went perfect with our meal. It offset the spiciness of the dirty rice and the savory depth and heaviness of the yorkshire puddings and gravy. Nom...