Dry Drayton Recipes
Let us have your local recipes to share with other Dry Drayton folks.
Dry Drayton Mushy Peas
Fed up with the highly coloured and salted tins of mushy peas available from the supermarkets? We set off to produce the ultimate in Mushy Peas, combining texture, flavour and no unhealthy aditives.
Peas were once an important local crop and we researched growers and varieties through the British Edible Pulse Association and the Process and Growers Research Association. This led us to one of the top BEPA growers, Askew and Barrett (Pulses) Ltd, Smeeth Farm, Marshland St James, Wisbech. Paddy Barrett from the firm kindly provided us with dried peas of a variety called Princess, which are actually supplied by them to the Fish and Chip Shop trade. A brilliant starting point - these peas are excellent.
We have experimented extensively and settled on the following way of preparing them.
Take 500gms of dried Princess peas. Place them on a large basin and cover them with cold water in which is disolved a table spoon of bicarbonate of soda. The peas will expand considerably so have the water level at least six inches above the peas. Leave to soak overnight.
Drain the peas and wash in a colander in flowing cold water for a few seconds.
Put the peas into the bottom of a pressure cooker and just cover them in cold water. With all the scares of associations between aluminium and Alzheimer's, we use one of the modern Tefal stainless steel pressure cookers (as endorsed by no lesser chef than Jamie Oliver!). Bring the pressure cooker up to pressure and cook for 30 minutes. After cooking strain off any really runny liquid - there won't be much. Take about 30 gms of butter, cut this into slivers and gently fold these into the peas. Divide the peas into around 8 portions, seal them into plastic bags and freeze them. Each portion serves two. To use, simply defrost and warm them through thoroughly either in a pan or using a microwave. At this stage if you want minty peas, stir in a teaspoon of mint jelly from the supermarket, or some finely chopped fresh mint leaves.
Dry Drayton Cheddar Biscuits
A recipe from village coffee mornings, published in the Village Newsletter (No 318 April 2008)
110g mature cheddar grated
125g plain flour, sifted, plus extra for rolling
95g unsalted butter, cubed
1/2 level teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt
Mix all ingredients in a food processor for 30 secs until the mixture resembles breabcrumbs. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and kneed for a minute, wrap in Clingfilm andf chill for 30 mins. After chilling roll out the dough, chill again for 20-30 mins. Preheat oven to 190 C and bake for 10-12 mins.