Hi everyone and welcome to the blog. This week’s blog is dedicated to the birthdays of two queens, both share the same birthday, both are famous the world over but for completely different reasons; Queen Elizabeth II and Catherine the Great. This week’s recipes are Queen of Puddings, Boeuf Bourguignon, Quick Chicken Chasseur Variation and the spice of the week is Malagueta Pepper.
Catherine the Great also known as Catherine II, was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia on 21 April 1729 as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg. She reigned as Empress of Russia from 28 June 1762 after the assassination of her husband, Peter III, just after the end of the Seven Years' War until her death on 6 November 1796.
Under her direct auspices the Russian Empire expanded, improved its administration, and continued to modernize along Western European lines. Catherine's rule re-vitalized Russia, which grew stronger than ever and became recognized as one of the great powers of Europe. She had successes in foreign policy and oversaw sometimes brutal reprisals in the wake of rebellion (most notably Pugachev's Rebellion).
Catherine's father Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst belonged to the ruling family of Anhalt, but held the rank of a Prussian general in his capacity as Governor of the city of Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland). Born as Sophia Augusta Frederica (German: Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, nicknamed "Figchen") in Stettin, Pomerania, Catherine did have some (very remote) Russian ancestry, and two of her first cousins became Kings of Sweden: Gustav III and Charles XIII. In accordance with the custom then prevailing in the ruling dynasties of Germany, she received her education chiefly from a French governess and from tutors.
The choice of Sophia as wife of her second cousin, the prospective tsar – Peter of Holstein-Gottorp – resulted from some amount of diplomatic management in which Count Lestocq, Peter´s aunt (the ruling Russian Empress Elizabeth) and Frederick II of Prussia took part. Lestocq and Frederick wanted to strengthen the friendship between Prussia and Russia in order to weaken Austria's influence and ruin the Russian chancellor Bestuzhev, on whom Empress Elizabeth relied, and who acted as a known partisan of Russo-Austrian co-operation.
The diplomatic intrigue failed, largely due to the intervention of Sophie's mother, Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp. Historical accounts portray Catherine's mother as a cold, abusive woman who loved gossip and court intrigues. Johanna's hunger for fame centered on her daughter's prospects of becoming empress of Russia, but she infuriated Empress Elizabeth, who eventually banned her from the country for spying for King Frederick of Prussia. The empress knew the family well: she herself had intended to marry Princess Johanna's brother Charles Augustus (Karl August von Holstein), who had died of smallpox in 1727 before the wedding could take place. Nonetheless, Elizabeth took a strong liking to the daughter, who on arrival in Russia spared no effort to ingratiate herself not only with the Empress Elizabeth, but with her husband and with the Russian people. She applied herself to learning the Russian language with such zeal that she rose at night and walked about her bedroom barefoot repeating her lessons (though she mastered the language, she retained an accent). This led to a severe attack of pneumonia in March 1744. When she wrote her memoirs, she said she made up her mind when she came to Russia to do whatever was necessary, and to profess to believe whatever required of her, to become qualified to wear the crown.
Princess Sophia's father, a very devout German Lutheran, strongly opposed his daughter's conversion to Eastern Orthodoxy. Despite his objection, on 28 June 1744 the Russian Orthodox Church received Princess Sophia as a member with the new name Catherine (Yekaterina or Ekaterina) and the (artificial) patronymic Alekseyevna (daughter of Aleksey). On the following day the formal betrothal took place. The long-planned dynastic marriage finally occurred on 21 August 1745 at Saint Petersburg. Sophia had turned 16; her father did not travel to Russia for her wedding. The bridegroom, known then as Peter von Holstein-Gottorp, had become Duke of Holstein-Gottorp (located in the north-west of present-day Germany near the border with Denmark) in 1739. The newlyweds settled in the palace of Oranienbaum, which remained the residence of the "young court" for many years to come.
fter the death of the Empress Elizabeth on 5 January 1762 (OS: 25 December 1761), Peter, the Grand Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, succeeded to the throne as Peter III of Russia, and his wife, Grand Duchess Catherine became Empress Consort of Russia. The imperial couple moved into the new Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg.
The new tsar's eccentricities and policies, including a great admiration for the Prussian king, Frederick II alienated the same groups that Catherine had cultivated. Besides, Peter intervened in a dispute between his Duchy of Holstein and Denmark over the province of Schleswig (see Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff).
Peter's insistence on supporting Frederick II of Prussia, who had seen Berlin occupied by Russian troops in 1760 but now suggested partitioning the Polish territories with Russia, eroded much of his support among the nobility. (Russia and Prussia fought each other during the Seven Years War (1756–1763) until Peter's accession.)
In July 1762, barely six months after becoming the Tsar, Peter committed the political error of retiring with his Holstein-born courtiers and relatives to Oranienbaum, leaving his wife in Saint Petersburg. On 8 and 9 July the Leib Guard revolted, deposed Peter from power, and proclaimed Catherine the Empress of Russia. The bloodless coup succeeded; Ekaterina Dashkova, a confidante of Catherine who became President of the Russian Academy in 1783, the year of its foundation, seems to have stated that Peter seemed rather glad to have rid himself of the throne, and requested only a quiet estate and his mistress.
But eight days after the coup, on 17 July 1762 – just six months after his accession to the throne – Peter III died at Ropsha, at the hands of Alexei Orlov (younger brother to Gregory Orlov, then a court favourite and a participant in the coup). Historians find no evidence for Catherine's complicity in the supposed assassination. Catherine, although not descended from any previous Russian emperor, succeeded her husband as Empress Regnant. She followed the precedent established when Catherine I (born in the lower classes in the Swedish East Baltic territories) succeeded her husband Peter I in 1725. Legitimists debate Catherine's technical status: seeing her as a Regent or as a usurper, tolerable only during the minority of her son, Grand Duke Paul. In the 1770s a group of nobles connected with Paul (Nikita Panin and others) contemplated the possibility of a new coup to depose Catherine and transfer the crown to Paul, whose power they envisaged restricting in a kind of constitutional monarchy. However, nothing came of this, and Catherine reigned until her death in 1796.
Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, born 21 April 1926) is the constitutional monarch of sixteen independent sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. In addition, as Head of the Commonwealth, she is the figurehead of the 54-member Commonwealth of Nations and, as the British monarch, she is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.
Elizabeth was educated privately at home. Her father, George VI, became in 1936 King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India. She began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, in which she served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. After the war and Indian independence George VI's title of Emperor of India was abandoned, and the evolution of the British Empire into the Commonwealth accelerated. In 1947, Elizabeth made the first of many tours around the Commonwealth, and married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. They have four children: Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward.
In 1949, George VI became the first Head of the Commonwealth, a "symbol of the free association of its independent member nations". On his death in 1952, Elizabeth became Head of the Commonwealth, and queen of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon. Her coronation in 1953 was the first to be televised. During her reign, which at 59 years is one of the longest for a British monarch, she became queen of 25 other countries within the Commonwealth as they gained independence. Between 1956 and 1992, half of her realms, including South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon (renamed Sri Lanka), became republics.
In 1992, which Elizabeth termed her annus horribilis ("horrible year"), two of her sons separated from their wives, her daughter divorced, and a severe fire destroyed part of Windsor Castle. Revelations on the state of her eldest son Charles's marriage continued, and he divorced in 1996. The following year, her former daughter-in-law Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car crash in Paris. The media criticised the royal family for remaining in seclusion in the days before Diana's funeral, but Elizabeth's personal popularity rebounded once she had appeared in public and has since remained high. Her Silver and Golden Jubilees were celebrated in 1977 and 2002; planning for her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 is underway.
Elizabeth was the first child of Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI), and his wife, Elizabeth. Her father was the second son of King George V and Queen Mary, and her mother was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. She was born by Caesarean section at 2.40 am (GMT) on 21 April 1926 at her maternal grandfather's London house: 17 Bruton Street, Mayfair; and was baptised in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace by the Archbishop of York, Cosmo Lang, on 29 May. She was named Elizabeth after her mother, Alexandra after George V's mother, and Mary after her grandmother. Her close family called her "Lilibet". George V cherished his granddaughter, and during his serious illness in 1929 her regular visits raised his spirits and were credited with aiding his recovery.
Elizabeth's only sibling was Princess Margaret, born in 1930. The two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as "Crawfie". To the dismay of the royal family, Crawford later published a biography of Elizabeth and Margaret's childhood years entitled The Little Princesses. The book describes Elizabeth's love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, and her attitude of responsibility. Such observations were echoed by others: Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as "a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant." Her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as "a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved".
Serves 4, takes approx. 1hr 20mins to cook.
570ml x Milk
10g x Butter
110g x White Breadcrumbs
1 x Lemon, grated zest
50g x Golden Caster Sugar
2 x Large Eggs
3 tbsp x Raspberry Jam
Pre-heat the oven to Gas 4, 180 centigrade. Place the milk in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and add the breadcrumbs, butter, lemon zest and 25g of the sugar. Mix well to ensure evenly mixed and set aside for 20 minutes.
Separate the eggs and beat the yolks. Add them to the cooled milk and breadcrumb mixture and combine well. Pour the mixture into a 1 litre pie dish, spread it out and bake in the oven for 30 - 35 minutes until set. Melt the raspberry jam gently in a small saucepan and spread over the top of the cooked pudding.
In a large bowl whisk the egg whites to a stiff peak consistency and then add the remaining 25g of caster sugar and whisk in well. Spread the meringue mixture over the top of the pudding and use a palette knife or spatula to form peaks over the surface. Finally sprinkle with a little more caster sugar and bake in the oven for a further 10 - 15 minutes until golden.
My next recipe is Boeuf Bourguignon, recipe by Jenny, courtesy of Olive Magazine April 2010.
Serves 6, takes 15mins to prepare, approx. 3.1/4hrs to cook.
1kg x Lean Braising Steak, cut into chunks
50g x Plain Flour
Olive Oil
250g x Smoked Bacon, excess fat removed and cut into lardons
300g x Small Shallots, peeled and left whole
2 x Garlic Cloves, crushed
250ml x Beef Stock
1 x Bay Leaf
4 tbsp x Tomato Ketchup
750ml x Red Wine (preferably Burgundy)
2 x Carrots, roughly diced
500g x Button Mushrooms
DUMPLINGS
100g x Self-Raising Flour
50g x Butter
1 x Egg, beaten
Heat the oven to 160C Gas Mark 3. Lightly coat the pieces of beef in seasoned flour, shaking off the excess. Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large, flame-proof casserole dish on the hob, on a high heat. Add the beef and cook for 10mins until lightly browned on all sides. Remove the beef from the dish, drain well and set aside. Add the smoked bacon to the dish, and fry until lightly coloured. Remove from the dish, drain well and add the shallots. Fry until lightly browned all over. Add the crushed garlic, and cook for a further minute (but do not allow to burn). Add the beef stock, bay leaf, tomato ketchup and 2/3 of the bottle of the red wine. Stir well to help deglaze the base of the dish. Once boiling, add the beef and bacon back into the dish, and also the diced carrots. Cover the dish and transfer to the heated oven for an hour.
Remove from the oven and add the mushrooms and the rest of the wine. Cover and return to the oven for a further 1.1/2 to 2hrs, until the meat is tender and the sauce has slightly thickened. Just before the end of cooking time, taste and season if necessary. Turn the oven up to 180C Gas Mark 4. To make the dumplings, sieve the four and some salt, and pepper into a bowl. Add the butter to the bowl in small pieces. Rub it into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the beaten egg and mix with your hands to form dough. If the mixture is too dry, add water, a tablespoon at a time, until the mixture is slightly sticky. Shape the dough into 8 balls of equal size. To cook, float the dumplings on the surface of the cooking bourguignon, with the lid removed, for 20mins, turning each dumpling over with a spoon halfway through cooking to ensure even cooking.
Spice of the week – Malagueta Pepper (Aframomum melegueta)
Malagueta Pepper Malagueta pepper, this spice commonly known as Grains of paradise, Melegueta pepper, alligator pepper, Guinea grains or Guinea pepper is obtained from the plant's ground seeds; it gives a pungent, peppery flavour. Although it is native to West Africa, it is an important cash crop in the Basketo special woreda of southern Ethiopia. It is a small, tapered, green pepper that turns red as it matures. It is about 5 cm (2 inches) in length at maturity. It is a very hot pepper, with a range of 60,000 to 100,000 Scoville units (about the same as Tabasco peppers). There are two sizes seen in markets, which will sometimes have different names: the smaller ones are called "malaguetinha" in Brazil and "piri-piri" in Portugal and Mozambique, and the larger ones are called "malaguetão" in Brazil and "malagueta" in Portugal. They are not different varieties, just peppers of different maturities from the same plant. This pepper is used to season many regional dishes in Brazil and Mozambique and is also used in sauces. In Portugal it is mainly used to season poultry dishes.
The malagueta chile (spelled “mala”), used in Brazilian cooking, is often confused with melegueta pepper (spelled “mele”), also known as "Grains of Paradise," a cardamom-like West African spice (Aframomum melegueta, from the Zingiberaceae [ginger] family). Botanical and culinary writers have made the error of referring to the chilli as the African spice, thinking it to be one and the same. One way to avoid confusion is to refer to the former as the "malagueta chilli" and the latter as "melegueta pepper." One of the rare spices coming from Africa, melagueta pepper is more flavoured and stronger than pepper. It has a strong reputation of being traditionally a tonic and, in Africa, issued as an aphrodisiac as well as to treat some pains like measles, leprosy and worms.
My final recipe is Quick Chicken Chasseur Variation, inspired by a recipe in GoodFood Magazine May 2011.
Serves 4, takes 5mins to prepare, and 15mins to cook.
8 x Smoked Streaky Bacon Rashers, chopped into large pieces
4 x Skinless Chicken Breasts, cut into large chunks
200g x Baby Button Mushrooms
1 x Red Onion, chopped
1 tbsp x Plain Flour
400g x Tin of Chopped Tomatoes in Garlic
1 x Organic Chicken Stock Cube
2 dashes x Worcestershire Sauce
Handful of Basil, chopped
Heat a shallow saucepan and sizzle the bacon for about 2mins until starting to brown. Add the chicken and fry for 3-4mins until it has changed colour. Turn up the heat, add the mushrooms and onions, and cook for a few mins, stir in the flour, then cook until a paste forms. Tip in the tomatoes, stir, then crumble in the stock cube. Bubble everything for 10mins, splash in the Worcestershire sauce, stir through the basil.
If you have enjoyed my blog, or have tried out the recipes I have included and wish to comment, please feel free to comment using the comment button or by visiting my guestbook, all comments and suggestions will be gratefully received.
Hope you enjoy!!..... ChefGarfy =D
