Stuffed Yorkies

 

Here is a wonderful, tasty starter, appy or just “finger” food. I start with just a standard

Yorkshire Pudding recipe, like the one below.

  

Here’s what you will need:

4 large, fresh eggs, measured into a jug

Equal quantity of milk to your measured eggs

Equal quantity of all purpose/plain flour to measured eggs

Pinch of salt

2 tbsp lard, beef dripping or vegetable oil (I prefer lard)

Roast beef leftovers from your refrigerator

2 large baker potatoes

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Heat the oven to the highest temperature possible, however, do not exceed 425°F or the fat may burn.

Pour the eggs and milk into a large mixing bowl and add the pinch of salt. Whisk thoroughly with an electric hand beater or hand whisk. Leave to stand for 10 minutes.

Gradually sieve the same volume of flour (as the eggs) into the milk and egg mixture, again using an electric hand beater or hand-whisk to create a lump free batter resembling thick cream, if there are any lumps pass the batter through a fine sieve.

Leave the batter to rest in the kitchen for a minimum of 30 minutes, longer if possible – up to several hours.

Place a pea-sized piece of lard, dripping or ½ tsp vegetable oil into your chosen Yorkshire pudding tin, or 12-hole muffin tin and heat in the oven until the fat is smoking. Give the batter another good whisk adding 2 tbsp of cold water and fill each section of the tin 2/3 full  with batter and return quickly to the oven. Leave to cook until golden brown approx 20 minutes. Repeat the last step again until all the batter is used up.

Please note: Be prepared to drop the mixture into the muffin pan as soon as the pan comes out of the oven, as the hotter the fat, the better. I also use the jumbo muffin pan to get larger Yorkshire Puddings so I can put a good amount of filling inside them.

While the Yorkshire Puddings are in the oven, prepare the stuffing. I use a stuffing made of leftover roast beef in gravy and garlic mashed potatoes for a savoury meal. Cut the beef into bite-sized pieces and put them into a beef gravy to heat it up. Boil two large baking potatoes and mashed them up with garlic to taste. Fill the Yorkshire Pudding with roast beef with gravy, then add a spoonful of mashed potatoes on top, and finish it off with a drizzle of gravy.  This amount of roast beef and potatoes fills the six jumbo Yorkies quite well.

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An Alternative Taste

Given the sweetness and texture of the Yorkshire Pudding, I can see stuffing them with a scrambled egg and sausage for breakfast or some berries and sweet cream for a light summer dessert. What would you put into your Yorkshire Pudding? Let me know. The sky’s the limit!

In Yorkshire, the pudding is traditionally served with gravy as a starter dish followed by the meat and vegetables. More often, nowadays, smaller puddings cooked in muffin tins are served alongside meat and vegetables.

Just a Note: Yorkshire Puddings do not reheat well, becoming brittle and dry and totally unpalatable.