When we get the chance to travel, especially in Europe, I am always intrigued how different the food is presented. In the U.S. we are accustomed to our plates overflowing with tons of food — meat, potato, vegetables, bread, and dessert. When we traveled to Turkey last summer (you can read about here), the food was simple, fresh, delicious and just enough. I never felt uncomfortably full, but simply satisfied.
Mr. Bee is English. Raised in the U.S. by his English parents — Tony and Irene — he loves traditional Christmas dinners with yorkshire pudding, making Christmas pudding with Miss Bee and a good Ploughman’s Lunch.
By definition, a Ploughman’s Lunch is an English cold meal which consists of cheese, pickle, and bread. You can add other items like apples, boiled eggs, ham and pickled onions. This was the farmer’s midday meal. Quick and easy to eat often tucking the hunks of bread or apple into his pocket as he went back to work.
Really, it’s the perfect summer meal. No need to heat up the kitchen or cook. Easy to assemble on a platter, and great with a good glass of wine.
Deconstructed, traditionally you need a good hunk of cheddar and a hearty loaf of bread. The Branston Pickle (which is a chutney made from a variety of pickled vegetables diced very small) and pickled onion were purchase from World Market and the rest of the cheeses — Brie, Apricot Stilton and blueberry goat cheese — came from Trader Joe’s. Add a few hearty crackers, honey crisp apples, and a small dish of olives.
We sipped a new, to us, variety of wine from Blue Apron’s wine club, Las Canovas Tempranillo. The bottles are 500 ml and sized for two people. It was smooth and perfect with the hearty cheddar and the dark chocolate for dessert.
We have leftovers for the week to make grilled cheese sandwiches. What’s your perfect summertime meal?
Hospitality is in my DNA. I founded Home with a Twist, a daughter’s twist on her mother’s traditions, in memory of my mother to celebrate her life and the gifts she shared with me. Mother loved to celebrate life’s occasions – big and small.
My perfect summertime meal is rosemary bread from Central Market, with butter, a little bit of CM pesto and big thick slices of a homegrown tomato, with salt. Add a hunk of good cheddar on the side and maybe a few almonds to snack on. And finish with a few squares of dark chocolate. At lunch, I mostly drink water or unsweet tea. Yum!