Add the minced garlic, rosemary, and thyme to the skillet. Mix into the onion and cook for another minute to release the flavors and aromas of the herbs.
Add the ground lamb and break into small pieces while cooking. Sauté until cooked through, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain the meat and return to the skillet and sauté for another minute or two.
Sprinkle the 1/2 tsp salt, black pepper, and flour over the lamb and then mix into the meat. Next add the red wine, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, and tomato paste to the skillet and mix into the meat. Cook for a few minutes to allow the liquid to reduce.
Add the chicken stock and vegetables to the skillet, mix into the meat, and allow to come to a boil. As soon as the liquid begins to boil, turn the heat down to medium and allow to cook while the liquid reduces and thickens, about 10 minutes. Mix occasionally so that the meat doesn't burn to the bottom of the skillet.
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SHEPHERD'S PIE
Evenly spread the lamb filling on the bottom of a baking dish. Spoon or pipe the mashed potatoes evenly over the lamb. Then, lightly brush the top of the potatoes with the beaten egg and sprinkle the parmesan cheese evenly over the top.
Place the baking dish on the middle rack of a preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes or until the peaks of the potatoes begin to brown.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving.
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Ploughman’s Lunch by Gill Luongo
Typically a Ploughman’s lunch was packed and taken to the fields by men who worked the fields/farms.
Items included can vary according to preference, but a ploughman's lunch is always served cold, and generally includes crusty bread, butter and cheese, plus pickled onions and a relish or chutney.
The lunch may also include a selection of cold meats, ham, maybe a slice of pate or a slice of pork pie, hard-boiled eggs, and sometimes slices of apple or other seasonal fruit.
This lunch goes well with beer or lemonade.
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Yorkshire Pudding by Gill Luongo
Typically served with roast beef.
1 ½ cups flour
¾ tsp salt
¾ cup room temperature milk
3 room temperature eggs, well beaten
¾ cup water
½ cup roast beef drippings (This can be from a roast prepared recently or one you made just prior to making this recipe.)
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Mix flour and salt. Add milk and blend. Mix in eggs and water until the batter is light and frothy. Let rest for an hour or if making ahead for the next day, cover and refrigerate overnight.
If the batter has been refrigerated, return to room temperature before using. When the roast beef is ready to come out of the oven, ready the mixture.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Pour drippings off roast beef and set aside approximately ½ cup. Pour drippings into a 9x12 inch baking dish and heat in oven until sizzling. Pour the batter over the drippings and bake for 30 minutes (or until the sides have risen and are golden brown). Serves 8.
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Scotch Eggs – by Gill Luongo
6 hard-boiled eggs (or as many as you like)
Bulk breakfast pork sausage (enough to cover the eggs)
* * *
Flatten raw pork sausage and make a patty to surround each egg. Egg should be fully covered.
Deep fry until golden brown, or pan fry while making sure each side is well cooked.
* * *
Lena’s Pie Crust by Katy McCollom
* * *
My grandma’s name was Norma Porterfield. She was the strongest, smartest, kindest women I ever knew. She was an avid reader and instilled a love of books in her four daughters and many grandchildren. She painted, wrote, quilted, and inspired us all. I would love to honor her in your book! Thank you so much for the consideration. These are all family recipes written in my grandma’s beautiful penmanship.
* * *
Brown bowl
2 cups flour
Pinch of salt
2 fingers full of Crisco
Water
* * *
Put flour and salt into brown bowl. Mix in Crisco until the consistency is that of cornmeal. Fill a water glass 2/3 full of water. Add water, a little at a time, until dough feels right. Drink the rest of the water. Roll out dough and put in pie pan.
* * *
Grandma Iola’s Tea Cakes by Katy McCollom
* * *
1 cup room temperature butter
2 ½ cups sugar
4 eggs
4 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ cup of buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
* * *
Cream butter and sugar.
Add eggs, beating mixture well.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and nutmeg.
Add to mixture with buttermilk.
Stir in vanilla.
Drop dough by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes.
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Grandma’s Chocolate Gravy by Katy McCollom
* * *
¾ cup sugar
3 tbsp cocoa
1 tbsp flour or cornstarch
2 cups milk
Butter
Vanilla
* * *
Mix sugar, flour, and cocoa together in a saucepan.
Add milk.
Cook over medium heat until mixture starts to thicken.
Add butter and vanilla if desired.
Let mixture cool and serve with hot biscuits.
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Baked Corn by Shannon Dolgos
Dorothy L. Doutt (1927-2015) - My Gram
2 cans creamed corn
4 eggs
1 cup of milk
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 tablespoons flour
Grease pan. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes to one hour.
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons flour
Cook in pot on stove top. Pour over corn after it is baked.
* * *
Zucchini Cookies by Shannon Dolgos
Cream:
3/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
Add:
1 cup grated zucchini
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup chocolate chips or butterscotch chips
1 cup nuts
* * *
Drop on ungreased cookie sheet, bake at 350 for 12 minutes.
Gobs (Chocolate Whoopie Pies) by Shannon Dolgos
Cream:
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
* * *
Add:
3/4 cup sour milk
1/2 cup boiling water
* * *
Sift & Mix:
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa
* * *
Drop on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 for 5 minutes. Cool before adding filling.
* * *
Filling
2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 cup marshmallow crème
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
* * *
White Gravy and Bread by April Willis
* * *
Fry bacon in a heavy pan.
Drain and set aside.
Add enough (2 tbsp flour) to bacon drippings to thicken.
Add milk to make prop
er consistency.
Stir with fork.
Add salt and pepper.
Tear bread into bites and ladle gravy over.
Serve quickly with bacon on side.
* * *
Pie Crust by April Willis
* * *
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
¾ cup Crisco
Fork it – combine using a fork.
Add a little water and fork it.
If ready, roll it out. If not, add a little more water, fork it then roll it.
* * *
Swiss Steak by Alexis Lavoie
This is a recipe my mom would make for Sunday Dinners i just loved it and when it was cooking the great smell was something you had linger all thru the house. She would serve it with a veggie and mashed potatoes. Also my father would go early in the morning to the bread place where they would make bread on Sunday a.m. and you could buy it nice and hot and fresh most of the time. We got a large loaf of Italian Bread and served it with dinner. By the end of the meal not much was left.
* * *
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp butter
1 1/2 lbs. meat (skirt steak or blade steak)
2 oz white or red wine
3 tbsp flour
1 – 8 oz can tomato sauce and 1 can water
3 cloves
2-3 Bay leaves
¼ teaspoon celery salt
¼ tsp garlic power
4 thin slices lemon or if using juice, 1 tbsp
1 tbsp granulated sugar
¼ tsp pepper
Heat oil and butter in large skillet.
Brown meat on both sides and remove from skillet.
Reduce heat and blend flour with fat and gradually add water, tomato sauce, cloves, lemon, sugar, and all other seasonings.
Simmer until gravy thickens.
Add meat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours or until tender. Enjoy!
* * *
Rice and ground beef casserole by Keenalynn Pratt
My mom found this recipe in a newspaper years ago...
1 1/2 pound of ground beef
2 cans of Campbell’s tomato soup
1 cup of water
Half a head of cabbage
1 cup of INSTANT rice
2 cups of favorite cheese. (I use sharp cheddar.)
* * *
Preheat oven to 350.
Cut cabbage (do not cook) in small bites and layer in a 4qt casserole dish.
Brown and drain beef then add uncooked rice and mix well.
Layer over cabbage.
Mix tomato soup and water together, then layer over meat.
Cook uncovered for 35-45 minutes.
Add desired cheese. Cook until melted (usually 10-15 minutes).
*Note: The original recipe called for onion (cook with beef) but we leave it out due to personal preference.
* * *
Butterscotch Breakfast Rolls by Wendy Tompkins
This is a recipe my Mom had, my girls and I make them often. It is about the only one I have that is in her handwriting. She passed away Mother’s Day weekend in 2019...miss her so much.
* * *
2 cups flour
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
1 cup light cream
¼ cup softened butter
½ cup brown sugar
* * *
Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder.
Add cream and mix until dough follows fork around bowl.
Roll out on a floured surface to a 6 x 12 inch rectangle.
Spread with butter and brown sugar.
Roll up like a jelly roll and cut in 1 inch slices.
Arrange in a greased, round, 9 inch pan.
Bake at 400 for 20 – 25 minutes.
Invert on plate and serve hot.
More Emerson Pass!
For more Emerson Pass, download the historical books in the series. Travel back in time to meet the original residents of Emerson Pass, starring the Barnes family.
The School Mistress
The Spinster
The Scholar (releases July 20, 2021)
* * *
The first of the Emerson Pass Contemporaries, The Sugar Queen, starring the descendants of the Barnes family is available at your favorite retailer.
* * *
Sign up for Tess’s newsletter and never miss a release or sale! www.tesswrites.com
The Spinster
* * *
Her love died on a battlefield. He carries a torch for a woman he’s never met. Can the tragic death of a soldier entwine the souls of two strangers?
* * *
Colorado, 1919. Josephine Barnes wrote every day to her beloved fiancé battling in the trenches of the Great War. Devastated when he’s killed in action, she vows never to marry and buries her grief in the construction of the town’s first library. But she’s left breathless when she receives a request from a gracious gentleman to visit and return the letters containing her declarations of desire.
* * *
Philip Baker survived the war but returned home burdened with a distressing secret. Though he knows it’s wrong, he can’t stop reading through the beautiful sentiments left among his slain comrade’s possessions. Plagued by guilt, he’s unable to resist connecting with the extraordinary woman who captured his heart with her words.
* * *
When Josephine invites Philip to join her gregarious family for the holidays, she’s torn by her loyalty to a ghost and her growing feelings for the gallant man. And as Philip prepares to risk everything by telling her the truth about her dead fiancé, he fears he could crush Josephine’s blossoming happiness forever.
* * *
Will they break free from their painful pasts to embrace a passion meant to be?
* * *
The Spinster is the second book in the heartwarming Emerson Pass historical romance series. If you like staunch heroines, emotional backdrops, and sweeping family sagas, then you’ll adore Tess Thompson’s wholesome tale.
* * *
Buy The Spinster to read between the lines of destiny today!
* * *
The Sugar Queen
* * *
The first in the contemporary Emerson Pass Series , The Sugar Queen features the descendants from the Barnes family.
Get ready for some sweet second chances! To read the first chapter, simply turn the page or download a copy here: The Sugar Queen.
* * *
True love requires commitment, and many times unending sacrifice. . .
At the tender age of eighteen, Brandi Vargas watched the love of her life drive out of Emerson Pass, presumably for good. Though she and Trapper Barnes dreamed of attending college and starting their lives together, she was sure she would only get in the way of Trapper's future as a hockey star. Breaking his heart, and her own in the process, was the only way to ensure he pursued his destiny. Her fate was the small town life she'd always known, her own bakery, and an endless stream of regret.
After a decade of playing hockey, a single injury ended Trapper Barnes' career. And while the past he left behind always haunted him, he still returns to Emerson Pass to start the next chapter of his life in the place his ancestors built more than a century before. But when he discovers that the woman who owns the local bakery is the girl who once shattered his dreams, the painful secret she's been harboring all these years threatens to turn Trapper's idyllic small town future into a disaster. Will it take a forest fire threatening the mountain village to force Trapper and Brandi to confront their history? And in the wake of such a significant loss, will the process of rebuilding their beloved town help them find each other, and true happiness, once again?
Fast forward to the present day and enjoy this contemporary second chance romance set in the small town of Emerson Pass, featuring the descendants of the characters you loved from USA Today bestselling author Tess Thompson's The School Mistress.
The Patron of Emerson Pass
She’s afraid to take risks. He’s an incurable daredevil. When tragedy throws them together, will it spark a lasting devotion?
Crystal Whalen isn’t sure why she should go on. Two years after her husband’s death on a ski trip, she’s devastated when a fire destroys her quiet Colorado mountain home. And when she can’t keep her hands off the gorgeous divorcé who’s become her new temporary housemate, it only feeds her grief and growing guilt.
Garth Welty won’t be burned again. After his ex-wife took most of his money, the downhill-skiing Olympic medalist is determined to keep things casual with the sexy woman he can’t resist. But the more time they spend with each other, the harder it is to deny his burgeoning feelings.
As Crystal’s longing for the rugged man’s embrace grows, she worries that his dangerous lifestyle will steal him away. And although Garth believes she’s his perfect girl, the specter of betrayal keeps a tight grip on his heart.
Will the thrill-seeker and the wary woman succumb to the power of love?
The Patron of Emerson Pass is the emotional second book in the Emerson Pass Contemporaries small-town romance series. If you like lyrical prose, unexpected chances at happiness, and uplifting stories, then you’ll adore Tess Thompson’s sweet tale.
The Patron Page 26