Read Online A Year in the Life of Downton Abbey: Seasonal Celebrations, Traditions, and Recipes by Jessica Fellowes - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Jessica Fellowes
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vegetable stock
salt and pepper
2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
a knob of butter
chopped parsley, to serve
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Heat the oil or fat in a large casserole dish over a high heat. Add the lamb and toss in the fat until browned. Remove the meat with a slotted spoon and set aside on a plate.
Add another tablespoon of oil to the pot, followed by the shallots, celery, carrots, pearl barley, bay leaf and thyme leaves. Cook over a medium heat for about 10 minutes until the onions have softened. Return the meat to the dish and pour over the stock. Season well with salt and pepper.
Put the potatoes on top of the stew, cover the pot and cook in the oven for 1½ hours until the potatoes are soft and the meat is tender. Top up with stock if the stew starts to dry out.
Stir the butter into the stew and sprinkle with parsley to serve.
EVE’S PUDDING
This comforting apple pudding, with its sponge topping, makes good use of English Bramleys. In autumn you can add a handful of freshly picked blackberries to the apples.
SERVES 6
1 ½ pounds Bramleys or other cooking apples
⅓ cup turbinado sugar
a large pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
zest of 1 lemon
5 tablespoons butter, plus extra for greasing
⅓ cup superfine sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1 egg, beaten
1 cup self-rising flour
2–3 tablespoons milk
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 1 quart ovenproof dish with butter.
Peel and core the apples and slice thinly. Place in the prepared dish and sprinkle the turbinado sugar, nutmeg and lemon zest over them. Add 1 tablespoon of water.
In a separate bowl, cream the butter and superfine sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg gradually, beating well. Sift the flour into the bowl and fold into the mixture. Add a splash of milk – enough to give a dropping consistency. Spread this mixture over the apples.
Bake in the oven for 40–50 minutes, until the sponge mixture is golden and firm to the touch in the centre. Sprinkle with superfine sugar and serve with custard or cream.
SPOTLIGHT ON
LOCATIONS
While Ealing Studios is the home of the
Downton Abbey
production offices, wardrobe and prop stores, as well as the built sets for the servants’ quarters and the family’s bedrooms, the lavish stateliness that we associate with the show comes from its locations. At the centre of these is Highclere Castle, the privately owned home of the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon, and the setting for the Crawley family.
Walking up to the castle is not always the romantic jaunt you think it might be – sitting high up on a hill, the wind catches you from all directions and it’s not long before you have your head down, eyes streaming, coat collar pulled as tight as it will go. It makes one rather less envious of past inhabitants, living there without central heating and plumbed hot water. But walking through the castle’s front door, the thing that hits you first is the realisation that it really is Downton Abbey. How you see it on the screen is pretty much how it is in real life.
Donal Woods, the production designer, explains his team’s responsibility: ‘We have to keep it familiar. Since 1912 the costumes have changed, but we have to embrace the permanence of the house. We might lighten the colours a little as we head into the 1920s, but it really is all still the same. From my point of view, until we get to 1925 and the Paris Exhibition, when Art Deco turns up, nothing has changed for years. Country houses didn’t change – the family isn’t going to suddenly go mad and have pink walls – and when the war came, no one was thinking about redesigning the wallpaper.’
Mrs Crawley’s house, Bampton village.
Highclere Castle is not a purpose-built set and so the crew must behave slightly differently here than in Ealing Studios. Before one reaches the sweeping drive at the front of the house, several crew trucks and actors’ trailers (more like caravans than Winnebagos) are
salt and pepper
2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
a knob of butter
chopped parsley, to serve
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Heat the oil or fat in a large casserole dish over a high heat. Add the lamb and toss in the fat until browned. Remove the meat with a slotted spoon and set aside on a plate.
Add another tablespoon of oil to the pot, followed by the shallots, celery, carrots, pearl barley, bay leaf and thyme leaves. Cook over a medium heat for about 10 minutes until the onions have softened. Return the meat to the dish and pour over the stock. Season well with salt and pepper.
Put the potatoes on top of the stew, cover the pot and cook in the oven for 1½ hours until the potatoes are soft and the meat is tender. Top up with stock if the stew starts to dry out.
Stir the butter into the stew and sprinkle with parsley to serve.
EVE’S PUDDING
This comforting apple pudding, with its sponge topping, makes good use of English Bramleys. In autumn you can add a handful of freshly picked blackberries to the apples.
SERVES 6
1 ½ pounds Bramleys or other cooking apples
⅓ cup turbinado sugar
a large pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
zest of 1 lemon
5 tablespoons butter, plus extra for greasing
⅓ cup superfine sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1 egg, beaten
1 cup self-rising flour
2–3 tablespoons milk
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 1 quart ovenproof dish with butter.
Peel and core the apples and slice thinly. Place in the prepared dish and sprinkle the turbinado sugar, nutmeg and lemon zest over them. Add 1 tablespoon of water.
In a separate bowl, cream the butter and superfine sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg gradually, beating well. Sift the flour into the bowl and fold into the mixture. Add a splash of milk – enough to give a dropping consistency. Spread this mixture over the apples.
Bake in the oven for 40–50 minutes, until the sponge mixture is golden and firm to the touch in the centre. Sprinkle with superfine sugar and serve with custard or cream.
SPOTLIGHT ON
LOCATIONS
While Ealing Studios is the home of the
Downton Abbey
production offices, wardrobe and prop stores, as well as the built sets for the servants’ quarters and the family’s bedrooms, the lavish stateliness that we associate with the show comes from its locations. At the centre of these is Highclere Castle, the privately owned home of the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon, and the setting for the Crawley family.
Walking up to the castle is not always the romantic jaunt you think it might be – sitting high up on a hill, the wind catches you from all directions and it’s not long before you have your head down, eyes streaming, coat collar pulled as tight as it will go. It makes one rather less envious of past inhabitants, living there without central heating and plumbed hot water. But walking through the castle’s front door, the thing that hits you first is the realisation that it really is Downton Abbey. How you see it on the screen is pretty much how it is in real life.
Donal Woods, the production designer, explains his team’s responsibility: ‘We have to keep it familiar. Since 1912 the costumes have changed, but we have to embrace the permanence of the house. We might lighten the colours a little as we head into the 1920s, but it really is all still the same. From my point of view, until we get to 1925 and the Paris Exhibition, when Art Deco turns up, nothing has changed for years. Country houses didn’t change – the family isn’t going to suddenly go mad and have pink walls – and when the war came, no one was thinking about redesigning the wallpaper.’
Mrs Crawley’s house, Bampton village.
Highclere Castle is not a purpose-built set and so the crew must behave slightly differently here than in Ealing Studios. Before one reaches the sweeping drive at the front of the house, several crew trucks and actors’ trailers (more like caravans than Winnebagos) are
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