A warm Subrosacafe.com welcome to our newest contributor, Shaun K. from Marbella by way of London.  We look forward to frequent guest reviews, recipes & random ruminations from one of southern Spain’s quintessential gourmands.

On the northern outskirts of the City of London lies the historic Smithfield meat market.  Given it’s propensity for supplying everything and anything carnivorous from all over the world, the area is home to a number of notable eateries taking advantage of the proximity of such excellent produce.  One of the most inspiring restaurants has been there for about 15 years now and has become a modern day pilgrimage site for chefs seeking to pay homage at the feet of Fergus Henderson, the undisputed king of offal and a hearty style of long lost traditional British cooking.

One of the most notable pilgrims from the US is Anthony Bourdain who says of Fergus’s signature dish of Roast Marrow Bones and Parsley salad “If I was on death row and I had to choose what would be the last thing I put in my mouth, this would be it”. I can think of no endorsement that comes better than that to sum up the sort of fanaticism that Fergus and his St. John restaurant engenders.

Apart from the theme of The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating eating at St. John there are a lot of very simple dishes that stand out because of the care and almost resurrected cooking technique that goes into them.  One of my favourites at the moment is his Cheese on Toast or Welsh rarebit which is brilliant because you can cut the rarebit into portions, layer it between grease proof paper and stick it in the freezer for whenever you need something steadying between mealtimes.  Here’s what you do;

Welsh Rarebit

Melt a knob of butter in a saucepan and gently fry 1 tablespoon of plain flour for a few minutes until it smells ‘biscuity’, don’t brown.  A balloon whisk is good for stirring this around.

Stir in 200ml of Guinness or some other dark beer in two goes.  The first go is to give the flour a bit of a stretch as it thickens (preventing your ‘roux’ from having a powdery texture) and the second will give you the right consistency for adding the cheese.

A teaspoon of English mustard (Coleman’s) is good added here but definitely not a mustard with vinegar in it.  Add a healthy dash of Worcester Sauce.

Now melt in 450g of mature grated cheddar cheese by the handful until it becomes a nice consistency.  Pour the mixture onto a non stick baking sheet and spread it around to form roughly a square shape about one centimetre thick. As it cools it will set and then you can cut it into squares to fit your toast or layer for the freezer as described above.

All that remains is to toast some nice bread, pop your square of rarebit on top and flash under a hot grill until it bubbles and browns a bit.

In days gone by it used to be very fashionable to end your dinner with a ‘savoury’ like this, particularly good with a glass of Port I find (whatever the time is).