Christmas dinner is one of our favourite meals of the year. It’s the only time we cook turkey.
I love the leftovers even if the turkey has gone and we are down to veg, bread sauce and gravy.
Bread sauce Originates in medieval England when using a stale loaf of bread to thicken a sauce, stew or soup would have been cheaper and more accessible than animal fat or eggs. After all bread is just flour and we use that all the time as a thickener.
Even though bread sauce doesn’t sound as appetizing as the Spanish Romesco sauce or the Tuscan soup Ribollito (both use bread as a thickener) it is delicious.
I always looked forward to my gran visiting at Christmas. We only saw her once or twice a year because it was a 4 hour trip - which doesn’t sound much to a Canadian but in the Uk it’s a horrible drive.
Gran was a great character. We would sit in The front room at Christmas watching whatever was on Tv and she would give me a nudge and say “don’t tell your dad” and sneak me extra chocolates and a sip of port.
I always got the job of taking her shopping because the rest of my family got embarrassed when she tried haggling with the grocer over the prices of oranges and potatoes, which she insisted were not as good as the ones she could get back home lol. Of course the grocer knew it was all in fun and he even called her Gran. Everyone called her Gran.
When I think about her I always remember her strirring a massive pan of damsons to make jam - she always left the stones in - which is why as kids we didn’t like it much. She would have a cigarette in her mouth, which would slowly become a tube of ash and I would be trying to stop the ash falling in the jam.
Luckily her bread sauce wasn’t subject to stirring because we cooked it in the oven. Nowadays I just make it on the stovetop because it’s quicker but it can be cooked in the oven or even in the microwave.
Her bread sauce doesn’t really have any measurements, like most things she made. Basically, you fry up a bit of chopped onion, add bread, cover with milk, and season well with salt and pepper.
My grannies Bread sauce
About 4 inches stale white bread - crusts removed and cut into small cubes
A handful of onion finely chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 bay leaf (optional)
1 pint full fat milk - approx (enough to cover the bread and a bit more)
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Soak bread cubes in milk
Melt butter over medium heat
Sauté finely chopped onion until soft
Add bread and milk and heat on a low heat, stirring occasionally until the sauce thickens
season with salt and pepper and serve hot.