70th Anniversary GP 2020: Welsh Rarebit, Roasted Tomatoes, and English Garden Salad

70 years of racing! I loved seeing the tributes Sky F1 put together for this landmark race weekend. Beautiful old film clips, classic cars, and human stories.

This turned out to be a pretty exciting race. I love a good MAX win and it was a great Red Bull strategy call from Hannah Schmitz. So great to see another winner, a team that works well together, and women in the sport getting some recognition! Hurrah!

For this race at Silverstone, we made some proper British food. For dinner: Welsh Rarebit with Roasted Tomatoes and an English Garden Salad. For dessert: Sticky Toffee Pudding, yummmmm. And for drinks: we experimented with all the Pimm’s Cups.

Welsh Rarebit (or Welsh Rabbit) has always been intriguing to me. Who doesn’t want to ramp up the flavor of cheesy toast with the addition of beer, mustard, and cayenne?
Not exactly photogenic, but definitely a strong contender for comfort food I can imagine coming back to again.

Welsh Rarebit

Adapted from Food 52, April Bloomfield, and Binging with Babish

2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 tsp English mustard powder
¼  tsp cayenne pepper
1 ½  cups (12 ounces/ 1 bottle) stout (or any dark beer)
1 very long splash of Worcestershire sauce
4 cups sharp cheddar (or any other tangy cheese), grated
4 slices country bread, cut thickly

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan, then sprinkle in the flour. Whisk together until well combined and cook until the flour turns a light brown 1-2 minutes.

2. Whisk in the mustard powder and cayenne.

3. Then add the stout a little at a time, stirring constantly until each addition is incorporated, taking care not to let the sauce break.  Add the Worcestershire sauce. Whisk until combined.

4. Gradually add the cheese, again a bit at a time, stirring until it is completely melted and combined. It will continue to thicken.

5. Take the mixture off the heat and pour into a bowl to cool and thicken.

6. Preheat the oven to "broil".

7. Lightly pre-toast your bread, to avoid sogginess. If you toast under the broiler and it is on high, 20 -30 seconds will do the trick.

8. When the cheese mixture is thick and set, spread it thickly onto the toast slices ( about 1/4-inch thick), and place them on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper.

9. Place toasts under the broiler and cook until the tops are bronzed and bubbling, about one to two minutes (keep a wary eye!).

10. Eat with a big green salad, or roasted tomatoes, or both!

P.S. I recommend watching this delightful video of April Bloomfield making Welsh Rarebit as a helpful guide to make sure your Rarebit turns out great the first time. BUT if like me, you only watch the video after the fact and accidentally break your sauce… you are not out of luck!

P.P.S. Here are a couple tips to rescue a broken sauce: Recreate a roux by adding 1 Tbsp each butter and flour in a pan, whisk constantly until browned (1-2 minutes), slowly add in your broken sauce, ½ cup at a time making sure each additional incorporation emulsifies, this hopefully will re-emulsify the sauce and prevent it from breaking again. Then if it is still not thick enough, add more cheese :).

Roast Tomatoes

From BBC Good Food

Serves 4-5 as a side

10 large vine tomatoes, halved
4 garlic cloves, sliced
½ bunch thyme
1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper 

1. Heat oven to 325°F. Put the tomatoes on a baking sheet with the garlic and thyme laid on top, drizzle over the balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
2. Add salt and pepper to season, and roast for 1 hour.
3. Remove and set aside to cool slightly before serving.