Chris's Week Three Recipe: Welsh Rarebit

I got to thinking about Welsh rarebit today (I really don't know why) and I realized that I had never made it myself. So, I picked up a loaf of cracked pepper bread at Great Harvest and started preparing, hoping that the stout that's been living in the back of my fridge for some time now had survived.

Alas, it had not.

But Welsh rarebit can also be made with milk or so said the old copy of Mrs. Beeton's Cookery Book that I had picked up years ago in the UK. (How old? I'm not sure as there's no copyright date. A little quick Internet research leads me to believe it might have been published as long ago as 1911.) I've enjoyed looking through this book from time to time, but I had never made a recipe from it. Since one of the secondary goals of this year's blogging project is to weed through all the cookbooks I've accumulated, this was a good opportunity. Following is the recipe as written.

Welsh Rabbit or Rarebit

Ingredients - 4 oz. of Cheshire or Cheddar cheese, 1/2 oz of butter, 2 or 3 tablespoonfuls of milk or ale, mustard, pepper, buttered toast.

Method - Cut the cheese into small pieces, place these in a saucepan with the butter, milk, or ale, 1/2 a mustardspoonful of mustard, and pepper to taste, and stir the mixture by the side of the fire until it resembles a thick cream Have ready some squares of hot, well-buttered toast, pour on the cheese preparation, and serve as quickly as possible.

NB - I halved the recipe, used 2 T milk, and 1/2 t of dried mustard. The result was very thick.

Would I make this recipe again? Yes, but I'd be more careful about heating up, because the sauce broke a bit at the end. Upon consideration, I don't much care for the cracked pepper bread.

Taking up the Gauntlet / Chris's New Year's Recipe: Lemon-Pesto Goat Cheese Dip

Chris here! After some thought, I accepted Tricia's challenge, but with the caveat that I could tweak the ground rules a bit. I'm cooking for myself and don't have a convenient man or child about the house to eat all those leftovers!

After reading Tricia's guidelines, I've decided that the main difference is going to be that desserts are allowed in my corner of the culinary world. It's easier to fob off desserts than casseroles on one's unsuspecting co-workers.

Without further ado, here's my New Year's Day recipe:

Lemon-Pesto Goat Cheese Dip

This recipe is based on the following from Epicurious: Crudites with Lemon-Pesto Goat Cheese Dip and was tailored to fit ingredients at hand.

4 oz goat cheese crumbles

1/4 c sour cream

3 T pesto*

1 T fresh lemon juice

3/4 t lemon zest

Whir everything in the food processor** until well-blended and creamy. Like most dips, this tastes better the second day.

* Thanks to Linda who helps me make pesto from my basil.

** Thanks again to Linda who decided I needed my own food processor to make pesto.

Would I make this recipe again? Definitely! I think I might try whole plain yogurt instead of the sour cream next time.