Day 4: The dish that made me want to create food (requested by gummibearthief)

gummibearthief What dish created the greatest desire to create good food in your kitchen?

I have to say it must be my mother's Steak and Kidney pudding. It is my favourite dish and the one I have only ever tried to cook twice because my dear Mama is so damn good at it.

This is comfort food at its best and I don't care if you say you don't like offal, if you prepare the kidneys right they are simply wonderful. I also don't hold with people who want suet pastry to be crispy and thin - IMHO suet pasty should be thick and soak up all the lovely juices from the meat and be wonderful and soft. This is not a pudding you turn out, it's one you spoon from the bowl straight onto the plate.

We always serve it with mashed potato and carrots or peas and lots of extra gravy. It is most definitely a winter dish and will fortify anyone from the cold. If I ever manage to cook this pudding as well as my mother, I will feel wonderful. I've never seen anyone who this has been served to who did not enjoy it, and that included people who were a bit dubious of the kidney.

Of course it's very, very NOT suitable for vegetarians.

I will put the recipe up here later, but I've lost my copy, so I need to ask Mummy for it again and she's out. Watch this space for the details.

The recipe is now posted here.