by Jo Beverley
Spread the paste thickly on the untoasted side of the bread and put under a low broiler. You want it to cook through. When it’s brown and bubbly on top, eat. It can be cut into squares or fingers
Pease pudding.
A traditional food you may have come across in nursery rhymes.
"Pease pudding hot, pease pudding cold, pease pudding in the pot, five days old."
1 lb dried peas, split or whole. Soak overnight with a tsp of baking soda. (When I was young, a pack of dried peas came with a tablet of soda in it, ready.)
1 tbsp butter
1 egg
seasoning
Drain the peas, cover with water, and simmer for an hour or two, until tender. Drain (the liquid can be used for soup if you like) and puree peas with the egg and butter in a blender or food processor. It should still have a bit of texture to it, so go lightly, particularly with a food processor. Put into a basin and steam for about an hour. (If you’re not familiar with steaming techniques, consult a cookery book. Steaming is very common in English cookery because until the 19th century most cooking for ordinary people was done in a pot over the fire, rather than in an oven.)
Just in case you're feeling really adventurous.
Broiled Lamb’s Head.
I haven't found a period recipe for a boar's head, which was often associated with Christmas, but the method might have been the same as in this period recipe for a much smaller head.
"Chuse a moderately large Lamb’s Head and split it. Clean it very carefully, and then put it into a pot with a little water to boil fastly till it is half done.
In the mean time pick some leaves of Sweet Herbs clean from the Stalks; add to them some grated Bread, some Pepper and Salt, and a little Nutmeg.
Take up the Head and set it to drain.
When it is half dry dust it very well over with the Seasoning we have just directed to be made, and set a Gridiron over a fine clear Fire; throw in some Salt, and when the Fire is in perfect fine order, lay on the head; turn it occasionally, and see that it gets a fine brown.
Serve with a mushroom gravy.
There is but little upon the Head thus done, but what there is, is fine. There is not a prettier dish for a person of delicate stomach."
Which only goes to prove that stomach delicacy changes over time. Many modern ones would rebel at being served a broiled head.
Lemon curd
A last recipe that is sheer indulgence. However, it makes a lovely Christmas present. Remember to keep refrigerated.
You need a double boiler or a basin you can put over a pan of boiling water.
Two large lemons
3 oz butter
½ lb sugar
3 large eggs, the fresher the better.
Finely grate the zest off the lemons and put into your bowl.
Squeeze and strain lemon juice and add.
Add butter, chopped into small lumps, and sugar.
Put over the boiling water until sugar is dissolved. Stir now and then.
Beat the eggs, and put them through a strainer.
Add slowly to the mixture, stirring all the time. Continue to stir until it is thick. Don’t let it boil or it will curdle.
Put in sterilized pots (i.e., boiled in a pan), cover, and store in the fridge. Use as a spread on bread and it won’t last long enough to worry about spoiling!
It also makes a delicious tart filling.
I hope you've enjoyed this box of Christmas delights.
If so, please leave a review on your favorite sites.
Perhaps you'd like to give this collection to someone as a gift.
The easiest way to do this is from Smashwords. They explain it here. https://www.smashwords.com/about/gifts
Readers in the US can gift it as a Kindle book through Amazon.
There's a gift card on my web site that you can print out, then you only need insert the download code to have a stocking stuffer or small gift.
http://www.jobev.com/giftcard.html
If you haven't over-indulged in Christmas by now, I have other Christmas stories available as e-books.
OTHER CHRISTMAS STORIES.
A MUMMERS' PLAY
(First published in A REGENCY CHRISTMAS, 1995.
This story will be available in December 2013 as an e-book from all the usual places.)
Regency period
Justina Travers is sure that her beloved fiancé was killed because of the treason of his commanding officer, Lucky Jack Beaufort. Now that Lucky Jack is home and Duke of Cranmoore, she intends to end his luck forever. But after sneaking into his home as part of a Christmas mummers' play, she begins to uncover secrets that change everything.
CHRISTMAS ANGEL
A Regency Historical Romance. Book #3 of the Company of Rogues series, which are all available in e-book.
Leander, Lord Charrington has a problem. Raised to be a charming diplomat, women fall in love with him. He, however, seems unable to fall in love with them. Now he's back in England for good he needs a wife, but he wants a woman he can live with on honest terms. "The Weeping Widow", who still mourns her poet husband seems ideal. He doesn't mind that her impractical husband has left her in poverty, nor that she has two children.
Judith Rossiter thanks heaven for this escape from disaster, but can she trust her children to an aloof stranger. And then, as she comes to know her husband better, can she keep to the terms of their agreement and not fall in love with him?
"A splendid new Regency novel by one of the genre's most gifted storytellers.... a beautifully complex love story that will become a treasured addition to every Regency connoisseur's shelf." Romantic Times.
FORBIDDEN MAGIC
A Regency Historical Romance.
Left penniless after her parents' death, Meg Gillingham is in dire straits. Her cruel landlord threatens to turn her and her siblings out of their home onto the cold December streets -- unless she surrenders her young sister to his lecherous whims. Only a miracle can save them: a magic statue that grants wishes -- for a price.
Meg never expected the statue to bring her a handsome earl offering marriage, and warily waits for the sting in the magic's tail. After all, Lord Saxonhurst is eccentric to say the least. Despite family complications on both sides, soon Sax is weaving magic of his own -- until the statue is lost and Meg is plunged into danger of losing him, her family, and perhaps even her life.
"Just in time for the holiday season, Forbidden Magic is fun, lighthearted romantic fare. This bright and breezy tale features one of the most fascinating, sexy and original heroes to come along in quite sometime. Forbidden Magic should be on your reading list for this holiday season, don't miss it!" The Romance Reader.
WINTER FIRE
My title for this was "CHRISTMAS AT ROTHGAR ABBEY"
Georgian Historical Romance -- 1763
Book #6 of the Malloren series. All the novels are available as e-books.
The Marquess of Rothgar, head of the Malloren family, hosts an annual Christmas revel for Mallorens near and far. Genova Smith is not a Malloren, but she's companion to Lord Rothgar's great aunts and accompanies them on their journey there. She expects a wonderful time. She does not expect an abandoned baby and a confrontation with the rake who won't acknowledge his own son.
Lord Ashart has enough troubles without a termagant trying to foist a bastard on him. He's been raised to see his cousin, the Marquess of Rothgar, as his enemy, because the Mallorens drove his aunt, Lord Rothgar's mother, to suicide. Rothgar always sends him an invitation, and this year, for malicious reasons of his own, he accepts.
Once he and Genova, not to mention the baby, are settled in Rothgar Abbey amid holly, ivy, sugar plums, and mistletoe boughs, the magic of Christmas begins to change everything. Until Ashart's revenge-obsessed grandmother arrives to spew hatred again.
"A book from Jo Beverley is always a treat, and Winter Fire is a welcome and worthy addition to the Malloren saga. After finishing this one, I immediately started re-reading the previo
us installments." The Romance Reader.
ALSO
TWELFTH NIGHT, only in print so far, in an anthology called Five Golden Rings.
"This is a trademark Beverley Regency story: great characters, terrific sexual tension, marvelous dialogue, and even a sweet secondary romance. I loved it!" All About Romance
THE WISE VIRGIN, only in print so far.
This originally appeared in The Brides of Christmas, and later in A Bride by Christmas.
MISS BROCKHURST'S CHRISTMAS CAMPAIGN.
In Mischief and Mistletoe. Available in print and e-book.
Regency.
Penelope Brockhurst has become notorious for jilting gentlemen, but when she's invited to spend Christmas with old friends she realizes why. She's always been in love with just one man -- but he's about to engage himself to someone else.
What's a desperate lady to do? Break all the rules to win him.
"...a sweet gift for the reader." Publishers Weekly.
OTHER BOOKS
If you'd like to refresh your palette with some non-Christmas fare, you could plunge into The Company of Rogues. These men are the original group of upper class school friends grown into redoubtable Regency men. The first book, An Arranged Marriage, came out in 1990 and the main series completed in 2006 with To Rescue a Rogue.
An Arranged Marriage was a RITA finalist, Romantic Times's Best Historical Romance of the year, and won the Reader's Choice award.
The second book, An Unwilling Bride, won a RITA award and a Romantic Times award.
All the books are now available as e-books, so you could start with An Arranged Marriage and read all the way through. Visit http://www.jobev.com/epubbooks.html for more.
If the glittering world of the 18th century takes your fancy, then there's my series, about the Malloren family led by the enigmatic Marquess of Rothgar. Again, they're all available as e-books.
The first, My Lady Notorious, was also a RITA award winner, and was chosen by Affaire de Coeur as one of the best 100 romances of the 20th century. The last in the main series, Devilish, also won a RITA.
You can find out more here.
http://www.jobev.com/malloren.html
My 2013 book, Seduction in Silk, is set in the Malloren World.
My 2014 book, A Shocking Delight, returns to the Rogues' World to pick up the story of a smuggling master in Devon compelled to become an earl.
If you enjoyed Star of Wonder and would like to read more medieval, I have written four. You can find out about them here. http://www.jobev.com/medrom.html
ABOUT JO BEVERLEY
Publishers Weekly declared Jo Beverley "Arguably today's most skillful writer of intelligent historical romance..." Her work has been described as "Sublime!" by Booklist, and Romantic Times described her as "one of the great names of the genre."
She is the NYT bestselling author of thirty six historical romance novels, all set in her native England in the medieval, Georgian, and Regency periods. Her novels have won the RITA, romance's top award, five times, and she is a member of Romance Writers of America's Hall of Fame.
She also writes some romantic stories with a science fiction and fantasy twist, and one, The Marrying Maid was an honorable mention for Best SF 2011.
Her web site is http://www.jobev.com, and she regularly blogs at Word Wenches. http://www.wordwenches.com.
You can find her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/jo.beverley
