ROBINSONS and the ROBINSONS ARCH device ... - Country Range

MY
dISh
SIgnATURE
Ice queen Karen Barber
loves nothing better
than chilling out over
a nice home-cooked
meal with her family.
The much-loved judge on iTv’s dancing on ice,
which begins its sixth series on iTv on january 9,
keeps her cool in the kitchen by cooking up hearty
northern dishes, which were inspired by
her grandma and mum.
karen started figure skating when she was
14 and took gold in the uk national junior
championships and silver at the world
junior Figure skating championships.
with partner and fellow dancing on ice judge nicky
slater, she was the 1983 european bronze medallist
and they represented great britain at the 1980
by karen barber
winter olympics, placing 12th, and at the 1984
winter olympics, where they placed 6th.
The busy mum-of-two now works as an ice skating
coach and tours professionally, as well as her role
as judge on Torvill & dean’s dancing on ice.
karen, who lives in lancashire, has chosen to
share an old family recipe for pea and ham soup
with dumplings as her signature dish.
she explains: “Obviously I spend a lot of time
in ice rinks so I need something that will warm
me up!
“At first I tried to come up with something ‘posh’
“
This recipe
is very close to
my heart because
my grandma used
to make it... ”
karen Barber
FOOD
for my signature dish but then I thought ‘No, we
should champion traditional cooking’. Food at
the moment is too fancy - but most people don’t
have time for that, especially if they’ve got children.
“This recipe is very close to my heart because
my grandma used to make it so it is one of those
things that I really associate with my childhood.
Now my mum makes it and my girls always fight
over who’s got the most dumplings!”
Pea and ham soup
with Dumplings
• Soak peas overnight with a teaspoon of
bicarbonate of soda
• Put a ham shank in a pan with salt and
bring to the boil, simmer for about an hour
• When the ham is cooked, take out of
the pan. give the peas a good rinse then
add to the ham stock. bring to the boil and
simmer for a couple of hours
• Slice the ham into chunks and put in with
the peas and check for seasoning
• Make dumplings with suet and a little
water, roll into small rounds and cook for
20 minutes
• Serve with crusty bread.
January/february 2011 stiritup 13
ceLeBritY siGnature Dish