Festive Fare 2011

Earlier in the month I had made Nigella's Chocolate Christmas cake, which has all the qualities of a proper Christmas cake, but somehow the addition of cocoa makes it palatable to non-Christmas cake eaters. I used cointreau rather than coffee liqueur and just used the fruit I had on hand including cranberries. I also got a little carried away & broke some Whittaker's Dark Ghana into chunks & stirred it through. This meant that some times you came across a gooey chocolate bit when eating it. I had no complaints. Sofie was in charge of decorations.
In the past I have started the Christmas festivities with a Danish.  This year I thought I would try something different.  I made a large batch of my regular breakfast juice which went down very well.  Getting the quantities right for 9 was a bit tricky & it came out redder than usual which was appropriate for the occasion.  It was very popular with all.  We followed this with a batch of strawberry brioches.
To make the brioches, make a sweet dough using 1 1/2 cups plain flour, 1/4 cup caster sugar, 1 1/2 tsp instant yeast, 1/2 tsp salt, 60g soft butter, 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 cup warm milk.  Whisk the egg with the milk & vanilla then add to everything else in a bowl & knead to a soft dough.  Add up to 1 cup additional flour to end up with a soft but not sticky dough then wrap in cling film & refrigerate overnight.  I also prepared the strawberry filling the night before to save time in the morning.  Combine 100g soft butter with 1 tbsp strawberry jam, 1/2 cup caster sugar, finely grated zest of a lemon.
Take the dough out of the fridge at least 1 hour before you want to start.  Preheat the oven to 180.  Roll out the dough to a rectangle approx 45cm x 25cm.  Spread with the jam mix then sprinkle over 400g finely chopped strawberries.  Roll up the dough from the long side to form a log and cut into 9 rounds.   Butter a 30cm round cake tin & sprinkle with caster sugar.  The tin should be 4-5 cm deep .  Put them around the tin cut side up, with one in the middle.  Brush with a little butter & sprinkle with caster sugar.  Bake about 30 minutes.  You will need to cover with foil half way through to prevent burning.  When you take them out, leave for a minute or so then tip onto a plate & invert them onto another so they are crusty side up. Tip over the remaining juice.  Cool for at least 30 minutes & dust with icing sugar.  My tin was too big & they collapsed a little.  You could do them individually in Texas muffin pans.  Also very messy to eat but again I didn't have any complaints.  It sounds like a lot of effort but isn't really.
Christmas lunch was the usual suspects.  Mandy outdid herself with the production of a personalised menu for each guest.  We served gilded roast turkey with sage & onion stuffing or Christmas nut roast, with cranberry sauce & whisky gravy, accompanied by roasted potatoes freshly dug from our garden, shallots, baby carrots & capsicums, Fresh garden peas with feta, mint & olive oil and grilled asparagus with lemon infused olive oil.  We finished with summer pudding.
Later in the evening when we were feeling a little peckish we dished up the glazed ham with a salad.
On Boxing Day we dished up the now familiar Boxing Day turkey coleslaw followed by Christmas pudding & ginger wine ice cream.
Festive dining concluded with a magnicent rib of beef on New Year's Day.  I wanted a celebratory meal but without the heaviness of a full roast.  This was just perfect & the beef was beautiful cold with salad for the next few days.  In fact my visitors were sent packing the next day with some of it in their travelling sandwiches.  The rib is not a common cut of beef these days but our butcher recommend it for the tenderness of the beef & I concur.  I ordered the beef a week in advance so there was time for it to hang and age.  The whole piece had 7 ribs but we just bought 4 and that was more than enough for all the above - dinner for 7 and leftovers.
For pudding we had soft fruit macerated in Kawakawa Vinegar.  I bought this vinegar at the City Market & I stongly recommend you look out for it.  This fruit sald is another way to use up the palm sugar you bought for the tamarind chicken.  I think this would also be really nice with the Tamarillo Vinegar.

Tasty tagines and soothing soups

Tagine Saturday has delivered 2 great tagines to date. Both were traditional lamb tagines with fruit and nuts. The first was with dates, almonds and pistachios. Heat olive oil and a knob of butter in your tagine or casserole dish and saute 2 finely chopped onions until golden. Stir in 1 tsp each turmeric & ginger plus 2 tsp cinnamon. Add 1 kg diced lamb & toss to coat. (We always do the full amount and freeze the leftovers.) Add enough boiling water to just cover the meat, bring back to the boil, cover & put in a medium oven for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Add 250g stoned fresh dates & tbsp dark liquid honey. Return to the oven a further 1/2 hour. Season and sprinkle with 2 tbsp each lightly toasted blanched almonds & pistachios plus some flat leaf parsley.
The 2nd tagine includes prunes and apricots. Heat the oil & this time toast 2 tbsp blanched almonds at the beginning, then add 2 red onions finely chopped plus 2-3 cloves garlic, also finely chopped. Stir in 1 chunk of finely chopped ginger, a pinch of saffron, 2 cinnamon sticks & 1 tsp crushed coriander seeds. Add 1 kg diced lamb & toss to coat. Cover with boiling water & put in the oven 1 1/2-2 hours. (The timing could be less or more - just test that your lamb is tender.) At this stage add 1/2 dozen each stoned prunes & dried apricots that have been soaked about an hour & drained. You want the fruit plumped up before you add it. Add some strips of orange zest & return to the oven 15-20 mins. At the end add 1 tbsp dark liquid honey & season then return to the oven for another 10 mins. Sprinkle with flat leaf parsley. Serve your tagine with couscous and a crunchy sharp salad to balance the sweetness. The date one is my favourite so far. Let me know which you prefer.
Apart from indulging with tagines, it has been soup Monday to Sunday in our house as I have been ill and not able to eat much else. I have 2 new soup discoveries you should try.
The first is roasted pumpkin and thyme. Cut up your pumpkin of choice and scoop out the seeds. Rub with oil, season with salt & pepper & roast on a tray in the oven about 30 mins at 200. When cool enough to handle (or immediately if you have my grandma's asbestos fingers) slice away the skin & cut into smallish chunks. Soften a chopped onion in a pan with a little butter or olive oil and a handful of thyme leaves. Add the pumpkin pieces and 1 1/4 litres vegetable stock (or water) with a pinch of salt. Simmer 20 mins or so then cool slightly & blend with more thyme until smooth. Return to the pan with 150ml cream and warm through. Ladle into warm bowls & pile about 25g grated Gruyere or Comte per bowl. Sprinkle over a few more thyme leaves to garnish. This soup is like velvet to eat - and the pumpkin flavour is very intense but enhanced by the thyme.
Lastly the soup you MUST try this week. You will be amazed. Leek, pea & potato. Heat a little oil & butter in a pan and add 2 leeks finely sliced (use the white & tender green parts), 500g floury potatoes chopped into small pieces, 2 cloves garlic, crushed & tsp chopped thyme. When the leeks are well softened, add 5 cups chicken stock & 1 cup of milk. Bring to the boil & simmer abour 30 mins. The milk will curdle but don't worry - you will blend it smooth at the end. Add 3 cups frozen peas & cook a further 5 mins. Blend till smooth then return to heat to warm through & season. So simple, so green and so delicious.
I have been drinking juice for breakfast through the winter. Didn't prevent the flu but it is delicious and more filling than you would imagine. For one person, juice 1-2 oranges, 1 largish carrot, a small piece of ginger and 1/4 betroot.