That Festive Feeling

The lead up to Christmas can get exhausting - running, preparing food, writing cards, wrapping presents and trying to dodge the festive bugs flooring several people around me.  I was hoping that the former would help me from succumbing to the latter, but no, I found myself starting with that tell-tale sore throat last Wednesday and spent Christmas Eve dosing myself with honey Lemsip in the vain hope I could ward off the impending cold. For once the cold actually never came to very much - after preparing myself to feel ill for at lease a couple of days, it never come to much more than a bit of sneezing and a slightly runny nose. Something of a result!

It was also a bonus to have the weekend before Christmas free of races or anywhere else I had to be, so it meant I could get some unhurried time in the kitchen to do some preparation for the meal on Christmas Day,as working on Christmas Eve meant I wouldn't have a lot of time in hand the day before.  I must admit, I still hadn't decided on the main course at this stage, but my other half always votes for something in pastry, so I made a large batch of flaky pastry. Some people look at me as if I'm mad when I say I make my own  - they may be right - but I would always advocate making a large amount - if you are going to the time and effort, you might as well make plenty, then cut it into useable portions, wrap and freeze for another day. A spiced parsnip soup was made and popped in the freezer, as were fruit puddings after steaming and cooling, oh, and a toffee sauce - a bit of an afterthought, but I thought it would go well with the puddings.  I made some small rolls to open freeze after proving, so they could just be popped in the oven and served. I used a Paul Hollywood recipe for breakfast rolls from "How to Bake", but substituted his filling with a sundried tomato pesto.  Just to make sure the recipe worked out, I made a small loaf along the same lines to test out, ie. flattening out the dough, spreading it with the pesto, then rolling up to give a spiral effect through the loaf. It was fairly nice, so I was feeling quite positive about the rolls.

My other baking over the weekend was my favourite biscuit recipe - chocolate, peanut butter, chocolate chip and peanut biscuits - the very name lets you know they are certainly not the low-calorie option, but they are fabulous, coming from the aptly named "Death by Chocolate" by Marcel Desaulniers (formerly) of the Trellis Restaurant in Willliamsburg, Virginia. This book was published in 1992 and given to me on my 30th birthday that year by three friends - one who sadly passed away two years later - I still have the gift tag tucked into the cover of the book, not that I would ever forget who gave me it and when. I don't think many Christmases have passed where I haven't made these biscuits.

I made some chocolates too - I don't make as many as I used to, but I like to make a few to package up for other people (and obviously keep some back for quality control purposes of course). My ever thoughtful husband purchased Miss Hope and Mr Greenwood's book "Sweets Made Simple" for me last year - I suspect an ulterior motive - their recipes for gin and lime truffles as well as limoncello truffles have become favourites.  I also made an old favourite, brandy truffles and a newcomer, tested out in the summer after enjoying prosecco on holiday - prosecco truffles topped with a little popping candy.

A little production line.

The hoped for early finish on Christmas Eve didn't happen - watching some people getting their coats on and leaving the office before time was tough going - but it was still a nice feeling when 4:00 came round, knowing I could start my holiday.  I had made up my mind about the main course - a pastry with a layer of aubergine and mushroom, then spinach, then tomato and onion - all made relatively quickly, with the final assemblage done on Christmas morning, plus a white chocolate mousse in a dark chocolate case was made with the help of some acetate strips to form the dark chocolate case, oh, and Michel Roux (senior) whose recipe I used! I was quite pleased that I got so much done in advance - it meant less rushing about on Christmas Day and more time spent with our guests.


A great winter soup from Nigel Slater

Because there's got to be pastry!

Guess who had to have the chocolate dessert?

So, I didn't collapse in an exhausted heap and am still enjoying the relaxed mood of a holiday over the festive period. I'm largely enjoying the running, though the weather on Boxing Day resulted in me being horribly cold and wet, other days have been fairly nice for getting out and about. There is, of course, plenty of excuses for activity in the kitchen - leisurely breakfasts being one. I've made crumpets for the first time, which were quite enjoyable to make, though I seem to be back with Paul Hollywood - "Bread" this time. Paul's claim that once you've tried making your own, you'll not want shop-bought ones again is probably about right - the nice, soft texture was rather a departure from the usual rubbery things from the supermarket. Only possessing two crumpet rings though (ah, that's what they are) meant that the baking bit took twice as long, but as they were so good, that was no big deal - though I will be hunting out another couple the next time I hit the shops. Still a few days of the old year left to try out some more new recipes.  Happy New Year!



Plenty More Where That Came From....

One thing I quite like about a number of recipe books, apart from the actual recipes, is discovering something about the people behind them.  Some cook books do contain quite a lot of biographical details, whereas others leave the reader/cook with just little hints here and there between the glossy pictures of food. I'm curious to know where the inspiration comes from and, being a bit of a nosy individual, I like to know where the inspiration comes through.  Yotam Ottolenghi is a case in point - he can take a simple ingredient, consider the uses of that ingredient in different cultures, getting excited by the range of possibilities, and from there creates some wonderful dishes.

Admittedly, while having an awareness of Yotam's writing for a number of years, I was slow to try out some of his recipes - it took a couple of friends to recommend a black pepper tofu recipe to me that made up my mind to buy "Plenty". Even then, this was not a book I regularly cooked from - Yotam has had some criticism from readers of his weekly columns for The Guardian for his long lists of ingredients, some of which can be a little harder to source in certain parts of the country, outwith that there London place! I can understand that some people would find that off-putting, but it doesn't necessarily translate into something that takes an age to prepare.  I was surprised to find out that, once Yotam was invited to write a weekly column, he panicked that he would never have enough recipes to manage more than a few weeks. The weeks turned into months, then years of various recipes much to his amazement. Other books followed too, including "Plenty More" which I just had to buy - the biggest surprise about Yotam is that he is not a vegetarian, but someone who understands flavours and that cooking and eating should be pleasurable. In recent weeks I've cooked  his aubergine pahi - a Sri Lankan dry curry - , leek fritters, which I served with roasted squash with sweet spices, lime and green chilli (but without the yoghurty dressing), ultimate winter couscous, mushroom ragout, aubergine, walnut and miso with udon noodles - for all the ingredients I have, I had never used miso until a few months ago - don't think I will be without it now. And I have to say they all tasted good.

Yes, Plenty More cost me plenty less.....

Someone else who has a repertoire of fabulous recipes is Denis Cotter of Café Paradiso in Cork. His recipes might look to have quite a few components, which I suppose, they do, as well as the name of each dish telling you exactly what it is - pistachio, green chilli and yoghurt kofta with kale in a fresh tomato-coconut sauce and cardamom-lime pancakes; pan-fried couscous cake of red onion, feta cheese and pinenuts with green olive tapenade and spiced roast peppers with spinach; honey-roasted butternut with avocado-lime salsa, and green curry of cauliflower and beans to name a few. You probably don't need to scan the list of ingredients to see what you need - just look at the heading. Again, some wonderful, tasty dishes have come out of his books Café Paradiso and Paradiso Seasons particularly, when he cooked in the restaurant with his wife, Wild Garlic Gooseberries....and Me when he was going through a foraging stage and made me question whether I really wanted to try nettles, coming back with the comforting dishes (and a new woman in his life) with For the Love of Food foraging.  As I said, finding out about the foodie between the pages.

Looking in good nick all things considered.

So, while I write this, I'm wondering which book will be the source of my tea tonight - I am veering towards Denis as I do have a dinky butternut squash sitting in the veg rack which will do two just nicely.

I have, of course, done a little baking again recently and finished decorating the Christmas cakes. I can remember, back in the mists of time, when December was a fairly relaxing time, where I didn't have much on between work other than a few opportunities to imbibe and make cakes!  These days I seem to have had a few races lined up and have committed myself (or perhaps should be committed) to running every day this month, by agreeing to take part in Marcothon . As I run most days, I'm not phased by getting some miles in, but knowing there are days where I'm only going to be able to run early in the morning (as well as having to ignore horrible weather forecasts), it has proved tough some days to not throw in the towel.  So, a nice warm kitchen is always appealing and, hosting an event last Sunday where I knew there would be cake-loving runners, I had an excuse to bake one or two things.

Poppy seed and lemon cake, plus Sachertorte with popping candy that may not have popped....

 

Fancy biscuits....don't mind if I do!

Once back home on Sunday afternoon, I bottled up the bramble gin I have had steeping since September. I have a good book on bottling, pickling and preserving - funnily enough, that's what it is called - by Elizabeth Lambert Ortiz, which I have used for several years now when making jam and marmalade, plus the odd chutney. I went through years of looking at the alcohol section in the book, telling myself that I must try making something with alcohol - maybe next year - just to forget all over again, until last year, when I tried bramble gin and wondered why it had taken so long for me to get round to it. Such a lovely drink for over the festive period, that I would have being mad not to make it again.

I also fed the Christmas cakes with brandy, before giving them a layer of marzipan - I marked the marzipan on the chocolate fruit with a "c" so I wouldn't get it muddled up - needed have bothered, it weighs somewhat more that the other cake of similar proportions! Yesterday I put a layer of icing on all the cakes and made the decorations, leaving them to dry overnight - finishing them off this morning before I headed out to a freezing cross-country.

Wonder how many calories there are.....

 

Getting there...

Deciding to not make them all the same theme.

Ended up with that affliction of multi-coloured hands.

Done!

So now, I've just got to work out what I'm making for Christmas dinner an I'm good to go!!


I Should Cocoa....

I had a trip to York recently with my other half, staying for a couple of nights, with a visit to York Cocoa House very much on the cards.  I have been there once before and never appreciated that the day of our visit coincided with the fourth anniversary of the Cocoa House opening - I could have sworn that our last visit was further back, but obviously not - sure sign that I'm getting old.  Rather like the Chocolate Story, it feels like something York should always have had, given it's chocolate heritage.  The Cocoa House looks old fashioned, which I rather like, has a menu that offers a number of different types of hot chocolate and various edibles.  I went for the medium dark hot chocolate (which came with a salted caramel truffle on the side), and a chocolate and cherry scone for good measure. As it was about eight hours before I ate anything else, chocolate over-load was not really something I was going to feel guilty about, especially as it was all so good. More visits in future I think to work my way through those different varieties of hot chocolate.

The truffle never made it....

The venue for coffee the day before was Lucky Days on Parliament Street - a good sticky orange and chocolate cake was had there. Nice, cheery staff too, and a recipe up on the blackboard in the café for their blueberry and orange scones. This seemed to be a trip where we tried out new places to eat - Strada on Low Petergate and Jinnahs on Micklegate - pretty decent, but I will return to some of the haunts of recent years next time round.

It did make me think though how, when I was a schoolgirl, eating out was not something I was familiar with, and, even visits to York in the late eighties/early nineties proved that the city was not particularly blessed with the number of decent restaurants and cafes it has now. I remember as a schoolgirl paying a visit to a Wimpey Bar (remember them?) to blow my pocket money on an apple pie and, expecting a nice wedge of pastry filled with chunks of apple, I was shocked to get a strange rectangular slab of something masquerading as pastry, filled with molten apple sauce. Don't think I ever went near a Wimpey Bar again!  I also had my worst baked potato experience in York some years later - a greasy object that appeared to have fallen in the fat fryer - to add insult to injury, the cook managed to burn it too!  The café is still there, but, as it has changed hands I wouldn't dream of naming names.  Likewise the restaurant where an incident that involved plates of food being knocked to the floor by an over-zealous front of house manager - the food being quickly scooped up and finding it's way back to our table - has also changed hands in the intervening years (and probably flooring too!). Eating out in my hometown is now infinitely more enjoyable and something I look forward to.

The trip to York wasn't solely food-orientated - there was a visit to some of my family, a jazz gig at the National Centre for Early Music and a trip to the pictures to see Lady in the Van, oh and some Christmas shopping to boot.  I must admit that the only purchase at the Christmas market was three nice Wensleydale cheeses, and a very pleasant mulled wine.

While I enjoyed the trip, I was quite happy to be home again and getting some more baking in - bread this time.


A little oddly shaped, but tasty!

I love making bread, love the smell of it baking, particularly when it has cheese in the mixture like this.  Now some recipes I will follow to the letter, but some times I substitute an ingredient or two or just use the bare bones of a recipe to do something completely different.  The bread was a case in point, from "How to Bake" by Paul Hollywood, the recipe is for a bacon and Cheddar loaf, so I substitute a healthy handful of sun-dried tomatoes for the bacon - not the type in oil, but ones that need to be soaked.  I cover the tomatoes with boiling water and leave for about half and hour, drain, pat dry with kitchen paper and add to the dough along with the cheese. A little bit of heaven!