recipe and cooking video: December 2011

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Mango and Vanilla Ice Cream Trifles

Trifle, a lovely and very British dessert dish, is usually made from vanilla custard, fruit, cake and whipped cream, very similar to parfait. These ingredients are usually arranged into layers in the trifle bowl.

A traditional English trifle uses stale sponge or pound cake, which may be soaked in alcohol, like sherry or port wine. Over time, many variations on the original recipe have been created. Nuts or layers of whipped cream may be added for variety. The flavour of the custard may also be changed to complement the flavour of the cake.

Here is my leftover tribute to this English dessert with its multiple layers in glass. Dip your spoon into this sweet delight to end your New Year’s celebration with these individual delicious trifles.

500 ml Vanilla ice cream, softened
200 g Cream cheese, softened
250 g Mango puree
10 Spekulatius cookies, crumbled
200 g Whipped cream
Physalis fruit

In a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add the softened vanilla ice cream and beat until thoroughly combined.
First arrange the half of the cookie crumbs over the bottoms of glasses. Next spoon on the mango puree, to just cover the cookie crumbs. Lastly cover the puree with cream mixture and then repeat the layers once more.
Pipe the whipped cream on top and garnish with a physalis. Chill in the fridge until ready to serve.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Potato and Whole Grain Spelt Pancakes

There’s nothing like good old fashioned potato pancakes as a side dish. It’s an awesome way to use up leftover mashed potatoes. You can serve these potato pancakes with meat patties, or simply enjoy them as breakfast.

May I take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy and blessed Christmas and success and health for the New Year 2012!

So wünsche ich Euch von Herzen ein frohes und gesegnetes Weihnachtsfest und viel Erfolg und Gesundheit für das Neue Jahr 2012!

200 g Potatoes
75 g Whole grain spelt flour
1 tsp Baking powder
1 Egg
1 Egg yolk
100 ml Milk
Salt and white pepper
3-4 tbsp Butter

Thoroughly clean the potatoes and place them in a medium sized pot. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Add in about 1 teaspoon of salt. Cook, uncovered, until potatoes are tender all the way through, about 20 minutes.
Drain potatoes and let cool slightly. Peel the potato and push potatoes through a ricer into a large bowl or mash with a large fork thoroughly. Add in spelt flour and baking powder, then add in whole egg and egg yolk. Gradually pour in milk, stirring well to make a smooth batter. Season the batter with salt and pepper.
Place 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. When the butter turns a light amber, drop about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the batter in the skillet. You should be able to cook 3 pancakes at a time, allowing enough space between them so they have a nice round shape.
Cook about 2 minutes on the first side, flip them over and cook about 1 minute longer. Remove from the pan, and keep warm. Continue adding butter to the pan and frying the rest of the batter. Serve the pancakes warm as a side with ground meat patties.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Balsamic, Honey, and Walnuts

Roasting is an easy cooking method that enhances the flavour of this hearty winter vegetables. Browned and crisp, those Brussels sprouts are roasted with a mixture of balsamic vinegar, olive oil and honey, then tossed with chopped walnuts and pomegranate pearls. While this humble and versatile side dish easy enough for weeknight meals, it's also good for the dinner parties.

700 g Brussels sprouts, trimmed
1 Shallots, sliced
2 tbsp Olive oil
2-3 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
1/2 tbsp Honey
2-3 sprig Thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp Walnuts, roasted and chopped
1 tbsp Pomegranate pearls

Preheat oven to 200C400F. Remove the outer leaves from Brussels sprouts and trim the stems. Cut the sprouts in half. Slice the shallots and place them in a roasting pan together with Brussels sprout halves.
Combine olive oil, Balsamic vinegar and honey in a small bowl. Toss the Brussels with Balsamic mixture and thyme sprigs. Season with salt and black pepper.
Roast, tossing twice during cooking, until the Brussels sprouts are tender and lightly browned, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven. Add in chopped roasted walnuts and pomegranate pearls. Serve immediately.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Whole Grain Bulgur Salad with Mango and Walnut

Bulgur, or Bhulghur, is made by soaking and cooking the whole wheat kernel, drying it and then removing part of the bran and cracking into small pieces, which are sorted into different grain sizes: fine, medium and coarse. Whole grain coarse bulgur has the coarse bulgur size while it is darker in colour and has twice more fiber compared to regular bulgur. Bulgur will absorb twice its volume in water and can be used as a substitute for almost any rice dish. Bulgur is sometimes confused with cracked wheat, which is crushed wheat grain that has not been parboiled.

Bulgur has a mildly nutty and roasted flavour and can be used in baked goods, casseroles, stuffing, soups, salads. It is a good source of protein, iron, magnesium, and B vitamins. It is packed with fiber and contains very little fat. This is a very simple and delicious bulgur salad that's quick to put together and consists primarily of whole grain bulgur, mangoes and walnuts.

130 g Whole grain coarse bulgur
500 ml Water
1 tbsp Onion, finely chopped
1 clove Garlic, minced
2 tbsp Spring onions, finely sliced
250 g Mango, diced
1 handful Walnuts, roasted and coarsely chopped
1 tbsp Avocado oil
Salt Sea salt & freshly mulled black pepper to taste

Rinse the bulgur. Bring water to a boil, add in bulgur. Return to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for about 20 minutes until soft, but not mushy.
Drain and transfer the bulgur into a large bowl. Stir in the chopped onion, minced garlic, spring onion slices, diced mango, chopped walnuts and avocado oil. Toss well. Season with salt and freshly mulled black pepper. Serve warm and chilled.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Marzipan Ravioli

If you're looking for a way to add some fun to your holiday cookie platter or a delightful idea to share at a cookie swap, these little marzipan filled ravioli cookies are perfect for you. Feel free to substitute with your favourite fillings, like Nutella, cream cheese.

Marzipan Ravioli

adapted from Lecker

225 g All purpose flour
70 g Powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
125 g Butter, cut into small pieces
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla extract

100 g Marzipan, cut into small pieces
2 tbsp Almond, chopped
1 tsp Orange liqueur
1 Egg yolk
1 tbsp Milk
25 g White chocolate (optional)
25 g Dark chocolate (optional)

Sift the flour, 50 grams of sugar, and salt into a mixing bowl. Add in butter, egg and vanilla extract. Mix with your fingertips until combined. Wrap the dough with a plastic film and chill for 1 hour.
Place the marzipan pieces, remaining powdered sugar, chopped almonds and orange liquor in another bowl. Stir until all well combined.
Remove the cookie dough from the fridge and place on a lightly floured work surface. Roll out thinly and cut into 50 squares, 2 inches by 2 inches. Mix the egg yolk and milk in a small bowl. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F.
Brush half of the squares with egg wash. Place about a teaspoon marzipan filling in the center. Top with the remaining cookie squares, enclosing the filling, and crimp edges with a fork. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until lightly golden. Melt the chocolates separately and drizzle over the tops of cookie raviolis.

Jamie Oliver's mince pie cookies - GUEST POST

A real treat today, Recipe Riflers. A guest post from one of my favourite readers, Emelie. We met online, like all the coolest people NOT; I had a small, sick, teething baby - she a feral toddler and a dog that looks like a polar bear. She is also Scandinavian and what with Scandis being so fashionable at the moment, (they are the new gays), I'm mostly friends with her because of that.

Anyway here you go and if you're on Twitter she is @emfrid and terrific value.

I will cheerfully defend Jamie Oliver to all and sundry. Granted, on occasion he can come across as the culinary world’s more earnest answer to Bono. And those Sainsbury ads makes my teeth hurt. But, as far as I’m concerned that is all easy to forgive. Because, his recipes? They. Always. Fucking. Work.

Like, for example, these mince pie cookies. I got the recipe from Jamie’s Christmas Special magazine, and they are rad. Now, I’m not the biggest fan of pastry, which is probably why I prefer them to actual mince pies, but I’d wager that even pastry fiends will like these. They taste like Christmas! They are also very easy to make - it took me less than half an hour to get them in the oven, and that was while I was simultaneously trying to shake off the semi-feral toddler clinging to my leg and prevent the dog from digging a hole through to the neighbours. So give them a go.

For about 30 or so cookies you will need:

250g unsalted butter, at room temperature
140g sugar
1 egg yolk
Grated zest of one clementine/satsuma/mandarin/whatever you prefer
300g flour
One 411g jar of fruit mincemeat (WHY do they come in 411g jars? Why not 420g? Why so specific?!)

1 Preheat your oven to 180C/gas 4 and put greaseproof baking parchment on a couple of baking trays.

2 Beat butter and sugar together until creamy. Add the egg yolk and your citrus zest and beat to combine.

3 Sift in the flour and then fold through MOST of the mince meat (you want to hold some of it back to put on top of your cookies before they go in the oven). Stir until it all starts to come together. I used my hands here – easier.

4 Pull biscuit-sized lumps from the dough, put them evenly across the trays and then press down on each one to shape into cookies. Don’t put them too close to each other – they will run out a little while in the oven.

4 Dot some of your saved mincemeat on top of each cookie, and then put them in the oven for about ten minutes. You want them to be golden, but still a bit doughy and chewy in the middle. I found that my oven needed about 15 minutes for this, but hey, ovens are famously different.

The mince pie cookies are lovely warm – with mulled wine – but the ones you don’t eat straight away can be stored in an airtight container, or frozen.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Baked Mushrooms with Rosemary and Parmesan

Healthy and tasty, this baked mushroom dish with fresh herb, lemon and Parmesan couldn’t be any simpler. It can serve either as a delightful appetizer or just as a light side dish, which goes really well with any meat dishes.

Baked Mushrooms with Rosemary and Parmesan

adapted from Eat Smarter

1 Bio lemon
1 tbsp Fresh rosemary, chopped
25 ml Olive oil
300 g White mushrooms, sliced
20 g Parmesan, grated
Salt and freshly mulled black pepper

Rinse lemon under running hot water. Dry and finely grate the zest. Squeeze out the juice for later use. Combine the chopped rosemary, lemon zest, and olive oil in a bowl.
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Clean and thinly slice the mushrooms. Place the sliced mushrooms in a baking pan. Drizzle half of the oil mixture over and season with salt and freshly mulled black pepper.
Bake in the hot oven for 10 minutes. Sprinkle the grated Parmesan over the mushrooms and continue to bake 5 more minutes until the cheese has turned lightly browned. Remove and drizzle the rest of oil mixture and some lemon juice over.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Turkey

One very good reason for not doing a practice-run Christmas is that it leaves you in absolutely no mood for actual Christmas. I've had enough of Christmas, now. And certainly had enough of leftovers. God turkey is such nasty stuff.

It doesn't help that it was buggered and all my fault. We brined it, you see, and I bumptiously insisted that the quantity of salt doesn't matter and just poured a lot into the brine willy-nilly. Some ghastly chemical reaction must have taken place because it was dry as a bone.

brine ingredients

Although what we did learn from it, is that it doesn't matter if your turkey is dry, because once you slap it on a hot plate and cover it with a lot of gravy (which you will have) and a lot of bread sauce (ditto) it doesn't matter.

But, as my husband said, there's no point in it actually being dry, so if you are going to do a brine this year, make sure you do the exact measurements the recipe recommends. For example Nigella says 6 litres of water and 250g sea salt, like Maldon or 125g table salt, like Saxo. Then other flavours you want to add to the brine are up to you - parsley, bay leaves, allspice berries, mace blades, garlic, whatever. Nigella, again, recommends a star anise but just personally I think it makes everything taste like a Chinese takeaway.

And then beyond that, with turkey, it all just gets too mind-bending what with the Shall We Cook The Legs Separately Or Not? question. And the How Much Longer Should I Cook It If It's Got Stuffing In It? conundrum and THEN there's the thing about temperatures and whether or not you've got a fan oven. And by then, I have to confess, I feel like I am back in double History before lunch and can barely keep my eyes open.

So really the purpose of this post is to say: it's anyone's bloody guess. Have a fair crack. Try not to get bogged down in detail. Don't be scared because even if it's burnt to a crisp the gravy and bread sauce will save the day.

I told you I was bored.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Chocolate Peanut Crumble Cookies

A classic and divine combination of chocolate and peanuts. These buttery cookies simply melt in the mouth. Drizzle across the cookie top with some melted white chocolate if you are feeling sugar high and decadent.

Chocolate Peanut Crumble Cookies

adapted from Delicious

Topping	Cookie
30 g Unsalted butter 40 g All purpose flour 30 g Caster sugar 60 g Unsalted peanuts, half roughly chopped	115 g Unsalted butter 115 g Caster sugar 20 g Smooth peanut butter 1 Large egg 160 g All purpose flour 20 g Dutch cocoa powder 1/4 tsp Baking powder 1/4 tsp Baking soda 100 g 70% Semisweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F and line two baking trays with parchment paper. Make the topping. In a large mixing bowl, rub the butter into the flour and sugar with your fingertips, until a soft, crumbly dough is formed. Add the chopped and whole peanuts, then set aside.
Prepare the cookie dough by creaming cream the sugar, butter and peanut butter in a separate mixing bowl. Add the egg and beat again. Sift in the flour, cocoa, and baking powder and add the chopped chocolate. Mix well to form a soft dough.
Roll the mixture into 20 small balls and divide between the baking trays, spacing well apart. Press each cookie down and top with a little crumble mix. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the crumble topping is golden, then remove from the oven and leave for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Cranberry sauce, bread sauce

So, let's dispense with the cranberry sauce first, because it's a piece of cake. There are more complicated recipes you can use, but this one is just fine and takes about ten seconds.

250g cranberries
100ml fresh orange juice
100g light brown sugar

1 Put the sugar and the orange juice in a pan and bring to a bubble. Tip in the cranberries and simmer for about 8 minutes - until some of the cranberries are still round and the rest have burst open and are all gooey.

Decant this into an airtight container, chuck it somewhere cool and forget about it until Christmas. The sauce will thicken on cooling so don't worry if it looks a bit runny.

I was all ready to make a similarly simple bread sauce but my friend Henry forced upon me a complicated one from his mother. As he was coming to dinner and gave me a magazine that the recipe was printed in I felt like I really couldn't not make it.

Henry

As it turns out, it is absolutely amazing. You could just eat it, on its own, spooned out of the tin. So I really recommend it, despite it being a bit of a faff. Do it up to three days ahead of time.

Aromatic brown bread sauce

1 large onion
150g wholemeal bread, crusts on
6 cloves
4 cardamom pods
some nutmeg
salt and pepper
75g butter
900ml milk - whole or semi
300ml double cream yikes

Preheat your oven to 130C. Did you notice that said 130C and not 180C?

1 Chop your onion up VERY small. I chopped mine up normally and it was too big, so next time I do this I will chop it up normall and then go at those chunks with a knife to bash the bits up tiny. Do not be tempted to put it in the food processor as you don't want it a sludge.

2 Tear the bread into small pieces - about the size of a 50p coin and put in an ovenproof dish with the onion

3 Put the cloves and the cardamom into a small piece of muslin or cotton, tie with string and chuck into the dish. This is an annoying instruction and I'm not sure you couldn't just throw the pods and cloves in free and then fish them out later.

4 Grate over a generous sprinkling of nutmeg, salt and pepper and dot with butter. Mix the milk and the cream together and pour over the bread and onion. Cover tightly with foil or a lid and then cook for 2 hours(!). Stir once or twice during cooking.

Really worth doing if you can be arsed. Everyone said how nice it was at our practice dinner, even a French girl who is normally rude about everything. Henry said it was a pretty good imitation of his mother's sauce but then ruined it by asking if my stuffing was out of a packet.

Crostini with Scrambled Eggs, Avocado and Smoked Salmon

Rich, salty smoked salmon and smooth, creamy avocado have given this classic light egg scramble dish a sophisticated touch and star appeal. These crostini can be a terrific Christmas appetizer when you need to bring something to a holiday dinner or if you are throwing one at home. A sublime flavour combination that’s perfect for entertaining any crowd.

3 Large eggs
1 tbsp Sour cream
1 tbsp Fresh chives or green scallions, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
20 g Canola
1/2 Avocado, diced
1/2 tbsp Lemon juice
4 slice Smoked salmon
3-4 English muffins or wholewheat or pumpernickel bread, toasted

Break the eggs in a large bowl, add in sour cream, chives and seasoning. Whisk to blend everything together. Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and cook until just barely set, 2-3 minutes.
Meanwhile, toast bread. Put avocado into a bowl, mash with a fork, and season with lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Spread mashed avocado over each slice of toast. Spoon eggs over avocado. Drape salmon slices over eggs. Garnish, if desired, with chives.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Jamie Oliver's get-ahead gravy

We had our trial-run Christmas lunch yesterday. Except we did it a dinnertime. And I'll tell you this about Christmas: it is a fucking hassle. I can't quite believe I've got to do all that all over again in 3 weeks' time. And I was only on pudding, sauces, relishes and decorations - my husband had the real sweat on doing the turkey and all the rest.

But what are you going to do? It's just life, innit. Like I was complaning on and on and on to my single Hot Career friends J- and E- the other week about how I thought I'd be a wife and mother as a bit of a retro-laugh and now I'm right in it and marvelling what a hilarious joke I seem to have played on myself. I was expecting a tidalwave of sympathy, because I am a moaney old cow, but they both just looked at me blanky and boredly and said "Yeah, life is vile."

Since then I've tried to complain a bit less about everything.

Anyway look, for god's sake, if this isn't already in your repertoire, do Jamie Oliver's get-ahead gravy if you're lumbered with Christmas this year. It's a ruddy life-saver. Do it this weekend and freeze it.

This is not Jamie's exact recipe. The real thing is easily sourced on the internet.

Jamie Oliver's get-ahead gravy
Makes 1 litre, enough for about 8 people

8 chicken wings or wings or stock bones or whatever
2 carrots, quartered
1 small onions, quartered
2 sticks of celery, trimmed and, you guessed it: quartered
fresh sage leaves - about 5?
fresh rosemary - two sticks?
3 bay leaves
1 star anise IF YOU WANT. I, personally, didn't think the Chinesey flavour this imparted was very appropriate, although it's nice
4 rashers streaky bacon, snipped
4 tbs plain flour
1 tbs cranberry sauce
some olive oil

1 Tip everything except the flour and the cranberry sauce into a roasting tin, slosh some olive oil over it, salt and pepper, turn it all around to coat and put in a 180C oven for 1 hour

2 Take it out and bash everything up in the pan. Jamie recommends using a potato masher but I found stabbing everything with an assortment of wooden items, such as a spoon and then a rolling pin, was easier

although I took this photo at the masher stage

3 Put the pan on the hob on a low heat and sprinkle over the flour a spoonful at a time, mixing well in to the mixture after each snowfull

4 Now pour over two litres of water, just cold from the tap, mix together and boil briskly for ten minutes and then simmer for 25. It will reduce by roughly half

5 Strain the gravy. I found this easier to do once through a colander and then once again through a sieve - although this does create more washing up.

6 Now put in tupperware and forget about it until Christmas Eve. Don't bother skimming the fat now because there's something about the freezing/thawing process that draws out the fat from the gravy more effectively.

7 On the day, either just heat this up and finish off with some cranberry sauce and serve OR add the juices from the turkey roasting tin. You are supposed to add the turkey juices, but you will probaby be feeling utterly mental and a bit tearful by this stage and won't be arsed to be adding no damn juices to sauces. So I'm just telling you now that if you want to serve this gravy straight up without turkey juices no-one will notice.