Crispy roast potatoes with the soft mushy inside…dressed with this divine dressing – simply d’vine!

This will delight any guest and keep them coming back for more!

Ingredients:

1.25kg floury potatoes, such as Desirée, Maris Piper and King Edward
6 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp paprika
pinch of chilli powder
pinch of dried thyme
1 tsp red wine vinegar

How to prepare:

Preheat oven to 200C. Cut the potatoes into small chunks (no need to peel). Spread out in a roasting tin and drizzle over 2 tbsp olive oil, season with salt and pepper to taste and mix well. Bake for 40-50 minutes until the potatoes are crisp and brown.

To make the dressing: crush the garlic in a pestle and mortar or coffee mill, then blend in the cumin, paprika, chilli and thyme to make a paste. Gradualy work in the remaining olive oil. Stir in the vinegar, taste and add salt if necessary.

When the potatoes are cooked, spoon them on to serving plates and drizzle over the  sauce.

Voila!

hello-all! so I am cooking my first roast. its actually suprisingly easy!

So I decided it would be a good way for me to get protien in my body and when I am always on the run its not an easy thing to do!

But with a roast/leftovers in the fridge it is gonna be so easy, I can do roast meat pita or on a salad. anyways, its good cold or hot.

I went to albertsons and bought a slow cook roast, and guess what it was buy one get one free!!! so I got two roasts and I cut each one into halves, so now I have four mini roasts! I also got garlic, and a couple snacks for alan, it was abo0ut 28$ for all of it. which is hard to handle, but its gonna be food for awhile, and now Im at home cooking it up and listening to christmas music on my slacker radio!

Life is so christmassy right now! especially after being at the bizarre all day. I have had such a fun day and weekend off. one more day of relaxation tomorrow then back to the grind. it sucks.

So I cut slices in the roast and pushed pieces of garlic in each one, totaling 4 on the top 4 on the bottom. Later, in about 2 and a half hours my mom is gonna come back down and help me with the carrots and potatoes.

Ingredients

When the chicken is done, leave in the oven for 10 minutes to rest.

I love roast chicken, it’s so simple to make and yet so wonderfully wholesome. The Brits got it right with the Sunday Roast. It’s such a good way to start the week, the breast meat, i am going to use it for pasta. The chicken leg and wings, I am going to shred the meat and eat it with salad and bread. The carcass, I have just made some chicken stock with it.

Herb Roasted Duck

http://breadplusbutter.blogspot.com/2009/12/herb-roasted-duck.html

I know that Christmas still has a few weeks to go, but one of the benefits of being with someone from a different nationality means that I get to celebrate Christmas twice…once in Denmark and once in Malta. As last year we celebrated Christmas in Denmark this year it is Malta’s turn (wippeee!), so this weekend we are in Denmark for the Christmas visits and gift exchanging. As I LOVE Christmas, this is not a bad deal to me…I get to enjoy it twice .

We left London Thursday afternoon after a day at uni of meetings and work. After a lot of running (we arrived at the airport with 45mins to spare for flight departure and ran through security to make it to the gate in 15mins…) we made it to Denmark where Michael’s parents were waiting for us…Denmark …mmm! We got home quite late, and after a dinner of frikadeller we made it to bed.

Friday was our replacement Christmas eve. So in the morning Michael and I woke up and went to do some food shopping together with the last of the gift shopping (yeps…we hadn’t finished). I also took the time to buy some gifts for the people back home to keep on crossing things off my Christmas gift list. Back home it was then time for gift wrapping, table setting, and some help in cooking till Michael’s sister and her family arrived for the ‘Christmas dinner’ in the evening.

‘Christmas dinner’ consisted of roast pork with crackling, and a cabbage/walnut/fig/orange salad and some potatoes with brown gravy…and crisps (yeps…for some reason they often crisps with Christmas dinner…I find it a bit weird…but who am I to complain? I enjoy it just the same . Dessert was then Christmas pudding with custard…mmm! Michael had mentioned that he would like to take some English food stuff to Denmark, and I suggested (insisted? ) this. We had bought brandy in the morning, so I was all set to light it up. This was my first time, so I think I was a bit liberal with it, but oh well…it lit up!, I think it impressed the Danes, and I got pudding . I am quite sure they were not that impressed with the taste (though they seem to have liked the custard), but hey…that meant more for me! so who am I to complain? . After this was the gift giving…yey!!! Hehe. I got gifts…woohoo! I got some make-up, i.e. lip gloss and eyeliner, from his sister which I had asked for as mine was close to finishing or finished, and some clothes from his mum and dad…wippeee! It’s great to get gifts (and to give them, though it is a bit stressful to think what to give ). After a lot of eating and drinking Michael’s sister’s family were off home, while we continued with some more drinking before making our way to bed.



All at the dinner table

The pudding is on Fire!

Today was then baking and relaxing day. Yesterday Michael’s dad had made the dough for some cookies which needed to rest for a bit. So after breakfast we got stuck into making brune kage. When those were done Michael and I went off to Tonder to the Christmas market there and ‘Det Gamle Apoteke‘. I always enjoy seeing Christmas stuff, so I was definitely not disappointed! However I was quite surprised that while you can see a lot of Nisses there were barely and cribs anywhere…we only saw some at the Apoteke stuck in a basement corner…it seems to me that the Danes have forgotten exactly why Christmas is celebrated. My impression is that in Malta the idea of what Christmas means still exists in people’s minds, and I hope that we don’t forget this anytime soon. It made me a bit sad to see this (also because I always enjoy seeing the cribs in these kinds of shops ).

Making the Brune Kage

After the trip to Tonder we then came home for a quick lunch before making our way over to Michael’s grandparents for coffee (yes!!! I feel like I am constantly eating here. However, luckily the scales they have here show that I weigh some 10kg less than the one back in London…so that’s good isn’t it? . Hopefully the one in London is wrong but I am not too convinced of that ). Although his grandparents don’t speak English, and I of course don’t speak Danish, I still enjoy it at their place. They have a really cosy house, and they always make me feel so special and welcome. And best of all? His grandmother gave me another set of house shoes which she made herself . She had already given me a set last year, but the cat ate a big hole through one :-/. I moaned about it quite a lot to Michael, and his grandma got to know. Apparently she was very concerned about it, so she gave me a new pair…wipppeee! My feet right now are very warm in them I can tell you .

Well, now that we are back home we made some twisted children (klejner). These are cookies they make which they make out of pastry, then twist around, and fry. More cookies…yipeee! Now we are resting and waiting for his mum to come home for dinner. They are busy geeking on the other laptop so I decided to update you. I am sure I’ll have more to tell tomorrow!

I made these easy stuffed mushrooms last week.  I halved the recipe : wrong idea.  They are so good and so easy to eat

In the last 2 weeks, I made lemon roast potatoes and creamed peas with mushrooms and onions.  Both dishes are yummy!   The potatoes are like French Fries without all the oil with a lemony taste.  So good!

Christmas is coming, and so inspired by the festive season I’ve dug out my family recipe for a traditional British Christmas dinner – admittedly this is rather an adventurous recipe for students and would most likely be quite taxing on already struggling budgets. But if you rope everyone in to help and share you will find it both enjoyable and surprisingly affordable, after all, what better way to bond with still rather new flat mates than to all get together and cook something that everybody loves!

It won't just be the Turkey that's stuffed this Christmas!

So here it is, Christmas dinner O’Callaghan style:

Ingredients (some of which you most likely already own):

• A Turkey to die for. (Or Quorn family roast if you are vegetarian)
• Maris Piper potatoes to make the best roasts (any potatoes will do if they’re on offer)
• Carrots
• Parsnips
• Swede
• Cauliflower
• Sprouts (come on – its Christmas!)
• Flour
• Gravy browning
• Olive oil
• Butter
• Salt and Pepper
• Copious amounts of alcohol

The following ingredients are not essential, but are cheap enough and will vastly contribute to the quality of the outcome of your hard work. I find the few extra pounds split between friends quite justifiable over the holiday season, you’ve worked hard all term so treat yourselves!

• Chestnuts
• Bacon
• Cranberry Sauce
• Onion
• Lemon
• Celery
• Dried herbs (Rosemary, Thyme and Parsley or just Herbs de Provence)
• Crackers (it’s not Christmas without them!)

Method:

Firstly, it is very important to follow the cooking directions given on the bird you’ve bought – they differ vastly according to weight and you wouldn’t want to be ill. Also important is to preheat your oven for 30 minutes (20 for fan assisted) to make sure cooking begins immediately.

Whilst waiting for the oven to preheat you can prepare the turkey. If you have invested in the extra ingredients follow these instructions but if not you can just leave out the ingredients you did not purchase and the recipe will still turn out fine. Flatten two sticks of celery with a thump and cut them in half, place in roasting dish with 2 halved onions. Cut a lemon in half and place inside the cavity of the turkey, and then rub the turkey all over with butter. Take a teaspoon of all the dried herbs and sprinkle over, followed by a little cracked salt and black pepper. Place the turkey on top of the celery in the roasting dish. Cover with foil and place in the oven. You will need to back in roughly an hour (depending on the size of course) to baste – or spoon the juices back over – the bird, to get a really juicy, tender turkey I would recommend repeating this process every half hour. When there is only half hour left of your pre-determined cooking time whack the heat right up and remove the foil to really brown and crips the skin.

Whilst the turkey is cooking you should prepare and peel all of your vegetables and then once the last half hour of turkey cooking time  begins you can start cooking them, beginning with potatoes. Boil them in salted water (salt lowers waters boiling point so therefore saves on bills) for 20 minutes then drain, dry and place back in the saucepan. Place the lid back on the pan and shake the pan to fluff them up a little bit. Sprinkle with herbs and place in a preheated pan of olive oil and a little butter on a high shelf at gas mark 7 (220 electric or 200 fan assisted) along with parsnips which should be chunkily cut.

By the time you are placing your roasting veg in the oven it should be time to remove your bird so take it out and place on a large plate and cover with layers of foil to keep warm. Now you are free to cook the rest of the vegetables, this is normally a pretty straight forward boiling in salted water process but of course I have a few tips to spice it up a little if you’re feeling adventurous. Firstly carrots are divine roasted, so why not throw them in with the potatoes and parsnips. Secondly sprouts can be jazzed up by adding chestnuts whilst boiling and or crispy bacon once cooked and finally add a bit more interest to your cauliflower by keeping some green bits in aswell – the taste is fantastic and it looks much prettier on a plate.

Now for the tricky bit, gravy (for vegetarians I recommend Bisto Best Roast Vegetable Granules). Take about 4 tablespoons of the juices from the turkey and 2 tablespoons of flour and mix until smooth. Put over a medium heat and add water from your vegetables for extra tastiness, add the water bit by bit until you have enough gravy and at this point at just a few drops of gravy browning to achieve the right colouring. Allow the mixture to boil for a little while, in which time it will thicken up. If you find your gravy is not thickening mix 3 teaspoons of cornflour with cold water and add to gravy whilst continuously stirring. For even more extravagance add a glass of white wine.

Now you are ready to serve in whichever way you choose but of course, as usual a few tips are ready should you need them. For delicious swede add a little butter and puree and cauliflower should only be roughly mashed for interesting texture. Now all that’s left to do is enjoy so sit down and have an awesome pre-christmas with your flatmates. Oh, and good luck fitting everyone in those little student kitchens!

Apart from the Queen’s Speech, the golden hour on Christmas Day is when that steaming turkey comes out the oven.

But Cardiff’s veggies and vegans share a different story. The nut roast is the classic staple, but it doesn’t give you the same sense of wholesome satisfaction. You can’t baste a nut roast. You can’t pour its own juices over itself. You can’t put your hand right up it and stuff it with oranges.

Instead, making it feels more like baking a slightly unsatisfying fruitcake. You have to roll up your sleeves and get right into a mixing bowl instead of watching it spit in the pan.

Nut Roast. Yum.

So how can you escape these dry recipes? How can vegetarians use a centrepiece that matches a turkey, but without the ethical worries?

Ten million turkeys are slaughtered for Christmas each year in the UK, according to DEFRA. While wild turkeys can live up to 10 years, those in farms are fattened up and killed when they are up to just 26 weeks old – some as young as eight weeks.

So going veggie or vegan, even if just for the day, is a good idea. But you’ll need to be clued up on how to cook something decent first.

Take some tips from Wayne Thomas. The 44-year-old chef from Llanharry runs the Canteen on Clifton Street, one of Cardiff’s only Western-style veggie-friendly restaurants.

The Canteen was set up as a café in 2007, and with unusual menus that change every three weeks, it is a haven for veggies and vegans. Tables for two back straight onto the tiny kitchen in which Wayne and business partner Tony Thomas, 44, do their work.

It feels like being cooked for by your two cheeky middle-aged brothers. The pair don’t bother turning tables, so come the end of service at around 10pm they step out the kitchen, throw their aprons aside and interrogate the guests. Beware if you didn’t finish your gnocchi.

Chef Wayne Thomas demonstrates vegan pasta

This year’s Christmas menu begins tomorrow and mixes restaurant favourites with an alternative Christmas choice.

The new dish is a mushroom pithivier with cashew nuts. It’s a savoury, earthy vegan pie which mixes conventional nut roast flavours with the Britishness and all-round smile factor of a good hearty pie.

If you’re vegan, a good puff pastry is still easy to achieve. Just substitute egg with potato starch to bind the mixture, and if you still want that eggy taste in your dough, try putting in yeast flakes. This small dried foodstuff is a good flavour substitute and is sold by most specialists.

The restaurant is no stranger to weird flavour combinations. Dishes on the Christmas menu include cheese gougères (pastry balls) with spicy cheese and chocolate mole, and Christmas pudding soufflé.

Wayne said: “You do the same thing week after week after week, so it gets incredibly boring. The customers like it. We’ve been called ‘esoteric’ by one fella!

“We do use the name for the dish rather than the anglicised version of it. But it does mean we’ve got names wrong on the menu – people go home and look them up on the web. And we’re not beyond making up the occasional word.”

When Wayne goes home to his carnivore family at Christmas, he takes the back seat cooking the vegetables. But he does like to experiment, he says, and he has even cooked the infamous “tofurkey” – a huge lump of tofu made to taste like meat.

While this sounds about as appealing as a huge lump of tofu, this meat-cheat could go down well as your centrepiece, especially if someone in the house will be eating meat this holiday. Just put the two side by side and join in the fun.

“You get a load of tofu,” he said. “If you’re not vegan, mix it up with a bit of egg. Roll it onto a piece of cling film and put a traditional stuffing in there.

“Roll it over itself, then wrap it up so it’s watertight and poach it for a quarter of an hour to set the proteins. Unwrap it once it cools and you can treat it just like turkey. It goes well with an onion gravy.”

To get a more meaty texture, try using wheat gluten, used to improve the gluten content of British flours. Mix it with water to make a paste called seitan, a great protein source, which you can then mix with the tofu to take off the rubbery edge.

The Canteen on Clifton Street

The Canteen is always making interesting veggie food, and it is not Cardiff’s only decent vegetarian restaurant – but the problem is, many of the city’s full-size eateries run along an Asian-fusion theme. Curries and daals are not the best bet for that big centrepiece on the dinner table.

But if you do fancy an unusual Gujarati snack to start off your feast, take some tips from the family-run Vegetarian Food Studio in Penarth Road.

Wales’ only fully vegetarian Indian restaurant runs as a café in the daytime. Locals buy huge cartons of fried goods like their homemade Bombay Mix and chatter away under cheerful Hindu decorations.

The number of dishes on the menu will top 200 in the new year, and 28-year-old chef Neil Patel, who lives with his wife in Sully, near Barry, won’t be slowing down soon.

He said: “We started with 42 recipes, on a small A5 page. Now our menu is pages and pages long. But people like the old stuff, so we keep it in to please everybody.”

And for a great alternative snack he recommends masala dosa, a rice and lentil pancake that’s vegan-friendly. The mix is a different animal to British styles of cooking, with the starches from the rice, instead of milk or butter, fermenting to make the mix creamy.

Soak rice and black lentils together in water overnight then blend them to a paste in the morning. Leave this to ferment for three days at room temperature. Ladle the mix onto a hot griddle pan just like a normal pancake, and eat on its own or filled with curry or daal.

Canteen on Clifton Street

Vegetarian Food Studio

RECIPE

Mushroom, cashew nut and tarragon pithivier with mushroom, chive and parsley sauce

Originally from the Canteen on Clifton Street

1. Soak the wild mushrooms in a little warm water for 20 minutes. Drain and keep the water aside.
2. Shallow fry the onion in olive oil until pale. Add the chopped button mushrooms, followed by the wild mushrooms, stirring gently.
3. Reduce the water used to soak the mushrooms in a separate pan until syrupy. Add to the mushroom mix, cooking until all moisture has evaporated.
4. Add the herbs and season with salt, pepper and tamari or soy sauce.
5. Allow to cool, then place in a blender and blend. Leave some lumpier bits.
6. Add the breadcrumbs and cashew nuts until you have a filling that is easily mouldable.
7. Roll out the puff pastry until about 1in thick and cut two rounds, the about 6in and the second about 5in across.
8. Take a handful of the filling and mould into a disk about 3in across. Place this onto the 5in pastry, placing the larger one on top and using the egg wash to stick the two halves together. The enclosed pie should resemble a flat-topped hill. Score a pattern in to top, being careful not to cut through the pastry, and cover the whole pie with egg wash.
9. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes and preheat the oven to 200C.
10. Bake in the oven until golden brown.

This is english cooking at its best, the prefect roast beef and is great with home made yorkshire puddings. Its not that difficult to do and with all the trimmings makes a lovely dinner with family on a cold winters day ….and is best served with a nice hearty glass of red wine!

Take your joint of beef and drizzle 2 tbs of olive oil and then season with salt and pepper. Place the baking tray on the hob and put on a low heat with a little more olive oil. Once its spitting seal the beef on all sides.

Pre-heat the overn to 230 degress and then place the beef in the oven for 15 minutes. Turn down to 190 and then cook for a further 17 minutes per 450g for rare beef. If you want medium cook for another 15 meets and for well done add another 15 minutes. The key to tasty roast beef is leaving the joint to rest for at least 30 – 45 minutes.

Anyone got any good accompaniments to go with or maybe a delicious desert for afters?

Continuing with my theme of the perfect roasted chicken I recently came across Heston Blumenthal’s research on how to create the perfect roasted chicken on his BBC series In Search of Perfection. Blumenthal uses his expertise with molecular gastronomy to roast a chicken that sustains its moisture, while providing a crispy skin.  He conducts a lab to find the best chicken, which leads him to Lyon, France and goes through the various steps that need to be taken in order to create the perfect roasted chicken.

It’s that time!  We present another spectacular dish from this month’s guest blogger, our friend and co-worker Maureen.  And as Mo demonstrates, there’s nothing quite like a roasted vegetable.  Pick a vegetable, any vegetable.  Add some salt, pepper, oil, throw in a hot oven and…Boom.  Bam.  Bomb.  So good!  We’re so elated she picked this particular one to feature.

We were just reminiscing about the delicious roasted brussels sprouts served at the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival evening dinner. Brussels sprouts get a bad rap.  When you hear about this green, miniature, cabbage-shaped, bulb-thingy, images of your 12-year-old self come to mind, screaming in agony at the pain your parents inflicted on you by forcing you to eat said green thingy.  Now that your taste buds have matured—and your mind is open—try revisiting the spout.  You’ll be glad you did.   Tell us why Maureen…

I love the fall. It’s finally cool enough to use the oven, and my local farmer’s market is abundant with the offerings of Indian summer and autumn. I took my cue from the season and brought home some fingerling potatoes, brussels sprouts, rosemary, red onion and garlic. Modest earthy staples. I also made a quick detour to the store and bought some bacon, but that is totally optional.

This basic casserole is so simple and versatile that it can be varied upon endlessly for vegans or the everything-goes crowd. I use the term “casserole” in the broadest sense by virtue of all the ingredients being oven-roasted together in a Pyrex dish. It can be minimized to just brussels sprouts, sea salt and a drizzle of olive oil, or gussied up with meats and cheeses to make more of a “main.” There were a few things I would do better next time, and I’m happy to share the learning curve with the forgiving readers of Duo Dishes.

Prep work consisted of slicing the brussels sprouts in half and the fingerlings into 1-1 1/2″pieces (the tiniest ones I left whole – so cute!). I sliced the red onion length-wise (with the grain) 1″ long and 1/2″ wide and the garlic cloves into long thin slices. Next time I will leave the onion and garlic pieces larger – the extended roasting time rendered them down to almost nothing. I love food that is browned, even blackened on the edges, so more on the roasting technique later because I did learn a thing or two! I chopped several sprigs of fresh rosemary while heating my large cast iron skillet on the stove top. I browned the fingerlings in olive oil for about 8 or 9 minutes, making sure to brown all sides. As small as those little taters are, I found them to be quite fire. Perhaps they have a low water content. While the skillet was still hot, I did a quick-cook with the bacon though I don’t know if it was necessary. I just wanted it to have some crisp and not end up soft-cooked. I cut it up into small pieces.

Next I tossed everything in a big bowl and drizzled in a couple tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt. I gave it a few good stirs and put it all down in a 7″ x 9″ Pyrex. My old O’Keefe & Merritt stove doesn’t measure the temperature so exactly, so I’ve learned to use it more intuitively. I’ll estimate the oven was about 475 degrees. I will also estimate that I cooked the dish for 50-60 minutes. Perhaps the photo tells you how I like it – nice and browned. I should have been stirring it all up a few times throughout cooking. The top layer took on a slightly dry appearance, so I drizzled in a little more olive oil. However, when I removed the dish later, I discovered everything beneath the surface needed more roasting time and that the added oil was just kind of sitting on the bottom of the dish. So I gave it all a good stir and put it back in for another 15 minutes (or so).

In the end everything was roasty-toasty to (near) perfection. I did remove a few pieces of charred onion and garlic from the surface – more frequent stirring probably would’ve prevented that. The flavor profile was lovely and amazing, earthy and heavenly all at once! I’m thinking for my encore (that’s a fancy term for leftovers) I will re-heat in the oven with freshly shredded Parmigiano Reggiano. Or perhaps I will crack an egg over the top and finish it under the broiler. Can’t wait.

Here is a list of the ingredients with a few measurements:

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts
1 pound fingerling potatoes
1 pound brussels sprouts
5 strips bacon, flash-fried then cut into bite sized pieces
1 medium red onion, sliced
Several garlic cloves
Several springs of fresh rosemary, stems removed and finely chopped
Sprinkle of sea salt
Drizzle of olive oil

Thanks Duo Dishes for asking me to be a guest on your blog. I enjoy your food so much. Happy cooking and happy eating.

Corn being roasted on live coals : Photo Credit : Satya Sarada Kandula : All Rights Reserved

One of the great joys of growing up and living in Bangalore (and many places in India) is eating freshly roasted corn on the cob, with a touch of lemon, salt, coriander and green chilly paste.

These were being roasted for me outside Sankey Tank.

American Sweet Corn in a cup with  a dash of butter or foreign flavours three times as costly as the roasted corn, has started to give it competition in India.

Authorship and Copyright Notice : All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula

Thanksgiving was really different this year. After deciding that I couldn’t go home to see the fam, my plans changed daily. FIrst I was going to spend the day with co-worker friends, then I was going out to Thanksgiving dinner with my cousin who was coming to town. Then my roommate was staying home and we were going to cook a feast together. When she cancelled on me I thought about serving dinner at a shelter. Then my brother called and said he had no plans either.. so at the end of the day it tuned out to be me and my younger brother Robby. And we had a really nice time. Both of us really wanted to be with the rest of the family but it was still nice that we had eachother to celebrate. So with dinner for two I felt like a turkey might have been overkill. I even contemplated just making a tuna casserole (his favorite) and calling it good. But that just wouldn’t be my style. Even if I was only cooking for two I love to cook. It absolutely made my day to be able to cook for someone other than myself. So I made the rib roast that I’d been drooling over ever since the Cooking Light holiday magazine came out. It was every bit of delicious that I hoped it would be.

I’ve also really been looking forward to making these herb and Asagio rolls. I think this was my first experience with yeast. They tasted good but really didn’t rise as much as I had expected. They also seemed a little tough on the outside (but soft inside). So I was disappointed, but I do want to bake bread again soon. I won’t give up so easy.

I had to throw in some roasted brussels sprouts because I absolutely love them even if nobody else does! I’m convinced that anyone who doesn’t like their greens just hasn’t had them prepared the right way. (I didn’t change Rob’s mind, but then again he didn’t even try them!! Oh well, I’m sister, not mother). Lets face it, a lot of people just cook the heck out of veggies until their soggy, limp, and bland tasting. Yuck! I like my greens with a little crunch and a lot of flavor. Brussel sprouts cooked under the broiler is one of my favorites because they’re so naturally nutty tasting. For dinner I just quartered them, tossed in olive oil, sprayed with balsamic vinegar and sprinkled with salt and pepper. They were awesome!

The only other thing we really needed was a good salad. I tossed some mixed greens with olive oil, salt and pepper, and added cherry tomatoes. Oh, but I can’t forget… Robby’s favorite dish is tuna casserole. I know what you’re thinking, “Really? Tuna?” I know. I couldn’t agree more. But it’s one of those comfort foods that reminds us kids of growing up. Tuna casserole was a staple in our house. Although my favorite food as a kid was lasagna. Mmmmm…

So here’s the spread. Tuna casserole and all.

Dinner  really was just a spread of some good old down-home cookin’. We didn’t over stuff ourselves either so there was plenty of room for dessert. Now that I had some extra hands in the kitchen I put Rob to work peeling and coring apples. Dessert was supposed to be a pear crisp but the pears at the market were hard as rocks. So I improvised. We had an apple crisp. I do believe that was a good call.

Do you love the pink apron? I sometimes wear it when all of us girls are cooking together. I wasn’t going to yesterday but I thought Rob would get a kick out of it. He did, and then he took pictures of me being Martha Stewart.

Apple crisp with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. Mmm!! Sweet, yet light. I had to improvise with the crisp portion of the recipe as well. It called for 6 amaretti cookies. Well I didn’t know what that was, and neither did the gal at the bakery. So I looked around and decided macaroons would make a good substitute. The macaroons were pretty cakey though. I’m not sure if amarettis are cakey or hard cookies, but it worked. I added a tad extra flour to the crumble to soak up the moisture.

I have to tell you what happened before my brother got to the house. I still can’t believe I did this. Okay, so his special request was for english toffee. Well, I’m all about making that happen so while in the middle of cooking everything else I throw a pot on the burner: butter, sugar, we’re on our way..

I’m chopping the brussels sprouts, tossing a salad, mixing the toffee. It’s finally ready and I go to pour the 310 degree candy onto a baking sheet. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top. The kitchen timer is going off. Hot pot in the sink and I put the 310 degree candy coated spatula in my mouth!!!! Aaahahhhhhh is right! OMG it hurt so bad. The toffee stuck to the roof of my mouth and sizzled. I tried to spit it out which is how I burnt my tongue and lower lip too. Worse burn ever. I couldn’t feel my lip all night. Today it’s blistered and my tongue and palate are missing a layer of skin. I’m on a mush, room temperature food, diet. Lesson learned the hard way: when you’re making candy, just. make. candy. Too many things going on at once and it was just too natural to lick the spatula before throwing it in the sink.
Fortunately the batch turned out nicely..

After we ate as much as we could eat we vegged out in pj’s to Christmas movies. An all time favorite: Elf, and a newbie favorite: Four Christmases. Are Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon just the cutest movie couple?! I think so. And the part where they’re at his mom’s house playing Taboo.. it makes me laugh out loud. The way the couples who really know eachother can practically read eachother’s mind to win the game. I’ve played with friends who are siblings before, and one time the word was meatloaf. The hint given was “that thing mom always made growing up that we all hated”. In unicem they all said “meatloaf”! Haha.. its things like that that bring you closer as you get older.

Betcha thought I missed going on a run with all this kitchen chaos. Well guess again. I got 6 miles in before the real nitty-gritty came. I planned to do 8, but apparently the parks and recreations bathrooms are closed on THanksgiving. Good to know. There was no way I was going any further without a pit stop. Had I been home in eastern Washington I could have run with Sara Palin. My brother ran the Turkey Trot 5k that we all do every year together, and apparently Sara Palin has family in my hometown and my brother passed her in the race. How random is that? I did have a leisurely run though (until I realized I was without a BR), packed my camera, counted 19 other runners on the trail. Everyone was extra friendly today it seemed. Maybe because we were all excited to get home and carb load afterwards!

This “&” is in the Seattle Sculpture Park. Is this art?

This is where my running long jump skills come in handy. I’m telling you.. this rain is nothing to mess with.

Me and Robby here cheesin’ in front of the fireplace. We tried to take a self-portrait for mom. I don’t know about this. Might have to wait until next year for descent pics. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Anything with mint is a winner for me and this jelly sauce is no exception. The combination of apple and mint gives the bitter sweet taste , you can use with roast pork and lamb, an ideal compliment for  your Sunday dinner.

What you Need:

8 small apples (granny smith are good especially apples with pinkish skin for colour), 450g sugar, 2 tablespoons liquid pectin, 30g fresh mint (roughly chopped), 1 juice of lemon.

First quarter the apples and add to a large saucepan, fill the pan with enough water to cover the apples and add the mint and lemon juice. Bring this mixture to the boil and then  simmer for 20-30 minutes. Take off the heat and cool. After,  drain the liquid from the apples and set aside. With a potato masher lightly mash the apple mint mixture and pour the puree into a sieve over a large bowl. With the back of a spoon push and mush the apple in the sieve to extract the juice and fine pulp, be patient you will find after a while you will have got quite a lot out of the mixture. Once you have extracted as much as you can discard the mush left overs, and take the strained juice/pulp and pour into a measuring jug and then top up with the  cooking juice, to 1 pint.

Take the 1 pint of mixture and add to a clean saucepan and mix in the sugar. On a low heat stir until all the sugar has dissolved, now add the pectin. Turn up the heat and rapidly boil the mixture for 15mins, once the jelly has done it should have reached the temperature of 105C. Take off the heat and pour into a recycled sterilised jar, seal straight away, cool at room temperature and then chill. Do not worry if your mixture is liquidly when you add it to the jar because as it cools it will set.

Enjoy.

(serves 4)

You will need:

- 1.8-2kg Free-range chicken            - 1 large knob butter

- zest of 1 lemon, grated                     – 4 tbsp honey                     – 1 tbsp thyme

Preheat your oven to 180 celcius / Gas Mark 6. Rub the chicken with butter, season and roast for 40-50 minutes.

Remove from the oven and pour the juices into a bowl and mix with the zest, thyme & honey and pour over the chicken.

Baste every 5 minutes as the chicken roasts for a further 20-30 minutes.

Rest for 15 minutes before serving, and heat the honey juices to pour over as you do.

This is how I make turkey every year, or rather, every time I’ve made turkey in the past. This is my true and tested method for a deliciously moist bird without fail. No basting, no fussing. The only fussing I do, takes place a day or so before T-Day. Just long enough to allow the bird to swim about in the briney water, relaxing in all the spices and seasonings I chose for that ocassion.

Then on the day it is to be served, I just lay it breast-side down on a roasting pan, brush it with butter and olive oil and forget about it until it needs to come out of the oven. It is always successful and enjoyed by all. You should try it this way, I promise you won’t be disappointed.

I’m not cooking this one until tomorrow (Thursday), but I wanted to give you a play by play in case you were searching for an easy way to prepare your bird. I will update the pictures as things evolve.

Turkey Brine (1-2 days before serving)
In a saucepan, combine:
6 tbsp sea salt
4 bay leaves
2 tbsp sage, powder
3 tbsp Herbs d’Provence
6 cloves garlic
5 cloves
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 orange, quartered
3 cps water
Bring this to a boil for about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it cool down.

The turkey I’m working with is a 20-pounder. Remove giblet bag and neck, reserve these to make broth and gravy. Rinse the turkey under cool running water. In an oversized storage bag or a bowl, add the cooled brine, place the turkey in and top it off with more water–about 1-1/2 gallons of cool water. Give the turkey a couple of turns in the bag to ensure the water and brine mix in. Seal the bag or cover the bowl with plastic wrap then foil paper.

Put the whole thing in the fridge overnight. Usually I start this process 1-1/2 days before I am roasting the bird and I flip the bird every 8-10 hours or so, if it’s not completely submerged in the brining liquid.

Roasting Day
Remove turkey from the bag and drain any brining liquid that may be in the openings. Pat dry the turkey. Melt 1/2 cp butter (1 stick) with 1/4 cp extra virgin olive oil, 2 cloves of garlic (peel and cut them in half). Brush this mixture (avoiding the garlic) over the breast side of the turkey. Put it in the fridge for about 15 minutes, then flip the bird so the thighs are on top and brush with the rest of the butter. Place it in the fridge for another 15 minutes.

In the meantime, preheat oven to 400°. Coarsely chop:
2 oranges
2 carrots
1/2 cp parsley
4 cloves garlic
5 cloves
and mix in:
1 tbsp sage
1 tbsp thyme
1 tbsp rosemary
1 tsp sea salt
Use 1/2 of this mixture to loosely stuff the large cavity of the bird and arrange the other 1/2 under and around the turkey. Put the bird in the oven for 20 minutes at 400°,  then lower the temperature to 325° for the remainder of its cooking time.

Once the thermometer reads about 170°  in the thickest part of the thigh, remove it from the oven and cover it loosely with foil. Allow it to rest covered for about 15 minutes. Remove the aromatics from the crevices before you begin carving it.

I feel a bit silly to have to say this. I totally forgot to take a shot of the bird as it came out of the oven. And boy do I hate that, because it was a BEAUTY. Perfectly cooked, super juicy and golden brown. Will you take my word for it? Here’s a shot of it after slicing.

After being poorly (I feel a lot better more of the time now) I have had the urge to clean the house meticulously and start creating decorations and presents for Christmas. I am rather excited about Christmas this year; I am never really over-the-top excited about it, but this Christmas will be the first in our new house! I put the tree up last night… a lot of people have said that it is far too early, but my family is coming to celebrate Christmas a week early, so why cant I put the tree up a week early!? It is just inspiration standing in the corner now, I cant wait to start putting presents under it.

Yesterday Ryan came home with a new frying pan, which was on sale in Debenhams:

So this led me on to looking at all the kitchenware that Debenhams sell… There are quite a few things that I love, which I am sure you can get elsewhere too, just they are all bundled together in one shop! Here are my selections:

1. Dark grey Roast ‘n Rack by Maxim – I love making roast dinners so much, but I still dont really have the roasting trays for all the ingredients.

2. Cream plate with glass dome lid – I just love the aesthetic of having this in the kitchen with cakes under it!

3. Teal rectangular stoneware dish by Le Creuset – maybe for pasta bakes

4. Cream stove kettle by Prestige – I adore the lines and the shapes that make up these retro-style kettles. I even love the fact you have to put it on the stove, so amazing! There are some of the same/similar style that are electric, but its not really the same thing is it. We also need an upgrade from the £6 kettle I bought a few years ago from Woolworths haha!

5. Azure cast iron casserole dish By Le Creuset – for casseroles of course. Winter is drawing in and I am always a sucker for homemade comfort food. For some reason all the Le Creuset items I have picked here bar one are in blue; I actually like all and any of the colours in the range that they make.

6. Ken Hom 5 piece Wok set by Tao – because I dont have a wok, and I really feel like trying to make stir fry and chinese style chicken.

7. Teal cast iron 26cm square grillit by Le Creuset – because it would make amazing steaks, and you can pour out the juices from the pan afterwards… mmmmm!

8. Spring form cake pan by Kitchen Craft – because I have none!

9. Volcanic regular cast iron grill by Le Creuset – I believe you can either put this in the oven, or as a hot plate on the stove… I love that idea.

10. 5 piece stainless steel set by Prestige – because all of my pans are leaving black flakes in my pasta yuk! Not necessarily this set, but something similar that wont ruin my food.

11. Blue Icona 4 slice toaster by De Longhi – so yummy looking! And blue again… why!?? We need an upgrade from the £5 toaster from Woolworths I bought 3 years ago…

12. 14cm microwave saucepan – when I saw this I thought of Ryan. He always eats beans, and always cooks them in Tupperware pots without handles or spouts, and it looks like a very awkward process to try not to burn your fingers, so this could be ideal!

13. Assam teapot by Bodum – I am never any good at judging how long to leave teabags to steep in the water before pouring, and it either comes out too weak or too strong. So… if I can see what is going on inside the pot I will be ok! It also has a plunger to stop the process when it is right for you, and you can use teabags or leaves and it works!

14. Cream food mixer by KitchenAid – how gorgeous is this machine! We have one in the kitchen at the bar that I work at, I might see if they will sell it to me as it is not really in use.

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I am also in the process of designing some quilted Christmas stockings for myself and Ryan, to hang on the wall (where the mantel should be if the house still had one), some knitted presents for my grandparents, maybe some other presents too, and some decorations for the house! I am thinking garlands, and wreaths, and paper chains of course.

Ryan is dying my hair for me tonight, so if I think I look semi-unpoorly afterwards I shall take a photo and paste it to the end of this blog.

[Edit - photo!!!]

Jenn xx

P.S I am now down to 4 hamsters… It seems to be a sad time in Hamsterville. I have not changed anything about their living conditions… maybe it is just that time of year Rest in peace crazy dude who bit me really hard…

We Brits love a curry. Foodie purists may well have been outraged when former foreign secretary Robin Cooke hailed Chicken Tikka Masala to be ‘Britain’s true national dish’ in 2001, but he did have a point. Whilst we may think of unctuous Roast beef and Yorkshire puddings as the dish closest to our hearts, Tikka Masala is continuously voted as the nation’s favourite meal.

There’s no better time to give in to our delight in Indian food than now. This week is the 12th annual National Curry Week, celebrating 200 years since the first Indian restaurant was opened by Sake Dean Mohamet in London’s West End in 1809. National Curry Week first came to fruition in 1998 in order to raise money for hunger, malnourishment and poverty charities, as well as to promote Indian cuisine. Over a decade later and there are now participating restaurants throughout the UK holding special events to help celebrate our love of Indian Cuisine.

I’m often keen to re-create recipes at home after a meal out, and after enjoying the delights of Curry Week last night, I was eager to get cooking today.

My favourite curry is a Chicken Jalfezi. It’s flavoursome and zingy, and as it doesn’t contain coconut milk, it’s a much healthier option than most other curries. Don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients. Once you have all the spices in your cupboard, you can knock up a delicious curry in no time.

Chicken Jalfrezi, serves 4:

3 tablespoons sunflower oil

1 onion, peeled and finely sliced

2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped

1 inch piece root ginger, finely grated

2 tablespoons ground turmeric

2 tablespoons ground coriander

2 tablespoons ground cumin

A pinch of ground cloves

1 cinnamon stick

6 chicken thigh fillets, cut into large chunks

5 medium-sized tomatoes, finely chopped

To Serve:

Basmati rice, cooked according to pack instructions

25g coriander, roughly chopped

1 lime, cut into wedges

4 ready-made naan breads

Plain yogurt

Heat the oil in a large pan over a low/medium heat and gently fry the onions for 5-10 minutes, until softened.

Meanwhile, mix together the turmeric, coriander, cumin and cloves with a pinch of salt. Add the chicken and toss until well-coated.  Add the ginger, garlic and chicken to the pan and fry for 5 minutes, until golden-brown. (Be careful not to burn the spices.)

Add the tomatoes and a splash of water and simmer gently, stirring occasionally for 25-30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has reduced slightly. Season with salt.

Serve with rice, coriander, and naan bread with a dollop of yogurt on top. Enjoy!

By Emily Jonzen:

Some might find this offensive…me..I think it’s SNL’s job to make jokes and “roast” people…I think it’s hilarious!

I don’t know about you, but once I find a company that stands for everything I believe in and offers amazing products, I like to brag about them.  I first heard about Larry’s beans through a good friend and one of the present owners of a coffee shop in Houghton, NY- Java101. They use Larry’s beans for their regular drip coffee and grind, tamp, and steam Larry’s Secret Espresso Blend for delicious lattes and cappuccinos.

Larry not only sells his beans wholesale to coffee shops around the nation, he also sells to household buyers and everyday consumers like myself.  There are lots of reasons I buy from Larry.  The three most basic reasons- all of their beans are fairly traded, organic, and they are an independent small business.  Larry was even a founding member of Cooperative Coffees (a group of independent coffee roasters who purchase beans directly from fair-trade co-ops).

Larry’s products are GREAT.  The beans are roasted to perfection, espresso rich and creamy, and there is a large variety of depth and flavor represented in the varying blends pleasing petty and powerful palates alike. They offer fun merchandise for purchasing including t-shirts, mugs, and ‘at-home barista supplies’.

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Some more reasons to love Larry?

They have a ‘transparency policy’ in their coffee purchases which means that all documentation during the purchase of the bean is posted online.  You can track every single bag of beans back to the original farmer from which it was purchased and view the payments which took place during the change.

Larry also has a dedication to freshness.  The bag of beans you purchase online today are actually roasted after your purchase and then shipped as soon as finished.

Still not convinced?

Larry started this project called the Sustainability School- a website dedicated to teaching interested persons about local sustainability, alternative energy, globalization, water conservation, recycling, and all things fair-trade.  There are articles and links which provide lots of useful information for sustaining our world and improving our environment.

https://www.larrysbeans.com/sustainability-school/

Along with the school, Larry has done a lot to make his business as ‘green’ as possible.  They transformed their ‘Bean Plant’ by using solar and wind power, harvesting their own rainwater, and delivering all of their local products in a crazy cool bus which runs on recycled vegetable oil (pictured below in a scan from this magnet they sent me along with my most recent coffee order)

All this to say…

If you’re still hearing the ‘clank’ from your can of Chock-full-of-Nuts, or Folgers blend in your shopping cart, check out these articles and hop on the conscious caffeine wagon.

http://www.grinningplanet.com/2005/01-25/organic-coffee-shade-grown-fair-trade-coffee-article.htm

http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/coffee/

Go to: https://www.larrysbeans.com/

Serves 2-4

One 3-1/2 pound chicken with no additives

4 medium onions, quartered

Olive oil

Sea salt (I use coarse)

Dried thyme

Preheat over to 450 F.

In a large roasting pan (I always use a dark enamel roasting pan – always), scatter the onions and garlic. Place the chicken over the vegetables. Generously brush the chicken with olive oil, including the cavity. Heavily season the chicken with sea salt and thyme. Place the chicken over the vegetables and cover.

Roast the chicken for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the chicken is nicely browned, the chicken juices run clear and the vegetables are tender. Let the chicken rest 10 minutes before serving. Remove the garlic cloves from their skins and carve the chicken.  Arrange all on a platter. I often roast two chickens at one time in different roasting pans, just for the leftovers.

Of extreme importance – do not discard the leftover juices, chicken bones or meat. These will be used to make Homemade Chicken Stock tomorrow.

This is a UK favourite at Christmas time and has more or less become an intrinsic part of this special meal.  ‘Pigs in Blankets’ are simply chipolata sausages, wrapped in streaky bacon. 

So easy to prepare, for 8 people you will need:

 8 regular-sized pork chipolata sausages (allow 16 if you’re buying the usual cocktail size Christmas midgets)

8 rashers of streaky bacon strips

Olive oil

………………………………………………………

Preheat the oven to 220C / 425F / Gas mark 7  (200C for a fan oven, approx 400F)

Put a slice of streaky bacon on a flat surface and stretch and flatten it by gently pulling the back of a knife or palette knife over it.

Take a chipolata and roll the bacon strip around it to make a ‘pig in blanket’.  (If you’re using the mini sausages that are usually around at Christmas you’ll find that half a strip of bacon will do for one little sausage).  Repeat until all sausages are wrapped.

Sprinkle a little sunflower or olive oil in the bottom of a shallow oven proof dish.  Lay the pigs in blankets on top with the loose ends of bacon facing downwards and drizzle a little more oil on top.

Cook in the oven, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

Drain on kitchen paper if you are concerned about them being too fatty.

Preparing ahead:   On the day before these are needed you can roll the sausages in the bacon and store, covered, in the fridge.