Simply sumptuous

For me, the holidays are full of rich, complex delicious dishes with multiple ingredients (many of them hard to find in the US), washed down with copious alcoholic beverages of a more-expensive-than-usual nature, followed naturally by bouts of heartburn, indigestion and insomnia. It wouldn't be the holidays without all of this! And, as much as I enjoy almost all of the above, I do like the simplicity that the aftermath brings, when you crave nothing more than a turkey sandwich, and swear off alcohol for at least.... oh... 24 hours.

For this aftermath, this dish is the perfect fit. I am usually suspicious of dishes with so few ingredients, as part of me wonders how they can still end up delicious and comforting, if that is all they contain. Fortunately, my son, who was flicking through my Judith Finlayson recipe book The Vegetarian Slow Cooker, came across this, and insisted that we must give it a try. Given the sumptuous result, we will be doing so again, and, you never know, I may even be a bit less dubious of simple recipes in future (although given my stubborn and cynical tendencies, I'm not making any promises!)

Penne with Caramelized Onions
Serves 4

6 yellow onions, thinly sliced
2 TBSP olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 sprigs fresh thyme
salt and pepper
12 oz penne
1/2 cup grated parmesan

1. In slow cooker stoneware, combine onions, olive oil, garlic and thyme, and stir well.
2. Place a clean tea towel, folded in half (so therefore giving you two layers), over the top of the stoneware, and then place lid of slow cooker on top of that.
3. Cook on HIGH for 5 hours, stirring two or three times to ensure that onions brown evenly, and replacing towel beneath lid each time.
4. When onions are nicely caramelized, season with salt and pepper.
5. Cook penne to desired consistency, then drain, reserving one cup of the pasta cooking water.
6. In a skillet over medium heat, bring reserved pasta water to a boil. Stir in parmesan and caramelized onions. Add pasta and stir to combine until evenly coated with sauce. Serve immediately, sprinkled with additional parmesan.

The best of the holiday season

I have been absent online for a couple of weeks, not, believe me, because I have not been cooking and baking, but rather because I have been cooking and baking so much that I haven't had time to blog about it all! For us Brits, Christmas is our big holiday, both in terms of family getting together, and in terms of food consumed, since we do not celebrate Thanksgiving (and that is for historical reasons, not because we are ungrateful!) With family visiting from England, it therefore fell to me to create the kind of rich, foodie excess that is de rigueur for a British Christmas.

There is nothing simple about Christmas fare, that is for sure. It is rich (we got through a lot of Setler's Tums, as well as other foodstuffs!), filling, waistline-expanding, and also often complex to make. And it doesn't flinch at copious use of alcohol either. A good British chef will tell you that you need to make your Christmas cake (a fruit cake with a whole page full of ingredients, and requiring 4 hours in the oven) up to 2 months in advance, so that you can then 'feed' it with brandy every week or so. Hic.

Some traditional Christmas dishes, I can take or leave. I am not a fan of Christmas cake for example, although to fulfill my daughterly duty, I did take the time to make one, and roped the kids in to make kitschy fondant decorations for the top of the boozy creation. My big favorite though is Mince Pies and Brandy butter. Quite frankly, they are divine, and represent for me the taste and smell of Christmas. In previous years, I have scoured the stores and managed to find jars of pre-made mincemeat, but this year, I had no luck (shame on you, Cost Plus!), so was forced to make my own. I have to say, it was pretty delicious though, so I may even choose to do so again. (I did baulk at making my own piecrust this time though, and bought pre-made rolled Pillsbury shortcrust pastry.) True to form, I also made copious quantities of mince pies, so that even though my family have now headed home across the Atlantic, I can still console my lonely self with a little leftover.

The recipes that follow come from Delia Smith (the mincemeat), and the Christmas recipe pull-out of the British version of Good Housekeeping magazine. As much as Delia is the Queen, I did have to tweak, and not merely because I am meddlesome and interfering - it is nigh on impossible to find currants here in the US, so I substituted successfully with cranberries and prunes. Suet is also difficult to find, but you can get it on Amazon. If you cannot find suet, then I have read that you can substitute cold chopped unsalted butter.

Needless the say, both recipes are both keepers :-) Don't wait for next Christmas - they would make an excellent New Year's Day treat.

Mince Pies
from Delia's Happy Christmas

Mincemeat:
450g/1lb tart apples (I used Granny Smiths), cored and chopped small (no need to peel)
225g/8oz shredded vegetable suet (see above for substitution suggestion)
350g/12 oz raisins
225g/8 oz golden raisins
150g/5 oz dried cranberries
75g/3 oz chopped dried plums/prunes
225g/8oz chopped candied orange peel
350g/12 oz dark brown sugar
grated zest and juice of 2 oranges
grated zest and juice of 2 lemons
50g/2 oz slivered almonds
4 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
whole nutmeg, for grating
6 TBSP brandy

Pies:
pre-made rolled pie-crust/shortcrust pastry (one pack of 2 9" circles should suffice to make 12 pies)
canola oil spray
milk
powdered sugar (icing sugar)

1. Combine all mincemeat ingredients, except for brandy, in a large ovenproof mixing bowl and mix together thoroughly. Cover bowl with a clean towel and leave mixture in a cool place overnight (at least 12 hours) so that flavors can meld.
2. Preheat oven to 225 degrees F (120 degrees C). Cover bowl loosely with foil and place in the oven for 3 hours.
3. Remove bowl from the oven. At this point, the mincemeat may look a little like it is swimming in fat, but as it cools, stir occasionally, and it will all come together. If when it is cooled to room temperature, there are still pools of fat on the surface, then you can skim them off at this point.
4. Once mincemeat is cool, stir in the brandy. At this point, you can put the mincemeat in jars or tubs and store in the fridge for a couple of weeks.
5. To make the pies, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Cut circles from the piecrust to fit inside the muffin cups on a regular muffin tin. Spray oil spray in the cups, then place the circles of piecrust inside.
6. Spoon mincemeat into cups until they are 2/3 full (no fuller, as they will then overflow when baked).
7. Cut stars out of the remaining piecrust and place one on top of each pie. Brush with milk.
8. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until light golden brown.
9. Cool on wire racks and serve warm, dusted with icing sugar, with a dollop of brandy butter (see below).


Brandy Butter

4 oz/125g unsalted butter, softened
finely grated zest of 1 orange
12oz/350g powdered/icing sugar, sifted
2 fl oz/50ml brandy

1. Put butter, orange zest and half of the sugar in a food processor, or the bowl of a stand mixer, and beat together until light and fluffy. Add remaining sugar and brandy and whiz again to combine.
2. Spoon into a serving dish - will also keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks. Serve at room temperature though.

A feast from the East

Now, I am not necessarily one to blow my own trumpet, or as they insist on saying in this country, toot my own horn (not least because it's dangerous to say the word 'toot' in this house, it is guaranteed to result in crude giggly wildness for at least the ensuing 10 minutes). However, I have to crow just a little about dinner last night at the Farrar table. I made a new Indian-style slow cooker dish, but because the quantities didn't look enough to feed my hungry mouths, I frantically searched around for some appropriate 'extras,' and added another couple of dishes to go alongside, resulting in a bit of an Indian-style feast. It was decidedly yummy, and also all vegetarian. If you cook all three of the dishes below, in the quantities listed, then that is enough for 6 people, particularly if, like me, you add some naan bread alongside to mop up the saucy goodness. I should also add that although very flavorful, this food is not 'hot', so the kids won't necessarily baulk at it. All three of mine scarfed it up, and one lucky child is getting the (very limited) left-overs in their lunchbox today.

The chickpea recipe (i.e. garbanzo bean) is from my beloved Judith Finlayson's book The Vegetarian Slow Cooker and my love for Judith is such that I didn't tweak at all. As for the rice and the lentil dish, the recipes for those come from a book called The Best of Sainsbury's Oriental Cooking (Sainsbury's is the UK supermarket equivalent of Safeway, or Lucky). It's a rather odd use of the word 'oriental', as the book contains not only recipes for Chinese- and Japanese-style food, but also Indian and Indonesian food. Wirth these two dishes there were numerous Farrar-tweaks, not least because I decided to do the rice and lentil dishes at the last minute, so didn't have all the necessary ingredients, and had to improvise. The recipes detailed below are my tweaked versions.

One warning - the lentil dish looks rather unappetizing when you take off the lid of the pan and survey your achievement. It has the appearance of gloopy oatmeal. However, I can verify that it does taste delicious, and the rather disappointing appearance is easily masked with a sprinkling of green onions! Only other warning I have is that there may not be many left-overs, because it is all that good :-)

Gingery Chickpeas in Spicy Tomato Gravy

1 TBSP canola/sunflower oil
2 onions, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 TBSP minced ginger root
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes in juice
2 15oz cans chick peas/garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

1. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the onions in the oil until they begin to brown (about 10 mins). Add garlic, ginger, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper and cook, stirring, for a further 1 minute. Add vinegar and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Transfer to slow cooker stoneware.
2. Add chick peas/garbanzo beans to stoneware, stir well, and cook on LOW for 6 hours, or HIGH for 3 hours.

**********

Pilau Rice

canola/sunflower oil
1 5cm/2" cinnamon stick, broken in two
6 cardamom pods
4 whole cloves
3 onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp grated fresh ginger root
12 oz white basmati rice
46 fl oz (about 1300 ml) vegetable stock
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp turmeric
lime wedges to serve

1. Heat oil in a large skillet/frying pan, and add cinnamon stick, cardamom pods and cloves to hot oil. Fry for a few seconds until aroma starts to 'hit' you (!). Then add onions and fry for 10 minutes until golden.
2. Add garlic, ginger rice and fry for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally so it doesn't stick.
3. Add 30 fl oz (900 ml) of stock and salt and bring to the boil. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, by which time most of the liquid should have been soaked up by the rice. Test the rice. If it isn't cooked (depends upon the brand of rice you are using, I think), then add more stock (I needed a further 16 fl oz/450 mls) and continue to cook until liquid is evaporated and rice is cooked.
4. Serve garnished with lime wedges to squeeze over the top.

**********

Red Lentil Dhal

canola/sunflower oil
6 whole cloves
6 cardamom pods
1" piece of cinnamon stick
1 onion, chopped
1" piece of ginger root, grated
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp garam masala
8 oz red lentils
salt
juice of 1 lemon
green/spring onions, sliced, to garnish

1. Heat oil in a pan and add cloves, cardamom and cinnamon. Fry until they start to swell, and smell delicious. Add onion and fry until translucent.
2. Add ginger, chili powder, garlic and garam masala and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add lentils, stir thoroughly and fry for 1 minute.
4. Add salt to taste, and enough water to come about 3 cm/1 1/4" above the level of the lentils. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes, until thick and tender.
5. Add lemon juice, stir and serve garnished with sliced green onions.

"Give the people what they want..."

So sang the Kinks in 1981 (but if you were in Europe, you didn't get to hear that until 1982 because apparently funding fell through...). Well, looking at the recipes I've posted recently, one stands out as very popular, namely the Croque Monsieur Casserole posted in October (click here for link). And deservedly so, as it was delicious. So, in the spirit of the season, because I suspect you may enjoy this one too, and because some of my readers are vegetarians, today's recipe is a similar, bread-and-butter pudding style recipe, but this time without meat. So this is apparently what you want, come and get it. Of course, if the Kinks were right: "The more they get, the more they need. And every time they get harder and harder to please." Uh-oh!
As for the provenance of this one, I'm afraid I'm going to be letting you all in on my hoarding tendencies, since the recipe was given to me as a friend when we were in college together. At the time, five of us linguistics graduate students used to gather together of an evening, gossip about the other occupants of the lab, drink large quantities of red wine, cook, and eat good food. (It was during this era that my love for risotto was born, as we used to make huge pots of the stuff for example.) My good friend Sarah made this dish one night, and subsequently wrote down the recipe for me. In my recent clear-out, I found that piece of paper, and am somewhat embarrassed that during the ensuing 20+ years have not tried to replicate the dish. Last night was the night, and it has now made it on to my list of regulars for sure. Thanks Sarah....rather belatedly, but thanks! I confess that I did tweak a little, using frozen spinach for convenience, and upping the quantity of eggs and milk to make it nice and moist, but otherwise it is the original in all its glory. All you need to go alongside is a nice green salad.

Spinach Bread and Butter Pudding
Serves 8-10

2 10 oz packages frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 large ciabatta loaf, sliced into 1/2" thick slices (stale is fine - mine was 2 days old)
salted butter
olive oil
1 red onion, thinly sliced
6 oz mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 tsp cumin seeds
salt and pepper
12 oz gruyere cheese, grated/shredded
10 eggs
4 cups milk (I used 2%/semi-skimmed)
fresh grated nutmeg (I used 1/4 of a whole nutmeg)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Spread butter thinly on ciabatta slices. Grease a 9"x13" pan and line the base with some of the bread slices.
3. Fry onion and mushrooms in olive oil for 5 minutes until softened. Add spinach and cumin seeds and season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Layer half of the spinach mixture over the bread, then sprinkle 1/3 of the cheese over that.
5. Repeat layers with half of remaining bread, followed by remaining spinach, another 1/3 of the cheese, remaining bread, then finally the remaining cheese.
6. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and milk and add nutmeg. Pour over the whole dish carefully, and then set the dish aside for at least one hour before baking, so that the bread soaks up the liquid. (you can leave it for way longer than that - in fact, I have left it overnight, if you want it for a brunch) You can help this by gently pushing down on the bread on top.
7. Bake for 40 minutes until risen and golden, and crispy on the top. If it starts to brown too quickly and isn't cooked in the middle, cook for longer, but with some foil on the top to stop it from browning more.

Fending off frostbite

It has been really cold around here this week. Now, now...before you roll around on the floor laughing, I don't mean California-cold, when the mercury dips below 60 degrees F and you think you might just need a sweater. No, I mean really cold. Frost-on-the-ground cold. Citrus-farmers-freaking-out-about-ruined-harvests cold. Don't roll your eyes! If there is a shortage of lemons next year, then you'll be sorry you doubted me.

Anyway, if you cannot appreciate my complaints of frozen toes and need for warm blankets, then at least appreciate my culinary means of overcoming the cold. It is stew season, people, and this one is a great one! I am often disappointed by beef stews, as they can be a bit bland, but this one avoids that by using beer (I mean, it has to be good then!) and a little touch of vinegar and mustard at the end, to give it a tang. Only a slight tang, mind you, nothing strong enough to alert those little (or indeed grown-up) palates around the table to the presence of mustard, just in case, like mine, they seem to believe that mustard is the food of the devil.

For once, I am up to date in terms of provenance, as this one comes from the current issue of Cooking Light magazine, subtitled "The Stress-Free-Holiday issue". (If I didn't have you at 'beer', then I'm betting your sold now!). I have hardly tweaked nor twisted - it has the word 'classic' in the title, so I just couldn't :-) All I did was reduce the salt a little and add some more beef, since I feel like I'm feeding the five thousand, rather than 5, in this house.

Enjoy, and stay warm (PS, if my husband is reading this, a new pair of fuzzy slippers for Christmas might be in order!)

Classic Slow Cooker Beef Stew
Serves 6-8

2 1/2 lbs trimmed boneless beef, cut into 2" cubes
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 TBSP canola/sunflower oil
3 medium onions, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2" slices
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 12 oz bottle nut brown ale (not too hoppy)
1 1/4 cups beef stock/broth
1 1/2 lbs baby potatoes, halved
1 lb carrots, peeled and cut into 2" lengths
1 tsp dried thyme, or 4 fresh thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
2 TBSP AP/plain flour
1 TBSP Dijon mustard
1 TBSP red wine vinegar
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped, to serve

1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle beef with 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Add 1 1/2 tsp oil to skillet and add beef. Cook for 6-8 minutes until well browned. Remove beef from skillet and place in slow cooker stoneware.
2. Add remaining oil to skillet and sauté onions and garlic for 4 minutes. Add beer, scraping skillet bottom to remove all those tasty browned bits. Bring to boil and cook for 2 minutes. Add 1 cup stock, remaining salt and remaining pepper. Bring to a simmer then carefully pour contents into slow cooker.
3. Add potatoes, carrots, thyme and bay leaves to slow cooker, and cook on LOW for 7 hours (or HIGH for 3 1/2 hours).
4. Combine remaining 1/4 cup stock with flour, stirring with a whisk. Stir this mixture into the stew and cook for a further 15 minutes. Stir in mustard and vinegar. Discard bay leaves (and fresh thyme sprigs, if using) and serve in bowls sprinkled with fresh parsley.

The easiest chili in town

You've got to love superlatives. Anything with an -est, just begs people to disagree and send you alternatives. Well, quite frankly, bring it on, people! Even if I'm wrong about this particular superlative, since we are all big chili fans in this house, I welcome all alternative recipes! Sadly, I think I may be completely justified in my superlative usage this time, as this one is so simple. It is also one of my oldest son's favorite dinners - he beams when he knows this is what's for dinner. Fair enough, he is the biggest food fan around, and measures most experiences by the availability and tastiness of the food on offer, but he isn't always easy to please, so a dish has to be truly deserving to merit a position on his favourites list. If that dish also happens to make it easy on the family chef, then so much the better!

The original recipe comes from a tattered copy of a Betty Crocker recipe magazine that I clearly grabbed whilst waiting in line in Safeway. My only tweak has been to often make more than the recipe below indicates, so that there is sometimes some leftover for lunches the following day, to switch from beef to turkey, and to add some green bell pepper. You could also add some corn, unless, like me, your husband would then sit there and attempt to pick out every little niblet.... Personally, I think it is better (and healthier) this way, but if you are a Betty Crocker purist, get some beef and ditch the veggies.

Salsa Chili
Serves 4

oil spray
1lb ground turkey
1 onion, chopped
1 16oz jar of mild or medium salsa
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1 can diced green chiles, drained
2 tsp chili powder
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 can pinto/red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
shredded cheddar cheese to serve

1. Cook turkey and onions in a large skillet sprayed with oil, breaking up the meat as you go. When there is no pink left and all the turkey is browned, transfer to the slow cooker stoneware.
2. Stir in salsa, tomatoes, chiles, chili powder and green bell pepper.
3. Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours.
4. When nearly ready to serve, add beans, cover and cook for a further 10 minutes until heated through.
5. Serve over rice or cous cous, sprinkled with cheese.

Weekend special

I have friends who serve up amazing breakfasts to their kids every day, with cooked eggs, sausage, pancakes etc. Oh, you know who you are. I cannot allow my children to sleep over at these houses. For if they do, they will realize that they are deprived and will rebel against the sorry selection of whole-wheat cereals and last week's left over English muffin that we have on offer in our kitchen during the week. The weekend however, is a different matter, and I love nothing more than starting the day in my PJs cooking up a huge plate of pancakes (that mysteriously all seem to disappear, however many there are on the plate), or sausages and hash browns. Weekends in our house are 'special breakfast' days, or, if you live like the friends I mentioned above, 'average days'.

Last weekend I tried a new recipe for a more or less effortless weekend breakfast, which turned out rather delicious. I confess that it isn't completely free from effort, but the effort expended happens the previous evening, so the morning itself is pretty effortless, and that means an extra half hour in bed, so I can't complain.

The original recipe came in one of the ever-increasing number of emails I get from Allrecipes.com, but I tweaked it to our tastes, and made it slightly less unhealthy by reducing the amount of cream. Yes, it's the weekend, but I don't want to feel guilty all day and have to skip dessert later!

Baked Cranberry-Raisin French Toast
Serves 6

oil spray
1 16oz package of cinnamon raisin bread, cut into 1" cubes
3/4 cup dried cranberries
6 eggs
1 cup whipping cream
2 cups milk (I used 2%/semi-skimmed)
2 tsp vanilla extract
maple syrup to serve

1. Place half the bread cubes in a 3 qt baking dish, sprayed with oil spray. Sprinkle over 1/2 cup of the cranberries. Put remaining bread cubes over the top, then sprinkle with remaining cranberries.
2. Whisk together the eggs, cream, milk and vanilla, and then pour over the contents of the baking dish. Press down lightly on the bread cubes to make sure that all start to soak up the liquidy goodness.
3. Cover the dish and refrigerate overnight.
4. In the morning, uncover the dish and bake at 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) for 45 minutes, or until golden and set in the middle. Serve with maple syrup.