Of turkey, cranberries, and the end of 2009.

I still remember the first time I had a proper Christmas dinner with roast turkey – it was in my third year of university, where my flatmates and I decided to take the plunge and cook a turkey for the first time ever. And it turned out pretty well! I have fond memories of that dinner, mostly because I spent a fair bit of time decorating the table, and was really pleased when it turned out nicely!

My first ever Christmas dinner!

Since then, I’ve tried to cook a Christmas dinner every year. It’s lots of fun, and it creates a lot of leftovers – which I love.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a huge fan of the food channel, and I watch as many Christmas specials as I possibly can. 😛 My favourites are Nigella (because she’s Nigella), and Jamie Oliver. Rather dissapointingly, Nigella didn’t have a Christmas special this year, but thank goodness for reruns!

I normally cook the turkey in the traditional way – butter on the turkey skin, with some herbs stuffed in the cavity. However, Jamie had this interesting method of cooking his turkey, what he called the “self basting turkey” method. This simply meant he stuffed butter under the turkey skin, which helps to crisp the skin as well as keep the breast meat nice and juicy. What was even better was the fact that he used flavoured butter – which I thought looked amazing.

The bad thing about stuffing butter underneath the turkey skin is that the areas with the flavoured butter looked darker (and “dirtier”), due to the herbs in the butter. It still tasted delicious though, and the skin was amazingly crispy – the crispiest skin I’ve had on a turkey to date.

And of course, what turkey is complete without some stuffing? I like cooking the stuffing separate from the turkey, and usually cook them in individual “meatball” sized pieces. This year, I decided to do something different, and cooked it in a loaf pan – which made it look a bit like meatloaf! There are cranberries and walnuts in addition to the sausagemeat, which I enjoyed as they provided a nice contrast of textures.

The turkey “meatloaf” stuffing

There were also dishes served on the side…

Roasted potatoes with a twist – inspired by this recipe by Martha Stewart. There was just the right amount of lemony-ness in the potatoes, which I absolutely loved. I also liked that I got to use olive oil instead of something more sinful like goose fat. All I can say is, if you’re a fan of lemons, you’ll love the taste of these potatoes!

Brussel sprouts, with pancetta and chestnuts. This dish was inspired by the one and only Nigella – she cooked this on her show, and I thought it sounded really interesting. It turned out well, and I really enjoyed the various textures in the dish: the crunchy brussel sprouts, salty pancetta and sweet chestnuts. Can’t say I’m a fan of brussel sprouts though – I’ll eat it but I wouldn’t order it in a restaurant, let’s just say.

Cranberry sauce, a necessity for a Christmas meal (to me anyway!). This was cooked with orange peel and and a touch of cinnamon, which gave it a very nice “festive” feel. I didn’t like how bitter the cranberry seeds were, so decided to run the sauce to a sieve – and the sauce became much sweeter. 🙂

In all, I must say that I really enjoyed my Christmas dinner – and I still have some leftovers in the fridge, which is brilliant. I’m one of those people who enjoys turkey leftovers more than the actual meal itself, as it gives me the chance to create new dishes!

On another note, I can’t believe it’s already New Year’s Eve. Time has really flown by, and I can hardly believe how much has happened in the last year. I won’t go into it all as it would be a really long post, but all I can say is that I’ve enjoyed 2009 immensely.

So, here’s wishing all of you a very Happy New Year. May 2010 bring joy, good health and good food to you all! xxx

Roast turkey
Inspired by this Jamie Oliver recipe

• 5 kg turkey
• 2 clementines
• 2-3 sprigs rosemary

• 200g butter
• 2-3 sprigs rosemary (chopped finely)
• 2-3 sprigs lemon thyme (chopped finely)
• 2-3 bay leaves (chopped finely)
• rind of one clementine

1. Make the flavoured butter: Mix softened butter with the grated clementine rind, chopped rosemary, chopped lemon thyme and chopped bay leaves. You may add dried cranberries to the butter, but I left this out as my stuffing already contained this.
2. Preheat your oven to as hot as it can go (for me, this was 220ºC).
3. Get your turkey, and use a spoon to work your way between the skin and the breast meat. Take care when doing this as you do not want to break the skin. Stuff the butter into the cavity you have just created. Rub any remaining butter all over the turkey.
4. Halve 2 clementines and pop them into the cavity with a few sprigs of rosemary. Jamie says that this is so the fruit will steam and flavour the turkey.
5. Put your turkey into the preheated oven, and immediately turn the oven down to 180ºC.
6. As a rough guide, each kg of turkey will need 35-40 minutes to cook. That said, each turkey and each oven is different, so just check on your turkey every 30 minutes and keep it from drying out by basting it with the juices from the bottom of the pan.
7. When the skin gets golden and crispy, the turkey should be done. To check on this, gently pull the drumstick outwards – if the juices run clear, the turkey is done. Alternatively, it is done when a meat thermometer (inserted in the thickest part of the breast) reads 65ºC.
8. Move the turkey to a platter then cover it with a double layer of foil to keep it warm while it rests for at least 30 minutes.

Cranberry and walnut sausagemeat “meatloaf” stuffing
Inspired by this recipe

• 400g dried cranberries
• 150g walnuts, chopped
• 1kg sausagemeat
• 4 shallots, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 6 sprigs thyme, leaves picked
• 1 bunch sage, finely chopped
• 3 slices of proscuitto

1. Preheat your oven to 180ºC.
2. Mix all the ingredients (except the proscuitto) together, using either a spatula or your hands. Make sure all the ingredients are mixed up evenly.
3. Put the sausagemeat mixture into a loaf pan. Top with proscuitto slices.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 45-55 minutes, until cooked through.

Cranberry sauce

• 500g fresh cranberries
• 400g sugar
• rind of 2 clementines (I simply peeled the rind off, there is no need to grate it)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• splash of red wine (ideally I would use port, but I only had red wine to hand)

1. Heat all the ingredients (except the red wine) in a pan over medium high heat. Once it reaches a boil, add the wine.
2. Turn down the heat, and simmer for 25-30 minutes.
3. If you like, you can sieve the mixture to get a silky smooth cranberry sauce.

Brussel sprouts with pancetta and chestnuts
See this recipe by Nigella – I followed it pretty closely (by my standards anyway!). Only changes I made were using red wine in place of marsala, and omitting the parsley.

Roast lemon potatoes
See this recipe from Martha – Only change I made was to use fresh herbs (which I used for the turkey) instead of dried.

* I’ve only posted the links for the last two recipes as there would be too many words in this post otherwise! 😉

Happy Holidays!

Christmas has always been one of my favourite times of the year. There’s just something about the decorations, the food, and the classic movies on the telly that make it all seem very… fun. 🙂

I decided that I would make gifts for my friends this year, and started planning about a month in advance. Now, when you are as undecided as me, this is not always a good idea. I kept on finding such great ideas that I grew quite concerned at the number of recipes I began to accumulate. Nevertheless, I finally managed to make up my mind, and made some oreo truffle pops and Mowie’s spekulatius biscuits. I originally planned to make a few other types of biscuits, but didn’t have the time to do so.

I had never made (or even tasted!) spekulatius before, but Mowie’s description of the biscuits and the amazing photos he took was enough to convince me to give it a go. And I certainly wasn’t dissapointed! The best way I can think of to describe these little beauties are that they taste like crunchy shortbread, with a nice festive aftertaste from the spices. The taste develops with time, and were amazing 2 days after they were initially made.

I also made oreo truffles, which are one of my favourite things to make. I must say I favour this way of making truffles to the more traditional way of using chocolate ganache, as this feels less fiddly. Relatively anyway. Why do I say relatively? Well… because I decided that I would try making Bakerella’s reindeer pops – which I immediately bookmarked the moment I saw them. I mean, how cute are they? They took quite a lot of work though – especially those reindeer horns! They almost drove me insane. Which is why I stopped at 12… (plus I had run out of red/orange smarties…).

Having said that, I felt that all the effort put in was definitely worth it. And I must admit that I had lots of fun packing them up to be given away! 😛 I’m strange like that, I find such things therapeutic.

German spekulatius
Slightly adapted from Mowie’s family recipe
(Makes 60-65 cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutter)

• 500g flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 170g sugar (I used brown sugar)
• Seeds of 2 vanilla pods, or 1 tsp vanilla essence (I used 1 tsp vanilla bean paste)
• 2 drops almond essence
• 2 eggs
• 200g cold butter, cubed
• 100g ground almonds (you can also use hazelnuts)
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp mixed spice

1. Mix the flour and baking powder in a bowl. Make a well in the middle and add all the other ingredients.

2. Use your hands to mix the ingredients properly until a ball of dough forms. Alternatively, do what I did and let your stand mixer do the hard work for you. I used the K beater at medium speed, which worked very well.

3. Place the dough in the fridge for about 15 minutes, as the dough needs to be cold before you start cutting out shapes.

4. Preheat your oven to 180˚C in the meantime.

5. Roll the dough out thinly (roughly 5mm thick), and cut the dough using your desired cookie cutters.

6. Place cookies on trays lined with greaseproof paper, and bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes (until golden brown).

7. Allow the cookies to cool before peeling them off the paper. Store biscuits in a biscuit tin, and slowly enjoy your little bites of goodness!

*You can decorate these by placing flaked almonds on each cookie, I brushed the spekulatius with melted butter to help them stick. (I didn’t use an eggwash as I didn’t want the cookies to be shiny).

Oreo truffle pops
Makes 10-12, depending on the size of your truffles

• 1 tray of Oreo cookies*
• 1 tray of cream cheese (I used extra light cream cheese)
• 200g dark chocolate
• lolly sticks

• 100g white chocolate (for decorating)
• coloured sugar/crushed Oreos/sugar sprinkles (for decorating)

1. Crush the Oreo cookies until it reaches powder like consistency. I use my mini food processor to do this as I find it does a much better job than me!

2. Mix the crushed Oreos with the cream cheese. You can do this using a wooden spoon in a bowl, or with a stand/handheld mixer.

3. Form the mixture into balls, and place them on a tray lined with either foil or greaseproof paper. Put a lolly stick into each truffle ball, and flash freeze for 10-15 minutes.

4. Whilst the truffle balls are in the freezer, melt some dark chocolate in a double boiler.

5. Dip each truffle ball into the melted chocolate, and leave to dry. I leave mine for at least 30 minutes, just to be safe.

6. Decorate as you wish – I used white chocolate, crushed Oreos, and coloured sugar. And not forgetting the reindeers, instructions for which can be found here.

* You can also use Tim Tams, which I actually prefer, but they are just much harder (and more expensive) to find in London!

Cologne Christmas Market @ Southbank Centre

The weather has become considerably colder in the last week or so, which is a sign that winter is well and truly here. It also is a sign that somehow, the year has flown by, and we’re only a week away from Christmas!

I adore Christmas in London – what’s not to like? The Christmas decorations, the buskers playing Christmas tunes on the saxophone, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas (Is You)” playing in departmental stores, the pop-up ice rinks, the FOOD… See what I mean? In the recent years though, I have discovered another reason to love Christmas in London – Christmas markets. There are quite a few markets around: there’s one in Hyde Park (which also has a ice rink and various carnival type rides), one in Natural History Museum (though it’s a very small one it’s nice as it gives you something to do post ice-skating!), and of course, the one in Southbank Centre.

I’ve always loved Southbank, and could think of nothing better than a leisurely stroll along the banks of River Thames, camera around my neck (of course). There was also the added bonus of the Chocolate Festival that was happening last week… 😉

The chocolate stalls were all huddled together just before the actual Christmas Market itself, and were selling a variety of chocolate based items:

Colourful chocolate discs

The ever present hot chocolate (which I can never say no to!)

Fudge! Not sure why this was sold in the Chocolate section though, I would have thought fudge would fit right into the actual market itself.

Yummy churros (sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar), with a dark chocolate dip. This was really good as they were fresh out of the deep fryer, and when coupled with the dark chocolate – mmmmm is really all I can say. Totally worth the calories.

It was then time to continue on to the Christmas Market itself…

Every German Christmas Market needs to have sausage rolls – or as they’re more fondly known, Bratwurst. These were absolutely amazing, especially in the cold weather. I can’t say the bun that came with it was very good (I wish they’d toasted them, and smeared them with butter), but the sausages were more than enough to make up for it. There are 4 varieties sold – Bratwurst (the original), Geflügelwurst (chicken), Käsekrakauer (the cheesy one), Schinkenwurst (the smokey one). And I must sheepishly admit that we tried all of them except the Geflügelwurst. What can I say, both R and I have very little self control!

But then again… could you say no to this? 😛 Especially when topped with ketchup (curry or the normal variety) and mustard…

And if we hadn’t already had enough unhealthy food, we then passed by a stall selling fried potatoes – bratkartoffeln. I am a massive fan of potatoes (to the extent that I own a potato cookbook), and it was very hard to say no to this. Especially when it’s fried with bacon and onions. And served with garlic mayo! I wish I could say I felt guilty when eating this, but I wasn’t as it was simply too good. 😛

There was also a few other food stalls whose food we didn’t get a chance to sample….

Paella

Roast pork with peas and mash, served in a giant Yorkshire pudding. This looked very tempting but I decided to go for the potatoes instead…

The cutest mini pancakes I’ve ever seen, with the always delicious Nutella

Roasted and candied nuts – a brilliant winter snack

A selection of pick-and-mix

A selection of gingerbread biscuits

And of course, it wasn’t just about the food. There were lots of stalls selling a variety of items, all of which would make for unique Christmas presents or stocking fillers.

Adorable Christmas themed figurines (not sure how else to describe them!)

Necklaces made from real flowers

Fake snow! 🙂

Rather unique 3D and 4D puzzles – I think these would make great stocking fillers!

Scented and decorative soaps. I don’t know about you, but I could never be able to use such pretty soap!

A very cool bauble

And some very cute doll decorations for your Christmas tree

All in all, it was a great afternoon out in one of my favourite places in London. It can’t get much better than that, can it? Especially when you have views such as these…

The Christmas Market is open from now till next Wednesday, so do pop by for a visit if you get the chance to!

Cologne Christmas Market @ Southbank Centre
Open till 23 December 2009
http://www.xmas-markets.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=3

Burger heaven

The weather in London has been terrible lately – rain, rain and more rain. (With a little bit of sunshine thrown in once in a while.) If I had my own way, I would hide indoors the everytime it rains, curled up in my duvet whilst drinking a hot drink of some sort. Unfortunately life can’t stop whilst the weather is miserable, which is why I turn to food to cheer me up.

I first came across these burgers in Donna Hay magazine – they were in a feature called ‘Posh Patties’, and I fell in love almost immediately. The burgers looked so good that I was almost salivating with hunger. Though to be fair, I love most of the photos in Donna Hay magazine, as it is the ultimate food porn. I mean, the photographers manage to make lemon slices look absolutely stunning. How ridiculous is that? 😛

I love most burgers, and these are no exception. I especially like the vegetarian burger as it uses halloumi, which has a very meaty texture, and goes amazingly well with the grilled vegetables. I also decided to make the burger buns from scratch as I have this disease where I feel the need to use my beloved KitchenAid stand mixer at every possible opportunity. The buns came out really well and I was very pleased with how they turned out!

Burger buns
From the King Arthur Flour website

• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 large egg
• 3 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1/4 cup sugar (I later felt this might have been too much, I’ll cut down on sugar the next time I make this)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast
• 1 egg + 1 tablespoon water
• sesame seeds

1. Put the lukewarm water and sugar into a bowl of a stand mixer, and stir until the sugar dissolves. Sprinkle the yeast over the sugar and water mixture, and leave for 10 minutes to allow the yeast to “bubble”.
2. Add the bread flour, salt, egg, and butter to the yeast mixture, and mix on low speed (with a dough hook) for 8-10 minutes until the mixture forms a nice dough. If you find that the dough is too sticky, just add more flour until the dough doesn’t stick to the sides of the bowl.
3. Pour oil into a large bowl; use a some kitchen roll to oil the bowl. Transfer dough to bowl, turning dough to completely cover all sides. Cover with clingfilm or a tea towel, and leave to rise until doubled in size. (usually takes an hour)*
4. Divide dough into 6 equal portions, and shape each portion into a burger shaped bun. Leave to rise again until they become very puffy (about an hour). **
5. If you wish, brush the burger buns with an egg wash, and sprinkle sesame seeds on the tops. Alternatively, just dust the buns with flour.
6. Bake the buns in a preheated oven at 190°C, for 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Leave to cool.

*It was at this point I left the house to do some shopping, and I ended up leaving the dough to rise for a good 3 hours.
**I only left it to rise for 15 minutes as I didn’t have enough time to wait a whole hour… or roughly translated as: I was getting hungry. 😛

Roasted tomato, aubergine, and halloumi burger
Adapted from Donna Hay Magazine
(Serves 2)

• 1 tomato, thickly sliced
• 2 burger buns, sliced
• 1 aubergine, sliced
• 200g halloumi, sliced
• olive oil
• harrisa mayonnaise (I added some harissa to Japanese mayonnaise, how much harissa you use depends on how spicy you want your mayo)
• caramelised red onions
• rocket leaves

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Place the tomato on a baking tray and brush with oil. Roast for 20 minutes or until cook. Set aside.
2. Brush the bun halves with oil, and place them (cut sides down) on a non-stick pan over a high heat, until the surfaces are golden brown.
3. Heat a grill pan (I use a Chasseur grill pan) over high heat. Brush the aubergine slices with oil, and grill for 2 minutes on each side. Cook the haloumi slices in the same way.
4. Spread the bun halves with the harissa mayonnaise. Top the bottom half of the burger bun with the tomato slices, aubergine, haloumi, caramelised onions and rocket leaves. And enjoy!

Cheeseburger
Adapted from Donna Hay Magazine
(serves 4)

• 500g beef mince
• sea salt
• black pepper
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 4 portebello mushrooms
• 4 burger buns, halved
• olive oil
• 200g sliced Swiss cheese
• caramelised red onions
• rocket leaves

1. Heat the oven to 180°C.
2. Mix the beef mince, salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce in bowl, and mix to combine. Divide into 4 equal portions, shape into patties and wrap it in a slice of Swiss cheese. Place on a baking tray, and roast for 10-15 minutes, or until cheese is completely melted and patties are cooked through.
3. Place the mushrooms on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, and roast for 8-10 minutes. (I cook the mushrooms and the beef patties in the oven at the same time)
3. Brush the bun halves with oil, and place them (cut sides down) on a non-stick pan over a high heat, until the surfaces are golden brown.
4. Top half a burger bun with another slice of cheese, beef patty, mushroom, caramelised onions, rocket leaves and top half of the burger bun. Sit back and bite into the meaty goodness that is this burger.