Happy Christmas !

And you can all have a snigger at my wonky Christmas cake.

It is meant to be wonky and I have worked all day decorating it ! It looks 'homemade', doesn't it ? Haha !

Patricia xxx...x

High-Tech Candle Holders

You'd think I have nothing better to do with my time, than punch some holes through tin cans ?

On the contrary, I have a list as long as my arm to get through, before the party on Boxing Day. Buuuut..... this was also on my list.

They will grace the table beautifully with all the other tat that I will be decorating the table with. You'll see.

In the meantime, I wish you all a

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Yule or whatever else you might be celebrating !

Patricia xxx...x



Vegetarian Offerings - Lentil and Mushroom Pie

It's nearly upon us - Christmas.  And this year for me it means a lot of planning and even preparing ahead.
We're having a Boxing Day Party for 20 adults and a few small children.  Whilst most guests are meat eaters, the 3 vegetarians will be well catered for. One of the vegetarian centerpieces is this Lentil Pie. It is cooling down at the moment and tomorrow morning I will carefully place it in the freezer, to be taken back out on Sunday evening.  Monday, it will be reheated in a hot(ish) oven.

Stuffing
Ingredients

• 2 onions, peeled and chopped
• 1 large clove of garlic, crushed, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 leek, cleaned, sliced in rings and rinced
• 1 tbsp dried thyme
• 500 grs Puy lentils
• 200 ml dry white wine
• 700 ml vegetable stock
• knob of butter or vegetable oil
• lots of freshly cracked black pepper
• seasalt to taste
• punnet of mushrooms, cleaned, sliced and sauteed in oil or butter
• and I hope I haven't forgotten anything

Preparation

• Sautee the onions, leeks and garlic in oil or butter over a moderate heat.
• Add the thyme.
• Then add the Puy lentils. And sautee these to, stirring regularly.
• Pour in the wine and simmer for 3 minutes before adding the stock.
• Add the pepper and leave to simmer, with lid on, till the lentils are cooked, but al dente.  Should take about 20 minutes.
• If the stock has evaporated before the lentils are cooked, you may need a little extra water.
• Taste and season. Sometimes adding a splash of balsamic vinegar, gives it an extra lift.
• Cool and take out 1/3 of the lentils.
• 2/3 can be blended with a handheld blender, not too smooth.
• Bring the blended and whole lentils together and put them in the fridge till needed.
• Oh, the mushrooms, they can be put in the fridge too. They'll come in at a later stage.

Pastry - shortcrust
Ingredients

• 700 grs plain flour, sieved
• 350 grs cold butter, cubed
• pinch salt
• 1 tbsp dried thyme
• 1 tbsp freshly cracked black pepper
• very cold water

Preparation

• Bring together the flour, salt, thyme, pepper and butter.
• Rub the butter into the flour, till it resembles crumbs.
• Then add in some water, not too much and the quantity will depend on the moisture content of the flour.
• Bring together, adding just the tiniest amount of water at a time - do not overwork the pastry, just pull it together.
• Shape into a ball, wrap with clingfilm and rest in the fridge for a couple of hours, overnight even.

Everything has cooled properly and you have lined a cake tin with greaseproof paper.  Your cake tin is preferably one with a removable base and spring-sided. My pie tin is 25 cm diam. and 7 cm high.

Ready to roll

• Roll out approx 2/3 of the pastry on a floured surface. I have a marble slab that I use for this purpose as it stays cold.
• Thickness of the pastry should be about 4 mm.
• Line your tin with the dough and leave enough overlap to 'glue' the pastry top to it later.
• Punch a couple of times with a fork over the base.
• Fill with half of the lentils.
• Scatter now the sauteed mushrooms over this, to be topped with the other half of the lentils.
• Roll out the rest of the pastry (same thickness)
• Hah ! You need a beaten egg now.
• Brush the sides with beaten egg (this is the glue that will hold the sides and top together.
• Cover the pie with the top layer of pastry and crimp together.
• Cut off any overhanging excess pastry
• Make a whole in the center of the top for any moisture that might turn into steam to escape.
• You can decorate with any leftover pastry, glued with egg.
• Eggwash all over the top.
• Put in fridge while the oven heats up. I heated the fan oven with extra heat from below to 210° C.
• Bake the pie for 15 minutes, than reduce the heat to 190°C for 30 minutes. 
• Seeing the stuffing was already cooked, you'll have to gauge when the pastry will be ready. A golden brown will do.
• Leave to cool for 20 minutes before taking out of the tin.
• Ready to eat straight away or you can let it cool even further as it is also tasty cold or room temperature.

Wow, that looked like a lot of work, but in all honesty, it wasn't.
And if you have made shortcrust pastry before, this will certainly be a doddle.

No cross section  picture of the pie, that is for after the party.
Only 50 more dishes to go ;) and I'm not intending to put all the recipes on here.  No time, gotta go !

Patricia xxx...x

Clementines Cooked in Syrup

I found this amazing and very simple recipe here .
Very christmassy with clementines swinging in full season. A great standby to have on your pantry shelf.

Ingredients

• 14 Clementines (thoroughly washed in hot water)
• 6 cups of caster sugar
• 3 cups of water

Preparation

• Pierce the clementines approx. 10 times with a toothpick.
• Arrange in a cooking pot that will hold the fruits, sugar and water.
• Bring up to a simmer on the hob over a low heat.
• I left it to simmer for more than 3 hours.
• Leave to cool and pop the clementines into a sterilized jar.
• Cover with the syrup and screw on the lid.
• The leftover syrup (yes, I had more than would fit in the jar) I bottled.  It will come in handy to add to a hot chocolate, glühwein or any other dish I might find it would work in.

I have as yet no idea what I'll be using the clementines for, but for now, they look great on the kitchen shelf.  Might put it on the buffet table for a party we're having on Boxing Day.

Just wanted to add that the syrup tastes bittersweet and I love that.

Off you go ! There is still time to get this done before christmas.

Patricia xxx...x

Yet Another Seasonal Decoration

What do you do when you don't want to think about shopping lists and christmas menus ?
Indeed, you try anything to avoid facing up to real chores.
Find yourself an old birdcage, preferably one that has no bottom anymore ;). 

Before you can start filling it with tat, you'll need to make a bottom from an empty little crate of clementines.  Paint and/or wallpaper the outside and voilà !  There you have a brand new base.

A few twigs, tinsel, strands of ivy, moss, fairy lights and 2 birds(obviously decorative birds) later and there you have it.

No fear of animal cruelty, the cage door has been left open, so they can come and go as they please.

Shopping list ... there's always tomorrow !

Patricia xxx...x

Brazen and Bold - Christmas Tree 2011



Patricia xxx...x

Christmas Baubles

Surf and Turf Pasta

This is what I prepare when there's just not an awful lot of food in the house and when I've been struggling to untangle the christmas lights for the best part of the day.... and joy of joys, they then had the audacity to die on me when they where halfway up the tree.


Ingredients for 2

• 8 prawns, the ones I used where frozen/raw/unpeeledChorizo
•  salami or other paprika based smoked 1 cm cubed, 150 gr
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• greenish part of 2 leeks (it's what I had left in fridge), sliced in rings.
• 200 ml cream
• salt and black pepper
• olive oil

Linguine or tagliatelle work best, but I only had capellini


Preparation

• Heat some olive oil in the cooking vessel, throw in the prawns and sautee till they go pink.  Empty into a bowl (including the cooking juices)
• Fry off the chorizo and garlic with a little more oil. Scoop out and set aside.
• In the remainder of the oil, sautee the leeks.
• Meanwhile peel the prawns and slice them in about 1 cm tick slices.
• Add cooking juice of prawns to the leeks, add the chorizo and garlic and stir in the cream. Season with salt and black pepper.
• By this time you should have your pasta on the go.
• When cooked al dente, drain, stir in the sauce and add the prawns back in.
• Serve with a sprinkle of paprika powder and grated parmesan.

Santa's Little Helper

Keep decorating !
Patricia xxx...x