Friday 13 December 2013

Festive Food for Family and Friends.

Firstly, I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous and healthy New Year!
I hope my recipes have been useful in your own kitchens, and I will continue to bring you more in the new year.
During the Christmas season it's so nice to get together, but the last thing we want to do , is to end up in the kitchen all night , making food for everyone , while they all are having fun without you. So what I usually do is a good ham from a shop, maybe some cheese and pate too, and set up a self-service table with a few things I make myself. Easy way to claim all the credit with almost no effort made!
Here's a few ideas

  • Cheese and Fig Muffins with Pumpkin seeds and Rosemary
  • Pita Bread Parcels with grilled Haloumi and Tzatziki
  • Beetroot Salad with Horseradish Dressing
  • Mini "Toad in The Hole" bites       

Cheese and Fig Muffins:
250gr plain flour
3tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
50 gr butter (softened)
1 egg 
250ml milk
50 gr grated parmesan cheese
100 gr soft goat cheese
2 tbsp chopped rosemary
4 figs (halved and sliced)
a small handful of pumpkin seeds
12 muffin cases
Preheat oven gas mark 4/180C.
Keep goat cheese, figs and seeds on the side for later.
Mix all the dry ingredients with butter.Whisk milk with the egg and stir in together with the dry ingredients. Spoon into the muffing cases (it's easier with the ice-cream spoon) and put a bit of goat cheese and figs and pumpkin seeds on top. Bake for 25-35 min., or until the skewer comes out clean.
Pita Parcels with Grilled Haloumi.
6 pita breads
500 gr haloumi
1 red pepper
1 tab of tzatziki
Wrap pita bread in foil and heat it up in the oven while the muffins are baking.
Grill haloumi cheese, chop a sweet pepper.
Cut the pita bread in two, open the parcels, fill up with haloumi, peppers and tzatziki.
Beetroot Salad with Horseradish Dressing.
This recipe is a slight deviation from something we used to make in Russia for holidays. The original recipe is full of garlic and mayonnaise, not that this one is any healthier , but the flavours are less offensive.
4 medium, cooked beetroot
3 dried apricots
a handful of toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds
100 gr crumbled feta cheese (or blue cheese)
1 tbsp horseradish sauce
1 tbsp mayonnaise
Dice the beetroot, chop the apricots.
Mix all ingredients well.


Mini "Toad in the Hole"
2 large eggs
200 ml milk
a pinch of salt
150 gr plain flour 
4 good quality sausages, skin removed, chopped 
2 medium potatoes cooked, diced
Heat the oven gas mark 7/220C, use the baking tin for muffins, pour some oil in every hole and pop it in the oven to heat up.
Make the batter with eggs, milk, salt and flour.
Be careful taking the tin out of the oven, place some sausage and potato in every hole and top up with the batter.
Bake for 25 min.



Enjoy!
Happy Holidays!







Tuesday 10 December 2013

Black Forest Pudding Cups.

Inspired by something we currently have on our menu at work. Retro flavours work well for Christmas entertainment ideas. As usual, these are super easy to make and my advise is to make it in the morning and serve in the evening. Allow the cups to stand out of the fridge for about 10-15 min. before serving. Alcohol is purely optional, I used a small shot of whiskey for the chocolate and Creme de Cassis liqueur for the cherry compote.Decorate with mini meringues,macaroons or just a little whipped cream.I made 5 cups, but my desserts are super generous in size!
100 gr dark chocolate
30 gr unsalted butter
200 ml double cream
about 100 gr cherry compote or 1tbsp of cherry jam per cup
Creme de Cassis
a splash of whiskey or rum or brandy
1 heaped tbsp of icing sugar
a small packet of biscuits of your choice

Melt the butter and chocolate over the boiling water.
 
If you are using alcohol, at this time add a shot of whiskey to the chocolate.

Set the melted chocolate aside, allow it to cool down. 
Whip the cream with the icing sugar.
 
When the chocolate has cooled down, start pouring it gently into the whipped cream, whisking slowly as you do.


The chocolate mousse is ready. 
Now assemble the desserts.
 
I used different biscuits for the base, use the ones you prefer. Basically you need to layer: biscuits, cherry compote (with or without a splash of Creme de Cassis), chocolate mousse.


 Here you can see different stages of dessert construction.

 When all dessert cups are ready, cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for a couple of hours or , if desired , overnight.

 Take it out of the fridge a few minutes before serving, and decorate to your liking. I went to town with the edible glitter here!


Enjoy!


Sunday 8 December 2013

Savoury Mozzarella and Basil Pesto Bread and Butter Pudding.

I just love the recipes I can make ahead and cook on the day, which is especially handy when I have family and friends to entertain as well as to feed.The idea came from a Christmas Hollywood movie "The Family Stone", Sarah-Jessica Parker's character made a similar dish for her hosts. It all went terribly wrong in the movie,but who cares about that when we have a lovely recipe to make!
 I shall be making this for the Christmas morning this year and serving it with some smoked salmon and a bit of caviar! This recipe is enough for 4 adults , if you don't like fish, ham and salami go nicely with it too.
400 gr loaf of Brioche bread (crusts cut off)
50 gr butter (unsalted, softened)
250 gr grated cooking mozzarella
100 gr fresh basil pesto
4 eggs
400 ml double cream
fresh dill (a small bunch chopped)
2tbsp grated parmesan cheese
salt, pepper to taste


 Butter the dish, set aside.
Cut the bread into triangles and make butter and pesto sandwiches.

Arrange the pesto sandwiches in the dish and generously sprinkle the mozzarella on top.

 In a mixing bowl beat together the eggs and cream. Stir in salt, pepper , dill and grated parmesan.
Pour the mixture over the bread and allow the dish to stand in the fridge overnight.
In the morning , preheat the oven gas mark 4/180C . Bake for 20 minutes or until the top of the dish turns golden.
Serve hot with the festive accompaniments and plenty of coffee and Bucks Fizz!

 Enjoy!