Christmas

The funniest thing..

Posted by annauk1 on January 6, 2014
Posted in: Christmas. Tagged: , , , , . 12 Comments

The funniest thing happened to us tonight and I really need to tell you now, while it’s fresh in my mind.

It’s Epiphany today, also known as ‘Ta Fota’ in Greek, or 12th night in the West, the day the tree and all the decorations need to come down by, otherwise bad luck will befall the household….at least, that’s what they say. 

Western Christians commemorate the visit of the Magi to Baby Jesus, while Eastern Christians commemorate the Baptism of Jesus Christ.

Anyways, it also happens to be the day that the Greek Orthodox priests make their annual visits to the houses of their congregation to bless them.

What can I say? It’s a Greek thing.

I was working tonight, when my husband rushed in to tell me that the Priest had arrived, bear in mind we have no prior appointment, in fact we don’t even know the day or time he’ll arrive, just that he will! I rush upstairs to find my daughters sat on the sofa, chilling, watching TV in their pyjamas and dressing gowns…’Quick!’ I say ‘The Priest is here!’ 

Well, you’ve never seen two girls shoot off the sofa so fast in their lives!! Rushing off to their bedrooms to tidy up. I swear you could see Road Runner type screech marks in their wake 🙂 That’ll teach them…so the Priest blesses the house, has a quick chat and leaves and we’re left telling the tales with our staff in the shop, having a right old giggle…

We thought that was the end of it.

How wrong I was! This time it was me, wrapped up in my dressing gown, when my husband rushes upstairs telling me that the Priest from the Other Greek Orthodox Church is here. I kid you not! This time it was me rushing round like a headless chicken!

We’ve laughed so much tonight and a big bonus – We’ve been doubly blessed. It’s going to be a good year.

As it’s the last day of the Festive season, I leave you with some of my favourite festive photographs of the season.

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Soup for Needy Souls

Posted by annauk1 on January 5, 2014
Posted in: Christmas, Nigella, soup. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

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I don’t know about you, but soothing, restorative soup is a much needed welcome change from the excesses of the festive season. Ok, it is a tad muddy coloured and perhaps not very visually appealing, but how can I begin to even explain the complexity of the tastes involved? The way the nutty, grainy chestnuts complement the savouriness of the vegetables and the smoky saltiness of the bacon, my Boxing-day family, still full up from the previous day’s over-eating, loved it.

Quietness ensues, I can hear spoons clinking against bowls, satisfied oohs and aahs. All is right with the world. It was even worth the scrum around the vacuum packed chestnuts in Asda 😉

Thank you Nigella. A much loved recipe.

chestnut Soup with Bacon Crumbles: (adapted from Nigella Christmas)

1 onion

1 leek

3 carrots

2 sticks celery

3 tbsp garlic oil

500g red lentils

3 litres vegetable or chicken stock

500g vacuum packed chestnuts

125ml sherry

salt and pepper.

for serving:

small bunch of parsley

1tsp garlic oil

10 rashers streaky bacon.

1. Finely chop the leek, carrots and celery (I used my small processor)

2. Heat the oil and add the chopped vegetables, cook for about ten minutes on a medium heat until softened a little.

3. Add the lentils

4. Add stock, bring to a boil, turn heat down a little, simmer for 40 mins until lentils are soft.

5. Add chestnuts, liquidize soup.

6. When you want to eat the soup, add the sherry and heat, add salt and pepper.

7. Finely chop the parsley and fry the bacon in the oil

8. Sprinkle each bowl with bacon and parsley.

9. Serve and enjoy.

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We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Posted by annauk1 on December 29, 2012
Posted in: Christmas, Nigella. 5 Comments
This Christmas I have dressed as an elf……

I have made myself inordinately happy with the purchasing of little, plastic reindeers and fir trees…

I have stared and stared at my pretty little tree….

And especially at these cute, little angels…..

I’ve shared my Christmas table with my nearest and dearest…..

Please God, that my 96yr old Grand-Mother, along with the rest of us, enjoys a year of good health.

I’ve gone a bit Ebay mad on Crown Devon Stockholm (blame Nigella!)

But I’ve put it to good use straight away with this Holiday Hotcake from Nigella’s book ‘Nigella Express’.

And also made good use of the fir trees and Reindeer on Nigella’s Grasshopper pie from her book ‘Kitchen’.

I’d like to wish you, my readers a very merry Christmas (albeit belatedly!) and a Happy and prosperous New Year 2013!


Anna xxx

Delia’s Chestnut cupcakes

Posted by annauk1 on November 24, 2011
Posted in: Chestnut, Christmas, Cupcakes, Delia Smith. 11 Comments

I can’t help but feeling that these delightful little cupcakes from Delia Smith’s ‘Happy Christmas’ book need a blog post devoted entirely to them. They are in an altogether more grown-up league than your usual run of the mill cupcakes, though they too have their own special place in my heart of course.
Can one have an ‘adult’ cupcake? If so, then these are they.
Tender, mildly chestnut flavoured, not too sweet sponge, topped with a glorious combination of mascarpone and sweetened chestnut puree and topped with heavenly, indulgent marron glace..

Too special to be shared with the children.

Did I really just say that?

Well, when you see the price of these little beauties (only 6 of the little darlings in this box!) You may understand my reluctance.

Delia’s Chestnut Cupcakes
Adapted from her book ‘Delia’s Happy Christmas’.

Makes 8.

150g creme de marrons (sweetened chestnut puree)
110g butter, very soft
2 eggs, beaten
110g chestnut flour (about as elusive as the Scarlet Pimpernel! So I used plain flour)
1 and a half tsp baking powder
4 tbsp milk

For the topping:
100g creme de marrons
200g light mascarpone
3 marrons glace, thinly sliced
1 tsp icing sugar

Preheat oven to 170deg.C or 150deg.C if you have a fan oven.

1. Whip the butter and 150g creme de marrons until you get a beautiful pale and fluffy mixture.

2. Add the eggs a little at a time, until incorporated.

3. Sift in the flour and baking powder, using a large metal spoon to cut and fold the flour in.

4. Add the milk when half of the flour is in.

5. Divide the mixture between the muffin cases and bake for 35-40 mins.

6. When the cakes have cooled make up the topping by mixing the remaining chestnut puree with the mascarpone.

7. Spread or pipe over the top of each cupcake, decorate with the marron glace and a light dusting of icing sugar (and in my case, pretty little gold and silver balls)

Marks out of ten?    10!

Would I make these again?   I’m already planning the next time….

Would I do anything differently?  I’m still trying to find chestnut flour, then I’ll let you know!

Thanks for a wonderful recipe Delia! I’m very impressed.

Our early Christmas dinner (My special Christmas Stuffing)

Posted by annauk1 on November 23, 2011
Posted in: Christmas, Cupcakes, Delia Smith, Family recipes, Stuffing. 6 Comments

My parents decided on Sunday that they would host an ‘Early Christmas Dinner’ for all the family, as my brother and his family were coming down from South Wales on a pre-Christmas visit. I thought it was a great idea! We love adore Christmas dinner- so why save it for only one meal a year? Anyway, it was a great idea to get us all into the festive spirit.
Mom had all bases covered, so I decided to take my special Christmas stuffing which I also made last year and which earnt me lots of the family’s praise. As my daughter-in-law says, and I agree, she could forgo the turkey and just have a plateful of stuffing and gravy! I’d have to add cranberry sauce to that, love the stuff!
It’s simple to make, try and buy the best quality sausage meat that you can, it  makes a big difference.

The first thing I did was start off by frying  200g lardons (or chopped up bacon)  in a little oil,
to this I added 1 onion, finely chopped and a small bunch of sage, finely chopped, fry off for a few minutes until softened.

Add the lardons, sage and onion to 900g best quality sausagemeat, 170g pack of sage and onion stuffing mix (which has been re-constituted with water as per packet instructions)
To this, add 200g cooked chestnuts which have been roughly chopped (I like to chop them into quite large pieces as I feel it adds to the texture of the final dish. I really like the feel of them, grainy, nutty but soft)
Also add a  250g jar of wholeberry cranberry sauce and plenty of seasoning.

Bake in an ovenproof dish, at 160degC (fan oven) for about 60-90 minutes. The final cooking time depends on the dimensions of your chosen dish, the deeper the stuffing is, the more cooking is needed. Mine needed the whole 90 minutes.
Bear in mind that this recipe makes a large amount, you could halve the recipe, or make the whole amount and do as I did by having stuffing and gravy sandwiches the day after! Heaven.

What could be nicer after our Christmas meal than some festive cupcakes?
These ones are Delia Smith’s chestnut cupcakes, from her Christmas book, made with sweetened chestnut puree, both in the batter and in the topping, and topped with the most heavenly (and expensive!) marrons glace…….

The children really loved these ones….

Chocolate chip muffins with peppermint buttercream frosting, topped with candy canes and little gold stars.

Roll on our next Christmas dinner I say!

A new year, a new start

Posted by annauk1 on January 22, 2010
Posted in: Asian, Christmas, Jamie Oliver, Video. 2 Comments

Nigel Slater – The Kitchen diaries.
February 21st…
“There is something romantic about falling snow. This is the first decent fall we have had this year, in two hours covering the box hedges and settling on the grey branches of the plum trees. By mid-afternoon, with a single trail of fox prints to the kitchen door, the garden looks like a Christmas card. The cats, huddled together round the aga, look as if they are not amused: ‘Oh, that stuff again.’
Every sound is muffled, the grass across the road sparkles in the streetlights, not a soul passes the front door. It is as if everyone is asleep. It takes something magical to make this stretch of road look as it does now, like a scene from a fairytale.”

Dreary, cold and grey.
Rain, rain go away..come again another day…..Actually I’ve decided I don’t really mind the rain. It has to be better than the white stuff we saw far too much of earlier in the month. Don’t get me wrong, I love snow! Especially when I don’t have to go anywhere, and I can stay home feeling warm and cosy and loved…I love it especially when it enables us to build cute little snow monsters:

He’s a sweetheart isn’t he! He left us too soon though…
I made my own Christmas cake last year, it was Delia’s last-minute brandied Christmas cake from her new Christmas book and there was another kind of snowman decorating that….

But now of course Christmas and New year have gone. The tree packed away for another Year, resolutions made, broken and re-made. Why oh why do I find it so ridiculously difficult to eat in a healthier way?
Perhaps when the daffodils come out, things will get easier!

 So, after Christmas, when we’ve all had far too much of rich traditional food, the jaded palate longs for something zesty, zingy, light and spicy. Jamie’s dan-dan noodles fit the bill perfectly! Believe it or not they’re not from one of his books, but from the iPhone app – Jamie’s 20 minute meals.
Made from beef mince, chillies, stir fried until browned, then honey is added to make it sticky and sweet. It’s mixed with noodles, lime, soy, Sezchuan peppercorns, garlic and spring onions and bok choy.You can get the recipeHERE

A New year, new start and all that….

Melomacarona and kourabiedhes

Posted by annauk1 on December 24, 2007
Posted in: Baking, Christmas, Cypriot recipes, Family recipes, Greek. 4 Comments

When I was growing up, I was very close to a cousin of mine who used to live in Bristol, I had no sisters, so I suppose she was the closest thing to a sister to me. We’d stay up at night talking for hours about how life would be, and how we’d stay close, and have kiddies and hubbies and huge wedding cakes….

We were so close, and so young.

When my cousin was 16, she was taken to Cyprus on holiday and introduced to a very nice man, who ended up becoming her husband. My cousin never returned home to England, but as far as I’m aware she’s very happy living out there, and she has gone on to have 2 lovely daughters, who are themselves all grown up now.

This cousin of mine is a fantastic cook, adventurous in the kitchen, and you can tell that she loves cooking!
About 10-15 years ago she sent some recipes to me, recipes for traditional Greek Christmas cookies, and almost every year I take out her hand-written recipes and make the Christmas cookies, and while I’m mixing and shaping I remember the two little girls who used to share their innermost secrets and smile…

…and sigh.

Here’s to you Cuz, far away in miles, but never far from my heart.

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melomacarona are plain cookies, dunked in a syrup made from Greek honey, sugar and water, then sprinkled with chopped walnuts. They’re better a couple of days after being made as the honey has a chance to really seep into the cookie and make it lovely and soft.

1 cup of oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup mixed orange & lemon juice
3-4 cups plain flour
1 espresso coffee cup of brandy
2tsp Baking powder

Syrup:
1.5 cups sugar
1 cup honey
1 cup water.

Bring syrup ingredients to a boil, turn the heat down and simmer for 10 minutes. Allow to cool.

1 cup chopped walnuts.
Method:
Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl.
Mix the oil with the sugar, add the Brandy and juices. Mix into the flour.
Mix well and form into oval shaped cookies. You should get around 30 from this mixture.
Cook in a medium oven, until golden brown. About 180deg.C. Approx 25 minutes.

When the cookies have cooled to about room temperature, but when there is still a trace of warmth within them, dip into the cooled syrup and sprinkle with nuts.

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The kourabiedhes are butter cookies with mixed chopped nuts in the mixture, cooked, cooled and covered in icing sugar.
You should get about 50-60 from this recipe.

250g butter
1 espresso coffee cup of sugar
1 egg yolk
1 espresso coffee cup of Brandy
1 sachet of vanilla sugar, or 1tsp vanilla extract
3 cups mixed chopped nuts, or any ratio of walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts or pistachios that you like.
1 tsp Baking powder
Approx 3.5 cups of sieved self-raising flour.
Icing sugar.

Method:
Toast the nuts until golden brown.
Beat the sugar and butter until light and creamy.
Add the rest of ingredients in order listed, adding enough of the flour to make a soft, but not sticky dough.
Leave in the fridge for half an hour to firm up.
Shape into small balls, about the size of a large walnut.
Place on a baking tray and pat each ball slightly on top, or use the prongs of a fork, so that the top is slightly flattened.
Cook in a preheated oven, about 180deg.C until a very pale gold.
When they are completely cold, roll in ample amounts of icing sugar.