Suburban Lush

Dinner for One

I've been house-sitting for a friend the last couple of weeks and, while I've been enjoying not ever having to wait for the bathroom, I'm particularly enjoying the chance to cook whatever I want for dinner without having to consider anybody else's likes and dislikes. This means that I have eaten lots of fish, which John hates, and no potatoes, which my flatmate Fiona adores and cooks with every meal. I've been eating mostly vegetarian meals, and only eating meat when I can afford to splurge on a nice steak. John on the other hand requires some time of meat (but not fish!) with every meal, and so we eat a lot of mince and chicken drumsticks at home.

Two meals I've enjoyed most are this brussel sprout recipe for smitten kitchen (and yes, I'm enjoying being able to get away with cooking nothing but a giant plate of brussel sprouts for my dinner!); and a simple meal of farfalle dressed in a sauce of garlic, parmesan, parsley and chili oil (all buzzed in the food processor until smooth), tossed with a large handful of baby rocket. Mmmmmmm.

And yes, I know I didn't do an October Review, but I'm pretty sure nobody missed it. Obviously I tried out a whole heap of recipes for thanksgiving, I saw District 9 and finally got around to watching Amelie (which I didn't think was as good as everyone said it was - a case of too much hype I think). And I went on a couple of hikes, but did no other exercise whatsoever.

Parsnips Molly Parkin

My Mom always used to make Parsnips Molly Parkin for Thanksgiving, and again at Christmas. It hasn't made an appearance for years, probably due to a combination of family members turning health-conscious, being diagnosed with high cholesterol, and us moving to a country where its usually around 30 degrees on Christmas day, which is not conducive to eating lovely rich and creamy dishes.

Who is Molly Parkin? According to Wikipedia (the oracle of all knowledge) she was a Welsh painter and journalist who was "banned from the BBC for too much swearing" and was ranked "24th in Timeout magazines review of London's best erotic writers". All of which kind of makes me like the dish a little more. According to this article, Molly Parkin hated parsnips.

John hated parsnips too, until he tried this dish. Turns out enough cream and cheese can make anyone eat their veges!

Ingredients:

900g parsnips
450g tomatoes
5 tbsp oil
85 g butter
3 level tbsp soft brown sugar
salt & black pepper
170 oz Gruyere cheese
560ml single or double cream
4 rounded tbsp fresh white breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 165C. Peel parsnips and slice thinly. Discard any hared central cores. Grate the cheese. Skin the tomatoes, remove seeds and cut flesh into slices. Heat the oil and lightly fry parsnips for 4 minutes.

Grease  casserole with 1/2 the butter and place a layer of parsnips over the base sprinkle with a little sugar, salt & pepper, a little cream. Cover with a layer of tomatoes. Spread a bit more cream and some cheese over tomatoes. Repeat layers until the ingredients are finished, ending with cream and cheese.

Top with breadcrumbs and dot with the remaining butter.

Bake for 40 mins in centre of oven. Serve directly from the casserole dish.

Giving Thanks - The Foodie Edition

So, I may have mentioned that we ate a fair amount on Saturday. After all, we had to wash something down with the wine!

The menu:

• Pita crisps (homemade) and vege sticks with hummus & salmon dips.
• Turkey, creamy mashed potatoes, whiskey glazed carrots, parsnips Molly Parkin (my mom's recipe), sweet potato puree and peas. Served with cranberry sauce, onion sauce, and gravy.
• Pecan pie and pumpkin pie, served with whiskey whipped cream and Irish coffees (heck, I have to use the bottle up somehow!).
• Cheese platter - Emental, Gorgonzola and Brie, grapes, pear slices, olives.
• Plenty of wine and bubbles.

And yes, I'm much fatter now thankyouverymuch.

I came home straight after work on Friday and plonked myself down in the kitchen with a bottle of wine. I cooked both pies, pita crisps, and made the base for the sweet potato puree, leaving the topping until the next day. Oh, and I roasted my pumpkin seeds cause I'm good like that.

Saturday morning the turkey went in the oven. I'd been hoping to try my hand a brining a turkey, but our turkey was so huge I was unable to find a brining bag big enough.

Once the turkey was in the oven I got to chopping and peeling - carrots, potatoes, parsnips, celery, tomatoes, onions. I made the topping for the sweet potato puree, and assembled the parsnips Molly Parkin so I could just throw those in the oven when required.

At this stage I rushed off to have a shower etc, and then put the crisps, vege sticks and dips onto the table and poured myself a glass of wine (check out our ugly glass coffee table with the excess of tv, wii and x-box remotes!).

The guests arrived and we relaxed for a while before heading into the kitchen to continue chatting as I finished off the last of the cooking. My friends are so considerate!

Our turkey was perfectly cooked:

And huge:

I'd made the creamy mashed potatoes before, and they are always a hit. 

Both the whiskey glazed carrots:

and the sweet potato puree:

were new recipes for me. I enjoyed the carrots as a nice change from my usual orange glazed carrots, but I don't think I'll make the sweet potato puree again as I found it far too sweet for my taste. However the combination of sweet potato and pecans was divine, so maybe I'll try to make a similar recipe but without the sugar.

Parsnips Molly Parkin is possibly the lease healthy vegetable dish in the world, but it is divine:

It is standard holiday fare in our house, and I had to have Mom e-mail the recipe as I'd never made it before. Its one of those dishes that is so creamy and delicious that you can feel your thighs expanding as you eat it. You know, cause we needed more unhealthy dishes with this meal.

Both pies turned out well, and it was the first time I'd ever made pecan pie. I cheated and bought pre-made pie crusts as I detest making pastry (probably because I don't really like eating it), and figured that pre-made pie crusts would mean less dishes, which has to be a good thing.

As if all this wasn't enough, Julian made Irish coffees to help keep us awake so that we could continue drinking for hours. Cheers!

Giving Thanks

It's hard to believe that it is over a year ago since I posted this. On Saturday I again celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving, with the same group of close friends. And what a day it was. I'd been cooking since finishing work on Friday, staying in with a bottle of wine to make pies and prep for the next day. Up early Saturday and straight to chopping and cooking, getting everything done in time to relax with my first glass of wine at 3.00.

The food was good and the company was fantastic, and it was a great afternoon and evening. Both John and Julian (our two token boys) headed off after the meal to go out drinking, and the 5 girls stayed in, drinking, laughing and chatting, till 3am. John came back home around 1am, and I think he was slightly terrified by what he found.

Its hard to explain in words what a fun evening it was, so I'm resorting to photos to tell the story.

It all started off relatively innocently:

But then Anne realised we were taking her picture . . .

 

And for some reason I tried on her glasses:

And she and John posed with their "good sides" to the camera:

And John decided he would look better like this:

Anne pouted some more, but Alex joined in the fun:

Alex, Anne and Jen drank plenty of wine:

And even though John drank less, he enjoyed himself too:

I don't think we believe that Anne is really shy at this point:

Especially since she almost made wine come out of Jen's nose:

Thanks for making Thanksgiving so special, guys!

Proper Coffee Cake - John's definition

I made coffee cake the other week to take to a friends place. When I produced it, most of my friends were pleased to learn that it was coffee cake in the American sense of cake to eat with coffee, rather than coffee flavoured cake. When I took a slice home for John, he was disappointed for the very same reason - he doesn't like plain, cinnamony cake and wanted cake that tastes like coffee.

So, at John's request I made a coffee flavoured cake. When I was younger and living at home I went through a phase of making sponge cakes - Victoria sponge, orange sponge with chocolate frosting, and coffee sponge with coffee frosting. The basic recipe was from my Mom's trust Delia Smith cookbook, and it was a foolproof one-bowl sponge. Since I don't have the books here I went online to find Delia's sponge recipe, and adapted it to suit my needs. Watch out - this makes a HUGE cake. I ended up taking half the cake to work, much to the delight of my colleagues. For the icing, I used this recipe from The Pioneer Woman, and it made the perfect amount for icing my giant cake.

Ingredients: (for a 10 inch, double layer cake)

• 350g self-raising flour
• 2 rounded teaspoons baking powder
• 6 large eggs (at room temperature)
• 350g very soft butter
• 350g caster sugar
• 4tsp instant coffee
• 4tsp hot water
• Milk if required

Icing:

• 3/4 cup butter
• 450g icing sugar
• 1 tbsp instant coffee
• 1 - 2 tbs hot water

For the cake: Preheat the oven to 170 C. Grease two 10 inch round baking tins and line the bottom with greased baking paper.

Place butter in a large bowl. Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl from a reasonable height to give it a good airing. Dissolve the coffee granules in hot water. Add all remaining ingredients (including the coffee) and whisk well, for at least 1 minute, until combined. The batter should drop off a spoon when you tap it on the side of the bowl. If it is too thick, add a little milk to the mixture and whisk again.

Divide the mixture between the two baking tins, smoothing the mixture until level. Bake on the center shelf of the oven for 40 - 45 minutes. Do not open the oven to check the cake until 40 minutes have passed. A skewer inserted into the middle of the cakes should come out clean. Remove the pans from the oven and allow to sit for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack and removing baking paper.

If you only have one tin (like me), make 1/2 the mixture, cook one cake, then make the second half of the mixture when you are in a position to put the second cake in the oven.

For the icing: Beat butter with a whisk. Dissolve the coffee granules in hot water. Slowly add sifted icing sugar, beating in between additions. Add coffee as required.

Once the cake has cooled, go ahead and ice it. I decorated the top of mine with walnuts - divine.

Remember, this cake contains caffeine so probably best not to eat it before bed. Although I have to admit that my cake didn't. This is simply because John accidentally bought a jar of decaf instant coffee. Since nobody in our house drinks decaf, this is the coffee I use for baking. Now that I think of it, perhaps it wasn't such an accident after all as I'm now stuck making coffee cakes until the jar is empty!

Dal

I'm trying out this dal recipe. I'll be taking it for my lunches for the next few days. So far it smells good!

Updated: I had some of the Dal for lunch today, served with naan bread. It was good, but next time (and there will definitely be a next time) I will add more cumin. And I might fry some chili up with the garlic, but then I like my food spicy.

Bread & Butter Pudding

Sometimes all you want for desert is something warm and comforting to finish your meal. The weather here has been fairly cold and rainy, making me crave comfort food. I thought bread and butter pudding was a very standard dish, but when I served it I discovered that I was the only person out of five who had ever had it before.

I found this recipe on BBC Food and it was perfect. Lovely and fluffy, no marmalade (I'm really not a fan of marmalade in bread and butter pudding) and not too rich. It does require some planning ahead, though.

Ingredients

25g butter, plus extra for greasing
8 thin slices bread
50g sultanas
cinnamon powder
350ml whole milk
50ml double cream
2 free-range eggs
25g granulated sugar
nutmeg, grated, to taste

Grease a 1 litre dish with butter. Butter each slice of white bread on one side only, then cut the crusts off the bread. Arrange a layer of bread, buttered side up, in the dish, covering the bottom. Add a layer of sultanas and a sprinkling of cinnamon. Repeat until you have used up all of the bread, finishing with a layer of bread. Set aside.

* Photo to come later, but I figured I better hurry up and actually post something!

Gently warm the milk and cream in a pan over low heat to scalding point. Don't let it boil. Crack the eggs into a bowl, add three quarters of the sugar and lightly whisk until pale. Add the warm milk and cream mixture and stir well, combining until there are no lumps (if you do end up with some lumps, just strain into a bowl). Pour over the prepared bread layers and sprinkle with freshly grated nutmeg and the remaining sugar. Leave to stand for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Place the dish in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes until the custard has set and the top is golden-brown.

Serve with cream.

Corn Fritters

Occasionally I feel like something a bit different for my weekend cooked breakfast. My go-to favourites are mushrooms on toast or a soft-boiled egg with toast.

I had a craving for corn fritters. They are often on brunch menus in New Zealand, served with sour cream, bacon and sweet chili sauce, but I'd never made them before.

Searching on the internet I came across this recipe from The Pioneer Woman. A bit different from what I wanted (I was after corn fritters that were more pancake style, and I didn't want a deep-fried breakfast) I figured I could modify the recipe to fit my desires.

Served with bacon, thai sweet chili sauce (lots for John and just a little on the side for me), sour cream, and a simple chunky avocado salsa (roughly chopped avocados, tomatoes, and red onion; thinly sliced chili; a squeeze of lime juice) they were perfect. Admittedly it took me a while to assemble the meal (close to 45 minutes from start to finish, which I think is a little excessive for brunch) but it satisfied my craving brilliantly.

Ingredients: (makes enough for 2)

2 cups corn kernels: fresh, frozen, or canned
2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tablespoon sugar
1 eggs
1/4 cup milk, more to thin if necessary
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon chopped fresh chives
butter, for frying

Mix together the flour, sugar, salt and cayenne pepper. Whisk in the eggs and milk to make a thick batter (I had to use extra flour to thicken mine). Add corn and chives to batter and fold together to combine.

In a frying pan, melt some butter over a medium-high heat. Drop ladles-ful (is that even a word? I don't think so!) of batter and cook, turning once, until golden on both sides.

While I was doing this I grilled the bacon and made the salsa and, when the fritters were done, piled everything on to two plates for a fantastic brunch.

Wombat's Choc Chippie Cookies

I seem to be forever on the quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie. Several months ago I managed to convince my sister to give me herfavourite recipe so that I could try it. She kindly did, and I left the e-mail hanging around my inbox while I ignored it completely, mostly because I was craving something else.  I finally got round to making them on the weekend, and they are divine.

As per Wombat's suggestion I slightly undercooked them to leave them chewy and soft. Also, I used less chocolate chips than the recipe calls for, because I thought I had more chocolate in my cupboard than I really did. Oh, and I used a combination of semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips.

So here you go, make these and go thank my sister.

Ingredients:

• 125g salted butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 small eggs
• 1 to 2 drops vanilla
• 1 3/4 cups self raising flour
• 250g choc chips

Preheat the oven to 160C.  Using an electric mixer, cream butter with sugars until pale.  Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined.  Beat in sifted flour until mixed through.  Fold through choc chips.

Grease or line a baking tray with baking paper.  Roll dough into teaspoon sized balls and place on tray (press down).  Bake for 10 - 12 minutes.  If you like them chewy like I do don't let them brown as they crisp up as they cool down.

Makes heaps.

James Street South

Out for dinner last night for my aunt and uncle's 40th wedding anniversary. A family meal at the exquisite James Street South Restaurant. Located on James Street South (surprising, no?) this is one of Belfast's premier restaurants. Fancier than John and I would normally go to (after all, we're fans of Tony Roma's), James Street South is the kind of restaurant where they take your coat when you enter and help you back into it as you leave, where the wine and water glasses never get a chance to be empty, where they can take an order for a table of ten people and bring the correct dish to each  person without having to ask.

So, what did I have? We started with a round of gin and tonics while waiting to be seated. Then, lobster salad with quail eggs, paired with a lovely New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. As a main, wood pigeon served with figs and a beetroot jus and selection of sides - all divine - creamy champ, buttered beans with sauerkraut, chips, tomato cerviche, broccoli, washed down with an Australian Shiraz. And for desert, white chocolate parfait with strawberries, and a macchiato to finish it off.

The food was devine and it was a lovely meal with lovely company. A perfect Friday night splurge.