My Week In Food

This week was a particular busy one and I ended the weekend off or started the week, depends on how you look at it, with a roast beef dinner. Baby potatoes, carrots and mushy peas with lashings of gravy. 

Herb encrusted and done to perfection. Oven roasted at 325ºF for... depends on the size of the roast. The roast I had was just about 4 pounds in weight therefore it cooked for about 3 and 1/2 hours. 

Christmas baking got off to an earlier start. These chai shortbread were aromatically sound and delicious. Even more delicious with a cup of tea or coffee. 

Oh Christmas trees, Oh Christmas trees... my daughter had fun decorating these. 

Snack time! Found some exotic snacks at No Frill's. Masala Chana (Crispy Spicy Chickpea), Chatpata Dal (Hot and Sour treat of Gram) and Spicy Peanuts. Very spicy however very tasty and full of flavour.   

A comforting substantial dinner and a favourite of mine, pasta to keep one going during such a busy week. I made quite a bit so there are leftovers for tonights dinner. 

And at the end of it all... Camp coffee with Chestnut flavouring, steamed milk and a dash of cinnamon sugar. My cup does warmth over. 

Being pulled in many directions can be enlightening! Hope everyone has had a good week. - JW 

The Wartime Kitchen and Garden

This cookbook is in relation to a BBC show. The show recounts how Britain's wartime home played a part in the success of the Homefront. Ruth Mott and Harry Dodson along with several men and women share their experiences in wartime cookery and gardening. 

When reading through the 15 chapters some topics include Wartime shopping, Wartime gardening, kitchen economy and wild produce and herbs. With people wanting healthier food on a budget this cookbook may be relevant with today's kitchen and with today's home cook. Daily life has become more fast paced, more wired and with food prices increasing, cooking on a budget can no longer sit on the back burner. The home cook is thinking more creatively. And I find any cookbook dealing with a tumultuous and difficult time in world history carries over to the next centuries. Those that lived through the First World War and the Second World War have never forgotten and have passed that down throughout generations and many generations to come.  

The few cookbooks I have on the subject of wartime cookery mostly reflect the Second World War. My husband and I were talking about it and thought it had to do with many factors, population, the means at how food was readily available, and transportation. By the start of the Second World War the UK imported 20 tons of food per year. The population was at a staggering 50 million. And it was not unusual for the the enemy to attack shipping that was bound for Britain. Therefore restricting British industries and ultimately starving the nation into submission. Rationing was introduced by the British government at several times during the 20th century and most notably during and after the war. It was the Ministry of Food  that began a system of rationing.

The cooking staples were meat, fish, eggs, margarine, butter and cooking fats, milk, cheese, sugar, bread and oatmeal. Those staples still run supreme with today's pantry. In the Ministry of Food's leaflet of January 1944 they tell you how to use left-over toast as follows: "If there is a slice of cold toast left, use it to thicken soup. When the soup is quite hot, put in the slice of toast and boil up together. If there are a small unbroken pieces of toast left after boiling, beat with a fork and blend with the rest of the ingredients."  And from the Cookery under Rations (1941) suggestions for sandwich fillings are as follows: "Sardine and watercress, Marmite and chopped celery or shredded lettuce, Salad cream and any cold chopped vegetables, Cold potato, salad cream and chopped parsley, Grated raw carrot and grated raw beetroot, Mustard and cress, Lettuce and spring onions, Cucumber and lettuce, Chopped apple and celery, Purée of butter or haricot beans flavoured with anchovy essence, curry powder, meat or vegetable or any other flavourings liked."

Cheese Frizzles
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2 tablespoons medium or coarse oatmeal
1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons grated cheese 
1 tablespoon baking powder
salt and pepper
water to mix  

Put the dry ingredients into a basin. Mix well with enough water to make a fairly stiff batter. Heat a little fat in a fry-pan and, when smoking, drop spoonfuls of batter. Fry until golden-brown, then turn and cook the other side. 

- This recipe was from Joan Pickering, Sudbury, Suffolk. 


Wartime Chocolate Pudding
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2 oz margarine
1 oz sugar
1 cup carrot, grated
2 tablespoons golden syrup
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 heaped tablespoon cocoa
pinch of salt
1/2 pint milk
a little vanilla essence

Cream the margarine and sugar together and stir in the grated carrot, syrup and the rest of the dry ingredients. Add milk and a few drops of vanilla essence to mix to a fairly stiff consistency. Put into a greased basin and steam for 2 hours.


Plum Chutney
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5 lbs plums
2 lbs sugar
3 oz salt
1 oz ground ginger
1 oz ground cinnamon
1 oz ground allspice
1 oz mustard seed, bruised
1 quart vinegar

Stone the plums and cut into quarters. Add all the other ingredients to the vinegar and bring to a boil, then put in the plums and simmer till tender. If the mixture is still too thin, continue to simmer gently until the desired consistency is obtained. 


Hope everyone is having a good week so far. It is only Thursday and it has been quite a busy one for myself. - JW  

Spooky Afternoon Fun Revisited

The kidlets had another go at decorating more Halloween cookies. This time I think they got a bit more creative. The recipe made quite a few cookies, about 4 dozen, so it was great to have them tucked away in an air tight container in the refrigerator until the kidlets were looking for something to do. And what better way to kick off Halloween with decorating spooky cookies the day before.

                                        Bats, cats and pumpkins... Oh my! 

                                                  Black gingham bats

                                         Dots and stripes suit this pumpkin


Happy Halloween everyone! - JW 

Poppy Seed Flat Bread

And how did the Poppy Seed Flat Bread turn out? As you can see from the photo, great! It  may not be spooky or vampirish however it disappeared quite quickly. 

Poppy Seed Flat Bread (from The Dracula Cookbook) 
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2 cups warm water
2 packages granulated yeast
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons molasses
5 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons oil
Yellow cornmeal, to sprinkle
1 egg, well beaten
2-3 tablespoons poppy seed

In a large bowl, combine warm water and granulated yeast, honey and molasses. Add 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour and salt. Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes, or until batter is very smooth. Add 3 cups flour and knead for about 1 minute. Pour oil over the dough and continue kneading until the oil is absorbed, about 2-3 minutes. Place bowl in a warm place, cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 50 minutes. Punch down the dough, turn out onto a floured board and knead for a short while.
Butter well an 11" x 17" jelly-roll pan and sprinkle generously with yellow cornmeal. Shake out the excess meal. Roll out the dough about 2" thick on a floured board, shaping it to fit the length of the pan. Cover and let rise for about 30 minutes.
Brush with the beaten egg and sprinkle generously with the poppy seed. Score with a sharp knife into 3" squares about 1/4" deep. Place into a cold oven. Set temperature on 375ºF and bake for about 50-55 minutes, until bread is browned and crusty. 


Notes: 
I did not have a jelly roll pan therefore I used a baking pan lined with parchment paper. I lightly oiled the parchment paper and sprinkled it with cornmeal, shaking of any excess.

I pre-heated the oven, by accident, so when the flat bread was ready to be baked the oven was already warm. Therefore reducing the baking time to 30 minutes. 

My pantry was not as well stocked as I thought... no honey. I used golden syrup instead.

For a person, like myself, who's bread making experiences may fall a little flat this recipe was straight forward. One I would definitely make again. And by make again I mean changing it up by adding herbs, sun-dried tomatoes, cheese and for something more sweet fresh fruit or dried fruit sprinkled with an icing drizzle. I would even go as far as to make a flat bread pizza. 

   
  

The Dracula Cookbook

I can honestly say when I was given this cookbook and my eyes focused on the front cover I laughed! One might say I even howled... The 2 chapters, Feast of Dracula and Timeless Recipes to Ward Off Evil are arranged with lighthearted Dracula motif recipe titles, table decor and menus. The dishes have vampire imagery which make having recipes like Garlic soup and Meat Loaf Bucharest Style a bit tongue in cheek. If you were having a Vampire... or Halloween themed dinner party than this cookbook is perfect for that.  

That aside and dissecting this cookbook, if you will, there are some good recipes here.  I sense not all recipes need to be taken with a hint of Dracula however more with what culinary delights Transylvania has to offer. There are over 200 recipes from Transylvania covering the best of Hungarian, Rumanian and Slavic cooking. I will be making the Poppy Seed Flat Bread to go with tonight's dinner, pasta. Perhaps I should give it a more vampire name. Like Black Eyes of Bat Flat Bread. I guess not all recipes have Vampire-ish names. There are no recipe photographs only a few black and white illustrations for effect. Recipes only run one page. Notable recipes are Bubbling Warlock Brew, Black Forest Cake Nosferatu, Crêpes with Nut Filling and Witches Sauce, Shrimp Ghoulé, Fontina and Prosciutto Bites, Fettuccine Diabolique, and Sorcerer's Chestnut Dessert.  

Perhaps a cocktail to start the evening off...

Blood Orange Cocktail

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4 oz. orange juice

6 oz. Campari

orange slice 
maraschino cherry

Pour chilled orange juice and chilled Campari into a tall glass. Serve with 1/2 slice of orange and maraschino cherry on a toothpick.

Or maybe you need something to warm you up...

Bubbling Warlock Brew

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1 bottle (5th) of red port

2 cups dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon finely ground white pepper

2 cups brandy

2 bottles (5th) red burgundy

12 cinnamon sticks  

In a large pan, combine the port, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice and pepper. Stir well and simmer over low heat for about 6-7 minutes. Remove from heat and add the brandy and burgundy. Bring to a boil and remove from heat immediately. Serve in mugs, steaming hot, with cinnamon sticks.

I will let you know how the flat bread turns out. - JW 

Spooky Afternoon Fun

Yesterday we were having a bit of fun in the kitchen. Making spooky cookies for Halloween. I may have had a hand rolling out the dough and turning out the cookies however it was entirely the kidlets that decorated them as they wished. I gave them an arsenal of icing, sprinkles, and candy to which they feverishly decorated in the most inhibited way. 

Have a good weekend everyone! -JW      

Vegetarian

Eating more vegetables is easy with this straightforward vegetarian cookbook. Spares on the introduction and concentrates more on the 100 plus recipes it has to offer. This book is hefty, 320 pages, however compact. Offering one page recipes with a deliciously enticing recipe photograph on the other. Vegetables are reminiscent of every season. Whether they are cool, crisp, warm, or hearty... vegetables are plenty throughout the year. And incorporating more vegetarian recipes has become more appetizing.

There are plenty of wonderful recipes in this cookbook and since it is still October one recipe I would like to share this recipe, Ginger Pumpkin Triangles.

Ginger Pumpkin Triangles

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Makes 9

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cups (240g) finely diced pie pumpkin

3 tablespoons pine nuts

4 teaspoons finely grated ginger

1 tablespoon finely chopped jalapeño

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1/4 cup (10g) chopped cilantro (coriander)

6 sheets filo pastry

4 tablespoons (60g) butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Lightly grease a baking sheet.

Step 1: Heat oil in a skillet (fry-pan) on medium heat. Sauté the pumpkin for 8 minutes, until tender. Add pine nuts, ginger, chili and garlic. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Mix in cilantro.

Step 2: Working with two sheets of fill at a time, place on a clean work surface. Brush top side of pastry with butter. Cut lengthwise into 3 even-sized strips. Place a heaped teaspoon of mixture on one end of each pastry strip. 

Step 3: Fold pastry and filling over to forn a triangle. Continue folding, keeping triangular shape, until end of strip. 

Step 4: Arrange triangles on tray. Brush with butter. Repeat with remaining pastry and filling. 

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden and crisp. Serve warm.

Another recipe, from the cookbook, I would like to share is the Bell Pepper & Sunflower Seed Dip.

Bell Pepper & Sunflower Seed Dip

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Serves 6 

1 cup (130g) sunflower seeds

3 red bell peppers (capsicums), deseeded and halved

olive oil, for cooking

1 hot red chili, deseeded and coarsely chopped

2 cloves garlic

1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400ºF (200ºC)

Spread sunflower seeds in an oven pan and toast in oven for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring once or twice.

Place the bell pepper halves, skin side up, in an oven pan. Rub skins with a little olive oil and roast for 20 minutes, or until skin blisters. 

Removes peppers from oven and place in a bowl, setting oven pan aside.

Cover peppers with plastic wrap and leave to cool (this allows the peppers to sweat so that their skins peel off easily). Remove and discard skins.

Place bell peppers and any pan juices, along with chili and garlic, in the bowl of a food processor. Blend. Add sunflower seeds and olive oil, and process again until smooth. Season to taste.

Spoon dip into a serving bowl. 

Enjoy! - JW