Chanukah, the festival of lights, has already begun and lasts till next Saturday. Christmas Eve is just a week away. And on Friday, the sun will start to come back to us northerners one more time.
There are hard things that can be said about this season, hard things that need saying, but that's not what we'll do in this thread. Here we're just going to be proper pagans and celebrate the one symbol of the season that has always mattered most, especially to those who don't have enough of it: food. Yummy food. Food that we prepare together and sit down to share together.
So, ok, sometimes that last part is a bit of a strain for some of us, but it's the thought that counts, right? Here we shall honour the ancient thought of communities gathering together for warmth at the time of the solstice -- literally, the time when the sun stands still.
That was all just an inflated warm-up for my gingerbread recipe, which is my favourite easy solution for drive-by holiday visits. But I'm hoping for some good trades.
Does anyone here do cookies? Especially, does anyone have secret tips about how I can make my shortbread smoother? More exciting I already know about: chop up some candied ginger and hide it in the shortbread as a nice little explosive surprise.
And does anyone still spice a brisket? Lovely thing for a Christmas Eve supper.
Anyway, all casseroles left at the door are welcome. I admit that my gingerbread recipe I shamelessly stole from the first Silver Palate Cookbook, although I've changed it a bit and they should be grateful for the advertising (great cookbook!). Me mum's gingerbread was good but not as fluffy as this, and besides, me mum's recipes are still missing in one of those mystery boxes I haven't unpacked yet ... But I digress. On to the gingerbread.
Silver Palate Gingerbread
1 2/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsps baking soda
1 1/2 tsps ground ginger
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
whipping cream (35%), or perhaps Devon double cream
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 9-inch square baking pan.
Sift dry ingredients together into a mixing bowl. Add egg, sugar, and molasses. Mix well.
Pour boiling water and the oil over mixture. Stir thoroughly until smooth.
Pour batter into the prepared pan. Set on the middle rack of oven and bake 35 to 40 minutes, or until top springs back when touched and the edges have pulled away slightly from the sides of the pan.
The Silver Palate people glaze the cake at this point (while still hot) with a lemon glaze (2/3 cup confectioner's sugar plus 3 tbsps lemon juice, mixed together, not cooked). I tried that once, the first time I made the cake, but I did not like it. It seemed to me that the lemon was fighting the ginger, and I wanted the ginger all on its own. I much prefer to serve squares of this cake split open, and with nice big dollops of whipped cream.
If you want to tart up shortbread you can always make empire biscuits. I don't have my recipe to hand but here is a similar one.
Put seedless raspberry jam in the middle, and top with icing sugar mixed with hot water and almond flavouring. Top with half a maraschino cherry.
So very decadent.
For people who aren't into sweets, I have a great recipe for beets: sweet, sour, salt and spicy.
* 2 cans rosebud beets, drained, cut in halves or quarters, or left whole (if whole, add another can); reserve some juice. may use fresh beets, cook as usual
* 1/4 cup beet juice (from cannned beets or water from cooking)
* 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
* 2 tbsp brown sugar
* 1 tbsp ground ginger, or 2 tbsp fresh grated ginger
* a couple whole cloves
* 1 heaping tbsp of hot mustard powder, or more to taste ;)
* 1 tsp of salt
* good dollop of butter or becel, enough to add a sheen to the reduced juice coating :)
*cook beets, or open cans, drain. put liquids and spices, vinegar and sugar into a (glass or ceramic) pot. bring to a boil and reduce sauce by half, whisk in butter or marg (mix should coat a spoon or swirl silkily around the sides of the pot; add quartered or whole rosebud beets.
*pepper and salt to taste. lay out in a white or glass dish. garnish with sprigs of fresh dill, or sliced orange. prepare to be complimented!
Guaranteed to look bright and festive on the table, AND bring over some beet-haters to the good side.
Beets are proven heart-smart and healthy food, chock full of antioxidants too! You may want to remind people that red or pink pee in the morning is normal after eating beets; saves an ambulance call and needless panic ;)
Cheers!
We need some savouries, indeed we do. I'm a great lover of beets, IB, of all the root veggies, although I think I had an over-pickled childhood and now like them nekkid except maybe for some butter.
But I know a lot of people love to mash up their turnips and yams this time of year, eg, and add a candied topping. I can take a little of that, although hold the marshmallows!
Somewhere around here I thought I'd left my recipe for multi-onion gratin. Can't find it just now, but I shall return.
Brisket......a traditional meal for Christmas Eve? I had no idea......and here I thought it was only good for Passover and the occasional Shabbot......Now I know what I'm eating on Christmas eve....but I don't spice it....I just cut up 3 or 4 onions, 1 litre of chicken stock and add some water to cover it all up in a covered roasting pan.....then pop it in the oven at about 325 degrees and forget about it until your house smells like heaven. Happy Challadays Everybody :)
qt314 -- ha! Happy Challadays, indeed.
And I must confess: just yesterday I was reading that the traditional Christmas Eve dinner in (formerly) Catholic parts of Europe is meatless, in fact, ideally a fish medley -- so no, there is no firm tradition for the evening, especially not in North America.
But a spiced brisket is very much a part of this season. It's like a corned beef, marinated ahead of time according to the same principles, except instead of the pickling herbs and spices that produce a corned beef, you use the sweeter spices -- cloves, especially, and cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice -- in red wine as the marinade. The brisket needs a few weeks soaking in that stew, though, before it will be spiced all the way through, so it's too late to do it now, I fear.
Or not. I mean, January is cold all the way through, and who isn't hungry?