We have enjoyed many celebrations and meals over the past four days and I managed to take a break from recording every detail of everything that we ate and drank (for your sake and mine).  The abundance in our lives was apparent by the bounties under the tree.

We are so blessed to host so many family members for dinner that I could not fit everyone into a single picture and even then, I neglected to get Daughter #2 and my 86 year old Mom to squeeze in.  They sat to the far left and right (and D was still in the pantry opening wine).

Of all the baking and roasted meats and gravies, I think the crowning glory was Sister #3’s traditional Christmas dessert that she made especially for The Frenchman (but we all got to enjoy).  If you get “sugared out’ over the holidays, this is a lovely alternative as it is rich and meaty with nuts and butter but not overly sweet.

 

Kath’s quote: ” . . . réveillon, this word says it all; it is just as well that it comes only once a year, on 25 December, between two and three o’clock in the morning. This meal. . . is designed to restore the faithful, who are exhausted after a session of four hours in church, and to refresh throats hoarse from singing praises to the Lord. . . . A poularde or a capon with rice is the obligatory dish for this nocturnal meal, taking the place of soup, which is never served. Four hors d’oeuvres, consisting of piping hot sausages, fat well-stuffed andouilles, boudins blancs au crème, and properly defatted black puddings, are its attendants. This is followed by ox (beef) tongue, either pickled or (more likely) dressed as it would be at this time of the year, accompanied by a symmetrical arrangement of a dozen pigs’ trotters (feet) stuffed with truffles and pistachio nuts, and a dish of fresh pork cutlets. At each corner of the table are two plates of petits fours, including tarts or tartlets, and two sweet desserts, which may be a cream and an English apple pie. Nine more desserts round off the meal, and the faithful – thus fortified – retire to their devotions at the early morning Mass, preceded by Prime and followed by Tierce.”-Grimod de La Reyniere

This single blossom appeared on a south facing window sill this week.

Love-that is all.

 

While recently working with CJ Katz on the promotional tour of her gorgeous cookbook “Taste: Seasonal Dishes from a Prairie Table”, I made strudel for my very first time.  The phyllo dough that can be purchased from the freezer section of your favourite grocer, is very close to the “stretch dough” used in authentic strudel AND so much easier than attempting this art form from scratch.

Also reminiscent of Viennese Apple Strudel is the inclusion of bread crumbs.  These help absorb some of the extra juices, released from the cooking fruit.  This version includes both cranberries and apples which creates a gorgeous Christmas themed dessert.  And you can make it ahead and freeze it if you wish. 

I did so and then reheated it and served it with ice cream.  Doing so also offsets that tangyness of the cranberries (and in my case the apples, which I had left soaking in lemon juice for too long).

A really helpful tip included in this recipe is to make diagonal cuts (to allow the steam from the fruit to escapes while baking) to represent a portion size.  This way the strudel will be far easier to serve without decimating the flaky crust.

 

 

We are often too full for pie and Christmas pudding after dinner but this dessert is light enough to tuck into later in the evening.

Kath’s quote: “Oh!  All that steam!  The pudding had just been taken out of the cauldron.  Oh!  That smell!  The same as the one which prevailed on washing day!  It is that of the cloth which wraps the pudding.  Now, one would imagine oneself in a restaurant and in a confectioner’s at the same time, with a laundry nest door.  Thirty seconds later, Mrs.  Cratchit entered, her face crimson, but smiling proudly, with the pudding resembling a cannon ball, all speckled, very firm, sprinkled with brandy in flames, and decorated with a sprig of holly stuck in the centre.  Oh!  The marvelous pudding!”-Charles Dickens

Love-that is all.

I recently had the opportunity to work with CJ Katz who was on a media tour promoting her award winning cookbook Taste -Seasonal Dishes from a Prairie Table.  CJ is a food writer, photographer and culinary judge but best of all she is a prairie-girl, residing in Regina.  If you still need items to put on your Christmas list or to purchase for other foodie loved-ones, this cookbook is exquisite.  As the back cover states: “a feast for the eyes and food for the soul”.  Throughout the recipes themselves, CJ weaves the story of the seasons of the priaires, the land itself and the local growers and producers.  All the mouth-watering photography is her own!

D loves Christmas and turkey is one of the primary reasons why.  He enjoys Christmas dinner (duh) but LOVES turkey left overs. 

While he was still roasting turkeys for a recent dinner, I came home to this gorgeous pot of turkey soup and basil dumplings, bubbly on the stove.

I, on the other hand, would just as soon get the left overs all used up and move towards some lighter fare.  Here is a recipe that will satisfy us both.  It would be perfect for a Boxing Day Brunch but is so festive, it could be featured on any holiday table.

I apologise that I do not have any photos of this one.  Food styling is a hectic business and I was so focused on making the food look good, that I plum forgot!  Trust me, with the contrast and vibrant colours in this dish-it is gorgeous.

Kath’s quote: “Rational habits permit of discarding nothing left over, and the use to which leftovers (and their economic allies, the wild things of nature) are put is often at the heart of a cooking’s character.”-Richard Olney

Love-that is all.

 

There are so many reasons why I decided to make this Pot Roast recipe last evening.

1) My slow cooker was sitting right there on the counter.  I go through cooking spurts with certain appliances.  Right now I am in immersion blender mode: turnips and mashed potatoes last evening.  And anything that I can think of cooking in my brand new slow-cooker.

2) As we move closer to Christmas when we get a bit “turkeyed” out, beef provides a welcome change of tastes.

3) Speaking of turkey though, we already had one roasting in the oven for Sister #3 who puts on a dinner every year for the volunteers of  Winnipeg Havest.  Because the oven was occupied for the day, a slow-cooker recipe was the perfect choice.

4 ) Last night was Mandatory Sunday Supper at our house and I always try to prepare something particularly economical so that I can afford to package up the left overs and send a couple of meals home with our kids to help out with their busy lives (and their grocery bills).

5) D and I had tried a coffee rubbed steak at a tappas restaurant in the states this summer and I have been searching for a coffee/beef recipe that would equally satisfy.

6) There were roast tweets all afternoon on my twitter feed Friday and I could not stop thinking about the aroma of roasting beef filling my house.

7) I wanted to give my new talking digital meat thermometer a test drive.  Wow-this device takes all of the guess work out of roasting meat.  The gadget was absolutely precise when the beef was at our desired doneness and even spoke to me in a polite voice!

8) I seared the roast early in the morning, threw it into the slow-cooker and then was free to focus on my family and other tasks for the rest of the day (like trimming the Christmas tree).  I didn’t even have to make gravy, as this recipe makes its own!

9) I had the pleasure of working with Sally Vaughan Johnston this week when she was in Winnipeg and wanted to try another recipe from her “Best of Bridge Slowcooker Cookbook”.  So far she is 5 for 5, everything has worked out delicious and effortless.

10) We are going to need the energy that beef provides to get us through the week ahead: another major food-styling job for me and an annual Christmas dinner for a charity that we support that D caters each year.

 

Kath’s Tips: 1) The oven was already pre-heating for our turkey so I browned the roast in the oven instead of as the recipe suggests. Why waste electricity? 2) A meat thermometer means that your meat will cook to exactly the desired temperature. Mine is a Brookstone brand Grill Alert. A little pricier than the grocery store variety but so worth it! It even has a remote feature so that we could take the receiver downstairs with us and hear the signal over top of the sound of the Viking’s game on the big screen.  3) There are so many good recipes and cooking suggestions on the Beef Info site.

Kath’s quote: “In the childhood memories of every good cook, there’s a large kitchen, a warm stove, a simmering pot and a mom.” -Barbara Costikyan

Love-that is all.

 

I had the pleasure this week of working with Sally Vaughan Johnston while she was in Winnipeg promoting the Best of Bridge Slowcooker Cookbook.  As a food stylist I prepared the recipe in advance and then assembled the ingredients to take to CITY TV and CTV to be included in Sally’s on camera appearances.  The recipe itself is a breeze and comes out beautifully.

The batter is spread into the bottom of the slow cooker, then the fruit goes on top with melted butter pored over all.  The lid goes on and you just forget about it. While baking, the aromas of apples, cranberry,  brown sugar and cinammon are as pleasurable as a tri-wicked ented candle from Bed and Bath.

The tartness of the cranberries and orange peel in the marmalade beautifully offset the slight sweetness of the hearty cake.

Kath’s tip: I let the cake cool completely in the crock and then pulled the cake away from the crock with a spatula.  When the time came to plate it, I used a large serving spoon that I had purchased at an Asian food store for serving rice.  Sally indicated that it had come out more neatly than she had seen it previously.

Kath’s quote: Cranberries-“The Indians and English use them much, boyling them with Sugar for Sauce to eat with their Meat, and it is a delicious sauce.” –John Josselyn, 1663

Love-that is all.