Holiday recipes @Not Quite Nigella

Category Archives: Holidays

Happy Thanksgiving with a Sweet Potato Pie

We do not celebrate Thanksgiving as it is am American Holiday, despite John Howard’s best efforts However who am I to let borders stand in the way of celebrating, or more to the point, making something delicious to eat? A dish that doesn’t turn out as expected can ruin a day. A much anticipated package not arriving can also do the same. Online shopping is one of those things that I love in theory but when it takes over a week for a package to arrive to me from another large capital city in Australia I get mighty peeved. I’d rather drive down to the shops and buy it myself. But I couldn’t, for what I was after was the Dexter Season 2 DVD with evidence kit and tshirt. All of the stores had their supply of tshirts depleted (allegedly by ardent Dexter fans on the staff) so I dutifully put in an online order and waited. And waited. And waited. I let my frustration out the only way I know how – rolling pastry.

Pies are also things that I love in theory and if they work out. When I made the filling for this pie, I thought “Uh-oh” it looks like it has curdled. More specifically the filling looked like it has dessicated coconut in it which it didn’t.

However the pie came together in the end and the addition of rum and molasses gave what is normally a eggily sweet pudding, a caramelised coconut tone to it, not so much so that you’d think it was a different flavour at all, just enough to be distinct and have people murmuring that it was one of the best Sweet Potato Pies they’d ever tasted. And I was put out of my bad mood when the pie was baking in the oven, the buzzer sounded and it was the delivery guy with my Dexter DVD.

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22 comments | November 27, 2008 by Not Quite Nigella

Chocolate and Guinness Stout cupcakes for a Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

OK please forgive me if I am rolling out all of the stereotypes by having a Guinness flavoured cupcake decorated with green shamrocks. But I am assured by airyfairy’s post that Guinness is indeed a national obsession within Ireland and well, stereotypes are mostly borne of typical behaviors. I used a Nigella recipe, her Chocolate Guinness cake but made in a cupcake form. I also halved it to make a dozen cupcakes so if you would like to make it a regular sized cake, double all of the proportions below and cook in a lined 23cms springform tin for between 40 minutes to an hour and let cool in tin.

What I wouldn’t have done for a shamrock cutter but I’m afraid that in the short time space I had I couldn’t find any as the stores are packed with Easter goodies and I didn’t have enough time to order one from overseas. So the slightly odd shamrocks that I made I’m afraid will have to do for the time being. I admit I didn’t make the cream cheese topping as I used a buttercream one that I had make an excess of a few days before. I chose these high pleated soufflé cups as I wanted them to resemble a tall glass of frothy Guinness.

The resultant taste is unusual, certainly the pleasure wasn’t in the actual eating as much as the aftertaste which I found pleasantly different and lingering and Nigella’s description of a “ferrous aftertaste” is quite spot on. I have tried Guinness once and for someone who doesn’t like beer at all, it’s one of the more palatable beers. And my husband was only too happy to volunteer to drink the remaining 315ml of the can. Aren’t husbands good that way?

Chocolate and Guinness Stout cupcakes for St Patrick’s Day

This cake is magnificent in its damp blackness. I can’t say that you can absolutely taste the stout in it, but there is certainly a resonant, ferrous tang which I happen to love. The best way of describing it is to say that it’s like gingerbread without the spices. There is enough sugar – a certain understatement here – to counter any potential bitterness of the Guinness, and although I’ve eaten versions of this made up like a chocolate layer cake, stuffed and slathered in a rich chocolate frosting, I think that can take away from its dark majesty. Besides, I wanted to make a cream cheese frosting to echo the pale head that sits on top of a glass of stout. It’s unconventional to add cream but it makes it frothier and lighter which I regard as aesthetically and gastronomically desirable. But it is perfectly acceptable to leave the cake un-iced: in fact, it tastes gorgeous plain.

FOR THE CUPCAKES (makes 12 regular sized cupcakes)

125ml Guinness
75ml sour cream
125grams unsalted butter
1 egg
1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
40g unsweetened cocoa
140grams all-purpose flour
200grams caster sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

FOR THE ICING

150g Philadelphia cream cheese
65ml heavy cream
75grams icing sugar
Green coloured fondant and shamrock shaped cutter (I just printed an outline of a shamrock, placed it on top of the fondant and traced along it with a sharp, light knife)
Green sugar crystals
Silver cachous

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C, and butter and line a cupcake tin with papers. Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan, add the butter – in spoons or slices – and heat until the butter’s melted, at which time you should whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the brown, buttery, beery pan and finally whisk in the flour and baking soda.

2. Pour the cake batter into a measuring jug-it will make this infinitely easier to pour into the cupcake cups and pour the thick chocolate-y batter into the liners about 3/4 of the way up, it will rise up a little but not too much. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes and remove to cool on a rack.

3. Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, sift over the confectioners’ sugar and then beat them both together. Or do this in a processor, putting the unsifted confectioners’ sugar in first and blitz to remove lumps before adding the cheese.

4. Add the cream and beat again until it makes a spreadable consistency. Ice the top of the black cupcakes so that it resembles the frothy top of the famous pint.

Recipe adapted from Feast by Nigella Lawson

12 comments | March 17, 2008 by Not Quite Nigella

Jesssica Seinfeld – Oatmeal with pumpkin from Deceptively Delicious

Please don’t mistake this breakfast as something I would only make for my children. Mainly because I have no children, just a bunch of lifelike Monkey soft toys. The reason I tried this is not to introduce pumpkin into my diet (it already features frequently), or to add vegetables (I eat a lot of veges). Its because, even before I cooked it, I knew this would be really good.

The spices in it, cinnamon and nutmeg, along with the milk give it an oatmealy almost pumpkin pie taste. Once you have the puree, its a cinch to make-indeed I made it on a busy work day morning using frozen pumpkin puree stashed in my freezer and microwaved for 1 minute. I preferred to add the raisins in while it was cooking as I love fat plump raisins. As far the peanut butter goes, it does enhance it but I think only 1 teaspoon of peanut butter would have done me or left out altogether would have been fine. And because I loathe the taste of skim milk and never have it in the fridge, I used a half water half full cream milk. It would be equally as fabulous on a weekend morning, tarted up with chopped pistachios and dried sweetened cranberries.

Oatmeal with pumpkin from Deceptively Delicious

1 cup nonfat (skim milk)
1/4 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup canned pumpkin or sweet potato puree (I didn’t use canned, I used real pumpkin pureed and frozen in batches)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (optional)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice (I used cinnamon and nutmeg)
1 cup old-fashioned oats
2 teaspoons natural peanut butter (optional, I’d say go with 1 teaspoon)
Dried fruit and nuts (optional)
Pure maple syrup, for serving

1. In a small saucepan, combine the milk, sugar, pumpkin, vanilla, and if using, and spice. Bring to a gentle boil and stir in the oatmeal. Reduce the heat and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, until the oatmeal is soft and creamy. Stir in peanut butter, if using.

2. Spoon the oatmeal into bowls, sprinkle with dried fruit and nuts, if you like, and serve warm with maple syrup.

By Jessica Seinfeld from Deceptively Delicious

Add comment | February 1, 2008 by Not Quite Nigella

Australia Day: Ribfest-but-better pork ribs, Spinach dip & Ice Cream Cake

I don’t know if having an American style barbecue on the Australia Day weekend is somewhat perverse or likely to get your Australian citizenship annulled. My husband and I along with our friends, Gina, Hot Dog, Teena and Phillippe do World Theme Nights on occasion and, Your Honour, when planning our American theme night, it just happened to coincide with the Australia Day weekend. Our World Theme Nights involve cooking the chosen nation’s food, dressing in the clothing, speaking with the appropriate accents and listening to the music.

Since Gina is Canadian, which is near enough to America, she told us about her nephew, Matthew Fabian who lives in Milton, Canada. Prior to this he lived in Burlington and every year many cities in Canada enjoy a Ribfest competition where restaurants in the area have a stall in the park with their rib recipe for all to try and they compete for title of ‘best ribs’ as voted by the critics and public. Matt did not officially compete as he is not a restaurant, but as the story goes, a large group who went to Burlington’s Ribfest, then to Matt’s place, (unofficially) nominated his recipes as the best tasting on the day. He has kindly given me, via her, the recipe for these babies and I was more than happy to try the recipe out. The instructions are his word for word as I thought the fact that he wasn’t sure if we had Bourbon in Australia was funny and how he specifically mentioned using a new and not used paintbrush was truly hilarious.

If it does seem like a bit more work than your usual ribs, I think you could probably use a very good bought BBQ sauce instead of making your own but as I am literally a trouble maker, as in someone who prefers to make things more complicated, I made the BBQ sauce. Instead of using baby back ribs, I use regular pork ribs that my parents have found a reliable supplier of as they’re juicier and meatier. The heady smell of the dry rub will have you salivating and they’re worth the extra effort and the home made sauce is gorgeously tangy, much nicer than any bottled sauce you could buy although it seems to become a little milder once bottled and refrigerated. Dare I mess with perfection and suggest a drop or two of Tabasco? The ribs themselves are fantastically good, soft and incredibly flavoursome with the heady mixture of the dry rub and BBQ sauce permeating each bite. They aren’t what you’d call photogenic, looking almost burnt but glisteningly so, because of the dark dry rub and BBQ sauce basting.

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8 comments | January 28, 2008 by Not Quite Nigella

Happy New Year!

A very Happy New Year to my NQN readers, your friends and family! I hope that 2008 is filled with lots of fantastic feasts and fun. Speaking of feasts, my sister Blythe gave me Nigella Express for Christmas and I’ve already earmarked many, many recipes to cook and I thought what better time to start sampling than on the eve of the new year. Nigella’s Scallops-on-the-shell was just crying out to be made.

The dessert recipe that I chose however is not from Nigella Express as I needed something much simpler and quicker, in fact, its made in 5 minutes although the chilling time is much longer than a few minutes. You’ll best make it in the morning or the night before. Its by Rachael Ray who I know some are divided about. I appreciate the swiftness of the cook, if not necessarily her overt enthusiasm as much as her fans do. In any case, its a rather easy dessert to make which can only be a good thing when you’ve got a NYE outfit to bother with.

So with no further ado, and because I need to get dressed, I have for you, a sample of NYE dishes: two cocktails, an appetiser and a dessert, for of course any day of the year but especially NYE.

NQN’s Balmoral Bathing Beauty

The name is purely arbitrary, we happened to be enjoying these while out on our balcony and looking down at Balmoral Beach.

4 parts apricot nectar chilled
1 part of raspberry vodka (we use Absolut)
Raspberry puree
cream to decorate

1. Mix the nectar and raspberry vodka together and pour in martini glass
2. Add raspberry puree and cream to decorate and make into patterns if you wish.

For a Apricot Bellini:

1 part chilled apricot nectar
3-4 parts chilled Proseco or other fizzy dry white wine

1. Pour nectar in glass
2. top with the Proseco

Recipe from Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson

Scallops-on-the-shell

I can’t believe how simple yet luscious these are. I prefer to get my scallops from the fishmomger for this, which is just as well as I don’t think I could ever get a supermarket to supply me with shells.

You don’t need to take the corals off, but I like to turn this into two meals, and fry up the corals the next day, with some butter and garlic oil and eat them squished onto chunky bread or toast, and spritzed with lemon juice and carpeted with parsley.

These are really a starter, but I certainly wouldn’t mind knocking a couple of shell’s worth back for a special supper any day of the week.

Ingredients

6 scallop shells
18 scallops o 24 if very small, roes or corals removed
100g fresh breadcrumbs
6 teaspoons butter
1 lime, cut for squeezing
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 250c/gas mark 9 (you need a really hot oven). Rinse and dry the scallop shells and arrange them on a baking sheet.

2. Put the scallops in a bowl and sprinkle the breadcrumbs over them. Toss them around to get each one well coated in crumbs.

3. Put 3 breaded scallops into each shell and sprinkle with any leftover breadcrumbs that remain in the bottom of the bowl.

4. Add 1 teaspoon of butter on top of each scallop filled shell, a squirt of lime juice, 1/4 teaspoon of garlic oil and salt and pepper to taste.

5. Put the scallops in the oven for 15-20 minutes-you really want the breadcrumbs to be crispy and the butter turning black around the edges of the shell.

P.S. I found that these really benefited from a liberal dousing of fresh lime juice just before eating

Recipe from Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson

Chocolate cups in 5 minutes

Ingredients

2/3 cup whole milk
1 egg
2 Tbsp. sugar
Pinch salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 Tbsp. hazelnut liqueur or dark rum
4 demitasse cups
1 cup whipping cream
2 Tbsp. sugar
Mint sprigs, for garnish, optional

When planning your menu, make this dessert first to allow these chocolate cups to set and chill.

1. Heat milk in a small pan over moderate heat until it comes to a boil. In blender or food processor combine egg, sugar, a pinch of salt, semisweet chips and liqueur. Run processor or turn on blender to low setting. Pour in boiling milk in a slow stream. The hot milk will cook the egg and melt the chocolate. Process or blend 1 minute, until smooth.

2. Spoon chocolate into 4 demitasse cups and chill. After dinner, beat cream until soft peaks form. Add a little sugar and beat to combine. Top the chocolate cups with a dollop of cream and garnish each cup with mint sprigs. Place cups on saucers and serve with demitasse spoons.

If you use teacups, this recipe will yield 2 cups, rather than 4.

Recipe by Rachael Ray