I know, I know. Christmas is coming and as a foodie you’ve probably been asked to partake or at least bring a dish in the whole grand production that is Christmas. Or more perilous still, you’re the person who is hosting the Christmas shindig and you’ve got to come up with some fabulous courses in order to satisfy every picky eater that is part of your family along with having a quick cocktail get together with friends in the days preceding Christmas. And let’s not forget the vegetarians or kids in the mix…
Allow me to make some suggestions from the ghosts of recipes past:
Nibblies for a pre-Christmas get-together with friends:
Caramelised Camembert with macadamia nuts
The Union Square Cafe’s Nuts
Tetsuya’s Oysters with rice wine vinaigrette
Goat’s cheese, basil and walnut wontons
Smoked Trout Pate
Quail’s eggs with Za’atar
Christmas Pudding Vodka
Christmas Dinner en familie:
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December 20, 2008
by Not Quite Nigella
Can I let you in on a not-so-big secret? Everyone loves Gnocchi. Even low-carb me loves Gnocchi. Can I let you in on another secret? If you say that you’ve made the Gnocchi yourself, everyone thinks that you’re a cooking genius. So if you need to do a little bit of showing off but for very little effort (my favourite kind of showing off), this is the recipe for you.
The gnocchi actually has 2 steps, one of which can be done ahead of time (important as far as dinner parties are concerned) and the second part which just requires a bit of time in the oven so it’s fairly low maintenance. I’ve specified amounts for an entree size but double the recipe and you’ve got yourself a brilliant main. Match with some wine and even the fussiest dinner guest will be calmed and gushing your praises.
I may be a pervert as I love running my finger along the ridges on the ricotta (clean of course!)
As for the sauce, it’s another one of those brilliant sauces that will have everyone asking you the recipe. All it is is butter, browned in a small saucepan so that the beautiful nutty aroma is released. Nothing more and nothing less and certainly not requiring any special ingredients, trickery or effort. If you think that browned butter is too much trouble, I’d have to say that a dinner party is probably something that you may be forced to do under threat of gunpoint or blackmail. I dare say that ordering a pizza is harder. And much less impressive.
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December 17, 2008
by Not Quite Nigella
I need to issue some words of warning. The following presentation is R Rated, contains adult themes and graphic references and is not recommended that dieters or people fearing calories continue reading. Parental Guidance is recommended for those watching their carbs and there are some explicit carb on carb scenes contained within.
With that out of the way, let me introduce one of the most delicious ways of making a Potato and Zucchini gratin. Adapted from Nigella Bites, one of my favourite cookbooks ever, it’s a touch more involved than bunging everything into the oven but it’s also 100% foolproof and swoon worthy that you’ll never made potato gratin any other way again.
The hardest part is slicing the potatoes thinly but luckily I got a V-Slicer from Kitchenware Direct to road test and it sliced this almost 2 kg of vegetables in about 3 minutes flat. Even better was that my husband has developed a bit of an appreciation for it so he gladly volunteers for V slicing duty. A minor miracle if I ever saw one.
Nigella’s original recipe was for a potato gratin but I felt that the addition of another vegetable such as a zucchini (and I’ve made this successfully with fennel and mushrooms too) elevates this from a side dish to a vegetarian main event. You could very successfully serve this alongside a Christmas roast and keep the vegetarians happy as well as the meat eaters (although it’s so good, you might want to double the quantity).
I jumped at the chance to use the Scanpan Roasting pan again, having made this many a time only to have everything stick to the roasting tin. And I was very relieved to report that it is still in pristine condition!
And as for the carb on carb action that I promised you? Get your softest white bread roll, with a spread of butter (why not, as this point you’ll be beyond calorie counting) and stuff it full with this potato and zucchini gratin and, if you like, some ham. It’s one of those moments when you’ll swear allegiance to the carb and think to yourself what a truly ludicrous life it would be without some hot, raunchy, carb on carb action.
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December 13, 2008
by Not Quite Nigella
I am a recovering entertainer. Which is actually misleading as it suggests that I am trying to curb the habit and have sought help and/or advice for excessive entertaining. I haven’t and every month my husband tsks at the food bills and the array of people that come over for a meal or tea or lunch (not breakfast though, that’s too early). I can’t help myself. When someone emails me to ask if they can pop by I get all excited and start planning food. It’s a compulsion. A sickness. And no I don’t need any help thankyou very much.
I can trace back this determination to entertain and plan parties to very old dredged up memories from childhood when, at my 7th birthday party, I would have a tantrum at my Mother yelling “You’re serving things all wrong!”. Imagine the sight of a small child with an Anna Wintour haircut screaming directions-not so cute, more scary. Or think of Franck Eggelhoffer, the Wedding Organiser from Father of the Bride in a pint sized and less charming form. And only I was allowed to put together the lolly bags as I knew exactly which lollies each child would like. And I’ve a sneaking suspicion that “control freak child from hell” has a picture of me next to it in the dictionary.
I like to think that I’ve relaxed somewhat, knowing that a stressed and tantrum throwing host is not a good thing and now force myself to relax. These tiny little tarts are ideal cocktail party nibbly food or food for a morning or afternoon tea. They are best when warm from the oven, as I always think there’s something magical about hot pastry but cool pastry loses it mojo. As for the tomato on the top, I was torn, about whether I should top the tarts with the tomato before or after they were put in the oven. Once they’re baked they collapse a little, like a semi dried tomato so I’ve shown both, one with the baked tomato top and one with the fresh tomato half. You can choose whichever the inner Franck in your prefers.
Franck Eggelhoffer-organised.
I do concede that some habits haven’t died though and I maintain that Franck Eggelhoffer is the real hero of Father of the Bride and that entertainer extraordinaire Colin Cowie is a demi god in my books.
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December 7, 2008
by Not Quite Nigella
Ever since I joined Daring Bakers, two months ago, I wondered what took me so long. OK the challenges were not easy, they are after all about challenging yourself and whilst they’re not the easiest or shortest recipes they somehow they have a knack for giving a challenge with a blow-them-out-of-the-water brilliant recipe. The first challenge was a pizza one, using Peter Reinhart’s Basic Pizza Dough recipe. And since then, I’m afraid I’ve abandoned my Stephanie Alexander recipe in favour of this one. Sure, it takes a bit more time (overnight in the fridge) but the dough makes enough for 6 pizzas and freezing some dough balls in the freezer means that I can have pizza almost every night if I want to.
So when M and her two hungry boys were coming over I knew I’d knock up a range of pizzas. I asked M what her boys like. Cryptically, she replied:
Hi, S loves simple Margarita with no Tomato Chunks. In also like Hawaiian without Pineapple – yes it sounds strange…
I eat everything 
Cheers M
Haha! Don’t you love kids and their idiosyncratic eating? In any case I knew I could do something interesting with our adult pizzas and I happened to have some Triple Cream Brie in the fridge that needed someone to eat it (mememe!). My husband and S, in an effort to expend some energy as the boys were bouncing off the walls, ran down to the shops and bought a bunch of asparagus and it was a done deal. Below is the pizza dough recipe, adapted slightly to what I do now that I’ve made a few batches of this. This time I replaced 1 cup of the regular flour with wholemeal flour. I’ve put White Truffle oil as optional (after tasting real truffle, I realise it’s nothing like it), only because I don’t like the stuff but my husband does.
Triple Cream Brie-food of the gods (cheese of the gods just sounds weird)
As for the boys, they seemed to like their margarita with no tomato chunks pizza (read: tomato pizza sauce and cheese pizza) and Hawaiian without pineapple (read: ham pizza) and by the end of the day, after bouncing all over our place with the Swiss ball, eating pizza and ice cream sundaes, they’d exhausted themselves and M took them home to sleep.
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December 3, 2008
by Not Quite Nigella
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