HOLIDAY PLEASURES

Holiday Pleasures

          December has always been to me a magical month because of the holidays. It has become more difficult each year to keep the visual and auditory blinders until December 1^st, in order to avoid the ever expanding commercial ‘holiday overload’.  But the effort allows one to really appreciate the season. The music, a child’s wide-eyed anticipation and the lights to cheer the encroaching early dark, all evoke our feelings and memories of seasons past.

          This brings us to food. We remember the fragrance of those special treats we enjoyed as children. We gravitate to cookbooks and the kitchen to prepare gifts for the family and friends and plan a celebratory dinner or gathering, whether it is for a crowd or just two special people. Here is a selection of a few of my favorites through the years, to tease the palate.

          An elegant appetizer is never amiss before any gathering, whether at your house or as something to bring to a party. This stuffed mushroom recipe has seen a lot of use throughout the years and is especially welcome, since it can be prepared ahead of time and just popped in the oven, before serving.

                             Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

          Wipe clean and trim 8 oz fresh large Crimini or white mushrooms. Remove stems, chop and set aside. Place mushroom caps stem-side up on a large baking sheet, put a small dab of butter in each stemmed depression, broil for 3-4 minutes and set aside to cool. In a small skillet melt 1 tblsp. olive oil and sauté 1 tblsp, finely chopped onion with the chopped mushroom stems for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in ¼ cup finely chopped salami, ¼ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, 1 tblsp. sour cream and 1 tblsp. catsup. Mix thoroughly, stuff in mushroom crowns, sprinkle with fine bread crumbs, place in an ovenproof dish and refrigerate until baking. When ready to serve, bake at 425 degrees for 6-8 minutes until hot.

          This next recipe for Swedish Glőgg originally came from the “New York Times Cookbook” by Craig Clairborne. With small modifications it has traveled with me from Pennsylvania, to Reno Nevada, Arizona and finally Maine. Each year I take out my green enameled pot to concoct this delightful brew.  It is the ultimate potently fragrant Christmas drink for an evening with snow and bitter cold outdoors, but it worked well even in Arizona with open windows on a ‘not-so-cold’ night. 

                             Swedish Glőgg

          3 days before use: pour ¾ cups water in a 4 quart enameled or stainless steel pot with a lid. Assemble: 4 cardamom seeds, 1 star anise, 8 whole cloves, 2 tblsp. grated orange rind, tie in a piece of cheesecloth and simmer covered in boiling water for 10 minutes. Add 1/3 cup blanched almonds, ½ cup seedless raisins, ½ cup dried apricots, ¾ cups prunes. Add enough water to barely cover the fruit, bring to boil and simmer covered for 15 minutes. Add 1 bottle red Bordeaux wine, 1 bottle ruby Port, 1 ¾ cups brandy and 3 tblsp. sugar. Bring to boil, remove immediately from heat and cover. Store in a cool place (not refrigerator) until needed, then remove the spice bag, heat to below simmer and serve in mugs. Be careful inhaling the first whiff of this potent beverage.

          Holiday invitations to gatherings with family and friends are wonderful, except there is always the morning after for the host and/or hostess. A “ready-made-breakfast” makes a much-appreciated host/hostess gift. Scones make a wonderful and easy gift for this purpose. Apricot-ginger-pecan scones are my favorites, but for a true “ready-made-breakfast” these hearty-oatmeal-breakfast scones can’t be beat.

                             Oatmeal-Bacon-Cheese Scones

          Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Crisp 3 thick slices of bacon and set aside to drain on paper towels. Sift together in a food processor: 1 2/3 cups flour, 1 tblsp. baking powder, ¾ tsp. baking soda, ½ tsp. salt, 1 1/3 cup old fashioned oats and pulse 15 times. Add ¾ cup cold unsalted butter cut in tblsp. size pieces and pulse until mix has pea sized lumps and all the butter is distributed. Remove mixture to a large bowl and toss with the crumbled bacon and ½ cup grated sharp Cheddar of Asiago cheese. Pour 2/3 cup shaken buttermilk in a depression of the mix, stirring with a fork to barely form the dough. Turn out on a floured surface and knead 6 times. Divide the dough in half and flatten with your hand on a parchment lined large pan as two 6 inch discs. Cut each round in 6 pieces, slightly separating the wedges. Brush with extra buttermilk and bake at 425 degrees for 17 minutes. Serve with additional butter. Can be kept in an airtight container until next morning and reheated in a microwave for about 30 seconds.

          The pleasures of our Holiday Season are many, but best are the joy, the peace and connections with people we love.

(I. Winicov Harrington lives in coastal Maine and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)

POPOVERS AND YORKSHIRE PUDDING

Popovers and Yorkshire Pudding

          Two of the most imposing presentations at the table are Popovers and Yorkshire pudding. Amazingly both require only eggs, milk, flour, a bit of salt and yes, some fat. After all, as Fats Waller, the famous jazz pianist was quoted to say: “Fat’s where it’s at”!

          My first encounter with popovers came many years ago at the Jordan Pond restaurant in Acadia Park. We had hiked around Jordan pond admiring the reflected beauty of the scenery, while avoiding tripping over the exposed tree roots and slippery puddles on the path and we were hungry. It seemed the favorite menu item was ‘Soup and Popover’ and never having had popovers before, I succumbed. It was love at first bite!  These tall puffed rolls were exquisitely moist and with a bit of butter, truly addictive.

          Since then I have learned to make them in my own kitchen and we enjoy them not only as elegant accompaniment to soup, but they also make a delicious breakfast dish with butter and jam and a side of fresh fruit. The only drawback is that the professional quality black steel pan holds only 6 cups, limiting number of popovers to be baked at a time, since the result with 2 pans at the same time has been less than satisfactory.

                             Amazing Popovers

          Set the rack in the middle of the oven and pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees. Heavily grease the popover cups with vegetable shorting. Quickly beat 3 large eggs with 1 ¼ cups milk, ¼ tsp. salt and 1 tblsp. melted butter in a medium bowl. Beat in 1 ¼ cups flour until smooth and distribute the batter among the 6 cups. Bake the popovers for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for an additional 17 minutes. Remove from oven, let stand a couple of minutes, release the popovers by rimming each cup with a thin table knife. Serve immediately.

          Our younger son was always very fond of popovers, so when he developed serious gluten intolerance later in life, I took it as a challenge to come up with gluten-free popovers for him. It took several months of intermittent experimentation and my husband would humorously refer to that time as our “hockey puck” breakfast days. It seemed the commercial gluten flour mixes at the time were all too heavy to do the job. Finally I made my own mix and by cheating just a tiny bit by adding ¼ tsp. of baking powder to the batter came success!

                             Gluten Free Popovers

          Gluten free (GF) baking mix: 2 cups brown rice flour, 2/3 cups potato starch, 1/3 cup tapioca flour, thoroughly blended. For the popovers: heavily grease the popover cups with vegetable shorting. Quickly beat 3 large eggs with 1 ¼ cups milk, ¼ tsp. salt and 1 tblsp. melted butter in a medium bowl. Beat in 1 ¼ cups Above GF mix and ¼ tsp. baking powder until smooth and distribute the batter among the 6 cups.  Bake as in the above recipe and you will have only slightly denser popovers, but amazingly good nevertheless.

          As the Holiday season is upon us, we are more likely to indulge in making a roast for a festive dinner. Thrifty cooks in Northern England learned to utilize the drippings of roast beef as early as 1737 by making a ‘dripping pudding’ in the roasting pan. It shortly became known as Yorkshire pudding and is often served with rib-roast as the roast provides an abundance of drippings. The beautiful puffed up pudding from the roasting pan can be cut in squares and served alongside the beef. Another attractive way to bake and serve the pudding is in a ring mold that can go directly to the table for serving.

Yorkshire Pudding in a Ring

          While the beef is resting on the sideboard before serving, select an attractive 1 ½ - 2 quart ring baking mold, pour in ¼ cup of the beef drippings and swirl to coat the sides. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Beat together 2 large eggs, 1 cup milk, 1 tsp. salt and 1 cup sifted flour. Pour the smooth batter in the mold and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and continue baking 15-20 minutes until the pudding is puffed and browned. Serve hot.

          In one dish or cup-sized this simple egg-milk-flour blend is guaranteed to please whether at breakfast, lunch or dinner. Bon appetit!

         

(I. Winicov Harrington lives in coastal Maine and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)