A Twist on Thanksgiving

Although I love cooking and food, Thanksgiving has never really been a favorite holiday of mine.  I’ve never enjoyed turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, or pumpkin pie, so the Thanksgiving feast usually turned into a sad little plate of mashed potatoes and cranberry jelly.  The rest of my family wasn’t averse to experimenting with the traditions, though, and we’ve developed some very tasty twists on the tradition.

My aunt made this turkey recipe, and it was delicious.  It doesn’t have the impressive presentation you get from roasting a whole bird, but it sure tastes a lot better:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/dining/12mini.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=braised%20turkey&st=cse

One of my favorite recipes of all time, which fits perfectly into a Thanksgiving feast (or really any other meal) is spicy roast sweet potato wedges.

Spicy Roast Sweet Potato Wedges:

1 tsp coriander seed
½ tsp fennel seed
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp dried red pepper flakes
1 tsp kosher salt
2 lb medium sweet potatoes
3 Tbl vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 425; grind together first four
ingredients; cut potatoes in 1 inch wedges; toss
together with oil, ground spices and salt. Spread
out in a shallow pan, roast 20 minutes; turn
wedges over; roast an additional 15-20 minutes, until golden and tender.

Happy Thanksgiving!
-Emma

A very French tuna salad

This is an untraditional salade nicoise, which is to say made the way I like it. Yes, it’s a summery side or main, but some of us are lucky enough to be enjoying perpetual summer for the moment…

Salade Nicoise

200g cherry tomatoes, cut in half
190g tin of tuna packed in water, drained
125 – 250g green beans, topped, tailed and cut in half cross-ways
4 – 6 medium-sized potatoes, scrubbed and cut into chunks
1- 3 T extra-virgin olive oil
A squeeze of fresh lime juice

1) Cook potatoes until tender. Drain
2) Bring water to boil and blanch green beans until just tender, about 3 minutes maximum
3) Mix together potatoes, green beans, cherry tomatoes and tuna into a large bowl. Toss to mix.
4) squeeze over the lime juice and add the extra-virgin olive oil. If the salad seems too dry, add a little more oil. Taste. Add salt if you like.

This served about two as a main. But we were really hungry.

Eat well…life’s too short not to!

Chloe

Proper Brownies

In my house cake, muffins, and brownies all had distinctly different textures.  I notice this difference disappearing in most commercial bakeries.  Try a proper brownie, they really are an entirely different food than just small pieces of chocolate cake!

Recipe for a 13×9 (in.) cake pan:

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a baking pan lined with foil.

Melt in a small saucepan:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate

Let cool.

Beat until light in color and foamy in texture:
4 large eggs
1/4 tsp salt

Gradually add and continue beating until thick:
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

With a few swift strokes, stir in the cooled chocolate mixture just until comvines.  Even if you are using an electric mixer, switch to a wooden spoon for this.  Stir until just combined:
1 cup all-purpose flour

Gently stir in, if desired:
1 cup chopped nuts (or other goodies)

Scape batter into the prepared pan.  Bake about 25 minutes.  Cool completely in the pan on a rack.

-From “The Joy of Cooking”

Enjoy!
-Emma

Mom’s Easy Chicken in Vodka Sauce

My mom made this for me when I came to visit for a weekend; it tastes like you spent hours slaving over it, but only takes about 15 minutes to make!

2 chicken breasts (Mom cuts them in half width-wise to make them cook faster)
flour to coat chicken
a pat of butter
2 tomatoes, cubed
a splash of vodka
a splash of cream

Lightly flour the chicken, and pan fry it in the butter.  If you cut the chicken breasts in half, this will only take about 2 minutes on each side.  When the chicken is cooked, remove it and turn off the heat.  Deglaze the pan with the vodka.  Turn the heat back on, and add the tomatoes.  Now add a splash of cream, and pour the vodka-tomato-cream mixture over the chicken breasts.  Ta-da!  That’s it!

Enjoy!
-Emma

Stuffed Peppers (another version!)

Ingredients:

1 large pepper per person
25 g. peas
handful of mushrooms
50 g. rice
1 Tbsp. Cream Cheese
3-4 meatballs (or veggie balls) optional
olive oil

Slice the top off the pepper, and cut in half lengthwise if it will not stand upright of its own accord.  Remove all pith and dice a good bit of top.  Put aside.

In a small-medium pan, boil the rice for 10 minutes.  Add the peas after 4 minutes.  When ready drain and return to pan.

Mix the cream cheese, mushrooms, and meatballs into the rice and peas.

Place pepper on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil, and stuff with mixture.  Drizzle again.

Place baking tray on middle shelf of oven preheated to 190 C for 20-30 minutes.  The longer they are cooked, the crispier the rice becomes.

Enjoy!
-Juliet

Profiteroles filled with Creme Patisserie and covered in Chocolate Butter Sauce

Here’s a fancy and impressive dessert recipe to try!

For Profiteroles:

65 g / 2.5 oz. flour
50g/ 2 oz. Butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
120 ml/ 4 fl. oz. Water
1 egg beaten with 2 tbsps. milk (for brushing)

Preheat oven to 200 C/400 F.  Grease cupcake tray with 12 depressions at least.

Put butter and water in saucepan over low heat, stirring continuously until butter melts.  Bring to boil then remove from heat.  Add all flour and salt and stir until well mixed.

Return saucepan to medium heat and stir mixture continuously until it comes away from the sides of the pan.

Add two eggs, one at a time, beat until smooth.

Spoon pasty into tray.  Whisk remaining egg with milk and brush the resulting mixture over the pastry.

Bake in oven 25-30 minutes.  Poke each profiterole with a sharp knife or fork to release the steam.  Leave to cool.

For Creme Patisserie

1 Tbsp Flour
7 Fl. Oz. Hot Milk
2.5 Oz. Sugar
2 egg yolks
2 Tsp. vanilla

Beat egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl

Add flour and stir in

Heat milk in saucepan.  When hot (but not boiling!) slowly pout into egg, sugar, and flour mixture.  Mix well.

Return mixture to saucepan and cook on low-medium heat, stirring constantly.  The mixture will start to turn lumpy, keep stirring until it recovers a uniform consistency and add vanilla.  The resulting mixture should taste very like thick custard.  Add more sugar if desired.

For Chocolate Butter Sauce:

225 g./ 8 oz. Plain Chocolate, broken into pieces
250 ml/ 8 fl. oz. Water
90 g./ 3.5 oz. butter, but into pieces

Stir chocolate pieces and water together in a saucepan over low heat until the chocolate is smooth and completely melted

Remove from the heat and stir in the butter until the mixture is glossy.

Open the profiteroles, fill with custard, and douse in chocolate sauce.

-Juliet

Small Batch Baking

Every time I feel like trying out a dessert recipe, im struck with the same old notion : it’ll probably go to waste! Coming from a family of fairly health conscious eaters (Im sure most of us are these days…..although i have a very very demanding sweet tooth), and one thats not very large, my sweets often get comfortable in a little corner in the fridge, only touched once in a while, when someone gets that intense sugar craving or if friends come to visit. As a result of this, i went in search of a recipe that produced a small quantity of my all time favourite snack : a crispy, granola inspired cookie. I baked them yesterday and I’m proud to say they are hardly any left, probably because there were only about 10 cookies to begin with!

This recipe was originally for chocolate chip cookies but i substitued the chips for oats, sunflower seeds, coconut, cashews and almonds! You can use anything really.. all that matters is that you get the basic dough right.

2 tbsp + 2 tsp butter (room temp)

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp granulated sugar

2 tbsp egg (well beaten)

1/4 tbsp vanilla

1/4 cup + 2 tbsp all purpose flour

scant 1/4 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

1/3 cup chocolate chips or A handful each of oats, sunflower seeds, dessicated coconut, chopped almonds and chopped cashews

1. Cream the butter and sugar.

2. Mix in eggs and vanilla.

3. Stir in the dry ingredients.

4. On a greased cookie sheet, place balls of dough (size according to your prefference) and press them slightly so they flatten. Be sure to leave some space between each ball as the cookies expand as they bake.

5. Bake at 190 degrees celcius for about 8-11 minutes.

Tina

It’s not Easy Eating Greens

Actually, it is with this tasty and simple recipe!  Try this to avoid any Kermit the Frog related complaints at the dinner table.  You can use any kind of greens: kale, chard, collard greens, spinach, brocolli leaves…they’ll all have their own flavor, but will be tasty.  Keep in mind that the greens will melt down to practically nothing, so you need to start with quite a lot to get a decent serving.

For approximately 1/2 pound of greens

2 tbsp. olive oil
a pat of butter
3 cloves of coarsely chopped garlic
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
chili flakes or cayenne pepper to taste

Warm the olive oil and butter (the blend gives a wonderful flavour, but isn’t necessary) over medium heat and add the greens.  Once the greens are approximately half their original size, add in the chopped garlic and let it sautee, now is also the time to add the spice if you’re using any.  After the garlic has been sauteed, add in the balsamic vinegar, and let it carmelise.  Now turn off the heat and serve.

The result is a wonderful medley of sweet, sour, and spicy flavours.

Enjoy!
-Emma

Spiced milk

My spin on chai, minus the tea aspect. It’s a great, relaxing drink for getting yourself to sleep, and I prefer it to drinking warm milk straight. I’ve given quantities below for whole spices and estimations for substituting whole spices with ground. Don’t stress out about crushing the spices – just whack them with a mortar (or a mug) and throw the shards in. Also, sometimes, if I don’t have any ginger to hand, I grind in a bit more pepper for that fiery kick.

Spiced milk
Serves one – just double or triple the quantities if you’re serving more

1 cup milk
2 cinnamon sticks, crushed (1 1/2 tsps)
2 – 3 star anise, crushed (1/2 tsp)
1 tsp ground ginger, or two tsps freshly finely-grated ginger root
3 – 4 cloves, snapped in half (about 1/4 tsp)
a couple of grinds black pepper – about 1/8 – 1/4 tsp)
1 – 3 TBS runny honey, depending on your taste

1) Place milk and spices into a saucepan. Place over low – medium heat (depending on your patience!) and bring to a boil. Remove from heat (you don’t want it to boil over!) and strain. Mix in honey to taste and serve.

FroYo (empasis on the Yogurt)

I’ve recently discovered and come to love a new food trend: Frozen Yogurt.  Now, I know you’re thinking of the stuff you’re used to that is basically diet ice cream.  This is different: this is amazing.  It is literally yogurt which has been frozen.  It still has the yogurt tang.  Delicious!  Here are two places where you can try some:

Tangy Sweet (http://www.tangysweet.com/) in Dupont Circle, Washington DC.
Has more flavors and toppings.  The Green Tea flavor is awesome!

SweetGreen (http://www.sweetgreen.com/Home.html) on M Street, Georgetown, Washington DC.
Has wonderfully tasty salads, as well!

Know of any other places to get some?  Share with us!

Enjoy!
-Emma

PS: A great place to get a really good frozen yoghurt in London is at Muffinski’s, which is in 5 King Street, quite near Covent Garden. You can get a whole range of fruity flavours, including raspberry (delicious!), strawberry, blackberry, banana and, as far as I can remember, mango. The muffins are really nice too!
– Chloe