Category: Christmas

St Niklas Granola

Hello friends! Today we a celebrating the festive season with another lovely homemade gift. Unlike the Sparkling Lavender Mustard or my Christmas Pudding, each of which need to rest for about a month before being ready to gift, the St Niklas Granola can be whipped up in an hour or so and gifted as soon as it cools!

St Niklas Granola2

Annabel Crabb & David Sedaris

The recipe for the St Niklas Granola comes from the Book Special Guest by Australian Journalist, Annabel Crabb.  I adore Annabel Crabb, she is smart and funny and she writes a good recipe!  The St Niklas Granola is inspired by those spicy Dutch Christmas cookies called Peppernoten.  In the introduction, to the granola, she also speaks of the rather suspect story surrounding them. I believe this is the same story as told by David Sedaris in his story “Six To Eight Black Men”.  I linked to his reading of this way back in 2015 and can heartily recommend it.  It is so funny!  (And the Fig, Fennel and Pistachio Roulade that was the featured recipe would also make a wonderful Christmas gift for the Foodie in your life!  

Listening to Six to Eight Black Men has become one of my Christmas traditions.  Making the St Niklas granola may well become one too.  

St Niklas Granola

 

Speaking of Christmas traditions, Fairytale of New York is one of my favourite (Christmas) songs and features on any Christmas playlist I compile.  I was upset to hear of the recent passing of Shane McGowan.  His duet with Sinead O’Connor, Haunted is also one of my favourite songs.  How beautiful is her voice here?  It gives me shivers to hear it.  It is so sad to think that we have lost two such talented musicians this year.  

But back to the granola…

St Niklas Granola Recipe

I am not much of a breakfast person, so I usually eat my Granola as an after-dinner treat instead of dessert.  Sometimes, I also just grab a handful for a little snack on the go.  Some yoghurt and fresh fruit make it as good in the morning as it is in the evening.  The hit of spice and, especially the little hits of ginger when you get them are soooo good!  I love Annabelle’s suggestion of serving it with ice cream as a dessert too! 

St Niklas Granola recipe (1)

And of course, when I suggest you give this as a gift, what I really mean is make an entire batch and keep half for yourself!

 

St Niklas Granola3

Have a wonderful week! 

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Christmas Cocktail Party – 2002

.Hello Friends and welcome to Twenty Years Ago Today!  Today I am planning a Christmas Cocktail Party based on recipes from the December 2002 Edition of Australian Table. The Christmas Martini featured in the magazine felt like a perfect way to kick off the festivities!

Christmas Martini 2 (1)

 

Dec 2002 Menu

 

The Christmas Martini

I had to check my dates to see if the Christmas Martini was created at the height of Sex And The City and thus was leaning into the Cosmo craze that show generated.  It was a little late for that so now think that the use of cranberry juice in a martini was more due to its festive colour than a call back to the show.

I admit to being a bit worried about this  – I thought it might be too sweet. I used a no-added-sugar cranberry juice to try to counter this and to my mind, this recipe really worked.  The Christmas Martini is definitely sweeter than a regular martini but the tannins in the cranberry helped to keep it from being sickly.  I also liked the combination of the slightly sweet drink and the salty olives.  So this was a winner for me!

Christmas Martini 1

Christmas Martini Recipe

Christmas Martini Recipe

The Other Recipes (and My Variations)

Parmesan Chilli Biscuits with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

If I were making these, I might be tempted to swap out the baby spinach leaves for basil leaves and pipe a little splodge of goat’s cheese onto each biscuit not only to add some more flavour but also to anchor the tomato to the biscuit a bit better!  No one wants a stray balsamic-covered cherry tomato rolling off their biscuit and staining their cocktail dress!

Here’s The Recipe:

Christmas Cocktail Party1

Cured Salmon with Fresh Herbs

I made this and the salmon was amazing!  So good and so easy!  To fit in with my cocktail party theme, instead of serving it in long strips with potato salad, per the recipe, I cut the salmon into chunks and served it on crackers with some cream cheese, thinly sliced shallots and the capers and herbs suggested by the recipe.  These would work perfectly with the Chrirtmas Martini too!

Cured Salmon2

 

Cured Salmon 3

 

Here’s The Recipe:

Cured Salmon Recipe

Fillet of Beef with Salsa Verde

For cocktail party serving, I would make cut the beef into nice bite-size chunks, place it on a grilled bit of crusty bread and drizzle with the salsa verde.

Salsa Verde Beef

Mixed Berry Tarts

A great alternative, if, like me, you are not a  fan of the traditional mince pie!  These would be a lovely ending to your Christmas cocktail party!

Mixed Berry Tarts

My Nigella Moment

For first-time readers, this refers to the moment at the end of Nigella Lawson’s cooking shows when she sneaks back to the fridge to have another bite of something delicious.  In the context of these Twenty Years Ago posts, it is something contained in the magazine that does not fit with the overall menu theme but I’m sneaking in because it was really good!  This month’s item of irresistibility was a Peach, Watercress and Blue Cheese Salad. This was sensational!  (If it looks a little bit familiar, we ate this as a side dish to last week’s Stilton and Leek Souffle.

Peach, Watercress and Blue Cheese Salad2

 

Peach, Watercress and Blue Cheese Salad

Here’s the recipe:

Peach, Watercress and Blue Cheese Salad recipe

I hope this has given you some inspo for your own Christmas Cocktail Party.  Have a wonderful, safe and festive holiday period!

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The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding

Season’s Greetings crime readers and food lovers! Today we are reading the Poirot short story, The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding and eating that exact thing!  This is the first time I have ever made plum or Christmas pudding.  I chose this recipe, which comes from an October 1993 issue of Home Beautiful  because it had apricots and no fruit peel in it.  I further tweaked the recipe to remove the raisins and figs which I am not fond of and replaced them with dried strawberries and blueberries. The fruit was then soaked for two weeks in a combination of Pedro Ximenez sherry and brandy!!!

Christmas Pudding 5

 

The Adventure of The Christmas Pudding – The Plot

As mentioned, this is a short story  – it is only  44 pages in the edition that I read so it is something that can easily be read in around an hour.  However, for such a short story there is a LOT going on!

We open with someone called Mr Jesamond, trying to persuade Poirot to take on a case.  Poirot is not so keen.

Mr Jesamond interrupted “Christmas time,” he said, persuasively.  “An old fashioned Christmas in the English countryside.”

Hercule Poirot shivered.  The thought of the English countryside at this season of the year did not attract him…he had suffered too often in the historic country houses of England”

Eventually, Poirot agrees to take the case.  A young potentate from an unnamed country has been visiting England to have some of the family jewels re-set by Cartier in order to give them to his bride to be.  However, the young man, away from his conservative homeland, has done what young men away from their conservative homelands are wont to do. Even worse, he allowed his new lady friend to wear the family ruby one night.  Needless to say, she and the ruby vanish.

Christmas Pudding 1

In order to avoid a scandal, Poirot is called to visit Kings Lacey, home of the Lacey family to find the thief and the ruby!

We have:

  • Sarah, the granddaughter of the Lacey’s who has taken up with a bounder whom she has brought home for Christmas, along with his sister who is recovering from an operation and is confined to bed
  • Several mentions of the bounder’s tight black jeans! (Ooh Aggie!!!)
  • Someone sneaking about Poirot’s bedroom at night
  • Drugs in the coffee
  • Some delightful snarkiness about Poirot’s nightcap (sadly missing from the adaptation)
  • Something that is definitely not a sixpence in the Christmas pudding!

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding – The Covers

The covers here nearly all show a Christmas Pudding.  I do like the one where Poirot’s hat takes the place of the pudding and I also very much like the one where the Creme Anglaise on the pudding takes on the skull and crossbones.  There is a very stylish French cover, except you can’t tell because apparently there is no French translation for Christmas Pudding (hint, it is the black and yellow on).

There is also a Spanish cover that does Poirot no favours! I mean at no point do we ever hear that Poirot is particularly handsome but oof..too cruel, Spain, too cruel!

Unflattering depictions from Spain aside, I am saving my most, my worst level of scorn for the cover on the bottom right.  I mean.  WTAF unknown publisher?  The book is called the Adventure of the Christmas Pudding not The Adventure of the Blueberry Layer Cake!!!

Adventure of the Christmas Pudding Collage

The Recipe – Christmas Pudding

Christmas Pudding recipe

 

Christmas Pudding 3

 

On a silver dish the Christmas pudding resposed in its glory.  A large football of a pudding, a piece of holly stuck in it like a triumpant flag and glorious flames of blue and red rising around it.  There was a cheer and cries of “ooh – ah:.

Hercule Poirot merely surveyed the portion on his plate with a rather curious expression on his face.  A result, no doubt of finding a cryptic note in his bedroom which had read,

“DON’T EAT NONE OF THE PLUM PUDDING.

– ONE WHO WISHES YOU WELL

Agatha Christie,  The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding

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Other Food Mentioned in The Adventure of The Christmas Pudding

For such a short story, there is a HEAP of food mentioned here:

We usually have brandy butter and custard with our Christmas pudding but this year I am going to give hard sauce a go!  It sounds delicious!

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding is not much of a mystery.  It is very obvious who the wrong ‘un is.  Having said that, it is an absolutely delightful and charming Christmas story so well worth a read!  It is one of the few Poirot adaptations that is not available on Youtube but the Audiobook, which is read by Hugh Fraser who plays Hastings in the series is available.

Christmas Pudding 6

 

Dear friends, I hope Santa brings you everything you want and you have a merry, happy and safe holiday season!

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Retro Food In the News – Vintage Christmas Ideas

I read an article called Have Yourself a Very Vintage Christmas today.  (It is no longer online so I have removed the link.

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/christmas/have-yourself-a-very-vintage-christmas-20131204-2yqzu.html

The Pita Bread Christmas Trees mentioned in the article  are adorable.  And, will be featuring in my Christmas menus.

The article mentioned Susan’s Party Loaf which is this gorgeous looking thing

However, if you are going down that route you could also try this very pretty version from Betty Crocker.  You really know you’re taking a ride on the way-back machine when you have a completely gratuitous use of food colouring!

Betty Crocker Party Loaf

And the Madras Cocktail ?  Take a look at this piece of awesomeness…

Madras Cocktail
Madras Cocktail

Don’t drink them all they say?  Who are they kidding?   The recipe which is here

put me in mind of the old Dorothy Parker quote:

“I like to have a martini,
Two at the very most.
After three I’m under the table,
after four I’m under the  host.”

This thing might not just knock your socks off, it could take your ankles with it.

I  can’t wait to try it!

So what retro treats are you all planning for Christmas?

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