Want to Make a Comment?

Some of you have kindly sent me e-mails providing valuable feedback on my blogs.  I've enjoyed reading these and appreciate each one of you who have made the effort.  In future, if you would like to comment for all to see, just follow the simple steps below.

1.  Open blog that you wish to make a comment on.  Click on the title of the blog post.
2.  A comment box will appear at the bottom of the text.  Type in your comment.
3.  Click 'publish'.
4.  You will be directed to sign in with a Google account which takes two minutes.  

It will be so nice to hear how you enjoyed each of my blogs!  Judy                
 

Thanksgiving

Coloured leaves are falling and we wake up often to glittering white frost on the ground.  Clear signs that American Thanksgiving has come around again.

In my nearly thirty years in London, I’ve learned that British people are quite happy to join in for this festival celebration.  The plentiful table laden with roast turkey and all the traditional trimmings has become more and more popular in our house, meaning we need two tables to accommodate our guests accepting invitations.

Many years ago, in 1621, the Pilgrims put down their smoking muskets, and the native Americans, their bow and arrows, and sat down to banquet on wild turkey, roasted corn, cranberry sauce, splendid autumn vegetables, and I hope, pumpkin pie.  The feast lasted three days.  We Americans continue to celebrate this great day every year, on the fourth Thursday in November.  In doing so, we cook up a storm, and invite friends of all nationalities and religions to come and indulge with us.  I’m so happy, that again, my adult twins, have many friends who now self-book in advance.  This takes the spirit of thankful celebration to its height.  It also means that there are more hands in the kitchen to share and enjoy the preparation.

Our menu this year will include:

Sparkling Wine/Beer      Pimento stuffed Green Olives

Jellied Cranberry and Apple Salad

Roasted Turkey with Mid-Western Stuffing and Gravy

Stuffed Zucchini with Cheese
Butternut squash with Pecans and Blue Cheese

Sweet Potato Mash

Steamed Green Beans in Lemon Vinaigrette

Tennessee Cornbread

Pumpkin Pie with Whipped Cream
Chocolate Pecan Pie

You don’t have to be American to savour and enjoy these foods!  Bon Appetit!

A Taste of Buenos Aires

How long has it been since you decided just to break out and try something new?

My husband and I did just that in February after being inspired by ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, to start weekly tango classes.  We’ve joined teachers, David and Kim Benitez,  at Tango Movement in London.  In a fast moving hour, we concentrate on learning new steps and practicing previous ones as we change partners, trying our best to follow and lead in this Argentinian sultry, passionate yet melancholy, elegant dance.

Last Saturday night, our new past-time took us to The Winter Ball, sponsored by APARU and Tango Movement in aid of Argentine children charities.  It was an inspiring escape into a taste of Buenos Aires. In my special, black with pink polka dot high heels, I joined my husband and  about one hundred other couples gliding in the line-of-dance, around the large floor. We discreetly, with power,  maneuvered backward and forward ‘ochos’, ‘paradas’, ‘sandwich’ steps and even more challenging ones for the advanced, all to the beat of music by Tango Siempre.  The highlights of the evening were performances by the advanced students and David and Kim Benitez.  Lifts and dips were accomplished with ease, and with spectator applause.  Just look at David and Kim in the picture!

Of course, the step out into a South American night included food!  Empanadas, which are pastries, served hot, and stuffed with cheese, beef, ham or chicken, seasoned with a dash of red chili, were readily available.  I found them lighter than a Cornish pasty, but equally as moreish.  A little red Argentinian wine, a bite to eat, and we kept dancing until after midnight.  Next night out, in Buenos Aires--the real Buenos Aires--I hope so!

Until then I’ll try my own hand with the savory empanadas and continue to strive for excellence at the tango lessons!

Candied Almonds

Last night we saw beautiful displays of fireworks from every window of our house in north London, and knew immediately, Diwali had begun.  

The Indian Festival of Lights goes on for 5 days, celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains.  Grocery stores stock extra nuts and sweets at this time as they are favorites to be passed around by those celebrating.  This recipe for candied almonds fits well into the theme.   Yvonne, my husband’s late mother, taught me how to make them.   She and her family had learned to prepare the sweet aromatic, nuts in Tripoli, Libya.  For many years now, family and friends in the U.K., Alaska, and other parts of the U.S. have enjoyed these treats.   Make them and you will learn why they have traveled the globe. 

Ingredients:

2 cups almonds, in brown hulls

1 cup white granulated sugar

1 cup water

2 tablespoons cinnamon, approximately

In a large skillet, heat all of the above ingredients to boiling.  Stir just occasionally with a wooden spoon at this point.  After about 5 minutes or so, the water will mostly have evaporated and you need to stir constantly, moving the nuts around continually. Heat should be no higher than medium now.   Soon all the water is gone, a beautiful cinnamon aroma is effusing into the room, and only sugar is left covering each almond.  You are not finished yet!  Keep the almonds on the move with your spoon until most are partially coated with a new wetness.  This is when you remove the skillet from the heat and pour all the contents onto a clean surface or large plate.  Separate the nuts and allow to cool.

Candied almonds are great to pass around at any holiday.  So, Diwali yes, and also,  Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas,  and the next birthday celebration.  Enjoy and share!

Green Rice

Yesterday my daughter made us the best rice ever - in minutes - using leftovers.

The ingredients:

about 2 cups (mugs will do) of cooked, left-over, white rice
1/2 tablespoon butter

a good handful of fresh, spinach leaves

2 cloves of garlic, peeled

1/2 vegetable stock cube

3/4 cup/6 fl oz/about 170 ml water

6-8 fresh basil leaves

She put the rice and butter in a medium size saucepan and the rest of the ingredients into our food processor.  The processor was ‘whizzed’ for about 30 seconds to roughly puree the contents.  A few broken spinach leaves left are fine.  The resultant deep emerald green loose paste was then poured over the rice in the saucepan.   The contents were warmed over medium heat, while stirring, up to serving temperature.  This takes about 2-3 minutes.

The refreshed,  beautiful green grains of rice had the aroma of garlic with a hint of basil.  A serving gave real eye appeal on the plate along side grilled, blushing red, Wild Alaskan salmon, caught in the Pacific Ocean earlier this year.  Try and enjoy!  

Stuffed Zucchini/Courgettes with Cheese

Have you ever been hungry for pizza but felt something healthier would be a better option?

My suggestion for you is to try making stuffed zucchini/courgettes with cheese.  Many of the kids in my cooking courses over the years, liked it so well they made it frequently in their own homes.  Today I prepared it with one of my daughter’s friends in a few minutes.  We’ll bake it in a couple of hours when the other family members return for the evening meal.  It’s best served straight from the oven with the ricotta and Parmesan cheese hot and oozing.  

Start with boiling/steaming six medium-large zucchini/courgettes for five minutes.  Drain and then allow to cool in a pan of cold water.  Drain again.  With a large knife, slice each right down the middle vertically.  Scoop the pulp out with a teaspoon from each and save in a large bowl.  The casings can all be placed in one layer in a roasting pan.  In the food processor, crumb one slice of any bread.  Add a little dried oregano, salt and pepper, and mix again.  Cut the zucchini/courgette pulp scrapings into chunks about the size of a teaspoon.  Add a tub of ricotta or cottage cheese (I use one that is 250g),  2 heaping tablespoons of grated Parmesan, one teaspoon of garlic puree and one egg yolk.  Mix together and spoon evenly into the zucchini/courgette shells.  

Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown in a 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5 oven.  Serves  four.  Enjoy.

Cranberry/Pumpkin Muffins

Have you ever thought of this combination before?

Growing up in Alaska,  and being surrounded by forests full of the low-bush variety of wild cranberries, we had many outings as youngsters to gather them in Autumn.  I still remember the pleasure of sinking into the deep comfortable moss and grabbing handfuls to quickly fill my bucket.  We were always thinking of ways to use them.  Favorites were cranberry/orange sauce and cranberry/apple gelatin mold, both great with fowl.  

Here in my home in London I’ve carried on with the use of these lovely red berries bursting with tartness over the years.  Yesterday I put my hand to muffins.  

I thought the addition to the pumpkin variety could produce pleasing results.  I first made a batch using two cups of the very large fresh ones added to my pumpkin muffin recipe.  They were pretty with the red gems very evident but too tart, over-powering the taste.  I then tried again, cutting the amount of cranberries back to half a cup in the recipe, as well as adding the same amount of coarsely chopped walnuts.  They were tasty but each berry still rather tart to bite into.  My daughter and her friends who ate them merrily, suggested that they would be just fine if the large fresh cranberries were cut in roughly half.  This would result in more diffusion of the tartness.  

For my third baking, I decided to go with dried cranberries, always available, as well as  chopped walnuts.  These are the ones pictured here.  

I leave the final decision to you.  Which will it be?  Chopped fresh cranberries or dried with the addition of walnuts to pumpkin muffins?  Great time of year to give it a go.