Spiced Xmas beef

I'm thinking of making this recipe as it's one you can make a few days in advance and have in the fridge as a standby.  In fact, you HAVE to start it two weeks before Xmas.

2.5kg's topside
1 large onion,sliced
2 carrots liced
4 stalks of celery, sliced
600lms beef stock
150mls port or red wine

Marinade

1 tea perppercorns
1 tea mustard seeds
1/2 tea nutmeg
large pinch of powdered cloves
1 tbsp dried rosemary
1 tea thyme
225g darlk brown sugar
225 grams salt
8 bay leaves

Crush seeds in blender, mix with spices and sugar.

Place the beef in a shallow pottery or glass dish and rub the sugar spice mixture into the meat all over.  Cover the dish and set aside in the refrigerator.

After three days mix half the salt with the bay leaves and rub the mixture all over the meat.  Cover the dish and leave in the fridge  for another 24 hours.  then rub in the remaining salt.  Cover and leave in the fridge for 11 days turning every day.

On the 15th day remove the meat from the brine, wipe off all the spices and wipe3 it all over with a damp cloth.

Heat the oven to 140.  Place the meat in a dish, arrange the vegetables around it and pour on the stock and port.  Cover with a lid.  Cook the meat for 4 hours.  Reove it from the over and leave the meat to cool in the liquor.  Remove the meat and place in a dish in the fridge with a weight on top for 24 hours. 

It is now ready to serve cold.

Gingerbread cake

225g plain flour
2 tea ground ginger
1 tea cinnamon
1/4 nutmeg
pinch of salt
50g  pitted dates chopped
50g crystallized ginger chopped
125g treacle
50g butter
1 egg
75g dark brown sugar
4 tbl mik
1/2 tea bicarb

Method

heat the oven to 180.

Sift the flour, ginger cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and stir in the chopped dates and ginger.

Melt the treacle and butter in a small pan.


Beat the egg and beat in the sugar.  Add the two mixutures alternalely to the dry ingredients beating all the time.  Stir the bicarb into the milk and stir into the mixture.

Pout the mixture into a 20cm square baking tin lined with baking paper.  Level the top  and bake for 45 minutes.

Stand the tin on a wire rack to coool.  Remove the cake from the in strip off the baking and w3rap the cake in foil.  Store in a tin and it will keep fresh for up to 8 weeks.

Peanut butter balls

Want to die from peanutty chocolatty overload? Try these!

1 cup crunchy peanut butter
100g unsalted butter
2 cups icing sugar
1 and a half cups rice bubbles
chocolate to melt and dip

Melt peanut butter and butter in large bowl, mix icing sugar, rice bubbles and peanut butter mixture together. Cool. Roll into balls and chill minimum 30 minutes. Melt chocolate and dip/roll balls in. Chill.

They freeze well (if they last that long)

Pickled Ginger

I've managed to scored a heap of fresh ginger from the sale table at the markets, so I thought that I would try this recipe for pickled ginger from here

Ingredients
1/2 lb fresh ginger, peeled, sliced crosswise against the grain into paper thin coins
1 1/3 cups unseasoned rice vinegar
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1/2 cup sugar, plus
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Directions
1Cover ginger with boiling water. Let stand 2 minutes, then drain in colander. Put the ginger in a large, clean glass jar or plastic container.
2Combine the remaining ingredients in a non-reactive pot. Stir over medium heat until the sugar and salt dissolve. Pour over ginger.
3Let cool completely, then cover and chill in refrigerator for at least 24 hours before using. Enjoy!
4The thin slices of ginger make a good addition to plates of grilled meat, fish, or poultry. Minced or julienned, they are good added to sauces and marinades. The juice can be used in hot and cold sauces, spring roll dips, and salad dressings. You will get 3/4 cup ginger and about 2 cups juice.

Churros

From here

Ingredients: (Makes one platefull)
Vegetable or Olive Oil
1 cup water
1/2 cup margarine or butter
1/4 teaspoon salt1 cup all-purpose flour
3 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

Prepare to fry the churros by heating oil in a pan (1 to 1&1/2 inches) to 360 degrees F.

To make churro dough,

heat water, margarine and salt to rolling boil in 3-quart saucepan; stir in flour. Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture forms a ball, about 1 minute; remove from heat. Beat eggs all at once; continue beating until smooth and then add to saucepan while stirring mixture.

Spoon mixture into cake decorators' tube with large star tip (like the kind use to decorate cakes). Squeeze 4-inch strips of dough into hot oil. Fry 3 or 4 strips at a time until golden brown, turning once, about 2 minutes on each side. Drain on paper towels. (Mix Sugar and the optional cinnamon); roll churros in sugar or dump the sugar on the pile of churros, like the pros.

That churro taste will take you right back to your favorite summer days walking the paseos of Spain.

Note: REAL churros in Spain are made without cinnamon mixed with the sugar, but the cinnamon adds an extra nice flavor.

I didn't use cinnamon, but for the next batch I will grate some orange zest into the mix because I love the flavour.

I was chatting to Naturewitch on the phone while I made these and she told me that her gluten free flour mixture would work well in these.

homemade crackers

Hehehehe, that’s how I felt yesterday until I actually tried the crackers which I made. I mean, who spends an hour of their day making something that is quick, easy to buy and very cheap?
Me now!

Simple cracker recipe adapted from here

3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup warm water
1/3 cup olive oil

Method: Heat oven to about 180-200 degrees (mine’s an old dodgy oven so I have to adjust between tepid and fried to a crisp)
Pop the whole lot into your bread machine and mix on the quick pasta setting (about 20 minutes). You can also add your favourite spices and herbs towards the end. I made plain, sesame and cheese and chive crackers.

Forget about your dough for about an hour (or four in my case!)
Roll dough into a thick sausage shape and cut into 8 pieces. Set your pasta machine to the thinest setting and put a piece of dough through one piece at a time. Use a pizza roller to cut them into cracker size pieces works really quickly with less drag on the dough.

Bake on trays greased with olive oil for about 10minutes the more golden they are the crispier they get, or as The Husband said

“The ones closest to burning are the best” Jury is still out as to whether he was being a w!n(*%)..

Let them totally cool then store in an airtight container.
So the actually rolling, cutting and baking took an hour.

Xmas Artichoke Strudel

I make this at Xmas as it is so simple, looks elegant, liked by meat eaters and is amazingly easy and quick to make. The recipe is a Charmaine Solomon one.

ingredients:

1x400g can artichoke hearts
1 cup cottge cheese
1 cup freshly grated pamasan cheese
1 egg
1/2 cup finely chopped spring onions
1/4 cup finely chopped red capsicum
1/4 cup fresh white breadcrumbs
1 tea tarrogon leaves
1/2 tea pepper
6 sheets of filo pastry
melted butter

Drain artichokes and cut each one into quarters. Put into a bowl with all the other ingredients except butter and filo. Mix well and gently.

Lay a sheet of filo on kitchen bench and brush with melted butter. Add another layer and brush with butter. Keep going until all six are layered and brushed. Place filling in a log shape on the pastry and roll the whole thing up like a swiss roll and tuck the ends under.

Carefully put on greased baking tray and bung in a preheated (200 degrees) oven for 25 minutes until a nice golden brown. Let it sit for about five minutes before cutting into thick slices.

Serves 6.