Late Thanksgiving Dinner

Obviously, Thanksgiving Day is not part of the British festivity.  But how could I not celebrate the day when I get to stuff my face with delicious food all day long.  Thanksgiving day is the perfect excuse for it, not that I need any excuses to eat.  Have I cooked Christmas dinner with all the trimmings in the middle of July? Absolutely yes.

I don't normally do nibbles especially knowing there will be a feast ahead (well, that's a lie. There's always nibbles), but it is the season when you are expected to over-indulge, so why not (that's the truth).  These wholegrain mustard and ginger cocktail sausages are so welcoming, delicious and addictive.  The recipe is taken from Nigella's Kitchen.

Taking the centre stage last night was my maple roasted poussins, not turkey. *gasp... Yes, this may be a shock to some and I have this notion in my head that the Thanksgiving/Turkey police will come to arrest me in the middle of dinner... but I feel like, even though I am borrowing the celebration, I do not somehow strict myself to its tradition.  These tender birds look so beautiful and bronzed by the maple syrup.

To accompany the bird, we had double mashed potatoes made with sweet and regular white potatoes; green beans in warm maple and lemon dressing and my favourite Thanksgiving side dish, cornbread, sausage and apricot dressing.

No Thanksgiving is complete without a pumpkin treat and instead of the traditional pumpkin pie, I made pumpkin, ginger and lemon cheesecake.  Served with a good dollop of whipped cream.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Chips Kebab

I hope all you had a great Thanksgiving.  I was away in London for work yesterday, and I just returned home today, so I'm not gonna have my Thanksgiving dinner until tomorrow... I cannot wait!

Here's the thing, I had a fantastic night in London and I had too much to drink.  I drank all sorts and when I woke up this morning, it was painful... It was not good.  Even the guy sitting next to me on the train noticed that the state of me was horrendous.

Few hours later and after two paracetamol, I am feeling much better and now I need food (read: carbs) to absorb last night's excesses.  I saw Nigella made this chips kebab few weeks ago in her TV show.  The idea of it was so bonkers that I have to try it!

This is what you do:
Get a flat bread of your choice, I use tortilla.  Smear it generously with hummus and pile the chips on top.  Squirt a little lemon and sprinkle with sea salt.  Roll and apply to face.

I need this.

Poulet rôti tout simplement

Or in simple English: roast chicken, pure and simple.

I didn't grow up on whole roasted chicken.  My mom would always buy chicken already in portions, and then cook it in many different ways and it tasted amazing.  I must have been about eight when I asked my mom to cook whole roasted chicken.  At the time and often still I thought, this is the most elegant dish.  My mom's whole roasted chicken looked just like the ones in old recipe books or TV commercials; golden in colour, crispy skin and moist.

There are countless variations when roasting chicken, but I like mine, simple.  The fresh tarragon, the garlic and the herb-y cheese here give such wonderful flavours.  The only change I made to the recipe below is, I use butter instead of olive oil.  Olive oil is great but nothing crisps up the skin like butter...

Next, to truss or not to truss, that is the question.  I think it depends on the size of the chicken, I don't bother most of the time to be honest. 

When the chicken is cooked, like any other meat, it's good to let it rest for a little bit to let all the juices come back to the centre.

Everybody has their own culinary disasters, and for me, one of them is carving.  I cannot carve to save my life and I normally just ended up tearing the chicken and my excuse is "it looks more rustic".  I still tried though and today it looked kinda alright.  Martha Stewart would have been proud.

I serve the chicken with some cooked green beans and peas, dressed with the juices from the chicken.  And no wine tonight.  I still need to finish my essay...

Poulet rôti tout simplement
by Stéphane Reynaud
Serves 4

1 Whole chicken, preferable organic
1 Boursin-style cheese with garlic and fines herbes
1 Bunch of fresh tarragon
3 Cloves garlic
Sea Salt
Olive oil

1. Remove the chicken's innards, and reserve the heart and liver.
2. Peel the garlic, fill the chicken with the cheese, garlic, tarragon and reserved giblets.
3. Oil the chicken and sprinkle with sea salt.
4. Cook uncovered in pre-heated 200C oven for an hour, basting the chicken regularly. Cut the chicken into portions and dress it with a mixture of melted cheese and cooking juices.

Sweet and salty crunchy nut bars

I don't know where to start to describe how delicious these sweet and crunchy nut bars are.

It may seem odd to add salted peanuts to chocolate bars, but let me tell you the combination is YUM and these bars are addictive.

Feel free though to change the chocolate to your liking, if you want to use milk or dark chocolate only.  I'm sure Nigella wouldn't mind.  I personally like the mixture of both chocolates.  And yes, there's chocolate, butter, golden syrup, and more chocolate; but hey, this is a treat.  I would recommend not eating the whole tray for one.  It's nice to share sometimes, but the decision is yours.

Sweet and salty crunchy nut bars
Recipe by Nigella Lawson
Serves... 16 generous slices or 32 medium one... whatever you fancy

200 gr dark chocolate
100 gr milk chocolate
125 gr butter
3 tablespoons golden syrup
250 gr salted peanuts
4 x 40 gr Crunchie bars
1 foil tray, approximately 30 x 20 x 5 cm

In a saucepan, break up the chocolates into pieces and add the butter and golden syrup.  Melt gently under low heat.

Tip the peanuts into a bowl and crush the Crunchie bars, letting the rubble falls into the nuts.

Take the melted chocolate mixture off the heat and stir in the peanuts and crushed Crunchie bars, then tip straight to the foil tray.  Smooth the top of the mixture and put it in the fridge for about four hours before cutting into slices as desired.

Chocolate and Raspberry Pavlova

I have an essay due next week and I have no motivation whatsoever to do it... I'm not normally like this... oh, why?!  *sigh...

Anyway, let's talk about something delicious.  Here's the thing, I don't like wasting food.  When a recipe calls for just the egg yolks, there's no way I'm throwing away the whites.  And when I have egg white lying aroun in the kitchen, that usually means pavlova day or meringues, depending my mood.

Pavlova was created in honour of the Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova.  There's been a debate over the origin of pavlova whether it's from Australia or New Zealand.  Well, I don't know, but what I know is it's delicious and that what matters to me. 

A good pavlova for me should have a dry and crsipy crust and the inside should be soft and marshmallowy.  And of course, adding cocoa powder makes it even better.  You could certainly add some chopped semiweet chocolate to the pavlova, but I didn't.  Instead, I'm topping the pavlova with chocolate whipped cream (and raspberries). Yum...

Chocolate & Raspberry Pavlova

For the chocolate meringue base:

4 egg whites

12 tablespoons caster sugar

3 tablespoons cocoa powder, sieved

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon corn flour

For the topping:

284 ml double cream, lightly whipped with 2 teaspoon of cocoa powder

300 grams raspberries

Grated chocolate of your choice

Preheat the oven to 180C and line a baking tray with parchment paper.

Beat the eggs with freestanding or hand mixer until it reaches peak form and the beat in the sugar a tablespoon at a time until the meringue is stiff and shine.   If you touch the meringue with the tip of your fingers, it should be silky smooth, not grainy.  Gently fold in the cocoa powder, vinegar and corn flour.  The vinegar and corn flour will ensure the inside of the meringue to be soft and chewy.  Mound on to the baking tray into a fat dome, smoothing the sides and top.

Put into the oven and immediately turn the temperature to 150C and cook for about an hour.  After an hour, the outside should look crisp and dry.  Turn off the oven and open the door slightly, and let the meringue cool completely.

When ready to serve, invert the giant meringue into the platter of your choice and then pile your chocolate cream and raspberries and grate some chocolate on top if you wish.