Season's Greetings & Christmas Specials

How are last minute preparations for Christmas coming along? Are you frantically baking and cooking or relaxing with your feet up while your parents put together the Christmas feast? Either ways, I'm sure you are all looking forward to Christmas celebs tomorrow.

The husband has pushed off to India and I had to stay back because of a hectic work schedule and Id be joining him only in Jan. I was all ready to have frozen pizza and get drunk on wine on 25th, when a friend invited me over to hers for Christmas. Since the entire transport system comes to a standstill on 25th I am heading to hers tonight, attend a midnight Christmas service at the church and ring in Christmas with friends tomorrow. I would have loved to be with family, but hey, I'm not complaining. Atleast I'm not having frozen pizza and watching Downton Abbey reruns in my Pj's.

Anyways, here's wishing all you guys a very Merry Christmas. Have a glass or two of wine on me and enjoy your day to the max. Leaving you with some fun Christmassy stuff ...

Oddka

I love my cocktails and am forever trying to recreate new ones at home, which means scouting the drinks aisle at the supermarket is a treat. I came across this vodka drink called ODDKA and was thoroughly amazed at the flavours on offer. Fresh cut grass.. seriously.. now that's a flavour I'm completely intrigued by. Other flavours include Electricity, Salty caramel popcorn, Twisted melon and Peach Bellini. As luck would have it, I was asked if I'd like to try some Christmas cocktails using ODDKA and how on earth could I say no? Since I'm home alone, I've not really made any cocktails as yet but if I have a girls night out around New Years, I'd definitely be trying out a few cocktails from the list ODDKA has put together. If you do want to try something different this Christmas, then head on over to the ODDKA website and give some of their cocktails a go. Your local Asda or Sainsburys should stock a few flavours of ODDKA.

Castello Cheese

I received this really adorable Christmas stocking, with my name on it and all, filled with Castello Cheese. I had big plans to make Ronnie Murray's Baked leek tart with Castello Jersey Blue and I even bought all the ingredients, but with crazy work schedules I had to put the cooking on hold. I shall definitely give it a go one of these days I'm home. The Castello range includes Creamy Blue, Creamy White, Traditional Danish Blue, Extra creamy Danish Blue, Pineapple Halo i (I made a macaron filling with the Pineapple cheese), and the latest addition just in time for Christmas is the Tickler Cheddar, with a sweet, strong and tangy taste. If you are doing a cheese platter for the parties, don't forget to include this one, its a winner. Pair it with a Rioja Gran Reserva 2001 or a an Italian Barolo wine.

Christmas food and drink matching

Pairing the right drink with the food you serve is really an art. I try hard to actually do this and mostly, because of lack of knowledge, I just do a theme and follow with drinks from the same cuisine. When you do a large spread like for Christmas, this becomes a bit of an issue, especially when you have invited people with different tastes. To make matters easy for people like me, Waitrose has teamed up with wine lover Philip Schofield and wine connoisseur Olly Smith to develop a food and wine matching guide to get the combinations right. The infographic gives you a basic knowledge of pairings which would help you manage your Christmas meal pretty easily. I am sooo going to keep this for future references. There are also some great videos here for some festive inspiration

Parmigiano Reggiano Christmas Cook-off

Parmigiano Reggiano (PR) is one cheese I regularly use in cooking- in soufflés, bakes, dips and just to grate atop pasta. I was recently invited to a Parmigiano Reggiano Christmas Cookalong organised by the Consorzio del Formaggio and lead by top chef Valentina Harris. We started off the evening tasting some amazing starters like dates filled with PR and wrapped in Parma Ham, PR lollipops with sesame seeds and chilli (an absolute favourite) and a 30 month matured PR with balsamic vinegar. We were then split into two teams and set about creating our meal for the night- Venetian duck stuffed with a PR mix, Fennel topped PR and Rosotto PR. It was my first time cooking with duck, and although not really a favourite, I quite enjoyed the whole cooking experience. Highlight of the evening, however, was cracking open a 45kg PR wheel which we all got to taste, after which we all sat down to a fabulous meal. After an evening of like minded food enthusiasts and after gaining such indepth knowledge about PR, I cant wait to cook with the cheese. For more information and recipes check out the website

With thanks to all the brands for inviting me to their events and for review samples.

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Home made lemon extract (DIY edible Christmas gift)

Every year I have major plans of making edible gifts for my friends. Last year I started off with good intentions; to make a hamper of sorts with all cool edible gifts... because you know food blogger and all, people would be more happy to receive things to eat than onesies form Primark. Since sending edible gifts by post to parents in India was not an option, I thought of making a recipe calendar for them with my "gorgeous photographs (self-proclaimed of course)" and recipes. I harassed Ro so much about the calendar - software to use, how to get dimensions right, where to get it printed etc etc- that he finally lost it and asked me to just do my own shit.

And that's exactly what i did... wasted A LOT!!!! of time with the damn calendar. The thing is, I have this image of how it should be in my head and I have to get it that way no matter what. The fact that I was challenged with high end photo editing software meant I had to use Picasa and PicMonkey to take care of my needs, and unfortunately my needs exceeded the basic help these options left me with. So by the time I got to month March it was around 30th of December. No way was I going to finish the remaining 9 plus the main cover in less than a month. So there, that conveniently ended my calendar plan.

You might wonder if I at least completed my edible hamper idea.. nope that also didn't happen in spite of pinning tonnes of packaging and labelling ideas and looking forward to making them. It actually made me wonder if I was more interested in packing and labelling things, than making the edible gifts. The only thing I finally did was send these cupcakes to my neighbour..yes in that red plate itself. Shame on me, I know!!

This year, I started early, in spite of a crazy work schedule. These home made lemon extracts are proof that I actually have edible gifts to send out to friends. The old me would have waited till 24th December to infuse, but no, I'm 17 days early and patting my back for being proactive. They will be one of the gifts my lucky friends receive. My non alcoholic friends will of course get some edible goodies which i'll try and blog before Christmas, but no promises.

First on the list will be the Christmas themed cookies I'll be making with the new OXO Good Grips Cookie Press. This fabulous gadget not only lets you whip out cookies of same size, but you also have the option of selecting from 12 different shapes with snowflake, wreath and tree definitely going into my Christmas gift box. The daisy, buttercup and sunflower are a personal favourite so I'm going to include that too for good measure. The stainless steel blades are dishwasher safe and can be easily stored in the box that comes with the gadget. The cookie press will be available in Lakeland from January 2014 and if you want to make loads of cookies at one go then this is the gadget to have.

Lemon extract basic recipe adapted from here (makes 3, 236ml bottles)

Vodka- 3 cups (any quality is fine)

Lemons- 5 to 6 (make sure they are organic, unwaxed lemons)

Glass bottles with lid- 23 to 250 ml

Sterilise the bottles by washing them in warm soapy water and then leaving to dry completely.

Wash the lemons and wipe them dry.

Peel the lemons with a zester, making sure none of the white pith comes along with the zest.

Carefully add the zest into the bottles. I added around 2 lemons per bottle for a strong flavour. 

Pour in 1 cup of vodka per bottle. If you use a measuring jug with a beak, it would be much easier, or a funnel.

Seal with a lid and store in a cool dark place.

Gently shake it everyday, for about 1 week or so, or alternate days at least.

When ready to use, either strain the fruit and use or simple keep using the extract as and when required with the peel still in the bottle.

Dress the bottle and its a perfect Christmas gift.

Notes: I bought my bottles online at a very reasonable price

I chucked a slit birds eye chilli into one bottle

My next set of 3 will be orange extract. Use one large orange for each bottle and follow the procedure mentioned above.

You can actually go crazy with infusing vodka- vanilla, rosemary and lime, raspberry, blackberry, mango, peppercorns- are on my to do list. If you do want to give it a shot, just eye ball the measurements based on how strong you'd like them to be and use accordingly.

Add the extract to bakes, cakes and custards or add some simple syrup and use in a cocktail. 

With thanks to OXO Good grips for the review sample.

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Blackberry bramble

Finally summer is here (to stay I hope). Days are warm with highs of 20C and evenings are cool. Pleasant enough to sit out on the balcony and enjoy a beer. The pub near our house is almost always full and its impossible to get a seat outside. My flip-flops and skirts have come out of hibernation, but I'm not yet brave enough to venture out in shorts as the crazy winds are still around, reminding us that summer is not completely here.

I have been bugging Ro to take me on one of those countryside walks...through the gorgeous yellow rapeseed fields. I hope I have one more weekend with loads of sunshine and high temperature to venture out, before they are harvested. On one Sunday afternoon when all of London was out enjoying the sun, we went into Greenwich town to check out Jamie Oliver's new restaurant "Jamie's Italian' and I had a blackberry bramble which was just amazing. I HAD to recreate it at home and that's exactly what I did on a Friday when the temperatures hit a high of 26C. Its not the authentic bramble which has Creme De Mure, the blackberry liqueur, in it, but I made it work with whatever was at home. Apologies for hijacking the name for something not even remotely related to the original. I thought it would be fun to do individual servings in small milk bottles. No one questioned me, because they all know better than to argue with a crazy prop-obsessed food blogger :)

I'd been lusting behind these really cute school milk bottles from the dotcomgiftshop website and as luck would have it, they sent me a set to review. They have a lot of cool stuff on their website, especially for food bloggers who are prop obsessed. There are 6 bottles in a crate and they are oh-so-adorable. They are great to serve individual drinks in and can double up as a decorative item at home- like mini flower vases. The only problem is that the bottles are tiny, and can take only about 1/2 a cup of liquid each. May not be that great for adults- especially when you give them an awesome drink and they finish it off in a gulp- but they just look too pretty and I love them. I can see myself using them as prop ever so often.

Recipe adapted from here (serves 3)

Gin- 4 oz

Blackberries- 10 to 12 (plus enough to garnish)

Lime cordial- 3 oz

Simple syrup- 3 oz (recipe follows)

Ice cubes- a hand full + enough to top

Tonic water- 300 ml

Make simple syrup by boiling together equal parts of sugar and water. Stir till the sugar dissolves. Keep aside to cool and use as required. Of course I'm lazy, so I just mix water and sugar in a glass and chuck into the microwave for a couple of minutes. Take the glass out, stir to dissolve the sugar and chick it into the freezer for a couple of minutes.

Combine the gin, blackberries, lime cordial and simple syrup together in a cocktail shaker.

Add a hand full of ice cubes and shake away.

Strain into glasses, add more ice and top with tonic water.

For the glass bottles, I strained the drink into a measuring jug, topped with the tonic water, gave a gentle stir and then poured it out into the bottles.

With thanks to dotcomgiftshop for sending me the milk bottles to review.

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Baked chicken taquitos and guava margarita

I love love love Mexican food. Sadly though London doesn't have that many Mexican restaurants and I think its worked to Ro's advantage because, given a choice, I would only pick a Mexican restaurant when we dine out. So when I'm left wanting Mexican food, I have these Mexican themed days at home where its all margaritas and quesadillas and stuff.

Last week I went into one of those "moods" and instead of doing the usual quesadillas (which I also did make) and tortilla wraps, I decided to try some new dishes. On the menu was the 7-layer dip which Id been eyeing ever since my cousin sent me a pic of her version but last minute movie plans were obviously more important than the dip and so I ditched that idea. Instead I made taquitos which, if you have the filling and everything ready a day before, is such a breeze to put together. They can be made days in advance and frozen and baked just before serving. 

 

The original taquitos are deep fried, but that was definitely not an option for me. So I had to look for a baked version and these didn't disappoint. They are quite versatile and can be filled with anything you want, maybe even something sweet. 

No Mexican meal is complete without some margaritas and that's exactly what I paired these with. You get these massive margarita bottles in Costco and its become my absolute favourite. I keep trying different flavours with that as the base and all of it have turned out great. This time i made guava margaritas and added some jalapeños to it for that extra kick. I also rimmed the glass with smoked maldon sea salt which strangely tasted great with the spicy margarita.

Baked chicken taquitos (recipe adapted from here, makes 12)

Chicken- 2 cups, cooked and shredded

Cream cheese- 3oz, softened

Salsa- 1/4 cup

Lime juice- 1 /2 tbsp

Cumin powder- 1/2 tsp

Chilli powder- 1/2 tsp

Onion granules- 1/2 tsp (can use powder as well)

Garlic- 3 cloves, finely chopped

Coriander leaves- 2 tbsp

Spring onions- 2, finely chopped

Mexican spicy cheddar cheese- 1 cup (replace with cheddar cheese or Monterey Jack cheese)

Flour tortillas- 12, small

Salt- to sprinkle

Oil- to brush

Pre heat the oven to 220C and line a large baking tray with baking paper.

In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients except the tortillas, salt and oil. 

Warm the tortillas for about 20 seconds, 3 at a time, in the microwave and keep ready.

Spoon in 2 table spoons of the filling on to one end of the tortilla and roll it up as tightly as possible. Don't over fill the tortillas or they will ooze out once in the oven.

Place on the baking tray, seam side down. and without touching each other.

Repeat till all the filling is used up.

Brush the tops of the rolled up taquitos with cooking oil and sprinkle salt on them.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or till the taquitos are crisp and golden brown.

Notes: I cooked chicken breast with salt and pepper in a saucepan and then shredded them using a fork

Original recipe called for parsley. I cant stand the herb so I used coriander leaves instead.

The cheese I used was spicy so my filling was a bit spicy (which we loved).

Guava margarita (makes 4)

Lime juice- 1/2 cup

Tequila- 1 cup

Triple sec- 3 tbsp

Simple syrup- 4 tbsp (boil equal parts of sugar and water in a saucepan till you get a syrup)

Guava juice- 1 cup (I used Rubecon brand)

Ice cubes- as required
Pickled jalapenos- 2 to 3 rounds

Lime wedge- for rimming the glass

Maldon sea salt- for glass (optional)

Get a plate with the sea salt ready.

Rub the lime wedge around the rim of the margarita glasses and dip them into the salt. Chuck them into the refrigerator while you get the drink ready.
In a cocktail shaker or blender combine the remaining ingredients.
Pour into the prepared glasses and serve cold.

 

Notes: Like I mentioned I have pre made margarita and to 1 cup of this mix I add about 3/4 cups of guava juice, stir well and add to the glass with a couple of ice cubes. 
I don't like the crushed ice cubes, so I just add cubes directly to the glass and pour the marg over it.
Replace the guava juice with any fruit juice of choice.
Adjust sugar as per choice. I like mine a tad sweeter.
Its a bit spicy because of the jalapeños, avoid if not a fan

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Blueberry-lavender gin and tonic

For the past couple of months a whole bunch of us (Nupur, Suchi, Preeti and I) have been busy planning Bloggers' Buzz- a food blogger meet, and its been pretty overwhelming thinking that the big day is in 2 days time. We have managed to rope in 25 bloggers and food enthusiasts and a good number of generous sponsors for the event. We will just have to wait with fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong on the day and the event is deemed a success.

There is a competition up and running for the event and its being judged by Jeanne of Cooksister, who is a well established blogger and photographer. In between all the BB work and some deadlines on the work front I couldn't whip up anything spectacular or innovative for the event, but the thought of winning a Hotel Chocolat gift hamper made me post something anyway.

I am not a big blueberry fan except if its in a muffin. So I was pleasantly surprised when the combination of lavender and blueberry in this drink made it to my top 5 (yes i have a top 5 in my mind). Lavender is quite over powering in this drink, but its such a nice and fragrant herb that I love using it in cakes, cookies and drinks. Here are two ways you can use up lavender l

Makes 6 servings

Water- 1/4 cup

Sugar- 1/4 cup

Dried lavender- 1/2 tsp

Blueberries- 2 cups

Gin- 1/2 cup

Tonic- 200ml (2 small cans)

Ice cubes- as required

 

Make a sugar syrup by boiling together the water sugar and dried lavender..

Boil, stirring occasionally, till the sugar is completely melted.

Close with a lid and let it steep for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Once the times up transfer the syrup into a glass and cool in the refrigerator till ready to use.

Meanwhile, wash the blueberries and tip into a saucepan with 2 tbsp of the sugar syrup and 2 tbsp of water.

Cook on medium heat till the blueberries break down and gets slightly cooked. It doesn't need to be that pulpy, just break them all down with a wooden spoon.

Cool and strain into a large bowl, diluting it with water if you find the juice is not falling through.

Add the gin and give a good stir. 

Do a taste test and if you need more sugar add the remaining sugar syrup.

Add ice cubes to the glasses and pour in the drink about half full..top with the tonic and enjoy :)

Notes: Add lemonade instead of tonic water for a change

Ignore the gin for an alcohol free version.

Muddle some mint leaves with the blueberries and I'm sure it would be great.

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