Rookie Cookery

Posh Nosh you say?

Next time I have  Burn's Night Supper, I'd love to invite the hosts of the BBC's Posh Nosh. THEY know their way around a kitchen.

Evidence:

 

Cranachan for a Burn's Night Supper 2011

I have written before about How To Have A Burn's Night Supper,    but in previous years we have attended Burn's Night events hosted by someone else. This year, we hosted our own dinner at home (last night, although Burn's birthday is actually this Tuesday the 25th) and invited our good friends John, Julia and Devin to join us. These friends, like my family, share a Scottish heritage, and arrived wearing traditional tartan and kilt finery. It was fabulous. I didn't wear my tartan skirt, because I had kitchen duties that could get messy.

Here was our menu:

Cock-a-leekie Soup

Poached Salmon

Neeps and Tatties

Peas

Haggis

Shortbread

Cranachan

Glenmorangie Scotch (10 year)

I was a little nervous about how I was going to pull off this menu in terms of timing, but these are the tricks I used to make it easy: First, I made the Cock-a-leekie soup early in the day in the crock pot. It was done well before our guests arrived. For the salmon, I made a court bouillon (a poaching liquid featuring water, white wine, onions, herbs and spices) and cooked the fish in an electric pan that also kept it warm. I baked the shortbread and made the cranachan earlier in the day. When it came time for dinner, all that remained was to cook and mash the potatoes and turnips, and heat the peas and haggis.

Dessert was quick to assemble and the haggis was (say it loud and proud) a canned version from Caledonian Kitchen that I bought at the local Corti Brothers grocery store.

Initially I was resistant to serve haggis from a can. I wanted to preserve my authentic food cred and it rankled me to take a short cut. But the fact is, haggis is made with tripe, lamb liver, lungs, heart etc. and I just didn't have it in me to track down the ingredients and make it happen. So I found an acceptable alternative in a can. It was strictly a heat and serve item, created for more common taste buds. Yes, everybody tried the haggis! The verdict? Not bad! Not bad at all.

Then we drank a wee dram of Scotch and I mangled my way through a reading of Burn's Address to a Haggis. The scotch helped.

How much is a dram, I hear you ask? A dram is an eighth of an ounce. So technically we had a tiny bit more than  a dram. But you get the point.

A highlight of the meal for me (other than the hilarity at the table with our friends) was the very traditional Scottish dessert called Cranachan. It was so simple and delicious to make. Here's how:

CRANACHAN RECIPE

Whip a cup of heavy cream until soft peaks form

Add a tablespoon of Scotch whiskey

Add a tablespoon or more of heather honey, mix again,  and taste until it has the desired sweetness

In a dry pan, Toast about a quarter cup of pin head oats until fragrant.

After the oats cool, gently fold them and mix thoroughly into the whipped cream.

In a serving bowl, dollop the whipped cream mixture in layers with fresh raspberries.

Serve with a generous piece of fresh shortbread.

 The moral of the story is-- don't be afraid to have your own Burn's Night Supper at home. You can do it.  All it takes is a little planning and a lot of love for all things Scottish! That's me.

How To Store Christmas Ornaments in Recycled (or new) Packaging

Christmas is over-- and it is time to pack and store your decorations until next year. When do you pack it all away? Do you do it the very next day (Boxing Day)? Or procrastinate for some long, indefinite period until you get quizzical expressions from your mail carrier who is delivering Valentine's Day cards?

I prefer to choose a date, because I am always a little sad to see the decorations go. We do it on January 6th, which is Epiphany, also known as Twelfth Night, celebrated with the famed "Twelve Days of Christmas" carol. We have no partridges in a pear tree or ten drummers drumming, but there is plenty else to deal with.

Probably my favorite part of decorating for the holidays is setting up the Christmas tree and adorning it with ornaments our family has collected over many years. I want to protect and preserve those fragile treasures so they will last until my own kids inherit them.

Our ornaments are made of many different materials-- glass, plastic, wood, fabric, metal-- and are many different shapes, from snowflakes and stars to animals and birds.  Among them are the traditional round balls.

I don't usually buy fresh fruit in plastic "clam shell" containers, but one year I realized such a container would provide a sturdy home for our sphere shaped ornaments.  It worked perfectly-- with the added bonus of being clear, so I can see the ornaments at a glance. There was even a flat place where I could tape on my own label. The cost is free except for the cost of the fruit, unless you are able to glean one from a friend. For more recyled Christmas packaging ideas, read on.

Did someone at the office Christmas party bring in a giant tub of flavored popcorn? I bought these two large tins at a thrift store for about 45 cents each. I especially love that  they are already decorated with Christmas images, but any large tin will do. Make sure it's clean and dry. I use these to store our house lights, gently coiled, and other large garlands. Use masking tape and a marker pen to label the contents.

Here's another set of recycled plastic jars, holding garlands. I love being able to display them while they are in storage. Makes it easy to find them on the shelf or garage next year. Label these too so you can remember what went in there when you re-pack them.

Sometimes, a specially manufactured and purchased storage option is the best. I used to store our very large Christmas wreath in the box it came in-- stuffed inside a black plastic yard waste bag. NOT attractive, and we had to tear apart the bag which we had taped shut every year.

This wreath bag is the bomb: It zips open and closed, there is an interior hook for the wreath to hang from, and in turn there is an external hook so it can be hung in the garage or a closet-- wherever you have room. The festive red color and label made this a no-brainer. You can buy your own at Amazon.

 Finally-- what to do with all the other fragile, hand-made-by-your kids, or glass blown ornaments that have made their way into your life?

You can wrap them anad stash them in a beat up old box with a wish and a prayer that they make it to next year-- or--you can get one of these:

 

This is another specialty made product I advocate: An ornament storage box with dividers inside. I bought mine a couple of years ago and I love it. There are two tiers of trays that have cord-stye handles, so you can lift them out gently.  I add little buffers of paper toweling or tissue paper to cushion the ornaments, although a purist would look for acid free paper or even bubble wrap for their fragile or heirloom pieces.

A clever person could probably build their own nesting, divided boxes for storage. This is not rocket science.  There are large plastic bins available for the job, although I prefer cardboard, because I think it is softer, not prone to split with age the way plastic is, and sturdy enough for the minimal handling I give it.  This size is good for us, but I there is a pricey-but highly reviewed, fabric lined three tiered box available on Amazon that looks mighty tempting. Maybe next year.

Black Beans, Eggs and Salsa

This has been breakfast lately-- a scramble of black beans, (from a can, rinsed, and heated quickly with a teaspoon or so of olive oil), eggs, and some salsa.  A little salt and pepper at the end. This is also sometimes dinner instead. It's delicious and tastes like huevos rancheros.

The start of the new year has me wanting to eat healthfully, and this fits the bill nicely.

 

Ribbon Candy

I am going to admit that I bought this candy just because it is so pretty.  It is literally eye candy for me, although last night after dinner my family and I finally started breaking off pieces and eating it, enjoying the way the colors hinted at the subtle flavors in the shattering sugar bits: peppermint, lemon, orange, cinnamon. 

Ribbon candy is unabashedly pretty.  It is made with the same technique as taffy, where a melted sugar mixture is colored and flavored and then, as it cools, it is pulled and shaped into its final form. Ribbon candy in particular can be a challenge to make, because the timing of the work is closely correlated with the temperature of the candy as it cools and hardens.  Here are a couple of videos that show how the Hercules Candy Company of New York  makes their ribbon candy the old fashioned way, by hand:

 

If you want to try it yourself, a recipe and directions can be found here-- although the lack of skill on the candy maker's part is evident in the pictures.

Even the Hilliard's Company, which shapes their ribbon candy by machine, has lots of tricky physical work to do in making their candy:

 

Kate of Accidental Hedonist has been doing tons of fabulous research on candy, and I was delighted to see her post about the glorious hard and pretty candies of Scotland.  I see some candies there I know I tried as a child and never knew they were from Scotland--  land of my ancestors. Thank you Kate!

Christmas Cabinet of Wonders

 

You thought I'd never get around to it, didn't you? (sigh)

This has been around for weeks, and I'll take it down on January 6th (Epiphany)-- when do you take down your Christmas or other holiday decorations?

Here's shelf one:

Only fitting that the Holy Family gets top shelf, yes?  They are flanked by a little singing angel figure I received as a gift from a church friend years ago, and on the right-- The Holy Cow, a singing angel cow made of clay by our son Evan when he was a wee lad. I adore it. (It deserves its own post).

There are lots of vintage Christmas paper napkins on the shelves, too. There are nine designs featuring the words and music of favorite Christmas carols, with images. I bought the set at an antique fair and I love their cheerful designs.

Ah, shelf two features a treasure I inherited from my Grandmother-- ceramic cardinal birds, and a creamer, napkin holder, and salt and pepper shakers decorated with cardinals in greenery. (The sugar bowl is in use on my dining room table). My grandmother Rhea lived in Cuba New York, and she loved cardinals. She used to paint them on her dining picture-window at Christmas time.  I will never forget my first sighting of a red cardinal in New York. (They don't live in California to my knowledge). The color was spectacular! Cardinals say Christmas to me because of this set of dishes. 

A few more hand-me-downs among the thrift store finds.

I bought these ceramic figures (Dept. 56 brand) from a store display (translation: cheap!) where I once worked retail. In the "background" is a vintage Christmas post card I bought for 50 cents at a Paper Ephemera Show once. Even as a Californian, I dream of a snowey white Christmas!

How about it, readers? Are your Christmas decorations still up? When will you take them down? Are they already packed away?  Do you decorate for the New Year? I'd love to hear from you.