Christmas centerpiece 2014

I made this centerpiece for the Christmas of 2014. Wanted to make a Yule log and also wanted to incorporate a gingerbread house and Frozen movie theme into it for my little niece.  Of course, Batman had to be there!

Yule log with meringue mushrooms, sugar paste elves and holly. Coconut flakes for snow. and then marshmallows, and gumdrops.Gingerbread houses were made in the Nordicware duet pan, using the recipe on the packing.

Frozen theme on this side going to the back half way

Before all that,

prep - elves ready

getting there

yule log close up

Sweet times!

plum cake 2014

macarons

cookies 2014

Blackberry muffins

Butternut squash soup with spiced cream garnish

Christmas 2017

Countdown to Christmas 2017

When Christmas arrives, Europe, especially England, calls. I have written about my liking for those quaint  olde English pubs, castles, cottages and of course, food. This year wasn't too crazy, I made just a few.

The rock cake and sticky toffee pudding are favorites of kids over there, I hear. And of Harry Potter too! But I did not make a sticky toffee pudding. Instead, I made a gingerbread cake and the sticky sauce of the toffee cake., because I wanted to make gingerbread. I substituted golden syrup for the molasses in the gingerbread recipe, and for treacle in the sticky sauce one. In any case, it was delicious. When eaten warm, it was heavenly!

As usual, the Kerala style plum cake was made ahead. Christmas cookies are the usual ones, except this time, my decoration is kind of sloppy. Also, forgot the nose on the snowmen!

Linzer cookie

rock cakes

gingerbread

warm gingerbread with sticky sauce

Christmas cookies

Christmas eve 2017


Appetizers

lamb chops

latkes

Soup:

butternut squash soup with spiced cream as garnish

and bread

pain d'epi

Should have diluted that soup a tad bit, but by then, the roast and the accompaniments were calling for my attention, and so, just served it as it is. It was a meal in itself!

For the main course, this X'mas eve, I prepared a typical English roast. Roast beef, roasted potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, and gravy. Gave an American touch with the creamed spinach.

roast beef dinner

Desserts:

Kerala style plum cake, creme brulee

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the clink of the spoon  against the caramelized sugar on top, and the softness of the pudding inside! yum!


On Christmas day, a pared down Nazrani Christmas. For breakfast, Paalappam and lamb stew. Just our fish in spicy coconut sauce, fried fish, Beef cutlets, and a vegetable. Paalalppam looks a bit tattered! waiting and transferring didnt go well.

paalappam and lamb stew

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paalappam and stew - an earlier better pic

Nazrani beef varattiyathu with leftover roast beef

sun-dried tomatoes

The year before last, after we had moved to this place, I had planted one tomato plant. And it did not disappoint me. It gave us enough tomatoes and more to last us for a long while. Then this year, I planted another one, and then I see these little tomato plants all over! I didn't have the heart to pull them out. Actually I thought they wouldn't grow! Was I wrong! I had so much tomatoes that I started drying them. A youtube video helped me here.

tomatoes

more tomatoes

and some more.....

drying

dried

in garlic and spice infused oil

yum!

Thanksgiving 2017

 Everything was new for me back when I was a newcomer to this country from where we did not have anything like this, starting with the equipment. I started with roast chicken and a couple of sides a year before my first Thanksgiving dinner. I had my first taste of roast turkey at my mother in law's. I remember cutting some  celery for the stuffing, for that dinner. Nothing else registered. In the meantime, I had found some recipes in a newspaper. I had never tasted those before, by the way. But I had written all the recipes down -- cranberry relish, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans with bacon, candied yam, cauliflower casserole, pumpkin pie. I got hold of a copy of Joy of Cooking, and it became my encyclopedia. I started studying roasting and baking techniques. And thus it began. My first official  Thanksgiving dinner was served around 18 years ago, using those recipes.

Most of the items that I served on that day, in our little apartment to family and friends, are still here.  With the arrival of the internet, things got more fun. I found that I enjoyed finding out the stories behind recipes, about cuisines of the world, about the parallels among different cuisines. And over the years, the menu has grown. so has the technique and equipment. For instance, I started brining the turkey, then dry brining. Now the turkey is roasted in claypot, and it has sprouted a few more legs!

When I think about it, I find that, for good or bad,  when things get easy, I have this urge to make them hard, and harder. I realize I like to challenge myself. It is as if I haven't done anything, that I did not put an effort, if I didn't almost  kill myself in the process, with stress and worry and work! Kidding! There is some stress at some point, but all in all, it s rather fun and invigorating. So the menu gets bigger. For me, that is. The fact that my family enjoys it is the bonus. Still, I do worry that I am raising expectations, and that I will let them down, let down myself. Well, that is me. Meanwhile, I have fun planning, scheduling and executing my menu. And I enjoy the sense of accomplishment once I have completed my work. I take pride in making everything from scratch, including the pie crusts and the bread or rolls. I am not sure how much longer I can pull it all off , as I get older. And when that day comes, sooner or later, I will have these as cherished memories. A record of a foodie.

Thanksgiving from around 18 years ago

Thanksgiving 2017

appetizers: cheese-spinach squares, marinated olives, spicy szechwan cabbage, nazrani meatballs, devilled eggs, lil sausages

pecan pie, pineapple snow, lemon meringue pie, apple pie

turkey roasted in claypot with a few extra legs, gravy, green beans with bacon, stuffing, cranberry relish, roast vegetables, mashed potatoes, waldorf salad, candied yam

and the bread

apple pie, creme chantilly, pumpkin pie, lemon meringue pie, pineapple pie, pecan pie

Thanksgiving 2016

I was very pleased to have made the mini rose apple pie! Lots of recipes on the internet.

mini rose apple pie

Filippino fruit salad, pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, pecan pie, mini rose apple pie

apple pie from leftover apple bits and pie crust

mini rose apple pie

Chocolate dome cake with fresh strawberry filling

I made this cake for Valentine's day this year. Inspired by various online sources for pinata and dome cakes. Naturally, it is a fusion of all those.

chocolate dome cake with fresh strawberry and whipped cream filling

For the chocolate cake, I used my usual chocolate cake recipe, (Ina Garten's) - the one for an  8 inch round double-layered chocolate cake. You may use any other moist chocolate cake recipe you have, as long as you have enough batter for:
 1. an 8 inch dome pan/bowl and 2. a regular 8 inch x 2 inch round cake pan.
Wilton has a dome cake pan set which makes it all easier, but really we don't need that. It would be good to have one of those stainless steel trivets to hold the dome pan in place, both while we pour the batter in, and while we bake it in the oven.

Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease the pans liberally. Line the regular round with parchment too, after greasing. Grease the parchment too.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans. The dome pan should just be  three quarters full, leaving enough room for the batter to rise as it bakes. Pour the remaining batter into the round pan.

Bake the dome cake for 45-50 minutes. Check to see if it's done in the center. Depending on your bowl and your oven, you may have to bake it longer, till a thin skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. The other round cake was done in 15 minutes in my oven.

Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Then invert the cake onto the rack. Let it cool completely. Overnight if you want. Don't put away the dome pan yet - we have use for it later. Once the second cake is done baking, invert that onto another rack, and remove that parchment off it. Let it cool too.

While it cools, we make the frosting for the outermost decoration. I used buttercream frosting for that.

Buttercream frosting recipe

1/2 cup (1 stick) softened, unsalted butter
2-3 cups confectioner's sugar
a pinch of salt
1/2 tbsp vanilla
upto 3 tbsps heavy cream or milk

Beat butter. Add 2 cups of the sugar. Add the salt, vanilla, 2 tbsp of the cream or milk. Beat well. Add  more milk or sugar little by little according to get to the consistency you want.


Once the cake is cooled, get that dome pan( washed and dried) and line it with plastic wrap, with enough wrap hanging out - very important! :)
Now place the cooled cake back in it, and leaving about 2 inches on the outside, score a circle in the cake using a sharp knife. An offset spatula comes in handy to scoop out some of the cake - cut it in pieces with the knife, use the spatula to lift the pieces- leaving a depression which you will fill later with that filling. When you scoop out the cake, be careful not to go too deep. Now I don't know if this helped, but I applied a thin layer of the buttercream frosting into that depression so as to seal it. Then I covered the pan with plastic wrap and chilled the whole thing for over an hour. Cut a very thin layer in a circle from the other cake too.

Now is the time to clean and dry the strawberries. And to make the whipped cream frosting or as they call it creme chantilly.

Creme Chantilly recipe:

1 cup cold, heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp granulated sugar

Beat until stiff peaks form. 

Slice the strawberries in half, and mix them with the whipped cream.
Fill the cavity of the dome cake which by the way is still inside the lined pan. Smear some of the buttercream frosting along the edge of the dome, so that it acts as a sealnt,  and invert the other (round) cake  onto the dome cake, like a lid. Press down gently and firmly. Cover again with plastic wrap. Chill. Chill. Chill. Preferably overnight. (You can make some cookies while it chills, or do something else or nothing :)

Now, make the chocolate ganache.

Ganache recipe:

5 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp butter

Chop the chocolate finely into a mid size bowl. Bring the cream and butter to a boil.  While still hot, pour it gently  into the chocolate and stir well till smooth and shiny.


Bring out the chilled pan with the cake in it. Carefully invert it onto a rack . Take the plastic wrap off the cake carefully. Pour the silky still a little warm ganache on top of the cake, making sure it coats the whole cake. Let it set for a few minutes. At this point you may decorate it with truffles or strawberries. Gently transfer the cake onto a cake circle.( I chilled the cake at this point, loosely covered with aluminum foil, for an hour or so. )

Now fill a decorating bag fitted with a Wilton #3 plain round tip, with that buttercream frosting and do whatever design you want on the cake. Or you could just leave it plain  or with that  garnish of  sliced or whole strawberries.

chocolate dome cake with strawberry filling

The whole cake can be made a day ahead. Just has to be kept chilled. Just be sure to take it out of the refrigerator a half an hour before serving .

chocolate dome cake slice