Holiday Parties

From Meg's Kitchen

Tis the season to be jolly, overeat and toast all the goodness that surrounds us.  I have had to miss a few parties and gatherings this year because of cataract surgery (eyes are still adjusting but for the first time in over 50 years I do not have to wear glasses all my waking hours).  But there have been a few food related events I have attended or hosted that have included memorable dishes.

Yesterday I attended my art group's 2nd annual holiday potluck luncheon (there are 12 awesome members in this group, who are not only great and/or budding artists but also wonderful cooks).  I brought a chocolate hazelnut meringue cake from Martha Stewart (you can get the recipe through Google) and everyone thought it was great.  BTW, it is a gluten free recipe.  My favorite dish was probably one of the simplest - sliced (peeled) persimmons topped with pomegranate seeds.  I have made persimmon bread in the past (my aunt had a persimmon tree and was very generous).  But I had never tried the fruit raw.  Man, have I missed out!

I did not use all the raw cranberries that I purchased for our Thanksgiving feast and I saved them knowing that I would find a use for them.  Lo and behold ( OK, looked up the phrase because I had no idea what it meant and it is supposed to mean "look and see") I found a recipe for 1 1/2 cups raw cranberries which is about what I had left over.  The recipe was provided by a Pacific Northwest chain grocery store.  I made a few changes, are you not surprised?  The recipe follows.

Roasted Cranberry and Goat Cheese Flatbread

This is supposed to serve 8 but the 4 of us ate it all as an appetizer...  But it was the only appetizer served.
It takes about 45 minutes to prepare.

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
3 TBSP maple syrup (pure maple syrup would be wonderful but not necessary)
1 TBSP chopped green onions
1/2 tsp dry thyme or 1 tsp leaves of fresh thyme
2 flatbreads (about 14 oz each - I used Trader Joe's gluten free flatbread)
4 oz goat cheese
1/2 cup chopped pecans
For topping: Honey or Agave syrup to drizzle on and chopped greens (about 1/2 cup) such as arugula, water cress, spinach...

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a small pan mix the cranberries, syrup, onions, and thyme.  Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, until the mixture begins to thicken.  Remove from the heat and stir to break down the cranberries.  The mixture will thicken as it cools.

While the cranberry jam is coming together, bake the flatbreads on an oven rack until the breads are just crispy - about 5 minutes.

Remove the breads from the oven and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Spread the flatbreads with the cranberry jam and top each one with the goat cheese (you might consider layering the goat cheese on the bottom and spreading the cranberry jam on top because it wasn't easy for me to spread the cheese over the gooey jam.  Sprinkle the chopped pecans over the flatbreads and return them to the oven for about 5 minutes.

Garnish with chopped greens and drizzle with Agave syrup or honey.  Cut into small wedges and serve immediately.  Leftovers (if any!) can be refrigerated. 

Variations:  You could substitute the cranberry jam and goat cheese  with orange marmalade and brie cheese or fig jam with blue cheese...  the variations could be endless.

Winter Holiday Party

From Meg's Livingroom and Kitchen

One of our favorite holiday parties was started by dear friends of ours more than 30 years ago when we lived in California.  And we brought the tradition with us to the Pacific Northwest.  However, we are not very good at hosting this get-together every year (sorry friends).  The party is a combined open-house and holiday reading.  Guests are invited to drop in before (or after) attending other festive events or stay for the whole evening.  The start of the "reading" time is announced on the invitation so guests can plan accordingly.  Guests are invited to bring something to read - a festive or inspirational poem, short story, a holiday memory...  fiction or non-fiction.  Or guests may just be listeners.  In the past I have read various bits of Bill Bryson's I'm a Stranger Here Myself and All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.  I love reading the children's story Emma's Christma by Irene Trivas which is a back-story of the 12 days of Christmas.  And, of course, the biblical birth of Christ as well as the beloved The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

We always supply some drink and finger foods but invite guests to bring something to share with the admonishment that no forks or spoons will be available (and even with the request that it be finger-food only, someone once brought a pie! - LOL)

Cheese and Banana Crostini

 This recipe comes from "Brazilian Cookery" -  I am sorry but I can't give exact proportions for the ingredients, the cookbook is vague.  It all depends on how thin you slice the bread, stack the cheese...)

baguette, sliced thinly

sharp cheddar cheese, grated

bananas, sliced about 1/4 inch thick, on the diagonal 

Toast the baguette slices in the oven at 400 degrees until slightly brown.  Turn the slices over and repeat.  When the toasts are crunchy, pile the grated cheese on and top with a banana slice.  Return the pan to the oven and bake until the cheese is slightly melted and the banana has a bit of color.  Serve immediately.

Post Thanksgiving Comments

I think that I have recovered from my turkey tryptophan induced lethargy from Thanksgiving and ready to critique our holiday meal.  First, I had to research the effects of tryptophan and it turns out that it isn't the turkey alone that causes the sleepiness.  In fact, cheddar cheese contains more tryptophan than turkey.  It is the carbohydrates combined with tryptophan laden foods and the consumed alcohol that causes drowsiness.  Just thought I should not blame the bird alone.

Overall our T-dinner was very good.  Unfortunately, Mom's college roommate broke her leg a week prior to T-day and couldn't join us and our son's roommate decided to join a recently divorced friend for the holiday. Since preparations were already started when I learned that there would be only four for dinner I cooked for six anyway. which meant leftovers for Mom, son and the hubs and me.  I have made turkey soup stock from the carcass which has been frozen into several 2-cup servings. Prior to making the stock I trimmed most of the meat off the carcass and froze the meat in meal portions to save for later (we have one of those food saver baggy gizmos which the hubs is nuts about but it does save a lot of space in the freezer. A portion of the leftover beans, some turkey and all of the leftover potatoes were featured in a delicious soup with an added leek and thinly sliced carrot.  The remaining beans and more turkey were drenched with a quick gravy made from a portion of the stock thickened with cornstarch and topped with freshly made smashed potatoes (in my book - smashed potatoes are made with skins on vs. mashed potatoes without skins).

Will I repeat any of the recipes again? Some yes and others maybe not. The cheese and fruit plate came out at lunchtime and by the end of the first football game we packed up the cheeses but left the fruit and stuffing flavored potato chips out for game #2.  The potato chips tasted just like their name and were really good (thank you son!). The splatchcock turkey was just a bit over baked because I could not believe that it would cook in less than 90 minutes.  It was delicious but a touch dry.  Removing the backbone was a chore that took both the son and I to accomplish (I am sure that he could have done it on his own).  The beans with mushrooms and cipollini onions was good but in our small town I had to go to three grocery stores to find the onions and peeling them was a pain.  Plus the different sizes and shapes of the beans/mushrooms/onions made it a bit difficult to get a fork-full of all three ingredients.  The Hasselback potato casserole was delicious even though I didn't follow the recipe exactly (do I ever?) which was probably a good thing because I baked it with the turkey 50 degrees higher than the recipe called for.  I poured in all of the cream and cheese mixture into the casserole instead of immersing just half of the potatoes in the sauce.  I am sure that my error kept the potatoes from burning.  But they tasted divine. By the way, making sure that all of the thin potato slices were covered with the cream & cheese sauce instead of stuck together was another time-consuming hassle. The casserole was really scalloped potatoes gratin vertical instead of horizontal.  It looked cool but it was a chore to get all the thin potato slices standing upright around the dish. By the time dessert rolled around we could care less that it wasn't homemade.  I discovered that vanilla ice cream is really good with a good dollop of tart cranberry sauce!

Don't get me wrong - our dinner tasted great but was it hassle-free?  No.  I heartily recommend the cheese and fruit combination - easy and delicious.  Splatchcock turkey is a definite keeper (the son commented that I spelled "splatchcock" differently each time I emailed him, well it turns out that it is spelled numerous ways on the internet...  I guess that I am not the only creative speller!)

Coming soon - an idea (or maybe two) for homemade baked good gifts and a wonderful idea for a holiday party.  Plus I am already looking for Christmas dinner ideas.

Mary's Comments
Splatchcock - spatchcock...flattened bird by any other name.  Whichever spelling you use it sounds good!!  I'd probably have to borrow a chainsaw to remove the backbone, as I don't have a son with muscles handy.  Maybe I could try a small chicken to start.  I hear this is a great prep for a bird on the grill.  I will work on this and report back when some grilling weather appears.  Another variation on Hasselback potatoes that might minimize the stacking chore calls for slicing Idaho potatoes, but not all the way through, then drizzling oil or sauce between the attached slices.

Celebrating the Olympics #2

From Meg's Kitchen

Cariocas - An Appetizer

You need a bite to eat with your caparinha, so next up for our Brazilian Olympic dinner is a very simple appetizer.  And, trust me, you do want to have something to eat with your caparinha because they go down real easy.  We almost missed our return flight home the first time the hubs and I visited Brazil because we were in the bar knocking back caparinhas (only 3).  Fortunately they called our names on the loud speaker to go to our gate.  Everyone else was already on the plane and it took off as soon as we were buckled in...
Brazil is known for its petiscos (bar food or tapas) such as salt cod or bean fitters, meat, yucca, or rice croquettes and empanadas - all of which require deep fat frying.
A simpler dish is a salgadinho quente (hot appetizer) known as "Cariocas".  Carioca is also the name applied to a native of Rio de Janeiro.
This recipe comes from "Brazilian Cookery: Traditional and Modern" by Margarette De Andrade.  My first edition copy was published in 1965 so I think that by now the "modern" recipes are classics!

Cariocas

1 baguette sliced in rounds (about 1/2 inch thick)
~1 lb sharp cheddar cheese, grated
~3 firm bananas, thinly sliced on the diagonal

Place baguette slices in an even layer on a rimmed sheet pan.  Sprinkle the bread with the grated cheese (the closer the slices are to each other the less cheese lands on the sheet pan).  Top each baguette slice with a slice of banana.  Bake in a 400 degree oven until the cheese melts.
Alternative:  lightly toast the bread slices first for a crispier appetizer.

Comfort Food – Made Healthier

From Meg’s Kitchen

A friend returned recently from a week’s vacation on the East Coast.  Not only is the plane flight long but getting to and from airports, long TSA check-in lines, and wait times between flights make the actual in-the-air time shorter than the on-ground time. Oh, and plus the time change…  All my friend wanted when she got home was comfort food so she stopped at grocery store and picked up some frozen mac and cheese and ate it with relish (joy, not the condiment).

I too, enjoy a hearty bowl of mac and cheese from time to time but I do try to doctor it with vegies to make it more healthful and tasty.