See Accidental Hedonist for a new recipe!
December 27, 2008
December 24, 2008
Christmas Food Traditions Around the World
Hello Readers! I am happy to present my very first guest post from a writer named Jamie about Christmas food traditions around the world. Merry Christmas!
Christmas Food Traditions Around The World
This holiday season, as you dust off your Christmas dinnerware and start planning your holiday menu - why not consider bringing a little international flavor to the table? While we here in America might serve up a delicious Christmas turkey or honey baked ham, people around the world celebrate the holiday in very different ways. Here are some traditional Christmas dinners from around the world.
Germany
While a traditional German Christmas Celebration might last for 3 days, starting on Christmas Eve, the main meal on Christmas Day consists of a roast duck, goose or beef filet served with potatoes, dumplings, red cabbage and sprouts. Other popular German dishes include macaroni salad, suckling pig, weisswurst, reisbrei (porridge), lebkuchen (spice bars), and several types of bread (stollen).
Mexico
The main Christmas meal is served on Christmas Eve and varies, depending on the region of the country. Commonly served items include a wide variety of local fruits and vegetables including citrus fruits, jicama, beets, bananas, peanuts. In some states, pozole is served. Pozole is a stew made of either pork or beef with hominy in red chile sauce. Menudo is another commonly made stew that is made with beef tripe, hominy - in a chile sauce. The desert of choice is atole - a thinned hot chocolate-like pudding with fried buñuelos (flour tortillas sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar).
Poland, Ukraine
In many Eastern European countries, an elaborate 12 course dinner is served - one course for each of Christ’s twelve Apostles. The dishes are served on Christmas Eve and are all meatless - as there is a fast coinciding with the holiday that lasts through Christmas Eve until Christmas Day. In Poland and the Ukraine, the meal would start with Kutia, a sweet grain pudding. Poppy seeds are used symbolically throughout the meal because they represent abundance and prosperity.
Denmark
The Danes have a big Christmas Eve dinner as well - serving roasted pork, goose or duck. The meat course is served along with potatoes, red cabbage and gravy. For desert - a rice pudding with an almond hidden inside. Whoever finds the almond wins a prize!
Finland
Joulupöytä is the name of the food board served at Christmas in Finland. It’s similar in nature to the smorgasbord from Sweden. This traditional food board contains many different dishes, the main dish being a large Christmas ham. Fish is also served with the ham, as well as casseroles with liver and raisins, potatoes, rice and carrots.
France
In France, Christmas Eve is celebrated with a réveillon, which is a long dinner party. Commonly served dishes include goose or duck liver (foie gras), oysters, smoked salmon, lobster, roasted duck, goose or turkey with chestnuts and stuffing. For desert, the French serve a cake known as a La Buche de Noel, or Christmas log.
Netherlands
The Dutch host an evening-long event known as a “gourmet,” where small groups of people sit around a gourmet-set and use their own little fry pan to cook their own small portions of food. This sort of DIY approach was borrowed from Indonesia, a former Dutch colony. The host of a “gourmet” will have diced vegetables, meats, fish and seafood all prepared and ready to cook. Sauces, salads, and fruits are also available. Not everyone celebrates Christmas in this manner however; some Dutch celebrate in a more traditional way with roast beef, duck, rabbit, pheasant or ham.
United Kingdom and Ireland
Christmas dinner in the UK and Ireland typically consists of a roast turkey or goose, with ham, roasted potatoes, roasted veggies, stuffing, pigs in blankets, apple sauce - all served up on some fine Christmas dinnerware. And for dessert - Christmas pudding!
Why not start a new family tradition this holiday season by introducing a new dish or two to the menu? Thanks to Real Simple Magazine for some of these ideas. It’s really interesting to see how people all over the world celebrate the holiday. Show your family and friends just how worldly you are with one of these non-traditional American Christmas dishes. Who knows, you might even start a new Christmas dinner tradition of your own!
December 21, 2008
December 18, 2008
Tagliatelle with Squash Sauce and Bacon
I define myself by what I do: I’m a writer.
So when I suddenly find myself uninspired, unable to come up with any words or anything worthwhile to say… needless to say, I feel trapped. And I don’t know how to define myself anymore.
Somehow, writing about writer’s block always seems to make it a bit better, but I know it’s redundant, so I really try not to do it. This time, though, it had gotten pretty bad, so I decided to give it a go.
There’s no better dish than this one with which to come out of my slump. I made this squash, bacon and goat cheese pasta a few weeks ago, and it was absolutely incredible. The combination of flavors was phenomenal: I don’t usually keep bacon in the house, which I know is blasphemy in today’s bacon-obsessed food blogging world, but I’d consider buying a pack just to make this dish.
I highly recommend using tagliatelle or fettuccine… the mouthfeel of the ribbons of pasta with the creamy squash sauce is to die for.
P.S. I am sorry in advance for any food writing clichés. I’m trying to get back in the saddle. Hey! Look. A cliché. Wow… I would fail 8th grade English today. My apologies. Try the pasta. Come back tomorrow and see if I can string together a couple of intelligent sentences. The End.
December 11, 2008
Lentil and Cumin Salad with Apples
When I was about fourteen years old, my mother got season tickets to the opera for my parents, my sister and me. We would get dressed up one Thursday a month, and we would head out to see some of the greatest operas ever written at the Met.
I loved the opera. I loved the fact that it was one of the only places left in the city where people actually got dressed up–really dressed up–to go out. I loved the man who stood at the stairs with chimes to announce that the intermission was over. And, of course, being me, I loved the fact that my mother always picked incredible places for us to eat beforehand.
Once, we went to the restaurant at the Met. I don’t remember much of it… I remember thinking that it was very sophisticated and special, although if I went back now, I don’t know what I would think.
I wanted to order lentil soup. My mother told me that lentils were an “acquired taste,” and that I should probably pick something else. That just made me want lentil soup even more. Luckily, when it arrived and I had my first taste, I fell in love with the earthiness. My mother knows by now that anything that most people regard as an “acquired taste” (truffles, coffee, red wine, mushrooms…) is probably something I will love.
I’ve been making a lot of lentils recently, mainly because they’re one of those things that is seen as a “specialty” food in America but that runs at about a euro at your average French supermarket. I’ve found a lot of my favorite new recipes, like this Lentil and Chestnut Soup over at the blog of another Parisian (this time a native): Chocolate and Zucchini.
I loved the simplicity of this salad. I changed the original recipe a bit: I avoid bouillon cubes whenever I can because the MSG gives me a headache, so I opted, instead, to flavor the water I used to cook the lentils with the flavors of the dressing: balsamic vinaigrette, cumin and garlic powder. Instead of tossing the final product in the dressing, I just added a little bit of olive oil.
If you can handle MSG, I recommend cooking the lentils in the bouillon, if only because boiling balsamic vinegar leaves an odd scent in your kitchen for several days. Tastewise, though, my changes made for a delicious lentil salad that brought out the earthy essence of the légume… the thing I fell in love with when I first tried lentils at the Metropolitan Opera House.
December 10, 2008
Christmas Cookie Orders
I’ve always loved to bake for other people.
I had this dream of baking huge batches of things and selling them to people or contributing them to bake sales. I love to try to make new things. I love the smell of sugar and cinnamon baking away in my oven. I love the magic of taking a batter that’s three or four ingredients and baking it for just a few minutes to create something amazing.
The only problem? Baking is not as big a deal here in Paris. I can bake for my friends, but the idea of baking things to sell is not very well received here, even just for bake sales.
Which is why I’m going to take a page out of Ivonne’s book over at Cream Puffs in Venice: I’m offering my services to anyone in the New York area for Christmas cookies, cakes… you name it, I’ll bake it. Contact me at tomatokumato@gmail.com, and we can discuss what you’d like and when you’d like it.
Merry Christmas!
December 7, 2008
Mont d’Or
I had read about Mont d’Or somewhere on the web, so when I found the prepackaged cheese-as-a-meal at my local grocery store, I had a vague idea of what it was. It also had an impressive sticker announcing the fact that it had won the “Innovation Trophy” in 2005. I threw it in my basket without much thought, and it sat around in my fridge for an embarrassingly long time before I finally pulled it out and decided to see what all the fuss was about.
“I’m making the cheese,” I called out to my roommate.
“The cheese?” She called back. Suddenly, it was daunting.
There was no reason to be worried, though: the Mont d’Or is easier to prepare than Easy Mac. The instructions are written right on the package, on a paper sticker attached to the whole package. Along with the cheese (500 g of delicious double cream), you also get a pot to bake it in, and the following instructions, translated haphazardly by yours truly:
Place the Mont d’Or and the box it comes in (without the cover) in the ceramic container. Make a few slits in the top of the cheese and pour in 2-3 tablespoons of white wine. Bake at 200 degrees C for about thirty minutes. Put the whole thing directly on the table and eat the soft cheese with potatoes.
I did as I was told. I took this, which looks a bit like a fat brie with a much softer, downier rind, used a knife to make a few slits, and covered it quite liberally with white wine. I stuck the whole thing in the ceramic container and baked it while I boiled a few potatoes and arranged some cornichons on a plate. When it came out, it looked like this:
My review?
Definitely worthy of the trophy.
The cheese is mild… somewhat like raclette cheese. My favorite part was the crispy crust, which was very different in taste from the rest of the cheese. The contrast was quite welcoming after two or three helpings over potatoes. However, the impressive part is that it stays melty for a very long time. We had a spoon in the pot that we used to serve it over our potatoes and pickles, and the cheese never congealed the whole time we were eating. We weren’t able to eat the whole thing (no matter how much we wanted to), but the leftover made excellent pasta sauce the next day.
If you have the chance to try this, please do!
December 6, 2008
Chocolate Intensity Muffins
I know… I know… another muffin recipe. I swear, tomorrow I’ll post some normal food.
But these muffins are incredible. Grab the recipe (and the reason I felt the need to post three muffin recipes in a row) here, at Accidental Hedonist.
December 3, 2008
Mixed Berry and Olive Oil Cornmeal Muffins
I usually don’t do this. I know it’s silly to post two muffin recipes in a row… especially when I have a host of other things just waiting to be posted. It seems rather silly to post muffins twice.
But I can’t help it: these are the first muffins I ever invented myself!
I usually post recipes that are based off someone else’s recipe. Sure, I put my own spin on things, but I always have to give the credit to someone else. Finally… FINALLY… I can make my own muffins. No recipe, no nothing.
It’s a big day for me.
These muffins are pretty different from other muffins out there, and definitely different from other muffins I’ve posted on this site. For one, they’re corn-based. I posted a link to the cornbread muffin recipe I used at Thanksgiving, but these are not your typical cornbread. They’re much sweeter, for one. They’re also a great deal softer and not as crumbly as traditional cornbread.
The berry mix I used contains all sorts of berries including red currants, which are quite acidic. I love it, but that means that these muffins are not as sweet as some that you may be used to. They’re definitely not as sweet as the blueberry muffins I posted yesterday, but I think the acidity adds a nice kick. If you want them to be a little sweeter, just use a different mix of berries: I’m thinking about doing the same recipe with just raspberries or blackberries next time, which is the selection I currently have in my freezer.
Go ahead and try them, and be sure to let me know what you think. I’m very excited to get back to experimenting, and I can’t wait for some of your tips!
Mixed Berry and Olive Oil Cornmeal Muffins
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
5 tbsp. olive oil
1 egg
5 tbsp. honey
5 tbsp. cassonade or Sugar in the Raw + 2 tbsp. for sprinkling
1 generous cup plain yogurt (I used nonfat)
2 cups frozen mixed berries
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Combine first four ingredients and set aside. Combine all other ingredients (except the reserved 2 tbsp. sugar and berries). Mix well. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until just combined. Fold in berries.
Grease 12 muffin tins and distribute the batter equally amongst them. Sprinkle the reserved sugar over the tops of the muffins. Bake for 15-20 minutes until a toothpick tester comes out clean with a few crumbs attached. Allow to cool 2 minutes in the pan before removing to cool on a wire rack.
December 2, 2008
INCREDIBLE Blueberry Muffins
I am often bothered by people who type in all caps, as I’m sure many of you are. But these muffins warrant it. I swear.
Blueberry muffins are my favorite kind of muffin, and these are the best of all blueberry muffins, so technically, I suppose that makes them the best of all muffins. I like logic when it’s subjective.
These muffins, as so many delicious things do, come from The Pioneer Woman. She and I share a love for plain yogurt… I pretty much break out in hives when I run out. I eat it for breakfast, put it in pretty much every baked good I buy, and eat it on top of everything from pasta to potatoes. It’s a wonderful invention, and this recipe uses a lot of it. Ree even shares a recipe for blueberry yogurt sauce to put on top, but I had thrown the last of my frozen blueberries (a little more than she suggests, but oh-so-tasty) into these muffins. They were excellent without the sauce and a perfect breakfast on the run… that wouldn’t have worked so well with sauce.
If you like blueberry muffins, try these. I used one 125 oz. container of whole milk yogurt and one 125 oz. container of fat-free yogurt (both the French velouté kind, which is super-creamy), so they weren’t even that unhealthy. (BTW: PW calls for a generous cup of yogurt… 250 oz. is a bit more than a cup and is the perfect amount for a dense, moist crumb. I hate the word moist. Moving on.)
IF YOU WANT TO IGNORE MY BLABBERING… JUST READ THIS PART.
Ellen’s Blueberry Muffins=crazy delicious.
That is all.
