holidays

The easiest Christmas thing to make right now: macerated dried fruits in liquor

maki — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 18:24:10 +0100

I am suddenly behind on everything - work, holiday tasks, shopping, etc. etc. I was planning to do a lot of Christmas food related thing - you know, make a stollen or six, maybe a Christmas pudding (should have been made a month ago), cookies, etc. I may still have time for the cookies, the rest I’m not sure.

There is one thing that I have done that took me maybe 10 minutes max, and part of that time was spend let’s say, sampling the wares.

To give it a fancy name, it would be Macerated Mixed Dried Fruits. What it is is a bunch of dried raisins, currants, apricots, and so on put in a non-reactive container (like a big glass jar), covered with liquor, and left in a dark place to do its thing. The fruit becomes softened and infused by the liquor, and the liquor takes on the flavors of the fruit.

It’s best if it’s been left for at least a week, but you can start using it the day after.

You can get fancy with the dried fruit selection, the liquors, or both. Just make sure the dried fruit you are using does not have added sugar. I stuck to the basics with the fruits (dark and golden raisins, currants) but splurged on the liquors: a mix of Williams pear schnapps, kirsch (cherry schnapps), and orange-scented Cointreau. You could use brandy, rum, Scotch, Bourbon, vodka…just as long as it’s something with a pretty high alcohol content.

What can you do with this? A lot.

Put it into small, pretty jars to give away as presents.
Stir a spoonful or two into vanilla ice cream.
Pour a spoonful or two mixed with syrup over pancakes for a boozy fruity breakfast.
Mix the drained fruit into a basic poundcake batter.
Mix the drained fruit into a muffin batter.
Add some of the liquor to Glühwein (mulled wine).
Flame the liquor over a storebought Christmas pudding (or indeed, flame it over anything. To flame, warm up the liquor first in a small pan, then set a match to it and pour over the object of your choice.)
Pour the liquor over rocks for a sweet, fruity nerve calming agent just before the dinner guests arrive.
…and whatever else strikes your fancy.

Do you think about the carbon footprint of your holiday feasts?

maki — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 01:48:15 +0100

As I’ve mentioned her before several times, I’m not a diehard locavore. But I do try to keep an eye on how far my food has travelled to get to me. Admittedly, many of my seasonings and such have travelled a long way, because I need my Japanese food and I’m here in the middle of Europe. For fresh produce and meats and things like that I do try to buy things that haven’t travelled too far as much as I can. I think I’ve fairly typical in that respect these days.

Yesterday there was this news story from the UK about the carbon footprint of a typical Christmas dinner. It was picked up by several news outlets (e.g. here and here, indicating the interest in ‘going green’ I guess. That turkey dinner with cranberry sauce is supposed to “generate the equivalent of 20 kg of carbon dioxide emissions”, according to researchers at the School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science at the University of Manchester. The main culprit is cranberries, which are usually shipped from the U.S. and account for half of that carbon footprint.

I admit I had two opposing reactions to the story. My kneejerk reaction was to think “It’s the holidays for goodness’ sake. Let me just enjoy my dinner!” That was followed by a twinge of guilt, that I should be caring about the issue even if it is the holidays.

What do you think? Do you think how far your dried apricots have come (probably from Australia), or where your oranges and cloves are grown (around here cloves most likely come from China and oranges from Israel, Spain or the U.S.) Does the carbon footprint issue make you reconsider your holiday menus? Or do you set those concerns aside?

Me, I’m going halfway (as I usually do)…I do enjoy my far-travelled citrus fruit, since there aren’t any fresh fruits growing in or near Switzerland now. But I think we may go with a glazed Swiss-grown ham for Christmas dinner. We’ll pass on the cranberry sauce, and maybe pull out the red currants from our garden that we froze this summer.

Happy Labor Day

maki — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 10:19:04 +0200

Happy Labor Day to everyone in the U.S.! Labor Day is sort of the unofficial end of summer, which makes me a little sad, but it’s also the start of the best season for foodies - fall/autumn. Fall is known as the season of the appetite in Japan - as the hot weather recedes and the fruits of the harvest start to come in, the tummy gets hungrier. In Switzerland we have the hunting season to look forward to, not to mention wild mushrooms in the markets. And the old grape vines in our garden are already yielding dark, small, sweet fruits.

I know things have been a little quiet around Just Hungry lately, but it will get busier as I get out of tomato-salad and cold cucumber soup mode…stay tuned!

For your 4th of July party

maki — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 16:52:40 +0200

If youre in the U.S. or anywhere in the world celebrating the 4th of July tomorrow, I hope you’re having better weather than we’re having here, where it’s cold and rainy! If you’re having a party, here are some useful recipes from the archives:

Japanese potato salad, which in my opinion is the best kind of potato salad - rich tasting, not too vinegary. With homemade mayonnaise it’s heaven - though be careful to refrigerate it properly before serving, and to eat the leftovers (if there are any) as soon as possible.

For a much lighter, refreshing salad (no fat added!), Scandinavian cucumber salad goes very well with the rich flavors of grilled meats. It’s sort of like a fresh relish. Serve this very well chilled.

By saving calories with the salad you can then splurge on the Red, white and blue mess for dessert, which looks quite spectacular and even feels sort of virtuously healthy because of all the fruit.

Happy 4th!

Easter brunch bunny bao (steamed buns)

maki — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 16:16:59 +0200

For a planned Easter lunch, I wanted to do something in the brunch realm, but with an Easter theme. Brunch purists may insist on eggs and pancakes and croissants and champagne for brunch, but for me ‘brunch’ means an early lunch feast after little or no breakfast, and so dim sum is my favorite kind of brunch.

Putting Easter and dim sum together, I devised these bunny shaped bao, or steamed buns. (The inspiration for the shape came from a pair of fluffy white bunny slippers I saw at a flea market last summer.) They are quite simple really: tender steamed bun dough is filled and formed into an oval, and the ears are cut with scissors. The faces are optional - for a minimalist bunny, you could just leave them blank and unadorned. Or, you could go all-out and add whiskers with slivered green onion, or whatever strikes your fancy.

The bunny bao could be stuffed with any kind of steamed bun filling (see my roast pork filled steamed buns), but keeping with the brunch theme, I’ve filled these with an egg, bacon and chive mixture. It all makes sense - eggs, and ham, and bunnies, plus spring chives. So very Easter.

You could of course omit the bunny-shaping part if you want to avoid the cuteness.

Bunny shaped bao (steamed buns) with egg and bacon filling

Makes about 12 bunnies

For the dough:

400g / 14 oz. all-purpose white flour
1 packet (7g) dry yeast
2 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
220ml / a bit less than 1 U.S. cup warm water
2 Tbs. vegetable oil (such as canola, safflower)
extra flour for rolling out

For the filling:

150g / about 5 oz (a few slices) bacon, speck or pancetta, cut into small dice
3 large eggs
2 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. mirin
3 Tbs. chives, finely chopped

Equipment: a pair of sharp scissors, a multi-tiered bamboo steamer, kitchen parchment paper

Make the dough. In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients together well. Add the warm water a little at a time, mixing all the time, until it forms a shaggy ball. Add the oil and knead in the bowl until the dough cleans the sides. Place on a board (lightly floured if necessary) and knead until smooth. Form into a ball, place back in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Leave until risen to about 2 1/2 times its original size, about 1 hour.

In the meantime, make the filling. In a dry non-stick frying pan, fry the the bacon bits until crispy but not too black. Drain well on a paper towel.

Mix together the egg, soy sauce, sugar and mirin. In the same non-stick frying pan, mix the egg around to make scrambled eggs that are firm but not hard (take of the heat while still soft, and they’ll continue to cook to the ideal firmness). Add the chives and the bacon at the end and mix well. Let cool to room temperature.

Punch down the risen dough, roll into a snake and cut into 12 equal pieces. Make each piece into a small, smooth ball. Cover with a dampened kitchen towel and let rest for about 15 minutes.

Cut the parchment paper into 12 10cm / 4 inches or so sized squares.

Make ready the steaming equipment.

Flatten a dough ball to about 12 cm / 5 inches in diameter, making the edges thinner than the middle part.

Place about 1 teaspoon of the filling in the middle of the dough circle. Don’t try to overfill or you will have trouble closing up the dough.

Gather up the dough around the filling, pinching to seal well. The dough should be moist enough to form a good seal, but if not brush the edges with the tiny bit of water and pinch closed again.

Flip the bun over, and form into a longish oval shape, rounding out any bumps if needed. Look at the bun and decide which end looks best as the ‘face’ of the bunny.

Lay a pair of clean, sharp scissors almost flat against the top of the bun lenghwise. The points should aim for about 1/3 from the ‘face’ end of the bun. Snip two ‘ears’, taking care not to cut through the dough so the filling is exposes.

Here’s how the bunny should look after the ears are snipped. If the ears are too round, flatten them carefully with your fingers.

To make the eyes, poke small holes with a chopstick end and poke in a piece of chive in each hole. Don’t go too deep! (If you are in a hurry, just poke the holes and skip the chives.)

Place each bun on a piece of parchment paper, and place in a steamer well apart (they will puff up to about twice the size, and any touching parts will not be smooth). Steam for about 20 minutes. Eat while piping hot.

Notes

The dough here is a bit more delicate than the basic one I gave for steamed buns previously. The trick to making the bunnies smooth and cute is to not overhandle the dough, and to keep the surface moist when letting them rest. Don’t use bread flour - use all-purpose, or even cake flour. (The dough recipe comes from a fantastic book in Japanese called Peking (Beijing) Style Flour Cooking by Wu Wuen.)

To make ahead, steam them, let them cool a bit and put into plastic bags and freeze. You can steam them from frozen for about 20-25 minutes until hot.

You can also make plain unstuffed bunnies. Plain bao make a great accompaniment to Chinese meals, instead of the usual rice or noodles.

Cute yet modern Swiss Easter bunny bread

maki — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 21:18:15 +0100

Swiss people love cutely formed bread, just as much if not more than Japanese people. Behold, this masterpiece of adorable yet modern design, in the form of an Easter Bunny bread. (click on the image from the web page to see it larger).

The almond slices scattered on top were a bit misleading. I was rather anticipating some kind of sugar-almondy filling, but it was just slightly sweetened white bread all the way through. Perhaps the cuteness is enough sugariness for one small bread.

For more Swiss Easter Bunny goodness, read about the chocolate Easter Bunny making class I took last year.

A feast of genuine Irish recipes

maki — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 17:53:44 +0100

If you are planning a St. Patrick’s Day feast but still haven’t decided what to make, European Cuisines has been posting a new real Irish recipe every day since the beginning of the month. There’s everything from colcannon to Irish Stew to boxty (potato pancakes) to crubeens, which are “crunchy Irish pig’s trotters”, and a whole lot more. They also have a rant about how corned beef is definitely not the Irish national dish. I wasn’t planning on anything Irish myself this weekend, but those, um, crunchy pig’s trotters sound interesting…. [via Diane].

Irish stout cake for St. Patrick's Day

maki — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 14:56:23 +0100

If you will be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day this weekend, and are looking for a great dessert to serve, try this one out from the archives: Irish Stout Cake with Whiskey Sour Icing.

It’s a light yet very assertive chocolate cake with beer undertones, topped with whiskey flavored lemon icing. How can you go wrong with that? :)