When I was growing up in Canada, one of the things I really disliked at Christmas time was . . . Mincemeat. Oh, but it was horrid. That probably has something to do with the fact that it had real meat in it . . . ground beef . . . and ground beef made me want to gag. Mixed with raisins and other fruits, it made me want to gag even more . . .



Combine that with the interesting fact that my Aunt used to make her mincemeat out of venison that my Uncle shot every year, and I could never trust whether the mincemeat my mother was using had come from my Aunt or not . . . and I just could not face eating Bambi . . .

Aside from all that . . . it just didn't taste good to me . . . not at all. Never, no never . . .



Oh, how very different mincemeat is over here in the UK. I just love it and I can't get enough of it any time of the year, but MOST especially during the Christmas Season!!!

Filled with lovely bits of bramley apple . . . raisins . . . currants . . . sultanas . . . candied peel . . . not to mention lovely warm spices and oranges and lemons, chopped almonds . . . all bound together with soft dark brown sugar, brandy and suet . . . Just the thought of it gets my taste buds tingling.



I love them cold . . . all buttery and spicy sweet in my mouth.



They are a special treat when gently warmed . . . all meltingly delicious and crumbly, with lashings of brandy cream or custard . . . mmm . . .

I usually make my own, using Delia's Foolproof Recipe, but the grocery shops are full of wonderful mincemeat as well. Marks and Spencers make a really yummy luxury version.



There is nothing like spending an afternoon with a cd of Christmas Carols creating the festive mood whilst you bake lovely mince pies . . . the smell of them baking so homey and warm, the music . . . just so soul enriching . . . the cold wind outside buffeting the windows as the rain lashes against the glass . . . me all tucked up warm and cosy in the kitchen, my slippers padding across the floor and Jess stretched out and softly snoring on the carpet in front of the AGA . . .



Ahh . . . this has to be bliss. Can there be anything else on earth so wonderful??? I think not!



Well . . . eating them comes a close second, I do have to admit!




*Mince Pies*
Makes about 24
Printable Recipe

I just adore these delicious Christmas Treats! Crisp and buttery pastry encasing a delicious filling of spiced fruits, and dusted with icing sugar. Oh, so very wonderful. It just would not be Christmas without a breadbox filled with these!

560g mincemeat
(either homemade or storebought)
350g flour
pinch of salt
75g of cold butter, cut into bits
75g cold lard, cut into bits
ice water as needed
For the finish
some milk for brushing
sifted icing sugar for dusting

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Drop in the butter and lard and rub it into the flour/salt mixture using your fingertips. Rub until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Add the ice water by the tablespoon, mixing in with a fork, until you get a dough that leaves the sides of the bowl clean. Shape into a ball, wrap in cling film and place in the refrigerator to rest for half an hour.

Roll half of the dough out 1/4 inch thick on a lightly floured board. Cut it into 24 rounds with a 3 inch fluted pastry cutter. Place them into two lightly greased patty tins, lining the holes. Spoon a dessertspoon of mincemeat into each. Roll out the other half of the dough in the same manner, and cut out 24 rounds iwth a 2 1/2 inch cutter. Brush the edges of these rounds with a bit of water and then place them on top of the mincmeat filled patty tins to form lids. Press around lightly to seal. Brush the tops with a bit of milk. Prick with a fork if desired. Place on the top rack in the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown and crisp.

Remove from the oven and cool completely before disting with icing sugar. Store in an airtight container.

Back in the mid 1970's, during my University Days . . . I had a friend named Julia. She always seemed extremely exotic and daring to me.

For one thing, she came from the big city of Montreal . . . whereas I had grown up in small town nowhere.

For another thing she was living with her boyfriend . . . something else I would never had dared to do back then. Just the thought of it would have killed my mother . . . really.



She eschewed bras, shaving under the arms, and wore halter tops, and she spoke with a very posh Canadian Accent . . . not the small town Nova Scotian Accent that I had . . .



She loved to cook. Wonderfully exotic dishes . . . things I had never heard of in my lifetime, or tasted. Cooking was art to her and . . . while I loved to cook too . . . I had a very narrow repertoire, my sole experience having been based on my mother's simple country cooking and what I had been taught in Home Economics and the few Madame Benoit shows I'd managed to catch on the Take 30 show on weekday television.

This was way before Yan Can Cook, or the Galloping Gourmet!! Or at least before I had ever heard of these chefs . . . (Yes, I was very naieve and innocent!)



Julia introduced me to such exotic dishes as boeuf bourginon and poulet saute a l'estragon . . . I thought she was ever so sophisticated, and I devoured all of her ideas and recipes.




To this day, I never ever cook French Onion Soup without thinking of Julia. I remember thinking this simple soup was a little taste of heaven the first time she made it for us at a little soiree she threw. I remember watching her make it very carefully. She used tinned beef consomme, Campbells if I remember correct and then she used mozzarella and parmesan cheeses . . . the Parmesan pre-grated and from a green cardboard cylinder and the mozzarella also from a hard block and grated. I can remember there being so much mozzarella cheese that we almost choked on it. I think the idea was to have so much Mozzarella that it really strung out when you dipped it out of your bowl.



I have come a very long way since then . . . and I would never use tinned beef consomme . . . I'd also never use cheese from a green cardboard cylinder or mozzarella . . . my cheese of choice being freshly grated Parmesan and sweet and nutty freshly grated Gruyere . . .

I expect that Julia would never use them anymore either . . . I often wonder what happened to her. I imagine that she is the lady in residence of a beautiful country home or the wife of a Canadian Diplomat . . . or maybe she is just like me . . . a card carrying foodie, that just can't get enough . . .

of what else . . . but . . . food, recipes, and . . . French Onion Soup.



*French Onion Soup*
Serves 4 to 6
(Depending on how greedy you are)
Printable Recipe

Sitting down to a hot bowl of this delicious soup, one might imagine that they are sitting in a little Bistro in the middle of Paris, instead of in a windswept and wet cottage in the middle of Kent. Ahh . . . perchance to dream . . .

50g unsalted butter
1 TBS olive oil
3 large spanish type of onions, peeled and thinly sliced
2 fat cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
1 TBS plain flour
1 litre of well flavoured beef or chicken stock
600ml dry white wine
1 fresh bay leaf
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 baguette, thinly sliced
200g freshly grated Gruyere cheese
4 to 6 TBS of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place the butter and olive oil in a large saucepan. Heat over medim heat, until the butter is melted and beginning to foam. Add the onions, reduce the heat and cook over low for 15 to 20 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook for several minutes until very fragrant. Stir in the flour and cook for another minute. Add the stock, wine, bay leaf and thyme. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Bring to the boil, then immediately reduce the heat and simmer on low, very gently for 20 to 25 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Turn out the heat and allow it to stand for about half an hour to an hour.

When you are ready to serve, gently re-heat the soup until it is hot. Pre-heat the grill to high. Place the baguette slices on a baking tray and brown under the grill until lightly toasted on both sides. Ladle the soup into oven proof bowls and place the bowls on a baking tray. Top each bowl of soup with a few baguette rounds and sprinkle evenly with first the Gruyere cheese and then the Parmesan. Place under the grill and cook until browned and bubbling. Serve immediately.

About this time of year I get a yearning to bake cookies . . .



oodles and oodles of cookies. Crisp one, chewy ones . . .



Cookies filled with nuts and fruit . . .



Plain cookies . . . and not so plain cookies.



Cookies glazed with sweet buttery icing, and others simply dusted with clouds of confectioners sugar . . .

Crumbly shortbreads all buttery and crisp, some with ginger and some with cherries . . . other's with nuts . . .



Rolled out gingerbread men . . . with sticky currants for eyes, and squiggly white icing smiles and trim . . .



Big cookies . . . small cookies

Tasty in-between cookies.

I like to give them as gifts to my friends. There is naught so welcome as a tasty Christmas tray of baking. It is always well received.



The simple and cheerful act of baking cookies for your loved ones and friends, whilst Christmas music serenades and plays about your ears . . . is the first sign that Christmas . . . cannot be far off.

What a sweet and joyful chore.

I love it. Can I help it if a few make their way into my mouth while I am busy at work????

I think not. Who can blame me. Tis a most delicious job indeed . . . and very rewarding.



*Florentine Biscuits*
Makes 24
Printable Recipe

These are lovely and buttery and chock full of tasty ingredients . . . cherries and candied citrus peel . . flaked almonds and sultanas, butter and sugar . . . The dark chocolate drizzle is their crowning glory.

4 ounces butter, softened
4 ounces caster sugar
1 large egg, beaten
6 ounces plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 ounce flaked almonds
(Lightly crush with your fingers)
2 ounces glace cherries, chopped
2 ounces mixed candied peel
2 ounces sultana raisins
3 ounces good quality dark chocolate, melted

Pre-heat the oven to 190*C/375*F. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets and set aside.

Place the butter and sugar in a bowl. Cream together until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Sift the flour and soda together and then stir this into the creamed mixture. Mix to a soft dough.

Mix together the almonds, peel, cherries and sultanas. Stir 1/2 of this mixture into the dough. Mix in well. Shape into 24 even balls, rolling spoonfuls of the dough between the palms of your hand. Place onto the baking sheets, leaving a good space between each. Press out slightly with your fingers. Scatter the remaining fruit and nut mixture evenly over top of each.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 10 to 12 minutes, until pale golden brown on the edges and bottoms. Remove from the oven and allow to sit on the pan for about 10 minutes, before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.

Melt the chocolate and then drizzle this over top of the biscuits. (I do this in the microwave by blasting it at 30 second intervals, stirring after each blast)

Leave to set until the chocolate has hardened. Store in an airtight container.

I just love cooking with boneless, skinless chicken breasts. They're very versatile and there is no limit to the manner of ways in which you can dress them up!

You must be really careful when you are cooking them, mind . . . for an overcooked chicken breast, dry and tasteless has about as much flavour and as much texture as an old boot . . . and it has taken me years of experimentation to get my cooking times down pat.



A tasty piece of chicken breast is the perfect canvas on which to paint a delicious dinner. This recipe, for example shows you how, with just a few additional ingredients, you can create a dinner that is sumptuous and special enough to serve to your honey on an intimate occasion. It's very easy to increase the quantities though, should you want to serve this to more . . .



I guarantee your honey will love it . . .



hmm . . . you may want to double it anyways . . . just in case.



They do say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. ☺

♥ ♥ ♥ I heartily concur ♥ ♥ ♥



*Bacon Wrapped Chicken for Two*
Serves 2
Printable Recipe

This is quick delicious and special enough to serve for a intimate dinner a deux! It's also quite easy to double the quantities to serve more than two.

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 ounces crumbled blue stilton
2 heaped TBS chopped toasted walnuts
1 spring onion, finely shredded
4 slices of good quality dry cure smoked streaky bacon
olive oil
1 TBS butter
1 TBS plain flour
4 ounces chicken stock
2 ounces single cream
1 TBS grainy french mustard

Pre-heat the oven to 190*C/375*F. Get out a shallow baking dish large enough to hold two portions. Set aside.

Take your chicken breasts, and using a very sharp knife, cut them in half horizontally, not quite all the way through, so that you can open them up like a book. Pound them lightly with your fist. Season well with salt and pepper on both sides. Divide the spring onion amongst the two pieces, placing it on one half of the book and leaving a bit of a border on the edge. Sprinkle with the blue cheese, in the same way, as well as the toasted walnuts. Bring the other half of the chicken breast over top to cover the filling completely encasing it. Using two strips of bacon per breast, wrap them around the chicken securely. Fasten with toothpicks so that it won't unroll.

Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add a touch of olive oil and then brown the chicken breasts on all sides evenly. This will take 5 or 6 minutes. Place the browned breasts into the baking dish and pop them into the oven and roast for 8 to 10 minutes longer or until the juices run clear. Do not overcook.

While they are baking make the sauce as follows.

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Whisk in the flour. Cook and stir for about a minute before whisking in the chicken stock. Cook, whisking, until it thickens then wisk in the cream and the mustard. Het through. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.

Remove your chicken from the oven. Cut in half diagonally and place on heated plates. Drizzle with a bit of the sauce and serve.

Mushroom rice and a tossed salad goes very well with this. Enjoy!

By heck!!! We've sure had a miserable week here in the UK weatherwise these past few days. All's there has been is rain, wind and . . . well . . . more rain. It's been cold and windy and downright horrible.



It's all a body can do to keep warm and dry . . . and comfortable. Where, just a few short weeks ago, we were complaining about the AGA being far too warm and wondering if we had turned it on too soon . . .

Our chattering teeth and cold damp tootsies now convince us that it was a wise move altogether . . . and we pat each other on the back in congratulations for having had so much forethought.



We are thankful though . . . Our little cottage is warm and dry, and it is not under eight feet of water . . . our hearts, prayers and thoughts go out to those whose homes are . . .



These are comfort food days . . . *stick to your ribs* food days . . .



Home . . . warmth . . . comfort . . . food . . . love. Funny how all those words make your toes curl with pleasure, and your heart feel all warm inside.

Is love . . . food for the soul . . . or is food . . . love for the soul . . .

You decide.



*Marie's Burger Delight*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

Yes, this is an unusual list of ingredients, but trust me when I tell you that this is fabulously delicious. Everyone loves this. You will too.

2 TBS sunflower oil
750g of extra lean minced beef
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1 OXO beef cube
1 fat clove of garlic, peeled and minced
salt and black pepper to taste
418g tin of creamed corn
295g tin of condensed tomato soup
1/2 jar of Ragu spaghetti sauce
300g spaghetti noodles, broken in to bits (I'll tell you how to do
this easily and quickly)
200g of grated strong cheddar cheese, or an Italian cheese mix

Heat the cooking oil in a large skillet. Add the beef, onion, garlic, crumbled oxo cube and salt and black pepper to taste. Cook, and stir until the meat is nicely browned and the vegetables are softened. Stir in the corn, tomato soup and the spaghetti sauce. Mix together well, taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to the boil. Take your spaghetti out of the packet and roll it up in a clean tea towel, like a salami. Holding tightly onto both ends of the roll run it down the edge of the countertop from top to bottom several times. This will break your spaghetti into 1 to 2 inch bits. Drop these into the boiling water. Cook until al dente, according to your package directions. Drain well and then stir the cooked spaghetti into the meat mixture.

Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F.

Stir half of the cheese into the spaghetti mixture. Lightly grease a 3.5 litre casserole dish. Pour the spaghetti mixture into this and then cover with the remaining cheese. Cover with a lid and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Uncover and bake for 15 to 20 minutes longer, until nicely browned on top. Remove from the oven and serve.

It may be surprising to know that chestnuts have been a staple food in continental Europe much longer than the potato. It's taken us British a bit longer to embrace it's goodness, but I think we can safely say that it has become well ensconced in our diets and favour. Indeed you can find delicious recipes using this very versatile and flavourful ingredient scattered amongst cookery books from the 19th century onwards . . . puddings, soups, sauces and savoury stuffings . . .

Chestnuts differ a great deal from other nuts in that they have a high starch and water content, yet are low in protein and fats, which makes them ideal for storage. Dried and ground, they can be easily incorporated into breads, cereals, soups and batters.

In Britain wild sweet chestnuts are generally not available until they fall from off the trees in late October, and in a good year a lucky harvester can come away easily with a carrier bag or two! Plump, smooth and shiny, be sure to avoid any that are wrinkly or dried looking, and don't confuse the nuts from the horse chestnut tree with edible sweet chestnuts. They are completely un-related in the edible sense and the horse chestnuts are only really good for conkers! Edible sweet chestnuts are encased in a shell of long sharp spikes and inside there will be anywhere's from two to four nuts.

If you are lucky enough to have a bag of them and want to prepare them for roasting and eating I would suggest that you soak them in some water for a good 30 minutes before scoring them with a sharp knife on their rounded side and then roasting them in a hot oven for 25 to 30 minutes . . . and there is no tastier treat than to buy a fresh bag of hot roasted chestnuts from a street vendor in the depths of a cold December's day . . .




I recently purchased some delicious sweetened vanilla flavoured chestnut puree and was able to create a delicious dessert for some guests we had here at the cottage a few nights ago. I am sure most of you have heard of Mont Blanc, which is essentially a dessert composed of tasty meringues, sweetened chestnut puree and chantilly cream. (sweetened whipped cream)



The chestnut puree was so delicious, I could have just stood there and eaten it by the spoonful, right out of the tin . . . but . . .

that would have been quite greedy, don't you think??? And . . . I do like to share . . .



Not only was this incredibly easy to put together, but it was most impressive to look at and had our dinner guests ooohing and ahhing all over the place . . . especially the ladies.

Every spoonful was bliss . . . total . . . and utterly . . . bliss. But don't take my word for it. Try it out for yourselves. I think you'll quite . . . quite . . . like it.

A lot!




*Mont Blanc*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

This has to be one of the easiest and the tastiest desserts around. Your guests will think you have slaved all day.

4 glasses with stems
8 to 12 small plain meringues
250ml of double cream, chilled
2 TBs icing sugar
400g sweet vanilla flavoured chestnut puree
chocolate sprinkles (optional)



Crumble the meringues and divide them equally amongst the stemmed glasses. Put the chilled double cream into a large bowl and whip with an eletric whisk until it forms soft peaks, but is not stiff. (if perchance you have whipped it a bit much, gently stir some unwhipped cream into it to loosen it up a bit. It works a charm) Fold in the icing sugar. Cover the layer of meringue in the glasses with chestnut puree and then cover that with the sweetened whipped cream. Sprinkle with sprinkles if desired.





 

The other day when I got that tasty piece of beef from the people from Abel and Cole, they also very generously included a package of their delicious free range organic back bacon. The Ensor family have had a butcher's shop in Gloucestershire's picturesque Royal Forest of Dean for nearly a century. They currently cure outstanding bacons and gammon hams for Abel and Cole. As well as running the butcher's shop, they're also organic farmers. Much of A & C's organic bacon comes from their slowly-reared pigs. The succulent pork for their free-range bacon and gammon comes from neighbouring farmer, Richard Hazell.


I just have to ask, how could anything farmed with such care and so responsibly produced fail to be good???



And good it is. Just look at that wonderful colour. It's bright and tasty looking, not anaemic like some bacon I have seen. It also has a wonderful proportion of lean to fat, and what really made me fall in love with it, was that it isn't pumped full of water, like some are. This is a big plus in my books. I also hate it when my bacon smells like, to be perfectly blunt . . . pigs. I know bacon comes from pigs, but I don't like to smell them when I am cooking it. This smelled heavenly . . . all smoky and bacony, if you know what I mean . . .



I just love air cured, smoked back bacon and here in the UK we have some of the best. After having tried this bacon I have to say, in all honesty, it's just wonderful! I think I'll be adding it to my veg box on a once a month basis. (We try not to eat too many cured meats, but once a month, it's a real treat here at Oak Cottage.)



I know that calling this the World's Best Bacon Sarnie is pretty bold, but I'll stand by my words. It has all the ingredients that constitute a great bacon sarnie in my opinion. Great tasting pan grilled free range organic smoked bacon. Free range organic eggs, cooked in butter. Some really flavourful cheddar. Soft, fresh buttered white bread, and . . . let's not forget the lashings of brown sauce!!!



I challenge you to give this a try and then come back and tell me . . . is this not the greatest or what! It goes without saying that this is a once in a blue moon treat. There has to be a bazillion calories in it, but . . . once in a blue moon? Why not go whole hog and treat yourself! (every pun intended!)



Go on . . . dig in . . . you know you want to.



*World's Best Bacon Sarnie*
Makes 1
Printable Recipe

I am giving the quanities to make one here, but it is easily multiplied to make much more. I know this is a bold statment, calling this the World's Best . . . but just make one and try it out. I think you'll agree! This IS the best! It will be love at first bite!

4 rashers of good quality free range organic smoked back bacon
2 slices of good quality white bread (you don't want the bread to compete with the flavours here,
only to enhance)
softened butter
2 medium free range organic eggs
1 slice of cheddar cheese (I used Simply Inspired's sliced medium cheddar with Roasted Red Onions,
fabulous darling, simply fabulous!)
Lashings of Brown Sauce (optional)

Lightly spray a large nonstick skillet with some oil and heat. Once it is hot add the rashers of bacon and pan grill them, until done to your preference. It shouldn't take too long. I like the fat along the edge to be a bit crispy, so I hold it up with the tongs so that the fat is just hitting the pan and I get it really crispy that way. Place in a warm oven to keep warm, whilst you cook the eggs. Wipe your pan out and melt a bit of butter in the pan over medium heat. Once the butter begins to foam, crack in the two eggs. Cook on one side, until the edges are just beginning to crisp, then flip it over and cook the second side for about 20 seconds. Slap on a slice of cheddar cheese, dividing it between the two eggs. Allow to melt.

Butter the bread and then place one slice on a plate, buttered side up. (You don't want to toast the bread. Part of the appeal of this sarnie is the way the bread is all soft and squishy) Top with a bit of brown sauce if using. Place the bacon on top and then finally put the eggs on top of the bacon, cheese side up. Top with the other slice of bread, buttered side down. Cut in half, kick your feet up and enjoy!



mmmmm . . . now that's a great Bacon Sarnie . . .

PS - if you haven't figured it out by now . . . Sarnie is another way of saying Sandwich. You know, a rose by any other name et al . . .