Roasted brussels sprouts with pomegranate molasses (a simplified version of this)
Red cabbage and sesame salad (similar to this, with coriander instead of chives and no carrot or radish)
Potato, mint and edamame salad
Tahini-lemon sauce
Zimtsterne (these take ages to make but keep very well)
S was in charge of Christmas Eve since that is the special day in Germany. We ate cheese fondue (which is apparently traditional) with broccoli, cauliflower, gnocchi, bread pieces.
Thought of roasting brussels sprouts, and of trying something different. Had pretty much all the ingredients for this, and was intrigued.
600g brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
250g shallots, peeled (used a white onion instead, chopped into large chunks)
75ml olive oil
Salt and black pepper
100g sugar
100ml water
2 cinnamon sticks
5 star anise
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 large pomelo (300g after peeling and segmenting) (used a pink grapefruit instead)
10g coriander leaves
Heat the oven to 200C / 400F. Toss the sprouts and onion with 3 tbsp of the oil, a half-tsp salt and some black pepper. Spread out on a baking tray and roast for 20 minutes, until the sprouts are al dente and golden-brown. Leave to cool.
Meanwhile, heat the sugar, water, cinnamon and star anise in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cook for a minute, remove from the heat and add a tablespoon of lemon juice. Set aside to cool.
Peel the grapefruit and divide into segments, releasing the flesh from the membrane. Break into bite-size pieces and put in a shallow bowl – don't get any of the bitter white membrane into this. Once the syrup has cooled a little, pour it over the grapefruit and leave to marinate for at least an hour, stirring occasionally.
Before assembling the salad, strain the grapefruit and keep the juices.
Just before serving, put the sprouts, shallots, grapefruit and coriander in a large bowl. Add the remaining oil, lemon juice and a tablespoon of the grapefruit marinade juices. Gently mix, check the seasoning and serve.
Interesting and very more-ish. Full of ingredients I like and seem to go well together, so hard to go wrong...
600g brussels sprouts
120ml olive oil
300g baby shallots, peeled (or spring onions, white part only) (used spring onions, and not as much - perhaps 150-200g)
2 tbsp maple syrup
Grated zest of 2 lemons (used 1)
2 tsp pomegranate molasses
Seeds of 2 small pomegranates (about 8 tbsp in total) (used 1 large one)
20g purple basil, leaves only, shredded (didn't have, so left it out)
Salt and black pepper
Trim off the ends of the sprouts and cut them in two lengthways.
Heat up a large wok or nonstick pan, and add two tablespoons of oil. Fry half the sprouts on high heat for about four minutes, until nicely golden brown all over but still quite crunchy. Transfer to a mixing bowl and keep somewhere warm. Add more oil to the pan and repeat with the remaining sprouts.
Add two tablespoons of oil to the pan and fry the shallots as you did the sprouts, for four to six minutes. Add to the sprout bowl. Add the maple syrup, lemon zest, molasses and remaining oil to the still warm vegetables. Add half the pomegranate seeds and half the basil, season generously and toss to mix.
Serve warm or at room temperature, with the remaining pomegranate seeds and basil sprinkled on top.
This was really good - exploring two of my current favourite winter ingredients (brussels sprouts and pomegranate syrup) - the sweetness of maple syrup and pomegranate seeds with sour notes from pomegranate syrup and lemon really complements the sprouts and scallions. I guess I should try it with basil one day (not a very wintry ingredient mind you).
Note - both brussels sprouts and pomegranate are super fiddly to prepare, so this is definitely a recipe for cosy wintry afternoons with nothing much else going on - trying to make it quickly would be tough.
50g hazelnuts, preferably skin on (used skin-off and skipped toasting step) 150g brussels sprouts, trimmed, discoloured outer leaves removed Zest of 1 lemon Juice of ½ lemon 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves (didn't have thyme so substituted parsley) Good pinch of chilli flakes 1-2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 80g young, fresh goat's cheese (substituted firm tofu) Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Scatter the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and roast in the oven until fragrant and browned – about nine to 11 minutes. Remove from the oven, wrap in a clean tea towel and leave for a minute. Rub vigorously in the tea towel – this will remove the browned skins.
Cut the prepared brussels sprouts from top to root into slices about the thickness of a 50p piece. Put these into a bowl and toss with the lemon zest and juice, thyme leaves, chilli flakes, and a tablespoon of oil, and season with salt and pepper. Taste and add more olive oil, lemon juice and/or chilli flakes as desired.
Arrange on a plate, scatter the hazelnuts over and around and crumble on the goat's cheese. Trickle over a little more olive oil and serve immediately.
Was nice and simple. Very crunchy and quite tasty. Liked the idea of trying something with raw sprouts, but I think I like them best pan-fried or roasted.
We had a mixture of traditional and not so traditional stuff for christmas lunch. It was just me and seb so it was pretty easygoing.
For pre-snacks we had some dehydrated veg chips that had been dehydrating overnight in our new dehydrator...
Some root veg: carrot, beetroot, sweet potato. Peeled and then either sliced v thinly with peeler or slightly thicker with knife. Blanched some in the steamer and put others out raw - trying out different treatments. Also did some tomatoes, some kale and some apple and banana, just laying them out as they were.
The apple, banana and tomato probably came out best. The other stuff dried out ok but didn't taste so amazing. Think that blanching was a good move. And it would prob be good to toss the slices / kale pieces in a little oil and salt before drying.
After presents and family phone calls we went to work in the kitchen...
First up was a celeriac and apple salad - followed Yotam Ottolenghi's recipe here:
Could add a handful of chopped walnuts and a few baby leaves. Serves four to six. 120g quinoa 3 tbsp white-wine vinegar 2 tbsp caster sugar 1 tsp salt 1 red onion, peeled and sliced very thinly (used half a large one) 60ml rapeseed oil (used olive) ¼ head celeriac (250g after peeling and slicing) (used half a small one) 60ml lemon juice 2-3 granny smith apples (350g after coring and slicing) (used 2 1/2 gala) 2 tsp poppy seeds 1 red chilli, sliced thinly on an angle 15g coriander leaves, roughly chopped (didn't have any so left them out)
Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil, add the quinoa and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain into a fine sieve, run under cold water and then shake well to remove all the water. Leave to cool down.
While the quinoa is on the go, put the vinegar, sugar and salt in a medium mixing bowl and whisk to dissolve. Add the onion and, using your hands, rub the liquid into it. Add the rapeseed oil, stir and set aside to marinate.
Peel the celeriac, cut it into 3mm thick slices and then cut the slices into long, 3mm-wide strips. Place these at once in a large mixing bowl, along with the lemon juice, and stir well – this will help prevent discoloration. Quarter the apples, remove and discard the cores, and cut the fruit into matchstick-shaped pieces similar to the celeriac. Add the apple to the celeriac bowl and stir well, so it, too, gets a protective coat of lemon juice. (The apples and celeriac can also be cut using a mandolin or a food processor.)
To finish, add the onion and any juices from its bowl to the apple and celeriac mix, then stir in the cooked quinoa, poppy seeds, chilli and coriander. Taste and add extra salt, sugar or vinegar, if you need them – you're aiming for a pungent, sweet and sour flavour.
Next parsnips - did a version of Delia's mustard and maple glazed ones (from Delia Smith vegetarian collection):
1lb parsnips
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp maple syrup and 2 tsp wholegrain mustard, mixed.
Heat oven to 475F (might use a little less hot next time). Put baking tin with oil in it in to pre heat.
Top, tail and peel parsnips and chop into wedges 1-2 cm square and 4-5cm long. Try and err on the chunky side. Put in steamer and sprinkle with salt. Steam for 6min.
Take tray from oven and put over a direct heat. Add the parsnips (careful, they spit). Baste them with the hot oil, then put pepper on top and put in oven for 25min.
Coat parsnip pieces with mustard and maple mix and put back in oven for 5-10 min. Serve immediately.
Two versions of brussels sprouts - first (and best) was the roasted with maple syrup classic - did them with hazelnuts this time, though they were just as good without. The other was with chestnuts and panfried (cross 4oz chestnuts and roast at 400F for 10min and peel straightaway; peel and halve 8oz sprouts and cook in a little olive oil for 17min; add chestnuts and cook 20min; add 2tsp veg stock, 2 tsp sugar, 2tsp cider vinegar and cook 10min), but the chestnuts were hard and not good - the panfried sprouts were pretty good though - similar texture to the roasted ones.
Also had bean stuff I made yesterday, and cranberry sauce, which had gelled amazingly well and tasted wonderful (note, tasted a bit like rose - perhaps contaminated bowl - which was interesting - in future could do this on purpose) - impressed with how quick and easy yet tasty that one was.
Can't really see anything, but L-R there's celeriac salad, brussels sprouts with maple, brussels sprouts with chestnuts, parsnips, bean stuff and cranberry sauce. We had it with water as we'd run out of juice. I realised at the end that everything (except the beans) had some sweetness added to some extent - I guess I like the sweet-sour / sweet-earthy playoffs, but perhaps should have gone for a bit more variety and less sugar? The celeriac salad was really good, and a half quantity would be plenty for the two of us (which would halve the time spent slicing). The parsnips were good but a little burnt - need to make sure pieces are chunky, and I'm not sure the glaze really added anything. The bad chestnuts were a shame, and generally that dish was good but the roasted ones were similar and better (hazelnuts definitely optional). The beans didn't really fit that well (and were better warm), although I guess it was good to have something less sweet.
For pudding the main option was Christmas cake, which I decorated last night (alternatives being clementines and mince pies) - see here for recipe:
Maple syrup is one of my favourite American foods (others are squash, cranberries, blueberries, pecans, corn - more on those later).
A friend at work was eating maple syrup roasted brussels sprouts and said they were the best and easiest thing he'd ever cooked. So I went and looked them up. They are indeed simple and good - much potential to convert haters to sprouts.
Heat the oven to 375F. Prepare the brussels sprouts by removing any yellow or brown outer leaves and the stems, then cutting in half. Toss the brussels sprouts, olive oil, salt and pepper together until well combined, then spread out in a roasting tin and put in the oven. After 15 min, stir the brussels sprouts. After another 15 min, stir in the maple syrup. Roast for about another 15 min until tender (about 45 min total). Toss the roasted brussels sprouts with the hazelnuts (if using) and eat.
I didn't have hazelnuts (seemed to be a temporary Boston-wide shortage), so did without and it was great. I also tried it with broccoli and that worked too. I've subsequently made it with and without hazelnuts a bunch of times (this has become a bit of a fave) and I like it both ways, but might even prefer without.
I did a similar thing with chunks of apple and squash, and threw in pecan pieces to toast for the last few minutes. That was a really tasty and autumnal dessert, with some coconut rice pudding.
600g brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
600g brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
Serves four to six.
Serves four to six.
Can't really see anything, but L-R there's celeriac salad, brussels sprouts with maple, brussels sprouts with chestnuts, parsnips, bean stuff and cranberry sauce. We had it with water as we'd run out of juice. I realised at the end that everything (except the beans) had some sweetness added to some extent - I guess I like the sweet-sour / sweet-earthy playoffs, but perhaps should have gone for a bit more variety and less sugar? The celeriac salad was really good, and a half quantity would be plenty for the two of us (which would halve the time spent slicing). The parsnips were good but a little burnt - need to make sure pieces are chunky, and I'm not sure the glaze really added anything. The bad chestnuts were a shame, and generally that dish was good but the roasted ones were similar and better (hazelnuts definitely optional). The beans didn't really fit that well (and were better warm), although I guess it was good to have something less sweet.
