[image: artsdesiregifts.com]
I’m into the Christmas spirit ALREADY! But, this year, I want to do something a little different. I really want to try to make these traditional Moravian Cookies. The Moravian community originated in Czechoslovakia and immigrated to Old Salem in the USA in the 1700s. They took with them their traditions of simplicity, service and fellowship. AND they brought these yummy cookies!
People, these babies are wafer thin, crispy, spicy and warm. YUM! They don’t do it like that on this side of the Atlantic! Here’s a recipe from Old Salem, which was a colonial village in what’s modern-day North Carolina. I love American Southern food!!!!
Love, Naimah
[image: 1.bp.blogspot.com]
It’s getting cold outside, and I’m starting to crave comfort food! You know exactly what I mean– those dishes you ate as a kid that your mom cooked for you, that warmed you up and filled you up and made you feel nice and comfortable and safe! What’s yours? Some of my friends love to eat mashed potatoes or toast soldiers with runny eggs. I’ve got a friend who loves rich chocolate milk, and another one who sips on spiced Russian tea to comfort her in the colder months. Me? My choice is always savoury chicken pot pie!
As a little girl, I used to love eating chicken pot pie with my family. We would always go to the same restaraunt on the same day of the week, and I’d always order the same thing! Chicken pot pie with apple pie for pudding. I loved the warm, creamy texutre of the sauce, the mellow chicken and the flaky crust (I ALWAYS asked for extra crust!). I’ve been trying different recipes for chicken pot pie, and I haven’t found the perfect one yet, but this one comes close. I found it on uktv.co.uk/food:
For the chicken
For the pastry
For the vegetables
For the béchamel sauce
1. Put the chicken in a saucepan with the vegetables, peppercorns and herbs. Cover with water, cover the pan and slowly bring to the boil. Cook for 50-60 minutes, until tender. Turn the chicken over half way through the cooking time.
2. To make the pastry, combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
3. Stir in enough iced water to bring the mixture together into a smooth dough. Roll half of the pastry out to line a 23cm pie dish or plate and chill for 30 minutes, or until required.
4. Place the carrots into a steamer and steam for 5 minutes.
5. Add the celery and steam for 2 minutes more.
6. Slice the leeks and add them to the steamer with the onions. Cook for a further 5 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Place a baking sheet on the middle shelf of the oven to heat up.
8. When the chicken has cooled down sufficiently to handle, remove the flesh from the bones, peeling off the skin as you go. Tear the flesh along the grain, pulling it into long bite-sized pieces.
9. To make the sauce, heat the butter and flour together in a saucepan and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring continuously.
10. Whisk in the milk and chicken stock, until the sauce is thickened and smooth.
11. Stir in the cream. Remove from the heat, season and add the chopped fresh herbs.
12. Stir in the chicken and vegetables and leave to cool.
13. Spoon the filling over the pastry. Roll the remaining pastry out to make a lid and lay it carefully over the chicken mixture. Crimp the edges together with the tines of a fork dipped in cold water.
14. Brush the top with beaten egg. Cut a cross in the middle of the pie right through the pastry to allow the steam to escape as the pie cooks.
15. Bake for about one hour, until golden. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 10 minutes before cutting into slices and serving with vegetables of your choice.
HOORAY FOR COMFORT CHICKEN POT PIE!
Naimah
[image: musthavemenus.com]
We’ve all heard of southern ribs, but I always remember the incredible Korean Ribs I had when visiting my friend’s house as a kid! Her mom would pull some incredible meat from the oven and serve it with kimchee, sticky rice, and vegetable side dishes. I absolutely loved it when they made it! I also remember they would put beans in their rice when they cooked it in the rice cooker, and they had really yummy sticky sweet bean pies. But… those are for another post! I love how spicy Korean food is (reminds me of Caribbean food!) and also how much they use veggies and healthy ingredients. The ribs use sugar and red meat, so, maybe that’s not the best example… but yeah! I found this recipe on About.com; it will be a real treat for you to cook!
In a bowl dissolve sugar in soy sauce and sherry. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Use with desired meat by marinating in a resealable plastic bag for anywere from 1 hour to 1 day.
GRILLING THE MEAT
Remove ribs from marinade and pull open and place on grill. Close lid and grill until done, about 7-10 minutes.
That’s it, they’re cooked hot and fast and they’re delicious!
See you later! Naimah
I have been trying to find a great recipe for the tomato bisque soup I had when I was in France. I’ve been doing lots of research online and one thing I can definitely say is, there are a LOT of varying recipes and ideas!
I found one recipe that used rice, some that include celery and carrots, some using sugar and cream, and others which add tabasco or hot peppers. I don’t have the talent of being able to pick out exact ingredients to food on tasting it, so I don’t know if any of these is like the one I’m looking for! But OH MY GOSH I HAVE FOUND THE JAMIE OLIVER RECIPE SWAP FORUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am very happy about this because it means I can go back and forth with other people online and get their input. Other bloggers are inspirational, but they are all such EXPERTS! It’s hard sometimes to get my head around what these advanced cooks are doing! But, I find the recipes on Jamie’s site a lot easier to follow.
After poking around a bit, I found a thread called “Soup’s On!” which shows you different types of soup recipes that the forum users have tried and recommend! I love itttttt!!! I think soup is perfect for the evenings, when you are kind of tired and not too hungry, and just trying to get something warm into your stomach because it’s getting cold outside!!! So, I tried to find a recipe for tomato bisque on there, and I came up with this:
INGREDIENTS: For the soup: 4 tomatoes – peeled, seeded and diced 4 cups tomato juice 14 leaves fresh basil 1 cup heavy whipping cream 1/2 cup butter salt and pepper to taste sautéed chopped garlic (1 large clove) and/or shallot/onion (optional) 2 Tbsp olive oil
For the parmesan croutons: 4 large slices of bread 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese olive oil to coat garlic salt (or plain salt is ok, too)
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Sautee one clove garlic and one clove shallot in 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a stock pot over low/medium heat for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and juice to the stock pot over medium heat. Simmer, covered for 30 minutes.
While that’s simmering, brush bread on one side with olive oil. Cut into cubes and spread out on an ungreased baking sheet, oiled side UP. Sprinkle lightly with garlic salt. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake in 300 degree oven for 20-30 minutes (it’s a slow, low heat thing – that’s what dries out the bread and makes it crispy – like a crouton. In fact, you can even do it at 275, depending on your oven.)
After the mixture has simmered for about 30 minutes, puree the tomato mixture along with the basil leaves (in a blender), and return the puree to the stock pot. (you don’t have to puree all of the mixture, if you want a little bit of texture left in the soup). Remember, when you puree hot liquids in a blender, only fill the blender 1/3 full (you will have to do it in 2 or 3 batches). Also, you may want to remove the center knob on the lid (to allow steam to escape). Just cover it with a small plate while your actually doing the pureeing.
Place the pot over medium heat, and stir in the heavy cream and butter. Season with salt and pepper. Heat, stirring just until the butter is melted. Remove from heat. Do not boil.
Pour soup into bowls and drop a bunch of croutons in. Yummm!!!
Thanks Jamie!
Naimah xoxo
Hey guys,
To help me with my cooking adventure I’ve been watching tonnes of cooking shows on TV over the last few months. Problem is none of these shows so far have had any dishes that I feel confident about being able to cook; they’re all really complicated dishes, with really expensive ingredients that I don’t want to ruin!
There’s a new show on at the moment, called Jamie’s American Road Trip, and it suits me much better. On last week’s show he went to Louisiana, and made some great American Soul food, which I LOVE. It really got me excited about cooking, so I rushed out and got some ingredients for a Southern style stew recipe that I found on his website.
This recipe uses the trinity of Cajun ingredients that I’ve talked about before (onions, peppers and celery…mmm!). Its makes a really filling meal for about 6 people – I got a few of the girls round to try it (they loved it!), and even had some left over for lunch the next day!
I meant to take a picture of my own attempt, but it just looked so good that I ate it straight away and completely forgot!
[recipe and image from JamieOliver.com]
Ingredients • olive oil • good-quality sausages (about 2 or 3 per person) • 1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped • 1 red pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped • 1 green pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped • 1 yellow pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped • 2 sticks of celery, trimmed and roughly chopped, yellow leaves reserved • 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped • 1–2 fresh red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped • 10 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked • 1 heaped teaspoon paprika • 1 heaped teaspoon cayenne pepper • 2–3 heaped tablespoons plain flour • 1 tablespoon white wine or cider vinegar • 750ml chicken stock, preferably organic • 1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients, its really simple to make! If I can do it, anyone can..! Here’s what I did.
1. I heated the olive oil in a pan, and then cooked the sausages in the oil until golden and crisp. 2. I took the sausges out of the pan and put them to the side, and put in the onions, peppers and celery for 10 to 12 minutes, until they softened. 3. This is when I added my spices, garlic, chilli, and thyme. It smells soo good at this point. You need to fry it for another minute or two. 4. After this I added the flour and vinegar, and then a few minutes later the sausages, chicken stock and tomatoes. 5. I added a pinch of salt and pepper, and then let it simmer in the pan for about 15 minutes until the sauce got really nice and thick.
Jamie recommends serving it with plain rice, but I had some friends over and I really wanted to impress them with my new cookery skills, so I whipped up some of the dirty rice I blogged about a few weeks ago (the healthy version!).
I think it went really well, and I am super-confident about tackling more complicated dishes now! I’ll let you all know how it goes! With love,
