Blondie's Recipes | Finding Feasts

Teriyaki Mustard Chicken

Teriyaki Mustard Chicken… My New Year’s resolution for 2014 is to make at least one recipe from each cookbook or magazine that enters my house. It is a simple enough resolution you would think but I seriously have so many come through that I think this will make me more productive with them. This includes books borrowed from family and loaned from the library… anything that enters through my door!

My first two recipes are from Feast magazine No.28 and Ross Dobson‘s book, Fired Up. First up is Ross Dobson’s chicken recipe of Teriyaki Mustard Chicken and I have to say that this will now be my go to recipe for preparing chicken, this marinade is truly heaven, no exaggeration! I will be now adding the rest of Ross Dobson’s books to my cookbook library.

Fired Up is a book on ‘no nonsense barbecuing’ but each recipe can certainly be used on either a stove top or in an oven easily enough (I know there are lots of people who don’t like straying from a recipe) Other changes were…

Chicken thighs – I used a whole chicken and butterflied it – It was all I had at the time and it was only butterflied because it was getting late.

Japanese soy sauce – I used half and half kecap manis and a light soy – again all I had at the time.

Ross has two restaurants in Penrith, Western Sydney… think I will need to get out there shortly.

Happy New Year! Blondie

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Best Ever Christmas Fruit Mince Pies – Egg Free

My objective for this year is to make the perfect fruit mince pie.

Best Ever Christmas Fruit Mince Pies – Egg Free… For me, the most essential element to the perfect fruit mince pie is the pastry. It must have a buttery, fine crumb and be of the correct thickness (4mm) – this is very important as it needs to break apart in large enough chunks so as to get the perfect mouthful of fruit and pastry. It is vital that it maintains it’s structural integrity! There also needs to be a sweetness included in the pastry that sugar alone will not do… I thought I would be making at least three different recipes to come to the right one, but no, got it one! The fact that it’s egg free is just a bonus to those who have allergies but is in no way an intentional omission… just a happy coincidence.

Here is a small excerpt from Australian Gourmet Traveller about water and egg in shortcrust pastry… “Egg yolks and water also affect pastry. Egg yolks contain fat and act as an extra shortening agent but are used more to add colour and richness to the pastry. When you’re adding water to pastry, be careful to add only enough to bring the mixture from a crumbly dough to one that can be kneaded and rolled easily. Too much water in the mix means the pastry will steam as it cooks, making for a flimsy result, so add small amounts gradually until you have achieved the right texture.”

There is alot of butter in these pies so they need to be chilled; at room temperature the pastry becomes too fine a crumb, but with a slight chill the pastry holds firm and then each mouthful is a cacophony of cool and crumbly pastry, buttery, sweet and fruity flavours that marry and melt in the mouth…. too much? Nah, each bite is poetry!

Oh, I forgot to mention the hint of cardamon, this adds a mellow flavour that’s complimented by the fruit filling.

For the filling I used Robertson’s Traditional Fruit Mince, which is actually really good. It has the right texture and spice, but next year I will definitely work on my own filling – one step at a time!

Ho Ho Ho and a bottle of rum! (oh, is that Christmas?) Blondie

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Karjalan Paisti – Karelian Stew or Hotpot

Karjalan Paisti – Karelian Stew or Hotpot is another traditional dish from that well fought-over area of Finland, Karelia. This would definitely have been a meal that fed an army.

My grandpa fought in both the Winter War and and Continuation War, both devastating Finland. He died 10 years ago and after a tragedy in the family last year, nana pulled out his photo album. A large, well worn album documenting his and the Finnish army’s effort during those times…

Katriina Mueller — The Continuation War: Grandpa – 2nd from the left, back row

Grandpa 2nd from the left — The Winter War: Grandpa – 2nd from the left

The finns burned their bridges and land in an effort to stop Russia - this is one of nan's favourite photos. — The Finns burned their bridges and land in an effort to stop Russia – this is one of nana’s favourite photos.

It’s hearty, like any other stew and incredibly basic with it’s ingredients. This dish really does rely on the quality of the meats you choose to cook with as you can’t hide behind a series of spices, herbs or vegetables.

Blondie

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Lanttulaatikko – Swede Casserole

Lanttulaatikko aka Swede Casserole — Click image for recipe

Lanttulaatikko – Swede Casserole is just one of four traditional Finnish casseroles served at Christmas time. The other three are carrot, potato and liver, all unique and equally as important as the roast meats.

Mum makes this every year along with the potato and carrot casseroles, although it’s been many years since we have had the liver casserole. But don’t fret, I will be making it this year… oh yes, I will!

This casserole has a slight bitterness, which is offset by the golden syrup and is the perfect accompaniment to your Christmas dinner… plus makes excellent sandwiches with all the leftovers!

Hyvää Joulua, Blondie 🙂

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Finnish Christmas Ham – Joulukinkku

Finnish Christmas Ham – Joulukinkku… Hi, My name is Katriina and I have been a Christmas addict for over 40 years. There, I said it!

The food, the movies, the songs, the lights, everything gets pulled out and celebrated from the 1st of December, although the food prep starts earlier… I live and breathe Christmas for the entire month.

My sister and I now do the ham, she gets the most amazing Smoked Leg of Ham from The Free Range Butcher here in Sydney. It gets delivered to my house along with other meats to last for a few months. The aroma from the Smoked Ham is unbelievable, truly heaven. It is pricier than standard ham but the benefit of having such well kept, happy animals and the preparation of the meat after is that this ham freezes so well. After Christmas dinner has finished we divide the leftover ham between the 3 families and freeze the large chunks. We are happily eating ham for a couple of months after and it’s still as good as it was on Christmas Eve.

The traditional way is to cook the ham yourself and then assemble the crust (Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros) but being in Australia there isn’t much joy in having the oven on all day, unless you have air conditioning! Using a smoked leg of ham means you are just prepping the outside, but it also means the oven is free to cook all the other roasts and necessary accompaniments such as the casseroles (Swede casserole) and vegetables.

This ham is outstanding with its crunchy, sweet and hot crust protecting the glorious, smokey, juicy meat on the inside. I like to decorate with cute little characters but this year I will try to get a proper photo of the finished ham, before it’s devoured that is.

Finding Feasts - Finnish Christmas Ham

Merry Christmas! Blondie 🙂

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Finnish Mustard

This is a deliciously sweet and slightly hot Finnish Mustard that is a must with all the leftovers from Christmas dinner.

The recipe comes direct from Tess Kiros‘ beautiful cookbook Falling Cloudberries. I received this stunning book from a friend, Shoufay Derz years ago as a gift for doing some special/makeup effects on a video/sound art installation that she was doing with fellow artist Owen Leong titled Entanglement.

This is the mustard used in the Finnish Ham recipe so double the recipe if you would also like to give some as gifts.

Hyvää Joulua! (Merry Christmas)

Blondie

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Curried Green Tomatoes and Cranberry Relish

Curried Green Tomatoes and Cranberry Relish is a small batch recipe using green tomatoes. Yes, these are the very same green tomatoes from Bella’s neighbour… they seriously have lots of tomatoes!

I graciously received a large bowl of tomatoes last week and I chose to make a relish, although I’m not quite sure if I should call it a relish or a chutney? They seem to be the same… anyway, surprisingly, after a discussion with mum about my relish she tells me that it was a favourite recipe of grandpa’s and he made something almost identical whenever his veggie garden was flowing over with tomatoes. It just goes to show that flavour traits can run strong within families.

Bella made a Pickled Green Tomato with her stash and I also wanted something that could be served with nibbles since the Christmas season is fast coming up. It’s also the reason why I added cranberries to the recipe, just makes it a little more festive. Maybe I should call this a Christmas Relish, it certainly deserves a place on the dinner table.

Serve with any roast meat, on a sandwich using leftovers, or on your breakfast eggs… delicious!

Enjoy! Blondie

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