Cooking Eating Storytelling
So what can you do to improve on the pantry staple, sweet chilli sauce? Smoke it of course!
Smoked Sweet Chilli Sauce is an amazing accompaniment to all the dishes you have your standard with but with a unique smokey flavour… and you know how much Bella and I love things smoked.
Serve it with seafood or baste chicken kebabs or pour it over a big dollop of sour cream.
Hot and smokey… Blondie
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
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
Salted Caramel Sauce… You can’t beat a gorgeous caramel sauce to add a little indulgence to a dessert dish, throw in some Murray River Salt flakes (my preferred choice) and it’s transformed from normal to sublime!
This is another fabulous gift idea for Christmas, just make it a day or two prior to the day you will be handing it out.
Blondie 🙂
Chai Spiced Cherry Compote in Port Syrup… Tis’ the season to be cherry!
Thanks to Bella’s parents, who went cherry picking near Orange over the weekend, we have mounds of these glorious red baubles. This means you will be seeing quite a few cherry recipes this year.
Using my Chai Whole Spice Mix (see below) I have made a delicious Chai Spiced Cherry Compote in Port Syrup that can be used in numerous ways. Have it drizzled over ice-cream, you can puree it and make it as a filling to use in your biscuits (use it instead of the prune jam in the Finnish Tarts – Joulutorttu) or put a couple of cherries with some syrup in the bottom of your champagne glass… it’s limitless!
Cheers… Blondie
Whole Spice Chai Mix… Although Chai is traditionally a Hindu spiced tea recipe, centuries old, it translates so well to being a Christmas flavour.
I used this Whole Spice Chai Mix recipe for my Cherry Compote… it’s just so Christmassy and beautiful.
Enjoy… Blondie