Christmas Bakes 4

 

Staying with Italy for another day, here is an example of treating a familiar material (dough) in a different way to produce something novel:  breadsticks or "grissini"

Having made a Ciabatta dough you slice off strips which are then stretched and rolled in a coating of salt flakes, sesame seeds or poppy seeds and rested on a lined tray for the second rise.

Baked for a good while (30 mins or so) until they have dried out to the core. 

As they have no moisture left they will keep for ages in a tin or jar. It is a little too easy to overdo the salt flakes but the sesame seed and poppy seed ones are infallible!  

Christmas Bakes 3

 

A firm favourite at Christmas, Italian pannetone  has usurped the place of barmbrack (which I recall arriving parcel post from Ireland each year.)  Rich sweet but still light it is truly seductive.  The good news is that you don't have to get it imported from Italy, you can make the real thing fresh at home! 

Over the years I have gathered more than one pannetone baking tin, but this year the large one (below)is not going to be used due to the restrictions on family gatherings. Instead I am making one larger and two smaller ones so that they can be "gifted" to other households.

 

Recipes are widely available online and you will want to adapt any one you choose to allow for tastes. Some use fresh peel or candied.  Some add chocolate or cherries or all sorts of things. The good news is you can choose your own fruit mix depending on what you like (and what you have in store). My go to recipe since 2012 has been Dan Lepard's - with adaptations. He tops off the loaf just before baking with a sweet nutty paste and some whole almonds. 

Ready for the final rise

Many traditional recipes include overnight proving in the fridge but as long as you leave plenty of time (4-6 hrs or so) for that final rise there is no problem.  (You should feel how cold our kitchen gets anyway!)

Oven ready

. 

 A further spring while baking makes for a light texture.

Fresh out of the oven

 With plenty of butter and sugar these keep for ages, well wrapped or in a tin, and never fail to impress!

Christmas Bakes 2

 

Today's bake is Taralli - an Italian snack made from flour, wine and olive oil.  Additional flavourings are either chilli flakes, dried rosemary, fennel seeds or cracked black pepper.  Each member of the family has their favourite, but without doubt the chilli ones boss the rest.  (They have to be cooked last so that the flavours don't mingle.) For us they have become associated with Christmas.

The process is to knead together 1Kg of '00' pasta flour with 400ml of wine and 200ml olive oil and 3 teaspoons of salt.  Rest the dough for at least an hour. Then divide into 4 before adding the chosen flavourings, rolling out into stands and shaping into rings.  Each ring is then dunked into a large pan of  simmering water and only fished out once it has risen to the surface.  (Slotted spoon required!) 

Quickly dried off on a teatowel they are then laid out on a lined baking tray and baked until dried out to the core.  About half an hour at gas mark 5 seems to do the trick.

The end result stores for weeks (or months) and is traditionally served with a glass of wine or a cocktail nibble.  They are also very popular on their own although they will make you thirsty! The above quantities make about 140 taralli.  

Christmas Bakes 1

 

It is time to dust off the recipe books for those seasonal treats. Ordinarily they would be snaffled up by visiting friends and family.  This year consumption is likely to be over a longer period with fewer mouths to feed!  I am starting with long shelf life items. These spiced biscuits are baked to a dry 'biscuit' consistency. They benefit from a freshly made up spice mix.  All over Europe the mix varies subtly.  I have gingered these up a bit more than the mix I  found on the net.

Christmas Future

 

The Royal Edinburgh Botanic Gardens Christmas light show has become an annual feature.  There were restrictions in force but a sense of extraordinary was reassuringly "normal" this year!

RBGE Trip The Light Fantastic

After a week's delay due to bad weather we made it to the Royal Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh Christmas lights display.

This was better with the interactive music

Yes the trees were still there - and some featured,

A face to launch a thousand ships?

Hot House?

Pointilism?

I'm Dreaming of a White - Soup?

A heartwarming bowl of soup

From humble beginnings...

Salsify roots

The tricky part is peeling the roots because salsify turns brown on contact with the air. It's not a pretty sight.  In addition when peeling it weeps lactose - just as lettuce stems do.  Prepared roots have to be dropped into acidulated* water, to stop them browning,  in readiness for dicing straight into the pot.

Not such a pretty sight

Other ingredients are leek (white only) and a potato and in this case our golf ball sized celeriac too.  Green chervil from the garden for garnish.

The good news is that the end result is subtle and unique.  A winter warmer.

*Water with a squeeze of lemon or a teaspoon of vinegar.

Festive Treats

We couldn't find any pfeffernusse this year in the shops so we had to make some. 

Never realised how important it is to ice them!

Of course once these had been baked we spotted some on our next supermarket visit.  The freshly made up spice blend made a difference not to mention the freshness of all the other ingredients.  The homemade ones were in a class of their own and have all been consumed. 

On the savoury front taralli are an addictive Italian snack we make at this time of year.  The dough is made with wine, olive oil, flour and salt.  Divided into four  quarters each gets a different flavour. (fennel seed, cracked pepper, chilli flakes and rosemary)  Then each quarter is rolled into a long cylinder. The tricky bit is making them into small rings and dunking them into a pan of simmering water before baking

Dough and the 4 flavourings

 It is best to do the fennel flavoured ones first as the more robust flavours leech into the water and carry over to the next. So chilli comes last.

The finished product

Now it feels like Christmas:

Festive greetings to all visitors!

A Short Post for the Shortest Day

To mark the winter equinox I went to the plot and dug up our first parsnip.  A single row at the edge of the bed overshadowed by a high grassy path they had been rather overlooked this year, but I have got some return for the very little effort I lavished on them.   Roast parsnips are on for Christmas dinner!
While the parsnips have developed multiple side shoots the carrots growing next door remain nice and cylindrical.  This reverses our tradition of "good parsnips, rubbish carrots"  !

Choosing a Christmas Tree

Well it's December now, so the "hold back Christmas until Christmas" campaign has accepted defeat for another year.  I am a signed up member of this defeated cause. Once, decades ago now, we ordered a Christmas tree from a supposedly reputable greengrocer to be held back until Christmas Eve. We got the last reject from his supply.  That was when I recognised the futulity of the cause. Now, 3rd December, Christmas panic is well advanced in the high street (or "shopping malls") stoked up nicely by TV, media and cyberspace. Today, after all is Cyber Monday the busiest internet buying day of the year.   Decorations have already been furled around offices and homes all over town along with the chocolate advent calenders. Will we have the liquor ones again this year???  The shops are already one month into Christmas with their decor. Don't get me wrong.  I love Christmas. I just don't like having it spoilt at the end of November rather than the end of December!  And as for the mass carnage (or should that be abourage?) of pine trees - it cuts against the grain for any grower or appreciator of plants.


So to escape from the hubub I enjoy taking the  dog for a walk and admiring some trees in a more naturalistic setting.   These could all be Christmas trees:

Monkey Puzzle

Douglas Fir?

Larch

Holly - and there's Toby in the corner

?

Cedar

Scots Pine

We are lucky to have a wide variety on our doorstep, courtesy of the owners of Craig House a century ago. As a post script the current owners of Craig House - Napier University are negotiating a sale of the site to property developers who want a return.  This involves 89 new homes in addition to the redevelopment of the existing buildings. Add 300 car parking spaces and there won't be so much room for trees, you can bet.


Hell: and I wanted to end on an upbeat note!


Just off now to place those online Christmas orders.