Thursday 16 December 2010

Arboreal Blues

In the last days before Christmas it would be a far too Grinch or Scrooge-like to focus on sad feelings so the blues I am thinking about are the colours. Now you may have gone out and bought a splendid Blue Spruce for your Christmas tree and very fine it will look too. With the botanical name Picea Pungens you should have that wonderful resinous aroma so evocative of the season that no-one in the Real Tree brigade is prepared to forgo.

On the other side of the planet, in Australia there is another kind of tree flaunting the most bewitching mauve-blue at this time of the year. It is almost the same colour we find in southern England on the floor of  beech woodland in April and May when the bluebell carpet flourishes. This paler colour is borne aloft in clouds of blossom on the branches of the jacaranda trees in late November to December. I have only ever seen them as street trees in an urban setting but it is easy to see why they are so popularly planted for that purpose.
A vibrant blue against the brick and stone buildings and seemingly more purple against a blue sky, the flowers eventually carpet the ground and give way to feathery leaves. 

 A blue to uplift; a blue to beat the blues! If the flowers of lilac and lavender have colours named after them then surely the jacaranda deserves no less an honour.

Wednesday 15 December 2010

Family Favourites

When I was setting up home, my mother sent me a recipe folder. A useful gift, I thought but I was delighted  when I opened it to find that the pages inside were not all blank but she had already written in so many of the things she knew I loved and further, she had handed pages around to all the cooks in the family so I had a good selection of all their specialities.  Compiled before word processors and emails became commonplace, it is very special to have all these suggestions and hints and tips written in their own hand. At first the vast geographical distance seemed to lessen working from these recipes; the handwriting evoked the voices and even mannerisms of these relatives and friends so that something of their presence appeared in my own kitchen. Now with the deaths of several of the older generation, that sense of presence is even more cherished.


 One of the recipes I usually turn to at this time of the year, having made White Christmas, is one given by Auntie Gladys. She used to make a dessert based on a  rice cereal and date mix pressed into pie plates to set and then topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit to serve. I imagine it would have been a dessert she would have contributed to club lunches or suppers at events where all would have been expected to 'bring a plate'. I know it was very popular and regarded as her specialty.

I have adapted it (as I believe have others in the family) to make squares to serve with coffee or drinks at Christmas. I added salted peanuts having discovered how well they go with the dates to make a good salt-sweet combination. And on the recommendation of child tasters, I have inevitably included chocolate chips. The problem then became a name for this as it is clearly to no longer any kind of special fruit tart. I have decided in honour of the lady who inspired it and the season in which I usually make it, to name it Glad Tidings; the news that I was making a batch was always regarded as good news in our house.

Glad Tidings
Ingredients
4 ozs margarine or butter(125g)
4 ozs brown sugar (125g)
4 ozs Dates (125g)
4 cups of rice bubbles ( I cup =125ml aprrox)
Half a cup of small or roughly chopped salted peanuts
Half a cup of chocolate chips #

To assemble
  1. Line a tin (approx 18cm by 30 cm) with baking paper and butter the paper.
  2. Place the rice cereal -once again it is the snap, crackle, pop type - in a large bowl  along with the peanuts. I use the economy peanuts as they tend to be small enough not to need chopping up but if the larger, more luxurious ones are what you have to hand, then coarsely chop them.
  3. In a saucepan put the butter  and brown sugar. Snip the dates with scissors into thirds and add to the butter and sugar. Stir gently over a low heat until the butter melts, the sugar dissolves, the dates begin to blend in and you get a glassy toffee mixture. It will may take up ten minutes but don't be tempted to rush it or to turn your attention elsewhere or it will burn. What you want is a thick, gloopy liquid studded with some lumps of the dates.
  4. Pour this mixture into the cereal and nut mix and stir well to combine.
  5. Spread this into the lined tin and press down really firmly and evenly.
  6. While it is still warm sprinkle over the choc chips. (I have sometimes added these into the mixture before spreading it into the tin, but it is easier to convince children that there is chocolate in there if they can see it on the top.) While the mixture is still warm the chocolate should melt and fuse with the base.
  7. Set aside to cool completely and then use a bread knife to saw the mixture into squares.
I quite like to give hand made gifts, if I have made the time to prepare them. I have gone to great lengths to master florentines and lebkuchen but boxes of this and White Christmas have been as well received. Guess they have become my speciality!

Thursday 2 December 2010

White Christmas - a recipe

Last night I made up a batch of a sweet snack that became popular during my childhood in Australia. As I put it aside to firm up overnight and closed the kitchen curtains, I began planning this post. I was going to say, straight after the title, that this post would not be offering any kind of spell or charm to influence the weather. But then this morning when I opened the curtains to the following scene - well - I began to wonder!

To get back to the cooking. I haven't made this recipe for several years but then this year I have scope for some of the little extras and, rich and varied though the range of shop bought Christmas food has become, this is one that needs to be home-made. Being based on crisped rice cereal, (like the kind that goes snap, crackle and pop) it is a recipe that children seem to be happy to help with. To help make it that bit easier I have measured most of the ingredients by volume rather than weight. A small metric measuring jug makes it all much quicker to get to the  fun mixing part.

White Christmas
Ingredient List
100g Trex
150g Creamed coconut (This is the solid kind you buy in a box, not in a can. See on the left below)
1 Teaspoon vanilla
450 ml crisped rice cereal
250 ml dried milk powder
250 ml icing sugar
250 ml dessicated coconut
250 ml chopped dried fruit and nuts  - I used dried cranberries, sultanas and almonds
 Method
Line a 8 inch square baking tin with baking parchment.
Grate, shred or finely chop the creamed coconut.
In a small pan over a low heat melt the Trex, then add the creamed coconut and stir until that too is melted. (Be careful with this as the coconut will burn quite readily if you don't give it your undivided attention. While a little browning only makes for a toasted flavour, the colour changes  and makes the result more of a suntanned Christmas.)
Add the vanilla to the melted liquid and set aside.
Place the cereal into a large bowl and slightly crush it with a spoon.
Stir in the rest of the dry ingredients and mix well. 
Now add the liquid mixture and stir well to combine. It will be a rather dry mixture but make sure that all the ingredients are evenly mixed throughout.
 Put about half of the mixture into the  lined tin and even it out. Pack it down well with the back of a spoon and smooth it over. Pile the rest of the mixture on top and again press it down really firmly especially at the edges and smooth the top.
Now set it aside somewhere cool for several hours to firm up and solidify.
Then turn it out onto a board and use a breadknife to saw it into small squares. It keeps well in a sealed container.


I have seen many variations of this sweet some with glace fruit and crystalised ginger; some with a layer of white icing and silver dragees on top.  In Australia the recipe would  have Copha a kind of coconut vegetable shortening but as it is not available in the UK I have subsituted Trex and creamed coconut, which is readily available from larger supermarkets and stores which sell ingredients for Indian or Asian cooking. This substitution was recommended  by Australia House no less!

Meanwhile in the garden, one of the clipped box bushes  had  been dressed up as a Christmas pudding.