An English Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving–since I started celebrating it back in 2000– has always been one of my favourite holidays. Think about it: you don't have to buy tons of presents, you get to eat A LOT, and hang out with people that, though they may drive you mad at times, you love. The whole sentiment behind it is pretty kickin' also. I don't think people are grateful enough of the time. Yeah, that's right. I'm getting all preachy on yo ass.

So, I realised some time ago that I hadn't celebrated Thanksgiving since 2005. This kind of upset me, and I felt like I was missing out. So I decided that I would cook Thanksgiving dinner for my housemates on the day. Then we invited a couple more people. Then a couple more. Before I knew it I was preparing to cook a meal for 15 people. And you know what? It. was. awesome. Everyone came over, we drank, we ate far too much food, and we were merry.


Here's a rundown of the whole shebang:
turkey
stuffing
pigs in blankets (thank you Kat)
devils on horseback (thanks again, Kat)
roast potatoes
sweet potato-orange mash
green beans (thank you Jamie)
corn on the cob and broccoli (thank you Vivi)
roasted brussel sprouts with bacon and pomegranate seeds
maple-glazed butternut squash
buttermilk biscuits
gravy (thank you Katemonster)
apple and blackberry pie
homemade belgian chocolate ice cream

Keep an eye out for some of the above recipes. I will post when I stop being full.

Bleedin' Armadillo Groom's Cake

So, I've been promising this for a while, and here they are: pictures of my bleeding armadillo cake for Mia's 21st.

Getting a photo of the entire thing was a bit diff. Note that it's on two separate boards.

Definitely not at pretty or professional as the one in Steel Magnolias, but not bad for a first try dare I say so myself.

"Nothin' like a good piece of ass."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIA!

Maté Cupcakes

I love tea. I also love cupcakes. And when the two come together, well, it's pretty magical.

For me, this joining together of awesome and awesomer only ever seemed to come in the form of a cupcake accompanied by a cup of tea.... that is, until quite recently. I had been thinking for a while about infusing tea into some baked goods, and then, when over at a pal's and perusing their cookbook selection, I had a nose into the book, Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery. Besides being pretty exciting as books go, this recipe book contained a recipe for Earl Grey cupcakes with lavender icing. Knowing that other people had thought about the beautiful marriage of tea and cake and had successfully pulled it off was all I needed to set my plan into motion.

Instead of using Earl Grey tea, which, according to my research is quite a popular choice for this type of cupcake, I took a different route (I should say that there is nothing wrong with Earl Grey: I love it, it warms the heart and smells like love). The tea I used is the Maté Laté tea from Argo Tea Café in Chicago. This tea is an energizing Argentinian herbal tea roasted with almond and cocoa, so it seemed just the ticket. Obviously, one should experiment and use any sort of tea that might be interesting. Topped with some vanilla frosting, it's the perfect TEAtime (ha!) treat.

Maté Cupcakes

1/2 cup/4 oz/115 g butter
1 cup/7 oz/190 g sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups/5 1/2 oz/150 g flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup/4 fl oz/120 ml milk
2 tbsp tea (either loose and ground up finely or from a teabag)

FOR THE FROSTING:
1/4 cup/2 oz/55 g butter, room temperature
2 cups/9 oz/260 g icing sugar
2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF/180º/Gas mark 4. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and tea. Set aside.

2. In a bowl or in a food processor, beat together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time; the first one should be fully incorporated into the mixture before you add the second.

3. Add half of the dry ingredients to the mixture, and then add the milk. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated, being sure not to over-mix.

4. Line a cupcake tin with paper liners and fill about 2/3 full with the batter. Bake 20-25 mins, until a toothpick inserted to the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.

5. When the cupcakes are completely cooled, you can make the frosting. In a medium bowl in the bowl of a food processor beat together all the ingredients until light and fluffy. Ensure the frosting is at room temperature before attempting to frost the cupcakes.

Makes 12-16

I'M BACK! and gratinée lyonnaise...

I know, I know. 'Where have I been?!' etc..  Well, I don't want to bore you with all the details, plus I'm back now, and am determined to remain as active as possible on here for as long as I can, so we can get back to the important stuff.

A couple bits I should mention first though:

1. I am in a new kitchen as of about a month ago. When I started this project I was in a tiny little kitchen in Southern Spain. Five months later I had packed up and moved back to my parent's house in Chicago, which is where those yummy looking scones were made. That was four months ago. Then, last month, I moved back to Canterbury to start my FINAL YEAR of uni (yikes) and have had to get used to a whole new kitchen, complete with hyperactive oven and brand spankin' new food processor.

2. I am a student again. This means that I am, once again, by definition, poor and lazy. You'll have to forgive me for the influence that these two attributes may have here.

3. Remember how I talked about making a red velvet armadillo cake for a friend's birthday, à la Steel Magnolias? Well, that's still happening, in fact her birthday's in about two weeks time. So watch this space.


Great. Now that all that nonsense is out of the way, we can focus on the cooking, yes?


It's hard to believe that this time a year ago I was in Lyon, France. Although I was working crazy hard as a hotel stagiaire, I had such an amazing time there and I miss it like whoa. Having been giving an insanely large amount of money by the Erasmus Programme (fools!) in the form of a grant, my friends and I spent a stupid amount of time bumming around some of the most fab restaurants in the city. One of my most favourite things to eat there, was gratinée Lyonnaise, or French onion soup. It was so delicious and so comforting, especially in the type of weather we're getting in Canterbury in the moment: cold and grungy.

I had been wanting to learn how to make this from scratch for a while now, especially since Autumn has well and truly set in. I finally managed to create it, based half on a recipe in Sophie Dahl's fab book, Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights, and half on the soups I tried when I was in France. This is the perfect soup for when you want to curl up under your duvet, watch some mind-rotting daytime TV, and forget about the world.


Gratinée Lyonnaise

2 medium onions
1 tbsp butter
Slug of extra virgin olive oil
1 litre beef stock
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper (optional)
3/4 cup/3.5 oz/100g grated Gruyère cheese
1 thick slice baguette

1. Roughly chop the onions. In a large saucepan, melt the butter with the olive oil on a low heat. Once melted, move around the base of the pan to make sure it is all coated, then add the onions. Mix into the oil with a wooden spoon.

2. Allow the onions to sweat for approximately half an hour. Towards the end of the time, turn the heat up to medium, so that the onions brown around the edges.

3. Add the stock to the onions and turn the heat down to low again. Stir the mis and then add the balsamic vinegar. Allow to simmer for 15 minutes. While the soup is simmering, toast some french bread under the oven and cut into chunks. When the time is up on the soup, add salt and pepper to taste. Pour into bowls using a ladle.

4. Right before serving, add the cheese and bread.

Tea Time!

I'm not entirely certain why I found myself with such a craving for scones over the past few days. It may have something to do with the fact that ever since I came back to Chicago I've been on a massive baking rampage, or perhaps that I've been away from the UK for over two weeks and I was beginning to doubt my own english...ness. In any case, I made them and they're well, splendid. Perfect with a little clotted cream* and raspberry jam to make a perfect cream tea, or just a bit of butter. And a cup of tea. But that goes without mentioning, of course.

*for all yank readers who haven't a clue what clotted cream is, have a look here

Raisin Scones

2 cups/8 oz/225 g flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp/1 oz/25 g butter
2 tbsp/1 oz/25 g brown sugar
1/2 cup/2 1/2 oz/75 g raisins or sultanas
2/3 cup/1/4 pint/120 ml milk

1. Preheat the oven to 425 ºF/220 ºC/Gas mark 7. Lightly flour a baking sheet. Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder into a large mixing bowl.

2. Add the butter to the bowl and gently rub into the flour mix until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the brown sugar and the raisins. Then, stir in just enough milk to make a spongy, light dough (you may not use up all the milk).

3. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Roll to 1 inch thick. Stamp out small pieces with a floured cutter.

4. Place the scones on the prepared baking sheet and brush the tops with milk. Bake for 7-10 minutes, until the scones are well-risen and golden brown.

makes 16

A Taste of What's to Come

Everyone should have something that only they can make, or at least, out of all their friends and family, they can make it the best. All Americans know about red velvet cupcakes, they're an americana classic, but to English people they're still a novelty. That's why I'm in two minds about posting my recipe for red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting on this blog. The magic will be gone. They'll all start making them themselves. Then what will I be best at?!

 

Plus, I've promised to make a giant red velvet cake for a friend's 21st that's coming up. I'd better wait at least until after that to divulge any secrets.

Anyway, to keep you interested, here are a couple of pics of what may or may not be to come...

Blueberry Crumb Cake

Whenever I go to Starbucks (whether it be in the US, UK, France OR Spain) one of the tasty treats I always have is the blueberry muffin, with the delicious crumby bits on top. I recently found out how to make a cake version from the wonderful blog The English Kitchen. A perfect accompaniment to a coffee or tea.

Blueberry Crumb Cake

2 cups/7 oz/200g flour
1 1/2 cups/10 oz/290 g sugar
2/3 cup/5 1/2 oz/150 g butter
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup/8 fl oz/250 ml milk
2 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups/7 oz/200g blueberries

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF/180ºC/Gas mark 4. Butter a large nonstick baking pan and set aside.

2. Mix together the flour and sugar. Add the butter and rub in with your fingers until the mixture resembles fine, dry, breadcrumbs. Remove and set aside 3/4 cup of the mixture to use later. To the remainder of the mixture add the salt and baking powder. Beat in the egg yolks, vanilla extract, and milk. Blend together well.

3. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold them into the batter. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the blueberries evenly all over the top of the cake. Sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture on top of the blueberries.

4. Bake for 40-50 mins, until the cake has risen and golden brown among the edges. Be sure that the cake is set in the middle and test with a toothpick or a skewer (if it's done, then it should come out clean). Remove from oven to a wire rack to cool.

Serves 8