The Twelve Weeks of Christmas: Week 8-Sweden and Norway

The Twelve Weeks of Christmas: Week 8

Sweden and Norway

(Source: Britannica.com)

Yesterday was St. Lucia Day, so I thought it was appropriate to do Sweden and Norway this weekend. Both of these nations are newer arrivals on my DNA tests, but I'm happy to add them to the mix of me!

I had an ambitious set of recipes for this weekend and am happy to say that I made all of them, and they all turned out to be amazing! All three of them come from one of my cookbooks, so I won't be able to share the recipes, but if you are interested at all in Scandinavian food, or studying Christmas traditions from around the world, I highly recommend the book.

Scandinavian Christmas, by Bronte Aurell. I have a couple of her cookbooks and I really like them. Everything I've made from them has turned out really well. Tonight's dinner was Norwegian meatballs, Hasselback potatoes, and a Kransekake, which if you've watched all of the Great British Bake Off, you have seen before!

The meatballs were very easy to make, and I modified it from the original recipe by baking them in the oven instead of pan-frying them. I just think it's easier that way, and ensures that they cook all the way through. I chose the recipe because it was dairy-friendly, and I've had Swedish meatballs before, but not Norwegian meatballs. I liked the spice blend it called for. I thought it was unusual for a meatball. It turned out really great. I didn't make a sauce and didn't feel like I needed any. I think tomorrow they'll be even more flavorful!

The mixed ground pork and spices. I don't see why you couldn't do this earlier in the day if you wanted to. It would give the spices time to blend in more.

You don't make these into round meatballs, but they're supposed to look like small hamburger patties. Sliders, basically. I baked them at 350 degrees for about a half hour, turning them over halfway through. The recipe says to add some milk, but cautions about using less if it's too loose of a mixture. I actually liked the consistency of mine and ended up not adding any milk at all, which makes these dairy-free, if that's an issue for you.

On the side, were the Hasselback potatoes. Now, this isn't a new recipe, but it's new to me. I've heard of these forever, but I've just never done them, for some reason. I think I'll have to start doing them more often though, cuz they were awesome!

It's hard to cut them down far enough but not all the way through. The ends tended to get cut all the way off, and these probably needed to be thinner, but this was ok for a first attempt, I think.

Before they go in the oven. Seasoned with salt and pepper and drizzled with olive oil.

Halfway through baking, you take it out and drench the potatoes in melted butter and sprinkle breadcrumbs over it. I put more butter on top of the breadcrumbs to make sure they got nice and golden in the oven.

And here's the golden brown finished product! 

Both of these items were fast and easy to make. You could easily do these as a weeknight meal, if you wanted. I just made green beans to go with it on the side. The dessert, though, was a bit more involved, though it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Let's move on to the Kransekake now!

This recipe is a bit on the expensive side because you'll have to get three packages of marzipan, which is never cheap. If you don't like marzipan and almonds, this is not the recipe for you. But if you do, and you happen to need gluten-free baked goods, this is absolutely the recipe for you!

All the prepped ingredients, ready to go. On the right is a shot of what the final product should look like.

The recipe said the eggs should be frothy. Not stiff or soft peaks, just frothy.

This is what it looks like after adding the almond extract, sugars, and almond flour.

This is the dough after adding the shredded marzipan. I added more almond flour to help thicken it more.

I rolled out the rings very carefully with wet hands. The recipe says to use molds, which I didn't have, so I just did it freestyle and even though it didn't come out perfect, and they definitely spread out when they baked, I'm happy with the outcome.

I ended up needing the full 12 minutes it called for to bake these. The biggest ones spread out enough that I probably should have only done three on the pan instead of four. But it all worked out in the end.

The icing recipe calls for an actual raw egg white, which I don't do, so I made my own icing with milk, almond extract, and powdered sugar. I put it in a ziplock bag and cut the end off to use to pipe it. It was too big and it just gushed out so I kind of just spread it all over the rings because I figured deliciousness was more important than prettiness.

They stacked nicely. Obviously it's a bit of a rough version of what it should be, but the important thing is that it was tall! And exciting to make! And chewy and delicious. It says it can be frozen so I have frozen the rings to eat throughout the winter. I set a couple aside for my parents too. I wish I'd had the flags for it. Maybe for next year...

Here is the final product! Dinner on the plate, and the dessert next to it. Cookbook in the background. I was really happy with this meal. It would definitely make a delicious Christmas or Christmas Eve dinner. I'm curious to see if the meatballs will be even more amazing tomorrow night after they have a chance to really sit for a while. I couldn't taste the individual spices in them, but it was just all together well seasoned and tasty.

It was nice to have energy to throw myself into this blog project again. It is a fun project and it's nice to be able to enjoy it again! Make sure to tune in next week to see what's next up! God Jul!

The 12 Weeks of Christmas: Week 7-Senegambia

The 12 Weeks of Christmas: Week 7-Senegambia

(Source: Britannica.com)

Senegal and The Gambia are technically two separate countries, but they are often referred to by the combined name of Senegambia. I was unsure at first about including these countries in this project, because they are majority Muslim nations. I didn't want to include nations that didn't generally celebrate Christmas in a Christmas project, as it seemed disrespectful. But then I found this, and it helped me decide to include them after all. 

I had two recipes picked out, but ended up only doing the entree and skipping the dessert. I just didn't have the energy for both. Tonight's dinner was a stew called Maafe.

It's a really easy recipe, but it does fit in well for this time of year with the sweet potato in it. It calls for beef, but I used chicken instead and I think it was just as good. Here are all the prepped ingredients. I put the pepper and bay leaf in cheesecloth so I could pull them out more easily after it was all cooked.

Here it is in action cooking on the stove!

And after you add all the other ingredients and wait for it to come to a boil. Cover it and just let it simmer for about an hour. It's so easy!

The only ingredient I was missing was the eggplant, but other than that, it's all there. I also used chicken broth powder instead of bouillon cubes but that worked just as well. Here's the finished product, served over cooked white rice. This was a really filling dish and I can tell that the flavors will be even more amazing tomorrow. The spice comes through and the flavors blend well together. If you've never used peanut butter in savory applications like this, I highly recommend it. It really works well in dishes like this.

One day I might try the dessert I had picked out because it did look really tasty. I need to explore West African food more because I love it every time I try it. If you have never tried West African food, give this dish a try. It's perfect for this time of year and is very easy to make!

12 Weeks of Christmas: Week 6-France and Belgium

The 12 Weeks of Christmas: Week 6-France and Belgium

(Source: Britannica.com)

So, this project hasn't gone the way I wanted it to. I haven't been able to keep up with it on a weekly basis, as I had originally planned, due to an unplanned illness that is done being contagious, but has lingering symptoms that are requiring me to slow down my life to deal with. So, my choices are to cut out weeks of this project, or to continue it well past Christmas. Since I started this in October, I suppose it doesn't make much difference if I keep it going into January. So, I will see this project through, but at a pace that works for my current condition. 

This week was Thanksgiving, and my sister and I were looking at a day alone, without family. We decided to rebel a bit from a traditional Thanksgiving meal on the day, and opted for a Christmas dinner instead. I made two recipes for this project, and two recipes not for this project. They varied in their success, but it was fun to make, and that's what matters the most!

This year's Thanksgiving meal was Belgian Braised Pork and Pommes Duchesse. 

It felt like a fancy menu, but it was pretty easy to make. Even not at full strength, I was able to handle this meal pretty well.

You have to start this the day before. Carrots, onions, and celery in a bowl. Aromatics, herbs, and spices in cheesecloth. I didn't have any fresh herbs so I just used dried and it worked out just fine.

Add the herbs and spices to the veggies, and salt and pepper.

For some reason I overlooked entirely the fact that I needed red wine for this recipe, and had none on hand. Thankfully, I had about 2/3 of a bottle of Port on hand that I used instead and it turned out to be just the right amount. Add the pork, and marinate overnight. I turned the meat over a few times to help make sure that it absorbed on all sides.

Butter and oil melt in the Dutch oven. Pat the meat dry, and keep the marinade.

Sear the meat on all sides and remove from the pan. I poured the brandy over the meat but did not flambe it. Since I didn't flambe it, this felt like a useless step. I would just add the brandy to the marinade in the next step, if I make this again.

Add the marinade to the pan and place the meat in it. Like a proper braise, you bring it to a boil before reducing the heat and placing the lid on top to slowly cook on the stove.

After the meat is cooked, remove it from the pan and puree the marinade. It's not the prettiest sauce, I will admit, but it's pretty tasty. You add the currant jam at this point and heat it till it's well mixed in. I was unable to find red currant jam, so I used black currant and I'm sure it's just as good.

The meat was perfectly cooked!

For the side were the Pommes Duchesse, which are basically mashed potatoes piped into pretty shapes and baked in the oven. 

You start off like making normal mashed potatoes except when you mash them, you don't add milk, just butter.

Then you mix in 4 egg yolks.

I bought some piping bags at the store and used them, but they didn't work well. I ended up just making dollops to bake. They took longer to brown than it said it would, but they eventually started browning on the tops.

Here is the finished, plated meal. The meat and sauce were really good. The potatoes, not so much. They were dry and not very flavorful and I don't really see what the big deal about them is. Maybe I made them wrong, who knows. They were not creamy and delicious like mashed potatoes. Next time I'd just make mashed potatoes the traditional way and call it all good. It was like a Thanksgiving meal, but different enough that it felt right to make it on a different year like this one! It definitely is a festive, Christmas-sy meal! And it's nice that the entree cook on the stove because it opens up the oven for other things, which as we all know, can be really difficult on Thanksgiving!

I hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving this year, even though it was different. I enjoyed infusing more Christmas into the day!

The 12 Weeks of Christmas-Scotland and Ireland

The 12 Weeks of Christmas-Week 5: Scotland and Ireland

After a break last week because I couldn't smell or taste anything so there was no reason to try new recipes. I'm going much better this week so there was no reason not to! So yesterday and today I tasted the Christmas foods of Scotland and Ireland.

(Source: Britannica.com)

Yesterday I made the dessert and today I made the dinner tonight since I didn't want to do it all in one day. I would definitely call these recipes wins!

First up, is this recipe.

I bought an 8lb. ham but didn't need all of it to try this recipe. I cut up the rest of it and will be enjoying ham dinners for many months to come now! I've never boiled ham before, but it was definitely worth it.

I had to special order plum jam online because no stores I went to carried it. They had all sort of other fancy and weird jams, but plum was never one of them! But this glaze was really amazing. I was highly impressed.

Pre-baking.

Post-baking. This recipe was absolutely delicious and I highly recommend it!

To go with the ham, I decided to try proper Irish roast potatoes, using this recipe.

I had really small potatoes on-hand so I kept them whole.

This was a really easy way to make roast potatoes. Very simple, plain recipe.

Look how pretty they are! The texture is pretty good but I thought there wasn't much flavor, sadly. It needed way more salt. I don't usually do roast russets, I usually do Yukon golds, but these were pretty good.

And for dessert was a Dundee Cake, from Scotland.

This book was a gift from a friend on her trip to Scotland. It was fun to use it for this project!

I won't post the entire recipe here but you can find recipes for it online. It's basically a fruitcake.

The dried fruit mixed with the ground almonds.

Adding the flour and baking powder.

The wet ingredients. Mixed by-hand. Then you add the flour mixed slowly into it and blend well.

Here's the final batter. It is VERY dense!

You will need an off-set spatula to properly smooth the dough into the pan. The recipe said to bake for 2.5-3 hours but it only needed about an hour.

Fresh out of the oven!

And the final product. The fruit is really sweet so you don't need a large piece.

This was a really proper Christmas dinner. We have ham on Christmas Eve in our family and this glaze would be really tasty on it. We aren't having a family Christmas or Christmas Eve this year, because of the pandemic, but I have ham, and leftover plum jam, so I might very well make this again for Christmas Eve dinner! I was really happy with all these recipes and would definitely make any of them again.