Christmas 2007

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

I'm sitting here watching The Snowman with a cup of tea before the day properly begins and I wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I hope you have a wonderful day!

The Biggest Gig of the Year

So it’s almost upon us guys; the big one, the Christmas Lunch. For us foodies who love to cook this is it, the most important meal of the year. Are you ready? Are you nervous? Do you have a plan? You most certainly don’t need military precision but a little bit of advance planning will take away the stress and make things so much easier for you on the day.

I’ve heard it said that Christmas lunch is just a roast dinner and although that’s true to an extent it’s also the once-a-year family feast that creates months of anticipation and much expectation. And what's more, it usually involves what is probably the trickiest bird to cook well - the turkey. So quite understandably it often causes much worry and stress for the cook. But having said all that, with good guidelines and good planning it really doesn't have to be difficult.

In order to avoid all the stress, which I too have experienced, and to make sure my Christmas lunch is a feast to remember, for the right reasons, I’ve taken note of tips and guidelines from different sources over the years: Jamie; Delia; family; the internet, and have also drawn on my own experience to come up with a plan that I’m fairly confident with. So I thought I’d post some tips in order to maybe help someone out there (I always have a turkey on Christmas day, so these tips are based around that). But really the best advice I can give you, other than to plan in advance, is to relax, pour yourself a glass of wine or champers, and most importantly enjoy – it’s Christmas after all!

Timings

As with any roast dinner, timing is everything. You want your meat to be resting while you make your gravy and the vegetables to be all cooked and ready to serve along with everything else at the same time. In the midst of the buzzing activity on Christmas day: relatives arriving; glasses to be topped up; excited children running around, and generally being pulled in every direction, it’s more important than ever to know what needs to be done when and to keep on top of everything. Here’s where a timetable comes in. It doesn’t have to be fancy, it just needs to be clear and understandable to you.

The first thing to do is calculate your cooking time based on the weight of your turkey. I use Delia’s timings and they’ve not let me down yet. Once you have this decide when you want to serve lunch and work backwards from there in order to find out when the turkey needs to go into the oven. Remember to add on the resting time (for the bird, not you I’m afraid!); about 45 minutes. Resting is very important as it allows the meat to relax and the juices to go back into it, leaving it nice and succulent. So, if you want to serve lunch at 3pm and your turkey needs a total of 4 hours cooking time it needs to go into the oven at 10:15am (to give 4 hours cooking plus 45 minutes resting time). So you've worked out when the turkey needs to go in, now write that down!

You can now start working out when your vegetables and accompaniments need to go on, again working backwards. So how long will they take to cook? Ok, now work backwards from your serving time to give you the time they need to go on. Write it down. Now you’re building up your timetable.

Preparing the Turkey

On the advice of the experts I now buy a Norfolk Bronze turkey, which is as good as it's promise; succulent and full of flavour. When you collect your turkey ask the butcher to remove the wishbone, as this will make it easier to carve, and make sure he gives you the giblets for the all important giblet stock to make the gravy with. If the giblets are in a bag inside the turkey remove them and refrigerate them separately.

To make things quicker and easier on the day, prepare the turkey the night before. The way I do this is to season a whole packet of butter and put most of it under the skin, which I separate from the breast with my hands, carefully to avoid tearing the skin. I put the rest of the butter over the legs, which can become dry. Next I put a halved lemon and lots of herbs (such as rosemary, thyme, bay leaves) in the cavity and finally I lay streaky bacon over the breast. It’s really important that the turkey is at room temperature when you cook it, otherwise the timings will be all off and you risk undercooking it. I therefore follow Delia’s advice and take the turkey out of the fridge before I go to bed on Christmas Eve.

Cooking the Turkey

As I said earlier, I use Delia’s timings. The turkey gets a hot blast of heat at the beginning, and is then cooked more gently, with a final blast at the end to brown it up. I cover the turkey with foil and remove it during the final blast of heat. I also remove the bacon from the breast at this stage, so that the breast can brown up evenly.

It's very important to remember that all ovens vary and the cooking times are only a guide. With a turkey it's more important than ever to check that it's properly cooked and to give it longer if it needs it, no matter what anyone's timings say. The way to check that it's cooked is to make sure the juices run clear. You can do this by piercing a fat part of the turkey near the legs with a skewer and pressing down on the skin until the juices run. You can also lift the turkey up and let the juices run out to check them. Alternatively cut into the join between the leg and the breast and look in the space in between, where juices gather. Other ways of checking that the turkey is cooked is to pull on the leg and see if it has give in it - it should be easy to pull away from the breast, or to put a metal skewer right into the breast and check it comes out hot.

The Roast Potatoes

My mouth is watering just thinking about these, the gems of the roast dinner. Here’s my guide for good roast potatoes, and for Christmas day nothing but goose fat will do. I’ll peel the potatoes on Christmas Eve (or rather, I’ll ask Rob to!) and keep them covered in cold water so there’s one less job to do on the big day.

The Gravy

My guide for making gravy is here. For Christmas day I throw 2 or 3 each of carrots, celery stalks and halved onions into the roasting tray with the turkey, which gives a wonderful base for the gravy. The stock I use is giblet stock, which I make on Christmas Eve, using Delia's recipe.

Serving

Now, in the days leading up to the big day, is the time to check that you have enough serving plates, glasses, a big enough roasting tray, etc. Think about what equipment and serving dishes you'll need and make sure they're easily accessible.

One of the biggest mistakes I made one year was not to heat the plates. For one reason or another we were late sitting down to lunch and by the time the turkey and vegetables were passed around the table and put onto the cold plates dinner was warm, not hot. I always make a point now of heating the plates. Some plates can go into the oven to heat through, but your best china can’t. In this case simply fill the sink with hot water 10 minutes or so before lunch and put them in. They’ll heat through beautifully. Another thing you can do to keep the food hot is to cover it with foil once you’ve put it in serving dishes, and remove the foil just before you take the food to the table. The turkey will retain its heat well, but to be sure cover it foil and then a tea towel while it’s resting.

Useful resources

FSA guidelines

Delia Smith’s advice

It's Starting to Look a lot like Christmas

The Christmas magic is really in the air now, you can feel it. The shops are bustling with people buying final gifts and food for the holiday. There’s excitement on the forums and Rudolfs and elfs are being flung around on Facebook. No you didn’t misread that. I’ve laid marzipan over my abomination of a Christmas cake and I’ve bought brandy butter, and a slab of pancetta from the butcher. The preparations are well underway.

Tonight’s dinner was roast leg of pork, mouth-wateringly succulent and flavoursome, washed down with a fruity, full-bodied red wine. Let the feasting begin!

December Newsletter

Just a note to let you know I've just sent the December newsletter out. If you haven't already signed-up to the newsletter and would like a copy you can sign up by entering your email address in the box on the left-hand menu, and I'll send a copy out to you.

A Piece of Cake?

How are you getting on with your Christmas preparations? I’m feeling fairly relaxed, but then I have the luxury of having this week and next off work, so I can potter about at my own pace getting things ready. I’ll be stocking up on goodies, wrapping final presents, cleaning and tidying, baking and generally enjoying the Christmas magic.

I’ll also be icing the cake which I’ve been lovingly feeding with brandy over the past weeks, but to be honest I’m not sure what it’s going to taste like. Here’s where I come clean and tell you I overcooked it (sob!). This was the first Christmas cake I’ve ever made and I have to say I was a little anxious about the length of cooking time and the instruction not to open the oven door until after four hours. Maybe I should have trusted my instincts and checked on it towards the end, but then would it have sunk?

I must confess I didn’t wrap the tin in brown paper as the recipe said, as I had none. Would that have made a difference? I’m not sure. To be honest I think the real culprit was my oven and the fact that I had it on fan assistance but didn’t compensate by turning the temperature down a little. The dial can be a little tricky on my oven so I may have even had the temperature a little too high. And herein lies the problem. A recipe can specify a temperature and length of cooking time, but every oven is different so the results will vary. This just highlights the fact that there is so much more to cooking than following a recipe. It isn’t really about following instructions to the letter; it's so much more instinctive than that.

Oh well, never mind, maybe when I cover the cake with icing no one will notice, or maybe by that point they will have had too much of the Christmas cheer to notice! There’s certainly enough in the cake!

A Quick Update on the Forums

Just a quick note to let you know that you can now view the 'A Slice of Cherry Pie' discussion forums without having to log in, making them even easier to browse.

The forums have got off to a great start. We have 65 registered users and between us we've posted 508 messages since the forums opened on 11th November! We now have a Resources section containing forums on Cookbooks & Television shows, Websites and Tools & Techniques, as well as forums on eating out in London, the UK and the rest of the world, British Food & Seasons, World Cuisine and Beverages. We even have our own Wine Bar for discussions about anything and everything else.

Pop in now for a chat!

O’ Sweet Partridge

I’ve found a good source of game birds from this small Kentish farm shop and I’m very much enjoying trying different ones. I picked up two partridges on my last visit which I stuffed with butter, garlic and shallots, wrapped them in bacon and roasted them in a hot oven. And oh my, they were good. Don’t let the small size fool you; these tiny little birds are big on flavour. If you haven’t tried partridge before you really must; and you’re in for a real treat.

Roast Partridge

Ingredients
2 partridges (1 per person)
2 peeled shallots
2 peeled garlic cloves
2 rashes of bacon
A couple of knobs of butter

1. Remove any internal organs from the birds.

2. Put a knob of butter, a garlic clove and a shallot into the cavity of each bird, and then wrap a rasher of bacon over each one.

3. Roast at 230c for 30 minutes, or until the juices run clear, turning them over half way through cooking.

Serves 2

My Little Gingerbread Men

OK so they may not be the prettiest gingerbread men in the world, but they certainly taste good. I used this recipe from waitrose.com and I was very pleased with the result. One word of warning though: the dough is tricky to use as it breaks up easily so you need to treat it with care.

The 2007 Food Blog Awards

Is it really that time again? It would seem so! Time to nominate your favourite food blogs in the annual Food Blog Awards. This year's categories are:

1. Best Food Blog – Chef

2. Best Food Blog – City

3. Best Drink Blog Covering Drinks (Alcohol/Non-Alcohol)

4. Best Food Blog - Family/Kids

5. Best Food Blog – Group

6. Best Food Blog – Humor

7. Best Food Blog - Industry

8. Best Food Blog – Photography

9. Best Food Blog – Post

10. Best Food Blog – Theme

11. Best Food Blog – Rural

12. Best Food Blog – Writing

13. Best New Food Blog

14. Food Blog of the Year

Nominations close on Wednesday, December 5th at 11:59 p.m. EST, so wander over to the Well Fed Network now to nominate your favorite food blogs.

In the Bag: Cooking the Month of November - the Round-up

We had a deliciously sweet bag in November, containing Chocolate, Chestnuts and Sugar. I've been so looking forward to this round-up, and here it is!

This delicious Chestnut and hazelnut cake was baked by Myriam from My Kitchen Diaries.



Priya from Food and Laughter made this fantastically named Chocolate Chestnut Bomb.



This drool-worthy Chestnut and Chocolate Ice cream was dreamed up by Kevin from Closet Cooking.



Pixie of You say Tomato I say Tomato really got into the baking and made not one, but two delights, these scrumptious Chocolate Chestnut Truffles and Pixie's Really Good Chestnut Cookies.





Elizabeth of Mera Pyaar...My Love cooked us these fantastic Chocolate Crepes with Sauteed Apples.



Cherry from Cherry's English Kitchen threw away the chocolate and sugar and made this beautiful Chestnut and Chicken Supper.



And I made Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Chocolate and Chestnut Truffle Cake.




Thank you all for your wonderful entries, I hope you enjoyed the event as much as I did.

Mushroom, Parmesan and Walnut Pasta

I’ve wanted to try walnuts with pasta for a while now, ever since I saw Nigella Lawson's recipe for walnut pasta, and this dish is inspired by that recipe. Toasting the walnuts really enhances their nuttiness and they’ve worked fantastically here with the mushrooms, garlic, cheese and bacon. The dish is substantial enough without the bacon, so you could easily omit it for a vegetarian version. I really can’t tell you how good this is, it’s great for winter; full of texture, warming and comforting.

Mushroom, Parmesan and Walnut Pasta

Ingredients
1 crushed garlic clove
2 -3 handfuls of thickly sliced mushrooms
4-6 tablespoons of mascarpone (or other cream cheese)
A handful of grated Parmesan cheese
A few handfuls of chopped walnuts
2 rashes of chopped bacon (optional)
Salt and pepper

1. Toast the walnuts in a non-stick dry pan, shaking the pan now and then, until they start to darken a little and you can smell their aroma. Set aside.

2. Fry the bacon, if using, and the mushrooms in a little olive oil until almost cooked through, then add the garlic and fry, stirring, until the bacon and mushrooms are cooked.

3. Stir in the mascarpone cheese and season well with salt and pepper.

4. Take the pan off the heat and stir in a handful or so of grated parmesan cheese to taste.

5. Stir the sauce through cooked pasta, adding a little of the pasta water to the sauce to loosen it if necessary.

6. Sprinkle over the toasted walnuts and grate over some more parmesan cheese

Serves 2

Don't forget, this month's 'In the Bag' closes tomorrow!

How are you getting on with your entries for 'In the Bag' this month? We've had some mouth-watering entries in and I'm looking forward to seeing even more! With chestnuts, chocolate and sugar in this month's bag it's going to be a deliciously sweet round-up!

Have you visited the forums yet?

I'm really enjoying chatting to 'A Slice of Cherry Pie' readers over at the forums. We're talking about seasonal food, cook books and foodie gifts, and we're sharing recipes and tips.

I'd love to see even more of you there so why not register now and join in the fun!

Monday Night Pizza

I know the thought of making your own pizza from scratch, dough included, on a Monday night is probably exhausting in itself, but honestly this was as quick as anything to make, and you’ll feel so virtuous for making your own rather than picking up the phone to the local pizza delivery service.

The sauce will take a good 20 minutes or so, so start that off first. You just need to sauté a crushed garlic clove and shallot in a little olive oil until starting to soften, then add in a teaspoon of sugar and a 400g tin of tomatoes. I used tinned cherry tomatoes for a change, but you could use chopped or even whole plum tomatoes and just chop them down in the saucepan as they cook. You can also add a squirt of tomato puree to if you like, to deepen the flavour. Let the sauce simmer until nicely thickened. You can either sieve the sauce as I did, or use it as it is.

While the sauce is cooking make your pizza dough. This recipe from the very lovely James Martin is so quick and easy – it contains no yeast so you don’t need to prove it.

Once the dough is rolled out smother it in the tomato sauce and then generously scattered over grated mozzarella and slices of cooked chorizo (or whatever topping you fancy or is to hand). Cook at 220c for 12-15 minutes.

Not only was the pizza really tasty and totally home made, but I made it and was eating it in less time than it would have taken for a take away pizza to arrive. How great is that?

A Brace of Pheasants and a Chocolate and Chestnut Truffle Cake

Last night Rob and I had a feast fit for a King, which celebrated the season in a big way. Pheasants, parsnips, chestnuts; we had the best autumn has to offer. The meal felt very festive and would make a spectacular offering over the Christmas period.

I bought the pheasants already prepared (thankfully!) from my local farm shop. Last time I cooked pheasant I casseroled it so this time I wanted to try roasting.

It seems that the biggest concern when considering how to cook pheasant is preventing the birds from becoming dry, which they easily can. This is of particular concern when roasting pheasant. In order to prevent this I used plenty of butter and lay rashes of bacon over the breasts, and I basted the birds in the buttery juices half way through the cooking time. Finally I rested them for 10 minutes after cooking, breast side down to encourage the juices back into the breast.

A few sprigs of thyme and a bay leaf inside each bird added good flavour, and a halved onion in the roasting tray along with some deglazing with white wine at the end of the cooking ensured delicious juices to pour over the birds.

I served the pheasants with mashed potato to soak up the juices, and roasted parsnips. You can tell that the parsnips are in season just by looking at them, they are larger, creamier and fresher looking – really at their best.




Roast Brace of Pheasants

Ingredients
2 pheasants
1 onion
A small bunch of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
4 rashes of bacon
A little white wine

1. Make sure the guts and other internal organs have been removed from the birds.

2. Smear butter generously over each bird and lay 2 bacon rashes across the top of each. Place a few sprigs of thyme and a bay leaf inside each cavity.

3. Place the birds in a roasting tray with a halved onion halved tucked just under each one. Put some tin foil over the tray and roast at 220c.

4. After 30 minutes remove the foil and baste each pheasant with the golden, buttery juices. Cook for a further 15-35 minutes without the foil, until cooked through. Note: the cooking time is just a guide as it will vary depending on size of birds.

5. When the birds are cooked remove them from the roasting tray and rest them breast side down for 10 minutes, covered in foil to keep them warm.

6. While the birds are resting remove any excess fat from the roasting tray and put the tray on the hob over a medium heat. Slosh in some white wine to deglaze the pan with, while scraping all the bits off the pan with a wooden spoon and stiring them into the juices. Remove the onion and pour the juices over the pheasants before serving.



I wasn’t sure I could manage anything else after all that, but I’d been so looking forward to trying Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Chestnut and Chocolate Truffle Cake and not even my full tummy was going to stop me.

I’ve watched Hugh make this cake on countless occasions, thanks to the River Cottage DVDs Rob and I have almost worn out. Each time I’ve marvelled at how seasonal and festive it is and told myself one day I will make it.

Although this cake can be made with canned chestnuts I wanted to roast my own this first time of making it, particularly as chestnuts are in season and available at the farm shop. I found that these particular chestnuts weren’t quite as flavoursome or sweet as I’d hoped though, and that did reflect in the cake, so I’d say if your chestnuts aren’t so great you’re better off with canned.



There’s been some pondering in the blogsphere recently on how to roast chestnuts. They can be tricky and the peeling can leave you with sore fingers but I still find them so worth it. Hot roasted chestnuts are so wintry and festive and I absolutely adore them, particularly bought from street sellers and eaten outside out of those little bags they put them in.

The way I cooked the chestnuts last night was to cut a cross into the flat bottom of each (please do be careful when you do this, the skins are tough), and then to roast them at 220c for 30 minutes, by which time the shells start to peel back at the crosses and blacken a little. They are easiest to peel as hot as you can handle and they get harder as they cool. Having cooked them this way and peeling them whilst still hot I had no trouble at all, they just slipped out of their shells easy as anything.

Hugh’s recipe requires 250g of peeled chestnuts, so I figured on cooking 500g of the uncooked chestnuts still in their shell. This gave me a nice handful for eating straight away too!





The cake itself was a doddle to make and cooked perfectly at the temperature and time the recipe specified. Warm from the oven the cake was light and mousy, just as Hugh promised, and it firms up as it cools, becoming quite like a chocolate brownie. It’s very rich and very chocolaty so perfect for real chocolate lovers. It's a little on the rich side for me, but then I'm not a lover of dark chocolate. I think it would be delicious served warm as a pudding, with cold vanilla ice cream to cut through the chocolate.

In the Bag: Cooking the Month of November!

We’re going for a change this month with a sweet bag, and I just know you’re going to love it. Take a peek at the goodies inside:

Chestnuts
Chocolate
Sugar

For those new to this event, here's how it works. Each month we pick 3 ingredients, at least 1 of which is seasonal, for you to make a dish with. All you need to do to enter is to create your dish, then post about it on your blog or website and drop me an email.

Mmmmm....I can’t wait to see what you come up with! My next post should give you some inspiration, as I’ll be posting about Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Chestnut and Chocolate Truffle cake.

Entry Details
Send an email with ‘In the Bag in the subject line to asliceofcherrypie AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk by Friday 30th November with the following information:

• your name
• the name of your blog or website
• a link to your post
• the name of your dish
• a picture of your dish

Rules
Here are the loose rules - but ultimately remember the objective is to have fun whilst highlighting seasonal food:

1. Participants should attempt to use all the ingredients 'in the bag' for that particular month, but one can be left out if necessary. The dish should be based around the seasonal ingredient, rather then just including it as an afterthought.

2. Participants can include any "extra" ingredients that they see fit.

3. Entries should include a link back to the host for that month, and the post should be tagged "In the Bag".

4. Entries can be written any time during the month, as long as the URL is emailed to that month's host before the closing date.

5. Particpants from outside of the UK are most welcome to join in and substitute an item from their own local seasonal produce if necessary.

That's all! Any deviations from the above are at the discretion of the host. Have fun!

'In The Bag' is a food event run monthly by 'A Slice of Cherry Pie', 'Real Epicurean', and 'Cherry's English Kitchen'.

Technorati Tags: food blogging event, In the Bagchocolate, chestnuts

Beef and Red Wine Stew with Dumplings

We’ve had some beautiful days this week, with clear, bright blue skies and sunshine, the kind you often get on cold, cold days, as these have been. The last few mornings have seen frost; pretty on grass while a nuisance on cars that need driving.



With the frost and the cold comes the winter cooking, and when I saw this fabulous stewing steak in the window of my local butcher today I knew a rich stew was in order, and it absolutely had to have dumplings in it. I love dumplings but Rob doesn’t like them so I don’t make them very often. The last time I made a stew I decided to be self-indulgent and make myself some, but my suet was out of date (see, it had been that long), so I missed out. Thankfully my butcher, bless him, stocks packets of suet so today I was able to buy some with the beef. Tonight I would have my dumplings.

Beef and Red Wine Stew with Dumplings

Ingredients
500g good stewing steak, cut into chunks
250g baby carrots
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
Half a bottle of good red wine
1 bay leaf
A few sprigs of thyme
Salt and black pepper

For the dumplings
50g self-raising flour
25g suet
Pinch of salt
A little water for binding

1. Brown the beef well in a casserole dish over a high heat with a little olive oil.

2. Remove the beef from the dish then fry the onion for a few minutes, adding a little more olive oil if required, until it just starts to take on a little colour.

3. Add the garlic, then the carrots, wine and herbs. Season well.

4. Bring the stew up to the boil then turn it down to the lowest setting so it is barely simmering. Put on a lid and cook for 2 hours.

5. To make the dumplings mix the flour, salt and suet with a little water to form a dough, then form 4 round balls for the dumplings. 20 minutes before the end of the cooking time place them on top of the stew and put the lid back on.

6. Remove the bay leaf and thyme sprigs before serving.

This recipe serves 2 but can easily be doubled.

Announcing the new Forums

I’m delighted to be able to bring you brand new forums for ‘A Slice of Cherry Pie’ readers!

It seems that forums are springing up on blogs all over the place, but I really do think they’re a great way to really interact in a way that you just can’t on a blog alone. Forums are a great place for help and support, to share recipes and ideas or just to chat on a rainy afternoon. I've been toying with the idea for months and after with a little know-how from my friend Cherry I've finally been able to make it happen.

I really hope you enjoy using the forums and I’m really looking forward to getting to know you all a little better through them. You can visit them by clicking on the side bar link under 'Interact', or by clicking here.

P.S. I’ve also opened forums over at the UK Food Bloggers Association, so if you’re a UK based food blogger and would like to join in visit the UK Food Bloggers Association Site where you can click through to the forums.

Cinnamon Hearts for Friends

What better way to spend an afternoon than with a friend? Be it an old friend or new, whether meeting for lunch, or for coffee, or for a walk in the park, it’s the nicest way to spend some time. Fortunately for me I got to do this both yesterday and today. And two of the friends I spent this time with I met for the very first time, the first being the lovely Cherry Menlove and the second my friend Viv’s gorgeous little baby girl.

I had been so looking forward to these meetings and as I had some time this week, being off work, I thought it would be nice to bake some gifts. There’s something very special about baking for other people; happily mixing, and kneading, and rolling out dough whilst thinking of your friends makes you put extra care in and I like to think a little of the warmth and love finds its way into the baking somehow. Little packages of home-made treats are not only lovely to receive but they’re lovely to give, so it’s a very rewarding type of baking.

I had great fun making these cinnamon hearts yesterday, although I found the fondant icing a little tricky to work with at first – this was the first time I’d ever used it. I soon got the hang of it though and before long I was happily colouring it and cutting out little hearts and flowers. And not only was the baking fun, but so was carefully choosing the ribbon and making up the little packages. It was a lovely way to spend a few hours, and before I knew it, it was time to catch the train into London to meet Cherry.

Cherry and I have been talking via email for quite some time now. As many of you will know, we run the ‘In the Bag’ event, along with Scott from Real Epicurean. I’m an avid reader of Cherry’s blogs, Cherry's English Kitchen and Tales from Pixie Wood and I’ve really been looking forward to meeting her. We’d been talking about meeting up for ages so it was really nice to finally get to do so yesterday.

You really get to know people through their blogs and as such I just knew Cherry and I would hit it off. Cherry is the first blogger I’ve ever met so, whilst I was excited, I was a little nervous too. But I needn’t have been, Cherry was lovely and we chatted away non-stop. We went to a bar just off of The Strand and as soon as Cherry asked ‘shall we have something white and bubbly?’ I knew she was a girl after my own heart!

Cherry’s lovely Fiancé met up with us when he finished work, by which time we were well on our way through our second bottle of Prosecco. It was a fabulous evening and worth the inevitable hangover in the morning. I laughed when I saw Cherry’s email to me this morning entitled ‘headache’ and I opened it with a sympathetic smile and a pounding head!

This afternoon was just as wonderful as Rob and I visited my very good friend Viv and her adorable new baby. Viv and I live some distance from each other so don’t get to see each other as often as we’d like, which makes our get-togethers even more special. Of course this visit was very special indeed, being our first meeting since she gave birth to her little bundle of joy. It was a lovely, lovely afternoon and we hope to repeat it again very soon.

Cinnamon Hearts

Ingredients
100g unsalted butter, softened
100g caster sugar
1 large egg
250g plain flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Fondant icing

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

2. Beat the egg and gradually add it to the butter and sugar.

3. Mix in the flour and cinnamon, then bring together with your hands to form a dough.

4. The dough can be used straight away but is best after at least half an hour chilling in the fridge. It will be fairly sticky so you'll need to roll it out on a floured surface and sprinkle over more flour as needed. Roll the dough out until it’s about 1/2 cm thick.

5. Cut out heart shapes using a biscuit cutter

6. Bake the biscuits at 180C for about 10 minutes, but do keep an eye on them, they may need a few minutes less or longer. They should be very lightly golden when cooked.

7. Put the biscuits onto a wire rack to cool.

8. Roll out coloured fondant icing and cut out heart shapes using the same cutter as you used for the bisuits. Brush the underside of the hearts with water and place over the biscuits, gently rubbing over the icing so it sticks.

9. Decorate the biscuits with fondant flowers stuck on using a little water.

Bacon and Camembert Stuffed Pumpkins

I couldn’t resist these tiny pumpkins when I was at the farm shop at the weekend. They made perfect starters, stuffed with cheese and bacon, and they had much more flavour than the larger pumpkins; buttery and nutty, with an almost chestnut-like taste.

Ingredients
(quantities depend of the size and amount of pumpkins so this is just a guide)
2-4 small pumpkins (1 per person)
1 round of camembert cheese
1 or 2 rashes of bacon
Leaves from a sprig or two of thyme
Parmesan cheese for grating over

1. Cut the tops off the pumpkins and scoop out the seeds and fibres
2. Chop the bacon and lightly fry it
3. Cube the camembert and toss it with the bacon and thyme, then stuff the pumpkins with the mixture
4. Bake at 190c for 35-45 minutes
5. Sprinkle over grated parmesan cheese before serving

Stir It Up

It can’t have escaped your notice that we’re now on the countdown to Christmas. Halloween has been and gone (and after tonight so will have bonfire night), Christmas adverts have been on the television for a while, the Christmas editions of the food magazines are on the shelves, the shops are bulging with gifts and the red cups are in the Starbucks coffee shops. There’s no doubt about it now guys.

I’ve decided that this year, for the first time, I’m going to make a Christmas cake. I’ve never bothered before because, firstly, whilst I do like it I’m not a huge fan, and secondly, Rob’s mum makes us one every year so there’s no need for me to do so. But I love Christmas, and I love cooking, so I think it’s about time I joined in this tradition that bakers and home makers all over the world look forward to each year. The preparation and activities in the run up to Christmas are all part of the excitement for me so the Christmas cake making is surely something I can miss out on no longer. Anyway Rob and I have taken this week off work for a well deserved break so I have some time on my hands, and what better way to spend it than baking?

My first port of call was the internet for researching the all important recipe. As a first timer I need to be in safe hands and I need a tried and tested, fool-proof recipe. Well who else would I turn to but Delia? And sure enough, her recipe sounds great, the cake looks moist and scrumptious, and the reviews are outstanding. So with one Christmas cake recipe found, I headed to the supermarket for the ingredients. I played around with the fruit a little; I couldn’t possibly include candied mixed peel (bleugh!) in my first ever Christmas cake so I substituted with dried cranberries which seemed much more fitting, reduced the currents and upped the cherries that I love (the clue’s in the blog name my friends).

The first stage of the cake making, although there’s hardly anything to it, holds the promise of all the good things to come. The soaking of the fruit in alcohol, in this case brandy (one of my favourites), seems almost ritualistic. Certainly when I weighed my fruit, mixed it with my hands and poured over the brandy I sensed a little of the Christmas magic. I must confess to using more than the 3 tablespoons in the recipe; it seemed such a small volume for the amount of fruit and I’m not one to be reserved with alcohol! I didn’t go too crazy though, just doubled it. They’ll be plenty more alcohol to be had when it comes to the feeding of the cake!

So now the fruit is soaking until the morning, when I’ll move onto the next stage and start mixing up the rest of the ingredients. If anyone has any tips for this Christmas cake novice, or if anyone has made Delia’s Christmas cake and wants to share their experience, I’d love to hear from you.

Hotel Chocolat Competion Winner Announcement

Thank you to everyone who entered the Hotel Chocolat competition. They tell me they had a hard time choosing a winner from all the fabulous entries from ‘A Slice of Cherry Pie’ readers, but after much deliberation they have chosen the entry from……………………

Victoria Singfield!!!

Victoria, many congratulations. Hotel Chocolat will be in touch, if they haven’t been already.

Here’s Victoria’s winning entry:

“Please send the chocolates to my sister, Rebecca. She is in the third year of her midwifery degree and is working very hard. She is pursuing her dream, but is struggling for money. She can just about afford all essential things, but can't splurge any luxuries at all. I think sometimes a girl just needs some extravagance and I know she loves chocolate! Rebecca needs a boost, and to know that we all think she is fabulous, and is going to be the best midwife ever. And she might even share some chocs with me!”

Rebecca sounds like a fantastic person and very well-deserving. I hope she enjoys the champers and chocs!

In the Bag: Cooking the month of October - The Round-up

We set you quite a challange for October's ‘In the Bag’ event - what dish can you create using Pumpkins, leeks and mushrooms?

But you came up trumps (as we knew you would!), and here are the mouth-watering dishes you created.

Courtney from Coco Cooks made this fabulous Oyster Mushroom, Pumpkin, Leek, Feta Tarte.



These delicious Lentil medallions in Pumpkin and Mushrooms sauce were served up by Sanja of Fresh Adriatic Fish.



Michelle from Greedy Gourmet made this fantastic Baked Pumpkin with Mushroom & Leek Stuffing.



Our very own Cherry from Cherry's English Kitchen gave us a drool-worthy Pumpkin & Pancetta Risotto.

So drool-worthy was it in fact that she consumed it before taking a photograph. Bad Cherry!

This Pumpkin-Leek-Shiitake Tart was the creation of Elle from Paletteable.



Last but by no means least, this spectacular Squash Bisque came from KayKat of Cooking from A to Z.



Thank you all once again for participating and making this event so much fun.

"In The Bag" is a monthly food event run by Julia from Cherry from A Slice of Cherry Pie, Cherry's English Kitchen, Scott at Real Epicurean

Happy Halloween!

A Whole New World of Food Shopping

Working close to London’s Oxford Street is a double-edged sword. It’s a shopper’s paradise, there’s no doubt about that, you can find just about anything here, and there’s always Regent Street just around the corner for anything you can’t find. I’ve spent many a lunchtime browsing (and buying). Of course the downside to this is the money spent, usually on things I wouldn’t otherwise have bought had I not been lured by the shops on my break. The other problem I find is how busy Oxford Street gets, more and more so in the months leading up to Christmas. I find this particular frustrating when I leave the office, tired and anxious to get home. Battling with the crowds is the last thing I want to be doing.

But overall this famous street is good to know. It’s bustling with London life and character and, despite how busy it gets, it does have a certain magic about it at Christmas time. And in recent weeks something else has made me very happy to be working nearby – ladies and gentlemen I give you the new Waitrose food hall at John Lewis.

Described as ‘an emporium for food lovers, bursting with seasonally-sourced and speciality foods’, let me tell you this is a gastronomic heaven. Well, as much as it can be under the umbrella of a supermarket. I was very impressed by the array of fresh meat, fish and vegetables and I was particularly pleased to see such a high percentage of free-range or organic meat, along with a rather fantastic selection of game – yes my friends, game, in a supermarket. Let me see, off the top of my head, I recall partridge, pigeon, quail, venison, select cuts of mixed game for casseroles, and I know there was more but I just couldn’t take it all in.

The hall boasts a fabulous cheese room filled with over 100 fine cheeses and offers daily cheese sampling and a gift box service which allows you to put together your own cheese board, with portions cut to order and wrapped in parchment. And as if this wasn’t enough there is also a bakery and a patisserie. What's more, there are 20, count them, 20 tills with a post office style queuing system and a member of staff directing customers to the next available till. At first glance the queue looks horrendous but it moves so quickly you hardly notice it. John Lewis are certainly giving Selfridges, home to another fabulous food hall in the vicinity, a run for their money. The food hall is well worth a visit if you happen to be in the area.

I thought I’d pop in today to pick up some lunch and something up for dinner, but the problem I had is what on earth to buy when faced with such a choice? I was literally wandering around wide-eyed and completely unable to decide. After a phone call to Rob for inspiration, I picked up some Welsh organic minced lamb, some rocket and four rustic rolls, for home made burgers for dinner. I followed my burger recipe, adding a crushed garlic cloves and a pinch of dried chilli flakes, crushed down. Fantastic!

Halloween Biscuits

When I was a little girl my Mum made Halloween so much fun. We had very little money so things were tight and we had to make do with what we had. But in actual fact I think we had much more fun because of that. It’s easy to go out and buy or hire a Halloween costume, but to put one together from nothing at home is so much more exciting. Mum used to dress my sister and me up as witches, making dresses from black plastic dustbin sacks which she painted with gold and silver stars. We had matching tall witches hats made from cardboard and more black sacks. Then she’d paint our faces with make-up and off we’d go to join the other children in terrorising the neighbourhood. Everyone said we were the best dressed witches in town!

Then there would be the pumpkin carving, apple bobbin and the biscuit making we so looked forward to. Mum would make a huge pile of biscuits to give to the trick and treat-ers and of course we got some too. She’d make up little pots of coloured icing and paint the biscuits with moons, pumpkins, ghosts and witches. We’d help too and our messy creations would be added to the pile.

The whole thing brings back so many delightful memories and puts a smile on my face, so it’s in honour of my Mum that I’ve recreated those Halloween biscuits. Thanks for making it all so magical Mum, you’re still the best Mum in the world. xxx

Halloween Biscuits

Ingredients
100g unsalted butter, softened
100g caster sugar
1 large egg
250g plain flour
A few drops of vanilla extract
150g icing sugar
Food colourings

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

2. Beat in the vanilla extract.

3. Beat the egg and gradually add it to the butter and sugar.

4. Mix in the flour then bring everything together with your hands to form a dough.

5. The dough can be used straight away but is best after at least half an hour chilling in the fridge. It will be fairly sticky so you'll need to roll it out on a floured surface and sprinkle over more flour as needed. Roll the dough out until it’s about 1/2 cm thick.

6. Cut out discs using a biscuit cutter

7. Bake the biscuits at 180C for about 10 minutes, but do keep an eye on them, they may need a few minutes less or longer. They should be very lightly golden when cooked.

8. Put the biscuits onto a wire rack to cool.

8. To make the icing mix sifted icing sugar with a few tablespoons of hot water to make a thick paste. You can add more icing sugar to make it thicker, or thin it out with more hot water.

9. Divide the icing into separate bowls and mix in drops of food colouring.

10. Have fun decorating!

Makes about 20-25