The Laughing Gastronome

sour·dough

2008-09-22T10:53:00.002+12:00

One of the best times to have fresh bread is on a saturday morning : the crusts almost immediately with just fresh butter as a sneaky snack, then some more once it has cooled for a late breakfast/early lunch.

This is how I make sourdough :

Thursday night :
Take the starter out of the fridge.
Put half the sourdough starter into a big bowl.
Feed both halves with the same amount of bread (strong) flour and water - so 1/3 starter 1/3 flour 1/3 water.
Put the lid loosely on the starter and cover the bowl with a plate or damp teatowel.
Leave both at room temperature with the jar on something in case it overflows.
Friday evening, as early as possible :
Both the bowl and the jar should be bubbly and look alive.
Put the starter in the fridge.
Tothe bowl add 450g of strong bread flour, 1 1/2 cups of lukewarm water, 1 teaspoon of salt.
Mix to a messy dough, adding a bit more water if necessary.
Cover the bowl with a plate or damp teatowel.
Leave at room temperature to prove until you are ready to shape the next day.
Saturday morning :
The dough should be have bubble holes on the surface and look like a very soft dough, if this has not happened yet leave for few more hours since this will depend on the activity of your starter.
Generously dust the bench with flour keeping a small pile for sprinkling nearby.
Gently scrape the dough onto the floured bench.
Pat into a rectangle and sprinkle with flour.
Fold into 3 like a letter a couple of times to form a loaf, sprinkling flour as needed.
Either place in a greased and floured loaf tin, place on a piece of baking paper or cut into rolls (but this will affect the baking time so trial and error here).
Cover with a damp tea towel and leave for 2 hours or so to rise again.
When you are 30 minutes from baking time turn the oven to 230°c and if doing a free form, not loaf, put a big cast iron pot with a lid in the oven at the same time to heat.
When ready to bake either put the loaf tin in or put the free form loaf with the paper in the cast iron pot cover and bake for 20 minutes.
Check and either bake longer as is, or for a darker crust remove from the tin or take off the lid and remove the paper and bake for another 5-10 minutes or until sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.
Leave to cool on a rack for at least an hour before slicing (except for sneaking the crusts which I don't think counts!).

How I look after the Starter :
Don't screw the lid on tight, it needs to breathe!
Keep in the fridge, but try to remove several hours or a day before using and feed (as Thursday above).
Feed with a similar volume of flour and water.
Try to feed once a week, but the odd two or so week wait will not matter, but a layer of alcohol (the sour) might be on top if left longer - either stir in or pour off.
A sourdough starter is like a million pets in one little jar so be kind!

Evil Edna

2008-09-14T20:59:00.000+12:00

pump·kin ce·le·ri·ac soup

2008-09-11T09:00:00.003+12:00

One of my favourite blogs, Cook Almost Anything, recently showed a wonderful recipe for Jap Pumpkin Soup with Curried Onions. I really can only begin to tell you what a clever idea I thought it was to have a fairly plain pumpkin soup (no offence Haalo!) punctuated with a wonderful relish of curried onions : the very onions and curry seasonings that would usually be blended with the pumpkin soup, kept separate to highlight all the elements - brilliant.

Whenever I need inspiration or a recipe I target the Food Blogs, both familiar and new. There is something trustworthy about a home cook documenting and photographing what they are cooking purely for their own, and others's, enjoyment. So tonight, with a verging-on-rotting pumpkin and a softening-a-bit-too-much celeriac (I know, I know, food waste - saved!) I knew just where to look for inspiration - a recently google-reader-ed recipe with a nice curried onion twist :

Pumpkin and Celeriac Soup with Curried Onions
Adapted from Cook Almost Anything's Jap Pumpkin Soup with Curried Onions
Serves 4

Olive oil
3 cloves garlic
300g pumpkin, any kind, peeled, seeded, chopped
1 medium celeriac, peeled and chopped
Chicken stock
1t butter
1 red onion, sliced
1t curry powder, or more to taste
Salt and pepper
Cream

Heat the olive oil in a large pot and add the garlic, pumpkin and celeriac. Sauté for a few minutes until the vegetables are starting to soften then add enough chicken stock to almost cover. Simmer for about 15 minutes or until everything is cooked and tender.

Meanwhile, saute the red onion in the butter until soft then add the curry powder and continue cooking at a low heat until caramelised.

When the vegetables are cooked, blend with a stick blender or regular blender, seasoning with salt and pepper. Add enough cream to thin and enrich (to your taste) and reheat gently - not to a boil.

Pour the soup into warmed bowls and place a dollop of curried onions on top to complete the picture.

va·nil·la cream cheese logs

2008-09-10T10:00:00.004+12:00

As I have mentioned G was sick on his birthday, and as I have also mentioned chocolate Guinness cake is part of the birthday tradition. So, the Wednesday prior I prepare for the G-birthday by a supermarket trip for cream cheese and a can of Guinness (most other ingredients found in house by rote). So when I find myself stocked but without cake audience I have to consider my options :

[Lucky am I that the dairy product purchased in August does not expire until the following January - is it just me or is this just a tad alarming?]

So cream cheese then, obviously the Guinness is easily dispensed. How to use? With smoked salmon? Yes, but there is only so much one can eat. So to baking I go :

Vanilla Cream Cheese Logs
makes 2 dozen

200g cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Seeds from 1 vanilla pod
1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Cream the cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix the egg and vanillas in lightly but thoroughly. Blend in the flour, baking powder and salt, but only until mixed - no more!

Roll into log shapes, marking tops as you like, and bake for 15 minutes or until firm and turning golden.

We find these biscuits a bit like a sweet cakey bread - yum!

Witloof and I

2008-09-09T20:07:00.000+12:00

Two large gins, two pints of cider. Ice in the cider.

Ah, Witloof : endive, witloof, chicory, escarole. Who are you? What to call you?

Witloof, leafed; olives, sliced; watercress, picked; grapefruit, supremed; spring onions, minced; vinaigrette, creamed.

Monty : Oh, how delicious!

I : another matter entirely.

Rabbit Schnitzel

2008-09-08T20:31:00.004+12:00

Schnitzel. One of the biggest food compliments G has given me was when he said that my schnitzel was even better than his Austrian friend Reinhardt's mum's Wiener Schnitzel. That was saying something.

[For the record the other biggest food compliment G has given me is that my apple pie is better than his Uncle Bob's mum's apple pie.]

Bless!

Anyway, when it is G's birthday I like to ask what he fancies for the weekend's festivities and augment that list with his favourites. Strangely enough, rabbit generally features on both. However this year G was sick and so was the butcher's variety ; no rabbit. But a couple of weekends later at Moore Wilson I found the rabbit - lots and lots of rabbit : fillet, loin, leg and complete muscular bodies all ready to lop. But what to do?

Now, if you have tried to cook rabbit you may also have had the misfortune to produce dry, gamey rubbish. Feel my fear. But what better way to protect from dryness than to coat in crumbs? Veal schnitzel is often a bit tasteless, expensive and hard to come by, but rabbit : flavourful, pleantiful, presentable. Hence, I present rabbit Schnitzel :

Rabbit Schnitzel
serves 4

250g rabbit fillets
50g flour seasoned with salt and pepper
1 egg beaten with a little milk
Bread crumbs

Trim the silver skin from the fillets and flatten to a uniform thinness with a meat mallet. Flour, egg and crumb the flattened fillets and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Heat a heavy bottomed pan and when at medium-high heat add olive oil and a knob of butter. Fry Schnitzels until golden on each side Keep warm in a low oven until all are cooked. Serve with mashed potatoes and peas.

Happy Birthday G!

2008-08-24T21:02:00.002+12:00

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday darling GG!
Happy Birthday to you!

pup·py pop·si·cle

2008-01-24T14:10:00.000+13:00

It has been brilliantly hot and sunny here in Wellington I thought I would give you dog owners out there a little tip for keeping your dog cool - puppy popsicles! They are particularly good for puppies when they are teething. Just almost fill a small container with water and add a nylon chew then freeze. Pop in your dog's water bowl when frozen for them to bob for and chew.

And may I introduce Nico, our new puppy :

Isn't she cute?! Sorry, I couldn't resist!

rec·i·pe

2008-01-20T12:55:00.000+13:00

"It is worth remembering that in its purest form a recipe was simply a cook's receipt written in a ledger to show where the housekeeping money had gone. At best it was an account of someone's meal, an aide-mémoire for the cook who might want to make a successfl supper again. To use either as an unshakeable chemcal formula is surely missing the point."

Nigel Slater, Appetite.

IV vs V

2008-01-07T11:17:00.000+13:00

Four spice or quatre épices :

White pepper (for savoury) or allspice (for sweet)
Nutmeg
Cloves
Ginger

Used to flavour meats during the curing process and in the case of the sweet variation rich cakes and desserts.

Five spice or Chinese five spice:

Star anise
Cloves
Fennel seeds
Cinnamon
Sichuan Pepper

A good flavouring agent for rich and fatty meats like pork and duck in a Chinese context.

clot·ted cream

2008-01-06T09:53:00.000+13:00

Q : What is the perfect accompaniment for scones?
A : Clotted cream, jam and butter - yes all three!

My brother-in-law is from Cornwall and I consider him the authority on Cornish goods : he makes the best Cornish pasties, has been to Rick Stein's restaurant and is an aficionado of clotted cream.

I have not had much clotted cream, but the few times I have I have appreciated it for its pure creaminess, delicious density and fine colour and texture. It is perfect with all deserts and afternoon teas. In fact don't bother with afternoon tea if you have no clotted cream. I made this for my brother-in-law at Christmas to have with the Christmas pudding, and we also had it with the mince pies. Oh yes. Really good.

Clotted Cream
makes 1 cup approximately

500mL cream

Preheat the oven to 90°c.
Pour the cream into a fairly shallow dish and cover firmly with foil.
Put the cream in the oven and leave for 8 hours.
Remove the dish from the oven and cool then refrigerate for at least 8 hours.
Skim the solid clotted cream from the liquid and eat with scones, Christmas pudding, mince pies, pies in general or how ever you choose.

Notes :
There will be a layer of a crusty yellow butter-like substance on the top. I just use this with the cream.
There will be a liquid layer beneath the clotted cream that is good for using in cooking where cream or milk is required : potatoes dauphinois , white sauce or bread.

Cheers Tonior! This is for you!

scone

2008-01-02T15:11:00.000+13:00

When we were in Scotland we were treated to two nights at Monachyle Mhor (Thanks Maw and Paw R!) . It is a wonderful place : beautiful surroundings, lovely atmosphere and brilliant food. The chef is Tom Lewis who took part in the Great British Menu representing Scotland.

While everything we ate there was fantastic, it was the scones that we keep mentioning . . . isn't it funny how the little things done so well are so memorable?

The tea (morning or afternoon, or both!) menu noted that the scones take 15 minutes - arriving warm, fresh and obviously straight from the oven - complete with clotted cream, fresh butter and jam. The scones were light and had a lovely crust, fluffy yet substanital within, and tasted like they were made with good, honest ingredients and skill. I must admit that we had the scones both days in lieu of lunch ; what are holidays about if not having a brilliant breakfast, fabulous scones then a fantastic dinner?!

Once home, I tried to recreate the scones, to good effect I think, the outsides perhaps a little rougher, but looks aren't everything, right?

Scones
makes 12

250g plain flour (I use white spelt)
pinch of salt
40g unsalted butter, cubed
1t cream of tartar
1t baking soda
150mL yoghurt

Preheat the oven to 210°c.
Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl and rub in the butter quickly with your finger tips. Sift in the cream of tartar and baking soda then quickly mix in the yoghurt to make a light dough. Form into the shape you fancy, either by rolling and cutting or just dolloping. Leave to rest for about 10 minutes on the bench before baking 10 minutes. Serve immediately!

Jan·u·ar·y

2008-01-01T09:00:00.001+13:00

January is a brilliant month, so many of the best fruits and vegetables are around :

Fruit :
apricots
nectarines
peaches
cherries
plums
blueberries
strawberries
raspberries
oranges
Vegetables :
new potatoes
sweetcorn
courgettes
tomatoes
globe artichokes
beans
aubergines
capsicum
cucumber
radishes

Doesn't that all spell ratatouille cooked on the barbecue or a wonderful mixed salad?

So what is this all a·bout?

2007-12-31T19:00:00.000+13:00

A new year and a new look seemed to warrant me thinking out loud upon what The Laughing Gastronome is all about :

I love food : I love to eat food, I love to cook food, I love to plan for food, I love to shop for food, I love to learn about food.
I want to be in aware of exactly what is within the food I eat and of what I give my family and friends to eat.
I need to know how make certain foods from scratch so should I wish to prepare them, or to judge a purchased version, I am able.
I want to know how to grow the foods I can with my limited resources.
I really care about reusing, recycling and reducing, and I am finding more and more ways to do these things.
I love cook books ; for inspiration, instruction and just to while away some time.
I love to eat seasonally ; there is nothing like the last feijoa or the first asparagus.
I love to learn a new technique, or to practice an old one. Sometimes the more difficult the better and sometimes the wonder is in the simplicity.
I value the right tool for the job, but have no space for the one time wonders.
I love finding a brilliant product or ingredient, new or old, that makes me wonder how I could live without it.
I love the preparation tips and food tricks that are shared among interested friends.

These are some of the areas that are to be explored on The Laughing Gastronome in 2008 - I hope you enjoy visiting.

Happy new year!

Tabasco Sauce

2007-11-05T10:49:00.000+13:00

The last of our chillies.

We grow Chillies every year on our deck, they just seem to thrive. I was always surprised how productive the bush always seems to be, and how hot the resulting chillies are. Then I read somewhere that to grow hotter chillies only water once a week . . . I thought I was just being lazy!

This year because we were going away on holiday I wanted to pick them all before we left and rather than just popping them in the freezer I thought some homemade tabasco sauce was in order. It is very simple. And not that authentic. I mean I don't have an oak barrel and three years, let alone the right type of chilli, so perhaps this should be amended to chilli sauce?

Beware the noxious gas release while the sauce is simmering - keep the extractor fan on and a window open!

Chilli Sauce
Makes approximately 1 cup of sauce

250g fresh destalked chillies, chopped roughly
1 cup cider or wine vinegar
1 teaspoon of salt

Mix all the ingredients in a pot and simmer for 5 minutes. Leave to cool. Puree and mature the thick paste in the fridge for a month in a glass jar. Sieve into a sterilised bottle.

corn·ed corn chow·der

2007-11-01T15:20:00.000+13:00

Hot and steamy, but nothing to focus on . . .

When I made corned beef and its delicious silky sauce there was a fair bit of cooking liquor left, and it was too good for this frugally amused gastronome to throw away. The liquor in which the modern corned beef has been cooked is not as overly salty as that your Mother or Grandmother would have known, thus opening rafts of possible future uses. On tasting the liquor before making the mustard sauce, I immediately saw visions of a damn tasty soup. At the time I thought lentil, but as it transpired, the soup was to be corn chowder. And isn't that so fitting, a corn chowder made with corned beef liquor?

Corned Corn Chowder
Serves 4

1 medium onion, chopped finely
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 large potato, peeled and cubed
6 cups of liquor from cooking corned beef, or chicken stock
500g frozen corn kernels
salt
white pepper

Saute the onion and garlic in a little olive oil until soft. Add the potato and stir to coat in the oily onion mixture. Add the stock and corn and simmer until the potato is soft, approximately 15 minutes. Puree with a hand held blender or similar and season with a little salt and white pepper. Reheat to serve piping hot.

fish fin·gers

2007-10-13T21:18:00.000+13:00

Fingers of fish.

Fish fingers are a childhood memory. The sort of thing you were allowed on a friday night if your parents were going out and you had to have dinner and be ready for bed before the babysitter came. They were best served with baked beans, maybe peas and perhaps some oven chips. The perfect rectangles of reconstituted, or apparently not, fish. Yum!

Well, fish fingers are still a treat in our house, but luckily now we know how to make them ourselves :

Trim some fillets of a a firm white fish - groper is particularly good - into fish finger shapes. Save the off cuts for fish cakes, this is a time when freezing the fish is just fine.
Mix some flour and polenta, about 1/4 cup of each should do it (although I think that sometimes less flour and more polenta would be better), and season with salt and pepper.
Rinse and dry the fish.
Coat the fingers of fish in the polenta mixture. You could double dip the fish fingers if you like by dipping the first dipped finger in beaten egg and then again in the polenta, this will give a thicker coating.
Spray a lined baking sheet with oil, lay out the fish fingers and spray again.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 200°C or until they look really good.

hol·i·day

2007-10-09T19:16:00.001+13:00

It is so good to go on holiday, and it really is so good to be home!

This was a holiday of family, friends - new and old - and also, plenty of gastronomic experiences! Not least being my first taste of lobster, chitterlings and tortoise shell jelly . . .

sau·sage

2007-08-27T20:04:00.000+12:00

Lorne, banger or Lop Cheung

I shall leave you with a picture of a most delicious local choritzo as we travel the globe for a month.

Scotland, England, China . . . but none so good as the sausage of home! But I wont mind trying!

Blogging by Mail

2007-08-12T15:09:00.000+12:00

What a haul!

Thank you so much Dolores it is just so great to get a surprise parcel! And what a parcel :

Coco Délice Chocolates
Caramel Sin
Peach Conserve
Diablo Magazine
Sunset Magazine

The chocolates lasted 2 days, the jam is still just going, the magazines were great fun to browse. But the caramel sin . . . this I had to used up once half of it had disappeared spoon, by spoon, some how.

But here is how to make a banana cake simply divine : make your favourite banana cake recipe and just before baking drop in spoonfuls of a wickedly brilliant caramel. Oh so good, we all know how wonderfully caramel goes with banana ; this cake will not last long.

Thank you Dolores for the great parcel, and thank you Stephanie for organising. Apologies to you both for the tardiness of my posting - I will mention computer problems and our 19 year old cat going missing (happily back now).

Corned Beef

2007-07-29T18:23:00.000+12:00

Granddad would have been proud!

If you ask any British person if they would like corned beef for lunch, don't be surprised if they are not that eager. In this matter New Zealand and Britain prove they are poles apart. The corned beef of which I speak is no reconstituted canned nightmare, but proud and noble beefy goodness.

I was very happy to recently rediscover how much I like this homely and simple food. Let me tell you how Corned beef and I became reacquainted :

Master W., with whom I work, came back from the butcher with a large piece of meat.
"What have you got there?" I inquired.
"A piece of corned beef" he replied.
"Oh my goodness I have not had that in years, maybe not since granddad died," I cried in excitement, "tell me how you are going to cook it!?"
He explained how he was going to carefully put it in the crockpot with some vegetables and spices, cover it with water and cook it slowly for hours until it was tender and able to be sliced with a spoon. "This," he continued, "will be perfect on Sunday after the Saturday night I have planned."
My mouth was watering and I knew then that I too would have to get a piece of corned beef for Sunday.

I called mum for her recipe, because I wanted to try my hand at reproducing the corned beef of my memory, and thank goodness I did! Mum asked me if I wanted the mustard sauce recipe too. This sauce is the best thing with corned beef, I wonder if in a way I wanted corned beef so I could have this sauce?

Mum's Corned Beef with Mustard Sauce

Corned Beef

Rinse the piece of corned beef and put it in a Crockpot or large pot with a couple of washed carrots cut in half, an onion cut in half and studded with cloves, a strip of orange peel, a few peppercorns and cover with water. Cook on low or high, according to your schedule, until the beef is cooked and threatening to fall apart, maybe 6 hours or so.

Leave any leftover beef to cool in the liquor, or indeed make this ahead of time, leaving to cool in the liquor and reheat gently when you are ready to eat it. Use some of the liquor for the mustard sauce, below, but do not throw away the rest of the liquor. This liquor makes a fantastic stock for soup. It seems that corned beef is not as salty as it once was, but you may not need to season the resulting soup.

Mustard Sauce

1 egg
1/4 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of flour
1 teaspoon of mustard powder
1 cup of corned beef cooking liquor
1/4 cup vinegar
white pepper

Beat the egg with the sugar, then stir in the flour and mustard. Mix in the liquor and vinegar and cook, stirring well, over a medium to low heat until thickened, as you would a custard. Season with white pepper. Serve hot with the corned beef and cold spread in your corned beef sandwiches.

Za'atar Naan Chips

2007-07-26T19:11:00.000+12:00

Want not waste not or third time a treat?

When I made the spelt bread and was so happy with the result I immediately decided to use spelt flour to make naan to go with our Friday night curry. Brilliant : soft, tasty and oh so good topped with a schmear of garlic butter.

I had made more dough than we needed for a couple of naan, so I popped it in the fridge so I could use it on Saturday to make some flat breads for nibbling on with a glass of wine. Delicious : Served with toasted za'atar mixed with olive oil for dipping, the spelt shined through once again. However we ended up with more flat breads than we needed.

So on Sunday I broke the flat breads up into pieces and mixed them with the left over za'atar and oil (do I throw anything away?!). Baked, spread out on a sheet at 180°c, for about 20 minutes until they were crispy and golden. Such a good snack, such a good way to use up that naan dough.

Once again a cracker!

it is spelt b-r-e-a-d

2007-07-20T14:22:00.000+12:00

and also made from spelt flour.

I love to try out new ingredients, and in the case of spelt flour, old ingredients that are new to me. I knew that spelt was the ancient form of wheat, was higher in protein and is more easily digested than regular wheat.

I was so happy to find that bread made with spelt was even better tasting and feeling than bread made with regular unbleached stoneground flour. It some how tastes breadier - I am sure that can't make sense! I was worried that it would be heavy and dense, but I was very plesantly surprised to find it was lighter than my usual loaf.

Obviously I need to try emmer wheat next . . .

Spelt bread
makes 1 loaf

2 teaspoons fresh yeast
1 teaspoon honey
~1.5 cups lukewarm water
~4 cups white spelt flour
1 heaped teaspoon salt

Dissolve the yeast and honey in half a cup of water and leave until it begins to froth. Add 3 and a half cups of flour, the rest of the water and the salt and knead to a dough. Leave to rest for 10 minutes then continue kneading, adding more flour or water as required to make a soft silky dough. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to double in size, approximately 1 hour. Punch down, form into a loaf and cover again with a damp tea towel and leave for half an hour. Preheat the oven with a baking stone to 230°c.
Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Leave to cool for at least 20 minutes.

Za'atar

2007-07-18T20:55:00.000+12:00

Za'atar - a spice blend to get talked into trying!

Today, like many days, I went to Truffle, and as usual managed to walk out with more than I had on my list, well actually not even what was on my list. My list was not that expansive, it only included sumac which John encouraged me to change for Za'atar. If, like I was, you are not entirely sure of what Za'atar is then let me help you out.

Za'atar is an Arabic word that is used to describe both the herb thyme and a spice blend made from thyme, sesame, sumac and salt. Za'atar is commonly found on top of flat bread in a Middle Eastern restaurant, and now I know, I can remember times I have had it sprinkled on bread in mezze. Another way a friend described to use it is by dry frying it to release the aromas and flavours then mixing with olive oil to use as a dip for pita bread. I can be used to season many a bread, vegetable and meat.

If you are unable to find Za'atar common proportions are :

1 salt : 2 toasted sesame seeds : 4 sumac : 12 dried thyme

I used the Za'atar to coat some lamb backstraps and served them with tabbouleh, the last of my mother's tomatoes and roasted beetroot. I first rubbed the lamb with some garlic olive oil and generously coated with the Za'atar, leaving to rest and infuse for half an hour. I seared the lamb in a hot pan and popped it into a 200°c oven for 15 minutes then rested it for 5 minutes before slicing. Such a good, quick, easy dinner.

By the way, this was the dish and post that I cooked and blogged about when Emily, Zach and Max came to visit to film me for Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie. They were in New Zealand to do a segment on New Zealand and part of an episode about food blogging, both of which are in season two which should start to air in America from January 2008 and I imagine a little later in New Zealand.

Thanks to Commonsense Organics, Ian at Meat, John at Truffle and Paul at Rumbles for letting us visit! Your products and knowledge are amazing, but would I have called you my favourite shops if I did not think that?!

am·a·ret·to and Christ·mas pud·ding

2007-07-14T13:03:00.000+12:00

Amaretto and Christmas Pudding : very, very good.

When I made the Christmas Pudding last year I had more mixture than would fit in my mold so I steamed a couple of mini puddings in ramekins. These have been maturing nicely since last December and were perfect to pull out for our Mid-Winter Feast over at Nihowera.

I am not a particular fan of Christmas cake, but I love Christmas Pudding. Small slices of the rich pudding with a wee dram of Amaretto made a wonderful finish to a mid-winter meal. There are so many reasons to save the more traditional northern hemisphere Christmas dishes for a mid-winter feast and update our summer Christmas meal to reflect our summer weather.

Join us at Nihowera with your mid-winter/mid-summer Christmas feast ideas. Traditional or Modern, Summer or Winter, it is up to you!