Christmas breakfast > IV
December 21, 2006
GINGER CREAM SCONES
With turkey and stuffing looming later in the day, not everybody wants to dig in to a big, hearty Christmas breakfast. Scones fresh from the oven with a steaming cup of frothy cafe au lait and a bowl of fresh fruit might be just right. These moist, delicious ginger cream scones, are especially magnificent for Christmas morning: the dough can be made ahead, cut into wedges and frozen. It isn’t even necessary to thaw the dough before baking; just add a few minutes to the cooking time.
Ingredients >
2 1/4 cups (550 ml) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (75 ml) sugar
1 tablespoon (15 ml) baking powder
2 teaspoons (10 ml) ground ginger
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks, or 175 ml/3/4 cup) unsalted butter, well chilled and cut into small bits
3/4 cup (175 ml) heavy whipping cream, well chilled, plus another 1 to 2 tablespoons (15-30 ml) for brushing
1/2 cup (125 ml) chopped candied crystallized ginger
Method >
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 C). Butter a cookie sheet.
In a food processor, whir together the flour, sugar, baking powder and ginger. Scatter the butter over the dry ingredients and pulse the mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Pour in the cream and pulse again until just combined.
Turn the dough onto a floured work surface and scatter the crystallized ginger over it. Gently pat out the dough and fold it back over itself several times, until smooth. A dough scraper helps with this. Use a light hand and don’t overmix. Divide the dough in half and pat it out again into two 3/4 inch (2 cm) thick disks. Cut each disk into six plump pie-shaped wedges.
Transfer the scones to the prepared cookie sheet and brush with cream. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes, until light golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 1 dozen.
Christmas breakfast > III
December 21, 2006
PANETTONE ITALIAN CAKE TOAST
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, Italian grocery stores fill up with the traditional Christmas cakes of Milan and Verona, panettone and pandoro, in fancy boxes and shiny foil wrappings hung from the ceilings and bulging off the counters. Panettone is the traditional Italian sweet yeast bread, studded with candied fruit and sometimes filled with custard. If you don’t like candied fruit, try pandoro, the airy, golden Veronese cake baked in a high, eight-pointed star-shaped pan and dusted with icing sugar. Lay the tall cake on its side to cut it, and each slice is a perfect star. Before slicing, trim off the brown top and bottom edges of your cake. For this recipe it’s best to leave the panettone or pandoro slices out and unwrapped, under a tea towel, to dry overnight. This will prevent them from soaking up the egg mixture too quickly and becoming mushy.
Ingredients >
6 large eggs
1 1/2 cup (375 ml) milk or cream
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) ground cinnamon
8 slices panettone or pandoro, about 3/4 inch (2 cm) thick
3 tablespoons (45 ml) butter for frying
1/2 cup (125 ml) mascarpone cheese
Maple syrup
Method >
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 C). In a large, shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk or cream, salt, vanilla extract and cinnamon. Dip each slice of panettone into the egg mixture so that both sides are saturated but the cake is not falling apart.
Melt one tablespoon (15 ml) of butter in a large non-stick frying pan or griddle. Working a few slices at a time, fry the panettone over medium-high heat until golden brown, a little crispy and slightly firm to the touch, about three minutes each side. The inside should remain soft, but not mushy. Transfer to a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven. Repeat with remaining slices.
Serve with a spoonful of mascarpone cheese. Pass the maple syrup at the table. Serves 4.
Christmas breakfast > II
December 21, 2006
One perennial favourite is the following recipe, a kind of breakfast bread pudding that can be sweet or savory, featuring beaten eggs and challah or raisin bread and any number of fillings, from apples to ham and cheese. It is assembled the night before and refrigerated, ready to pop into the oven come morning. It actually tastes better when the ingredients are left to mingle overnight.
SAUSAGE AND CHEESE WITH SUN-DRIED TOMATOES
Ingredients >
1/2 cup (125 ml) sun-dried tomatoes chopped
12 ounces (350 grams) hot sausages, casings removed
8 large eggs
3 1/2 cups (875 ml) whole milk
2 teaspoons (10 ml) finely chopped fresh thyme or 3/4 teaspoon (4 ml) dried
1 1/2 teaspoons (7 ml) salt
1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) freshly ground black pepper
11 slices white bread, crusts trimmed, bread cut into one-inch (2.5 cm) pieces
1/2 cup (125 ml) chopped onion
1/2 cup (125 ml) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup (250 ml) grated mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup (50 ml) crumbled soft goat cheese
Method >
Chopped fresh parsley. Place sun-dried tomatoes in a medium bowl and pour enough boiling water over them to cover. Let stand until softened, about 15 minutes. Drain.
Saute sausage in heavy medium skillet over medium heat until cooked through, breaking it up with the back of a spoon, about five minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer sausage to paper towels to drain.
Butter a 13 X 9 X 2 inch (3.5 L) glass baking dish. Whisk eggs, milk, thyme, salt and pepper in a large bowl until blended. Add sun-dried tomatoes, sausage, bread, onion and Parmesan cheese; stir to blend. Transfer to prepared dish. Cover and refrigerate at least four hours and up to one day.
Preheat oven to 375 F (190C). Bake strata, uncovered, until puffed and golden brown, about 45 minutes. Sprinkle with mozzarella and goat cheeses and bake until cheese melts, about five minutes more. Transfer pan to rack and cool five minutes. Sprinkle with parsley. Serves 8.
Christmas breakfast > I
December 21, 2006
Each family has its own cherished traditions for the informal meal
The living room is a whirr of crumpled wrapping paper, opened gifts and the half-eaten cookies Santa left the night before. Bing Crosby is playing on the stereo, and we’re all still nestled in our pyjamas and fluffy slippers.
Of all the Christmas traditions we hold dear, none is so homey, so cosy, so nostalgically remembered as Christmas morning breakfast. Each family, it seems, has its own cherished rituals, whether it’s hot chocolate sipped from the same old Santa cups that come up out of the basement closet once a year, a sister’s deliciously sticky cinnamon buns in the shape of a Christmas tree or freshly squeezed orange juice and dad’s famous blueberry pancakes.
The best thing about Christmas breakfast is its informality, with everybody helping out in the kitchen. No formal place settings, no fussy food, just the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and something simple and delicious to carry us through until turkey time. Of course, it has to be special, though, because it only comes once a year.
You may still remember your mother’s homemade hash brown dish with eggs, ham, parsley and cubed potatoes. Or you may still remember while growing up, yourself and your brothers and sisters would have already stuffed your faces with clementines and chocolates pulled from your stockings.
I can remember Christmas mornings so well, it was always so special.
For some, the perfect Christmas breakfast is hearty fare, bacon and eggs or a towering pile of pancakes. For others, a slice of coffee cake or a freshly baked scone and a big, steaming bowl of cafe au lait will do, given the feasting that comes later.
Either way, the best recipes are ones that can be prepared at least partially ahead of time, leaving lots of time on Christmas morning for present-opening or lounging by the fire. Here are a few recipes that were tested and sampled from various cookbooks. Traditionalists, of course, will just want to haul out Mom’s recipe box again.
Swiss Beer Fondue
December 21, 2006
Ingredients >
½ pound Swiss Gruyere cheese, grated
½ pound Swiss Emmenthaler cheese, grated
1½ tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper
1 (12-ounce) can beer
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon each cornstarch and cold water, if needed
1 small loaf French bread, cut into cubes
1 bunch broccoli, cut into florets, blanched and chilled
3 carrots peeled, cut into 1-inch slices and cooked to tender crisp
Method >
Mix cheeses with the first measure of cornstarch, dry mustard, garlic powder, and a dash of salt and pepper. Heat beer and lemon juice in a heavy fondue pot over moderate heat on the stove or an alcohol burner. When bubbles start to rise to surface, add cheese mixture, a spoonful at a time, stirring slowly in a figure eight pattern until all the cheese is blended into a smooth sauce. (If the cheese and liquid do not blend, increase heat. You can also mix the second measure of cornstarch with cold water, stir into hot mixture and keep stirring until blended.)
If heating on stovetop, transfer pot to alcohol burner (or Sterno); keep heat moderate.
Skewer bread, broccoli, or carrot pieces, dip into cheese and enjoy.
Stir once or twice each time you dip into the mixture to keep it smooth. A crusty cheese coating will form on the bottom of the pot. Serves 4 as main dish, 8 to 10 as appetizer.
Russian recipe is kept simple
December 21, 2006
In Vladivostok, a town on the eastern Russian coast where seafood is naturally abundant, crab is king.
Crab Salad
Ingredients >
2 potatoes
2 carrots
1 fresh cucumber
1 package crabmeat
1 can corn
Mayonnaise, pepper, salt and dill, to taste
Method >
Boil potatoes and carrots, and then let cool and dice. Chop cucumber and crabmeat. Mix all ingredients. Serves 6.
Heavenly baking large part of a Norwegian Christmas
December 21, 2006
Christmas Traditions > Heavenly baking large part of a Norwegian Christmas
Merry Christmas or God Jul as they would say in the home of Toby and Barb Dahl. Barb’s talent is well known, not only in the White Fox area, but all across Saskatchewan for her fabulous artwork. What only a lucky few know though, is that she is also talented at cooking a great traditional Norwegian Christmas meal.
When Barb and Toby got married 47 years ago, he had been in Canada for about three years. They went to his native Norway for their honeymoon and it just happened to be over Christmas. Barb tasted the food first hand and got to know the culture.
“It was a great experience,” said Barb “in order to adapt to someone else’s culture, you really have to know where they come from and why they do the things they do. Christmas is a big celebration there. It’s not huge in the gift giving area, but it’s huge in the traditional foods.”
And adapt she did. The numbers vary from year to year, but they have served Christmas Eve supper for up to 40 friends and family members. In fact, when their house was built, they specifically built it with a large archway between the dining room and the living room so they could have room to put a long table up for Christmas. “Everybody sits together, including the children,” Barb says firmly.
The table is set up with 12 silver candlesticks, which are lit for the meal. “When the lights are out and the candles are lit it is bright as day,” said Toby “it is beautiful.”
Since singing is so much nicer than just saying it, grace is always sung by Toby in Norwegian.
Barb makes a traditional Norwegian Christmas Eve supper. “Pork ribs, but not cut like we do, they are cut into cubes with the bone in and the rind off,” she explains. “The ribs and sausage are put in the oven and served with cranberry sauce and Norwegian sauerkraut that is like a sweet and sour fresh cabbage with caraway seeds. The sauerkraut is left simmering on the back of the stove for about five hours so it gets the flavor of the caraway. It has a heavenly aroma that fills the house.” Usually potatoes that are boiled with the skins on are also served.
Then comes dessert! They usually have what they call Varden’s Best, which Barb claims is the world’s best. It is a thin cake with meringue and a cloudberry-whipped cream mixture on top. Cloudberries are like a raspberry except they are yellow (they are red before they ripen and as they ripen, they turn yellow). They are very seedy and grow close to the ground. Cloudberry is very hard to find which is why this dessert can not always be served. This year they found some in Edmonton so it will be on the menu.
Christmas Eve is the big celebration with Christmas day being the time to relax. “They just lean back and take er easy,” laughs Toby.
The Dahl’s have started their own family tradition of having lutefisk for Christmas supper when they celebrate the day at home. This is codfish that is cured in lye and put on racks to dry for preservation. You used to have to buy it dried, but now you can buy it presoftened. Lutefisk has to be cooked in cheesecloth because it tends to disintegrate quickly if it is boiled too long.
“You serve it with melted butter and salt and pepper and it smells terrible and it tastes really bland and really good” Barb says. “People could be offended by the smell and the texture (it looks jellylike) but once you get past that it is good. You do have to acquire a taste for a lot of the foods.”
The Christmas baking usually starts in October so Barb can have it ready for the open house she has in her art gallery. She likes to set it out so people can sample it.
There is a lot of work involved. Pretty much everything, with the exception of the Norwegian Christmas cake, is done individually. Each piece has to be rolled and cooked.
When they came back from Norway, Barb had a hard time adapting the recipes she had learned from Toby’s relatives. The flour that was used there at that time was much heavier and less refined than what was available here. They had different yeast and their measurements were different.
“There was a lot of trial and error and frustration,” recalls Barb. She laughs as she tells the story of the first time she made donuts. “We needed to use horn salt which is a baking ammonia. We put it in according to the recipe, or so we thought, and when we dropped them into the water, they disintegrated! They just boiled away.”
But she persevered and learned how to make them perfectly. From there, she went on to learn to make the kromkaker.
“You need a special pan to make those,” explains Barb. ” A thin batter is made and teaspoon full is poured into the pan. The lid is then closed which squashes the dough and both sides are heated by turning the pan on the burner. Once it is brown, you take it out with a knife and flip it over to Toby and he rolls it onto a cone-shaped stick. If you don’t work fast, it will harden and crack.”
The diegoro also takes a special pan that will make three at a time. Like all electrical items from Norway, this pan has a 220 amp power cord. The Dahl’s had a 220-amp plug built into their kitchen to accommodate this. The dough for diegoro is rolled out, cut to put into the pan and the lid is closed to cook it.
Another great favorite is the lefse. It is made quite simply with potatoes (russet only or it gets gooey), salt, and flour but it is an all day job. A special grooved rolling pin that leaves air pockets is used to roll out the dough. Then you need to use another special griddle because regular griddles don’t get hot enough. The Dahls have one of their own and they usually borrow one from Toby’s brother so they can have two cooking at once. They make a lot using two five-gallon pails of potatoes. This year they ended up with 160 lefse.
Lefse is usually eaten with butter or sugar sprinkled on it. Some people however, like to roll up a sausage or other meat inside of it, which turns it into lefsebus.
The recipes have come gradually. Once Barb gets a recipe and perfects it, it is added to the yearly baking list. She has learned a lot from Toby’s relatives. When his oldest sister came to Canada to visit, Toby asked her to make an old favorite he remembered called toebrod. She was happy not only to make it, but also to teach Barb how, and now it too is made every year.
All of the work involved is worth it. The baking is heavenly, it just melts in your mouth. People would enjoy it no matter what culture they come from. So if you ever wanted to try something different, talk to Barb. If she has the time, she could teach you a lot.
