Rummaging through old candy recipe books, I came across an old stickjaw recipe. Seems it really is a real candy, also known as coconut taffy, although it's a hard candy rather than a sticky one. I did these in the shape of teeth for amusement sake, but I also make sticks of them as well. Much easier to suck on!
I normally share what I make, often just sampling, and giving the rest away, otherwise I'd be looking like Humpty Dumpty right now. But this. This I kept for myself. It's the coconut. Same goes for coconut chocolate. Normally I have restraint when a chocolate bar is put in front of me. But not with anything coconut. Blink and it'll be gone.
This recipe actually took me three goes to get it right, although the recipe wasn't at fault. I didn't understand until I googled hard candy making after the second flunk. Apparently if you make it when it's humid, calling for rain, temperature higher than 20C (check, check, check) you'll come across a few hiccups. I left it for the next day, and low and behold, success.
These are also awesome to make to freak people out (as teeth that is). Trialled and success. Just leave a set lying around and it'll stop them dead in their tracks.
You'll need:
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup glucose
2 drops of Wilton's white white icing colour (not essential, but it makes it whiter)
1/2 cup shredded coconut
Stir in all ingredients on the stove, minus the coconut, until sugar is dissolved. Let it come to a boil, don't stir, just wet down the sides of the pan from time to time to keep sugar splatter from burning. When it gets to 310F/ 155C, pull it off the stove straight away, stir in the coconut and pour it into silicone molds. If you want them to be chewy, put it off the stove at 260-270F/130C. When they's hardened up in their molds, dust them with icing sugar ot keep from sticking together. We used Fred Frozen Smiles Ice Cube Tray that I purchased on Amazon a while ago.
recipe adapted from The Candy Maker's Guide; A Collection of Choice Recipes for Sugar Boiling, by Fletcher Manufacturing Company, published 1896 (can be found on Gutenberg website)
Butler prepared them a meal. Nothing fancy. Vegetarian spring rolls, followed by mushroom risotto with creme caramel to finish. Mulch opted for a bucket of diced worms and beetles, sauteed in a rainwater and moss vinaigrette.
-Artemis Fowl and The Eternity Code, Eoin Colfer
I've never been much of a risotto fan. Having ordered it in restaurants before, I often left half of it behind, and kind of grimaced as I ate my way through the first bit. I guess it just took the right recipe to make me enjoy it. And the head-smacking moment hours later, when I realised I cracked open and poured in a $30 bottle of wine...
I'm hearing crickets.
It's a good thing it was so damn good, otherwise I would've been mortified at wasting perfect drinking wine. I'm going to tell myself that it made all the difference to the taste to make myself feel better (Bryt, you numbnut). But I'll tell you that any cheap wine will do. The $4.90 bottle on the shelf, for example. Like I should have done in the first place.
I've cut down the recipe to make 2 servings, but they were pretty ample sized servings. A meal and a snack came out of it. Up the measurements if you need, the original recipe was double the amount.
You'll need:
4 cups vegetable stock
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 brown onion, finely sliced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 1/2 tsp of dried thyme
100g mushrooms, chopped (1 large portobello mushroom worked out to be ~100g)
1 cup arborio rice
3/4 cup white wine
3 tbsp butter
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
pepper
Start by bringing vegetable stock to a simmer in a saucepan. In a large frying pan or large saucepan, heat oil (my favourite is a garlic infused olive oil or chilli if I want a kick) and toss in the chopped up onion, garlic and thyme. Stir until the onions are soft. Add in the rice and stir it around (I've been taught, only stir in one direction, otherwise you're going to miss areas and make the cooking inconsistent) until coated in the oil. Pour in the white wine and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add the vegetable stock, give it a good stir, then let it simmer for 20-25 minutes. By then the liquid will be absorbed and the rice cooked. Toss in the mushrooms, cook till slightly softened (few minutes), before stirring in the butter and parmesan. At the last minute, add in the parsley and the bit of lemon juice. Sprinkle with pepper (the vegetable stock often has alot of salt already in, no need for more), give it one last stir, then serve.
recipe adapted from Curtis Stone's Mushroom and Parmesan Risotto recipe, as part of Coles
"What do you think that is?" she asked me, again pointing with her stick; "that, where those cobwebs are?"
"I can't guess what it is, ma'am."
"It's a great cake. A bride-cake. Mine!"
-Chapter 11, Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
To prep for this recipe a week in advance, you need to do one of two things- start benchpressing weights at the gym or go buy a mixer. Otherwise your arms won't be able to finish the job! Ouch. I know my grandma made similar cakes for Christmas by hand. And my aunt. And my mom. But they are tough mammas!
Wedding cakes originally started as pies. Not sweet, but meat, that were eaten as the wedding dinner rather than as dessert. By the late 1800's, the wedding cake took over.
We'll assume, based on the book being published in 1860, that Miss Havisham, being wealthy, would've been ahead of the trends and had the money to have the cake usually seen only in royal weddings.
These cakes were plum (which actually were currant) cakes, and used nuts like almonds and white icing. These were originally all a status for wealth, as currants, nuts and refined sugar were all expensive items. Originally,the general public would've started with single tiered cakes. However after the publicity of royal weddings, in particular Queen Victoria's daughter, Princess Louise's wedding in 1871 (her cake was 5 feet tall and 225 pounds), multitier cakes became the rage. Whether Miss Havisham had a multitier or not, I unfortunately didn't have either the freezer space or enough people to eat it for me. So one tier it was.
We're following a recipe (three actually) from The Book of Household Management, published in 1861, found on the Gutenberg website, however I've altered it to be a smaller size. This amount made one medum sized cake.
Bride Cake Recipe
For the cake you'll need:
0.90kg / 2lb / 7 cups of fine flour
550g /1.2lb butter
350g / 0.77 lb / 1.5 cups white sugar
200g / 0.44 lb almond meal
100g / 0.22lb candied citron
100g / 0.22lb candied orange and lemon peel
900g / 2lb currants
2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp mace
1/4 tsp cloves
6 eggs, separated (yolks and whites will be used)
1 ounce / 30ml wine
1 ounce / 30ml brandy
Start by creaming the butter, before stirring in the white sugar. Whisk egg whites until frothy and mix them in. In another bowl, beat the egg yolks for several minutes (they say 10) and add in the flour, nutmeg, mace and cloves. Combine them together and mix them together for half an hour ( this is where the arm strength comes in). I just used my mixer for about 10 minutes.
Stir in the currants, almonds, candied peel, wine and brandy (I was taught to soak the nuts and fruit in the brandy beforehand, so that's what I did out of habit). Butter a cake pan, or line it well with baking paper (best option), fill with cake batter and place in a medium heat oven.
They say a quickoven, but I found it best to keep it at about 150oC/ 300F as it'll be in there for a few hours. Once a knife is speared into the middle and comes out clean, it's done.
Set it aside to cool while you make the almond icing and white icing.
Almond Icing Recipe
1 lb white sugar
1 lb almond meal
4 egg whites
splash of rose water
Start by mushing together almond meal and rose water to make a bit of a paste. Whisk together the egg whites until frothy, then stir in the almon meal, sugar and beat it well.
Once the cake is cool, spread the almond icing on. I found the best way was by wetting my hands and smoothing it on that way. Thay way you'll get it thin and perfectly smooth, which it needs to be before the white icing goes on. Once the top icing layer goes on, any flaws will show, so use the almond icing to fix them up now.
Once the almond icing is completely covering the cake, place it in the oven to dry (I turned mine to 'keep warm' or 100C/ 210F) Keep the oven on 100C/ 210F
White Icing Recipe
1 lb icing sugar
4 egg whites
30ml/ 1 oz corn starch/ cornflour
This now has to be my favourite icing recipe ever. Goes on smooth, you just spread it, but dries hard. Start by beating the eggs until frothy, and gradually add in the icing sugar and corn starch/ cornflour.
Once the mixture is smooth of lumps, use a cake spatula to smear and smooth the icing evenly over the cake and almond icing.
Turn the oven to keep warm or off, and place the cake in to dry. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't turn any goldeny colour.
To finish it off, make a bit more white icing and pipe floral or delicate edging. Why do we do this? To hide flaws of course!
At 6.00 he took a shower. He boiled some potatoes and had open sandwiches of pickled herring in mustard sauce with chives and egg on a rickety table outside the cottage, facing the bridge. He poured himself a shot of aquavit and drank a toast to himself. After that he opened a crime novel by Val McDermid entitled The Mermaids Singing.
Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
pickled herring; two ways of laying it out
This kind of started as a dare. A challenge. A pact that if Jamie would try pumpkin, I would try rollmops. Pumpkin is something he insists he doesn't like. Not because he doesn't like the taste- he's never tried it- but because he doesn't like the colour therefore how could he possibly like what he doesn't like the look of? Pumpkin takes centre stage come October. And being the October/ Halloween/ Pumpkin buff that I am, this just wasn't sitting well with me. Challenge was on.
As for the rollmops. Pickled herring with pickled onions. I've never had pickled fish anything, and I wasn't really keen on starting now. However I stumbled across pickled herring in Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and the mention of it coaxed me into working with it.
The end result? It's not bad. It's tastes pickled. 'Mazing hey. Good, but you won't find me with a jar on the sofa on a Saturday night, popping them into my mouth the way I do the smoked mussels (addictive) while watching re-runs of Body of Proof.
We're still awaiting the pumpkin tasting by the way.
You'll need to make one sandwich:
a slice of thick rye bread
one hard boiled egg
one baby potato, steamed till fork soft
one piece of pickled herring
one pickled onion (if you have a jar of rollmops, you get both the pickled herring and the pickled onion)
a jar of Ikea's mustard and dill sauce called SÅS SENAP & DILL (I'm sure you could make your own, but it's a sandwich. Jar from the shelf is good)
Take your egg, peel it, and chop it into bite sized pieces. Place it in a bowl along with the steamed baby potato and pickled herring, both chopped as well. If you have the rollmops, the pickled onions is probably in shreds. If not, chop the onion into small pieces as well and add. Scoop in a few tbsp of the dill and mustard sauce, and add more bit by bit until the eggs, potato, fish and onion are well mixed but not drowning in it. Butter the slice of rye bread (the open sandwich is popular is Sweden it seems) and scoop the mixture on.
Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls. He liked thick giblet soup, nutty gizzards, a stuffed roast heart, liver slices fried with crustcrumbs, fried hencod's roes. Most of all he liked grilled mutton kidneys which gave to his palate a fine tang of faintly scented urine.
-Ulysses, James Joyce
No way of making this look pretty... it is what it is!
Out of all the things on that list, of course Leopold had to like the kidneys the most. How... delightful.
I was a little worried at first when I toss two raw ones to the dogs. They snatched them up thinking 'treat!' Then, promptly spat it out. Promising start.
Here's the thing about kidneys-- unless you've got a taste, like Leopold, for that hint of urine, bypass the ox, pig and sheep. They're tough anyways and a much stronger taster. I know they specifically state mutton. Don't do mutton. Go for the calf or lamb. There's still a slight smell, but it's more like, I dunno, 'barn'. More of a rounder nature smell than just... piss. How very appealing...
The end result is just *meh*. Not good, but not bad. No wow factor, but I also wasn't gagging (which, let's be honest, with James Joyce's description, I was expecting to spray food into the kitchen sink. Which I ate in front of... just. in. case.) Worst case scenerio? They're cheap (I paid $2.50 for 8) so if you don't like them, the dogs will gobble them up cooked and you order pizza.
6 lambs kidneys
15 g butter (1tbsp)
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp Dijon
100ml cream (0.4 cups)
1 tsp dried tarragon
salt, pepper
Remove and discard the transparent membrane. Yours might or might not come with it on. Just make sure it's off.
Cut the kidney down the middle and remove the thick white
core. You’ll need a sharp knife but watch your fingers! It’s a slippery thing
to keep hold of. I was pretty confused following the instructions I was given, so here's a full row of step by step photos on how to slice and 'de-core' a kidney.
Melt the butter and place the kidneys side down into the pan
and cook for 2 minutes either side. Scoop kidneys out of pan and place into a
bowl while you create the sauce.
Pour in the vinegar and stir it around to pick up any
leftover kidney juices. Let simmer until it’s practically evaporated, then add
in the mustard, cream and tarragon. Bring to a simmer and add the kidneys back
in to heat them up, before serving with a white carb—potatoes, pasta or
rice.
They looked at each other for a few seconds. Then the old man surprised Blomkvist by throwing his arms around him and giving him a bear hug.
"I was just about to eat. Join me."
Anna produced a great quantity of bacon pancakes with lingonberries. They sat there in the dining room and talked for almost two hours. Blomkvist told him about how far he had got with the family chronicle, and where there were holes and gaps. They did not talk at all about Harriet, but Vanger told him all about MIllennium.
-Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
You would think it would be fairly hard to get a pancake wrong. But low and behold, my first attempt, I 'succeeded' in making a puffy loaf of bacon 'bread'. Not thin, flat and bubbly with a golden crispy finish. Although it did taste delicious all hot, sliced with melting butter. But let's face it, I fudged it.
The Fail
The second time I got it correct, although nothing I did could tempt it to bubble. Am I missing something?!? A Swedish bacon pancake is known as fläskpannkaka, which is basically oven baked. So not quite the way we know it.
But it's got bacon in. And it's grilled, so uber yum.
4-5 slices of thick bacon, trimmed of the white fatty bits
1.5 cups of milk
1 egg
1 cup all purpose flour
Spray a large roasting pan, or a cookie sheet. (As you can see I lined it with baking paper, another option, but spray is better).
After trimming the bacon of the white fatty bits, chop into small pieces. Spread them out on the tray, place in a cold oven and turn on oven to 220oC/425oF, and set to grill. Cook until browned and bubbling.
In a bowl, whisk 1.5 cups milk with 1 egg and stir in 1 cup flour.
When bacon is done, pour the batter over it and stir to mix in. Place back in oven and cook (on grill) for approx 25 minutes).
Serve with lingonberry jam, which can be purchased from Ikea, and taste quite like cranberries, with that same tartness.
And with instructions as simple as that, you're probably wondering how on earth I could get it wrong in the first place!
-(one of the buttons in Wonka's glass elevator), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
Strawberries. Fingertips stained, lips beestung in colour.
Jumping over water sprinklers, posed, waiting for the next strike. Rolling, crouching, waiting to launch yourself at your opponent (most likely your unsuspecting brother or sister), armed with water bombs or water pistols.
It's like the epitome of summer.
Toss them together and you've got uber coolness- a strawberry juice water pistol.
There's two ways to do this, but which one you choose will depend on the size of your water gun.
You see, if you have a big gun with a relatively large hole for the juice to squirt through, then you can use real strawberry juice. Since it's a bit of a struggle to strain, some pulp comes through, and in a mini gun, it jams it up.
Or you go with the easy way for both. Sugar syrup and strawberry flavouring. You'll get a sticky mess either way.
Wash a punnet of strawberries, and chop off the green tops. Slice strawberries in half, place in a bowl with two tablespoons of water and microwave for 30 secs. Test with a fork or knife, and if softer, and squishable, it's finished. Over a bowl, place the sieve/ strainer, place in the strawberries and press through with the wooden spoon.
Strawberry Syrup
You'll need:
1 cup water
1.5 cups white sugar
strawberry essence
red food dye
Boil 1 cup water and stir in 1.5 cups white sugar until dissolved. Place in a few drops of strawberry essence and a drop of red essence (two if you want it stronger in colour). Stir and set aside to cool before filling water pistols.
*Note: Don't wear white clothing unless you want it stained!!
But Peter, who was very naughty, ran straight away to Mr. McGregor's
garden, and squeezed under the gate! First he ate some lettuces and some French beans;
-Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter
left to right: apple and peanut butter; carrot, cheese, mayo and sultanas; cucumber and cream cheese
Happy Easter everyone! I'm writing this before the rest of the house wakes, with a handful of chocolate in my hand. I may have scarfed back the jelly beans by 6:30am already... teehee!
~
Lettuce wraps ended up being a bit of a savour to me at the beginning when I found out I had to start eating gluten free. At the time, gluten free bread from the grocery store was dry and fell apart. (Wait, who am I kidding? It's still like that!) Definitely not sandwich material. I eventually figured out a really good recipe for making wrap 'bread' on the stove, but for the longest while, lettuce wraps rocked my little coeliac life. And they're still an easy go-to lunch or snack when I don't feel like cooking bread.
left to right; tuna, mayo, relish; tuna, marinade; tuna, lime, black pepper
You might think lettuce is bland, but be glad it is. It means anything can go in it. Baby cos lettuce is the best- it's small enough to hold, but large enough to put fillings in and get a few bites out of.
And set out on a long rectangular plate, they make pretty little platters for guests to pick off.
This post is less recipe, more list of fillings you can use.
It's simple you wash the baby cos lettuce leaves, dab it dry with paper towels, and scoop fillings on.
These are as many as I can remember of ones I've had, and a few others tossed in that I thought sounded nice.
Baby cos lettuce, ready to go
Fruit versions
Apple with peanut butter
Peanut butter and banana (does this ever get old? no.)
Seafood versions
Tuna with relish and mayo
Tuna and store bought marinade for fish (like greek lemon garlic, or sweet chilli sauce)
Tuna, lime and black pepper (a bit of a exotic spin on the lemon)
Bacon, pepperoni, ham, ground beef, sausage, bbq sauce
Grilled lamb, mint yogurt sauce, grilled onion and red pepper/capsicum
Blue cheese, bacon, pickled onion, garlic, chilli powder
I'll keep adding to this list, since I do refer back to my posts when I'm hungry. My blog is like a personal portable cookbook to me. And now after writing this all down, I'm starved!
He was so tired that he flopped down upon the nice soft sand on the floor of the rabbit-hole, and shut his eyes. His mother was busy cooking; she wondered what he had done with his clothes. It was the second little jacket and pair of shoes that Peter had lost in a fortnight!
I am sorry to say that Peter was not very well during the evening.
His mother put him to bed, and made some camomile tea; and she gave a dose of it to Peter!
“One table-spoonful to be taken at bed-time.”
- Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter
I think one the best things about reading is how your imagination can extend the world that's been described. Where the author has described a scene, the mind continues to paint the room based on the what the character is like. You can imagine Mrs. Rabbit with her clean practical cotton blue dress, her little shawl wrapped around her shoulders, and a crisp white apron, that often get her little bunnies paws on, muddy from playing around in the undergrowth of the fresh forest in spring. You see the details, some described, some not. The herbs hanging from the ceiling above her country wooden table. The little white wicker sewing basket near the hearth, where, in the evenings she mends Peter's torn jackets from his adventures. I also imagine her keeping a small little set of fine bone china teacups and saucers for when friends come to visit. Maybe they're like these light pink and white set with fine gold detailing.
To make this light chamomile and apple juice cooler, is easy.
In a container slightly larger than a litre, seep two chamomile teabags in two cups boiling water for ten minutes. Pour in three cups of apple juice, and place in the fridge for several hours to chill before serving.
He went back towards the toolshed, but suddenly, quite close to him, he heard the noise of a hoe— scr-r-ritch, scratch, scratch, scritch. Peter scuttered underneath the bushes. But presently, as nothing happened, he came out, and climbed upon a wheelbarrow, and peeped over. The first thing he saw was Mr. McGregor hoeing onions. His back was turned towards Peter, and beyond him was the gate!
-Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter
Onion pie is hearty food. Filling, warming, it reminds me of grandma's kitchen. A permanent lingering smell that I realise only now must have been the smell of that versatile veggie-- cooked in stews and roasted in chickens. The smell seeped into everything, the wallpaper, the carpets, every nook and cranny. Either the smell makes you crinkle your nose or it will bring back memories.
Onions also remind me of autumn, or fall, as we'd call it back home. Here's it not fall. No leaves change to vibrant reds or oranges. Only brown. Here autumn doesn't mean Thanksgiving, where the onion would normally be stuffed inside the turkey. Or Halloween.
No, here in Australia, autumn means a sigh of relief from the sweltering summer. And it means Easter. Growing up in Canada, Easter meant spring. An easing of winter. Which, in Vancouver, just meant less cold and just as much rain. But it was spring. It meant hydrangeas exploding into a pastel canvas of blues and purples in our leafy backyard. It was white wicker baskets and matching flowery dresses. You don't realise how much the seasons you grew up with affect how you view your holidays. Until they're turned on their heads.
For the same time I'm planning Easter for this weekend, I'm also buying up the last batch of pumpkin ale imported from NY, drawing up Halloween prop plans, all while nestled up in my ugg boots and fleecy trackies. All because the season is telling me it's the right time.
So to incorporate Mr McGregor's vegetables, and to, for once, acknowledge that Easter is indeed in autumn here, I give you cheese and onion pie.
Start by making the pastry by mixing to gather 4 cups (alb) plain flour, 2 tsp baking powder, pinch of salt, 120g of softened butter, 1 egg and 1/2 cup (120 ml) of cold water. Don't dump all the water in together, as it might make the dough to wet. Therefore pour it in bit by bit until it holds together when you squish it together with your hand. If it's too wet, just add bit by bit of flour. Wrap in a ball in cling wrap and place in the fridge for several hours.
When you're ready to make it, pull out two saucepans. In one small pot, boil salted water and add in 1 medium sized potato or 2-3 small potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks. Cook until fork soft, about 15 minutes. Drain and place to the side.
In the other saucepan, medium size, add in 2 finely sliced onions and bring to a boil. Let cook for several minutes, before draining. Place the onions back in the pot. Sprinkle 3 tbsp of plain flour over them, then stir in 1/2 cup of milk. Heat until the mixture thickens, then add the potato chunks, 150g of grated cheese (one with a stronger flavour is preferable), 1 tsp dijon mustard, 1/2 tsp of paprika and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and grease a pie tin. For the cute straight up and down look, I used Ikea'sDRÖMMAR red muffin tin.
Bring out the pastry and roll it out. Cut out into circles and place into pie tins. Stuff with a little greaseproof paper and fill with pie weights, rice or dried beans. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove the weights and paper and fill with the mixture.
You can roll out extra dough and create a top for these, but they look pretty adorable like little pastry cups.
Place back into the oven and cook for another 20 minutes.
If you've ever wondered what Wonka's 3 Course Meal Gum tasted like, or drooled over the food mentioned in your favourite book, you're going to have fun hanging out with me!
