Deviled Eggs Ingredients

13 extra large eggs

mayonnaise

ginger vinegar

chipotle powder

pepper

Deviled Eggs Recipe

1.     Boil the eggs for 10 minutes in salted water. The salt helps the eggs peel easier later on.

2.     Cool and peel the eggs. Slice neatly in half and remove the yolks. I always boil one more egg than I need so I have a bit of extra yolk. Just discard the extra white part.

3.     Combine the ingredients in a bowl and blend. I do it by taste and texture, which is why there are no precise measurements. You want the mixture to be a thick, smooth paste. I don’t like them too spicy, but I love the combination of chipotle and eggs, so I just added a pinch.

4.     Using two spoons, add the filling back to the white part of the egg. Cover with plastic wrap (making sure it doesn’t touch the filling) and refridgerate until you’re ready to serve.

Guacamole Ingredients

4 large soft avocados

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp ground sesame seeds

1 squeeze of lime juice

1/4 cup cilantro leaves

salt and pepper

Guacamole Recipe

1.     Remove the meat of the avocado from the skins and mash.

2.     Add the rest of the ingredients, combine, and serve. Simple as that!

Well, New Years Eve has come and gone again. Last year we had a fancy party and I ran myself ragged because I’d worked the day before, the day of, and when I got home, the sink was backed up, so I really didn’t have much time. This year was muuuuch better! Aside from no technical issues or other demands on my time, I also have a much nicer (and larger) kitchen now, so it is much more relaxing a place to cook.

I don’t go in for massive NYE parties, and I don’t think I’ve been out to a bar on the day in years. The party last year was so much fun (despite the headaches) that we decided to have another one this year. A few friends came over, we all wore our jammies, and I knocked out a few tasty treats for our guests, including Asian chicken tarts, guacamole, and deviled eggs. Aside from the stuff I made myself, we also had some lovely Canadian cheeses (Quebecois goat cheese, Ontario Oka with mushrooms, cheddar, and smoked gouda).  The tart recipe is really versatile, since you can put just about anything in the shell.

Oh, and you’ll have to pardon the lack of pictures. I started drinking around breakfast, so I wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders by the time the guests began rolling in.

Asian Chicken Tarts Ingredients

1 pkg lean ground chicken (about 3 cups, I believe)

1 1/2 cups mushrooms

1 yellow onion

1 tbsp hoisin sauce

1 tbsp soya sauce (I like the reduced sodium kind)

1 garlic clove

28 wonton wrappers

pinch Chinese five spice

cilantro leaves

salt and pepper to taste

Asian Chicken Tarts Recipe

1.     Pulse the mushrooms in a food processor a few times so they’re about the same size as the chicken. Dice your onion the same size.

2.     Sweat the onions and mushrooms until they get just a bit of color, then add the chicken. Add the other ingredients. The filling can be made a while in advance, just reheat before you serve.

3.     Press the wonton wrappers into a muffin tin and bake in an oven for 15 minutes at 325 degrees, or until brown and crispy.

4.     When ready to serve, spoon the filling into the wrappers and garnish with a cilantro leaf.

Panna Cotta Ingredients

1 litre of heavy cream

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 packets gelatin (worked out to about 4 1/2 tsp)

6 tbsp cold water

Panna Cotta Directions

1.     Bring the cream to a simmer on medium-low heat.

2.     Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.

3.     Remove from heat and add vanilla.

4.     Pour the cold water into a small bowl and add the gelatin. Let stand for 5-10 minutes.

5.     Add the gelatin mixture to the warm cream.

6.     Here’s where you can get creative. That recipe will fill about 8 small ramekins or wine glasses. What I did was line a loaf pan with plastic wrap and poured it in there.

7.     Let sit for at least four hours. I let stand over night.

8.     When you’re ready to serve, you can leave it in the container. I unmolded mine onto a serving platter and poured a simple berry sauce over top and garnished with blackberries and raspberries. You can do whatever sauce sounds good.

Cranberry Glaze Ingredients

1 (12-ounce) bag fresh cranberries

1/3 cup chopped ginger

1 tbsp hoisin sauce

1 tbsp soya sauce

2 tsp orange zest

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup orange juice

1 1/4 cups water

1/4 cup white wine

Turkey Brine

3/4 gallon water

2 cups white wine

1 1/2 cups orange juice
1 cup kosher salt
1 cup light brown sugar
3 garlic cloves

1/3 cup chopped ginger

1 tbsp black peppercorns

4 bay leaves

The Bird

2 whole turkey breast (skin on, bone in)

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic

salt and pepper

Turkey Directions

1.     I made my glaze the night before Christmas. Basically, add everything to a pot and bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer until it coats the back of a spoon. Strain and refrigerate until needed.

2.     You can brine the turkey a day or half a day before baking. Bring your water to a simmer and dissolve the salt and sugar. Add the rest of the ingredients and then turn off the heat. Once the liquid cools, add the turkey to the water, cover, and refrigerate.

3.     When you’re ready to cook the bird, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

4.     Remove the turkey breast from the water. Dry with paper towels so it will brown up nicely.

5.     Make a pocket under the skin. Stuff in some garlic and whatever other spices you like. A little butter doesn’t hurt either. Drizzle the olive oil over the top and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

6.     Bake turkey for about an hour and a half, then remove and baste liberally with the glaze. Return to the oven for another ten minutes. Baste again when it comes out of the oven.

7.     Let the meat cool for at least ten minutes. I served the breast on a cutting board, so it’s easy to let it cool on the board and then take it right to the table.

Roast Squash Ingredients

1 butternut squash

olive oil

a few pinches of Chinese Five Spice Powder

salt and pepper

Roast Squash Directions

1.     Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

2.     Dice the squash and remove the skin.

3.     Give the squash a nice coating of oil. This will keep it from burning and help the spices stick.

4.    Bake for about 35-40 mins, or until the squash is tender and caramelized.

Yay! The semester is over and I can resume food blogging! It pained me to be away so long, but I had end-of-semester projects to do, as well as a ton of marking (and anybody who has ever marked undergraduate papers knows how odious a burden that is). This blog entry is one of my favourite yet, because this is the first time I’ve ever been able to cook Christmas dinner. My parents never let me do it, and so this year since I’m having two Christmases, I decided I’d take one on myself. Since I’m going to see my family for the first time in over a year, Jeff and I decided to have a little Christmas celebration of our own here in London. I won’t bother including the potatoes or turnips that we had with supper; if you can’t boil a potato at this point in your life, you’re really a write-off and there’s nothing I can do to fix that.

Without further ado, here are my recipes for cornbread stuffing, cranberry-glazed turkey breast, roast squash, and panna cotta. I’m going to do each recipe as a separate entry, just for ease of searching later on.

PS: I got an ice cream maker for Christmas, so you can look forward to some recipes for that soon!

Cornbread Stuffing Ingredients

5 cups cornbread

2 cups chicken stock

2 eggs, beaten

1 onion

3 or 4 celery stalks

2 or 3 garlic cloves (I like a lot of garlic)

1 tbsp sage

1 tbsp cilantro

1 tsp chipotle powder

salt and pepper

Cornbread Stuffing Recipe

1.     Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2.     Dice the onion and celery and sautee with garlic until translucent.

3.     Mix all of your ingredients together and pack into a baking dish. I noted the spices I used here, but you really can freestyle quite easily; anything from rosemary to ginger would be tasty here.

4.     Bake the stuffing for about 30 to 35 minutes.