jack frost nipping at your nose

it's the real jack frost!

recipe of the week: christmas left over pie

i love jamie oliver. every recipe i have made of his has been a triumph, i have learned so much from his shows.

here's his recipe for turkey and sweet leek pie, i used the basic principals to make my own christmas left over pie. as jamie says, 'this isn't a pretty boy pie, this is a proper english pie', i've never made one before and i will certainly be trying this one again. it may seem like a lot of work but it's not, not much washing up either.

christmas left over pie

1C left over goose meat
2 rashers of bacon chopped
knob of butter
salt and pepper
sprig fresh thyme, leaves removed
4 small potatoes thinly sliced
handful green beans
1 head of broccoli
4C stock
heaped spoonful of flour
2 heaped spoonfuls creme fresh
puff pastry, thawed
roasted chestnuts
1 egg, beaten
fine strainer

preheat the oven to 190/375 degrees
fry the bacon in the knob of butter until brown, add the thyme leaves and fry for a minute.
add the thinly sliced potatoes, salt and pepper and toss well.
add enough stock to cover the potatoes and allow to bubble away until almost all the liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally.
test the potatoes with a fork, if they are not soft add more stock and continue to cook until potatoes done and most of the liquid is absorbed.
add the beans and broccoli and goose meat and toss.
dust the mixture with the flour and mix up vigorously.
add the rest of the stock, or water if you've used all the stock and stir it up.
mix in the creme fresh and bring back up to the boil.
place the whole mixture into the fine strainer over another pot and allow the gravy to drip down while you roll out the pastry.

lightly flour your counter and roll out the puff pastry into a large rectangle until it's quite thin.
crush the roasted chestnuts over half of the pastry and then fold the pastry over.
gently roll out the pastry again to a size that will fit your baking dish, don't worry if chestnuts poke through.

place the goose and potato mixture into a baking dish.
cover with the puff pastry and tuck the edges under like your tucking a child into bed.
score the pastry with the back of the knife into a criss cross diamond pattern.
paint the egg over the pastry.
bake for 30-45 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden brown and the filling is bubbly.

reheat the gravy. i didn't have enough gravy so i added water, gravy granules and more creme fresh to bulk it up a bit.

serve immediately! yum-oh! it keeps well too. i made a second pie for lunch today and it reheated, covered in tin foil in 40 minutes. it was just as tastey.

12 drummers drumming

it's christmas eve! let the feasts begin.

i suggest roasting a ham with a side order of scalloped potatoes.

i have no pictures as we ate it too fast...but trust me, these are winners.

11 pipers piping

i have to say that i'm more pagan than christian in my spirituality. but around christmas i can't help but come over all religious. alex and i attended the carol service at st. pauls this afternoon. cathedral choirs give me chills.behold my poor quality camera phone photos.

10 lords a leaping

yum yum yum, turn on the christmas carols and make yourself a holiday treat.

mulled wine

2 glasses red wine
1 glass apple juice
pinch of cinnamon or 1 stick
pinch of ground cloves or a few whole ones
small grating of nutmeg
1 clementine cut into rounds

bring everything to a simmer, take off the heat and allow to steep while you prepare the chestnuts.

chestnuts not roasted on an open fire

take as many chestnuts as you think you can eat and cut an X into the skin of each. place in a baking tray and roast in a preheated 200c/390f degree oven for 15 minutes.

reheat the muled wine if it's cooled down too much and eat everything immediately.

9 (pagan) ladies dancing

happy solstice!

8 maids a milking (who stop to eat black forest cookies)

black forest cookies

3/4C flour
3/4C sugar
3/4t baking powder
1/4t salt
4T butter, melted
1/3C cocoa powder
1 egg
2T coffee or water
1/3C chocolate chips
1/3C dried sour cherries, chopped
some sifted powdered sugar

preheat the oven to 350 and line a baking tray with parchment.
mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
whisk melted butter and cocoa in separate bowl.
mix in the egg, coffee (or water) and blend well.
fold the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture, do not over mix.
fold in the chocolate chips and cherries.
scoop 1T of the mixture and roll into balls.
roll the balls around in the powdered sugar twice.
place balls on baking tray, 2 inches apart.
bake for 10-14 minutes or until the cookies are cracked yet soft, do not overbake!
cool the cookies on the baking tray for 5 minutes before fully cooling on a rack.

yum! these are great and they keep really well in a tin. have some milk for drinking handy...

7 swans a swimming

alex is back.

hurrah!

he's ever so skinny and scabby.

6 geese a laying

it's not christmas until little children act out the nativity story. i love my class.

5 go-old rings

here's an easy cookie/sweet recipe for children to make this holiday season. chocolate reindeer!

melt some chocolate and spoon it onto grease proof paper in a round shape.

then add a cherry nose, chocolate ears and eyes and licorice antlers.

4 calling birds

tis the season for baking.

i ran out of eggs this weekend and looked for an egg-less sugar cookie recipe. if you make sugar cookies without eggs this is what happens....

you'll have to clean your oven and probably hoover around your oven like me. it was a total and complete disaster.

don't believe a sugar cookie recipe that says you don't need an egg. let this be a lesson to you all.

on the bright side i just made some fantastic black forest cookies...watch this space.

3 french hens

i have a little tree. i love it! it cost 5 pounds and it's the best fiver i have ever spent. it came with decorations and lights and cinnamon sticks to give it an authentic smell.

i wandered around my neighbourhood last night and i can count how many christmas trees i saw in windows on one hand. i miss the overdone light show that is a north american christmas.

2 turtle doves

last weekend was the rochester dickensian christmas fair. i go every year and it has yet to get tiresome. i LOVE it! i'm like a child, giggling and hurrying here and there. what's not to love? people dressed up like dickensian characters. mulled wine. roasting chestnuts on every corner. little old ladies playing jingle bells on real bells. fake snow. carousel rides. parades. christmas carols. i could go on and on.

Credit to ali for these wonderful pictures!

a partridge in a pear tree

look what we made!


this is the craft to end all crafts. it took us a full 4 days where we did nothing but this and played with lego...but every one of my 21 kids has their very own snowman sweet jar.

2 balloons, 1 layer of paper mache, 1 layer of plaster cast, 1 super thick layer of pva glue and white paint.

what did you do at work this week? i bet i win!