Welcome 2012/Midwinter’s tart

Midwinter's tart - cavolo nero open filo tart

I’m probably a little bit late in the game but it would feel wrong not to mark the New Year with a little post. New Year’s Eve was spent with close friends at A.’s grandpa’s cottage. It was lovely being back there after years of memories; from birthday parties as children to camping there as bolshy teenagers. The gamekeeper was there when we arrived, a real character and I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of hearing about the time he shared a mars bar with HRH “Wills” or the time he drank a 2 half pints of vodka not to loose face.  People arrived in dribs and drabs, hugs were exchanged and glasses filled and emptied. Cheeses and other goodies were laid out, scoffed with more food miraculously appearing at any hint of a spare space in our bellies. Highlights include Nigella’s Christmas rocky roads and S. and M.’s amazing haggis sausage rolls (recipe to follow soon). We welcomed in the New Year with sweet Asti in glasses with little pheasants on them and sang and hummed our way through Auld Lang Syne. None of us had a clue as to the words to the second verse. As the night went on the party games got started and my competitive nature came out. We laughed and laughed. It was one of those nights where I felt just so happy to have the awesome friends that I have.

are these not the cutest glasses ever?

T. doing the highland fling

Seeing as it’s now January I guess we are all supposed to be very good and all on diets but personally I can’t think of anything worse than a calorie sanctioned soggy January. This is my toast to enjoying a little bit of the things you like to eat without the guilt. I’m not morbidly obese yet. I’ve called it midwinter’s tart as pretty much all I could see at the farmer's market was cavolo nero and onions, bring on the first of the spring veg. In the meantime i'll make do with a cheeky recipe title. 

Midwinter’s tart – inspired by Jamie Oliver

Serves 6 – as a lunch with crusty bread and salad

Preheat the oven to 180°c

1 packet of readymade filo pasty approx 5-6 sheets

30g melted butter

300ml full or low fat crème fraiche

3 egg yolks

2 small onions – quartered, then finely sliced

oil for frying

approx 10 – 12 cavolo nero leaves or kale – finely shredded tough stalky bits and all

3-5 anchovy fillets – roughly chopped

30g grated parmesan

salt and pepper to season

zest of half a lemon

Carefully remove the pastry from the packet and lay in your baking dish leaving a few cm overhanging the edges.

Brush gently with the melted butter and continue to layer up the pasty until you have finished the packet.

Mix the egg yolks with the crème fraiche, season and add this to the pastry.

Fry the onions with a little salt over a medium heat until slightly caramelised; this will take approx 5-8 minutes

Mix the fried onions, cavolo nero, parmesan and anchovy together and add this to the tart.

Brush the edges of the pasty with the melted butter and bake the tart for approx 20 minutes until golden brown.

Grate the lemon zest over the tart and leave to stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Enjoy.

Midwinter's tart - cavolo nero filo tart

What makes Christmas Christmassy?

Gingerbread hearts

This year I have been super excited about Christmas, as in SUPER EXCITED. I’ve “stepped into Christmas” big style. Imagine a little kid running mad around her living room squealing and winding all the adults up and you are getting close. I think I must be pretty annoying right now. The flat looks like a mistletoe tree has exploded in it, there are little sprigs all over the place just in case. I’m hedging my bets. I have spent many a quiet moment drifting off into a daydream about seeing my chums, spending time with my grandparents and munching on the fabulous festive food that is yet to come . . .

our lovely Christmas tree

In an ode to Christmas I’ve composed a what makes Christmas Christmassy list.

1. Tinsel in my hair at work (a naff but compulsory accessory in the hospital at Christmas)
2. Lugging a 6ft fir tree up the 3 flights of stairs to our flat.
3. The free bar at my boyfriend's office party
4. Pigs in blankets
5. Christmas Eve diner with the Glasgow girls
6. Vacherin Mont D’Or
7. My Dad’s incredible to-the-minute Christmas lunch planner
8. Making gingerbread hearts for decorating the tree, twee moi?
9. Lazy pajama morning on boxing day 

So dear reader, tell me, what makes Christmas Christmassy for you? What makes your day?

gingerbread heart tree decorations

My lovely sister came to stay with me last weekend and in amongst the mulled wine glugging, present wrapping by the fireside and other clichéd Christmassy things to do we made these gingerbread hearts. Tasty and festive, a winning combination.

Gingerbread  - barely adapted from the Hummingbird bakery cookbook

Oven preheated to 180°

400g plain flour

¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

½ tsp salt

180g unsalted butter – at room temperature

125g light or dark muscovado sugar

1 egg

125g black treacle

Sift together the flour, bicarbonate, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

Set aside till later.

Add the butter and sugar to a separate bowl and mix together with a handheld whisk until light and fluffy.

Add in the egg and mix until incorporated.

Scrape down any unmixed ingredients as required.

Add in the flour mixture one tablespoon at a time, continuing to mix throughout.

The Hummingbird bakery advises leaving the dough over night in the fridge but we didn’t have the patience. We used the dough straight away and all was well.

Lightly dust your worktop and rolling pin and roll out your dough until it is about 5mm thick.

Use your cutters to make shapes and transfer onto a tray lined with greaseproof paper.

Make sure you leave plenty of space between them as they can spread slightly in the heat.

If you are making your gingerbread into decorations pierce the dough to make a 5mm hole. We used a chopstick to do this.

Bake for approx 12 minutes.

Leave to cool slightly before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy and have yourself a truly wonderful Christmas.

Baked whole pumpkins with gooey cheesy wonderfulness

Baked whole pumpkins with gooey cheesy wonderfulness

Firstly I would like to start off by apologising for things being a bit quiet here at ‘twicebitten’ towers over the last month. I’ve been backpacking around Northern India and had rather hoped to come back with lots of awesome curry recipes to share with you. Sadly I’ve come back empty handed. None of the recipes from a day at an Udaipur cookschool have met my exacting standards so I thought I would honour the freezing late Autumn weekend with a real comfort food warmer; whole baked pumpkin with lots of lovely cream and gooey cheese. Cholesterol, what cholesterol. This is eating in the danger zone!

pumpkins

Since we got back it feels like one massive Christmas explosion, everywhere I look is party dresses, wreaths and discounted alcohol. I’ve caught the Crimbo bug and boy have I got it bad. It’s certainly more enjoyable than that bout of Delhi-belly I inevitably had (groan).  I guess the reason for my excitement is because it’s the time of year when all my favourite people in the whole world come back to Scotland and I get a fortnight full of long boozy lunches, side splitting evenings and the best hugs around. I can’t wait, roll out the turkey. 4 weeks and counting…

Baked whole pumpkins

This baked whole pumpkin recipe is so simple, it’s great to just pop in the oven, grab the Sunday papers and curl up for an hour before pulling it out and tucking in. It’s lazy weekend perfection. This dish works great like a fondue, dunking your bread into the gooey cheesy wonderfulness or alternatively you can scoop the pumpkin flesh into the cheesy mixture and then smear it on top of something like thick slices of sourdough toast.

Baked whole pumpkin with cream and gooey cheese – serves 2

Oven preheated to 180°

2 small pumpkins or squash such as acorn squash

175g of melty alpine cheese such as comte

125ml double cream

1/4tsp freshly grated nutmeg

salt and pepper to season

Take off the tops of the pumpkins and scoop out the seeds with a spoon.

Add the nutmeg, cheese and cream to the pumpkin cavity and pop the top of the pumpkin back on.

Bake in the oven for an hour to an hour to an hour and a quarter depending on the size of your pumpkins.

You may need to cover with tinfoil if they are beginning to look a bit burnt after 20-30 mins.

You can tell when your pumpkins are cooked if you are able to easily stick a knife into the flesh.

Season to taste.

Enjoy.

Baked whole pumpkins with gooey cheesy wonderfulness