2009 December : Chilli and Chocolate : A Belfast Food Blog (Northern Ireland, UK)

Archive for December, 2009

Anyone for eggnog?

Posted: 27 December '09 by Niall

A glass of eggnog

Eggnog is an essential part of the Christmas and New Years’ celebrations in the United States and Canada but doesn’t really feature in our preparations for Christmas. After working right up to Christmas Eve and in need of some seasons’ cheer I thought that is was time to change all that.

Be warned though – eggnog (or at least this recipe for it) is deceptively potent! It’s creamy and sweet like Baileys Irish Cream, with almost no hint of alcohol, making the eggnog very easy to drink – and before you know it you’ll be very merry indeed.

The recipe does require raw eggs, which can be off-putting to a few people – but if it doesn’t bother you or you can overcome your squeamishness you’ll find out just how good eggnog is. Let me assure you that there is absolutely no hint of egg, nor any strange or unpleasant consistency. Because of the raw egg, however, it should be served within 24 hours of making it.

You can see more photos here Image 1 Image 2 Image 3 Image 4

Ingredients

6 eggs
1 cup of caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 cups of milk
2 cups of whipping cream
3/4 cup of brandy
1/3 cup of dark rum
A little more grated nutmeg for serving

Method

Make sure the ingredients are chilled before you begin.
Beat the eggs until they are frothy, then add the sugar, the vanilla, and the nutmeg.
Slowly stir in the brandy, the rum, the cream and the milk.
Pour the mixture into a suitable container and place in the fridge until chilled.
Remember to stir the eggnog just before you serve, and grate a little nutmeg on top to complete the recipe.

Enjoy

Rating: 9.5/10 (2 votes cast)

Categories: Drinks and Beverages > Featured Post > Recipes

No Comments - Click to Add Yours

Ooh, saucy..

Posted: 24 December '09 by Niall

Cranberry sauce with port and orange

Turkey, stuffing, brussel sprouts, roasted potatoes and carrots.. Have you noticed what’s missing?

Cranberry sauce is one of the most important ingredients in the traditional Christmas dinner, a deliciously piquant sweet and sour accompaniment which cuts through all of the meaty flavours of the meal.

After making chutneys and jams during the year, I thought “Why rely on the usual store-bought sauce this Christmas?” To my mind, making your own sauce is a nice addition to your yule-tide meal – you’ve worked hard enough producing the rest, why let yourself down at the last by buying an over-sweet, preservative-filled cranberry sauce?

This recipe is very straight-forward and gives you a perfectly sweet, orange-infused cranberry sauce that would grace any table. And the aroma of all that port and orange fills the house with a real Christmas-y atmosphere. What more could you ask for!

You can see more photos here Image 1 Image 2 Image 3 Image 4 Image 5 Image 6 Image 7

Ingredients

1 orange
175g/6oz caster sugar
5 tbsp port
359g/12oz cranberries, fresh or frozen
1, skinned, cored, and finely chopped

NB. You’ll also need an empty, washed jam-jar to store the sauce.

Method

Heat the oven to 100 and place the washed jam-jar inside.
Finely grate the zest from the orange
Squeeze the juice from the zested orange into a separate bowl.
Place the sugar, orange juice, and 4 tablespoons of port into a deep saucepan, and allow the sugar to dissolve into the liquid over a low heat, stirring occasionally.
Stir in the cranberries, chopped apple and the orange zest.
Raise the heat and cook the ingredients in the uncovered saucepan until the fruit is soft and is breaking down, and the juices are slightly thickened.
Stir in the remaining 1 tbsp port.
Remove the warmed jam-jar from the oven, making sure to protect your hands, and spoon the cranberry sauce into the jar. Place the cap on the jar.
Set the jar aside on a heat-protected surface to cool.

Enjoy.

Rating: 10.0/10 (2 votes cast)

Categories: Featured Post > Jams and Preserves > Recipes

No Comments - Click to Add Yours

Merry Christmas

Posted: 24 December '09 by Niall

Merry Christmas from Chilli and Chocolate!

We’ve had a great year, have done some really interesting and enjoyable things, and have much more planned for 2010 – we hope you’ll be there to see it all.

Kelly and I would just like to thank everyone who has been involved: all the members, our readers (and why haven’t you registered!?), the producers that we’ve been talking to, and friends of the site. We’re having a blast writing this stuff, but it wouldn’t be the same without you guys.

Hope you have a happy, safe Christmas,
Niall and Kelly
www.chilliandchocolate.com – A Belfast Food Blog

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

Categories: Site Messages

No Comments - Click to Add Yours

By popular demand – part 2

Posted: 23 December '09 by Niall

Halloumi skewers with tomato and chilli jam

In the first part of this article I posted the recipe for Goats’ Cheese Crostini with Red Onion Marmalade. Now, for my personal favourite – Halloumi Skewers with Tomato and Chilli Jam.

Again, one of the best things about this recipe is that, if you’re making this for a party, the assembly is very easy and the jam can be made well in advance.

Halloumi is a cheese from Cyprus, made from a mixture of goats and sheeps milk. It’s delicious, but can be a bit of an acquired taste – there’s a definite salty tang and, when cooked, has a rubber-y consistency that squeaks on your teeth when you eat it! Despite my description it’s very tasty and if you haven’t tried it before I’d certainly recommend that you give it a go. Our preferred way of eating haloumi is to fry it in olive oil so that the edges are wonderfully crisp and golden, giving a nice comparison to the slightly springy centre.

The tomato and chilli jam is sweet with a slight acidic edge and a little heat afterwards – I usually pair it with halloumi, but the jam could go with almost anything: as a relish with blue cheese or as an accompaniment to with roast chicken, for example.

Here’s the recipe..

Ingredients

The skewers

2 x 250g blocks halloumi cheese, drained
4 tbsp olive oil
32 wooden skewers

The tomato and chilli jam

250g ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 thumb-sized red chillies , seeded and roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled
2cm piece ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
150g soft dark brown sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
50ml red wine vinegar
4 tablespoons of tomato puree

Method

The jam

Place the tomatoes, chilli, garlic, and ginger into a food processor and blend them into a purée.
Pour the puree into a saucepan and add the sugar, fish sauce and vinegar.
Simmer the mixture for 30 minutes until the jam thickens considerably.
Stir in the tomato puree
Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

The halloumi skewers

Cut each block of halloumi into 8 equal slices. Cut each slice in half so you end up with 32 pieces.
Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large frying pan.
Place the halloumi in the pan, four pieces at a time, browning the cheese on both sides
As the pieces finish browning, remove them and place them on a paper towel, pushing a skewer into the cheese so it looks like a lollipop.
Place the halloumi skewers on a serving dish with the tomato chilli jam in a separate bowl on the side

Enjoy

Rating: 10.0/10 (4 votes cast)

Categories: Jams and Preserves > Recipes

No Comments - Click to Add Yours

The nightmare before Christmas….

Posted: 21 December '09 by Kelly

Christmas dinner at The Holiday Inn

Right, I am now going to have a moan!!

Friday night was my works Christmas party at the Holiday Inn in Belfast. We had it planned for months and we had all been really looking forward to it. So, early in the day, we went to our room to get into our party dresses and enjoy a well deserved glass of champagne.

Now I know that Christmas work party dinner isn’t usually a culinary delight, however I think that’s it’s only fair to expect the food to be edible – especially whenever you pay £35.00 for the ‘pleasure’ (and believe me it was FAR from a pleasure).

To start we had melon with forest fruits. Now I know what you are thinking… ‘you cannot go wrong with a piece of fruit can you?’ Well you would think not, but apparently so. The melon had not been cut properly and I ended up getting a mouthful of melon rind… nice!

The melon was followed by what I thought was vegetable soup while others were convinced that it was pea… we were later informed it was potato and leek!! Anyway whatever it was I just couldn’t stomach it so I had a crusty roll (which turned out to be the highlight of my meal).

We then were served the traditional turkey and ham with stuffing in which the meat was so thin I could of sworn they had mistakenly substituted it for parma ham (I wish it was!!). Another odd thing were the vegetables… we got the usual (cooked to within an in inch of their lives) carrots and brussel sprouts, but with the added bonus of ONE mange tout, random! The last component of this repaste were the potatoes which brought back the horrors of the school canteen from my childhood – they had obviously been cooked earlier in the day and re-heated in a microwave or under the salamander.. Not a taste that I ever wanted to experience again! The only good thing about the meal was the stuffing – in truth it was nothing special, but I like most stuffing so it stood out from the rest of the ingredients…

I doubt that many others at the party could identify with my description – the make-up of most plates seemed to be very different with some getting no potatoes, others getting no carrots, and a few others being handed their main course after the majority of diners were served their desserts.

The dessert, meringues with berries and cream, was actually OK. The meringue was gooey inside, just the way I like it. However the strawberries were hard and sour and were pushed to the side of my plate.

As I said, I know that the meal served at a works Christmas party isn’t going to be spectacular, but I honestly believe that there was no excuse for what the Holiday Inn served to paying guests. It was sub-standard and at times completely inedible – when it finally arrived.