Archive for the ‘Food & Drink’ Category
Friday, December 16th, 2011
Image: Flickr
Pepernoten are a cookie-like kind of candy, traditionally associated with the Sinterklaas holiday in the Netherlands. They are definitely one of my favourite treats!
Nerissa, Reservations Manager
Ingredients
250g self raising flour
250g honey
1 egg
1 tablespoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon aniseed
Steps
Pre warm the oven to 200 degrees
- Mix the ingredients together to form a dough
- Wrap in clingfilm and leave in the fridge for an hour.
- Take the dough and form into a lot of small pebbles. About the size of a 1 euro coin.
- Place baking paper on a baking tray and cook in the oven for 10-15 minutes.
Tags: Dutch Cookie, Pepernoten
Posted in Christmas, Recipes | 1 Comment »
Friday, December 16th, 2011
A holiday celebration at our house would not be complete without a Glazed Ham, the ultimate versatile dish that is delicious served both warm or cold.
Bernard, Reservations
Ingredients
6-7kg Smoked gammon on the bone
2lt apple and raspberry juice then water to cover
Onion halved
2 cloves garlic unpeeled
2 celery sticks
2 star anise
2 cinnamon sticks
Handful juniper berries
4 myrtle leaves
Handful peppercorns
4 tablespoons honey
Teaspoon mustard
Dash of apple and raspberry juice
Cloves
- Put all the main ingredients into a large stock pot, add water until the ham is covered
- Bring to the boil and simmer for 3-4 hours. Leave to cool in the pan
Steps on Christmas Day
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees celsius
- Lift the ham out, remove the rind and most of the fat layer leaving a thin covering
- Score this in a diamond pattern and stud the criss-crosses with cloves
- Put the glaze ingredients in a pan and let them form a syrup.
- Pour over the ham then put into the oven to glaze for 15-25 mins.
- Remove and leave to cool before carving
Tip: Use a disposable roasting dish for easy cleaning or line your roaster with foil (the syrup is messy).
Tags: Glazed Christmas Ham, recipe
Posted in Christmas, Recipes | 1 Comment »
Friday, December 16th, 2011
I love baking Delia Smith’s Braised Red Cabbage with Apples as the spices make the house smell Christmassy while it’s cooking. This dish is lovely with leftover cold turkey/baked ham on Boxing Day. Keeps forever and freezes well too!
Ingrid, Reservationist
Ingredients
- 2lbs red cabbage shredded
- 1lb onions chopped
- 1lb cooking apples chopped
- 1 clove garlic chopped very small
- ¼ whole nutmeg, freshly grated
- ¼ level teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ level teaspoon ground cloves
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons wine vinegar
- 1/2oz butter
- Salt & Pepper
Steps
Pre-heat overn to 130 degrees Celsius (fan oven).
- Mix the garlic, spices and sugar in a small bowl.
- In a large casserole (with a tight-fitting lid), arrange layer of cabbage seasoned with salt & pepper, followed by layer of onions and apples with a sprinkling of garlic, spices and sugar. Repeat until it’s all in.
- Pour the vinegar over the top and add dots of butter.
- Put the lid on the casserole and cook for 2-2 ½ hours.
Tags: Apples, Braised Red Cabbage
Posted in Christmas, Recipes | No Comments »
Friday, December 16th, 2011
Photo: Flickr
These are those cute tiny little sausages that usually go with Turkey. My husband and family absolutely love them!
Nerissa, Reservations Manager
Ingredients
Chippolatas (small pork or cumberland sausages mini cocktail sausages will do)
Grapeseed oil
Honey
Streaky bacon
Steps
- Christmas eve take some of the sausages and wrap in streaky bacon.
- Put in a plastic bag with a very tiny amount of oil and honey (quantities depend on the amount of sausages you want (take into account that the cook will need to sample at least 5 before they even get to the table).
- Christmas day turn the sausages out around the ham when you are roasting it they will cook at the same time.
Tags: Bacon Wrapped Chipolatas, Sausages, Streaky Bacon
Posted in Christmas, Recipes | 1 Comment »
Friday, December 16th, 2011
Ingredients
1 kg Brussel Sprouts
250g chestnuts
200g speck (a distinctively juniper-flavored ham)
Nutmeg
- Parboil the sprouts and place in the refrigerator
Steps on Christmas Day
- Fry the speck in the pan (dry) and once the oil is coming out add the chestnuts
- Drain the sprouts and add to the speck and warm through.
Tags: Brussel Sprouts, Chestnuts, Speck
Posted in Christmas, Recipes | No Comments »
Friday, December 16th, 2011
Ingredients
500g Carrots cut into strips
50ml grapeseed oil
50ml maple syrup
- Parboil the carrots and leave to cool
- Once cool, put in a plastic bag with grapeseed oil and maple syrup.
Steps on Christmas Day
- Just before lunch, remove the mix from the plastic bag and put into an oven proof serving dish
- Roast until done (probably about 20 minutes if you are roasting potatoes).
Tags: Maple roasted carrots
Posted in Food & Drink, Parisian Living | No Comments »
Friday, December 16th, 2011
I love Christmas cooking! We are not, as a family, greatly into presents but we love our Christmas dinner and I dream about it all year.
A few weeks before Christmas on 5 December we celebrate Sinterklaas, which is the Dutch celebration of St Nicholas. I cook Pepernoten and Taai Taai, traditional Dutch treats that our little ones love. On the night of 5 December the children leave a shoe under the bed with a carrot for Sinterklaas’ horse. At night when Sinterklass comes, he leaves a chocolate initial, sweets and a mandarin for children who have been good all year and a stick to those who have been naughty.
We also spend time decorating the house and everyone pitches in to make a wreath for the door and a gingerbread house for the table (we cheat and buy a Gingerbread kit from a store!).
My sister carefully assembling the gingerbread house kit
Our very welcoming Christmas wreath!
Our Christmas dinner has evolved over the years and is a fusion although based mostly on the British Tradition but with a lot of Dutch spices thrown in. We always have a glazed ham, served with perfect roast potatoes (use goose fat and semolina for extra crunch), bacon wrapped sausages, stuffing, braised red cabbage, bread sauce, brussel sprouts, maple roasted carrots, roast parsnips and (I blush) shop bought cranberry sauce.
Christmas lunch is definitely worth the effort!
The meal can easily be cooked in just about any of our Paris apartments as, for many years, I cooked it in a tiny 4 hob single oven kitchen quite successfully. It’s all to do with the pre-prep the night before and tight timing.
The Cook has to make Gluhwein the day before and drink it while cooking (both on Christmas eve and Christmas day) – it is an essential part of the process. The whole adult family helps with peeling potatoes, preparing veg etc – those that help get a glass of Gluhwein.
Gluhwein - warm spiced red wine
I hope you get a chance to add a little bit of Dutch tradition to your Christmas this year and look forward to hearing what your family and friends thought of my recipes. Please also send through any pics so we can add them to the blog!
On behalf of the Paris Perfect Reservations team, I’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year.
Nerissa, Reservations Manager
Tags: christmas, cooking, Dutch, Gluhwein, Perpnoten, recipe, Recipes, Sinterklass, Taai Taai
Posted in Christmas, Food & Drink, Recipes | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
Taai Taai is a traditional cookie that is eaten during the Sinterklass, the most beloved of all Dutch holidays and traditions. Literally meaning “tough tough”, they are not easy to chew but they are guaranteed to speed up a visit from the tooth fairy if your children have wobbly teeth!
Nerissa, Reservations Manager
250g flour
100g honey
1 tablespoon syrup
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground aniseed
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
Steps
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees.
- Warm the honey in a pan and stir in the syrup. Remove from heat.
- Put the dry ingredients into the mix.
- Knead until it is quite stiff and roll out.
- Use a gingerbread man cutter to make dolls from the dough and place on a greaseproof paper lined baking tray.
- Bake in the oven for approximately 25 minutes, or until light golden brown.
Tags: christmas, Christmas Recipe, Dutch Cookie, Sinterklass, Taai Taai
Posted in Food & Drink, Recipes | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, December 13th, 2011
Gluhwein is a traditional spicy winter drink made from red wine, heated and spiced with cinnamon sticks, cloves, oranges and sugar. It’s very easy to make and a must-have at all of our celebrations during the festive period. If you’re in France at Christmas time, ask for vin chaud (hot wine).
Nerissa, Reservations Manager
Ingredients
A bottle of red wine not too cheap
Sugar or syrup to taste
2 cinnamon sticks, 1 star anise
3 oranges, halved and studded with cloves.
- Place the wine over a low heat
- Put the bag and the oranges into the wine, bring nearly to the boil then turn down to a low simmer.
- Add the sugar or syrup and leave to warm for about 15 minutes then enjoy.
This can be left on a low heat and topped up with more ingredients as necessary.
.
Tags: German Wine, Gluhwine, Mulled Wine
Posted in Recipes | 1 Comment »
Sunday, December 11th, 2011
As a little girl, one of my fondest memories was baking Edible Christmas Decorations in the kitchen with my mother. I’ve continued the tradition with my two young boys but they tend to be more interested in eating the mixture than waiting for the finished product! The tree does look a little less dressed by 6 January but these are very much worth it. I often make an extra batch to replace the ones we have eaten. Enjoy!
Sarah, Paris Perfect Technical Manager
Ingredients
300g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground mace
100g soft butter
100g dark muscovado sugar (dark brown sugar can be substituted)
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons honey
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.
- Combine the dry ingredients then add the butter, sugar, beaten eggs and honey.
- Wrap ½ in clingfilm and place in the fridge. Roll out the dough and using shaped cutters (bells, Christmas trees, stars etc work really well, keep going until all used up.
- Make a hole at the top of each biscuit (I use an empty plastic biro but anything of similar size will do).
- Bake for about 20 mins. You could start on the next batch now or transfer it to the freezer to keep for later.
- When the cookies have cooled decorate with icing and leave to set. You can then thread ribbon through the hole and hang on the tree.
If you want the home baked look but don’t want the decorations to be eaten substitute the spices for pepper – people will only try once!
Tags: Edible Christmas Decorations, recipe
Posted in Food & Drink, Recipes | No Comments »