I'm truly in awe of the power of the human will and the depth of perspective which we all posess at the beginning of each calendar year. Almost osmosically, social media has been the megaphone for many resolutions and good intentions which quite frankly has been beautiful to watch. Everyone has either gone down the "new year new me" route,which is receiving the most amount of ridicule from the half empty glass tweeters and facebookers, or "I'm unstoppable and a change is gonna come." I admire the infectious positivity but also have a degree of scepticism which is however wrapped up in bows, balloons and all things pretty as opposed to my down right doom and gloom counterparts.
I put the left over parsnips, carrots and stuffing in the good processor.
Made breadcrumbs with the left over French stick, breadsticks a little bit of cheese to bind and some chives and parsley.
I understand the thrill of making resolutions but we also forget to put into account the hard work requires to keep it up. It seem as if we have all the good will but missing the discipline to carry on at the best of times. My message has never been "don't dream or expect the best" but it's always been for everyone to practically and informatively make the right steps to a better future. This is irrespective of time, circumstance or popular opinion.
I decided to change my life and started gradually eating healthier in November of of 2012 and by March 2013 I was exercising with as much vigour as an Olympian in training. By April I was dropping dress sizes and by July I had achieved the silent goal I had made three years earlier at my heaviest, to lose weight by my 21st birthday. I say all this to stress the point that you don't have to wait for the new year to change your life for good. Change comes when you put action to words and stick to it!
Before and after
I say this to encourage all the people who want a change in their lives for the right reasons and have weighed all the aspects to practically go about it. I also urge everyone who has been caught up in the wind of the "new year new me" phenomenon to put thought into what they are saying saying. I congratulate you on being discerning and capable of brining change into your life, it's not an easy thing to do! But I urge you to have the courage, discipline and grace to carry on what you have boldly declared at the beginning of the year when it's in vogue. Remember those words and that same will power when it's raining and the trip to the gym is daunting, when you're emotional and all you want to do is drown your sorrows with cake but pick up a piece of fruit instead. It's then when it matters and counts and deserves a thousand retweets!
Speaking of food here's a run down of how I fed my family and myself over Christmas. Some of the recipes work all year round! Enjoy!
Christmas face stuffing (pics and recipes)
2013 was very tough for myself and my family and most of our hanging out was done around me in a hospital bed and they were always worried and helping me in every way. As a result I wanted to treat them to a good Christmas dinner even if it killed me! I mustered up every ounce of energy I had and made them a feast. Let's not however mention how I fell terribly ill for a week later and was unable to get out bed for day. They were worth every effort and they enjoyed it so that's all that matters!
Starter: Smoked Salmon salad with sour creme ramoulade
There wasn't any cooking involved in this dish which is why I chose it. I didn't want to add a complex starter when I was doing four courses on borrowed energy amidst a recovery and ongoing symptoms from the list of ailments I'm daily kicking butt. The only recipe here is for the spicy sauce and it was:
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayo
1 tbsp dill
1 tbsp parsley
1 tbsp chives
2 tbsp spring onions
1 tsp paprika
1 tbsp habanero hot sauce (more to taste)
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix everything and get right balance of herbs-sour cream-salt-spicy
Adjust accordingly. Put in bowl to serve with the salad and garnish with a splash of hot sauce and chopped chives.
Main: Turkey/ Salmon Encroute with red wine and cinnamon red cabbage, crushed and herbed new potatoes, creamed leeks and cranberry sauce
We had two mains, a side of salmon encroute mainly for my pescetarian self and a crown of turkey for the meat eaters. Whereas there's no one standard recipe for turkey I have tips to keep it moist and give it more flavour!
Turkey tip1- for extra flavour add herbs to the butter before you put it under the skin for the turkey baste itself when cooking. I used thyme, rosemary, chives, garlic and a bit of paprika alongside salt and pepper
Turkey tip2- since it was just a crown I cooked our turkey for the recommended 1hr 45min with an extra ten minutes just to be safe even when the juices were running clear (to check if poultry is cooked when roasting- pierce with a knife, press it against flesh and let the juices run, if cloudy it's not cooked yet and if clear it's cooked)
Turkey tip3- cover with foil for half the cooking time and then took it off to brown and crisp up. a) it makes sure it's cooked on the inside by keeping the heat from escaping
b) it stops any garnish (bacon, herbs etc) from burning prematurely and being wasted
Turkey tip4: Make a vegetable trivet ( veg between turkey and oven dish) from root veg. I used quartered onions, potatoes, carrots, celery and parsnip. The tip to this tip is to keep the veg cut very big so it's doesn't disintegrate when cooking. Try and and achieve a uniform cut so they cook evenly. These veg not only get all the flavour from the turkey and taste good but also if left in the oven for 10 minutes to crisp up, they can make a good garnish for your bird!
In the left corner we had the salmon encroute which was every bit tasty and tantalising. This can be made all year round for dinner parties, gatherings and such. I didn't make my own pastry on account of life being too short to make your own pastry for a four course dinner and I refuse to go into Tachycardia on Christmas Day from all the stress. Ready rolled pastry had to suffice and it actually worked well. I also made another short cut by asking for the fishmonger to take the skin off the salmon for me since my knife set containing my filleting knives hadn't been touched since the day I gracefully bowed out from my position as Commis chef at Brasserie Blanc; it made sense and it was free!
To prepare it I greased a large, square oven dish.
Placed one sheet of ready rolled pastry.
Added the raw side of salmon on top
Topped with leeks (sautéed with garlic, dill, parsley and stirred in Philly cheese)
Applied egg wash to the sides
Added top pastry
Folded in edges tightly, scored the top with a knife to let air out and brushed with egg wash.
Cooked for 45 mins- 1hr on gas mark 6
Mains went with creamed leeks and red cabbage. I did the traditional creamed leeks. For the red cabbage:
Sautée cabbage with red onion and add cinnamon stalk. Add red wine and then cook in the oven with the rest of the food for 25 mins. I prefer to make a cartouche out of grease proof paper instead of a lid. That's how we did it in chef school and that's how it stuck!
Instead of roasting potatoes I boiled mine (baby potatoes) whole with skins on. Crushed and added sour cream, chives, spring onions, salt and pepper
Dessert and cheese courses: Christmas pudding, Ice cream, chocolate mousse and profiteroles cake,cheese and fruit platter plus coffee, port and baileys
This colourful feast fit for Roman gods was easy as 123 to assemble. I bought a variety of cheeses including Cheddar, Red Leicester, Brie, Stilton and Wensledale with cranberries. In lieu of my French culinary training where cheese is usually served with walnuts and dried apricots etc I went for grapes, crackers, breadsticks and persimmons which worked well. Try Stilton with crackers and persimmons, it's amazing! I totally mellows out the sharp notes in the Stilton, rounds the flavour up with a creamy finish!
The filtered coffee ended up making Irish coffee with the baileys with a hint of cinnamon which went well with the cheeses and desserts.
The Christmas pudding was the best I've ever had thanks to Harrods, the profiterole chocolate mousse cake was also a shop bought delight which only required putting on a platter and dusting with icing sugar! Usually don't take this many shortcuts but I've been unwell and on bed rest since coming out of hospital.
Leftover Makeover: Leftover Birdie Pie
The next morning the unexpected happened, I felt hungry again! After the big feast the day before I never thought I'd want for another morsel of food but lo and behold, the whole household woke up ravenous!! Overwhelmed with the amount of leftovers also nursing a slight hangover I came up with what I feel will be a tradition in my house for years to come! I made Left Over Birdie Pie!
Shredded the turkey
Put it in an large oven dish alongside some left over veg for texture, turkey bechamel sauce from the night before, paprika, dill and parsley and mixed
Topped it with breadcrumbs and browned in the oven for 45 minutes. Served with left over red cabbage and a selection of salads (beet, coleslaw and green salads)
It went well with both red and white wine suprisingly!
Deserted dessert:
Again I still had some leftover dessert and decided to do a frothy baileys custard and topped it with left over Christmas pudding crumbs, served with the profiterole mousse cake and Irish coffees ......And that is you keep on gaining weight, even the day after Christmas!
The night after two nights before:
The day after Boxing Day I still hadn't used the left over potatoes and for dinner I made quorn cakes with a Brie cheese center.
I added flaked quorn chicken, spices and herbs (paprika, chives with salt and pepper) bound with an egg. Placed Brie slice in the middle of the patties. Baked for 25 minutes turning halfway though and served with a (mayo, honey, Dijon mustard and lemon dressing) salad and Shiraz.
That did away with all the leftovers except the salmon encroute I froze which came to my rescue New Year's Day when the meat eaters where having a leg of lamb which I wanted no part of.
I hope you indulge with the timeless recipes all year round and put a twist on next Christmas with the rest. If you have any food questions please leave a comment.
I will be doing the Daniel Fast (Google it!) from the 5th for 21 days. I call it the meat free, Christian sister to the Paleo diet! With that I will be posting Daniel Fast, vegan and vegetarian recipes and a few treats along the way, in the month of January.
That's all I had on my heart to share with you this time! Thanks for reading and don't forget to share and spread the good will and good food! Finish as you started, let's go ahead and keep at these goals till we see results!
Happy new year!
With every blessing
Kymmiisha
Xoxo
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