![]() ![]() To make the filling, melt the butter over medium heat in a small saucepan and add in the chopped apples. Playing with it-trying different fruits, nuts, and liquors-has been lots of fun, and there’s little else I can imagine that will make your kitchen smell quite so delicious.īelow is my own recipe for the mincemeat filling, and I also made the pastry from scratch using this recipe from the blog I turn to for all things baking, Smitten Kitchen.Ģ apples, peeled and chopped into small cubesġ cup dried fruit, chopped (I used raisins, prunes, dates, and dried cherries) ![]() The following recipe comes after several tries, but I can safely say I’m a homemade mincemeat convert. I’d never considered making the filling-a rich, jammy mix of fruit of spices-myself, but desperation drove me to eye the raisins and apples in our pantry and the ancient bottle of vermouth perched above the cottage stove. When December arrived several weeks ago, though, I had no pastry in the freezer, no bottle of mincemeat mysteriously still fresh after a year in the back of the fridge. To this end we’ve always kept it simple with store-bought pastry and store-bought mincemeat, though the jar is liberally doctored with rum as soon as it’s opened, of course. In my family the mince pie-making starts early in December, and it’s all about the assembly: cutting the bottoms and tops with a tall beer glass, buttering my grandmother’s special indented pans, slicing little crosses on the tops for the steam to escape. You could think of them as a dessert, but their ideal counterpart is tea-steaming PG Tips served in china teacups with gold rims. They’re the sort of thing that as a child you imagine Christmas couldn’t exist without, until you encounter enough raised eyebrows at their mention to set you straight. Mince pies aren’t all that common in the US. But I can’t let Christmas go by without writing something about mince pies, which are for my family the equivalent of chestnuts roasting on an open fire (or something like that). I know-I’ve had rather a high proportion of sweets-related posts in the last few months. Spread on a baking sheet and sprinkle with pepper flakes, then roast in the oven until the almonds are toasted and the florets begin to brown, tossing occasionally. Add the chopped almonds, raisins, capers and salt and pepper to taste, and continue to toss until everything is nicely mixed and coated with oil. Chop the cauliflower heads into florets, then toss in a bowl with several glugs of olive oil. And lastly, a personal favorite from our Christmas Day lunch: Roasted Cauliflower with Almonds, Raisins and Capersġ large (or 2-3 small) heads of cauliflower A perfect bread pudding with toasted bread, vanilla, raisins and pecans. A refreshing ice cream with cream cheese and handfuls of fresh mint. Hearty meatballs with breadcrumbs, parmesan, parsley and egg. Baked brunch oatmeal with bananas, berries, vanilla and almonds. Orzo salad with feta, lemon, broccoli, asparagus, and sprouts. A goat cheese tart with Greek yogurt, honey, berries and oats. Spicy spaghetti with fennel, lemon, pancetta and parsley. Guilt-free cookies with coconut, banana, ground almonds and dark chocolate. I hope that you enjoy this selection, and that it reminds you of the recipes and meals that make up your own. The most rewarding list, however, is always my “year in recipes.” Nothing reminds me more vividly of the distinct settings of my year–New York, Columbia, home, the farm–than the things I cooked and ate, and each of the following recipes was a genuine favorite, made multiple times and either shared or joyfully hoarded. I’m a list-maker by nature, and the end of the year brings with it unlimited list-making opportunities: books read, restaurants visited, James Bond movies watched in a single week (thank you instant Netflix!). It was realistic and sufficient that we’d live on either side of Instagram at most.Roasted cauliflower with almonds, raisins and capers Honestly, the door shutting on the opportunity to meet the team hadn’t crossed my mind. I wouldn’t know if it really was the best restaurant in the world or get to take part in that conversation. I wouldn’t taste the ingredients that have broadened my horizons through a mere social media platform. I’d be fine, but I wouldn’t see the fermentation lab that I’ve watched impact culinary education and chefs everywhere. Then Redzepi announced the dining room’s imminent closing, citing the unsustainability of fine dining restaurants, and I had to accept that I’d never make it. I priced out upgrading my Amex, weighed the benefits, believed making it to Copenhagen any time soon was unlikely, but ultimately determined the cost put far too much pressure on the experience and convinced myself to let it go. I had considered attending the Noma dinner series in New York when the possibility popped up in my Resy app in 2022. ![]()
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