September 2008 - Mango Lassi

Woo hoo! Two posts in two days. Ridiculous what I get excited about at times really. Although since it has been a while since I have managed to string posts together then it can only be a good thing. Having a deadline really helps though. It would have been easy to head off to bed tonight without getting another post done but I decided that if I didn't do it tonight then I might end up putting it off for another day and I would end up having to do three posts in one day to get it all done. Actually, unlike all the other issues where I got the actual cooking done quite some time before writing the post I only just made something from this issue tonight. It is a good thing that I have already made something from the 2009 and 2010 issues. 

I had always intended to make Nigella's Maple pecan muffins. They sounded just scrumptious. Lovely little muffins full of nuts, wheatgerm and 125 ml of maple syrup. I love maple syrup. I wonder if that harks back to my Canadian background. Although I don't really remember maple syrup being around my grandparent's house. I remember plenty of other syrups, Aunt Jamima being the main one but plenty of Gramma's homemade ones too. Pincherry being my favourite of the homemade pancake syrups. To be honest I am not even sure what pincherries are but I know that they made a great syrup. For what ever reason I just could not get it together to get these muffins made. I kept putting it off until tomorrow. Unfortunately it got to tonight and there really weren't too many more options for tomorrow and I just didn't feel like baking tonight. It is strange though as it is not like muffins are even difficult.

I ended up making Jamie Oliver's Mango Lassi and I am so glad that I did. It was the best drink that I have ever had. I guess that it is kind of like a smoothie but so much better. I cannot believe that I have been missing something so good all these years. I had heard of a mango lassi before just never had one, not that I can remember any way and if they are always like this I think I would remember. It was wonderfully tangy and slightly sweet, gloriously thick and smooth. The lime juice and zest in it was just perfect. I didn't add any sugar or honey to it as I thought it was just perfect the way it was. I used mango canned in juice as the fresh mangoes are still too expensive and I couldn't find any frozen ones. I highly recommend this one and will be making it regularly from now on. 

Mango Lassi 

Serves 4 (lol more like 2 or 1 if you are greedy) 

Ingredients

• 2 large ripe mangoes or 4 frozen mango cheeks
• 1 cup (280 g) natural yoghurt
• 100 ml milk 
• Zest and juice of 1 lime 
• Brown sugar or honey, to taste (optional) 
• A sprig of mint, to garnish

Method: 

• Place all ingredients except sugar/honey and mint in a processor or blender and process until smooth. 
• Add sugar or honey to taste. 
• Pour into glasses and serve with a sprig of mint.

August 2002 - Bill's Hot Chocolate

Oh dear, I really have made a late start of it this month. I am not really sure what happened. I even got a late start with the actual cooking too. It is amazing that you can put off doing some thing for one night and it snowballs and the next thing you know two weeks have passed and nothing has been done...sigh. Well, I am back on top of it now. 

I had originally decided to make Valli Little's Polenta with Sausage Casserole. I love polenta any way that it is cooked. This was a soft polenta however the left overs normally harden up and it can be cut up and grilled or fried the following night. The casserole a lovely tomato base using sausages. However I really needed something that could be made quickly and, to be honest, I just didn't feel like making this and I really needed to get making something. 

The other thing that I really want to do this month is to use up some of the food that has built up in the freezer, cupboard and fridge so I am hoping that this month, as much as possible, will be a stores month. I am trying to choose recipes based on what I already have. It really isn't that hard as I have so much food in this house. 

Since I was behind and I needed to get started quickly I decided to go with Bill's Hot Chocolate. It was easy and quite tasty, although I used a little bit too much chocolate. I think that one tablespoon of chocolate per glass is plenty. I used Cadbury dark chocolate chips, although I am sure it would have been better with Callebaut, like Bill used. 

Bill's Hot Chocolate

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup good-quality chocolate buttons
• 1 litre (4 cups) (I used 300 ml for 1)

Method: 

• Pour boiling water into 4 heatproof glasses and leave for 30 seconds. Pour out water & dry glass thoroughly. 
• Divide chocolate between glasses and turn glass on side & roll to coat sides in chocolate. 
• Heat milk until warm (but not too hot) and pour into glasses and serve immediately. (I would heat milk first next time as the chocolate melted a bit much on the side of the glass)

July 2002 - Mulled Wine

July is an incredible month of delicious. magazines. I have so many choices in each magazine and struggled to make final decisions. Although like every other month the menu is not set in stone. I haven't managed to get through one whole month without making changes to my initial menu. I hope that I might get through one month before the end of the year but I am quite fickle when it comes to deciding on what to eat.

The first recipe that had me really interested in issue #7 was Valli Little's Garlic Custard with Antipasti. I was intrigued by the idea of a garlic custard. It sounded so good but was full of cream, milk and cheese and my next recipe is one that is full of cream so I didn't want two heavy recipes in a row so the intriguing little garlic custards will have to wait for another day.

Jean-Christophe Novelli's Mandarin Brulee sounded wonderful. A creme brulee with mandarin juice would be a perfect dessert. I much prefer mandarins to eat over oranges, although I am not sure I would want to juice about 15 mandarins to get the 500 ml of juice required for the recipe. Plus I already had my dessert for the month sorted out so this one will also have to wait.

I ran into the same problems with Nino Joseph Zoccali's Quince, Sangiovese & Muscatel Torta. There are some amazing desserts in this issue. I am not sure I would have been able to find muscatel grapes and the quinces that I have seen lately haven't looked all that good. I waited hoping for the price to come down a bit but it looks like I have waited too long and the fruit in store is now starting to look a bit old and soft. I should have learnt by now that quinces do not come down in price. Their season is short and they are expensive and if I want to have some I need to suck it up and pay the price or find someone that has a quince tree that is nearby and willing to share.

What I ended up doing was making something that would be lovely served with the dessert from the next issue. So Valli Little's Mulled Wine it was. I really like mulled wine, it is the perfect drink on a cold winter night. This one was nice but I am used to a bit more spice in there, like star anise and cloves. I used a lovely Coonawarra Shiraz, although I think a cabernet sauvignon might have been a better choice. It was a very cold day/evening when I made this and it was beautifully warming and went well with dessert.

Mulled Wine

Serves 6 - 8 (yeah right, lol)

Ingredients:

• 750 ml bottle red wine
• 2 tbsp light brown or golden caster sugar
• 1 large piece orange peel
• 2 cinnamon sticks, plus extra to stir
• Grated fresh nutmeg
• Slices of orange, studded with cloves
  

Method

• Combine wine, sugar, orange peel, cinnamon and nutmeg in a saucepan over a low heat.
  
• Stir until sugar has dissolved and spices have released their flavours.
  
• Do not boil.
  
• Place orange slice in a glass and top with wine and place a cinnamon stick in to stir with.