Monday, January 01, 2007
Christmas Pudding
We normally have Christmas pudding at my MIL's house on Christmas, but this year we had it on New Year's Day (today). Christmas pudding is traditionally a very "English" dish (there's a pic of the Christmas pudding behind the icing sugar snowman). My MIL makes a really sweet icing to go on top of the steamed pudding and shapes it in the form of a snowman. It's custom for my SIL to eat the snowman's head off, as I learned last year. If anyone dares try to get the snowman's head, they may lose a limb. The icing is delicious (icing sugar and butter) and a diabetic's nightmare. It's a good thing the holidays only come once a year. I don't think I could eat anymore heavy meals!!!
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City girl moves to the country, falls in love, and marries a farmer. She tries to incorporate her city ways with her new country lifestyle and blogs to keep in touch with friends, family & students who live far, far away :) Can this city girl go country? Watch as she learns all sorts of exciting things about life on the farm and in a small rural community. *UPDATE* We are now parents! Our baby girl was born on Nov. 11, 2008 (at 28 weeks gestation- 12 weeks premature, but she's quite the trooper)!!!
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15 comments:
cute! looks really sweet tho'! never had christmas pudding sounds nice and very traditional. it's kind of funny like the christmas song. "now bring us some figgy pudding now bring us some figgy pudding we wish you a merry christmas and a happy new year" LOL
Me Mum makes the best Christmas pudding. Ah youre making me miss home. Do you know what a Toad in the hole is? Bangers and mash? A chip sandwich? Yorkshire pudding? HP sauce? Marmite? Steak and kidney pie? A ploughman's lunch? Black pudding? Crisps? Scones? Ahhhhhhhh how I miss good ol' English cooking.
ONE MORE THING while I'm on a roll! In the UK, particularly in the north of England known, we have 'butties' or 'sarnies'. I love these sandwiches. They've got freshly cooked bacon and butter, but any 'butty' can be made of other ingredients and mayonnaise. A sandwich filled with chips is known as a 'chip butty'. Chip butties are my number one thing to eat. OH! Dpn't forget that chips are french fries to you Americans. Chips= french fries and crisps= chips for you lot.
One more thing English people enjoy is a good snog! LOL
Did you mean "song" or was it meant to read "snog"?
Happy New Year, guys! AHMM. I think Pete did mean "snog" and not "song"! Snog means to "make out" (I think!) in British English.
Pete, my friends from England often talk about the food you mentioned. One of my friends just loves chip butties. He also said that curry is really popular there.
What's a toad in the hole? It sounds rather perverse! LOL!
Chrissy: Toad in the hole is a traditional British dish. It consists of sausages in Yorkshire pudding.
Happy New Year Chrissy! Are you gonna make me some of that pudding when I come and visit this summer? How about some "spotted dick"? I miss English desserts!
LOL! Curiosity, my MIL is the best at making Christmas pudding. I watched and helped add ingredients, but that's all I did! A "spotted dick"? My husband was telling me about that one last night. Is it some kind of a pudding? He said he's not exactly sure what it is though. Where do they get those names?! LOL!
Hi Joanne! Thanks for popping by! If Banoffee Pie is as good as you say it is, then I'd love to get that recipe from you! :)
Oy! That's another thing! We say aubergine and you lot say eggplant!
Anyone fancy a snog?
Wait a sec! Curiosity!!! Did you just say you're coming to visit me this summer???? YAHOOOOOOOOOO!!! I'm so excited!! LOL!
There are a ton of recipes on the internet for Banoffee Pie - but it's so easy to just wing it. This is pretty much the process I always follow:
Banoffee Pie
1 tin sweetened condensed milk
3 medium bananas
250 ml carton whipping cream
1/2 tsp instant coffee ( optional )
prepared graham cracker crust
some recipes call for pastry crust. I've made both but the graham cracker crust is way better, IMO. You can splurge and use digestive biscuits as they would in the UK. Again, I've tried both and graham crackers are just fine. It's worth the effort to make a homemade crust as opposed to a storebought one - you need a nice thick crust that will hold. I use a basic recipe off the graham cracker box - or you can use one like this from allrecipes.com:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Graham-Cracker-Crust/Detail.aspx
1. Bring a LARGE pot of water to the boil. Immerse the UNOPENED tin of sweetened condensed milk - make sure the tin is well covered with water. Lower the heat to a slow boil, cover the pot and leave for 2 1/2-3 hours. ( I find 2 1/2 hours is enough for me - for a darker, more intense caramel you can leave it for 3 hours ) IMPORTANT: top the water up as needed - make sure the tin is ALWAYS covered with water. If the pot boils dry, the tin could explode ) I usually boil 2 or 3 tins in one go - the cooked milk will keep indefinitely in the cupboard and then you can make banoffee pie whenever you want, like for a late night snack, or for breakfast! ( not that I have done that, but it's nice to know I could )
2. Remove, the tins from the pot of water with tongs and let it sit on a wire rack until it's cool enough to handle. Open the tin and you have yourself a gorgeous tin of dulce de leche!
3. Turn the dulce de leche out into a bowl and mix through to make it a bit more spreadable. Spread it out onto the prepared and cooled pie crust.
4. Slice the bananas - lengthwise, widthwise, whatever you prefer. Layer the bananas on top of the caramel layer.
5. Whip the cream. You can add the 1/2 tsp of instant coffee powder if you wish. I never did this because I don't buy instant coffee, but I tried it once with a sample and woah - it made a difference! Spread the whipping cream on top of the banana and caramel layer. You can be fancy and use a piping bag if you wish. I usually pipe 8 rosettes ( 1 for each slice ) and then I insert a dried banana chip in each rosette. Then I grate bittersweet chocolate over the whole thing.
6. I like serving this pie cool ( not quite room temperature ) rather than chilled because the caramel is all a little more gooey and lovely that way.
7. Share with friends and wait for the marriage proposals to begin ( and they will - this pie is to die for ).
Enjoy!
Joanne
Joanne! That sounds heavenly! LOL! I will definitely try this one and it looks like one to add to my repertoire! Hubby has a sweet tooth and always tells me he's lucky to have married me (especially after I've made a cheesecake, torte or pie)! After trying the Banoffee Pie, he'll probably wonder why the heck he didn't get married sooner! LOL!
We don't eat sweets often, but I do a lot of baking for holidays and for fundraisers and community events. Thanks again, J! I hope you like the little plug I posted for JetBabyInc :)
ooh, these make the perfect little banoffee tarts too - great for fundraisers/bakesales etc. Just get the individual, store-bought mini pie shells ( the tiny hors d'oeuvre size, not the tart size.) Bake as per directions on the box. Put a dollop of caramel in each shell and smooth it down with the back of the spoon. Add a nice, thick banana slice, then pipe on a big fat rosette. You can then add the banana chip for garnish and grate the chocolate over the top.
They are perfect little bites of banoffee goodness!