Shaken Stirred and Sloshed

What a day. What a perfect day. OK except for the not having sex bit. But otherwise, whoah so perfect!

I'm sitting down with a glass of red wine. I'm even using a real glass as opposed to the bulletproof one I normally use (due to klutziness and borderline alcoholism glasses don't last very long around me). And I'm not even drinking box wine. In fact, I think this bottle cost a whopping R33. How is THAT for kicking it to celebrate a good day?!

Why? I'm glad you asked. Because I made food the entire day. I've been unstoppable since 7 a.m. You see I'm still working on Xmas, making stuff and testing stuff and nothing makes me happier than a day in the kitchen. Last night both the vegetable dishes I tested were scratched off the list due to mediocrity. Today I tested food gifts I found on the Net - Bailey's and White Chocolate Fudge, Chocolate Turkish Delight and Nut Log as well as Cranberry and Mulled Wine Jelly. All 3 worked. I also tried another Cheesecake (bleh). And tonight I'm retrying my Pink Peppercorn Sauce to go with my Xmas Eve fillet as well as the Vegetable Halloumi Kebabs I want to serve with it. Is that all I hear you say? No, of course not, I also tested frosting cranberries.

And now the frosted cranberry on top of this perfect day is that I'm about to rewatch both the latest James Bond's, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. Or Blah Blah and Blah-di-Blah. Who cares - I could watch Daniel Craig walk out of the ocean all bloody day.  And may I say - thank you LG. What nice forward/rewind/pause features you have. All the better to see him with.

So, a perfect day. I've shaken. I've stirred. And now I'm planning on getting sloshed with my R33 bottle(s) of wine as I watch Daniel sloshing his way out of the sea in shrunken shorts. After all - what better way to end a perfect day than with a perfect (imaginary) lay?

xx
J

BAILEY'S AND WHITE CHOCOLATE FUDGE

500g Sugar

500ml Whipping cream

50ml Bailey's Irish Cream

150g White chocolate

I'm not very fudgy but good is good. I imagine this will be pretty awesome with Amarula or any other cream based booze as well. Butter a 20cm-ish baking tray, line with greaseproof paper and butter again. Bring sugar, cream and Bailey's to a simmer until the sugar dissolves. Turn up the heat and bring to a rolling boil. Now you have to watch it with an eagle eye until it reaches 240F. It took ages with me (at least half hour) so be patient. Once it gets there stir in the chocolate. Pour into the baking tray and allow to set and cool.

CHOCOLATE TURKISH DELIGHT AND NUT LOG

25g Desiccated coconut

25g Desiccated coconut toasted

100g Turkish delight (pink and white)

200g White chocolate chopped

75g Butter

50g Pistachios

50g Hazelnuts chopped and toasted

100g Bournville chopped

Cut Turkish delight into 8 little cubes. Melt the white chocolate with 50g of the butter in a bowl over water. Once cooled stir in the Turkish delight, nuts and untoasted coconut. Butter some greaseproof paper and spoon the mixture lengthwise onto it. Using the paper roll the mixture into something resembling a salami. Twist the ends tightly so it's nice and compact then put in the fridge for at least an hour. Melt the Bournville with 25g of the butter in a bowl over water. Allow to cool then unwrap the salami and spread or paint the chocolate over it. Let it harden a little then roll it in the toasted coconut. Put back in the fridge for another hour or so. You can wrap it in cellophane like a Xmas cracker if you want to give it as a gift.  

   

CRANBERRY AND MULLED WINE JELLY

750g Granny Smith apples

400g Frozen cranberries

300ml Red wine

10ml Whole cloves

2 Cinnamon sticks

2 Star anise

Zest and juice of 1orange

Sugar

Chop the apples into chunks with peel and core and all. Throw into a pot with the cranberries, 850ml water, the wine, cloves, cinnamon sticks, star anise, orange zest and juice and bring to a boil. Then reduce to a simmer for about half an hour. Stir carefully so as not to crush the cranberries or your jelly will get cloudy. Pour the mixture through some muslin cloth, once again not forcing or crushing or squeezing it, just let it drip. Return the leftovers back to the pan with another 600ml water and simmer for another 20 minutes. Drain through the muslin again and throw away the gunk. Measure the amount of juice you have. You need to add sugar – 450g for every 600ml juice. I had a litre of juice so I added 750g sugar. Boil the juice to concentrate it, making sure to skim off all the scum. Add the sugar and stir until it dissolves. Boil for another 10 minutes, once again skimming off the scum.

I've given up on pectin thickening anything, natural or otherwise. You have a better chance of finding a straight single guy without crabs than you have of getting liquid pectin in South Africa. So I use gelatin. Purists might baulk. You have no idea how little I care. In this case I added 4 leaves of gelatin. A day later it was more thick jam than jelly so I added another 2 until I was happy. If you want to be really cute you can put a pretty star anise into each little bottle of jelly. As it turns out, I'm not cute.