Eating Crespelle in time for Pancake Day

Every year since Meals with Morri began, I’ve missed two extremely important days of the year. More often than not, it would be a day later when everyone shares their take on the celebrations, and more often than not, I’d curse loudly.

But I was determined this year. I finally made it, and it came out beautifully. Finally, I was able to celebrate Mardi Gras, also known as Pancake Day!

As a kid, I didn’t eat pancakes as a way to indulge before Lent. I usually wore green, gold, and purple plastic beads and masks at school, and ate King Cake at home. Beyond that, it was just a fun way to mark the forty days before Easter. But with a food blog, I was more focused on pancakes.

There are two days that specifically celebrate pancakes during the year (as if you’d need a reason): Mardi Gras, or Shrove Tuesday, which falls on various dates depending on the year, and National Pancake Day (U.S.), which falls on September 26th. The former was historically to use up all of the indulgent ingredients before fasting. The latter is widely celebrated but is informal, kind of like someone saying:

“Hey man, we should get, like, as many people as possible to eat pancakes today.”
“Why?”
“Why not?”

I’m celebrating pancakes today. And upon further speculation, I realize Meals with Morri needs more pancake recipes.

Every country seems to take a different spin of what a pancake is. CK is a firm believer that pancakes and crêpes are different food dishes, and will often jokingly sigh and say, “They say pancakes, but they mean crêpes.” Personally, I think they are related: both are a flat griddled cake that varies in thinness, although he is technically right. Culinarily speaking, there is a difference between the two, and how they are eaten varies. Pancakes, thin or thick, are typically laid flat and eaten with toppings whatever ingredients you can think of. They also can have additional flavors added to the batter. Crêpes, however, can and do have toppings, but they also have fillings and are either folded or wrapped to accommodate them. Other than spices, adding anything remotely lumpy to crêpe batter will lead to a lumpy crêpe. And that's no buono.

But to celebrate being in Italy, I’ve included crêpes as part of Pancake Day. Why? Because, to me, pancakes and crêpes are family, and each country makes the dish its own unique way. Italians call their version crespelle. They appear to have the same ratio of ingredients as the French crêpe, but they have a multitude of uses I wouldn’t think to incorporate for recipes. They are baked, used much like lasagna noodles. They are cut up into slivers and put in soups. But they are also used like I have seen them prepared: filled and topped with amazing combinations. 

It's wonderful.

I’ve made crêpes twice before now, but this was a dish that CK believed I’d outdone myself with. The batter was perfectly thin and the crespelle themselves were easily flipped. There were no modifications I wanted to make on the flavor. He was right: we could do a lot of different things with this crespelle recipe. And believe me, we will.

I even made a video on my YouTube channel to show you how to make it!

I modified Manuela Zangara’s recipe for crespelle, which can be found on her food blog Manu’s Menu. The filling was the result of my asking a few of my Italian friends what fillings I should use, and someone replied by saying radicchio and cheese. Thus, radicchio and cheese.

Happy Mardi Gras (and Pancake Day), everyone! 

Crespelle with Radicchio and Gorgonzola Piccante

For the crespelle
350 ml milk
2 eggs
75 g buckwheat flour
90 g rice flour
30 ml melted butter
1 pinch salt

For the filling
1 Small red onion, finely diced
1 Garlic clove, finely chopped
1 head of Radicchio longo*, thinly sliced
200 g Gorgonzola Piccante**
100 g Mascarpone
15 g butter
1 tbsp. (10 g) Rice flour

Seasoned red sauce, hot, for topping***

Heat a batch of red sauce on low heat in a saucepan, and either keep warm or set aside for later.
In a medium bowl or pitcher, combine the egg and milk to form a mixture, followed by the dry ingredients and melted butter.
Set it aside for ten to fifteen minutes.
In either a crêpe pan or a large, flat sauté pan (I used a no chemical non-stick pan), melt a small piece of butter or a drizzle of olive oil on medium heat.
When the pan is ready, lift and tilt the pan sideways.
Use a ladle to pour the batter on the lowest side and swirl until the batter covers the bottom completely.
Let the crespella (sing. for crespelle) cook until the surface dries, and then flip to cook the other side for another thirty seconds or so.
Repeat the process until all of the batter has been used up, and set aside to be used immediately or stored for future meals.
Put another sauté pan (or the pan you used to make the crespelle) on medium heat, and lightly drizzle with oil.
Follow with the garlic, onion, and radicchio; cook until soft, and set aside.
Lastly, put the cheeses and butter in a small saucepan on medium-high heat, either directly over the stovetop or with a double boiler; once melted and thoroughly mixed, slowly add the rice flour.
Bring together the ingredients, the radicchio and melted cheese as a filling, and fold the crespelle to your preferred style and shape.
Top with the warm red sauce and serve hot.

Makes 8 crespelle.

*Radicchio comes in a few different varieties, but you will mostly find what are referred to as long (like Belgian Endive) or as a head (like a small cabbage) in your local market.
**Any semi-soft blue cheese would work in this recipe.
***Red sauce = tomato sauce.

(Completely unrelated, but there are apparently parts of Russia where it’s not Pancake Day, it’s Pancake Week. Seriously, why are we not doing this?)

Getting Ready for the Holidays

So many things are happening today. Today is the last official day of the semester for attending classes. Today is the first official day I start my final paper(s). Today is the day I start setting up the tree and decorating my home. Today is also the Gluten Free Ratio Rally. 

That’s a lot going on in a Wednesday.

Despite the weird weather, the Yuletide spirit has found a place in my heart to stay for the winter months to come. I’ve winterized my blog and am craving hot cocoa (chocolate in general) like it was going out of style. Recipes are dancing around in my head like little sugarplums, as well as Christmas gift ideas and holiday traveling coming up. December is the month of slowing down and keeping warm, either with scarves, in the arms of loved ones, or eating something straight from the oven.

Focaccia on a December morning can be just as satisfying as a gingerbread man with warm milk. As I am partial to flatbreads in general, particularly because they don’t usually need or require yeast, so participating in this month's GFRR seemed like the perfect start to a wonderful winter. 

Like many breads, focaccia is a fairly old concept. Taken from an interesting article titled “A Short History of Focaccia Bread”:

Most historians believe that Focaccia originated with either the Etruscans of North Central Italy prior to the Roman Empire or in Ancient Greece at the beginning of the first millennium BC. Although flat unleavened bread has been made throughout the Middle East extending to Persia for this long as well and identifying a specific culture behind the first focaccia loaves is almost impossible. Focaccia bread is slightly different because the loaf rises slightly so it’s not traditionally unleavened bread and the focaccia recipe is mostly unknown in the Middle East, yet it has a history of being prepared in Turkey, Italy, Greece, Spain and France.

This is why I love learning about foods from other countries: you can find similarities in many cultures yet appreciate the regional differences that make certain dishes unique. This can be seen in the herbs they use, the way they bake it, the way they eat it, and additional ingredients seen nowhere else but there in particular. You’ll never get the same bread twice.

Every time I partake in the GFRR, I’m reminded how creative we get to be once a ratio is established. Instead of worrying how to modify a recipe's basic equation, I get to think of variations, flavors, and techniques. I get to think how I’m going to make it, if I need supplementary ingredients or not, and in what way I’m going to enjoy it. Sure, my focaccia dough was similar in consistency with a thick brownie batter (and looked like it too), but the final product was definitely focaccia. It was chewy yet moist, textured yet smooth, and easily sliced to make a small peanut butter sandwich when put to the “Is this sandwich bread material?” test.   

The ratio I used for the focaccia came from my Williams-Sonoma Cooking at Home (2010) cookbook: 3 parts flour to 2 parts liquid, with a little oil and leavening agents added to the mix. Since certain yeast strands affect my body negatively, I used baking soda and unrefined apple cider vinegar for the slight rising affect I wanted. I also brushed coconut oil on top at various stages of the cooking process, resulting in a chewy exterior that I oh so love in a flatbread.

I also went a different route in this month's GFRR, a sweeter route. This is definitely a bread pudding, French toast, fruit crisp topping, and sweet sandwich base to enjoy, especially as the days (hopefully) get colder.

Sweet Cinnamon Raisin Focaccia Bread

100 g CGF Rolled oats
100 g Short grain brown rice
100 g Quinoa (I used a combination of white, black, and red)
100 g Garbanzo bean flour
25 g Raw cacao powder (cocoa powder is fine)
25 g Flaxseed meal
300 ml Filtered water
1 tsp. Sea salt
1 tsp. Bourbon vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Baking soda
1/2 tsp. Unrefined apple cider vinegar
320 g Thompson raisins

 Soak the whole grains (oats, rice, and quinoa) in filtered water with whey or apple cider vinegar overnight to twenty-four hours.
Preheat the oven to 400°F
Drain the excess water from the grains and put it through the food processor/blender with half of the water (it may leak if you use all of it at once).
Once blended, pour the mixture into a large mixing bowl and stir in the remaining ingredients excluding for the coconut oil (the dough will appear like a thicker version of quick bread batter).
Transfer the dough to an 8” x 12” baking pan lined with parchment paper and brush the top with coconut oil.
Bake for 30 minutes, continuing to brush the crust with oil at ten-minute increments.
Remove from the oven to cool for fifteen minutes before cutting.
Serve warm.

Makes 8 – 12 servings.

Before I give you all the links to other participants’ entries, I want to give a quick shout out to the person behind this month’s GFRR. Heather of Discovering the Extraordinary is a blogger who is an inspiration to many. After being diagnosed with gluten sensitivity in October 2011, she set out to create delicious foods her body would enjoy regardless of her “restrictions” (Sound familiar?). She encourages her readers to play with their food, to have fun while experimenting in the kitchen, and to discover the extraordinary. Thank you, Heather, for giving us a challenge that made the season even brighter.

*Heather | Discovering the Extraordinary    Rosemary and Garlic Focaccia Bread   
Carol | Goodness Gluten Free    Gluten Free Garlic and Parmesean Focaccia   
Morri (Me!) | Meals with Morri    Sweet Cinnamon Raisin Focaccia Bread    
mary fran | frannycakes    Gluten Free Sage Foccacia    

Aunt Mae (aka ~Mrs. R) | Honey from Flinty Rocks    Focaccia Bread   
Silvana | Silvana's Kitchen    Sun-Dried Tomato and Olive Focaccia  
TR | No One Likes Crumbley Cookies    Gluten Free Cheesy Herb Focaccia      

Have Yourself a Merry Little December

I’m one of those people who start the holidays right when I wake up to the December 1st morning. Pandora is devoted to secular holiday music with songs sung by The Rat Pack, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, and many others. The Christmas lights are shining brightly around our doorway, inviting good cheer to everyone who enters our home. This week is devoted to getting into the Yuletide spirit, putting the tree up and decorating, preparing for finals, and cooking up a plethora of winter based recipes.

Last Year's Tree

In the last month of the year 2012, I have been looking at past blog posts and life decisions fervently, awed by how much has changed and inspired by how far I’ve come. I’ve found my passions in food have surpassed my expectations and evolved into something leaning towards sustainable development, urban agriculture, the local and organic movements, gardening, and “know your farmer”. My fitness regimen in the form of rock climbing and yoga, although sometimes appearing lack in progress at times, has conditioned my body (and spirit) in ways I couldn’t have imagined when I first started.

And in December of last year, I couldn’t imagine being a successful graduate student, let alone being accepted to the graduate school program. My acceptance letter came last week, and already plans for the spring semester are being laid out to balance all the loves in my life. I’m currently working on time management week by week, only because the semester is almost over. But goodness, I’m an official S/CAR graduate student… Me. Accepted.

Holy cow.

So while I hum to Ella Fitzgerald’s version of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”, I figured to honor my acceptance by making socca, a food I’d fallen in love with over a year ago but haven’t made another recipe since my "Happy Herbivore Tendencies" post. That’s way too long a break in between without socca, I say, and started thinking of a recipe to share. I wanted to use up the remaining pumpkin puree in the fridge, but I was also hankering for an old school peanut butter and banana sandwich.

Let’s just say my craving was more than satisfied, and that pumpkin works beautifully with peanut butter and banana.

Pumpkin Socca

120 g Garbanzo bean flour

180 ml Filtered water

5 ml Whey (optional)*

240 g Pumpkin puree

1/2 tsp. Sea salt

30 g Butter (for a dairy free and vegan version, you could use coconut/olive oil)

In a small mixing bowl, stir the flour, water, and whey until thoroughly combined and let it sit overnight on the counter.

Add the pumpkin and sea salt while melting the butter on medium heat in a cast iron skillet; once beginning to brown, drizzle the excess fat into the batter.

Pour the batter into the skillet and treat it like you would a pancake, either flipping over or using the broiler to cook the other side.

Turn off the heat and transfer it onto a plate to cool slightly (the inside is delicious custard when hot and solidifies as it cools). 

Cut into quarters, bars, or squares to enjoy as you like and serve warm.

Makes 2 servings.

Socca is a great bread substitute to make sandwiches. For two peanut butter and banana soccawiches, slice the socca in half, smear 2 tbsp. peanut butter (or any nut butter of your choice) and slice one ripe banana thinly on one side of the socca. Fold the other side on top and cut the socca again so you have two – four sandwiches on a plate. Enjoy with a glass of milk (dairy free or otherwise). 

At the Thanksgiving Table

Thanksgiving was a week ago and I still haven’t posted my Turkey Day recipes. Even with the oven going wonky on our four pies, the turkey itself turned out as amazing as we’d hoped it would, and our other oven-based delights were baked in our “small” convection oven instead. My vacation from school and work was filled with love and great food, with traveling and new experiences, with wonderful lessons and deeper friendships made. It’s the kind of thing you will remember for the rest of your life, something you will always be grateful for specifically. 

Now that’s my kind of Thanksgiving. (If you are interested, click here to for a glimpse of last year's Turkey Day round-up.) 

As always, Uncle R brought his infamous pot of collards to share. Meanwhile Mama Dazz made a delightful cranberry sauce (some of which was stevia sweetened for Grandma D and me), sweet potato biscuits (not gluten free, sadly), a large dish of cornbread stuffing (also not gluten free), and three of the four pies I mentioned (pecan, coconut macaroon, sweet potato). I focused my energy on three things: the turkey, stuffing I could eat, and my pumpkin pie.*

Is it worth brining your own turkey and making your own stuffing from start to finish? Yes, my friends, it is. There is something similar to pride to know that you bought your bird from a farmer you know and respect, and seeing how beautiful the end result is to have a perfectly cooked and flavorful turkey. I can safely say I don’t intend on buying turkey from the store in the many holidays to come.

In fact, this reminds me of a funny scene from the show Portlandia, taken from YouTube for your viewing pleasure.

 

Holiday Bird Brine (Inspired by this recipe)

1 Small yellow onion, coarsely chopped
1 Celery stalk, coarsely chopped
3 Garlic cloves, halved
3 Bay leaves
1 tbsp. Black peppercorns
1 tsp. Yellow mustard seeds
130 g (or 1/2 c.) Sea salt
Filtered water (1 gallon to start the brine, and then enough to submerge your bird)**

Place the ingredients in a large cooking pot and cook on medium heat until steam and slight simmering is visible.
Turn off the heat and let it come to room temperature before doing anything at all with the bird.
Prepare your bird by removing the organs and neck*** and placing it in a very large cooking pot that enables you to completely submerge it in brining liquid.
Carefully pour the brine over the bird and continue to add more water until the brine covers it completely.
Cover the pot and place it in a cold environment (either your refrigerator or a tall cooler with plenty of ice) for a period of 12 – 24 hours.
When finished with brining, remove the excess vegetables and spices from the bird and roast in the oven as usual.****

Makes over 1 gallon of brine.

*Although this year's gluten free pumpkin pie didn’t turn out as I had hoped, the grain-free pie crust was delicious (with enough left over to make another pie with in December). You can find a recipe that did work here.
**The bird we enjoyed weighed around 14 lbs.
***We use the organs and neck to help in creating tasty gravy, and also add it to our stuffing for additional nutrition.
****We didn’t do it this year, but I think cooking the brine along with the carcass would make an excellent stock. Has anyone ever done this before? I’d love to hear how it turned out.

As I said, I made stuffing I was very satisfied with. I wasn’t in a mashed potatoes sort of mood, so at the last minute (and by last minute, I mean three hours before the feast itself) I decided I wanted to make stuffing I could eat. After my not so pleasant experiences my body dealt with going Primal for three weeks, I’ve been eating grains and other sources of carbohydrates at practically every meal. I could have easily made this a grain-free delight, and perhaps for Yule I will, but I was craving cornbread something fierce. The cornbread itself was solely made for the stuffing, so when it came out of the oven it was a tad dry and unappetizing and something I wouldn’t recommend as a finished product. As part of a stuffing, however, I’d say it was the perfect component to a moist yet sturdy spoonful of dressing.

Cornbread Stuffing

For the cornbread:*
240 g Coarse corn flour
1 Large egg
250 ml Filtered water
42 g Butter, melted**

Remaining ingredients:
200 g Pulsed turkey organ and neck meat***
1 Celery stalk, finely chopped
1 Small yellow onion, finely chopped
2 Large eggs, beaten
1 tsp. Sea salt
1/2 tsp. Baking soda
1/2 tsp. Unrefined apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp. Powdered or rubbed sage
1/4 tsp. Rosemary powder
1/4 tsp. Thyme
1/4 tsp. Cracked pepper
240 ml Filtered water

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Combine the ingredients in a medium sized bowl and mix until thoroughly combined.
Pour into a greased small cast iron pan and bake for 45 minutes or until done.
Take the pan from the oven and begin cubing the bread with a knife.
With a large spoon or spatula, remove the cubes from the pan and pour them into a large mixing bowl.
Add the remaining ingredients and fold carefully.
Pour the dressing into a 8x8” baking pan and cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the internal temperature has reached at minimum 165°F.
Remove the pan from the oven and slice or spoon onto the plates
Serve hot.****

Makes 4 – 6 servings.

*If you happen to have cornbread or any gluten free bread on hand, use about 600 g and cut into bite-sized cubes.
**For a dairy free version, replace the butter with your preferred baking oil of choice like olive oil, coconut oil, and various nut/seed oils.
***Should you like to keep this vegetarian or you don’t have organ meat on hand, I’d recommend pulsed walnut/cashew pieces, left over mashed potatoes or pumpkin/sweet potato/butternut squash puree.
****Stuffing is a lot like pizza, in that it’s a great leftover food eaten hot or cold.

In Celebration & Loving Memory

July 4th came and went like any other holiday: family and food, laughing and loving, planning and remembering. I meant to write about it, because I had a recipe I was particularly proud of to share, but it was put to a screeching halt when I found out a person in my life had passed away.

This person has never been mentioned on this blog before, so I want to take a moment to mention that all of the usual folk (i.e., the cats, Mama Dazz, Daddy-O, the Burt-man, Grandpa B, Grandma D, the family in general, friends aforementioned, and the boyfriend) are fine and well. Regardless, his death was a blow to my core, and the next few days after the Red, White, and Blue Grill day were spent in mourning.

 

I learned a lot about myself in that moment, how much we came together as a community to celebrate the life of someone we cherished, how to make the day count with hearts wide open, and how family and children both can help with the pain in different ways.

Making art with kids...

... is the best kind of healing.

The children at camp are pure energy. They feel completely and act accordingly, taking you along for the ride. For two days I forgot my sorrow as I watched “The Lorax” with the rising kindergarteners, took photos of the various hustle and bustle throughout the camp, and told a group of kids to “go crazy” with the paint on the recycling bins. But after I left the kids, I remembered my sadness, and I felt it throughout my body. But I learned from it, and have been telling everyone in my life how much they mean to me since then. Life's too amazing and precious to be angry, stressed out, or focusing on the small stuff. Value everything, even if times are hard, because often times it does get better.

Independence Day is a holiday that honors what every day should be about: celebration of life, remembering the fallen in how they changed us, and looking to the future with a bang (fireworks included). I’m not afraid of living anymore, and like him I will walk tall, speak and think honestly, and be the change I wish to see.  

Angel Food Cupcakes (adapted from Ruhlman’s recipe in Ratio)

380 g (roughly 10) Egg whites
175 g Coconut sugar (from the palm blossom)
185 g Maple sugar
120 g Rice flour
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
1/2 tsp. Cream of tartar
15 ml (1 lemon) Lemon juice
1 tsp. Bourbon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Measure out the egg whites in the mixing bowl and place in the mixer using the whisk attachment.
Combine the coconut sugar and the flour in a food processor (I would use a spice grinder for the sugar first), and set aside.
Beat the egg whites on medium for a minute or so, then add the salt, cream of tartar, lemon juice, and vanilla and increase the speed to medium-high.
Once the foam has been established and the mixture is opaque, begin drizzling in the maple sugar.
Continue mixing until the maple sugar is incorporated and the foam just passes the pourable stage (it will hold a weak peak).
Pulse the coconut sugar-rice flour two or three times to aerate it, and sprinkle over the meringue as you fold the meringue with a rubber spatula.
Continue to sprinkle and gently fold the mixture over itself until all the remaining sugar-flour has been incorporated.
Using an ice cream scooper (or 1/2 c. measuring cup), dollop the batter into 24 paper-lined muffin tins and bake for 25 minutes (it’s done when a skewer or a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean).
Allow the cupcakes to cool for thirty minutes to an hour before removing from the tins, and serve with berries and whipped cream on top.

Makes 2 dozen cupcakes, or 24 servings.

Happy Holidays!

Every year I say it was the best Christmas ever, and every year I mean it. The morning is a quiet one, with “A Christmas Story” playing in the background while people have brunch and drink coffee. The family tradition is lox on a bagel with various odds and ends, but I made gluten free biscuits (much more successful than the last time, I think, but not perfect) as my “bagel”. Along with Mama Dazz, Burt-man, IB, and myself, we also had our good friend TD stay over from our Christmas Eve dinner. Uncle R came over in time for brunch and our day of board games, and his girlfriend AS came later.

Ahhh! It's the Lox Ness Monster!

The people in my life know me so well. Mama Dazz bought me a kindle, the same kind she bought Grandpa B when we visited them earlier this week. I was rendered speechless, and already I have quite a collection of free kindle books, many of them fairytales from all over the world, and some of them are classics I denied myself reading in my youth. (Sherlock Holmes is a great example.) I was also given books, and I was overjoyed to see my favorite cartoon artist Nick Galifianakis’ book If You Loved Me, You’d Think This Was Cute, Alton Brown’s Good Eats 3: The Later Years, and Potter’s Cooking For Geeks. The boyfriend went with me to purchase ski clothes for our week at Timberline in WV, and as one of my gifts he bought my ski pants for me.

Gift opening during brunch

In the afternoon I went over to Daddy-O and his wife A's lovely house for the Sands Family Christmas. All the cousins were there, including my cousin Amy, who is teaching English in China for a year to little kids (if you are interested, here is her blog). After dinner was eaten (I was still full from brunch and Christmas Eve’s duck dinner), we circled around the large Christmas tree where a huge pile of presents were sparkling under the Christmas lights. “Thank you” and “Oh, wow!” were heard from all over the room, and it was quite a sight. At my feet, there were Pink Floyd CDs, a rather stylish carrier bag, Gluten Free on a Shoestring, tangle-free and retractable headphones, a scarf, a slushy making mug, and much-needed funds. I was blown away by Uncle K and Aunt L’s graduation gift, and it is really going to help get my post-college life together (Thank you thank you thank you!).

Although the gifts I received were beyond amazing, it was such a humbling Christmas to have after my Christmas in Sweden. I was surrounded by loved ones, good food, and found my heart had grown three sizes in twenty-four hours. There was no Scrooge or Grinch to be found.

He and I are spending this week at Timberline Ski Resort in Davis, WV with his family and friends until the New Year. Russian is the language of choice, and it is so beautiful to hear. It is raining at the moment, and he is a tad under the weather, but I do aim to either ski or run while I’m here. Most of the food, as I anticipated, is not Morri-friendly, but I did bring provisions to keep my tummy happy.   

I end this post with a Merry Christmas, God Jul, Happy Boxing Day, and Happy New Year. Also, what does your traditional Christmas (or whatever you celebrate) look like in regards to food?   

God Jul & the Solstice Julbord

God Jul, my merry readers! I felt that this Swedish saying was rather appropriate for this post, because Sweden has truly inspired my household this holiday season. On the twenty-first, family and friends sat around the dining room table for a three-course feast similar to the one I had last year with Sofia’s family. It was my first Christmas away from home, though her family kept homesickness at bay. We played games and sang songs in between bites. We walked on the frozen lake and watched Donald Duck in various cartoons. The boyfriend and I were given presents of tomte sculptures and Swedish Jul music. 

This family showed us the true Swedish Christmas spirit, and I was determined to do the same in the United States.

After our Ikea outing a few weeks back, Mama Dazz and I came home with edible goodies, including pickled herring, fish paste, seaweed “caviar”, non-alcoholic glögg, cookies, and lingonberry nectar. From there we came up with a menu for our very own Julbord.

Now, for those who do not know about Scandinavian culture, the Julbord is a buffet-style meal with various courses served at the table. The Julbord is a form of the Smörgåsbord, Swedish for open-faced sandwich (smörgås) and table (bord). There are hot and cold dishes, and the meal usually starts with bread, butter, cheese (and lots of it), and pickled seafood. The second course is then served, with deli meats, cold veggies, and crisp breads with more cheese. The third course would be the warm dishes, with meatballs, sausages, carbohydrate-laden casseroles and cooked veggies. Depending on the family, there may or may not be dessert, but an after dinner fika is expected.

We had an amazing menu, and the people around the table were stuffed to the gills. So what did we have, you may ask? Well, I’ll tell you.

Drinks
Spiced wine*
Moscow Mule* (a mixed drink made with potato vodka, ginger beer, and lime)
Water
Hot tea
Coffee

First course
Pumpernickel bread
Cracker assortment
Cheese: Havarti with Dill, Holland sharp cheddar
Garlic-stuffed Olives
Pickles
Deli meat: Sliced pancetta, capiola
Pickled herring
Applegate beef hotdogs with Dijon mustard
Deviled eggs with real caviar
Yuletide sugarplums

 

Second course
Dairy free creamed spinach
Marinated ruby red salad
Sautéed Brussel sprout mash
Jansson’s temptation (eller Janssons frestelse), without the bread on top
Swedish meatballs (recipe in post)

Third Course
Coffee
Tea
Fresh berries, biscotti, and whipped cream

It was an amazing meal, with amazing people to share it with. I hope I did you proud, Sweden.

God Jul to all, and have a safe holiday (whichever one(s) you may celebrate).

Swedish Meatballs (adapted from The Joy of Cooking cookbook)

64 g (> 2.25 oz.) CGF rolled oats
100 g Whole milk
12 oz. (340 g) Ground beef
12 oz. (340 g) Ground pork
2 Eggs, beaten
1 tbsp. (14 g) Butter, melted
1/4 c. (30 g) Minced dried onion
3 tbsp. Dried parsley
1 scant tsp. Sea salt
1/4 tsp. Paprika, Spanish smoked
1/2 tsp. Grated lemon rind
1 tsp. Lemon juice
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/8 tsp. Allspice
2 c. (16 oz./ 454 g) Chicken stock, for pan gravy

Coarsely grind the rolled oats through the food processor, and in a small mixing bowl, soak in the milk throughout the other prep processes on the counter, about thirty to fort-five minutes.
In a larger mixing bowl, mix together the ground meats with the eggs.
While both bowls are setting, sauté the minced onions in the olive oil until golden and allow cooling.
Add the onion in with the meat, as well as the remaining spices and the rolled oats, and mix (either by hand or a wooden spoon) until the ingredients are fully integrated.
In a large pot, put the chicken stock on medium heat.
Shape into balls (I was rather anal about this: the mixture equals 992 g, so to make 18 I measured each to be around 55 g), about 2 inches.
Drop into the bowling stock and cook until done, about fifteen minutes, and then proceed to make pan gravy.

Makes 18 meatballs. Serves 6 – 9 people.

Pan Gravy

2 c. (16 oz/ 454 g) boiling cooking liquid (in this case, the chicken stock)
2 tbsp. (20 g) Garbanzo bean flour
1/2 c. (90 g) Heavy whipping cream
1/4 tsp. Grated lemon rind
1/4 tsp. Dill

In a small bowl, mix the garbanzo bean flour in with a ladle of the hot liquid and stir until a thick slurry is formed.
Pour the slurry into the cooking liquid (with the meatballs still in the pot), and lower the heat to a steady simmer for five minutes.
Add in the lemon rind and nutmeg.
Turn the heat to the lowest setting, and slowly add the cream to cook for another minute or so.
Serve immediately.

*Alcoholic drinks: I want to remind my readers to please please please drink responsibly. Everyone at the Julbord was over the age of 21 (the legal drinking age of the United States), and waited a good number of hours before driving. I encourage the use of designated drivers, staying hydrated with water, and eating a ton of food when alcohol is present. I want you to have fun, and I want you to be safe.

Yuletide Sugarplums

I feel as if my life is at a standstill. There are no more exams, essays, or projects. There are no more car battles for the closest parking space on campus, running from class to class, or studying. I am no longer an undergraduate.

As of Monday, I am officially an Alumnus.

After turning in my paper and portfolio for Conflict Integration on Thursday, I joined my friends while they ate lunch. I was the only one who was completely finished, but there was talk that I could take another semester’s worth of classes, maybe a minor of fifteen credits or less. Joking or not, I was done with the student aspect of my life for a while, but what I am going to do to fill the new void where school was a part of me for more than sixteen years?

(On a positive note, fall graduates like myself are actually supposed to be part of the cap and gown walk in May, even though we get our diplomas in January.)

The word of the week is Obligation, as I have obligations with family, new and old, friends, my significant other, my work at the community center, and yes, definitely myself. My life isn’t at a standstill, per se, but I feel like my pants have been yanked from the back to keep me in place even though Life keeps on going. I have Obligations to others to go a certain way, but at the same time I have Obligations to go a certain way that may not be compatible. So I do what I can, but as the boyfriend explained it, Life is like an apple pie. You have enough ingredients to make two pies, which will satisfy sixteen people. But say there’s eighteen people; what will you do then? If you cut the pie pieces to accommodate the other two, the pieces won’t nearly be as satisfying for everyone involved, including the baker.

After he told me that, I knew he was right. I’ve been trying to satisfy too many people and as a result, I feel I have only done what had to done at minimum. On my end, it hasn’t been as fulfilling and believe me, I aim to fix this error… especially where stress management is concerned.

I have so much to be thankful for, and they are things that have made this Yuletide a glorious one. I am extremely lucky to have a family that has pushed me to succeed and had paid my way through college. I am humbled by the love I have for the people in my life and the love that is reflected right back.  

(source)

So here I am, an Alumnus with or without a plan for the upcoming year ahead of me. Will I attend Grad school in the fall?  Will I move into my own place by February? Will I have a job pertaining to what I want to use my discipline in conflict resolution in the spring? Will I travel on my own accord, make a garden to feed the people I love, run a 5k (or 10k), or start the art project I’ve been thinking about the last two months? Will I finally have the apple pie distributed in the manner that suits my liking?

True, I’ve been thinking about these questions. But at the moment, the only thing I’m thinking about is the holidays and the recipes it may bring.

This month has become the designated cookie month for many who have children, love baking for the holidays, and well, love cookies. At the same time I’ve been looking for something different for a Yuletide dessert, although I assure you cookies are definitely in the making. Alton Brown from Good Eats did a particularly festive episode titled “Twas the Night Before Good Eats,” and inspired me to have the Holiday Spirit in recipes other than in cookie form. Cassie from the amazing blog Back to Her Roots also inspired me with her sugar plums recipe, whose ratio I’ve used as the base for my creation.  

And wouldn’t you know it? The recipe happens to be gluten free without any help at all.

The history of sugarplums varies depending on the type. There is the literal sugarplum, which are plums oven-dried and then rolled in sugar, a delicacy during the Tudor period. Plum also denoted any kind of dried fruit, so it wasn’t always made with a plum. But then there is the archaic version, made with more than that. The recipe has changed throughout the eras, the Victorians even going to far as to hang them on the Christmas tree as an edible treat (similarly the same concept that I’ve done with putting candy canes on mine in the past).

From Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker to Moore’s "A Visit from St. Nicholas" to Field’s “The Sugar Plum Tree,” this delectable treat is, by far, a healthier indulgence than what can be expected in the remaining weeks of 2011. I used coconut flour in place of the powdered sugar as coating, but each piece is still two bites of heaven.

Yuletide Sugarplums

1 c. (112 g) Raw almonds
1 c. (120 g) Raw pistachios
1/4 c. (63 g) Creamed honey (regular if you don’t have it or maple syrup/agave nectar for a vegan friendly recipe)
1 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. Allspice
1/4 tsp. Sea salt
3/4 c. (85 g) Dried apricots
3/4 c. (114 g) Prunes
15 Medjool dates, pitted
Zest of 1 Tangerine
Coconut flour, for dusting

Put the almonds and pistachios through the food processor until they are chopped into fine pieces.
Add the spices, dried fruits, and the tangerine zest, and pulse until the mixture is chopped and beginning to clump (I pulsed mine past what Alton Brown had done, but they turned out just fine).
To form the sugarplums, use the larger end of a melon baller (a tablespoon works also) to scoop the mixture and roll it into a ball with your hands.
Roll the balls into the coconut flour (or powdered sugar if you prefer) and shake off the excess before stacking them in a jar or on a plate.

Makes 44 sugarplums.

Pumpkin Pie (with a Dairy Free Filling)

I love the days following Thanksgiving, because no food goes to waste in this house (at least, we try). We have two bags for the turkey, one for the carcass and one for the leftover meat pieces. Everything tastes amazing, hot and cold, especially the sweet potatoes and the greens. We learned that garbanzo bean flour is a great thickener for gravy and savory sauces, perfect for grain-fee Morri’s like myself. We also came to the conclusion that I am to make pie crusts for every Thanksgiving get-together, because Mama Dazz was not impressed with the store-bought gluten kind. 

Awesome. Score one for the gluten free pie crust.

Pie was my indulgence, one tiny sliver for both Turkey Day and Leftovers Day. As I talked about in the Turkey Day Round Up, I felt intoxicated after eating it, sleepy and loopy for hours afterward. I’m not worried about the grain-free concept, because I’m sure I can make a grain-free crust with a little tweaking. It’s the sweetener for baked goods that concern me. I’ve tried palm sugar, and that is just as bad as cane sugar in how it affects me. Stevia in baked goods also worries me, because I don’t know how it tastes after being in the oven. So if there is someone who has experience baking with stevia (both in liquid and powdered form), I’d love to hear your input.

Despite it not being grain-free (the crust) or sweetener free (the filling), this is an amazing pie, with a dairy free filling that has a silky mousse texture. However, I think this recipe would go well with sweet potato, yam, kabocha squash, and (dare I say it?) carrot puree. I’ve also noticed that if you have leftover coconut milk, all you need to do is refrigerate it overnight for a loose whipped “cream” effect.

Pumpkin Pie

11 oz Pie crust dough, rolled out flat on a floured (I use tapioca starch) surface
Butter (or solid coconut oil), for greasing the pan and brushing on the pie crust
15 oz Pumpkin puree
8 oz Canned coconut milk
2 Eggs
126 g (<4.45 oz) Honey
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Coriander
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/8 tsp. Allspice
Dash of Sage

Preheat the oven to 425ºF.
Grease a 9-inch pie pan with chilled butter (save any left over for later), and then carefully press the pie dough down so that it lines the bottom and sides of the pan.
Put the pumpkin, coconut milk, eggs, honey, and spices in a large bowl and mix them together with an electric beater until combined.
Pour the filling into the pie dough (at this point you can decorate the edges of the pie crust as shown here).
Bake for ten minutes while melting the remaining butter on the stovetop over low heat in a small saucepan.
Remove the pie from the oven and reduce the heat to 350ºF.
Use a basting brush (silicone is preferable) to paint the piecrust edges with the remaining melted butter.
Put the pie back into the oven and bake for one hour.
Once the pie filling has set, let it sit on the counter until room temperature.
Refrigerate or serve as is.

Makes 1 pie. Serves 8 – 16 people. 

Turkey Day Round-Up

Thanksgiving. A holiday focused on food, family, food, getting together, food, telling stories, food, and more food. I mentioned the food, right? 

My Leftovers Day Plate

Good.

I only had class on Monday this week, so much of my time was spent cleaning, cooking, and nervously awaiting the arrival of our other guests. We were eight around the table: Mama Dazz, the Burt-man, Grandpa B, Grandma D, Uncle Rich, myself, and the boyfriend’s father and brother. He came later in the evening, back from his five-day excursion in Mexico.  The energy at the table was enormous, and food was plentiful and beyond delicious. It wasn’t completely Morri friendly, and being grain-free and sweetener free made it slightly more difficult (I indulged with a sliver of pie), but the food that I could and did eat did not leave me wanting. Plus, it was my first Thanksgiving back from Sweden, so I was just tickled pink to be there.

First and foremost, the Turkey, a bird named after the country the English believed it originated (The Turks called it the Hindu, I think, though the bird comes from Northern America). We typically buy the all-natural Trader Joe’s turkey each year, which came with its own brine. Only, upon further inspection, I realized that the brine wasn’t Morri friendly because of the sugar, so we ended up getting the smaller and yes, more expensive Kosher bird. 

Regardless, it was totally worth the extra few bucks, because not only did it taste amazing but it occurred to us that maybe the bird was raised and fed differently due to its, uh, Kosher-ness. It wasn’t some hulking, too-big-for-its-own-legs, obese thing. It was smaller, with some of the feathers in the skin, and juicier than I remember turkey ever being. Next year, I’m going to look in buying a Morri friendly bird online and see where that goes.

As I was going grain-free, I decided not to make a gluten free stuffing which, until I got sick earlier this month, I was making it with a spoon bread base. Instead of putting it in the bird it was baked like a huge bread pudding and a whole onion was put in its place. The onion was my “stuffing”.

There were two kinds of greens, my Uncle Rich’s infamous collard greens, cooked with salted fatback, water, pepper flakes, and salt and pepper, and I made green beans with a delish twist, and whose recipe will be posted shortly.

Like many Thanksgiving dinners around the United States, our menu was rather heavy on the carbohydrates, but I think we did rather well in bringing color and balance to the table. Instead of mashed potatoes, we went with “small” sweet potatoes, baked at 400 ºF for 1.5 to 2 hours. The result is a caramelized and sticky exterior with a gooey middle that melts in your mouth. 

We had two sauces, turkey gravy and cranberry sauce, both homemade, grain-free, and definitely not out of a can. I'm doing my best not to brag too inanely, but our cranberry sauce was beyond amazing, and I wish I had written down the recipe (we used this one for inspiration). Mama Dazz started off with two bags of fresh cranberries, used two cups of orange juice instead of water to cook them, and finished it off with fresh orange pieces and walnuts. Before adding sugar to the whole thing she poured a bit into two ramekins, one for me and one for Grandma D, who has diabetes. I personally liked it unsweetened, but she used a sweetener for hers.

Except for the turkey and Uncle Rich’s collards, I was surprised that most of the things I put on my plate (and made) were vegan. Then again, since everything was mixed into a tasty jamboree of flavors, I guess it wasn’t so vegan after all. Oh well…

As for drinks, I made two kinds of ice tea, Irish Breakfast (caffeinated) and Green Rooibos (non-caffeinated), and poured them into wine bottles for a change of pace. We also had chilled white wines, a 2010 Da Vinci Chianti Big Sergey brought (along with pink roses), and sparkling apple cider. 

Mama Dazz's Apple-Quince Pie (Not GF)

Mama Dazz's Sorghum Pecan Pie (Not GF)

Dessert was a Thanksgiving feast in its own right, with four (count 'em, four) different pies, vanilla ice cream, homemade unsweetened whipped cream, and lots of coffee. Mama Dazz made Grandma D her own special single-serving berry pie as one, but she also made pecan pie and an apple-quince pie for the gluten eating crowd. I made a gluten-free pumpkin pie with a dairy free filling, using the second half of the pie crust recipe I made for last month’s Gluten Free Ratio Rally.

Grandma D's Three Berry Pie

My GF Pumpkin Pie!

It was weird having pie, with its not-so-much grain-free crust and honey sweetened filling, not to mention eating more than one fruit serving a day (the cranberry sauce was my second serving). After we picked him up from the airport, I ate a tiny sliver of my pie while he ate a reheated plate of amazing deliciousness. I felt loopy and slightly intoxicated after that, and my stomach didn’t know what to make of it. It wasn’t a bad feeling, though I did feel off. I think having a grain-free/sweetener free/limited fruit servings diet for a while may help, but it may end up becoming a long-term thing. FiveLac has been helpful; I just don’t want to take 3 – 6 packets every day for the rest of my life. And as long as I have garbanzo bean flour, I'm golden.

All in all, this Thanksgiving gave me a lot to be thankful for; you know, besides being thankful for the family I have. For my birthday I have this idea that, for every year after my birthday that’s the number of hours I give to doing community service (i.e., I’m twenty-two, so this year I do at minimum twenty-two hours). I am thankful that my lifestyle enables me to do that. I am thankful for the world I live in, for the people in it, and for the life I lead. I am thankful for every experience, every lesson, every mistake, and every success. I am thankful for my education, for my job, and for my bright today and the tomorrows that follow.

I am thankful for this year’s harvest, whatever that may be.

I end this post with a Happy Day After Thanksgiving to you all. May you have food in your cupboards and pantries all year long, a roof over your heads and a fireplace to keep you warm and dry, and finally, an open heart that grows with each passing day.

Dijon Green Beans with Almonds and Mushrooms (adapted from this recipe)

1 lb 8 oz French-cut green beans, preferably frozen
10 oz Baby Bella mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 oz Almond slivers
1 oz Coconut oil
5 Garlic cloves, left whole
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
1/2 tsp. Cracked pepper
Dash nutmeg
2 oz Dijon mustard

Put a large pot over medium heat and add the coconut oil.
Sautee the mushrooms, almond slivers, and the garlic cloves until thoroughly cooked and browned (careful, though, the almonds can burn if you are not watching).
Add in the green beans and stir until the ingredients are completely integrated.
Cover the pan with a lid and lower the heat to medium or medium-low for up to three minutes.
Pour in the spices and Dijon mustard in the final minutes of cooking (i.e. the green beans are still a vibrant green and lukewarm).
After it has cooked, let it sit for five minutes before serving.

Serves 8 – 10 people as a side dish, with a very likely chance of leftovers.