December 06, 2015

Holiday Almanac December 5: Duchess Potatoes

December 06, 2015/ Blair Cowan

For more information on the Holiday Almanac, go here. Or to see what I've been up to on past Holiday Almanac days, check out this page.

Mashed potatoes are my favourite. When I'm sick, I've been known to send Judson to the store for nothing but a bag of potatoes so I can make my own. But since they're obviously not a great source of nutrition, and since I can't be trusted around them, I try not to make them too often... which means they're way more of a treat when I DO make them.

And these ones, mashed to perfection and then heaped into mounds and baked until they're toasty on the outside and smooth on the inside, did not disappoint. I don't know why they're called Duchess Potatoes, but I would definitely serve them if a Duchess came to my flat for dinner.

the verdict:

4 spoons out of five, but only because this recipe puts another step between me and my mashed potatoes.

the recipe:

Duchess Potatoes

the directions:

Boil potatoes until fork-tender, then drain well.
Preheat oven to 190C/375F.
Mash potatoes until smooth, then add milk, salt, and pepper until texture is to your liking.
Add egg yolks and keep mashing until well-blended.
Heap in large spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet, then pop in the oven for 10-12 minutes until toasted on the outside.

the ingredients:

1 lb potatoes, peeled and chopped coarsely
Milk, salt, and pepper to taste
2 egg yolks

December 04, 2015

Holiday Almanac December 4: Flaming Mince Pie

December 04, 2015/ Blair Cowan

For more information on the Holiday Almanac, go here. Or to see what I've been up to on past Holiday Almanac days, check out this page.

In case you're like me and had never heard of mince pie until your grown-up years, here it is. It's a British winter dessert mainly eaten around Christmas that's made with a combination of apples, dried fruit, citrus peels, and some kind of syrup, and a whole lot of suet. It's really rich, and although you may know it by its longer name (Mincemeat Pie), it's a sweet dish that contains no meat.

This recipe calls for storebought mince pie filling. The funny thing, though, is that if I were still in the US, I would never be able to take that shortcut because who sells mince pie filling in the US? Luckily, though, I'm on the other side of the pond and as I discovered today, supermarkets here in the UK all sell mince filling.* Anyway, mince pies, like Scottish tablet, are one of the British foods I'm pretty on the fence about. They're only around for the month of December, which is convenient, and when people bring bite-size ones into work, I can generally deal with about one bite before I'm done. It's not to say that they're bad... I think they just throw me off because they're so rich and the flavours are pretty unexpected when you actually think about it (also, I've never known exactly what was in them, which makes it difficult to eat something and love it, since you're never sure what you're tasting).

This was a fun one to make-- just a quick homemade pie crust, 2 jars of mince filling, and then some orange peel flowers to make, as I regularly do for my gourmet desserts (this is a lie, the orange peel flowers were made by Judson, who proved surprisingly adept). Anyway, the bourbon-soaked sugar cubes that I made lit on fire so briefly that I couldn't really photograph them-- if you're looking for spectacular flames, you should use something in the 70-80% alcohol range, which I didn't have in my house (however, the bourbon paired with the pie just beautifully, so I'm not too disappointed.

*Indeed-- I tried to look up a from-scratch mince pie recipe for funsies and all the ones I found called for canned mince filling that you just embellish with your own stuff.

The verdict:

3 spoons out of five. I'm only knocking off spoons because I'm kind of meh about mince pies. If you like this kind of thing, you'll love this (and you should totally make some brandy-soaked sugar cubes to flame on your next pie!).