Milk Calendar Mondays

Well here we are...the final Milk Calendar Monday. I'd like to add "ever" to the end of that last sentence, but who knows, it may come back...but not for a long, long time.

The new calendar arrived a few weeks ago and I do admit that, at first glance, the recipes look more interesting via Indian, Thai, Greek and Vietnamese influences, but it also keeps some of what really bugged me in the 2008 calendar--I don' think anyone will successfully convince me that adding three cups of milk to a curry is a good thing.

The final 2008 recipe is their Almond Cranberry Loaf. Gosh, it looked pretty on the calendar...and it was marginally seasonal--cranberries always get me into a Christmassy mood. The recipe read well enough, and as usual the "for the adventurous" recommendation of adding dried apricots and substituting hazelnuts for almonds made me sigh...heavily.

Here, I admit to a couple of changes, to suit what was in my pantry. I'd actually run out of milk the day I made this, so instead I used the equal amount of yoghurt. I also was in the midst of fruitcaking (yes, I am a charter member, founding president and chief fruit macertator of the Fruitcake Liberation Front), so I was up to my elbows in pecans and chucked them into the bread instead of almonds. But I did use the apricots as recommended for the adventurous.

The bread itself wasn't too bad--a bit heavy, and I do like my fruit breads fruitier. Overall, a mostly inoffensive cake.

For those of you who want to relive my pain, here's a link to all the Milk Calendar Monday adventures.

I don't know about you, but I think I deserve a mug of heavily cognac-ed egg nog after this year-long adventure.


cheers!
jasmine

I'm an e-Auntie

No foodish post, but some important foodish news...

Our very dear Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar has some very wonderful news.

cheers!
jasmine

Ladies who lunch: Spiced Pickled Pears

To me, pears are forever and inextricably linked to cold weather.

Every so many autumns My Dear Little Cardamummy puts up jars and jars of stewed pears. For whatever reason, I only recall them brought up on extremely cold nights, warmed in their sweet viscous syrup spiced with cloves and cinnamon mixing wth rivulets of melted ice cream. Quite possibly the best and most comforting wintery dessert I can think of.

The other week, when I invited a friend over for Sunday lunch, I pored over cookbooks looking for warming, tasty and (of course) none-too labour intensive. Making matters a bit more interesting is the fact she is a vegetarian, so my usual fall back of roast chicken or perhaps another a good, brunchy tableful including bacon and sausage, wasn't in the cards.

Bound and determined to do anything but pasta (I remember my veggie days and the unending platefuls of pasta served because they really didn't know what else to feed me) I went to my favourite vegetarian cookbook, Delia's Vegetarian Collection (yes, Delia Smith before she sold out to the semi-homemade crowd) for inspiration. I'm not sure which part caught my eye -- the bleu cheese strudel or the spiced, pickled pears that accompany it. Granted, they aren't my mum's stewed pears, but there were familiar elements -- sweetness, spice and soft flesh.

They were incredibly easy to make and, more importantly, they could be made ahead. Even though they went really well with the strudel (bleu cheese and pears are such the classic duo), they, complete with their amber liquid would nicely accompany a roasted pork loin or duck.

Spiced Pickled Pears
adapted from Delia Smith's Delia's Vegetarian Collection, p 158
Serves six

110g brown sugar
340ml apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp whole peppercorns
6 juniper berries, crushed
6 hard pears, peeled leaving the stems intact

Preheat oven to 190C/375F.

Add everything but the pears to an ovenproof pot (I used my smaller Dutch Oven), and while stirring contantly to dissolve the sugar, bring it up to a boil. Place the pears on their sides in the liquid, lid the pot and pop it into the oven for 30 minutes.

After the half-hour point is up, carefully turn over the fruit and return the lidded pot to the oven for another 20-30 minutes, or until tender.

Remove from the oven and allow the fruit to cool in their liquid before serving one pear per person.

cheers!
jasmine