Recipe For Devilled Eggs, Rum Balls and Slowing Down

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DEVILLED EGGS

Devilled eggs are an old fashioned finger food, easy to pick up one handed at a party and easy to eat. I was a bit intrigued by the name Devilled Eggs as they’re not hot or particularly spicy. The name was found to be in common use in the 18th century, first appearing in 1786. By the 19th century it generally referred to some spicy or zesty foods, not just eggs.

I caught the end of a Nigella Christmas Special on TV recently and she was preparing a tray of Devilled Eggs. They looked delicious and seemed to disappear quickly when she set them at her Christmas Dinner. They are also suitable for vegetarians and gluten free guests.

We needed to “take a plate” to several parties this week, so I decided to make Deviled Eggs. “Take a Plate” in Australia doesn’t literally mean arrive with an empty plate as if the host/hostess is short of crockery, it means take a plate of food to share.

Following Nigella’s recipe, I left the eggs in a dish on their sides overnight. This was supposed to ensure the yolks would remain in the centre of the egg. Total fail for me, with some yolks visible at the edges and ends of the eggs after they were boiled.

I am a huge Nigella fan but her next step wasn’t so fabulous, either. By boiling them for one minute, then turning off the heat and leaving them in the hot water for 12 minutes, then putting them in a bowl of icy water for 15 minutes, the eggs should have been easy to peel perfectly. No! I had torn whites and misplaced yolks; something which has never happened before.

Then the final problem occurred when, having followed her recipe, I tasted the egg mixture and it was not to my taste, at all.

So, unfortunately, I had to start again, making them the way I used to make years ago. I have no idea where the recipe originated from but it is quick, easy and relies on pantry staples. The recipe required the yolks from eight boiled eggs, 3 tablespoons of whole egg mayonnaise, two teaspoons of Dijon mustard and a dash of Apple Cider Vinegar. Tasted great after a good mix with a fork and a grind of black pepper.

The yolk mixture is traditionally piped into the egg white. I threw out my piping bag ages ago due to it being stained. I forgot to replace it. So, I put the large star piping point in a ziplock bag after I snipped off a corner. Then I pulled this over a mug and scraped the yolk mixture into the bag. After I’d piped one egg, the bag split, delivering a big blob onto the plate of whites. Spooned the mixture into the rest of the egg whites. Time was running out!

Scattered the completed Devilled Eggs with chopped chives and then paprika. They tasted very good and were eaten quickly.

RUM BALLS

This is another nostalgic recipe for Christmas time treats. I make these delicious rum balls from memory, too, and they are quick and easy.

Simply process a packet of milk arrowroot biscuits (250gm), a tin of condensed milk (395gm), a cup of desiccated coconut and 2 tablespoons of dark rum. When the ingredients are well mixed, fill a bowl with more coconut and a bowl with cocoa, then scoop out walnut sized amounts of mixture. Roll into balls in your hands then roll the balls in the coconut or cocoa until they’re well coated. Put them on a parchment lined tray. Place the tray in the fridge for an hour and they’re ready to share. So easy, so delicious!

Other essential Christmas nutrition.

Eat. Share. Enjoy.

SLOWING DOWN

The time after Boxing Day, the 26th of December and the New Year (new decade!) is often a time to slow down and contemplate. There are probably fewer social commitments and there’s time to enjoy Christmas books, games or other gifts and less pressure around meal preparation. There’s probably left over ham, turkey, Christmas puddings and Christmas cake and in Australia where it is the middle of summer, masses of fresh, colourful fruit. No cooking, just peel if necessary, slice and serve. This is a precious time to re-charge. Some people consider New Year resolutions, some people plan post Christmas shopping sprees and some people just slow down and enjoy the peace and quiet.

Whatever your plans leading up to the New Year I hope you are happy and well and beginning to feel re-charged. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

And happy Fruitcake Day! This seems a bit odd to me as I associate fruitcake with Christmas, not two days after Christmas.

Popular in the past for their longevity, these alcohol laden treats could be stored for months or longer without refrigeration. We soak the fruit for our Christmas fruitcakes in brandy for about two months before making then a week or two before Christmas. So, enjoy fruitcake today, if you have any left!

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How To Make Rye Sourdough Bread and December in Western Australia

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MAKING RYE SOURDOUGH BREAD

What sort of bread do you like? Do you make your own? For some time I made a sourdough loaf every few days. I’d slice and freeze it so we had beautiful bread all the time. Then rye sourdough was recommended to me. We are lucky to have several artisan bakeries nearby and we tried a selection of rye loaves, but only one was made from 100% rye flour.

To reduce single use plastics, in this case cling wrap, I use a hotel shower cap stretched over the bowl while the dough rises.

White flour sourdough. I made rectangular loaves eventually as they were easier than the rustic ball shape to make sandwiches and to toast.

So I decided to try and make 100% rye sourdough myself. I read many recipes and watched videos online and narrowed the choice to three. I’ve only made the first one so far. This is the process I followed.

Fed the mother/starter and left it overnight until it was frothy and puffy. There’s instructions on the site listed below for making your mother/starter if you don’t have one.

Measured out the salt. The recipe actually listed sea salt, which seems to have disappeared in the last pantry cleanup, so I used Himalayan salt.

Dissolved the salt in 400ml of warm water.

Then added 200ml starter.

Mixed it all together.

Then weighed out 600gm of rye flour.

Sifted the flour into the wet ingredients.

Then kneaded the dough until it was smooth and the flour was all absorbed. This took about five minutes.

Left the dough to rise until it had doubled in size. It is 41 C today so this was achieved quite quickly, but a slower doubling in size results in a stronger flavour.

This loaf is made with 100% rye flour. Most rye bread loaves have a blend of wheat flour which is high in gluten and rye flour, which has a lower gluten rating. It is a dense, great tasting loaf with a nice sourdough tang but a good rye flavour, too. We have eaten some and frozen the rest, sliced, as it will thaw quickly in our climate.

Unlike most bought breads, this loaf is simply made from flour, water, salt and starter. It is very dense and filling, too!

This is the recipe and video I used to make my rye bread. Lots of good information here: www.crazy-cucumber.com/make-rye-sourdough-bread-sourdough-starter-breadmaking

IT’S DECEMBER WHEN…

This year seems to have been the fastest year ever and now it’s December. Your really know it’s December in Australia when you have to check the bee bath regularly due to heat evaporation. I’ve had to put the bee bath up on a plant pot as our dog, Louis, considered it his outdoor water bowl and regularly drank it dry. The pebbles create a safe place for the bees to stand and drink in the bath.

December means the hydrangeas are blooming and very lush and pretty.

As are the agapanthus, which seem to flourish in the unrelenting heat.

And the hippiastum which blooms most of the year and the flowers are big and bold and gorgeous.

The lime tree has lots of fruit. Great sliced in water and on fish and curries.

Christmas decorations are going up.

And all plans seem to focus on Christmas. I’m not photographing the burnt spinach, the drooping tomatoes and the scorched gardenia. It has been very hot in Western Australia.

December 21st is CROSSWORD PUZZLE DAY because the first crossword puzzle is thought to have been published on this day in 1913. Doing crossword puzzles every day is thought to be good for memory and mind health. Love a good crossword puzzle!

MERRY CHRISTMAS and BEST WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR TO ALL MY LOVELY READERS!

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Can Dogs Eat Apples, Making Christmas Cakes and Re-usable Giftbags

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CAN DOGS EAT APPLES AND CARROTS?

Our dog, Louis, has just had his teeth cleaned. He is six years old and despite having a dental stick every night, he had plaque build up. The dental sticks claim to promote daily oral care. Maybe not but he loves them! I was reluctant for him to have a General Anaesthetic, an essential part of the cleaning process, but the vet emphasized the risk of losing teeth to decay.

So, if the dental stick has been ineffectual, will apples or carrots help? The good news is that both apples and carrots are great for your dog’s health and in particular, their teeth. It’s important you don’t give your dog apple cores, especially the seeds, as these contain cyanide, which is poisonous for dogs. Carrots are best cut into small pieces as some dogs choke trying to swallow large pieces. Apples and carrots are rich in fibre, vitamins and good for cleaning teeth and easily included in your dog’s diet.

Keeping your dog’s teeth healthy is obviously important. Our vet recommended tooth brushing, dental friendly diets additives to their water and some low or no calorie chews. I think Louis is too old to be introduced to tooth brushing. He’s had one of the chews the vet recommended in his toy basket for ages and never plays with it. The water additive recommended to us claims to reduce plaque accumulation by 88% and is probably the path we will follow. There is also a powder which is sprinkled on their food once a day .

These products are approved by the VOHC, the Veterinary Oral Health Council. Both are expensive, but if you thought a visit to the dentist for your checkup, scale and polish was dear, brace yourself for the cost of your dog having the same work done. Our vet recommends regular dental checkups for cats and dogs, which will become part of his annual visit to the clinic for his vaccinations.

MAKING CHRISTMAS CAKES

We have been soaking the dried fruit for the cakes since early October. The fruit has been soaking in brandy and every morning my husband inverts the jars. Now the time has come to make the cakes.

I begin by lining the cake tins. Next I get all the ingredients out, ready to add to the batter. Finally, I weight and sift, chop and add until all the ingredients are amalgamated. I use a recipe from my Aunt, which I’ve used for the past 35 years.

Remarkably useful laundry pegs hold the brown paper and baking paper in place until the batter is poured in. The paper slows down the cooking and ensures an evenly cooked, moist, richly flavoured cake.

When everything is mixed we all stir the batter and make a wish. The batter is then gently poured into the prepared baking tins. I bang the tins on the bench top to level the batter and knock out any trapped air. Finally, I decorate the tops of the cakes with blanched almonds and cherries. I used to cover the cooked cakes with marzipan and then add icing, but now we just enjoy the simple decoration of cherries and almonds.

The cakes cook for about five hours. Then they’re left to cool before being wrapped in foil and stored in tins. Every few days we drizzle more brandy over the cakes. They are very, very good.

RE-USABLE FABRIC GIFTBAGS

In the past I have printed Christmas wishes on fabric by glueing the fabric to a piece of A4 photocopying paper and then copying the image onto the carefully glued together paper/fabric. It has worked well. Not today! The new printer wasn’t having any of that and promptly clogged up and flashed unfriendly messages. I had to scan a code onto my phone to read the manual to work out how to open the printer and remove the offending paper/fabric.

So, this year I have settled on another system. I cut the fabric (from an old cotton sheet) into double A4 sized pieces so I could fold the finished work in half and then just sew one side and the bottom to make the bag. I placed the photocopied Christmas piece between the folded fabric so it was in the middle and used a bullet nib Sharpie to trace the image.

After I’d ironed the fabric I stitched quite a wide channel across the top as I hadn’t decided if I was going to thread a drawstring through it or just tie the top with a length of ribbon. Then I sewed the side and bottom, ironed it again and sat an thought about the drawstring or tie!

Finally decided on the drawstring! Slit two little holes either side of the side seam and sealed them with clear nailpolish, threaded the tartan ribbon, put in the gifts and tied a bow.

NOTE Giftwrap often ends up in the bin. When you buy wrap, scrunch it in your hand to make sure it doesn’t have plastic in it, like foil wraps. If it stays scrunched it’s paper and bio-degradable, if it resists and unscrunches (is that a word?), it has plastic in it and wont degrade. It’s a pollutant.

Friday the 13th! It’s WORLD VIOLIN DAY and HOT COCOA DAY which will probably be ignored in Western Australia as it is not yet 12pm and the temperature is 39C, with 40C forecast.

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How To Make Grazing Platters, Little Felt Covers and What I’m Reading.

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How To Make Grazing Platters

Christmas entertaining needs to be easy and relaxing for everyone, so I like to make Grazing Platters, also known as Grazing Plates, with a variety of tidbits to appeal to all tastes. Sometimes I use a wooden board but recently I have been using platters, which are smaller and allow me to place them at regular intervals along the table, so everyone can reach easily.

I select at least three cheeses, a blue vein, a Camembert and a sharp cheddar plus a selection of crackers. Then some cold meats, such as ham off the bone, salami, spicy sausage and pastrami. I roll up or fold the meats into quarters. Next, some grapes cut into small bunches and strawberries, a separate bowl of mixed olives, plates of dips with carrots, celery and crackers and a few bowls of cherry tomatoes, cashews and pretzels or potato chips. I put bread sticks in tall mugs to add some height, along with glasses and sometimes flowers. You can add artichoke hearts which taste lovely but make the platter messy! This feast was for my husband’s bookclub and they needed room for books and their notes so I set the platters down the middle of the table on woven placemats with matching coasters.

Set the table with dinner plates, napkins and forks, as everything should be bite sized, easy to pick up and easy to eat. Put out serving tongs and spoons. Add salt and pepper, plus a jug or two of cold water, then water and wine glasses and you can sit down and enjoy the company, too.

FELT CASES

I like my handbag to be organized with things in pockets, slots or zippered compartments. The mirror did have a little fabric cover but it is long gone and the emery boards were in a fold of cardboard and annoyingly, kept sliding out. I needed replacement covers.

I made the length of felt some time ago. I embedded the silk threads into it to add interest. It was intended to be a scarf but as pretty as it was, it was too hot for me!

So I cut a folded rectangle just longer than the emery boards and another rectangle, just bigger than my closed mirror case. I pinned each piece together and using embroidery floss, blanket stitched the pieces to make two covers.

Using pink card I cut a narrower, folded rectangle to make a pull out lining for the emery board cover. I cut out a thumb pull, slid the folded pink card into the cover and it was done! I lined the emery board cover with card to stop them from catching or tearing the felt. Just pull the pink card up a little and the boards come out smoothly.

So now these two covers are in a side pocket in my handbag. I am glad they have the silk threads in bright colours as the inside of my bag is black and gloomy, but I can see and easily find these in their pockets.

Quick, easy and effective.

READING

The Long Call

The latest Ann Cleeves thriller introduces a new character, Detective Inspector Matthew Venn, in a series called Two Rivers. This book, published in 2019, is set in North Devon where the rivers Taw and Torridge converge and run into the sea. This is a typical Ann Cleeves murder story with complex twists and turns.

If you enjoyed the Shetland and Vera Stanhope series, you’ll enjoy this new book, too. Apparently, the film rights have already been secured for this story. It was a good read and I finished it in two long sessions.

Incidental Inventions By Elena Ferrante

Are you an Elena Ferrante fan? Her books were very popular in recent years and I’ve read them all. They have been made into a HBO series, too. This book is different. Ferrante, a pseudonym, was approached by The Guardian to write a weekly column for their paper. This book is the collection of her columns from January 2018 until January 2019, arranged in chronological order.

I loved the Neopolitan Novels, for which she is most famous and eagerly began this collection. Her description of how she approached writing the 52 columns was interesting, but her nervy, anxious state of mind and resulting edgy, uncomfortable writing eventually exhausted me and I gave up at the last week of April. Her internal tension is reflected in her books but amplified in her columns. And the final comment is about Andrea Ucini’s whimsical illustrations at the beginning of each column. They are delightful.

India Hicks: A Slice of England: The Story of Four Houses by India Hicks | Hardcover | 2018 | 30 Day Money Back Guarantee | Best Price Guarantee

If you like peeking into lavishly decorated English houses ( the author’s father is David Hicks, the famous decorator) rambling around fabulous gardens and visiting very old houses through to the newly built, you’ll enjoy the very stylish India Hick’s “A Slice of England”. Related to the Royal family and grand daughter of Louis, Earl Mountbatten of India, she has access to amazing homes, beautiful furniture and century old crockery and cutlery and masses of decorator items.

She also details how she and her partner designed, built and decorated their new home. This is a gorgeous book, and I enjoyed the tidbits of history and fabulous houses with their treasures, although none of it really relates to my life in suburban Perth!

December the 4th is the birthdate of St Barbara, the patron saint of miners. December the 6th is MINERS DAY, recognizing the men and women who spend their days working, often underground, to provide the coal, steel and copper among other metals we demand to sustain our way of life.

So take a look around you and acknowledge the products dependent on mining, from your phone to your transport, your pots and pans and devices. All require products dug from the Earth.

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