Such fun in the kitchen at Hirsch's Homestore Hillcrest preparing for the holiday season!
Most of us will be spending Christmas at Home this year, so we whipped up some of our favourites that you can try at home. You can get the recipes and watch the replay below:
Phyllo pastry pies
Ingredients:
Veg stock 20ml
Phyllo pastry sheets
Pepper
1/3 cup brown quinoa
½ cup of vegan margarine
Artichoke hearts x 2 jars
¼ cup olives
Parsley to garnish
50ml of coconut cream
100g of sliced mushrooms
Garlic, salt and pepper
10ml coconut oil
Method:
Cook the quinoa on the stove until soft. Drain the liquid and mix in 20ml of vegetable stock.
Saute mushrooms with the garlic and seasoning until brown. Slowly add the coconut cream to the mixture and allow to thicken.
Once cooked Combine all ingredients
Brush pastry sheets and layer into pan
Add filling and bake for 12- 15mins at 180 degrees C
Prawn Cocktail
Ingredients:
1 kg of cleaned and de-shelled prawns
3 Table Spoons of fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper
3 cup iceberg lettuce, finely sliced
Lemon wedges
Finely chopped parsley (optional)
Radishes
rocket
Sauce:
165 ml mayonnaise
1 tbsp Tomato sauce
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
A Dash of tabasco sauce (to taste)
A Pinch of cayenne pepper (to taste + tiny bit of colour)
Method:
Fry the prawns with the lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Cook for 2minutes until the Prawns have turned pink and cooked.
Mix together Sauce in a small bowl.
Toss prawns with Sauce.
Place a bit of lettuce in serving dishes. We like to use Martini glasses, but you can use any small serving vessel, or even small lettuce cups.
Top with prawns. Serve, garnished with lemon wedges and a sprinkle of parsley, if using.
Turkey
Ingredients:
1 pound turkey
1 onion , peeled and quartered
1 lemon , quartered
1 apple (your favourite kind), quartered
fresh rosemary *
fresh thyme *
fresh sage *
For the herb butter:
· 1 cup unsalted butter , softened
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
· 6-8 cloves garlic , minced
· fresh chopped herbs
Instructions
1.If the turkey is frozen: Thaw in the fridge. Remove the thawed turkey from the fridge 1 hour before roasting, to let it come to room temperature.
2. Adjust your oven rack so the turkey will sit in the centre of the oven. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
3. Make the herb butter by combining room temperature butter, minced garlic, salt, pepper, one tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary, one tablespoon fresh chopped thyme, and half a tablespoon of fresh chopped sage. (You’ll use the remaining fresh herbs for stuffing inside the cavity of the turkey)
4. Remove turkey from packaging and remove the neck and giblets from the inside the cavities of the bird.
5. Season the cavity of the turkey with salt and pepper. Stuff it with the quartered lemon, onion and apple and leftover herbs.
6. Use your fingers to loosen and lift the skin above the breasts (on the top of the turkey) and smooth a few tablespoons of the herb butter underneath.
7. Tuck the wings of the turkey underneath the turkey and set the turkey on a roasting rack inside a roasting pan*.
8. Microwave the remaining herb butter mixture for 30 seconds (it doesn’t need to be completely melted--just really softened). Use a basting brush to brush the remaining herb butter all over the outside of the turkey, legs and wings.
9. Roast at 180 degrees C for about 2 Hours or until the red needle pops up.
10. Check the turkey about halfway through cooking, and once the skin gets golden brown, cover the top of the turkey with tinfoil, to protect the breast meat from overcooking.
11. Allow turkey to rest for 20-30 minutes before carving.
Vegan Ham
Ingredients:
2 cups sliced and peeled sweet potato
2 cups raw nuts or seeds
2 Tbsp fresh thyme
2 cups cooked brown or green lentils
1/2 tsp each sea salt and black pepper
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Liquid smoke
1/2 cup gluten-free bread
Pineapple, jam & cherries to glaza
Method:
1. Heat the oven to (176 C)
2. Cook the sweet potato for 5 minutes in the microwave or until tender Set aside uncovered to cool slightly.
3. To a large (at least 7-cup) food processor, add nuts and pulse a few times into a loose meal. Then add sweet potatoes, mushrooms, and thyme, and pulse to combine. Lastly, add lentils, salt, and pepper and pulse to loosely combine but be careful not to purée.
4. Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl and add Worcestershire and stir until a loose dough forms. Then add bread crumbs a little at a time until a thick dough forms. If for some reason it’s too wet, add more bread crumbs as needed.
5. Transfer the mixture to the parchment-lined loaf pan, shape, and press into a ham then ..
6. Bake uncovered for 35 minutes or until golden brown on the edges and slightly dry to the touch. Remove from oven and let rest for 10-15 minutes in the pan. Place the vegan soya sauce, worster sauce and water into a bowl, dip the rice paper sheets and place onto the ham then top with the jam glaze, Pineapple and cherries. Bake for a further 7minutes.
Home Made Cassata Ice Cream
Ingredients for the ice cream:
· 2 cans coconut cream (800ml)
· 2 teaspoon vanilla paste or natural vanilla extract
· ½ cup sugar
For the stir through ingredients:
· ¼ cup currants
· 2 tablespoon brandy
· ¼ cup pistachios roughly chopped
· ¼ cup candied peel
· ½ cup glace cherries roughly chopped
For the drizzle: berry Coulis
For the garnish:
· Additional cherries, pistachios and candied peel
Method:
1. Start by stirring the currants and rum together in a small dish, set aside to let the currants soak up the rum.
2. Gently heat the ice cream ingredients together in a saucepan, stirring until the sugar has dissolved and any hard lumps of coconut cream have melted. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
3. Pour the ice cream mixture into the frozen bowl of an ice cream machine and set it to churn. Churn until it's the texture of soft serve ice cream. somewhere between 1 and 1 ½ hours.
4. Scrape the ice cream into a large mixing bowl, add rum soaked currants and other stir through ingredients. Fold together quickly and smoothly, until well mixed.
5. Scrape ice cream into a lined loaf tin, cover and freeze for at least 3-4 hours (or until firm).
6. When ready to serve. Carefully invert the loaf of ice cream onto a serving platter and remove the lining. You may need to briefly dip the tin into hot water to help it release.
7. Drizzle over the berry coulis and garnish with extra cherries, pistachios and candied peel.
8. Serve immediately.
Christmas Cake
Cake topping
50 g apricot jam
250 g glacé or dried fruits , whole or cut into large strips
pecans
walnuts
almonds
pine nuts
Cake Ingredients:
500 g mixed cake fruit
125 g mixed peel
100 g red cherries, chopped
125 ml brandy
10ml bicarbonate of soda
250 g butter or hard margarine
200 g soft brown sugar (250 ml)
3 large eggs, beaten
130 g cake flour (280 ml)
10ml ground cinnamon
2 ml ground cloves
2 ml ground ginger
3 ml ground nutmeg
1 ml ground allspice
100 g toasted almonds, chopped
100 g flaked almonds
250 g raw grated carrots (500 ml)
50 ml golden syrup
The rind of l lemon and l orange
125 ml sweet orange marmalade
10 ml chocolate colouring/ 60 ml cocoa or 8 squares melted dark chocolate
Method
1. Firstly Mix the cake fruit, mixed peel, and cherries in the brandy. Then Add in the bicarbonate of soda and leave overnight.
2. Secondly, Cream the butter and sugar very well for at least 5 minutes in an electric mixer.
3. Then Add the eggs alternatively with the sifted dry ingredients.
4. Add in the soaked fruit mixture and mix in the breadcrumbs, nuts, carrots, golden syrup, lemon and orange rind, marmalade, and chocolate colouring/cocoa or chocolate. Mix well together.
5. Spoon into 2 x greased medium-size cake tins and bake for 1 hour at 160’C
6. Allow to cool, turn out and top with the cake topping.
Stay tuned to our blog for exciting recipes, networking sessions, product knowledge and much more.
Much Love,
Margaret Hirsch