Dinner and a Movie
norwich36 came over last night so we could watch/mock The Christmas Cottage. (For some reason, IMDb is insisting the proper title is Thomas Kinkade's Home for Christmas, but the DVD itself calls it The Christmas Cottage.) I have only a few things to say about the movie:
Lentil Soup
First, the recipe as given to me by my mother:
Put in a pot and cook until lentil are done about 1 1/2 hours
1 cup red lentils (although I have made it with green lentils)
2-4 carrots, diced
2-3 celery stalks, diced
1 onion, diced
Water (the original recipe calls for 3 quarts; I pour it in until it looks right)
1 can tomatoes (or 1 can tomato puree; the original recipe calls for 1 cup tomato puree)
freshly ground pepper (the original recipe calls for 1/4 tsp; I always use more to taste)
ground coriander (the original recipe calls for 1/4 tsp; I always use more to taste)
curry powder (the original recipe calls for 1/4 tsp; I always use more to taste)
Stir in 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley just before serving.
Pass the plain yogurt.
The original recipe calls for 1 cup clarified butter; you melt the butter; add carrot, celery, onion, and cook about 10 min. Then stir in the lentils. Then add the rest and simmer for 45 minutes. Stir in parsley. Serve, pass the yogurt. I don't think I ever used this much butter even when I made it according to the recipe. And I don't think I ever only cooked it for 45 min.
Now, my notes and modifications: I doubled the recipe (I wanted to have enough leftovers to (a) eat and (b) send some home with Nora.), so I put in one can of tomatoes and one can of tomato paste.
I did not serve it with yogurt, and I didn't want to buy a lot of parsley I wouldn't use the rest of, so I didn't put that in either. I did not make it with butter.
It's still a little more watery than my mom used to make it, so next time I'll add less water. I had a doctor's appointment at exactly the time I had planned to start chopping vegetables, so I cut up the celery and carrots earlier and put them in bowls of water in the fridge. When it came time to make the soup, I dumped the bowls, water and all, into the pot.
Salad
lettuce
tomato
cucumber
Dressing
garlic olive oil
balsamic vinegar
garlic sea salt
freshly ground pepper
I suppose you could mix all this together first and then pour it over your salad, but I just dumped each of them on top of the salad separately and mixed the whole thing. I thought about bell pepper too, but I wasn't impressed with the ones in the store, and I've been wanting cucumber, which would go bad before I could eat it all if I weren't feeding some of it to someone else.
Lemon Thyme Biscuits
1/4 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon lemon zest, freshly grated
2 cups white flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
3/4 cup buttermilk
buttermilk for brushing
Preheat the oven to 425. Lightly oil a baking sheet.
Place the butter pieces and lemon peel in a medium bowl or in food processor. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt over the butter. By hand or with the food processor, mix the butter into the flour until evenly distributed. Add the thyme and mix well. Add the buttermilk and stir or pulse briefly.
The dough will be soft and a little sticky. On a lightly floured surface, pat the dough into a 9-inch circle that is about 1/2 inch thick. Slice it into six pie-shaped wedges.
Place the wedges on the prepared baking sheet and brush the tops with a little buttermilk. Bake for 20 minutes, until the biscuits are firm and nice and golden brown. Serve immediately.
Notes: These come from a Moosewood cookbook. I don't know if the food processor instructions also come from the cookbook or if that was new to the place I found it online. As easy as biscuits are by hand, I may use the food processor for them from here on out. The food processor is certainly easier to wash than a pastry cutter.
Don't believe the 20 minutes. I baked the first batch (I doubled this recipe too) for 20 minutes, and they were a little overdone. I did the second batch for only 17, and that was better. I also used parchment paper instead of oiling the cookie sheet.
Brownies
1/2 cup butter
4 oz. baking chocolate
4 eggs, room temperature
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1 cup pecans, chopped
Preheat oven to 350. Melt chocolate and butter in double boiler and then cool mixture. If you don't cool the mixture, your brownies will be heavy and dry.
Beat eggs and salt until light in color and foamy in texture and gradually add sugar and vanilla. Continue beating until well creamed.
With a few swift strokes, combine the cooled chocolate mixture into the eggs and sugar. Even if you normally use an electric mixer, do this manually.
Before the mixture becomes uniformly colored, fold in the flour, again by hand (overworking the dough tends to cause toughness). Before the flour is uniformly colored, stir the nut meats in gently.
Bake in a 9x13-inch pan for about 25 minutes. Cut when cool.
Notes: This is the Brownies Cockaigne from Joy of Cooking (I have the 1964 edition, where they are on page 653). I leave out the salt and the nuts. I use the eggs right out of the fridge. I melt the chocolate and butter in a regular old saucepan and I don't usually let it cool as much as they say you should. (I usually just put the pan in the fridge while I beat the eggs and cream in the sugar and vanilla.) Again, parchment paper will make cleanup and removal from the pan a lot easier.
Joy of Cooking suggests serving these with whipped cream, which is excellent. My dad gives blood regularly and had a pint for a pint Baskin Robbins coupon that he gave me, so I used that to get mint chocolate chip ice cream to go with them instead. I was quite impressed with the woman's dedication to stuffing as much ice cream as possible into the plastic container, which bulged at both the top and the bottom when she was done.
- Jared Padalecki has a limited acting range, and this role does not fall within it.
- This movie has a surprisingly large number of recognizable names in it.
- I clearly need more generally fannish people on my friends list because I didn't know Richard Burgi was going to be in it.
- If you, for some crazy reason, decide you want to watch the movie, you should definitely watch the special features. The Christmas With the Cast things are mostly entertaining, and some of the deleted scenes are better than what made it into the movie. If you drink alcohol, that may also make the whole experience more bearable.
Lentil Soup
First, the recipe as given to me by my mother:
Put in a pot and cook until lentil are done about 1 1/2 hours
1 cup red lentils (although I have made it with green lentils)
2-4 carrots, diced
2-3 celery stalks, diced
1 onion, diced
Water (the original recipe calls for 3 quarts; I pour it in until it looks right)
1 can tomatoes (or 1 can tomato puree; the original recipe calls for 1 cup tomato puree)
freshly ground pepper (the original recipe calls for 1/4 tsp; I always use more to taste)
ground coriander (the original recipe calls for 1/4 tsp; I always use more to taste)
curry powder (the original recipe calls for 1/4 tsp; I always use more to taste)
Stir in 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley just before serving.
Pass the plain yogurt.
The original recipe calls for 1 cup clarified butter; you melt the butter; add carrot, celery, onion, and cook about 10 min. Then stir in the lentils. Then add the rest and simmer for 45 minutes. Stir in parsley. Serve, pass the yogurt. I don't think I ever used this much butter even when I made it according to the recipe. And I don't think I ever only cooked it for 45 min.
Now, my notes and modifications: I doubled the recipe (I wanted to have enough leftovers to (a) eat and (b) send some home with Nora.), so I put in one can of tomatoes and one can of tomato paste.
I did not serve it with yogurt, and I didn't want to buy a lot of parsley I wouldn't use the rest of, so I didn't put that in either. I did not make it with butter.
It's still a little more watery than my mom used to make it, so next time I'll add less water. I had a doctor's appointment at exactly the time I had planned to start chopping vegetables, so I cut up the celery and carrots earlier and put them in bowls of water in the fridge. When it came time to make the soup, I dumped the bowls, water and all, into the pot.
Salad
lettuce
tomato
cucumber
Dressing
garlic olive oil
balsamic vinegar
garlic sea salt
freshly ground pepper
I suppose you could mix all this together first and then pour it over your salad, but I just dumped each of them on top of the salad separately and mixed the whole thing. I thought about bell pepper too, but I wasn't impressed with the ones in the store, and I've been wanting cucumber, which would go bad before I could eat it all if I weren't feeding some of it to someone else.
Lemon Thyme Biscuits
1/4 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon lemon zest, freshly grated
2 cups white flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
3/4 cup buttermilk
buttermilk for brushing
Preheat the oven to 425. Lightly oil a baking sheet.
Place the butter pieces and lemon peel in a medium bowl or in food processor. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt over the butter. By hand or with the food processor, mix the butter into the flour until evenly distributed. Add the thyme and mix well. Add the buttermilk and stir or pulse briefly.
The dough will be soft and a little sticky. On a lightly floured surface, pat the dough into a 9-inch circle that is about 1/2 inch thick. Slice it into six pie-shaped wedges.
Place the wedges on the prepared baking sheet and brush the tops with a little buttermilk. Bake for 20 minutes, until the biscuits are firm and nice and golden brown. Serve immediately.
Notes: These come from a Moosewood cookbook. I don't know if the food processor instructions also come from the cookbook or if that was new to the place I found it online. As easy as biscuits are by hand, I may use the food processor for them from here on out. The food processor is certainly easier to wash than a pastry cutter.
Don't believe the 20 minutes. I baked the first batch (I doubled this recipe too) for 20 minutes, and they were a little overdone. I did the second batch for only 17, and that was better. I also used parchment paper instead of oiling the cookie sheet.
Brownies
1/2 cup butter
4 oz. baking chocolate
4 eggs, room temperature
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1 cup pecans, chopped
Preheat oven to 350. Melt chocolate and butter in double boiler and then cool mixture. If you don't cool the mixture, your brownies will be heavy and dry.
Beat eggs and salt until light in color and foamy in texture and gradually add sugar and vanilla. Continue beating until well creamed.
With a few swift strokes, combine the cooled chocolate mixture into the eggs and sugar. Even if you normally use an electric mixer, do this manually.
Before the mixture becomes uniformly colored, fold in the flour, again by hand (overworking the dough tends to cause toughness). Before the flour is uniformly colored, stir the nut meats in gently.
Bake in a 9x13-inch pan for about 25 minutes. Cut when cool.
Notes: This is the Brownies Cockaigne from Joy of Cooking (I have the 1964 edition, where they are on page 653). I leave out the salt and the nuts. I use the eggs right out of the fridge. I melt the chocolate and butter in a regular old saucepan and I don't usually let it cool as much as they say you should. (I usually just put the pan in the fridge while I beat the eggs and cream in the sugar and vanilla.) Again, parchment paper will make cleanup and removal from the pan a lot easier.
Joy of Cooking suggests serving these with whipped cream, which is excellent. My dad gives blood regularly and had a pint for a pint Baskin Robbins coupon that he gave me, so I used that to get mint chocolate chip ice cream to go with them instead. I was quite impressed with the woman's dedication to stuffing as much ice cream as possible into the plastic container, which bulged at both the top and the bottom when she was done.