Biscuit anyone?

Ok, every time I complain about the weather, the temperature drops another 4 or 5 degrees. This morning it was -6 Celsius. But I got my wish, the sun was shining! Is this ironic or what?

Well, weather aside, Christmas is just around the corner and this year will be extra special because we're spending it with our families in Greece. We did put up our Christmas tree though last weekend to get in the holiday mood -as if I need any help with that. The kid in me is rearing its happy head. I Heart Christmas.

Twinkle lights around my Christmas tree, brilliant decorations all around the streets, shiny happy people shopping for presents and me tucked away in my little expat kitchen baking Christmas goodies.
If you haven't baked anything yet for the holidays, what are you waiting for? This is the time. Get in your kitchen and make this recipe. It's so easy and so delicious. These biscuits are a little spicy and buttery, just like a proper Christmas biscuit should be. Use your favorite festive cookie cutters for fun shapes and try some icing on the biscuits too. Use your imagination and see where it takes you with all kinds of edible decorations like dried or candied fruits, nuts, sprinkles and dragées. Have fun! That's what the holidays are for.

Roll-out Christmas Biscuits with Maple Syrup and Spices
Adapted from Martha Stewart

While you bake these delightful treats, your home will be filled with the warm scent of spices and maple syrup, and once they're out of the oven you'll be powerless to resist them.
Even though these crispy biscuits can be adorned in many different ways, I prefer them bare and simple. They're the perfect complement to my morning coffee and I assure you they are ideal for those midday or late-night holiday sugar cravings.

Yield: 40-50 medium sized biscuits

Ingredients

for biscuits
125 g (or 1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp) unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed* soft dark brown sugar
2/3 cup pure maple syrup
A good Tbsp of brandy
1/2 tsp ground clove
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Zest of 1/2 medium sized orange
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

for glacé icing
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
3 Tbsp boiling water
Gel food coloring of your choice (optional)


Preparation

for biscuits
Preheat the oven to 190 Celsius.
Prepare your baking sheet by lining it with baking paper or a non-stick mat.
Place the butter, sugar and maple syrup in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the mixture comes to the boil and then remove from heat. Stir in clove, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, orange zest, brandy and vanilla extract. Then stir in the baking soda and you will notice that the mixture immediately starts to puff up. Add the flour and stir to combine well, until you can't see any more white. Let cool in the pan for about 30 minutes and then put the mixture in plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for about 30 more minutes or until it becomes firm enough to roll out.
Divide dough into two equal pieces. Turn one piece of dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and roll it out with a floured rolling pin to 0.5 cm thick. Repeat the process with the remaining piece of dough and shape biscuits with your preferred cookie cutters.
Working in batches, place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheet, 1.5 cm apart, put baking sheet on the middle rack of the oven and bake biscuits until crisp, for 6-8 minutes.
Remove sheet from the oven and leave biscuits on it until they cool slightly and their shape sets. Then carefully remove them onto a wire rack to cool completely.

for glacé icing
To make the icing, put the sifted icing sugar in a bowl and add the water slowly, a little at at time, stirring until it becomes smooth. Stop adding water when you like the consistency. You can add a tiny amount of color by using a toothpick dipped into the gel. You can always add more if you want but keep in mind that a little goes a long way. Decorate your biscuits.

Store biscuits in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.





*Packed refers to the measurement of the brown sugar. It means that instead of simply filling a measuring cup with brown sugar thus creating many air pockets, you pack it firmly into the measuring cup, pushing it down until you can't fit any more in.

Brrrrr!

It's so cold these last couple of weeks, it's crazy. Not being a Holland native it's kind of difficult getting used to. My mediterranean blood yearns for some rays of sun and a little bit of warmth. I bet any expat from my side of the woods will have sympathy for me.

But hey, I'm not complaining. I actually like the crisp wind on my face... as long as I can feel my face afterwards. Well it surely wakes you up though! Yesterday I went shopping on the cold streets of The Hague and I was so alert it was kind of bad for my wallet. No bargain sale escaped me! And as you can imagine, I shopped around at my favorite cook shops as well. My best find? The Microplane zester. A bit pricy and maybe I didn't actually need it but I thought I'd indulge myself. I can't help it, I love my kitchen gadgets.

Now, with this kind of introduction I bet you thought a soup was coming up. But no, no soup from me today. I think I have something more interesting for you and a little bit more gratifying.
Fillet of pork, colorful bell peppers, the world's most expensive spice - saffron. How does that sound? Fillet is one of the best cuts of pork and saffron is one of the best spices. So how can one go wrong with this combination? The bell peppers and tomatoes provide sweetness and take away some of the bitterness of the saffron, whereas the luxurious saffron lends its beautiful color to the whole dish. It's a wonderfully tasty and healthy dinner option, special enough for company. You can serve it alongside a bowl of brown rice and make sure you have an ever so slightly chilled bottle of young Beaujolais to pair the dish with.





Pork fillet with Bell Peppers and Saffron

You can use either saffron threads or powder for this recipe. Saffron threads have a more powerful and richer taste than powdered saffron but they need to be soaked in water in order to release their flavor. Powdered saffron dissolves easily in foods.




Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients
500 g pork fillet, cut into small cubes
1 green bell pepper, cut into strips
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into strips
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
2 large tomatoes, sliced
3 green onions, sliced
2 Tbsp flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
10-12 saffron threads or a dash (1/16 tsp) of saffron powder
1 Tbsp hot water
4 Tbsp olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preparation
If you're using saffron threads place them in a small bowl and pour the hot water over them. Soak the threads for 20 minutes before starting to cook the dish. Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork pieces and brown them lightly. Remove them from the pan and add the green onions and bell peppers and sauté lightly. Return the pork to the pan and add the tomatoes, the water with the soaked saffron or the saffron powder if that's what you're using, salt and pepper. Stir everything around so that the ingredients get mixed together, lower the heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes or until the meat is almost cooked. During this time the vegetables will release their water thus flavoring the meat along with the saffron. Remove the lid, turn heat up to medium and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated (you don't want the meat to be completely dry). Remove from heat, sprinkle with the parsley and serve.

It's clementine time

I love the smell of citrus fruit. That pungent, sweet smell of oranges, that fresh scent of lemons, mandarins and of course clementines - which are a cross between a mandarin and a navel orange - always tickle my nostrils and stir up memories.

Mostly it reminds me of home. Walking down the street or simply going to my back yard and just picking fruit from the trees which are always full, especially this time of year. Bitter and navel orange, mandarin and lemon trees grow everywhere in Greece. It's such a beautiful sight and such an inspiration for cooking as well.

I always get so excited when I see the first clementines of the season making their appearance at the stalls of my local greengrocer. So many recipes go running through my head. From a simple clementine juice packed with precious vitamin C to an elaborate clementine sweet souffle, there's so much to choose from.

So, with no further ado, let's get cooking! I have two recipes for you today. One savory and one sweet.
Take your pick!

Chicken Breasts with Clementine Salsa
Adapted from Bon Appétit

The juicy clementines and sweet cherry tomatoes balance perfectly with the heat of the chili and the freshness of the cilantro and basil. The chicken breasts are moist and tender making this colorful dish very special and very healthy indeed. It would be a great dish for a dinner with friends paired with a chilled white wine.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients
4 chicken breast halves, no skin (about 150 g each)
4 clementines, peeled and diced (about 1 cup)
1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/2 cup red onion, finely diced
1/2 cup celery, finely diced
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
1/4 cup fresh coriander leaves (cilantro), roughly chopped
4 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp lime juice, freshly squeezed
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 cup clementine juice, freshly squeezed (from about 6 clementines)
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

Place the chicken breast halves between two sheets of plastic wrap and using a mallet, pound chicken to a 1 cm thickness. This is not only a way of reducing cooking time, since the meat is thinner but it is also a way of tenderizing it.
To make the salsa, mix the diced clementines with the cherry tomatoes, red onion, celery, basil, coriander, lime juice and 2 Tbsp of the olive oil in a medium bowl . Add salt and pepper and toss.
The salsa can be made 2 hours ahead and can be kept covered, at room temperature. Uncover chicken and sprinkle both sides with salt and chili powder. Heat the remaining 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and add the chicken. Cook until it is slightly browned and cooked through, about 4-5 minutes per side. When the chicken is ready, remove from skillet and place onto a platter.
Add clementine juice to the skillet and boil until it's reduced to 1/4 cup. Be sure to stir often, about 2 minutes.
Drizzle the sauce over the chicken and spoon the salsa over. Serve immediately.

Clementines in Spiced Ginger Syrup
Adapted from Gourmet

This is a highly aromatic and spicy yet very light dessert. The honeyed orange flavor of the clementines marries well with the peppery heat of the ginger and the spirit of the spices. Its Algerian origin makes it an exotic pick for a dinner party dessert.

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
4 green cardamom pods
2 whole star anise
1/2 cinnamon stick
6 clementines (alternatively you can use mandarins)

Preparation

In a small saucepan place the water, sugar, ginger, cardamom pods, cinnamon and star anise. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, then simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and leave to infuse, covered, for about 15 minutes. Strain syrup through a sieve into a bowl and discard the solids. Cover the bowl and chill the syrup until cold, for at least 2 hours.
Peel clementines, making sure to remove the white pith as well. You may want to use a knife to do that. Then cut fruit into 1.5 cm thick rounds and put in a serving bowl.
Add syrup and chill, covered, for at least 1 hour.
You can keep them in the refrigerator for up to 3 days at most.