01/08/2007

Foodie With Family

Celebrations mean one culinary event after another

By Rebecca Lindamood
Local columnist

In our house, we have a major culinary event nearly every week from the Oct. 10 through the first week of February. The occasions range from kids' birthdays (all five of them fall between October and January) to Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Burns Nicht and the Superbowl.

Saying that the meals are each unique and diverse would not quite cover it. Each day has its own special traditions and foods.

Birthdays give the happy lads their choice of meal, cake and ice cream. This season's meal selections were fried chicken and "no vegetables, Mommy,” fast food, peanut butter balls and "chicken legs and bones” (or drumsticks and wings.) My poor Aidan had the stomach flu on his birthday and opted for "Birthday Jell-O.” Little Rowan had his first ever birthday cake and was more interested in throwing it than eating it. Next year we'll try pie.

Thanksgiving and Christmas were filled with fabulous traditional fare. Thanksgiving at home gave us a succulent brined roast maple turkey with all the trimmings.

Christmas with family provided us with a juicy, peppery roast beast with horseradish and Kummelweck rolls, cream cheese with homemade hot pepper jelly and a gigantic, creamy, white-chocolate and strawberry cheesecake made by my sister-in-law. The day after Christmas we did what we do best at my Mom's house. We grazed all day on little finger foods; cheese and pepperoni with crackers; veggie sticks; lots of good tea and coffee; wonderful cookies and bars made by my sister; fresh super-garlicky garlic bread; and pasta with various savory toppings.

New Year's Eve saw us in Harrisburg with my Dad and my Val (stepmom) and most of my siblings indulging in a massive stockpot of hale and hearty savory beef stew topped with Pinconning cheese dumplings.

Burns Nicht will definitely bring us a steaming brown bannock with a pot of sweet cream butter and a roast leg of lamb studded with garlic cloves. Health permitting, we'll celebrate Robert Burns' birthday again with our dear friends, the Santoras. We'll "pipe in the kids” with a CD of bag-pipe music, eat until we're going to burst like the proverbial haggis and cap the evening off by reading reams of Burns' poetry, singing and playing lots of piano and guitar, and having a wee dram. We've not yet had the stomach, literally and figuratively, to make a haggis, although the kids would probably dig the traditional haggis-stabbing portion of the evening.

Last but not least is the Superbowl. This year will be a test of both my finger-food making skills, physical agility and hand-eye coordination. I will perform a mind-bending combination of fast forwarding (courtesy of TiVo) through commercials and the half-time show and throwing myself bodily between my kids' eyes and the TV while singing "The Safety Dance” loudly to prevent them from seeing the Victoria's Secret commercials. This year, between my performances, we'll be enjoying taco dip, soft pretzels with garlic butter, spicy Asian chicken wings, a veggie porcupine with pimiento cheese, and a dulce de leche with dark chocolate ganache cheesecake.

I hope all your holidays were as jam-packed with food, family and friends as ours. Here are a couple of recipes we're enjoying this time of year.

Hot Brown Bannock

• 4 c. all-purpose flour
• 8 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1&3/4 c. milk
• 1 egg
• 6 T. vegetable oil

Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl, then add to the dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Preheat oven to 425°. Turn bannock dough onto floured surface, knead lightly for a dozen turns and separate into two balls.

Sprinkle cornmeal on a baking pan. Flatten dough balls to about one inch thick and put at least five inches apart on prepared pan. Bake in 425° oven for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. If rolled out and cut, this also makes great biscuits. You can also add some sugar for a scone-like taste or add cheddar cheese and ham bits for a nice variation.

— Courtesy of Alison Santora

Pimiento Cheese Spread

• 1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 c. mayonnaise
• 1/2 small onion, grated
• 1/2 t. garlic powder, onion powder, coarse salt, fresh ground pepper
• 8 oz. grated sharp cheddar
• 8 oz. grated extra sharp cheddar
• 1 (4 oz.) jar pimientos, with juice from jar
• Additional cracked black pepper to taste
• Assorted crackers
• Veggie sticks (carrots, celery, etc.)

Combine the cream cheese, mayonnaise, grated onion, garlic powder, onion powder, coarse salt and fresh ground pepper in the bowl of your food processor that has been fitted with a blade. Pulse until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the shredded cheddar. Pulse seven or eight times until the cheese is mixed in, but not completely blended. Scrape down bowl again, and add the pimientos. Pulse four or five times until the pimientos are chopped to a medium texture. If you process too much you'll just have pink cheese spread.

You could prepare this by hand if you do not have a food processor by combining the cream cheese, mayonnaise, grated onion, garlic powder, onion powder, coarse salt and fresh ground pepper in a bowl until thoroughly blended. Add in the grated cheese and pimientos that you've chopped roughly with their juice and stir vigorously until thoroughly blended.

Transfer mixture to serving dish. Serve immediately with crackers and veggie sticks. This is also amazing on hamburgers and sandwiches. Leftovers can be tightly covered with plastic wrap and kept in the fridge.

Spicy Asian Wings

• 1/2 c. chopped green onion
• 1/4 c. honey
• 2 T. soy sauce
• 2 T. more or less according to taste Asian chili sauce (Sriracha is our preferred brand)
• 2 T. oyster sauce (substitute 1½ T. ketchup mixed with 1&1/2 t. of Worcestershire sauce if needed.)
• 2 T. hoisin sauce (you can substitute a light barbecue sauce if you can't find this.)
• 2 T. dark Asian sesame oil
• 1 T. fresh grated ginger root
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 lbs. frozen chicken wing portions

Heat oven to 450°. Grease large baking pan.

Combine green onion, honey, soy sauce, chili sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, ginger and garlic in large bowl. Add wings; toss to coat. Place wings with sauce in single layer in prepared baking pan. Bake, turning occasionally, 25 minutes or until chicken is evenly browned.

Increase oven temperature to broil. Broil wings six inches from heat, turning occasionally, for eight minutes or until the wings get little charred bits and the sauce begins to thicken. Remove wings to a slow cooker set on low. Cover until within 15 minutes of serving time (no more than two hours.) Uncover, stir well, and sprinkle with fresh chopped green onion. You can leave slow cooker uncovered while serving. If your slow cooker has a warm setting, you should use it at this point. Excellent served with something dairy like pimiento cheese or bleu cheese dressing to cool the palate.

Rebecca Lindamood is a northern Lower Michigan native now living in New York state. A food lover and mother of five children, she writes occasionally on issues related to preparing creative, yet affordable, meals for a family. Drop Rebecca an e-mail at shakeyourfoodie@yahoo.com or write to her care of the Record-Eagle.