Ingredient: walnuts,

Christmas Pate’

Christmas gatherings would not be complete without pate’. For many people, pate’ brings to mind a fancy goose liver-based hors d’ oeuvre spread — but not all pate’ is made from liver!

While traditionally served baked in a crust, today pate’ simply describes a wide variety of smooth blends of meats, poultry, seafood, vegetables, dairy products, liquors like sherry or cognac with herbs and spices. 

Pates’ can be smooth and creamy (mousse) or firm and chunkier (country style). Mousses spread effortlessly on crackers or bread while country style varieties can be sliced or cubed for appetizers or sandwiches.  Equally flavorful hot or cold, pates’ are best served at room temperature.

Recipes are not always extravagant and widely vary from the humble appetizer prepared at home to one of the most expensive dishes served in world renowned restaurants.

There are no rigid rules for cooking or serving pate’.  Nearly any flavor profile that appeals to you can be made into one. Today I wanted to feature a couple of very simple but tasty pates’ you might enjoy to try somewhere throughout the Christmas season.

Print Recipe
 Pistachio & Turkey Pate' / Walnut & Wild Mushroom Pate'
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Course Brunch, Finger Food Buffet
Cuisine American, European, French
Servings
Ingredients
Pistachio & Turkey Pate'
Walnut & Wild Mushroom Pate'
Course Brunch, Finger Food Buffet
Cuisine American, European, French
Servings
Ingredients
Pistachio & Turkey Pate'
Walnut & Wild Mushroom Pate'
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
Instructions
Pistachio & Turkey Pate'
  1. Line a small bowl with plastic wrap.
  2. In a food processor, combine turkey, onions, sour cream & mustard; process until mixture is well blended & smooth. Add relish; process about 30 seconds or until JUST combined. Spoon into lined bowl; cover with plastic wrap & press gently. Refrigerate 1-2 hours to blend flavors.
  3. Unmold onto serving; remove plastic wrap. Sprinkle with chopped pistachios; gently press onto plate. Serve with a variety of crackers. Yield: 2 1/2 cups.
Walnut & Wild Mushroom Pate'
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spread walnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet. Toast for 10 minutes, or until fragrant & lightly browned.
  2. In a large skillet, saute shallots in butter over medium heat until translucent.; add chopped mushrooms, garlic, parsley, thyme, salt & pepper. Cook, stirring often, until most of the liquid has evaporated.
  3. Process toasted walnuts & olive oil in food processor until mixture forms a thick paste. Spoon in the cooked mushroom mixture; process to desired texture. Pack mixture into a well oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap & refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. Serve on baguette slices or crackers of your choice. Yield: 20 servings

German Gingerbread

Christmas is known for bringing out the ancestral origins in all of us, with every culture celebrating the holidays enjoying their specific holiday foods. Although my parents were born here in Canada, our German heritage was very evident in my mother’s cooking and baking.

One cookie that has been made specifically for holidays for hundreds of years is gingerbread. Across Europe you will find many versions of the spicy cookies in different shapes, colors and textures.

‘Lebkucken’, a traditional German gingerbread was invented by medieval monks in Franeonia, Germany in the 13th century. Prepared in monastery bakeries with ingredients that not only had symbolic religious meaning but were highly prized for their healing properties.

There are a variety of types of lebkucken, each distinguished by slight alterations in ingredients. Most common ingredients include:                            * honey, flour, sugar and eggs    * gingerbread spice mix or ‘Lebkuckengewurz’  * almonds, hazelnuts and/or walnuts  * candied lemon and orange peel.   The most critical ingredient being the ‘exotic’ spices from all around the world such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, anise, cardamom, coriander and ginger.

Lebkucken can be round, square or rectangular. They can be glazed or not. Sometimes cocoa is mixed in with the dough making it rich and chocolaty. Other times, roasted apple, marzipan or cashews may be mixed in to add different flavors and textures.

‘Elisen lebkucken’ are the highest quality made. They must have at least 25% almonds, hazelnuts and/or walnuts and must contain no more than 10% flour if any. The ‘Nuremberg lebkucken’, baked in the city of Nuremberg, Germany, are known worldwide to be the best. Marzipan is often an ingredient in these gingerbread.

Of course this brings me back to another memory. Some years ago I had the experience of spending some time in the presence of a Dutch baker. At Christmas time, he would bake these incredible Dutch cookies called ‘Speculaas’ that were filled with marzipan and had that glorious similar spice blend. I just loved it and can’t resist making some version of it every Christmas season since.

Today, I’m making a large batch of lebkucken which I’m going to divide. Half of it is going to be made into ‘glazed’ triangles and the other half  I want to dip in white chocolate and add a little holly decoration. Should be good!

Print Recipe
 German Gingerbread
Gingerbread cookies that are rich with warm spices, toasted nuts and candied fruit.
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Course dessert, Finger Food Buffet
Cuisine American, Dutch, European, German
Servings
Ingredients
Gingerbread Dough
White Chocolate Icing
Glaze
Course dessert, Finger Food Buffet
Cuisine American, Dutch, European, German
Servings
Ingredients
Gingerbread Dough
White Chocolate Icing
Glaze
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
Instructions
Gingerbread Dough
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spread hazelnuts on a baking sheet & toast until the skins blister, about 5 minutes. Let cool slightly, then transfer nuts to a clean kitchen towel & rub together to remove the skins. Cool completely.
  2. In a small bowl, combine almond meal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices & salt. Transfer hazelnuts to a food processor, add walnuts, candied citrus rind & crystallized ginger along with 1 cup of the dry ingredient mixture; pulse until very finely chopped. Add remaining dry ingredients & pulse ONLY to combine.
  3. In a large bowl, using a mixer, beat butter with brown sugar until creamy. Add honey & beat until smooth. Add eggs & vanilla, beating to combine. Fold in dry ingredients then beat until evenly combined. Divide the dough in half. Wrap in plastic wrap & chill for at least 4 hours or overnight.
  4. Line an 8 x 8-inch square baking dish with 2 pieces of parchment paper (this will allow you to easily remove squares fro the pan). Spread the half of the chilled dough evenly into baking pan & bake in the center of the oven until surface is dimpled & a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. The cake should be springy but firm. Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes.
Glaze
  1. In a bowl, whisk powdered sugar with your choice of flavoring & water to make a thin but spreadable glaze. Spread glaze on just-warm cake & let cool completely. Remove cake (with parchment) from pan onto cutting board. Cut 16 squares then cut each square into 2 'triangles' giving you 32 pieces.
Making Individual Cookies
  1. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. Scoop about 1 1/2 Tbsp dough out at a time. Roll into balls. Place on parchment about 2-inches apart & bake at 350 F. for 15 minutes or test with a toothpick. Remove from oven & cool completely.
White Chocolate Icing
  1. In a microwave safe bowl, melt white chocolate chips with 1 Tbsp shortening on HIGH for 10 second intervals, stirring between intervals, until melted, smooth & fairly runny. Dip half of each cookie in melted white chocolate mixture then run bottom of cookie slightly along edge of bowl to remove excess. Place on parchment paper to set at room temperature.
  2. For the holly decoration, melt candy melts, one color at a time. Place in a small piping bag with a #4 tip & pipe decorations. Allow to set up at room temperature. You should have around 26 cookies.
Recipe Notes
  • If you would like a dark depth of flavor, add 2 Tbsp dark, unsweetened cocoa to your cookie dough as well as using a dark brown sugar instead of the light.
  • If you prefer to not make 2 different versions, make the whole recipe into either bars or rounds -- your choice!
  • This is one of those cookies that gets better as it ages.
  • Something I did & found it worked well was to portion out my cookies before chilling the dough.

Pate’ Stuffed Chicken Breast with Apricot Glaze

Stuffing chicken breast with a pate is not a new idea but it’s not one I have made use of too often. Pate always seemed to me, it was kind of an upscale thing you would serve at cocktail parties. Over the years, I have probably made more than my share of liver, salmon or pesto pates for various catering events.

Although pate is believed to have originated in ancient Rome, it is essentially a French dish. The recipes are not always extravagant and widely vary from the humble appetizer to one of the world’s most expensive dishes. Traditionally, pate consisted of baked dishes served in a crust or molded into a ‘terrine’. Terrines are usually a coarser, denser texture, making them more satisfying to serve for a main course.

There are no fixed ingredients for preparing a pate — the choice is yours. Classic choices are chicken liver, oysters, bacon, fresh herbs with various cheeses, all ground into a paste-like consistency. Generally with pate, your ingredients are cooked and cooled then processed into a paste.  The mixture is then placed in a mold, covered and refrigerated overnight. In the case of terrines, after prepared, they are baked slowly and then refrigerated for at least 24 hours before slicing and serving.

In France, enjoying pate with a baguette, accompanied by wine and cheese for lunch in an outdoor setting would be most common. Pate and it’s variations are actually a very familiar and integral dish to many countries.

My inspiration for this meal today was the fact I had some Brie cheese that I wanted to use up. It actually tasted even better than I though it would which was probably due to the fresh basil used. I hope you give it a try and enjoy it as well.

Print Recipe
 Pate' Stuffed Chicken Breast with Apricot Glaze
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Course Main Dish
Cuisine American, French
Servings
Ingredients
Chicken Breasts
Pate Filling
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American, French
Servings
Ingredients
Chicken Breasts
Pate Filling
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
Instructions
Chicken Breast
  1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease a baking dish well & set aside. Between two pieces of plastic wrap, place chicken breast, smooth side down; gently flatten to 1/4-inch thickness. Place 2 breasts in baking dish.
Pate Filling
  1. In a food processor, place walnuts, basil & garlic, slowly adding the olive oil, pulsing until mixture becomes paste like. Add brie, cream cheese & egg; pulse to blend. Season with salt & pepper.
  2. Divide mixture between the 2 chicken breasts in baking dish; top with 2 remaining flattened breasts. Spread apricot preserves over each breast. Dot with 'Fig Balsamic' olive oil dressing. Lightly spread to cover apricot preserves. Sprinkle each breast with crushed red peppers.
  3. Bake, uncovered for about 40 minutes or until chicken & pate filling are cooked. Remove from oven, slice each breast in half to make 4 servings.

German Poppy Seed Coffee Cake

Today, March 28, was the birth date of my Mother. She passed away in 1978 at the age of sixty. Although 38 years have passed, it seems like it was only yesterday. She was truly an ‘Angel on Earth’, never to be forgotten by her family or by the people who’s lives she touched.

I have so many memories of her wonderful cooking and baking. In her honor today I decided to post a German Poppy Seed Coffee Cake.

Poppy seed has long been a popular ingredient in German and Austrian baked goods. Once again, as in the case of Easter bread, there are a great variety of versions. What always seemed to stick in my memory was that my mother’s poppy seed filling was never dry. It was almost as if the poppy seeds were in a vanilla pudding. If my memory serves me correct, she made it like a jelly roll.

Today I’m trying to re-create that ‘pudding filling’ and use it in a Bundt cake.

Print Recipe
 German Poppy Seed Coffee Cake
A tender sour cream coffee cake with a custard-like poppy seed filling.
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 45-50 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
FILLING
CAKE
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 45-50 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
FILLING
CAKE
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
Instructions
FILLING
  1. In a saucepan, over medium heat, combine pudding powder, sugar, poppy seed & lemon zest with cold milk, stirring constantly until it begins to simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes; remove from heat.
CAKE
  1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease a 12-cup Bundt pan. Using a hand held mixer on medium speed, beat sugar, margarine & eggs, scraping bowl occasionally, for 2 minutes. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt & walnuts. Fold into wet ingredients alternately with sour cream. Spread half of the cake batter in Bundt pan, pushing it slightly up the sides of pan. Spoon poppy/pudding mixture over cake batter. Gently spread remaining cake batter on top. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until tests done. Remove from oven, place a wire cooling rack over pan. Invert & remove pan. Serve with a dollop of Greek French Vanilla yogurt if desired or dust with icing sugar.