Cook sister!

Potato and Jerusalem artichoke gratin

I have written previously about my deep affection for Jerusalem artichokes (also known as sunchokes or topinambours. In fact, pretty much the only thing to my mind that compensates me for the seasonal disappearance of broad beans is the appearance of Jerusalem artichokes! 

Last weekend I had a few people round to lunch and needed a satisfying, creamy starch dish.  Yes, I could have made plain old potato bake, but I had three Jerusalem artichokes on the fridge that I wanted to use.  And then I saw this post from Anne's Food and just like that, the decision was made.

The two work wonderfully well together.  The Jerusalem artichoke on its own as a bake might be a little too strident, but together with the potato it creates a happe balance between bland and strident - and of course, the cream and the melty cheese just make the whole dish that much more indulgent :-)

Thanks Anne!

JERUSALEM ARTICHIKE & POTATO GRATIN (serves 6)

Ingredients:

3 medium Jerusalm artichokes
4 medium waxy potatoes
1 medium onion, sliced
single cream
salt and pepper
grated cheddar

Method:

Butter a shallow oven-proof dish and pre-heat the oven to 180C.

Peel the Jerusalem artichokes. No need to peel the potatoes - just scrub them well.  Slice the 'chokes and the potatoes into thin 2mm slices.

Cover the base of the buttered dish with a single layer of potatoes.  Scatter some sliced onions over it, pour some cream over and season with salt and pepper.  Cover this layer with a layer of Jerusalem artichoke slices, onion and cream as described above.  Repeat, alternating layers, and finishing with a layer of potato. 

Place in the pre-heated overn, uncovered, for about an hour or until soft.  Sprinkle the grated cheese on top and pop under the grill so that it melts.

And then tuck into a dish of pure comfort!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

May you have a day filled with laughter and love, surrounded by all those you love the most, enjoying good food, wine and company.

As for me, I am taking a short break in Andorra - skiing again (clearly the bug has bitten) - and will probably be up a mountain, sick with fear but overcome with exhilaration as you read this :)

So apologies if my posts are brief until the end of the year, but my mind is elsewhere - like on keeping all the bones in my body intact!

Enjoy :)

Cranberry-ginger caramel pudding

I have a confession to make (no, don't worry, it won't be as scandalous as my recent Skeletons in the Pantry post...!).  I've never really liked Christmas pudding.

I know - it's kind of freaky, but there you go.

While everybody else looked forward to the Christmas pudding as the highlight at the end of the Christmas lunch, I'd be thinking "hmmm, I wonder if I can ask for a double scoop of neat brandy butter if I forego the pudding?".  To me, Christmas pudding was just an obstacle to overcome in the search for a 5 cent piece or two that my mom always hid in the pudding.

Over the years, I have learnt that there are Christmas puddings and Christmas puddings.  I have developed a grudging liking for ones that are heavy on the fruit (but not citrus peel!!) and low on the actual dough, or ones that feature more exciting ingredients like cranberries.  But given a choice, I would never make or serve Christmas pudding myself.

So what to do when you've invited some friends over for a pre-Christmas lunch, the roast is in the oven, the weather is simply freezing, and the whole scenario is just crying out for a hot baked pudding with a festive twist?  Christmas pudding would be the path of least resistance, but I decided instead to beat a brand new path through the culinary brambles. 

Requirement 1 was that it had to be a baked pudding, preferably self-saucing.  Requirement 2 was that it needed to reference the festive season somehow.  And bonus requirement 3 was that it use up some of the random leftover baking ingredients cluttering up my kitchen counters as we speak.  Which is how the glorious creation pictured above came about.

The recipe is an adaptation of my basic and beloved self-saucing apple caramel pudding, substituting crystallised ginger and dried cranberries for apple, and adding a bit of spice to the batter and sauce with ground ginger.  As we were 7 people and the recipe really only feeds 5 comfortably, I decided to double it.  Without cheking that I had a dish big enough to hold this.  Suffice to say I almost did.  Meaning that the syrupy sauce ended up bubbling over a little and landing on the floor of my oven - cue belching, acrid smoke as I opened the oven door 40 minutes later, and a lingering eau de charcoal in the house.  Also, if you are going to double the recipe, you will need a longer cooking time, as I discovered.  Possibly not double the cooking time, but definitely 1.5 the time. The combination of tart cranberries/ginger, crispy crust and rivers of caramel sauce is a winner - at Christmastime or anytime!

CRANBERRY GINGER SELF-SAUCING PUDDING (serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

FOR THE PUDDING:
1 cup (150g) self-raising flour
3/4 cup (165g) firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
20g butter, melted
1/2 cup (125ml) milk
1/2 a cup finely chopped crystallised ginger
1/2 a cup dried cranberries

FOR THE SAUCE:
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 cups (500ml) boiling water
60g butter, chopped

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C and grease a 2 litre oven-proof dish.

Combine the flour, sugar, butter, ground ginger, milk and fruit in a large bowl and mix well.  Spread the mixture into the prepared dish.

For the sauce, combine all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Stir until the sugar is dissolved and the butter melted.

Pour the caramel sauce slowly over the back of a spoon over batter in dish.  Bake in a moderate oven for about 40 minutes or until firm in the centre - test with a skewer.

Serve immediately with custard. Do not let the pudding stand too long before serving as the sauce will be absorbed!

This is my entry into this month's Sugar High Friday event, hosted by the lovely Zorra at 1 x umruehren bitte.  The theme is puddings - and who can resist those?!

Menu for Hope smashes previous record!

Just a quickie tonight as I'm exhausted and leaving for a little Christmas ski trip in the morning, but I had to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who participated in Menu for Hope which finished in the early hours of this monrning.  Thanks to the generosity of all those who donated prizes, and the incredible outpouring of cash from all those who bought tickets, we raised a stupendous total of just over $83,000.

I am stunned, amazed and quite emotional that a community of people who have for the most part never met, and who 5 years ago did not know each other, are able to come together for a few short weeks in a year and amass this much money for an excellent cause.  For those of you who don't yet know, the mony goes to the UN World Food Programme and has been allocated specifically to a school feeding programme in Lesotho, a little mountainous kingdom in the middle of South Africa.

Pim and her team of IT boffins will be entering the data into the programme that randomly selects winners, and all those of you who bought tickets shodul check her site on 9 January to see if you are a winner.

But it's the people of Lesotho who are the real winners.

Roast duck with pancetta and potatoes - an alternative Christmas meal

It's Christmas time, there's no need to be afraid. 

Unless you happen to be a turkey, of course! Or a plump pig destined to become a gammon.  But wait... maybe you trembling turkeys and petrified piggies can breathe a sigh of relief - why not try something else for Christmas this year?  I mean, who can really fit a turkey into their suburban oven anyway?  Plus then you feel obliged to invite all those casual acquaintances and distant rellies that you don't really want to see, but need to invite so that they can help you finish off the turkey.  Nobody still wants to be eating leftovers by Valentine's Day. 

No, no - far simpler for many reasons to do a roast duck.  And before you back out of the room saying oh no siree, not me, I don't know the first thing about roasting a duck, take a deep breath and stop panicking.  Now repeat after me:

Roasting a duck is easy peasy pumpkin pie.

Especially when you have your best buddy Nigel Slater on hand to help with a recipe. 

My mom used to do a roast duck occasionally, but less frequently after a close encounter between our cat and a cup of duck fat.  Our cat Smokey was a gorgeous silver tabby Persian, whose name was a truncation of his pedigree name "Ali Pasha's Silver Smoke".  He had the regal bearing of a champion and a lineage as long as your arm, but when it came to food he had the sneaky sensibilities of an alley cat.  Anything edible left unsecured in the kitchen was fair game, and more often than not, as you approached the kitchen, you would hear the soft thud as he guiltily leapt off the counter where he had been sniffing out leftovers.  My mom once baked a batch of mini milk tarts which she left to cool safely under a mesh food cover.  Hey - what would a cat want with custard tarts anyway?  But when she returned to the kitchen a while later, Smokey had chewed a hole through the mesh and taken a kitty bite out of at least half the tarts.  He hadn't eaten one whole one - no far more fun to nibble each one. 

It's a miracle he lived to the ripe old age that he did.

Anyway, one Sunday my mom had made roast duck and had poured off the copious amounts of fat that had cooked off into a cup which she set aside to solidify for easy storage.  We had a delicious lunch and later, my brother and I carried our plates back into the kitchen.  The sight that greeted our eyes was memorable.  On the counter was an empty cup.  On the floor was a cat who looked like his fur had been dreadlocked from chin to front paws.  He had clearly gone foraging on the counter and found the delicious-smelling duck fat - and then finished it off.  But even so soon after the unexpected windfall, you would see he was beginning to have second thoughts.  He had started cleaning himself and had succeeded only in spreading the fat all over his fur and matting it.  Plus he was licking his lips compulsively, as cats do when they are not feeling too well in the digestive department.  Suffice it to say that within the hour he was vomiting all over the garden - one particularly violent projectile made a greasy stain down the slate steps to the swimming pool that stayed there for years.  And the more he licked, the more of his fur became greasy and matted and he just could not understand why.  He survived, but for the sake of his continued health, my mom was circumspect about making duck after that.

Unburdened by pets (except the neighbours crazy furballs who think they live at our house as well as next door!), I have no such qualms and duck is one of my favourite cook-to-impress meals for friends.  And, as I mentioned earlier, if you are still undecided about what to make for Christmas, this is a wonderfule recipe to consider.

NIGEL SLATER'S DUCK WITH PANCETTA AND POTATOES

Ingredients:

1 duck weighing about 2.5kg

6 medium potatoes (maris piper are ideal)

150g pancetta

Mild extra virgin olive oil

2 medium onions

5 -6 sprigs of fresh thyme

A couple of bay leaves

A wine glass of Marsala or similar sweet wine

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 200C. Remove duck giblets, rinse inside and out and pat dry. Cut the potatoes into finger-thick slices and the pancetta into cubes. Put the pancetta in a large roasting tin with a tablespoon of the olive oil. Warm over a low heat, allowing the pancetta to flavour the oil, but do not let the pancetta colour. Add the potato slices and allow to cook slowly. Peel and cut the onions into slim wedges and add to the potato pancetta mix, together with the thyme leaves stripped from their stems. Turn it all over as it cooks and aklow the potatoes and onions to colour slightly. Season with salt, pepper and bay leaves and remove from the heat.

Prick the skin of the duck all over with a fork, season inside and out with salt. Lay it on the potato mix and put in oven to roast for an hour to 1.5 hours, until the potatoes are soft and the duck is golden brown. During cooking, spoon cooking juices over any potatoes that appear to be browning too quickly or drying out. Try to pour or skim off some of the fat released during cooking that is not absorbed by the potatoes.

Test if the duck is done by inserting a skewer into the thickest part of the flesh – the juices should run clear and the skin should be crisp. Remove the potatoes to a warm serving dish and return the duck to the oven at 220C for 5 minutes to crisp. Remove to a warm serving dish. Pour the Marsala into the roasting tin over moderately high heat on the hob. Scrape away any bits stuck to the tin and stir into the sauce – heat till it bubbles. While the sauce bubbles, slice the duck, check the sauce for seasoning and serve the sauce spooned over the duck.

I served mine with lemon thyme peas (boiled peas with a squirt of lemon juice and about a teaspoon of thyme leaves) and, of course, those fabulous ducky potatoes.

Menu for Hope - final hours!

Well the good news is... we reached and breached our total from last year!  As I write, the total stands at an awesome $68,805.  And the even better news is that you still have 18 hours left to buy tickets!

Following my announcement yesterday of your chances of winning each UK prize, Pim has published a list of odds on ALL the global prizes - a gambler's dream.  So whether you want to help the people of Lesotho (where the funds will be used for a school feeding project), or whether you are just out to win something, all you have to do is visit the donation site in the next 18 hours and make a donation.

Remember - it is people like Bokang Khatala and Maleetoane Khali who are the real winners in this competition.  My friend Rethabile, who also hails from Lesotho, left me the following touching comment today:

"Jeanne,
I love you. Thank you for this. It is a great initiative and I'm thankful. As we say in Lesotho, Rea leboha."

I'm sure that's what people like Bokang and Maleetoane would say if they were here right now.

So keep on buying those tickets!

Want to make almost 100% sure you win something in Menu for Hope?

We are in the home stretch for Menu for Hope and I'm thrilled to say that the money is rolling in.  Just like raindrops filling a swimming pool, those individual $10 donations have mounted up and as of today, the total stands at just over $42,000 under $50,000!  We still have 3 2 more days of ticket sales to go, so with a little extra push from you, I'm sure we will reach and breach last year's total. 

Have you looked at the wonderful pictures taken by children in Lesotho that Pim posted?  It's all fun and games over here with our raffle, but remember that these are the people that we are ultimately helping, and who need your support.  One of the best things about this year's campaign is that the World Food Programme will not merely be importing food for people who need it. Instead, they have struck a historic deal which sees them buying surplus maize from 20 small-scale farmers in Lesotho, which is then distributed by the WFP.   In fact, in Tebellong the WFP brough 8 metric tones of maize from these farmers for $2,800 - a gigantic sum in a country where more than a third of the population survives on less than $1 per day.  The deal means an immediate and life-changing cash injection into the farmers' lives, but is also laying the groundwork for a viable market for the farmers' produce, giving them a real incentive to grow as much maize as possible in the years ahead and alleviate the country's hunger problem.  Read more about these farmers and the programme on the WFP site.

Now that's all fine and well, but I also know that some people are saying "I'm not buying a ticket because I know I'll never win". 

NOT SO!

Because today, I'm going to let you in on a little secret.  Some of the prizes have obviously been flooded with bids (like the Heston Blumenthal lunch).  But others are perhaps a little less glam and ticket sales have been slower.  What would you say if I told you you had a 10% or greater chance of winning a prize?  Surely those are good odds for a betting man (or woman!)?  So if you have still not bought a ticket, or are thinking of having another whirl, here are your best bets for sure-fire or near-sure-fire winning tickets.  Based on ticket sales as of now, here are your chances of winning:

FOR £5, YOU CURRENTLY HAVE...

A 100% chance to win:

* Your digital portrait retouched to make you look as glamorous as Angeline Jolie... or Brad Pitt.  Check out their gallery to see the incredible difference this makes to pictures.
* Dinner or lunch cooked for you and a friend/partner in your very own home in London by the crazy duo from Crash Test Kitchen (provided you aren't an axe-murderer...!)
* an Indian cookbook and a spice kit to replicate authentic Keralan cuisine in your own kitchen.  I have had Padmaja's cooking and believe me, this lady can cook!

A 50% chance to win:

* a second Indian cookbook and a spice kit to replicate authentic Keralan cuisine in your own kitchen.  I have had Padmaja's cooking and believe me, this lady can cook!
* an i-Car novelty MP3 speaker system - the perfect gift for the teenage boy (or overgrown teenage boy!) in your life
* an authentic Nigerian egusi stew recipe and spice kit, perfect for homesick African friends abroad, or for impressing your dinner guests
* an organic chocolate hamper from the Natural Collection.  I mean, come on - £5 does not get you more than a couple of bars of cheap chcolate, whereas this is a hamper of the good stuff!
* a cooking class from the lovely Jennifer at Eat Drink Talk.  Have you seen the class schedule??  Moroccan, Indian, Thai, gastropub cooking...  it all looks fantastic! Think what you might be missing...
* for the lazy baker, a whole box of home-made British cookies.  And not a single pot or pan to wash ;-)
* a hamper of true blue English teatime treats including tea from Fortnum & Mason.  The perfect gift for the Brit in your life!

A 33% chance to win:

* another gift box of authentically English treats tor homesick expats - or just to treat yourself!
* another cooking class from the lovely Jennifer at Eat Drink Talk.  Have you seen the class schedule??  Moroccan, Indian, Thai, gastropub cooking...  it all looks fantastic! Think what you might be missing...
* for those who like surprises, a gift box of London treats, sourced from all the best markets where those in the know pick up their goodies :)
* a hamper of goodies whipped up in Johanna's amazing Thermomix mixer, including cream liqueurs, chocolate cookies and Parmesan shortbread
* for the amateur vintner, a rare and out-of-print classis book on making your own wine.  Now THAT'S grow-your-own I could get into!
* a bottle of award-winning English sparkling wine for that special celebration

A 20% chance to win:

* a seasonal cookbook and a goodie basket of Hampshire local foods
* a bottle of single-malt, 15 year-old Dalwhinnie Scotch whisky - this will certainly keep out the cold on those long winter nights!
* for all those daring bakers out there who have yet to try their hand at classic sourdough, a sourdough starter kit with flours and recipes
* for all those who dream of the Alhambra (or the Retiro, or the Sagrada Familia!), a paella-making kit and recipes

A 16% chance to win:

* your choice of one of five original food photos from me!  Just think:  millions of people own Monet prints, but how many own a CookSister original?!

A 14% chance to win:

* for aspiring chefs, a one-day stage at acclaimed London restaurant Bacchus with chef Nuno Mendes, plus dinner in the restaurant afterwards

An 11% chance to win (and these are the prizes I can't believe people haven't snapped up in droves):

* a unique custom-designed wedding (or other special occasion) cake made to your specifications and delivered anywhere in London or South-West England.  And this is not just any cake - just look at these!
* a private wine tasting for you and 7 friends, hosted in your home and according to your theme of choice, to the value of £80
* a generous hamper of authentic Italian delicacies, straight from Bella Italia
* a personalised and guided foodie tour around the markets and culinary hotspots of gastronomic capital London

A 10% chance to win:

* a pair of authentic Irish cookbooks, including the Ballymaloe Cookery Course from the famous culinary school of the same name
* a copy of the National Association of Indian Women cookbook, given to Indian brides, students and batchelors to guide their culinary development for decades, and unavailable outside India

Given that the odds of winning the UK Lottery with all six numbers is 1 in 13,983,816 (or 0.0000071%!), and the overall odds of winning ANYTHING on the Lottery (including the lousy £10 that you get for getting 3 numbers) is 1 in 57 or 1.75% - those are pretty good odds I just gave you!! 

So if you hate gambling but love winning, this just might be your lucky day on Menu for Hope.  But as they say, you gotta be in it to win it.

So go and donate your money and buy your tickets on the donation site.  You only have today and tomorrow left...

Skeletons in the pantry

The lovely Katie over at Thyme for Cooking understands that the holidays can be a stressful time for us all.  In fact, a friend of mine called me one year at about 18h00 on Christmas day after a full day of family, and explained in detail how next Christmas he would like to immolate his entire extended family and maybe toast marshmallows on the resulting blaze as he enjoyed the peace and quiet! (Don’t worry – the entire family is still alive and well…). So Katie has decided that what we all need is some light relief, and she has provided it in the form of Skeletons in the Pantry. All you have to do to play along is provide a true confession about food that you love that no self-respecting foodie would ever admit to – disaster stories also welcome ;-)

The first story that springs to mind is actually a confession on behalf of my father, seeing as it was his idea in the first place. To set the scene, bear in mind that my father was born in 1922, a time when men didn’t cook and there were no such things as convenience foods. Obviously he must have learned to cook SOMETHING once he was away from home at university and before he got married. But whatever he learnt was soon lost after he married my mom and she took over all the cooking duties for the rest of their married life. Well, almost the rest.

At some stage in the early 1980s, my mom was really busy lecturing radiography as well as playing an active role in the Society of Radiographers of South Africa, and her time was at a premium. To make her life easier, my father suggested that he cook dinner and wash up one night a week, assisted by me and my brother Anton. So far so good. What we didn’t count on was:

a) my father’s fascination with convenience foods that didn’t exist when he was a child;

b) my father’s love of routine; and

c) my father’s taste for foods without much of a texture.

I can tell you’re scared now. You probably should be.

And so it came to pass that we gathered in the kitchen on the first Wednesday night of this arrangement, ready to chop, prepare or do some other pre-cooking chores. Wrong! The pre-cooking chores started and ended with boiling the kettle and fetching the can opener. Why? Because my dad’s idea of a balanced dinner was tinned ravioli in a spectacularly red tomato sauce, not unlike the matrix in which tinned baked beans are suspended. And because we needed something to mop up the sauce (and just because we didn’t already have enough carbs on the plate), this culinary feast for the tongue and the eyes was served on a bed of Smash instant mashed potatoes (“just add water!!”). Granted, the Smash was dolled up a bit with liberal lashings of margarine (!), salt and pepper. But it still had the consistency of wallpaper glue. Top it all off with a sprinkling of grated cheddar cheese and we’re good to go!

The first week it was novel and exciting. By the 4^th week it was familiar and comforting. Two months later it was just dire. And yet I do believe that if my father had his way, we would still be having that exact meal every Wednesday night. But at some point my mom stepped in and headed off her children’s incipient attack of scurvy by taking up the cooking reins again on a Wednesday night and the carb-fest came to an end. So now you know my family's culinary skeleton in the pantry!

As for me, I have only one really disgusting weakness. I haven’t eaten McDonalds in years; I have never eaten a stuffed-crust, deep-dish pizza; and the only thing I really like at Burger King are their fries.

But let me catch one whiff of KFC and I am a drooling madwoman. Yes, folks, those very-un-free-range chickens, those secret spices, that oil-on-oil crispy skin – I’m a sucker for all of it. I eat the pieces with my hands, tearing off the skin in order to save the best for last. I get greasy up to my elbows. Sometimes, I dunk the meat in Hellmann’s mayonnaise too.

Because, of course, their chicken pieces don’t already contain enough fat, and I do love the sound of arteries slamming shut in the morning.

:o)

Menu for Hope - the latecomers

I'm pleased to report that we are just past the halfway mark with this year's Menu for Hope campaign and we are knock-knock-knocking on $30,000's door!  A huge thank you goes to those who have been generously donating prizes or money, buying raffle tickets, and publicising the campaign on their blogs.  As for the rest of you who have still not got your tickets, we are counting on you for a last minute rush towards the end of the week, because if ticket sales do not pick up in the next couple of days, we are going to fall well short of our 2006 total :-(

To whet the apetite of those who have not yet bought their tickets, or maybe to encourage those who have to take another shot, here are all the UK prizes that have been added since the campaing went live a week ago.  I have been adding them to the main UK prize list, but you might not have seen them because they are tucked away at the end of the post.  I think they deserve their 15 minutes of fame, though, as they are all highly desirable - from original art, to a one day stage at a renowned London restaurant, to Italian, Nigerian and British edibles, to the Best of British sparkling wine, to a tasting menu at a cult restaurant in Kent - who could refise?

Aspiring chef?  Win a one day stage with Nuno Mendes and dinner at Bacchus

Bacchus is well-known as one of London's most innovative restaurants (thanks largely to chef Nuno Mendes).  It is also a proponent of the sous vide cooking technique, where food is cooked at extremely low temperatures to preserve its flavours.  The winner of this prize will get to do a one day stage with Nuno in the kitchen at Bacchus, followed by dinner for one in the rerstaurant.  Thanks to Bacchus for this generous prize, and to the guys from Food and Drink in London for organising it!
Restaurant is in London
Prize code:  UK32

Art lover?  Why not choose one of two original foodie watercolour paintings?

Those of you who have visited fellow-South African foodie Ronell's blog My French Kitchen will know that she is a woman of many talents, combining her love of food and her love of art to create mouth-watering watercolours, often with a food-related theme.  She is offering you a choice between two beautiful signed watercolour paintings, to be shipped to anywhere in the world.  All you need is some space on the wall :) 
Prize code:  UK31

Italophile?  Win a San Lorenzo hamper of Italian delicacies worth £70

You are bidding for a hamper filled to the brim with the ultimate selection of Italian delicacies: Apricot Extra jam, rice biscuits, organic linguine, organic pesto alla Genovese, organic sun-dried tomatoes in extra-virgin olive oil, organic black Ligurian olives in brine (Taggiasca cultivar), organic 100% Italian extra-virgin olive oil, Italian chestnut honey, organic peeled tomatoes, Alma Rosada tuna in olive oil, anchovy fillets, Chianti Classico
d.o.c.g. 2004, and Moscato d'Asti d.o.c.g. 2007.
Prize can only be shipped to the UK, Ireland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Austria, Germany or Italy.
Prize code: UK35

Homesick African?  Win a traditional Nigerian egisu stew recipe and spices

Are you, or do you know, a homesick Nigerian living abroad?  Or are you just fascinated by the tastes and spices of faraway lands? Then this is the prize for you. Nigerian blogger Sokari will send you not only her recipe for egusi stew/soup, but also the Nigerian spices and seasonings that you will need to get the authentic taste right. The recipe is intriguing in that it contains both meat and seafood and the dish is named after the egusi (melon) seeds that are crushed and stirred into the dish to thicken it. The perfect prize if you want to recreate the taste of Nigeria wherever you may be!
Prize code:  UK36 

Celebrating something special? Enjoy a bottle of Chapel Down English methode champenoise sparkling wine

If you ever wanted final proof that English fizz can compete with the best in the world, this is it.  Chapel Down winery sources grapes from all over the south-east of England and the non-vintage Brut that's up for grabs has won a bronze medal at the prestigious International Wine Challenge competition.  The wine has good depth, crisp fruit and yeasty undertones - and best of all, Superfood is offering a bottle as a prize.  Can be shipped anywhere in the UK.
Prize code:  UK37

Homesick brit? Comfort yourself with a gift box packed with best of British tea-time treats

If there's one thing the British know all about, it's afternoon tea.  Joy of Almanzo's Belly has decided that these treats are too good to be kept to ourselves and is offering some up for grabs - she has even written a poem:
Home-made spiced parkin and loose tea from Fortnum's
Shortbread and fruitcake from my home to your tums
Beutifully wrapped up and tied tight with string
I hope that you enjoy these tea-time things!
She'll even throw in some Wensleydale cheese to enjoy with your fruitcake in the clasically Enlish way!
Prize code:  UK38

Gourmet?  Try the tasting menu at The Sportsman and tour of local farms with chef Stephen Harris

Ever been to Seasalter in Kent?  Well, here's a good excuse.  The winner of this prize wins a tasting menu at chef Stephen Harris's cult restaurant The Sportsman in Seasalter, as well as accompanying him on a tour of the local farms that supply the restaurant.  Harris forages, cures his own meat, churns his own butter and... makes his own salt! So clearly, a lot of love and care has gone into everything on your plate and it shows in the taste.
Prize code:  UK39

Have I succeeded in tempting you?  Want to know how to buy a ticket?  Here's how:

1. Choose the prize or prizes of your choice from the main Menu for Hope site. (This is the global list of all prizes donated this year. Alternatively, you can see only the UK prizes on Cooksister.) You must make sure to check the terms and conditions for the individual prizes BEFORE you bid, as some will come with restrictions regarding where they ship to or how long the prize is valid for.

2. Go to the donation site and make a donation.  The hosts do not handle the cash at all - it goes directly to Justgiving to be passed on to the World Food Programme.

3. Please specify the prize code of the prize you'd like in the 'Personal Message' section in the donation form when confirming your donation. Each $10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. If you are buying more than one ticket, please indicate how you would like the tickets to be allocated. For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for EU01 and 3 tickets for EU02. Please write 2xEU01, 3xEU02.

4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.

5. Please check the box to allow us to see your email address so that we could contact you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

Remember to check back on Chez Pim on Wednesday January 9 for the results of the raffle.

GOOD LUCK!

Blinde vinken braised in Grimbergen beer

So... you've eaten turkey, goose, duck, chicken, maybe even pheasant, Guinea fowl and quail. 

But how about finches?

No, don't worry, not this little guy - you'd look like a cat eating a canary:  all bone-crunching and feather-spitting and not too much yumminess.  No, I'm talking about blinde vinken, which translates literally into "blind finches".  I had grown up eating something similar to these in South Africa, where the butcher sold them as "beef olives" (apparently a Scottish recipe).  So it would seem that wherever in the world these are sold, people are intent on making up random nonsense names for them!  Finches, olives... what can that possibly have to do with a thin piece of meat wrapped around a filling?  I guess in the case of beef olives, you could say that the stuffed beef roll bears some sort of theoretical resemblance to a stuffed olive (tenuous, I know, but you come up with a better answer!).  The finch reference is even odder.

In the Flemish parts of Belgium there is a traditional sport known as vinkensport (finching) which involves finches competing against each other in a song contest.  Really.  The idea of such a contest was first introduced in 1569 and birds compete to see which one can utter the most "susk-e-wiets"  in an hour, obviously regarded anxiously by their human owners and judges who mark each tweet on a stick with chalk. (I am NOT making this up!)  There are 13,000 vinkeniers active in Belgium today and this is no novelty act - it's serious business.  Spectacular competition wins are often followed by allegations of doping, and over-eager owners have been known to inject their birds with testosterone to encourage singing.  All competing birds are male and sing to attract a mate and mark their territory, so testosterone is the ideal pick-me-up.  The thing about finches is that they sing better when not distracted, so the practice arose of blindfolding the finches during competitions by wrapping cloth over their eyes - hence blind finches!  It is likely that some wag saw a similarity between the blindfolded birds and the wrapped-up "blind" meat parcels, hence the name.  Some people took the "no distraction" idea so seriously that finches were sometimes blinded with hot needles to make sure they were never distracted from their singing again, but blind World War I veterans successfully campaigned to have this practice outlawed in 1920.  Today, the finches merely sing in darkened boxes.  Whew.

So if it's not a bird in a box, what is a blinde vink?  Well, traditionally it is a thin schnitzel of veal, rolled around a filling of veal mince flavoured with herbs and spices (including nutmeg).  However, I have seen various variations on this recipe including the substitution of beef for the veal, or the Dutch version (called slavinken) where pork mince is wrapped in bacon.   

And how did these Flemish delicacies find their way to me?  Well, actually, I found my way to them!  In the summer, Nick's company very kindly sent him off to Brussels for a month and sent me train tickets to go and visit him over weekeneds.  Woo hoo!  Which is how I ended up one balmy Sunday in June in a little rented apartment in Etterbeek in Brussels, gazing over the rooftops at the sunset, watching the swallows perform aerobatics, and helping Nick to prepare dinner.  I was in charge of vegetables (courgettes rondes bought from the market that morning - although I still called them baby gem squash!) while Nick did the blinde vinken according to instructions that a concerned Belgian colleague had given him.  Since he had a cupboard of Belgian beer to choose from, we were not short on braising liquid, and in the end we plumped for Grimbergen, figuring that its dark, rich taste would be a good match for the meat.

Braising suits these little guys down to the ground as they are quite chunky and simply frying them will carbonize the outside and leave the inside raw.  By braising them, you can brown the outer layer of meat and then cook them slowly until the middle is cooked.  And this way, not only can you get the world's most perfectly caramelised onions, but you can also get a rich, beery reduction that infuses the meat with its delicious flavour.

BLINDE VINKEN BRAISED IN GRIMBERGER BEER

Ingredients
1 Tbsp butter
1 large onion, sliced
1 large clove of garlic, crushed
2 blinde vinken (or substitute beef olives)
a bottle or two of Belgian dubbel beer (or substitue and English ale)

Method
Heat the butter in a heavy-bottomed pan over high heat.  Add the Blinde vinken and brown on all sides.  Turn down the heat to medium and add the onions and garlic.  Fry until the onions are translucent and softening,