Happy
New Year everyone! I hope you got to the new year just fine. I spent
rather quiet Christmas and New Years with a little work in between,
but it was relaxing. I now want to share some of my Christmas
cookings with you, just to close the circle. I know that not many
might want to see these anymore, but I’m still in Christmas mood
and it’s only Epiphany today.
Here
are first of all some lovely foodie gifts that I received from my
family. My mum had made wonderful hedgehog and willow grouse oven
mittens and she also sent me my favourite cheese Oltermanni.
Then
there was a balcony seed kit containing radish, lettuce, pea,
courgette, beans and tomato seeds. I’m ready to go for the
gardening season.
I
also got Yotam Ottolenghi’s new vegetarian cookbook Flavour,
quality teas and a marzipan and dark chocolate pig.
Then
we ate loads and loads primarily vegan food, but we also had some
cheeses. Here is our little Christmas table for two and my Christmas
dinner plate.
This
year’s food highlight was our
homemade cold hay-smoked tofu “ham”. I found the recipe on a
Finnish webpage, but instead of using smoked tofu, we made a small
smoker out of foil take-away containers. We gathered the hay in a
field nearby and then came home to work on that tofu. It was a great
process and I’m sure we’ll smoke some more stuff when we feel
like it.
We
also had some Danish Christmas snacks like “Isalamande”, vegan
ice-cream made in the style of a popular Christmas rice pudding dish
“Risalamande”. And Æbleskiver, aka apple slices, that do not
contain any apple. They are round pancake balls eaten with icing
sugar and strawberry jam. I selected the vegan variant. I’m glad that we got some Danish
traditions fitted in as well, now that we spent our first Christmas
in Denmark.
This
aronia kombucha was also very refreshing and in an appealing bottle
with a swan on the label. Perfect refreshment with a heavy cheese
platter.
Before
Christmas I cooked an upside down brussels sprout and potato pizza
with lingonberry. I made something similar last year.
Just
before Christmas I also made a pasta dish with fresh organic and
artisanal take-away pasta from the brilliant local pasta makers Il
Mattarello. They were incredibly tasty smoked mozzarella and beetroot
tortelli.
So
this was my foodie Christmas in a nutshell. I’m curious to see
yours. I’m
sharing my post with Sherry
from Sherry’s Pickings,
who is hosting the In My Kitchen
blogger event.
Your
VegHog