some Christmas food gifts (and how to pickle daikon)
I’ve been cooking a little lately. Experimenting. And I’ve found a few things that I reckon will make very nice Christmas gifts. I’ve got some friends coming around over the weekend to whip up some of the below to hand to Good People Who’ve Done Good Things By Me in 2011. And boy have there have been a few. Got some ideas yourself…share below!
photo via Andrew Scrivani
I love this idea, which I’m modifying from Martha Rose Shulman.
marinated goat cheese
For a 1-cup jar:
- 1 teaspoon mixed red, black and white peppercorns, lightly crushed
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- 2 bay leaves, broken into pieces
- A 3 ounce log of goat cheese (I buy mine from the local markets here. Martha used a round log, but you could do squares from a block…I did)
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- Extra virgin olive oil as needed
Whack peppercorns, garlic cloves and bay leaves in a clean, sterilized wide-mouthed jar. Pour in a film of olive oil.
Cut the goat cheese into rounds 1/2 inch thick (Martha uses unflavored dental floss to cut through the cheese!! Clever!!). Place one round in the jar and drizzle on some olive oil. Stack the remaining rounds, drizzling oil onto each round before topping with the next. Add the thyme and rosemary sprigs to the jar and pour in olive oil to cover the goat cheese rounds completely. Cover the jar and leave at room temperature for several hours, then refrigerate.
I like these edible gift ideas from My New Roots, too:
green coriander pesto
Full recipe here.
spicy zatar
Full recipe here.
some other ideas I’ve tried
Little bags of salt and vinegar almonds
I’ve posted about activated nuts before…why not make a batch of “salt and vinegar” almonds, an idea Lee from Supercharged Food shared. Toss 3 tbls of apple cider vinegar and some seal salt over the nuts as you place them in the oven (enough for about 2 cups of nuts). These will last 6 months or so.
A nice big jar of marsala Chai
Sarah’s My New Roots’ recipe here is a cracker.
My chocolate nut balls
The recipe is here…but you’ll need to keep these refrigerated…they melt a little!
And, of course, my pickled daikon
- 1.5kg of daikon radish, grated
- 2 tbls of sea salt (use 1 tbs of salt and 4 tbls of whey if you have it)
Place the lot in a bowl and pound gently with a wooden device (a meat hammer) to release the juice. Place in a small mason jar (the ones with the spring seal) and press down with the hammer so the juices rise to the surface. DON’T fill to brim because it will expand. Cover n leave at room temperature for a few days, then refrigerate. The pickle gets better with age!
I love the sound of the marsala chai! Presents like this are so much nicer than anything you could buy in a shop.
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Oooh that marinated goats cheese looks divine!!
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I love making spiced nuts for christmas! To make them crunchy you toss them in slightly foamy egg white then in your salt/spices/citrus rind/ sugar then bake!
Delicious!
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December 14th, 2011 at 10:54 pm
foamy egg white! smart!
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I’m at home today with a bit of a bug and decided to have a can of soup – something left over from the old days for just such an emergency. Blurghhhhh! Yuck! Stomach churning, feeling icky. This has been great, however, for consolidating my resolve to really focus on what I eat – and to eat good, wholesome, unadulterated food from now on. I think I’ll cook some soup from scratch and freeze it for just such an emergency. As soon as I’m feeling better these recipes will be at the top of my list. They all look fabulous. Thanks Sarah.
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This sounds silly but where can you buy bulk glass jars in Sydney?
How far in advance should you make the goats cheese so that it absorbs maximum flavour
Thanks so much x
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December 13th, 2011 at 10:02 pm
The mason jars – Kmart etc and homewares shops sell them.
Goats cheese…doesn’t matter…
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December 13th, 2011 at 10:42 pm
Also ikea has great jars for pickling in a four different sizes. I have make saurkraut in these very successfully!
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December 14th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
Thank you so much guys! xx
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Yummy! There is no better gift that is something from the heart, AND EDIBLE!!! Thanks Sarah! x
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Love that cheese idea! Flavored salts are also fun and so very simple. Just blitz some kosher salt in the food processor with your choice of herbs (fresh rosemary is fantastic as is lavender). A really lovely version is vanilla salt, which is just the seeds scraped out of a vanilla pod blitzed with the salt. The latter is wonderful on lobster or scallops or delicate white fish…even on fruit!
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December 13th, 2011 at 10:03 pm
Clever! thanks
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I’m loving these ideas, especially when you adapt the gift to the person’s tastes. My friends love my food and this is a way to make them feel extra special, because some friends truly deserve to know how much they are appreciated.
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